Procrastinating and Not Solving My Problems | Open to All

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Who: Darin Altway and anyone who wants to join!
When: On especially clear nights throughout the month!
Where: Kauto, Region 5
What: Stargazing! Introspection! Relaxation! Bonding! Hilarity!

[Life had been decidedly quiet for Darin in the last month and a half. After that tumultuous mission with Shiro and the ensuing fallout, things had returned to be as peaceful as they could possibly be on an alien world. It was as close to feeling like 'home' as it could while not actively being the same.]

[Perhaps it was this longing for 'home' that found Darin on top of a grassy hill, sprawled out on his back and gazing up at the night sky. Back home, he would do this often when he had to turn his thoughts inward. He would gaze up at the twin moons of his world, one perpetually almost eclipsing the other, and think about his place in that world.]

[He found himself doing the same thing now, but instead of wondering what his place was, he was wondering what he could do to protect it. The laboratory on Asteroid 276 presented a path: a chance to limit himself and his abilities, thereby protecting everyone he had come to know and love in this world. But what would that mean for him if he was ever sent back to his real home? On the other hand...if he chose to keep himself limit free, where did he start in gaining mastery over himself? Dromas had been taught to use his powers. The power gap between them was like comparing an ocean to a babbling brook. How could he even begin to learn something about which he had no previous desire to know?]

[He sighs and reaches into a holster on his hip, drawing forth the tablet that Lucio had given him. He points it up towards the star-filled sky and begins opening window after window: star charts he'd taken from the Hub and meticulously recreated as images in the tablet. He starts moving the images around with his hands, trying to find matches among this night's tapestry. He didn't really expect to find his home...or anything in particular. But, it kept his mind busy. Kept its gears turning. Who knows...maybe he'd find an answer tonight?]

Comments

[shiro2hero]

You don't know until we try. Maybe Pidge and Hunk can do something with it.

[He's listening, really. But on the other hand, they've made this guy a part of their team, now.]

But I wouldn't say "almost". I'd say you do sound like you know what you're talking about.

[He pokes at it a couple times, absently.] Nah, see... back home, I wanted to learn them all. So I'd always know where I was in the galaxy.

And now look where we are. I don't think kid me planned on a whole new universe.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I appreciate the sentiment but...I may have my own war to fight. Kind of makes me wish I could take you guys back with me.

Before the Moira picked me up, I was all alone. Well...not exactly alone. There was this girl...

[He shakes his head.]

So...what's stopping you from coming up with new ones now?

[shiro2hero]

Maybe there's a way. Some way we could get back to when we were taken... with others along for the ride.

[He tilts his head.] This girl? [DAD MODE: ENGAGING.]

I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just not good at naming things.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Who knows. At the very least it's worth keeping in mind.

Don't even get me started on her. She was an absolute lunatic. Her name's Iris and she was a fortune teller. She started tagging along after me when she did a reading on me and sensed Diomuhr. I also may or may not of exploded her stall out of panic. So she's kind of stalking me and demanding I pay her back for her livelihood. And also she wants to know about Diomuhr sooooo...yeah, no. She wouldn't leave me alone.

[Darin rolls onto his side to face Shiro.]

So? Cheat. Here, look.

[He pulls up another window; another section of the night sky and ponders for a minute. After a few moments, he draws connecting lines between several stars until it forms the head of a wolf.]

I call it the 'Dracer' constellation. After my dad!

[shiro2hero]

Okay, is this one of those things where "she won't leave me alone" is... code for something? Or is this genuinely a problem?

[Is that thing where you make friends with people following you still A Thing anymore or is he that out of touch with humanity?]

Cheat?

[Okay, he'll look. Because you gotta admit, that's pretty good.]

Your dad the blacksmith, right?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

You're asking me? Shiro, the only thing I know about girls is that you shouldn't ask them their age and when to duck when you accidentally do. How am I supposed to know?!

All I know is she had a right hook like the Princess does.

[He laughs.]

Nah. My real dad. Dracer Altway, famous mercenary and sword for hire. People used to call him the Wolf of Kenmore when he was younger. I learned all of this years after he was gone though. A lot of the soldiers we'd take care of at my Old Man's forge would talk about him. Tell me stories. He was one hell of a hero.

[shiro2hero]

Why shouldn't you ask their age...?

[Just because it's never come up doesn't mean there's something wrong with doing it, right? Shiro understands many things, but this is not one of them.]

I didn't think anyone hit like Allura does.

[See: the Galra Ship Incident.]

That explains the wolf. I was going to ask what it had to do with a smith, honestly.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

It's...rude? I think?

[He tries to remember why that's a bad thing.]

You'd be surprised. Iris could knock you out like you were hit by a runaway carriage, and then she'd yell at you for getting your blood on her fist.

[He laughs.]

Yeah...it makes me wish I had gotten the chance to ask him about these things myself instead of hearing them from his old soldier buddies. I'm sure they're bragging a bit because I'm his son but...

I love Acteon. He took me in. He taught me the ways of the Forge. He nurtured a talent that, frankly, I didn't even know I had. He said I was a prodigy...that forging things was in my blood.

But...sometimes I wonder what things would have been like if I were just...normal. If Dromas and I were allowed to live out our lives instead of...whatever we are now. Pawns in a war we didn't even think was real.

