#BUT ALLURA IN BLUE... HAS BEEN GREAT FOR HER............................

[torveiglyart]

I had this idea that when the paladins are really connected to their lions and they’re in mortal danger or something, the lion can actually take over the paladin. This would only be in dire situations as the rush of quintessence from the lion would do irreversible damage to the paladin, but would save them (or someone else) from certain death. Of course I used Lance as a basis for this, because he’s the paladin I know how to draw best, and the Red-Blue double channeling looks cool. Being a puppet for two lions at the same time would probably kill him though. I also couldn’t decide on the regular white armor or a blackout version.

I was thinking something like this:

The paladins are infiltrating an Empire land base and got split up. Lance and Allura got caught up with a ton of sentries but were able to destroy them and are headed back to the Green Lions as per pidge’s instruction, when out of a corner comes (Insert Galra character). They are forced to fight more, but are already exhausted from the dozens of sentries prior. During the fight, Allura gets harmed enough to be down for the count, leaving an angry Lance to deal with their opponent. In his desperation, exhaustion, and rage, the Red Lion takes over. The next thing Lance knows is that he’s waking up from a pod and falling into Hunk’s arms. The team congrats him on his bayard upgrade, but Lance has no idea what they’re talking about. They claim he was shifting his bayard fluidly mid fight and was able to use their bayard forms as well. Lance denies it, saying at one moment he was fighting with his broadsword, the next he was waking up in a pod. They spend the next few quintants trying to figure out what happened, why Lance’s armor is now red and blue tie-dye (But normal white with no stars), and why Lance has burned-in lines under his skin.

I have way too much time on my hands but I hope you all enjoy it 😂. I’ll probably draw the side effects next week because I’m going on vacation this weekend. It’s my sister’s birthday and we’re going to Disney to meet her and spend it with her. I’m so excited! I’ve been to Disney A TON but I could never get tired of it. One time in September 2020, y’know, covid, my dad got us a week stay at one of the resorts and my brother and I did our online school from the hotel rooms. Even though we didn’t do any parks, it was still a great ‘stay-cation’. Disney holds a lot of nostalgia for me and my family, so every trip is another addition to the memory book. Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the Disney stuff now. Hope you all liked my idea!

[autisticlancemcclain]

prev chapter

– – –

The mission falls apart.

Keith wishes he was surprised. 

They lose communication with Hunk right from the get-go, following a giant explosion that collapses a good third of the entire base. Keith feels the panic begin to grow, then – not Hunk, not Hunk, we can’t lose Hunk, our support, our nurturer, our engineer, our friend. 

“Keith, focus! He’s fine! Explosions mess with the comm’s radio waves, you know that!”

Keith forces himself to swallow, to focus on the very real threat of armed Galran general in front of him. His focus is fucking shot, today, it’s ridiculous, he’s usually better than this. 

But something does not feel right. 

Keith continues to provide the main distraction in the control room, double blades slashing and stabbing anyone who comes close. Lance is perched somewhere above him, firing shot after shot and never once missing. 

Keith forces his hands to stop shaking, to hold the blades steadily. 

Shiro is covering Pidge. They’re sending updates. They’re both fine. Allura is ripping the entire experimental warfare department apart with her bare hands. (These fuckers have nothing on her superstrength.) Coran is shooting down every single reinforcement fleet and keeping the pods up and running. Hunk’s radio waves are simply blocked, he’s fine.

A blue laser flies millimetres away from his ear, nailing a soldier in the head right before they lift their blaster to blow Keith’s head off. Keith smiles despite himself.

Lance is fine, too. 

“I’m done here. Who needs help?” Allura doesn’t even sound like she’s broken a sweat, which is entirely like her and also entirely unfair. Keith is suddenly aware that his undersuit is drenched, which is disgusting and also distracting.

“We’re good. I’ve managed to take care of any soldier to come close to us – there haven’t been many, Keith and Lance have been handling most of them; great job, guys – and Pidge is almost done.”

“Alright, Shiro. Lance and Keith, I’m coming to you.” 

Keith stops listening after that. Not that there’s much to listen to, he doesn’t think. He lets his brain settle into the rhythm of the fight, synching his breaths with every slash of his sword, matching every turn and flick of his eyes to his heartbeat. He is, in some backward way, grateful for a routine he is familiar with, even if it’s stressful and kind of horrible. He notices when Allura finally makes it into the fray – his whole job is noticing everything and reacting to it – because it is, honestly, kind of hard to miss her ear-splitting battle cry and the sound of her massive axe helpfully removing the burden of several Galran soldier’s heads from their bodies. 

Time passes, or it doesn’t. Keith’s not a hundred percent sure. All he knows is that just when he thinks he and the rest of the team – who trickled in eventually, Hunk’s arrival especially drawing several cries of relief – think they have finally thinned out the room, a new surge of soldiers and sentries crowds the room and they have to drag themselves alert again lest they literally die. 

A myriad of curses fill the comms at a new wave, the bridge they’re fighting in become more crowded and more dangerous. 

That is not what worries Keith. 

He has three soldiers and four sentries turn to him at once, weapons bared, danger attacking him from all angles. He barely has the time to react, and fully misses a shot from one of the sentry's blasters, burning a hole into one of the unprotected parts of his armour which stings like a swarm of wasps.

That is not what worries Keith, either. 

Quietly, almost silently, in fact so slight it might be a figment of Keith’s anxious imagination, there’s a breathy noise over the comms, a sharp inhale. And Keith realises he has not seen blue laser fire flashing steadily, knocking down adversaries one by one with ease. 

That is what worries Keith. 

“Lance, status report,” Keith orders immediately. He immediately notices the sudden stiffness in Shiro’s shoulders, right next to him, and hears Hunk echoing Keith’s worry. Matters are made worse by the several minutes that pass before Lance replies. 

“Um, could be better,” Lance says quietly, clearly out of breath. “Really wishing I was a flounder right now. They can move their eyes to the back of their head, you know. Real useful skill. You guys are going to need it.”

“Lance, darling, the point,” Allura says, voice short and more sharply space-British than usual. “You need to get to it.”

There’s another moment of hesitation, and Keith can practically hear Lance’s thoughts, desperately hoping he can resolve the situation on his own before asking for help, because Lance hates being vulnerable although he’d rather die than admit it. Keith is genuinely better at asking for help than Lance, and Keith has never been out-stubborned in that particular avenue before. 

“I got shoved off my perch,” Lance admits eventually. As soon as he says it, Keith realises it’s not his usual laser-focus that is making his breathing so heavy, nor is it frustration, but an injury from falling twenty-six fucking feet. 

“Lance,” shout several frustrated voices in unison, including Keith’s. 

“Injuries,” Pidge snaps. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith watches her whip her bayard forward with particularly brutal strength, perfectly calculated to knock out an entire squad of sentries. “List them. Now.”

“Nothing fatal,” Lance assures. “In fact I might not even bruise.”

“Lance,” Allura warns, again. Keith wonders if Keith is going to hear Lance’s name echoed in his nightmares, voices of the team tinged in panic, calling for him again and again and never getting a straight answer. Keith has always admired Lance’s ability to lighten a room, but it scares him, sometimes. He wonders against his will if Lance will die laughing, with his final joke still hanging in the air like a noose.

The thought makes him gag, stomach twisting painfully and violently. He doesn’t want to even imagine it, and hates himself for imagining it anyway. 

 “It’s fine,” Lance says eventually. “I didn’t fall on my head, or anything. And the armour held up pretty well, so any and all damage to my extremities is contained.”

“Lance!” Keith shouts, and it echoes over and over in his head. “Please, for the love of God.”

Lance laughs, high strung and pained, the first cracks in his faith and his fearlessness and his hope. “I can’t move,” he says, and he almost sounds giddy, and he laughs again, and the panic floods through. “I sprained my wrist. And. Um. You know how the knee bends one way? Mine bends the other, now. I’m stuck. It’s funny, kind of, huh? ”

There’s a beat of hesitation before the entire team whips to face Lance, everyone’s mouth dropped at the same time, same terror written on their faces, same shouts pushing their way past their throats. 

Keith sees as Lance’s other leg, not bent grotesquely, finally gives out. He sees as Lance’s back hits the wall. He sees the shattered glass of Lance’s helmet. He sees as his face crumples in pain and he drops his gun. He sees Lance look up, brown eyes clouded in panic, locked with Keth’s. He sees Lance’s mouth open, hears an aborted ‘k’ sound over the comms. 

He doesn’t see who shot the bullet. But he does see the perfectly circular hole that burns through Lance’s forehead. And he sees the light die from Lance’s eyes before he can finish begging Keith to save him. 

– – –

next chapter

[discordiansamba]

I guess I should discuss the AU that's been rattling around in my brain in a little more detail, rather than just making shitposts about it. So here's the basic gist of it:

We all know there was one surviving universe at the end of Honerva's rampage in VLD's (pretty bad) finale before everything was restored to normal- but could it really survive everything that happened around it unscathed?

The answer is no. Of course it's no.

In a twist of irony, given Honerva's goals, Lotor is deleted from a universe that would have otherwise been very close to the canon universe as we know it- which is... kind of a problem, actually. As in 'the universe could fall apart if this event doesn't happen' problem. But don't worry. The cosmic forces of the universe has a stopgap measure of its own in place to protect itself.

After all, what could go wrong with the universe using one half-Galra to replace another?

Keith is born to Zarkon and Honerva in Lotor's place. He's always felt out of place in a way that simply only being half-Galra can't quite explain. He has a strong sensitivity to quintessence, and knows from a young age that his father and the witch that stands by his side are corrupted.

He knows he's corrupted too. he can hear things that are not him whispering in his head sometimes, telling him things. he ignores them.

(this is sometimes harder than he would like)

(on very rare occasions he hears a different voice from the rabble- one that calmly tells him not to do things. he listens to this one a little more.)

He grows up loathing his father- it's a mutual feeling. He knows that even before he was born, his mother loathed him as well. He grows up with no strong connection to their either side of his heritage.

(perhaps honerva subconsciously realized the child she was carrying was not her own)

He breaks away from the Empire on his own at an early age- he knows in his bones this is wrong, and wants no part in it. He ends up safeguarding a pocket of space from the Empire, but his motives remain erratic and he stays aloof from the other forces against the Empire, so he's not exactly trusted by them.

After all, he's not exactly not still a part of the Empire himself. Zarkon's not going to let his only heir walk away that easily.

He still ends up meeting Acxa, Narti, Ezor and Zethrid.

He's born with the Altean talent of shapeshifting- though he's better at it than most. He wears three faces- the Galran prince, the Altean wanderer, and then a third face, one of a race he has never seen before, yet feels oddly familiar to him.

(Sometimes it feels more natural than the one he was born with.)

He later learns of a planet called Earth, and its people known as humans, who so resemble his third face- and the blue lion with them. He decides to keep an eye on the planet with the excuse of trying to protect the lion... which is surely the only reason he feels such a strong draw to this otherwise backwater planet.

Which is great, because it turns out replacing Lotor with Keith created another problem the universe has to deal with- there isn't a Keith anymore to pilot the red lion.

He just kind of gets swept up in everything when the blue lion awakens, and before he knows it, he's on the Castle of Lions, and Princess Allura of all people is telling him he's a paladin. They all seem to think he's human.

Somehow, he senses it would be a very, very bad idea to tell them all he's actually Zarkon's son.

Great job Keith. You signed up for the universe's most stressful double life. I'm sure this is going to work out real well.

(I am lying.)

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

How would you have ended Voltron ??

In particular, what would you have done with Lotor and Allura ??

Hi, anon! Oooh what an interesting question!

If I absolutely had to start with the end of s8, assuming everything before has still occurred:

The easiest option would be that Allura doesn’t die, given that her life force is tied to Voltron and the Realm of Universal Consciousness is where the living and dead exist in the same space anyway.

Instead, previous paladins of Voltron, current paladins of Voltron, Voltron itself, and others (including a willing/repentant Lotor) help Allura restore the universe so that it’s not always just mostly her doing all the heavy work, offering their spiritual energy together to accomplish this massive feat. (Because legit, we need some found family / stronger together vibes! That’s the heartbeat of Voltron!)

