Lost Lion. Please Help?

[lionunchained]

WHO: Shiro and You!
WHERE: Around
WHAT: New Arrival Exploring
WHEN: Beginning of January
WARNINGS: None yet. Will update.

This was certainly not the last place that Shiro remembered being. He had last remembered returning to Earth and ending up with his new robotic arm. As he stood there for a long moment, wracking his brain, there wasn't much more after that. Certainly, there wasn't enough he would have suddenly found himself here in a world that seemed far more dilapidated than the Garrison was with far fewer technologies.

The information that suddenly came to him was certainly helpful, but very disturbing to him. After all, what had most of his recent life been like other than some other being deciding he needed to be somewhere that he didn't consent to going?

Typical.

But Shiro was out in the town and exploring. Sure, he had the device and he did pause a few times to review it, specifically looking at the map more than anything else, but still, he'd rather see them for himself. After he had figured out where he was going, he could see if there was anything that he could assist with. If he was going to be here, might as well do something productive.

Comments

[tempredmental]

Keith wasn't near the main part of town, but rather off in the northeast section by the hangars. Between missions, he'd started making sure the ship he was assigned to, the Bloodsport, was in working order. He also kept checking on the Huntress, as he still had a soft spot for that one, and was still secretly hoping that he'd get assigned to it again at some point.

He stepped out, a little dirty from having been doing his checks, and spotted a very familiar figure approaching. Keith straightened up automatically in surprise. He hadn't seen Shiro in a while... a long while... and he had to mentally check himself to make sure his friend was real. Keith had been tricked here before.

"Shiro...?"

For Shiro, Keith wouldn't look much different, but he wasn't wearing his uniform, or really anything Shiro might have seen him wearing recently. Though, his overall sense of style hadn't changed... mostly red and black in color, boots, long pants, a jacket over a plain t-shirt, and fingerless gloves. He did, however, have the black bayard, and it was hooked to his belt. But his hair was still longer and unruly, and he had the scar on his face from their fight, as well as the extra build from his time on the space whale.

[lionunchained]

Shiro, of course, happened to go by the hangar. He had a fondness for all things like that since he was a pilot and had worked on so many ships before. Though one of them being a lion was still a bit of surprise even now after so long.

But as he was nearing the building, a familiar face stepped out. He hadn't really been expecting to see anyone that he knew here. Any of them would have been a welcome sight, but this one was especially.

"Keith? Keith, you're here too?"

And he rather quickly crossed the distance over to the other, a smile on his face.

[tempredmental]

At that, Keith actually did manage a smile now... a real one... and he closed the gap from his side as well, pulling his pseudobrother into a hug. Keith could tell from Shiro's appearance that this wasn't the same Shiro he'd last seen in Drift Fleet, but he was close enough to the Shiro he knew, and that was good enough for now.

"It's so good to see you..."

[lionunchained]

Shiro smiled, hugging Keith back as the other came over to him. Certainly, he was different than before, but Shiro was still the same person even if he looked different.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too. Though I wasn't expecting it to be here."

[tempredmental]

Keith pulled back.

"Yeah... No one expects 'here'." He managed a really dry chuckle. "But it's better than some places, at least.

"When did you get here?"

[lionunchained]

"I've kind of gotten that opinion." That no one really expected to end up here. "Yeah, better to be seen than not at all."

Which yeah, he'd much prefer being seen than not.

"Not too long ago. A few days ago."

[tempredmental]

"Oh." Keith looked a bit surprised. How the heck did he miss that? He gave Shiro a small smile. "You seem to be handling things okay. Did you have any like questions or anything? I've been here a while now."

[deal_me_in]

There was a crunch of rubble underfoot as a figure emerged from one of the larger buildings. He had a wooden crate of sorts in his arms, filled with various odds and ends, a variety of cups and glasses, a few dishes, maybe a slightly chewed up blanket or two. Hovering after him was a small star-like construct of some kind.

"That place is dangerous, I could be in there all day trying to make decisions about cups. Cups. I needa get out more," the hooded figure was saying. When he turned to face frontwards it was clear to see his features were not human, and yet his movements were as fluid as anyone of flesh and blood. With each word he spoke, the back of his throat lit up with amber, and at some unspoken prompt from his floating partner, he glanced on down the broken streets at the pale-haired stranger roaming about.

