#I always enjoy discussing Shiro with you and reading about your love for him.

[kismetconstellations]

♡ ♡ ♡ for @sockdooe

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Please may I have a Blue exorcist fluff scenario of when Yukio's wife (Yukio's wife, his childhood friend considering that you knew him very well. She is a highly skilled Paladin and a loving mother) is right about not needing to worry about leaving Shiro (your son, who is also Yukio's son *Shiro certainly looks like Yukio when he was a little boy*..he was named after Yukio's foster Dad who died due to unforeseeable circumstances..) with Rin for a bit so she and himself could have a break for a while because parenting was exhausting. She had never seen Rin so gentle..she thought he was nervous about having to look after his 3 year old nephew for a bit..but he rose to the occasion very well..Shiro was holding a sleeping Kuro and was certainly interested in the storybook that Uncle Rin was reading him.

Yukio and female reader are aged up and stuff and that goes the same for Rin.

Hi! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took so long. I hope you like the scenario!

Fandom: Blue Exorcist!

Character: Yukio Okumura x gn! Reader (uses female anatomy)

Word Count: 0.6k (673 words)

“Are you sure they’ll be okay?”

You glanced across at Yukio and sighed. This was the fourth time he had asked you that question since leaving home.

This was the first time you and your husband, Yukio, had been able to get some time to yourselves since your son, Shiro, had been born three years ago. Rin had offered to babysit while the two of you went out for an anniversary dinner.

And while you were touched by Yukio’s concern for his son, you were certain he just needed to relax and trust his brother.

“They’ll be fine. Rin’s good with Shiro and, if worst comes to worst, Kuro is with them as well and we’re on speed dial.”

“But-”

You laid a hand on Yukio’s arm. “Yukio. They’ll be fine.”

The tension in his shoulders loosened and he let out a deep breath. “You’re right. I know they’ll be okay. I’m just worried.”

You nodded. Secretly, you had a few misgivings of your own. You were certain Rin would take good care of Shiro but he hadn’t looked after the boy alone before and you were worried he would be nervous and let his nerves get the better of him. “I get it, I really do. But we’ve got to take advantage of Rin’s offer and enjoy our night out without Shiro. So come on or we’ll be late for our reservation.”

~

You walked towards your front door, arm in arm with Yukio. You had both enjoyed your evening but were looking forward to being home and seeing Shiro.

As you approached the door, you noticed a distinct lack of noise coming from the house. You double checked the time. Late enough that Shiro would normally be in bed but you knew he was always more energetic when his Uncle Rin was around. And surely Rin would still be awake.

So why was it so quiet?

Yukio exchanged a concerned glance with you before unlocking the door and pushing it open. Inside, the lights were on but there was no sign of either Rin or Shiro.

Not wanting to call out should Shiro be asleep, you both made your way quietly through the house. Without discussing it, you both seemed to be making your way towards Shiro’s room. The closer you got, you began hearing a soft noise.

Together, you and Yukio slowed your steps, creeping towards your son’s room. The door was open and, from the gentle light streaming into the hallway, you guessed the nightlight was on.

This close, you could tell that the sound was Rin, talking quietly. You and Yukio glanced around the doorframe.

Rin was sitting on the side of Shiro’s bed, reading one of Shiro’s storybooks to him in a gentle voice. Shiro was staring at Rin, his eyes wide as he took in the story being told. Kuro was curled up in Shiro’s arms, his eyes closed and his chest softly rising and falling.

Rin’s ears twitched and he stopped reading, turning to see the two of you in the doorway.

“Hey, you’re back.” He turned back to Shiro, “Your parents are back, Shiro.”

Shiro blinked out of his revere and looked across at the two of you, smiling widely. “Hi! Uncle Rin was reading me a story!”

You smiled back at him and nodded, crossing the room to stand beside his bed. “He sure is. Is he doing a good job?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah! He’s really good at reading!”

“Well we’ll leave you to it. Have a good sleep Shiro.” You pressed a kiss to your son’s forehead and walked back to Yukio.

“Goodnight Shiro.” Yukio blew his son a kiss.

“Goodnight dad.”

You turned back into the hallway, turning so you were hidden from view. Once Yukio joined you, you smiled at him. “See, nothing to worry about.”

Yukio smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah, guess so.”

You grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway. “Come on. Let’s leave them to it. I think there might be some dessert in the fridge.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, did you enjoy this? If you like my writing, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi page! This will allow me to make some money off my writing, something I enjoy doing.

ko-fi.com/justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms

Important Note: Please only donate if you are financially able to. If you are currently in a position where you can't donate, a like, comment or reblog will mean just as much.

[ursae-minoris-world]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @starlightvld- thank you!!! ☺️

1. How many works do you have on A03? 42! (neat!)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 140,503!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly vld. I have a Good Omens fic and always want to write more and a few fandom that I'm tempted to write for, but I'm still very much in vld.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? - Breaking point (vld, sheith) ; A little mouse told me (vld, sheith); Flowers and Blood (vld, sheith); A cure to loneliness (Good Omens, ineffable husbands)

This gets long so I'm adding the rest under a read more!!

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! I do! Sometimes I can take a little long but I really enjoy talking with my readers!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Just a call... (vld, gen) I think! It's an open ending, but it ends up on a frustrating note (which was the point).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh man, they almost always have a happy or at least hopeful ending. Let's go with A little mouse told me (vld, sheith).

Oh, hey, fun anecdote! Someone commented on Stay with me (vld, sheith) to tell me it was the 200,000th work in the "happy ending" tag! They had just witnessed the tag going up to that number with my fic!

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not so far, thankfully. (Happened once on fanart though, but it was just one dumb comment by an anti).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I haven't so far, I'm not really interested in writing it (never say never, though!).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Well, I did 2 fairly recently for a crackship event! It was loads of fun. The craziest might be A Mysterious French Chef, which started as a Hunk&Remy idea, but ended up involving Hunk, Allura and the space mice for vld, and Linguini, Colette, and Remy for Ratatouille, and everyone interacting pretty significantly. I really loved mashing the 2 universes, and for something that started as a "crack" idea, it ended up working surprisingly well!!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of. I've had some original (anonymous) poems that I cowrote with a friend plagiarized down to using our actual pseudonym, but that wasn't in fandom or even online!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I don't think so.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Five times Shiro broke the rules, and one time Keith did with VirdisDrachen (vld, Shiro&Keith). It's based on a roleplay. Other than that, while it's mostly an artist+writer big bang collaboration, I think Square_Orange and I did discuss the plot a fair amount for Let It Snow! (vld, sheith).

