revivalproject | New Tick Catch-Up

Current Mood: drained

Entry tags:

New Tick Catch-Up

WHO: Keith, OPEN TO ALL
WHERE: Around the Agrii ship and Peanut Party
WHAT: New Tick, Recovery, Investigations, Dealing with Loss
WHEN: Early January
WARNINGS: Grief about people leaving the game, dealing with trauma and injury, recovery from injury, will add to this as needed

You Rang?

Keith was thankful for the warning. It gave him time to get things together. Packing wasn't easy at the moment considering he couldn't really put his full weight on his injured leg, but he managed to get some of his stuff and some supplies for Kosmo and Snow together. He just needed Kosmo to carry it.

It made losing Lance after coming out of the mines all that more pointed. Keith might grumble and complain when people insist on taking care of him, but he was really missing his husband right now.

Thankfully, Kosmo being the 'pack dog' wasn't too much of a problem. The wolf had done it before and was intuitive enough to understand what Keith needed. So, before they could be 'summoned' to the ships, the three of them moved over there. It was easier considering Keith's current mobility issues, and Kosmo was more than happy to help by teleporting them over.

As for being a pilot, he let Gladio drive when the time came. The trip was short, and it was hard enough to get in and out of a chair when bending his knee was painful, and his hands were sore from minor burns. He was better off just standing back and watching.

=====

Mandatory Fun

Keith was not up to going to a party. Not that he ever really was on a normal basis, but he was even less so right now. Upon first arrival, he does his best to just find a place to lay low and rest. It wasn't his normal MO, but he could feel that he needed it, and even Keith could admit sometimes when he needed to step back. He stayed there until an Agrii came knocking to escort him over to the Green Space. Despite his protests, Keith ended up hobbling his way down there, if only to get the Agrii host to leave him alone.

The memories tradition was a hard pass right now, between zombies, his husband disappearing, and then almost being killed in a burning building trap. It hadn't been a pleasant last few months, and the last thing he wanted to do was relive it. Trying to sit on a blanket on the ground was difficult at best considering his injuries, but he managed somehow, and kept to himself as much as he could. He kept absently fidgeting with two matching pairs of rings he was wearing on a cord around his neck. He'd be wearing one pair on his left hand, but the heat from the fire had burned his hands, especially near where the rings would normally be as the metal had gotten very hot.

As for getting to his gifts? He was going to need help with that. Being on crutches made it hard to carry them all.

=====

A Waiting Powder Keg

Even with how distracted he was after recent events, Keith noticed the heavy tension on the Agrii ship. It was honestly hard to miss, even if he'd been trying to avoid certain kinds of contact. The reverent bowing made him uncomfortable. Always had when he was recognized as a Voltron Paladin back home and got that kind of treatment as a result.

He made his way over to another 'He Row' in the dining hall for lunch.

"Hey... you uh... mind giving me a hand?" He sounded almost reluctant to ask for help, but it was hard to carry a tray of food when he was using crutches.

=====

Having a Peanut Party

When he wasn't getting food, doing required Agrii social things, or doing follow-up visits in medical, Keith was trying to keep a low profile. He was either in his assigned quarters on the Agrii ship or back on the Peanut Party. Between trying to rest and heal, avoid contact with the potential killer, and work through losing Lance, he was definitely not in an outwardly social mood.

But, there were things to investigate here. What they'd found in the tunnels... did the computer know anything? Was there a way to get any of the surveillance footage from around that building leading up to the fire? Who was running around with an ugly mask and baggy robe trying to kill people? Keith definitely wasn't being idle in his down time. It just wasn't physical... which was frustrating. Because working out was one of the ways he could clear his head and focus, expend excess energy... all of that.

He was frustrated and on edge.

And, yes... he had managed to figure out a way to set up a crime board with everything on it. Don't @ him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Keith understood the feeling. He'd felt awkward and unable to fit in with things for a good portion of his life. But, he also wasn't like Knuckles or the turtles, and he couldn't help but wonder if that was part of it.

"Is most of your home like you?" he asked.

“There’s a lot of animals that walk around like people, but I’m the only echidna,” Knuckles says.

"The only..." Oh. That sounded pretty lonely. He nodded. "Yeah... that sounds rough."

Knuckles shrugged and looked away. "I'm used to it." And yes, it was definitely lonely. As much as Sonic's wildness frustrated him, he envied Sonic's ability to go do whatever he wanted. Knuckles had a duty to watch the Master Emerald and really couldn't go running off all over the place.

