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The second storey apartment of the apartment building that Ran and Conan live in has been long empty. There's nothing to attract attention there -- you could be forgiven for never glancing past the faded curtains. Or not noticing when said curtains were taken down and replaced. Inside the kitchen, lounge and one of the bedrooms have been cleaned up
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Good afternoon, Conan-kun. You're starting up your own business now?
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[Lacing his fingers together, Vash rests his chin on them as he gazes out the window.] I ask because I recently got myself and 202 caught in them. She said I shouldn't blame myself, but if I hadn't wanted to explore the cathedral... [His eyes flicker closed for a second as a dark expression passes over his face, but when they open again the expression was gone as if it had never existed.] When we were down there, it was like we were being... herded, for ( ... )
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Herded? [Coan reaches for a notebook, flicking back through the pages until he's found the one he wants.] Someone I spoke to said that he felt himself observed, but that it wasn't until he was nearly overwhelmed by monsters within the catacombs that the Interloper revealed himself, taunted him, then banished the monsters -- not to help but to demonstrate his own superiority.
Grabbed you -- ah, so you didn't enter them voluntarily?
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We weren't given an audience with our illustrious hosts, unfortunately, but we were most certainly being guided along... Toyed with for some reason. Also, we weren't spared the monsters; 202 and I took out three, two land-based and one spawning from the river. Soon after we finished off the third, the tunnels started filling with water and we were forced to climb a ladder that wasn't there before. I don't know if we made someone mad because we'd taken down something we weren't supposed to, but...
No, we didn't. I had a plan to go back once 202 and I had finished exploring the cathedral and enter them alone, since I knew she hated them, but the catacombs had other plans and grabbed us just under the cathedral in a small room accessible by stairs hidden to either side of the alter.
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[Conan notes all this down quickly.] That's very interesting -- so far as I know, you two are the first to have such an experience.
Do you feel effected by it? Any gaps in your memory?
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...We are?
[He frowns a little, running his mind back over the events of a few days ago.] No, no gaps... I remember everything. [There's a strange mixture of pain and pleasure that flickers across his face; that whole experience was a roller coaster in more than one way.] I don't think we were affected, no.
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And you say 202 was with you? Ne -- was this before or after Lavi showed you the scenery from the top of the cathedral?
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[It takes Vash a moment to rearrange the days in his head; Ruby City makes his sense of time weird.] It was before. And I met Lavi at the base of the cathedral, though I do plan to get up to where he was at some point or another. [Vash gives Conan a gentle smile to take any edge from his comment. He's teasing, albeit badly.] 202 was the only reason I didn't succumb to those mind tricks in the catacombs... they even nearly let us escape after the second monster only to block our exit by thick bars. That nearly got me, being able to see and smell freedom but unable to reach it.
Ah, which reminds me of something I meant to ask. How many confirmed, permanent exits or entrances to the catacombs are there around the city that you're aware of?
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Ha. Ah, the Interloper likes to tease. I think it's safe to assume that it was him watching you in the catacombs.
Confirmed? I know of three, but only the entrance within the cathedral is always obviously there. The others I'd have to go and check.
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The Interloper... Well, then, I have more of a grudge against him than I do his brother-- at least for now.
[Three... That was few enough... Vash stores away the information, along with the vague plans that spawned the question. He'll have time to examine them more closely later.] Where are they, or where have they been, the three you'd have to check on?
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Well, one I mentioned already -- the one within the cathedral itself. The second, looks a bit like a drainage tunnel, and is down an alleyway a few blocks from the cathedral -- ah, one moment.
[Conan retrieves a map of the city (hand-drawn) from the desk drawer, spreading it out on the table between himself and Vash.] The alley here -- there was a child living in it. He was there everyday for two weeks -- I was bringing him food and trying to accustom him to my presence to get him to leave the catacombs, but he's gone now. It might be that it was his presence keeping that entrance there.
The third -- well, Tam-sensei emerged from the catacombs by a trapdoor located somewhere in this area here. It'd never been used before and as far as I know, has not been used since.
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[He pauses, his expression darkening.] ...Lavi showed me the journal he found. It somehow makes everything worse, reading the words of a person who was watching their death approach with no hope of salvation. I guess... I guess I was still trying to make the Watcher and Interloper human somehow but-- [A shudder runs up his spine.] --I keep having nightmares and I swear I can hear the author's voice, so terrified and utterly hopeless... It's like the Holocaust all over again, only so much worse because the leaders are so alien...
[He shivers again, crossing his arms protectively across his chest.]
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Ah. We've tried to keep it quiet just what happened to the city's original inhabitants because knowing ... it'd be hard.
((ooc: Apologies, but I'd really like to avoid any references to WW2/the Holocaust? Sensitive subject.))
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((ooc: Of course! I'm so, so sorry if I offended you, please forgive me! I tend to have all the social graces of a bull in a china shop. I'm so sorry, again!))
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((thanks for understanding!))
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((of course! Thank you for being forgiving!))
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