Keith (
lonered) wrote in
acatalepsy_rpg2018-07-21 10:01 pm
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Video - [Two Paladins for the Price of One]
[The video opens to Keith’s face -- for those who know him, there are certainly obvious changes. He looks older, and a noticeable scar streaks across one cheek. His lips press into a line as he fiddles with his watch, and the video widens out to show that he’s in one of the rooms in the hostel, and that he is not alone.
Shiro is beside him and he too looks different. An unfamiliar arm more like the androids of the city’s own limbs replaces his old prosthetic. From the way his fabric of his white shirt rests on his shoulder more of his flesh and blood body is missing. He glances at Keith, white eyebrows furrowing. In fact, all of his hair is white.
Keith glances to Shiro for a wordless moment before he looks back to the video feed.]
We have a question.
[May as well jump straight to it. Keith continues,]
A few nights ago, something happened. To me, and to Shiro. We went to sleep and woke up… different, from a dream that definitely wasn’t just a dream.
[A quick glance to Shiro, as if waiting for him to add,]
We woke up looking different and we slept a lot longer than usual according to the alarms on my watch. Memories started to drift into my mind once I was awake. It felt..very surreal until I saw how different I looked. Then I knew it wasn’t a dream. The memories continued to come to me throughout the day.
[He casts a glance at Keith, waiting for him to chime in and make their point.]
In one night we went through… years. This has to have something to do with the Witch and how she grabbed us all from our worlds to begin with.
[Keith pauses for a moment, trying to keep his tone measured. He’s better at it than he used to be, even if he’s really agitated over the whole thing.]
Has this happened to anyone else? Did the Witch… did Astoria say anything about it, if it did?
[Shiro sets his hand on Keith’s shoulder, lightly squeezing it.]
If this has happened to others...that will confirm this might be tied to her.
Shiro is beside him and he too looks different. An unfamiliar arm more like the androids of the city’s own limbs replaces his old prosthetic. From the way his fabric of his white shirt rests on his shoulder more of his flesh and blood body is missing. He glances at Keith, white eyebrows furrowing. In fact, all of his hair is white.
Keith glances to Shiro for a wordless moment before he looks back to the video feed.]
We have a question.
[May as well jump straight to it. Keith continues,]
A few nights ago, something happened. To me, and to Shiro. We went to sleep and woke up… different, from a dream that definitely wasn’t just a dream.
[A quick glance to Shiro, as if waiting for him to add,]
We woke up looking different and we slept a lot longer than usual according to the alarms on my watch. Memories started to drift into my mind once I was awake. It felt..very surreal until I saw how different I looked. Then I knew it wasn’t a dream. The memories continued to come to me throughout the day.
[He casts a glance at Keith, waiting for him to chime in and make their point.]
In one night we went through… years. This has to have something to do with the Witch and how she grabbed us all from our worlds to begin with.
[Keith pauses for a moment, trying to keep his tone measured. He’s better at it than he used to be, even if he’s really agitated over the whole thing.]
Has this happened to anyone else? Did the Witch… did Astoria say anything about it, if it did?
[Shiro sets his hand on Keith’s shoulder, lightly squeezing it.]
If this has happened to others...that will confirm this might be tied to her.
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[But the moment of abject shock passes, and Wash continues on.]
I haven't heard about anyone else going through that, but I'll keep an eye out. Are you two okay?
[And then, after a moment:]
Let me know if you...need help with anything.
[He still doesn't have the kind of control over his power that he'd like - especially since he hasn't been practicing since their arrival in Struxta - but hopefully he can at least help them sort through the memories.]
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[Somehow. Somehow they're both alive and mostly in one piece. Against all sorts of odds.]
But thanks. Even if this is the first time anything like this has happened... then we need to be on the lookout for if it happens again. If there are any warning signs or... anything.
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[He's still going to keep an eye on them, namely because he's used to "we're fine" meaning the exact opposite, but the fact that they both seem to be keeping relatively calm despite the circumstances helps.]
Keep a record, then. Did either of you do anything different the night it happened?
