epidemiology | EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

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EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

BENDED TIME

As outlined in the OOC post, things start to slow down and grow quiet in Oska for a few days as the bugs crawl away and slowly disappear. But then the cocoons hatch. Fully grown temporal insects claw their way out of them, each about the size and temperament of raging bulls.

They come out far more aggressive and eager to fight, are are willing to take on anything that moves with jaws and claws alike. Except, of course, another insect — when two of them encounter each other, they enter into a mating dance and then slip away into another dimension, leaving behind only the temporary ghosts of years gone by. If you can’t find a way to pierce that thick shell to take one down, better find another one to pair it off with instead. Just try not to get bit while leading them around and find yourself suddenly 5 years old again.

The insects aren’t the only thing going on in Oska, though. As it turns out, unicorns really hate this adult form of the temporal insects, and will start kicking their way out of their stalls in the stables to get at the insects in an attempt to impale or trample them. According to Uruz they’re gallant warriors, but not always quite cut out to take on a bug, and can easily get themselves hurt or killed. She would really appreciate recruits taking a moment to recapture any stray unicorns they may come across and leading them back to the stables. Try to avoid any insects on the way, or you’ll find yourself suddenly fighting insect and irate unicorn, which is no one’s idea of a good time.

The lake is getting more active, too. All the fighting has woken up something in the depths of it. Dark red tentacles sometimes creep up onto shore — and don’t worry, this time they don’t belong to a sea goddess. The tentacles don’t attack unless attacked, and can in fact be quite agreeable. Nodes along the length of them act as primitive eyes, which see well enough to interact with anyone nearby. They’re also all a little peckish. Toss a tentacle a bit of food and watch it curl around and ingest it using tiny mouths on the underside. It might even be willing to play a few rounds of fetch or slap a bug into the sky for you if you put it in a good mood with a morsel of food.

The senior ALASTAIR members can be seen out and about and doing their part, too. Uruz and Dagny fight as a team, centaur and elf, sometimes fighting back to back and sometimes as mount and rider. They’ll stop and lend a hand, but the cats are a little less generous. Cherenkov and Crowley fight inseparably and use magic and science in deadly combination to ward off and destroy the bugs, but can usually only be seen darting on their way from one place to another. They have a lot of magitek to repair in the destructive wake of the insects. Pomarr, neither as senior nor as invested in actively picking off the bugs, offers shelter near a tentacle-free portion of the lake, calling down storms to toss away bugs for her and anyone in the vicinity.

OOC NOTES

This log spans a week ICly. Characters will find themselves beginning to understand each other again as the bugs first vanish, as the effects of the cats’ work on the magitek pays off. The translation problem will be completely fixed by the time the cocoons hatch. All of the bugs will have been killed or shipped off by the sixth day, leaving the last day before their departure to the next mission blissfully relaxing. Any temporally misplaced recruits will be back to normal by the last day, as well.

A reminder to anyone still texting: the texting feature of magitek jewelry operates based on thought! There are no physical keyboards, recruits merely think the message that they’d like to send to another recruit.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ when it first reaches him, he spends exactly two minutes panicking. galra had not been a word he'd anticipated hearing here, of all places, when everything seemed so expansive and distant that he had fostered a small hope that all that voltron business had been set aside for the time being...

but murphy's law seems to persist in any universe, it seems, because isn't it just like fate to throw a galran at him right when shiro, the strongest and most skilled of them all, had been transferred?

he calls keith, first, because heavens know if the other boy had caught wind of any of this, he'd already be diving headfirst into something stupid. ]

Keith? Keith — pick up, man, where are you??

[Crap.

Well, actually, the more appropriate word here would be "shit" or "damnit" but Keith is from a children's cartoon that cuts off all its dirty jokes before they get started. So, "crap" it is.

But really: crap crap crap crap.

Keith ducks into a place to hide, dragging out the black string necklace that he wears normally. On the string is a charm—his magitek—all primed and ready for this Very Awkward Conversation.]

I'm—[sounding way too angry. Having to sound Angry All the Time has really hurt his ability to sound casual. After a moment, Lance will hear him clear his throat, as if that was the problem. But he does sound better afterward:] I'm just dodging some bugs. What's wrong?

