apocalypsehowcomm | Event

Entry tags:

Event - For Sport

For Sport

➥ Breaking It In

(cw: mentions of apparent mutilation of/violence against animals and animal death)

The conference room on the upper floors of ADI HQ is bright, airy, perhaps unnaturally so for the grim tidings that bring people here today. Those who have recently arrived will be ushered to the meeting by ADI employees or by Bonnie. It's not just the newest arrivals, but some other people who seem to be longer-term employees. The room is rather large and arranged like a lecture hall. Bonnie takes up a seat near the back, looking somewhat uncomfortable, but smiling at anyone who greets her.

At 9 AM sharp, a person steps into the room and heads to the front. They have curly hair and are wearing a gray business suit with a dark blue bow-tie. When they address the group at large, they speak in a calm, measured tone. "Good morning. I appreciate some of you may be here more reluctantly than others, but… there are matters of import to all of us to discuss. Some of you may have seen me already. I am Reyes Amador, assistant to Ms. Lehrer, the head of ADI. Earlier this week I sent out a message regarding some unusual activity at Coffin Beach. Thank you to those who investigated."

Their eyes seem to find the people who did, in fact, go looking, whether they found something or not.

"We have determined the creatures are shape-shifters. Some sort of, em... horse thing. In lieu of a term they might give themselves, we are referring to them as kelpies. Given the locations these were found, as well as other information into disappearances and deaths and mutilations of sea mammals in the area, we believe the kelpies are coming from the Essex Bay area to the north.

"For those willing to assist, we are mounting a reconnaissance mission. This is not intended to engage kelpies, just to find out where they are and how we might best approach an attack. All supplies, transportation, and monetary compensation will be provided. We will meet at ADI HQ in main lobby at 6 PM three days from now. Essex Bay is a remote site and conservation area, accessible only by boat, and not without a scientific permit. As you may guess, we will be traveling under cover of nightfall." Reyes smiles.

"I will be accepting questions about further details. I understand this is the first mission away for many of you, and you may have concerns. I will do my best to allay them. Bonnie also has some experience in these missions, if you would like first-hand accounts. Please also feel free to discuss amongst yourselves if this is a mission you think you are ready for. You will not be required to attend, nor penalized in any way if you do not. There is additional work to be done here, both with continuing examinations of the bodies we have and other efforts unrelated."

➥ Move the Goalposts

(cw: kidnapping, violence, sadism)

It happens away from the safety of ADI HQ one evening or so early in the morning, it's still dark, away from the potential for help, maybe. One moment, you (and possibly someone you're with) are walking, and the next, you will find someone has grabbed you and slammed you into the nearest surface. For those unable to fight back, a cloth will be held to their noses and mouths--chloroform, something to knock them out. For those able to fight or even to escape thanks to not actually being corporeal, they'll find that it is a trio of people who have attacked them. They wear jagged smiles and they're all much too sharp around the edges beneath their clothes. Those who saw the kelpies at Coffin Beach may recognize these people as something like them.

"Run, rabbit, run," one of the group says, voice rolling out like a gurgling tide.

Those who run will be chased and, if caught, chloroformed. Perhaps you're lucky, though. Perhaps you can race them back to safety. Or perhaps you'll find help along the way to protect you. Either way, the kelpies are relentless in their pursuit unless one of their number is injured or their prey can make it to ADI. The kelpies seem reluctant to actually enter ADI HQ or their housing, and will break off pursuit there, slinking back to the shadows.

➥ Curveball

(cw: kidnapping, violence/violence and mutilation against apparent animals, sadism, body horror, transformation, potential for claustrophobia)

For those unlucky enough to be caught, they'll find themselves waking amongst mud and bodies. Living, breathing bodies, thankfully. You have been tied up, but not gagged, and left with a group of other captives. A nearby fire casts light over everything, showing a large group of naked people with long, scraggly hair hauling a seal up out of the water. The animal fights them with a cunning that might seem odd, but the kelpies just laugh at it. They get it up near the fire, one raises a knife, and stabs into the seal, dragging the blade down its belly.

The seal bellows and then goes limp, seeming to collapse in on itself. It isn't long before a woman is drawn from the skin, shaking, fighting, wild-eyed with terror as her captors shove her around the fire in their own game. A few others turn their attention to the captives who are just beginning to wake and move about. They approach, one grabbing the skin the woman had come out of, others grabbing more skins from a nearby pile.

