[open!]

[falsesmile]

Who: Ves (falsesmile) and general!
When: Day 6, afternoon
Where: The Ruined Hull
What: General exploration post!

[ The Ruined Hull has been unlocked! The go-team has been in the area for a while, the stay-team members who are so inclined have probably meandered over here somehow by now -- time to go exploring, but keep an eye on those suit power levels ♥ ]

Comments

[dateme]

Swooned? Haha, no way... [ He doesn't buy anyone swooning over Lance unless they're about to pass out from oxygen deprivation. Sure Lance can be "heroic" and honestly? Actually pretty cool when shit hits the fan, but nothing he's seen about his ability to handle girls suggests swooning. Just saying. ]

Actually that reminds me...you remember who woke you up?

[ceruleo]

[ He's about to respond 'yeah' when his mouth snaps shut.

Because the answer is no, he has no clue. ]

Um...? [ Man, that can't be right. But he'd woken up in the desert alone under the burning sun, and it had taken several minutes before he'd found Allura. ] I don't remember. I don't think anyone did. It just opened by itself.

[dateme]

...Wait, you serious? [ That wasn't the answer he was expecting. Inui remembered his rude awakening--Ashla--and he expected Lance to be the same. Huh. ]

Was anyone else awake when you came to? [ You weren't the first, were you Lance? Because he's sorta been trying to figure out who that was. ]

[ceruleo]

No, it was just me. [ Because NO ONE HE HAD A TDM THREAD WITH ENDED UP APPING. ] I ended up finding Allura later, but she was alone, too. Dunno who opened her pod, but hers definitely opened after mine.

[dateme]

[ LANCE ARE YOU THE MYSTERIOUS FIRST-TO-WAKE-UP BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE BALLER, Inui would have questions for you my friend. ]

Did you open anyone else's pod before you found her? [ Lance may or may notice that Inui isn't just goofing off around with his questioning now; he's actually almost serious in the way her asks.

Not entirely solemn, but. Yeah. ]

[ceruleo]

[ He's starting to see where this line of questioning is going and ??? ]

I opened a couple but uh...they weren't...um.

[ He looks visibly uncomfortable. He'd opened some breached, dead pods. He doesn't want to think about what was inside. ]

I didn't open any more until I saw her.

[dateme]

.... [ Inui pauses and considers this for a moment. If Lance woke up alone and only found empty pods, but still managed to find Allura by herself without having been woke by him then there a few possible outcomes.

1. Allura woke first and faked being found after
2. Lance was woken by someone and they just didn't stick around to say hi
3. Lance is lying
4. Someone else woke Lance and Allura

He's not sure which is more likely without having met Allura himself. ]

Was she inside a pod?

[ceruleo]

She was digging around her pod when I got there. She'd just found her extra rations.

[ Meaning it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. ]

Who woke you up?

[dateme]

[ Hmm...which means someone did come before the both of them. Inui'll have to keep looking then. ]

Ashla. She was yelling and banging on it and scared the heck out of me.

[ceruleo]

That seems like her, yeah.

[ Spoken with a puff of amusement, before he turns his face completely towards Inui. ]

Why do you think we got sent here?

[dateme]

Don't you mean "abandoned"? [ he asks with some amusement, finally flopping down onto his back and just enjoying the feel of soft moss beneath him. ] Those pods were way too old.

I think we've been here a while.

[ceruleo]

[ Inui's words hit a tender place. Lance's stomach coils into knots, thinking on the family he left behind. If he'd known then what he knew now, he'd videocall more often. Tell his mama how much he loves her. Tell his dad the Garrison isn't that bad. Tell them he's fine, and that their middle child did amount to something.

But he can't go back. He doesn't even have Blue here; no Hunk, no Pidge, no Shiro. Just Allura, and increasingly he thinks on how she lost everything and survived. Lance won't kid himself: he isn't remotely that strong. ]

That's dumb. I think I would've remembered getting kidnapped and stuffed in a pod or whatever.

[dateme]

Me too, but I don't think any of us do. [ Inui's already thought about the possibility that his family's long dead and he's all alone in the world. Heck, he thought he'd be long dead by now too, and Lance and Clark are probably the only reasons he isn't if he's honest.

He should probably thank them for that sometime. ]

The last thing I remember is going to bed for the night. It was winter. [ So getting used to the desert had been pretty hard at first ]

[ceruleo]

[ Lance is trying very, very hard not to think about it. But. ]

The last thing I remember was escaping from the Galra by the skin of our tails, except those jerks totally messed up our wormhole.

[ He breathes in, sharply. ]

Where'd you live?

[dateme]

Japan. [ He figures...starting with the country is probably more helpful, after his talks with Lexa. ]

You've heard of it right? Because the last person I talked to about it didn't have a clue even though we were both from Earth. [ A pause ] What's a Galra, again?

[ceruleo]

I know where Japan is, doofus, I'm from Earth too. I meant which city. [ He folds his arms over his stomach, gaze turning back up to the cascade of branches. ] And the Galra are aliens: giant, mean and purple. If you ever see one, run, seriously. They definitely take prisoners.

inui gets distracted

[dateme]

...Isn't taking prisoners better than not taking them? [ 'cause that means they just kill....you... ]

[ceruleo]

If they don't take prisoners, you're dead. If they do take prisoners? Then you wish you were dead.

[ DOES HE NEED TO SPELL OUT TORTURE ]

[dateme]

[ HE KNOWS TORTURE. But he still winds up giving him a sidelong glance, pondering. ]

Isn't being tortured better than being dead? You're still alive in the end. Maybe you'll escape and get home. [ Says the guy who's never been in any sort of torturous situation.

Unless you could Japanese literature. ]

[ceruleo]

[ Lance goes quiet for a beat, throat dry. He thinks of Shiro, Shiro's arm, Shiro's amnesia. ]

That's a really big maybe.

[ The danger's a little more immediate, to Lance. ]

[dateme]

[ Wow, he actually sounds...pretty solemn and serious about that. Inui didn't expect that from Lance.

Makes him wonder if he's been through something there. ]

...Well, I'd rather not be dead.

[ceruleo]

[ He won't press. Ignorance is bliss, or something. He doesn't wanna talk about this anymore. ]

Sure. [ He reaches out, making a beckoning motion. ] Gimme the fruit.

[dateme]

I thought you wanted to wait until I died or something? To see if it was safe. [ Which is what he'd do if their positions were reversed, but he hands the alien pear over anyway and turns to look at Lance proper. ]

[ceruleo]

[ It's been a couple minutes and Inui's not dead yet, so it's probably safe, Lance reasons.

But mostly, he just wants to stop talking about being trapped on this deserted hunk of rock forever. ]

If you start puking, I'll run and get the others.

[ He sniffs it--smells like pineapple??--and takes a bite. The flesh is porous and wet. His eyes flutter closed as he lets it quench his parched throat. It's almost physically painful to stop himself from taking more. ]

...Did that taste kinda pineapple-y to you?

[dateme]

[ That's the best logic ever Lance, don't change♥

Even if Inui does give him a look for the pineapple comment. ]

What? No. It was way too sour for pineapple. How are you getting pineapple from that??

[ Did kissing the Kharids break your taste buds or something ]