SERGEANT NPC CONTACT

[cartesio]

The Lodge is located on the hills near the town, large and strange. It contrasts a lot when compared to the rest of the town -- its gray and white walls are quite the change from the vibrant and colorful Cartesio, the plants and bushes that are planted on the lower levels of the Lodge only make the contrast more obvious. There are many windows, but no matter how much you look you don't see anyone passing behind them. If you didn't know better you'd think it was completely empty.

But it isn't empty. The Sergeant is there.

You won't get too far into the Lodge before you encounter the Sergeant. There he is in the lobby, standing in front of a door that leads deeper into the building. No matter at what time you come or what you do, he'll always be there, reading self-help books, or with a mirror, practicing his next speech/confrontation. When he's not facing all of you at once, he seems to be easier to talk with.

Want to bother him?

Comments

[marmoron]

Who should I be blaming then? Should I be sending them my thanks for messing around with my armor too?

[Just a little sarcastic there.]

[cartesio]

Your armor is... [Apparently the Sergeant isn't nearly in as much control as he wishes. Although the situation is under control, there are many details that aren't] What's up with your armor?

[The Sergeant isn't the best villain ever, hah!]

[marmoron]

[Okay, this is going seriously off script and it gets Keith to stop scowling in favor of being confused.]

You messed around with the jet pack, water recycling and shield projection abilities...?

[Half question, half accusation -- Keith isn't really sure what to make of this. Give him a moment he'll default back to being angry, surely.]

[cartesio]

I see...

[The Sergeant stares at Keith for a moment and extends a hand]

Give me that armor for a moment.

[Sergeant, you can't just ask someone to take off the armor they're wearing right now, that's rude]

[marmoron]

[Yep, there it is. Annoyance is go.]

What so you can break it more?

[Keith, Keith why is that your first objection to this.....]

[cartesio]

Come on, what more damage could I do to it? It's already pretty bad as it is.

[Because he imagines it must stink to high heavens after two weeks]

[marmoron]

[Don't question his boy musk.]

You're just going to take it and use it as leverage.

[You know. That thing the Sarge keeps bragging about.]

[cartesio]

Right in front of you? That'd be foul play.

[As if he has a modicum of fairness, hah]

[marmoron]

So's kidnapping.

[They always come back to this....]

If you seriously didn't do anything to Cosmo, prove it. Let me see Cosmo.

[cartesio]

[The Sergeant sighs, as if that's a big hassle]

Fine.

[Without a word, he phases through the doors that lead into the rest of the Lodge. Ever wanted to keep someone out so much you literally phase through a door? Well he just did.

It doesn't take long for him to return. Just a minute later, the doors open just a smidge, enough for the Sergeant to pass through, with Cosmo. Ah, look at that, it's the wolf!]

Here's Cosmo.

[Cosmo's reaction will be familiar to Keith. Everything Cosmo does is just like Keith remembers, nothing is abnormal. Cosmo doesn't even seem to fear the Sergeant, or even mind his presence]

[marmoron]

[.....ookay, so phasing through walls is a thing the Sergeant can do. Got it, he'll add that to the mental list. Keith has half a mind to try using however long he has while the Sergeant isn't there to do some snooping, but with Cosmo in the equation -- pissing off the Sergeant isn't a risk worth taking right now.

As the door opens re-opens, Keith has to stare a little. That's -- that;s definitely Cosmo alright. Alive, drooly and far from how it was when they were last together aboard the Black lion. Keith's relief is unmistakable. He is genuinely so happy to see that wolf again. He bends down on one knee, holding his hand out for Cosmo to come closer.]

Hey, buddy. Good to see you.

[Assuming the Sergeant lets Cosmo wander freely, there'll be ear skritches and neck rubs. Either way, Keith looks back up at the Sergeant a moment later.]

I trade you the armor for Cosmo.

[Never mind the fact that a) this means he gets to walk back to the motel basically wearing a white leotard and his underwear and b) he shouldn't have to be bargaining for his own belongings in the first place.]

