[ closed ]

[earthshine]

Who: shiro + keith
When: perm log for these idiots
Where: all over
Summary: say, say o playmate from the august tdm. the butcher's camp from the september tdm. quarter pounder from the september event. keith's birthday. hermy the wormy from the december tdm. in the hive from the december event.new year, new you from the january tdm. end of january, references january event.
Warnings:
say, o say o playmate: hallucination, blood, ritualistic sacrifice, claustrophobia.
the butcher's camp: animal death, animal mutilation, both human and animal butchery, implied cannibalism, stripping ( nsfw ).
quarter pounder: blood, animal attack, consumption of human flesh, violence, gore, body horror, potential for severe injury, including puncture wounds and broken bones, potential for choking, potential for animal death.
keith's birthday: boys being stupid.
hermy the wormy: worms, decay, altered mental states/compulsion, emotional corruption, potential for violence, body mutilation, attempted murder.
in the hive: insects/swarms, bites, vomiting, body horror, death ( npcs ), mental and physical trauma
new year, new you: self-doubt, body dysmorphia trauma, cringe talk about sex safety, hook-up culture, body modification ( steroid and synthol oil use ), mention of drug use
end of january: implied animal death, self-doubt, body image issues, body dysmorphia, self-harm, body mutilation, skin burning, drug use mention ( tren steroid ), implied extreme dieting ( starvation & dehydration ), nsfw ( heavy petting and nudity ). reference to shiro's scars.

Comments

you just pushed the responsibility onto me!

[marmoron]

[ there's no other way to describe it. keith is looking damn near radiant when shiro starts squirming. victory seems imminent and the prospect of winning in this very small, inconsequential way makes keith grin wide from ear to ear.

it's just such a shame then, that he doesn't see shiro's next maneuver coming. it can barely even be called a strategy considering how it could potentially end with both of them hitting their heads and returning to adi with nothing but concussions to show for this field mission, but it's certainly one way of getting keith further away from the finish line. ]

Come on, isn't my -- [ and then keith cuts off because suddenly he's no longer perched on the steps and the unpleasant lurch of falling makes keith grab at empty air. thankfully (?) he manages to land on something soft for his troubles as keith finds hiself straddling shiro's thighs when the world settles again. he blinks, staring down at shiro's leg in complete confusion. ]

Did you just launch yourself off the steps and drag me with you?

[ help him understand what life has become shirogane. help him decide if he ought to be amused or concerned. ]

i'm glad keith has met prince everhard.

[earthshine]

[ listen. shiro has utmost faith in their combined flexibility, maneuverability, adaptability…? they get tossed around all the time, not just in sparring, but out on the field too. allura literally threw him across a galran cruiser’s escape hatch once without a stitch of warning and look, he came out of it unscathed. okay, sure, most of these acrobatics involve armor to soften the crash, but the physicality is the same. besides, everyone knows keith is indestructible.

the point is, when he throws his weight back and pulls keith with him, he’s anticipating a mid-air recovery or a body roll crouch once they hit the ground. he does not take into account keith’s surprise or how they aren’t all that far off the ground, which means, he’s barely let go of keith’s leg before his back is slamming earth. weight flops down on him within the next second and punches out what little air he has left.

genius plan. winded, he delays in opening his eyes, especially with how incredulous keith sounds. yes, yes he knows; that’s not the typical move the tactical brain of one takashi shirogane would normally come up with. these are not normal circumstances though. encouraged by his own inner monologue, he quirks a smile and blindly now, pats his hands up to touch first keith’s thighs and then further up, to hold his hips.

he flutters his eyes open then, immediately breathing out a chuckle. ]

Don’t give me that look. It worked, didn’t it? [ it being…? his expression tightens and the smile curls hard on a smirk as he pushes keith off of him, knocking him to the side. he wastes no time in getting to his feet and now he’s the one in the lead, booking it up the steps. give him six more seconds and he’ll be at the slide, and keith better believe shiro won’t hesitate in jumping straight down it. ]

a fated encounter

[marmoron]

[ it worked, didn't it? good grief, is that seriously all shiro has to say for himself here? keith looks over his shoulder, expression growing judgier by the secon. not that shiro gets the full brunt of the effect seeing as he's all but tossing keith off of him in the next beat.

keith's expression doesn't even budge from sheer wtf when his butt finally makes contact with the ground and the head of voltron takes off like a bullet. out of the six seconds it's going to take shiro to get to the slide, keith wastes about three of them frozen in incredulity. shiro must really want this??? for some reason?? maybe after that talk about normalcy seeming unnatural this ought to be taken as a good sign??

whatever the case, keith is slow, even to yell an obligatorily outraged: ]

Hey!

[ even that still sounds a pinch confused, but the rest of his actions are far more decisive. keith bounces back onto his feet, charging right up the steps up to the top of the slide, still three seconds behind and not quite managing to close the gap between them. however, he is just barely able to grab shiro by the back of his shirt just as he loses a tick or two getting seated and rounding shoulders to fit down the plastic tubing. ]

And you tell me nott to be reckless.

