Summer Test Drive Meme

[thespaceopera]

THE SUMMER TEST DRIVE MEME
(Or Winter Test Drive for you Southern Hemisphere folks!)

Got someone you want to try out before you app? Well this is the post for it! Feel free to use anything that fits in the setting of Drift Fleet! Want to play bumper shuttles? Want to go wild in a med bay? Play around with the current plot? Have at it!

Threads from the Test-Drive may be made game "canon" but DO NOT count toward AC!

FOR NEW PLAYERS: You DO NOT NEED an invite to participate in the TEST DRIVE! If you decide to APP into the game, ONLY THEN will you need an invite from a current player!

Helpful Info for Ideas!:

June/July's Star System

May's Star System

Game Details

Test drives are posted SEASONALLY, so the next one will be in September!

Comments

OH NO I FORGOT SHE'S AHEAD OF HIM

[itsyagirl]

Lance, what-- [She can't help but laugh a little as he hugs her tight, sliding her fingers through her brother's hair. She's more affectionate when she's tipsy, unsurprisingly, and Lance looks like he needs her right now. If Veronica is anything, she's a big sister, and she'll defend her little brother to the end.]

I don't really know how we got here, but you should be resting! Why are you out of bed?

YUP plus the three year timeskip too...

[the_tailor]

I h-haven't... It's been so long...too long, hermana. Sometimes I w-wondered if I'd ever see you again.

[Yeah, he might be crying a little as he clings to her, because it really has been ages for him. Even knowing they were going to make their way back to Earth now, he had no idea what they'd be returning to.]

Why would I even be in bed? Especially now!

[itsyagirl]

[Is she the tipsy one, or is Lance? Veronica is honestly baffled, holding him because he obviously needs her, but trying to figure out what he's talking about.]

Lance, I saw you this morning. [Her voice is soothing, but confused, and with another element of worried on top of that. Had he injured his head too, and they'd missed it?] I brought you breakfast in bed, remember? Mama was there too, and Marco.

[the_tailor]

This...morning?

[He pulls away a little, wiping the tears from his eyes. Now he's just a lot more confused.]

I haven't seen any of you in years! I've been out in space!

[itsyagirl]

[Okay, this is weird. Veronica frowns in confusion.] Are you sure you didn't hit your head? You came back, don't you remember? Voltron helped us fight the Galra off after the invasion.

[Maybe her uniform makes a little more sense to Lance now. She's been promoted.]

[the_tailor]

I mean, it wouldn't be a week out in space back home without me hitting my head somehow in the middle of battle, but that's definitely not the case here.

[That last part, though... What. What.]

Invasion?! What do you mean, invasion?!?

[itsyagirl]

That doesn't surprise me. [Veronica huffs, then...frowns even more.]

How do you not remember? Sendak? Invaded Earth looking for the Lions? You took your sweet time showing up?

[the_tailor]

Sendak invaded Earth?!?!

[He's getting a lot of stares in the bar, but he doesn't care.]

When the quiznak did this happen?!

[itsyagirl]

You're kidding. [She's staring at him, worried and frowning, and promptly starts to check him over for a head wound.]

[the_tailor]

Veronica, I'm fine, I--

[He stops short in the midst of swatting her away. Because after all the time shenanagins in this place, he's realized what's going on.

And his heart seizes up for a moment.]

N-no... That... That really...happens?

[itsyagirl]

[Lance pushes her away, and she lets him for now, though she's still frowning and confused. Something seems to sink in on her younger brother's face, and Veronica tilts her head to the side slightly.]

...It...yeah. It does. [She's quiet for a moment, her voice softer now. There's even a touch of fear in her tone.] Lance, what's going on?

[the_tailor]

Sometimes, i-in this place... People from the same worlds can come from different times in their life.

[He stares down at the ground. This has to be a misunderstanding, some kind of bad dream. Maybe a vivid nightmare Veronica thought was real. Lance wants to tell himself all of this and more, but he knows that he can't.]

You must be from my future. ...We were too late.

