[ action ]

[tempredmental]

Who: Keith, OPEN
Broadcast: No
Action: Huntress, Iskaulit, open to other ideas!
When: Kind of a system catch-all post-update, starting Nov 26

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[It took a moment for all his memories to mesh together again once he woke up, but Keith sat up slowly once they did. Okay, ha ha, Atroma... Garrison cadet uniforms sucked. He sighed and glanced back over his shoulder to see if Lance had made it back or stayed or just... whatever.

Judging by the uniform on him, too, Lance had gone back, too... or slept through it? Keith definitely felt like he'd slept through it.

And the graphitti on his face indicated-wait...

Keith's eyebrows went up... and he looked around the room. Pidge. Keith knew Lance was going to flip out when he woke up, but, for now, Keith wasn't going to leave Pidge just lying on the floor. He carefully picked her up and put her on the bed. There was a moment of concern at how passed out she was, especially when he noticed the signs of exhaustion in her features. What the heck happened?

Keith headed out to get some water only to notice his own new look in the bathroom mirror. Well then. He just hoped it wasn't permanent marker this time. He started washing, deciding that Pidge could get her own water when she woke up... or maybe just let her and Lance wake up together. That could be interesting...]

=====

[This is probably the only time Keith's come back from a trip home or a impromptu coma in a relatively good mood. Granted, he wasn't exactly bouncing around the Huntress or the Iskaulit like it was the BEST DAY EVER, but he didn't seem as 'emo' as usual.

He could be found at the gym, the obstacle course, getting food, in the Voltron team "Lion's Den", doing his turn at the helm on the Huntress... basically being himself, but less depressed and angsty.]

=====

[It took a few days to really catch on, but, eventually, Keith had to catch Lance and pull him aside. He'd been distant lately, and it was concerning. Ever since they got back, really. He knew it was hard on their relationship to keep getting new memories of them not being a couple back home, and Keith was a little worried that Lance might be considering that route for here in the Fleet, too.]

Hey... [He stopped Lance from leaving their room one morning.] Is everything okay? You seem kind of... distant.

=====

{OOC: Hit me up on plurk duches77 or PM my journal if you want to try something specific. I'm open! Also! This is now Keith post season 7, so poke me if you want me to avoid spoilers!}

Comments

[pidge_out]

[Pidge had paused in the doorway, a little surprised to see him. He might be surprised to see that she's armored up too, helmet tucked under one arm just in case. She'd been planning on leaving a note on the whiteboard, just to let the others know that she'd gone down to look for Shiro's mysterious wishing tree and would be fine on her own. But since she's bumped into Keith, well...]

Hey... What're you doing in here?

[And all suited up. She doesn't say that part out loud, but it's there in the pinch between her eyebrows, the tilt of her head.]

[tempredmental]

[The whole situation felt awfully familiar... twice over. The first time, Allura caught him trying to leave the Castle when she'd been on her way out. The second time, the MFE cadets found him and Hunk trying to sneak out of the Garrison.]

I uh... [He sighed a little. No point in lying, really. He stood up.] I was grabbing a few things because I wanted to go find that tree thing. [He make a point of looking at her own Paladin armor.] What about you?

[pidge_out]

[Pidge blinks once. Twice. And then very nearly laughs out loud.] I was actually going to leave a note before doing the same thing.

[She settles into a sheepish smile, reaching up to rub at the back of her neck.] When I saw Shiro with that little Atlas ship, I started wondering what kinds of things we could wish over here.

[tempredmental]

[Keith actually looked amused for a second, and then nodded.]

Yeah. Same here.

[He considered it for a moment, and then shrugged a little.]

You want to go together?

[He hadn't really spent time with her in a while, and having found her sleeping in his room like that when he woke up had gotten him worried. Keith wanted to be sure Pidge was okay.]

[pidge_out]

[She looks surprised at the offer, both eyebrows arching upward.]

Um. Are you sure?

[Her hand drops to fidget with her helmet a little bit, clearly uncertain about accepting. Yes, she'd been beyond relieved when she saw both Keith and Lance wake up and Shiro return to the Fleet. But in her mind that still hasn't erased the awkwardness she still feels around them. Not to mention the fact that now they know things she doesn't.]

I don't mind going by myself, you know. It's not like I need someone to look out for me.

[tempredmental]

[Keith blinked.]

Well, no... that wasn't why I was asking.

