epidemiology | closed;

[ She told him to be there in ten but he makes it in five, unsure what to expect. His expression is hesitant as he comes to stand beside her. ]

You sure you're okay...?

[Knowing about his future is strange. More than anything, the strange part is knowing that it's the first time this has even happened to him. What if his future is different? What if he changes it? As it is, Keith is caught in a state of brooding when they both arrive. He looks up alert from where he's sitting to go open the door to the both of them.]

Come on.

[He turns around and steps back into his place. The inside of Keith's room is tidy, and the only reason it looks more lived in is the amount of stuff he has from his time with ALASTAIR. There's a tapestry, two large cat beds, and some stuff that lies strewn over his desk—like the ogre-tooth necklace, as well as some of his stealth gear in preparation for the next mission. Any of his clothes are tucked away in appropriate places, and anything that might be more telling or awkward is mostly hidden away.

Except the tapestry, which Keith isn't even thinking about right now.

The only thing that isn't tidy is the fact that Keith isn't the type to really make his bed.

As it is, he goes to sit and lean against his desk, arms crossed.]

[She turns to look at Lance as he stands beside her, finally deciding to keep the hood down.

The smile she gives him is warm. A bit nervous, because...it is a lot, and she doesn't know how they will take what she has to say without having experienced it themselves, but:]

I am fine. Really.

[She's about to say something else when Keith opens the door, and that nervous look turns a bit awkward as she looks at Keith face-to-face, stepping into his room and carefully glancing around.

Awkward if only because when it comes to a guy like Keith, entering his room feels like a breach in privacy. Not to mention it appears vastly different from his spartan room on the Castle-ship, from what she's seen of it at least.

She's unsure of where to stand, but sitting on his bed seems too weird to even consider, especially since it's unmade, so she just moves more towards the back center of the room, so she can face both Keith and Lance proper.]

May you both remind me what you last remember from our universe before coming here?

[ Crouching, he greets Belore as he enters; he doesn't pay Keith many visits except to go see her, in fact, though by now she's capable of making the short trip between rooms on her own. Lion, uninterested, stays in bed.

Lance remembers the last time he was in Keith's room on the Castle-ship, and how bare it had been; every time he comes here, he's struck by how much of Keith's life is stored in such a tight space. He wonders if Keith had liked keeping his old room that way, or if this was just a testament to all the bonds he'd forged over the span of his stay with ALASTAIR, and now Hathaway. ]

Um--

[ He turns to Allura, the answer to her question feeling like a million lifetimes away. He straightens from where he's crouched to pet Belore. ]

It was a few weeks after we fought Lotor in the Ulippa system. We were starting some peacekeeping efforts, to build the Coalition. [ He nods to Keith, as if to prompt him. ]

I'm not that far along. It was right after Coran told us about how the lions came to be, and what happened to Altea. [Knowing about the coalition starting had been one thing. He knew it was a plan, and that was part of the peacekeeping efforts that he had ... disrupted. With his temper and his grief.

There's not much else for him to add.]

[Chulatt's been eyeing Belore the entire short time they've been in the room, so Allura takes the small mouse in hand, running her forefinger under the mouse's chin as she listens.

She's quiet for a tick, remembering the confrontation they had with Lotor, still trying to wrap her head around how long ago that had been. There's a sigh, a release of tension she's been holing up, because there is no simple way of putting this.]

As you both know, I had already been brought here from long after both those events. I cannot say for certain how long it was.

[She looks from Lance, and then settles her gaze to Keith, expression sad. She places Chulatt back on her shoulder.]

I have been keeping a lot from you, Keith. Because I saw how well you were doing here with the guild, and how you spoke about being a Paladin of Voltron, but back home you had been pulling away from the team, running late to missions and Coalition meetings in order to train with the Blade of Marmora.

It was only a matter of time where the team would need to form Voltron and you wouldn't return in time, and when that did finally happen...Shiro was finally able to reconnect with the Black Lion in your absence.

[Another pause, and she crosses her arms, looking down.]

And with Shiro being able to pilot the Black Lion again, you stepped down from the team to work with the Blade.

[ Lance isn't surprised, exact;y. After all the talks he'd had with Keith on this very topic, the fact that he'd eventually leave the team seems like a sensible conclusion. It's disappointing, of course, but somewhat predictable. Shiro's return to Black makes him blink. ]

Whoa. [ He looks to Keith, still processing all that. Last he knew, Shiro was struggling with Black, commanding from the Castle. He isn't sure what to say--this isn't really his to deal with. Instead, he looks from Keith to Allura, gauging. ]

[More than anything, this gives Keith context about his first conversation with Allura. She had been so concerned about him not coming back. The reason? He had left, not only here, but there too. A feeling of guilt and unease passes over his features. As reserved as Keith can be with knowledge, he's undoubtedly an open book. That's clear at the moment.

