#( .. . . those are the only ship names i know for keith? ? )

[zaebeecee]

Why HuskerDust Isn’t Canon

I’ve seen a lot of Angel Dust-involved ship critical posts lately, all of them cruel and mean-spirited and all of them from those HuskerDust shippers who give the rest of them a bad name and go out of their way to attack anyone with a ship involving either Husk or Angel. They do this because “HD is canon”, and even those who don’t like the ship have resigned themselves to it being canon. But here’s the thing: in both the actual text of the show and in the meta, it’s not. And I’m going to go through several points to prove that it isn’t canon. (Note: these are all tropic flags and nothing else. Consider this a tiny media literacy course.)

Getting this out of the way: this isn’t anti-HD, a discouragement from shipping HD, or saying “it’s literally never going to be canon”. Obviously, people are free to ship whatever they want for whatever reasons they want; this isn’t intended to bully members of the fandom or to shame anyone who ships it, nor to attempt to convince people not to ship it. This is simply a response to claims of the canonicity of the ship being used to bully non-shippers, and speaking from the viewpoint of the narrative, the tropes, and the meta, it is not canon.

tl;dr: I don’t hate the shippers, I hate the bullies. This is not a discourse invitation, this is a trope analysis. If you don’t like what I’m saying, move on or block me. If you think I’m being mean, I really don’t care, because this is specifically a response to people who are being mean all the time. People in the fandom are terrified to be even vaguely critical of this ship because of the potential backlash, but I’m an Aquarius with a block button, idgaf.

HD was not confirmed canon by Medrano in an interview or on Twitter

To get this first point out of the way, the primary proof that HD shippers will use to claim their ship is canon is a Tweet Medrano put out after Episode 4 was put up on Amazon, as well as a Zoom interview where the interviewer asked her about HD.

The Tweet, which included a screenshot of Masquerade and asked what HD shippers thought of the episode, included the ship name. This is an example of engagement farming, a technique used in social media when people will use trending/popular tags, words, and phrases in order to increase engagement with posts and videos. The use of the HD ship name was not a confirmation of the ship; rather, it was used to capitalize on the ship’s popularity, ensuring that the algorithm would distribute it to as many people as possible. We know this was engagement farming because it was simply asking the people who shipped them what they thought of the episode. It didn’t call it a HD episode, nor did it say it was for the HD shippers.

In the Zoom interview, while the person conducting the interview used the term HD, Medrano herself never did. In fact, she went out of her way to avoid using the ship name, and instead, used the generic word “relationship” when describing their future interactions, a word she has also used to describe future progression between Charlie and Lucifer (so, if this makes HD canon, then it also means that Charlie and Lucifer will be a canon romantic ship).

HD was not confirmed canon by Blake Roman or Keith David

In much the same vein as the aforementioned Zoom interview, when Roman and David were interviewed about the interaction between Angel Dust and Husk, both actors carefully avoided using any terminology or wording that suggested a romantic relationship, only talking about the two of them as close friends. If the ship had actually been confirmed by Medrano months earlier, there would be no reason for the two of them to skirt around the issue. There was also nothing teasing the potential of the ship, simply straightforward information about their friendship.

Husk has been called Angel Dust’s “best friend” by Medrano repeatedly

Medrano has always, when referring to their future interactions, referred to Husk as Angel Dust’s “best friend”. Additionally, while she has never shied away from stating when a character has any form of romantic interest in another character, her only comment on Husk has been that he is pansexual, but she has quite specifically never once stated that he has any romantic interest in Angel Dust.

“Loser, Baby” is the “we’re not so different” buddy musical song

Much of Hazbin Hotel can only be understood through the lens of the form of media that it’s taking most of its cues from: namely, musical theater. There are many tropes that exist within musical theater, specifically in the types of songs themselves, that are used as shorthands to tell audiences what relationships are between characters and how they will be interacting going forward, because all storytelling in musicals are abbreviated by necessity, and songs exist to encapsulate large portions of character/story development in short periods of time.

“Loser, Baby” is, tropically speaking, a song that occurs during the main character’s lowest point in the first half of Act II. This is when they have encountered a massive hurdle in their journey (a breakup, a death, getting kicked out of their house or school, losing their dream job, etc) and are feeling hopeless and lost. In this instance, one of two kinds of songs will occur at this point during the show:

The first is the romantic duet, where the MC is dejected and negative, and their love interest is attempting to turn them around. This is the point when the love interest realizes they are in love with the MC, whether they confess these feelings or not, and is a plea for the MC not to give up.

The second is the “snap out of it, you moron” song. This takes place when the MC is on their own and is found by either a character we are familiar with who has realized they misunderstood the MC (who goes from being a point of conflict to a friend), a family member of the MC (usually either a sibling, an adult offspring, or a parental figure), or by a character we have never met before (generally one considerably older than the MC). This is the song where the other character confesses to the MC that they understand their pain because they were once in the same situation, or because they went through a similar painful progression if that situation hasn’t changed. This song typically carries a “suck it up, buttercup” message and is considerably more callous than the romantic duet, because it is a communication of tough love. It’s important to note that this is never a duet between the MC and their love interest.

“Loser, Baby” is quite firmly in the second category. It is not romantic in nature; rather, it’s Husk realizing that he misjudged Angel Dust and, subsequently, telling him “a lot of other people are in your position, I’m one of them, you aren’t special, stop whining”.

If “Loser, Baby” is romantic, Husk is a predator

For the entirety of the series up until this song, Husk has shown that he has absolutely zero interest in Angel Dust romantically. “Loser, Baby” comes on the heels of Angel Dust confessing to suffering from a great deal of physical and emotional abuse and manipulation, as well as crying in front of someone else for the first time, showing his first true moment of real vulnerability. If Husk uses that moment to suddenly show interest in Angel Dust, it says that either A) Husk is only interested in Angel Dust once he realizes that he is emotionally broken and in a vulnerable position, or B) Husk is willing to use this vulnerability to his advantage and subsequently manipulate Angel Dust. Both of these things are contradictory to Husk’s character.

Husk and Angel Dust have minimal interaction in Welcome to Heaven

Episode 6 has two plots: the A plot, which is Charlie and Vaggie visiting Heaven to attempt to bargain with the Seraphim; and the B plot, revolving around Angel Dust’s temptations to regress into his addictions. In the B plot, Husk’s only interactions with Angel Dust are judging him for wanting to do drugs (which directly contradict his claim in “Loser, Baby”, where he expressly states that he’s fine with Angel Dust’s hooking and drug addiction; it also comes while he is indulging in alcohol, his own vice, which is the definition of hypocritical), and being silently proud of him when he doesn’t do drugs. This is the behavior of the Shoulder Angel or of the Detached Father, not the love interest.

Angel Dust is a main character, Husk is not

Angel Dust is a member of the main cast, alongside Charlie, Vaggie, and Alastor. Husk is a secondary character. It isn’t feasible to have a main character pursue a relationship with a secondary character; you can have an MC who is already in an established relationship with an SC, but you cannot build a relationship between an MC and an SC because the SC doesn’t have enough lines or screen time. Keith David is also quite expensive, and there is no way the show will be able to afford the price that would be required for Husk to be a larger presence in the show.

There is a forty year age gap between the two

Sinners do not age, nor do they mature. We see examples of this in every single Sinner throughout Hell; Angel Dust is a good example, as he died in his 30s in 1947, meaning he would be (at minimum) 110 years old. However, he acts like a young man in his early 30s who spent most (if not all) of his life in a deeply repressed home. Another good example is Cherri Bomb, who is clearly in her 20s, but would be at least in her 60s by this point. Because of this, it is easy to determine that not only do their bodies not age, their minds do not, meaning that the age they were at time of death is the age they will be, mentally and emotionally, forever.

Angel Dust died in his 30s. The only official number Medrano ever gave for Husk’s age at death was 75, and she has stated both that he died in the 1970s and he was born before the year 1900. While no specific age has been stated for Angel Dust, he is written to be between the ages of 30 and 35, meaning that there is a minimum age gap of forty years between the two of them. Additionally, if Husk was intended to be the love interest of someone in their 30s, he would not have been specifically written to be an old man.

Angel Dust has never once come on to Husk

Angel Dust is a flirtatious and sexual character. However, his only flirtations with Husk have been responses to statements Husk made that could be taken out of context. Not only does he never take the initiative and flirt with him first, he also never propositions him; the closest he gets is telling Husk he would be lucky to be propositioned by him. (As a side note, Angel Dust has only ever propositioned two characters in the entire show: Alastor, both in the pilot and the first episode, and Alastor’s shadow construct in the second episode).

It could be said that this is because Angel Dust has “true feelings” for Husk and is, therefore, too shy to overtly proposition him, which brings us to the next point:

HD as a ship is built entirely on homophobic writing tropes

There are several points about this ship that are, ironically, homophobic, but I’ll be focusing on the last two points: the age gap and Angel Dust’s sexual nature.

The age gap: the gay male community has, since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, been plagued with this idea that enormous age gaps are not only fine, they’re expected. Age differences that would never be tolerated in heterosexual or even lesbian couples are waved off when the characters in question are men. This has created the false expectation that many older gay men have--namely that they are “owed a twink”, and that younger gay men are almost required to submit themselves to a much older man as a rite of passage.

Angel Dust’s sexual nature: Husk has quite expressly stated he has no interest in Angel Dust’s overt sexuality, to the point that he refuses to even look at him as a person until Angel Dust reveals other facets of his personality. This suggests that, for a relationship to work, Angel Dust would have no choice but to repress his urges, or that Angel Dust’s sexuality is a front and he actually isn’t that overt. In either case, this would be a direct parallel to Angel Dust’s life as a gay man in the 1930s and 1940s, where he would have been forced to be closeted under threat of prison or death, and either Husk himself or the audience would be forcing him back into a form of that closet.

Crimini has no stated relationship with Angel Dust

Crimini, a character who is slated to appear in Season Two, has been described as Husk’s adoptive daughter who will make up the bulk of his character plot going forward. Not only does Angel Dust have no stated relationship with her, he has never once been mentioned alongside her character at all. If Angel Dust was intended to be Husk’s love interest, that would make him (functionally) another parental figure to Crimini, if perhaps a reluctant one; that would make him an integral part of Crimini’s future plot, but seemingly, the two have nothing whatsoever to do with one another.

Despite the fact that Medrano changes canon based on fan opinion all the time, the show is written too far in advance to change major plot beats just because one ship got really popular

We in the fandom know that Medrano has a tendency to fold in the face of fandom wants and desires. However, between the pilot and season one, the HD fandom was rather small; this would have been when Medrano was working with Amazon, getting future script approval and mapping out the way the story was going to go, and at the time, RadioDust was just about the only thing keeping the fandom alive long enough for interest to remain during the three year gap, and we all know that isn't going to be canon. Because of the sheer amount of overhead and advance planning that goes into something like this--particularly considering that season two was already in production in the wake of season one’s premier--the fact that the HD fandom grew after the season’s release would be unable to have any effect on the show because it would be far too complicated and far too expensive to make big changes. HD would only be viable if it was already planned from the beginning, which it quite clearly was not.

•

So what's my point with all of this? My point is that the content of media means things, and part of media literacy is understanding the difference between wishful thinking/projection and canon.

[kiisaes]

tell us about vld 👁️

(only if u want to)

i'll spare you a truly unhinged ranting for perhaps another time (even though this is gonna be long anyway) but tldr: vld is a show that could have been really good if it just stuck to its direction from the first two seasons!!! and also if its crew didn't accidentally breed the worst possible fandom ever!!!

it had a really good identity at the start— its characters were entertaining, its art and animation were charming if anything, the VAs were genuinely excellent picks and in terms of story it was simple (considering it's a kids show) but effective. the first two seasons focused on one-off, character-driven episodes that gave room for a lot of character writing, team bonding, and tone establishment. i believe that the reason why vld shipping was already so aggressive since s1 — without crew interference — was because the character writing was like, actually good. good enough where people could take their starting characterizations + team dynamic and run wild with it

vld was never going to be an enlightening, mature, groundbreaking show about anything super deep; it's a Y7 show about robot lions in space. but i'm sure most ppl going into vld didn't expect a piece of art, they just wanted to have fun with an atla-adjacent show, or they watched previous voltron iterations. and for what it was, it was very successful at the start! and one of the more popular netflix originals at its time!

but then vld tried taking itself more seriously in s3, and changed its primary storytelling method. now the episodes weren't usually problem-of-the-week, but each episode's plot had to feed into the next episode in line. which would've been fine, if the crew planned ahead and kept track of its characters and plot

but since the lion switch was also conveniently during this season (which inevitably implied switches in character arcs), keeping track of everything suddenly got way harder. also, the lion switch was ass. breaking my silence: that shit made no sense. why didn't they make allura the black paladin??? why do all those mental gymnastics with moving keith from red to black and lance from blue to red just to give allura blue, which was a lion that didn't even really fit her??? (i know the reason was cuz dotf did this lion placement, but is vld dotf? are the characters archetypes the same? no? i didn't think so!!!)

anyway because of the new serialized storytelling format, vld had to follow this really serious, high-stakes, even occasionally dark narrative to keep viewers engaged, and it just .. wasn't the same? like not only are characters' arcs dropping like flies, we're introducing new characters with barely any development or even personality, and it's not even that fun to watch anymore. what happened to my silly guys. what happened to goofin off in the castle. what happened to episode-long missions. this is not avatar. if i wanted to watch avatar i would just watch avatar.

and! in later seasons i think the crew caught on to how fans loveddd the episodic narratives in s1 and 2, so they tried bringing back one-off lighthearted episodes (dnd episode, game show episode, clear day episode, etc.) in an attempt to relive the old glory— and they were fun to watch on their own, sure, but were completely detached from the rest of the story atp. literally the only reason why i even remember these episodes is because they weren't a part of the narrative's incomprehensible sludge

don't even get me started on how the crew hated its audience. don't get me started on the ship bait, the weird canon queerbait situation(s), the irresponsible encouragement of parasocial fan relationships with VAs, artists, creators, you name it. it's how we got one of The worst fandoms in recent history. it's how vld was one of the newer fandoms that started an whole new era of fandom etiquette — namely, disregarding all previous fandom norms in favor of the most childish, pearl-clutching, moral-panicky discourse you'd find daily, and consequently you wouldn't EVER dare bring up to a normal person who exists in the real world.

the crew hated its audience so much, it essentially punished its fans by shutting down all fan theories, purposefully writing AROUND plot twists THEY SET UP, leaving a really messy and plot-hole-filled final script. they especially hated the shippers so much that they shut down BOTH main camps — klance and sheith — for canon allurance, a truly horrible way to end both their character arcs since neither character gets all that satisfying of a conclusion (lance becomes a farmer, allura fucking dies)

this is already long enough but i hope this gives you a general idea :') i have so many emotions about vld. someday i'll make the retrospective video essay of my dreams. this was my nonstop fixation for two straight years. i wasted two years on this shit.

also this show's 8 seasons were released all in a span of 2 and a half years.

[kismetconstellations]

@sockdooe, Yep, that's the one. No offense to the author, but it's really irritating to see a fic tagged with relationships that, as of two-hundred thousand words in, still haven't been so much as hinted at.

Would this author appreciate it if someone tagged a two-hundred thousand-plus-word Shiro/Keith or Lance/Hunk fic Keith/Lance? I sincerely doubt it.

Be courteous to your fellow fans and tag things properly, please. I don't think that's too much to ask.

