paradisalogs | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Conan and YOU
What: Nightmare
When: Now
Where: Inside Conan's mind

Conan gasps desperately for air as he skids around a corner, nearly falling into a puddle as he does so. He is barefoot and dressed in a hugely oversized pullover and jeans, the clothing obviously intended to be worn by someone twice his height. Blood is smeared halfway across his face, probably coming from a deep cut on his head.

His surroundings seem to be what you might expect from any alley on such a dark and rainy night. Dismal, dark and slick with rain. But there is something wrong about the perspective. Everything stretches high up into the sky, further than the eye can see in the darkness.

Carefully pulling up the trailing edges of his jeans, he presses himself up against the wall and listens for any sounds of pursuit.

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Well, not everyone knows that fact. Dairine included.

If he told her what was going on, then she could assess the situation for herself and decide if she wanted to get involved. As it is, Dairine is taking this dream like most of her assignments -- an unknown task with unknown dangers. She'll work on the details as she goes.

"Uh huh..." Somehow she doubts that. "Then what happened to your face?"

For a genius, Conan could be a bit of an idiot sometimes when it came to people. Even after a year in Paradisa and dealing with the realization that people here could take care of themselves even in dangerous situations, he still treated his problems from his world as his own private business.

After all, it was all his fault he'd become trapped in this situation. How could he ask anyone else to face the danger when they were uninvolved?

He still didn't understand that some people wanted to help him.

"...An accident."

"An accident," she repeats, in a clear 'I-don't-believe-you-one-bit' tone.

"Doing what?"

"I fell." His answer is short. And technically true. He had fallen, after being struck on the head by a pipe.

"Uh huuuh," Dairine says slowly. She's used to giving ambiguous half-truths, as outright lying can be dangerous in her field. So she recognizes the intentional avoidance. "And would this fall somehow be related to why it isn't safe here?"

Conan never gets to answer, as their conversation is suddenly interrupted by the sound of a distant explosion. He takes off running towards it with no other warning than a hurried order to hide.

Dairine quickly turns her head towards the direction of the sound. Was that what she thought it was...? The explosion distracts her long enough for Conan to run off without her.

"Hey!" Yup, ignoring that order and chasing after him at a distance. He's not getting away so easily.

[Conan ignored her. He didn't have the time to deal with the annoyance when someone might be injured. He keeps running, finally coming within sight of a pair of skyscrapers. Already several floors are on fire and a skybridge has fallen to the ground.]

Someone is injured, namely HIM. This kid sure can be dense sometimes...

Conan can ignore her all he wants -- she's not stopping. Dairine keeps up her pursuit, pausing only a moment to take in the two burning skyscrapers. For a resident New Yorker, the sight was uncomfortably familiar. What happened here? Was this an accident, a terrorist move, or what?

He hesitates on the sidewalk for a fraction of a second, torn between chasing after a Black Porsche just within view as it drives away and the burning skyscrapers. With a cry of frustration he turns and runs into the building on the right with a skateboard in hand.

Dairine notices, wondering if she should tail the car. If Conan's interested in it, maybe it could get her answers. But her changes of catching a car on foot at slim to none, so Dairine abandons the idea.

Instead she follows Conan into the building, hoping he had an idea of what's going on. She's not even gonna ask where that skateboard came from. Dreams, man.

He runs in straight for an elevator and jabs the button for the 47th floor. The same floor that recently held the skybridge.

Is she really gonna chase a kid onto an elevator inside a burning building? Bad decision. All the bad decisions.

Dairine's going to do it anyway, sliding next to Conan. "Aren't you supposed to take the stairs during a fire?"

"The bombs all went off in the other building. This one should be safe." His tone is dismissive.

"'Should be,'" she repeats, raising her eyebrows. That's not being very reassuring. "Ah, yes. Because being inside the building next to a burning one is so much safer. Thanks for the memo. I'll be sure to forward it on to the fire department."

Sarcasm aside, Dairine doesn't seem very concerned by the danger. She stands waiting as though this was an ordinary elevator ride. It's some time before Dairine breaks the silence again.

"So this wasn't an accident."

"You should have stayed outside." He ignores the rest of her comment.

"And do what? Wander around an unfamiliar city while it's under a bomb threat? No thanks." She gives him a significant look.

"Anyway we should stick together. We'll have a better chance at surviving that way."

[His lips curl up in a secretive smirk as the elevator doors open.]

Sorry, I don't think you can follow me.

[He dashes out into the hallway and runs for the broken skybridge. He makes some quick physics calculations, steals a flashlight from a nearby watch,man, and drops his skateboard on the floor.]

Dairine matches that challenge with a sly grin. "Wanna bet--" But he runs off before she can finish. Rude! She begins chasing him again until she realizes where they're heading. "Hey! Wait, Conan!"

Is he seriously gonna try what it looks like he's planning to do?

You mean use the hallways and broken remains of the skybridge as a ramp to launch himself across a hundred foot gap seventy stories in the air?

Exactly.

All right, that's some hardcore moves right there. For a seven year-old.

Dairine gapes at the sight, temporarily stunned. "That punk..."

She runs closer to the skybridge's edge, as close as she feels safe, to see if he makes it. You better believe she's got a spell ready in case he fails.

Now, if this had been Conan's memory he would have made it. Wit a broken skateboard and quite a few bruises from the tumble at the end. But he would have made it safely and gone on to rescue the kids.

This was a nightmare.

And so he misses by only a few centimeters and falls.

"NO!!"

Dairine screams, throwing her spell into action. A few feet down, a shield of hardened air appears under Conan, an invisible surface. It should be strong enough to stop his fall, but with enough give to soften the impact, so it's not too painful to land on.

Lord, she hopes this works.

[He safely crashes into the shield, just in time for the scene to fade out again and be replaced by darkness.

Looks like Dairine is getting the full tour of Conan's darker memories today.]

Dairine was just about to make a bridge across the gap to reach him when darkness falls. She freezes. Did the dream just end or...?

"Conan?" she whispers, glancing around. Every once and a while, she thinks she sees a millipede crawling in the darkness, minions from her own nightmare coming to haunt her. Maybe it's just her imagination...

"Conan-kun?"

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Hope this is okay

Was hoping for it!

Oh good!