Both of his arms come to cross over his chest as he looks down.]

When I got back before—that's all I wanted. I felt like being the leader of Voltron was something I was forced into. And ... I didn't want it. I wasn't ready. But—Shiro is meant to be the leader of Voltron, right? [There's less belief in his voice than there had been back home, like he's failed himself. Some ... version of himself failed himself.]

I was starting to think I might be ready. That—[And there's a lightness to his voice here, like he's uneasy.] It makes sense. That's what would happen if I hadn't been here.

[Keith looks over to the closet where his bayard is kept. The Black one.

Shiro's bayard.]

Edited 2018-04-14 05:35 (UTC)

[Allura keeps her arms crossed, seeming to tug in on herself. Shiro is meant to be the leader... seems to sound hollow to her; after all, there is no denying the competency of Shiro's leadership over Keith's burgeoning one, but considering her latest struggles with Shiro and the way he's thrown that leadership around with little regard to her own thoughts and ideas--

Her frown draws thin. That she will keep to herself. And she decidedly doesn't answer Keith's question.]

While back home I had wished for you to stay with the team, and as the Black Paladin of Voltron, you had been incredibly determined with your role in the Blades. And you have done us proud. [And now she looks back up.] But...that is not the only thing I need to tell you-- [her gaze shifts to Lance] both of you.

While I am still uncertain of the exact details, Zarkon was able to reclaim control of the Galra Empire, taking it from Lotor...to an extreme where he exiled Lotor from the Empire completely.

[There's the unmistakable edge of...something as she mentions the Prince. A small note of sympathy mixed with the usual hard tone she keeps while speaking of Zarkon.]

But...even with Zarkon's return to power, the Coalition grew stronger. We found Pidge's brother, safe, and with him formed an alliance with more rebel forces throughout the galaxy. [And following that, Allura continues. Discussing the Coalition's rising inspiration for the rest of the galaxy, Shiro and the team setting their sights on the planet Naxzela, where its reclamation would severely effect the Galra Empire to the Coalition's benefit.

She explains how it was a trap that would kill everyone in the surrounding sector, how she was able to tap in to her own powers free them from the planet's gravitational pull, but how that had not been enough.]

The only way to stop Naxzela from detonating was to disrupt Haggar's ritual, but the Galran cruiser was protected by an un-penetrable force field. Keith, you were going to try something to disrupt it, but--

[There's a bit of a pause, and during the conversation she had uncrossed her arms from her chest, clasping her hands together in front of her.]

Lotor...he was the only one who had been able to stop it. He saved us. He went against the Empire, against Zarkon and his witch, to save thousands in the Coalition.

[ Keith's guilt is obvious, and Allura's answering frustration just as much; Allura's more diplomatic, but she and Keith share a passionate disposition in common. They aren't difficult people to read. Lance reaches over and gives Keith's shoulder an encouraging pat, before he settles in for Allura to continue. It's—

It's a lot to take in. At more than one point Lance feels his jaw slacken, not the least because the more Allura talks, the more unlikely everything she has to say seems. The news about Matt makes him elated, but the rest is grim. There's a subtle, blink-and-you'll-miss-it gentleness to Allura's voice when she talks about Lotor, one that confuses Lance. He believes her, but at the same time, the last time he'd seen Lotor, they'd been facing off in combat. ]

So...does that make Lotor our ally now?

[ He sounds confused and curious more than anything else, though there's certainly some wariness there. ]

No. Lotor can't be our ally. [The words come out immediately. Keith's fingers twist into fists at his side, and he seems to immediately be standing straight up. The mention of Lotor sends him off balance immediately. His incentive is to stop Lotor. Anything he'd be doing, it must be for a reason.

And a bad one.

He's the one who tricked them into getting the comet. Allura had been the one that was most defeated by that. They were going to stop him—]

If he showed up like that, it was for a reason. To use ... something. You know that.

[Unlike Lance, Keith doesn't notice the softness to her voice. Part of that is because he had been too busy wallowing through half of her explanation to pick up anything like tone.

And part of that is ... because he's Keith.]

[She's about to answer Lance the moment Keith speaks up. Both their reactions are exactly as she expected.]

In the past, I had thought the same thing: that Lotor was going to use his proposed alliance as a means to his end. That he was not someone we could trust. It was something Shiro and I deliberated over for a long time.

[Her brows furrow at that, but she doesn't look away from either of them.]

But Prince Lotor is an ally; he had continuously proven himself to be a man true to his word. And I know it may be difficult to believe, but-- [since there is really no elegant way of putting it:] Emperor Zarkon is dead.

He killed his father for the greater good.

