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[underwhelms]

hey, you've reached
✨👑KING JJ👑✨

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[emblazes]

[In the meantime, it takes Keith all of two minutes to locate a can of soup. The first one he finds is the one he's going with; it's a noodly concoction with your usual veggies, bits of mystery alien meat...should be fine. He prys the lid off with his knife -- not even sparing a moment to look for a more modern method of can-opening...

A pot comes next, soup meets pot, pot meets stove, stove's turned on. It's a matter of it all just warming up now...occasionally stirring. It's a thankfully quiet process, you know, just in case JJ decides to pass out.

When the water stops, he'll wait fifteen seconds before calling out:]

Need help?!

[JJ's probably gonna make a joke about how Keith just wants to see his balls...it's fine...whatever.]

[underwhelms]

[ JJ's about to give in just answer with a 'yes!', but something stops him. He hasn't had the flu in years, and what he remembers of it as a child was mostly sitting in bed for a week. But he'd been able to get up and walk around just fine, hadn't he? He should be able to at least do this much as an adult. He'd climbed up the side of a building a few weeks back!

The side of the tub feels like everest at the moment, but JJ grits his teeth and sets his hands on the lip to haul himself over, startled by the lack of strength in his limbs. Maybe he should be ingesting protein powder instead of tomato soup. ]

Fine! I'm in the bedroom!

[ He's not, but he will be soon, after scrambling out of the tub and getting to his feel, feeling better now that he has a little success to motivate him. Shuffling out of the bathroom, he secures the towel around his waist like it even MATTERS since they're both guys. ]

Are you done?

[emblazes]

[Hm...ok. He didn't hear a door open, but he doesn't know the layout of this place. He'll just stir the soup, turn the fire up a bit higher to speed the process. If he's in the bedroom, he'll be out soon.

Thoough, when he emerges, it doesn't look like he was in his bedroom at all?! Don't let him rush you, guy.]

Just about. [Stirring still; there's lots of steam emerging from the pot.] Are you feeling any different?

[underwhelms]

Tired.

[ Torn between heading back to his bed and the kitchen, JJ just walks straight ahead instead, resting his forehead on the wall of the hallway and letting that support his weight. He kind of looks like a zombie from a horror film, the kind that just stand in one spot before snapping and going wild.

Well, maybe this is a zombie plague! ]

Not hot anymore though.

[ Instead, his body seems a little confused about whether to feel hot or cold, leaving him in an odd state of discomfort, but at least he's not sweaty and gross. ]

[emblazes]

[

you ok? Keith's gonna pretend that's completely normal behavior. For JJ, combined with the disease he's contracted....it probably is. At least he's up and about! Able to support his own weight and such.]

Are you going to sit in here?

[Would he prefer the couch? His room? He's going through the cabinets like a raccoon, looking for an appropriate soup bowl...]

[underwhelms]

[ Yeah, basically.

He just furrows his brows at Keith's question, not in much of a mood to make any decisions. ]

Uh.

[ Thinking about his bed feels gross, so that means his options are limited, and he just stumbles over to the couch, climbing onto it so that he can lie down.

This works. ]

Yeah.

[ He has no idea what kind of state Keith is leaving the kitchen in but it's fine... thanks for your help bro...... ]

[emblazes]

[Keith isn't 100% sure how JJ's gonna eat da soup lying down but ok...he'll make a big deal of it when it's Time.

Incidentally, he's in the process of pouring some soup directly into the necessary bowl. Damn near had to serve it to him in the pot with a giant spoon. He's polite enough to wait for the soup to cool some before bringing it over, paper towel and Smol Spoon for consumption purposes too.]

...Are you really in the mood to eat?

[underwhelms]

[ Your detective skills are spot on, Keith. Because indeed, whatever appetite JJ had is now gone. Sorry your efforts from the past ten tags are about to go to waste... ]

Yeah, in a bit.

[ Rubbing his eyes, he quirks a smile at Keith. ]

Do you have little siblings? You're pretty good at looking after someone...

[emblazes]

[He's just gonna...set the soup down on a side-table thingy and stand there with his arms crossed as per his default pose.]

...No. I used to live by myself.

[Don't be impressed till you try the soup, weirdo. Speaking of looking after someone, he was preparing an exit strategy up until then. The soup's made, he's been showered, said he'll eat later...

But he lingers.]

[underwhelms]

[ Seems like he's slowly uncovering Keith's tragic backstory, bit by bit. Not that he has any idea that his backstory is tragic at all, he's just assuming that Keith was living it up in a bachelor pad or something.

He blinks curiously at Keith just hovering there before he realizes that he's taking up all the room on the couch. ]

Oh, sorry.

[ Grunting, he pushes himself up on the couch so that he's sitting up, freeing up some space.

And then he pats the space next to him. C'mere, boy. ]

[emblazes]

[No...JJ...it's fine, this is Keith in his natural habitat; folded arms, brooding by default -- the only difference here is that he's not sure whether or not JJ's gonna die.]

You didn't have to get up...

[But...since he did...and is encouraging mutual couchsitting, he steps closer and sits at the very edge of the newly-afforded space.]

...Do you want me to stay here until your... [Roommates? Friends?] other people come back?

[underwhelms]

[ You are his friend, Keith... Even if the encounters before this one were dubious.

