Feeling My Way Through the Darkness (Intro Catch-All)

[heartofalioness]

Who: Princess Allura and YOU!
Where: Route 29, Cherrygrove City, and Four Island
When: Around October 10
Summary: In which the Pokémon world gets a new Space Elf Lion Princess (again) and settles in... while getting a crash course in backpacking.
Rating: PG-13 for cussing and really nasty Voltron elements... and apparently Pidge and Lance being TOO MARRIED. (Season 6-8 spoilers for Voltron: Legendary Defender in some threads)


A. Guided By a Beating Heart (Network, Video)

[Well... waking up in the strange house alone had been unnerving, to say the least, especially with the woman blithely claiming to be Allura's mother... Too many fresh wounds involving her own parents, or too-cheery simulacra of parents... But at least this almost-mother wasn't trying to make her stay, or drive a spaceship into a supernova. In fact, it was almost a relief to be shoved out the door.

At the very least she should check this network, see how much of this is a dream or illusion, how much a hostage situation. She means to start composing a text message (at least she can make out the keyboard, thank goodness for the PokéGear's translator function), when a tiny white nose presses a different button, and the first thing people might see is an intense close-up of a white Vulpix face before humanoid hands start to pull the body away from the camera.]

Ah ah ah, little one, that isn't--

[The gentle but firm correction freezes when oh. ... The little blinking is on... complete with a camera preview...]

... Ahem! [This is fine, she can salvage this, she's not nervous you're nervous!] Greetings. I am Allura, Paladin of the Blue Lion. [She thinks half a tick later that maybe she should have kept that under wraps in case this whole situation had something to do with the Galra, but... it seems peaceful here. Besides, after the string of Coalition shows, it'd be hard to keep her identity a secret.] I seem to have arrived on this planet rather unexpectedly. The... gracious woman in the house I found myself in... was able to provide some instructions and supplies, but any further assistance- especially in terms of the sociology and technology levels of this planet- would be much appreciated.


B. I Can't Tell Where the Journey Will End (Action, Cherrygrove City)

[Of course, sleeping outside on cold, hard ground for three nights straight with only a nylon bag and Coressa's fluff for comfort was draining on her. Even with everything she's lost, at least in the Castle of Lions she still has the luxury of sleeping in her own bed, with perfectly comfortable bedding and a mountain of pillows... and she's missed having the mice to sleep on the pillow next to her, even with Coressa's company. So you might find a tall young woman with bags under her eyes and a very, very messy mop of moon white curls looking at the entrance spa with envy.]

No, no, no... I have no idea how long it will be before I find a way home, I need to manage my resources wisely. ... Even if it has been ten thousand years since I've had a proper massage...

[And that crick in her neck could definitely use one... Still, she's suffered worse, she can endure this much.]


C. But I Know Where to Start (Attack on Voltron House)

[The ride from Cherrygrove to Four Island had been interesting... especially once Allura stopped panicking that there was no way this three-foot-seven cloud bird could possibly hold the weight of two fully-grown Altean women together. It took a full ten minutes before she reached that point, and even once they reached solid ground, Allura had to pry herself away from Romelle and her Altaria. (Maybe it was a good thing her super strength was taken away...)

But now she’s on solid sand and... actually, this beach is rather pretty. The shore nestled in on all sides with cliffs while the sea and sky stretched on and on in sapphire and turquoise. ... The lack of any of Altea’s stealth predators or rarely-surfacing sea monsters helped with the view, although she’s sure this place has its own odd fauna.

And the house... it’s still so odd to think of her friends being in this world long enough to have a residence, not just shelter. But it looks safe and peaceful, even quaint, and at least large enough to hold her without being too crowded. It helps that she and Coressa have been traveling light.]

So... this is our house?

[Come welcome your old-new housemate, guys.]


D. So Wake Me Up When It's All Over (Wildcard)

[[Got something in mind not listed in the prompts? Hit me up on my OOC Intro or on Plurk at LoneWolfPrincess!]]

Comments

[pidge_out]

[She just nods, idly reaching up to tug at a tangled tuft of hair.] Yeah, that about sums it up. It really makes you put heavy emphasis on the saying "no time like the present."

What's the last thing you remember from back home?

[heartofalioness]

A little after the battle of Naxzela. Lotor had saved the day and offered his "alliance," were were in the middle of finalizing his custody, I might or might not have gone to bed and... [She gestures to the air around them.] Then I wake up in a strange house with a woman calling herself my mother shooing me out the door like I'm late for tutoring.

[pidge_out]

Some of us are a little ahead of you, then.

[Allura may or may not have noticed Pidge frown a little at the mention of Lotor, but the moment is brief. Other than that she's definitely trying to keep up a good poker face.]

The time anomaly we're experiencing here makes it so that it wouldn't be a problem if you wanted to know more about, you know, the future ahead of you. But I think it's totally understandable if you don't. Your call.