[ It doesn't go unnoticed by Lance that Allura summon's Shiro's authority to simmer down Keith's brewing tempest. Still. ]

Wait, Lotor killed Zarkon?! [ Zarkon is dead? For good? Lance's head whips to Keith, as if to say, 'are you hearing this?' ] Look, it's not that I don't believe you and Shiro or anything, but Lotor hasn't really been a 'greater good' type so far. Are you sure he doesn't have any other motivations?

[ Voltron is, after all, an excellent ally to have. ]

[The mention of Shiro does calm him, at least momentarily. His jaw sets, but he doesn't speak. He gives no visual cue that he acknowledges Lance's rather animated glance in his direction. Keith is the image of tension right now. He doesn't like anything he's hearing. He left the team. Lotor came in. Shiro approved of it.]

How do you know he didn't just kill him to retake power? He had the Empire last I remember. The Galra way is clear: victory or death.

His motivations are for energy, and to stabilize the Galra Empire from within. I know this is not the path we had anticipated; like I've said, I would not believe all this myself.

But Lotor is not anything like his father. He killed Zarkon in defense, because of a scenario we had put him in. Shiro trusted him with the Black Bayard which helped put an end to Zarkon, and he supported Lotor's claim to the throne following Zarkon's death--

[It bothers her how she feels she needs to defer to Shiro's word over hers in order to help convince Keith. With Lance...well, she knows that Lance has become a voice of reason for the team. That even through his disbelief she doesn't need to level with him in the same way she has to with Keith.

But they both look to Shiro as their leader. And he is, even when he isn't here.]

All of us have learned that not all Galra are the same. [She reaches up, hand touching her chest, where she's keeping the map to Oriande close in a breast pocket. There's a comfort there, in knowing what she says is true, and that the shard is the physical representation of what she had went through. A physical remnant of her people's past.] And Lotor does not look to the Galran way. He's half-Altean, something he looks to as a strength, and--

[Her fingers tense around the shard, thinking to their time on Oriande which was still so recent for her.]

I know from where you both came, you still see Lotor as an enemy, and I am not asking for either of you to immediately change your minds just because of what I've said. It's just that...a lot has changed back home, and I did not want to keep any of it from either of you for any longer.

[ There's a lot that doesn't sit well. 'His motivations are for energy'; quintessence...? To stabilize, not stop the Empire? Shiro gave Lotor the Black bayard? That seems unthinkable to Lance, and yet--

He trusts Allura. He trusts that what she's saying is true. So there must have been a reason...?

Lance looks to Keith, unsure, then back to Allura. ]

I believe you. [ No speaking for their wound-up friend. ] It just--it really feels like you're trying to sell us on this guy, Allura. [ Pinpricks of ugly jealousy in his gut; he asks himself if he isn't coming at this from a dishonest angle. But no, he thinks, his doubts are sound, surely. ] I know all Galra aren't the same. [ He motions to Keith. Case in point. ] But Lotor's...smart.

[ Putting it that way seems like a set-up to insult Pidge and Hunk, but what Lance is gunning for is that Lotor is crafty, and perfectly capable of playing the long con. Lance blows some air out of his nose and looks at Keith again. ]

I guess it doesn't matter though, does it? We're here, not there.

[ This isn't worth fighting over, is what he's getting at. ]

You're right. There's nothing we can do, because some of us weren't even there. [Keith's temper is slipping out of his control, and it's obvious from the emphasis on his words, the way his body looks like he could lash out at anyone who cared to touch him. Is there anything in this news that's good? Zarkon being dead? Probably. And that assumes he's really dead. They thought he was dead before. And he wasn't. And now Shiro has the Black Bayard and he's giving it away and all this stuff just sounds like—like it can't be real.

It's his room, though, so he can kick people out. He can do that, at least.]

Good thing we're caught up now. You two can go. [It's abrupt and callous, but right now, he just—he can't do it. He can't handle this. He'd rather be doing anything else but thinking about this.

Besides, who needs being civil when he's not even their leader anymore? He doesn't have to pretend that he knows what he's doing. He just ... he's just Keith now. That's it.]

I am not trying to sell you anything, but it--

[It's difficult to get a full thought out in response when Keith's anger is there, simmering and obvious to even the most casual observer. It reminds her of when Shiro had been gone, the terse behavior he exhibited during their meeting with others at the beginning of their Coalition talks. Short of temper. Quick to shut down a conversation.

She looks to Lance, almost pleadingly, before looking to Keith. She's not budging, not yet.]

I promised the team no more secrets. In the end it does more harm than good to keep the truth from those you care about, and for all we know it may matter here, if there are others who join Hathaway. [Her hand balls into a fist against the shard.] Keith, I do not wish to leave you upset.

[And she's looking to Lance again, holding out some form of hope that maybe he can talk Keith down.

Which is...honestly, a bit of a longshot.]