[lionunchained]

Non-human was perhaps one of the things that bothered Shiro least of all anymore. He had been around so many non-humans that he barely gave it a thought other than to assess the person who had emerged from the building with the wooden crate. He was also curious about the little robot that seemed to be following after him. Kind of reminded him of Pidge's robot friend, but he had no idea what it did.

But he couldn't help but overhearing what the other had said and smiled slightly at that. "Cups, huh? Sounds like there are a lot of options to consider."

[deal_me_in]

Somehow that metal face managed the impression of a grin. He stepped in the other man's direction with a bob of his head. "Oh, you have no idea! I mean, there's tons of things left over in general there, some kind of shop back in Agrii heydays. I was just scavenging for more things to use at the bar."

He looked Shiro up and down before giving a thoughtful nod. "You're new here," he decided, not really a difficult conclusion to come to when you knew most of the faces in town.

[lionunchained]

"Really? So everything was just left there? Such a strange thing... but at least you are able to use what was there."

Shiro nodded his head at the assessment. "I am. I'm Shiro."

[deal_me_in]

"Most everything's just been left as is, I'm guessing. Some things just fared better than most." The Exo shrugged. "I mean, just take a look around at the place. Still, a lot of this city's in better shape than some of the places back home."

He shifted his load to one arm, sticking his freed hand out to shake. "Name's Cayde. This is Sundance," he says, nodding over his shoulder at his Ghost, who gives a slight bob in the air in acknowledgment. "I'm figurin' you got the basic rundown of the situation."

[lionunchained]

"I suppose that's true with everything that's just been left behind." He glanced around at the comment to look around. "Hmm... that is true. I've seen some places out there in the universe that were really not in good shape, but that wasn't necessarily their fault."

War kind of did that.

Shiro reached over to shake his hand. Of course, it was his floating disembodied robot hand...

"Nice to meet you, Cayde. And nice to meet you too, Sundance. Yeah, I got the basic gist of it. Still... a lot to take in."

[doubled_speed]

Things Tommy was not expecting as he was running through the city, carrying an armload of veggies for making dinner at the diner. The first and foremost was the flash of white hair on another person. For a brief picosecond he hopes, against hope, that it's his uncle Pietro, or maybe even Magneto.

That's why he stops. The fact that it's someone new is what keeps him having stopped. Of course, for Shiro, Tommy would have appeared just as suddenly as Keith's strange blue wolf-dog did. Came from the fact that Tommy, while not capable of teleporting, could run faster than the human eye could really process. So it probably looked a bit like teleporting.

"Hey there," he offers with a wide smile. "Same hair. Sorta. Anyway, I'm Tommy, and you're clearly new. Nice to meet you. Welcome to bullshit. Wanna Cyanana? It's like a banana but it's blue and tastes sorta like pickles flavored with lime. I've also got some Crunchy Persimmons, they taste just like cucumbers."

[lionunchained]

Shiro had just been walking along, examining the different buildings when there was suddenly someone in front of him. He took a step back from shock, not having expected that. Had he... been there before and Shiro just hadn't noticed until now? He had been looking at other buildings. Maybe he had just missed him being there...?

"Hey. Nice to meet you, Tommy. I'm Shiro." He couldn't help but snicker in amusement at the comment of 'welcome to bullshit'. "Hmm... I guess I'll try... a cyanana?"

Sounded interesting.

[doubled_speed]

Hey, at least he still had it going on enough to make the guy snicker.

"Hold on, don't want to drop everything."

Tommy is gone in a blur of green and white. And then he's immediately back, as if he hadn't left, a small dustdevil kicked up in the air behind him where the rush of pressure from him leaving and returning left the winds blowing. Perhaps things will make more sense then. Or perhaps it will from the fact that now Tommy's only holding one blue banana and a mushroom. The former he holds out, the other he takes a bite of.

"Shiro. Cool name. You new-new to Temba, or did I just fail to notice you recently?"

[lionunchained]

Shiro opened his mouth to say something then stopped himself when the other seemingly out of nowhere kicked up a small dust cloud and appeared holding that blue banana and a mushroom while not holding what he had a moment ago. Ah... so he was... superhumanly fast? That seemed to make sense.

