Catch-all for August

[spoilsfun]

Characters:  Conan Edogawa and Anyone
Date: August
Location: Anywhere
Situation: Catch-All
Warnings/Rating: None


1 Early August.
After the mess and confusion of the last few weeks, Conan had put a lot of effort into disappearing. He hadn't met a lot of people in the short time he had been transformed to his true age. But he had met enough. It was safer if he didn't run into anyone until memory had had time to fade somewhat.

And he needed time for himself. For a few hours, barely a moment in time, he had hoped that the apotoxin had worn off. That this time he would be able to stay.

But he had returned to his child's body just as abruptly as he had returned to his real age. And he still didn't understand why. He needed time to think everything over.

So he stays in the apartment over the cat cafe, and he wanders around the outskirts town, trying to make a point of avoiding anyone he recognized.


2. Late August

After a few weeks, Conan starts to appear in public more often. With no responsibilities here, he finds himself spending much of his time exploring. He wanders around the city, and familiarizes himself with the major locations. The welcome center, the police station, the library, the college... 

Conan visits them all, and many more besides. 

If he was going to be stuck here for a while, then he needed to know as much as he could about this place. He needed to know the city just as well as he knew Beika. and this was the time to do it, before anyone truly realized that he was a kid alone in this place with no true supervision. 

Comments

1.

[purrns]

Adrien doesn't make a point of going up the the apartment while he's working. He tends to leave it well alone. That's Avery's place. Well, Avery and Conan's.

He hadn't seen much of him during that...mess, but then again, people didn't see a lot of him, being a cat and all. Now things are going back to normal (or as normal as they can on board a giant world-turtle) he's taking stock of the people around him.

He catches Conan on one of his stealthy attempts to leave the apartment, offering him a wide smile and a wave.

"Oh hey. I was wondering where you'd got to. Everything okay?"

[spoilsfun]

"Everything's fine. Is there a reason you're asking?"

Conan easily recognizes him as one of the employees of the cafe.

[purrns]

Adrien maintains the polite smile. Which is to say, he sees what you're doing, Conan, with all your sneaking, but he won't directly point it out.

"I hadn't seen you for a while. I'm guessing you got caught with that magic weirdness too, right?"

[spoilsfun]

"No, I wasn't affected by it. But it was a really strange week, wasn't it?"

Conan delivers the lie without a hint of guilt.

[purrns]

And Adrien, trusting soul that he is, will buy it. Still, he leans back clearly getting ready to enjoy a conversation. No escape, Conan.

"Oh, wow, that was lucky! I was stuck as a cat the whole time. It was so weird."

[spoilsfun]

Oh great. Conan recognized that expression. This guy wanted to socialize.

"How is that even possible?"

He'd like to object to it being completely impossible, but Conan himself was proof that it was possible for a drastic change in body shape and size to occur.

[purrns]

Accept it, Conan. Embrace it. It's the best.

"Magic? Zatanna had a little potion mixup. It was really, really awkward, all the same. Good thing I work in a cat cafe and could still do some of my job, right?"

He's smiling and laughing. See, it's funny. Come on, Conan, you can do this.

[spoilsfun]

"Magic isn't an explanation." It wasn't. Even if Conan had reluctantly accepted the idea that there was something here he couldn't explain that people called magic, he was not willing to accept that that in itself was an explanation for anything.

He completely missed the joke.

[purrns]

Before he ended up with the magic ring and the magic pixie and all the magical powers, Adrien would have probably agreed with him. But these days? Magic is a pretty strong explanation for most things.

"You...do know you're on the back of a magical turtle right? Magic is pretty strong here."

[spoilsfun]

"And what? Saying that something is magical doesn't actually mean anything. It doesn't say anything about what or why."

[purrns]

"Sometimes, I think, you just have to accept they can't be explained."

It's pretty much how he gets through his daily life back home. It's much easier to accept it for what it is than try and understand it. At least when he needs to protect the whole city from it.

"It's not the best course, but sometimes, we don't have a choice."

[spoilsfun]

"I don't accept that. There is no such thing as something that cannot be explained, only things that have not been explained yet."

[purrns]

Boy, he would sure hate Adrien's home. Nothing makes sense there on what they call a Regular Tuesday. Adrien smiles a little to himself at the thought.

"So you don't think that some things just happen for no explanation at all?"

[spoilsfun]

"Of course not. There's no such thing as something that just happens."

[purrns]

"You'd be surprised. It happens back home all the time. There's magic all over the place these days."

[spoilsfun]

"Magic being everywhere doesn't mean that it can't be explained."

[purrns]

"People in my world get infected by little black butterflies and turn into supervillains. With sudden powers and a new look and everything. Like one of my classmates? Literally turned into a giant, living rock-person."

He gives a shrug.

"As much as I'm a fan of science, I don't think we can explain that one too easily."

[spoilsfun]

"And if no one tries to explain it just because it looks impossible, nothing will ever be accomplished."

That brief description wasn't anything even close to enough to start formulating theories, but Conan was certain that there had to be an explanation. There had to be a reason.

[purrns]

"I welcome any ideas you have on that one."

Is that a gauntlet thrown down? Possibly. He keeps his polite smile on, though. Come on, Conan, explain the magical bullshit he has to deal with on a weekly basis with science. He dares you.