I also have 2 fics that are remixes of other people's work, done for the sheith remix event : When you lived! (the “Enormous, within your small hands” remix) inspired by a fic by @annaofaza, and High Score! (the “I want us forever” remix) inspired by a fic by Tragedy_Machine.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? To no-one's surprise: sheith.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I am fairly good at finishing my wips, even if I do have some stuff that has been waiting for a while. I still have my notes about Keith grieving Shiro between s2 and s3 and how the team tried to support him and each other but how things became tense, that I wrote just after s3 aired! I still hope to get to it one day!

There's also the collab with VirdisDrachen tbh because we dropped the rp after a while and I wouldn't finish this alone. So I'm afraid this one will stay as is.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm good with dialogues and characterization? Themes like friendship, found family are my jam, too. Of course it's subjective.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I am learning, but action and fight scenes are *hard*. (But I also love them? haha). On the exact opposite side, stories with very low stakes are sometimes hard to write, when it's just 100% fluff and no conflict, unless it's like, a short scene... It's easier with some emotional or romantic build up (ex mutual pining > getting together) but otherwise I really have to *think* to plot the fic. I'm so used to stories centered around conflict (in the literary sense, including inner conflict, not necessarily an actual fight).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I agree with @starlightvld that if it's a language that I'm not personally fluent in, I'd look for a native speaker who might want to help or avoid it. Except maybe for conlangs, like Sindarin or Klingon. Although if I ever write in a fandom with something like that, I would f*cking love to get insight from one of these people who actually studied them and are fluent. In a more general way, I'd be cautious that it actually brings something to the story, that it makes sense to use the language that way, and to do it in a way that doesn't confuse readers too much (unless I am purposefully writing for those who know the language, I guess). I will say that I do love different languages to be aknowledged, like for vld fics that actually dig into the paladins having different languages, and the Galra and Altean also, and so on (ex fics where they have universal translators and then there are issues when they break or they can't rely on them for whatever reason).

19. First fandom you wrote for? Voltron! My first fic was a Hunk-centric gen fic, While some count sheep, and I'm still really fond of it!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Oh, that's hard, I like them all for different reasons. I do enjoy Carry me away for the sheith saving each other vibes. A little mouse told me (sheith written from the space mice pov) was such a fun exploration! Honestly, the most kudosed ones in question 4 are all fics I am proud of. To chose a lesser known one, I also love A special day , a vld gen Hunk-centric fic!

Tagging... @sodomhipped, @tomatocages, @an-aphorism @museaway @jacqulinetan @levyscripts @annaofaza and whoever wants to do this!

(also no pressure at all if you are tagged!)

[romelle]

I love your Allura and Shiro friendship headcanons! Do you have any for Allura and Hunk?

fresh homemade pink lemonade for you!! <3 perfectly sweet w just a touch of tartness

hunk might be a man of science now, but he was really into those children's books about magic and alchemy when he was a kid. whenever allura needs someone to bounce ideas off, he's her guy

pidge: we're serious scientists who only ever do serious work that can be supported by serious evidence

hunk: mhm yeah right on

allura: hunk!! do you want to see me bring this bug back to life with my sparkly pink magical powers?

hunk: i've never wanted anything more in my life

allura always beats him at arm wrestling, but she also sucks at those hand-clapping games. hunk enjoys her calling him a hand-clapping champion in her solemn, dignified voice far too much to tell her that the game isn't actually competitive

although, with allura, every game turns competitive very quickly

hunk: you've really never had a pillow fight?

allura: i don't believe so, no

lance: uh, dude, maybe don't introduce allura to pillow fights? like, i'm just saying... i once saw her knock over a training bot with nothing but a little push

keith: what, are you scared?

lance: she’s wielding a pillow! it’s called having survival instincts, mullet

hunk: stop being dramatic, lance. there's no way she would-

allura: so is the fight to the death?

keith:

hunk:

lance:

hunk: you know what? maybe i could just do your hair instead

diplomacy and politics can be rather tedious at times, so whenever they have time, hunk and allura like to do work over tea parties with the mice. sometimes, though, they just turn it into gossiping sessions

allura: apologies, but i must steal hunk away for a little while. he and i have some incredibly urgent matters to discuss

(fifteen minutes later)

allura, pouring tea into the little mice cups: i believe you know why i called this meeting?

hunk: please. if you think that them falling asleep in the observatory was something, wait until you read what keith wrote about lance's eyes on page fifty three, paragraph four, line six of his diary

allura has no idea how to cook, but all of her food looks so fancy that hunk is convinced that she does. this is only because he never actually tasted it

hunk: ooooh what's that? some kind of a fancy princess drink?

allura, holding a glass of something that's like an altean equivalent of a melted pink ice popsicle: ...sure

they love taking long walks and exploring the castle in their free time! allura loops their arms together while telling him all about the mischiefs she pulled in the castle as a little girl, and hunk loves seeing all the altean machinery

hunk, during one of the walks: what's upstairs?

allura: unfortunately, the stairs do not talk

whenever hunk hugs people, he completely squishes them before lifting them off the ground. lance convinces allura that she should show him what it feels like, so every now and then she'll shapeshift until she's much taller than hunk, hug him really really tight, and then twirl him around in the air

allura: hunk, will you please show the paladins our battle plan?

hunk, pulling out their monsters & mana campaign notes from last evening: okay so-

the two of them (especially allura) take these campaigns super seriously. others (like a certain blue paladin) do not

allura: keep your guard up, paladins! haggar's terrible new monster advances towards you.

lance: alright, alright, no doubt. so can i flirt with it?

hunk: ...buddy. please

lance: i rolled a twenty

hunk: no, c'mon. what about keith?

keith: ...what about me?

allura, patting him on the shoulder: you’ll figure it out

lance, waving them off: keith schmeith. give me the deets, princess. how am i romancing this monster? ;-)

hunk:

hunk: maybe we should have a pillow fight to the death, actually

[silverineontherun]

A list of some of my VLD fics

Heya! I’ve seen some new people following me here and I thought it’d be good to greet you all first! So, hi! I’m Mila, AKA Silverine on AO3, and I love writing for VLD, klance being the owners of my heart. I decided to rec some of my own klance fics for those who may be interested, since I haven’t updated my fic masterpost in a looong while 😅 here we go!

fake, not fate || One-shot, post s5, T rated || Canonverse, Soulmates AU, Fake dating, Fake marriage, Marry or die, Mind reading (a lot, I know)

Lance messes up during a mission and crashes into a sacred place. As if that wasn't bad enough, he can't leave unless his soulmate comes and marries him in a... questionable ceremony. Well, he just has to fake a relationship with any of his friends and get over with it... right?

it’s the little things || One-shot, s6, T rated || Quantum Abyss, Keith and Krolia bonding, pining Keith

Keith and Krolia share a moment in the Quantum Abyss, discussing Keith's feelings for Lance.

a gold for a gold || One-shot, Modern AU, T rated || Divers!klance, Proposal fic

At the World Championship, the Kogane-McClain team is about to participate in the high diving competition, but one of the team members is more anxious than he should. The gold medal is not the only gold at stakes here...