[ luckily for keith, lance is so focused on his own task (tasks, actually, considering his blaze down the halls to pidge's room is also a lesson in avoiding those weird bug things. not to mention getting a hold of keith himself) to notice anything. ]

Have you been keeping an ear to the ground at all? Someone who totally has no business knowing what a Galra is just told me there's one running around here, claiming buildings like they're some kinda space pirate! Where the heck are you? Are you with Pidge?

[When he puts it like that, the Galra sound really, really stupid. Actually, that was a really stupid plan. What was he thinking?

Focus. There's no reason he has to let Lance know where he is or what he's up to right now.]

No, I haven't seen Pidge. Knowing her, she's figuring out some way to deal with this whole mess. Maybe she knows where the Galra ship is—that'd be like her, huh? [Smooth, smooth. As if there would be a Galra ship. Maybe he can do this.]

Anyway, I'm trying to make sure people don't get hit by these bugs. [A beat.] Hey—you don't think the Galra did this, do you? It'd make a lot of sense.

[ lance swears under his breath.

or, at least he would, if he weren't from a kid's cartoon. so just insert him doing the pg-13 equivalent of that right now, as he tears through the hall and makes a hasty turn on his heel to avoid a group of timeworms down the other side of it.

back pressed tight against the wall, lance lowers his voice to a whisper in this phone call, just in case those timeworms have particularly good hearing. ]

She wouldn't go at it alone, not without telling us, [ he says, voice firm with conviction. maybe pre-castle invasion pidge might have... but not the pidge they know after that. no way.

he waves a hand at keith's suggestion, too, though keith can't see it. ]

How does it make sense? If the Galra had this kind of fire power from the beginning, we would've been wiped. [ not that he knows much about time travel... but he imagines it's a heck of a lot more powerful a weapon than voltron. (sorry voltron). ]

Yeah, maybe, but remember that time—[Imagine tires squealing here as he has to stop short. No, Lance doesn't remember that time with the monster and the thing that Haggar probably cooked up. He frowns heavily knowing that he just messed up. Darnit crap darnit shoot.

He draws his bayard after a moment and slashes it against a wall, and then breathes heavily. See, he just got caught up fighting. That's all. Lance can totally buy that, can't he?

Keith really hopes so. Knowing Lance, he'd ... make as big of a deal of this as he did before. Everyone's faces were hurt when he abandoned them (except Shiro, who looked stoic and like he didn't believe it). Lance's was the worst, and nothing had gone well that day. Having to relive it sounds like a nightmare that he'd much rather avoid.]

Sorry about that—bug trouble. My point is, if they can somehow live ten thousand years, maybe they cooked something up for us.

[ luckily enough for keith, lance just assumes that "that time" was what he had thought back to as well — how distant pidge had been, and resolved to do whatever it took to get back her family... even if it meant leaving the rest of them in the lurch. it might not have been that long ago, technically, but it feels like it's been ages since she's thought like that. after all, lance knows all about missing your family...

but he also knows when there is something even bigger than that at stake. maybe sometimes begrudgingly. ]

Doesn't explain who these other sorry shmucks are though, [ he says in afterthought, though he isn't sure why they're having this conversation, of all things. whether or not this is some galra doing doesn't matter right now — what matters is getting the three of them together, safe, and then they can work on how to handle whatever galra thing is happening here. if at all! (there is still a part of lance that hopes he heard wrong.)

in another screen, he tries, once more, to get a hold of pidge, but to no avail. ]

Quiznak — Keith, where are you?

What does it matter? I'm being a paladin right now, you know? Keeping people safe. Fighting bugs. We don't have to do everything together. [It's defensive and reactive and the kind of statement someone makes when they don't want to be seen. In addition, despite Keith's loner tendencies (when he really wants to go take care of a matter alone, he just leaves to do it), he's not really the type to hate teamwork.

Ever.

Somehow, the small team of Voltron works for him. It works for him now, but not when he's about to blow his future and make things veeeeery complicated.]

I didn't think you'd need to be watched every second of every day.

[ lance freezes for a second, the more sensible, more reasonable portion of his brain shutting down like it is wont to whenever keith does or says something even particularly provoking. pride flares in his gut, along with a flicker of hurt that he'll probably never admit to, and he grits his teeth against them both. finally pushing off the wall to begin stomping down the hall again. ]

You know what, Keith? Forget this!

