Volcano Things

[tempredmental]

WHO: Keith, OPEN
WHERE: The Warrens
WHAT: Keith wanders around, checking out things underground, feeling a little useless and redundant, but he's making a map. Find him wandering, find him taking notes, find him drawing, finding him trying to burn off the excess energy he had from being bored.
WHEN: During the shelter-in-caves part of the volcano stuff
WARNINGS: Nothing, yet; Will edit if needed

So, it seemed that this was definitely something that the current data point for Keith was no good for. One would think otherwise, of course, because he could have loaded everyone up on a ship and gotten them off the planet. How is being stuck in a cave safer than that? He wasn't sure. But, here they were... stuck in a cave network, and Keith was feeling... well, useless.

But there was definitely something he was good at that didn't need a data point, and that was navigating things. He had a very good visual memory, and finding his way through a cave network wasn't hard for him. It wasn't hard for him to remember where things were or where he'd already been, either, and he was going to use that to his advantage, at least, in figuring this place out. So, he spent most of his time down in this 'warren' exploring and looking around, mapping it all out in his head, and maybe even sketching things down when he had the chance and supplies to do so.

Excellent visual memory combined with decent drawing skills was useful to have.

He also could be found trying to work out from time to time. Jogging through the tunnels, using any wider spaces to practice his fight skills, it was a way to keep busy and active. Keith didn't do well sitting still for too long if he wasn't doing something while he was taking that down time.

Comments

[deal_me_in]

Being confined anywhere for long would naturally drive a Hunter up the wall. Sure, this place has a lot more space to roam, but in the end it's still one big prison. But if nothing else, Cayde's learned since earlier unwanted instances of captivity.

You can either let yourself be driven crazy and show that questionable audience what they want and expect, or you can take it easy, let things happen in stride, and not get yourself worked up about it.

So hopefully Keith won't go tripping over a casually lounging Exo who's chosen this particular stretch of tunnel to nap smack in the middle of, apparently.

[tempredmental]

Well, he didn't trip on him, but he certainly noticed.

It gave him cause to stop.

"Uh..."

He walked up to Cayde and crouched.

"Hey... you okay?"

That was a weird place to sleep, buddy.

[deal_me_in]

"...mm?"

A glowing optic opened, peering at Keith. And promptly closed again. "Yep, just fine." He affected a yawn, but otherwise didn't seem inclined to move from where he lay sprawled, his arms tucked under his head, one leg hooked over the other.

"-am I in your way?" Cayde asked after a moment, eyes still closed.

[tempredmental]

"Ah... Sort of?" Keith didn't sound so sure of that. "I mean... you're kind of in the middle of the tunnel."

Yes, Keith was thinking you were weird, Cayde.

[deal_me_in]

"Lotta tunnels around, kid. How was I supposed to know you were going to come down this one?"

For a moment the Exo looked inclined to stay there. Eventually he made a great show of stretching his arms and legs out before sitting himself up like this was one incredibly huge deal for him to have to move. He added a yawn in for good measure.

[tempredmental]

"Sorry...?" Keith was definitely confused. "What are you doing laying in the middle of a tunnel anyway? Most people don't lay in the middle like that unless something's wrong."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde quirked a brow at him, looking strangely amused. "What, you're an expert on finding people in tunnels?" he grinned.

"Anyway, why not lie in the middle of a tunnel? Or I guess more appropriately, a hallway. A corridor. There aren't any rules about not lying around in them, are there? Maybe I wanna claim this stretch. Cayde's hall. ...ooh, I kind of like the sound of that one."

[tempredmental]

"....."

Keith was definitely confused now.

"Uh... okay...?" He looked around, as if hoping to find someone else to back him up here or something, but it was just the two of them. "I was just trying to map this place out..."

[deal_me_in]

"Oh. Well, have fun with that," Cayde said, leaning back again as he gestured loosely with a hand. "This one doesn't go anywhere though, just so you know."

[the_tailor]

Caves sucked. They really did. The more time spent cooped up and being unable to see the sky, the further crazy Lance felt himself being driven, and that did not make for a very happy (former?) paladin. He'd wandered himself exhausted, trying to keep himself busy, but it wasn't helping his mind all that much.

When he found himself arguing with a rock that he'd tripped over (or rather, had totally tripped him), he decided he needed some human contact pronto. Thankfully, it wasn't long before he was able to come across his husband.

"Whatcha drawing there? Doesn't look like me as one of your French girls."

[tempredmental]

"Huh?" Keith paused and looked up, confused. "I don't draw French girls." Well, he could, but he never had? Sorry, Lance. Your husband did not get that reference.

"I'm making a map of this place."

And he looked back at the paper for a moment to figure out where he'd left off before getting back to it.