[ not that horsing around on the playground is at all analogous to dealing with naked horseladies, but shh. ]

Give me one reason why I should let go.

[ demand issued, keith huffs. but there's...something odd about the slide, isn't there? like the longer he's just standing there at the top, the more he actually just wants to slide down himself. ]

the first of many encounters i'm sure.

[earthshine]

[ almost had it! if the slide weren’t so tiny, he would’ve been half-way down it already. the fact that it’s so obviously made for people not shiro’s size should be a sign in itself that he may be approaching this racing game between them with more enthusiasm than someone his age should, but with him now one push short of victory, any chance of slowing down enough to evaluate what this has become is long gone.

he turns his head to peer over his shoulder, fixing a misleadingly sweet smile to his face. ]

Because… then it’ll be over and you won’t be knocked off your feet again? [ whether keith lets him go now or hauls him out, shiro is set on getting down this slide one way or another before keith. which is a stupid goal, he is aware. but he’s already set in his mind that this is it. this is the end of the playground reprieve and once he’s to the bottom, it’s back to business as usual: sober up, focus, and finish up this recon mission.

he turns forward again, staring at his outstretched legs and the tight swirl of green plastic. he laughs then, giving his head a brief shake and patting the sides of the tube, just to hear the sound echo down the narrow space. ]

Or how about… I’ll likely get stuck, so I need you to go after me to kick me free?

i can't believe im actually using this icon for its intended purpose

[marmoron]

You're not gonna knock me off my feet again, old-timer. You just caught me off guard that time.

[ obviously! correction made with a haughty, up-turned nose huff, keith simply keeps his grip tight on shiro's shirt as he positions himself behind, long legs stretched out on either side of shiro's hips. the inner tubing of the slide is now even more cramped than ever, but keith is apparently set on his decisions here. ]

We're going down like this and it'll be a tie.

[ hands perch on shiro's shoulders, gripping tight. does he wait for an agreement? no. clearly, shiro's not in a negotiating mood or even a fair one -- which suits keith just fine. all it means is that keith's going to push back and redefine all the rules to his own tastes. so, on that note of pushing, here comes one solid one onto the slippery plastic.

there are a bunch of reasons the slide down shouldn't be as smooth as it is -- their combined bulk notwithstanding. hell, if keith were going to be suspicious about it, it's almost like the slide wanted them to go down the tubing, but that's an absurd thought.

or at least it was until ticks pass in silence with no end to the slide in sight. from top to bottom it shouldn't have taken them more than three or four seconds to be back in open air and staring down the spring rocker and swing. instead, this seems to stretch on for an uncomfortably long period, enough so that keith's grip on shiro's shoulders goes from lax to tense. ]

Shiro?

[ his voice echoes more than it ought to, and a glimpse at the opening makes that a little clearer. high stone walls suggest some kind of .... cave? temple?? whatever the fuck it is, it's not a playground, though neither of them get to try to pump the brakes on this because the plastic tubing angles sharply downwards to accelerate their descent and inevitable tumble onto the stone floor. ]

...ow.

they're not doing bff activities right now...

[earthshine]

[ his feet would touch the ground first, so technically, shiro would still take the win. nonetheless, keith is scooted up against him and seemingly unwilling to bend on this tie business. any protest shiro has on the matter, which is hardly any honestly, is swallowed back with the push forward, and then it’s the exhilaration of scooting down the slide. actually scooting that then gives into sliding that then ramps up into speeding down the slide -- they’re going awfully fast down a tube that wasn’t anywhere near this length. all enthusiasm he had for this slide abruptly dries up and to keith’s shiro, shiro quickly comes to terms that something is very, very wrong. he thinks to throw out his legs and arms too late. the angle abruptly changes and then they’re freefalling, and so much for shiro’s earlier confidence that the two of them are athletic enough to recover mid-air and land with some grace.

only positive, he supposes, is his lap isn’t a landing pad for keith this time. shiro flops forward, colliding with the stone floor face down, with keith hitting partly on his sprawled out legs. it reminds him of their exploration for the blue lion. an ignited glow, a makeshift slide below crumbled floor and then the lot of them catapulting off a ramped end. a pool of water is more preferable to this though. shiro only avoids serious injury by having wrapped his arms around his face; his nose still hits pretty hard into his forearm though.

so ow is right.

winded from the air literally being knocked out of him, shiro slowly unwraps and gives his nose a brief rub, before he pushes himself up with his hands. drawing his legs in once keith has recovered enough to start picking himself up, shiro sits up and looks around. it looks like something from a movie-set: stone walls illuminated by torches around the room, some hung on the walls, some freestanding. the pit in the middle seems impractical enough to serve some movie plot that probably isn’t kind. his uneasiness is steadily growing, of course, but the more he stares at the black garbage bag hanging over the pit, the more that uneasiness tilts toward dread. so he stops looking. he shifts his gaze over to the wall, watching the torch’s light flicker across an outcropping in the otherwise smooth slab. ]

Looks like we found the paranormal activity.

