Slow me down

[quintessent]

Who: Allura (quintessent) & Various
What: Nov/Dec Catchall + Quests!
When: November/December. After Dranbu
Where: Various
Warning(s): N/A



Starters to come in comments!

Comments

LANCE. AGAIN. Backdated to after the fight with Takasugi.

[quintessent]

[It’s been a long time since she’s been here. Yversai’s attack and everything else that happened, Allura’s not even sure if her old apartment would still be standing, but it’s in a moment of desperation that she finds herself back on the familiar doorstep. Bloodied and wounded in both spirit and body, it was the first place she could think of after her fight with Takasugi and her feet took her there almost numbly. She couldn’t return home, not like this, and very suddenly the dark streets felt dangerous in a way they never did before.

As she slumps onto the floor near the door, shaking hands reach for her phone, bloodied prints mar the screen as she presses her thumb into a familiar friendly face.]

Lance.

[Her voice immediately gives herself away, shaky and breathless and working to keep it together. She takes a trembling breath.]

Something happened. I am safe but I need- [Another steadying breath.] Can you come to Olympia?

[particlebarrier]

[His face brightens when he sees that it's Allura that's calling him. It'd be a slight exaggeration to call it a reflex, but it's not un-apt. Lance likes to think that Allura can call him for just about anything, but his mind is definitely leaning heavily on the "maybe she found something she's excited about and couldn't wait to tell me" side of things than anything else.

The sweet summer child is about to get quite the rude awakening and the playful hello~ handsomest paladin speaking dies on his tongue the second he hears her voice.]

Allura?

[He never imagined hearing her say his name could fill him with such dread, but he clutches the phone, the sound f his chair hitting the floor as he shoots up to his feet audible on her end.]

I'm coming. Right now. [And he's already yanked his door open, unthinking and mind racing with concern.] What happened? What do you need? Is anyone else with you?

[He should stop bombarding her with questions, slow it down. Take several deep breaths of his own.]

[quintessent]

[She feels bad about the worry that she can hear so plainly in his voice, but there’s also an incredible sense of relief when she hears his voice, knowing that he would be there as soon as possible. Because as strong and she considered herself, she really didn’t want to be alone right now.

There’s the sound of her taking a breath, trying to get her thoughts back on track. Maybe Lance thinks his questions are too much but it helps ground her to the moment. Simple answers for simple questions were easier than dealing with the emotional baggage of what just happened.]

I was wounded in a fight. They aren’t serious, but in need of first aid. I am by myself, and I do not believe I was followed.

[She gives him the directions to her old apartment in Olympia. All with a very carefully measured voice. Tense, but controlled, as if reading off a status report. Urgently,]

Please be careful. The man who I engaged with was posing as an Olympian soldier. To what end, I do not know, but he was willing to take a life.

[The last word is fragile around the edges and she closes her eyes against the vision of the young boy whose life was cut short.]

[particlebarrier]

[The measured tone is helpful in providing some degree of focus, but it's also the catalyst for further concern. There's a lot to take in and process here, and not all of it's making sense.[

Bring a first aid kit, got it. Uh... where'd we put it -- oh.

[There's a slight echo in the background as Lance rummages through their medical supplies in the bathroom.]

Wait. Someone dressed up as an Olympian soldier and just randomly attacked you??

[Maybe that's a question that can wait to be answered in person, but the thought that this might've been an attempt on Allura's life specifically isn't something he can just let sit without clarification either.]

[quintessent]

[Talking to Lance is helping. It always did. Helping ground her from getting too caught up in her own thoughts and memories. She listens to him rummage in the background, making a mental image of where he was in their house. Maybe she should have called him with the video — but there's a lot of blood on her end, and she doesn't want him to freak out.

She shakes her head, even if he can't see it,]

I wasn't a target. He... he attacked a civilian. [There's the sound of her working around her words,] I tried to stop him, but I couldn't-

[She swallows,]

He killed someone, Lance. And I couldn't do anything to stop it.