[ the feed ends with that abrupt shout. he doesn't have to deal with this. shiro was gone, pidge wasn't answering, and he still has no idea where hunk could have turned up. maybe keith was right. what's a team if half of them are missing, anyway. ]

Edited 2016-09-09 12:06 (UTC)

[ he gets about five feet down the corridor when he stops abruptly, his head hanging low, shoulders drooping. that was bullshit and he knows it. a team is a team is a team, no matter where they are, or how many of them are left, and even if keith is pissing him off to no end right now, he's still part of team voltron.

he's still one of lance's.

it might not mean anything to keith himself, but lance would be lying if he continued to act like it didn't mean anything to him. keith can kick and fuss all he wants — it doesn't change anything. it doesn't erase what they've already accomplished together.

and so, with a low, begrudgingly growl, lance slams the side of his fist against a nearby wall, before turning back around to lean against it and access the magitek once more. after that night they found out out shiro, lance had taken to combing through this thing's entire database, not willing to be caught off-guard by it again. among one of the things he'd found is a handing little tracking feature...

he stares at the red blip on the map for a few seconds, orienting its location to where he himself is positioned. one last second to gather himself, and then he's off, tearing down the halls with his rifle at the ready. ]

Edited 2016-09-09 12:15 (UTC)

[To some degree, Keith made a point of making his claim less of a lie. After successfully shutting down his conversation with Lance, he found himself feeling guilty. It's the same way he feels whenever he meets them on the opposite side of the battlefield. Without fail, one of them always decides to connect to him to tell him to come back, that he doesn't need to do whatever he's doing, that they believe in him—

Zarkon offered to have that function removed, but Keith insisted on keeping it. After all, it reminds him of what he's fighting for. The other paladins are good people. They weren't plants. And if he succeeds, he'll be making life better for all of them ... and their families.

Keith doesn't have anything like that. He's nothing but a Galra experiment, thrown together to claim a planet where a lion was waiting to be awakened. He doesn't even know what actions were his and what weren't, but he's fairly certain he's in control now. He hasn't told Zarkon what he intends to do. That matters.

Keeping up the charade matters, too. Being a jerk to Lance always came more easily, but these days, the heat behind it isn't at Lance but at himself. It's easier to pack a punch when he remembers how much it's hurting him. Lance will see when it's over. Keith ... Keith might never be able to apologize, but if he can get through this stupid bug invasion and get back home (Shiro left, and if Shiro left, surely he can leave too—), he'll be able to do something bigger than that.

Anyway, as for that bit of making sure his statement wasn't a lie? Keith is fighting a few oversized bugs, though it seems like he hasn't quite understood that they're trying to get to each other. It's either that, or he won't accept that outcome. Either way, that's definitely a Galra soldier fighting with the red paladin's bayard when Lance inevitably shows up.

He looks a fair bit reckless, too. But that's probably some of the guilt in play without Keith even realizing it.]

[ it's not hard to spot him. he makes for a pretty surprising sight, even in the backdrop of all that is alastair and weird. so much so, that even though lance had arrived in this location to find keith, thoughts of the other boy are immediately (but not permanently) thrown out of his head the moment he spots — him. that.

there's no mistaken that purple fur, those ears. a galra... here. just like he'd overheard.

and instantly, he is reminded of his first say here, that collision with the red paladin. how keith hadn't hesitated to call him out on the fact that he hadn't been willing to rush in to defend shiro, how quickly and accurately keith had been to call him out on his cowardice.

lance takes a half-step back, a good enough distance away from the fight that neither bug nor galra have noticed him yet. he tries not to panic, tries to summon up the courage and adrenaline he usually has no real problem tapping into.

one versus one. it shouldn't be a problem. keith had—

keith!

suddenly, lance remembers what he'd come here for. hastily he looks back at the holoscreen, calling back the gps... ]

...what?

[ it — it must be broken. glitching or something, right? there's no way that that—

and yet. the more he looks, the more he notices... that red. that stupid mullet. that reckless fighting style...

what the heck is going on. ]

Keith!

