justonetruth | (no subject)

Conan gave Ran and Hattori a baleful look, reaching for a glass of water. "Now you tell me," he grumbled once the possibility of asphyxiation had passed, covering disappointment with complaint. "I am, though if he keeps this up who knows for how much longer."

Ran just grinned, totally unashamed, and tucked into his food. He couldn't wait to see how this conversation was going to go.

"Ya might want ta keep him. He's th' only male neechan here."

"So everyone keeps saying." Conan gave Hattori a more considering, thoughtful look. She looked just like the Heiji he knew, but her casual reference to the strangeness of the place indicated familiarity with it. Could this be some over-the-top revenge for keeping the secret from her so long? If she'd got Ran in on it --

No, Conan decided regretfully. Ran wouldn't go this far for a prank. "You've been here three months? How are you keeping time?"

Damn right he wouldn't. And even if he would, Ran didn't think he could have thought of something like this in a million years.

He grumped slightly at the mention of his being the only boy version of himself (come on, if Hattori got one other version of herself, you'd think he could get one), but otherwise stayed quiet, listening to the detectives talk.

"'ve got a phone, and a paper calendar. I got here th' end 'f October, 'n it's th' end 'f January now. A couple'a days over three months, but not much."

"End of January. That would fit the weather outside," Conan said thoughtfully. "But still places this mansion outside of Tokyo at the very least. Are there any other identifying features?"

"Th' closest thing ta an identifyin' feature's the Christmas tree..."

She trails off, there's something else, but it doesn't make sense, the way rooms seem to move around in this building.

"Christmas Tree," Conan repeats surprised. "In A--" He corrects himself. "January?"

"You have a theory?" It wasn't actually a question.

"It's in the lobby. Or it was yesterday. It had presents underneath of it in December, but I'm pretty sure it's not goin' anywhere. 's growin' from th' floor."

An annoyed noise, poking at her food. "'ve got nothin'. There might be people in charge, controllin' this place, but they haven't show themselves."

"Growing from the floor." Suggesting tree and mansion had been there some time -- but what did that mean?

"As far as I can tell at this early point, the salient points seem to be: One. The method of our arrival. No one seems to remember it happening or intend to come here." Conan paused to allow Ran or Hattori to contest this before continuing. "Two. The discrepancies in time. Three. The location and nature of this place. And four -- which is related to two -- the alternates."

Ran had been listening to the conversation with interest -- this was the first time he'd really gotten to see Shinichi and Heiji talk to each other as detectives with nothing in the way, and he had to admit it was pretty impressive.

"I don't think anybody knows when they're about to leave, either," he chipped in. "I was talking to a psychic version of you and even he couldn't figure it out." And then quickly, before Conan could pounce on that 'psychic', "And I've been outside. If you go far enough everything starts to get really foggy. I had to turn back after a little while because I couldn't see anything."

"One, two, and three, I've got nothin' on. Four... Well, it's kinda hard ta deny the alternates."

A glance at Ran. "Yeah, I went out there. I might have gotten turned around in th' fog, but I walked straight ahead and wound up back at th' front door."

"Nothing?" That was -- alarming. Even more than Ran's alternate dimension theory. Three months and Hattori didn't have a lead--

"I think we can assume that the fog is deliberate -- either the location was chosen because it would be hard to investigate or the fog is engineered to create the same effect," Conan decided. "Nothing else you've noticed--" Conan paused, unsure what name was more approrpiate. "Uh -- Hattori-san?"

"'Hattori-san'?" Ran repeated, disbelievingly, though the smug grin on his face indicated that it was more than half act. "Aren't you two on a first name basis yet? She already knows who you are..."

"Jus' Hattori's fine."

And it suddenly hit her, the realization that she was female and Kudo was male and Ran was male. And that's how it was in that world. And Ran is teasing and teasing means...

Not going there. Not ever. Not letting herself go there. Not Kudo. Not her. Not ever.

"Or," covering over the moment with a hasty continuation of conversation, "there's nothin' out there. There's nothin' here, no information, no clues, nothin'. Jus' this building an' th' alternate versions'a people."

"Oh. 'n th' pillow fight."

"That's different," Conan said immediately, trying to pretend he wasn't pink. It wasn't working -- Ran was so going to hear about this later. "Hattori then."

"That can't be a possibility, can it?" Conan seized the distraction gratefully, although the possibility Hattori had raised alarmed him. True they hadn't found anything that seemed promising yet -- but that didn't mean they wouldn't.

"... pillow fight?"

Ran was of the mind that it was totally worth it.

Though he was also pinged by Hattori's comment. "Pillow fight?"

Kudo does not need to be turning strange colors. It doesn't help with her whole 'try to pretend you don't like him' thing.

"That was somethin' strange that actually happened, instead'a just being a feature'a this place. 'm surprised no one's mentioned it yet."

Though, she's not sure who's still around from November.

"November... fifteenth. Nothing unusual had happened, 'n then everyone was wearing their pajamas an' th' floor was covered in th' remains 'f a pillow fight."

It's not doing much for Conan's 'Convincing Ran there is nothing going on there' campaign.

He's trying very hard not to picture Hattori's pyjamas. "Everyone? So -- everyone was gathered in the one place? Was that deliberate?"

"And it was just the leftovers of a fight?" Ran queried further. "Nobody was actually playing?"

Oh yeah, and the nightgown wasn't even her's. Waaay more see-through than anything she owned. Hakuba had turned odd colors.

"Not in one place, but in different places 'n we were before. I'm never gonna be able ta talk ta that Hakuba again."

A grin at Ran. "Exactly."

"Why wouldn't you be able to--" Conan trailed off as the reasoning part of his brain filled in the blanks for him.

... he'd never liked Hakuba much to start.

Ran's thoughts had followed a similar line of reasoning, and the boy flushed. "What kind of pajamas were you in?"

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Feel free to go on without Ran for a bit, he doesn't have much to say.

XD What, no input from meitantei Ran?

He's probably hoping for teasing material.

I wouldn't be suprised...

He's probably never seen Conan and Hattori behaving like adults. This must be totally new.

That's pretty much exactly it.

Ah, poor Ran.

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