My love, my love, take shelter in these trees...

[babylonmods]

The grove of Dreaming Trees is unusually clear of mist today, and strangely warm, too. The broken Arch glows with a ghostly sheen, and the trees themselves gleam bone white under the light of the near-full moon

Comments

[itazura_boy]

Genta had found the best hiding place ever. inside a locker in a deserted building slated for demolition -- not even Conan could find him here! The locker was dark and quiet, the voices of the others having long since faded away ... Never naturally patient, Genta yawned settling back against the side of the locker.

Conan better hurry up ... how long does he think I'm going to hide for? I could be home now, having my first after school snack ...

Thinking wistfully of the mochi at the back of the fridge, Genta wasn't even aware he'd fallen asleep until the light of the moon filtered through. Blearily, Genta opened both eyes and looked up. The seven year old was sprawled on his back in an unfamiliar clearing, looking up at the tops of the surrounding trees which framed the moon perfectly.

It took a few moments for the significance of his surroundings to dawn on Genta. "AH!" He sat bolt upright, heedless of his companions. "I've missed dinner!"

[onewomanrave]

Molly couldn't contain a snort of laughter at the exclamation to her right as she turned to look at its speaker. Priorities, huh?

Then she took the time to stop panicking about the situation and take in the identity of its third victim. Neither of her new-found companions seemed likely to be the party responsible, and Molly's heart sank as she realized just how young the boy was. Maybe her brother Harry's age, if that. She winced a little. "I'm sorry about your dinner," Molly told him seriously, as if it really were the grandest of the difficulties they now faced. She hoped that he wouldn't crack and be too badly damaged when the rest of the situation hit him. "What's your name? I'm Molly

[itazura_boy]

Genta hadn't waited for introductions before standing up, brushing grass off his shorts and t-shirt as he did. At Molly's speech, he stopped and stared at her with the lack of self-consciousness of someone who is unaware of how rude he's being.

What's with her hair? It's really weird ... "Molly? That's a strange name." Genta put his hands on his hips. He'd missed dinner and he was really not happy about being ... where was this place? He glanced around, pausing as he caught sight of Snape. Man, that guy over there ... he's seriously ill. Kinda like the time-- Genta swallowed. The prone man reminded him very much of the time he'd walked into a cave just in time to witness a gang of thieves hiding the dead body of their murdered comrade. "Is he dead?"

[onewomanrave]

"It's short for Margaret, but I like Molly better," Molly informed him, unbothered by any rudeness on his part. He was only around eight years old, after all. "Will you tell me yours?"

Molly stifled a wince at Genta's question, "No," she said firmly. "He's alive, and we're going to do our best to make sure he stays that way. He's hurt pretty badly and really sick right now, so it's a good thing we're here to help." She was reassuring herself as much as the little boy at this point.

[itazura_boy]

"He looks really bad," Genta agreed, somewhat reassured -- if Molly was trying to murder Snape, then surely she wouldn't be trying to help him. Which meant -- maybe she was lost too? "Did you call an ambulance?"

If she wanted to help the dying guy, maybe she wanted to help Genta too? She had said she was sorry about dinner ... "But I'm not supposed to tell my name to strangers," Genta mused out loud. "And blue hair's pretty strange." If only Conan or Haibara were here. They'd know what to do ...

[onewomanrave]

"There's no phone," Molly said, "but I do know some first aid, and he had," she paused to think about phrasing, "some medicine in his pocket. He should be alright, though he'll definitely need time to recover." Molly really hoped she was telling the truth right now.

She laughed again. "Blue hair is pretty strange, but I like blue. Why shouldn't I make my hair that color?" She grew more serious as she added, "You're right about not telling your name to strangers, most of the time. Right now it looks like we've wound up in a strange place, and I think we'll have to work together to find our ways home." Molly still had no idea how to make that happen, but the details would come later. If they were really lucky.

[itazura_boy]

No phone? Genta patted his pockets -- ha! Still had his celphone. "I'll handle this," he told Molly importantly, turning his back on her as he turned to his phone. "So ... 110 is police but what's ambulance? Ah, I'll call Conan-kun. He'll know ..."

