Insomnia Club Meeting?

[deductiongeek]

Who: Conan and Anyone
What: Insomnia
Where: Kitchen
When: Catfish Day 3, very late

It was late, well after midnight. And sleep was not happening tonight. 

Conan had dragged himself out of bed and made his way to the kitchen where he claimed one of the tables. He sits there, clutching at the strongest cup of coffee he could make, and stares moodily out the window. 

Comments

[deductiongeek]

"Shinichi Kudo. And the inspectors used his name and age when they were here." Conan makes a face. "They looked confused, but I didn't think it was a good idea to correct them."

Half truths and lies.

[so_dark_a_road]

"Very odd. So they think you're him. How old is he?"

Half truths and lies have their uses!

[deductiongeek]

"Seventeen." Conan pauses a moment. "They looked confused."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Hmm, it seems they know enough about human beings to know that a seventeen-year-old would be taller than you are." He smiles at Conan. "No wonder they were confused. But they believed you were Shinichi, because your ticket said you were?"

[deductiongeek]

"They asked me to confirm it, but they accepted it."

He makes a face.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to claim that I wasn't supposed to be here."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Indeed not! We don't know what the inspectors would do if they thought someone was here unauthorized. They seem very much the bureaucratic type, and you never know how such types might act when they think something is not as it should be. They might toss you off the train into the Void, for all we know."

He makes a face too. He doesn't want anything to happen to Conan.

"So I guess you're Shinichi for the duration."

[deductiongeek]

"When the inspectors are here, at least."

Conan was not happy about this. But it was the best strategy he'd been able to cobble together. And if one of them did arrive on the train? At least any risk should only fall on himself.

Although resigning himself to essentially living with a target on himself for the foreseeable future was a major contributor to his increased nightmares and bad mood.

[so_dark_a_road]

"Yes. If the inspectors come back, I'll be sure to call you Shinichi if we're both in their presence."

Curufin could see that Conan wasn't happy and that he was still reluctant to talk about it. He must have his reasons, though Curufin will always be willing to listen, should Conan be ready to talk in the future.

"Damn, I need a refill already. You want more coffee?" he asks, standing up.

[deductiongeek]

"Mmm, I could use some more." Conan passes his cup over, thinking as he does. He was tempted to just leave at that. But should he?

Would knowing that much be enough to put anyone in danger if one of them arrived here?

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin takes Conan's cup and his own and goes to pour more coffee. He comes back and hands Conan his refill, and then he sits down and takes a sip of his own. "Mmm, that was what I needed."

And then he smiles at Conan and waits for him to say something.

[deductiongeek]

Conan takes his cup and stares into it for a long moment.

"If anyone else from my world shows up here again," he says at last,"don't use that name around them."

[so_dark_a_road]

"All right," Curufn agrees. "I'll call you Conan in that case. So, the people you know don't know about Shinichi?. . . or do they?"

[deductiongeek]

"Shinichi-niichan," Conan says carefully,"has been missing for a year. A lot of people think he's dead."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Ah, that's a difficult thing," answers Curufin. "Were you close to your cousin? Do you think he's dead, or is there some other explanation?"

[deductiongeek]

"He's alive." Here, Conan had to be careful. He needed to give just enough of the truth to impress the need for secrecy without letting on to what was really going on or how bad the situation really was for him.

"I've talked to him a few times. But he had to go into hiding because he ran into some really bad people. They think he's dead right now."

What Conan doesn't say is that this put him in a rather terrible position at the moment. If one of them ever showed up here, even if they didn't figure out the truth of his identity, it wouldn't be a great leap to assume that the child carrying Shinichi's name with him would know something about the detective's location.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin nods. He gets it that there is a need for secrecy.

"Then it is best those bad people continue to think he's dead. I hope none of them shows up here, but if any do, you can alert me. I certainly won't use Shinichi's r name around them."

[deductiongeek]

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

One less thing to worry about for him.

Good place to wrap?

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin nods. "No problem."