Rift Lotura

This is a conversation between Princess Allura and yourself, Lotor.
Princess Allura: It's been a day, hasn't it?
Lotor: I suppose that's one way of putting it. You're a true diplomat, princess, always eager to tactfully sidestep any mention of why, in all possible days in all possible realities, this one has been the worst.
Princess Allura: Didn't you know that was my specialty, Lotor?
Lotor: And here you had me under the impression that your specialty was suplexing anyone who had managed to earn your ire.
Princess Allura: I could still do that, if you prefer.
Lotor: Perhaps another time? I'll have to make room in my schedule.
Lotor: I'm more interested in seeing how you're holding up than nursing yet more hurts.
Princess Allura: I've been firmly informed that it doesn't matter terribly much, these days.
Princess Allura: ...
Princess Allura: I don't know what's going to happen next.
Princess Allura: I suppose I never did, really.
Princess Allura: Though, I could always make an assumption before. An educated guess on where we need to go, what we need to do, what enemies we'll face.
Princess Allura: What am I supposed to do now?
Lotor: That, I can't be the one to guide you on, no matter how much I wish otherwise. I rather think that even if I was of a mind to be doling out advice, my track record proves I'm no revolutionary.
Lotor: If it's any comfort, you can at least take heart in the fact that you aren't alone.
Lotor: We are, each of us, facing the unknown with what little resources we have.
Lotor: Perhaps the solution isn't in knowing, just in taking what comes as it does.
Princess Allura: ...You know, you were the last person I had imagined to meet here. Wherever here happens to be.
Princess Allura: There's some comfort in a familiar face, at least.
Lotor: And I hoped for you to be the first.
Lotor: Every moment of every hour spent here, I thought I might conjure your likeness, somehow.
Princess Allura: Careful now. One may think that you missed me, with that tone.
Lotor: Oh, have I not made that obvious? I'll have to work harder, then, so one doesn't think, but knows beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Lotor: Is it so hard to believe that I would miss you, above all else?
Princess Allura: How long have you waited?
Lotor: Ages. Eons. The span of time in which empires fall and the ruins left to rot.
Lotor: Far, far too long.
Lotor: A matter of dobashes spent in the rift amounts to three decaphoebs elsewhere in the universe. Try to imagine what that must mean for a journey across galaxies and star systems.
Princess Allura: Far from the secret to intergalactic travel, then.
Lotor: You'd be quite right.
Lotor: I told myself that I wasn't going to ask what dropped this blessing straight into my lap, but I have to know--
Lotor: Allura, why are you *here*?
Lotor: You escaped. I watched you. What is it that forced you back?
Princess Allura: Didn't you know?
Princess Allura: It was the only way.
Lotor: ... Of course.
Lotor: Why was I expecting any other answer?
Lotor: Always the paragon of saintly perfection, doing everything for the sake of duty.
Princess Allura: An end they'll talk about for eons.
Princess Allura: Because it had to be me, didn't it?
Lotor: Did it? Did it truly? And is talk a reason worth giving up everything, even down to your very life?
Lotor: By the ancients, Allura, if I was going to be trapped here, you might have at least done me the service of staying safe so that one of us got to have some semblance of life.
Princess Allura: [Despite her shaking her head, she wore a stiff smile.]
Princess Allura: Sacrifice is what I was always best at. Didn't you know?
Princess Allura: I lost everything.
Princess Allura: It's only natural that I came next.
Lotor: Oh, enough! You won't admit that you deserve better, a fact that I can't possibly fathom, but that doesn't make it any less true!
Lotor: [Here, he runs a hand through his hair, trying to get it at least somewhat under control.]
Lotor: Why must it always be you who bears this weight on her shoulders? Why not somebody else, for once?
Princess Allura: It's what he would have done.
Princess Allura: Don't you think?
Lotor: You aren't him, Allura, no more than I am her. It's up to us to forge our own paths.
Lotor: Yours should have at least involved a future.
Lotor: A people.
Lotor: A family with someone worthy of you.
Princess Allura: At least I have you to keep me company.
