I'll never let you go [Closed]

[spaceforged]

Who: [OU] Takashi Shirogane, [OU] Hunk, the crew signed up to retrieve them.
When: August 15th and 16th
Where: Dream width and then airship
What: Two of Team Voltron got canon updated and now must be retrieved.
Warnings/Notes: Spoilers for season 6, swearing, violence, aaand idefk I'll add more if we need it.



The signal beeps in a steady rhythm like a heart monitor assuring all the patient is still alive. After vanishing a week ago, Takashi Shirogane's mark on the readouts gives no sign what's ahead.

Nor will Hunk's a day later. What does? The memory nebulas swirling with light and color. Just like any other retrieval.

Comments

Approx. 2-3 hours after Recovery 1

[littlemhigan]

Castor busies herself; it's all she can think to do. She's too keyed up to take her rest.

So she makes sure the others are as comfortable as they can be; ensures they want for nothing and have essentials well in hand. She scours the rest of the airship for spare bedding, makes sure water as at hand, that Shiro is comfortable (as best she's able.)

But eventually her hands itch for work and she wanders to the Galley. She'd stashed a small toddy of whiskey before they departed, and busies herself gathering this and that and putting water on to boil...


Sometime later, she comes back into the room where the Paladins and their friends are holed up, with a stack of small cups in one hand and a pitcher of something steaming in the other, balanced somewhat against her hip.

"Alright," she says quietly, coming to kneel towards the edge of the gathering. "Made sommat fer everyone's nerves."

[balancingedge]

Keith has always been a light sleeper. So when he first hears the steps of someone else and not as familiar as the others over the hum of machinery, his eyes open slowly. He sits up again, rubbing at his eyes when he catches who it is.

Ah. Castor. He should have figured. He looks up, an eyebrow raised. "What is it?" he asks, taking a cup. He learned better after his own horrible reaction to nunvill, okay.

[littlemhigan]

"S' just a toddy," she explains quietly, handing Keith a half-filled glass for inspection. "Whiskey, lemon juice, honey an' water. Good te clear ye of disease, good te calm yer nerves, good te help ye sleep. I made it a mite sweeter than usual, but I thought it might be appreciated."

[balancingedge]

It's a very good thing that she explains what the ingredients are. The question was likely written all over his face, too. He pauses, taking a sniff first. Well, smells better than nunvill at least.

"Wasn't exactly of drinking age when we left Earth," Keith admits quietly, before taking a sip. He's old enough to drink in most countries now, which honestly feels a little weird to him still. Yet after that sip, he downs the rest of it in one go. "Sure beats nunvill, and you might be right about that."

Pidge might be a super lightweight, though. Considering. Wait, did she even take a sip? Huh.

[littlemhigan]

She reaches over to fill another half-glass for him. "'S better te sip it. Jes let it warm ye from the mouth down.

"I'm startin' te think my perspective on the matter's a little off. Where I'm from, if ye can see over the bar, ye can drink...more or less." Lalafell exist. Right.

She starts pouring for the rest of the assembled, but she keeps her attention on Keith. "How're ye holdin' up?"

[balancingedge]

Keith nods, taking that advice as he slowly sips at the second drink. His gaze focuses more on the others, even though his hearing does otherwise.

"It depends on the region on Earth. Where we were stationed the drinking age was twenty-one. And considering we were still cadets..." His voice trails off there, noting that last part as his brows raise slightly. "I take it there's an exception for the vertically challenged."

As for the question, he waits to take another sip first. "Well enough. This is more or less what I'd be doing back home." Waiting for Shiro to wake up. Buy hey, positives: No one lost their heads to his temper, got ripped a new asshole, and he kept being proactive. So he's handling it a lot better than he would have two years ago. Or any time before he started to settle.

[littlemhigan]

"Lyin' about in a big pile as such, waitin for the other shoe te come knockin? Is there sommat about you lot I ought te know?"

She smiles into her own cup, hoping her tone was enough to indicate a joke being made, but goes sombre soon afterwards. "An' how's Shiro? He wasn't lookin' well when ye finally got 'im settled."

[balancingedge]

"What?" Keith blinks, not quite getting it but at the same time getting enough to figure out what Castor is insinuating. "I meant waiting on our Lions to recharge and for Shiro to recover."

Though there is always something waiting to come kill them. That's been a fact for one to three years for them, depending on who you ask. He looks down to Shiro, an open concern in his eyes. "Futaba's done all she can. The rest is up to Shiro, and while he's woken up once, he's still exhausted."

Which is why he's also kept his voice down. Shiro needs rest; they all do, but both he and Keith in particular are light sleepers.

[littlemhigan]

"I...ne'er you mind. Jes' a crass joke." She says, somewhat sheepishly. She covers it by taking another sip.

"Wish I could be of more 'elp than jes watchin' fer Hunk, but I've the healing capacity of a cranky Karakul, an' ye seem te have yerselves all well in hand besides. Jes make sure he takes some water, aye?"

[balancingedge]

"Oh." ...Oh. He would feel bad for suddenly getting it, but that went over his head so badly at first he's just. Going to cover that with a sip, too.

"I will." It's a promise, though he keeps going. "You know, one of the most important things to maintain in space or on any mission far from home is morale." Keith offers, before looking up to meet her gaze. "I'm not the best at it. Connecting with others has never come easy for me. So this? Is just as crucial as healing." Well, despite how little alcohol is in it... it certainly has helped to loosen his tongue slightly.

[littlemhigan]

It's another moment and another sip before Castor answers with the beginnings of a smile on her face. "I see why Shiro speaks highly of ye. Aye, you've the right of it, but it can be cold comfort when ye've got a friend that needs more than a smile an' a warm drink te get back on his feet."

She shrugs and busies herself with topping off Keith's drink, but there's something of a dark look on her face for a brief minute. "But if this is the best I can muster, then I'll muster it. Ye shouldn't be so hard on yourself in the meantime; speeches as such can get ye a long way with another person, I think."

[balancingedge]

Yeah, that slight bit of color on his face has nothing to do with the minuscule amount of alcohol in the drink. Before today, Shiro hadn't known; couldn't have known how much he'd failed them. How unprepared and just not ready he'd been. Two years on his own had changed that.

"Could say the same of speeches," he points out. Speeches can't cure physical maladies. They can inspire, certainly, but not heal. Yet she had a point; one he wasn't about to argue with.