[itsyagirl]

Hold...hold on. [She shakes her head slowly.]

What do you mean, different times? That's impossible. Well, I mean, unless...but that can't...

[Veronica shakes her head again.] Okay, so...you were a little late, but it turned out fine, hermanito. Promise. Everyone made it out safe.

[Well. Not everyone. Not by a long shot. But she doesn't want to tell him that.]

[the_tailor]

I probably shouldn't ask...but I have to know. How bad was it? Is everyone alright? Did we repel the attack? Is Earth going to be okay?

[How could they have let such a thing happen?]

[itsyagirl]

Earth is going to be fine. Better than fine, I think. With the technology that Commander Holt has brought, and all your friends? It's going to be good. Really good.

[There you go, Veronica, focus on the positive.]

But...can you explain the time thing to me again?

[the_tailor]

[The fact that Sendak even got to Earth is still chilling to the bone. But he knows Veronica wouldn't lie to him about something so important.

Eventually he slumps down into the chair at the table Veronica was sitting at, sighing.]

That, uh. People come here from different points in time. So like... The princess arrived from an earlier timepoint than when I arrived here. No one knows why it happens, it just does. So you're from my future, and I'm from your past.

[itsyagirl]

[Veronica is worried about him, startled by all this out of her pleasantly buzzed haze from earlier. Thanks for that, Lance.

She reaches out to take his hand from across the table, thumb gently stroking over his knuckles. Their family has always been a physically affectionate one, after all, and Lance looks like he needs some sort of touch right now.]

My past... [She shakes her head slowly.] So you haven't seen everyone yet.

[the_tailor]

[He's reminded of being younger, how she would do this when he was feeling down. Simple, but effective, and he takes a deep breath.]

No. When I'm from, we've just decided that it was time to come back to Earth. We haven't heard anything from the planet yet.

[itsyagirl]

Lance, do you think...things might be different if I tell you about it? All those movies about the butterfly effect and whatnot. Maybe we could change it, I don't know.

[the_tailor]

[Lance shakes his head.]

No. When we go home, we don't have any memory of what happened here. So even if we planned in advance, we wouldn't be able to put those plans into action.

[itsyagirl]

...Oh. [She sighs, disappointed.] Well. There goes that, I suppose.

[This is going to eat away at her though. All those people who died, who were tortured and enslaved... and here Lance is, a pivotal member of Voltron, who could stop it before it ever happens.]

[the_tailor]

Trust me, I don't like it. Going home and forgetting the things that've happened here... Both for strategic purposes and personal ones... I hate it.

[He sighs, grasping her hand properly.]

But I try to make do. I make as many happy memories as I can here even if I can't take them back.

[itsyagirl]

[She wants to be sad. She wants to tell Lance about all the people they've lost, how humanity as a free species was confined to a tiny space. She wants to cry and be held and just have a moment with her baby brother.

But he looks like the blow would crush him completely, and she just...can't bring herself to do that. She needs to be strong for him.

God, she's had to be strong for so long. It's getting so hard now. Veronica takes a deep breath, calming herself down.]

Lots of happy memories?

[the_tailor]

[Right now, it probably would absolutely crush him. He's only just started to get over his feelings of uselessness. Knowing that he couldn't stop Earth from being attacked and enslaved... It'd take a long time for him to recover.

Yet he knows that she must be suffering just as much. There lies the problem. Lance wants to be there for his sister, but he doesn't know if he can handle all the details of what happened. Not yet, anyway.

But he'll do absolutely everything he can for her now.]

Yeah. I've made so many new friends here... And I've gotten to relax and not constantly be at war. It's been so long since I've been able to do that. Plus, all us paladins got closer too. Even if we don't remember when we go home, I feel like there's something that lingers in our hearts anyway.

[itsyagirl]

[Veronica tries to push her feelings away for now to focus on Lance. MAybe later they can deal with...her problems, but right now is not the time. Besides, if he really has been in space without family for that long, he probably needs something soothing from her.]

I won't pretend to understand, but that sounds nice. So you've...gone back there, then? We can get back home?