It’s during the restoration that the selfish and defeated Honerva gets purified / fully restored herself.

The restoration burns out the rift creatures haunting the quintessence field.

When the universe is restored, Allura realizes she can bring the previously dead with her from out of this liminal space.

All the current paladins open their Lions to take in refugees and bring them back to their restored planets.

While Allura might offer them a second chance, Honerva and Zarkon choose to stay behind, as do many of the victims of the 10,000-year war who prefer the peace they’ve found.

Cue Allura’s heartfelt convo with her parents, who like many of the elders choose to stay behind, but not before doting on their daughter and offering her something that indicates the crown of Altea has been passed down to her / replaces the circlet she lost in s7. Perhaps Allura can still call on her parents in some way if she ever needs help or guidance (as previous-franchise versions of Allura could do). (More under the cut!)

The elders (Zarkon, Alfor, Honerva, etc.) could agree to help guard the flow of quintessence in some way, so that the living have sustainable access without going insane. (Idk what the limits are of this liminal space they're in.) Or else maybe the true secret of sustainable power is revealed through them, answering the problem that started this whole war.

As the paladins are encouraging others to come back with them, Lotor hangs back in the crowd. He does not feel worthy of a second chance at life, and is possibly unsure whether he even has the energy to try. He feels shame over his past and how quintessence twisted his mind.

Out of all the paladins, Allura approaches him and holds out her hand. “We were meant for more than fear and war,” she says, voice soft. “Do not be afraid to live.”

Lotor asks something like, deeply hesitant, “What life do I have? I isolated all allies and nearly destroyed the universe in going mad.”

Allura goes silent and then tries again, still holding out her hand, “And yet, the universe is restored, and all here know you took part in this great work. Your energy and will is a part of New Daibazaal’s atmosphere, its rivers and valleys.” She manages a weak smile. “If I remember correctly, you always did want to explore.”

“And can the past be so fully undone?” he asks. “Would I even be free to explore?”

Perhaps some moment where Zarkon and Honerva take responsibility for Lotor’s screwy life. Bonus if he gets some kind of call that the Galra still need a leader to help them in this new phase of peace, and that he hasn't reached his true potential yet.

Probably, some paladins chime in, validate that the alliance is back on, and the serious moment gets broken.

Lotor grabs onto Allura’s hand. She leads him to Blue Lion, where he joins the multitudes returning to the restored universe.

The Robot that jettisoned itself off Lotor’s spaceship from S5 is part of the crowd!! Lotor reunites on-screen with his cat, Kova!

Cue silly paladin shenanigans, a few stowaway mice finding a new resting spot on Lotor’s shoulders, and Allura’s new circlet catching the light as the paladins of Voltron launch back toward their reality, away from the Realm of Universal Consciousness.

Cue a pan-out to the restored universe, where the rift is healed, and New Altea and New Daibazaal exist side-by-side as their suns rise.

I think something open-ended, in the context of several characters—focused on a theme about not being afraid to live, about reconciling the past with the present—would hype that found family / stronger-when-we’re-together / comic energy that made Voltron unique…and leave lots of possibilities for the fandom to explore this new world!

If I could roll the clocks farther back than s8, I’d massively overhaul several things about the show. But this is just where I see a way to better land what we got toward the end.

Thanks for this ask! So fun to think about!

[harukamitsuki]

Hello, I’m the anon that apologized for implying that Keith was “spoiled”

I wanted to come back and talk to you because I wanted to discuss some points!

I made my Keith statements without really explaining what I meant and I wanted to try again.

I don’t want Lance to be the black paladin and I just need to state that now. However, I also didn’t want Keith to reside as the permanent black paladin.

I know that his color palate and clothing have black in them but shiro is also all black. In my opinion I would’ve preferred Keith to be the substitute black paladin.

Ryou (the clone) should’ve never been able to pilot the black lion because he’s just a copy of shiros face not him. Making Keith stay within the team and allura going to red (because I really don’t know how they thought allura in blue was a good idea, love her but what?)

(I want Keith to stay with the team and not go to the blades as I would prefer the paladins sticking together)

(Also because the plot line for the altean colony is ridiculous)

I would’ve loved to see ryou find out he’s a clone along with the paladins and not just kill him off. I think it would’ve also brought some realization into Keith about shiro and such.

The way I think of the paladins and their relationship to the lions is that the lions physically created the paladins.

The reason why it took 10,000 years is because earth doesn’t have quintestance, so the lions had to basically build their paladins from the ground up by creating generations of humans with it.

Because earth doesn’t have it, it takes a long time until there’s finally enough for the paladins now!

Which is why I don’t think Keith should continue to be the black paladin. Because he belongs with red just as Lance in blue, pidge in green, hunk in yellow, and shiro in black.

and because Shiro never gets to go back to being the black paladin his character gets reduced to cardboard.

which is the reasoning for my initial comments that I couldn’t describe clearly.

I didn’t mean to come off as a black paladin Lance supporter or that Lance was the best option. Because he isn’t.

There are things with lances character that I feel as though could’ve been worked so much better. (I saw a previous post of yours discuss lances having altean markings and your so correct, honestly they feel like fan service since the fandom goes nuts with altean Lance and honestly I can’t understand why)

I’m far more a shiro fan. In all honesty he has done a lot for me. I don’t like that he was just meant to be thrown away.

I mean the writers created an entirely new character for crying out loud!! Shiro didn’t exist in the other versions. Technically he is sven but sven was always the blue paladin.

Shiro has obvious PTSD and has a genetic disease that needs his arm forcefully removed from him. He fights so hard for his lion and his teammates.

My feelings on Keith are in fact very biased but it feels like a lot of Keith’s character completely erases all of shiros.

With ryou and the paladins finding out that shiro is in the black lion i would’ve loved to see them search desperately to find where the clones were made to see if they could bring Shiro back.

My thoughts are a little all over the place I apologize for that.

Hello again!

This is a bit awkward because I basically agree with almost everything here so there's not much for me to dissect haha.

If anyone's been reading my past, PAST, posts, you'll have probably seen my post as to why Lance never should have went to Red, and why it should have been Allura. I can understand why Allura is Blue and Lance is Red in the ORIGINAL series, but this is a rewrite where the characters are basically completely different.

Which also means that, no, I will not be using the original series to back-up my belief that Keith is a great Black Paladin.

Like I said, I basically agree with everything you wrote, except that I didn't personally care for Ryou. I felt sorry for him and was kinda shocked when they just used his body for Shiro's soul, but I didn't care about him.

I do think it would have been interesting to see Ryou be a little stinker and try to manipulate everyone, due to him being a sleeper agent. Like, in canon, when Ryou apologised to Keith, he says "I'm sorry I had to step in there" instead of "for stepping in there". He's still putting the blame on Keith. He says sorry without truly saying it, if you get what I mean.

Then, one day, he goes a little too far. Like, I dunno, he calls Lance useless or Hunk cowardly or something, and Keith immediately goes: wait. That's not right. Suddenly, Keith's a lot less willing to take Ryou's 'advice' to heart and things pile up until he realises Ryou is a clone.

I think that kind of story line is much more interesting that what we got. Of course, if you care about Ryou and are horrified at his death, there are others ways. Ryou slowly learning he's a clone and hating himself until the paladins make him realise that it's not his fault and he can choose to be his own person. Heck, he kind of already is.

Of course, another option is just to not kill Shiro off? Like, put him in a coma or reveal that Haggar yoinked him from Black with quintessence magic and he's been captive this whole time. Keith would still have to pilot Black but, because Shiro isn't a clone, when he gets back Black opens up immediately.

The thing is, Shiro and Keith's style of leadership is different. Very different, meaning that they're suited to lead different kinds of things, with varying efficiency. What I think would have been cool to see is them changing the roster (Shiro leads, Keith in Red/Keith leads, Allura in red) depending on the mission. Which can mean that, if you decide to keep season eight for some reason, Shiro or Keith can lead them into the final battle. Shiro leading them might make more sense.

I've heard a lot of people say that Shiro is boring and it's like– why do you think that? I kind of wanted to see more of his character arc, wanted to see Keith, Coran and Allura take care of him when he's too high strung. I wanted to see him be there, actually there, when Pidge saves Matt. I wanted to see him accept that he may have been hurt, but he is not broken.

I think that those people who think Shiro is boring just weren't watching the same show, or only remeber him from season 7-8 where he does basically nothing. Season 1-2 Shiro are great. He feels so human, scared of the world but pushing himself through for the sake of others and to not seem weak. He makes bad gun noises, immediately denies Coran trying to feed him like a baby with "no. Just– no.", displays some dark humour when he's alone with Keith and bleeding out. He's terrified of being seen as broken, because that's exactly what he thinks of himself.

So. Yeah.

Either make Ryou more interesting or don't kill Shiro off. It would still let Keith become his own Black Paladin, and it would let the group change members depending on the situation, which would make it less jarring if Allura was the one to pilot the Atlus, as was originally planned.

I can understand why you believe Keith's character erases Shiro's. Because, in all honesty, it kind of does. Of course, that is mostly DreamWorks' fault because they just can't give Shiro any sort of happiness? Like, Keith has also been hurt over and over again, but at least Keith has his mother.

Shiro was supposed to gain the ability to teleport. HE WAS REPLACED BY KOSMO - HE WAS REPLACED BY A DOG. Shiro didn't even get to end Sendak! Even if I adore Keith, I was so baffled when Keith made the finish blow, because that was Shiro's fight! Shiro has nobody to go home to, only returning to find that his ex-fiancé is dead, and it's just– I know that gay characters tend to suffer the most, but come on DreamWorks! Give him SOMETHING!

From my perspective, I've always noticed the difference between Keith and Shiro's leadership styles, and just in general. But DreamWorks is so allergic to giving any of them anything, so they wrote in the Broganes bond, tore it apart, then played a darts game to decide their traits after Shiro's death. It makes it especially worse when they decide to make Keith go through development off-screen, so he comes back when he's become more mature like Shiro, but it gets no explanation so it feels like he was just given more of Shiro's traits.

Alas, we get no explanation, so it is jarring. Which is another reason why making Ryou unable to pilot Black, or Shiro still being alive, would have been much better. Keith had a point about leaving, but Shiro, the real Shiro, never would have let him leave, and Keith wouldn't leave if Ryou couldn't pilot Black.

I would still make it so that Keith stayed with BoM just for the sake of meeting Krolia, but nothing else much.

So. Yeah.

I do agree with basically all of this, only I wouldn't have Keith be just a sub for Black. I think he and Shiro should have used it interchangeably, or at least provide an explanation for why the real Shiro, the one who bonded with Black the most, couldn't pilot her.

AND SCREW KOSMO– GIVE SHIRO HE TELEPORTATION BACK! GIVE HIM HIS RELEVANCE BACK!!

(Sorry if there's any mistakes, I just woke up haha)

(Also, Keith's colour scheme fits Black more than Shiro's did, mostly because of the accent colours that Keith had. Other than that, yeah. I agree.)

[omgsquee2001]

We Are Connected: Chapter 2: An Unwelcome Arrival

As they got closer and closer to the planet, Shiro started to have second thoughts. Coran's words rang in his head. He turned to Allura, worry on his features.

"Allura, are we sure this is a good idea? Like Coran said, it has been ten thousand years. Aengtew and Seäumni might not even be there anymore." He said. He was trying to tell her in a polite way that the two might not even be alive anymore. Allura looked at the leader of Voltron.

"I understand your worry, Shiro. However, you must believe me. I stayed on Pandora for at least two decafeebs. I know the Na'Vi very well." Allura said. "They are a relatively peaceful people." She said. Lance frowned.

"Yeah, well, last time Coran said something was 'peaceful', Hunk and I got shot at by Galran fighters while trying to get the yellow Lion. You Alteans have a very different definition of what 'peaceful' actually means." He said. Hunk nodded.

