purusha | closed.

[ There's a pause as he tries to understand her, approaching more closely and looking out the view port as well. ]

Uh... Yeah. Or. It used to be your job. Kind of. When Shiro was still the Black Paladin, you drove the Castle. That was our home before, remember? The picture Coran showed you with you and your father.

[ Allura nods, feeling a smile tug at the edges of her lips. ]

I believe that I do. I can feel it.

[ Then suddenly, a bright circle appears in the space in front of them. The lines are a little blurry, struggling to stay in focus, but little by little it starts to solidify into a very familiar pattern.

Space itself swirls within it, as if beckoning the ship forward. ]

[ Excitement rushes through the group, Pidge the first to shout: ] "We haven't been able to get the transport system working since wee installed it! This is incredible!"

"Nothing a little Royal Altean quintessence won't fix!"

[ Shiro smiles in the mean time, the only one of the group with nothing to say, yet. It's strange but exciting. He'd... thought he'd always felt another presence whenever he connected with the Atlas. ]

Think you can get us home, Allura? [ Lance smiles as he sets his hand on the small of her back.

Whatever she answers, Shiro is going to have to interrupt. Sorry folks, someone here has to have his head on straight. ] "Hold on, before we go through I need to inform the rest of the crew and redirect Keith and Hunk so they're not trying to meet us here after we teleport. Do you think you can keep it open for a little longer, Allura?"

[ Lance will oblige that translation. ]

[ The excitement in the room is more than enough to lift her own spirits, making the wormhole glow brightly along with her. She smiles at Lance, feeling as if the threads of her old life are starting to become visible.

She instinctively turns towards Shiro's voice, but looks to Lance as he translates. Sparing a glance towards the wormhole, Allura nods. ]

I will do my best.

[ Her memories may be foggy, but energy--quintessence is something that she understands inherently. It flows through her very easily. Maybe too easily. If anyone is close enough or paying attention, there might be an odd sparkling by her fingertips every now and then.

But she's all business, now, turning her attention to the wormhole and closes her eyes as she concentrates on keeping it open.

This, at least, feels wholly familiar. The ebb and flow of time and space is something she's come to know intimately. It feels naturally to follow it, but she realizes she needs to put a stop between herself and that urge lest the pull become too great. So she does, letting the hand on her back help ground her to the moment. ]

[ Shiro smiles and dismisses himself, asking that Coran follow to help get the word out quickly. Pidge lingers to talk and observe.

Lance remains by Allura's side, just as promised, though seeing that she has to stay focused to do this, opts to chat with Pidge for a bit; it's easy banter, over the years they've only gotten closer. She hasn't lost any of her edge, and her teases are sharper than ever. The tone of their conversation always matches the subject matter; and Lance leaves translations out of the mix unless Allura asks directly. Of course, his eyes move between Allura and Pidge as he talks, seeing her fingers sparkle and wonders if she's okay; but in so far as he can tell, she must be.

Pidge phone blares, and a message is passed from one to the next, Lance repeating it to Allura: ] We should be good to leave now. You doing alright?

[ Even if she doesn't understand it, she likes listening to him talk. Every once in a while a word will pop out to her that either Lance or Pidge utters and she'll either find herself getting the meaning or at least finding comfort in the sound. She lets a few out under her breath, quietly testing out the syllables.

Perhaps all she really does need is time.

When he finally speaks to her, she nods, but doesn't respond verbally right away. She pauses. ]

I can feel a pull through the portal, as if it's calling out to me. It's very strong. Is this home?

[ Lance has no clue; and worse, he has no way to explain how little of a clue he has. Even what she suggests feels abstract to him. So, he pauses, a small, contemplative frown on his face, before it curls into a smile as he takes his hand to the curve of her waist. ]

Let us find out?

[ His smiles gives her confidence and she nods again. The wormhole widens as if in welcoming and the Atlas disappears into the spiral of space time.

--But it's not Earth that waits for them on the other.

No, it's where the Allura Nebula used to be, though she wouldn't exactly realize it. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that she felt so connected to this region of space.

There's no planet nearby.

Allura frowns as the wormhole closes behind them. ]

...This doesn't seem right.

...

[ ... ]

[ Pidge, in accusation: ] "Lance, where are we?"

...

[ Lance, with concern: ] Allura, where are we?

Edited 2019-02-05 01:41 (UTC)

...

[ Allura removes her hands from the pedestals and the glow dies down. She looks at Lance with equal parts concern and confusion, before stepping forward to the viewport. The region is certainly beautiful and there are small flashes of stars being born in the distance. ]

I know this place...

[ But why? ]

But...I--I'm not sure if it has a name. This isn't home. I'm...I'm sorry.