[No. This can't be happening. This was precisely the thing he had been trying to avoid. Keith slides out from underneath one of the bug's legs and clambers to the other side, panting as he looks at Lance with eyes that definitely look like he's just got caught in some headlights. Experiencing this once had been bad enough. The follow up where he had to betray his fellow paladins to take this reckless path had been bad, too.

But here he is again: he's living out what has been the worst moment in his life yet again. Maybe ... maybe it'll be different.

All of his instincts tell him to run, but running might mean Lance follows him, and at this point, it'll just get him hurt. These bugs are giving him a hard enough time that it tells him that he has to give up while he's ahead. Grunting in agitation, he runs back underneath the bug, slicing open its belly as he goes, and rushes past Lance.]

We're not doing this here. We'll get killed. [A beat as he measures up Lance, eyes squinting. Definitely from the beginning, definitely before he and Lance had become more of friends, with him trusting Lance's perspective and where the two of them had stopped sniping at each other so much.]

But if you don't want to come—I won't blame you. I am with the Galra Empire. You heard that part right. [Every instinct tells him to push Lance away, to protect him, but he doesn't want him to run in the opposite direction to prove a point.

Getting his friends killed is the last thing he wants.]

[ in another time, in another world, this scene had played out differently. there had been more going on, more happening underneath. years of working as a team, of learning to stomach then respect then finally understand each other — years of growing and growing together — that when it all came to a head, when all those dirty secrets were revealed... it had hurt. a lot.

and betrayal is such an ugly feeling, one that is all-consuming and blinding. it swallowed that lance whole, made it hard for him to see keith, his teammate, his rival, his friend. all he could see was the black and red of hurt, to know that all that had been said and done between them had been nothing more than a lie.

this lance, though. this lance doesn't have any of that to fall back on. he doesn't have the experience, doesn't have the memories. he doesn't have the fond feelings and strengthened bond that might have made this moment like a sucker punch to the gut, stealing all of his air and senses. instead, he has only his eyes, and his wit, and how neither seem to make the connection with what he's seeing, and what he knows.

"keith" rushes past him, makes the mistake of pausing long enough to speak, to knock lance out of his stunned reverie. there is a moment's pause, and then lance suddenly surges forward, grabbing keith's arm—

but that's about as far as he gets before there is suddenly a shrieking in the near distance, and suddenly lance's entire body is thrown forward, knocking against the other, as one of those time bugs bullrushes into them both. he hits the ground hard, twisting something in his shoulder, but the pain is but a dim sensation as the rest of his body hastens to react. his bayard is summoned at his hand, and he rolls onto his back just in time to deliver a shot right into the bellow of the beast, its entrails exploding all around them. its mate screeches loudly in despair, charging towards them before it, too, gets blown into bits. nothing remains of its top half, and its bottom falls to the ground with a squelching thud. lances shoots at it again, and again, and once more for good measure.

"we're not doing this here." like heck they won't!! ]

That's why guns will always be better than your stupid sword!

[ allow him a moment to gracelessly climb back to his feet and gather his bearings again. though clearly a good amount of his agitation had been taken out on those poor bugs. rip. ]

[Keith freezes for an entirely different reason as Lance goes ahead and takes care of the bugs. The close proximity limits any doubt that Keith would have that he'd make his shot, but he remembers exactly how good Lance gets with his bayard and he isn't there yet. Still, the talent is there, and it's something that he strove to succeed at in that other time in part because Keith had always been a natural. They came to understand each other. Opposites in most ways, they learned how to flow as a team even if sometimes their ideas didn't match up. Shiro learned how to help them see eye to eye, but they would banter because of old time's sake, because it was comfortable.

That comfort had slipped away in the heat of betrayal. They once met in battle after that and Keith almost fell into that old habit, but it was Lance who cut things short. Where they had been rivals before, they were then enemies. The heat of betrayal had swallowed both of them up, and there was nothing that could reverse it.

This moment, though, feels like something he's not supposed to have. Lance isn't supposed to be saving him. He should be leaving him to the bugs to die. He looks down at the exploded bugs with a slack jaw and doesn't bother to stand up just yet. He's not supposed to have this. Lance should be angry with him. Lance should be storming off. Lance should want him dead.

In a way, it almost feels like ... like cheating. Like he's getting something he's desperately longed for in the loneliness of the Galra ships and it's through something as simple as having Lance cover for him like he had before.]

