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(no subject)

Who: Max Mayfield + You??
When: Sunday
Where: Here there and everywhere.
What: Arriving at the station and trying to figure out what's going on.
Warnings: Mentions of fighting and domestic violence. Spoilers for most of season two of Stranger Things!

[Her skateboard is clutched tightly in her arms as she makes her way down the various halls of the station. She has approximately 110 million questions burning in her mind, but she also doesn't know who to corner and demand answers from. As far as she understood, literally everyone got here the same way, which means no one's here because they chose to be.

She's still shaken up from the way Billy had charged into the Byers' house, first grabbing Lucas and then proceeding to beat the hell out of Steve as she'd stood by, paralyzed with fear. Way to go, Max, she thinks. It isn't the first time she's seen Billy in a rage like that, and it's never any less terrifying. He's so full of hate, of anger.

Her mind alternates between Hawkins and this new, foreign place as she wanders somewhat aimlessly, taking in the new scenery and thinking to herself that she's going to have to draw a map to figure out where everything is.

Because apparently there's no way back, and she's not sure how she feels about that.]

[Open to Roommates]

[In her wandering, she actually manages to find an empty room. With a bed. She sets her skateboard down carefully and then falls back onto it, closing her eyes and exhaling slowly. She's seconds away from passing out when she hears a weird noise. Opening one eye she turns her head in the direction the noise had come from. Definitely the wall.

Max sits up a little, eyebrows furrowing until she sees something bigger than a mouse scurry across the floor. Not a rat - it's - actually she's not sure what it is, but she quickly gets out of bed anyway. She hears another noise, this time from the adjoining common room, and she tenses, then makes her way out of the room, freezing when she sees another person standing there, looking back at her.]

Uh, hey.

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It's not usually this dark down this way -- promise.

[It comes out lighthearted enough, as he approaches. The closer he gets, the less familiar she looks. Sure, he doesn't know everyone on this station, but kids... stick out more than adults do.]

[So he holds out his hand -- his left hand. The right one still glows, illuminating the immediate area around them.]

New here? Or ... did I forget a face?

[He's older than she is. Definitely not a teenager. How much not a teenager though, she's not sure. He seems friendly, but life has taught her to be so, so cautious. She glances at his right hand, which is glowing. Whoa.

She eyes the hand he's holding out and presses her lips together, reaching out and giving him a firm handshake.]

Just got here.

[Good thing the armor's on. Or the grey and white hair might be a game changer. He nods to her, shaking her hand right back -- nothing over the top. No squeezing or posturing. Just a handshake.]

Sorry you had to turn up for lights out.

[A slight attempt at bad humor.]

I'm Shiro. You?

[She arches her eyebrows at the joke, giving him a really? look.]

I'm Max.

So this isn't normal for this place? The flickering lights?

[His answer to the look is a fairly sheepish shrug. It wasn't that bad... was it?]

No, it's not. Then again, this station's over three hundred years old.

This could just be one more random malfunction.

[It wasn't. She's just an annoying thirteen year old.]

Holy shit -- three hundred?

[He nods. It's okay, he's met worse seventeen year olds.]

Three hundred. Maybe more.

[This is crazy. She's on a space station that's older than the country she's from. Excuse her for a moment, her brain has momentarily short-circuited. She leans against the wall, looking dazed.]

Does anyone ever go back?

Whoa. Easy... Take a deep breath.

[Because he knows that look. He's seen it, he's been the one wearing it. He holds out a hand, in case she needs steadying.]

Yeah -- people do go back. But there's no good way to tell how or when. Or even who gets to.

[She does as he suggests and takes a deep breath, exhaling just as slowly. She is not the type of girl to freak out over things easily, but -- she feels like this could be an exception.]

What happens back home? I mean, do my friends think I just -- did I just vanish right in front of them? [Because they were in the middle of a crisis and wow, that would make things so much worse.]

There you go. Keep it up. Slow and steady.

[Keeping his voice steady, too. Don't worry, kiddo, no judgment here. None of this is easy to swallow.]

Time stops. I know that sounds crazy -- but I promise you, no one thinks you vanished. I've had friends come and go, and none of them said I was ever missing.

[She clutches onto her skateboard more tightly even at the reassurance that no one back home thinks she vanished into thin air. There's that, at least.]

What happens now? What do we do here?

[Because in one way yay adventure. In another...oh shit, now what?]

You just got here. So right now, all you need to worry about is getting as settled as you can. I know you probably don't want to stick around, but getting your feet under you is still important.

[He's been here long enough to figure that's probably the kind of sentiment most new arrivals had. Especially if they're coming from places where they had friends.]

We can find you somewhere to stay.

[She exhales slowly, leaning back against the wall as she looks up at Shiro.]

Yeah, I guess. [Maybe once the initial shock wears off she'll even wind up liking this place. Maybe.]

How do we do that?

You claim an empty bed, essentially.

[There's a bit of humor in the statement. They've tried to make this place more livable, sure. But... it is three centuries old.]

I think there's still some left up where my team is staying.

Your team?

[She looks at him curiously.]

Yeah. There's six of us here now. We're Paladins of Voltron.

[Yeah, he said that. Completely sincerely.]

And we're here to help.

[She's just going to stare for a moment. She knows what a Paladin is. But the rest...]

Voltron? [Is that a planet outside the Milkyway? she wonders.]

What's a team of Paladins do?

Yeah. It's... well. Ever heard of a robot?

[Because some people here haven't.]

For now, protect anyone we can while we're here.

[Her eyebrows shoot up.]

Yeah? I mean it's not a real thing where I'm from, but there are stories about robots.

So like a team of superheroes?

I guess you could put it that way.

Except the robots are the ones with the super powers.

[She wouldn't have guessed he was a robot. The glowing lantern hand thing signaled he was different, but...still. Robot isn't where her mind had gone.]

Cool. [She's a lot calmer now than she was when he'd first come across her.]

So what kind of super powers do you have? I mean, aside from the light thing. Which is neat, by the way.

[It... takes him a second to process the intention of her question. Since it's probably the first time anyone's asked him if he was a robot.]

[He blinks. And then shakes his head.]

Oh -- no. No, I'm human. Mostly.

[The arm isn't.] We pilot the robots.

Oh. Sorry. I guess I thought --

[Well, it doesn't matter. Awkward.]

I mean, you don't look like a robot, which is what kind of threw me, but then you started talking about robots, and I guess one assumption led to another.

Hey, it's okay. No harm done.

[Really, really no harm done. It would have been another thing if... she'd seen the arm, and made the assumption. That would sting.]

[This is wildly different.]

Don't worry. But no, all the robots we work with are ... pretty obviously made of metal.