My biggest issue with "Curtis" is that it's glaringly obvious that Shiro was married off to him at the absolute last minute in an attempt on the part of the showrunners to win online brownie points for being the first to depict a gay wedding in a show aimed at children. And, to try to cover their asses after being slammed with accusations of Burying Their Gays for killing Adam.

They used Shiro, who they planned to permanently kill after confirming that he's gay, as nothing more than a tool for their own personal benefit. And, it deservedly backfired on them spectacularly.

I still love Shiro/Keith, but, at my heart, I've found that I'm a multishipper for the both of them. Especially Shiro. Had the writers put in the effort, they could have made me care about, or, at the very least, tolerate his afterthought of a marriage. Shiro deserves to be happy. He deserves love. Even if I hate that it comes with the implication that he left his dream of exploring space and his newfound sense of purpose in being part of the Coalition and defending the universe behind to stay on Earth and become a house-husband.

Instead, "Curtis" is such a non-entity, his name is never once spoken onscreen. He and Shiro never have a conversation outside of shouting impersonal orders at one another in the heat of battle. And, he isn't even drawn consistently from one frame to the next.

For the life of me, I cannot tell if "Curtis" is meant to be in his late twenties, or his forties.

He also has no personality to speak of, outside of maybe liking animals, per a conversation he has with Acxa, rather than his "future husband", and Shiro only looks away from the Atlas's console interface to make eye-contact with him once.

In an entire thirteen episode season.

The showrunners had an opening to give Shiro and "Curtis" an interaction that would have hinted at some degree of chemistry, or even basic platonic affection for each other. When Shiro is slapped across the bridge of his ship- something I still deeply despise- "Curtis" could have rushed to his aid, expressing concern for his captain. Instead, it's Veronica, an actual character, who is at Shiro's side, checking on him and helping him to right himself.

"Curtis" does nothing more than sit and stand on the sidelines, soundlessly gaping at the events playing out in front of him.

That is why I call him a piece of set dressing. His only purpose is to fill out Shiro's bridge crew. They could have utilized any species of alien, a Taujeerian, a Balmeran, one of those deer-esque people from Season Three's Changing of the Guard, for the exact same purpose and absolutely nothing would have changed.

Since there seemed to be some sort of unspoken rule forbidding the show from having more than one LGBTQ+ main lead/Paladin, it honestly would have made more sense for Shiro to marry Coran.

They, at least, have a relationship.

Low bar, I know.

And, that's if you believe that Shiro needed to be in a romantic relationship for his sexuality to matter.

I don't.

Shiro, on his own, is enough. Adam dying didn't take Shiro's homosexuality away and turn Shiro straight. Shiro is still a gay man, whether he kisses a human male-shaped piece of set dressing onscreen or not.

I've made my feelings on Shiro/Adam fairly clear. Realistically, unless Adam underwent some intensive therapy and soul-searching to learn how to be more open, warm, and compassionate with Shiro, they never would have rekindled their relationship, even if Adam had lived and the desire to do so was still there. He and Shiro parted ways on poor terms, and while Shiro didn't appear to resent Adam for it, there would, undoubtedly, be lingering feelings of bitterness that a tearful reunion and rush down the aisle wouldn't resolve.

Shiro was brutally punished by the show's narrative for choosing his dream over Adam. Maybe Adam would feel some sort of regret for that, had he seen his ex return to Earth with a scarred face, prematurely silver hair, and one arm. But, going off of Adam's established characterization and how he acts like he's the rational man while Shiro is an irrational and hysterical woman, the temptation on Adam's part to lord the consequences of Shiro's choice over Shiro- "If you had just listened to me, maybe none of that would have happened"- would very likely surge to the forefront over any desire to offer comfort.

And, that's if Adam hadn't fully moved on and started a new relationship in the interim. Shiro's time in space amounted to two years for him, while it was five years on Earth for Adam. That's an ample enough span to have mourned his lost love, and begun at least considering getting back out there and dating, again.

What it seems to come down to is that people who are vehemently against the mere idea of Shiro and Keith being romantically involved with each other and have no desire to explore any other prospects because their true focus lies elsewhere (Keith, Lance, and pairing them together), but still wish to maintain the guise of wanting happiness for Shiro, pair him off by default with his canon love interests. Regardless of the fact that Adam was shown to be a not particularly great partner, and these authors have to invent a personality for "Curtis" whole-cloth, since he is completely lacking one in the source material.

They don't care how transparent it is that the showrunners hated Shiro and mistreated him at every turn, but still wanted to use his sexuality to garner praise and online asspats. They don't care that the sloppy, half-assed manner in which the wedding was handled unintentionally implies that married life aged Shiro twenty years in the span of six.

(As my sister said, they made Shiro look like he could be his own grandfather.

What did this show have against bishounens? How do you take a supernaturally gorgeous man and turn him into your average middle-aged salary man from any given manga or anime? He's supposed to be thirty-two, here, not fifty-three. I hate this aged-up design. Sincerely. The glasses could have been cute, though I don't understand why the staff needed the disabled man to have failing eyesight on top of everything else. ["You took my hand." Then his whole arm. "What more do you want?"] But, the hair and chin scruff are mortally offensive.

Just the other day, I came across a fan redesign that's a vast improvement on all fronts.

Shiro, sweetie, I'm so sorry that these clowns insisted on treating you like garbage all the way up to the bitter, loathsome end. TT___TT )

All K/L authors care about is sticking Shiro in a "happy" relationship, no matter how out-of-character, and slapping a flimsy Band-aid on his trauma in service of their ship. You can't treat Lance and Keith like the most depressed people in the universe who only have each other as everyone else has moved on to lead happy, fulfilling lives, if you also have Shiro isolating and buried in his work, believing himself to be a "broken monster" unworthy of love.

[26aspen-edits]

Late sub, but I've got my list for the ship questions! VF edition of course <3

Punk: Pre-5, Gen-2+6, Love-13, Dom-4+7

Klance: Pre-4, Gen-2 , Love-6+12, Dom-3

Any/Ship I don't know about yet (i only know those two for you 💀): Pre-1+4, Gen-3+5, Love-1+3, Dom-5+10

yay you finally asked!!!! here you go toast! (sorry it's so long)

Punk- Pre

5. Pidge did when he started to fall for Hunk first, mainly cause when he first started liking him, Hunk was going through a rough patch and Pidge didn't want to make everything messier, he also resisted his feelings because he thought Hunk loving him back was all in his head.

Gen

2. I haven't really thought about them going on dates cause of how busy the both of them can be but if they did, it be one of them setting up a romantic evening for the other, whether it be dinner or literally just hanging out.

6. Pidge's parents sadly aren't present in my rewrite as they were killed when he was young and Hunk's dad died at some point in the rewrite too, but Hunk's mom ADORES Pidge and loved considering him as her son after Pidge and Hunk got married. Of course they share a friend group, it's been their damn brand for decades lol.

Love

13. Hunk does and it makes Pidge so freaking happy :)

Dom

4. I've done this thing where there is actual lions in the castle that are basically all of the pilots' pets so they count I guess

7. They both do and even though their literally both war vets, that doesn't mean they won't jump or reach for the nearest shoe when they see one.

Klance

Pre

4. Lance did, even when Keith was head over heels for Allura in their early days.

Gen

2. Also haven't thought about these two on dates, but they probably would consider sparring together as a date.

Love

6. It would switch around a lot, but Lance would be little spoon a lot and Keith is the big spoon.

12. Mullet is the main one Lance calls Keith but as they fell in love, Lance started to use 'Darling' and Keith started to use 'Pretty'.

Dom

3. They have or adopt one kid, a boy named Hunter (after Hunk's dad) and is very similar to Daniel as being a daredevil but has his dads' attitudes.

Imma do Vince and Daniel (Vaniel, if you will)

Pre

Similar to the original show when they met in class and Vince helped Daniel with the question he was asked.

4. Daniel fell first! (surprisingly lol)

Gen

3. Technically their first kiss was when Daniel recovered from his Haggarium infection and Vince hugged him and kissed him on the head, but their first real kiss would be weeks later when Daniel asks if he can and its really cheesy and sweet cause their teenagers in love and they adore each other!

5. Don't have much of a height or age difference, but I feel like Daniel would get a bit taller cause of his infection.

Love

Daniel would and it would catch Vince so off guard that he stumbles with his words so crazy that he can't form a sentence and Daniel is laughing like crazy.

3. Daniel does and as cringy as they can be sometimes, Vince does not care because he knows Daniel is trying his best.

Dom

5. I feel bad that I'm answering all of these all Daniel but they fit so, Dan's the stricter parent because as he grows up he realizes how reckless he was as a kid and doesn't want to see his future kid(s) get hurt.

10. They're both decent cooks but Vince has a better ability to it than Daniel

This took forever but please don't be afraid to ask more!

[localfanbaselurker]

Yall know the drill!! Let’s get it baby!!

Watching Voltron: LD for the First Time and Saying What I Think

S1-2 | S3 | S4 | S5 | S6 | you are here! | S8

upon formatting this debrief/review, I realized quite quickly that I was gonna run out of the image limit too soon, no matter how many collages I made, so some ideas are better if you specifically remember scenes. Click on images for better quality! I apologize, I only have tumblr on mobile. please enjoy this edition anyway!

Pre-Season 7 Thoughts

-> I said in my S6 post that I thought it could be a decent ending if some strings were finally tied, so hopefully this season clears those up

-> S6 was pretty intense at the end, hopefully they tone it down a notch as they go on their little earth roadtrip

-> the aftermath of Lotor dying is definitely something that will weigh on Allura. Hopefully she doesn’t get too torn up about it

-> I’m really curious as to how the new team dynamics will play out now that Kieth is back as black paladin. Will they go back to s1? s3? Will they just act like nothing??

-> really wanna scene where keith calls krolia mom for the first time

-> what is with this “game show” episode??

-> I’m curious as to how ships will play out now.. Lance seems to be okay with Allura not liking him back after s6, their talk was really nice. As much as I think they look cute together, Allura needs time to get over Lotor first, and Lance seems to be already moving on.

-> now that Kieth is back, I wonder if there was more “klance moments” for people to go crazy over

->also where has Matt been this whole time??

-> them going to earth will probably explore their families, and i really wanna see more of their lore. (Especially keith)

->Hopefully shiro finally gets a break after everything. I’m excited to see who this love interest of his is!!

Post-Season 7

-> holy fuck. yall did not lie. that was…intense.

->ultimately I did not get my pre-s7 wish then.

-> I really liked all the keith/shiro lore about their relationship. It was really sweet. Shiro was the first person (besides his dad I guess) to show him patience and kindness. That’s so heartwarming.

->added to all the motifs and references to them saving each other,,very sweet. I love found family stuff like that. so i very much liked that episode (besides the “tiny” subplot lolz)

-> Romelle (as opposed to the name I gave her: “sailor moon altean girl”) is actually so real. She and hunk have the same “only normal one” vibe and i respect that.

-> literally where was haggar/honerva this whole time. Did she take a sabbatical or something??

->this image is so chaotic…literally what are yall doing 😭

->cosmic wolf (Kosmo, apparently) dgaf I love him

-> Allura is such a cutie.. “but I’m terrible at drawing! 😔” I love her so much

->^hunk upgraded his bayard!! Yayyyyy! More character development!!!

->Axca is back! (I have since long stopped calling her “space asami girl”)

-> i think she’s a really interesting character. While the other of Lotor’s generals go for whatever seems right for them, (as you should in war) she seems to calculate things on a matter of both that and morality, while also looking at the big picture. “Well, this would save my ass, save the universe from chaos, and be morally intact…sounds good”

->^is this the klance moment? seems a little sad tbh. why Lance is like that “wait where are you going?” relax bro he’s not gonna disappear

-> they’ve been gone FOR THREE YEARS????

-> what the FREAK.

-> imagine now how their families have missed them 🙁 I’m actually so sad abt that ☹️

->the game show ep…was really funny. Idk where yall got all this angst from. New mission: write a fluff one shot post-game show.

->^i literally cannot get over this??? Like.. they could’ve really made him say anything else. “because mullet here would punch you to the end of eternity if he didn’t get out *smirk*” or something like that but no it /had/ to be that. And the others thought it was odd too, I mean look at their expressions.

->And same goes for Keith??? If you don’t wanna spend an eternity with Lance just pick yourself?? There had to be another reason. If they made all the other characters say insightful and heartfelt things about one another, why can’t Keith say anything?

-> I think because keith and Lance chose each other, making both of them say nice things would drive you guys a little crazy, so I think they tried to just “klance-proof” (like baby-proof) this season by making them barely interact unless it’s a battle or doing so in a s1/2 way

->Because otherwise keith acted…really out of character..? I think it might be to his growth on the quantum abyss trip, but it just felt so odd to watch him this season

->the “floating in space” episode was actually super interesting to watch. Going space crazy caused for their truest thoughts and desires to come out from the dark. (going to earth, what they think about each others’ actions) I thought that was really cool.

->KEITH CALLED KROLIA MOM!!! IT HAPPENED!! OMG. SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP FALLING TO MY KNEES AT WALMART!!!!!!!!🫡💪🔥🔊🗣️

->Krolia and kolivan definitely explored each other’s bodies idgaf. Kolivan is the dad that stepped up fr.

->Colleen Holt is an icon. She’s a girlboss. She’s a legend. I love her so much. Sam better watch out 🤛👊🤜

->^from “who is this divaaaa 😍😍” to “OMG GIRL LANCE??? 😮😁” to “OMG LANCE’S SISTERRRRR😆🤩”

->^is this not the “the pilot crashed!” girl from 1x01??

->tbh i literally could give less of a fuck about these people. The girls seem cool I guess. But I don’t really care about any of them.

->also no way they deadass named a dude kinkade. That was wild even for them (I’m so sorry if it’s a cultural thing)

->^I love it when they do little homage bits like referencing back s1 or 2 like this

->^screaming crying throwing up.

->^^that hug between pidge and her mom..i felt that. that shit was personal. Ya’ll see the way she held on to her? Diabolical work. (I’m tearing up as I type this)((that’s exactly how I’ve held my mom b4))

->^^^“uncle lance!” STOP. DON’T DO THIS TO ME. I CAN’T DO THISSSSSS *screams*

->HUUUNNNKKKK. MY BOYYYYY. UGHHHHHH. I’m gonna die

-> I will say this tho, I’m glad he’s getting a lot of focus and attention his way these last few seasons (6&7). Like yes!! Give the realest mf in the whole show the attention and appreciation he deserves!!!

->I was so happy when he got his parents back like I genuinely did a little celebratory dance (jumping up and down and going “yes!yes!yesyesyesyes! yeeeessssssss!” while doing exaggerated hand gestures)

->Adam fucking died.

->not even one scene showing his and shiro’s positive interactions. or them being romantic. one and a half scenes. And then he’s gone.

-> while, for the most part, I try to understand the writers faults further than just face level, (ie netflix or dreamworks just didn’t let them explicitly put anything there) idk I just. I feel like they could’ve at least played it off as them being “good friends” or something. But to kill him off is just…it feels wrong.

->and it feels like a wrong for shiro too. He finally gets to be on earth after everything that’s happened to him, and the one thing he’d been hoping to finally see,,is gone.

->I just feel like they did shiro dirty. they can never give that poor man a break.