You—you saved me, [he sputters out, not quite able to formulate other words.]

Shut up!

[ the retort had come out more childish and petulant than he would have wanted it to, but that's what he feels now, covered in sweat and grime and guts as he works on rolling out whatever muscle he'd pulled in falling. he is mad. he's still mad, but not entirely for the reason keith expects. the reason he thinks he deserves.

when lance looks at keith, there is visible dissonance there — expression strained, brow furrowed. like he knows what he's seeing, and he knows what he heard, but somehow none of that is getting processed at all and it frustrates him as much as that look on keith's face does — like he's surprised that lance would do something like that. save him. his teammate. and frankly — that makes him angry and insulted, too.

what kind of guy does keith even think he is? ]

I was saving myself, okay, you... you just happened to be there.

[ ...oh right. a guy who fought galra. and still the same guy who couldn't admit to a simple bonding moment in the control room of a castle.

but that's not what's important now, is it? if there is one thing to be thankful to alastair for, it is (ironically enough) their timing. if lance had been here for longer, had had more time to get used to all this absurdity... perhaps he would have had a clearer mind to absorb all this. as it is, he is so jumbled, so frazzled by all that's happened within the past few weeks that he is desperate to cling to what he knows.

and what he knows of keith is this: he might be a jerk, and a weirdo, and he might have stupid hair and an affinity for stupid, impractical weapons — but he is also the guy who wanted to stay and fight an alien army to prevent said army from blowing up another planet. he's the guy who worked harder than the rest of them (barring shiro) in all those team bonding practices.

he's the guy who'd jump in, no hesitation, to take on the commander of an evil alien empire just for the chance to save one of their own. ]

What'd they do to you?

[ now it's just a matter of finding out how much of that guy is still left in there. ]

[What makes this even harder is how little Lance knows about him. Back at the Garrison, few people knew anything about Keith—and he preferred it that way. He entered the school early in part because he didn't have a whole lot of other direction in life, and he had taken to it like it was as easy as breathing. That's what mattered most. Getting along with people was far from a priority, and part of Keith's decision making there involved him choosing not to get along with his superiors, either.

It was a mistake.

But being a Voltron paladin sometimes means that you just share things. He remembers revealing to the others that he never really knew his parents, and it just ... clicked, all of it, the day he turned out to be Galra. Lance doesn't know any of that. Lance thinks something happened to Keith, that like Shiro, he had been changed by the Galra.

In a way, it's not like Lance is wrong, but it still shows a certain level of faith in Keith that Keith doesn't understand or think he deserves. Even if he's doing everything to help the other paladins, he knows he's hurting them every tick that passes by and he isn't fighting at their sides.]

They didn't do anything. I was a plant. [He pulls himself up onto his feet, eyes moving over Lance's features. He's angry. It's comfortable being around an angry Lance, but he doesn't seem hurt in the same way.]

I didn't know, but once I found out, I went back to them. I betrayed all of you. [Past tense.] I knew where I belonged ... for once in my life. [These words twist him up inside with their falsehoods, tightening his throat in the process. He doesn't bother to go on because he doesn't want that thickening of his voice to be read as anything but frustration.

The place where he belongs is one like this: alongside Lance, fighting weird alien bugs. But he turned his back on that for everyone, to keep fighting to preserve as many people as possible. It was stupid and lonely and necessary, but it's what he needed to do.

Seeing Lance like this, he feels more resolved in that decision. This is the guy he wanted to help, to make sure he got back to his family that actually existed.]

[ there is a disconnect here, that lance himself is struggling to follow. the words coming out from this keith's mouth — they're so disjointed, so mechanical. almost but not quite like the general bluntness and lack of tact that he has known keith to possess. this here seems measured. calculated.

almost rehearsed?

but perhaps that is just wishful thinking on his part. after all, lance has seen his share of spy movies. a good handful of his favorites even have this very situation as their plot — a band of brothers, thick as thieves, everything all holly jolly till one day they realize one of them Was Not What He Seemed All Along and drama and chaos ensues and good ol' fashioned spy flick fun. he used to eat that stuff up.

it's entirely different to be living it, though, even if lance's life in these past few weeks has been one weird sci-fi action movie scene after another.

but something about all this just doesn't make sense, and fortunately this lance is granted the ability to retain his senses. another lance, another time, had been in too deep in the hurt and betrayal to even stop and think about it. ]

Full offense? But that's a load of bull.

