[video]

[holmes_fanatic]

[The feed lurches disconcertingly. Sheets, ceiling, a rather plain wall, a stack of books, all follow each other in rapid and confusing succession until with an intake of breath, the flailing stops and the feed settles into a child's hand grasping the edge of that sheet; the shadow of a sitting up figure projected onto the wall beyond.]

... back here. A dream?

[Too vivid, too real for that. The shadow shifts, hand going to its head as a deep breath is taken. It's a hard transition to make, almost feeling like he's losing Tokyo and everything there all over ag--]

What the--

[The bracelet gets jolted wildly as Conan explores his hair. It gets in the way and is roughly discarded onto the bed, giving a much clearer view of a pale seven-year-old, methodically working his way through his fringe -- what's left of it. There's a patch been shaved off either temple, and something taped onto it with medical tape.]

Doesn't hurt -- a sensor? But that should mean --

[Not wasting any time, Conan slips out of the bed. He's been dressed in a man's shirt, as big on him as a hospital gown, a fact which gives him a moment's pause, but he's undeterred, rolling up the sleeves before turning to pick up his bracelet again -- and making another discovery. What he thought was a bed was a --]

Coffee table.

Looking for this?

[Conan turns to look at Sherlock, standing in the door way, smartphone in hand. Conan doesn't bother with a greeting, making his unsteady way over to snatch at the smartphone. Sherlock lets him, expression simply distant.]

Monitor higher brain functions ... ? Ha, there's an app for everything.

[Sherlock might be looking as unamused as ever, but a new face makes it's way around the door, with an expression that is clearly more welcoming.]

Conan! You're finally back with us?

John's glad. He was complaining that you were unsanitary.

[Conan's clearly not sure how to react.] Why the coffee table? Couldn't you have monitored me from my room -- o-oi-oi!

Don't get excited -- your bracelet. [Ignoring Conan's protests, Sherlock's casually taken hold of his arm and is reaching for the button that will end the feed.] You're broadcas--

[And cut.]

((ooc: Sherlock, John and Conan -- who is going to be doing most of the responses to this post! Finally back after his canon update sleep /o/ ))

Comments

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

Kind of a while. I mean, long enough that I feel kinda dumb about the fact that it still bugs me. [it's been a couple of weeks, at least. the fact that it still gets to seth is... embarrassing, actually.] But I mean—back home, Edward's like—if Jake's my Alpha then Edward might as well be my beta. But he didn't even remember me!

[he hasn't talked about this to anyone yet, truthfully.]

Rosalie either, which kinda sucked because I had to hide who I was from her. Like if she'd known I'm Quileute she probably woulda tried to kill me before she let me near her or Edward.

Re: [Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

[Conan knew about the lack of memory -- he'd seen Seth's reaction, put a good word in for him with Edward himself. But that he's still dwelling on it is -- unsettling. Another instance of how Asgard subtly works on them?]

And without the connections formed in your world in the time you're from, the three of you might not have been able to work together at all?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

Right. [he's really thankful for how conan picks these things up without seth having to explain it.] He didn't even remember Bella, and like—I mean, if he didn't know Bella then Jacob wouldn't know him, and if Jacob doesn't know him then I don't know him and if it weren't for Bella we wouldn't even have the bonds we do—

[a lot of things might have been avoided, actually, if edward and bella had never met. but that doesn't mean seth wants it to have happened.]

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

[Conan tries Seth, but there are some things he's not sure of. Here is one.]

Bella? She's -- important in your world?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

Not... well, yeah. I mean, not important to the whole world. [though there's probably some existential argument to be made there, but seth's not that wide-thinking.] When I'm from, she's Edward's wife. And she's my Alpha's best friend.

[she's a lot more than that, to both of them, but seth doesn't know how to articulate it right now.]

The reason Edward trusts us, the Quileute wolves, is because Bella trusts us. And he trusts Bella. So without her—there's no reason for him to not just tear me apart for violating the treaty.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

Wife? He's -- [ A Vampire. They covered this.] He's not as young as he looks, is he.

And breaking the treaty ... that would be telling people about the existence of werewolves and vampires?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

He's... like a century and a half old? I think? [surprise! seth's not sure on edward's exact date of birth, since it's not like edward likes to talk about it.]

Nah, the treaty's more like... [ah, how to explain this.] The Quileute wolves lived in La Push way before the vampires came. And vampires and wolves don't get along at all, like back in the past we would tear each other's throats out first, ask questions later. [there are tribe stories about it, the mythology of the quileute wolves. much of which is truth, not just legend.] So when the Cullens came they were all, "oh, we don't eat people, we just eat animals," and we made a treaty where they stay off our land and we stay off of theirs. And if they bite any humans, we get to destroy them.

