Deep Dreams Are Made of These - Open

[tempredmental]

Who: Keith, Huntress crew, Shiro, open text message
Broadcast: Text
Action: Huntress
When: The night of and morning after the visions/nightmares

[Darkness. Stars. It’s nighttime and the ground trembles. A deep underlying sense of panic permeates everything, tangible in the way your limbs shake and the expressions on people’s faces, though specific features seem to melt away. The darkness turns to red, and the red turns to fire… fire everywhere, uncontrollable and hungry. It burns at your limbs and for a brief second, you see a world-- a planet-- engulfed in a wave of red-orange death.

The background noise is a strange alien wailing, neither male nor female, but it is deep and you find you can almost understand the words. They are strong enough to be word-feelings, which makes them a little hard to concentrate on with the chaos otherwise found in the vision.

<Fire.> <Run.> <Help.>]

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on the huntress

[Keith jumped up in bed with a yell, breathing hard. He didn't have nightmares often, but that sure was one. He rubbed his face. Was that... tears? He looked at his hands for a moment, noticing that they were trembling. Keith hesitated, but then eventually reached for the communicator.

After speaking with Shiro, he made his way out to the common area for a bit. He needed to get out of his room. After the common area, he went to the shuttle bay to beat up the punching bag for a bit.]

=====

private to Shiro

hey

are you awake

=====

next morning, after seeing a few posts on the network

so a few people had these nightmare vision things

i think we should compare what we saw

Comments

[the_tailor]

...shut up. You know what I mean. Let's just go back and forth asking each other stuff, okay? It doesn't have to be important things.

[Pff.]

[tempredmental]

[Keith actually managed the tiniest of smirks in response to Lance's reaction.]

Alright fine. We'll take turns, I guess? General questions or specifically yes and no?

[His tone sounded a little like he was humoring Lance. Though, honestly, he wanted the distraction as much as Lance seemed to be willing to offer it. He had a feeling that nightmare was going to sit with him for a while anyway. He could revisit it later once he'd managed to get some distance between himself and the initial dream.]

[the_tailor]

General questions.

[He hums as he tries to think of one to start. It's been a while since he's played this whole getting-to-know-you type of game.]

Did you ever play any sports as a kid?

[tempredmental]

Okay.

[He waited as Lance figured out the first question, then considered it for a moment.]

Not traditional team sports, I guess... you know, like soccer or baseball or something. But, I got involved in martial arts pretty young. There were competitions and stuff for that. It could be considered a sport, I guess.

[So, that made it his turn, right? He thought for a moment.]

Why did you sign up for the Garrison?

[Lance had always seemed like a "not the Garrison" type to him, so it made him wonder. He wondered about Hunk a little, too, honestly, but Hunk wasn't there to be asked at the moment. Of course, Keith sort of knew he wasn't exactly the Garrison poster boy himself, either, but that was up to Lance to ask.]

[the_tailor]

[He can definitely see a younger Keith kicking some butt at martial arts tournaments. Absently, he wonders if he always had this dumb hairstyle.

When Keith asks his own question, he takes a little time to think about his answer.]

I always just felt there was something...more out there. There's parts of our ocean we still haven't discovered, but space? That's an even bigger ball game. I wanted to see it for myself. To maybe be the guy to discover a new species or a new planet. To find some real purpose, you know? If I couldn't find it on Earth, maybe I could find it up there. Up here, now.

[Shrug.]

Shiro was basically my idol when I was a kid, because I wanted to become a pilot. I saw that he went to the Garrison, looked into it, and realized it was my best chance at achieving my dreams. Had to work my butt off for a scholarship, though...

[tempredmental]

[Enough with the hair! >.>

He listened, though, rather intently, as Lance answered his question. At the part about Shiro, he even smiled a little.]

Yeah... Shiro can be pretty influential.

I joined because of him, too.

[the_tailor]

I'm not surprised.

[He gives a little grin.]

What got you into riding that speeder?

Yay, head canon that I hope doesn't get screwed over later! LOL

[tempredmental]

Mm... well... it was my dad's. He was an amateur racer, but gave it up after a while. Never got rid of the speeder, though. He used to take me out on it when I was little. I kind of inherited it when he left.

[And apparently the love of speed. Keith's "head dad" had shown Lance that during calibrations, how Keith had actually been a pretty happy kid for a while.]

WHOOOO!

[the_tailor]

You seem the speed demon type. You ride like a maniac, too.

[He gives him a little nudge. Yeah, Lance will never forget that time. He seriously thought he was going to die.]

[tempredmental]

Hey, I had good reason. If I hadn't, the extra nonessential weight would have gotten us caught on a straight run.

[Keith smirked right back.]

Okay... my turn, right?

[He looked thoughtful for a second.]

So what started the whole beauty routine?

[the_tailor]

[Nonessential wait his butt. Lance rolls his eyes.]

...one of my older sisters, actually. The one I was closest to. She got me into a lot of things. When she decided she was going to start a whole routine to keep herself looking good, she pulled me along for the ride. It was kind of...sibling bonding? Not to mention, it made me look really good too, so win/win.

[Pause.]

Now, there's that, but it's also kind of...a way to still connect to her, even if I'm all the way out here.

[tempredmental]

You're really close to your family, huh?

[Keith looked down, almost a little jealous.]

We'll get back to Earth. I wouldn't give up on that, yet.

[the_tailor]

Yeah. We're a huge family, but really tight knit.

[Shrug. Lance drums his fingers on the mattress for a while, trying to think of the next question. One pops into his head, but it takes him a little while to blurt it out.]

Have you ever dated someone before?

[tempredmental]

[Keith's eyes widened.]

What?

[the_tailor]

[It's....a very simple question, Keith.]

Dated. Gone out with. Had a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

[tempredmental]

Uh... sort of?

[He quirked an eyebrow.]

It's uh... Well, it was kind of weird.

[He looked away.]

[the_tailor]

What do you mean, weird?

[He isn't going to pry, but he's sort of going to pry a little bit. Sorry Keith. This is very important intel to him.]

[tempredmental]

Well... it didn't work out, so...

[He shrugged.]

I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

[the_tailor]

Was she...or he... Just not the right fit then?

[C'mooooooon.]

yay more headcanon lol

[tempredmental]

[Keith frowned a bit.]

I guess.

I think I was just the conquest... like some goal or something. We broke up shortly after... you know.

[the_tailor]

That's...really shitty. I'm sorry.

[And he is, really. No one deserves to be treated like that.]

If it helps, I've been there. I've dated a few times before, two girls, one guy, and gotten dumped by them all. I think they just found me amusing or something for a while, then got bored.

[tempredmental]

I guess it was some sort of status symbol or something for people who weren't actually pilots to bag the top pilot in the class.

I kind of stopped seriously dating after that.

[He sighed.]

I guess she got what she wanted.

[He frowned.]

I mean, there were others, but yeah... that was the last serious relationship. I hadn't actually gone that far with anyone else, either, before that.

[the_tailor]

[Well, quiznak. There was still the chance that Keith was bisexual like him, but...

Quiznak. What did it matter? Lance's thoughts were getting ahead of him again, and he knows he needs to stop before he sets himself up for a fall.]

I'm sure you'll find the girl of your dreams one day.

[tempredmental]

Yeah. Sure.

What was it... oh, right. She'd be Mrs. Red Lion, right?

[He smiiiiirked. Guess who had bonded a bit with Hunk, too.]

[the_tailor]

Guess so.

[He manages a little smile.]