(no subject)

[deductiongeek]

 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.  

Comments

[deductiongeek]

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.

[wizard_redfive]

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.

[deductiongeek]

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

[wizard_redfive]

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?"

[deductiongeek]

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

[wizard_redfive]

"'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."

[deductiongeek]

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

[wizard_redfive]

"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."

[deductiongeek]

[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.]

[wizard_redfive]

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?

[deductiongeek]

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.

[wizard_redfive]

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.

[deductiongeek]

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.

Hope this is okay

[wizard_redfive]

"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.

Was hoping for it!

[deductiongeek]

[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.]

Oh good!

[wizard_redfive]

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?"

Hope all these rapid changes aren't too much. Trying to keep it a little disjointed.

[deductiongeek]

"Get down!" Conan hisses at her and reaches out to tug her down to the floor. He recognized this place as well. And it it was going to be as similar to his memories as the last location was?

This was about to get very dangerous.

It's alright. Dream sequences usually are disjointed anyway.

[wizard_redfive]

It doesn't take much, as Dairine was already half-way kneeling. Still is somewhat of a shock though.

She looks over at Conan, glad to see he's still alive, though confused as to why they're both in the same place again. Didn't he just fall? Oh well, at least she's not alone. Dairine scoots closer and whispers as quietly as she can, "What is it now?"

Yes! Thats what I was going for! That and reflecting how quickly his mind usually moves

[deductiongeek]

[He is crouched behind a large rock. From the chill and dampnessof the stone, it is obvious they are in a large cave. Well inside it, from the lack of light. He peers around the edge of it as he holds up one hand in a gesture for silence. Deeper into the cave, the figures of three men hauling a fourth body is barely visible.]

Ooh, nifty!

[wizard_redfive]

Ick! Why can't they have more pleasant dreamscapes?

Dairine shuts up, opting to watch Conan instead. He's bound to slip her a clue sooner or later. As her eyes adjust to the darkness, she is able to discern their surroundings. Following his lead, she sneaks a peek deeper into the cave, but ducks down when she spots the other men.

She stares back at Conan, eyes wide. What the heck is going on?

[deductiongeek]

As they watch the fourth man is moved into a slightly more visible spot. Visible enough for them both to clearly see the bullet wound on his forehead. They can clearly hear the three men talking about a botched robbery as they work on moving the corpse. It seems the fourth man had been a member of their group who had been accidentally killed during the robbery. They were here to hide him it the cave so that no one would ever find out.

Suddenly one of them looks up at some sound. He announces that someone was listening and aims his gun at the area of the cave they were hiding in.

Conan jumps up in alarm and pushes Dairine to the side even as they hear the sound of the gun firing.

[wizard_redfive]

Dairine narrows her eyes. This was quickly turning into Nancy Drew novel fodder... or any mystery novel for that matter. As much as she wanted to apprehend the murderers, Dairine remained still. She was out of her element. Powers of evil she knew how to handle, regular criminals less so.

Then all of a sudden there's a gun aim towards them, and Conan is pushing her out of the way. (Why the everloving hell did he jump up at the sight of a gun?! Crazy kid!) Dairine fumbles back and hits the ground as bullets whizz by.

[deductiongeek]

After a few moments the men seem to be satisfied by the silence and leave the room. Conan stays crouched down behind the boulder, though he seem to be gasping for air a little and clutching at his stomach.

[wizard_redfive]

Once the men leave, Dairine finally breathes and moves to sit up. Only to freeze when she sees Conan.

No. Oh no. Not again!

"Conan?"

[deductiongeek]

Even in the dimness of the cave the darkness of a stain spreading across his stomach possible. There is a long pause before Conan answers, and even then it is in a breathy voice punctuated by gasps for air.

"It's fine. But we need to get out of here."