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[A frown and a shake of his head at that because honestly,] That's not normal. Whatever was happening it definitely kept us asleep until it was done.
[Keith doesn't like any of it. It feels... strange.] The fact that we both woke up physically changed is the part that concerns me the most. How the heck does that even happen?
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If this is just focused on us...I'll be relieved. I can tell you that the city of Struxta didn't charge me for this arm.
In fact, [He raises both eyebrows, mild confusion written on his face.]
They seemed to enjoy the challenge.
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Wash would be glad too if he knew how much of a shitshow his future was][Wash raises an eyebrow in turn.]
Did you get a good look at the arm before you attached it?
[He still completely distrusts this city, so the idea of grafting its technology to your body unchecked is...unsettling.]
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I don’t think anything nefarious was added. Should I sense anything wrong I’ll change shape. [The idea of something going wrong...his fingers curl into a fist on his thigh. He breathes just a hair slower to push that dread back.]
I’m taking every precaution I can.
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[She is just guessing, but after this many days around robots, the idea of updates makes sense to her.]
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...but the rest of it would have been bad to have if we were in another battle. Is that all she said about our homeworld's times?
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But yeah, she only told me time won't go without us. I was complaining at her if people would notice we were missing.
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[Okay. Deep breath here he doesn't need to get into all that.]
We would've noticed if he'd gone missing at that moment.
But... it's not just like some sort of mental update. Our bodies changed. I guess magic is the catchall explanation, but.
[But Keith doesn't like it.]
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The two of you have aged so much in just one night.
[She sounds concerned, and a bit at a loss, but her only contribution is...]
There are a few others here who are also from your home world, are there not? Could you perhaps ask them about what you saw? If the same thing happened to them, or if your new appearances and the dreams are more or less familiar, perhaps that would provide some guideline.
[After all, her own companion from home had memories significantly behind what she expected. It's the only suggestion she has to offer.]
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...it's complicated.
[Keith is not ready to explain it, and it's not really his story to tell, that the Shiro he fell asleep next to was in an entirely different body than the one he woke up with.
He takes a moment to fight back the memories before shaking his head.]
Except for Shiro, the others are all from right around the point in time I was, before this happened. So whatever we went through, it's the future for them still.
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Or...? [It would be a damned hard thing to cover up, if they were inclined to try.]
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As for the asking about what happened...My memories and Keith's match up exactly. As he just said I used to be very behind everyone. Now I'm not. But we're ahead of everyone else.
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[But...]
Did Keith tell you that as well, when you first arrived? Before this...incident?
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[Off camera]
[He has some personal ire about the situation too. But that isn't going to help anyone if they voice their anger.]
[Off camera]
He looks over at Shiro, mutes his own watch, takes another breath, centers himself and nods.]
All right. I'm breathing.
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You do it in the middle of a conversation too. It helps.
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[ "here" being the circle. but that's something . . . of interest. ]
Are you both feeling alright?
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But you have a point, Keith and I are now out of sync and ahead of everyone else. I wonder if there's something to that.
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[ it's a mess. ]
I'm not sure if it's on purpose, or if the Witch doesn't have control over where we come from. It shouldn't be possible, but there are gaps of memories and time that are consistent from the Coven's method of trapping us.
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[Call it a hunch on how things work here with time to begin with. Roy is right about that.]
We're both alive. There are worse places to start from.
[And unbidden there comes the memory of 'I died, Keith.' in Shiro's voice, echoing across the nowhere of the Lion's consciousness. Thanks, memory. He's so thrilled that piece of everything has been kept especially sharp and clear. A brief and telling glance off camera in Shiro's direction before he turns his gaze back.]
The people from your world... are you mostly from around the same points in time, or is it all over the place?
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Alive is a good place to be.
[ he'll start with that. ]
Colonel Hawkeye, Alphonse, and I are from roughly the same page. Alphonse is a little behind where we are, but he knows most of the . . . important parts. [ to put it lightly. ] Brigadier General Hughes is behind.
[ he should be dead, but no one needs to know that. ]
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