1/2

[heartofalioness]

[Oh don't worry, Pidge... she frowned a bit too talking about Lotor...]

I've heard some bits and pieces... [A soft sigh.] Mostly regarding the colony.

[And Lotor's involvement... Coressa growls a bit too, not liking at all how much talking about this Lotor whatever made her trainer upset.]

2/2

[heartofalioness]

[She offers a smile.]

Perhaps later. Right now I'm much more interested in hearing about what's happened in this world.

[pidge_out]

[That brings the frown back, but this time there's some sympathy in there, too. And she'd let it linger for a little while longer, except Allura seems eager to put it to the side for now. So Pidge shakes it off as well with a little exhale, reorienting her focus to be on their current situation and not on a past one.]

We can do that. I don't know what else Shiro's told you so far about this place and about Pokémon stuff, but I can help with anything else you wanna know.

[Aaaand Pidge is crossing her fingers that this doesn't circle back into Gossip territory.]

[heartofalioness]

[Hahaha, oh don't worry, Pidge, it will. Give her time.]

I think getting a layout of the house would be a good start, if you don't mind. Shiro said I could stay here?

[And frankly, she's had enough nights in just a sleeping bag already, which Coressa the Vulpix barks at in agreement.]

[pidge_out]

Yeah, of course you can stay here! Follow me, I'll show you around.

[This seems to make Pidge perk up immensely, and she quickly turns to start leading her into the house. Of course before they can even make it more than three feet past the front door, a little Rowlet comes swooping into their faces and trilling way too excitedly, feathers puffed up and making him look even rounder. In a clearly practiced motion Pidge plucks him out of the air and pulls him away from Allura, holding him tight in her arms until he calms down.]

First things first, I guess. Allura, this is Rover, my Rowlet. [He trills on cue, chest puffing up even more and flapping his one free wing.] He may seem aggressive, but he's excited to see you.

[heartofalioness]

Ack! [She does startle back a step or two, and Coressa steps in front of her easily (apparently the protective instincts are strong with this one), but she calms down just as quickly. And honestly... dapper owl is ADORABLE.]

Rover? [Like the Galra drone. Hopefully this one gets along better with Lance than the last Rover.] It's nice to meet you too.

[pidge_out]

[Pidge nods with a grin, finally loosening her hold on him now that he's calmed down some. He stays there though, content with being held and rubbing his beak into the back of his trainer's hand. Rover didn't even really flinch at Coressa's protective stance, all too familiar with the desire that fueled it. He just kind of trills at the other Pokémon in greeting. Nice to meet you, too!]

A lot of us keep our Pokémon out of their PokéBalls here at the house, so you'll be meeting a bunch of them really soon. I guess for most locals it's more normal to have them stay in even at home, but I don't think any of us really liked that idea much.

[With that Pidge returns to the task of showing off the house, Rover still being carried along for the ride. She gestures toward each room as she introduces them, just idle waves of her hand. It's all pretty normal by Earth standards and obviously nowhere near the scale or grandness of the Castle of Lions.] Over here's the living room. The cats like to hang out in there a lot when we watch TV. Kitchen's that way, nothing too fancy, just food. Uhhh, there's technically a dining room over there, but most of us tend to eat in the kitchen or in front of the TV. Bedrooms are all upstairs - we'll get up there in a minute.

[heartofalioness]

[Allura nods at that... it makes sense too, and really, Allura had been keeping Coressa out of her Pokeball since it seemed a bit... well, odd, to keep a creature like that.]

Really? Why not the dining room?

[.... How much of a disaster zone is the alleged dining room?]

[pidge_out]

[Pidge shrugs.]

No real reason. Sometimes we just get caught up talking and start eating in the kitchen, or we wanna eat while watching something on TV. There also aren't usually a lot of us eating at the same time, so I guess that's part of it.

[heartofalioness]

Hm... that does make some sense.

[After all, with how busy Team Voltron was in their reality, unless there was a team or Coalition meeting over a meal, or sometimes during breaks in shows, it was still rare for them to eat together at the same time, even as they had more of a luxury to do so as their successes secured small increments of stability. (Although Hunk tried to make eating something close to regular, given how many of them tended to be workaholics.)

Still... she can't help but smile.]

At least we won't have to worry about alarms going off mid-meal.

[pidge_out]

[That gets Pidge to grin a little. It's hard to forget the blaring alarms of the Castle Ship, no matter how long it's been since she'd last set foot on it.] Or while being in the bathroom. Or the middle of the night cycle.

The peace and quiet of this place can take some getting used to, though. It took a while for me to really stop being paranoid that the Galra were going to show up out of nowhere and attack. This place is in an entirely different universe and runs on totally different rules. It's safe, but... still weird in its own way.

