The world's not falling apart because of me... [OTA; multiple threads welcome]

[savesherself]

[Sort of wibbly-dated to whenever the rescue groups got back. ...wibbly-dated is totally a valid term.]

With most of the rescue parties in the barracks and probably on their way to a well-deserved rest, the Doctor has managed to get the stream to himself... and he's glad for that. Cross-legged by the edge of the water, he's trying to clean the

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[modernholmes]

Conan approaches the gate, kicking a small battered ball in front of him. He'd found it in a dusty corner of his cabin, while trying to invent a reason to investigate this enclosure. A child crawling around the foundations of buildings and examining wall surfaces was suspicious. A child trying to retrieve a toy from the same location was only at play.

As he spots the woman standing by the gate Conan stops the ball with one foot and stares up at her with an expression of childish concern.

"Ne, miss? Are you okay?"

[savesherself]

Emily smiles vaguely when she sees the boy playing with the ball - he's not someone she recognizes, but it's at least vaguely reassuring to see something... almost normal like that in a place like this.

The smile gets a little less vague - and a little more falsely bright - as he looks up at her, and she nods firmly in response. "Yeah. I'm just a little tired." She pauses, and then tilts her head to one side, her voice soft as she asks, "You're new here, huh?"

[modernholmes]

"I suppose so. I woke up with a bunch of other people in the forest, and then we had to walk a really long way. We just found this place yesterday." He cranes his neck to see her face and crosses his arms behind his head. "Have you been in this place for a long time?"

[savesherself]

It's a struggle not to wince at that news - not unexpected, but still. People just keep coming, and not the slightest hint at a way home so far. It's kind of depressing if she thinks about it for too long.

"Um... I've been here for a while, yeah." Almost five months, though she'd rather not freak the kid out by saying that. He might be too young to both pick up and be disturbed by the implications, but Emily doesn't want to gamble on that.

She decides to try and redirect his attention instead, with a gentle, "My name's Emily. What's yours?"

[modernholmes]

"Oh? How long is a while?" It might be helpful to establish some kind of timeline.

He spots what she is doing of course. It was standard practice for adults at crime scenes. Distract the kids from the violence by giving them something else to focus on. Which was really irritating when he was trying to get a look at the crime scene. But in this case there was no harm in playing along.

"I'm Conan Edogawa!"

[savesherself]

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Conan."

Though redirecting his attention didn't work as well as she'd hoped, and she's not going to lie to the boy. She sighs a little, though her smile doesn't falter. "About four months, I think."

[modernholmes]

"Four months? That's strange, isn't it?"

And very, very troubling. What was the goal of this crime, that they would hold people for that long? What was it?

And he couldn't allow himself to stay here that long. As always, his thoughts went to Ran. That stubborn strong girl who was waiting for him. Who kept crying for him, even though he was always by her side. How much more would she worry if Conan was gone, and he couldn't even give her those phone calls from Shinichi.

[savesherself]

"...yeah," she admits a little reluctantly, "it's strange. But there are people here working on finding everyone a way home, and..."

She'd been about to say she was sure he'd be home before long, but that feels a bit too close to a lie for comfort. She hates giving people false hope - it only ever makes things worse, in the long run.

[modernholmes]

"Oh? What are they working on?"

Conan felt a tiny bit guilty over using this tactic on someone who was obviously trying to shield a child from the worst of the situation. But in the end, despite his appearance, he was a detective. And that was someone who found the truth.

[savesherself]

"I don't really know," she admits, and that answer at least requires no careful evasion - it's the absolute truth. However they got here, she knows the method is far out of her realm of experience, and it stands to reason the way back will be as well. "That's not really my area of expertise."

[modernholmes]

Conan makes an inquisitive sound. "What is your area? And doesn't it make you worry? That you don't know what people are planning?"

Effective this method of interrogation might have been. But that almost didn't make for the sheer embarrassment of having to act this cute.

[savesherself]

Emily raises an eyebrow at that first question. What's her area? There are plenty of adults here who wouldn't ask that question, and she's never met a seven-year-old who would even think of it.

"Behavioral analysis," she answers after a moment, pauses, and then decides maybe she should explain. "We... look at crime scenes and victimology to put together a profile of who we're looking for. And I don't think I could help the people trying to get us home, and I'd rather not get in the way."

[modernholmes]

"Oh? That sounds like a useful skill." And not a department Conan had ever spent much time working with. Most of his cases were solved before the suspects had the time to leave the crime scene. And for those colder cases, such work was carried out within the police department. As a private detective he had only seen the reports.