fableshards | Day 4 || Shard 001

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Day 4 || Shard 001

[Keith stares at the mirror shard for a while, his eyebrow raising.]

... Is this-- [Oh. It is. It... does seem to be working. Or well, at least, he isn't seeing his reflection anymore. Then again, he isn't all that sure of what he is seeing, either.

Ah well. Here goes nothing.]

...

[................. 'Hi?' 'Hello?' ... That sounds so stupid. What-- What's he supposed to say? How should he even start this...?

...]

I--... Uh. [Clears throat slightly.] ... My name is Keith. And... I'm a paladin of Voltron. [Awkward pause. He lifts his eyes up from the mirror, for a moment, and seems to communicate with someone through facial expressions alone before returning his attention back to the mirror again.

He frowns.]

... No one we've talked to so far seems to have any idea of where we are or how we ended up here. Is it the same for all of you? Any information you might have could help us figure out how to get out of here.

[He pauses again, before--]

If any of the other paladins are listening: Guys, come in. All you have to do is look at the mirror and-- uh. Speak. ... I guess. While thinking about... wanting to speak. [... wow. Smooth.] Just. You know. Look at the surface, think that you want to talk to people, talk. Figure it out. But do it. I'm with Lance, but we don't think the Red or the Black lions are anywhere around here. It's been four days and we haven't heard or seen any of you or anyone else that was with us. So if you are here, say something.

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[And Keith's whole expression warms, at that. He's even smiling a little again.] Yeah... He was. [Really little. And really cute. Still is.

As the conversation continues, though, and after the initial confusion, Keith starts to frown. What's Lance talking about...? He doesn't-- He doesn't remember any of that. And it's only half-way through Lance's explanation that his brain fully connects the dots, not so much because nothing of it rings a bell at all, but because the previous mention of 'show of arms' reminds him of that... thing he watched a little of between missions with Kolivan, and-- Ah. That's why he doesn't remember.

He wasn't there.

He shifts a little on the sofa.] Only one clear day, huh? ... Sounds tough.

[At the smile and nod, Keith simply nods back, looking away after, towards the table and the stairs. People will hopefully start answering soon. Maybe they have info they can use. And, if not... They should probably start doing something around here.]

[ He kind of wishes he could've seen it, the tiny wolf cub. It's kind of like a miracle, right? And then raising him? It must've helped, too, having company like that. Of course Keith and his mom had each other, but it's nicer, right? Having a pet with them too?

But... well, now there's an elephant in the room, so maybe that question will just have to wait. As if on cue, Lance shifts as well, suddenly not wholly comfortable. He looks down as he says, ] Yeah. [ Just a touch too quiet to be casual.

But he recovers. ] But as long as the weather here isn't like that, it'll definitely be more bearable than what we already saw. Anyways, we're just gonna have to check it out one of these days.

[ If someone started talking on the mirror shard right now, that'd be real handy. But it's quiet. That elephant's still in the room. ] Soooo do you feel up to looking around the house and taking stock and stuff? We might as well get something done while we wait for replies to come in, right?

[He had never thought about it that way, but... Yeah. It kind of is. Crossing the sky like a shooting star and landing where they were. And raising him helped Keith pass the time, helped him keep his head occupied, helped him have something to do and entertain himself with, mainly after the first couple of months. There were also the visions, too, when it came to 'out of the ordinary, unexpected' things, but most of the things he saw happened in the past. And the things he didn't immediately recognize... He could barely remember.

After Lance's reply, the living room is quiet. Too quiet. Keith looks at the mirror and shifts a little again before Lance (thankfully) breaks the silence. It feels heavy, which, in turn, makes him feel slightly antsy. He looks at him once more.] Yeah. ... Yeah, I guess.

[They are both waiting for the same thing. For that mirror to come to life, to break this... 'thing' that's suddenly in the air. Yet, nothing happens, and Lance speaks again.

It's not a bad idea.] Yeah. [He nods.] We should probably do that. [Glancing at the mirror again for a second - maybe this doesn't connect automatically to everybody? - Keith starts moving that blanket away, realizing that he is still on his bodysuit from the waist down.

It's been four days. And it feels both like a couple of hours and a couple of months. He massages the back of his neck with his hand, before looking at Lance again.] Should we go from the bottom to the top or from the top to the bottom?

[ Lance still hasn't heard about the visions. If he had, he'd probably needle Keith about them at least for a little while, but... maybe another time.

Fortunately for everyone including the elephant that's going to continue not being acknowledged, Keith agrees to his suggestion. Lance gets to his feet. Which... it hurts? Weirdly. He thinks it's been that way since he went on an improptu dive this morning, but then... that's ridiculous, it's more likely he's just been walking a whole lot lately instead of piloting, right? Right. ] Top to bottom. Top floor's easier, and after we're done here we can look around the house itself too, maybe there's like a shed or something.

