princessences | [IC] Inbox @ deerington

[ There is a lot to unpack there, Lance. Allura blinks. ]

You...dug up Sodder? You have Sodder's remains? Where? Why?

[ The mice are, of course, more than happy to help him out with that, pulling the tape out with their little hands and looping it around to hold the cellophane in place. ]

[Lance goes to sit on the couch and start taking off the sling and the zip-up hoodie he had under his jacket since his blue shirt got torn to shreds. Now that his clothes are out of the way, his bandages and the gnarly bruising all around his chest, back and neck as well as several spots of red leaking through the white can be seen.

He'll have to change them again, and now that he's sitting here, supporting his arm on a cushion without the sling he's glad the mice decided to help cover them with the cellophane for him. No way could he do it alone. In his fatigue and with all that's happened in the swamp filling his head, he's also forgotten that Allura might be upset seeing his injuries on display.]

Apparently that's what we were there to do. And I think Rei might have the bones... or Nor- oh...

[He stops, looking distraught. For a little bit there he'd managed to forget what they'd had to do to get the bones. Now he's gotta tell Allura and he doesn't know how.]

Uh, you wanna sit down?

[ He looks worse off than she had imagined. She frowns, glancing down at her good hand. She should try to offer some sort of healing, shouldn't she? Except she's far from able to heal herself at this point, so what good would offering her quintessence do to others?

Two of the mice, Platt and Chulatt, follow Lance over to the couch and perch on the arm. Chuchule and Plachu watch Allura for her next move.

She's not sure what to do or what to think, which is not a place she likes to be. Not having the resources she needs to properly address the situation frustrates her even more when she's unable to actually help her friends. And what of Sodder?

Sitting down seems the easiest choice. ]

Yes...

[ She supposes she can make her way to the couch with some effort, but manages to take her place on the opposite end, remaining mice in tow. ]

Please, start from the beginning.

[Lance doesn't know if starting from the literal beginning is necessary, but he thinks about it for a second, then busies himself with securing the tape and plastic on himself while he launches into it.]

So, we got to Sodder's grave, dug it up, but there was this weird curse on it or something. You'd be poisoned if you got too close. [He was the lucky guy to figure that out, but he is not mentioning that part.] It turned out we had to feed someone's organ to this snake that was in the grave with the bones, and... North gave up her heart because she's got a replacement.

[He looks at Allura sadly.] She shut down.

[ A curse on a grave? She supposes that shouldn't be all that surprising considering the nature of this place. But the description of...offering a sacrifice--

North?

Allura brings her good hand to her mouth, eyes widening. ]

Oh no...

[ After she's already been through so much. Another person who Allura attacked. For North to give up her well-being--her life so willingly... ]

...Is--someone performing the procedure to put in her replacement?

[Lance nods, brow furrowed as he recalls what was happening at the grave, what was said and argued about and then the chaos of removing North's heart and feeding it to the snake. It all seems like a blur now. A haunting and stressful blur that'll be burned into his memory in vivid flashes for a while.]

Yeah, I think her boyfriend Connor's gonna handle it. [He finishes securing the plastic over his bandages and then looks at her a bit anxiously.] She'll come back though... right? I mean, I know people die and come back here but I haven't seen it before.

[ Conor--of course. Good. It...doesn't really alleviate the shock and horror of hearing of North's sacrifice, but that's still good. If she recalls, he's from her world. He would understand what to do.

But as horrified as she is, it's her job to settle Lance's nerves. He is the one who had to experience this first hand, after all, on top of everything else.

Allura nods. ]

Yes. People die and come back. I haven't witnessed it first hand myself, but I have spoken to someone who is studying it--the outcomes and the affects. I'm not sure of the mechanics, but if this place is a dream world of sorts, then...there should not be a reason we can't regenerate as many times as necessary, shouldn't it? We are not our corporeal selves, however real this feels.

[ In theory. A theory she will test when she's in better shape. ]

[Lance mulls that over for a moment with a troubled look on his face, and then shakes his head.]

Man, there's so many questions and I barely understand what we already know... like, what if there's a limit to how many times we can die and come back, and what if there's some hidden consequences we don't even know about yet.

[He rubs the back of his neck. At least North is going to come back and be okay, though. That's what's important right now. The rest feels too overwhelming to fully process right now.]

Anyway... that's everything that happened.

[ Allura nods again, this time even more solemnly. ]

It's something I've considered as well...which was also supposed to be the purpose of the studies, although there are clearly some ethical quandaries on just how one can find the answers to that.

[ Which she doubts she needs to elaborate on. ]

...I'm sorry, Lance. That must have been horrible to witness. And it feels as if you've only just arrived.

[Lance takes a moment to fully understand what she means by ethical quandaries. It should have occurred to him when she first mentioned it, but it's only hitting him now.]

Wait, you don't mean intentionally dying, do you? [Then he shakes his head.] And don't worry about me. It was North who had to go through that.

[She must have been terrified. Though he has no idea what death is like for an android.]

