middleofsomewhere | Memory Cave

Entry tags:

Memory Cave

After the passengers see a glimpse of a life that is not their own they appear in a cave. It is light, a strange moss glowing on the walls and ceiling illuminates the cave nicely and it is large enough for them to pace around in without trouble.

They are not alone. In the cave with them is another voidtrecker. Maybe someone they know well, maybe someone they have only seen in the aisles of the train. But they are together in this cave together.

The cave has no exit, at least not yet. They know that it will, eventually. When the time is right.

But for that time to come, they first must talk...

(OOC: For reference: memories!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It wasn't a fountain of youth. It was an attempted murder. It just didn't quite work.

[He grimaces slightly at the memory. He was silently glad that that memory hadn't been shared.]

And the people who did this to me are still out there. They think I'm dead. If Ran knew... They kill anyone who knows anything about them.

Anyone who knows the truth of what happened is in danger. But if Ran knew she would want to help me. She would come to their attention that way, and they would kill her. If it keeps her safe, I'll let her treat me as a child she just happens to take care of. Even if it means that she grows to hate me.

[He knew the consequences of what he was doing. But as long as the consequences of telling her were even worse, he would take whatever happened. ]

....Y'know 'quite' ain't really th' word I'd use. Tha's a hell 'f a misfire if y' ask me. [He says it with all the dryness of someone who has had their own life threatened at least more than once.

He does, however, arch a brow at the reasoning.] ...Ain' tha' th' same f'r anyone y' so much as talk to then? Y' ask me, people don' tend t' care abou' if someone says they do or don' know, when it comes t' wantin' people dead. 'f someone who's willin' t' kill thinks there's a risk, they're goin' for it. Period, [he adds with wide eyes.] If someone knows, y' can at least make it clear t' keep shit underwraps, can't y'? I mean...

B'tween you an' me, she doesn' exactly seem like an idiot. Take it fr'm an idiot, [he snorts, jabbing a thumb at himself. Self-deprecating comments are Okay for things like this.]

Th' hell they try t' kill y' with anyway? [Look, he tried not to ask. It lasted a few seconds. But he's gotta ask.]

I was forced to take poison. [The answer was short, and he hoped it would be taken as an unwillingness to talk about a painful experience. Because risking his own secret was one thing. Revealing Haibara's secret was not an option. ]

Ran... [He presses his lips together and looks down.] They'll kill anyone that could be a security risk for them, but killing everyone in association with me would be a waste of resources. That many murders would risk drawing attention. It isn't much of a protection, but its the most I can give her.

I've been under watch by them before. If she knew, she'd have to pretend not to know me. Constantly. Even one slip up could be enough.

[The curtness has it's intended effect. He doesn't push.

But he does grow serious.] Won't be a waste 'f they figure it's someone yer close to, can tell y' tha'. I won' tell y' to tell 'er now, but I can tell y' this.

Shit has it's ways 'f comin' out. Do it on yer own terms, b'fore 's too late.

[It's something he speaks of from experience; the duels in particular come to mind.

(And there is a reason why Seto Kaiba of the memory froze when her opponent scowled and remarked on colds, as she realized her own cards and traps were poisoning him the entire time)

Secrets come out- at least they do in Katsuya's experience.

But hey.

This is getting a bit tense.] ....You could really do better on th' actin' though, if yer gonna stick t' it. Coffee?

[Conan lets the rest of the conversation drop. He was aware of all of that, already. But as long as he saw no other way out of the situation, it was going to have to stay that way.]

Have you ever tried to go without caffeine?

....Dude I work nights back home.

[Hm. Conan has finally met someone he can't make this argument with.]

Look- it's suspicious as hell, an' apparently you really suck at sneakin' it. Yer girlfriend's worried! Or friend if y' wanna keep it less awkward f'r now, [he hums, shrugging.] She told me, your whole reason f'r it was 'I don't wanna sleep', an' honestly tha's a true enough reason tha' I'm gonna be worried 'f it's legit!

Shit man, I get nightmares too, I'll lend y' th' ponyta if it fixes this. ...Gonna suck f'r me mind, [he mutters quietly to the side.]

[Conan sighs.]

I went without coffee at home. I was always under watch, and no one would give it to a kid. And then I was here alone for months, and no one cared what I drank. So I got into the habit again.

