video;;

[yablueit]

[ As the TAB's video feed switches on, the only thing in view is one blue eye, as someone gets a closer look at the device before he realizes it's actually already recording. ]

—Whoa, okay, is this thing on now? I think it's on. [ Lance pulls back from the camera and steps back, clearly leaving it balanced on something as he stands back far enough to be beside Keith, both of them clearly in view.]

I'm Lance. Pilot of the blue lion, Paladin of Voltron, master sharpshooter, [ He pauses for a moment to make double fingerguns at the camera. ] and kind of a big deal. [ He elbows Keith, who tenses and glares back at him. Keith obviously isn’t thrilled about being on camera or about being elbowed on camera, but he elbows Lance right back, as subtly as he can (not very). ]

And I’m Keith. Also a Paladin of Voltron. If that means anything to any of you, contact us.

[ Lance elbows him back again, and it's really unsightly how these two are both all sharp angles. It's a wonder no one's getting stabbed. ] Dude, come on, you gotta give a better introduction than that! That's super lame.

Finger guns are super lame! [ ELBOW. ] It was concise.

[ ELBOW. ] Your face is concise!

That doesn’t even make sense! And stop elbowing me! [ ELBOWS. TWICE. Lance tries to get out of the way of Keith's flurry of furious elbows, but only succeeds in knocking down whatever it was his TAB was balanced on, the video remaining on as it tumbles down and settles on a view of their feet. After a moment of not moving, Lance leans down to peer into the camera again.]

—Okay, so uh, we're gonna go, but first, um… no one's happened to see any giant robot cats around, have you?

Comments

[yablueit]

What— How— You were just—

[ Lance is not a man with a solid grasp on the concept of complete sentences just now, sorry Shiro. ]

[shiro2hero]

Breathe, Lance. Take a deep breath.

You've got time.

[yablueit]

[ Okay, if Keith can keep his shit together and not immediately blurt out "oh my god you're alive" at Shiro, so can Lance. ]

...Okay. Uh. So... where exactly are you?

[shiro2hero]

Oh -- right.

[He pulls the camera back to show off the Lion House. He's out front, at the moment, which makes it easy to show the giant lion statue on the second floor balcony.]

[And the address and everything.]

It's district 5. Kauto. Does that ring a bell?

[yablueit]

—Whoa, sweet statue.

[ He frowns, trying to remember everything from the initial briefing. ]

Kauto is... one of the planets?

[shiro2hero]

Yeah -- there should be a tram somewhere in the Ingress Complex that'll bring you both out here.

[yablueit]

Is that the, uh... the EN-line? Is that what it's called?

[ Praise him, Dad, he's trying. ]

[shiro2hero]

Yep. Got it in one, buddy.

[HE'S PROUD OF YOU!!]

[yablueit]

Okay, cool! I think Hunk is gonna come up and meet us, so uh, I guess we'll be there soon?

[ He hesitates for a second, letting an honest, unsure smile come through. ]

...Man, I'm glad everyone is here, though. I mean, I still don't have like any idea what's going on, but at least we're all together, yknow?

[ It's easier than facing the fact that Shiro had just basically disappeared without a trace. ]

[shiro2hero]

Sure thing. He knows where the house is already... so.

[So Hunk can handle things. While he tries to keep... processing everything.]

We're glad to see you too. We've really missed having everyone together. [A beat.] It was way, way too quiet without you two.

[yablueit]

How long have you been here, anyway?

[shiro2hero]

A few months. Three or four. Maybe five.

It's... been hard to adjust to another calendar, again.

[This is like the second time.]

[yablueit]

Five months? That's crazy.

[ He can't even imagine being separated from everybody for that long and not even being back on Earth. ]

[shiro2hero]

Let me guess. You just saw us all.

[He'd do awkward jazz hands here, but yanno. One good hand and all.]

[yablueit]

...Mmmmore or less?

[ He just saw Allura and the other Paladins, that's for sure. But the image of the Black Lion's empty cockpit is seared into his mind. There hadn't even been time to process the fact that Shiro was missing until he'd woken up here with even more on his plate to deal with first. ]

[shiro2hero]

That's what happened with the others. Allura and Pidge said they'd just... seen me too.

And then wormholes happened.

[yablueit]

The wormholes? But that was ages ago.

[shiro2hero]

How long ago is "ages"?

[yablueit]

Uhhhh, let's see... After we went through the wormholes, Hunk and I met some mind-controlled mermaids, then we met some not-evil Galra, Pidge made friends with some techo-tree people, Coran got a case of the slipperies, a bunch of us learned sick new moves in our Lions, we went to a space mall, Keith found out he's like half-Galra or something and we teamed up with the secret society of not-evil rebel Galra, and we busted this dude out of Galra prison, and then came up with the perfect plan to defeat Zarkon once and for all!

[ Throughout the whole explanation, he's been reenacting everything through dramatic gestures and impersonations. ]

So, I mean, it's been awhile.

[shiro2hero]

[What.]

[Hardly any of that makes sense. Especially the bit about "Not All Galra". Because that clearly can't be right. That just --]

Keith. What?

[Yeah that's clearly the most important issue at hand here.]

[yablueit]

................................Uh.

[yablueit]

Also I have a cow now?


[ Smooth recovery. He shifts the TAB and sure enough, there's Kaltenecker on her hoverboard. ]

[shiro2hero]

Lance!

What did you just say about Keith and the Galra?

[They can address the cow later, that's less important... kind of.]

[yablueit]

...So, uh. I guess... he's half Galra? Or something. There wasn't a whole lot of time to go over the finer points of it.

[ This is absolutely the most uncomfortable Lance has ever looked. Why can't he consistently think before opening his mouth? He's glancing off screen in what Shiro can probably safely assume is Keith's direction. ]

[shiro2hero]

He...

[How in the -- How does that even work. Biologically? Are they sure? Did someone run a DNA test, what even --]

[The deep breath and resulting face pressed into his hand lasts for a long, long time.]

... when you two get here... we're going to have a meeting. All of us. And we're going to figure out what all happened, where we all are in... "time".

And where we're going to keep a cow.