[ it comes out dry, almost casual. he’s overcompensating, as not to give way to the panic churning up inside him. because forget the creepy ambience of this place -- shiro doesn’t see an exit. he pushes himself up to his feet then and doesn’t even bother brushing himself off. he merely goes straight to pulling out his phone, not at all surprised that there is no signal. testing out a dial anyway, it immediately declines the call. ]

No phone service but -- guess we might as well. [ and he holds up the phone, snapping a picture of the room. he’s not falling on his face for nothing. might as well get that one hundred dollars, right? besides, it’s all a show to project that he’s calm, at least in this beginning phase when he’s trying to rationalize what is going on and what the threats are. ]

Do you see an opening anywhere? [ again, offered in that steady calmness as he turns away from the room and backtracks over to the mouth of the slide, only to stare up at it with a frown on his face. it really would’ve helped if they’d worn their paladin armor because that there? that is way too far to reach without some sort of jetpack. ]

listen they're being platonic. it tracks.

[marmoron]

[ wherever the hell they are, keith is unamused and unimpressed. he picks himself up from off the floor, giving his butt a ginger rub or two before appraising their surroundings. there doesn't appear to be any imminent threats, save for the possibility of something either inside the pit or inside the bag suspended above it. assessment made, keith's hand is quick to close around his bayard while shiro reaches for his phone.

looks like we found the paranormal activity is perhaps the biggest understatement keith has ever heard, and far from being calming, it earns shiro a look that's both dubious and concerned. ]

You don't say....

[ the commentary is far from helpful, sure, but keith doesn't know how else to respond. he gives their surroundings another look, this time scanning for more than just potential threats. the place for all intents and purposes appears sealed, which means they have to be worried about oxygen levels. so -- deep breaths. no hyperventilating, no wasting words on dead end banter. focus.

he takes several steps closer to the pit, pausing at the lip of it to try and get some kind of clue as to what's at the bottom. it is, however, pitch black and gives keith an annoying case of the heebie jeebies. he backs up a few steps. ]

I see an opening alright. Not one that I think we're meant to go through.

[ keeping the bayard held tight in his right hand, he grabs his phone with his left, flicking on the flashlight app to shine a light down to the bottom. predictably, the light does absolutely nothing. ]

The hell is this place?

[ ...so much for not wasting air, but someone's gotta ask to get the hypotheses rolling. keith, for his part, will hold back on commenting that it looks like someone's idea of a human sacrifice chamber. ]

ig they are. falling into a doom temple has a way of turning off the gay.

[earthshine]

[ funny, keith. way to jack shiro’s job of cracking inappropriate jokes in dismal situations. the pit is obviously out of the question, thanks; frankly, shiro isn’t too fond of considering it in any capacity other than keeping it on the periphery. even when he gives up on the slide and turns back to keith, he shies away from looking directly at the pit or its suspended garbage bag. heh, someone screwed up on the authenticity, huh? a stone temple like those of civilizations hundreds upon hundreds of years ago… but equipped with a thirty gallon, black garbage bag.

thankfully, keith’s taken over as the team jokester, so shiro keeps the observation to himself. frowning now, he pockets his phone and mulls over the question before giving an unhelpful one shoulder shrug. ]

Your guess is as good as mine.

[ not too long ago, they were cutting people out of seal skins, so if that’s the starting bar of weirdness around these parts, why wouldn’t a slide lead to an underground temple with no way out? seems about right. again, he spares keith the dry humor and instead, shakes his head and starts walking. ]

We’ll figure it out after we’ve put this place behind us. There has to be a way out.

[ he’s likely talking too much. he should keep it short and concise, but it’s a much needed reprieve from the silence of this place. even now, the echo of his footsteps backdropped by the steady wood burning of those torches is eerie in this enclosed space. it’s like the calm before the storm and apprehension soars, half-anticipating something to give any moment now. because someone or something has to be down here, right? they were brought here for a reason.

his breathing has picked up slightly and he tries to calm it as he crosses the last of that distance to that stone disk protruding from the wall. ]

-- Like a hidden door. [ long shot, but if movies have taught him anything, these temples always have hidden passageways. or boobytraps. hopefully pushing in this disk doesn’t bring the latter. actually, it brings neither. shiro deepens his frown and pushes the disk in again and holds it in this time, looking around the room for any change. ]

… Or not.

it's fine.... they'll be fine

[marmoron]

[ while shiro's busy pressing on the stones, keith's still preoccupied with the pit. part of him wants to throw a rock into the pit, see how long it takes for it to hit the bottom, but a sense of unease keeps him paralyzed on action. it's then that he catches something drip from above. optimistically, keith's first thought is leak? before realizing the drip is coming from the garbage bag suspended above. he's never been the one with the senstive stomach, but as he takes a couple of nervous steps back, he has to wonder if this is how hunk felt all the time.

turning to face shiro instead, he takes a deep breath. judging from the relative ease with which shiro's able to depress that bit of stone -- yeah, someone or something definitely wants that to be pressed, but even if it feels an awful lot like walking right into a trap, keith isn't sure what the better alternative is. again, he takes a deep breath -- panicking isn't gonna help either of them right now. ]

Looks like there's another outcropping like that on the opposite wall. Maybe they're meant to be pressed together.