Lotor: ... And should you? Given everything that's happened-- I realize we can't exactly section off portions of a boundless void, but you needn't humor me.
Lotor: Not unless you wish it.
Lotor: If you ever do.
Princess Allura: I don't know.
Princess Allura: ...Comparatively, you aren't the worst person to meet me in death, so perhaps that's what's really important.
Princess Allura: Misery loves company.
Lotor: If there's anything you should have learned by now, it's that I don't plan on settling for a "not as big of a jerk as you could have been" award.
Princess Allura: Mm, I don't know, could you imagine me sitting here trying to make tea with Zarkon?
Lotor: Or, saints forbid, Haggar.
Lotor: 'More sugar, dear, or would you prefer a heaping scoop of mental anguish?'
Princess Allura: At the very least, you have your moments of attempting to be decent.
Princess Allura: We can work on that.
Princess Allura: I suppose we have all the time in the universe.
Lotor: It's my hope that given enough time, I'll have worked hard enough to make amends. For everything. It will take time, but as you said, we have all the time we could ever want.
Lotor: I just.
Lotor: I want you to know how truly, deeply, genuinely sorry I am that all of this happened the way it did.
Lotor: Not just for my own sake, but for yours.
Lotor: You deserve the very universe, and it was denied to you.
Princess Allura: It's not your fault, Lotor.
Princess Allura: ...I suppose we were doomed from the start.
Lotor: There was always a choice.
Lotor: I could have told you. I could have trusted you. I could have taken the anger I rightfully deserved.
Princess Allura: If it wasn't here, it would have been in the burning of Altea.
Princess Allura: You and I are the products of ten thousand years of war. Like an old Earth play I'd read once.
Princess Allura: After so long of fighting, what's left?
Lotor: Rebuilding atop the ashes. Creating something stronger.
Lotor: Though, we don't even have that luxury anymore.
Lotor: I know your first day in eternity wasn't all you hoped, but... For what it's worth? If there's anyone I had to spend it with, I'm glad it's you.
Princess Allura: You flatter me.
Princess Allura: ...Have you really been standing in an expanse of nothing this whole time?
Lotor: Well, it's not so bad as all that.
Lotor: There are ways for us to... Mm, let's call it, manipulate the quintessence field into showing us things that break up the monotony.
Lotor: Bits and pieces of memory.
Lotor: You might liken it to being a lucid dreamer.
Princess Allura: And I'm the first person you've talked to in all this time?
Lotor: The first genuine person that wasn't a mere construct of things I wanted or feared seeing.
Princess Allura: I'm very sorry.
Lotor: You've nothing to apologize for, Allura.
Lotor: ... Well. Perhaps not grabbing me from the rift when you could have, but-- Bygones, yes? Water under the bridge.
Lotor: I'd say being stuck in the same situation is more than enough in repayment.
Princess Allura: I meant more in sympathy at reliving conversations with your father for the last however long it's been, but that is quite reasonable.
Lotor: It's not much different from the few times I allowed myself to sleep before, so I've found ways to cope with the bad as well as the good.
Lotor: I can only imagine what two occupants of the rift would be able to create.
Princess Allura: Is it much like the average world? Do we still need to eat and sleep here?
Lotor: I can't remember feeling hungry, which I think must mean that the rift is sustaining us just as we were when we entered it.
Lotor: The tiredness is more on an existential level, which hardly counts.
Princess Allura: I've been existentially tired for quite some time.
Lotor: Welcome to the club. Our meetings are forever and the location is everywhere.
Princess Allura: How convenient!
Lotor: Isn't it just?
Lotor: ... You know, I daresay that with you here, we might be able to construct a version of the Castle or Oriande or even Altea that I simply can't accomplish on my own.
Lotor: It could have all the creature comforts of home, with enough effort and time.
Princess Allura: Where have you been staying?
Lotor: The only place I knew well enough to replicate.
Lotor: [His arm sweeps in a grand arc, and with the gesture, the space around them shifts into the Imperial Fleet; everything bathed in eerie purple lighting and oppressive metal corridors.]
Lotor: Welcome to my humble abode. Do try not to mind the mess.
