Open (Introductions Time)

[deductiongeek]

Who: Conan, Ran, close CR, anyone
What: Conan's life just got more complicated again. And he has someone he needs to introduce.
Where: Throughout the Train
When: Fiddlesticks Days 13-14-15

The mission had worked as a distraction, but after finally returning to the train Conan had realized that he had some decisions to make. Ran was here, and only knew him as Conan. There were others here... People who had supported him as Conan, and had seen him change to Shinichi or had learned his secret in other ways. But none of them knew the full story, or why he had kept his secrets from Ran all this time.

Apart from all of this, he needed to introduce Ran to the people on the train he knew could be trusted. He needed to warn the people in the know that they needed to keep the secret. (He wanted to tell Ran the truth, more than anything. But not now. Not like this. Not until he could tell her the truth while wearing his own face and name.)

And so, the day after returning from the mission, Conan made his plans. He sought out Ran, keeping close beside her. And over the next few days he introduces her to the people he knew on the train. He tries to strike a balance between the childish behavior Ran had come to expect from him, and the more adult-like attitude he had adopted on the train. (He is not always successful.) And to those who know the secret, he carefully phrases his words to warn them not to say anything to Ran.

Comments

[najaran]

Najaran might be spending a lot of time hanging out in the kitchen with all this seafood around, which isn't atypical for her. But in addition to eating, she's also looking at what other ingredients they have so she can make something special. She looks up seeing them and gives them a bright smile. "Hello!" she said, cheerfully. A small furry creature opened one of the cabinets from inside and shook a box at her. "Oh! Thank you, that will do perfectly!" she said, taking it. The creature scurried off to check other high places it could climb to that she couldn't see.

She turned back to the humans. "I don't suppose either of you know how to make crab cakes?"

[deductiongeek]

Conan had only met Najaran once as Conan, and that had been while he was in the early stages of the change. The second time he had been Shinichi, although she may have been too sleepy at the time to notice much. He had no idea whether she would be likely to bring either time up, and if he'd had a choice he would have avoided her until he had a better idea of how she would react.

But it would be suspicious if he left the kitchen now without saying anything to her.

"Hello," he says brightly. "It was Najaran, right? Did you ever figure out how to do laundry?"

He gestures back at Ran. "This is Ran-neechan. She's from my world."

[singlefaith]

"W-What was that?" Have a staring Ran whose hand has tightened sharply on Conan's. Her paradigm up until this point hasn't included large-eyed creatures handing people things out of cabinets, and although the train has definitely challenged that paradigm considerably, it also keeps throwing new things at her.

The creature might not actually be a monster or ghost, but to an unknowing eye, it might fit into the former category, and Ran is terrified of both.

. . . Yet somehow she kicked giant crab butt during the recent mission. Go figure.

Fiddlesticks 14? Garden!

[mtsilver_conquor]

Most days are spent napping, with Eva, or in her pokeball, but now and then, Dancer does fly through the train, careful not disturb people. She's quiet and polite, unlike another of Eva's pokemon. Today, she's stopped in the garden -both for a drink of water and because the metal beam is a Good Perching Place.

Or, it was, but the simple stone fountain is a much better one, and while she is curious about the people -her Mistress has spoken to them, or one of them at least- The only greeting she gives is a soft warbled trill.

Re: Fiddlesticks 14? Garden!

[deductiongeek]

Conan glances up as he pulls Ran into the garden. That bird...

"You're one of Eva's, aren't you?" His expression sours. "Are you better behaved than Princess?"

[singlefaith]

For her turn, Ran lights up at the sight of the bird perched on the edge of the fountain. "Ah, beautiful~! Do you think it would let us get closer?"

Why Conan is being so sour at it, she isn't sure. "Mou, that isn't nice, you know."

Greenhouse, where else!

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel was in the Greenhouse car, watering all the plants that told him they were a little dry. The sunflowers just stared at him in fascination, as usual.

He looked up when Conan walked into the car with a lovely young human lady. "Hello," he said with a friendly smile.

So many elves in the greenhouse

[deductiongeek]

Conan smiles brightly and deliberately at Glorfindel, the first step in his plan to ask for help without having to say anything aloud.

"Hello Glorfindel-niichan! This is Ran-neechan! She took care of me back in my world."

[singlefaith]

The greenhouse is quickly becoming one of Ran's preferred places; it's beautiful and natural, and even the air smells fresher than the rest of the train. It's nice to be able to get at least some semblance of outside, given that the actual outside doesn't generally seem to be an option.

She bows to Glorfindel with a smile, hands clasped in front of her. "Hello. Thank you for helping to take care of Conan-kun."

Greenhouse

[marriedanidiot]

As always, Nerdanel is in the garden, working on her sculpture. She doesn't know Conan well, but Glorfindel is fond of the boy, so she looks up and smiles at him.

"Hello youngling. Who is your friend?"

Re: Greenhouse

[deductiongeek]

Conan frowns a little at her. He'd seen her around, but didn't know her well.

"This is Ran-neechan," he tells her. "She's new on the train, so I'm taking her to meet everyone!"