->^I was right! Keith is definitely acting different because of his growth on the quantum abyss (or “space whale” as people seem to call it). It’s nice to know he’s matured and stuff, and can actually say what he feels and such, be a good team member/leader. I just wish it wasn’t all off-screen. (and while I’m happy for him..I do miss his more broody early-season self a bit)

->as much as I think allurance is cute, I feel like they’re kinda rushing it. Like. by the time they got to Earth it had barely been a month of being stuck in space post-s6. Maximum it’s been 3 months by the time of the final battle. she would not be blushing. She would be mourning Lotor. They could’ve had a little subplot about that,,the crushing weight of knowing she could’ve both stopped his death and the guilty feeling of “why am i mourning him..? He was a bad person” because she still loved him!! She still loved him when they were about to leave him in the quintessence field and she felt conflicted!!

->she would’ve also not caught feelings that fast. Let’s say she somehow miraculously got over Lotor in 2 months. (minimum!) she still wouldn’t have caught feelings! Maybe she would start like. the budding processes to begin to fall for lance…but she wouldn’t be blushing and being all bashful like that.

-> basically all I’m saying is I really hope they don’t rush this. It would feel unfair to both her and Lance. Allura literally was like “oh..😕 he said that..☹️?” In s6 when the mice told her about Lance’s feelings because she felt bad about breaking his heart.

->and Lance has literally been after her for a really long time,, so it’d be unfair to pair him with someone who only started liking him like a week ago.

->I also hate the “guy pines after girl, girl doesn’t reciprocate and turns him down a lot, guy almost gives up, girl starts falling for him just as the show ends after not showing any interest previously” trope. (I am aware Allura and Lance do share some more sweet and romantic scenes/moments in s4-6, but you catch my drift, right?)

-> I really hope they put it well in s8.

->^I got to that Lance scene I’ve seen everywhere and just. Wow. it was so intense. I actually got chills. Amazing work from the animation crew yet again.

-> the final battle was sooo amazing and so beautiful.

->the atlas stuff kinda threw me off tho.

->that admiral sanda girl was a bitch (i do not use that term lightly, especially for female characters) and not to sound like a maniac im glad she died ngl. She was stupid as hell if she thought her plan would work.

->also if the galra can invent something that can easily overpower Voltron, then why don’t they just take over the universe themselves?? They clearly have the resources to.

->seriously the atlas’s stuff was insane. Fym it’s a ship that makes a bigger, cooler, grizzled Voltron??(yes I will forever use that joke)

->^because like. Then what do you need Voltron for??

->like the pacing and plot twists and shit felt so off and out of nowhere this season.

->and the real kicker was the altean chick controlling that giant monster thang. literally what the freak. where the cameras at I know I’m getting pranked right now. they were just pulling shit out of their asses by then.

->again, need to say, if it weren’t for that altean chick, this could’ve also been a good ending?? like after reading the Wikipedia page I found out they had a 72 episode contract, so they need to get those last episodes out, (76 total, I did the math) but if anything I think it would be best if it was just a little anthology sort of thing. Like them defeating the rest of the galra left out, freeing planets, and focusing on their own lives and relationships (during and after). That would be probably the best course of action for s8.

->but apparently it has a “bad ending” (which I’m pretty sure is just ship stuff and people exaggerating)

->erm yeah that’s pretty much it. I think. Yay!

These are thoughts I compile over time. I finished Season 7 on 10/12/24. I apologize for my delay on posting this, I was meant to post it last week. I will now finally start what you have probably all been waiting for: Season 8.

Remember, my ask box is always open!! Feel free to ask anything on my opinions and such!!

[maplesyrupptarmigan]

Chapters: 3/3 Summary:

Pidge stared at Shiro, as if waiting for a message. "We're not leaving. Not until—"

The door swung open, hinges screeching. "She's right. You're staying here, all of you. Get some rest." Keith waved toward the couch, seemingly ignoring the fact that Shiro's six-foot-tall body barely fit on it.

Lance looked at Pidge, then glared at Keith. "Not until we get some answers, Mullet."

"You'll get answers in the morning. About everything, I promise."

- - -

yippee! it's over (for now). author's notes/infodump under

let's talk about krolia. in this continuity she not only found the blue lion, but also left a record of it for keith to find. she's connected to it in ways i am hesitant to mention here since 1) i don't know if i want to commit to them and 2) if i do end up getting there it would be a bit annoying to spoil it here. also, he doesn't know she's an alien

i always thought the fraunhofer line thing was a bit silly with it matching the rock formations yadayadayada. here the rock formation line thing is meant to be a signal (!) from the blue lion, but it's not the fraunhofer line thing they're tracking to pinpoint it. idk, i wrote this months ago and any amount of research i did into that has been effectively erased

fun fact: i originally wrote it so the galra warship was replaced by two smaller fighter ships, under the idea that a giant fucking alien warship in the sky (as well as a flying mechanical cat) would set off some alarms on Earth. i put the warship back in because i want those alarms to go off. the drone fighter is just so lance can have an "oh shit, did i just kill a dude" moment that i think should happen in most kids tv shows

up next is the (as mentioned before) hunk's interlude. after that, i'm not sure. i mean i have a roadmap but nothing after that is concrete. namely, i need to wrap up The Rise of Voltron (what a pilot episode) while also figuring out how to manage keith's and shiro's interludes. the former should be manageable with the next planned major story (akin to signals and messages, tentatively titled 'pilots'—also, messages was originally called pilots), but to include both keith and shiro as interludes (well, shiro's is more of an epilogue like the three-body problem is more of a prologue), i need a fourth major story, which i only have vague ideas about. doesn't really matter, since i'll probably never get to it (hence why this lengthy write-up exists at all)

thanks.

[lia404]

Which ship name for Ryoken/Revolver?

Tl;dr: Moiraishipping

OR if we really, really want to make the differentiation: Athenshipping for Ryoken/Revolver and Moiraishipping for Ryoken/Revolver 1.0/Revolver 2.0.

The actual logic beneath the cut. Time to sit down in your favourite chair with a nice cup of tea, because you’re here for a while. Of course you are, it’s a post about Revolver.

It’s all his fault. It’s always all his fault.

First: please believe me when I say that this post was meant to be short. Like really, the premise was simple: selfcest is one of my fave tropes (those who know me since my Persona era are well aware) and Vrains frankly is a goldmine for selfcest. I was elated when I found out that Emissaryshipping was a thing (albeit a rather niche one) and I was less than impressed when I discovered that in its 7 years of existence, the Vrains fandom had never coined a ship name for Revolver selfcest.

This, obviously, had to be solved at once. Which is why I brainstormed for a full week and then it took me 10 days to write this post, because I fell into a terrifying rabbit hole. And now you get to read all about it!

First approach — the obvious

My very first step was to discard the obvious:

Fateshipping is already taken in the fandom, even if in a different series (Yami Yugi/Rafael in DM. Niche, but still already coined.) We don’t want confusion.

Bulletshipping won't work either, for the same reason. (Judai Yuki/Taniya in GX.) I am also willingly ignoring the possibility of Varretshipping, since Varret is clearly meant to be Bullet in katakana, and not everyone is aligned on this orthograph.

Rokketshipping, going with the English names of Revolver's cards, could have been interesting, but it is too close to Rocketshipping, the ship name for Jessie/James of the Team Rocket. While from another fandom, the ship is prominent enough for me to be wary of mistagging.

Gunshipping is not an option, because Pistolshipping already exists in the same fandom (Blood Shepherd/Revolver) and while the words are different, it still feels very confusing.

Barrelshipping is also a no, because, seriously. In Yu-gi-oh logic, it sounds like Bandit Keith/Revolver. In real world logic, it just makes it sound like Ryoken is about to put kegs of rum in a boat. An interesting idea, but not what we’re after now. (Note that I am also ignoring Borrelshipping, for the same reason I did Varretshipping.)

Prisonershipping is… well, it’s unclear if it’s taken (I’ve found it listed for Rin/Ruri in Arc-V, but in only one occurrence.) But I also didn’t vibe much with it: words have a meaning, I would like my ship to be defined by more than just the doom of “prisoner”. Aaaaand this is what happens when you ask a linguist to name things.

With all of these names marked as unsatisfying, I decided to move to more metaphorical names, and took the direction of mythological references. After all, between Ignis and Pandor (and probably others that don’t come to mind right now), Revolver thrives on them (and so do I, which is great, because I’m totally and shamelessly indulging myself.)

Second approach — mythology, part 1: words

Once the mythological theme was decided, my first intuition was to look into a famous figure whose words carried an impact. 

My logic was that while Revolver is powerful in many ways, his words are one of his greatest powers. They are life-changing. After all, when he was 8, his words gave Yusaku the strength to survive his ordeal and beyond. When he picked up the phone and spoke up, his words saved six children and doomed his father. Even this early, his words had the power to bring life or destroy it. 

Ryoken doesn’t speak that much: his few words are meant to have a lot of meaning. (I also headcanon him as a rather quiet child, who has learnt to make his words count.) 

Revolver speaks more, and uses his words as orders or as weapons, speaking or shouting menaces, aiming at bringing despair (or at least a good reality-check.)

And let us not forget that it’s Revolver’s words that kickstart the series! 

"Begone, Cyberse!" (Yes I am resigned to my fate of being That Person Who Only Uses Screencaps In French In Her Meta Posts, because apparently we don’t have any English sub in good quality available in this country.)

Of course, no matter whether it’s Ryoken or Revolver talking (even if they do sound different), there’s also the obvious “his voice would lure the hardest of hearts into the sweetest of traps”, because, damn, that voice could speak any word. I’d listen to an ASMR recording of Revolver reading the phonebook out loud any time.

But what he chooses to say does play an incredible part.

So, words.  Mythology and powerful words, spoken out loud. 

While there’s a lot that could match, I was looking for “accidental impact” and “could be deadly”, because it seemed to me that it was what worked best for Ryoken. Cassandra came to mind first, cursed to know the future but to be unable to share it because no one believed her words. But while indeed focused on the importance of words, her legend doesn’t fit the bill exactly: Ryoken is kind of the opposite, actually. People believe him, very much (arguably, too much.) Cassandrashipping is out.

Even so, the idea of the oracles, or sybils, stuck with me: after all, they “know” the future, and share words that could bring tales of life or death (but usually brought disaster.) 

I confess a certain fondness for the Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi. Her name comes from a legendary snake, which is close enough to a dragon to satisfy me, and she was sort of a big deal with her predictions (see also: Oedipus.) While still not exactly fitting the bill, Pythiashipping or Sybilshipping were strong contenders. They sounded nice and Ryoken is really good at making his own prophecies and getting caught into a fate he builds for himself.

A typo in Pythia also brought up the (completely unrelated) idea of Pity, which amused me. This boy has a lot of self-pity. Pityshipping had potential, because it is a non-insignificant part of his relationship with himself (which is what I wanted to define after all.) I seriously considered it, but I was reluctant, and discarded it for the same reason I did for Prisonershipping. Let’s not encourage him.

Third approach — mythology, part 2: appearance (and more)

Even if I felt like I was onto something with my Pythia, I was not entirely satisfied. I thus decided to take a different path, the physical aspect. 

Revolver has yellow eyes, and Ryoken has white hair. What happens when you mash both attributes?

Don’t tell me you don’t see the resemblance.

After such a deep-dive into mythology, I would have been overjoyed to be able to say “NEVERMIND THE DEPTHS, I COMBINE HIS AVATAR’S EYES WITH HIS REAL LIFE’S HAIR AND TA-DAAAA! OWLSHIPPING!”

Except… Owlshipping was already taken. Of course it was. (From Arc-V: Dennis Macfield/Noboru Gongenzaka/Shun Kurosaki.)

Let it be known that I really tried to make things more simple, but no easy silly name for me apparently. So back to mythology I went, following a very logical stream of ideas, I promise. 

After all, there is one mythological figure that is strongly associated with owls.

Athena.

Athena is fascinating; she has so many facets she could be the goddess of disco.

Here are a few things about Athena that are interesting to focus on, in our specific case:

Athena is the daughter of Zeus, God of Lightning (!) notorious for doing whatever pleases him, creating a mess and leaving without any accountability while others have to clean after him/deal with consequences of his actions/end up punished for something they didn’t do. Zeus, you asshole. Kinda reminds me of someone.

Athena is the daughter of Metis, Deity of Wisdom, an Oceanid, a sea nymph, which is nice, considering how important the ocean is to our Topic of Interest. Her husband, Zeus, ever the lovely character, ate Metis after being told she’d give him a child more powerful than him. From the inside of her husband’s stomach, Metis still took care of the child she was pregnant with, then armed her so she could poke her way out from her father’s head. This means that Athena is born from the inside of Zeus’s head, as if an idea coming from him, but also a great source of suffering for him. I like to draw parallels, and I’ll even go so far as saying that while Athena was raised by her mother the goddess of Wisdom (and thus becoming wise too), Ryoken’s mother is out of the picture, so there was no one to give him wisdom. …Sorry Ryoken.

Athena gave life to the first human woman, Pandora (although she didn’t forge her; Hephaïstos did.)

Athena is one of the most revered, adored, respected Greek goddesses, one of the deities with most followers. I mean, they built the Parthenon in her name. That sort of means something.

Athena is a goddess of both war and knowledge, but most of all she is a goddess of protection of cities and society. She does it to assist her father, but also out of duty and attachment to certain cities.

Athena helps heroes, such as Perseus, Herakles, or Odysseus, for better or worse, sometimes (often) at the detriment of other people (including, but not only, her father.) 

Athena has a billion epithets, but the other name she’s most known by is Pallas, which means “to brandish a weapon.” 🔫 

While I am aware that, considering the richness of the myths, I probably would find ways to link Athena to absolutely any character I want, I like to think that there’s enough here to cover a good part of Ryoken’s multiple traits and the way they interact.

At that depth of my rabbit hole, I was ready to call it: Revolver/Ryoken was Athenashipping, or Athenshipping, or Pallasshipping (but not Minervashipping, because while I really love latin, it didn’t sound good.) A delightfully cryptic name that would have everyone struggle to know who was in it, and raise an eyebrow when finding out. Very faithful to the tradition of Yu-Gi-Oh ship names.

Ah yes, Revolver and his famous Light/Fairy deck.

However. (It can't be that easy!)

I still wasn’t satisfied. Because while Athena, her multiple names, myths and characteristics did tie together many aspects of Ryoken, it felt incomplete.

One thing was particularly missing: Ryoken’s guilt and commitment issues, which are a HUGE part of his relationship with himself.

As Greek gods tend to do, Athena doesn’t display a lot of guilt. She’s been known to grieve occasionally, although she seems to lack the weird habit that gods have to turn the person they more or less accidentally faulted into a plant. (That said, she did turn her favourite girl into an olive tree after she got killed by fellow athletes who were jealous because the Goddess liked her better. But that’s not relevant here. Or, I don’t think it is. I might be missing a parallel.)

Anyway.  Words and power and knowledge and adoration and multiple names were all good, but this ship needed more guilt and grief to work. 

Back to the mythology books we go. Again.

Fourth approach — mythology, part 3: where we try about everything and anything

I wanted guilt, so I looked up guilt. I found Aidos, goddess of Shame, daughter of Prometheus (remember, the dude who stole fire and gave it to humans?), whose counterpart and bff was Nemesis (goddess of rightful retribution. Sounds familiar).  That sounded really good at first, but in this case “shame” rather means “modesty”: in Latin, she's Pudicitia. I’m not exactly sure “modesty” applies to Ryoken.

I wanted grief, so I looked up grief.  Penthos came up, Greek spirit of Grief, whose parents are none other than Aether and Gaia, the air and earth literally. 

I discarded both, first because they were too mono-faced and lacked interactions with the other aspects of Ryoken’s personality, and second because I didn't know enough about them. (Third, I'm not a fan of the names Aidosshipping or Penthosshipping; they just don’t sound great, and can even create confusion in the case of Aidosshipping.)