"Yeah, what Lance said. So, the question is, are they going to kill us right as soon as we land, or are they going to sacrifice us?" Hunk asked, listing off the two worse case scenarios. Allura sighed and smiled.

"I understand your hesitance, but you must trust me. They will not cause us any harm," she said. Allura stopped the Castle just before entering the atmosphere of the planet. "Now, we will not go down in the Lions. We will go down in pods. The pods are smaller than the lions and I do not want to upset the balance of the planet." She said. Keith and Shiro shared an unsure look.

~~~~

You sat in a field of grass, your hands lay flat on the surface. The area surrounding your hand glowed a gentle white. Your eyes were closed, concentrating. Suddenly, you heard a voice in your head.

*'Ma 'ite, oel ngati kameie.' The voice sounded. The voice was young, but still deep, filled with much wisdom and experience. A smile graced your face, hearing the voice of Eywa.

*'Awvea, oel ngati kameie.' You responded. Your ears twitched lightly, making sure to pay attention to your surroundings whilst communicating with the Great Mother.

'How fair my people? How is Home Tree?' Eywa asked.

'Your people flourish happily. Akou and Tamìun lead the People in peace and strength.' You responded. Suddenly, you felt a change in the wind. Your smile fell and your ears twitched.

'Something is coming, Ma 'ite. When it arrives, do not fear. For they are familiar faces.' Eywa advised.

'I carry your wisdom, Awvea. Farewell.' You responded.

'Farewell, Ma 'ite.' Eywa responded. With that, you opened your eyes and sighed. You lifted your hands from the grass. The Seeds of the Great Tree floated down and around you. With a soft smile, you lifted your hands, allowing one of the seeds to float just above your palms, tickling your hands lightly. Your ears twitched as your heard the familiar war cries of your People. Lifting your hands, the seed floated away in the air, returning to the Tree. Giving an almost bird like call, you waited for your Ikran.

~~~~

*Ma 'ite, oel ngati kameie = Daughter, I See You

*Awvea, oel ngati kameie = Great Mother, I See You

~~~~~

As the pods floated down towards the surface of Pandora, the paladins looked around in wonder at what they saw around them. The differences in color were astounding. Lance's eyes widened, seeing, what looked like a monkey with blue-green skin and four arms.

"Woah! Is that a monkey with four arms?!" He shouted. Allura smiled looking at it.

"That's a prolemuris, Syaksyuk in Na'Vi." She explained. As they got closer to the ground, arrows started flying up at them. Shiro frowned and looked around.

"What's going on?" He asked. Pidge ran over to the glass and looked down.

"Uh, Allura, I think you got the definition of 'peaceful' wrong again." Pidge said in an unsure tone. Allura smiled.

"Let me handle this," she said. The pod door opened and Allura stepped out, her arms out to the side, hands out, showing that she meant no harm. "Greetings, Na'Vi, children of Eywa. I am Allura, daughter of King Alfor, Princess of Altea. I come in peace. I wish to see Aengtew and Seäumni." She said. However, she was met with more arrows pointing at her, the angry hisses and yelps of the Na'Vi did not cease. Just as an arrow was about to let loose, there was a familiar voice.

*"Kehe!" A voice sounded. An Ikran, with a Na'Vi riding, flew down to the ground. The Na'Vi dismounted and turned to the rest, bowing down and moving their arms forward. *"Mawey, Na'viya! Mawey!" The Na'Vi called. The rest seemed to follow their command, lowering their weapons, still on guard.

*"'upe lu po?" One or the warriors asked. The Na'Vi turned to the warrior.

*"Mawey, Leaypaw," they turned towards Allura and the Paladins, a protective look in their yellow eyes. *"Fìketuwongti oel stìyeftxaw." They said. Feeling tense, Keith reached for his bayard, however, he was stopped by Shiro. Shiro looked at his friend and shook his head. The Na'Vi slowly walked around the Princess, eyeing her up and down. They soon stopped in front of her, then, their yellow eyes widened in realization. "It cannot be," they whispered. *"Allura te Altea, Alfor'ite?"

*Kehe = No

*Mawey, Na'viya! Mawey! = Calm, People! Calm!

*'upe lu po? = What are they?

*Mawey, Leaypaw = Calm, Leaypaw

*Fìketuwongti oel stìyeftxaw = I will look at this alien.

*Allura te Altea, Alfor'ite? = Allura of the Altea, daughter of Alfor?

~~~~

//Here's chapter 2. I hope you all like it.//

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

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

Season 1, Episode 29: Magnetic Attraction Season 1, Episode 30: The Sleeping Princess

Episode 29: Magnetic Attraction

Defensive training time! The team are doing Karate together I only got to a yellow belt myself because of how expensive lessons were, but it was fun either way

"I flipped Lance easy, and I'm a girl" "I fall for girls" Lance just say you like women who can kill you Once again we see Allura pointing out the fact she's a lady,,, I will never get over the back handedness of those comments

Oh my bad it's Judo! I've never done that one before

Great, nanny and Coran are here to tell Allura she's being improper again, and he thinks it's a good idea to guilt-trip her with her dead dad dude when will you learn that you can't stop her, she's literally doing worse by being a solider, protecting herself is the least she should know since even her guards can't handle when Lotor is after her

More misogyny from the team, the show really do be a product of its time 💀

The one good thing Coran does is warn other people to get to safety, but then proceeds to say "it's nothing, definitely not weird that a freaky orange and red cloud is slowly spreading over the sky of Arus when it's noon" if he doesn't die of old age I'm killing him myself

Oh so the cloud is rapidly causing global warming, eco terrorism is horrifying

Why the hell is there a group of people washing themselves in the last remaining water of a boiled away lake? im not sure if dotu will ever answer that but golion will later on

robeast so hot it melts missiles, and the team is immediately going to fly up to it except allura can't launch because blue has no power from the surrounding water which got boiled away oh shit this is actually a good plan on Haggars part

Ooh we get to see a crystal that probably helps power blue lion! Maybe that's where the nexus idea in VF came from!

Alfor ex machina, i can't remember the last time we saw you but it's been a hot minute hasn't it

HOLY SHIT LORE Black gets powered by lightning/electricity, Red gets powered from the heat of lava/magma, Yellow is also magma but more earth dependent, Green is powered by wind, and blue obvs is powered by water like i knew all this already but i love the fact i get to listen to it now

Coran finally thinks of protecting Allura against Lotor and attacks through castle defenses,, except not that it works because Lotor just attacks Allura who is still stuck in her lion as long as she stays inside I assume she's safe but man she's not having a good day

Lance is a smart cookie! He plans to make a path with their own magnetic laser in order to get up to the robeast Now only if he made more plans like that, the fights would be easier me thinks

Lotor doesn't want to hurt Allura, yet actively sends missiles at blue lion while she can't move I hope your dad beats you ong

wait did the team not know that they needed water to launch blue? ok that makes sense actually since they don't know anything about the lions and their mystic nature kind of late in the episode to realize that though

GIRL WHY ARE YOU OPENING THE HATCH FOR THE MECHANICS OF BLUE TO LET WATER RUSH IN, I DON'T THINK THAT'S HOW IT WORKS BUT OK Blue lion is back anyway so I guess it worked

Voltron formed, robeast defeated, and global warming cloud dispersed, so water can come back, the GIF for this episode is going to be great

DAMN ZARKON TRASHING HIS SON FOR THINKING FOR HIS DICK AGAIN

"My beloved nincompoop" LMAOO

/episode end

Episode 30: The Sleeping Princess

Lotor has a nightmare about a woman he says is Allura but very obviously isn't, especially when she does fade into Allura's design, probably his mother This man really obsessed with Allura

PRINCESS CORRAL MY BELOVED, LOTOR IS A SLUT FOR TURNING HER DOWN SHE'S SO CUTE

"Stop whining, you have no feelings" -Zarkon get his ass

Lotor stop making batshit excuses for not marrying her, you'll be unhappy either way good god

At least Zarkon knows that he'll fail his mission against Arus, if he just held on a little longer lotor wouldn't be a problem but nope

Look at her, she's such a sweetie! She's even helping Lotor try to marry Allura, a mistake, but she's got her heart in the right place

"I want Allura to come willingly, [but] she lives in terror of my father" Lotor she's afraid of YOU, this is man is all kinds of delusional

Another flashback of the Not Allura woman, still think it's his mom, and she's definitely Arusian which is probably why Lotor has so much obsession for Allura

Flower picking time! Gotta give the pretty princess some pretty flowers to match! The boys are so wholesome

Ah, shit the cat fucked over a blue lion pilot again, what is with that cat against the color blue, now Allura is presumed dead and everyone is freaking out about it

Of course Keith pieces it together that she can't be dead as long as Lotor is still after her, which yeah makes sense but c'mon any other guy see through it please

Hunk makes a plan! Fake funeral for the princess to lure Lotor and Haggar out I'd love it if the team got more scenes like this, everyone is smart enough to contribute somehow

Oh shit Orla attended her funeral! That's nice to see

Keith you're such a simp for Allura, yes, yes we get it Allura is a girlboss and is an amazing leader

What a sweet idea, people throw flowers into Allura's casket and almost filled it to the brim maybe it's tradition for every Arusian, that'd be cool

Lotor hijacks the carriage Allura's casket is being transported in, sucks for him though BECAUSE PIDGE MANAGED TO HITCH A RIDE GET HIS ASS PIDGE

Rip Pidge gets used as a hostage EXCEPT ITS PIDGE VS HAGGAR AGAIN BECAUSE HE HAS A GRENADE ON HIM Oh god this kid is about to sacrifice himself if it means making sure Allura is safe and taking down one of the baddies, where's that post about dotu Pidge being suicidal

"I oughta feed you this" (proceeds to run at Lotor and Hagar with a live grenade) "PIDGE FOR PETES’S SAKE DITCH THE GRENADE" - Keith "WANNA SEE WITCHCRAFT?!" oh my god, everything is happening all at once

Grenade explodes, it was knocked out of pidge's hand beforehand, so he dove for Allura to protect her as best he could still so sweet even under all that pressure

Lotor and Haggar run away and Allura's awake, so all's well that ends well I guess Pidge finally gets a real kiss on the cheek from Allura, good for him

LOTOR STOP BULLYING CORRAL, SHE WANTED TO HELP BUT YOU FUCKED UP SO MARRY SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY LOVES YOU YOU FOOL

/episode end

[sarcastic-pun-master]

wip sc fic - pt 2?

this is kind of a flashback/backstory part :) pt 1

Kara was young. She had wandered into the garden while her mother discussed business with Lillian Luthor. She sat down near a tree, watching the birds and squirrels play. Eventually, her eyes landed on a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. 

She ran over to pick it up. It had a few feathers growing on top of its head, and it trembled as it took small breaths. 

“What are you doing?”

A small voice came from above her. There was a girl, the same age as Kara’s, sitting in the tree. 

“That baby bird is going to die,” she said, green eyes full of indifference. “You can’t possibly think you’ll save it.”

Kara, young as she was, began to cry. The girl’s eyes widened, and she jumped down from the tree.

“Hey, stop that. People are going to think I made you cry…” she waved her hands around Kara, unsure how to stop her tears. “Hey, stop crying! Please?” 

Kara sniffled, but looked back at the small bird cradled in her hands, lip quivering. The girl sighed in acceptance. 

“Alright, fine,” shel scooped the bird from Kara’s hands into her own, examining it. She turned on her heel and began walking to a nearby fountain. “Bring me a leaf.”

Kara watched in amazement as this little girl, no older than her, managed to rescusitate the baby bird, using a feather to drip water into its open mouth. It chirped, ruffling its feathers. 

“Do you think it’ll be okay?”

The girl shrugged. “It’s mother will not return for it. It has no way of feeding itself. The odds are, a predator will eat it within the day.”

Kara gasped. The girl watched tears fill her blue eyes again, and quickly shushed her. 

“No, don’t cry. We can put it in a birdhouse, and feed it twice… no, three times a day. Until it’s ready to be on it’s own again.”

Kara frowned. “But who will watch it once Mother takes me back home?”

“Who is your mother?”