JJ doesn't seem to notice or care that Keith's being awkward at least, shifting over once he sits down so that he can lean against him, arms pushed together and heads rest together. Even though Keith probably isn't that comfortable given how tense he is, JJ apparently fully intends to sleep, eyes closing with a quiet sigh. ]

Yeah, sure.

[emblazes]

[Heck.

He can't rightly elbow someone on their deathbed either. He still feels pretty hot, too -- not that he's touching him deliberately?! But they're touching and he's like a furnace.]


...Have you always lived with other people?

[underwhelms]

[ Resorting to smalltalk... Keith must truly be desperate. ]

Yeah, for a long time... I got my own apartment when I started university though. Easier to focus.

[ Because apparently JJ has anywhere between two to ten siblings. Catholic families, man. ]

I miss the noise now though... [ Roman is a quiet roommate. ] Is your family up there too?

[emblazes]

[Huh, for some reason he expected JJ to come from a more fantastical background. He acts like a rich kid from The O.C. most of the time. Starting university sounds pretty ordinary...]

In stasis?

[Regardless:]

I don't really have family.

[AWKWARD.................]

[underwhelms]

[ . . .

He sits up at that so he can look at Keith, not entirely understanding. ]

What do you mean?

[ Sorry he's more ordinary than you expected!! He comes from an SOL anime. ]

[emblazes]

[But he's famous....]

I don't have family?

[Gosh, it's just that. Of course there's a convoluted story behind it, but he's busy being sketchy and looking elsewhere. Go to sleep JJ...]

[underwhelms]

[ He's not really in the right state of mind, when in a bout of confusion he just blurts out: ] What do you mean? Are you an orphan?

[ —Before immediately regretting asking that without any delicacy or tact whatsoever and floundering, leaning further back like it's going to remove himself from the situation any. ]

I mean- sorry...

[ He's so dumb... why did he have to say the words that came to his head. ]

[emblazes]

[The best time to probe an angry gremlin about his life: while fucked up with a weird alien sickness.]

...I guess?

[Technically speaking.]

It's not really a big deal.

[BARRING THE FACT THAT HE CRIED ABOUT IT IN HIS VLOG.]

[underwhelms]

[ It's lucky that Keith won't hit a sick person... Hopefully... ]

It's not?

[ That doesn't make much sense to JJ, but he doesn't actually plan to pester Keith about it. ]

I mean, so... Who...

[ He's not sure how to phrase this. Who do you share your life with?? ]

[emblazes]

[He shan't...he'd sooner excuse himself.]

Nope.

[😖]

Who...what?

[Hey, look, JJ has tattoos. Maybe he should bring that up. One's got itty bitty writing on it, hm.]

[underwhelms]

[ JJ's still not sure if he'd entirely understanding what Keith is saying. He's met people with divorced parents, or who had lost one, but that felt so mundane in comparison to this.

It creates a slight twinge in his chest, though given how dismissive Keith is, he doesn't want to chance finding out how he'd take JJ trying to sympathise with him.

His fingers clutch at his towel over his thighs as he ponders how to word this. ]

Who do you spend your time with? You're not... always alone, right?

[ 8( ]

[emblazes]

Well, no.

[But he certainly doesn't mind it when it happens.]

Before we got stuck here, I was...I think I still might be, but I was a Paladin of Voltron. [A pause, just in case that rings a bell. Thus far, nobody's recognized the name...which is fine.] A group of us were in charge of keeping the universe safe.

[Friends!!!]

Some of them are here now...but I don't know much about my family. My mom left me when I was younger.

[And dad's a random Texan hick who made a cameo for five seconds during a fever dream.]

I was just starting to learn more about my past but, that's not really important either.

[Ha ha, no need to get into Galra stuff. JJ's spared five seconds to take that in.]

What are your tattoos about?

[SPEAKING OF HERITAGE.]

[underwhelms]

[ Paladin?? Of Voltron??? JJ's clueless expression doesn't really fade, because everything that Keith's saying sounds more and more unreal. He's met some hero and military types, but defending the entire universe? How is that... How do you even...

He's trying to wrap his head around this, that Keith apparently hails from some kind of Star Trek-like existence, that his mother left him when he was a kid, and that his own past is a mystery to him.

Keith sounds more like a comic book hero than an actual person, but there he is, real and sitting in front of him. ]

Oh. [ He's gonna need more than five seconds to absorb that. ] Wait, what—

[ OH MAN he loves talking about his tattoos!! But also, this story is still sinking in! ]

Wait, your past, isn't important? Hold on.

[ His head is starting to hurt, and he just lets it fall forward again so that his forehead is pressed against Keith's shoulder like it had been against the wall earlier. ]

That's... a lot. If you jump from saving the universe to my tattoos, they're not going to seem as cool.

[emblazes]

[And he didn't even get into specifics of lions or anything...]

Not really.

[He could stand to be less blasé. He glances down at the weight on his shoulder -- JJ's skull.]

That doesn't really have anything to do with me now.

[It's a lot, and a lot's shrouded in mystery too...but it's fine. No use driving himself nuts trying to sort it all out when it'll only screw things up in present.

There's a vague, wry grin.]

How long do you wanna wait?

[His tattoos may not have anything to do with saving the universe, but...simple things -- ordinary(ish) things, they're refreshing.]