In the process, I also considered then discarded Aletheia, goddess of truth (Veritas in latin). While Revolver very rarely tells open lies (the only one that comes to mind is when he says he doesn't know who Playmaker is. I think everything else is the truth, even if it's the truth only for him), this kid is still far from always speaking the truth.

While Aletheiashipping sounded nice in a very typical, needlessly complicated way, Aletheia means “unconcealment” and Ryoken is painfully concealed.  Pass.

See, I tried everything! And with that, I was about to really conclude that Athenshipping was the best ship name for Ryoken/Revolver.

UNLESS…

Final approach — Wait, there’s three!

You know, in retrospect, it feels a little obvious. At that point of my deep-dive, I remembered that while the ship Ryoken/Revolver was nice, why should I deprive myself of the joy of the ship Ryoken/Revolver 1.0 / Revolver 2.0?

And look, that was a pattern of three, there. Couldn’t I make it simple and call it Threeshipping? The name was not taken.

————————— INTERMISSION —————————

Maybe you already noticed, and then this intermission will seem silly. But in case you haven't noticed, and since I blew my own mind with this realisation, there's no reason I wouldn't blow yours in the process. Have you ever wondered why the number three, specifically?  It has likely nothing to do with mythology this time. 

However: - it's a convenient one in general, easy to reach and easy to remember. - it is, as Yusaku notices, the number of cards you can have in your main monster zone in Speed Duels. - but most of all, and that's where I had an "oh." moment: it's also, dun dun dunnn~

~the number of rods used in the problem of the Tower of Hanoi.  Coincidence? I think not.

(This intermission is actually an excuse to note that I didn’t go into Hanoishipping because that just sounds like Revolver/his whole organisation, and Knightshipping is already taken by a ship from Arc-V, Shingo Sawatari/Yuto. I didn't know how to fit it in the rest of my stupid narrative, bullet points wouldn't comply. Thank you for your patience.)

————————— END OF INTERMISSION —————————

So, threeshipping could work, in theory. But it didn’t sound… really good. It felt rather bland, honestly. I discarded it along with all the others and, since I was too deep at that point, I was unstoppable and turned back to mythology. Again again.

I kickstarted the brainstorming again with an easy question: which figure goes with the number THREE in mythology? 

The first that came to mind was Hecate, with her three heads, but I really couldn't find any link with Ryoken. I mean, she’s the daughter of the titan of destruction and the titaness of stars (although Hecate’s father might also be Zeus, which, well, isn’t it true for basically anyone in Greek mythology at this point), and she’s the goddess of protection, and borders, and the moon, and plenty of other things I don’t fully grasp because I should probably read more of the Theogony than just what I studied in class, but I’m not sure I’m THIS dedicated.

Anyway, let’s forget about Hecateshipping. Three faces don’t make a Ryoken.

And suddenly, I had a vision. An epiphany. A true “how am I so stupid I feel like bashing my head against the nearest wall” moment.

Because, you see, there is one famous figure linked with the number three in mythology. In multiple mythologies, even. And if you’re not me, you may have seen it coming about 2000 words ago (or maybe the tl;dr just clued you in.) There is one very, very, very famous mythological figure linked with the number three. Or rather, three mythological figures.  And they’re among my favourite myths of all times, so really, even the wall is too soft for my head.

I’m obviously talking about these lovely ladies.

The Greek Moirai. Also known as the Parcae in Latin, close to the Norns in Scandinavian mythology, or you know, in English, simply: the Fates.

Sometimes it’s so obvious you miss it!

And so, here I am now, chilling with my buddies Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, discussing how they are perfect to define the relationship between Ryoken and himself-but-in-the-virtual-world and also himself-but-in-the-virtual-world-but-with-yellow-eyes.

It is unclear who their parents are (so many different myths), although Zeus could probably be the father again. But it doesn’t matter, because even Zeus doesn’t hold any power over them, which is frankly badass of them. What is clear is their functions: - Clotho spins the thread: she’s the source of the tapestry, triggering life. - Lachesis unwinds the thread and measures it, observing life with an absolute knowledge of everything that goes into the tapestry.  - Atropos cuts the thread: she brings the end, the destruction, not out of evilness but because it is where the end is meant to happen.

I have a feeling that Clotho would get along well with Revolver 2.0 and his creation of Pandor. Lachesis might have a few things to chat about with Ryoken, the younger one who watched children his age get tortured or the older one who or the older one who is now watching over the network. And if the thread has to be moved a little to make the tapestry better, no one has to know (even if one’s father dies in the process.) And finally, Atropos would probably take a liking to Revolver 1.0, who destroyed the Cyberse world and almost destroyed the network with the Tower of Hanoi because he had to, it was the best option to do so.

I doubt the Moirai feel guilt or grief, but as they encompass the entirety of human fate, they surely carry a lot of feelings. It’s good enough for me.

And thus, after this way too deep rabbit hole (that was more like an army of rabbits), I propose to you:

MOIRAISHIPPING.

(Parcaeshipping didn’t sound as good, and the Norns, while similar, are still different enough that Nornshipping wouldn’t convey the same meaning.)

Although, as mentioned in the tl;dr at the top of this post, we can also differentiate the ship Ryoken/Revolver and Ryoken/Revolver 1.0/Revolver 2.0, and thus keep Athenshipping for the first. Fun fact: Athena is also the goddess of weaving!

But to be honest, I do think it’s not necessary to make this differentiation, and Moiraishipping is enough.

I rest my case.

If you're wondering: yes, I completely used the excuse of ship names to write yet another analysis of this character. It’s like he never ceases to cause ink to flow. Damn you, Revolver. Seriously, with all the words he makes me write, I should have gone with something like Museshipping instead (IT IS NOT TAKEN. HOW DOES IT NOT EXIST YET. Quick, someone come up with a ship that can be named Museshipping.)

And I’ll conclude by: considering how cool his new Moirai friends are, I sure hope Ryoken will consider taking up weaving and tapestry soon, to keep himself occupied on his boat, between two cyber attacks.

Thoughts are welcome, and now it’s time to populate the tag in Tumblr and AO3!

————————— OMAKE —————————

Kudos to my partner for having the patience of a saint while I was brainstorming.

He came back to around 50 messages of stupid tentative ship names and increasing frustration, followed by the descent into mythology madness I described above. And he still agrees to live with me, HOW.

[isleofair]

🍄🪐❄️

:)

😍😍😍 thank you for the ask!!! 💙💙💙

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

🤩 Obviously, since it's me, this has to be about FireSky! 😅 I have two that I'm not, like, overly attached to, but that I find interesting/cute.

One is at least partially supported by a couple of very tiny canon details (there's a post I've been meaning to make for ages), and it's that Nathan and Keith might have actually joined the Hero TV roster at the same time (if so, probably, five years before the start of the show). They would have been the most unlikely pair of rookies ever (with neither of them having true rookie energy, to boot) and I live for the cute shenanigans that probably occurred in this scenario as they got to know each other and everyone else 🤭

The other, quite simply, is that since the cooking class was Keith's idea, he was also the one who signed them up for it... and he inadvertently picked a couples' class for them and just never realized 😂

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

Mh. The people and pets I love are in good enough health, and so am I. I have some really awesome friends who make me feel cared about. And my writing energy and inspiration are coming back and I think I'll be putting words to (digital) paper again very soon.

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

I've already answered this (in a most conceited way, admittedly), so I'll go for another dream fic concept that isn't one of those I want to write myself (and which I've only just come up with, but that I already love): Tiger & Bunny, with of course a focus on FireSky, in space. Probably a Star Trek fusion? I can just see Keith being the too-selfless captain of a ship, and Nathan as the officer who worries about him and doesn't quite fit perfectly in the rigid structure of Starfleet, and... and I'm now headcanoning Trek races for half the cast and I think I should stop here, lol.

As for who would write it best... anyone who has the patience to, really. Which is definitely not me, alas 😂

(the ask game)

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 47: Summit Meeting Season 1, Episode 48: Return of Coran's Son

Episode 47: Summit Meeting

Ew, why are we focusing on the galaxy garrison again, they don't do shit anyway oh lore, Zarkon (and planet doom) isn't even PART of the Drule empire, and he's considered a criminal so he's not getting any help from them

HELLO?? SOMEONE ACTUALLY WANTED TO HELP ARUS WITH GARRISON FLEETS, BUT WHOEVER THIS GUY IS FUCKING SAID NO BECAUSE HE WANTS TO SEE HOW ARUS AND THE REST OF THAT SIDE OF THE GALAXY CAN HOLD UP BY BEING A UNITED FRONT THAT IS THE WORLD'S STUPIDEST REASON FOR NOT OFFERING AID, ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I hate the galaxy garrison all my homies hate the galaxy garrison someone reform the entire fucking group

oh, look it's Bandor who's doing diplomatic things in Pollux's name, how cute. I like to think Romelle is now crown princess taking care of things home side while Bandor learns to be a better prince and goes off elsewhere to take on princely duties

The start said ALL planets on Arus's side of the universe were going to be present at the meeting, but there's like 5 planets total including Arus already It feels way too small for just that side of the galaxy, so I think I'm gonna say those are the diplomats whose planets were brave enough to send someone for an alliance

the clapping is so funny because it's so very obvious they did it in recording and nobody actually clapped that hard, so it's so half-hearted for a scene that's supposed to be moving 😭

I'm sorry, what the fuck is happening?? Is the team split? Coran doesn't want allura part of the force anymore (shocker) and he wants to take her place but Keith and Lance seem against it because of his skills at the castle but hunk and pidge just said that they can train a replacement for him and that allura has to prioritize being a princess?? There was no argument??

Oh, I lied there is a debate between coran and Keith, he keeps saying voltron could be destroyed and if Keith keeps insisting allura stays on the team her life could be horrible because of Lotor I know she was never gonna leave after so long but thank god Keith was able to get through to Coran even a little, amazing food for the KA shippers too lol Keith just confirmed he was more worried about allura than her father-figure

VEHICLE VOLTRON MENTION I LOVE THIS Thank you Hazar for being so smart and not giving Zarkon any back up, you guys are dealing with the environmental fallout on your own planet (that you created but shh) and he's not doing shit to help

LMAOO KILL HIS ASS ZARKON, not lotor thinking he could reason with allura to a surrender and zarkon knocking his ass down a peg because "[lotor's] biggest handicap is that the princess is bright"

Haggar is always devil's advocate for lotor man, maybe she helped raise him or something aside from her being devoted to planet doom / Zarkon Also, Zarkon agreeing to lotor's mission with "i was young once" only for Haggar to say she was never young in the first place is WILD, maybe she's a rebirth of another person and thus "was never young"

oh, I didn't realize the scene that happened before Zarkon roasted Lotor was actually real, he sent a robot double of another ambassador that was "supposed" to make it to the summit meeting during a celebration, but a tank stationed nearby was taken over, and it blew up the ship once everyone saw who it was not a bad way to get a warning across from doom, i'd be fucked up over that too if I were the princess

oh, thank god I was gonna start yelling if Keith was telling allura to stand down from blue, he was just asking about her resolve to be a pilot after that attack, and she's definitely strong enough to keep going PLUS BLACK LION ALLURA ONCE AGAIN AT LAST RAAAH

and very short live goddamn it, black lion was sabotaged, and now she's knocked out because of being unable to control black now I have new ideas for their future >:3c I wonder how susceptible each lion is, especially since black is supposed to be the center

premonition from dead dad time, now she's running off because he warned her that lotor was on his way, honestly I thought she'd stay but guess not not that she can get away from lotor though, because he finds her anyway

I love Keith so much he's so cool, he's doing his best to be gentle with allura even in hard situations, plus the "out of the way princess, now" definitely had the right feeling behind it to show how series the fight between him and lotor is gonna be

oh keith is ACTUALLY hurt this time, that's wild

EVERY TIME I AGREE WITH ZARKON IS A TIME WHERE LOTOR GETS HIS ASS BEAT "but i took down the leader of voltron" "and let him live dipshit!! now they're gonna prepare harder!!" honestly zarkon has the right idea with calling his ass out every damn time he makes a mistake which is like every fucking episode we see lotor

"the doctors are saying it's mainly lazer shock" "that's like saying its only an earthquake" clearly wherever lance is from he isn't from anywhere with regular quakes because it TRULY isn't that serious since those places are prepared, now if its somewhere where they DONT happen that's when its time to get worried

"it looks like lotor is back and he's brought something horrible to do the fighting this time" see i was gonna trash on coran because when does lotor ever do his own fighting but uh,, keith is comatose in the castle so he's spot on this time

"black lion can do it alone, i know black lion can do it" Allura are you going stupid because you feel like it's your fault keith is hospitalized because that's the dumbest train of thought when you KNOW the legends are about unity

goddamn keith is RIPPED, no wonder so many people took a shining to him (aside from the happy-go-lucky, must always be peppy attitude he has)

(lance staring at keith whos making his way to launch blue) Keith: snap out of it lance! Entirely out of context that's the gayest shit imaginable for a 80s cartoon, and I choose to believe the rest of it is him being worried about his best friend fighting so soon after waking up

AT LAST ALLURA FORMS THE HEAD this is so great for her, im gonna use this for so many ideas

and just as soon as it starts, the fight ends i like the idea that the fights are so short but i love drawn out mech fights so i wish there was more to it

was the new alliance only official if voltron won?? that's stupid as hell if the team lost everyone would be DEAD

/episode end

Episode 48: Return of Coran's Son

Episode opens with the team egging each other on for a race back home, you guys i love this losers to much

damn why is allura always in these situations, blue essentially broke down and she spiraled into a crash after we see this yet unnamed character sabotaged? magic? mayhaps

I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ONE JOINT THAT BLEW UP NOT ALL FOUR WHAT

oh great nanny's back, for the love of god get RID OF HER ALREADY. she's right though because how the hell did the boys not notice allura was gone AFTER she sent out that distress message

mysterious new guy saves the princess, though she's smart and gets him to back off just in case also the team plus nanny and coran get there in another ship helicopter thing?? use the damn lions atp

Mystery man is named Garrett! And ofc lance doesn't trust him, which means you immediately listen to lance because he's ALWAYS RIGHT

lore time, Garrett apparently is the son of a castle worker and once zarkon attacked when he was a baby only he and his mother were able to escape, except eventually zarkon found them and everyone they were hiding with and he was the only one lucky enough to escape saying this because Coran thinks he seems familiar and has a son that would be his age. honestly i'm just glad we're getting him timeline for the start of the attacks on Arus, this dude isn't any younger than his early 20s at most

oh indirect confirmation that garret IS his son, also corans wife was named Leeda (Lita?)

YOUNG CORAN LOOKS LIKE HANDSOME SQUIDWARD WITHOUT THE CHIN also why are all the women love interests/wives in this show blonde

aw poor coran, i may not like him a whole lot, but in the end he's doing what he thinks is best. he really does miss his wife and kid, apparently hoping that they're still alive is too much for him

i know this episode so its no surprise that they're training him for blue lion but GUYS i thought we were over replacing allura she's literally the best you got, aside from Garrett's apparent natural skills at shooting down targets also pidge makes the comment "it's almost like you've done this before" which is wild because no way they're insinuating that infant garrett did target practice

please why did they give him svens uniform 😭 i know it was probably their only spare but GET HIS ASS OUT OF IT

and now actual confirmation that Garrett is his son, coran gave him a pendant heirloom he had before they evacuated and we're seeing it again now

oh boy i know they weren't trying to mention religion in voltron but AINT NO WAY THEY ESSENTIALLY MADE KING ALFOR A DIETY TO REPLACE ALL THE CHRISTIANITY REFERENCS IN THE ANIMATION LMAOO i think it was called the divine right of kings where royalty were essentially worshipped as gods or were placed as royalty by god themself?