“Allura,” Kara realized that she had yet to introduce herself. She held her hand out. “My name is Kara.”

The girl cautiously took it. 

“What’s your name?”

The girl scoffed a bit. “You’re ridiculous. You don’t know who I am?”

Kara’s smile faltered. She worried she had offended this girl somehow. 

“I’m sorry. I’m from Krypton, I don’t know many people here. Who are you?”

“I am Princess Lena Luthor,” she puffed out her chest in pride. “Firstborn daughter of House Kieran, and next in line for the throne.”

Kara giggled. She was still just a kid like her, but here she was, pretending to be a Queen. “You’re silly.”

Lena frowned, deflating a bit. “I am not! Lex told me so. He’s the smartest person of all time, and he told me that I will be the Queen of Thorul.” 

Kara laughed again. “I’m sure you will. But you’re still acting silly.”

Lena’s face fell into a pout, and Kara suddenly felt bad for laughing. She sat down next to Lena, careful not to jostle the baby bird. “I’m sorry if I made you feel bad. I’m sure you’re going to be a great Queen.”

Lena side eyed Kara, suspicious. “What makes you say that?”

“You’re so smart,” Kara said, grinning at Lena. “You brought that baby bird back to life. I bet not even Lex could do that!”

“Lex wouldn’t even try,” Lena mumbled, focusing on the bird in her hands.

“Alex would,” Kara said, thinking of her older friend. “Alex can do anything.”

“Who’s Alex?” 

“Oh, she’s the best! She can climb trees.” 

Lena puffed out her chest once more. “So can I. That’s not anything special.”

“Yeah, but Alex can do it so fast! And she always finds the best apples. And one time, she put be on her back and swung through the trees, just like a monkey!”

Lena narrowed her eyes on Kara, looking her up and down. “I could do that too.”

Kara swung her legs excitedly. “Could you? That would be so much fun!”

Her eyes fell on the bird again. It’s eyes were half lidded, and it was breathing slowly. “But first… we should find someplace safe to put the baby.”

They found a hole in the tree that Lena had been sitting in, and filled it with leaves and grass to put the baby bird in. Lena dug through the soft earth and found some worms, dangling them over the bird’s head and encouraging him to eat. 

Once they returned to the palace, Kara ran up to ask her mother if they could stay in Thorul for the week. Lena stood by her side, her eyes trained on Lillian. Lillian frowned at her dirty clothes and the mud covering her hands. 

“What did the two of you get up to?” 

Kara looked at Queen Lillian and the displeasure on her face, and began to worry. She looked back at Lena and took notice of how different she looked from when they had first met. Her hair was falling out of it’s ponytail, her sleeves were rolled up and her arms and knees were covered in dirt marks. 

Kara opened her mouth to apologize and say it was her fault, but Lena beat her to it. 

“I was climbing a tree in the garden and I fell. There’s no need to worry about it, Mother.”

Kara smiled to herself, grateful for her new friend covering for her.

Lillian looked curiously between the Princess and her adopted daughter. Allura, upon seeing how Kara was enjoying herself, agreed to extend their visit, despite Zor-El’s return. 

On their first day, Lena and Kara spent their whole time in the garden, under the tree. Kara collected the worms, not wanting Lena to get in trouble again, while Lena worked on making a proper nest for the bird. Kara talked to Lena about every little thing that came to her mind, yet strangely, Lena remained quiet.

When she returned to her mother that night, she told her about how quiet Lena was, and Allura reassured Kara to keep talking.

“Some people are just harder to get through to, my dear Kara. But if you truly like her and want to be her friend, continue to open up to her. Show her that you are a kind person.”

On the second day, Kara brought Lena an apple. She had arrived to the garden early and gone on a hunt for apples. Eventually, she found a fruit similar in shape to an apple, but it was unlike any she’d ever seen before. This ‘apple’ was strange. It smelled sweet, but it was purple and had a slight fuzz to it. 

When she presented it to Lena as an apple, she was surprised to see the young girl laugh. It warmed Kara’s heart to see the usually quiet girl laugh so happily.

“This is a Nori fruit, Kara, not an apple,” she told her, picking it out of her hands. “How did you find it? They’re very rare around these times. They grow mostly in the spring.”

Kara shrugged shyly. “My father said that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. I really wanted to find an apple and I searched all day for it. Although… I guess since I didn’t find an apple, it wasn’t right.”

Lena used her nails to dig into the soft flesh of the Nori fruit and pick it apart. She gave the fruit to Kara, saying she didn’t enjoy sweet things. 

“That’s ridiculous. How do you not enjoy sweets? They’re… sweet!”

“I just don’t like the way they make my teeth hurt.”

“You’re so silly, Lena.”

Lena used the skin of the fruit to drop it’s nectar into the baby birds mouth. “Nori fruit are supposed to be rich in nutrients.”

“Then you should really have some!”

Kara shoved a piece towards her, and Lena turned up her nose at it. But she looked at Kara, smiling so widely, encouraging her to try, and so she plucked it out of Kara’s fingers and dropped it into her mouth. 

She chewed and swallowed it quickly, detesting the flavour. But she grinned at Kara for it. No one had ever forced her to eat something like this before. 

The baby bird flew away on the third day. Kara and Lena watched in amazement as it stepped out of the hole, ruffled its feathers, and took off quickly. It was still quite small, and they lost sight of it once it went past the trees. A golden feather floated down from where it disappeared. Kara rushed to pick it up.

“Look what he left us!” 

“Kara, that can’t possibly be from him,” Lena replied dryly, crossing her arms. “It’s far too large and it doesn’t match his colour.”

“Well, where else would it come from..” Kara twirled the feather in her fingers, a look of realization and excitement spreading on her face. “Oh, my Rao. He must have sent it!” 

“Rao?” 

“My mother tells me that when Rao is especially pleased with one of his followers, he will grant them a token. She says that if you wish upon one of these tokens, you can have anything!”

Lena thought that was ridiculous. There was no such thing as great deities. Lex had explained to her that it was a fairytale, something that not only assured children, but adults as well. But seeing how lovingly Kara held the feather, she didn’t feel like refuting the thought. 

Kara held out the delicate feather to Lena. “Here, you keep it.”

“No, thank you, Kara. I’m no child of Rao.”

“But you saved the bird. The wish is yours.”

“Keep it, Kara. I never would have thought to save the bird unless you had been there.”

Kara grinned, but held the feather closer to her chest. Lena shook her head at Kara in amusement. If she’d wanted the feather, she never should have offered it. Lena wouldn’t have kept it, anyways.

On the fourth and fifth day, Kara and Lena spend their time in the palace. Lena offered to show Kara to the library, but Kara was far too energetic to sit around in silence all day. She forced Lena to play ‘tag’, which Lena understood to be an excuse to have children chase and tackle each other in the name of sport.

“Once you leave,” Lena shook her head at Kara, who had once again caught her against a hallway wall, “Maybe I can finally have some peace and quiet in the library.”

But when Kara and Allura departed for Krypton, Lena felt… empty. 

Kara smiled and waved at her through the carriage. She saw that Lena’s face was once again passive, and gestured at Lena to smile, pulling up the sides of her own face. Lena slightly grinned. 

Kara turned back to her mother. 

“When can we visit again?”

***

A month later, Zor-El finally gave in to his daughter’s pleading, and sent her to Thorul for another week in the supervision of her aunt Astra. 

“Princess Lena!” 

Lena’s silent reading was rudely interrupted by a melodic voice. Lena looked up in surprise at blue eyes. Kara was standing in front of her in a summer dress, radiating excitement, a wooden ship in her hands. 

“Your mother told me I could find you here.”

Lena stared at Kara. Was this a dream? She opened her mouth and closed it several times, unsure of what to say to this apparition. Her gaze fell on the ship Kara held in her hands, and she finally asked, “What is that?”

“This is my favourite toy,” Kara held it out to Lena. “It’s a ship built by my Grandfather. Well, the real ship is much bigger of course.”

“Why are you giving it to me?”

“I wanted to thank you. For the feather you gave to me. I know they pale in comparison, but this is the least I could give to you in return for the token you gave me. And the fun thing about it is, it actually works! Come with me, I’ll show you how.”

Lena was still in shock as Kara took her hand and led her outside.

“What are you… how did you get here?”

“My aunt Astra brought me.”

“Why?”

Kara let go of Lena’s hand, having arrived at the palace gates. She grinned toothily at Lena. “To see you, silly. I had to give you a present!”

Lena’s heart skipped a beat. “You came here… just to see me?”

“And to have Nori fruit again. They don’t grow in Krypton, can you believe that?”

Lena followed Kara in a daze to the fountain where they had sat with the baby bird. Kara turned a dial on the toy ship, and set it in the water. It began to propel itself.

Lena grinned in amazement, watching the boat travel across the fountain on its own.

She loved it.

“Thank you, Kara.”

[lilflowerpot]

The Blue Lion’s Attribute

A commenter over on Ao3 asked after my thoughts on the Blue Lion’s key attribute and what qualities her paladin is supposed to possess, as we were never actually given a clear answer in canon, and I figured that the topic was one worth making a post about.

“As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain. The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion. The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion– [Lance interrupts] The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together. The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It’s faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion. [...] Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe.

- Allura, Voltron: Legendary Defender, s01ep01

As was clearly laid out for us, the Black Lion seeks a born leader, someone decisive & disciplined that others can believe in; the Green Lion seeks a daring intellectual, someone inquisitive and curious; the Yellow Lion seeks an empathetic soul, someone who is kind & caring upon whom the others can fall back on when they’re struggling; and finally, the Red Lion seeks a fierce warrior, someone not only skilled but guided by instinct.

When previously asked what I would have named the Lions if in Alfor’s position, I spoke about the wu xing—the five elements of Chinese philosophy—as it has always been quite clear to me that it is from them that the Lions’ concept takes direct inspiration. To repeat now the brief summaries I gave then:

Black (metal / 金 jīn) - intuition, rationality, mind / grief, bravery

“Righteous, faithful, brave and gallant; a sharp intellect combined with a tendency for self-discipline can make them very successful. They like structure and tend to be organized and methodical.”

Green (wood / 木 mù) - idealism, spontaneity, curiosity / anger, kindness

“Competitive, adventurous, and determined, they seek out challenges and do well under pressure, but can become driven and stressed when out of balance.”

Yellow (earth / 土 tǔ) - agreeableness, honesty / anxiety, joy

“Nurturing, grounded, practical, and known for their reliability; though compassionate and empathetic, when out of balance they can become obsessive, intrusive, and worry unnecessarily.”

Red (fire / 火 huǒ) - passion, intensity / hate, resolve

“Energetic, passionate, and dramatic, they make great leaders but have a tendency to be emotionally volatile; when in balance they create intimacy and connection easily, but when out of balance they might become destructive and suffer from insomnia.”

Blue (water / 水 shuǐ) - erudition, resourcefulness, wit / fear, gentleness

“Determined, self-sufficient, and adaptable; they achieve their aims by determining the best path through a situation, but when out of balance they can be fearful, timid and indecisive.”

So as is presumably quite evident, Allura’s descriptions of the qualities that each Lion looks for in their paladin line up near-perfectly with the wu xing, meaning I feel secure in saying that the Blue Lion seeks emotional intelligence and adaptability, someone who is not only good-humoured, but capable of navigating tricky situations with grace and diplomacy.

[ravendruid]

Be In My Eyes - Chapter 3

You can read the previous chapters here, or on AO3. I would like to take a second to thank you all for reading my fic. It means a lot to me <3 I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

“What’s the name of the building again?” Vax’ildan asked, adjusting the straps of the heavy backpack on his shoulders. 

“Greyskull Keep. It says on the map that it should be, er – ” Vex’ahlia said as she looked around. “Over there, the gray building!” She pointed at a modern-looking tall gray building with lots of big windows. “It seems like we are on the seventh floor, apartment 7B."

Vax nodded and sped up toward the building. He had been carrying his heavy backpack for too long and needed to give his back a break. Vex followed him with a big, black shaggy-haired dog trotting by her side on a leash.

