Keith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tempredmental) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deernet2022-08-10 12:26 pm
tempredmental) wrote in deernet2022-08-10 12:26 pm
[ video -> voice | un: keith ]
[The video was brief, kind of like that moment when you activated the camera on your phone and forgot it was in selfie mode. The omni shook and rotated, leaving the viewer with a dizzying array of scenery that was kind of blurry and hard to make out. It was dark, though, like the person broadcasting was in a closed room with no lights on.
As the video shifted, glimpses of a person could be seen. A hand... the fingernails-turned-claws bitten down short as if trying to cover the transformation... a burn scar on the right side of a face... dark, almost black, hair with a purple tint, long-ish, shaggy looking, a thin white streak with a extremely slight violet hue to it near the left temple... pale skin... deep cobalt eyes that looked exhausted with dark tired bruises underneath from lack of sleep...]
Shit-...
[And the video was gone. It was just voice now, Keith's voice, but raspier than usual, worn sounding, loaded with regret and guilt and just... sad.]
I um... [He was hesitant. Unsure.] I wanted to... apologize. [His tone faltered, like he was searching for words, having trouble forming them and getting them out.] I... I did a lot of stuff last month. Just um... Yeah. The Reckoning took care of it.
But... if you still want... you know. Fine. I understand. I won't stop you.
[And then the feed shut off.]
As the video shifted, glimpses of a person could be seen. A hand... the fingernails-turned-claws bitten down short as if trying to cover the transformation... a burn scar on the right side of a face... dark, almost black, hair with a purple tint, long-ish, shaggy looking, a thin white streak with a extremely slight violet hue to it near the left temple... pale skin... deep cobalt eyes that looked exhausted with dark tired bruises underneath from lack of sleep...]
Shit-...
[And the video was gone. It was just voice now, Keith's voice, but raspier than usual, worn sounding, loaded with regret and guilt and just... sad.]
I um... [He was hesitant. Unsure.] I wanted to... apologize. [His tone faltered, like he was searching for words, having trouble forming them and getting them out.] I... I did a lot of stuff last month. Just um... Yeah. The Reckoning took care of it.
But... if you still want... you know. Fine. I understand. I won't stop you.
[And then the feed shut off.]
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And they'd been trying to get through that back home. But there were still plenty of people that wanted revenge against the Galra, even other Galra that wanted something for what they'd been through, some kind of retribution. It was an uphill battle sometimes. And Keith felt it every time he had to face the fact that his mother's people had done some terrible things, including to his father's people, and that was hard.
But here... there just seemed to be even less sense to it all. He sighed.]
Maybe. I just... [He took a breath.] I want to make things right. What else is there to do in a place like this?
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Daniel breathes in and out though, and then instead thinks of something else that might help. It could be a long shot, but.. ]
.. well.. have you ever tried meditating?
[ Probably not. It's not exactly a male teen hobby.
Daniel could know, once upon a time having been said male teen trying to figure out what mumbo jumbo his karate teacher was teaching him. ]
I wouldn't mind showing you sometime. It's helped me a lot over time.
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Not often. It's not something I'm good at. I tend to do better with working out than sitting still.
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I know types like that.
[ Does he ever... Oh god, does Daniel ever. ]
Just as long as you're getting your feelings out somehow. It isn't healthy to carry those with you forever without doing something about it. [ Pot, kettle. ]
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Yeah. [There was a small huff, like Keith knew he was being called out. It wasn't the first time. And it likely wouldn't be the last. But, if his energy came back from being depressed, he'd probably wind up out in the woods later using some dead tree as a training dummy. Poor tree.] I've been trying to get better at that...
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[ Getting better at that. Just look here. Daniel LaRusso, a grownass man old enough to have a midlife crisis, and yet he refuses to talk about his deepest trauma with even one of the many people around them.
It's probably why he doesn't sound harsh about this. Because he truly does get it, and the last thing he'd want to do is kick Keith when the other is already clearly down.
But-- ]
Sometimes it helps if you find out what way works best for you. There's a whole spectrum of ways to get your feelings out, you know? Talking is the most obvious one, but sometimes also the hardest. Sometimes it helps if you instead put all those feelings into some hobby or activity. [ W-Which may be part of why Daniel himself is so karate obsessed, sssh... ]
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Hey, don't knock down driving around like that. It's a good activity! [ But then again, Daniel is a car salesman and a car enthusiast.