Genta dialled.

Nothing happened.

"No signal? This always happens ... why can't we ever go camping someplace normal?" Genta paused, turning with sudden suspicion to Molly. "I don't remember going camping."

[onewomanrave]

Molly winced as he took out his cell phone and dialed. If the Nevernever hadn't killed it, she probably just had. She hadn't expected him to manage an outgoing call, but now it was likely just broken, period. Technology doesn't like magic so much, hence Molly's lack of a cell phone.

She made a face. "I don't remember going camping either, and neither does he. If I'd known I was going camping I'd have brought along things like a tent and sleeping bags and food." Molly hesitated to tell the little boy, whose name she still didn't know, that this wasn't exactly an ordinary camping trip. "I don't know how we got here, but I'll do my best to get you home."

[itazura_boy]

"Eh? You talked to the almost dead guy?" No one has ever described Genta as tactful, but at least his attention is off his possibly broken celphone as he shoves it back into his pocket, glancing back to Snape as he does. "What happened to him anyway? Is it a kidnapping case?"

That would explain the woods and lack of camping equipment and --

Wait.

Molly had said the magic words.

"I'm Kojima Genta, class 1-B, Teitan Elemnentary School. I live in Beika-cho, Tokyo-shi. Do you have anything to eat?"

[onewomanrave]

Molly did manage to contain her smirk at his blunt phrasing, but only just barely. "Yes, I talked to him. And," wincing, she decided that the kid would figure it out soon enough, "if his is a kidnapping case, so are ours. None of us know exactly where we are or how we got here. Not to mention we each started out in a different country." They'd get home. Somehow. Molly just didn't have the details of that plan yet.

Grinning at the detail included in his introduction, she admitted, "Nope, no food. We'll try to find some later," and she would try to keep Genta from eating or drinking anything offered by Sidhe. But he didn't need to know that just now.

[itazura_boy]

"Eh? A different country?" Genta had been caught up in kidnappings before, but never an International Case. The farthest he'd been from home was Okinawa, which while a plane ride, was well within Japan. He looked around the forest once more, noticing the differences in vegetation to the forests he was used to for the first time. "So where is this?"

No food? Genta's face fell noticeably. "How much later?"

[onewomanrave]

"Mmhmm. I'm from Chicago, Illinois in the United States, you're from Japan, and he was in the UK." Molly refrained from being more specific because she really had no idea whether Hogwarts was in England or Scotland. "And I really don't know for sure where this is." She had a general idea, sure, but nothing specific.

She smiled sympathetically when Genta's facial expression changed dramatically. "As soon as 'the almost dead guy' is up to moving a bit. If that takes too long, you two will stay here for a little while and I'll see what I can do." Molly really couldn't care less if Snape heard her referring to him in Genta's original phrasing. She pondered protective circles, tracking spells, and veils, trying to determine the combination that would best ensure their safety if she had to leave.

[itazura_boy]

Genta turned back to peer at Snape. He didn't look like he was up to moving any time soon, and Genta's face fell even further. However, no matter how empty his stomach was, he knew that a sick person took precedence.

Didn't mean he couldn't complain of course.

"Ah, I'm so hungry! I only had two helpings of rice at school lunch too!"

[onewomanrave]

Molly laughed. "Yeah, I could really go for some of my mom's cooking right about now too. We'll just have to make do, I guess."

She looked around the clearing again before adding, "Hey, since it looks like we'll be waiting here for a bit, do you want to help me look around for clues on where we are? We'll stay in this grove, but we could look at the kinds of trees here and that big arch over there."

[itazura_boy]

Huh. Now that Genta considered, there was a lot of investigating to be done. "Leave it to me!"

The trees were first. Genta scowled up at them. "Haven't seen trees like this before," he said. "So I don't think we're in Gunma. Or even Chiba or Nagano." He frowned at the moss. What was the trick Conan had done with them? "Ah, I got it! Moss grows where its sunniest -- the south side. So North is that way!" He pointed, beaming back at Molly for approval.