It was a bright sunny afternoon, the summer heat still blazing in the air, and the twins had just crossed half a city on foot, both carrying their heavy backpacks. At first glance, one would think of them as just a pair of students walking through campus. No one would suspect that they had all their lives’ possessions inside those backpacks. 

It didn’t take them long to find the entrance to the building, nor did it take them long to be stopped by a security guard.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t allow dogs." He said, pointing at the black dog.

“But I was told I could bring him," Vex’ahlia answered as she took her backpack off her shoulders and crouched on the floor, looking inside it for something. “I have a letter." Vex found the paper and handed it to the security guard with a smirk. His eyes moved from side to side, and his frown gave way to a smile.

“I stand corrected. Welcome to Greyskull Keep." He said, moving to the side to allow them in.

Once inside, the twins sighed in relief as the cold air hit their skins. Air conditioning was a luxury they weren’t accustomed to, so they would enjoy any chance they got. They crossed the large foyer toward the makeshift reception area, where a girl with a long blond braid greeted them with a smile.

“Hi, welcome in! My name is Allura."

“Oh, hi! I’m Vex’ahlia, this is my brother, Vax’ildan, and Trinket." Vex introduced them with a smile. Allura nodded in acknowledgment and quickly leafed through a few papers. 

“Ah-ha! Apartment 7B! It looks like one of your roommates has already moved in this morning. Here are the keys. Welcome to Greyskull Keep! If you need anything, you can find me in apartment 10A." She smiled as she handed them their keys.

The twins thanked her and followed the signs toward the elevators on one side of the building. Almost there. Vax adjusted the backpack again as he felt a pang on his lower back. 

***

Keyleth was finishing putting away the last of her clothes in the three-door wardrobe. Although she had picked what she assumed was the biggest room in the three-bedroom apartment, the room itself felt a bit cramped with three beds, instead of two like the other rooms, and only one desk to share. The two positive things about this room were that it had a private bathroom and floor-to-ceiling windows that let in tons of light, which would be great for her plants. 

As she moved about the room, she started mentally taking notes of things she wanted to get to make the place cozier, like a plush rug by her bed – she had claimed the one closest to the window, of course – plants, lots of plants, some fairy lights, a few photos from home that she had taken… yes. Keyleth would make this her home away from home.

Keyleth heard the apartment door open, and she promptly left the room, thinking it was her father returning with the food he had gone to pick up. She was instead met with a pair of very similar-looking people and a big shaggy dog, whose tail thumped against the open door. 

“Oh! Hello!” The girl greeted. Her brown hair was tied in a pretty braid that fell to the front of her shoulder, with a couple of blue feathers placed behind her ear, and she had pretty brown eyes and a charming smile. She was wearing a pair of jeans, which Keyleth thought was weird, considering how hot it was outside, and a blue t-shirt with a white dragon’s head on the chest. She was also the one holding the dark blue leash that was tethered to the dog.

“H– Hi." Keyleth greeted with a small wave. She could already feel the heat of a blush flaring on her cheeks.

“I’m Vex’ahlia, but you can call me Vex. This is Trinket." she gestured toward the dog, “and this is my brother, Vax’ildan."

The guy, Vax’ildan, looked exactly like his sister, except for a change in his facial features and the fact that he was a few inches taller. His hair was also long, but instead of being tied in a braid, he had it up in a bun, with a few strands falling down his face. He had a mysterious aura about him that Keyleth couldn’t pinpoint. Maybe it was the slightly smudged eyeliner, the black nail polish, or the tattoos on the inside of his arms. Or maybe it was the fact that he was wearing all black and a leather jacket, which on such a hot day like today was a grave mistake. 

“You can call me Vax." Keyleth’s cheeks flushed red as the smoky timbre of his voice reached her, sending a million tiny electric shocks down her spine. Oh, he’s handsome.

“H– Hi. I’m Key–." Keyleth choked. Suddenly, any semblance of thought was completely erased from her brain as Vax’s piercing gaze and smirk focused on her.

“Keyleth!” Korrin stood behind the twins – they had to be twins, right? It only made sense, since they looked so much alike – with two brown paper bags in his hands. 

“Dad!” Keyleth’s voice was a tad louder than she intended it to be.

“Oh, hi! I’m Keyleth’s father, Korrin." The man introduced himself, balancing the two bags in one hand and extending the other toward the twins.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Vex’ahlia, and this is my brother, Vax’ildan." Vex took his hand and shook it with a smile. 

“Ah, you must be Keyleth’s roommates, then." Vax took Korrin’s hand after his sister. Korrin lingered on the handshake, carefully examining Vax. There was something about him that Korrin couldn’t describe, something dangerous, mysterious, maybe? Whatever it was, the way his daughter looked at him caused alarm bells to ring in his mind. 

“Please, come inside and set your things down. Those bags look extremely heavy." Korrin said, gesturing toward the spacious living room. 

“Oh. Right. Since I was the first to arrive, I picked the biggest bedroom." Keyleth guided Vex through the open floor common area to the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “Uh. Allura? I think that was her name…”

“Blonde hair in a braid?” Vex asked. Keyleth nodded in response. “Yeah, we met her too."

“Well, she told me we were assigned three girls to the apartment, so I picked the room with three beds for us girls," Keyleth explained, stopping in front of the open door to the bedroom in question.

“I see," Vex said, entering the room. It looked too cramped for her liking, especially since it would be the three of them, plus Trinket, but she couldn’t complain much. Vex set her backpack on the floor by the bed closest to the bathroom, and sat on the bed, testing the firmness of the mattress. It wasn’t too bad, not too firm, but not too soft. It would do.

“I’ll leave you alone to unpack," Keyleth said with a smile. She moved to leave the room but turned back as if she had forgotten something. She cautiously approached Trinket and gave him her hand to sniff, which he did, his tail thumping against the furniture. Seemingly happy with his reaction, Keyleth dug her fingers into the fur on top of his head. “Nice to meet you too, Trinket." she cooed. “I’ll be in the living room if you need anything," Keyleth said before she left, closing the bedroom door behind her.

***

Vax stood in the doorway and watched the girls disappear around the corner. He looked around the common area, examining the apartment. The main entrance opened to the living room, where the back of a dark gray three-seat couch created a sort of division between the entrance and the room proper. Two comfortable-looking gray armchairs sat on each side of the couch, with a black coffee table in the middle, sitting on a light gray rug. In front of it was a black TV stand with a 45” TV, a tall bookshelf, and a standing light in the corner.

“You should go pick a bedroom, Vax’ildan," Korrin said kindly, reminding Vax that he was still blocking his path.

“Right." Vax nodded before he walked through the common area, following in the direction the girls had disappeared. The hallway had two doors on each side, and Vax could hear the low murmur of voices coming from the farthest room on the right, so, assuming that was the bedroom his sister would be staying in, Vax opened the door right next to it, finding another bedroom.

The room was pretty small and looked cramped. Two beds sat against the opposite wall, with a floor-to-ceiling window in between them, and each had a desk at its foot. On the wall next to the door were two decent-sized wardrobes, not too big, but not too small either, perfect for people who had enough clothes to fill them, which wasn’t Vax’s case.

Vax quickly set out to unpack his bag and put what little articles of clothing he had in the wardrobe furthest from the door, then stored the bag on top of it. He placed a few trinkets on the desk closest to that wardrobe, a picture frame of him, his sister and Trinket, his old laptop bag, and a few school supplies he had gotten ahead of time. Lastly, he placed his phone charger in the drawer of the nightstand near the bed he had chosen, and sat down, testing the firmness of the mattress. He had slept in worse places, so he couldn’t complain about the firmness. He was glad to be at least warm and to have a roof over his head. It was with this thought that he let himself fall onto the mattress and close his eyes.

[kallurances]

s1e1 the rise of voltron (pt 2) liveblog

cont. from my pt 1 post!

aww shiro thinking that altea must have been an incredible place

this moment btwn allura and coran was so sweet :( i rlly did love their relationship and im glad they gave allura a little time to grieve, bc i rmbr they rlly never gave her the space to do so afterwards even though she was continually losing so much . . . gah

allura and the mice awww

im sorry this 'rivalry' btwn keith and lance is too funny like pls

allura is connected to the lions' life forces! how though? maybe this gets explained in s8 idk

but it is a cute idea that alfor was building this giant mecha cat warrior and he was like ‘my daughter absolutely needs to be in on this’ LOL

coran calling pidge primitive LOL

the lions choose their pilot; it is 'a mystical bond that can't be forced' LOL @ s3

god the og lineup was too good im trying to savor it while it lasts

goes crazy over the fact that we literally never found out abt the blue paladin's qualities. but yes i agree, the blue paladins are def the best looking and coolest of the bunch ^_^

lance being 'skeptic' over keith being assigned the red lion oooh foreshadowing?

only allura can open wormholes . . . again im left wondering what are the scope of allura’s abilities. is this bc she’s altean or bc she’s allura? or is this bc this is her ship, and other alteans can open wormholes on their own ship? maybe this gets answered later in the series i don’t rmbr

god she looks so serious my bb :(

sloth creature on green lion planet!!! loved these dudes they're just funky guys

shiro's gallows-esque humor was so funny to me, “i've been locked up by aliens for over a year, this is nothing” i love him T-T

the cut to hunk and lance LMAO

cool contrast of hunk overthinking and lance getting right to the point! hunk def has a lot of anxieties which give him a lot of hesitance, lance is v intuitive and usually pretty sure of himself

i love hunk's snark and sarcasm!!! he can be so petty lmao king

oh man yellow has lion carvings next to him too, who put them there? the blue lion had some too, are we supposed to infer that local natives did it (in the same sense how we found out later the arusians think of voltron as a divine being and they had carvings of the ‘lion goddess’ around the castle)?

“oooh pretty” hunk u r adorable

yes blue!!!

lance being distressed over hunk!!! my boys ahhh you can tell they def were pretty close before the whole team came together

pidge also overthinking lol but shiro being a reassuring presence . . . is this supposed to be a contrast to the earlier hunk and lance scene?

awww he used her dad's advice to calm her down, pidge’s soft smile T-T

“go. be great.” I LOVE U SM SHIRO the way this scene always used to make me so emotional pls . . . pidge's yelps of joy T-T literally crying real tears.

shiro and pidge were my first favs when i initially watched this show and im pretty sure this was the scene that hooked me onto them? ahh i really love them and the dynamic they built up over the course of s1 T-T *tries not to think abt later seasons*

lance bracing to get hit by the galra - smth similar happens in s7 i rmbr! was this an intentional parallel?

yay hunk to the rescue!!! oh also sven in s3 and hunk here both jumped in front of fired shots to save lance's life

how many times are they gonna do this hunk throwing up joke it got old after the first two times

pidge and shiro's knowing smiles they’re so cute :( <3

the galra have a hold on the red lion! man i rmbr someone pointing out after s1 it was bc it was probably alfor’s lion that zarkon got a hold of after he killed him and i was like :0 also why does zarkon have the red lion stowed away on a random warship - granted it's one of his best generals, but you think he would keep it somewhere more secure

not another lance pickup line sighing so loud rn

lance calling coran the old guy is so funny cause we all know he ends up sacrificing himself for him like 2x later on this season CTFU

l/h are team running away, k/p are team fighting back . . . the legs are all about stability and making sure they don’t get knocked down and the arms are all about offense and assertiveness . . . god i love how the anatomy of voltron translates into the character’s (initial) positions and characterizations it’s so *chef’s kiss*

and shiro is the perfect balance btwn the opposing parts here, the head who will direct their actions yup yup yup

HERE’S AN OPTION: SHUT YOUR QUIZNAK

I DONT THINK YOU'RE USING THAT WORD CORRECTLY

iconique

god s1 k/l dynamic was so funny i loved these dudes

i love that shiro defers to allura!!! those are her lions! and allura is unsure of what to do - she’s just a teen thrust into this leadership position for this war she never signed up for

the music when allura meets alfor's ai T-T

bb girl is so scared and unsure :( my babyyy

alfor admitting that allura was right and that he made a mistake!!! god i wonder what would have happened if he had listened to her

oh wait that was a s3 episode wasn't it

'you must be willing to sacrifice everything' goddd did they rlly know the series would end in her death this line is so bittersweet i hate u bitches