[ it doesn't add up. and while math and logic may not be lance's strong suit, when all else fails him, he always relies on his gut. and his gut is telling him that story reeks more than the guts of these stupid time bugs. ]

You're telling me you decided to go back to a race of evil, conquering aliens — whom you know nothing about! — turning your back on the people you've been working side-by-side against, you know... your teammates who actually care about you — (you know, some of us more than others, whatever) — you're telling me you ditched all that just because you found out you're secretly furry like them too?

[ let's just pause for effect here... ]

Are you kidding me??

[ he doesn't need you acting as his hero keith. sure, he loves and misses his family.

but if the one back home was the only family he really cared about, then he would have left and gone home weeks ago. ]

Why the heck are you fighting this? [he snaps all too quickly.] I'm not from your time. I'm from the future! Of course I know more about them then—uh—you know, my now. [Complicated. So complicated. His features twist up in irritation. Lance hasn't even said anything that he hasn't wanted to hear for a while from him specifically. Shiro said a lot of similar things. So did Pidge and Hunk. But Lance was the emotional one, the one who didn't care about all that reason.]

Maybe, just maybe, you knew all along that I was bad. Ever considered that? I'm surprised you won't run off and tell everyone that you were right. Guess you really are just that bad at claiming a victory.

[In a way, these words are more emotional, and it's in part because he doesn't think Lance should see through this. Torn between what he wants to hear and what he thinks he deserves to hear, his reactive nature is turned up a notch, and his irritation wins out, mixing in with the cruelty he's practiced (if not perfected) in order to hurt his teammates. He hadn't been good at first, but he's gotten better over time.

Perhaps it's all pretty stupid. Perhaps it's a chance to be honest in a place where it might not matter.

But Keith can't risk that, not when he's so close to Zarkon.]

[ nothing that keith is saying is particularly inaccurate. in fact it's really quite easy for lance to picture all that just as he says it: keith doing something stupid in a mission, nearly costing his own life, lance not hesitating to jump on that little bit of imperfection and parading it around like his own little private victory.

but while he can see himself saying a whole slew of things that might anger or provoke keith, he has never, not once, ever considered not trusting him.

for lance, he never saw the need to question it.

which is why he's having such a hard time understanding things now. because he hasn't lived it, hasn't seen keith do anything but talk, it's not a matter of his trust being broken here... right now it's just a matter of keith being dumb as usual. ]

You really think somebody wins in this situation?!

[ he actually surges forward now, reaching out to grasp the front of the other boy's armor. he's taller, lance suddenly realizes with a strange pang — just how far into the future is he from...?

no. no this is stupid. keith is stupid. none of this makes sense and lance has had about enough of it—! ]

Go ahead then, Keith — prove it. Show me how bad you are!

[ he points to the sword still in the ex-paladin's hand, then hoists them both up a little higher, a little closer, eye-to-eye and daring. ]

Come on!!

[It's not that Keith has a whole lot of good plans in his head, but this definitely didn't go the way he expected. Most of his plans on the fly are either easily carried out or unsuccessful. The long-term actions can be a bit more complicated, but that's because he puts his nose to the grindstone. Being among the Galra involves a lot of unsuccessful plans and a lot of successful ones. He's had to do things, things that he's not proud of.

But they haven't asked him to prove himself this way. Not yet. His fights with the other paladins seemed aggressive enough for one lion versus four other ones that they never questioned it.

His instincts tell him that this time, it won't be the same. It's just him versus Lance, and Lance should be the one he dislikes the most. Held up like he is, he does have some genuine anger at Lance's challenge. At the same time, he doesn't actually want to hurt him. Fighting a lion isn't fighting someone face to face.

He figures he can either fight him or tell him he's not worth it, but neither is appealing to Keith. Why the heck did he have to do this to him? One involves hurting someone he cares about. The other involves Lance calling him on his bluff.

After a beat, his eyes narrow as his shield appears in his opposite hand, and he swings it back between them to drive Lance away from him. In the process, he kicks low at Lance's knee, the same one he seemed to pull before, all to pull himself away from his hold. He hopes it's enough, but he stumbles back, holding up the sword and shield, ready to keep fighting.]