[and that was the state of extremely uncomfortable stalemate that the tribe had existed in, before bella came.] But—I mean, maybe not Edward, but if Rosalie was the same person she was before meeting Bella, then she'd probably try something like claiming this to be Cullen territory and killing me because I was on it. Or something like that.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

No neutral ground then. Ha -- that's definitely going to make things difficult ... especially if they return from the same point in time.

[Did the gods realise that -- was that why Seth's friends were sent away? Is it Seth himself that's important to their plans?]

But you miss them even knowing the risk having them here was?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

Well... I mean, I guess worse comes to worse I just wouldn't tell them. [he shrugs, though the idea obviously makes him a little uncomfortable. edward wouldn't be able to read his mind here, but seth isn't any good at deception.] I didn't tell Rosalie, that's why she didn't hate me.

[the question makes him pause, considering. even weighing the risks against the rewards, seth still finds that edward and rosalie's absence makes him ache.] ...Yeah. Even knowing the risk, I just—

[how to say it.] It's really hard, being by myself. I mean—ever since the day I phased I've had an Alpha to tell me what to do and when to do it. And now I'm my own pack. That's—it's tough.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

And the friendships you've made here -- they're different? Because we don't have the same experiences, or is it the knowledge of your world ... ?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

Yeah. I mean—don't get me wrong. [seth doesn't want anyone to feel like he doesn't ~value their friendship or anything!] I'm really glad I have friends here even if they're not from my world, and it's not like you gotta know all about werewolves and vampires in order to count as a real friend or anything.

[he shrugs a little, sinking down in the water.] But Rosalie and Edward are part of my pack. I mean, I don't think Rosalie likes it. [he smiles a little.] No, she definitely doesn't like it. But when I left Sam's pack, Jake and Edward and the Cullens took me in. That means... probably more than I can explain with words.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

Closer to family then? [Conan's sympathetic. He might prefer to live in a different country to his parents whenever possible, but that's not the case for most people ... and by observing Ran, he knows that family means looking out for people even when you're mad at them.]

I think I get it. And to have them here and then gone ... that's definitely one of the worse tricks this place has played.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

Yeah, it sucked. [callin it like he sees it.] But I mean—seriously, dude, I feel better about it just 'cause I talked about it... Thanks.

[he means that. just the fact that conan's occasionally willing to let seth verbally sort out all his feelings means a lot, since most of the people seth hangs out with are kind of emotionally stunted.]

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

[Just don't let Conan think he's talking about feelings. This is analysis.]

Don't mention it. It's good just catching up. Me ... it feels like I've been gone longer than a week.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

How long did it feel like? [the phenomenon of conan actually feeling like he'd gone home is definitely of interest to seth.] I mean, was it like... dream-long or like real life long?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

About three weeks? And definitely like real life. There was nothing left out, no strange people showing up unexpectedly ... well, besides Sera and I think that's normal for her.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

That's weird... If it was only a week here, but it felt like three weeks at home. [seth has literally no idea how that would work. dreams feel long sometimes, but three weeks... and even dreams usually feel dream-like once you wake up, right?] Another one of the gods' tricks, maybe?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

It could be -- but the newspaper stories in the papers from my world in the library are proof it really did happen.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

So... then what? The gods sent your mind back to Tokyo for three weeks and kept your body here on a living room table? [that's kinda weird, and yet somehow not the weirdest thing seth's ever heard in his life. and it would be just the kind of shitty trick for the gods to play on them.]

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

I think it was Sherlock's idea to put me on the coffee table. John wouldn't -- too unhygenic.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

It's weird that they didn't just put you... in your bed... [since isn't that what beds are for??]

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

But then they'd have had to go into my room to monitor me. I think it was a matter of logistics over my comfort.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

Huh. [that's not very nice. but then again, seth is neither doctor nor scientist nor detective, so what does he know about any of that nonsense...] I'm still kinda trying to figure out how any of this happened. Like, you fell asleep here and your mind went back to Tokyo? How could they even do that?

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[holmes_fanatic]

Hey, it's as possible as them bringing us here physically from different worlds.

[Action -- Folkvang Comfort House]

[clearwater]

I guess so. [though that's still kind of a mystery to seth as well. the logistics of any of this are way easier to write off as just magic.] But what's the point? If they're just gonna bring you back here.