Of course he of all people would say this. ]
It gets you out of your head for a little while, right? I get it. I always feel the same way, even if I'm more of a car guy than a.. hoverbike guy. [ Mostly because they don't have hoverbikes back home.
But he's just more of a car than a bike guy in general, so it works. ]
If it's something that's helping you, no matter how slightly, then I'd say it's definitely something constructive.
[ There, Keith. Have some Dad Patented positive reinforcement. ]
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Yeah. I'm a fighter pilot back home. Going fast forces me to pay more attention to my surroundings and to focus on what I'm doing in the moment more than letting everything else rattle around in my head too much. You have to focus at high speed or it could be pretty bad.
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[ Sure, there's some surprise in Daniel's tone, since.. that's not really often a thing where Daniel himself comes from - if he's judging Keith's age accurately, anyway.
(He thinks he is, but you never know in this place.) ]
That must mean you're really talented. Especially if you're so responsible about it. [ Judging by everything else the other is saying here.
.. or the alternative take is that Keith is a fighter pilot at such a young age since there's some Really Bad Stuff going on in the other's world, but Daniel would rather think about the angle he's presenting out loud. ]
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Yeah. I was in a training program with the Galaxy Garrison where they recruited a bunch of us from various schools around the world to come learn how to fly and be space explorers. I got recruited when I was thirteen. Most of us were around that age. I guess it could be considered like some junior officer's program or something. [Like JROTC.] Usually, you graduated around twenty-four if you didn't flunk out or get held back on something. [There was something else there, and Keith wasn't sure if he wanted to admit to getting kicked out at eighteen because he couldn't control his temper.] But, then I got involved with Voltron. Been doing that for a few years now. [Even if he skipped the part about being stuck in a quantum abyss and spending time with the Blades as an undercover guerilla fighter... But, either way, he was at least old enough to legally drink alcohol now!]
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There are so many alarm bells going off in Daniel's head right now. Keith has no idea. Mostly because Daniel is still mostly keeping calm on the outside, but.. boy, does that ever sound like potential child endangerment to him.
Especially since Daniel is such an overprotective dad in the first place.
He tries to not think about it too hard for a moment though, mostly to stay calm, so he instead asks: ]
And what's Voltron then?
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Voltron itself is a giant robot... a really, really giant robot. It's made up of five smaller robots that combine together to make the big one. It's the greatest weapon our universe has, created to defend people who can't defend themselves.
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[ Just.. trying to make this clear. Just trying to see whether or not he truly understood this, because that is so much to try and wrap his head around. ]
That's a very big responsibility. [ Especially for someone Keith's age, he thinks, though he's at least smart enough to not actually say it.
But it sure is on Daniel's mind as he says these words instead. ]
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Yeah... but, when we found out everything, and were in the moment... it just... we knew it was the right thing to do.
We had to.
[There were several moments when they had some big decisions to make early on about how they were going to handle things, if they were going to stay, if they were going to leave, whether they were going to do The Thing... and, deep down, they all just knew... there really was no other choice. The universe needed Voltron, and Voltron needed them to make that happen.]
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Having to.
They're not foreign concepts to Daniel - they weren't, not even when he was younger. It's just that the extent of the responsibility placed on Keith's shoulders seems to be reaching far beyond anything he ever had to deal with, whether it's nowadays or back when he was the other's age.
It makes him pause. ]
It's very brave of you.
[ The compliment sounds genuine - almost too genuine, considering it's not even like Daniel knows Keith well or anything like that. But even though he feels awful that a kid has to shoulder this much.. At least he does want to show the other the appreciation he deserves for working so hard. ]
Even if it might have seemed like you didn't have much of a choice, you still did the right thing. It's hard, and.. I don't exactly agree with that responsibility falling on the shoulders of someone so young, but I'm still proud of you for doing the right thing.
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I guess. I think, for some of us, it was probably braver than others. [Hunk, for example.] But... thanks? I think. [How did one respond to that anyway?]
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No need to thank me. [ He instead says, voice amicable. ] Just..
[ ... ]
Take care of yourself here, alright?
[ Especially considering how this started out. The message Daniel replied to. ]
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Yeah. I'll try.