System Catch-All!

[the_tailor]

Who: Lance and you!
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Huntress and planetside, and anywhere else if you want!
When: Throughout the month, minus July 4-11th, where he'll be asleep for canon updating.



[A - Broadcast (Takes place July 11th)]

[Lance waves to the camera, looking just a little worse for the wear. He isn't injured at all, but he's apparently been asleep for a week, so he's kind of got a case of bedhead and his skin isn't as meticulously taken care of as usual. Still, he outwardly looks to be in a little better emotional shape than he was the last time this had happened to him.]

Sleeping beauty--er, beauties, are awake.

[Keith can also be spotted in the background, giving affection to their overeager pets who've clearly missed their dads.]

Last time we disappeared, but this time we just fell asleep, for some reason. It's really, really jarring to go home then come back like this, with all these memories just smacking back into your brain. But they're good memories... Some of the best I've had, and I'm really, really grateful to be back here. Sooooo, what did I miss?




[B - Mist]

[While Lance has gotten more careful about things over the years, what with the fact that general danger couldn't just lead to a bruised knee but actual death, there were still times where he pushed the envelope. The general assumption he and Keith had come to was that if their suits could easily survive the vacuum of space, some strange mist shouldn't be a problem.

They were wrong, of course, when they'd hit the denser mist.

Hallucinations strike Lance first and foremost. He talks to people that aren't there, and though it's difficult to see through his helmet visor, his expression is nothing short of distraught. You might even find him curled up on the ground, holding a large stone and...crying?]



[C- Hospital]

[Intelligent boy he is, he's struck out into the mist twice, both times landing him in the hospital afterwards. It's the second visit there, though, that he's much worse off. He may not be in the mist still, but he's still suffering vivid hallucinations while it's still in his system. While he's still mostly lucid, he falls into the realistic visions easily, and can be observed speaking into thin air as if there are others there. Pleading, begging these visions not to leave him alone, claiming that he can be useful. Beseeching them not to get rid of him.

Sometimes he's just curled up on his bed trembling, possibly crying.

He might even hallucinate when someone actually is there, misconstruing what they're saying.

When the visions aren't there, he's...quiet, looking nothing short of defeated.]




[D - Chocobo Sharide Racing]

[Before all that mess, or after he's mostly recovered from it, he finds himself drawn to the sharide racing. The birds are cute and awesome at the same time, and though he's obviously never ridden one before, he's still eager to give it a try. Whether just testing it out recreationally or partaking in some lower level competitions, Lance seems to be having a ball.]




[E - Kites!]

[Sometimes, it's good to just kick back and do something incredibly relaxing. Kite flying? Heck yeah. Lance can be found either running around with or just laying down with a blue kite in the air that matches the rest of his team's. Sometimes he's just content to watch it flutter above him. At other times, he's trying to do some sick stunts, which don't always work.]




[F - Wildcard!]

[Anything! Hit him up anytime, anywhere. On the ships, planetside, network, whatever. Lance is always eager to explore and do things, even though he's going to be in bad shape when he goes to the hospital.]

Comments

[the_tailor]

[Oh no, Keith. Just because you're more of Shiro's official brother doesn't mean you get him all to yourself. Lance launches himself right in the fray of it, turning the hug into a big ol' group hug.]

Y'see, this? This is the way things should be.

[padadin]

[Get himself in trouble? Should he be worried?

...apparently, yes. Because hugs are good, great even, but there's definitely something going on here. He can read the mood, read Keith's body language and the hidden meaning behind those words. Someone is still with the Blades and going through some stuff with them...

Shiro hugs back, of course, as fiercely as he can.] It's good to see you too.

[And whatever else he wants to say gets interrupted by Lance jumping in the fray, and of course he gets hugged too, there's enough beef Shiro for everyone. The way things should be, huh? He agrees, but it sounds so ominous.]

Is everything okay at home?

[tempredmental]

[Keith chuckled a little as Lance jumped in. Welp. He should have expected that, but it was still good to have a nice hug.

Keith looked up at Shiro as he pulled back a bit about that question.]

Yeah... kind of.

I um... I found my mom.

[He had already ranted a bit to Lance about the situation, but it was clearly something he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Good, bad, resentful, annoyed that Atroma took him back before he could get some answers... it was all there.]

[the_tailor]

I get a sword, he gets a mom... Keith always has to win.

[His voice is light and teasing, but there's no malice behind it. Lance moves his hand to squeeze Keith's shoulder-- he can only imagine what the other boy is going through right now in regards to that.]

[padadin]

[Both his eyebrows are raised in surprised, because those are some big news. Excellent ones, but they also make him wonder exactly what's going at home, because this doesn't sound like a "I was just playing around with the mice" story.]

Bayard change? [He asks Lance before turning to Keith.] Your mom? Seriously?

[Sorry for the lame answer, he doesn't even know where to begin.]

[tempredmental]

Heh... yeah. Her name's Krolia. Kolivan sent me on a mission to extract her from her assignment because the faction she was in was getting attacked by another one shortly after the Kral Zera.

[Well, Shiro wouldn't know about that, would he?]