And the sleeping...is not really that bad. But Ran worries. She always worries, and nothing I try seems to help.

[Some days he felt like he was drowning in the guilt. Everything he tried to get her to stop worrying just seemed to backfire and made her worry even more.

And... if he was going to be honest, he hadn't been doing well here. Not for a long time. He was trapped here with his real name attached to him and nothing but a paper thin excuse as protection. Months he'd been here alone on the train, constantly hearing reassurances that it was safe here, while knowing all along that all it took was one new arrival and it would be the opposite. Eventually he'd let himself be persuaded that it was okay to let his disguise slip a little. To feel some of the freedom of sometimes acting like himself, even if he couldn't have his real identity. Knowing that if one of them arrived, he was dead here either way.

And then Ran had arrived. And he'd had to bury himself back into the role of a small child again.

And once again, he felt trapped. This time by his own safeguards and lies.

But none of that was anything he wanted to say to someone he had just met. He seizes on that last odd comment as a change in conversation. ]

Two questions. What's a ponyta, and what does it have to do with anything?

Maybe you could curb it off with soda 'r somethin'. Or jus' get like. A water bottle, have someone fill it ahead 'f time...

[BACK ALLEY COFFEE TRADES.

Ah- but Katsuya pauses. He almost reaches for his pokeballs...but, finds those aren't there. Weird. Staring at his hand for a moment (is this like when he dreams..?), he shrugs it off.] I'll have t' show y' when we get outta here. 'S a kind 'f pokemon. Uh...not like Eva's though, jus' realized if y've been here months tha's prob'bly yer exposure...

It's more...cartoony? I wasn' from th' world I came here from. I fell there, from mine. Somethin' abou' a wormhole problem. Place was like a damn dreamland- like nothin' really bad could ever stick. Point is, tha's th' kinda place I found my pokemon.

Kaseri's abou' yay big- looks like a little rainbow unicorn pony kinda deal. An' by jus' standin' in a room, she'll calm a guy down. Tha' Stark guy wondered if it'd be a good idea f'r like...post-mission recovery or whatever, 's part 've why I went an' got Amar back too.

Well tha' and honestly, Kaseri needs some company but still.

...Normally she sleeps on my bunk, [he finishes vaguely, letting Conan connect the dots. If he's offering the horse, he's offering it because it works. And the reason he knows why it works is...]

Conan was starting to get a headache just trying to make sense of all of that. Wormholes? Pokemon, but not the same kind as he'd encountered before? A rainbow unicorn that could impact moods?

But once he finally parses through all of that he shakes his head.

"I'll be fine. I need to find a way to keep Ran from worrying, and I doubt any of that would help much."

Knowing Ran she would just worry more if she figured out that the nightmares were so bad that he needed help to sleep. He needed to figure this out on his own.

"Hah! Y' say tha' but Ran was th' first t' hear th' idea an' she approved! Jus' give it a shot, yeah? She'll b'have. Ain' like we can try much righ' now anyway...so..."

Well. He says that, but there's a fair chance an exit is about to make itself known.

"Thanks for the offer,but I'll pass. I'd rather deal with my problems on my own."

Plus, after his dealing with Princess, Conan wasn't sure if he really trusted pokemon to be helpful. Even if these ones were supposed to be different.

"Alrigh'....if Ran starts freakin' out about y' goin' for caffeine charged insomnia though, I'm throwin' th' ponyta at y'."

Which is about all he has to say to that. From there, he just falls back in a stretch, sighing. "We'll be out in a minute 'r so anyway, so I guess we'll go back t' what we were doin' before..."

"It would be nice if this was the end of this." And he finished this with just the damage so far. He could think of far too many secrets he held that could be revealed by certain other memories. "But that's most likely far too optimistic."

"Heh! Well, I figure it ain' so bad f'r now. Leas' it seems t' be in pairs righ'..?"

No sooner does he say this, than a set of doors appear at two points in the room.

"Hahhh..." He stands, stretching. "Only here f'r another day anyway righ'? No probl'm bein' optimistic then."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Memory Cave

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Ahaha, when your paid runs out, and leaves you with one Conan icon and 14 Shinichi icons.

Lmfao oh no

Okay, finally remembered to renew the paid

\o/

Re: \o/

no subject