riverview | Video Open | un: blacklion

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Video Open | un: blacklion

[The video opens with a rather hesitant looking Shiro. There's really nothing behind him as of the moment, but he does glance over at something almost right as the video kicks on]

So... it seems this place just keeps getting weirder. It seems we had some recent arrivals from our world and well... it's better to show you.

[He turned back to whatever he had been looking at]

Come here. You can come here.

[Faintly in the background there was the sound of metal moving off screen then something walked into view of the camera so others could see it. It was quite clearly a black robot lion with glowing yellow eyes, several panels glowing blue, and red wing like protrusions on its back. It's was larger than a normal lion. It walked over and sat down next to Shiro, leaning in as though trying to figure out what he was holding]

This is the Black Lion of Voltron. However, its usually not this... small.

[Yes, he is calling a robot that's larger than a normal lion small]

I'm usually shorter than Black's foot. Let me see it.

[This he says to the lion, which does raise one leg to let Shiro have its foot, but it basically drops all the weight into his hand which makes him flinch]

You are still made of metal and heavy.

[Someone might be able to faintly hear the snickering in the background, but then the next thing that happens is that Keith suddenly fell into the frame of the camera as though shoved by something, a vague red blur before it vanished. Shiro jumped when this happened and the Black Lion got up heading off camera again only to return a moment later carrying a smaller red lion by the "scruff" of the neck as Keith sat up. Shiro just put his chin in his free hand watching as Black carried Red off before he remembered this was still rolling and turned back]

They don't know their own strength.

[ooc: Meet your new neighbors, two of the lions from Voltron! Black is about the size of large liger and Red is the size of a small lion. They are... slightly more active than normal, but will probably be around their specific paladin for the most part.

Either Keith or Shiro is available to answer. If you have a preference or if your character is pinging a specific person, just let us know. It can even be both if you'd like! If no preference, random response.

The log where they arrive is still ongoing]

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[Red roared, which echoed really loudly under the garage, and started off towards the door where Hana's mech was standing.]

Hey, hang on!

[The Lion turned back.]

You going without me?

[Red tilted her head for a moment, and then walked back to him.]

Let's just try it, okay? No barrel rolls, though. I need to hang on.

[She rumbled a little as he climbed on. He held on to the edge of the red armor over her shoulders, and then settled as best he could in the middle of her back. She was cautious with him there, not wanting him to fall off. She made her way outside to meet Hana.]

[ Hana watched the exchange between the Red Lion and her paladin from the (dis)comfort of her mech, and she couldn't help but laugh at the sight. While this was all new to her, it was amusing and nowhere near as challenging as for Keith, who's used to riding within the cockpit of a craft and not... on its back. She was feeling fairly confident about the race, knowing that. She'd just have to time her boosters and coast efficiently. They'd probably have to get out to the abandoned city to race unless they wanted to get pulled over in the Quarantine proper...

When Keith and Red made their way over, she had a map pulled up on her screen, which was projected holographically outside of her windshield. ]

I'm thinking we get out to the city ruins to have a go at this. Unless you wanna test the law enforcement?

Not really. I only just got Red. I'm not about to risk having her impounded like a car.

[The Lion growled at that. Nope. She was definitely not a mere car, thank you very much. Good luck keeping her in impound if it ever happened.]

Take it easy going out there. We've only done this once before.

[Keith held on to the edge of the red shoulder armor, taking care not to get his fingers pinched when the Lion moved her head and forelegs.]

It might not be a bad idea to figure out a harness or something for this in the future.

[He looked over at Hana.]

I haven't been around the ruins much, yet. You've got a particular place in mind?

[ Hana took her hands off her controls just to shrug. This robotic but sentient mind-linked Lion thing was new to everyone, okay? Who knew what could happen.

So she waited patiently for Keith and Red to get ready, still looking over the map, and then she moved her hands, making the map zoom into the river that flowed through the center of the Quarantine and then out into the abandoned city. ]

I'm thinking we race along the river. Less chances of someone making a wrong turn and getting lost that way!

[Heck... it was still new to Keith. There was still a lot he didn't really know about his Lion.

He pictured the river in his head with what he knew of it and remembered from the various patrol maps they used for the Perimeter Guard, and then nodded.]

Alright. Sounds perfect.