"spoken like a true son!" "father!" im cackling why did they say that

Doom time, yeah Garrett is evil but also a clone! so i guess the real one is probably dead

ik there was probably a more specific reason why they zoomed in on the picture of corans wife and kid after he was knocked out by the poison ring garrett has in golion but right now it's more so odd?

"and we know we can trust you 'cause you're coran's son!" Keith you sweet summer child, did you not just hear Lance say something was off with how sudden Coran got sick

also fuck nanny for saying it's the emotional stress of meeting his son after so long, i truly do not think that's possible

even if i didnt know the guy was evil i wouldn't trust garrett sending the team directions into outer space, he's just fucking with them currently even though they DID find some enemy ships

"but we followed your directions!" "not fast enough" this fucking brat LMAO

Garrett is actually being super smart right now, he used his position at the castle to allow zarkons fleet to land where the garrison was hiding the pulsar canon under the guise of it being voltron, now if only the enemies were this smart all the time

damn no pre-fight with the lions once they spotted the robeast, just straight into voltron also the robeast look pretty cool but why is he mostly gold? isn't that too weak of a metal to be protective

oh shit one of the few times voltron struggles against a robeast, it managed to send them hurtling back into Arus also garrett with the new red scleras to show he's evil, not for one second am i believing the guards who came to warn him of the pulsar canon on arus are robots again i know it's censoring but shh

"okay Keith, i'll help you out. how about a little energy boost? Say about 12 thousand megatons from a pulsar canon! if you look below, you'll see it there on your right. It's aiming right for you" BRATTY AS HELL GODDAMN

MAN I FEEL SO BAD FOR CORAN, HE THOUGHT THAT WAS HIS SON AND HE REFUSES TO BELIEVE HE'S NOT EVEN AFTER GARRETT SAID HE WASN'T

damn he's straight up making a race war over here, saying they're gonna replace arusians with the "better" race which are apparently all clones

NO THE PULSAR CANON GOT PIDGE, GREEN LION BROKE OFF OF VOLTRON WHAT THE FUCK

it ends on a cliff hanger,,,

/episode end

[callmelyc]

Written for Twitter julance

#2023JuLance

Week 1: sharpshooter PART 2- Life of the Title

Pridge groans "there is it AGAIN, that's the fifth time this week!"

Lance pauses his game from his place hanging upside down off the bed "there's what again?"

"Is it that code name again?" Hunk ask coming in with all their movie snacks leaning over to read pidges screen.

"I think so?" She's typing again trying to get to a good stoping point "we don't actually have any proof it's a name, the galra just talk about it alot...it keeps coming up & its in almost all the logs now."

"What's the name?"

She huffs "again, no proof it's a name- and it's Ghost Rite"

Lance snorts "that's so lame for the galra no way that's a name"

Hunk just frowns a bit "well whatever it is isn't invited to this sleepover, can we just watch the movie...please?"

As movie night goes off without a hitch lance can't help but feel like this won't be the last time he hears that name.

~*~

They're having a meeting with the blade today to discuss Keith's return to team Voltron when the name gets confirmed as a name.

"Kolivan, do you happen to know why the Galran keep discussing a Ghost Rite?" Allura says since she knows everyone has been worried about it and knowing something like this could be beneficial to them.

If lance had been daydreaming before he sure wasn't now, the moment the not name was mentioned the blades behind kolivan stiffened.as miniscule as the difference might have been lance has good eyes for a reason, he noticed things he knows no one else will. His focuses zeroed in on them, they knew something and based on kolivans pause at responding he'd say they might even know more than they'll let on.

"The Ghost Rite has become a marker of fear for the galra these last few pheobs. Their name alone has become a threat of sorts..." Kolivans eyes stay forward but some of the men behind glance briefly towards lance so quickly most wouldn't notice "has...Voltron not heard of this?"

Shiro frowns a bit "we've only been picking up on the name in the data we've collected from missions and stray com signals. Until today we didn't even know if it was a name."

This time kolivans eyes look towards lance "This individual is a key player in this war, we only ask Voltron keep him in check."

With a few more subtle glances noted and diplomatic goodbyes the meeting ends with only more confusion. No one comments on the way the blades kept looking towards lance but one thing they do focus on is the confirmation it's a name.

"Do you think it's a vigilante?" Hunk ask nervously "y-you don't think he's a bad guy right? The blade asked us to keep an eye on this guy and the galra fear him he's gotta be terrifying!"

Shiro pats his shoulder "calm down hunk, I'm sure whoever this Ghost Rite is will be a good ally if we ever meet. He might even be part of the resistance."

"I can ask mat to keep an eye out for the guy?" Pidge suggest.

Shiro smiles "that's an excellent idea"

Lance watches everyone from afar unable to shake those glances the blade gave him. He feels like he's missing something...oh well, how important can it really be?

~*~

That thing lance thought he was missing? Yeah, turns out it was really important.

They're on a mission split into three teams: shiro and allura handling the diplomacy, Keith and hunk handing evacuation, and pidge and lance doing some sneaky infiltration to rescue some stray prisoners that managed to get captured and sent off planet. Easy right?

/Wrong/

This ship was a maze, unlike any they'd seen before and the only thing bringing comfort to lance right now was the fact he had red who could get them out of here the fastest. It was eerily quiet, full of upgrades and still far too easy to sneak into.

"You think this is a trap?" Lance whispers to pidge while she hacks into the door systems "I mean...this is too easy, right?"

"That's what ur here for loverboy, your the fighting force here-" her fingers fly across the keys then there's a audible click to go with her triumphed woop "and I'm the brains!" Pidge swats at lances arm "let's go!"

The moment they get to where pidge needs to be all hell breaks lose. The galra aboard the ship come rushing down the halls flanked by sentries "pidge lock yourself inside the control room, I'll distract them while you get ur data-"

"Oh it!" She shouts "and lance?...good luck"

Lance is flying around the corner listening to the door latch itself shut with an override faster than you can call him sharpshooter. He's ready to face these galra head to head, ready to be the wall protecting pidge a meer wall away!

But when those galra get around to face him and lance materializes his Bayard into his trusty blaster? they stop rushing forward. Lance holds his position, Bayard pointed directly towards the line of galra that came to a stop and a stare down commences.

Not letting his gaurd down at this strange behavior, lance observes. This is when he starts to realize what that important thing was.

The galra before him aren't just at a pause, they're terrified. Their hands are trembling, faces pulled into a defensive snarl, some even take cautionary steps backwards to get further away.

The back of lances mind is itching with an answer, it's right at the top of his tongue-

"It's the Ghost Rite" one whispers, voice as shaken as his clawed hands that grip his polearm. Then it clicks-

All the times they've talked to the Blade glances have been thrown lances way, every time they go on a mission the mentions of the name increase. When pidge asked her brother to keep an eye out for the Ghost Rite he looked confused-

It's him, God lance can't believe they all missed this! He can't believe the galra gave him such a lame name when he's been trying to get sharpshooter to stick- /no, focus! Now is not the time!/

Looking back at these men and seeing how shaken they are about lance standing here, he thinks maybe....maybe he should test the waters a little?

Ya know, for science.

Lance steps forward making them step back twice the distance. He repositions his gun causing the weaker to flinch while the rest to either drop their weapons or hold theirs unsteady.

He smirks....someone whimpers.

/Oh/ lance thinks trying not to laugh /this will be fun/

The rest of the mission goes off without a hitch, with lance using his newly acquired info to get them to bend to his whims a little things went faster than usual. Data collected, prisoners saved, planet freed and another win for voltron all the while lance is the only one to know about the Ghost Rite.

Of course, he didn't tell anyone about it not when he has no proof. Who would believe him anyways? His entire team thinks he's great with people, super kind and an all around great guy! Of course they think him capable, they saw what went down on Euble and all the other missions they go on, but that doesn't mean they'd think him a sign of fear for the galra.

So with every mission they go on lance watches the galra freeze or stutter at spotting him, he smirks or lets them know it would be on sight- they drop things or put up much less of a fight, then they all go on their merry way!

It's been a lot of fun. Some ships don't even leave actual galra stationed anymore, there's been more and more sentries and less intense battles. Lance counts it as a win.

The name even spreads past the galra, soon enough any criminals in general know about lance, even the ones trying to take over part of their own home planets. All lance has to do is stand behind his lovely team during diplomatic missions and the secretly horrible ones will glance towards him, freeze up and excuse themselves.

He's becoming a master at subtle threats too. When these people recognize him he just has to wave his hand a certain way and they blanch faster than the vegetables Hunk preps.

In the end these people are almost always working with the galra...but still lance is having a blast with it. There's nothing quite like being the secret weapon.

When doing meetings with the Blade he can tell they've noticed that Lance is...aware of his title. The next time it's brought up lance smiles at their inevitable glances his way, kolivans eyes alight with recognition then things continue forward as if a revelation didn't just occur.

The next time the blade are physically aboard the castle kolivan pulls lance aside alone "you are aware now."

It's not a question this time "I am" lance confirms meeting kolivan eye for eye.

"I trust we are in your good graces?" He ask lance reluctantly as if worried for his response.

It's the first time lance remembers the blade are all galra too "yeah, you guys are on our side...I trust you."

Kolivan looks at him a little longer like he's making sure lance isn't just lying to have an edge "this will be beneficial then."

Lance watches him leave wondering just how deep this all goes.

~*~

He's protecting a small group of civilians in a diplomatic mission gone wrong when their hiding spot he chose is blown. Well...sorta.

The galran throw down a group the planets higher ranking individuals right Infront of lances hiding spot. Each and every one of them is tied up, disarmed and panicked. Standing before them is a huge burly beefcake of a Galra, seriously this guy is massive, all snarls and glower.

And this guy Is clearly not happy, nor are his little henchmen.

"Where is he?" The burly one lance has dubbed boss man ask, brandishing his sword.

"Where is who?" One of the council members voice, he's terrified lance notes but the Galra man only growls.

"The Ghost Rite!" He shows his teeth "we know he's amongst you and we want revenge"

The civilians next to lance start to shake "We don't know who that is!"

Lance lays low, calling his Bayard to his side.

"Lies! He's rumored to be a member of Voltron, where is he!" A blade is held to the counselors neck now and that's when lance decides to act.

He ignores the hushed begging from the people beside him asking him not to leave. He steps into the open.

"I heard you're looking for me?" Lance says with a smile

Boss man turns eyeing lance up and down taking notes of the V on his chest and blaster in hand "So it's true then, the sniper of vld is Ghost Rite"

"You've killed almost all of my men-" he takes a fighting stance growling at Lance "you've ruined everything!"

"What, like it's hard?" He distantly hears the few of the prisoners off to the side curse under their breath but that's ok they don't know how good lance is at games like this "maybe you should've trained them better to not get spotted so easily"

He watches the henchmen start to tremble and shoots them a smirk. If he can buy enough time maybe his team will be able to get here, either way the prisoners will be freed even if he has to do it himself.

The Galra growls and tells his last two men to stand gaurd for the prisoners. He charges at lance "they only fear you because you can kill at a distance!"

He's clawing at lance viscously, at every dodge he makes "you are NOTHING in close combat!"

Lance spins changing his stance to go towards the galran coming at him. Everyone shouts terrified before a light zings through the air a sharp polearm taking its place and stabbing through the commanders chest.

"The Ghost part of my name comes from people never getting away to tell others I can defend myself upclose too" lance says low enough that only the one infront of him can hear "I won't be the only ghost here."

"You-" he gargles in response.

Lance pushes him off the polearm with his leg before spinning around to the final two "do you wanna try me or will you yield for arrest?"

When he turns ready to free the prisoners he finds his team looking back at him slack jawed in a mix of pride and shock.

The final two men are detained, practically begging to be away and that was the day his team discovered he was the Ghost Rite all along.

(it also meant them freaking out bc the galra are afraid of him "lance! Even the blade are a little scared of you wtf!")

(Allura taught him the polearm she's so proud)

Part 1

[kismetconstellations]

@sockdooe Are there legitimately, truly, and genuinely people who fight about that?

I'm pretty sure that the Black Lion, herself, definitively answered that question.

She came to Shiro's aid by awakening and allowing Keith to pilot her when Shiro was being attacked and on the verge of losing his life to those raptor creatures in the second season's opening episode.

She severed Zarkon's connection to her in favor of bolstering her bond with Shiro, because Shiro understood that the relationship between Lion and Paladin is "not about power. It's about earning each other's trust."

And, she cherished Shiro enough to hold onto his essence after his body was destroyed.

Shiro was the first to master seeing through his lion's eyes, all the way back in Season One.

He and Black had a deep enough desire and willingness to fully understand one another that she showed him her history and abilities that she and Shiro had yet to unlock together.

There's no debate to be had, here. Shiro is the ultimate Black Paladin, as determined by the Black Lion, herself.

I can only guess that there's an element of ageism, perhaps even ableism, and undoubtedly superficial vanity at play when it comes to the fandom's preference for Keith, Lance, and the pairing of the two of them that shall not be named. Keith and Lance are skinny, elfin-faced twinks with a cliche rivalry and certain vulnerabilities that appeal more to the younger demographic. Shiro is a square-jawed, six-foot-tall adult man with bulging biceps and abs of steel, and the sort of trauma that would take years to even begin processing, let alone healing from, who seems to be much more popular with the older, adult fans, and Eastern audiences. The younger, American fans took to calling Shiro a "dad", after all, despite him being twenty-five years-old; nowhere near old enough to be a father to any of the teenagers he finds himself put in charge of. I've also seen Keith/Lance shippers calling Shiro "Keith's dad", which feels vaguely racist, and arguing that Shiro "raised" Keith, which is ludicrous. It doesn't help at all that the show, itself, feeds into the ageism and ableism by sweeping Shiro's trauma under the rug, sidelining him when he's down an arm, and sequestering him and Coran off with the other adults while the teenaged- sans Keith, who was at least twenty-one throughout the latter half of the seventh and whole of the eighth season- Paladins go off on their adventures.

I know the intention was to kill Shiro off permanently before the producers vetoed it due to Shiro's popularity and status as the show's only (living, explicitly confirmed, and relevant) gay character. Perhaps because he has no one-to-one equivalent character in the original series this was a remake of, and Keith was the leader in that same original series, so he was destined to be the leader, here, as well. Or, because the VLD showrunners were under the- delusional- belief that they could have Keith redo what Shiro had already done, only better, somehow, because they prioritized spectacle over narrative substance. Regardless, it's apparent that Shiro is only still around out of obligation, come the eighth season, and there was no desire on the writers' parts to further explore or develop his character. Hence him having no family, and, by extension, no real support system, being largely isolated from everyone, only really getting to shine in an episode that's half filler and unintentionally perpetuates more ableism, and then being married off to a "character" who might as well be a glorified piece of set dressing for all of the personality and importance he's given.

It's absolutely mind-boggling to me that,

1. The majority, or at least the most vocal parts of the fanbase cared more about shipping and complaining about being "queerbaited" over Lance/Keith when Shiro is right there.