[Keith doesn't remember much about them, anyway.

He does notice that Lance takes a little while longer to get up, but it's not odd enough to really make him ask about it. He, too, takes a while. The fever is gone, but his back and arms are still giving him a bit of a hard time.] How big is it? [The top floor. He hasn't been up there yet.

As for the rest, sounds good to him.]

[ Maybe Lance is just a little tired, too. Even though it-- it does hurt. Quite a lot actually. Ah well, he's gonna sit down again and rest his feet when there's time. For now, he stretches, fingers laced and hands way up above his head before he drops them again with a sigh. ]

It's-- it's three bedrooms and a bathroom. No attic, I think, but I didn't look too hard. One of the bedrooms might've been for a kid.

[Keith looks at Lance as he stretches, trying to straighten up himself, too... and failing a little. His back hurts less the less he tries to do that. So he moves his shoulders instead, wishing that he actually had something to tie his hair up with, for once.

But well, he too ignores the pain, and starts making his way towards the stairs.] So it really was a family's home... [Three bedrooms, one for a kid...

... Where could these people be?]

[ Lance watches him fail to really straighten, but he shoves the worry down - there's nothing he can do with it. He just falls into step with him as he heads for the stairs. ]

I guess, yeah. Or like a place to stay during vacation. Or something. It seems so, I dunno, empty, doesn't it?

[It... does, doesn't it? Keith can't tell, for sure, but it does feel-- too in place. There are things here, and while Keith has no idea how a big family house would look like from the inside, it... feels like it shouldn't all be so... like this.]

Yeah.

[He passes by the table on his way to the stairs and moves his hand over it, looking at his fingers after. They're clean.] But if nobody has been here, how come the place is so tidy...?

[ Lance mostly knows the clutter of his family's home. There's photographs all over, for one thing, and trinkets they grabbed from trips, or that friends or other relatives gave them... And here there's nothing.

That, though? Lance stares at that table in passing, there's no smudge in a layer of dust here, mostly because there's no dust. ] I... dunno. Magic or something?

[Keith... doesn't really have those sort of memories. There are some pictures, of him and his dad, but that's about it. They never traveled much, either. His dad was often needed at the fire department. And the time he had off, he'd try to spend with Keith, to the best of his ability, but never really leaving their place. Nights spent with him outside, looking up at the night sky and telling stories.

... He understands it better, now. Why his dad sometimes got lost in thought, while looking up.]

Honestly?... [He starts, looking at Lance over his shoulder, before heading towards the stairs again.] ... You are probably not wrong. [What else could it be? Nothing of this makes sense.

You know.

Like magic.]

[ Lance often thinks he'd like to have more tangible, physical memories of their time in space. There are some he collected here and there. A weird seashell from the planet with the mermaids. A couple of gifts and drawings he was given from fans. Scraps of might-be-wood-might-be-metal from Olkarion. But they've seen so many places now...

Anyway, head in the game. He meets Keith's eyes as they walk up the stairs, offering another shrug. ] It's the only explanation, right? Makes about as much sense as anything else in this place. [ So, none. ]

[Keith answers with a shrug of his own. It really makes no sense. But, then again, it's the best explanation they have.

It takes a while longer than what it usually might to go up those stairs. Eventually, though, they are on the top floor, which is bigger than what Keith was imagining. It seems to cover all of the bottom floor.]

... It's a really big house.

[ Lance doesn't mind that it's slower going than it might usually be. This way it's easier to hide that his feet really hurt, even though he's pretty sure he didn't step into anything and doesn't have anything in his shoes.

He steps up next to Keith once they're upstairs, but the statement gets a confused look and a shrug from him. ] All depends on how big the family is, right?

[ He's pretty sure a family of seven wouldn't fit here without arguments. But they would fit. ] But I guess so, yeah.

[For now, Keith can't really tell that something is wrong with Lance. He remembers him going out for a swim earlier - Keith had been trying to sleep the rest of the discomfort away - but he looked fine, happy and refreshed when he got back.

Turning to the left, there are two doors, and Keith starts making his way to the left one.] ... I guess. [He makes a good point, of course.

To Keith, this place is huge, even for four people. Then again, so was the Castle of Lions. And it was all of them in there.]

[ He was! He was refreshed. Even though there was something about that swim that was just off. Just... yeah, he doesn't really want to address it. He's not going to let this place ruin swimming of all things.

He just moves with Keith, following along. Looking together might take more time, but it's more thorough too, and they've got nothing but time. ] Maybe it feels bigger 'cause it's just us.