5 reasons to stay || Incomplete 4/6, post s6, T rated || Kinda fix it, canonverse, road trip shenanigans, feelings realization.

After their scarring battle against Lotor, Lance gets sick and he confesses to Keith he just wants to go home. But now that Keith has found his own peace, he will try to convince Lance during the long road back to not quit by showing him a few reasons to stay around. Five curious, bizarre reasons, to be exact.

that’s you in the mirror || Complete, 7/7, post s7, T rated || Body Swap, canonverse, Garrison, mutual pining, mentions of allurance (no real romance as in canon)

While trying to understand the mystery of the fallen Altean, Lance and Keith suffer a magical accident and end up swapping bodies. It’s definitely not the best moment for any of them-- not while they’re coming to terms with the confusing feelings they have developed for each other.

you’re always welcome here || Complete, 3/3, post canon, M rated || PTSD depictions, mild smut, Farmer Lance (gets better), family bonding, team bonding, Near-death experiences, feelings realization, Pining Keith, Healing Lance (altean marks and canon compliant, I’m sorry if it’s not your jam).

An unexpected tragedy that occurs during his work hits Keith harder than expected, and his fellow Blades decide it’s time for their leader to go back home. But... what is “home” exactly? Is it a what, or is it a who?

I’m particularly proud of the last one, just so you know lol. I’d also like to recommend these two for other ships:

Because summer will come || Shatt, one-shot, Modern AU || Writer!Shiro x Editor!Matt.

Matthew Holt is a young and enthusiastic editor for Altea Publishing House, a renowned editorial company. Being assigned to his favorite writer ever, Matt is delighted to finally meet the idol he imagines as an old, kind gentleman… but Mr. Kuron, A.K.A. Takashi Shirogane, is not what he expected at all, and his wish to make him write a bestseller at any cost could be the biggest challenge of his career... and also his personal life.

Two of Cups (Say You’ll Be Back) || Romellura, one-shot, Modern AU || Psychic!Allura x Normal Pining Lesbian! Romelle (lol)

Romelle had a friend at school who had a very special ability: she could see the future and warn people about future events. However, their friendship ended abruptly when Allura suddenly disappeared from her life, giving her her first heartbreak. But a decade later, a certain tarotist appears in town, and Romelle’s life may take a strange turn...

If you check any of these, I really hope you enjoy them! I still write for klance so if you have prompts there’s a chance I’ll take it if I have enough time :D

[robynmarkius]

Language Differences

So I have a bit of a long ramble, which involves Spoilers for the end of 5.3; obviously. Some of it’s already out there as I replied on mobile while half asleep, but it led to talking to the lovely @shiro-from-cafeberry​ about the German text. (Once again, thank you so much! I enjoy talking to you! :D <3 I have discovered I have even more questions for you to help with. lol) I then bothered my friend and co-writer @xehniscreations​ about French and she said it’d be a good practice to shake off the rust. (She ended up translating the whole ending scene for practice! <33 lol )

This all started because I am married to a man who has a degree in Linguistics and a simple questioning of one line/part led to hours of jokes and discussions. Which then turned into me putting my game client into two languages that I don’t speak a word of just to see what a character said... XD And! And! Learning a few other things along the way. I’ve been having so much fun with this and I hope you all can too. Plopping a cut here so as not to completely destroy anyone still trying to avoid Spoilers... or those who want to prepare some tissues. lol

I have cried a lot in the process of this entire Translation, and keep crying. lol As long as this post/translator ramble got, I made sure to post the ‘screenshot comic’, “Remnant” [as its own post] for the sake of focus. That was the scene that started this trip down the rabbit hole, after all. xD

After three days of editing this post, I decided to split it, so that this was just the ending scene. There’s flashbacks I also covered, but this was getting extremely long and I realize that I had not asked Shiro about the first flashback at all! So I still have things to finish and more to talk about before I have more.

For now, though, let’s talk!

Part One: Elidibus’ Explanation

The lines in question came from when Elidibus picked up the crystals, then told us he heard the voices of despair/cries and lamentations of his friends. After which there’s a slightly awkward explanation about how there were lots of opinions and thoughts about the world/star, which led to Elidibus pulling himself free of Zodiark in order to help his friends. It bothered Hubs because it felt kinda “clunky”; he explained:

“I think it’s because of a general norm of Japanese society we hear so much about. That it’s important to have a consensus and not to stir up trouble or stick out too much; which is how that part kind of reads. Your direct Translation is fine. I just feel like the localization team just kinda gave up when they wrote the English version. They could have give a little more context on it when they wrote it. Instead, what happens is, it feels out of place and awkward where it is. It also doesn’t give the context of when Elidibus freed himself from Zodiark. Is there any context that says that wasn’t when Hydaelyn shattered the star into the reflections or Shards?”

Putting aside his question about when Elidibus actually separated from Zodiark for now; as that’s a whole ‘nother discussion that’s rather interesting; I finally understood what he meant by my Translation felt clunky. It was accurate to a “direct translation” versus a “localization”. I re-translated the whole part just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, and made sure that the final lines I wrote in English still made sense. lol

First, I wanted to note the differences in terms; in case I slip when putting this together. ^^; The literal translation of 「十四人委員会」 would be "Fourteen-person Committee"; but in the context of FF14, (at least in English,) we call it the "Convocation of Fourteen", so I try to stick with that for final translations. What makes anything with the Ancients more difficult, is that they're not speaking a language that we can immediately understand, but rather making sounds that our Echo/超える力/l'Écho/Kraft des Transzendierens interprets into words we/the WoL/WoD can understand. The downside is lack of clarification for actual translation if you don't fluently read or speak another language. lol

For example, when Elidibus speaks, we hear the words spoken, so if there's a kanji that's said more than one way, I can hear which definition is correct by listening to the sentence. But the Ancients' "woop woop wop wah wahp woo" is harder to interpret... but, at least it's the same in every language, right? XD For German, they have “The Convent”, and French has “The Council of Fourteen”.