[spoilsfun]

"To come up with theories I'd have to know a lot more about what exactly is happening."

Because any theory needed to follow the evidence.

[purrns]

"Well, I don't know all the ins and outs, that's what our superheroes are for. But what I do know is someone gets infected by a butterfly, and turns into a villain. A different one each time, with whole new changes to them and whole new powers."

[spoilsfun]

"Is there any physical difference in the butterflies? Has anyone ever tried to track them?"

[purrns]

"They're purple and black when they infect someone, but when Ladybug - that's one of our heroes, she cleanses them, and they turn white and flutter away."

Why HADN'T they tracked them? That's a really good question.

"I don't think anyone has. Unless the heroes have? You'd have to ask them about that."

That gives him enough time to think of a suitable excuse.

[spoilsfun]

"Do you know why they change? Has anyone filmed them and analyzed the change? What about a chemical analysis?"

Conan frowns in thought over the problem.

"Heroes? More than just this Ladybug? Are they here?"

[purrns]

"Alya has. She's a friend of mine and a big Ladybug fan. She films everything. I don't think it's chemical, though, they get trapped inside a yo-yo then come out white."

Technically, he's not shifting away from the truth here. His just omitting the very obviously magical powers of the yo-yo, because that's not something he'd really know as Adrien.

"Hmm. She has a partner called Chat Noir. Both of them are here."

[spoilsfun]

"What kind of film? Has she tried high speed and filters for different parts of the spectrum?"

He frowns. Why a yo-yo?

"Does anyone else besides the two of them know anything about this yo-yo?"

[purrns]

"Um...I really don't know, I'm afraid. She uses her phone?"

BECAUSE, CONAN, BECAUSE.

"Maybe the guy causing all the trouble? But they're the only ones who'd know how it works. Ladybug is probably your best person to ask there, seen as it's hers."

[spoilsfun]

"Probably not much for any decent analysis, then."

SILENTLY JUDGING EVERYONE INVOLVED.

"How much does she know about it?"

[purrns]

"I guess not?"

If it was, she'd probably have figured out who Ladybug was by now.

"I'm honestly not sure, I don't know her all that well."

Which was true. It was something he planned on fixing very soon.

[spoilsfun]

"How do you know her then?"

[purrns]

"She rescued me a couple of times," he smiles, it's STILL TRUE. "Plus, it's hard to miss her, she's a prominent superhero."

[spoilsfun]

"Superheroes are fictional."

[purrns]

Wow, excuse YOU, Conan. Adrien looks straight up insulted for half a second, before the passive, polite smile is back.

"I've seen them with my own eyes. They're real where I come from."

[spoilsfun]

"Are you sure they weren't actors?"

[purrns]

"...No. They're not. They've literally saved Paris about a hundred times. There's no way you can act out something like that."

Dude, he's nearly died like twenty times can you not?!!

[spoilsfun]

"How can you be sure? They could just be tricking everyone."

[purrns]

"You mean besides the fact they're actively saving peoples lives? Right in front of our faces?"

There's a little terseness coming through on his otherwise pleasant tone.

"They're not tricking anyone, they're trying to keep everyone safe."

[spoilsfun]

"That's a very old trick. Because lots of people think that the hero of an incident is above suspicion. So sometimes criminals set up crimes to make it look like they were the heroes that came to stop it."

Conan had seen that trick over and over, in many different variations. The arsonist who came to put the fire out, the murderer who called the ambulance and tried to use detectives and police officers as alibis, the thief who claimed to be a bystander injured in a fight with the culprit...

[purrns]

Adrien stares at him for a moment like his head has dropped off. There's the urge to really blow off at him, but Adrien keeps it together. This, at least, he is an expert in. Deep breath. In. Out. Don't give yourself away.

"They absolutely didn't do that. I've MET one of them, talked to her. They just want to keep the city safe from the person actually corrupting people and turning them into axtual dangerous beings."

[spoilsfun]

"Just something to keep in mind. You shouldn't trust people that easily, you know."

[purrns]

"Not these guys. Especially not Ladybug. She's earned my trust."

He'd literally jump through fire for her. Without even half a second of thought. Which is...very likely something Conan would warn against but there you go.

[spoilsfun]

"How did she do that?"

Conan may be cynical and suspicious about everyone's motivations, but he really had no room to talk when it came to jumping through fire for your live interest.

[purrns]

"She saved my life, my best friend's life...all my friends' lives actually. And my father's."

Plus he's her partner and knows exactly what her motivations are...which he can't just speak about openly. Too bad.

"She really does just want us all to be safe. I've got no reason not to trust her."

[spoilsfun]

"Isn't it dangerous to put that much trust in someone?"

[purrns]

"...I think you're kind of missing the point of trust."

[spoilsfun]

"What point is that?"

[purrns]

"That you know that they'll keep you safe no matter what. It's about knowing that it won't be dangerous, because they'll never take advantage of you."

[spoilsfun]

"There aren't many people out there that are safe to trust like that."

[purrns]

"I agree," for the most part. Adrien, by his nature, is pretty trusting, but even he knows you have to exercise caution. "But that doesn't mean no one is."