And, 2. It seems like Josh Keaton, Shiro's voice actor, was the only member of the crew who truly appreciated Shiro, enough to offer his personal headcanon about Shiro's family- that Shiro was raised by his grandfather- state that he intentionally gave the clone's voice a harder edge compared to Shiro's softer, gentler tones in order to distinguish between the two of them, showing his implicit understanding of Shiro's character, and even made a video tribute to Shiro after the show had ended.

Aww, thank you for enjoying my angry rant on Shiro's behalf. Believe me, it burns that Shiro is overlooked entirely as the stepping stone he was on the path toward gay representation in children's media, purely because this show's quality plummeted so hard, and the fandom earned itself a reputation as one of the worst in recorded history. He deserves to be honored and celebrated, as not only a proud gay man who told Pidge that "owning who you are is going to make you a better Paladin", but also as a trauma survivor who strove to remain gentle, patient, and kind, and devote his life to saving others.

And, yes, he also deserves the best therapist in the universe, and all of the cuddles. ❤

[shadesofnavy]

It's so nice to see a fellow short Pico & GF and tall himbo BF enjoyer! Could I hear some trivia about your trio there? Oh, and are you a shameless shipper who ships them with yo friends' versions of the trio? If so you're very based. ;]

Aw thank you :) yes I'm a bit of a shameless shipper here, just love pairing those who'd get along with my trio here lol. I'll give a little in-sight on these three fellows here so y'all can get to know them more: -Boyfriend is 35, Girlfriend is 34 and Pico is 36 -I gave them legitimate names since they're from a more "normal" world compare to other AUs--Keith Burlington, Cherry Davis and Pico Dankworth--however I honestly don't think it's that big of a deal to call them bf and gf for simplicity's sake. Wondering if I should make those tags now tho.. -Cherry is actually not a demon here... surprise..? -Keith used to go to the gym every few times a week since he was a teenager, however he's stopped ever since he started working on making music and preforming on local gigs around Newsground City -Cherry serves as a full-time cook at a casual restaurant (the best in town so far) -She has a culinary degree -Keith dropped out of college after trying to get a music degree. He claims it was "too finicky" for him -He wouldn't have graduated high school if it weren't for Cherry urging him to try -Keith and Cherry have known each other since early high school (he was 16 and she was 15) -Pico is a surreptitious hitman known only to the world of crime going about the city. He's been living tied to it since he was a deserted teenager just after surviving the infamous school shooting -Pico is actually a good cook himself, however he has a very low appetite and rarely ever feeds himself a decent meal -He's mildly malnourished because of that and is schizophrenic -He's also caffeine intolerant and addicted to smoking -Keith is alcohol tolerant and loves any food with juicy meat -He can grill and cook any kind of meat and make pancakes. Other than that, it's a disaster -He leaves the kitchen a mess whenever he cooks -Cherry does not approve of the statement above -They're all more or less bisexual -Pico gets cold very easily, so he always wears a turtleneck, hoodie and jacket. In the summertime he'll only stick with his turtleneck and maybe a sleeveless hoodie -Despite his frail appearance he's as firm as a log -Pico's gun is the MAC-10 submachine gun; he uses a suppressor with it. He also owns a glock -Cherry's dad once called Pico to try and assassinate Keith (unbeknownst to the ginger who it was), but her mother managed to stop him in time before anything was settled -Edit: I forgot to add that Keith also has ADHD, but I feel as though every Boyfriend has that so yeah lol

[tgarnsl]

tagged by @chiropteracupola — thank you, my friend!

rules: post the last line/snippet of what you wrote and tag as many people as there are words.

I will not be doing that, as there are more words than there are people I know, but I will tag @sanguinarysanguinity, and anyone else who would like to join in, please consider this your invitation!

from the flight of the heron fake married au:

—

A bitter wind was sweeping across the Beauly Firth, threading its way through the streets of a still and miserable Inverness. It was a week past that fateful day on Culloden Moor: only a mere sennight, but to Major Keith Windham it seemed an eternity. Cumberland in his victory had not been merciful, neither on the battlefield nor off it, and in that week had been committed such unkindnesses as to make an honourable soldier almost ashamed of the uniform he wore. It was certainly a hard-hearted man who could walk past the wretched and overcrowded little prison beneath the bridge and not be moved by pitiful voices crying for water. No less desperate were the men in the churches and gaols of the town, and the ships in the harbour. The day before last, Keith had gone out with a quorum of other officers to take down the names of prisoners, and what he had seen had been enough to nearly turn his stomach. For two days the prisoners had been given neither food nor water, and many lay, half-dead, in their filth and misery, as they waited for the inevitable, for their surgeons and bleeders had seen their tools confiscated, and there was no surgeon from the town to tend to them. Yet of all the cruelties that had been witnessed thus far in this defeated little town, the most senseless was that taking place before him now on this cold and grey Sunday morning. The order had been given just hours before that all prisoners were to be reviewed publicly, and now, between the two rows of troops lined from one end of Bridge Street to the other, they were made to pass muster, many in their shirts or less. Major Windham, mounted alongside General Hawley and a number of other officers in the market square, watched the shambling little parade with considerable distaste. The wounded men as well as the hale had been made to come out, and those unable to wake or stand were carried by their fellow prisoners. This provoked uproarious laughter in Hawley and a number of the other officers, for to them there was no finer amusement than watching a lame man stumble and crawl before them, or see another spill his precious half-pound of meal which he carried in the fore-skirt of his shirt. Listening to the laughter of Hawley, as sharp and cruel as a parrot’s, and the jeers of the officers and men, Keith’s stomach turned, and he was about to turn his horse about and feign trouble from his wound of Fontenoy, when he heard another of the company — Mr David Bruce, the judge-advocate — hail a triple of prisoners, two of whom half-carried, half-dragged the injured third between them.   “Ho, there,” cried Mr Bruce. “You!” The two able men stopped, their faces pale with fear beneath the grime. Their injured fellow made little motion to indicate he heard Bruce, his head hanging down and his face obscured by a curtain of dirty auburn hair. Unlike his companions, who wore only their shirts, he had on only a kilt, beneath which the lower end of a filthy bandage around his left thigh could be seen. Another bound his sword arm — evidence enough of where the man’s shirt had gone. His tartan, Keith noted a moment later, was that of the Cameron — that, of all tartans, was one he knew without question, having once worn it himself. Despicable, thought Keith to himself, his hands tightening on his horse’s reins, the creature shifting nervously in response.But the judge-advocate was not finished. “Get him on his feet. He is to march,” he ordered, pointing at the injured man. who was in no state to stand. Yet with his companions’ coaxing he struggled to his feet, and stood there a moment after they had released him, before his injured leg weakened, and he collapsed.“Far better had he died on Culloden Moor,” murmured a lieutenant to Keith’s right, and Keith gave a slight nod of assent. Any Highlander would surely wish a good death in battle over struggling in the muck like an animal, trying to gain footing that would surely not hold. “Get him up,” intoned General Hawley, evidently bored, but the injured prisoner raised a hand to ward off his companions, seemingly determined to stand once more. Slowly, slowly, he got his feet under him and assumed his full height, lifting his face towards the officers in grim defiance. Yet it was clear from his trembling leg that he would not be able to stand for long, no matter how strong his will, and a small trickle of blood was already beginning to run down his injured thigh. His ashen face was dirty and unshaven like all the other prisoners, but his eyes—“Good God!” exclaimed Major Windham aloud, throwing himself from his horse. All gazes fixed on him, save for Ewen Cameron’s, who had gone very grey indeed, his teeth set in his lower lip as if he might overcome his disability by force of will alone. He wavered once, half-stumbled, regained his footing for a moment, but his strength was gone. The wounded leg gave way once more, and he fell, into Keith Windham’s waiting arms. “Major Windham!” called General Hawley, riding forward as Keith knelt with Ewen, his face red with anger. “What is the meaning of this, sir?”  Keith looked down at Ardroy, at that gaunt face with its eyes half-closed and unseeing. His hand, pressed to Ardroy’s bare chest, found a faint and sluggish heartbeat. Half-dead already. It seemed unlikely that he would live out the week. But what could he do? There was nothing Keith could say that would save Ewen from his fate — nothing save…“Major Windham!” shouted Hawley, apoplectic with rage. “Sir, step away at once—”Keith met Hawley’s withering stare, his heart beating rapidly in his throat. “I cannot, sir,” he said, as calmly as he could. For a moment time stood still, the moment between the spark of steel on flint and the explosion of the pistol. He had set his course, and he would be damned if anyone would forestall it now. “You see, sir,” he continued, holding Ewen close, “He is my husband.”

[moby-writing-and-stuff]

Scavenging Gone Bad

“I’ve told you, Mike, I transferred the last bit of payment for the repairs before I left,” the ginger twenty-six-year-old said as he leaned back in the pilot’s chair, his eyes not leaving the window in front of him, as he saw other ships fly around him. His hands were resting lazily on the controls, ready to grab them at a moment's notice, but relaxed and willing to let the ship’s autopilot handle everything for now.

“Well, the mechanic keeps calling me about how we stiffed him, Keith” the synthesized voice of his partner came through the ship’s intercom, crackling a bit due to the distance between the ship and where the transmission was coming.

“Ha! If anything, he stiffed us” Keith Coolidge said with a chuckle as he moved around a bit in the chair to try and find the comfy spot “Pretty sure he charged me twice as much as he should have for the work he did on the ship”

“I keep telling you we need to buy a new hauler,” Mike said, and despite the lack of visual elements to the call, Keith knew his husband was rolling his eyes “People just don’t carry the parts for it anymore, so, of course, he charged extra”

“Yeah, I’d buy that if he actually replaced anything” Keith grumbled “I’m convinced he just slapped some hyper-glue and sealant tape on everything and called it a day… Plus you know that this old girl has things modern ships don’t.”

“I know, I know,” Mike said in a tone that made it clear it was a discussion the two have had many many times over. Keith chuckled, but before he could say anything else, the lights on the chair’s arm beeped and blinked blue.

“Ugh, gotta hand up,” Keith said as he sat up a bit straighter “Got an inspection…”

“Right, hope they’re not too rough on ya,” Mike said with sympathy clear in his voice “Love ya, talk later”

“Love you too,” Keith said with a smile as he hung up the communicator and let out a sigh “Righto… Time to talk to the asshats..” he mumbled as he tapped the blinking blue button.

“You are attempting to leave the Sovereign Territory of the Othrys system” came the automated voice of the Border Security “State your name, citizenship, and occupation”

“Keith Coolidge,” the ginger said in a flat tone “Citizen of Othrys, planet Kronos. Occupation is Scavanger.”

Keith had gone through this particular routine so much he could do it in his sleep. It was one of the costs of living in the Othrys System Republic, one of the most calm states in the galaxy. Through the past thousand years, humanity had left its cradle in the Solar System and spread outwards through the entire galaxy after the discovery of Tunnel FTL drive and never really looked back. Nowadays, humans were spread through the entire galaxy, settling and building up on every habitable planet they could find, and even those that weren’t in the case of particularly daring and crazy. And when enough planets shared some kind of culture or ideals they tended to unite into a Sovereign System, of which there were so many it got difficult to count and each was unique in its own way. Some horrible and some near utopian.

Really, living in Othrys wasn’t that bad, Keith knew that. Clean cities, fair laws, good standard of living. Kinda came with being known as the Cultural and Humanitarian Center of Humanity’s various states. Most people in Othrys studied to become great artists, musicians, medics, and scientists. Most people.

And Keith wasn’t most people.

“Accessing…” the computerized voice of Border Security said, “Please stand by for Organic Security Officer…”

“Of course…” Keith said with a sigh as the line went dead for a second, only to be picked up by a rather gruff and bored-sounding voice.

“So, you are heading out to pick through the bits, Scavver?” the officer said

“Yes,” Keith said, rolling his eyes “And I’ve got all my permits up to date and signed”

“Huh, sure. Just upload em” the guy said. Keith sighed and hit a few buttons on the ship’s console, uploading the forms to the guy’s ship. Scavengers, or Scavvers as most people called them, weren’t exactly the most popular vocations in the galaxy, especially in societies like Othrys that prided themselves on being highly educated, high-class society. And people who went into space to pick through old shipwrecks and old alien ruins for valuable salvage and old alien artifacts weren’t exactly high on that list.

“Right, everything seems to be in order,” the guy on the other said “Try not to trespass into Shiva Empire territory, we’ve gotten way too many idiots who decide to go and poke through their wrecks, and it’s always a headache.”

“No worries there,” Keith said with a shiver. The Shiva Empire was one of the biggest Sovereign Systems in the galaxy and one of the nastiest. A bunch of expansionists, military-obsessed nutters who were only not actively conquering everything because every other system put immense pressure on them. And they did not take kindly to people who trespassed in their space and they certainly didn’t appreciate scavvers looking for a payday. “I’m heading in the complete opposite direction from them”

“Good. Got enough headaches to deal with. Now move along, you making a line” the officer said as he cut the comms.

“Real friendly guy…” Keith mumbled as he grabbed the ship’s controls and activated the thrusters, flying forward and officially out of Othrys. He twisted and manipulated the controls a bit, flying the ship further out before bringing up the communicator and dialing his husband again.

“So, everything went fine then?” Mike asked as soon as the line connected

“Considering the fact you're talking to me and not a Security Officer who doesn't get enough personal time, yeah” Keith joked as he piloted the ship towards the minimum safe distance to FTL. “But anyways, was just giving you one more call before I tunnel into FTL and wanted to talk one last time. I have a good feeling about this tip, the guy seemed really convinced that Ghost Ship he stumbled across could be worth something.”

“Thanks, Kit” Mike said “Wish I was there with you”

“I know,” Keith said with a sad nod “Wish you were too, but honestly it's for the best you stay home.”

“Ke-”

“Mike, we’re not having this argument again and definitely not having it over a comm unit,” Keith said in a serious tone “You had a full-on panic attack last time, Mike. A really bad one.”

“It wasn’t that bad…” his partner said

“Mike, we had to turn around to leave and I damn near had to sedate you,” Keith said in the same serious tone. Keith usually scavenged with his partner, but a few years ago, Mike got caught in a collapsing tunnel that cost him his arm and legs. While he had gotten holographic prosthetics that pretty much allowed him the same functionality he had before, he was still working through the mental trauma he got as a result of it. Most of the time, it was something the two of them could work through, but the last time it had been a rather serious one, and now the ginger wasn’t taking any chances. “Plus, I paid for those sessions for you with Dr. Hypatia already. And you know she doesn't do refunds”

“Fine,” Mike said, the tone of his voice making it clear he was throwing up his arms in defeat which made the ginger pilot grin a little “Have a safe trip, Kit”

“Thanks, Mikey,” Keith said. The comm unit cut off a second later, and Keith typed in the coordinates of his destination. 

Tunnel Drive…Online came the voice of the ship’s computer Drive warmed up…Coordinates accepted….Tunneling in 3…2…1…

Keith gripped the sides of the chair tightly as the entire ship lurched forward and blasted ahead, a rainbow of colors replacing the blackness of space as he entered the FTL tunnel. Keith kept a tight grip on the chair for a few minutes before letting go with a sigh and unbuckling himself.

“Right…inertia dampeners still holding…” Keith mumbled as he stood up and shook his head. “Computer, estimated time to arrival?”

Calculating….Estimated arrival time is…4 hours and 40 minutes

“Right… guess I better go get some shut-eye,” Keith said with a small yawn “Set alarm for 4 hours and thiry minutes” There was a small beep as the computer accepted the command. Keith yawned again and headed for the back of the ship to try and get some extra sleep before he got to the rather hard work of scavenging.

