pidge_out | Victory Road IC Inbox

[The shout makes her flinch a little, averting her gaze for a second. He's right, after all. And honestly she's more than a little ashamed that this was something that they never got around to discussing at length.]

I wasn't sure if you wanted to know, that's all! The last time you were here, you- Shiro said not to tell you about the future. And you never asked, so I didn't say anything!

[Though to be perfectly fair to Keith, Pidge had never really found the opportunity to offer the information to him either. Another thing that she definitely feels some shame about.]

We're not hiding anything, Keith. Not on purpose. Anything else you want to know, you can ask me right now and I'll tell you. Just ask.

Wait, Shiro told you....

[Of all the things that PIdge could've said in explanation, that was somehow the last thing he expected to hear. It's also more than a little hurtful. Shiro ... seriously thinks he can't handle the truth, huh. Keith deflates, shoulders slumping a little as he drops eye contact.

He stays quiet for a longer moment this time. Now that the immediate anger is gone, he doesn't know where that leaves him anymore. He bites the inside of his lip, no longer sure how to express anything. But when he looks back up at Pidge, he's.... sorry. He's sorry he yelled at her and is making her uncomfortable, but there's still too much he has to say before that.]

What's Shiro trying to keep me from finding out, Pidge?

[His tone's gone quiet, but a moment later he shakes his head.]

...Never mind, I'll ask him that one myself. [A beat.] ....if Griffin hadn't shown up... were you ever gonna tell me?

[Pidge quickly shakes her head again, determined to nip this misunderstanding in the bud.] It was only because you said you didn't want to know last time you were here. We were just following your own request.

[She won't talk about how hard it had been, when he'd come from a time before meeting any of them. It had been confusing, really, trying to figure out how to even interact with someone who didn't want to know how they'd become friends. Somehow they'd all managed. It had become a reflex that she must've held onto ever since.

At his next question, though, Pidge has to pause to think for a second.]

...If I knew that you wanted to know, I would've told you. I should've asked if you did, though. The fact that I never even offered it is on me, and I'm sorry about that.

[At that, Keith scrubs at his forehead, breathing out.]

... to be honest at first I didn't wanna know. I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the whole... being here before and not remembering a damn thing about it, y'know? Like what time spent here even means. What we're even doing here. Then you guys were all from the future and had all these memories I don't have and...

[He swallows, looking away.]

And you guys have been here for a long time. Longer than I've even known you back in our world. I didn't know how to act around any of you. Maybe I still don't. [Read: he definitely doesn't.] And it's like Lance keeps saying [A beat.] ...or used to keep saying, I don't even know what tense I should be using anymore.... I'm the lone wolf.

[A brief lapse into silence and then:]

I don't know where I'm going with that. Point is, I asked Shiro and he told me nothing serious happens so I figured I could ask when I'd figured out how I even fit in here. That's the reason I didn't ask for details. But it didn't even cross my mind that you guys had left Shiro out of this or that you'd hide something this big.

[He breathes out heavily. looking back up at Pidge to finally look her in the eye again.]

Look. I get why you didn't want to tell me right away. Not like there's anything I can do to stop any of this from happening when I get back. I know I won't remember. [And oh how bitter he sounds about that.] And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I apparently didn't give a rat's ass about you guys before. But we're a team now, right? Friends, supposedly? I want to know.

[Pidge watches him for a moment, her expression shifting into something more sympathetic. Because she does understand. It's just as confusing being from the future, and trying to skirt around subjects that the other hasn't experienced yet. If she didn't still have Rover napping in her lap, she'd be moving in for a hug or something; that's what Hunk would do and it's almost always helpful.]

We are a team. And we're definitely friends. So I'm telling you now, I don't mind if you need to stop me in the middle of a sentence to clarify something, or if there's something you don't wanna hear. [She shifts slightly, looking down at where her fingers have started playing idly with a stray feather on Rover's head.] I'm... I'm not great at the social stuff either. You have to tell me if I've done something wrong or I won't get it. But I'll try harder from now on, too.

[Then she goes quiet for a moment, chewing on the inside of her cheek and smoothing that feather back down.] ..What did Griffin tell you?

[It's a relief to hear Pidge affirm their friendship, especially after Lance's weird meltdown, though his own expression softens only a little. His interactions with Griffin were tense, even before they became Garrison cadets, but their particular dynamic had never come up with the paladins before and naively, Keith had thought that it might never come up. He leans against the wall, arms folded.]

He said that Sendak attacked Earth. That the Garrison may be one of the last strongholds on Earth.

[He frowns.]

That they waited for Voltron for three years and that we never came. [A beat.] Accused me and the rest of the team of not caring enough to bother saving our home planet. I already know that's not true, even without knowing what actually happened.

But why did it take three years....?

[His answer has her nodding slowly. The usual sorts of things, then. It must've been hard to hear from Griffin, though; she knows there was some kind of history between him and Keith, though she never really heard the whole story. But hey, the cat's out of the bag now, and Pidge isn't about to go back on her promise to talk honestly about anything Keith wants to know.]

He made the same accusations at me, too. [Which makes her frown a little, her expression tinged with annoyance.]

It wasn't on purpose. We'd been fighting Lotor, right where the Galra homeworld used to be. Eons away from Earth. The fight got pretty crazy. Lotor kept popping in and out of the quintessence field, and we had to follow him into it and trap him there to stop him... And over the course of things we realized that a ton of holes had essentially been torn into the very fabric of reality. In order to fix it, we had to create a massive explosion... using the Castle of Lions.

[She pauses for a moment there, laying her hand gently over the top of Rover's head with another small, thoughtful frown. It's a strange feeling that tugs at her; that battle had simultaneously happened a long time ago and not. The timeline obviously doesn't add up, since she'd gone back and forth between the Pokémon World and home between the events she's explaining. Logically she knows that's just the way things are around here, but it still feels weird.

And talking about what had happened to the castle... Somehow she still feels that loss pretty acutely. It had been home for such a long time, and they'd rushed to get everything they called their own onto the lions that... Well, there hadn't exactly been time to say goodbye to it.]

What we did repaired the damage, but we knew something was wrong. We couldn't get in touch with anyone for some reason, but we knew to head back to Earth, hopinh that my dad had made progress on fusing Altean technology with ours. The lions needed to recharge so it was kind of slow going, but we did our best to hurry, and then... [She lets out a soft, tired sigh.] We found out that we'd all been missing for three years.

The explosion... It had to be the equivalent force of a black hole in order to fix the holes in the quintessence field. Which apparently must have been enough to throw us into the future in the blink of an eye. We-- We had no idea until Zethrid and Ezor caught us and asked about Lotor. So by the time we were able to reach Earth... [Pidge trails off there, her gaze having dropped toward the floor as she shakes her head again.] We came as fast as we could. As soon as we heard. It just... wasn't enough.

[That... is a lot of information to take in, and as she speaks Keith grabs the nearest chair and takes a seat because he needs to process this sitting down. It's difficult to wrap his head around a lot of this, though he can't deny that it sounds exactly like the kind of bullshit they'd run into in outer space.]

Okay. I thought we were fighting Zarkon. Who the hell is Lotor?

Oh- Right. [Pidge actually looks the tiniest bit embarrassed for a second. She'd clearly forgotten just how far back Keith was coming from.]

Lotor is Zarkon's son. Ironically he did help us beat Zarkon for good and was kind of... on our side for a while. But that ended up not lasting, obviously.

[She makes a face there. Sometimes she still kicks herself for cutting that guy even the slightest bit of slack.]

[A blink.]

He has a son?!

[WHO LET THAT GUY BREED!!! What a horrid thought; Keith is just gonna facepalm for a second, then look right back up.]

That's so.... guess we should've seen that coming. Guy's been around for ten thousand years, he can't have just been obsessing over Voltron that entire time.

[Stated mildly, though he's repressing a Whole Body Shudder.]

Edited (woop icon) 2019-09-01 22:01 (UTC)

[Pidge almost wants to laugh at that initial reaction. Because-- Well, it's all too familiar to her, really. She's pretty sure they all had their own mini crises to realizing that Zarkon had an actual family.]

Yeah... It's gross to think about, though. So we try not to.

[She'll give Keith a sympathetic smile, though. Sorry, buddy. The future is a strange place.]

[At that, Keith lapses into another silence. There's just a lot to try and wrap his mind around and he doesn't really know where to start really trying to unpack things. Maybe he doesn't really want to while there's company around. Between everything that happens to Shiro, then their entire home planet it's all very quickly threatening to choke the air out of his lungs.

No wonder his mind had gone straight for the most inconsequential of the bombshells that'd just been dumped on his shoulders.

But he'd asked. he's not sure if he's any happier for knowing the truth, but he still thinks this is preferable to just leaving Griffin to tell him everything in grisly detail. Still... still. His hands clench and unclench, and he doesn't make eye contact with Pidge.]

Okay. I'm gonna forget that immediately.

[He pauses, clearing his throat. Part of him wants to leave immediately before the emotional weight of any of this seriously starts catching up to him, but there's just one last bit of clarification he needs and doesn't know if he'll get.]

Griffin said the Galra took over Earth. That they destroyed practically every major city. Turned the whole planet into a labor camp. I know you said we beat them back at the end of it.

[He grits his teeth, not wanting to say the next couple of words. But he forces them out in the flattest tone he can manage.]

Guessing that means my house is gone, too?

[It's the one thing he truly left behind on Earth. The only family he had at the time they left was Shiro, but still...that house is the only thing he really has left of his dad.]

[Pidge gives him the silence he needs to process all the information, returning her attention to Rover and the way his feathers fluff up with every inhale. Her ears are open, of course, ready to get right back to it when Keith is, so when he starts talking about Griffin and what he'd been told she's back to rapt attention.

That question, though, surprises her. It probably shouldn't, but it does.

There's a frown on her face now, her brow furrowing in thought as she racks her brain for information. Keith's house. The one out in the desert, where they'd all really first met. What had happened to it..?]

...I... I don't know. [That makes her frown deepen. Because she really, really hates not knowing things.] It was pretty far removed from the Garrison, though. I'd say that odds are good it's still out there and is mostly unaffected.

[She wishes she could say that with more certainty, but... Unfortunately this is the best she can do.]

[Without necessarily meaning to, Keith slumps back against the wall, body heavier and heavier by the second. Uncertainty tastes like rot in his mouth, though an even bitterer part of him just wants to break down into dry laughs.]

Okay.

[It's not okay and everything about him, from the way his tone's gotten even flatter and his shoulders have gotten even stiffer plainly state the opposite. Frankly, he'd have more of a clue of how to feel if Pidge had just literally set him on fire, but the way things are now, he feels pulled in a hundred different directions with no clear path to catharsis. He'd yell, but the people he wants to yell at are inaccessible. He'd punch the wall, but he'd only end up hurting himself.

It's the kind of helpless anger he remembers feeling towards everyone and everything while watching them lower his father's coffin into the ground. Teeth grit, he swallows dryly.]

Okay. [He repeats it like hes trying to convince himself of that, but really it doesn't work. He peels himself back off the wall vertebrae by vertebrae.]

Edited 2019-10-22 11:23 (UTC)

[Pidge finds herself chewing on the corner of her lip as she watches Keith process. She knows this can't be easy for him to hear. It's... It's a lot. And honestly this is also a big part of why she hadn't wanted to tell Keith or Shiro or even Matt all the details of what home looked like when she last saw it. It's so much to process, and even Hunk had been wary of spilling all the beans to the team.]

..I'm sorry, Keith. [She frowns down toward Rover, who chooses that exact moment to roll over in her lap so that his feet were sticking up into the air. It's a weird position for a bird, but Pidge has learned not to question it.] I know I said I'd answer all your questions, but... I mean, you don't have to ask all of them now. It's a lot to absorb.

And if it helps, things really do work out. We take down Sendak and liberate Earth from the Galra. Last I remember, everyone was working together to make Earth a kind of base of operations.

But we haven't won the war, have we.

[the statement comes out more forcefully than he intends, the bitter words ringing in his ears.]

As long as the Galra are out there, what happened to Earth is just going to keep repeating. Meanwhile we're all just stuck here in Johto doing -- I don't even know what! Playing with pets? Hanging out on the beach?

[there's a deep breath as keith unfolds his arms, pressing his fingers to his forehead, then straightens back up again.]

I know our being here doesn't affect anything back home, but... what are we doing here? Do you honestly even want to go back home?

[The words sting, compounding on top of each other as Keith keeps going, all of them aimed for every weak point in Pidge's carefully constructed mental armor. She'd told herself - convinced herself - that there's nothing wrong with enjoying their time in this alternate universe. But in the back of her mind there's always been the pain of wanting to go back home, to see the war truly ended, to be back in the arms of her mother and father. Keith is bringing all of that to the forefront of her mind, and with that final question posed to her Pidge finally snaps.]

Of course I do! Don't you ever even question that!

[The outburst has her raising her voice and her hands ball into fists, and it's enough to wake Rover up with an indignant, pained squawk. But his trainer doesn't seem to pay him any mind beyond releasing him from her hold.]

I wanna go home and be with my parents and be done with fighting the Galra but I can't. None of us can leave of our volition and none of us know what the quiznak we're supposed to do here! It's just- This is all totally out of our control and the only thing we can do is make the best out of it, especially when it's like having a second chance at life for a lot of people. Including Shiro. In the grand scheme of things, it-- This isn't the worst detour we could've been forced to take.

[in the back of his mind, he knows he'd gone too far in saying what he said, but he doesn't have it in him to walk it back and apologize right this second -- not when pidge is snapping right back. on the one hand, there's a twisted sense of vindication from the confirmation bias he's getting about some deep rooted suspicion that his presence here is throwing a monkey wrench into the happiness everyone else has achieved for themselves, but on the other hand he knows he's messing up -- letting his temper get the better of him. <>again.

but the other element of all this is that her reaction is well and truly the first time since being in johto that he's found any of his friends relatable. if the complacency they've achieved is a paper thin facade, then that's the most relatable sentiment.

there's a deep breath and then:]

So you're just accepting it for what it is. What have you or the others here even tried in order to get back home? Don't wanna go reinventing the wheel.

Edited 2019-10-27 03:46 (UTC)

[Pidge makes a huge gesture of surrender with her hands, prompting Rover to hop out of her lap and seek shelter in the corner of the bed.]

The best guess that anyone has is that some Pokémon with the ability to alter and bend reality is the one that brought us all here, and you can imagine how well the search for it has gone. [And Keith can probably guess from the way Pidge wrinkles her nose that this isn't her favorite theory.]

As for any actual physical evidence? The only lead is that house we all show up in when we get here. But no one can get back in, and if anyone's tried to destroy it they clearly haven't succeeded. No one knows who that fake "mom" figure is, or has ever even seen her again.

[She groans, leaning forward and wiping her hands down her face, knocking her glasses askew.] I've been here for a year. Shiro's been here for nearly four. The people who've been sent back to their homes didn't exactly leave notes on how they did it. All we can do is- is wait.

[well bye rover....?? keith's eyes briefly follow the birb goes zooming off to safety, then quickly snap back to pidge. this time, he takes a few moments to organize his thoughts before responding. his voice is calmer when he speaks -- no apology in sight yet, but decidedly less accusatory and more civil.]

And you haven't noticed any patterns or common links between the people who've disappeared?

[a year's a long time to be collecting this kind of data. four, if shiro's been keeping an eye on the situation.]

There has to be a better strategy than just waiting.

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tl;dr, the end of S6 and the first half of S7 happened

i'm laughing at the contrast here sorry

ffffff don't be sorry :P

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