BOYS ITS TIME TO SUIT UP

god i missed this

the bayards!!! takes a distinct shape for each paladin! this was a rlly good way to add more characterization to them . . . l/h are more long range (perfect for support), while k/p are more offensive weapons (great for getting all up in someone’s face)

also side note, cool how keith gets a sword and a shield, rlly filling in the knight archetype here

shirooo u r my angel <333 i wonder what his bayard form would’ve been after he gained it from zarkon . . . Big Sigh

you have to earn red's respect! where was this energy in s3 lol

lance taking the lead in the absence of the natural leaders!!! cool

shiro having flashbacks T-T i rmbr thinking how great the depiction of shiro’s trauma and PTSD were when i first watched the show, but i think they pretty much dropped it after while . . . Sighs

shiro thinking of the greater good and pidge thinking more selfishly (valid), it’s nice to see shiro deciding to support pidge . . . he will always have his team’s backs

patience yields focus lol

keith being transfixed by the galra symbol 0.o

ohh he’s sensing red like how he sensed blue in the desert!!! did they ever explain how he was able to do that?

who designed the inner workings of this castle that only mice can fix

coran trying to communicate with the mice LOLLLL

frustrated keith lol

shiro is known as the champion!!!! i am so fascinated by his time in galra captivity but they never rlly built off it after s1 . . .

i love how lance loves piloting T-T my boy

KEITH TRYING TO BOND WITH RED LMAOOO

IM BONDING WITH YOU!!!! these moments are big thing to him huh

keith opening the hangar doors so they all get sucked into space SCREAM this bitch is CRAZY

ngl ever since ~s6, i have kinda been a keith hater on the occasions that i recalled vld but . . . i may be growing fonder of him on this rewatch

this shot of red coming for keith is so pretty and awe-inspiring like wow look at the scale of these lions T-T THEY HAD A BOND

GOOD KITTY

shiro's hand activating!!! u r so cool

kitty rose has left the stage! cute

allura pressing her joined hands to her mouth in nervous anticipation at the black lion meeting shiro IM GONNA CRY T-T god she must have been feeling so much pressure and responsibility to do all that she could to bring an end to that evil empire

her sigh of relief when the black lion accepted shiro :(((

the team attempts to form voltron!!!

hunk slamming into red and yelling COMBINE LOL

1 2 3 VOLTRON

THE THING THEY FEEL IS JUST THEM BEING PULLED INTO THE WARSHIP SCREAM

shiro’s speech!!! idc what the showrunners were thinking he was always meant to be the leader of voltron!!!

HUNK IS A LEG!!!

their joy is so pure my kidsss

the split screens as they yell in unison ahhh i missed this

shiro slapping keith on the shoulder lolll they’re brothers <333

allura is so cute <3

they're in the lion formation! i miss this lineup soooo bad crying shaking screaming throwing up rn

shiro likes being a defender of the universe :( and then they took that away from him IM GONNA CHEW ON GLASS

THE EPISODE STARTING AND ENDING WITH SHIRO KILL ME HOW DID THEY EVER THINK HE WOULD BE PERCEIVED AS ANYTHING BUT THE LIKABLE LEAD CHARACTER 

this ending song slaps

overall impresison: this was one of my favs back in the day, and it was easy to recall why! great setup of the characters and dynamics, overall good pacing, some rlly funny moments . . . we were all so happy that day . . . it’s hard to imagine how bad things were abt to become :(

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 1

welcome the the first fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. Blast Zone by @mareepicurean

In the middle of a mission, a bomb going off leaves Lance unable to hear. Still, while he's deaf, the rest of his team are the ones that won't listen.

This is one of my voltron fics ever. I’ve read it regularly since it came out in 2017, and it was one of the big inspirations of my deaf lance fic. The fic does a really good job of team hurt/comfort and Lance’s insecurities without making the team weirdly evil. An awesome fic that I highly recommend. (Also, there’s some excellent Shiro & Lance!)

2. Perishing Pearls by @ohcontrary

A training session with the team goes awry when Lance has to spar against Allura, who's wielding her new whip. The mere sight of it raises ghosts he'd much rather forget.

This one is also heavy on the angst, although fair warning: it mentions past child abuse, so tread carefully. The fic is handles complicated family dynamics and grief really well. It is a great established klance hurt/comfort fic. 

3. How To Train Your Galra by magisterpavus [EXPLICIT]

“Shiro, I fucked up,” Keith blurted, wringing his hands.

Shiro paused mid-punch, shooting him a quizzical look. “What? What happened?”

“I think,” Keith whispered, “I think I accidentally roofied Lance. With my dick.”

This series is the walking proof that 2016 fics hit different. Should 14 year old me have been reading it? Probably not. It’s hugely NSFW, so definitely proceed with caution, but it’s a banger and has a lot of good banter, team as family, enemies to lovers, exes to lovers, and more. Honestly a lot of fun and a lot of face-palming, just remember to heed the tags.

4. If It Ain’t Broke by @overlymetaromantic

A 5 plus 1: Five times Lance takes a hit for the team, and one time the team takes a hit back.

There’s this specific scene in this fic (it’s a bit of a spoiler) where Lance is getting shit from a worried team, who’s upset about him continually putting himself at risk, someone asks “Even if it means putting yourself at risk?” and Lance doesn’t even hesitate before saying “Yes!” It’s such an easy description of Lance’s character that it makes me emotional every time. 

5. Medic Lance by Fullmetal_Bitch

Multi-chap ft. my headcannon that Lance is the team's unofficial medic. Basically, it's a 5 + 1 of Lance helping the others when they're hurt and them helping him, just with a couple extra chapters. Story is so much better than this summary, I swear.Story is complete but the chapters did get revised so let me know whether you reckon it reads smoother now!

Medic Lance my beloved, truly. I feel like it fits him so well, especially as the Blue Paladin. This also has really good BAMF Lance, and Lance interacting with all the lions! Amazing, longer story. 

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Lotura Week 2023 Day 6 - Wardrobe Updates Welcome

All-Season Armor

“Surely, you jest,” Allura said, a hand on her hip as she giggled. She wore a long ball gown of deep blue and white, her neck glimmering with diamonds. “Is this your only outfit?”

Lotor raised his chin, his face flushed as he straightened his spine. “What is wrong with armor?”

She paced around him, running her finger along the line of his broad shoulders. “Well, my husband, this is armor for war and survival. We have been invited as guests to a great dinner hosted by the Alliance, in which we must still present with power and prestige, but not threateningly so.”

He huffed at her. “I do not intend to duel with any allies.”

“I know, I know.” Allura giggled. “But I’m quite sure I’m the only one who has ever seen you without armor.”

“You suggest I attend naked?”

“Oh, no. Not at all!” She patted his chest, her fingers a soft tap against his armor as she added, voice low, “I do like to keep you to myself.”

“I should hope so,” he said, preening.

“But notwithstanding that, I fear the universe is beginning to question if you know how to wear anything else.”

Lotor did not respond for a time, instead glancing off to the side in the silence. His claws ticked against his armored thigh. “You know how I am.”

Her fingers slipped from his chest to grab onto his hand and squeeze it. “I do know,” she said, voice softening. “I know it’s hard to stop wearing armor after so much war.”

He glanced down at their intertwined hands and squeezed her fingers back, an emotion coming over him. “You are the only one I trust not to attack when I do not wear armor.”

Allura pulled him into an embrace, wrapping her arms around him. He embraced her in return, careful of his claws as he stroked his fingers along the diamonds sparkling in her white curls.  

They fell quiet, the grand flagship warping through space with a deep, merry hum.

“You know,” Allura said, tilting up her chin to rest it on his chest plate. “I learned from Keith the other day that the humans make a weapon-proof cloth, called Kevlar. Perhaps we can travel there before the next dinner and have a royal tunic made for you, but out of material that can bend swords.”

His ears flicked, his pupils widening in interest. “Kev…lar?”

“Yes, dear husband.”

His fingers ticked against the soft silk of her dress. “In that case, my wife, clothe me in this…Kev-lar, and I shall wear whatever fashion you deem appropriate. Preferably, in dark colors.”  

Allura’s face split in a great smile, glowing. She pulled away, reaching for a datapad. “Oh, how exciting,” she squealed. “At last, we can match.”

[creativekrissy]

Honestly, my theory was this:

S3-s8 was heavily edited to keep Shiro in the series because his character was very popular and at the cost of Keith’s scenes as a leader.

Keith’s hands revealing he was Galra was suppose to be the build up to fighting against Lance in the episode “the black paladins”— it would have made sense to be “the red paladins”. Why do I believe this? Frames are obviously edited and Shiro (Kuron) never had a sword and the “sword” given is highly similar to Lance’s Altean sword and I’m talking about the outline.

Shiro’s nightmares or thoughts of himself may have been imagining himself as a full out Galra and Haggar most definitely tormented him on the sidelines until the fight between the red paladins.

All the interactions of Lance and Shiro were suppose to be Keith and Lance, I say this because their interactions in confiding each other began in s3 before Keith left the group. So imagine in s6, Haggar believes she has full control of Keith or his Galra genes took over and he’s freaking out.

Either way, the whole fight ends with Lance bringing Keith back to the group fighting Lotor— it’s also possible he didn’t bring Red with him and had no chance but to pilot Black to make it home or a possible scene of he and Keith talking to make their way back.

As for s7, it would make sense why the bond between those two is on point and strong— all interactions between them is suddenly gone. They are brief and subtle.

I also believe that Pidge was meant to be in the middle of the game and Lance was beside Keith. It makes sense because there are hints of those two subtly beside each other but it was edited— just what I believe, I know many would argue. Great editing exists. That’s just me.

Anyway, Keith is probably feeling the worst because of how he fought Lance and left the team, which would make sense why Lance calls him out for being a lone wolf, he’s always trying to run away from his problems.

Plus the leaving him to be leader and grabbing Acxa, forming the wings together. If you remember— Lance is edited to suddenly be with Allura in every scene— I feel like it was suppose to be Romelle. They were suddenly close friends in s7-s8.

Now skip to Hunk finding his family. I strongly believe this was suppose to be about Lance finding his family. The flashbacks were meant to be Lance being playing with his niece and nephew— that scene we got in his reuniting was very odd and out of place.

I feel like the return to earth was suppose to build character for Lance’s confidence in himself as a Paladin. Keith helps him find his parents, Veronica found their parents with the Mfe group. All is reunited but Lance is livid for Sendak imprisoning his family.

As for the scene where Lance and Allura come together to help each other in their lions to protect earth— I feel like Allura is heavily edited from Keith’s outline. This season was suppose to show the growth of these two as a team.

S8 may have been a romantic hint or at least a build up— again why? Take it from where Allura was edited into Keith’s outline because I don’t think they were ever meant to be together. I believe she was strongly focused on moving forward and finding Lotor later in the season.

The date episode could have been everyone invited to Lance’s family dinner. The group could’ve went to find clothes appropriate for dinner since Keith doesn’t fit clothes other than the garrison fit.

Honestly it could’ve been anything but it doesn’t make sense why the Lance and Allura kissing scenes were censored and blocked. Since Keith and Lance are originally blue and red paladins— they make purple— the colour surround Allura which is pink is heavily implied on it.

Also, Allura may have cancelled dinner because of Luka waking up. Maybe Lance was suppose to try a last attempt impressing Allura since she’s not with Lotor— that would make sense and he broods about her cancelling and it brings Keith to the sunset scene. That’s my imagination or theory on the date episode.

Plus looking back at Heart of a Lion episode— Keith could’ve told Lance to be careful, his attempt at being open and vulnerable. Could be platonic— who knows, Keith is just trying to open up more and had there been more accurate interactions between the two in s6, it makes sense for Keith to talk with Lance more as a norm— the whole “got your back” trope that’s building to a strong bond. Who knows, because the studio was doing fine in naturally building same sex relationships since Shiro and Adam were confirmed for the series.

