inbox | acata

[juniberries]

voice | video | chat

"Greetings, this is the inbox of Princess Allura. While I am grateful that you have reached out to me, I unfortunately cannot answer you directly at the moment. But if you leave a message and wait a tick, I will surely get back to you!"

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[juniberries]

[he doesn't have to hide a thing from her, and neither does she. there's been...a considerable distance between her and the rest of the team ever since arriving as part of the Circle, between what occurred at home and how things are here, but with Shiro there's always that ease of understanding.

but still. it's her nature to steel away her true feelings, to hide the fear and the hurt and put on a brave face. and where Shiro's voice is rough, hers is quiet, muted and straightforward. tired.]

Thank you, Shiro. I...truly, I appreciate your words.

[but, it's not like her to talk about herself. instead, turning to the matter at hand. clearly as a means of distraction.]

What is it that you learned?

[spaceforged]

[He closes his eyes. It's hardly a surprise Allura isn't talking about what happened. He gets it. There are experiences that barely leave the corridors of his mind. Times with the Qri. Moments in the cells where his world had narrowed down to day to day. Moments he thought he was going to lose them all.

Times in hospitals...

Even here there are demons he doesn't let out of the dark hole he stuffed them into. He shuts it all away as he's had to do for far too long.] I'd like it if you stayed closer to the rest of us. I know we all need our space but, we can support each other through this.

All of us.
[Even Lotor. For all his avoiding him to not cause further friction, he isn't so cruel as to leave him out right now. He had been fine with everyone spreading out. The Circle is large and he'd included the Circle itself in his pool of responsibility. His days are busy with preparing others, and gathering what facts he can or passing them on. But death as it always does has a way of tearing the veneer of safety away.

It reminded him of how fast people he loves can just be gone.]

Anyway...Whatever this creature is. Violet is tied to it in some way. It seems like she sent the distress signal herself. I'm not sure on that. All of that felt really off.

The creature itself had a nest. While one team went down to find out, [He falters his voice straining at the end. He takes a breath and keeps going.] Find out what happened to you.

Another team distracted and killed the creature. We think it was actively using its abilities to keep us from contacting one another and attacking those on the bridge.

My team's magic all got twisted into new abilities. [Here he pauses. It's not a strained silence. His voice comes out tentative like he's not sure where the ground is.] ...do you know what a dragon is?

[juniberries]

[it's frightening how uncertain she's been feeling lately. of her role when she neither a princess nor paladin, her powers stripped in place of something new and still so unfamiliar.

all of us he says, and she knows Shiro speaks the truth. that she does need to stay closer to the team, that they're always stronger together. but...]

Lance is gone, isn't he? [it's said with unfettered sadness in her tone.] He...he wasn't...it was not because of the ship, was it? As far as you know?

[it's difficult to think about, but easier to focus on another than her. especially when Lance is, for all intents and purposes, the one she feels closest to.

but she listens to what Shiro says, sitting down on the bed in her room, free hand resting against its headboard as she tries to process everything.]

I am familiar with such a creature. It is reptilian, is it not? [a pause] Another member of the circle transforms into one...I've seen it before. [she thinks to Morrigan, briefly.]

When my team went down, and was separated, our power changed too. But I had the abilities I had back in our universe, and I believe the others did as well.

[spaceforged]

Yes, they’re reptilian and yes, one of us turns into one. Her power shifted too. I became the dragon instead. Keith had a healing power. But there was a serious drawback to it. He felt the injuries of those around him and they pulled at him to help.

[It was slight torture. He’s seen the look on Keith’s face when someone was injured in the same room. He puts that aside.] So, to review. Each team experienced different effects. I can’t tell if that was our magic reacting to the creature’s or a side effect or directly done to throw us off.

[He knows she can’t see his face but he closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. It can’t be high frequency magic. He escaped the Qri. Those concepts didn’t apply? Or did they? He hears himself speak from far away his voice calm and level.]

Or it was the concentration of magic. When I was with the Coven we called it High frequency worlds. Worlds conductive to letting us have our own powers back. It has to do with how much magic a world naturally has.

[Magic. He is starting to chafe at how little they know. More than he already has anyway. He takes a breath. Focus. Being frustrated won’t help. His voice turns gentle again. Gentle and sad. He is used to losing people here but it never makes it any easier.]

And yes Lance is gone. I looked everywhere on the ship and here. I don’t think the ship was responsible. We lose people off and on. Astoria seems to struggle to hold a lot of us.