[ there's something strange about that as well. why is this place seemingly designed for two people? surely it's not trying to create a nice bonding moment. again, the thought of human sacrifices comes floating back to mind and keith grits his teeth as he walks towards the opposite wall. phone stuffed back in his pocket, he holds his hand over the stone, but pauses before pressing it. ]

I don't like this. But I guess we don't really have any other options right now, huh? [ another beat of hesitation. he shouldn't be wasting possibly limited air pointing out the obvious. ] Here goes.

[ maybe it'll all be a whole lot of fuss over absolutely nothing? maybe it'll just open up a nice wormhole back to where they came from, but keith isn't holding his breath. regardless, he presses the stone, holding it down and waits for shiro to do the same. ]

i want to ban this word again.

[earthshine]

[ shiro doesn’t like this one bit either but just as keith says: there aren’t many, if any, other options available to them. pressing the disks in tandem feels a little like rolling the dice. there’s no telling what they’re going to get out of this and in two seconds time, all of this could go horribly wrong with it triggering some unforeseeable consequence. but nothing happens in the immediate second afterwards: no trap door opening, no crumbling of the room, no alarm bell to alert whoever. his breath gives on the beginnings of a relieved sigh but the second extends into a tick and then there’s a… shift. no, a clank.

the metallic clicking is sharp and heavy in the otherwise quiet and it pricks at a primal terror in shiro, enough so that reflex has him yanking his hand away from the disk. ]

What -- oh. [ his gaze, which had been set on keith before, darts up toward the garbage bag just in time to see it abruptly stop. the aborted motion jars the bag and has it swinging marginally, the saturated fluid soaking the bottom escaping in a slightly larger glob. drip, drip -- he swallows and looks away, quickly surveying the rest of the room and finding it unchanged.

he frowns. ] Pressing them together lowers the bag…?

[ it’s on some sort of pulley system then, one activated by these disks. that’s… hm. he barely mulls it over and simply asks the obvious: ]

But why? [ there has to be a reason for it. though, shiro’s not entirely certain he wants to analyze that deeper than necessary. ]

LOL i wasn't even thinking that time.

[marmoron]

[ the clank of heavy chains startles keith more than he'd like to admit. while he doesn't leap back from the stone, within the span of a beat his bayard is activated and raised in his right hand, knees bent as he swivels to keep the wall behind him his only blind spot. eyes dart from one end of the temple to the other, but even fully reassured that nothing is coming, keith doesn't relax.

deep breaths, deep breaths. as logical as the course of action is, the fact that he doesn't have a single fucking clue what they're up against here makes the slip into the irrational far too easy. the entities, if that's what this is, aren't anything he's dealt with -- at least, not in this context and for that matter keith can't even begin to pinpoint which one might even be responsible for this elaborate set up. the spiral? the flesh? the buried? fuck. it's all abstract in ways that keith can't quite wrap his head around and it's easier to pin blame on adi for sending people out to "investigate" dogtown to begin with.

but for better or for worse, shiro's there to redirect keith's focus to the garbage bag now swaying over the pit. keith lets out a deep breath, swallowing. ]

It's an offering. [ it's only a guess. barely an informed one at that, but keith's tone is both grim and set as he watches dark fluid leaking down into the pit below. ] There has to be something down there. It's waiting for whatever's inside that garbage bag.

[ after all, hadn't adi been the ones to go on about the entities needing to be fed? ]

i still don't forgive you for using that word TWICE.

[earthshine]

[ an offering? shiro makes a face. they’re not triggering meal time for a pit mon… ster -- the thought stalls out and shiro’s expression pinches further, nose wrinkled in distaste. okay, he takes it back. that’s not entirely out of the possibilities here. the kelpie disaster at the forefront of his mind and all the entity warnings filling in around those monster-filled memories, shiro delays in his denial a moment longer but inevitably, he turns to grab one of the two torches there on the wall, framing the disk, and beelines it toward the pit. ]

We don’t know that. [ talking keith down from panic takes precedence here. figuring out what’s happening is going to be made much more difficult if either one of them starts working themselves up into hysterics. caution is one thing, snap conclusions are another. so patience, focus, and take everything one step at a time. shiro tells himself this, but now that he’s the one standing at the rim of the pit, watching the black swallow up each drip, he feels his stomach roll, both sickened and fearful that keith might not be that far off the mark.

shiro’s stubborn though. ] This could be nothing more than a test. [ a beat and then he tosses the torch into the pit. ] Like a puzzle.

[ figuring out that the disks need to be pressed at the same time fits that theory. it’s a show of teamwork too? seems pretty wishy washy on likelihood that that’s why they’re here, but shiro says little else to back it up. and when the light falls too far for him to see? and there’s no sound of the wood stick hitting the floor or an answering growl? he turns away from the seemingly bottomless pit and tries not to be weighed down with it. ]

Either way, we have no other choice. This is the only thing we have control of in here.