"Hush, hush... you'll have your freedom soon... while you can swim." The words come just before the kelpie slices your bonds and throws the skin over you.

The skin grapples your body, twisting tight around you, encasing and restraining. Your body is different now, thick and round, ungainly in the mud. Your legs have fused together and your arms have shrunk to thin flippers. This is not your body, you can feel how foreign it is, how you're crammed into the too-small confines of it... but you have instincts to go with it. Water is freedom! Or it's an attempt at freedom. It's either swim for your lives as some mockery of a selkie or stay and see how it feels to be cut open. Luckily for you, you'll find yourself psychically linked to the other selkies around you. Maybe you can do something together? Best think fast because the kelpies are setting their sights on new prey to chase once they've finished with their latest victim.

➥ Below the Belt

(cw: violence/violence and mutilation against apparent animals, body horror, gore)

The journey to Essex Bay isn't a long one, but it's somewhat treacherous as a small group of powerboats make their way into the refuge. The mission is simple: find where the kelpies are and see if there are any strategic points of-

Was that a seal? There are, in fact, many seals that pop up once boats enter the bay. The animals might seem to have an unusual cunning about them. Will they lead you somewhere useful? Perhaps try to flop themselves into your boats? The point is, there are seals accosting you in the middle of the night, and that's weird. Perhaps they have something they want to communicate.

Or was that a horse? A crocodile? There's something that seems to have noticed you, and it's smart enough that it's going to try to tip you and anyone else in your boat into the water rather than trying to engage otherwise. Sit down, you'll rock the boat.

➥ Sticky Wicket

(cw: potential for severe burns/injury, pain)

ADI is engaged in far more than one mission at a time, and for those not dealing with Essex Bay, or even before that, there are pick-ups to handle. Artifacts, you've been told as you're paired with someone else, whether you like it or not. The mission is simple: go to the Docks, collect a package from a locker there, and return with it to ADI. You've been provided an exact location and a code for the combination lock. The section of the Docks you've entered seems to be one with a lot of empty warehouses covered in graffiti, but the locker is there, something heavily reinforced and designed to be virtually impossible to get into. There's evidence that people have tried to gain entry without success.

Your code works, though, and you have your prize! You've been given strict instructions not to open the box the artifact is in… but there's nothing technically stopping you now, and there is a strange pull toward it.

Those who can't help themselves will find they have just picked up… some piece of sports gear! It looks wholly innocuous. Touch even a finger to it, though, and a horrific, searing pain will consume your entire body as 3rd-degree burns bloom across the skin where you've touched your artifact.

Or maybe you have a will of iron and sense enough not to touch strange, supernatural objects. What should be an easy mission is quickly derailed by some young punk darting out of an alleyway to try to steal your package. Or, at the very least, knock it from your hands. The youth is not alone, either. You've found yourself on someone's 'turf,' and they want what you've got. Are you cruel enough to let them have it?