[He frowned a bit in confusion. Did he really give that impression as to why he was asking?]

I just thought maybe it would be nice to have some company, since we're going to the same place and all.

[He shrugged a little, visibly disappointed.]

We don't have to if you don't want to, though.

[He closed up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.]

[pidge_out]

Oh. Right.

[There's the slightest hint of an embarrassed flush on her face, glancing off to the side in an attempt to look less awkward. Maybe she is the only one making a big deal out of nothing now. She's really going to need to curb that behavior. It's just hard to remember sometimes that Keith isn't to blame for any of the reasons that she's been feeling so off around him and Lance.

She lets out a small, shuddering breath, making up her mind.]

Sorry, I- We- Yeah. We should go together. [Then she tries for a smile, one that's all nerves since she's clearly the one who fucked up here.] Company would be good.

[tempredmental]

[Keith raised an eyebrow.]

Hey... you okay?

[He shifted, giving her space to grab anything if she wanted it for their trip.]

[pidge_out]

I-- [She hesitates to answer, biting on her lower lip for a moment while she thinks through the consequences of answering that honestly.]

...I'll be fine. Sorry. I'm just.. trying to work some stuff out in my head.

[tempredmental]

[Considering he just went through the whole "I'm fine, but really I'm not" thing with Lance, Keith looked very unconvinced. He frowned a bit.]

Okay. [He sighed a little.] I won't push. But, listen... We've all got a lot going on, which means that sometimes, we need someone to lean on a little. It's okay. I know I'm not great at offering words, but I'm a pretty good listener if you need someone to just vent at, okay? Doesn't matter what it is... [And, remembering that incident with Lance...] Even if it's Lance.

[After a beat, he managed to give her a small smile.]

[pidge_out]

[She just barely manages not to flinch, instead taking her helmet in both hands so she can start fitting it over her head. They're not even heading outside just yet, but she's putting it on anyway.]

I know. [And she really does know. Keith has become a good friend and a good leader, and she can trust him to be impartial when he has to be. But...] This is something I need to figure out on my own, I think.

[She shakes it off, filing the whole thing away for her to revisit later.]

Anyway. Ready to go hunting for Shiro's wishing tree?

[tempredmental]

[Keith nodded.]

Okay.

[He can understand needing to work a few things out alone... probably more than anyone else. He'd even left the team for a while to do just that. And he promised he wasn't going to push, so he wouldn't.

He nodded at the question, giving her a small smile.]

Yeah. I'm ready when you are. [He moved towards the door, waiting to see if she wanted to grab anything else before heading out.]

[pidge_out]

[She nods right back, smiling a bit in return. It's much more normal this time; it's easier for her to go about life when she has a goal to work toward.]

I'm ready.

[There's nothing else she needs from the den. She really had just been planning on leaving a message on the whiteboard and nothing else, but if Keith is going with her then that probably won't be necessary.]

Did Shiro happen to tell you where to start?

[tempredmental]

[That got a knowing smile from Keith.]

Yup.

Not hard to get to.

[If there was something Keith was good at, it was remembering directions and landmarks. Shiro had done a pretty good job of giving him the right hints. Keith was pretty confident he'd find it easily enough.]

[pidge_out]

[Smile still in place, Pidge gestures for Keith to walk ahead of her, sidestepping out of the way.]

Then this probably won't even take that long.

[And once Keith is leading the way, Pidge is eagerly following right along.]

[tempredmental]

Probably not.

[He chuckled, making his way over to the transporter so they could get to the surface. He put his helmet on before they headed down, as it was cold on the surface, and ice caves were likely to be even colder. Thankfully, their suits were designed for outerspace. This would be nothing.

As a pilot, he had access to the transporter controls, and he made sure to set them to arrive close to the entrance of the ice caves where the tree was.

He pointed it out.] Shiro said that's the main entrance. [A bit of hike, but nothing they couldn't handle.]

[pidge_out]

[For the most part, Pidge is quiet as they travel. Mainly because she's got the screen up from her gauntlet, running test scans (and cursing softly whenever something glitches out) and making tweaks. So when Keith is landing the transport and pointing out the cave, her head snaps up sharply toward him, as though being pulled out of a daze, before turning to see what he's pointing at.]

Oh. [It is a bit of a hike, and a year ago Pidge would've whined and complained about too much physical exertion. Not anymore, though. She just shrugs.] Cool. Let's get up there, then!