[ he finds his original spot there by his disk. the only other options are -- what? waiting around until a rescue party drops down from the slide? unlikely. and the other is him activating his galra arm to -- maybe -- break through some of bricked walls. he’d rather exhaust the pulley system before he starts testing the integrity of the superstructure and running the risk of collapsing the room. ]

We have to try it.

wow so cruel :c

[marmoron]

[ a test of what? keith comes a stone's throw away from asking outright, only catching himself with the reminder that shiro doesn't have a damn clue -- neither of them do, and getting irritable about the predicament they've found themselves in isn't actually going to help matters. keith closes his eyes, taking several deep breaths to re-center.

the hypotheticals aren't helping. the speculation needs to stop. the only lead they have so far in this shitty room is the fact that the discs can be depressed. there's a gigantic fallacy in assuming change means progress, and it doesn't help that keith is aware that neither he nor shiro are particularly keen on any potential solutions that involve sitting still and waiting. it doesn't help that for whatever reason, keith's starting to feel watched again, even if he couldn't fucking place where anyone could possibly be hiding right now. he does another uneasy glance around the temple, halfway ready to just piss off whatever wants them to lower the garbage bag into the pits by setting it on fire instead.

hell, maybe that's what he'd be doing if he were by himself. putting shiro at risk though? he scowls, deactivating the bayard and puts his hand back on the button. ]

Fine.

[ somewhat grumpily, he pushes the stone with more force that strictly required. whatever comes next as a result of doing what this room seemingly wants them to is what he needs to stay sharp for. if shiro;s right and it's just a nice harmless little puzzle, then that can only be a good thing, right? too bad optimism doesn't come easily to keith. ]

no no, i am fair.

[earthshine]

[ well, someone isn’t too happy about the plan. it’s shitty, shiro knows that, okay -- but there has to be a reason for the discs and the suspended bag. shiro only hopes that reason works in their favor. so with keith’s disc reluctantly held down, the pulley is immediately activated the moment shiro presses his in as well. as before, the chain-links shift together, creating an unnerving backdrop of noise. chaotic, that’s a word for it: for how it makes him feel and for how his thoughts spiral. he doesn’t like this.

briefly, he checks up on keith there across the room, staring at him for one beat, three but then he follows his gaze to the pit, only to skirt up to fixate on the bag. he’s looked at it numerous times now. the liquid dripping from the bottom is familiar at this point and he knows the shape of that overfilled bag just as well, but this is the first time he allows himself to truly wonder what’s inside there. rubbish? no. secreted away riches? no. another drip and he thinks, offering, not even a full second before the bag gives an awful lurch.

the polyethylene stretches out on opposite sides, columning the black, and then abruptly retreats to ball the garbage bag back into the inconspicuous round heap that it was before. except now, that sack is moving…? wriggling. like something -- no, like someone is -- ]

Shit -- stop!

[ the shout is unneeded, because shiro lets go and the pulley creaks to a stop. know what else stops? the wriggling. it happens so seamlessly that shiro has to blink a few times, as though not trusting his vision now or before. ]

Did you see that? [ he doesn’t dare look away from the bag; waiting, anticipating… ] You saw that, right?

[ words come quickly, feeling mildly frantic but more so, confused. because -- ] The bag -- it was moving. [ … wasn’t it? ]

you keep telling yourself that :/

[marmoron]

[ keith's focus had been squarely on the pit, so no -- he doesn't see any funny business with the garbage bag. hyperfocused as he is on something monstrous crawling out of the depths, the shout does absoluely nothing good for fraying nerves. in a flash, the bayard is back in keith's hands as keith snaps back with the sword drawn at the ready.

heart hammering in his chest, it's only after he's confirmed that the temple is exactly the way it was moments ago that he finally glances over to shiro. ]

Don't freak me out like that.

[ he takes a deep breath, but the tension doesn't leave his body as he turns his attention to the garbage bag, watching intently for any sign of movement. much to shiro's dismay or relief though, the bag remains about as insert and drippy as it had been when they first got here. keith lets out a sigh, shoulders rounding a little but keeps his hold on the bayard tight. ]

I didn't see it moving. [ a beat. ] But I wasn't paying attention to it. Are you sure it wasn't just from being jostled by the chains?

i will ://////////

[earthshine]

[ shiro doesn’t have it in him to feel sorry in the moment. still staring, still waiting -- come on, move dammit, he knows it’s going to move. but the moments bleed into each other and keith offers up an out to explain away a reality shiro doesn’t want to accept. jostled by the chains? that… that could be it, right?

there’s a gap of silence following keith’s words but eventually, shiro swallows and bobbles his head on a few, barely there nods, more so to psych himself up. ]

You’re right. [ it still comes out reluctantly. ] It was probably just the chains.