➥ Mod Notes

BREAKING IT IN (21 July): Both Reyes and Bonnie will be available to answer questions that characters might have or listen to their complaints. Please put "NPC Requested" somewhere in your top-level response if you would like a mod response. For characters who can access their supernatural abilities and have some measure of supernatural spidey sense, both Bonnie and Reyes will register as off, but in different ways. Characters are welcome to attempt to use whatever powers they believe will work on the NPCs. There are potential IC consequences for this.
MOVE THE GOALPOSTS (23-24 July): Characters are welcome to capture or kill the kelpies. The only information they will be capable of providing to those who capture them and attempt to compel them for information is that they consider the entirety of the Massachusetts coast as their 'hunting grounds.' Whether that's true or not, it's what they believe.
CURVEBALL (23-24 July): Kidnapped characters will become seals! Sort of. Psychic seals who are extremely ill-fitted to the skins they're in. The only way to escape their current state is to be cut open and pulled out. As soon as they start to flee, the kelpies will chase them. Those who are captured will be cut out, toyed with, and shoved back into a skin again and again to continue the chase until they simply can't go on anymore.
BELOW THE BELT (24 July - night): Characters may encounter their selkie-fied comrades! Unfortunately, while the selkies can communicate with each other psychically, they are incapable of human speech. They are also being actively hunted by the kelpies. Characters may kill any kelpies they come across. Capture will not be possible in this case while they're in their horse forms. If PCs do not eradicate the kelpie threat that night, NPCs who have joined the mission will do so. Unfortunately, reconnaissance has become engagement, whether they like it or not.
STICKY WICKET (21 July - 5 August): You may select any piece of sporting gear you'd like for your character to pick up as long as it can fit in a reasonably-sized box. The pain associated with the burning will last only as long as a character is touching the object. Holding onto it for more than a minute will likely result in coming very close to death. Characters with inorganic appendages will find that the artifact will start to melt that appendage, whatever it is made of and it will still, somehow, hurt while it does it.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ shiro never thought he’d be relieved to see keith’s grump but here he is anyway, finding some shred of comfort in the familiarity of keith airing out his frustration. it’s so much better than those restless glances around or the faraway look in keith’s eyes. too nervous, too agitated, it wasn’t the keith he was used to at the end of a fight and so, shiro is all too willing to let keith grumble along without interruption, even though aelwyn has him wanting to ask after. shiro hasn’t interacted with her in any significant capacity. however, he has seen her around adi, more specifically at the occasional meeting. he can’t say it’s unusual for keith to find friction with other people and of course, he wants to know the details on it. is it a simple clash of personalities? or did something of more substance happen? no one needs to be friends here, but if they’re all meant to work with adi and each other, whatever issue those two have might need to be addressed.

later though, because now keith’s talking about hazmat suits and once more looking around, albeit more impatiently than nervously. good. he quirks a smile. ]

I’ll back you up on that. [ give shiro a few more weeks. he charmed almost the entirety of the garrison staff and became their do-no-wrong, golden boy for years -- just going to gloss over how that all ended with him being thrown under the bus. politics, funding, saving face with the public -- shiro gets it. blaming pilot error was the easier out to preserve the status quo. tangent aside, the point of the matter is this: shiro knows how to charm his way into people’s good graces. he’s fairly certain he can do the same with this adi crew. ]

We should get them to do our dry cleaning too. They owe us that much.

[ sure, adi has to trek it out here to do damage control, but he and keith neutralized three monsters for them. cleaning up three bodies is better than investigating missing hiker cases, right? shiro thinks so but -- ]

Guess we’ll see. [ and soon, because adi hits their eta to the minute and there they are, coming up the trailhead in a group of eight, no nine. the first six breeze by them and around, seemingly having their orders, which neither keith nor shiro seem to be a part of. they descend on the scene with bags and cameras, the click of photos filling the immediate area. shiro tosses keith a quizzical look but then the three bringing up the rear close in on them, two of which are holding duffels that they soon hand off the keith and shiro, before joining the other six in documenting the scene.

the remaining adi staffer seems to be the one in charge and so the next couple of minutes are spent relaying what happened. most of it is the same as what he said on the phone, only in greater detail and on tape. by the end of it, the staffer clicks off the voice recorder and tells them they’re free to head back to adi, but to change first so as not to draw unnecessary attention. funny, if they wanted to keep a low profile, they’d offer them a chauffeur to take them straight to headquarters. but the staffer is already off to oversee the others and shiro isn’t in the mood to wait longer for a ride.

so together with keith, they backtrack further up the trail to avoid those camera clicks and there, off the path and behind a clustering of trees, they dig into their duffels. plain black tees, charcoal grey basketball shorts, and baby wipes -- nice. seems the two of them are going to be twins, even in standard sizing. though, whereas the x-larges fit snug on shiro, on keith they… don’t. shiro’s teasing on the matter only lasts as long as it takes to consolidate their clothing into one duffel and then he jogs back up the path to drop off both to that head staffer who promises that they will, in fact, get the clothing back to them cleaned after some looking over.

a jog back to keith and they’re off. thirty or so yards down the path has them ducking under caution tape, but beyond that, it’s an easy, uneventful walk. one that should take them back to headquarters where they can shower for a proper cleaning but…

they find themselves at a mcdonalds. it’s a combination of wanting to avoid adi anything at present and to indulge in nostalgia; when was the last time either of them were in a fast food joint? he isn’t all that hungry though and him ordering a happy meal is more so just to have something in front of him, rather than to sate any appetite. so sitting there on a fucking cheeseburger in the back corner of the mcdonalds, with his kangaroo toy, shiro numbly pokes his french fry at his glob of ketchup.

it’s been quiet between them for a few minutes now, both of them seemingly lost in their own thoughts but inevitably, shiro stops his poking and looks up, sending a frown around the mostly empty seating area. ]

I don’t know what it says about me, but… this feels stranger than the hike.