Second, in English, we called him “The Emissary”, which is another term for “Mediator; Arbitrator; Go-Between” which is the definition of the term 調停者 [shouteisha] , his Japanese title. When translating from German, Shiro used the term “The Advocate”. His French title is “le Médiateur” His role seems to be the same, at least, he settled disputes, found the facts, kept things in check, and generally maintained balance. That was the seat of Elidibus; which is necessary to understand why he said what he said about being needed. (Those titles come from the first flashback as well as the second one; which I’ll get to in the next post. <3 )

The English lines that started this conversation are: “Divided -- over the fate of the star. A rare occurrence, always fleeting. But not this time. Not this time... Reconciliation. Elidibus. I was needed. I withdrew myself from Zodiark. For them...”

Japanese: 世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

Final Translation: (after edits and all this discussion) "A great many opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone in the Convocation was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.

That being the case, I could not go help them in my role as Emissary. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I pulled myself from Zodiark.”

In French, from Xehnis: "Le Concile avait perdu sa cohésion...Face à l’anéantissement, les avis divergeaient sur la marche à suivre pour sauver notre planéte…

Ça ne leur ressemblait pas...Plus que jamais, ils avaient besoin d’Elidibus...Ils avaient besoin de moi...Alors, je me suis détaché de Zordiarche pour voler à leur secours…”

Her final translation: “The Council had lost its cohesion...In the face of annihilation, opinions differed on the way to save our planet…

It does not resemble them...more than ever, they needed Elidibus...they needed me....so, I detached from Zordiark to fly to their aid…”

The German lines, from Cafe Berry’s Shiro, along with the explanations: "Die Zukunft der Welt hing in der Schwebe und Chaos machte sich breit. Die Ascians waren zutiefst gespalten. Der Konvent uneins..."

Here, they are talking about how the Ascians, and most importantly, the convent is divided. How the future of the world was not clear and with that chaos spread.

"Elidibus, der Fürsprecher, musste etwas tun. Ich musste etwas tun. Und so spaltete ich mich wieder von Zodiark ab ..."

Here, Elidibus says that Elidibus, as the Emissary, had to do something. HE had to do something. So he split off from Zodiark.

Their translation they gave me then, was: "The future of the world hung in the balance and chaos spread. The Ascians were deeply divided. The convent divided ...

Elidibus, the advocate, had to do something. I had to do something. And so I split off from Zodiark again ... "

This was the part that my husband had called into question; with my original translation to:

"Many opinions and thoughts came forth, regarding the fate of our world.... The Convocation was worried, as such a thing was unusual."

世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

The literal translation of it all, would be: "The world's future/fate concerning/regarding, a great many/a lot (of) comments were brought up/expressed......

such thing(s) are/is curious/rare/unusual because/since, committee of everyone("Everyone on the Committee") (was/were actively being) troubled/worried.”

There was also the lines that followed, which were also rough to word in English, so the whole section had felt awkward.

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

“if that's the case, Elidibus (from) assistance (as/in the role of) to go/to do (could not),

so/appearing that/seeming that considered/believed/reckoned/judged/decided/desired, Zodiark (from) spilled over/scattered from (n'da - 'no desu' / 'no da' used to add emphasis)"

I had tried: "I decided that they needed Elidibus, but as I was I couldn't help them, so I pulled myself away from Zodiark.

Which was another way to put the idea of: "That being the case, Elidibus could not go rescue/help, I believed, then spilled and fell over/scattered from Zodiark."

It ended up: "A great many thoughts and opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone on the Committee was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.If that was the case, I could not give them assistance in the role of Arbitrator. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I fell/scattered from Zodiark."

In the end, for this part, it really helped to learn what was said in French and German, because it helped solidify more what was trying to be said, and that there probably is at least a little societal influence in the Japanese text. If it hadn’t been for Xehnis and Shiro’s assistance, I probably wouldn’t have landed on something that felt comfortable enough in English. <3

They all feel different, but have the same general idea: that even after Zodiark was summoned; and Elidibus became his Heart; things hadn’t been fixed. Things continued to grow worse, and they began to fight, and have conflict. As Arbitrator/Emissary/Advocate/Mediator, Elidibus’ job was to maintain balance, and settle disputes, but he could no longer do the job of his seat as the Heart of Zodiark, and it seemed to be destroying the Convocation; making things worse; so he yanked himself out of a Primal to go tell everyone to SIMMER DOWN, NOW.

Sidenote/Side Question here... I wonder what happened with Venat and Hydaelyn...? Perhaps we’ll get clarification in the future, as the only person who’s become/been anything like Elidibus has been Minfilia as the ‘Words of the Mother’, then sent off as an “Emissary” of sorts to the First. lol

This all led to wondering about the last line; as it was clearly different in the Japanese Audio than the English Text. I do want to state that I think what they did in English worked just as well for the emotional gut punch intended from Elidibus’ last words; but it’s very different. It did lead to looking at the flashback in Anemnesis Anyder where we heard the line about the rain, which will be in the next post.

English: “The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.”

Japanese: 私が最後に残ったって……仕方ないじゃないか……。 Translation: “There’s nothing for it then, is there? I’m the last one left...”

French: Je devais partir en dernier... Comment aurais-je pu abandonner mes amis, esseulés en ce bas monde? Translation: “I had to leave last...how could I abandon (forsake) my friends, lonely in this lowly world?”

German: Es ist vorbei ... Alles verloren ... Ich bin der Letzte ... Translation: "It is over. Everything lost... I am the last..."

Japanese can also be read as “I’m the last one left... I guess it can’t be helped, huh?” but even in context, it didn’t flow quite as well as I’d like.. but that doesn’t take away from the crying, does it... ; A; I got the term “Remnant” from Japanese, where “watashi ga saigo ni nokotta tte” would literally translate to “I’m the final remnant”/”I’m the last leftover”, which I did word as “I’m the last one remaining/left.” (It is also 'Sumo term, cried by the referee to indicate that a rikishi is still in the ring’, but that didn’t quite feel right here, however, you can take the sumo joke if you’d like. <3)

I’m going to repeat that I think referring back to the line he was told back when he’d gotten the title of Elidibus wasn’t bad, and it did still work very well to convey that lost, lonely, longing he was left with as a remnant; what little was left of him, lamented the loss of his beloved people; people that he’d just wanted to save. This is evidenced in French and German; where he states that he’s all that’s left, everything is lost, it is over... that he had to go last, so he wouldn’t abandon his friends.

