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[shiroics]

username: SHIROGANE

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@keith | voice

[secondnature]

[There are certain names that would get his attention. And then there are some that would almost intuitively draw his eye.

Shiro's one of those.

Keith wastes no time here:]

Shiro? Shiro, it's Keith.

[As if the name and the voice and the everything didn't give it away.]

[shiroics]

Keith!

[It looks like Keith’s Shiro-finding abilities are growing exponentially. Shiro only just chose his username and started fiddling around.]

I didn’t know they’d talked to anyone else. Have you heard from the rest of the team?

[secondnature]

[Shiro ... of course he doesn't remember. Those words make it clear. He knew how much not remembering had bothered him before. Now, he has to find out it's happened twice.

At least Keith knows about the whole "multiples" thing now. It makes more sense. It's easier to swallow.]

Lance and Allura have been here since Hathaway started.

[So, there's that.]

My case is different. It's a lot to explain.

[shiroics]

[Shiro may not remember, but you don't become an astronaut -- or befriend a Holt -- without picking up a little genre savvy along the way.]

So...you're saying that time passes differently here than in our own universe.

[Since he never noticed any of the other three going missing.]

It's just the four of us? How is your case different?

[A slight emphasis on "your." Shiro hasn't quite slipped from his professional Paladin Voice to his Keith Voice, but he's getting there.]

[secondnature]

That's ... one way of putting it. [That's if they're even from the same universe.]

I doubt you've had the chance to look at all the information, but Hathaway is a newer organization. They branched off an old one called ALASTAIR. That change happened four months ago. But I've been here for almost two years. [Three more months and that would be exactly two years.]

I—a lot's happened. Where were you before you came here?

[shiroics]

Two years. Keith...I don’t know what to say.

[That’s almost as long as Shiro’s been out in space, minus that single day on Earth. And he’s had the team for a good part of that.

It takes him a second to reorient.]

We were fighting Zarkon. He was trying to take over the Black Lion, but I’d just gotten my bayard back—that’s when the, uh...the dog showed up.

1/2

[secondnature]

[Oh.

Keith probably would've noticed it when he saw him, but now ...]

There's something else ...

[Keith wants to hold it in. He wants to keep it from him.]

I have the Black bayard now.

[secondnature]

[Wait. That's ...]

You're not dead! Everyone thought you were but I never believed it! [There's a frantic nature to his voice here.]

You were gone for a while after the fight with Zarkon. I had to step up.

[He breathes out.]

[shiroics]

[A lot of emotions run through Shiro in very quick succession. Regret and relief are definitely two of them, but he prefers not to think too hard about which one came first and which second.

As always, it's easier for Shiro to express how he feels about Keith than about himself.]

I knew the Black Lion saw the same potential in you that I do. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, but I'm proud of you, Keith.

[secondnature]

Right ... thanks. [He hadn't ever said that before. Not to Shiro, not to any of them, not really. He felt shoved into the role, like he never had a choice in the matter. Only now, he knows of ... his future. Or what could be his future.

Not only does he disappoint himself, he's willing to bet that Shiro felt the same way.

Revealing that so soon after—

He's trying to be truthful about everything. Every mistake. But this one ...]

I'm not sure I'll always be piloting Black. We found you, you know.

[shiroics]

I wouldn't worry about it. We can trust Black to make the best decision for the team.

[secondnature]

—Are you really okay just giving up Black like that? You were the one to force Zarkon out of Black's head. You forged the bond, not me!

[shiroics]

We don't call dibs on the Lions, Keith. If it was about who did what first, Zarkon would still be the Black Paladin.

[No, he's not okay with it. But that's his problem to work through, not Keith's, the Black Lion's, or the rest of the team's.]

[secondnature]

[Honestly, the only thing keeping him from telling Shiro the whole truth is knowing about Shiro giving Lotor the Black Bayard. With the mission up ahead announced, it might be better to just ... leave the Bayard behind. They have alternative solutions on both of them.]

Fine. [Not fine. But it's said in that sullen kind of voice that says that he knows he has nothing to argue against it.]

Allura and Lance haven't been here as long as me. But Allura's from the future. My future. I think.

[shiroics]

All right. [They need to come back to this at some point, but it’s not their highest priority right now.]

You’re not sure? [Honestly baffled, not chiding. That seems like an important detail not to have worked out already.] What did she say about it? The, uh, time where she’s from.

[secondnature]

It's not ... what she said. It's more—if I left now and chose to go home, I wouldn't make the same decisions I did in her world. But sometimes a glitch happens, and it turns out that in a weird way, the time stasis ... isn't?

I know that doesn't make sense.

[shiroics]

Why don’t you run that past me one more time, a little slower.

[Shiro has had conversations with Pidge post-all night science bender that were easier to follow.]

[secondnature]

When we go home and get caught up, there's a glitch in what's keeping us here. Something to do with the dimensional thing. [Keith wishes Shiro were there when they met Sven. That would've ... helped a lot. Though thinking about it:]

Do you remember Slav? With all his stupid possibilities?

[shiroics]

I wish I didn’t, but go on.

[secondnature]

Yeah, well ... turns out he had a point. There are infinite possibilities. There are just less because of the work ALASTAIR did before.