Princess Allura: Mm. I like what you've done with the place.
Princess Allura: [There's a moment of quiet, and then she turns to him again.]
Princess Allura: Can I try?
Lotor: Be my guest. I'll wager that whatever you conjure will be much more pleasant to look at, in any case.
Princess Allura: [She stepped over to him and gently took his hands in hers, closing her eyes and focusing. And then, the corridors around them melted into a familiar field of pink flowers- the ones that are only native to Altea! It's been a while!]
Lotor: [So focused on the feel of her hands in his, the first proper contact in longer than he'd care to calculate, and he misses the moment one space transforms into another. Lotor can't help the noise that escapes him, soft and hushed with awe, as if anything louder would cause it to disappear.]
Lotor: It's... Beautiful. Mere holograms could never do it justice.
Princess Allura: [She opened her eyes and looked around for a moment, relaxing her shoulders and laughing in her own absentminded shock]
Princess Allura: That was how I last saw this place.
Princess Allura: It looks just like how I remember.
Princess Allura: [She pulled away from him for a moment, just to crouch down and pick a flower off of the ground. It felt much more real than even what she'd felt with her father.]
Lotor: [He takes the liberty of leaning down and inhaling, nose practically pressed into its petals.]
Lotor: I've always wondered what juniberry flowers might smell like. Are they truly that sweet?
Princess Allura: Mhm. We had festivals when the fields of these began to bloom.
Princess Allura: You could smell them cities away- It was our symbol of peace.
Princess Allura: [She reached up to tuck the flower behind his ear. It was more on a whim than anything, but she decided she was a fan of how he looked.]
Lotor: [He startles at that, as if unsure of what she's about to do, but once he realizes, his features break out into a tentative grin.]
Lotor: A moment, if I may?
Lotor: [Without waiting for an answer, he drops down into a crouch, shielding his actions from view with the expanse of his back obscuring the vision of any prying eyes. After several minutes and a bitten-off curse or two, he rises to his feet with something held behind his back.]
Princess Allura: Lotor- How long are you going to- Oh!
Princess Allura: ..Having issues?
Princess Allura: [She looks bemused, though, so we're good!]
Lotor: Of course not! None at all, everything right as rain. [He clears his throat, marks flickering as a telltale sign of his embarrassment.] If you'll indulge me in closing your eyes for just another moment?
Princess Allura: [She raised an eyebrow, but indulged him, closing her eyes.]
Princess Allura: You were down there for a while, you know.
Lotor: One mustn't rush an artist in his craft.
Lotor: [There comes a rustling sound and pressure as he places something atop her head, fussing with an errant strand of hair and making the placement as perfect as possible.]
Lotor: There we are. You can open them now.
Lotor: [His expression is full of self-satisfaction as he gazes at her.]
Lotor: Every princess needs a crown, after all.
Princess Allura: [She perked up with an interested hum at the hand in her hair, then blinked her eyes open and struggled to look up and see it. It wasn't like she had a mirror, necessarily, so she instead raised her hand to delicately touch one of the petals on the flower.]
Princess Allura: Lotor- Did you make this just now?
Lotor: With some difficulties along the way, yes. Such is the path of an artist.
Lotor: [He casts about for a mirror or anything to aid in his quest to no avail, but with a moment's concentration, he's able to conjure up a tiny pond with a few silver fish dotting its surface.]
Lotor: Well, it's better than nothing, at least.
Princess Allura: [Oh, pretty fish! Allura looked at her reflection, admiring it for a moment.]
Princess Allura: It's beautiful.
Lotor: Only because its wearer is so beautiful.
Lotor: [Oh, did he say that with his outside voice?]
Lotor: ... I, er, apologize for that. Something about this place makes one lose their internal filter.
Princess Allura: [Oh, look at her, her marks were all glowy.]
Princess Allura: Well- I can- I can understand that, at the least, given how long that you've been alone here.
Lotor: But it didn't make a liar of me.
Lotor: [Here, his gaze turns intense, as if looking hard enough will give him some secret clarity on where to go from here.]
Lotor: I hope that you know I-- After all this time, I still think very... Fondly of you.