[Rover seems to object to that comment and he makes it known by puffing up and squawking. How very dare! Pidge just pats him consolingly on the head, still smiling.] No offense, buddy.

[heartofalioness]

[Okay, Allura really can't help giggling at poor Rover's huffing.]

It's fine, Rover... Honestly, I think the fauna everywhere are the least strange feature of this planet. It's like a much milder version of Altea, save for back then we would train to fend off creatures ourselves.

[... Yeah, the first few birds encounters were interesting. Most of them realized this trainer was crazy enough to try fighting them herself and took off.]

[pidge_out]

[Pidge's smile grows a little at that, giving Rover one last pat before just laying her hand on his head.]

I saw the holos of some of your Altean fauna. They were definitely- [Scarier.] -more intense than most of the Pokémon here.

[heartofalioness]

[A soft chuckle.]

Indeed. The safety is for younger Altean children. Once they had progressed enough in their self-defense training, it would be turned off so they could also practice maintaining composure in dangerous situations.

[pidge_out]

[That has Pidge pausing, blinking slowly at Allura while this processes.]

...You know, I think "intense" might not be a strong enough word for some aspects of Altean culture.

[You're kind of terrifying, is what it is, really. But even Pidge isn't about to say that out loud to the princess's face.]

[heartofalioness]

[LOOK, she hadn't been kidding when she said an Altean child could beat that training program! Maybe stretching it just a tad for drill sergeant purposes, but not by much.]

You aren't wrong. Altea was a very harsh environment. There's a reason we developed particle barriers before flight.

[But then her smile grows nostalgic.]

Still... I like to think it brought out the best in us. We couldn't overcome challenge by strength alone, so it sharpened our minds and ability to learn from past experiences, and every member of the group was vital for survival, so it strengthened our ability to work together and sort out differences peacefully. And life became precious, for we knew how fragile it could be, so we learned to be kind.

[pidge_out]

[Pidge nods in understanding.] That does also kind of explain a lot of your other technological advances. Building to your peoples' needs.

[And then she chuckles a little, tucking some loose hair behind her ear.] You know, it's nice to hear you talk more about Altea. Back home we were always so busy and on alert, we only ever asked when it was something we needed to know.

[In retrospect, that seems unfair of them. The team knew they could trust each other implicitly, knew what kind of people they all were, their strengths and weaknesses. But times where they could just sit and talk like normal friends did were rare and far between. It was unfortunate, and now that Pidge has noticed it, she hopes it's something they can change.]

[heartofalioness]

[Oh... that... that actually makes her heart warm and smile soften. She and Pidge have never been particularly close outside of battle, especially since Arus. But hearing the other girl say that...]

Thank you, Pidge. That... actually means a lot to me. [A soft shake of her head.] Although I don't blame you. Not only are we busy, but... at the start, everything was so fresh, and I had just appointed myself as your commanding officer after recruiting you for this conflict. To be honest, it took some time for me to think I could have those interactions with you all.

[pidge_out]

Yeah, I can see that now. [She smiles a little, sheepish, and she has to give Rover a little scritch on the head just for want of something to do with her hands.]

I, uh. I've never been the most social on the team, so it was kind of hard for me, too. In a different way, obviously. [Less about being uncertain of her place, and more about... just being a little socially inept.] I'm trying - I've been trying to do better, but there's still... a lot of stuff I miss. So- So you can tell me if I mess something up or say something wrong, okay?

[And Pidge sincerely means that. She and the princess in particular have had fewer opportunities to bond the way they probably should, and being here in Pokémon world for so long has made Pidge particularly eager to strengthen her friendships. The time everyone spends together here is always unpredictable; it's one of the main reasons she decided that eloping with Lance first was a safer bet than to keep waiting until the big ceremony.]

[heartofalioness]

[Awww... she makes her way over to Pidge's side, resting a hand on the... woman's shoulder. (It's weird to think of Pidge as technically older than her now, even though she supposes it would've happened eventually.)]

It really is all right, Pidge. As I said, I'm not the most well-versed at this either. The fact that we have the chance now means the world to me.

[pidge_out]

[The hand on her shoulder draws Pidge's eyes up to meet Allura's. It's a relief to hear Allura say that, and she can probably feel a bit of tension leave Pidge's shoulders as she smiles. Pidge can never help but worry when one of her teammates leave and come back; the return is always a little bit like meeting each other for the first time. But Allura being a reassuring presence stays the same every time. A universal constant in a sea of variables.]

Yeah. Me too.

[At this point Rover chimes in with a pleased toot-toot - Me too! - and it makes Pidge laugh a little. She shakes her head a little, lets out a breath, and refocuses herself.]

Come on. I'll show you upstairs and you can pick out your room.

[heartofalioness]

[And follow upstairs she shall, Coressa hopping daintily up the stairs at their heels.]

Speaking of learning of other cultures...?

[... Naaaaah surely there's no hilt in that hanging sentence.]