Friends? I don't know about that.

[He shifts the sword over to his left hand to reach down and pat Cosmo's head. Keith's friends tend to do that thing where they tell him loudly and in no uncertain terms that they're friends, you see. Jughead was never like that.]

It was good to talk to him though. Could be a bit of an idiot at times, but he didn't deserve any of what happened. He didn't...do anything.

[Just an "easy target" as Rose put it. And now he's dead because two people independently were asinine enough to misunderstand a word and both reached the same stupid conclusion. It'd be funny if it didn't make him so angry. Keith's hand tightens around the sword.]

[Keith looks at Natalie as she snaps that. He's not taken aback exactly, but he's tense.]

I didn't... [Didn't mean what exactly? He trails off. He's hurting, she's hurting -- this isn't an argument they should be having.]

That was harsh. Sorry. He wasn't an idiot overall, just... The first time we ever talked was at the diner back when all of you thought I was going to go on a shooting spree. He started taking notes about me right in front of my face. Didn't have any guarantees that I wasn't going to pull a Clarisse right then and there. Didn't seem to matter to him that he didn't know how to fight or defend himself.

[There's a bit of a bitter smile.]

I wish getting some messed up justice for him would make this feel better, but....

[It doesn't.]

You're right. It's not. It's just the wild west out here.

[There's a sigh.]

If I could just.. call the Black lion to me, this would be over in seconds. He usually responds when I do, but... figures it couldn't be that easy.

[Does it really matter if he can't summon it? Part of him wants to ask, but the other part is just... too tired for the pointless push and shove.]

The lions are spaceships. They were built with Altean alchemy so they're a bit more... magical, I guess you could say. The lions can communicate with its paladin through a spiritual bond. Black's come to save me a bunch of times when I needed him to. This is the first time I haven't been able to get through.

[The implications of that coupled with a distinct lack of his connection to Black being listed as an actual power of his on that guestbook is actually a lot more troubling than he's letting on right now.]

Anyway, Black's about the size of the Lodge. Blasting it with one of his laser cannons would obliterate that thing easily. Not to mention the thrusters on the lions would make it so all of us could just hop on board and be all the way at the outskirts of Earth's solar system in a few minutes, give or take. Sergeant's not gonna follow us all the way out to space.

[There's a lot that's left a bitter taste in Keith's mouth today, but that still gets a small smile. It doesn't last long.]

The only people who should be afraid of Black here are the guys running this mess.

...Yeah. Black would be difficult to contain.

[For various reasons, though he doesn't think there's a need to go into further tech specs on a lion that isn't here and won't be saving them.]

All the lions do. They each have their own quintessence and have different characteristics. They choose their pilots and won't fly for anyone else. And even if you are chosen by the lion, if your bond is weak you'll never unlock the lion's true powers.

Not sure.

[He's frowning a little though.]

Altean alchemy is hard to explain. It's a science apparently, but in practice it works more like magic. Their alchemy is based on the manipulation of quintessence. I don't know how it works, but it works... and it's powerful stuff.

[A nod. He'll settle on the grass more comfortably to pet the space wolf. If he's going to have to deal with skeptics, he'd at least rather be doing it while close to someone from home.]

You got it. The lions have their own quintessence and have minds of their own and can communicate with their paladins through a mental connection. I know it's tough to believe, but it's true.

[There's nothing funny about that or about the situation they're in that's causing her to adapt, but it gets a bit of a hollowly amused laugh.]

If it makes you feel any better, I have a had time believing my life sometimes, too.

No, I got kicked out of the Garrison a year before any of that happened.

[There's a pause, smile fading as he leans against Cosmo. He drops eye contact.]

I was pretty lost.

[After their last conversation in the bakery, he's a little surprised that she's sitting down with him, but aside from a raised eyebrow he doesn't call any further attention to it.]

They made the right call. I punched out a senior officer.

[There's a longer pause at that.]

When Shiro disappeared on the Kerberos mission, the Garrison said that he and the crew were dead. They'd made an error -- or something to that effect. Shiro was the best pilot in the Garrison, the Holts were the best engineer and mechanic in the Garrison. I just knew that wasn't it.

Shiro's boyfriend tried to get me to accept that he was dead. So ...I punched him.

Like I said, they made the right call.

[That's not the kind of quality you want in a cadet. Definitely not a quality you'd want in a leader. Again, it's all the stuff that makes him question how leadership over the paladins ever fell to him. He sighs.]

I was right about Shiro though, so...

[So. It's not really a defense or anything, so he lets that sentence trail off and die.]