[singlefaith]

"Hello." Being taken around and introduced like this is a little embarrassing, but it's also very sweet of Conan, and it is giving her the opportunity to thank people. With a bow, "It's nice to meet you. I hope we aren't interrupting!"

She's not quite sure how to take Conan's small frown. Is this someone to be careful of?

Schoolroom

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin and Conan/Shinichi have mostly avoided each other since the night when the smaller boy’s secret was revealed, so he’s rather surprised to be approached now. Joss is sitting in the part of the train that has become a school, working on an advanced mathematical proof that Tony Stark had given him as homework with obvious frustration. Usually he’s much better at maths than this, but he simply can’t seem to solve this one. (The lack of a calculator is not helping.)

He’s thankful for the distraction.

“What? Oh, hullo Conan.”

Re: Schoolroom

[deductiongeek]

Conan gives the other not-child a sour look as they enter. He didn't particularly want to talk to him at the moment, but the circumstances demanded it.

"Hello Joss-kun," he says in an obnoxiously bright manner. "Have you met Ran-neechan yet? She took care of me back home."

[singlefaith]

Attuned as she usually is, Ran catches the sourness in Conan's expression, though she doesn't know what to make of it. It doesn't seem to be mutual, at least not from the other boy's greeting.

It's not something she feels she can call him on, though -- at least not for the moment.

"Hello," she offers with a smile. "I hope we're not interrupting?"

Standard Car~ 15th Fiddlesticks

[unfavorableinstigation]

This time, they could find Nita in the 'library car' when Tony wasn't conducting lessons, going over the books (and her improvised book list) again.

She looked up, smiling.

"Good to see you two. Rested well, then?"

Re: Standard Car~ 15th Fiddlesticks

[deductiongeek]

"Mostly," Conan says, deliberately cheerful. He was fairly sure Nita knew the reasons for his secrets. "I don't think this one was as bad as some of the others."

[singlefaith]

The greeting is cheerful, familiar, and . . . puzzling. Ran has only seen Nita before as a whale, so a human version is unrecognizable. "I'm sorry -- have we met?"

Games Carriage

[iamnotgod]

Webmind, with his rather distinct appearance, is not hard to spot or approach - stepping away from the ICP on this floor of the carriage politely, he offers a bright smile-projection to the two of them.

"Conan! It is good to see you. And Ran Mouri - we have not talked before yet, have we? A pleasure to meet you as well."

Don't mind him knowing names - or not using Conan's given name...

Re: Games Carriage

[deductiongeek]

Conan really needed to sit down with Webmind one of these days and find out exactly what he knew about his life. Because he was very sure that he had never mentioned Ran to him.

"Hello! Its been a while." He turns to look at Ran. "This is Webmind. I met him when he arrived on the platform."

[singlefaith]

"It's nice to meet you." Webmind has caught Ran a little off-guard, though, prompting a couple of quick, wide-eyed blinks. Conan seems to know him, so maybe it's come up in conversation, but: "Sorry, but . . . how did you know my name?"

There, Conan. She'll ask the question you aren't.

Let's go with Gym!

[sell_tickets]

Khary had lost... a lot of weight on the mission. And while steady eating in massive quantities was helping to put it back, he needed to make sure that it was coming back as muscle, not fat. So he was working out almost as much as he was eating since they got back. Just now he was in the gym car using Craft to float any number of balls around, deflecting them as they came at him with a long staff. His Sapphire Jewel in his necklace was bright, flashing as he moved. The Sapphire chip in his ring however was dull. On the mission, both had seemed vibrantly alive with an inner fire. This however... did not need all that much Craft. Mostly it needed focus, being as much a magical exercise of maintaining that many balls in motion in the air as it was a physical one of knocking them away. He was sending them at himself hard enough and fast enough one after the other that he was working up a sweat, moving like a dance in the center of these balls, and as each was knocked away it stopped at exactly the same distance from his head that it started and joined the others in their slow circular orbit.

It was good exercise and all, but he was kind of hoping that someone would come in and offer to work out with him... this stuff was always more fun when someone else was on the other end. Either other end.

[singlefaith]

For once Ran had arrived in the car before Conan, stepping in ahead of him -- though as she realizes what's going on, she stops abruptly (perhaps quickly enough for him to run into her legs), caught in awe by the motion of the balls swimming through the air. For a moment she's forgotten everything around her, captured. Saying anything doesn't even come to mind, not wanting to break the moment.

Dressing Car.

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter's where he usually is-lounging in one of the web hammocks, one leg hanging off the side as the hammock gently sways. He's also in the middle of playing his DS as his concentration is fully on the screen in his hand.

"Don't you use rock smash on-damnit." Peter groans. "Well, RIP I guess." He glances down to see he has company offers a wave. "S'up Conan.... Uh...Er.. Ma'am?" He regards Ran.

[deductiongeek]

"This is Ran-neechan," Conan tells Peter. "She takes care of me at home. I'm introducing her to everyone here."

He gives Peter a significant look as he says this. Catch the hint.