Yeah. Maybe. [Just them.

... It's still hard to wrap his head around that.

Reaching the door, he opens it and what he finds inside is... slightly disturbing.

There's one single bed, big enough for one person to be very comfortable and two to still fit fine. There's a bedside table, a desk, a closet and a rug on the floor. The window is open.

But everything, absolutely everything, looks pristine. Untouched. By time... or by anyone. Nothing seems dirty or out of place. The bed is made (but there is no blanket), everything else is closed. And there's not a single hint of any personal touch at all. No decorations, no pictures, no posters, no curtains, no... color.]

... What the...?

[ He doesn't want everyone else to be stuck here too. Obviously - he doesn't even want to be stuck here, why would he want Keith or anyone else to be? And yet, it'd be less empty. And he's glad (and kind of ashamed of how glad he is) that Keith is here too. That it's not just him.

But then they open the door.

It looks just like the first time he checked it. Not a hair out of place-- not a hair, period. Probably. ] See? It's weird, isn't it? Not just me?

[Keith would like to know where the others are, what this even means: this place, this situation. But if they for some reason had to end up here... He is glad that Lance isn't here alone, too. He hopes none of the others are. Though, of course, if he could, he would spare him from this. He'd spare all of them. But him, particularly.

What if they end up finding out that they are somehow stuck here? For a couple days, months, years? ... Forever? Of course he doesn't think that is the case - he will definitely not stop looking for answers and a way out, back to where they were, back to the others - but who knows what exactly is going on and how long that can take?

They were going back to Earth and Lance-- Keith knows how much Lance misses his family. He'd rather he wasn't stuck here at all.

Keith frowns, the more he looks around. This whole room is just.]

... Yeah. It's. ... Definitely weird.

[Not just you.

He doesn't enter right away, instead, making his way, first, to the door on the right.]

[ Lance still doesn't understand. None of this makes sense. He wants to get back-- back to the others. Back... back home. They were going home, finally. And now--

How long are they going to be stuck here before they find a way out, or before their friends find them?

... not the time to dwell on that.

The room is all wrong.

He stands there looking at it even after Keith leaves, still trying to wrap his head around it, so he's a pace behind him when he opens the next door.

It's the same. ] Part of me kind of wants to mess it up somehow. Just. Move anything out of place so it stops looking like, well, like that.

[They will find a way out. They will go back. Keith won't stop until he makes sure of that.

Getting to the second room and opening the door reveals a room similar to the first. It, too, looks completely untouched: it is the same. Yet, it's also different. This is probably the room Lance had mentioned might have been for a kid.

Though it is also lacking on decorations, and the bed looks pretty much like the bed on the other room, there's what seems like a doll house (empty) instead of the desk as well as some colorful cubes (the only thing that really brings more contrast in the room) nearby.

What Lance says, though, eases Keith's frown, making him snort instead.] Go wild. [He says, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he steps aside, giving Lance room to enter.]

[ Yep, that's the kid's room. Mostly from the doll house-- and the fact that that, too, is empty, just makes the whole thing more unsettling.

He snorts as Keith offers, but, looking at the room again, he shakes his head. ] Let's just search the place. [ Flashes Keith a grin. ] Redecorating can wait.

[His smile grows more into a grin, teasing, in a way, though he doesn't really say anything. He could ask, in bickering, if he was scared. But then again... Was this really the time to play around with something like that?

So, instead, he just lets it go, letting his expression do the work for him - the small, good-natured tease - before starting to make his way to what he thinks might be the last room.

On the other side of the door is a larger room than the other two. The bed, too, is bigger. If it was a family that lived here, this was probably where the parents slept. Yet, that was not the weirdest thing about this place.

Like all the others, it was spotless. Completely clean.

Yet, unlike the others... everything was upside down. Closet, desk, chairs, bedside table. Even the bed itself.

The smile on Keith's completely disappears, once he takes in what they are looking at.]

... W-What...?

[ There's just this and the bathroom left. Both of them were exactly as weird as the other two bedrooms, at least as far as Lance remembers.

And then there's this. ] ....... I don't remember this.

[ You'd think he would. He's sure he checked every room when he went upstairs before. He knew there were three bedrooms. He'd remember if one of them had been upside down. Wouldn't he? ]

[I don't remember this.

Hearing that actually makes Keith's heart give a little jump. It was already beating faster, but the more those words sink in, the louder it seems to beat inside his head.]

What? [He asks, again, turning his attention to Lance, hand remaining on the doorknob. Maybe-- Maybe he understood that wrong.] Didn't-- Didn't you say you had checked the whole place out?!

Day 4 || Shard 001

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