[ had to be? if they woke up some animal or worse, it’s not like it’d suddenly stop moving once the pulley did. with some effort, he finally breaks eye contact with the bag and briefly, blinks to the floor a yard or so beyond him. he gives his head a firm shake this time and then lifts his head back to level, rolling his shoulders back as though to knock some confidence back into his stance. ]

Sorry. [ there it is; took him a bit. but he doesn’t give the apology any time to breathe. he almost immediately presses on by depressing his disc again, calling out: ] Let’s keep going.

gdit i meant inert

[marmoron]

[ mystery potentially solved, keith nods and turns his attention back to the disc. while there still isn't any reason to keep his bayard at the ready, this is the second time in the last handful of minutes that it's felt necessary, so this time he doesn't bother with putting it away.

ultimately, he isn't all that satisfied with the explanation he's come up with for the discrepancy. he knows shiro well enough to know he wouldn't have had such a visceral reaction to a bag swaying on chains -- or at least, keith would assume. the stone temple is doing a spectacular job of heightening tension and stress levels, but frankly the thought that maybe shiro is seeing things or potentially losing his mind is far more damaging than the idea of the garbage bagg containing somehthing alive inside it.

either way, this time keith keeps his focus directed squarely at the bag when he presses the stone. at first, it's more of the same clanking of metal chains as they lower the garbage bag into the pit. the black bag sways, dark liquid oozing in thick droplets. whatever the hell they're doing here, it leaves keith feeling uneasier by the second. and then it starts to move. subtle at first, like a light ripple from one end of the bag to the other. and then it starts to wriggle and writhe with increasing force as the chains start to lower it into the pit.

almost like it's trying to escape?

no. don't fucking project intent -- keith is quick to chide, but his hand comes off the disc all the same, leaving the bag suspended level with the opening of the pit and eerily still once again. keith doesn't yell, but his eyes have gotten very round as he glances at shiro. ]

There's no way whatever's in there is alive.

[ that's blurted up front and quick to muszle any other crazy ideas. there's no reason something alive and wanting to escape would suddenly stop moving when the chains are still. but it does raise the horrible follow up question of what it actually is then.

just to be sure however, keith quickly picks up a smooth rock from off the ground and chucks it at the garbage bag as hard as he can. the bag oozes more of that thick fluid where the rock hits it, but other than that, there aren't any other movements or sounds. not even of the rock hitting the bottom of the pit. ]

Gotta just be mindgames, right?

[ mindgames. how incredibly soothing. ]

my inbox was saved from an edit.

[earthshine]

[ well, it’s certainly not alive once keith pelts it with a stone. right, not an appropriate time to be making crack jokes in his head. he can’t seem to stop staring at the bag, lifeless as it is again. no movement, no sound, it’s a seemingly nondescript garbage bag once again and somehow that’s so much worse than seeing it wriggling and thrashing. at least then they’d know what they’re dealing with: something very much alive, trapped in a bag. not a particularly desired scenario but they wouldn’t be stuck in limbo, trying to talk their way out of this guessing game.

or mindgame, as keith puts it. ]

I… yeah. [ his voice is void of all confidence. where’s that strong presence he usually carries? where’s the black paladin of voltron? checked out, apparently, and tripping up on his own thoughts. what if something is alive in there and for whatever illogical reason doesn’t move when the suspension is undisturbed? what if keith was right from the get go and they’re in the process of damning something or someone to whatever is lurking at the bottom of this pit? can shiro knowingly sacrifice another living thing on the off-chance that it saves his own life?

yeah. he’s done it countless times before.

the next exhale comes out shaky, his thoughts unraveling into a repetition of champion, champion, champion, only to abruptly end on murderer. he wants to clutch at his head. wants to yell for it to stop. but even as the suffocating feeling descends on him, he sees keith there beyond the pit, waiting for some form of direction. they need to get out of here, shiro forces the thought through all the noise in his head. at whatever cost, is the next thought, only made stronger through sheer stubbornness to make himself believe it.

he grits his teeth and here, command colors his voice. ] Keep going.

[ that order again. shiro will keep pushing the matter if he has to. when this is all said and done, shiro can shoulder the blame too. for now, he tries to soften the reality of the situation by clinging tight to the idea that nothing is alive in there and that all of this is one giant test on their mental fortitude. ]

If something is trying to distract us from lowering the bag, we must be on the right track.

[ so it’s fine. press your disc, keith, just as shiro is doing. ]

this one time

[marmoron]

[ looking for direction is one way of putting it. in reality, it may be less ordered than that. there isn't a single thing about the situation that keith likes and while he still blames adi for repeatedly sending them out on field missions with limited equipment and downplaying the possible danger involved, right now they're out of reach.

the only available target for his frustration is the fucking garbage bag and its mystery contents dangling over the pit and it is extremely easy to hate. whatever it is or isn't, keith is gripped by the desire to pelt more rocks at it until it does something to put this fucking is it or is it not uncertainty to rest.

keith stays in place, hand balling into a fist, but his mind is racing, calculating the distance between the edge of the pit and the garbage bag. could he jump it and cut the stupid thing open? it takes shiro issuing an order in that tone to make keith snap out of it. shiro is the leader here. his plan is the one they're going with. giving himself a mental shake, keith slams his hand on the disc. ]

You got it, shiro.