[ She's just transported everyone to who knows where. That feels pretty awful.

But Allura is, if anything, stubborn, and she turns immediately back around to take her position again. ]

--I'll try again!

Woah, woah, woah, [ Lance catches her at the waist before she can take her place again. ]

We should figure out where we are first. Pidge, are you able to look at coordinates from here?

"Only slowly. Shiro will probably get to us before I can pin point our location. Aaand there he is now." [ Pidge pauses, thinking. ] Okay so we're in the Florian Quadrant, subsection Galak-Urlay, division-."

English, please. [ This is not said in Altean, but rather, Annoyance. ]

"We're in the Allura Nebula. About half the distance we were from Earth, but also on the nearly opposite side of Altea and Earth. I guess Allura's got the juice just not the accuracy to put us where we need to go."

...Okay, cool, how do I say like any of that in Altean.....

[ She's stopped, and looks at Lance with a frown. (Or a pout, it's a pout.)

Okay. Figure out where they are. Florian registers, but she can't really place where it is. She'd been part of all universes, which weren't all laid out the same way. Perhaps she shouldn't be too surprised that her alignment is a little off.

Allura Nebula. ]

What?

[ She looks back out the window. ]

Is this where I was?

[ The part of her that touched this universe? ]

I followed my own Quintessence signature...

[ Allura turns around in Lance's arms. ]

You are home. Perhaps I can follow yours instead?

[ Lance frowns a little. He's grown up a lot, learned his own strengths and weaknesses, understands himself better than ever, but.... there's creeping doubt in his belly. He's never done much with the quintessence left behind for him, he'd hardly believe he had any power over it. He turns to Pidge, who clearly has no idea what's going on, but asks, ] "Sounds like she picked it up, anyway?"

Yeah.... We've never warped in this ship before, right? Could it be the Atlas's fault that we ended up this far out?

"Seems likely. We can't calibrate something without any initial readings to go off of, so it could be a combination of the two. Coran and me can check it out together, see if there's anything we can adjust now that we actually have something to go off of. I think we're closer to Hunk's coordinates now too, so he'll be able to help. Whatever the case, it'll be at least a day."

[ Lance pauses, reluctant to deny Allura this, but... He's not sure he can be that much help. ] Pidge says it might be the ship. We should wait before we try again. You already brought us a lot closer to home now, anyway. [ He smiles, feeling guilty, but there's warmth there. ]

[ Allura looks back and forth between Lance and Pidge with growing confusion and a little discontent. Neither of them are looking particularly excited, which only means bad news for her. And sure enough, when Lance speaks to her in Altean again, she deflates. ]

They have been successfully piloting this ship before I arrived, I was the one who changed the course. Perhaps if I just had a heading--

You're fine, Allura. We can trust our friends to get this sorted out and we'll try again tomorrow. [ He smiles, kissing her softly as a comfort. ]</small

[ Any further protests die with that kiss. She sighs when they break apart, the nods. ]

Very well. I will trust them and you.

[ She nods at Pidge as well, acknowledging that she understands what's going on. ]

[ Success! He steps back enough to take her hand. ] We can see more of the ship now. Pidge, you wanna' come with?

[ But their friend declines, saying she wants to start on the ship calibration as soon as she can before the night cycle begins. The remaining hours are spent bringing Allura to see each person he remembers her being friends with so they can talk again. Veronica comes eventually, who's happy to see Allura, and ribs into Lance endlessly as they chat. All in all, it's peaceful, and Lance is eager as ever to show her everything. He even highlight the stop they first kissed on the ship, as if it was some how exceptionally important. --Although, it would be fair to say that every kiss had become exceptionally important to him. Memories of her lips were all he had these last seven years. He was prepared to spent many more years with only that. When Hunk arrives, they eat as a family. Lance's lips are against her ear more often than not as he relays dialogue to her. Even in just a day, his Altean seems to have cleaned up a lot; he must have known more before it went into disuse. Keith, as it's told, likely wouldn't be able to meet with them until the morning cycle began later, if not before any reasonable person was awake for the day.

The rooms they had once stayed in are no longer available; always redelegated to different crew members for each mission, so he passes up both of those rooms with some regret. Instead he leads her to his current room, no different than the rooms they both shared some years before except for a few personal effects. The blue lion plush he won for her on Clear Day sits on the dresser, which probably doesn't hold as many clothes as it could considering a lot of Lance's clothes are on the floor. There are some books around, Altean history books specifically. A few photos of family, some of the paladins. The photo closest to the bed is of him and Allura, the same as the one in his pocket, less bent. Between the dresser and the bed, a ukulele is propped up, clearly with a lot of love poured into it. ]

Er... sorry it's kind of a mess. [ He'll start cleaning now..... ]

[ Allura loves the tour. She likes meeting the people, basking in their energy and trying to find something she recognizes in it. Veronica is someone Allura takes an immediate liking to and, even if Lance doesn't translate all the remarks she makes, she gets the idea well enough.