[ it’s so normal that it’s weird? that could make sense. ]

[ okay. so whatever doubts keith may have about adi, he'll at least credit them for their punctuality. of course, the speediness of dispatch really makes him wonder how often they need to do clean up and what else they've had to clean up and lie about to the public, but staring at them isn't helping divine an answer, and any thought of sticking around to loom over the proceedings fades fast once it's made abundantly clear that the adi folks are just as keen on making keith provide statements. tedious statements. shiro's account had already been thorough enough, hadn't it?

but fine. he's not here to throw a stink about bureaucracy. ....except maybe he should be complaining anyway, considering the change of clothes they've brought just don't even fit him correctly. practically drowning in his t-shirt and shorts, keith gives up on pulling his sleeve to properly cover his shoulder after the third time the fabric slips off. what matters is that they're both clean and walking far, far away from the mess on the trail.

arguably, they walk right into a very different kind of mess when they turn into mcdonalds. though the canteen serves typical americana like fries and burgers, there's something definitely distinct about the way a fast food restaurant smells. good or bad, keith couldn't put a finger on it, but it's kind of nostalgic. admittedly, it does kind of cheer keith up a little bit to watch shiro try to fit himself on a tiny hamburger chair, which probably means keith himself looks equally ridiculous here.

he opens up his happy meal box, pulling out his toy. the seal barely gets a glance as keith sets it off to the side and nibbles on a fry. hard to be hungry after that bloody mess, but there's still something to be said about keeping up your energy levels. just in case. seems like shiro's feeling about the same if the enthusiastic way he's going about his meal says anything. keith breathes out, glancing around the interior of the mcdonalds. ]

That it's been a while since you've eaten fast food?

[ it's stated as mildly as possible, though keith suspects he knows what shiro's getting at. being surrounded by normalcy is jarring at times when your own life isn't so normal anymore. brow furrowing, he has a sip of coke. instantly, he glares at the cup. was this stuff always so sweet? ]

Don't think there's anything wrong with that. [ or at least, there wouldn't be if there'd been an actual choice involved. ] ....But I guess that's not what you're getting at, huh.

[ nice effort to put a lighter spin on a conversation that promises to be dreary, not that shiro shows much appreciation for it. it’s true though, of course. more than just fast food honestly. before finding himself whisked away to be employed by adi, it’d been a while since he’s eaten what he would call regular food. hunk tries, coran -- unfortunately -- tries, to work with the limited food options available on the castleship, but while sometimes the taste is fine, the consistency, especially of the food goo, is less desirable. so the last couple of days haven’t only been about rediscovering different flavor profiles, it’s been about experiencing food texture again. too bad his appetite has been minimal.

he forces it here though and finally takes a bite of that thoroughly ketchup’d fry. sweet, salty, crunchy -- he remembers a time when he used to down fries one after the other, but here, it’s looking like it’ll be five minutes before he finishes the one. he frowns and goes back to dunking. ]

I always thought it was only a matter of getting back to Earth. Then life would pick up right where we left it.

[ after the war and after voltron, they could simply slip right back into their old lives, or the parts of them unrelated to the garrison, which doesn’t leave much of anything for shiro. garrison aside, they could pursue new goals and develop a new routine of normalcy, where the biggest stress in their lives would be making school or work deadlines. he’s beginning to wonder though; if a fast food restaurant has him side-eyeing the simplicity of it, then how is he ever going to feel right slowing down for regularity? ]

Maybe it’ll be different when we’re in our own time, back in Arizona, racing around in our old stomping grounds.

[ now he’s the one trying to put a nicer spin on it. he offers up a half-smile, briefly looking up, but then he looks right back down to his ketchup. but maybe not is the tail-end he wants to say but doesn’t. doesn’t matter, he supposes, whether or not he’s too wired for violence and the fast pace of war, he probably won’t make it back to their earth when everything is said an’ done anyway. not when haggar seems intent to finish things with him and the black lion is unpredictable in his favor; both together seem to point toward disaster. ]

Oh.

[ not exactly the most inspired thing keith could have said in response to all of that, but it's what shiro gets. next beat, keith puts the coke down, and makes no pretense of politely unwrapping his cheeseburger to give shiro some cover of privacy.

it's the following beat after that when keith realizes he still hasn't figured out what he ought to say that he turns his gaze to the hamburgler drawn on his happy meal box. they'd agreed to talk "later" so maybe he ought to have seen some kind of talk coming. even if, in his mind, "later" would involve not being in a space with little kids and their dead eyed parents milling around the front of the store. keith swallows, pushing all the irrelevant noise aside and sneaks a side long glance at his friend. his expression gives away the concern right away, but he doesn't know what other face he ought to be pulling. ]

Listen. Some things just take time. Being caught up in a crazy space war with aliens and witches and being held prisoner.... it's a lot to have to live through. You can't just be expected to walk away from that and be excited about a beanie baby with your hamburger, y'know?

[ keith fidgets a moment, fingers snagging up his cheeseburger to dispel some kernel of anxiety. as much as he wants to go back to their real home and make sure his dad's cabin is still okay, somehow returning with shiro just seems like a goddamn mess. shiro can return to the garrison, sure. but keith lost his standing there after his fight with adam and....well, fuck. what's even waiting for him when the war is over? everyone else has family, friends ... a place where they know they belong. keith had this ... admittedly kind of crazy idea in his head that something was out there in the desert, calling to him.

the blue lion's been found. in a lot of ways, his time with voltron's been difficult but it had also been validating. he didn't need the garrison to go to space, after all. hell, he never had to bother cleaning up his act in order to be considered worth something by one of the most powerful entities in the known universe.

what is keith without any of that? shiro's being kind about it, but is there even going to be an our racing ground once they go back and shiro clears his name and goes back to being the garrison golden boy?

realizing a beat late that he's practically squeezing his burger, keith sets it down on his tray and forces a smile. ]

I think maybe you're overthinking it.

[ maybe i'm overthinking it. ]

Edited 2021-08-19 04:33 (UTC)

[ shiro already considers this lunch trip to mcdonalds an oddity. add to that how keith is now the one giving pep talks to shiro, rather than the more commonly experienced reverse, and yeah, things are definitely weird. keith’s a bit blunt about it, isn’t he? there’s a no nonsense, straightforwardness about his words that is only charming because it’s keith and shiro can tell he’s really trying, despite being out of his element, in all manners of the word. it’s obvious too -- his point. it shouldn't need saying, because obviously, trauma lingers and isn’t so easily overcome, especially when it’s revisited not even an hour ago, but shiro has a particularly large blindspot when it comes to applying care for himself and often, it manifests into a bad habit of producing critique for all his self-labeled faults.

so keith saying he needs time? it helps. not enough for the matter to reach any sort of satisfactory resolution but it does have shiro looking to keith once more. and by the time he tells him he’s overthinking it? shiro has a weak smile to offer in return. ]

Maybe.

[ a beat passes and shiro thinks maybe he should apologize. sorry didn’t mean to get heavy there. sorry for ruining lunch. apologizing would likely make the stifled awkwardness engulfing their little table all that more potent though, huh? look, he’s overthinking again. he sighs, smile slipping and gaze dropping to keith’s unwrapped burger. looks pretty pathetic; the imprints of his fingers are still there in the bun. something about that smooshed burger with not a single bite taken out of it makes all of this that much more uneasy and shiro, who is desperate to shift the mood that he’s unintentionally tromped all over, looks to that plastic wrapped toy as the diversion.

he sits up straighter in the next moment and abruptly reaches across to snag it. ] What’d you get anyway? [ held closer to himself now, he flips it around. ] A seal, huh. [ almost looks like a ball, it’s so round. he huffs a laugh and then goes about ripping the plastic open, scooping out the seal to then plop it down to his unwrapped kangaroo. ]

Kind of disappointed neither of us got a lion.

Well if you're really torn up about it, you could try your luck with another happy meal.

[ for his part, keith also only manages a lukewarm smile as shiro snatches up the beanie baby and plops them next to each other. a seal and a kangaroo make for an unlikely pair, huh? in some way, that's not so dissimilar from how shiro and him look side by side. keith holds the thought for a beat, tipping a toe into the rabbit hole of wondering who between them is the roo, but drops the absurdity. still not touching his hamburger, he plucks up shiro's toy and pulls open the plastic to free up the marsupial friend. after giving the joey a little poke, he puts the toy back down to keep the seal company.

they're kinda cute? not that it really lifts the mood much, but it's something. shiro's clearly trying to move on though, and as much as keith thinks he ought to go along with the attempt, part of him just... doesn't want to. he clears his throat, and finally unwraps his partly squished cheeseburger. ]

How long do you think it's gonna be before we're really back home anyway? We're just.... a team of seven against a ten thousand year old empire. [ and that isn't even taking into consideration how long they might be stuck here too, but one depressing thought at a time. ]

[ shiro doesn’t want a lion beanie baby badly enough to order another happy meal. see, he tells himself this, but the longer he looks at the seal and kangaroo side by side, the more disgruntled he feels. nonetheless, he doesn’t follow through on keith’s -- joking?? -- suggestion and instead, continues to stay rooted to his cheeseburger, shifting his gaze back to his fries. he picks up a new one and nudges the end into the ketchup, this time not delaying from taking a bite.

he hates this question. and he hates that keith is the one to ask it. it’s something he’d expect from lance or hunk, maybe even pidge when she momentarily drops her act of being the big, bad know-it-all, who isn’t caught up in the trivials. shiro gets it, shiro sees it: everyone’s scared. it sets in quiet, after the high of another surprise victory runs its course. it’s then that everyone sobers up to the fact that they are a very small unit against a very large, very powerful, and very influential enemy. everyone is looking for some sense of security in this fight and more often than not, that ends with them looking to team leader for the it’s fine, we’re good, just awhile longer we almost had them. it’s shiro’s job to keep them focused, strong, and most of all, hopeful that the end here isn’t a disastrous one.

part of shiro likes to think keith is understanding of the fact that he doesn’t have all the answers. but god, keith isn’t much older than the other three, is he? he keeps forgetting he’s so young. and heh, to think, it wasn’t all that long ago he was telling keith he’s next in line to lead voltron if -- and when -- shiro is taken out of the picture.

he swallows and shakes his head, dispelling the thought as he forces a smile that’s more brittle than convincing. ]

Seven and five lions. [ most powerful weapon in the universe; counts for something, doesn’t it? hope, maybe? ] We also have a new lead on some possible allies.

[ … kind of. until they figure out how zarkon is tracking them, it’s a lead shiro is intent on ignoring. so until further notice? it is just them. it’s with that awareness that his mood dips further and he gives up on all pretense of being engaged in this happy meal. he flicks the fry down and looks to keith. ]

But I know how it looks. The odds aren’t with us. It could take years for us to set the universe right again. [ a pause and a clear hesitation. ] Or it could take no time at all, with one of us, two of us, all of us falling in the next battle.

[ another pause and then he visibly deflates, shoulders hunching slightly. here, he sounds apologetic. ] I don’t have answers, Keith. All I know is we’re the best shot the universe has and we have to keep pushing forward, no matter how long it takes.

[ keith winces internally at that fragile smile, almost relieved when shiro drops the pretense of a standard peptalk. there's nothing new in what shiro's saying to make keith reach a different conclusion about the war, but it isn't really until shiro falters visibly towards the end that keith feels a flicker of shame for having asked at all. ]

...I'm sorry. I know you can't know the answer to that. I didn't mean to... [ sound like such a kid? keith bites the inside of his lip, then starts over. ]

Regardless of how long the fight with the Galra's gonna last, I'll be there as your right hand for as long as it takes.

[ a beat. ]

I mean.. I miss Earth. Obviously. I miss Arizona. Waking up every morning to a pretty sunrise. But I'm not like the others, you know? I don't have anyone looking for me back home, wondering where I've gone. The only thing that's there for me is my dad's place and well... [ his gaze shifts from shiro down to his fries. ] Knowing my dad, he probably wouldn't have wanted me coming home until this war is over once and for all anyway.