[ That's a longshot even for this sniper. /rimshot

Lance turns to Keith, brows knit together, but he's not squaring his stance. ]

Keith, hey, simmer down will ya? [ There's a time and place for Lance to be gentle with Keith, but now isn't it. From the floor, their interest piqued by the rise of voices, Lion and Belore watch the exchange. ] You're allowed to be upset, but taking it out on a friend? No bueno. [ And that's--it, isn't it? Keith may not be their leader, but he's still and has always been their friend. ]

Allura's just trying to fill us in.

I just—I need some time. She's right. We needed to know this. ["I needed to know this." Did he though? Did he really? Keith can't help but once again return to their conversation on the pirate ship. Allura had pleaded with him to come home. He just did the same thing in two separate places, knowing full well he couldn't fulfill his duties. That sort of thing, when spelled out that way, can really unsettle someone. He's that someone right now.

The tension doesn't leave his body.]

I mean it, though. Can you two leave? I need space. [It's an abrupt and unkind dismissal, when Keith has been trying his best to be anything but that. He'll probably apologize later (off-screen, assume it happened), but right now ... right now he knows keeping himself in line won't be easy.]

[She crosses her arms, shoulders hunching up a bit. Her gaze searches Keith's face, wanting still to say something. That she's not upset with his decision. That his work with the Blades is honourable and impressive. That she understands the desire to know more about your people.

But she's said enough, and it would only be like rubbing burning stone into pre-existing wounds. Looking to Lance sadly, she moves towards him, her mouse ducking into the hood of her uniform as she moves close to Belore and Lion in doing so.]

...of course, Keith. I understand.

[ Lance's mouth is pressed taught, but he relents, knowing Keith needs to breathe in peace. He slides a hand up to Allura's shoulder, guiding her towards the door. ]

Alright. Let's get some air, Allura. [ He casts one last look at Keith before they slip out, the worry clear on his face right up until the door slides shut behind them. ]

[As the door closes behind them and they make their way away from Keith's room, Allura lets out a loud, disappointed sigh, looking up towards the ceiling.]

Well...I suppose that could have gone much worse than it did. [A tick of a pause, and she looks over to Lance.] Was it wrong of me? To give that much information to you both all at once?

[ Lance sighs in tandem with her; all he can offer is a shrug. ]

Better both of us than just--cornering him alone, I guess. At least I could— [ He makes a vague aborted hand gesture back the way they came. ] Try to...sort him out, I guess. [ Grumbled: ] Not that it did much.

I believe it did help. [She offers him a small, reassuring smile. Regardless of how Keith responded, Lance is a mitigating presence for the team. Even if it is just the three of them for now.] Keith does need time to sort things out, but I know he looks to you as a friend. He...may remain angry, but I believe if there's anyone he'd turn to, it would be you.

You are the Red Paladin of Voltron. To both Keith, and, where I am from, to Shiro. It remains a part of you, even here.

[And what she means by that is he's a leader in his own right, like what her father had been to the team of old. He's friendlier, more considering of others despite his showboat behavior, and even if Lance still lacks the maturity she remembers of her father, she knows deep in her heart there's a reason for Red choosing him when Keith was chosen to pilot the Black Lion.]

But how are you faring, after everything I told you?

[ Hearing those words of affirmation from Allura sends a spark of joy up Lance's spine; once it would have made him flush, but all he feels now is a soft warmth settle in his chest. He huffs out a breath that's almost a laugh. ]

I feel like middle management. If Voltron even has middle management. [ That probably sailed over Allura's head...he just keeps going. ] Keith'll come around. He's just dealing with a lot, and that's not your fault. I don't want you to feel bad about trusting us, y'know?

[It does sail over her head, but she does take a moment to consider it as...something. The tone of how he says it, and the combination of the words don't exactly make it impossible to understand.

That's...what Coran is. Isn't it?

...no matter.]

I kept it from him for awhile. He had finally seemed so...settled in knowing he was the Black Paladin of Voltron.

It's not that I feel bad about trusting both of you with this information, it's that I wonder if I should have spoken of Keith leaving the team sooner.

[ Lance shakes his head. ]

It's not you--I mean, it's not just this that's got him on edge. I'm pretty sure it's a bunch of things coming up all at once.

[ Leaving the team despite how hard he's working towards developing leadership skills. Lotor's arrival. Shiro's arrival. ]

Try not to worry about it too much. It's not up to you to manage Keith's feelings. You know him, he'll bounce back.

[You know him... Does she though?

She's quiet for a bit, continuing to walk towards...well, maybe her room, but maybe elsewhere, she's not quite sure where she's headed but she knows she doesn't want to be alone to ruminate just yet.

But while Keith here is, as far as she can tell, vastly different in many ways than the Keith she left behind back home, she has to wonder if Keith is truly the sort to bounce back, or if he's someone ~~like her~~ who will sit on these feelings while trying to save face.]

I...hope you're right.

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