I appreciate that we gave Elidibus all the constellation stones, which, in a way, let him finally be with all of his friends once more. All the stones, except for ours; we kept that, because Hades made it for us. He made it for us to remember, so that the story of the Ancients wouldn’t be forgotten; the ‘truth’ he made sure he told us when we asked about the past.

At least, that’s what I choose to believe for now.

[Next Post >>]

[shiro-0197]

aw shiro, my love, don't worry about it!! i only hope you're okay and safe :d please only reply when you're free, and don't feel bad about it!! >:(

my day yesterday was okay, i've just been relaxing, and studying occasionally. went out to explore a nearby town too, it's so pretty there. and much colder (since it's a highlands) of course!! Today was great too. I bought doughnuts (they're amazing?? I love doughnuts), and I had instant ramen, but it was SO spicy I nearly died. (Three bottles of water later, because someone finished all the milk in the household *cough* me *cough*) and I'm still just reeling. Sucks having such low spice tolerance HAHA. I'm listening to some old school hip-hop rn, while typing this out :D how were your two days?

here are some i'll be using to teach english :d and that would honestly be much appreciated, he's getting on my last nerve rn. (I included the first few, what do you think?)

thats such a priceless feeling i so totally agree. you're so precious 🥺🥺 i'm sure they're prouder thank you imagine. you're so dedicated!! i'm sure all that extra research you've done will definitely pay off. it's good that you know what the job is roughly like, so you'll be really prepared when you finally do start it. you know that one scene, in the 2nd season of the great pretender? when the chinese mafia boss emphasizes the importance of a translator in literally everything? (like that book award example) i may be getting the thing muddled up, but i found that so cool. like yeah, a book or speech could be absolutely beautiful, but if everyone can't enjoy it due to it being a different language, it would be such a shame. i just find translators really important. sorry, i'm really dorky haha 🥺🥺

awww but i think your personality type is wonderful. a lot of my favourite characters are intj (they're all so precious istg grrrr) yes!! i was in a tooru brainrot yesterday too 😭😭😭 (saw a bunch of couples on my walk, and I was like "if only Tooru was real grrrr") and yes?? there'd be so much to learn from each and every one of them. dedication from hinata, savage lines from tsukki, kindness from yams/yachi, how to be a dork 101 from atsumu. aaaah 😭😭i'm sorry they're all so wonderful.

No pftttt I totally feel you. I saw some people without masks today and I was like "bro wtf" and just really loudly said "I sure hope everyone starts following the rules so the cases don't increase" because I'm a lil bitch like that xD

awww okay!! I'll definitely keep that in mind. Mayo makes everything better, tbh >.< aww that's understandable! I don't have specific preferences but hearing the phrase "soggy cheese" makes me want to cry somewhere :( I don't like nuts in chocolate. I'm very passionate about that? XD ikr??

I'm surprised too, I usually never pass on murder, but I guess you're just special like that 👉👈 sir I'd get married to you as many times as you'd like 😼 oops sorry for being cheesy, but—you like cheese ;)

U

I won't ask why, don't worry. Since I kinda feel the same about Malaysia tbh. It's a love hate relationship, I think HAHA but yeah 😣😣 i don't look up to US at all, and it sucks because people generally do. And I'm just like ;-; why (no offense to Americans tho lol)

is that even legal omg they're so chaotic?? XD how cute tho. Angel does stuff like that all the time too, but I'd never know that when I first met her (she has the most perfect exterior, and then when you get to know her; she's the biggest dork) Schools opening on the 20th, I can't wait to see her then :] (I can, however, wait for the exams which are scheduled for the 25th ugh)

peanut butter is indeed yellow, not up for discussion hehe :) here's my favourite hues!! I love gentle, soft hues like these (pastels) , for yellow; I don't have a favourite. they're all wonderful

ahhh no that's so precious of you!! :)) I'm smiling rn.

yeah skdhskdjsk I'M JUST SO GRRR. Whenever someone goes "hey Ari can you ______" and we both respond?? The tension?? In the air?? Bro skdjskks. 😔🤚 You share a name with one of the most precious characters too tho!!;

This is Shiro from Voltron hehe. I love him so much, just like I love you (tho I'm sure we both know I love you more <3)

I share a name with a book character. His name is Aristotle Mendoza, but his crush-turned-boyfriend calls him "Ari" (which has been my nickname since I was 12). Reading it for the first time was the BEST feeling ever. It's also my favourite book, "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe".

—Ari :D (no pfttt I love the tag so much. I have my own tag, that's like the best thing ever 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺)

Heyyy I'm so sorry for answering so late!! I know you said not to apologize but..... well hmm no excuse I just feel like apologizing, but either way thank you for your patience!!♡ This is the third time I'm rewriting this, and this time I'm doing this in my notes because fuck it😔

Im glad to hear that!! Highlands are always so pretty. Wish we had those here, but it's only steppe here:( Boring~ ooh, donuts!!! They're really good. I havent much, but I tried them like 3 times and they're so good. I really hope I will get to eat more<3 also WHAT'S THOSE NOODLES' NAME I WANNA KNOW- Are you feeling okay now, though? XD

My days were nice!!! Felt as if I had been hiding three bodies, but I've been feeling better lately. We had online school yesterday so I'm excused from the errands for the half of the day, thankfully. But your messages make me very happy. Though I dont always feel like writing a response (or I get stressed because it doenst save) so very sorry for that😔

Ohh those look so pretty!! I'd totally join to just look at them. The colors are so nice🥺 it looks like one of our olympiad prep slides, though better. I dont have the screenshots sadly😩 Either way I really love the little details like the squiggly thingies or the Ж .... they seem unnecessary but the energy changes a lot without them hehe

I really hope they will be🥺 that'd mean a lot to me. And I'm also really hopeful itll work out. I really don't wanna disappoint my family, which is literally just one person. The less people there are, the more it hurts, you know?