[Okay... so riding on Red was definitely not the most comfortable thing, and he was really starting to wish he had a better way to access her systems, like maps, sensors, communications... He had a feeling the best way for this to happen going forward was going to have to be with his armor and figuring out a way to link up her data feeds to the helmet visor's display.

But that was for later. For now, he had a race to win.]

Come on, Red. Let's do this.

[He patted her neck a little as he said it, and the Lion roared. She only took a few running steps to start their trek to the river before she kicked in the boosters on her hindlegs to fly there. It was a smoother ride for Keith that way, anyway. Less bouncing.]

[ The race technically wouldn't start until they got past the first wall, but Hana couldn't help but feel a little annoyed when Red and Keith took off without her. So she hit her boosters, accelerating in hopes of catching up and not losing the race before it even began - but making sure not to go too fast and trigger any speed traps. She was a little bit behind but she didn't want to burn all her boost now; so she stayed on Keith and Red's... tail.

When they would finally pass through the first wall encompassing the inhabitable section of the city, Hana would decelerate and call out, ]

Not bad for a warm-up!

I had to pull her back a bit so we didn't get into trouble getting out here. She's the fastest of the five Lions, so she likes it when she gets the chance to stretch her legs like that.

[He shrugged.]

This is harder, though, because she's got more control over her own actions. I can't directly control her speed or handling.

[Red tilted her head a little, her tail flicking slightly. Keith looked at her with a small frown.]

Yeah, well. You can't just go running around on your own around here, okay? Just because you suddenly have the ability to doesn't mean you can just do it. [That got a small grumble.] Hey... It'll be okay. You'll see. In the meantime, we'll figure this out. Alright?

[He shrugged at Hana.]

It's going to be interesting.

[ Her head was tilted to one side as she regarded him from her cockpit; she definitely could imagine how challenging it could be, piloting a craft that didn't have any controls except for your own mental discipline. ]

Maybe someone could engineer controls for them or something. Don't know how that would work or where you would put them, though.

[ Arms and hands still on the controls, she shrugged. So the mech's arms spread out and almost looked like a shrug, too. ]

Ready to do this?

I'm not sure if she'd let just anyone do modifications like that. She can be pretty particular sometimes.

[Keith just shrugged a little.]

I'm ready when you are.

[He knew the initial start was going to be rough again, but, once they got airborne, it should be okay and smooth out a lot. He hunkered down a bit to hold on better and reduce drag.]

You want to count it down?

[ She just nodded at him and gave him a thumbs up, but rather than do a countdown herself, she flashes a holographic countdown on the screen of her mecha, with an automated computer voice calling the countdown out for them—

3... 2... 1... START

with a loud beep at the end of it. As soon as that happened, Hana leaned forward, pushing her weight into the controls as she hit the boosters to give her a burst of speed right at the very start. ]

[Keith didn't have to tell Red to go. She went on her own. Good thing he'd been prepared for it. There were a few awkward bounces as she bounded forward, and Keith had to get used to the idea of being on her back instead of in her head, but once she launched herself into the air with the jets on her rear legs, they were airborne, and it was smooth riding from there.

Though, as he thought about it, he loved adrenaline as much as the next thrillseeker, but he was definitely going to need some sort of riding harness to pull this off on a regular basis... Clinging to the back of the fastest Voltron Lion as she sped through the air probably wasn't the smartest thing to be doing.]

[ Hana, meanwhile, mostly had her boosters to rely on. So she had to rely on using her boosters at perfectly timed moments due to the heat output and she had to rely on aerodynamics. She may have had a better start, but as soon as Red and Keith leapt and went airborne, they gained up on her - and fast.

Shit, she might actually lose this race.

Hana hit her boosters again as soon as she was able. Maybe there was something in the environment that she could use to jump off of to give her an extra push... like a bit of a bunny hop. ]

[Even with the rockets and the ability to be airborne for long periods of time, Red did actually do a few touchdowns and kickoffs along the way as well. They weren't as often as Hana, but switching from flight to run and back again was something they were also used to doing when it came to traveling. Keith did try to get her not to do it quite as much because... damn... that was uncomfortable and he was definitely going to feel that later.

The route along the river was pretty flat, but they were outside of the populated area, giving them trees, rocks, and other things from the forest to work with as push off points. Red moved like a massive cat when she was on the ground, so jumping between obstacles was something easy for her to pull off, even if it wasn't all that easy for Keith to hold on while she did it. He held her back a few times when he felt like he was going to lose his grip, but let her go full-out when she was gliding with her rocket boosters.]