I do.

[ Which likely leads to some indication at what sort of conversations had been going on, but it shouldn't come as to much of a surprise at this point. ]

I worry for the both of you--to experience and to see it happen are not enviable positions to be in.

[He'd expected that answer in a way, but hearing it still has him going tense and very clearly not a fan of the idea. Shaking his head in refusal is just automatic.]

There's gotta be a better way than that. I-

[Plachu nudges his arm to get his attention and he looks down as the mice gesture to his shirtless and still filthy state pointedly.]

Oh, right. [He was going to shower, and he's just been sitting here looking like a total mess in front of her. He flushes and rubs at the back of his neck.] I should... y'know.

[He looks conflicted but it's not like they can't continue talking when he's out of the shower. Right?]

[ She certainly always hopes there is a better way, but Deerington has a good habit of crushing her hopes and preparations when she is relying on them the most. Allura is a practical person at the end of the day, but what dashes of optimism that kept driving her forward are becoming slowly diminished as time goes on. She doesn't need to shirk that on her friends.

The mice are good to them, as always, nudging members of the household along. Plachu may be the hardest to impress, but Allura still smiles lightly at their directing of Lance. ]

Of course. Leave your clothes outside the door and we'll put them in the washing machine.

[Lance nods, hesitating one more moment before he puts his sling back on over the plastic he's attached to himself and stands to head over to the bathroom. He really doesn't want to just leave the subject of intentionally dying undiscussed, but he's also certain that he only has a limited time before the adrenaline and pain meds fully wears off and he won't have it in him to shower.]

Don't go anywhere. I'll be real quick. [He says, pointing in her direction as he backs into the bathroom. He shuts the door, and then immediately pokes his head out a second later to squint at her and be sure she's still in that spot. Then he's gone again and the next time the door opens, it's to drop the rest of his clothes outside like she asked. Not long after that, the shower starts running.]

[ Allura watches his antics with some semblance of amusement, quiet though she's feeling. She does sit with her brows raised until he finally does as he's asked and leaves his soiled clothing outside. She nods to the mice then, who spring into action. Allura hobbles over and helps them gather up his clothes and just throw them together in the washing machine. Good enough, right?

By the time he's done, he'll find her back on the couch and a set of clothes (and a hoodie that is probably Shiro's) outside of the bathroom for him. ]

[He pokes his head out again not long after, realizing that in his haste he'd forgotten a change of clothes. And he's relieved to see that Allura had not.]

I- oh, hey thanks. [He grabs the clothes and disappears again. It takes him some time to change since he's a bit crippled, but he manages. When he comes out, he looks a lot better without all the swamp mess, even if Shiro's sweatshirts are big on him (they're big one everyone but Krolia probably).] Does Shiro just have an unlimited supply of these things?

[He jokes awkwardly as he comes back over to the couch, while adjusting the straps of his sling the way North had shown him in the swamp.]

[ The sound of the pipes calming down is her first indication that Lance is done, and it isn't long after until he reemerges. She offers a small smile as he returns, idly rubbing the top of Chuchule's head between her ears. ]

I think he's begun to invest in more of them. We can hardly be to blame that he happens to come in a size accessible to all of us.

[ Allura was the original sweatshirt thief, after all, although she had a very good reason for it. (At least she isn't like Keith who stretches out her cute leggings. Geesh.) ]

Are you feeling any better?

[He comes over to sit next to her on the couch, smiling soft and reassuring.]

Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry about me, really. It is sooo much better to get all the swamp off, though.

[He sticks his tongue out in a silent ‘yuck’ expression. Then his demeanor sobers to something a bit more serious.]

But… were you really serious before? About dying on purpose to learn more about it all.

[ She smiles faintly in response. ]

I would imagine so.

[ That smile fades, though, as she nods in response to his question. ]

Yes. It was deemed unethical immediately, of course.

[Lance can’t help but let out a bit of a breath of relief. Then he shakes his head.]

I get that it’d be good to know what might happen the more we die here, but… I don’t like the thought of you or anyone else I care about taking that risk when it might not even tell us something useful.

[ Allura offers a somewhat tired smile and shakes her head. ]

I have no plans as such. And I believe it's been made clear that doing so would be a terrible idea.

[ "Been made clear" definitely means "I already shamed Shiro about this". ]

Though it's as you said, it would be good to know. I believe we will have more opportunity to find out whether we want to or not.

[Lance smiles back, clearly relieved and encouraged.]

That's great. We can just figure it out another time... another way, even.

[ She gives a short nod. ]

That being said...I hope you will give yourself sufficient time to rest after your last escapade.

[ Don't make yourself fodder for this testing, Lance. ]

[Lance sighs and nods.]

Yeah, don't worry about that. I'm not crazy enough to go trudging through another swamp.

I know that you did it for a good reason.

[ Lance is generally only reckless when it comes to the safety of his teammates. ]

I'm hoping we can regroup before everyone ventures off again. But perhaps you should rest until then.

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