Yeah, that scene meant so much to me!! I dknt remember much, but I was very happy they said something like that, because I've been told being a translator wont work out for me. Now look at me, I'm about to tell them to fuck themselves<3 I was also so surprised to see Laurent know that many languages ..... I aspire to be like him😩 And honestly, I havent though so deep of that but you opened my eyes and now I'm about to float off into the next universe😭 dont apologize though, its very cute!!!♥︎♥︎

Heheh, I guess you're right.. every single anime INTJ is a silent sexy mastermind and I love them . ... YEAH every single time I see a passing couple i cry because I dont have anyone 😡💔 and sometimes when I see people doing something amusing (which includes people failing cuz I'm evil) I just imagine one of the characters doing that and I smile all the way xD Honestly, I'd sell my father on black market for a single day with one of them:( though that may sound like a really low price because his cigarette filled lungs wouldnt cost a lot... I sound like my 7th grade self again I'm so sorry

BAHQHHANEJWJD I HOPE THEY WERE EMBARRASED. I HOPE THEY FELT AWKWARD AND OTHER PEOPLE DID TOO, they deserve it. Like, learn your lesson bitch, it's been a year!

Yeah!!! I love mayo, not to the point where I would gulp it down from the package, but it does make dishes taste good. Same, soggy cheese on itself sounds like a dish served in the ninth circle of hell. You should try nuts in honey!! Like, just straight up dip them in honey. Sounds weird, and it doesnt always taste NEJFJKSKF (depends on the honey)but I think it's worth trying xD Walnuts are the best with honey I think

That was so funny ... TOO FUNNY, I LAUGHED FOR LIKE . 3MINUTES STRAIGHT and I do not laugh when I'm tired. You really are special 😭😭😭😭 cheesy ... HAHRNFJJSF

I'm so sorry for being a bully like that but it's so funny how you left a single U there . Its so mysterious, was it in purpose? Or were you lost in the excitement if messaging me?

I was one of those people, honestly 😭 but mostly because I wasnt aware of its political condition, I guess. Maybe theres more than just politics that's bad about US, but honestly, it has more opportunities than this hellfire. Though now I'm more into Norway and Japan. Really wanna travel there :(

Heheh, yeah, we never really show off to strangers at first. I dont know what exactly I mean by we, but you get my point ♡ Good luck though!! I hope it goes well for you<3

Oh they looks so pretty!! They're really wonderful. Like bubblegum and cotton candy and literally anything sweet... it's so cute !!! And I totally agree, there isnt a bad yellow.

HAHAH, honestly, that reminds me of how there were 4 people with the same name in my class, and whenever the teacher did the attendance thing, they would all stand up. Teachers usually dont say the last names, so we always gotta ask which person they mean if theres more than one person with that name, so yeah.. That happened on accident at first, but then they just did it for trolling xD

OH MY GOD HES SO PRETTY? HES SO PRECIOUS?? HUHHH??? I gotta thank Kuro for this wonderful opportunity of sharing a name with someone like .... him🥺

Oh that's so cool!! Also, he has a boyfriend ... I really need to start reading xD it's so cute though! It sounds like such a good book, I'm glad you share a name with him, hehe!!

I also share my real name with one of the characters in a kids' show, and its SO ugly, I'm in pain. Every time my friends see one of those on TV they go

Which is a pain in the ass, it's so embarrassing...........

Awh, okay!! I'm glad you love it, cuz I do too. Because it's your name.... cuz I love u. That was so lame PLEASEJWJDJSJF I HOPE YOUR DAY WAS GREAT !!! LOVE YOU

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Eternal eclipse - Klance Month Week 4

I have no idea where I was going with this but it happened, so yeah. I do wanna redo week 2 of @monthlyklance at some point, but I’ve got a mer bang to finish, so don’t be too surprised if the last prompt for this week is late. Enjoy I guess. Eclipse/Victory

“I’m the sun and your the moon.”

“What does that even mean?”

“We’re apart, but an eclipse is a moment worth watching.”

Keith burst into laughter. “That made no sense.”

“Yes it does!”

“No it doesn’t.”

Crappy webcams couldn’t distort the pout on Lance’s lips.

“What I mean is when they do get to pass each other, it’s one of the world greatest wonders and us being reunited would be the airport’s greatest wonder. Or at least, me getting to see you would be mine.”

While the analogy made no sense what so ever, knowing that he was Lance’s always put a smile on his face. Even when they were miles apart.

He and Lance met at a convention and had a slight competition over who had the better mecha lion cosplay from their shared favourite show, Space Warriors. Keith wouldn’t admit it then, but Lance had won with his Blue Lion cosplay, seeing as the people he came with were engineers and had made the moving pieces of their costumes. Lance himself, despite being a professional stage manager, was able to create the light up weapons they used. Keith made his Red Lion cosplay with hard work and long nights but he was willing to wave the white flag, if Lance hadn’t been so smug about it. In the 3 days of the convention, they always seemed to bump into each other, competing over the smallest things, like who could get a better score in the game room or who could find the better deal on a plush in the dealer’s hall. Even though they spent a good amount of time arguing, Lance had given him his number and told him to call if he ever wanted to admit Lance was better.

Keith was mostly never planning but he was working on a cosplay and the top didn’t look right and he had no other friends who liked cosplay, so he texted Lance.

‘Ah, so you admit I am the better cosplayer. it’s fine, no need to send a voice memo saying so. By the way, the shirt is the wrong colour if that’s the character your going for. You can actually order to correct colour from Jo Anne’s if you want to make it yourself. Check H&M or Forever 21 for similar looking shirts in the correct colour.’

While he rolled his eyes at how utterly smug the guy sounded, he took his advice. It was easier to get the shirt and fix it up himself and it was actually surprising how close to the real thing he needed was. Their relationship continued in asking for advice on cosplays or line ups for conventions and then he happened to find Lance’s Instagram.

Keith kept his cosplays and personal life separate, but Lance combined everything. Pictures of his cat, pictures of the beach, pictures of his friends as they lounged around, somewhat professional pictures as Lance worked, even though Keith knew enough about theatre to know Lance should be completely in the dark in the booth. So, Keith started asking questions about his life, Lance asked about his and they started to become friends. Lance could still be as snooty about his cosplay skills as possible but he was always helpful when it came to offering advice. Somehow it took finding a small fandom they both liked to make them closer.

“Whoa, wait a second. You like Kirarin Revolution?”

“Yeah?” Keith had been playing his usual cosplay making focus playlist and the second opening had come on and Lance heard it over the phone.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone who likes that anime? Almost no one knows it! I’ve been trying to find someone to be my Hiroto to my Seiji for a cosplay. What convention are you going to next?”

