week 4 afterparty

[odasaku]

[ well, that was definitely A Trial.

however, oda understands that everyone must be feeling a little heavy, considering the death of someone like jughead and whatever bullshit dazai said earlier.

so, at everyone's door is a note that says the following:

If you don't want to be alone, come to the diner.

There's food.

oda himself is at the diner, although there's no food on his table, nor is he being a very good host of a party. he's just sitting alone at a table next to a window, staring out of it in deep thought. ]

Comments

[robitussin]

...And I'm gonna guess that's exactly why he's not here.

[A small sigh.]

Does he, like, think on his own and everything, then?

[marmoron]

...Yeah. Black would be difficult to contain.

[For various reasons, though he doesn't think there's a need to go into further tech specs on a lion that isn't here and won't be saving them.]

All the lions do. They each have their own quintessence and have different characteristics. They choose their pilots and won't fly for anyone else. And even if you are chosen by the lion, if your bond is weak you'll never unlock the lion's true powers.

[robitussin]

And... How do they work, exactly?

[At this point, it's just curiosity that's guiding her questions.]

You said alchemy, but... Is that really advanced science or something else?

[marmoron]

Not sure.

[He's frowning a little though.]

Altean alchemy is hard to explain. It's a science apparently, but in practice it works more like magic. Their alchemy is based on the manipulation of quintessence. I don't know how it works, but it works... and it's powerful stuff.

[robitussin]

And you said quintessence is, like... Life energy or whatever?

[If she sounds skeptical, it's because it's still difficult for her to wrap her head around.]

[marmoron]

[A nod. He'll settle on the grass more comfortably to pet the space wolf. If he's going to have to deal with skeptics, he'd at least rather be doing it while close to someone from home.]

You got it. The lions have their own quintessence and have minds of their own and can communicate with their paladins through a mental connection. I know it's tough to believe, but it's true.

[robitussin]

[A shrug.]

About 75% of the things people tell me here are hard to believe. I might be getting used to it.

[marmoron]

[There's nothing funny about that or about the situation they're in that's causing her to adapt, but it gets a bit of a hollowly amused laugh.]

If it makes you feel any better, I have a had time believing my life sometimes, too.

[robitussin]

Yeah, I bet.

[After all...]

You said you were, like, a normal-ish military student before you were suddenly involved in a space war where you fight with a huge lion, right?

[marmoron]

No, I got kicked out of the Garrison a year before any of that happened.

[There's a pause, smile fading as he leans against Cosmo. He drops eye contact.]

I was pretty lost.

[robitussin]

[After a moment of deliberation, she moves to take a seat next to him, careful to give him plenty of space.]

I bet they feel pretty stupid for kicking you out now.

[marmoron]

[After their last conversation in the bakery, he's a little surprised that she's sitting down with him, but aside from a raised eyebrow he doesn't call any further attention to it.]

They made the right call. I punched out a senior officer.

[robitussin]

[She nearly comments on that, but before she does...]

Why?

[marmoron]

[There's a longer pause at that.]

When Shiro disappeared on the Kerberos mission, the Garrison said that he and the crew were dead. They'd made an error -- or something to that effect. Shiro was the best pilot in the Garrison, the Holts were the best engineer and mechanic in the Garrison. I just knew that wasn't it.

Shiro's boyfriend tried to get me to accept that he was dead. So ...I punched him.

[robitussin]

[She pauses for a long moment, before...]

Well, I can't say he deserved it, but - I get it, at least. You aren't the only one who would have done that.

[marmoron]

Like I said, they made the right call.

[That's not the kind of quality you want in a cadet. Definitely not a quality you'd want in a leader. Again, it's all the stuff that makes him question how leadership over the paladins ever fell to him. He sighs.]

I was right about Shiro though, so...

[So. It's not really a defense or anything, so he lets that sentence trail off and die.]

[robitussin]

[She's not quite sure what to say to that, so her next words are to fill the silence more than anything else.]

...I bet his boyfriend was happy about that, too.

[marmoron]

[That gets a pause, but for a different reason entirely.]

...I don't think Adam ever found out actually.

[Kinda messed up, but all the same...]

Probably better that way. He wanted to move on anyway.

[robitussin]

What?

[Somehow, that gets to her.]

Nobody even thought to tell him?

[marmoron]

The Garrison knew all along that the crew on the Kerberos mission had been abducted by an alien ship. They covered it all up because they didn't want to cause a global panic. When Shiro managed to escape and return to Earth, they were going to cover that up too. I had to bust him out of quarantine.

[His brow furrows.]

Some kids from the Garrison happened to be there when I got him out. The next day, we found the Blue lion hidden on Earth and she immediately took all of us to planet Arus -- millions of light years away from home. That's how we all got involved in the war.

[A beat. There's a slightly defensive edge to his tone as he looks up at Natalie.]

If Shiro could've told him, he would've. I know that.

[robitussin]

[She listens to all of that and takes note of the defensive edge to his voice as he goes on, but before she addresses it en masse:]

...Okay, quick question before we go any further. You had a way to know he wasn't in quarantine for a good reason, right?

[marmoron]

[Keith has to think about this for a moment.]

He was trying to warn everyone that there were hostile aliens out there in space. People thought he lost his mind.

[robitussin]

[After another beat:]

So, is that a yes or a no?

[marmoron]

Well obviously he wasn't crazy.

[Did Keith actually have a way of knowing that before breaking him out? Absolutely not. It just didn't matter.]

Either way, I wasn't going to leave him there. He was the only family I had then.

[robitussin]

...I'm glad you were right, then. Sounds like it was pretty good timing for a breakout, too.