τHΣ ϢΔRRIΟR ϢIτH ϢIͶGς

space mall

the commander walks in on the paladins and alteans discussing something about teleduv lenses and swap moons. she raises an eyebrow at the pictures of old unilu space pirates, along with some of coran at an old swap moon.

"the moons haven't been like that in a long time, actually. they're more modernized," she pipes up, startling the group at her sudden voice. coran then grins, gently grabbing her arm and dragging her along as the paladins—minus shiro—all leave to get a pod ready.

lance sat "shotgun" as he called it, which really meant he was in the front with coran while the rest of them sat in the back.

rhys was just glad that she didn't have her wings out, otherwise the already small area would be even more cramped. she ignores lance's taunts from the front, rolling her eyes at his immaturity.

hunk and pidge sat on one side while rhys and keith sat on the other, the commander keeping a nice distance from the brooding boy. whatever was on his mind, it got him in a weird mood.

"you don't need to worry about the swap moons. they're not nearly as dangerous as they were 10,000 years ago," rhys says to the paladins, earning a grateful sigh from hunk and a nod of thanks from the girl. keith just nodded, not paying much attention really.

seeing the boys and pidge put on the disguises coran had brought almost made rhys burst into hearty laughter. she ended up chuckling behind a hand at the utter ridiculousness, but shook her head at the altean male.

"and why aren't i wearing one, coran?"

he just smiles. "you are a disguise, rhys! no person in their right mind would impersonate a noxian!"

she nods in agreemen, amusement evident in her eyes, before watching him walk off with the others. they quickly shirk their disguises, walking off in different directions, but keith grabbed rhys's arm and dragged her off.

"do you need me for something?" she asks stiffly, the boy either ignoring it or not picking up on her tenseness.

"can you tell me about those blade guys?"

she blinked momentarily at the odd request, narrowing her eyes at him, but then sighs.

"what do you want to know?"

"do all of them use those blades ulaz gave you?" rhys stiffens at the mention of the kind male, but sighs and nods. noticing keith tense up, she quirks an eyebrow and opens her mouth.

she was about to ask him something when his attention was caught by an unilu trader showing off some knives. the trader kept targeting his questions at keith since he seemed the most interested, but the boy said he had a question.

"fine! what do you got?"

"have you ever come across something like this?" the boy asks, pulling out the knife he always carried with him and making the commander's eyes go wide.

the unilu moved forward to get a better look at the knife, observing it carefully and complimenting it. "and is this a luxite blade? the planet they mine that from hasn't existed in decaphoebs. where'd you get this?"

"someone gave it to me."

rhys narrows her eyes at the suspicious trader.

"ok, that's vague. tell you what, i'll give you 1000 gac to take it off your hands."

keith narrows his eyes. "it's not for sale."

"two thousand."

"no, thanks. give it back."

the unilu steps back, still holding the knife, and rhys reaches for the dagger at her side. "how about this? i keep the knife and you beat it before security gets here. i know it's stolen."