“Um, Galaxy Con?”

“Prefect, text me your sizes. we’re doing a cosplay together.”

“Wait, my size?”

“How else am I suppose to make your cosplay?”

“Wait what?”

Lance would not be swayed and when he arrived at his hotel on badge pick up day, like a hound dog, Lance found him and put him in his cosplay to do finishing touches. He even styled his wig for him.

“Why don’t we do this more?” Lance asked as he fixed the feathered pieces for the coat.

“Because you live in LA and I live in Texas.”

Despite Lance claiming not a lot of people knew the anime, they had made quite a hit at the convention. He became good friends with Hunk and Pidge and got to see another side to Lance that wasn’t hidden in smugness. Lance was actually a pretty nice guy and once they had separated again, they still kept that closeness they gained during that convention. They had even started to stream animes together, texting each other on everything.

Even with the distance between and the fact that they didn’t always go to the same convention and see each other, they kept getting closer and closer. One day, they were video chatting and Lance had been falling asleep on himself. His cat had joined him and was asleep herself and looking at him with his face squished by his hand, his half awake eyes and how he was all cosied up, Keith couldn’t help thinking he looked really cute.

He might not of been one for relationships, but was he even considering doing a relationship when your significant other lived so far away. Ok, maybe not that far, but long distance was hard. There was a reason it had such a stigma around it, even if people claimed it could work out.

Keith broached the subject and while ecstatic that Lance felt the same, he’d been as worried as Lance was. They were such good friends, what if this relationship didn’t work?

It took a lot of communication to make it work. Keith tended to keep things inside, including his nerves about how to act around Lance when they could meet at conventions. Lance was always nervous he’d be too clingy. There was a good moment where they stopped talking because not talking meant things couldn’t change or get worse. It was miserable and if it hadn’t been for Shiro – and Hunk on Lance’s side – it would of kept up. Once they talked everything through, it got better. It wasn’t like they’d go ages without seeing each other. Keith always saved up his vacation days at the Fire Station for conventions and he was always working so often anyway that the guys kept insisting he take more time off. Plus they loved teasing him about Lance, trying to sneak into the background of any video calls.

Lance would talk to Keith during shows that he knew the cues for like the back of his hand. He considered it worth getting in trouble for. he’d always count down to the next convention they’d meet at, somehow always knowing where he’d bump into Keith. they’d been doing it for a year now. There were long periods were they couldn’t  see each other at conventions, maybe due to flight issues or work and the distance, while manageable, did hurt. Keith didn’t know why he didn’t just take a random week off when the theatre Lance worked with was in the dark and just spend the week with him. Maybe the fear that without conventions, they’d fall apart. Not a healthy way to live, which was why he was sure Lance announced on this very chat he was coming to visit him. Which kinda lead to their discussion on eclipses. When Lance was in town, in between actually hanging out and not sticking to a convention schedule, he wanted to make a couples cosplay with him. they’d been bouncing back ideas, almost going with Zuko and Sokka from ATLA (even though Keith knew he was more into Zuko and Katara), when Keith went on a tangent about the BNHA manga.

“You know I rarely read manga half the time.” Lance complained.

“I think you’ll like this one. The artist made this little drawing moon Todoroki and Sun Izuku and tododeku shippers have been going insane. it’s a whole huge thing now. I mean, everyone already says things like ‘oh the moon and sun get to kiss each other during an eclipse’. I must of seen 1000 fan arts of those two getting their kiss.”

“Oh! We should do that! it’ll be like us!”

which then lead back into their current conversation.

“Lance, when I get to see you, it’s not going to be a one time thing to kiss you. If it’s up to me, I wouldn’t stop. We might not even get any cosplay work done because I’ll be too busy kissing you.”

“Ooh, eternal eclipse. Kinda like the final battle with the Dead Moon Circus.”

Keith furrowed his brow. “What?”

“Sailor Moon? My god Keith, we might not be doing any cosplay stuff if I have to school you on essential anime.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s not essential.”

“Keith, it’s changed the whole game. it’s essential.”

Keith could put up being school with ‘essential anime’, as long as he got Lance with it.

[kaito-yuki]

Shout Out Thank Yous!

Alrighty I can already tell that this is going to be a long ass post, so I’m just going to say general things here first. I will then address each mun under the Read More (there’s 20+ of you!), so search for your blog mentioned to find my message to you! 

This Fairy Tail OC blog is my 3rd most popular blog by follower count, just under my Vegeta (DBZ) blog which is popular because of the muse itself over the RPing. Kaito is the opposite, which is why I especially find it important to address and thank each and every mun who’s interacted with me through this blog. For actual posts made it is only second to my personal, which just affirms  that this blog has earned its popularity (and bronze medal) here in my opinion. 

I put in my all and beyond to this blog especially, how it’s navigated, organizing the threads and tags as much as I can so me (and you) can read back on things whenever we want, will use it as a template for my other muses/blogs too haha. Kaito (and my other OCs) have grown as characters thanks to the interactions here, especially when it comes to ships! I also have done the most mun/muse vs muse posts here (Shiro has his own tag FFS lmao), which I’m pleased that many of you are a fan of (the posts, not Shiro!) 

To all my followers, thank you for following and sticking with me, esp those from the beginning! To the other RP blogs I haven’t interacted with yet, I’d love to, especially you OCs! I want to also use this blog to advocate for other similar (OC) blogs, that they can also be great and relevant as canon ones with enough hard work!  Now onto the special thanks!

@crystaldragonslayer: Oh looks like the Queen Pixie has returned, the timing couldn’t have been better with your RP comeback! You are just one of the best RP partners out there, I am very grateful for the time and effort we combined together on our RPs/ships. Vivienne is just awesome and probably the main reason why Kaito is too, creating a OTP that deserves it’s own paragraph gdi!

+KaiVi: Kaito & Vivienne have a total of 69 threads by my count atm (I hope I miscounted lmao). I just love this OTP of ours to bits, it is a pleasure and honour working with you on them so far. I can’t wait to start exploring the next stage of their lives and beyond! You know what they say, ’First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes-”-mouth gets frozen by Kaito coz spoilers!- I’m so happy that KaVi has got at least a couple of fans too! Then there’s the AUs, and interactions with them with/and our other muses, so much to look forward to! It’s just really fun to just crossover this ship with others, with other muses ours and our RP partners! Highlights: Battle of Fairy Tail (Thread) | Song | Promo | Wedding (Art)

@starlightxveins​: I usually ship Kaito with Lucy romantically, I never would have thought they’d be the BrOTP too! Your Lucy is a delight and fun to interact with, crossing over the KaiVi, ShiroAqua, GraLu, JerZa and WendyCookies ships is just fabulous and I look forward to more of them (crack) [group] interactions lmao. Can’t wait to start on the other ships we discussed as well!