[ no more stupidity. just trust shiro's judgment and stop getting distracted by the goddamn bag. the writhing starts up again almost immediately, stretching and deforming the polyethylene with something that could be a limb. the motions alternate between convulsions and thrashing, almost rhythmic like a beating heart as the bag descends into the pit itself and disappears from sight.

keith doesn't know how deep the pit goes. it's hard to say how long they're going to be stuck here pressing the discs to get the bag delivered to the bottom, but the chains pull taut much sooner than anticipated and the pulley mechanism grinds to a slow halt.

for a long moment nothing happens. keith takes his hand off the disc, mouth open to ask what now?, but then the ground rumbles as two hidden passages reveal themselves in the stone walls. the moment is distinctly surreal -- like some cut scene out of a video game. but what should be a moment of triumph is ruined by the blood curdling scream that echoes through the passage way closer to shiro.

is keith terrified? kind of. but more than that: ]

Shiro, run! I'll hold it off!

you were right about that LOL

[earthshine]

[ aha! so it was some kind of fucked up puzzle of coordinated teamwork. hello hidden door and… hello trap. so all this time they spent trying to figure out which scenario their predicament fit and it ends up being all of them: an offering, a puzzle, and a trap. wonderful.

he whips around to the sound, lungs locking up, heart thumping hard; he feels like he’s on pins and needles with every nerve-ending tingling. adrenaline ramps up for the promise of a fight and he has his galra arm held at the ready, not alight yet, but all that takes is a fraction of a second and then he can --

run?

the glare he has directed at the passageway only deepens and for a brief moment, he grits his teeth, grinding down some of the immediate frustration. not all of it though, not even close, so his tone carries it. ] No. [ he’s not even looking at keith but he anticipates a rebuttal anyway, tacking on a harsh: ] It’s not up for debate.

[ all the feel-good reassurances he’s been talking up these couple of weeks, of how they need to stick close and that they’re a team made stronger by working together -- bullshit. when the chips are down, shiro’s going to pull rank and here he does just that. so if anyone is staying behind to face whatever comes out of that passageway, it’s going to be shiro, end of story.

that’s not to say he’s suicidal. two passageways opened up and as far as he can tell, the screaming is only coming from one. so if they just get a move on. he backs up with slow, measured steps, angling to cross the distance between them, never looking away from the cursed opening for more than a moment at a time. the scream picks up again after a few moments pause and fuck, the movies never get it quite right. that’s someone on the verge of death. someone who knows without a shadow of a doubt that no one will help them and that they are going to die. shiro’s heard a lot of those.

focus. he risks a longer glance away, eyeing up the second passageway, before jerking a nod toward it and then looking back to the first opening. ]

The tunnel -- you can fit that. [ shiro thinks he can too; might be a tighter squeeze but. ] Go. I’ll be right behind you.

i am a prophet

[marmoron]

[ time is a precious commodity that is very rapidly ticking away. wasting however long they have before something monstrous emerges from that passageway on a stupid argument is absolutely the last thing they ought to be doing. but if keith is aware of that fact, he sure as fuck isn't acting on that.

he shoots the tunnel an obligatory glance, takes one step towards it even, but he doesn't deactivate the bayard or get down on his hands and knees to start crawling. ]

I'm not leaving without you. [ said emphatically as he grabs shiro's hand to tug him away from the screams. ] That's not up for debate either.

[ so shiro better not get any funny ideas about this whole situation. ]

when shall i expect the next edit

[earthshine]

[ what, keith doesn’t trust him to shimmy in behind him the moment he’s clear? likely fair, be right behind you would’ve been delayed by shiro wanting to protect the tunnel opening long enough for keith to cover a good distance, just in case whatever is down the other passageway can crawl too. he still wants to do that. too bad it doesn’t seem to be going that way.

whatever happened to listening to team leader? funny, keith doesn’t even know shiro once offered up the helm of voltron to him and yet, he’s acting like a co-leader anyway, like shiro’s orders have no authority over him.

fuck, there isn’t time to get into an argument here, especially when squabbling will cut into their window of escape. so while he dug his heels in and refused to budge on that first tug, two, three ticks later and he gives up on the stare down, instead heaving an exasperated sigh. ]

Come on. [ and now he’s the one tugging keith along, only to then bully him in front, right up close to the tunnel opening. ]

You first.

[ don't fight him on this, don't fight him on this, don't -- ]

.likely within the next 3 tags. ..that's probably a generous estiamte.

[marmoron]

[ that's a point that keith could easily contest, but sensing that getting shiro to move closer to the tunnel itself is already something of a compromise... keith doesn't. mind you, he's not exactly the most gracious about making his own concession. scowling, he quickly puts the bayard away, releasing shiro's hand to kneel in front of the tunnel.

it's too dark to see just how far this tunnel extends and the space is narrow enough that keith instinctively doesn't want to go crawling into it. there's only just enough room to move forward and turning around is going to be an impossibility. if this tunnel's a dead-end, they're fucked if whatever's in the other room can pursue. for a moment, keith's expression falters as he looks over his shoulder at shiro. looking less disgruntled, this time keith simply looks miserable and frightened. it's hard to believe that less than fifteen minutes ago they were messing around on a playground without a care in the world and now they're down here contemplating the end. ]

Shiro...