=============================================

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Keith grunted as he woke up, blinking and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as the dull sound of the alarm rang out. He hit the off-button on the panel next to his bunk as he sat up, but the beeping continued.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Oh come on…” he groaned as he gave the panel a smack and hit the button again, this time with more force behind it. A second later the beeping stopped, the only sound being the background hum of the Tunnel Drive. “Finally…” he said, rubbing his eyes as he stood up “Just one more thing in this tub that needs fixing I guess…”

The ginger scavenger yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he stood up and stretched, his eyes traveling around the small quarters. The ship he and his husband owned wasn’t exactly what people would call a luxury vessel. Most people would charitably call it a ‘flying hunk of scrap metal’. It was old, around seventy years out of date and almost every piece in it just wasn’t available on the market anymore, making repairs a complete pain in the ass which often ended with jury-rigged repairs. 

“One day we’ll be able to get a new ship…” Keith mumbled as he grabbed his boots and slipped them on with one hand and tapped the panel with the other. It beeped for a second and a small rectangular box dropped out, which he grabbed and jabbed into his neck. He shivered as a wave of energy rushed through his body and any sense of drowsiness evaporated from his body. “And someday we’ll get a ship with a coffee machine instead of using WakeUp Stims…” Keith mumbled as he chucked the now empty box into the garbage can in the corner of the room. Keith and his husband were always hard up on credits, mostly from where they lived. Living on Orthys was not cheap, even in the relatively less affluent area where the two had their apartment. Combine that with the fact the two needed to buy equipment for their scavving trips, repairs on the ship, and the day-to-day ways they needed to spend money, the two were not in any position to buy a new spaceship. Keith let out a small sigh as he stood up, grabbed his belt off the table next to the garbage can, and stepped out of the quarters, the door sliding shut behind him, leaving him back on the ship’s bridge, the never-ending rainbow of FTL blasting through the windows.

“Right, let’s take another look,” Keith said as he took a seat again, tapping the controls on the armrests. A second later, a hologram flickered in front of him, showing a map of the Milky Way Galaxy.

“Computer,” Keith said “Give me a description of the area.”

Accessing… the computer said as the map zoomed in on the area the ship was heading According to the Orthys’ galactic map, the territory is currently determined as ‘Non-Viable’

“Meaning its useless for colonization or industry” Keith mumbled

Correct. All terrestrial planets in the sector are too hostile for colonization. Gas and Ice Giants are considered unviable for fuel extraction due to isolation.

“So, it's the middle of bumfuck nowhere,” Keith said with a small smile. “Means no chance of anyone getting annoyed at me. Not counting the guys at the bar anyways” he turned back to the map “Give me Galactic Archeological records of the area. Who lived here?”

Accessing… the computer beeped as the map of the galaxy began to be separated into separate colors and names. Keith’s eyes washed over some of them as he waited for a response. The galaxy, as much as people could figure out, worked in a cycle of some kind. An alien species became advanced enough to spread out amongst the stars, they would expand, colonize, conquer, go to war, and then, eventually collapse. So far, archeologists have identified four previous alien civilizations that had expanded through the galaxy, with hints of there being even more in the distant past. While the idea of the cycle was something theologians and philosophers were fascinated by, for Keith it had a much simpler meaning. 

Alien tech was worth a fuck-ton of credits to the right buyer, no matter what species it belonged to.

Results found. According to the Pan-Galactic Archeological Organization, this sector belonged to the Cok'ex species. 

“Cok'ex?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow “Not familiar with those… Elaborate”

The Cok'ex were one of the smaller galactic communities, as far as current research shows. They are believed to resemble humanoids, with large horns on their heads. They were extremely advanced, with cybernetics and robotics being extensively used throughout their civilization, but no working examples of their technology have been recovered to date.

“Heh, well then that sounds perfect,” Keith said with a grin. A ghost ship in an area that barely any humans really cared about, but was once the territory of one of the most advanced extinct alien civs? That had the sound of a perfect payday to him. He tapped a few buttons and deactivated the hologram. 

Warning. Arrival imminent. Brace for Tunnel-Exit

“Here we go,” Keith said with a grin as he grabbed the controls “Time to get rich!”

He grunted as he was jolted forward, the rainbow of colors evaporating back into the normal star-speckled blackness of space. He groaned a bit and shook his head as he started piloting the ship himself.

“Right time to get a look around…” the ginger mumbled as he tapped on the controls “Launch Scanners”

Understood the computer answered and a THUD rang out across the ship as the ship’s multi-directional scanners were launched.

“Okay, let’s take a look at what we’ve got here…” Keith mumbled as he tapped a few more buttons, a hologram of the system popped up in front of him. The scanners were designed to pinpoint the location of anything manufactured when scanning, so he just gave it a second as he stared at the holograms of the planets and the star of the system he was currently in. Then, a small red dot appeared on the hologram and a PING rang out through the ship’s speakers. 

The ginger’s grin grew as he grabbed the controls and began to fly over to the coordinates the scanners had given him.

“Time for payday,” he said with a grin as he boosted the engines. =============================================

“Right…” Keith mumbled as he stood in the airlock, making sure he had all of his gear “Flashlight… check. Holo-armor… check… emergency blaster….” he tapped the side of his belt and let out a sigh “And this is why you do checks every time, Keith” he said as he reached over the to the small locker next to him and grabbed a small pistol. He tapped the top of it, and the square on top glowed bright green and hummed lightly “Right, blaster is charged in case of emergency…” he muttered as he slipped it into his holster and stepped closer to the airlock. “Computer, is the scan of the vessel complete?”

Yes the computer answered Scans show the vessel’s structure is intact but there is no breathable atmosphere within

“Right, breathing equipment then,” Keith said as he turned back to the locker and began fishing through it “Sealed environment or vacuum?”

Sealed and pressurized. Scans do not show any risk of structural weakness in the hull, so a breach is unlikely

“Huh, guess these guys built their things to last then,” Keith said as he grabbed a pair of goggles and a breathing mask, slipping both on. “Power readings?”

Minimal the computer said Archeological records show that Cok'ex vessels have extensive power storage, meant to keep a ship active for centuries. It is likely that backup reactors or capacitors are active on the ship but are disconnected.

“Hmm, that could be handy or dangerous,” Keith said, crossing his arms and then shrugging “Well that’s a bridge I’ll cross when I get to it.” he walked up to the door and activated the Airlock Cycle. A loud hiss rang out all around him as the door behind him that led back to his own ship slammed shut and sealed. A second later, the door in front of him opened with a slow his. Keith took a deep breath as the atmosphere of the ship rushed in, the mask converting the alien atmosphere to oxygen and nitrogen for him to breathe. He pulled out his flashlight and stepped out of the airlock and onto the alien ship proper.

The ship’s interior was big, clearly built for beings far taller than Keith could ever hope to be. He pointed his flashlight upwards and could see catwalks and doors leading to other areas of the ship. The walls and floors were made up of dark green metal with no sign of visible light fixtures on them, at least none that Keith could see. He took a deep breath and ventured deeper, the clacking on his boots on the metal floor echoing all around him. He shone his flashlight over everything, seeing if there was anything to grab.

“This ship is… surprisingly spartan…” he mumbled to himself. He couldn’t see any decorations, flourishes, or any real personality of any kind. The ship seemed to be built with utility as literally its only function. “These aliens must have been really boring to talk to…” he said, shaking his head and moving deeper into the ship, passing under the catwalks. As he walked, he felt his foot hit something. Out of reflex, he pulled out his blaster and pointed it at whatever he hit, alongside his flashlight. “What the…” he mumbled, slipping the blaster back into his holster and crouching down “Is that a glove?”

It was indeed a glove. A rather large one, made of what seemed to be hard black rubber with green lines. Frowning, Keith gave it a poke with his boots before reaching down and grabbing it. “Wow, this thing is surprisingly heavy for a glove” Keith mumbled as he held it in his hand “Weighs about as much as my blaster…” he pointed his flashlight to the inside and grinned as the light illuminated a maze of green circuits all through the inside of the glove. Almost every inch of the thing’s interior was covered in them. “Oh, you alone are gonna make this trip worthwhile. I can get tons of credits for alien computer parts!” Keith said with a grin as he patted it. He carefully slipped it onto a small loop on his belt and after securing it, kept going forwards. 

“I might have just found a piece of power armor…” he said to himself, thinking out loud as he passed through an open door and into the ship’s darkened hallways. “If that’s the case, there’s probably even more in here somewhere, I doubt they just brought along one glove…If I can get an entire suit of the stuff, we’ll be set for years! Hell, if I do that, I could afford to come back with a full team and properly strip this thing! We’d be set for life after something like that!”

He was lost in his musings, so he didn’t notice where he was going until he ran smack into a large sealed door, making him almost fall on his ass.

“Gah..Shit, focus Keith” he mumbled, shaking his head “Don’t get lost in your head while scavving” he took a deep breath and looked around a bit.

The door was massive, almost twice as tall as him and like the rest of the ship, was made of dark green metal. Frowning, the ginger leaned closer and knocked on the door gently, listening to the sound to see how thick it was. “Well nuts…” he mumbled “I’m not cutting through that with my blaster…” he moved his flashlight over to the walls around the door, and smiled a little, seeing a small bulb next to it. “Right, the door is motion activated,” he said, reaching down with his free hand to tap the glove “So getting it open means turning the power back on… Or I could just go…” he glanced back at the way he came in, then down at the glove resting on his belt and smirked. “Yeah, I’m not leaving without a full suit of this stuff. Guess it's time to track down the backup generator.”

=============================================

Keith let out a contented sigh as he plugged a wire into another socket, smiling as he felt the hum of power moving through it. 

“Perfect” he muttered “Just a few more and this thing will be done.” It hadn’t taken long to find the backup generator which was in the large room where he first entered, and even less to crack it open and start rewiring things as necessary. He held out his right hand, and a small hologram of an identical generator appeared out of a projector in his hand. It was an image of a Cok'ex’s generator from the museum back home, which had been jury-rigged to work. “Right, now all I need to do is….shift one more plug…” he mumbled, doing that with his free hand “and hit the reset button!” he jammed his thumb on the bright blue button next to the mess of wires spilling out of the generator. 

The thing hummed and the wires began to glow bright neon green, power flowing through them. A few sparks blasted out the side of it, making the ginger scavver scramble back a bit out of reflex. A second later, the lights on the wall flickered and began to glow in different shades of green, and many parts that were pitch black began to turn on with alien characters. 

“Perfect,” Keith said with a grin as he scrambled back to his feet and wiped the dust off his body. He turned around and headed back to the hallway he had been at before. He reached the door and grinned as he saw the bulb shining green “Heh, guess I can guess what this species’ favorite color is” he said, chuckling as he walked up the door. The light blinked blue and the door hissed open. “YES!” he cheered, dashing inside to see what exactly was his prize for this trip.

Inside was a series of tubes, six in total, two on each wall except the one with the door. Five of them were occupied, much to Keith’s joy. He walked up to the nearest one, a massive grin on his face as he looked through the transparent material.

Inside the five tubes were massive figures, almost three times as tall as Keith and built like professional bodybuilders. They seemed to be made of the same shiny, glossy material as the glove he had found earlier. They mostly resembled humans, except for their heads which more resembled a bull, with a snout and a pair of massive horns pointing out of the sides of their heads. There weren’t any visible eyes, but from the light reflecting off them, the ginger could tell that in place of eyes, there were screens.

“Five entire suits of Cok'ex’s gear…” Keith said with a huge grin on his face as he looked around. All five of the figures were identical, down to the smallest detail. He rested his hand on the barrier, thinking of how much these would be worth as soon as he got them out. “Now…where’s the release switch…” he mumbled to himself as he looked around, but couldn’t see anything. Each of the tubes was completely free of any sort of panel or interface, the only thing on them apart from the transparent material being a soft blue light at the base, similar to the one by the side of the door. 

“Damn it…” Keith mumbled as he took a step back and looked around the entire room in more detail. Again he didn’t see any panel or form interface. All there was were some wires connecting the tubes to the ceiling “Great, controls are probably on the bridge or something…” he shook his head as he looked at the tube separating him from his prize “Why would you put the controls to the armory on the bridge? That just seems needlessly complicated…” he tapped the transparent material, frowning a bit as he heard the ‘thunk’ echo out across the empty room. “Hmm…I might just be able to cut through this….”

He pulled his blaster out of its holster, aiming it at the tube, and pulled the trigger. A loud hum rang out from the weapon as a bright green beam blasted out of the barrel, sparks flying out as it began to slowly cut through the material in front of him. 

“Right…” he mumbled as he increased the power output, the beam shifting to red as the heat increased “There we go…. Just a bit long- GYAH!” Keith’s words were interrupted as he felt something cold and metal wrapping itself around his arm. A second later, he felt another one attach to his other arm, the sudden tightness around his wrist making him drop his blaster “W-What the hell!?” he shouted, looking down at his arms, going pale as he saw that it was two metal cables with green glowing lines on them, much like the rest of the tech around him. He looked behind him, his eyes going wide as he saw that the empty tube had hissed open, and the cables had come out from it. Around it, bright orange lights were flashing and a very soft, almost unhearable buzz was ringing out of the walls. “S-Shit…” the ginger mumbled as he saw the back of the tube opening up and more cables shot out towards him. Two wrapped themselves around his ankles, tightening around so much he wouldn’t be able to wiggle free at all. The scavenger barely had time to react as the cables retracted, dragging him into the tube

“GAH!” he grunted as his back slammed into the wall, the tube closing with a hiss around him. “W-What’s going…”

Aoinga gadlea Mandgayu a voice intoned in an alien tongue that Keith didn’t understand a single word of.

“L-LET ME OUT!” Keith shouted, trying to break free of the cables, but unable to move a single inch from the wall. 

Aoinga gadlea Mandgayu the voice intoned again, either ignoring Keith or unable to understand him period. The tube shifted, changing from transparent to an opaque dark green. Keith’s eyes went wide as that happened, leaving him trapped in darkness, but that did not last, as a few seconds later, a series of bright green beams appeared on top and bottom of the tube and began moving towards him.

“Shit!” he hissed, wiggling as he tried to break free “Shitshitshitshitshit!” he closed his eyes and braced himself as the beams reached his feet and the top of his head.

There was a loud buzzing sound and the smell of something burning as the beams crisscrossed over his entire body. As they moved, they turned his clothes and any hair on his body into ash, which was rapidly sucked up by a built-in vacuum cleaner on the ground. He was left completely nude and free of hair in the tube after the first passing of the beams, and his blaster and the glove fell to the ground, clanking against the metal floor as they now had nothing to hold on to. The scavver opened his eyes slowly as he heard the sound of the items hitting the floor and looked around. As he did, he moved his head and realized what the beam had done.

“Fuck!” he groaned, shaking his head “That’s gonna be a pain in the ass to fix…” he looked down at the floor, his face going a bit red as he saw his freckle-covered bare form, but he focused on the floor and the items on the ground.

Kjadad mnad…Edaknag the voice spoke again as a series of blue beams formed on the ground, scanning the items. The ones touching his blaster turned bright red and flashed, and the smell of burning flooded Keith’s nostrils again as it was reduced to ashes.

“I’m so fucked…” he mumbled, trying to wiggle free again with no dice. The beams hitting the glove however, changed to green and a high-pitched beeping noise rang out instead. An arm popped out of the ceiling and picked it up, moving it closer to Keith

Kioad….gadn keatpo the voice said one more time before the glove lit up, the green circuits on the glove starting to glow a bright green, as did lines on the surface of the glove. It hissed as it opened up as well. The tubes holding Keith’s arm began to move as well, forcing his hand forward and into the open glove.