Hunk is someone who makes her feel like a friend from the moment they meet. His warmth and his eagerness are difficult to ignore. During the meal she has an image of all of them, plus one more--Keith--around a table covered in green go. When she voices as much it brings up laughter and a discussion of that specific training episode. She likes listening to them all talk--as family. Close and cared for.

Lance's room is, somehow, predictable. The mess makes her raise her brow at first, but she finds herself smiling at how he begins to tidy up immediately. She immediately makes her way to the photos, picking up the one she recognizes the least--his family. She sees Lance and Veronica, but many of the others are new.

Or, they seem new, but... ]

I've met them before, haven't I?

[ Lance straightens up with an arm full of laundry, peeking into Allura's hands and he smiles. ]

Yeah, they're my family. Our first date was at my house and you met everyone there. [ They've all grown up considerably, his niece and nephew the least recognizable of everyone, for good reason. He points each of his family members out and names them, ending on himself whom he describes as: ] And this handsome man you are already acquainted with. [ He grins. It's a little hard to flirt in Altean, but he tries. ]

It'll be nice once you remember our date. It was the best night of my life; until today, I think.

[ She smiles, repeating after him and committing those names to memory. If she can't remember them all from before, she should certainly start learning, shouldn't she? When he points to himself, she has to raise a brow with a light smile of her own. ]

I believe I am.

[ He certainly does try. ]

I did feel something when you showed me that first picture. I...remember a large tree. And light being all around.

[ Lance nods with a hum. ]

When we first got to Earth, the Galra did a lot of damage. A lot of the things there had died or were dying. I didn't know how you did it, then, but you placed your hand on the tree and brought the entire park back to life.

... It was more than beautiful. [ He pauses a moment, eyes on the picture of them together. There was a time when he was ready to give anything to go back to that day. It felt like the last day he saw Allura really happy; so much of what followed only hurt. In that way, he sort of understands what Haggar was trying to do. The sorrow shows in his eyes, and for a moment it becomes obvious that the years had been hard for him.

He turns briefly to kiss her head and moves around her to throw the laundry into a basket appropriately. ] It'll be fun bringing you home again. Mom really liked you.

[ "You need to move on, bug...." ]

Edited 2019-02-05 07:06 (UTC)

[ Allura smiles down at the picture, placing it carefully back onto the shelf. ]

I would like to visit this park.

[ It's hard to miss the look in his eyes, though. Once he's deposited the clothes, he'll find Allura right behind him, ready to place her hand over his heart as she looks up at him. ]

You say it was beautiful, yet you're in pain right now.

[ Lance stares for a moment, no longer hiding away the sadness. How does he put it..... ]

Sometimes.... most of the time, it feels like that was the last time you were happy.

[ His gaze shifts aside, eyes contemplative. He doesn't take her hand, guilty settling in. Allura wouldn't have wanted him to go on the way he did, but it isn't as if he wanted it. ]

After that, everything was hard. Difficult decisions. Painful outcomes. It was war. I figured that's just how it is. That we would all be sad until it was over; and it had to end eventually. We had to win. It didn't make sense that we could lose after how hard we all tried.

I'm a dumb guy, Allura. I never believed your life was at risk and then suddenly it was and already I was too late. I... I should have tried harder for you. To make you smile and to make you stay.

[ He rubs his eye obtusely and sniffles. His voice drops to a strained whisper, trying to smile. ] I'm such a dumb romantic, Allura. I just couldn't get over you. [ He sniffles again and feels the choke of a sob, but holds his composure. His hand steals hers at last and he takes a breath as he squeezes it. ] I wanted so badly to see you happy again like that night in the park.

Edited 2019-02-06 07:56 (UTC)

[ Her face falls instantly as he speaks. His pain, his regret, it's palpable. She wants to stitch together the frayed edges she sees unraveling in front of her. When he takes her hand, she squeezes back, but not without moving the other to cup the side of his face. ]

You have made me happy. This whole experience could have been confusing and terrifying, but it hasn't been. Thanks to you.

[ She rubs her thumb along the blue crescent on his cheekbone.

I wish I could take your sadness away.

[ Lance smiles a little bigger at the paid compliment. ]

You have. I just need some more time. [ After a beat, he kisses her forehead, purposefully and warmly. ]

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