[ the words come out slightly flat, tinged with bitter derision. keith couldn't say why, exactly. fighting the war and seeing it through all the way to the end, whether that be to victory or to his death is obviously the only option when the universe is depending on him. but there's something about knowing that he'd choose to die like a real hero over going home that tastes like ashes in his mouth. ]

[ the words themselves paint a rather mediocre picture but in that tone, whatever small encouraging thought that could have been gleaned from keith’s loyalty to the cause is marred. what shiro is getting from this is keith saying, more or less, that he’s one-hundred percent all in for this war, because he has nothing else. well isn’t that a wonderful thought. shiro knows better than to argue keith on it though. career aspirations down the drain with the garrison fallout too severe to rectify and with no friends or family to speak of -- yeah, what does keith have waiting for him on earth? what does shiro? their situation is practically the same and while it doesn’t weigh too heavily on shiro when it’s applied to himself, realizing that keith can hyperfocus on the war due to severed ties to earth, pains him to no end.

the soft, protective parts of shiro want better for keith. he doesn’t want keith to become jaded -- moreso than he already is -- and become an instrument of war, just as shiro has. shiro needs him focused, of course, but keith needs to keep his humanity too, to have something waiting at the end of all of this, so he knows there’s more to him than just his identity in this fight.

but the more pragmatic side of him realizes that wanting better for keith is a luxury he can’t afford. can’t for any of the paladins, really, but keith is special in that he’s shiro’s second in command. they’re all going to come out of this damaged, if they come out of it at all. shiro only hopes that the pieces of themselves aren’t too jagged or too many for them to put back together. so while the next part is gentle, it lacks the sugar-coated sympathy that could give room to soothing that harsh perception keith has of his value to anyone on earth. ]

Whether we win or we lose, I’m sure he’d be proud of you anyway, for putting your all into this. [ he knows next to nothing about keith’s father. it’s not exactly a go-to topic for them. however, he doesn’t think that’s too presumptuous of him to say. it is remarkable what keith is doing, both in the skill required for it and in the things he’s giving up to do it. either way, shiro can at least confidently say -- ] I am.

[ proud. very proud. probably an age-old sentiment by now though, huh? disappointments come and go, sure, but overall, shiro’s never quite stopped being amazed with how keith’s grown from that disgruntled thing all those years ago. ]

You’re essential to the team, Keith, and not only because the Red Lion has deemed you its pilot. I don’t think we’d be nearly as successful against the Galra without you there. [ a beat and then he stresses: ] I wouldn’t be as successful without you there.

[ and he doesn’t just mean the planet with the purple reptile monsters; obviously, since he still hasn’t told keith about that. ]

[ would his dad really be proud? keith dwells on the thought for an extended beat of silence. there'd been a time in his life where school counselors would bring up his dad's memory -- to make keith reflect on his behavior, they'd claim, but it'd always felt more like his dad's memory was being weaponized. more than once the idea of being the son your dad would have wanted had lead to keith outright shouting that if his dad cared about the kind of son keith would turn out to be, then he shouldn't have fucking died in the first place. the sentiment continues to hold some twisted logic, even if keith knows that it doesn't rationally work that way.

he lets out a deep breath, forcing a half smile though. the truth of the matter is simply that keith hasn't really needed pretty self soothing thoughts about his dad watching over him or whatever and being proud. it's just that ever since he'd accidentally managed to work the operations panel at the galran base, he'd been forced to think about his dad again for entirely unexpected reasons.

but that isn't what keith ought to be focusing on. as mixed as his feelings may be about his dad, it's a whole lot simpler to hear that shiro is proud. sure, it may be old news, but it makes the forced smile gradually reach his eyes with some genuine warmth. ]

Those are some big words, Shiro. [ he isn't wholly convinced shiro of all people needs him there to be successful in whatever endeavor he takes on, but the sentiment is ... nice? kind? keith dispells the tight feeling in his chest with a quiet: ] ...heh.

You know I'll always be there to support you. [ a beat. ] Whatever it takes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event - For Sport

ba da ba ba ba i'm lovin' it.

shrio on that burger chair....

perhaps that is why he feels so odd.

shush shiro that hamburger chair was made for you.

ig it is easier for him to sit on than it is for keith. keith w his dta.

the hmaburger chair should be HONORED.

yes it has been blessed by the roundest, biggest dta in the universe.

precisely c:

no other ass will now satisfy that cheeseburger chair.

Re: no other ass will now satisfy that cheeseburger chair.