[ he starts, there's another anguished scream that reverberates off the stone walls. in the end, keith never finishes what may be the last thing he says to shiro. heart racing, keith has to force himself to slip into the tunnel. it's coming is enough of a petrifying motivator that keith moves as fast as he can, ignoring the sting of his hands and knees as he moves forward. he doesn't stop, he doesn't try to look back, just keeps pushing onwards through the pitch black of the narrow tunnel. ]

i'll be amazed if it takes 3.

[earthshine]

[ looks like shiro got what he was pleading for: keith doesn’t fight him on it. the problem? it goes too far. from one moment to the next, the whole of keith changes and the fight snuffs out. seeing keith crouched down like that, looking small, frightened and most of all, young, shiro suddenly aches.

they’ve been in arguably worse situations before, ones with higher stakes and stacked odds, but it’s easier to compartmentalize somehow. because there, keith’s suited in paladin armor with the castleship behind him and a red lion in his corner. here, he’s dressed in plain clothes and looking a lot closer to the boy he used to kick up dust clouds with in the desert. wholly and utterly himself, keith doesn’t pass as the warrior shiro has become accustomed to and it’s jarring.

but the scream is more so. he flinches, whipping his head ‘round to the other opening. one shallow breath later and he looks back to keith, only to find that he’s half inside the tunnel. his legs disappear soon enough and shiro feels the smallest sense of relief. good. go. and then shiro stalls because of course he does.

just a little longer. he puts the tunnel to his back and stands in front of it, once again giving the scream-filled passage all of his attention. shiro has no desire to face whatever threat is here, but allowing keith a head start to get some distance…? yeah, that’s what he wants.

he can’t say how long he delays. it can’t be more than a minute. nothing in the room has changed; no sign of the threat from the other passage and nothing crawling out from the pit. not exactly confident to turn his back on all of this, but figuring that’s good enough to ensure keith has a good buffer, shiro ducks down and squeezes inside the tunnel. and then he starts crawling.

… only to find, oh, it truly is tight. his shoulders rub uncomfortably against the narrow walls and -- fuck, hopefully nothing does start crawling in after him, because his movements can only be described as slow. ]

listen, i tried.

[marmoron]

[ the passage is a claustrophobic, scotophobic hell hole made all the worse by the pervasive sense of being followed. telling himself that it's just shiro doesn't make the panic any less, especially when the tunnel is filled with the sounds of erratic heavy breathing that definitely isn't coming from keith and sounds too large and feral to even be human.

shitshitshit -- keith moves on faster. of all the places and ways in which he could die, getting caught crawling and defenseless in a tunnel just wasn't fucking it. he'd have rather died fighting if anything, but of course, he'd given up that option when he'd yielded to shiro's demands.

feeling sick to his stomach, he's not entirely sure if the light at the end of the tunnel that comes up after god knows how many minutes of frantic crawling is hallucinated or not, but the relief it brings is so intense, that he very nearly laughs. maybe there's a reason people always go towards the light in those near death anecdotes, who knew. as he gets closer, the stone tunnel suddenly switches back to plastic tubing and before keith's had the chance to be properly confused about it, he slides the rest of the way down and falls sprawled onto his hands and knees.

flinching at the bright sunlight, it takes keith a second to get his bearings. even after he's physically stable, and not blinded, he doesn't understand. the kangaroo and joey spring rocker is there a couple of yards away, the swing set similarly just as present. but the slide? the fucking slide that messed up the day? it's inexplicably gone.

keith whips around, turning this way and that. ]

Shiro...?

[ and just as quickly, whatever joy he'd felt from having escaped the stone temple withers on the spot. shiro had said that he'd be right behind keith. so where the hell is he? ]

Shiro?!

[ keith yells louder, like that's all it's going to take. a gentle breeze rocks the swing back and forth in answer, but the place is as void as ever. panicked, keith tries again, even louder this tine: ] Shiro! Shiro, where are you?!

[ they say silence is deafening. keith didn't understand how that made sense, but then he turned ten and one day he was all alone standing in front of a headstone at a very empty cemetery. throat tightening and hands balling into fists, keith bites down hard on his lip to keep a desperate sob to himself. he can't go to pieces, he has to think what the logical course of action here is.... but how the fuck do you go about finding someone who disappeared through a wormhole that no longer fucking exists? pulling out his bayard, keith activates the weapon and swings it through the empty space where the slide used to be, hoping to maybe catch it on something invisible to the human eye, but there's nothing.

nothing at all.

he falls onto the ground, stabbing the point of his sword into the rubberized mulch, shoulders shaking as he digging up clumps of earth with his hands. ]