Plus apparently Shiro came back with Krolia? That was the first idea but it was scratched cause they kept him anyway. Shiro is probably making his rounds to be captain of the atlas because what else can he do?

So they leave out to space for s8. Allura finds out Lotor may be alive and investigates— she finds Lotor and brings him back to the Atlas. I believe the scene with Lance and Allura in the medical room was suppose to be Allura and Lotor. Lance’s outline is similar to Lotor and in canon, Lotor is taller than Allura. The features are very similar.

Even on the festival episode, Keith and Lance are definitely checking the place out but Keith just isn’t the type— he still can’t relax. I do believe Shiro was meant to be arm wrestling because of his arm.

So anyway, Lotor wakes up and the search for Honerva and her plans are revealed. Lance is likely to doubt the plans because she’s a dangerous woman— which could be why Keith and Lance confide in each other and pretty much announce their bond will never change or they always have each others backs.

Now if we skip to where the atlas and Voltron combine— you’ll notice one of the face slides is larger than the rest. I theorize that Lotor was meant to be there. The end is where either Lotor and Allura say goodbye to the paladins or they get their parental conclusion and say goodbye to their parents to restore and rebuild Altea than what Lotor had planned in the first place.

It’s possible Allura was saying goodbye to Lotor or that whole kissing scene was added to make sense of Allura and Lance. MAYBE both have joined their parents— possibilities because the lions leave the paladins in the end and the galaxy picture of Allura and Lotor’s body.

Maybe Adam never died and found his way in s7, could’ve been imprisoned by Sendak instead of dead. So Shiro finally marries him properly in the end. If Keith and Lance were meant to be in a relationship then it would be hinted at Keith and Lance during Shiro’s wedding.

So many possibilities.

That’s just what my brain thinks of the heavy outline edits and sudden plots inserted from s3-s8.

Regardless— I still love what VLD is in the end but my brain cannot fathom obvious edits and out of balance inserts in story or character development plots.

There I said it all! I will now leave this behind me~

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

**Cultivating Love**44**

Lance hadn’t wanted to suspect the worst of Sanda. Not when he’d previously respected her before. Being of similar rank they’d met before, though Sanda was closer with Shiro, he knew her to be a strong woman who cared deeply for the state of the realm and the safety of the emperor. That was why he’d insisted that they remained together, immediately noticing that how suspicious it was for Iverson to be alone with her, and for none of the guards to have stopped them on the way. Perhaps it would have been easier for their friends to accept her betrayal had she not been the one doing the betraying. The faint scent of blood that followed her and the lingering energy he felt from her all screamed at him to watch her. So watch her he had. All the way into the sanctum of the elders.

What laid before them was blood. Not all of the elders slain, but Lance could not trace where the others had gone. The three left were hung on display, bloodied puddles beneath their feet feeding into a cursed matrix upon the ground. He’d needed into the barrier as it was. Trying to call to Blue he hadn’t felt Blue at all, which was why he believed Blue to still be in the hands of the elders and beyond his current reach.

As the others eyed the terror before them, Lance had moved behind Allura, covering her mouth with his hand as she went to scream. Leaning in, he kept his voice as low as possible from behind the princess

“Sanda has betrayed us. Hold your hand out and do not say a word”

Allura nodded, her body stiff with fear, fearing he was about to hurt in some way that hurt his heart, yet couldn’t blame her for. Waiting for her to hold her hand out, Lance slid his hand down, then along her left arm, his hand behind hers as he called to Blue.

“Lance?”

He could feel Blue. He could feel the confusion from his blade, the elders manic locking away parts of Blue’s spirit. Allura trying to hurry him up as Shiro spoke to Sanda

“Hush… wait a moment”

“I feel something”

Zarkon’s energy was growing stronger. The pooled blood feeding the spell. Calling out harder for Blue, a soft gasp escaped Allura as Blue appeared in her hand, nearly dropping the sheath from the unexpectedness of it

“Close your hand around the handle of her blade and let it speak to you. Blue knows you through me. Let Blue in”

“What are you going to do?”

“Watch and wait”

They’d never discussed the finer details, but with three bodies in front of them, Lance stepped out from behind Allura. His steps light as he moved to stand behind Sanda. Two arms would have been nice, and far more threatening than his stump against her stomach and Red against her throat. She knew Red by reputation, not by use. Iverson and Shiro both staring at him wide eyed as he pulled Sanda back from the edge of the spell, as Sanda spluttered

“What are you doing?!”

They’d been lured down. Lured down to be sold. Sanda could attempt to bluff her way out, yet Lance knew better

“You sold us to Zarkon”

“What are you talking about?! Unhand me! Do you not know who I am?”

“Lance, what are you doing!? Lower Red, Sanda is our friend”

Great. Shiro doubted him… Shiro raising his hands and stepping forward, Lance stepped back from his ex-mate

“You want to know what I am doing? Perhaps because I was gone for so long, but she failed to consider that I know what Zarkon’s energy feels like. She’s touched it. She touched it and she lived. She’s sold us out”

“He’s out of control… He’s been tainted by…”

“I suggest you do not finish that sentence. Or should I use Red to show what occurred here? Tell us what you know!”

When Sanda paused, realisation washed over the faces of their group. Iverson drawing his blade, lip twitching as he narrowed his eyes

“You…”

Elbowing Lance in the stomach, Sanda shoved him back. Lance definitely cursing not having his right hand to grip her robe as he stumbled back

“Zarkon swore to let the Emperor live upon your delivery! I had to do what I had to do to save the royal family! Your lives are worth nothing compared to theirs!”

Lance couldn’t argue with her. Opening Red, Red still recognised him. Sweeping the fan in front of him, the memories of death came to life. Zarkon before them smiling as he choked the life from the elders. Sanda standing there with her blade, shaking at the sheer presence of the man. With no other options she turned, making towards the door, Keith lunging to intercept her

“Stop!”

She didn’t get far. Tripping, she fell as Keith grabbed her around the waist. Sanda going limp, as Keith looked to Shiro

“I knew there was something wrong about you. Shiro, what do we do with her?”

“Bind her. The spell is close to completion too late to stop. Iverson, take her away. It’s too late for them, yet we still need to take them down… they deserve that respect”

To Lance that was an extra waste of time. He’d seen too many die, numb to what he was supposed to be feeling thanks to his time in the arena and the countless innocents that had died. Taking a breath, Lance slowly turned, taking in the details of the room. Zarkon’s barrier outside was impressive and eye catching. The palace guards would be thinking of it… and possibly not other spells. It’d been inside the elders palace that the portal to the demon realm had opened. Normally there’d be no need for blood. Not with Zarkon’s power, yet to take the blood and chi of the elders

“We don’t have time. We need to get out of here, it’s a trap”

Still wielding his sword, Iverson looked Lance up and down

“We know it is a trap. Sanda sold…”

Shiro understood what Lance meant. He wasn’t pointing out the obvious, despite what Iverson thought. His ex mate holding his hand out and closing his eyes as he focused on, doing the same as Lance had done for Allura, and summoning White

“Sanda lured us here. Everyone else is focused on the barrier over the palace complex. We’re not supposed to get out of here alive”

Lance missed what happened next. It all happened in a blink of the eye. The sound of metal clashing against metal and then Shiro was standing there sword to sword with Sendak

“Shiro, I have been looking forward to meeting you”

Growling, Shiro kicked Sendak back, Sendak smiling coldly while the white wolf yelling as he charged Sendak. Lance’s heart somewhere in his mouth. This was Sendak. Sendak had come through… if he was there… No, Shiro needed back up, Lance knew it even if Shiro was yelling

“Go! I’ll keep him off!”

Metal clanged against metal. Keith abandoning Sanda, clearly wanting to help Shiro. Shiro dodging and parrying, the movements of his so fast that he seemed to be able to counter Sendak who seemed to vanish into thin air between attacks

“Keith, take them and go! This man is mine!”

“I can…”

“Take them and go! Get out of here”

Sendak. Lance had more than one score to settle with him. Every part of him tingled, sparks of electricity coming off Lance as he closed Red. Pidge had been right about him preaching at her. He was well aware that he had more feelings than he knew what to do with and that he wouldn’t be able to contain his temper

“Sendak is mine. Shiro, butt out”

“Lance I will handle him. Go with the others”

“That’s not happening. I never could simply kill him in front of Zarkon, yet here he is in our realm. This fight will be mine! You take the others and you leave”

Forming his chi into a ball of lightening in his hand, Lance wanted Sendak’s blood. His teeth bared as he aimed his spell, letting loose to seperate Sendak from Shiro. Shiro eyeing him in annoyance, while Sendak turned on Lance

“I too wanted to kill you. Fine, let your friends leave, none of you will be surviving the night”

“As long as I survive enough to see you dead, that’s all I need”

Sendak’s sword shifted shape to the mace like form that Lance knew so well. Hurtling it towards him, Lance ducked to the side, his friends still wavering. The space hit by the ball of energy exploding outwards from the impact

“Go! This is more than personal”

Shiro wavered, confliction on his face that they did not have time for. Keith the same, though relenting

“Shiro, this is Lance’s fight. We need to keep moving. Let’s go”

Krolia took both Allura and Pidge by the arm, dragging the pair towards the entrance spurring Iverson and Shiro to both move. Keith pausing to grab Sanda, shooting Lance a meaningful look before nodding. Lance understood. He was to fight and survive, or Keith would be less than happy with him.

Left alone with Sendak, Lance straightened up. There was no limit on him any longer. Not by Zarkon and not by the elders. Flexing his left hand, he smiled

“Now they’re gone, why don’t you and I finally settle this”

Sendak gave a dry chuckle

“I’ve always thought this, but you’re a mouthy bastard. Do you truly think yourself stronger than our lord and emperor?”

“No, but I only need to be stronger than you”

Dropping to crouch as Sendak launched his next attack, Lance slammed his hand on the ground, channeling his lightening through the dirt. Enough magic in the air that even the ground conducted it. Dodging his attack, the wall behind Sendak exploded, only causing Sendak to smile wider

“Is that all you have?”

“No. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve, you simply talk too much”

If Zarkon could cast a spell that took up most of the floor, then so could he. If he kept Sendak too busy to notice, he could use his lightening to carve the seal into the dirt, then destroy Sendak once he was trapped

“Zarkon ordered me to bring you before him, I doubt he’ll mind if your missing a few limbs”

“Too bad that you’ve already been beaten to the punch. Still, I only need one hand to beat the likes of you. I do believe I owe you for all you put my mate through”

“Which one? From what I hear, you have neither a mate or your divine weapon. I’m going enjoy this”

“I’m glad I came disarmed. See, I have no arm”

Waving what he did have, Sendak clearly was less than pleased as he launched his next attack. Lance very nearly leaving it too late to dodge, though that was his intention as he started the opposite way to his first line across the ground. Every third attack meant Sendak had to pause. Sendak also didn’t have access to the demon realm’s natural energy. Lance secretly hoping the man was choking on the purity of the realm, though with Zarkon’s barrier in place, he supposed that wasn’t the case.

By the time Lance had laid the last of his trap, he was ready to call a time out. He wasn’t the only one without a limit, either that, or Sendak had been manipulated further by Zarkon’s scientists. Blood trickled down his face as the last of Lance’s energy reserves were left. Much of the sanctum had been destroyed, with Zarkon’s spell annoyingly still in place. Half by accident, yet fully intentional if asked, his spell had hit the outside of the spell, deflecting from it as if it’d been nothing. Lance had to give Zarkon credit there. The evil piece of filth knew how to cast a lasting spell.

Distracted by his next move, Lance had no time to dodge again as he took a full blast from Sendak, throwing him across the room where his body crunched painfully and his world turned white on impact against the ruined wall. He’d be getting in trouble. Shiro and Keith would have to get in line behind Pidge, who was sure to smack him one for letting himself end up in this state. Feeling Red slide from his robes, Lance hacked up blood as he slid down the wall. Sendak’s steps echoing through the space as he slowly walked towards Lance. The smug bastard had the upper hand and they both knew it. He’d definitely broken something he probably wasn’t meant to.