Damn, that sounded familiar. For a moment, Keith was wondering if he was listening to himself several years ago... the loner, used to it, he was 'fine'... except, he knew he wasn't. He hadn't been, and he wasn't now. He was just more willing to accept it and admit it to himself.

"I appreciate the help," he then said as they got to the shuttle bay now. "It's not like they made the stuff easy to carry..." If they'd given him a backpack to put them in, then yeah. That would have helped a lot. But he didn't have free hands while using crutches.

Knuckles still hadn't reached that point of acknowledging it.

"Sure. Yeah, they sure don't." He eyed the packages suspiciously. "And everybody's getting weapons now. Weird. I saw that Security guy with a sword longer than he is tall."

"Security guy?"

Though, if everyone was getting weapons, Keith had to wonder about what was in his. The orange package in his set was about the size of a shoe box, as was one of the pink and purple striped ones. The big one was the other pink and purple wrapped gift.

He opened the shuttle so they could head inside, Keith intending to fly them back to the ship he was on...

But now the curiosity was getting to him. People getting weapons...

"The orange packages, right? Those are the weapons?" But, Keith already had a weapon... his bayard...

"Yeah, Sephiroth or something? The guy with the really long hair."

He nods to the other question too. "That's right. My weapon is my fists. I think what I got for a weapon now is one of Eggman's things."

"Oh... yeah, him. I know him." Keith nodded. They'd run into each other during the zombie storm.

"Eggman?" That wasn't a name Keith had heard before. He set the shuttle to take them back to the ship he was assigned to so he could at least get his stuff in the right place.

Meanwhile, there were plenty of locations for Knuckles to put the three items down for the short ride if he wanted to.

Edited 2025-02-27 07:35 (UTC)

"Yeah, he's always around."

Knuckles sets the things down nearby. "Eggman's the scientist back home who's always trying to conquer it. He was here for a while, actually.... I don't think it was the Eggman from my dimension, though."

Keith nodded, turning back to Knuckles once the shuttle was in motion.

"That happens here," he said. "Different realities and all that. It might be hard to grab a specific version of a person or pull several people all from the exact same reality every time."

"Yeah. The Sonic who was here wasn't from my world either. He acted pretty much the same, though. Sometimes it was easy to forget he was from someplace else."

He sighed. He still missed Sonic, really.

Keith nodded.

"I've had that happen, too," he said. "Shiro was with me and Lance in Drift Fleet, but disappeared before we came here. After we got here, Shiro came back, but... he was a different Shiro. But, he also wasn't... it was almost like having the same Shiro, they were so similar."

Of course, that Shiro wasn't around anymore, either. And, right now, Keith could really use having his brother or his husband around. It was tough being injured with no really close friends around anymore. Friends... between having married Lance and considering Shiro as his brother, they weren't exactly just friends...

That sounds very ... weird, to say the least.

"So was he really from another dimension, or was he from the same one but a different time period or something?"

Such strange things to think about.

Keith shrugged.

"Honestly, not sure," he said. "They were definitely from different times, but, because of that, it was hard to tell based on memories if they were from the same or different realities." Not that Keith hadn't met a Shiro from a different reality back home... he had a different accent and called himself Sven, but Keith was pretty sure it was another version of Shiro. Plus Slav seemed to have confirmed it in his own roundabout way, but, beyond that, Keith was also kind of familiar with the idea of more than one version of Shiro in other ways, too.

There was a reason he hated clones, doubles, look-alikes, and doppelgangers now...

Even weirder.

"I hope I don't meet another version of me here," Knuckles mutters.

Would that even be possible: more than one of the same person pulled at the same time? Knuckles isn't sure what seems impossible anymore.

"Yeah," Keith agreed. "I think... meeting another version of myself..." He shook his head. "Not ideal." Sure, he said that, but it was so much deeper, and would definitely hit him harder than he was willing to admit.

It wasn't much longer to get to the ship at this point, though, and Keith could see them approaching. He shifted, taking control of their shuttle so he could land. Thankfully, even with his injuries, he could still fly. He'd been feeling pretty useless since he'd gotten hurt.

"Yeah. I don't know if we'd hit it off or just punch each other out," Knuckles grunted. He would probably get along with most other Knuckles, at least, except perhaps the one from Boom verse.

He watched as they approached the ship. It was good it was a short flight. Seeing Keith pilot the ship made him nostalgic somehow, remembering the days of the Blue Typhoon and going from world to world to try to save them from the Metarex invasion. He had hated it at the time, but there had been good things about it, especially being with Cosmo and Chris.