[cartesio]

[Something about the Sergeant seems to lighten while Keith greets Cosmo. The shadows on his face swirl, retract and seem to contort, like blots of ink, but don't vanish.

The moment's gone when Keith makes such a proposition, though]

The answer is no. I'm accomodating towards you all, but that crosses a limit.

You have to prove yourself deserving of him.

[He's unwilling to change his mind about that]

If it's any consolation, Cosmo will be safe. I harbor no ill will towards him or any other creature in my care.

[marmoron]

[The strangeness with the shadows is certainly interesting and he'll mull this one over when he's not so focused on all things Cosmo. For now, Keith tenses up at the refusal, his arm tightening protectively around the wolf's torso.]

Prove myself deserving...

[The words are repeated incredulously, like the presumptuousness of them is too great to take in all at once for processing. He saved the wolf when it was just a cub, raised it to the best of his ability. The hell is this implication that he's no no longer deserving of--

Keith presses his forehead against the wolf's head, murmurs I'll get you back, just wait under his breath, then rises to his feet, glaring.[

You've got a lot of nerve.

[Butcan he throw a fit about this? No. No, he fucking can't.]

Tell me you don't have the Black lion too.

[Doubtful. The lion is probably about the size of the lodge, but Keith has to know. Unlike Cosmo, this one really might be a matter of life and death for everyone home.]

[cartesio]

I think the part about me having a lot of nerve was defined when I brought you all here.

[Damn right he has a lot of nerve, Keith]

I don't have it. If I'm going to have to give all these items back, I sure won't want to give a machine as big as this building.

[Rest easy, that one thing isn't stashed somewhere in the Lodge, hah]

[marmoron]

Fine.

[Keith relaxes maybe three hairs. If the Black lion is back home, then they at least have the chance of forming Voltron again if they ever find the lions. They have Shiro, they don't need him to pilot Black for them -- it's all theoretically fine, if they manage to call the lions to them. Surely.

And at this point that's the only story Keith can keep telling himself because the alternative that his friends have all starved to death while lost in space while he's stuck here playing games with this asshole is just too much for him to bear.]

The others here. They told me that you had them trash a cinema. Why do you want this town vandalized? What are you getting out of it?

[cartesio]

A neon sign.

[He points at the wall over the doors of the Lodge. There it is, the neon sign they brought from the cinema.

Well he sure did get that out of the cinema event, definitely!]

[marmoron]

[...Thanks.]

That's not what I meant.

[Amazingly he's not yelling or getting riled. Perhaps the space wolf really is that much of a good influence...]

You get upset when I take something from the police station, yet you demand that we break or steal things for whatever reason. What's the difference? That I didn't do it on your orders?

[cartesio]

What you did in the police station was pointless. That's the difference. I mean, you do you, but as far as I'm concerned, stealing police files isn't that impressive.

[...in other words, he didn't like it that much because it didn't have lasting effects]

[marmoron]

I learned something from it.

[Impressive though. That's a fairly specific word to be using for this. The bigger the mess, the better, is it? Keith rests his hand on Cosmo's head, petting absentmindedly as he considers this.]

You're capable of some "impressive" [Quotations audible.] yourself. Why aren't you the one stealing the sign? Why involve unpredictable intermediaries?

[cartesio]

It's necessary you guys are the ones to do it, not me, for a variety of reasons I can't and won't explain.

[marmoron]

[A beat, a narrowing of his eyes.]

Because you're not allowed to or because you don't want to.

[cartesio]

Both.

[So even if he could, he wouldn't, because what self-respecting villain would monologue his plans in detail to the good guys -- oh wait]

[marmoron]

So what if I want to talk to the people you're taking orders from. How would I go about doing that?

[cartesio]

[He shrugs]

That's going to be difficult unless you live to the end. Good luck.

[marmoron]

Awfully shy of them. Why do they leave you out here to take all the heat? You draw the short straw or something?