[ RIP Keith's legs

Hana had to focus; as impressive and exciting watching a sentient metal lion zip through the jungle probably was, she wasn't about to lose because of missing a beat and mistiming her boosts. She tried her best to keep up with them, though she could feel that she was lagging a few beats. Her ability to accelerate and sustain speed didn't seem to be on par with Red's, and in the back of her mind she made a note to herself to ask Cisco if he could buff her speed somehow.

For now, she took a cue from Red, using rocks and low-hanging branches to try and jump off of and act almost like a secondary booster when her actual ones were on cooldown. Hana wasn't used to moving in her mech in such a way, though, so she started to lag more noticeably. ]

Damn it—!

[RIP indeed...

They were nearing in on the finish, and Keith gave Red's shoulder a few pats, just above the circular joint on the red armor plating. This would be about timing. If she pushed off too early, they'd lose speed and touch down before the end. If they pushed off too late, they wouldn't recover speed fast enough. Red understood what he was looking for over their bond. She offered up a suggestion for the next push off point, and Keith considered it for all of maybe three seconds.]

Do it.

[Red roared and set her sights on that point. Keith tightened his grip and hunched down low, close to the Lion's neck. She hit her mark, and pushed off one last time, kicking full power to her leg boosters. If they worked it out right, then she'd hit her peak speed just before crossing the finish.]

[ Hana's eyes went wide when the lion roared and then sped all the way through the rest of their race and to their finishing line - where the river opened up just before the waterfalls and the delta. ]

No way...!

[ Yeah, there was no way she was going to close the gap and win, now. Damn it. She absolutely hates losing and she's going to be mad at herself for now doing better, but at the same time—

losing to a sentient alien robot lion that had a mental link to its pilot seemed fair...

Once Hana crossed the finish, she found a spot along the riverbank on the delta to touch down. ]

[Red ambled over to meet Hana as she landed, and Keith looked honestly happy for once. He was laughing a little, even, as he congratulated the Lion, his arms wrapped around its neck from behind where he was still sitting. He sat up once Red stopped moving and then eased himself off. Yup... gonna feel that later. But it was worth it, really. It had been one heck of a rush.

He stretched the kinks out with a grin and a content sigh.]

Man... that was so cool! It was like a whole new level of flying with Red. I mean, being the cockpit is pretty awesome, too, but wow. It was like a mix of piloting Red and riding the hoverspeeder I have at home.

[Look, Hana! Keith was excited and happy!]

[ The mech seemed to crouch down a bit, bending at the joints of its legs as the hatch at its back opened so Hana could slip down and out of it. She heaved a big, heavy sigh once she was standing on solid ground again, and immediately she folded her arms, a little miffed at herself for having lost. She hadn't lost anything in so long that it was really annoying—

but when she turned to face Keith he was - happy?

Smiling, even. She blinked a few times at the unfamiliar sight. That... was new. And he sounded genuinely excited about things that it actually felt refreshing. ]

Whoa... [ Now she had to grin a bit. ] I didn't know you could get excited about things. You should smile more, Keith! It's cute!

[Her comment caught him off guard and he looked at her, wide-eyed.]

What do you mean?

[Oh... that... well... Keith looked down at Red, his face turning just ever so slightly pink.]

I uh... Well, I do... when I have a good reason.

[Why would get excited or happy about something that wasn't exciting or didn't make him happy?]

[ She had to resist the urge to laugh about how he reacted - it was part of why she'd said it, anyway, but the payoff was great. The point though, was that he needed to let himself be happy more. So often she saw him with a scowl on his face that she wondered if he ever had fun. And apparently - he did! ]

I'm gonna take your 'good reason' as getting to go on a massive joyride. [ And not that he specifically beat her in a race. Nope. ]

[Keith seemed to consider that for a moment and then offered up a sheepish and slightly lopsided smile in response.]

Yeah. It was definitely cool.

[Red purred, having clearly enjoyed it as well, and bumped her head against his hand. He patted her.]

Definitely going to have to figure something out to make it easier to hold on and handle the ride, though. It can get bumpy and jarring when she runs.

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Video Open | un: blacklion

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