“What’s this? You do have a divine weapon after all? What else are you hiding?”

Next thing Lance knew he was being kicked in the face. But that wasn’t enough for Sendak as he then grabbed Lance by the collar of his robe and threw him as if he were weightless. Skidding back across the floor, Lance blinked, then blinked again. Dark spots were edging around his vision, and unless he was very much mistaken, one of them was moving off on its own.

“What’s this? Can’t move? You always were the weakest joke of the arena, Tailor”

Now that Sendak mentioned it, he really couldn’t. Watching Sendak lean down to pick Red up, Lance felt as if his body was made of broken glass as he begged it to move. One finger. He only needed one finger. If he could just… just summon Red… Then the one thing happened that he couldn’t predict. As Sendak’s fingers contacted Red, the man howled. If Lance could have gaped, he would have. If he could have laughed, he would have done that too. Divine weapons were divine weapons for a reason and he’d forgotten that Blue had rejected him because of his demonic energy. Sendak was full of it and now Red had rejected him. Keith would have been so proud.

Clutching his hand at the wrist, Sendak panted and snarled, regaining himself then striding towards Lance. Unable to move, Lance was booted in the side, rolled by the momentum onto his stomach. So blinded with anger, Sendak grabbed him by the hair, raising his head to slam it down onto the floor, yet the action didn’t come.

Something warm and wet dribbled down to him, then came the sound of something smacking into the wall, and Sendak was staggering away from him, letting his head fall to the floor facing towards whatever it was that made the noise. Surely he had to be hallucinating. Through Sendak’s chest was White. Blood flowing from Sendak’s mouth and the wound as he tore White from him. Unlike him, Shiro was in far better condition. The white wolf charging Sendak, changing his form as he did. No other white wolf had a pelt as fine as Shiro’s. it’s shine like beads of dew on a spiders web early in the morning.

Grabbing Sendak by the leg, Shiro clamped on, Sendak roaring as he swung blindly, trying to dislodge Shiro’s fangs. Now probably wasn’t the time to be finding Shiro hot, yet Lance was lying there falling in love with Shiro again all over how strong his ex-mate was. Watching Shiro tip Sendak over, the wolf released his, lunging for Sendak’s throat.

At the same time, familiar chi met his. Lance rolled over and gathered up in the arms of Keith. He really must have been dying again, because his two most loved were right there with him

“I’ve got you. Shiro’s got him. Let me heal you”

Keith didn’t have… Keith was not the best healer. He lacked the patience… and sometimes accidentally set people on fire. He’d basically failed the required healing courses of their earlier years and had not been invited back. They’re master having more than one strong words to describe Keith’s lack of healing prowess. Still… Keith was so pretty. Lance sure he was smiling as Keith huffed

“Stop it. No laughing. Hunk gave me a charm”

Out of all the places Keith could have put the charm slip, he went and stuck it on the middle of Lance’s forehead. He would have scolded him if Shiro hadn’t howled drawing both their attentions. Sendak couldn’t take the hint and simply die. Drawing his weapon again, he smashed the side of Shiro’s head, Shiro’s teeth taking flesh as the force broke the hold. As Shiro swayed, attempting to get his barings, Sendak rolled over, one hand holding his throat as he abandoned his weapon and began to crawl towards Zarkon’s spell. Blood…

“Stop him!”

Lance tried to yell, but it came out as squeak. Noticing he tried to move his hand, Keith raised it, Lance half annoyed that Keith was holding him instead of doing his job and killing Sendak. The idiot hadn’t even guarded himself against Lance, Lance feeling Keith’s energy begin to flow into his instead of reserving it for the battle ahead

“What are you trying to say?”

Oh, how Lance had so much that he wished to say! Drawing his energy, he zapped Keith by accident, who immediately released his hand and it flopped from his leg to the floor where Lance had kind of wanted it to go. The black wolf’s chi flashing against his and the sudden assault it thought itself under. Squinting around the charm, and against the dots in his vision, Lance let his spell loose through the lines already torn through the floor, dropping Sendak like the bag of rotten meat products he was. There came no howling in rage and releasing his energy uncontrollably,. All his hard work to make the sealing spell was annoyingly useless, irking him that he hadn’t been able to put Sendak in a barrier of his own making then torture him with the souls of those he’d ingested. No. He’d now have to settle for Sendak’s heart giving out where he knelt, never quite able to make it to Zarkon’s spell.

As the dust settled, Shiro came to them. Shifting back to his human form and placing both his hands on Lance’s stomach. Between that and Hunk’s charm, he wasn’t feeling as badly as he could have. He used too much energy, yet his body was healing

“How is he?! He looks bad”

Trust Keith to worry. Lance had pulled a total trick shot, and that was what Keith was focused on

“He’s used a fair amount of his gathered energy… and he’s cracked a couple of ribs”

“Oops?”

Surprising the three of them, Lance hadn’t meant to “oops” out loud. Keith sighing heavily

“Right, well, he’s making jokes. He can’t be that bad”

“Thankfully it’s mostly deep bruising of the muscle”

“Are we including his brain here? He does know he wasn’t not supposed to end up this way”

“I suspect some of it was him toying with his prey”

There he was, having finally killed Sendak, and Shiro and Keith were teasing him. With the spells set in place, Lance sat himself up a little more. Both Hunk’s and Shiro’s spells had such a pleasant warmth to them that he was likely to doze off

“You two should become travelling entertainers. You’re so bad they will throw rice at you to leave. I had a plan. He just didn’t want to cooperate. Where are the others?”

“Don’t worry. Krolia has them organised. Call it what you want. We’ve been looking for you”

“It’s impolite to use someone’s soul to snoop on them. Wait? Looking for me?”

Shiro gave a chuckle. His expression filled with such fondness that Lance suddenly felt himself blushing. Taking the hem of his sleeve, Shiro dabbed at Lance’s brow

“I’m not above it if means being there when you need. You’ve taken healing from both of us now. Can you stand yet?”

“Please help me up. We do not have time to waste. That thing took too much of my time as it is… and more importantly, looking for me?”

Keith cleared his throat

“He would have died faster if we’d stayed together… we didn’t realise he’d created his own pocket dimension ahead of time. Pride means nothing if you die… but I wanted to believe in you”

“I see what you said there”

Lance would have been happy to be complimented without the end part. Keith may have wanted to, but he didn’t and he’d come back. Keith catching himself

“No. No. What I mean is… I do believe in you… I simply love you more. We… we didn’t actually leave. Sendak pulled you in with him and it took us a bit to get in after you”

A shiver ran through Lance. He’d thought he knew exactly where he was and what was happening during the fight. Sendak had him in his trap all along

“I didn’t notice at all…”

Placing his warm hand over Lance’s eyes, Shiro’s tone was still filled with fondness

“Close your eyes and the illusion will be broken”

With a burst of Shiro’s warm magic, Lance opened his eyes to find everyone else still in the sanctum. The room a mess and devoid of the signs of their fight. Even his body felt better. Pidge had serious illusion power, yet this was on a whole other level compared to her. Shiro smiled

“Let’s get you up. You’ll need time to gather more energy”

Now was his chance with a proper audience. Holding his right arm up, Lance nodded

“You’ll have to help me up. I’ve been disarmed”

The chorus of groans that reached him was music to Lance’s ears. At least his friends appreciated his joke. Shiro sighing as he stood, then helped him up, Lance pausing briefly to kiss his cheek and mumble “thank you” in his ear. Before Pidge was the first of the group to ask

“What happened?”

Perhaps a little jealous, Keith wrapped his arms around him from behind

“Lance killed Sendak. Stopped his heart before he could get to the spell. It was one hell of a shot, dropped him right where he was. All while I cradled him in my arms”

Blushing under Keith’s praise, Lance deflected, coughing lightly first

“Ah, but how do I know that was not an illusion?”

“You were right there in my arms”

“Or was I?”

“Shiro, back me up here”

Covering his mouth, Shiro looked away, unable to resist also teasing Keith

“Whatever happened between you two is between you too”

Groaning at the pair of them, Keith let Lance go

“We had a moment and now you deny it. It was no illusion and I’m mad at the both of you”

Still close enough to lean back against Keith, Lance kissed his cheek. His two ex-mates had dashed into danger so it was only fair that Keith was kissed too

“The most important thing is that Sendak is dead. Come, we need to keep moving. This trap is still dangerous”

“Alright, but no funny business. And no getting sucked into any other strange pocket realms. Hunk, check him over. He got himself into trouble again”

“I know you wished you’d gotten to stab Sendak too, but your time will come. So far my score is one, you’d best catch up. Also, Shiro healed me up. I’m ready for round two”

Keith sighed at him, yet wrapped his arm around Lance’s waist again, paying him back by nipping on his tear and teasing

“Great, you’re all murderous again. We don’t have time for me take you to bed and ravish you through a second round so keep your mind focused. I do believe this makes it one all now”

Lance let his head drop forward in defeat

“I should have known better than tease you”

“Good. And good work with Sendak. Shiro, you’ll have to wipe your face, you’re covered in blood”

Slipping out from behind him, Keith moved to Shiro, starting to wipe at his face as Shiro laughed and attempted to dodge him. Thanks to the both of them he’d survived Sendak… both of them coming when he’d needed them the most.

[princessallura052]

Princess Allura [ISFJ MBTI typing] Voltron: Legendary Defender

Introverted Sensing (Si): Allura is very much a character who lives in the present but does not forget her past. A good example of this is when she had to say goodbye to her father and saw all her memories, which definitely affected her, but she was experiencing these in real time. This is highlighted especially when the others attempt to comfort her, she appreciates their efforts.

She is very routine-focused and has a set schedule on how things should be done and can often come across as a bit narrow-minded because of her past experiences. While she is definitely open to learning and does change, such as accepting that Keith is a good person for example, it is very dominant in her to be stuck to her ideals and beliefs based on what she knows. Another example of this is her insistence that all Alteans are good, despite having it revealed to her that Haggar was Altean back in season 2.

Allura, due to being burdened by the war tends to come across as very strict and serious and it’s only later on that we see that she does have a light-hearted side such as teasing Coran about the pirates and easing out a bit in general.

Extroverted Feeling (Fe): Allura is all about the greater good and what benefits people as a whole. This is something that remains consistent with her throughout even if it is not very obvious. But her planet and people are gone, and she has nothing to fight for. But she fights because it benefits the world as a whole and her compassion for people remains until the very end.

She also tends to neglect herself for the needs of the universe, another thing that has been a core part of her character. Using her own magic to heal the Balmera, collapsing because she was exhausted from creating wormholes and still not being able to sleep because she felt as if she were not doing enough. She is constantly risking herself for other people at the cost of her own well-being. Heck, she started crying because she wanted to be able to actively fight in the war too as a Paladin.

However, because this is her auxiliary function as in her secondary one, while a central part of the character, it describes how she perceives the world and takes in information.

Introverted Thinking (Ti): This is her tertiary function which allows her to be such a great diplomat. This function allows a person to think things through analytically but for an ISFJ, this analysis is person related. This fits Allura to a T. She is able to feel other people’s pain and understand where they are coming from, help tend to their insecurities and needs. Examples of it include the first episode of season 3 and the way she brought together the Balmerans to fight for a noble cause.

It’s not the defining feature of Allura’s character but it is a major one as it leads her to help bringing people together to fight as she knows what they need to hear. She is the main person in seasons 3 and 4 to help in the formation of the rebel alliance and everyone working together.

Extroverted Intuition (Ne): The last function is always the weakest and the one that is the least notable in a person. We don’t see Allura go out of her comfort zone as much to provide a lot of examples but a major one would be her becoming the Blue Paladin. She was very uncomfortable in this situation despite how enthusiastic she was to help. This function is the hardest to tap into.

Allura was not a pilot – her life force was connected to the Castle of Lions so that came to her naturally but despite her desire to want to become a soldier and fight alongside the others, she was not comfortable being a pilot but was able to tap into it by asking for help. This is the one function that is the least obvious in Allura because she’s not very open with showing it and it is not a dominant part of her.