"Thanks," Shiro said taking the banana and peeling it so that he could try it. He was used to weird foods now, but it still took a moment when something wasn't quite right. "New to Temba. I have barely even had the chance to walk all the way around this place."

[doubled_speed]

"You can eat the peel, it's good for you," Tommy offers as an off-hand thought. New, huh? That sucks. Being new is hard, always has been, probably always will be.

"It's a large place, even for me." Tommy explains. "You probably haven't even picked a place to sleep yet. That's fair. Best place to start tends to be the ships, until you can get a place comfortable for yourself. I've been here since the Agrii brought us, so I guess I could give you advice if you want."

[lionunchained]

"Oh? You can?" Shiro looked at the cyanana again. Well, when in Rome... So that was what he did. Even though he had been told what it tasted like, his mind was still expecting the sweet flavor of a banana so the pickle flavor was a surprise and he couldn't help but make a face at it. It wasn't... bad, but a surprise for the senses.

"Nah, haven't quite gotten to that part yet. I'll have to check it out. I'm sure the ship will be plenty comfortable given some of the places I've been.

If you have any advice that you think someone should know, I'd appreciate that."

[the_tailor]

Patrolling the city wasn't an uncommon task for Lance. With his expertise at fighting, he felt confident in being able to take down most threats. Not that some of the threats here weren't something mysterious and completely out of his control, but... Well, he can do this, at least. Anything to feel useful despite feeling as if he's one of the only normal humans around with any fancy superpowers or abilities.

(Yeah, he's still down on himself about that, despite all the various training he's done over the last few years. Maybe if he'd taken the opportunity to get an augment back on the Fleet... But no, it was too risky, and he knows Keith wouldn't have approved.)

It isn't any potential threat that catches his eye this day, however, but a very familiar face. A grin slowly forms on Lance's face, and he immediately starts running towards him.

"SHIRO!" he yells, waving as he comes closer. And when he's close enough, he launches himself at the older paladin, wrapping him up in a hug.

[lionunchained]

Shiro was out exploring. He really did need to get the lay of the land first-hand so to speak. Even if he had maps, it wasn't quite the same as actually walking down the street and see it for himself.

Somehow, he managed for a moment not to see Lance further down the street, but it wasn't hard to miss him when he called out and came running in his direction. Shiro stayed where he was as Lance ran over, putting his arms around him when the other paladin hugged.

"It's good to see you, Lance."

[the_tailor]

A Shiro hug is a very good hug indeed, and Lance beams. Eventually he pulls away, smiling up at him. From what he can tell, this probably isn't the same Shiro as the one who was on the Fleet, but that's okay. Shiro is Shiro.

"It's great to see you too. It's been a while," he says, which is true either way. "Just been me and Keith for more than a hot second, not that I'm complaining about that, but y'know. How've you been?"

[lionunchained]

It was expected at some point that they needed to stop hugging since otherwise, they would never be able to go anywhere else, but a long hug was certainly not unwelcome so he let Lance decide when to back up.

"Has it? Time is so strange here, I guess. You were just there at home. I've been well. Just getting a new arm. You know, normal things like that."

And he showed Lance his floating arm.

[the_tailor]

He laughs a little, giving it a poke. Though Shiro got it a bit before the last time Lance remembers himself having been back home, they'd been rather busy, so he didn't often get a good look at it.

"It's definitely on the cool side," he comments. "And yeah... Time is definitely strange. I'm actually 21 now! Well, technically, I'm older, if you count the few stints I got taken back home... But if you just count the time being here, then yeah, 21. So no dad lectures about me drinking."

Lance does look a little physically older. After all, Shiro would have last seen him as an 18 year old. While there's not a huge difference, what with it only having been three years, it's still there.

[lionunchained]

It's surprising since it is not physically attached that it stays in place so well even being poked. It's still new to Shiro so he still getting used to the fact that it is basically free-floating in the air.

"Yeah, I think so too even if I'm still getting used to it." The explanation of age was very confusing. So he had been here... and been home?... and was here again?

But at the 'no dad lectures', he smirked slightly.

"Oh, I see why you specifically mentioned 21 now."