"See? Here's where the entrance is. And then over here is where the main big space is..." Keith started pointing things out on the map to Lance.

[the_tailor]

Oh, Keith. One day, when he gets an opportunity, he's sitting him down for movie night. Probably a lot of movie nights. He imagines Keith has quite a bit to catch up on in the multimedia department.

He lets out a slight hum as he sits next to him, looking over the paper. "Guess you haven't drawn a 'secret escape to a beach paradise' tunnel on that yet, huh?"

[tempredmental]

"I haven't found one to draw on it, yet," Keith said, not missing a beat. "Besides, it would probably be sealed right now anyway, all things considered." He sounded grumpy about that. So, while he wasn't a fan of the beach the same way Lance was, he definitely did not like being cooped up underground this way. "But, if I do find a way out, you'll be the first person I tell."

He took a breath, sitting back against the cave wall before letting it slowly. He put the pencil and paper aside and then leaned on Lance's shoulder.

"This place sucks."

[the_tailor]

"Well, was worth a shot."

Being cooped in in any fashion sucked, but underground? That added to the discomfort. He puts an arm around Keith, pulling him in.

"It does suck. Hard. I'm sure we'll be out of here sooner or later, but...ugh, I miss fresh air."

[tempredmental]

Keith gave a tiny snort.

"Yeah... I think it's worse than being stuck in outerspace."

But, at least they weren't alone, and that sort of helped. A little. But it was testing his patience. And Keith had gotten better with patience in recent years.

[the_tailor]

"Definitely. At least we can see the stars, then."

He reaches up, letting his fingers lightly run through Keith's hair, trying to provide a bit of comfort.

[tempredmental]

Keith frowned a bit, and then nodded.

"Yeah."

Big open space, or tiny cramped space... Keith would take big open space. Even if they were in a tiny cramped space floating in said big open space. At least spaceships had windows.

Though, being stuck floating in space with just your spacesuit and four other people clinging to you for safety in the hopes of being rescued or even captured wasn't great, either. They'd done that before as well, and Keith did remember kind of losing it for a bit there. It had been yet another test of how close everyone was to each other and how strong they were bonded through Voltron.

Hunk had managed to pull them through.

Keith gave Lance a hug, squeezing him a bit.

"I wonder how long we're gonna be stuck down here."

And how much they're going to have to rebuild once they get back on the surface.

[thelastechidna]

Remembering where things are was one of Knuckles' skills too. He memorized every passageway, every switch, and every hiding place on Angel Island. Since he tended to prefer being alone, he was wandering around and memorizing everything for his own use.

It's not surprising he bumped into Keith on such an excursion.

"You're trying to get away from it all too, huh?" he grunted.

He was fairly calm at the moment.

[tempredmental]

"You could say that," Keith said. He shrugged a little. And, no... a talking Echidna was not one of the weirdest types of beings Keith had come across since leaving Earth.

"It'll be helpful to know what the layout of this place is, anyway, so just getting a feel for the place." And taking notes. And making sketches. And drawing out an actual map...

He had just the notes out for now, but he'd been getting close to a point where he'd been planning to sit down and start drawing a few things out.

[thelastechidna]

"That's what I was doing too," Knuckles said. Idly he wondered if they'd both been over all the same territory or if they'd each found some different places. That could be useful information. "How far have you got?"

[tempredmental]

"Mm." Yeah. Keith did wonder just how many of them were doing the same thing. Maybe setting up their notes and drawings in the main area would be a good idea. Gathering it all up or something so they could compare and not end up all mapping the same areas over and over.

"Hard to tell without knowing for sure how big this place is, but I've done a fair amount so far." Keith dug out what he'd drawn up already to show.

"I'm Keith," he said. Might as well introduce themselves if they're going to do this.

[thelastechidna]

Knuckles studied them closely. "I recognize some of this, but not these areas," he said, indicating some of them.

"Knuckles," he said by way of introduction.

[tempredmental]

"Yeah," Keith said with a nod to acknowledge the offered name. "It's not super coordinated, but we can probably combine our stuff and get something together so we start to get a feel for the place." Keith looked thoughtful for a moment.

"The big main area... if we could find a way to set up in there... maybe... we could share everyone's progress so far," he said. "That way we're not all mapping the same spots as each other over and over."

[thelastechidna]

That would mean more human contact, which Knuckles didn't like so much, but ...

"That's a good idea. I want to know every inch of this place."

Although he was not so sure he could draw what he saw in his mind. That could be a problem.

[tempredmental]

"I think a few of us here do, at least," Keith said. "We're not the only ones trying to map this place out. But, I think it'll work better if we coordinate it instead of just randomly walking around and possibly covering areas that other people covered already."

Sorry, Knuckles, but Keith's learned the hard way... teamwork makes the dream work. Time to start getting along with others.