[shiro2hero]

Why?

[It's sort of a rhetorical question. He really doesn't expect a real answer.]

She sounds like a great lady.

[He's one hundred percent serious about that, too.]

... Yeah. You're not the only one wondering that kind of thing. [He's sure all of the other Paladins wonder it from time to time. What it would be like to just be back home. What it would be like if their lives hadn't turned upside down.]

[What it would be like... if he'd been able to bring Pidge's family home again. Instead of all of them being "whatever we are now".]

So I think it's human nature, you know? Thinking those kinds of things. [He pauses.] Found a constellation for your forge-master yet?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I don't know. No one ever explained it.

And if by 'great lady' you mean 'absolutely insane please someone throw her in a dungeon for a thousand years' then yes, I agree. Also, if she ever shows up, you never saw me. But then I need you to immediately tell me she's here so I can board the next shuttle going anywhere else.

[Darin starts idly connecting more stars.]

I wonder if maybe I should have been killed instead of Dromas. Whatever they did to him...maybe I could have withstood it. I was always more resilient than him...maybe I wouldn't have been twisted like he was.

[When he's done connecting stars, he has a hammer striking an anvil.]

There...'Acteon's Anvil.'

[shiro2hero]

She can't possibly be that bad, Darin.

[Because bro he saw you in that hell planet. There's not a lot you can't handle, okay.]

No. [But all the teasing is gone in that word.] No, it wouldn't have been. If I said, "maybe it should have been someone else here instead of me", what would you say?

[If, somehow, Matt had gotten out, and not him. If Allura had gotten out, instead of him...]

I like it.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

You saw how I fought with Allura?

I fought with her three times louder and twice as violent.

[Darin leans back. Man, thinking about Iris brought up all sorts of memories from home. He turns his head slightly and cocks an eyebrow at Shiro's question.]

I'd say 'thank the gods, someone who knows how to take a joke and get a decent night's sleep?'

[Sorry, Shiro. But you can't turn off the teasing with Darin.]

I try. Come on, you try one.

[shiro2hero]

... I try to forget how you fought with Allura, to be honest.

[For several reasons.]

[He makes a face, and elbows him.]

You know what I mean. [A beat.] Besides... pretty sure neither of them slept much, either.

[Even before everything.]

Hm? You sure?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin laughs at the elbow and playfully shoves Shiro back.]

Why? It was fun. I like seeing her all fired up like that. Makes getting along with her easier. And yeah, I do know what you mean. And it's a stupid question so I get your point.

[He shoves the screen closer to Shiro.]

Yeah, come on. Go for it. You've got a brand new, unexplored night sky at your fingertips. How many people would kill to be able to do something as innocuous as this?

[shiro2hero]

Ow.

[It doesn't hurt, he's just being a big stick in the mud.]

Good. Don't forget it, or else I'll have Pidge break it into your head again.

[He makes a quick face before taking it gingerly.]

Just... draw on it?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...Please don't. Pidge still terrifies me. Keith can glare daggers at me all day and she's still the scariest, most intimidating member on this team.

[He scoots a bit closer to lean over Shiro's shoulder.]

Yup! Whatever comes to mind! Just connect the dots!

[shiro2hero]

You should see her in action.

[Like when she straight up murders a guy and hacks the whole castle.]

... like that?

[Shiro that's... a noodle? A spaghetti noodle?]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I would, actually, like to see that. As long as she's not kicking my ass.

[He sort of...waits. For more.]

...Okay? Good start. Keep going. You made a line.

[shiro2hero]

Without her... pretty sure we'd have all been captured. Or worse. She took on a monster three times her size. And won.

[He's still so proud of her.]

Okay, hold... on.

[Is he. Drawing. A mustache.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Are you...Are you trying to make me less scared of her? Because this is doing the exact opposite.

...I...

[He tilts his head.]

What am I looking at?

[shiro2hero]

I'm trying to talk her up. Because she'd weld my door shut if I didn't.

[He grins.]

[And then stops, looking down.]

What, you can't...? You can't tell?

It's Coran's mustache.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Oh shed never do that to you. Geez, she loves you like a father. Or a really boring older brother. I've seen the way she looks up to you.

[He turns his head the other way.]

...Oh. Oh! Yeah, I see it! How the ends of it kind of curl up?

It's a bit thicker though. How about if we...

[Darin reaches over and quickly adds a few lines to make the mustache a little thicker and more glamorous.]

There we go. We can call it "Coran's Pride."

[shiro2hero]

She... what? No, she's just -- are you serious?

[He's not. Totally sure how to take that. Not offended, to be sure. But older brother... That hits somewhere deep.]

Yeah, the little twirl his does.

[He just holds the tablet out -- please, take it from him, he's just making noodles here.]

Hah -- yeah. I like the sound of that one.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

You can't tell me you haven't seen it.

You're way more important to her than just being a leader, Shiro.

[Darin takes the tablet and saves the new constellation into its data.]

I have a knack for naming things. One day, I want to forge things worthy of names.

[shiro2hero]

[... way more important to her ... ]

[He suddenly wishes he hadn't heard that. Because it puts the new information he has in an awful light, now. More than before. He'd probably known it before. But this makes it impossible to ignore.]

Yeah. I... guess I haven't.

[Haven't wanted to, more like.]

You could always start now. We've got time.