[tempredmental]

[He watched Pidge for a moment messing with the screen up on her gauntlet. They had just recently completed a nice private network off the Atroma and connecting the armors' systems to it probably wasn't a bad idea to help with communications...]

What are you scanning for?

[Keith had the pack as they started making their way to the cave entrance.]

[pidge_out]

[Pidge shrugged idly, keeping in-step with Keith as best she could as they got moving.]

The usual. Biorhythms, dangerous sections of terrain that we might need to avoid... That sort of thing. Just because Shiro made it through here unscathed doesn't mean we should let our guard down, right?

[tempredmental]

[Keith watched her screen out of curiosity as they walked, giving a slight shrug in response.]

True.

[She wasn't wrong. Better safe than sorry. It wasn't like they had the pods here to fix each other up should something happen.

In his case, they didn't have them back home anymore, either, but he was keeping that to himself. Pidge had made a point of not telling them things when she'd been ahead, so he was pretty sure she didn't want to hear anything from him in return. It wasn't easy, because he wanted to give her news about her parents and getting back to Earth, but he'd wait until she asked.

The cave entrance was pretty normal looking for a cave. The main difference is that there seemed to be light coming from inside. The whole planet had glowing water and this luminescent feel to it, so Keith wasn't surprised to see that the caves were glowing inside. And, as far as hiking and energy levels? He barely felt their walk. There was something about the feeling he got from everything that left him more energized. He remembered someone talking about this being another singing planet. That could be it.

Keith peered in, curious and a little cautious. He couldn't see anything.]

Looks clear.

[pidge_out]

[She keeps her screen up the entire time, just in case, and that's where a large majority of her attention remains as they walk. It would do neither of them any good to get ambushed by aliens, or just attacked by local wildlife. Not when they're on what should be a pretty peaceful mission to visit a wish-granting tree.

Pidge stays just a step behind Keith as he peers into the cave, looking up only when he makes his announcement.]

Not picking up anything on the scans either.

[She blinks once, then looks to Keith with a small, lop-sided smile.] I.. guess we should just head in, then.

[tempredmental]

[Keith looked back as she mentioned the scans. He raised his gaze to meet hers, and, at her comment about heading in, shrugged. Then, with a small, quick smile, he turned and lead the way in.

The glow in the caves made it so they didn't need their flashlights at least. But, depending on where they were the ground was a little slippery from the ice. It was slow going because of that and rocky terrain. Shiro hadn't mentioned any natural water-slides, so hopefully they wouldn't find themselves flung into some underground pool by accident like with the Blue Lion cave on Earth.

Thankfully, Keith's ability to recognize patterns and his understanding of how Shiro described things made it easy to pick up on the landmarks he was looking for to find their path.]

[pidge_out]

[She follows along carefully, quietly, her screen still up in case something in her scans changes. It doesn't, thankfully, but there's still just something about the fact that they were making their way through a dark, alien cave that's actually kind of... comfortable. Familiar. It's like actually being on Team Voltron again, instead of just being part of a fleet of ships drifting through space.

So Pidge actually kind of relishes in the simple acts of looking cautiously around corners, testing the ground for safe footing amongst the rocks and ice, double and triple checking her biorhythm scans. Even just following Keith, Voltron's new black paladin and leader, is enough to make her feel better. Useful. Like they're doing something that matters, even if they really aren't.]

[tempredmental]

[It did feel normal again, really. Definitely more normal than the way Fleet operated as a whole. this wasn't the first time they'd gone poking around in an alien cave, or even a cave at all. And Keith could appreciate Pidge's focus on her scans. As much as he and Lance made a good team, the babble could sometimes get distracting.

As they got further along, Keith started to hear what sounded like water. It wasn't rushing... just some dripping, and there was a dampness in the cold air that hadn't been there before. The rocks were getting slicker, and were more often coated with ice than not... the walls, too.]

We're getting close. Shiro mentioned an underwater spring with a boat to help cross it.

[pidge_out]

[Pidge's eyes dart up toward Keith, away from the screen emitted by her gauntlet, blinking owlishly.]

A spring? Like a hot spring, maybe?

[It's cold enough in the cave to merit the existence of a hot spring, especially if the water isn't frozen. Then again, this is an alien planet, so the usual physics don't have to apply...]

How much further past the spring is this tree?