Lotor killed Zarkon. And the Kral Zera is the ceremony in which a new emperor is chosen. But, not everyone supports Lotor. They're all fighting for dominance right now. [He sighed.] The base she was on was doing weapon research with that pure strain of quintessence the Blades have been tracking. We had to give up the weapon, but I think the codes she gave them did something. I just... [Frustrated frown.] I woke up back here before I could get any answers.

[the_tailor]

[Lance wasn't sure if he should spill all the beans to Shiro about what had happened, since he was technically behind time-wise, but, welp. Looks like Keith got to it first. It seems to be okay, though... Lance just won't tell Shiro all the details about his behavior.

Though he certainly plans on trying to figure Shiro out a bit better right now.]

Kind of crazy.

[padadin]

[What the quiznak is a-- ah. Well then. Lotor killed Zarkon. So he's dead for real now? And his own son killed him. The fact Zarkon has gone down should be instant great news, but the way is presented is nothing but perturbing. And they want to choose a new emperor? The empire is losing organization, he can guess, and they're in the middle of an internal conflict. That's good, he hopes, it sounds like they're slowly bringing themselves down. He hopes the planets under their power aren't suffering from it.]

"Kind of crazy" doesn't start to describe it. I take it we're taking advantage of their struggles? [He asks Lance, because this is Shiro, always putting the mission first. But he does turn to Keith then, sympathy in his eyes.] Sorry you were taken right in the middle of that, buddy. But at least you found her, right? That's already a big step.

[tempredmental]

[Keith nodded a little, but sort of fell silent at that point, letting Lance take over for any updates about the team. He still wasn't there, so he didn't know any of the details, and leaving out certain points, like Shiro bringing Lotor to the Kral Zera himself in the Black Lion, and Keith finding out from Lance that it was without the rest of the team's support, seemed kind of important right now. Updates were good, but there were things going on that they couldn't fix here, and even trying wouldn't really do much if they didn't remember any of it when they got back. Shiro didn't need to be told about that... not right now.

But, the updates were also important, so he could talk to Shiro about Krolia later...]

[the_tailor]

[Right, so... He had to be careful about this. Shiro has enough on his mind, he doesn't need to make things worse by telling him about his future him's behavior. That was a bridge that didn't need to be crossed early. Lance still intended on trying to figure out what potentially caused it, but he's going to go about it as subtly as he can. Something one would never associate with Lance, but this is a whole different situation.]

We're doing the best we can with what's going on, really. Exploring new...avenues of possibility or whatever. Still doing our whole universe saving shindig. That hasn't changed.

[padadin]

[He takes their answers at face value, having no reason too read anything else in them. Obviously Keith is quiet, probably dealing with having met his mom - which is a situation already emotionally charged, and then Atroma takes him out of it.

And Lance says what he expected: they keep on fighting. There's no point in going through new strategies, it would take them nowhere. Being here makes it useless information. If it could remember it when going back, it would be a different deal.]

I see. It sounds like we're making progress then - it's still war, but I'm glad to hear at least things haven't gotten worse, and that everyone is ok. [A smile.] I don't want to wish this place on anyone, but it's good to see you again, guys. I missed you.

[tempredmental]

[Keith looked back up at Shiro again at the last part, and then gave him a tiny smile.]

I missed you, too.

[But the smile faded quickly.] I'm... I'm trying to get back to the team. I just... we're not finished, yet. And, well, there's some stuff I need to deal with now with my mom, so... Yeah.

Still... it's not a bad thing to be back here. [It was clear that Keith felt torn at the moment... torn between two worlds, which was kind of how he'd been feeling back home, too, but on a different level.]

[the_tailor]

[He's silent for a little while. Trying not to think too hard about that. But he speaks up again, wanting to distract himself.]

It's really good to see you here too. I--well, I couldn't really miss this place because I didn't remember it, but now that I'm back... I like being here with you guys. Having the opportunities I never was able to get back home. To heck with all the reality show stuff.

[But he stops there, because he realizes he might be undermining Keith's feelings, and that's the last thing he wants to do.]

A-anyway! Have we missed anything big here?

[padadin]

Take the time you need, buddy. You know we'll be waiting for you when you're ready.

[Shiro means it, because he knows better than anyone what it means to need someone waiting for you while you deal with your personal issues. It's important, and he won't let anyone go through what he did.

He nods at Lance.] That's true, we have opportunities here that we don't have at home. It's the one good thing about this place. And no, you haven't missed anything - it's only been a week. We're still on the planet with the mist. People are working to improve the anti-mist masks.

[He doesn't sound like he approves of that, but details.]

[tempredmental]

[Keith nodded.]

A week? Like last time, huh? [It took a moment, but then something clicked with the comment about the masks.]

Oh... I promised Tyrion to help with his mask. I wonder if he finished it while I was away... asleep... whatever.

[the_tailor]

Well, I sure hope people are getting on with getting those masks better. Our helmets only did so much.

[Why yes, despite already being hospitalized once, Lance is intending to go back there.]

I can help out too if anything. Maybe figure out how to filter our helmets more...