Fresh from that wonderful RP, Adstringendum

[callim-causa.livejournal.com]

This particular flavour of Hakuba Saguru looks a bit worse for wear as he stumbles through a door in the hall. A door in the hall which leads only to another hallway. He's surprised, yes, but not extremely so, and after he checks and confirms he can't get back out the way he came in, he sags to the ground against the wall.

He's dirty, like he's been living somewhere without running water, his once pristine tweed suit is ripped and frayed, and there's snow melting on his shoulders. He's also very thin, almost unhealthy so, and exhaustion is written on every line of him, in the circles under his eyes, in the sunken hollows of his cheeks, in the way he breathes, in the slump of his shoulders.

Whatever life he's been living, it hasn't been kind to him.

Comments

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Conan notices the hesitation. "It's all right. Ran-niisan's been eating it all the time he's been here, and I ate it yesterday, and I feel fine too."

[callim-causa.livejournal.com]

"Thank you."

And it's not the speed at which he puts the food on his plate, or the amount that shows how famished he is as much as the fact that he really isn't paying much attention to what he's gathering.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

That is -- alarming, and Conan takes an onigiri for himself as he goes to find them a table, so that Hakuba doesn't just have to take his word for it. "How long have you been away?" he asks as Hakuba joins him.

[callim-causa.livejournal.com]

"It was October 20th when I arrived in Adstringendum. Today is January 26th, correct?"

He slips into a chair, eating calmly, but steadily.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Conan checks his notebook rather than his phone to answer that question. "Yes. Yes, it should be. That's -- almost as long as Hattori-neechan's been here." He paused. "Ne, Hakuba-niisan, you've never been here before, right?"

[callim-causa.livejournal.com]

"I don't believe so, and I have been keeping a fairly accurate journal. I would notice if I were missing a day."

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Hakuba's shins were safe -- for now. "That's good." Conan added Hakuba's dates to his growing list.

[callim-causa.livejournal.com]

"There's a female version of Hattori-kun?"

That... would have been very strange.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

The 'kun' grated on Conan's nerves. "Hattori-san," he said. "Don't get too familiar."

[callim-causa.livejournal.com]

Well, that was an interesting reaction. How much of an age difference was there between Edogawa and Hattori?

"My apologies."

He supposed he would have used 'Hattori-san' instead of 'western detective-kun' if the other had been female. The idea was still very strange, and he pushed it to the back of his mind, to mull over later.

"Is Hattori-san female in your world?"

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Conan's answer came in the tones of someone tired of explaining this. "Hattori-neechan is Hattori-neechan."

[callim-causa.livejournal.com]

"I see."

There were more questions he would like to ask the boy, but for the moment, he concentrated on finishing off the plate of food.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

For his part, Conan let Hakuba eat. You could fake appearance, fake knowledge of Hakuba's cases, but the thin-ness, the single-mindedness with which he applied himself to his plate--

How would you even begin faking that? And why?

He really didn't like the conclusions he was drawing -- he was intending to debunk the alternates theory, not subscribe to it.