voidtreckernet | Voice; Request

[Ran's not sure she's comfortable with being seen for this one, as it's a subject that's touching a little deeply for her, so for the moment she just sticks to voice.]

[She pulls in a soft breath.]

I . . . need some help.

I know a lot of you have met Conan-kun. He's been here for a while. There's another girl here from my world now too -- Ai-chan. If you haven't met them yet, I hope you get to soon.

What I need help with . . . They're both seven. They're both smart -- really smart -- for their age, but. They're both seven. And not fighters. The train doesn't seem to discriminate about who it takes, and yet the missions that it sends us on are dangerous.

[A pause, wrestling with her words.]

I need them both to be safe. This past time Sera-chan and I were able to be with them. But what happens if we're not able to do that? How does their safety get guaranteed?

I need a better guarantee. Please help me figure out how to keep two kids safe so I can get them back home? I'm teaching both some simpler self-defense, and that will help, but . . . I already know it's not enough.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Oh hey! Dairine's heard that voice in Orange team before. Will Ran recognize the girl who blew up underwater crabs?]

Oh yeah! I know alllll about Conan.

[She's tempted to laugh, given that she also knows his real age. But Dairine can tell from her tone that Ran is very serious, and hey, Dairine knows all to well how much trouble Conan gets into unsupervised. It can be very very frustrating.]

I know these missions might seem like a lot, but don't worry—you're not doing this alone. I might not speak for everyone on the train, but as for myself, I will do everything I can to protect Conan.

[There's a fierceness behind that declaration. Dairine 100% means it.]

[The voice is familiar! But it was a fairly brief encounter, and so Ran isn't placing it immediately.]

[And she's not quite sure what to make of the dragging out of "all." Apparently this is at least someone who's familiar with him, though? And must like him to some degree with the second part.]

Thank you . . .

You talk like you know him well?

[It means many things! Which is good, because that means Dair can avoid dropping Conan's secrets. Dairine has certainly grown to like him quite a bit, even though they didn't get along at first.]

I do! But it's kinda complicated.

I met him in another place like this. Ended up staying there three years.

Conan doesn't remember any of it though.

Another . . . place like this?

[You mean there's more than one place like this? She's just getting used to the idea of the one, and that seems like too many.]

. . . Was Conan-kun there for three years too?

How is it even possible? I don't ever remember him not being at home.

[Starting to wonder if worlds like this could possibly be a reason for Shinichi being missing. (Is it possible to pop in and out? Communicate via phone?)]

Well, it was a castle instead of a train, but like the VoidTreker it'd grab people from all over with no memory of how they got there. So pretty much the same thing.

Yeah. He was there when I arrived. [And was a rude, annoying brat.] And I saw him on the day we left.

[She had made sure to check in on him then. Leaving Paradisa had been harder than she would have expected, mainly because of her few remaining friends. But Dairine had known that Conan would return home. He had people waiting on him, just like herself.]

Oh, the castle would return folks right back to the time and place they left. So as far as anyone back home was concerned, we were never gone at all.