You weren't a challenge back then. I don't know why you're so eager to see how little that's changed.

[ it's as much shock as it is the pain that has him staggering back and frozen. he had never been very good at masking his own emotions, and so his surprise is written clear across his face, and finally — finally, a faint tinge of that betrayal there that keith is so desperate to provoke. it hadn't been much, that kick. sure, had keith kicked a little harder, just a couple of inches higher, he would have easily broken that leg. but he didn't. did lance dare to hope it was on purpose?

he isn't so sure anymore. he didn't actually think keith would strike him, didn't think he'd ever see the day he would ever seriously raise that sword at him. in the back of his mind, his survival instinct kicks in, screaming at him to summon his bayard, to fight back. a sword had no chance against a high-powered rifle. if he raised his weapon at keith, there would be no question.

which is why he can't let himself do it, no matter the small prickle of fear at his neck. no, at this point, there's really only one thing left to do— ]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[ which is clearly to bullrush the guy and try to take him down by throwing all his weight against keith's waist. ]

[So, here's the thing: Lance weighs more than Keith. It's not that Keith hasn't gained some muscle and height thanks to his Galra reveal sequence, but he's still a skinny guy compared to someone like Lance, even armored in stupid purple armor like what he's wearing right now. It isn't hard to sweep him off his feet when he isn't expecting it, and that's ... exactly what happens.

In the process, he tries to drag a leg back to stop his fall and ends up bending it back strangely and getting a matching strained leg in the process. It hurts, which is apparent in the sound of pain, and he regrets even trying to stop what happened.

Grinding his teeth through the pain—as much as Galra teeth can ... grind, anyway—he drops his bayard and plants his hands firmly on Lance's shoulders to push him off.]

I don't know what you're doing, but I. Don't. Want. To hug! [Very purposeful. This is not a hug, but it feels like it might be the thing to get Lance to let go ...

So, he hopes it works!]

[ i mean. it almost does.

at the accusation, lance feels a familiar, incredulous flare in the pit of his gut, and a knee-jerk reflex nearly has him pushing off the other boy with a ready excuse on the tip of his tongue.

fortunately he has enough sense left in him to realize that this is probably the only chance he's ever going to get to catch the other boy this off-guard, and he'd be a fool if he let it slip away. and so when he feels the push on his shoulders, he only tightens his arms even more around keith's waist, digging his toes into the ground to try and keep most of his wait on his uninjured shoulder, and that he presses into keith's chest to keep him down. it's just wrestling, it's just grappling. he's done it plenty of times with his rowdier older siblings, and even hunk when they were younger, and it was easier for him to get a one-up on the guy ok dON'T MAKE IT WEIRD GOD. ]

Quiznak all those Galra genes and you're still dim! Do you even know what a hug is??

[ he grits his teeth, squeezes his eyes, and just tries to ignore the instinct to jump far, far away. ]

And who the heck would even wanna hug you in the first place?!

[ they sure are arguing about hugs. ]

Edited 2016-09-15 19:57 (UTC)

The Galra are superior to shows of affection like hugs. Didn't you get that from Sendak? I thought he made it pretty obvious. [To him, this is definitely wrestling, and he can't help but be disappointed that his trick of calling it something else hadn't worked. Of course Keith knows what a hug is! He's not that stupid. He's probably just ... pretty ignorant to what a hug feels like most of the time. He's not had a lot of them.

Which is another long paragraph of angst for another day.

For now, he struggles underneath Lance, doing his best to try to bend his good leg back to bump his knee into Lance's behind. If nothing else, it might hurt to do that, but he's not successful in getting a lot of force behind the action. While his legs are definitely the strongest part of his not-that-large alien body, they aren't able to get much ground here.]

As for hugging me—[What if he tries to grip his fingers into the sides of Lance's neck? Would that help? Would it hurt enough? He has a long enough neck, he can probably do with some pain there, so he shifts his hands over to each side of it to pinch into the skin.]

I think you're the one who's all too eager to do it. But it isn't gonna make me your friend again. Stop trying!

EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

yolos and wildcards let me know if this is okay! >:'c

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