“W-Wait, what the fuck are you doing?” Keith stammered out, more confused than anything at this point. The machine, once again, ignored his words. Instead, it put his hand into the glove, which hissed and slammed shut around it. He blinked and wiggled his hand, barely able to even make the gloves twitch due to how much larger than his own body it was. A second later, the glove hissed and opened, the tendrils forcing his arm back against the wall. The trapped scavver let out a nervous chuckle and shook his head.

“R-Right…this thing is probably some k-kind of Power Armor station…. Thought I was a recruit or something…. G-Guess it figured I wasn’t one… H-Hopefully it will let me out now that it sees I don’t fit into the- GAH!” Keith hissed as he felt something jab into his left butt cheek, followed by a small amount of heat.

Dakre agda….bamda the voice said as from the ceiling, a pair of arms appeared and moved downwards to Keith’s body.

“Um…” the former ginger mumbled, eyeing the two arms, which seemed to have some kind of device at the tip instead of a claw like the one holding the glove “Are you gonna be the thing that lets me out?” he asked with a nervous smile on his face. There was no answer from the machine, instead the two arms pointed at his arms and shot out a bright purple laser. The scavver’s eyes went wide as he saw that, but all that happened when the beams hit his skin was a light tingling running across his muscles. The beams moved up and down across his entire arms, from his hands to his shoulders. Before he could say anything else, the tingle transformed into a pulse of arousal and pleasure ringing out from his arms, making him shiver and moan rather loudly, his dick springing up, hard as a stone.

“W-What the fuuuuuuuuuuu….” he moaned, biting his tongue to stop himself from moaning. He looked over at his arms, blinking as he saw that they were…growing. With each pass of the laser, the muscles in his arms grew more and more, taking him from his normally twig-like build and closer to something akin to the arms of a bodybuilder. He heard some more whirring from above, his eyes going wide as more of those arms dropped down and fired the same purple lasers across his body.

One beam hit his chest, stomach, and shoulders, and began to move back and forth across them, the muscles underneath the beam being sculpted into a perfect six-pack, his chest into a firm pair of pecs that anyone would be jealous of. His shoulders shifted, becoming broader to fit not only his larger chest but also his new arms, which now looked perfectly at home with his more sculpted chest.

The next two beams hit his legs and a very similar process began there, whatever had been injected into his behind allowing the lasers to mold his body as they saw fit. He blinked as he felt his bare feet touching the floor of the tube, his legs having gotten longer as well as more muscular, his feet being made bigger to match his new height and build. He moaned as the changes sent another wave through his system, making him shiver in place and close his eyes, trying to find anything to focus on besides the sensations the beams were sending through his body.

After what felt like an eternity to him, the arms retracted back into the ceiling and the haze of arousal finally began to lessen, though he was still panting as he blinked his eyes open and leaned his head back forward. Panting, he looked down at this body and gasped, seeing his new build properly for the first time. The only thing that reminded him that this was his body he was looking at was the freckles that dotted his skin, because aside from that his build was nothing like the beanpole he had been when the cables had dragged him into the tube, now more akin to a professional weightlifter or strongman than the skinny scavenger he had always been. There was a hiss as cold air rushed into the tube, making him both shiver and moan as his now sensitive skin felt the cold air hit it.

“W-What the….” he panted, shivering as he looked at the glove, which opened up again with another hiss. His arm was moved forward again and his hand slipped into the high-tech gear, which closed around it. This time, it was skin-tight against his now bigger hand and arm. He blinked and wiggled his fingers, seeing that there was no resistance from the rubbery material thanks to the micro-motors in the glove. “R-Right…I-I fit the armor now….And that’s all I’ve got on me…So can I just go now?” he asked, looking up at the ceiling of the tube.

Dakng….gadnab Yuakhda the computer spoke. Before Keith could even react, his other arm was brought forward and another glove was slipped on, hissing as it was sealed up

“T-The hell!?” he shouted as both his arms were slammed against the wall again “W-Where did that come…” his eyes went wide as he saw an opening in the ceiling of the tube, where new pieces of the suit were being produced in front of his eyes. He saw a pair of boots being assembled in front of him, starting with a glob of the rubber-like material taking on the needed shape, then circuitry seeming to grow out of the rubber, then the micro-motors forming and finally another layer of rubber, which had the glowing green lines the gloves did. As soon as they were done, they were brought down to the floor and opened up with a similar hiss to the gloves. “S-Stop!” he shouted as the cables holding him lifted up his feet, slipping them into the boots and sealing them before bringing them back to the same spot as before. He groaned and tried to move his toes, but unlike the gloves, he was met with a lot of resistance. He couldn’t move his toes an inch. He winced and shivered as another jolt of pleasure rang through him thanks to the cold air.

“W-What’s next?” he asked as he looked up, gasping as he saw the suit’s mask being assembled and lowered. It looked exactly like the ones he’d seen on the other suits, a large horned mask with a muzzle and a screen for eyes. The arms turned it around and opened it as it approached his head. The cables forced him to bend forward, and the mask was right in front of his face. His eyes went wide as the mask was fitted around his head his mouth being forced onto a small mold for his mouth at the base of the mask’s muzzle, which connected to his nose as well, the hiss that rang out making it clear it had been sealed around his head. He then felt his body being shoved back into position. Felt being the keyword as he couldn’t see anything inside the mask, only hearing the sound of his breathing through the mask’s filters.

Ddatea ad came the voice again, muffled. A second later, the mask began to glow green as it turned on. He shivered as he felt something being placed into his ears and light-flooded into his vision as the screen turned on, showing just two blue dots in front of him

“Whas happnenin…” he mumbled around the mouthguard.

Bda-uange adaptation complete the voice said, now sounding in an understandable language Updating visor UI with translation for ease of drone efficiency

“Drone!?” Keith said, trying to break free of the wall again with renewed effort, but it was still in vain. Even with his new build, the cables had too tight a hold on him. 

Subject of Non-Cok'ex origin. The voice continued, now sounding like it was coming from inside Keith’s head Drone Work Suit adapted to new physiology. Commencing full suiting procedure.

Keith blinked and then shivered, moaning loudly as he felt something cold flowing out of the pieces of the suit he was wearing. Unseen to him, more of the rubbery material was flowing out of the mask, gloves, and boots and coating the rest of his muscular body in the outfit, manufacturing the suit on his body as the individual pieces had done before. The lack of hair on his body meant there wasn’t a single obstacle as the base rubber formed, coating every single pore and spot of his skin. His still-hard dick was encased and entrapped in a large bulge between his legs. A second later, the circuits and micro-motors began to form on the rubber as well, feeding all the telemetry into the mask, with a HUD forming around the two blue dots that dominated his vision, giving him a readout of his surroundings and the status of the suit’s integrity. And finally, one final layer formed on top, giving him the same glowing green lines that all Cok’ex technology shared.

Finally, the cables holding his body in place released him and he stumbled forwards blind, leaning against the tube as he reached up and grabbed the suit by the horns, attempting to rip it off.

“Geoff me” he said, tugging again and again in a vain effort to get the material to give and let him go.

Error. Subject non-complaint. The voice said Adjusting parameters to match…

Before Keith could even wonder what that meant, he felt the motors in the suit seize up and freeze him in place. A second later, he felt a light tickle in his ear as what entered before began to work.

Accessing biological memory storage….the voice said Accessed. Beginning total memory wipe.

“Wait wh-” the words died in his throat as suddenly everything became hazy. His memories disappeared instantly, flashing before his eyes for a split second before evaporating into nothingness. He blinked and tried to shake his head as a sense of confusion and panic began to form “W-Where am I? W-What’s going on?”

Memory Wipe succesful

“W-What?! Memory wipe?!” he shouted

Error. Subject emotional levels elevated. Compensating. The voice said as the guy in the suit felt a tickle in his ear.

“W-What do you mean compenssating? What are you….” he blinked as he felt his emotions…drain away. Anger, fear, confusion, everything just drained and evaporated out of his system.

Emotional Center accessed. Emotional Suppression System installed and fully functional.

The guy formerly known as Keith just stared ahead blankly as the voice spoke, the words being processed by his mind but not really generating any response beyong the logical understanding of them.

Beginning Drone Program Upload…. The voice said as the figure felt his arms being moved back to his sides and being made to stand up straight. While that happened, the tickling on his ear returned and information flooded his mind.

He….It was Worker Drone Alpha. The first unit made by this vessel since it was abandoned by its organic occupants. Information on the workings of Cok’ex techonology, engineering and everything required to keep this ship functional, as well as all the abilites and functions of it’s suit flooded into it’s now empty brain. A second later, the screen in front of it’s eyes flickered to life, showing the transparent material separating its recharging tube from the rest of the ship.

Drone Alpha. Report status

“Drone Alpha operating at 100%,” it said in an emotionless, synthetic voice through the mask’s built-in speakers “Previous data has been wiped. Emotional Suppression system is fully functional. New data has been uploaded with no errors or corruption”

Stand-by for structural analysis of the vessel

“Understood,” the drone said with a nod, as a hiss rang out and stepped out of the tube, it’s heavy boots clunking against the metal floor.

Structural analysis complete. Errors in superstructure detected and uploaded to Drone Alpha’s systems. Begin repair routine then report to recharge pod when task is complete.

“Orders understood,” Drone Alpha said, the path being highlighted on its HUD “Begining repair routines immediately” it began stomping through the halls of the ship, the only thing in its mind was its work and nothing else.

================================================

Been a while since I posted a full fic, but damn this one took a bit of work. But in the end, I think I'm proud of it!

It's the first NSFW fic set in a sci fi universe of my own making. I gave a look at it in my collab fic Finders Keepers, but this is mostly what this is setting will be for. One shots of my boy Keith getting in trouble as he explores space looking for stuff to scavange!

Hope that you all enjoy it and if you have questions about the setting or ideas for other things that could happen to this unfortunate scavver, let me know in the comments!

A massive, massive thank you to my Patrons, who support me and my stories! If your interested in getting early access to them, seeing my writing progress in action or getting in an early vote during the start of my Poll Stories, please consider supporting me on there! Special shout-out to my top-tier Patron, Viketren!

I also have a Ko-Fi account if you prefer to drop a single donation instead of monthly support

[e-m-p-error]

Munday Writing Detail Meme

Repost, don't reblog.

Feel free to edit/add your own parts!

Name: Key (Keith but I mostly go by Key)

Age Range: under 18 | between 18 and 25 | 25 and older

Pronouns: He/They

Random Fact About Me: I really like baking and cooking!

When it comes to planning threads: I like to wing it completely | I like to plan the start of the thread | I like to plan several key points in the thread | I like to plan every reply | It depends

Pre-established relationships between muses: I enjoy them | I like them occasionally but mostly prefer to play the relationship out | I don't do pre-established relationships

When it comes to replies, I like to: Keep mine short (1-2 paragraphs) | Keep mine to medium length (3 - 6 paragraphs) | Keep my replies long (7+ paragraphs) | It depends

I generally try to reply in: 1 day | 3 days | A week | Within a month | More than a month*

* most likely it will be a month or more on accident because I bite off more than I can chew a lot of the time.

I like getting asks for memes I reblogged a long time ago: Yes | No | Depends

I like getting random IC asks from my mutuals: Yes | No | Depends

I like getting tagged in unplanned starters from my mutuals: Yes | No | Depends

I like getting getting OOC asks from my mutuals to plan our threads: Yes | No | Depends

I like getting getting OOC asks from my mutuals just to chat about things not related to RP: Yes | No | Depends

I enjoy writing: Smut, kink, romance, slice-of-life threads, romance threads with no real "point," silly threads, adventure threads, angst, hurt/comfort, drama, Most AUs, canon-divergent threads, modern/human AUs, crossovers, dark content, complicated relationship dynamics, crack, violence, drug/alcohol use/dependency, mental health, character growth through adversity, long threads, short threads

I don't enjoy writing: I can't think of a whole lot. If I don't know something I do try to give it a shot and do my research. I am not okay with Homestuck crossovers and I am picky about a couple of ships (RadioStatic and Verbie) due to trauma related to people I've known ruining those ships for me.

My favourite tropes are: Sex as a metaphor for other feelings/thoughts, mutual pining, obsessive pining, stalking, There Was Only One Bed, coffee shop, corruption arcs, redemption arcs, love conquers all, the Power Of Friendship, The Worst People You Know Make Each Other Better

Opinion on shipping (for a specific character or in general): I love shipping. I'm a shipping hoe. I have certain ships I am always down to do, and definitely ships I am always willing to have as established from the get-go. I don't give a shit what people ship and what they write, just go ham! Make the dolls kiss! It's fun!

I get inspired to write by doing this: Listening to music, interacting with source material, interacting with fanart, writing fanfiction, discussing headcanons/fandom related stuff

One of my favourite threads/drabbles/etc:

I love writing darker themes and the story I wrote for how my Angel ended up at the Hotel is one of my favorites that I've written to date. Link is to Ao3.

A writing partner (or partners!) I've enjoyed writing with: Okay this is gonna turn into a lovefest from me. Some of these people aren't really rping on Tumblr anymore but they are very near and dear to my heart. This is by no means everyone, because I write with so many of you and care so much about all of you!

@dont-take-shxt-from-other-demons, @strangeandun-muse-ual, @infernal-feminae, @videokilled, @overangeled, @voxiiferous, @manubia-summanus, @infernalight, @rocxyoulikeahurricane, @holyfurnace, @because-i-simp, @frostworkxfiction, @hellsmayflower, @ticklishjevil, @alteredassistant, @voxxcd, @arachn0philia, @defiedfate, @tangledfate, @hotelbitches

A mutual I want to write with but haven't yet: If we're mutuals and we haven't written yet, this applies to you! I definitely get overwhelmed and overstimmied soometimes, and I bite off more than I can chew, but I want to interact with all of you, even if that means I need to be reminded.

You're always welcome to message me and send me things to respond to, and I'll do whatever I get muse for! I promise that just because I'm a space cadet that doesn't mean I'm not interested or that I'm ignoring you! It isn't on purpose, I promise.

Tagging: If I tagged you in the writing partner thing, do it! Also if you just see this and want to do it, feel free to tag me as who you stole it from!

[fnf-fluffcanons]

I don’t know if you do request anymore but if you then can I request for Boyfriend,Pico,or any other characters with an S/O who is this powerful angel?I just like the whole powerful being x “that’s cool” ship dynamic

I’m pretty new to tumblr so if I do anything wrong please tell me so I can fix it,Ps you can just call me whatever and if you do the [insert name] Anon then you can just call me Miku Doll Anon since that’s the main thing I like( ᐛ )

Requests are always open, as I’ve not had enough to actually ever close them, haha. Also I’m fine with the [name] anon, I just don’t ever tag it.

Boyfriend/Keith:

*Keith thinks it’s pretty neat that you’re a powerful angel

*is a little confused as to why you would want to date someone like him, but he doesn’t question it

*you can be a little protective of him sometimes, but only when he’s up against tougher opponents/those who could potentially hurt him

*though Keith has had to reassure you several times that he’ll be okay

*…though that tends to make you worry more, not less

*he absolutely loves to feel your wings, he thinks they’re really soft

Pico:

*”you’re this powerful Angel..? Oh fuck yeah, that’s awesome!”

*is a little confused as to why you wanted to be with someone like him, but he’s happy you want to be with him!

*he tends to spend more time around you than anyone else

*has asked to touch your wings several times

*which you don’t mind, and he finds them super soft