Keith snorted a little.

"Yeah, same."

He brought the shuttle into the hangar bay for an easy landing. Thankfully, he didn't need his legs to work anything on the shuttle. And, with the autopilot, it kept the use of his hands pretty low, too. They were achy still from having to use the crutches while dealing with the lingering burns.

Which, having landed, meant it was time to get up. And, yeah... that was a grunt of effort as he did it, but he managed, propping himself up for a moment to get his balance before heading out.

"Thankfully, what I picked on this ship isn't so far from here," he said. Some people had picked the exact same places in their little replica of Temba on the ship, but Keith hadn't. He picked something that was relatively close to both the shuttle bay and the main ship's bridge out of practicality, and Lance hadn't exactly argued when they'd made the decision. Keith had a highly developed sense of responsibility, even if he hated authority... both above him, and belonging to him, to be honest. But he still took his roles rather seriously.

"That's convenient," Knuckles said. He had something a little closer than in the real Temba, but still more out of the way.

He picked up the packages again to carry them the rest of the way.

"Yup." That had been the point, after all. Keith could be practical sometimes.

As a result, it didn't take long to get there. He had his stuff in there that he figured he'd need for the New Tick trip, since they'd been warned this time instead of just coaxed via music. He was glad for that, at least, since it had made things a lot easier for him to get there ahead of time instead of hobbling along on his crutches last minute.

There were a few other things around that he and Lance had left on the ship just in case of those last minute calls. He nodded to the beat up table in the middle of the main living space.

"We can put the stuff there for now," he said. "If you need anything, just ask, and I can tell you where stuff is." It was a little hard for Keith to be a 'host', and get things like drinks or snacks right now. "Sorry I can't get things for you right now... but we don't exactly have a complicated place..."

He eased himself into one of the chairs at the table.

"Okay." Knuckles set the packages down on the table. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

He sat down too.

Keith nodded as he leaned the crutches against the back of the chair he was sitting in.

"Thanks for bringing them over for me," he said, reaching over to grab one. "I guess I should see what I got, huh?"

Honestly, this was something he normally would have done with Lance. It was kind of fun sometimes, opening their respective gifts together. But, while he appreciated the company and the help from Knuckles, it kind of sucked without Lance to share it with.

He stared at the first gift for a moment... a small one, pink and purple striped... and then ripped the paper off. Inside the box was a book. It wasn't traditionally shaped... wide instead of tall, and had a spiral binding. The pages looked thick, like they were a stiff material, and there was no title on the cover. But Keith immediately recognized it.

He opened the cover, flipping through the first few pages. They were all pictures, creatively arranged on the pages like a scrapbook. The figure in the pictures was mostly just a dark shadow under a dimly lit sky in many of them, but a few had lighting to show it was Keith in them. He was a bit younger looking, his hair slightly shorter and not pulled back in the low ponytail, and he didn't have the scar on his face. He had a sparkler in his hand in each picture, and he was going through what looked like fighting forms, but the photographer had left the shutter open on many of them, causing the sparkler to create long strings of light in varying patterns around Keith because of his movements.

As he looked at the different images, Keith smiled a little with a wistful expression.

"Heh... man. I haven't seen this in a while." He pushed it more towards the middle of the table in case Knuckles wanted to look as he then took the other small gift... the orange wrapped one.

"Sure. Yeah, you might as well."

Knuckles peered curiously at the book when Keith set it down. "Why are you holding sparklers?" That looked dangerous.

"It was for the light effects," Keith said. "The Fleet had stopped at this planet during one of their celebrations, so they had people selling and using sparklers everywhere." His attention was pulled from the next package as he watched Knuckles looking. He nodded. "You can look through them," he said. "Prompto had this cool idea to take pictures using some special setting on his camera... something called exposure?" He shrugged. He had no idea. "And, like... with sparklers, you get this funny effect sometimes where you can wave it around and make designs in the air with it. Obviously they fade, but it's there for a second. And he wanted to capture that."

There were a decent number of photos. Keith's "poses" were mostly shots of his fighting forms as he used the sparklers as swords through the different pictures. But they made for interesting designs with the light streaks, especially because the sparklers had shot off tiny glowing pieces to add to the lines on their own.

He then shifted his attention back to the small package long enough to start opening it.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/shakes fist at Gmail/ this went to spam!

How annoying!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject