Essay 1
Conan and Beatrice. Ooo boy, this will be long. http://windsofpresent.livejournal.com/800.html
First off, their relationship is COMPLICATED. It's kind of precarious in how it works and yet it does and it's quite strong.
How they met wasn't the 'best,' but it was certainly imperative for what was to occur between them. It was only Conan's second day there and he wasn't willing to buy the magic thing. As such, he told Beatrice that he didn't believe she was a witch and being the ONLY one to not believe her, he caught her interest and decided to use him for entertainment. At this point, she didn't really know what sort of person Conan was and this probably allowed for things to go as they did. Conan, on the other hand, decided to go along with it because Beatrice did seem smart and 'who not?' because it'd function basically as Kid heists do back home. Namely something carefree and challenging that doesn't weigh down on him like trying to explain the Island was. Not to mention Beatrice mentioned Rokkenjima and being the detective he was, he was curious about it. So the game was that when he solved a magic trick, she gave him pieces of Rokkenjima to see.
At the beginning, Conan just thought Beatrice was a crazy lady who for unknown reasons wanted to be called a witch and mass murderer. He planned to figure out why while playing the game, but he always thought she was more than likely 'innocent.' He would confirm this as she was never 'present,' for Rokkenjima. Since she only wanted to be accused as a witch, and a witch couldn't do it, she (more than likely) couldn't be the culprit.
But things had started to shift before this with two events. One was the truth event. There Conan saw more than Beatrice had wanted him to see and while it might not have been a lot for most people, to Conan it was a plethora of information. Of course, he didn't come out unscathed and ended up telling her his own identity. However, she promised not to tell and instead of alienating Conan, it instead gave him something he sort of needed: someone who knew who he WAS. Conan NEEDS someone around who knows who he is. While Ai did know, Ai isn't always the...easiest person to talk to. And far too serious for what he needs. He needs someone he can be himself in front of, where he doesn't have to be guarded and hide and someone who wasn't a reminder to serious problems he has to deal with like Ai often did. And Beatrice provided that.
Though there is one thing to note before the second event. Crow had basically called out Conan on his stupidity of thinking everything about the Island was fake, including the people. The idea of everyone's lives just being in their head, that he claimed such a thing, hit Conan HARD. While Conan will always reveal the truth, which is neither kind nor unkind, he tries to not be harsh about it. Such as it's OKAY to alter things a bit, to keep someone from being hurt as long as justice is served, he will do so. The idea of being that cruel and arrogant is not something he wanted to do. Beatrice helped him through this. In her own twisted way, but honestly, it was probably the best. Conan likes to figure things out and she prodded and poked him to figure out what he wanted to do. Not only that, he gave him a focus of what insanity to deny: Her. He was only to deny her, until he could find the One Truth behind the Island. Conan already had a firm conviction she wasn't a witch. Not only in the fact that's impossible, but because of the game. After all, if she WAS a witch, no one could win against her. So she couldn't be a witch for him to win. And he already felt she had fair sportsmanship. He knew this was a kindness from Beatrice, no matter what she said, and it was something he greatly appreciated.
Then High School Event happened. Both after school on the roof and the prom gave Conan he hadn't quite seen before. Beatrice is a tsundere. A MAJOR tsundere. Yes, the High School event more than likely changed her personality, but at the very base, he knew it was the same. Which shifted things and he realized that Beatrice was probably not crazy, but more a liar. Not just any liar, mind you, but one who is lying because she is doing something she deems important. He's not one hundred percent sure WHAT, even now, but he suspects. It's not she sees some sort of glory in being a murderer, but rather, she's trying to keep something hidden she doesn't want to be seen. For, but he suspects, is love.
But that's neither here nor there. What's important is at this point, Conan is POSITIVE Beatrice didn't do it and ultimately is trying to do something good. The wrong way, the right way, he's not one hundred percent sure, but he plans to find out. Especially when he realizes how real it is. Of course, after the High School Event, he needed to produce the illusion of Shinichi and he trusted Beatrice enough to do that. Of course, she asked for him to use the Blue Truth and...
Um, yeah, blue truth impales witches. Conan freaked out. A lot. He's not sure how Beatrice recovered or if she was really hurt, but the imagery was jarring enough he hated doing that and never wished to do it again. He even swallowed his pride and properly apologized to her. Formally, at that. And it finally hit home that Beatrice might be playing an extremely dangerous game and he started to actually WORRY about her and it's probably at this point he becomes protective of her. He wants her to achieve whatever she wants in having Battler perhaps one day beat her. Because he thinks she does want Battler to do so in this weird game she's made.
All of this, Conan dealt with. He could believe her magic wasn't 'real' and just go with it. If things had continued as they were, Conan and Beatrice would have probably had a comfortable rivalry that was something they could enjoy by being challenged.
Then shit got real.
In come the witches and everything just kind of explodes between them. Conan was NOT happy to hear someone interfered in Beatrice's game. More than that, Bernkastel had essentially made a death threat on someone he saw as a good friend. What's more, Beatrice was clearly afraid of them and it was just all fejaoirwjiwiojewoiwe.
COnan didn't know the situation at first and so got Bernkastel and Lambdadelta's attention and he knows now he might have screwed himself a bit, but he won't give up. The protective streak he had started to get for her went into overdrive and more than anything, Conan wants to KEEP HER SAFE. Even if he hadn't made his own judgement of Erika, he might have attempted to become her friend had Beatrice suggested it.
And of course, there's the Golden Land. Something Conan agreed to make with Beatrice and essentially made with her. How could he deny magic and do such a thing? At first he was kind of flaily about it himself, not sure how to take it and then he made a simple, yet huge realization.
Beatrice made it. Thus it's there. It's not that he believes in 'magic,' but he believes in 'Beatrice' to have found a way to do it. And one day he will explain it. But for now, he will believe it's there and back up Beatrice. He will do everything in his power to help Beatrice win this game. Sacrifice his pride to remain a brat and try to bite his tongue from giving away the game.
In conclusion, Beatrice has become an invaluable friend to Conan. He respects her greatly and though he probably found out far more than she ever expected, he's glad for that underestimation if it let him get this close. He won't abandon her now, or ever, and will risk his own life to save it. (There has even been temptation to tell people of his world who he was so he could take them to the Golden Land to be safe should things get too dangerous, though he hasn't voiced this desire to anyone.) He will compete with Beatrice and play her game, both to give them something nice to be distracted by, but also to learn more about her.
Though one thing to note, Conan does have a healthy fear of the witches. They give him Vermouth vibes and Vermouth scares the hell out of him. This is important for how much he trusts Beatrice because when she showed concern for how 'arrogant' he was, he was willing to show her just how scared he was. If only for a brief moment. And Conan doesn't show just ANYONE how scared he is when it involves a case.
EDIT: Oh, one last thing. SNARKFEST. All the time. They keep countering each other for last word or something. (Thus the long logs. Added onto the fact they don't ever stop talking.)
I COULD HAVE KEPT WRITING TOO!
First off, their relationship is COMPLICATED. It's kind of precarious in how it works and yet it does and it's quite strong.
How they met wasn't the 'best,' but it was certainly imperative for what was to occur between them. It was only Conan's second day there and he wasn't willing to buy the magic thing. As such, he told Beatrice that he didn't believe she was a witch and being the ONLY one to not believe her, he caught her interest and decided to use him for entertainment. At this point, she didn't really know what sort of person Conan was and this probably allowed for things to go as they did. Conan, on the other hand, decided to go along with it because Beatrice did seem smart and 'who not?' because it'd function basically as Kid heists do back home. Namely something carefree and challenging that doesn't weigh down on him like trying to explain the Island was. Not to mention Beatrice mentioned Rokkenjima and being the detective he was, he was curious about it. So the game was that when he solved a magic trick, she gave him pieces of Rokkenjima to see.
At the beginning, Conan just thought Beatrice was a crazy lady who for unknown reasons wanted to be called a witch and mass murderer. He planned to figure out why while playing the game, but he always thought she was more than likely 'innocent.' He would confirm this as she was never 'present,' for Rokkenjima. Since she only wanted to be accused as a witch, and a witch couldn't do it, she (more than likely) couldn't be the culprit.
But things had started to shift before this with two events. One was the truth event. There Conan saw more than Beatrice had wanted him to see and while it might not have been a lot for most people, to Conan it was a plethora of information. Of course, he didn't come out unscathed and ended up telling her his own identity. However, she promised not to tell and instead of alienating Conan, it instead gave him something he sort of needed: someone who knew who he WAS. Conan NEEDS someone around who knows who he is. While Ai did know, Ai isn't always the...easiest person to talk to. And far too serious for what he needs. He needs someone he can be himself in front of, where he doesn't have to be guarded and hide and someone who wasn't a reminder to serious problems he has to deal with like Ai often did. And Beatrice provided that.
Though there is one thing to note before the second event. Crow had basically called out Conan on his stupidity of thinking everything about the Island was fake, including the people. The idea of everyone's lives just being in their head, that he claimed such a thing, hit Conan HARD. While Conan will always reveal the truth, which is neither kind nor unkind, he tries to not be harsh about it. Such as it's OKAY to alter things a bit, to keep someone from being hurt as long as justice is served, he will do so. The idea of being that cruel and arrogant is not something he wanted to do. Beatrice helped him through this. In her own twisted way, but honestly, it was probably the best. Conan likes to figure things out and she prodded and poked him to figure out what he wanted to do. Not only that, he gave him a focus of what insanity to deny: Her. He was only to deny her, until he could find the One Truth behind the Island. Conan already had a firm conviction she wasn't a witch. Not only in the fact that's impossible, but because of the game. After all, if she WAS a witch, no one could win against her. So she couldn't be a witch for him to win. And he already felt she had fair sportsmanship. He knew this was a kindness from Beatrice, no matter what she said, and it was something he greatly appreciated.
Then High School Event happened. Both after school on the roof and the prom gave Conan he hadn't quite seen before. Beatrice is a tsundere. A MAJOR tsundere. Yes, the High School event more than likely changed her personality, but at the very base, he knew it was the same. Which shifted things and he realized that Beatrice was probably not crazy, but more a liar. Not just any liar, mind you, but one who is lying because she is doing something she deems important. He's not one hundred percent sure WHAT, even now, but he suspects. It's not she sees some sort of glory in being a murderer, but rather, she's trying to keep something hidden she doesn't want to be seen. For, but he suspects, is love.
But that's neither here nor there. What's important is at this point, Conan is POSITIVE Beatrice didn't do it and ultimately is trying to do something good. The wrong way, the right way, he's not one hundred percent sure, but he plans to find out. Especially when he realizes how real it is. Of course, after the High School Event, he needed to produce the illusion of Shinichi and he trusted Beatrice enough to do that. Of course, she asked for him to use the Blue Truth and...
Um, yeah, blue truth impales witches. Conan freaked out. A lot. He's not sure how Beatrice recovered or if she was really hurt, but the imagery was jarring enough he hated doing that and never wished to do it again. He even swallowed his pride and properly apologized to her. Formally, at that. And it finally hit home that Beatrice might be playing an extremely dangerous game and he started to actually WORRY about her and it's probably at this point he becomes protective of her. He wants her to achieve whatever she wants in having Battler perhaps one day beat her. Because he thinks she does want Battler to do so in this weird game she's made.
All of this, Conan dealt with. He could believe her magic wasn't 'real' and just go with it. If things had continued as they were, Conan and Beatrice would have probably had a comfortable rivalry that was something they could enjoy by being challenged.
Then shit got real.
In come the witches and everything just kind of explodes between them. Conan was NOT happy to hear someone interfered in Beatrice's game. More than that, Bernkastel had essentially made a death threat on someone he saw as a good friend. What's more, Beatrice was clearly afraid of them and it was just all fejaoirwjiwiojewoiwe.
COnan didn't know the situation at first and so got Bernkastel and Lambdadelta's attention and he knows now he might have screwed himself a bit, but he won't give up. The protective streak he had started to get for her went into overdrive and more than anything, Conan wants to KEEP HER SAFE. Even if he hadn't made his own judgement of Erika, he might have attempted to become her friend had Beatrice suggested it.
And of course, there's the Golden Land. Something Conan agreed to make with Beatrice and essentially made with her. How could he deny magic and do such a thing? At first he was kind of flaily about it himself, not sure how to take it and then he made a simple, yet huge realization.
Beatrice made it. Thus it's there. It's not that he believes in 'magic,' but he believes in 'Beatrice' to have found a way to do it. And one day he will explain it. But for now, he will believe it's there and back up Beatrice. He will do everything in his power to help Beatrice win this game. Sacrifice his pride to remain a brat and try to bite his tongue from giving away the game.
In conclusion, Beatrice has become an invaluable friend to Conan. He respects her greatly and though he probably found out far more than she ever expected, he's glad for that underestimation if it let him get this close. He won't abandon her now, or ever, and will risk his own life to save it. (There has even been temptation to tell people of his world who he was so he could take them to the Golden Land to be safe should things get too dangerous, though he hasn't voiced this desire to anyone.) He will compete with Beatrice and play her game, both to give them something nice to be distracted by, but also to learn more about her.
Though one thing to note, Conan does have a healthy fear of the witches. They give him Vermouth vibes and Vermouth scares the hell out of him. This is important for how much he trusts Beatrice because when she showed concern for how 'arrogant' he was, he was willing to show her just how scared he was. If only for a brief moment. And Conan doesn't show just ANYONE how scared he is when it involves a case.
EDIT: Oh, one last thing. SNARKFEST. All the time. They keep countering each other for last word or something. (Thus the long logs. Added onto the fact they don't ever stop talking.)
I COULD HAVE KEPT WRITING TOO!