hadriel_logs | like a wildfire;

Entry tags:

like a wildfire;

Who: keith, shiro, lance, allura
What: catch-all for shenanigans during february
Where: casa voltron, possibly other places, who even knows
When: all month
Warnings: nothing just yet but will be updated as needed!

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[Allura comes to a stop, but Keith only pauses in his steps to glance at the princess and sighs.]

It's a long story.

[And as much as he wishes that could be a satisfying explanation, he knows it isn't and that if anyone has the right to know about all of this, it's the people who trust him implicitly. The people he knows are friends. Regardless of what Allura makes of it all, it's better for the both of them in the long run that she judge him for who he is rather than what she thinks he is.

So. So.....

This is the third time he's told this story, but finding the words doesn't come any easier for it. Shiro and Lance had both taken it relatively well -- no accusations of being an evil killswitch clone at least. But he doesn't expect Allura to be so accepting and deep down he knows it's because they're both skeptics, both afraid of getting burned by the ones closest to them.

After all the hell that Shiro's clone had unleashed upon all of them, Keith knows exactly what he'd say if another paladin admitted that they, too, were a clone. And he knows Allura will be in the right to judge him in the harshest way. It's just -- Keith clenches and unclenches his fists, then:]

Let's keep walking. The gist of it is that before I appeared at Hadriel, I was one of thirty people who got cloned to be unwilling participants in a messed up experiment.

[Finding out Shiro had been a clone had been difficult enough. (And at least, then, they'd had his sudden betrayal onto Lotor's side to give them a heads up that something is wrong) and now Keith? The world feels like it's spinning, in the silence between them, and he's at least spared any rash, knee-jerk judgments by the sheer fact that she is caught off guard, still reeling between Keith's revelation and the effects of Rage's temple.

A clone.

Not again Her eyes are wide, jaw set, and the tension in her body is obvious— a fight or flight response. (They'd been taken off guard by Shiro before, if only she'd known in advance, maybe she could have stopped him.) But to Keith's credit, his calm head keeps her from reacting in a throw him across the lawn sort of way.

Somehow, his words are still getting through—parts of it—despite the layers of confusion. But still, before she takes another step.]

Honerva's experiment?

[Said in a tight voice, sharp around the edges. She knows Keith. Trusts him more than either of them probably realize. But if this isn't who she thinks he is-

Wait-]

Where's Keith?

No. It had nothing to do with Honerva. Promise.

[The correction comes quickly, though not in a defensive tone of voice. It'd been so long ago that his biggest concerns had to do with the Galra and Zarkon's witch that he'd honestly forgotten how the word "experiment" might come off. But her follow up question makes him falter. It's the first time he's been asked that question so bluntly, and though he can't fault the princess, the reminder that he's not her "real" friend is bruising in ways it shouldn't be rationally.

He's never met Allura prior to Hadriel -- not really. He's never met any of the paladins. For so long they only ever existed in his head as memories as bright and vivid as sunlight, but it hadn't really been until seeing Shiro and Lance in Hadriel that he'd ever been forced to decide what to think about it all. He doesn't have to be defined by his memories, he could have, in theory, pushed them all away because they're strangers -- logically, rationally.

But he hadn't been able to do it. One glance at those two in the colosseum with the dragons. One glance at Allura in their upside down house. In the end, he's a sentimental idiot that doesn't know how to let go, but the echoes of rage leave a bitter taste in his mouth.]

Nothing happened to him. The people who cloned me took a radial image of his mind. They had technology that let them do that without the subject knowing anything about it. They don't even have to be in the same universe to do it. He's safe. Waiting for you guys to go back home.

[His answers seem to settle her, knowing that he's not one of Honerva's. Knowing that Keith is safe in body and mind. (Knowing that he's not just a soul, trapped inside of the Black Lion) It's entirely possible that he's full of Yalmor dung, leading her astray but something about it seems difficult to doubt. Keith's not a good liar and, moreover, Allura is far too trusting.

But then where does that leave them? A long way from home and Keith — not the person she thought he was moments ago. And yet... one in the same. Even as she looked him over, there was nothing she could find to tell him apart. No scar or scrape nor hair out of place, and every intonation in every word exactly like Keith's. And why shouldn't it be? They'd visited other realities — even without clones the idea that there were infinite versions of themselves out there wasn't beyond her understanding.

She stares at him longer, expecting some kind of disconnect, and while there is a degree of apprehension and fear, looking at him only stirs memories of all the times they've been together. From the first time they met on the Castleship, until now. Her friend.

(And, a thought to digest: she has memories with him that are now separate from the 'real' Keith. All the time spent together in their silly upside down house.)

Realizing that the silence was growing between them, she takes a breath, measuring her words, and considering what she wants to know,] ...Why didn't you say anything sooner?

[~~Predictably, assuming she's the first to know.~~]

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like a wildfire;

no subject

This tag hurt to write

i'm dreaming mouse bathing dreams...

I guess they'll get... squeaky clean in that thread