"Well, Shinichi," Agasa hummed to him, eyeing the cat. "I suppose if you are going to talk, you need an identity. A character."
"That's what I've come for, old man. You sure you aren't going senile?" Shinichi meowed irritatedly, rolling his slit eyes.
"Don't make me decide to not help you," the old man offered jestingly to the cat's glare.
"Yokai are tricksters, yes?" Shinichi asked, formulating base characteristics in his mind.
Agasa shrugged. "I never was much one for superstition; I suppose we both have to do some research," he sighed, walking over to his computer with Shinichi at his feet.
A quickly typed in bakeneko and reading of the page gave several good traits.
Cunning, wild, a bit off kilter, mischievous.
This needed to be combined with what Ran supposedly thought of him of course; it wasn't much, but she did know that he was a bit strange, but sought truth and justice. From their brief and only conversation, she could likely glean that he was quite focussed, verbose, and thought people below him.
A wily and tenacious creature with a penchant for justice, and the typical tricksy demeanor one would associate from a yokai, perhaps achieved through barbed comments and catty actions, mixed in with a slightly wild gleam.
I can play that.
xXx
"Despite this character formulation, I suggest you only talk to Ran when necessary, both to keep yourself from being found out by people more interested in talking cats as well as keeping her from picking on more dialogue-based cues relating to Kudo Shinichi," Agasa said, wrapping up the conversation.
"I've already ensured that professor," he nodded, pausing and changing to the newly installed default 'bakeneko' voice to imitate his earlier statement: "words are valuable things; I do not waste them often." He paused again, cocking his head while switching his voice back, and asked, "though why would Ran think I'm Shinichi? Even if I acted completely like myself, she is wholly convinced I am a bakeneko. It'd be a bit obscene."
"Ah, yes, but now she fully believes in the impossible," the professor warned, and Shinichi gave a thoughtful nod at that.
Silence unless absolutely needed. Easy enough, right?
xXx
Shinichi's first trial came when Ran saw him next. After talking with her in the bombing case, Shinichi had ducked out unceremoniously to formulate a character to play as and make his finalized decisions in regards to frequency of talks before seeing her again and saying something inconsistent— or saying anything at all.
Ran, of course, bombarded him with questions the moment she saw him.
Where did you come from? What's your name? Are you really cursed? Why do you solve cases?
…and so on. It seemed neverending.
For a moment, Shinichi considered establishing himself and ending the stream, but knew that meant that he'd have to talk other times of supposed equal importance. Wasted words, he hummed to himself cattily, putting on the smug mask as he looked to her in silence.
"Wasted words," Ran seemingly echoed, having remembered their previous conversation. Shinichi gave a short nod, and while Ran gave a frustrated glare, she didn't push more.
Shinichi gave a little huff. Easy enough.
xXx
Little did Shinichi know that harder trials were yet to come.
It was a week before Ran burst, first offering soft food cans in hopes of scraps of info. Her rewards got grander as the days passed. On the fifth day, the offers were all cut down, and Ran turned to cold treatment.
Fine. If it's really that important to her to know, I'll speak— but only this once, and I'll make that clear.
xXx
"Ran," Shinichi whispered, pawing at her foot and interrupting her homework. Kogoro was sleeping heavily; a perfect time to make his move.
"Conan?" she blinked. "Why?"
"I don't waste words," he huffed. "It takes energy to speak, and I'd rather remain a secret. But you clearly desired to know more about me, and I believe that is earned, considering you shared your roof and food with me."
"I would've done that for any cat," Ran said softly.
Shinichi tipped his head, only allowing himself a second to feel genuinely warm about how sweet she was before injecting a bit of sarcasm into his drawl of, "how sweet." He quickly switched back to gratitude, continuing, "it's customary for spirits to parcel out awards for this kind behavior, but I have none to give; only information. My magic is not the kind that lends itself to things a kind soul would want."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," she said, and Shinichi could practically see the murders flashing in her eyes. "So bad things really are drawn to you?"
"Somewhat. More accurately, we are drawn to each other," Shinichi hedged vaguely. "They would happen whether I was there or not, but I am cursed to be there," he added. Shinichi never believed he would say the word "cursed" in a completely serious way like that. He suppressed a shudder.
Ran seemed a bit confused, but nodded while Shinichi went through his mini-crisis. When he came out of his thoughts revolving around that, he made a motion with his paw to move on to the next question.
"What's your name?"
Shinichi bounced back and forth between two answers; in folklore, names held power, so he could easily deny Ran his name on that front, but on the other hand, spirits often could simply exist without a name. Shinichi juggled them in his mind until the one wrench was thrown in the turning gears— if he admitted to having a name but didn't share it, the curiosity of the question would overcome Ran. As much as she hated mysteries, Shinichi knew Ran couldn't deny the curiosity that lay within, just as it lay within him.
"I have none," he settled on with finality. Ran's face turned sympathetically sad for that fact, and he cut her off before she could say something— "only sappy mortals would find it sad. Being nameless is not a tragedy, but simply the way we are. Us spirits go by too many names to have one, so we choose to favor none."
"What should I call you, then?"
"Conan is acceptable," Shinichi hummed, letting a little fondness creep into his tone. Ran caught it, and gave him a grin.
"Any other questions?" he asked, responding to Ran's small smile with a catty smirk of his own, eyes alight as though challenging her to ask anything.
"Where are you from? How did you, uh, exist? Are yokai born?"
Shinichi gave what he hoped sounded like an all-knowing chuckle. "We are not born, though we manifest in different ways," he answered vaguely, hoping his nebulous answers wouldn't make it clear that he knew nothing about spirits in general. He's only researched bakenekos specifically in depth, and held only cursory knowledge of general yokai, though he still knew more than average due to the fact that many people imitated the supernatural in crimes in an attempt to fool people, making that knowledge useful.
With a breath, Shinichi continued— "I came to be in the mountains— but as for the how, I do not remember. But no matter; it was so long ago, and I am what I am with the how not being important."
Ran gave a little nod, and Shinichi echoed it with satisfaction. Good acting, Kudo. Making your mom proud, he told himself, nearly snickering. He glanced at Ran. Really though, she seemed to have bought it. Good.
This is exhausting. Time to wrap it up.
"That is all that you need to know, I believe," Shinichi said with an air of finality and a hint of smugness. Ran got the hint, and bobbed her head while burying the other questions she deemed unimportant and wouldn't be curious enough to pursue. She was sated, but Shinichi was sure not to overstuff the information into one conversation, and leave that tricksy air of mystery about him.
"Do not expect me to speak in response, but… a general chatter is still nice," Shinichi said, and there was no lie; a running conversation made him feel a bit more human, even if it was just one sided. He gave a little sigh, finishing: "I will return to silence now; from here on out, I will only speak if necessary."
"That seems lonely," Ran said. Shinichi had to agree.
xXx
I spent today and am going to spend sunday playing splatoon 'til my brain melts (saturday is another ski trip)
also. i am overcome with curiosity revolving around country roads amvs. you read that right. i will watch every single one of them. take me home. to the place where i belong. west virginia...
so yeah. thats how my life is going. this is the point that ive reached. i cant really decide if its a new all time low or high... but is that my decision to make? its in the hands of fate now.