@celestial-weirdo-lucy: We may only have one thread on here, but I love it! Your Lucy is great, and it’s awesome I get to make a spin on KaiLu by having Kaito have a crush on her already lmao. Then there’s our other ships that I’m excited to develop too! Our KaiLu bodyguard AU is probably my favorite AUs which I look forward to sharing, I’m excited for our other  AUs too (like Gods and Bleach) and ships with our other muses, damn there’s lots to RP!

@celestial-keys-princess​: The Lucy that started it all, Ava you are first mun I approached in the FT RP community and became my guide to others. KaiLu is awesome and I thank you for going through plots and headcanons with me for them! Look forward to continuing their interactions when we do! 

I appreciate you also helping me expand Kaito’s Sabertooth verse with Minerva. Kaito’s ship verse with Tori is still the only one where it’s Shiro and the female teaming up against Kaito, which is so hilarious that I will keep it there lmao. Then there’s our other interactions/ships I’d be happy to get into again like Rukia/Aizen, Laxus/Tori, GraLu (with modern band AU) and Lucy/Jackal, who is atm growling at Lucy behind me because of and/or for her ear rubs lmao Highlights:  A Prayer in the Rain (Thread) | Song | KaiLu (Art/Promo)

@pitchblacksteel: Akira I just love your Gajeel, especially your ships with Lucy and Mira! I look forward to more interactions with him and muses on your multi (like Natsu and Erza!) Kaito still feels bad over the crap Shiro has dragged Gajeel (and Natsu) into lmao.

@poisonouslightslayer: Your Sting is the Sting me (and Kaito) think of whenever Sting is mentioned, you portray him with such depth, it’s really nice to read the posts I see from you! Our interactions also helped inspire me to add a Guild Master addon/verse for Kaito, would love to explore that too!

@itashiro-hitsuchiha​: Thank you for helping me expand Kaito’s Sabertooth and Kingdom Hearts verses, I look forward to continuing our threads with Harumi and Perix!

@dxvilishgrin: Our Kaiio/Mira ship started on Discord, so I’m happy we could also expand upon on it on Tumblr too! Also enjoyed the interactions with your other muses, canons and OCs alike!

@stellcrblossom: Rin I appreciate you and your OCs so much, you gave Kaito a [adoptive] daughter (Ember) and sister (Kamui), and pretty much helped extend his family and my OCs too. Also this helped me branch into going through the next generation of FT, got me working on my other ship’s children too which is appreciated! Can’t wait to RP as Issei (KaiVi’s son) when I’m done with his info! +SakuEm: Sakurai x Ember is one of my favourites and is awesome to see them upgraded to an OTP, and that we created a whole plot/saga/arc/war around Ember’s kidnapping. Can’t wait to continue that and crossover it with my other ships, it’s going to be awesome! Don’t get me started on our AUs, excited for them too! Highlights: Ember Fading (Thread) | Asterius Arc Promo & Graphic

@gureixfurubasuta: Your Gray is great, and I just love their brotherly (gay according to Shiro lmao) bond esp with their shared ties to Ul. Thank you for inspiring me to start my own Gray blog, even though it’s just so I don’t force anyone (like you) to RP Gray for Kaito, and look how that turned out haha. Your Gray (and Juvia) will always by my main for Kaito, and my Gray’s more angsty twin lmao. I’d be happy to interact more through our other muses too!

@sky-dragon-slayer-wendy: Your Wendy is so precious (and a rebel GDI lmao), I loved our thread together and would be happy to continue interactions when you’re free enough again! 

@broken-memories-and-silent-tears: Alice is great and I’m happy to crossover this with our Gralice ship, Kaito and Alice have a great sibling bond with my Gray (and Shiro) between them haha. I’d be happy to add Alice into my fan game as we discussed before way back too, esp now things are better on my end!

@imaginaryserver: Me and (my muses) miss you and your Mavis! Our Cards Against Humanity game is still a memorable time for me from way back, I’m still waiting for an artist to draw it!

@shrimps-variety-garden: I just adore your Levy and her ship with Kaito, the modern AU is especially interesting since it’s based on song lyrics haha. Looking forward to us RPing though to the endgame! Our ship also has helped me develop a more antagonistic version of my Gajeel which is awesome too.

@scythe-rps: Hiroshi is a better guy (and muse) thanks to his best friend Gyrain! it’s good that we can bring more focus onto the usually underappreciated Blue Pegasus! I look forward to when Lyon & Gyrain finally clear the air about their relationship lmao, and thanks for helping me develop Masaru more through their interactions! 

@sunaarashii: Thank you for interacting with Hiroshi, his ship with Cari is just precious with the thread we have currently, can’t wait to RP out what comes next!

@bunnysmultimuse: The thread with Sorano was fun, so I’d like to continue interactions (esp with the headcanons discussed) if you’re still up for it! That goes for Jellal with Meredy too!

@ultecr: Still have your post in my drafts, I know you said to take my time but even I know taking months is ridiculous lmao. I look forward to starting the Kaito/Ultear ship once I do reply, love your portrayal of Mavis too!

@herhorns:  I love seeing your Mira on my dash, especially her ships with Gajeel and Gray! Looking forward to interacting with Ravyn when we get to it, your art is awesome too!

@angelsoffiore: Welcome back man! Mizumi is a great OC and is why I approached you in the first place, so appreciate you still continuing our thread after so long. Hope to interact more with Mizumi, your other OCs, and your Laxus too!

[afinepricklypear]

Compare and Contrast: K Project vs. Bungou Stray Dogs - Part 3

**Disclaimer: I love both K Project and Bungou Stray Dogs. I highly recommend watching both of them. This series of Compare and Contrast posts I’m doing is merely for my own sake, to get these thoughts out of my head. If you are a fan of one show and not the other, please don’t read, or if you do, save your bashing comments for like-minded antis elsewhere. If you have not seen both, there are a lot of Spoilers ahead, please don’t read. I am heavily critical of both shows, so if you are someone who cannot handle negative things being said (I try not to outright bash and just provide reasonable evidence from the material to back my stances) about your favorite fandom or characters please don’t read. Thank you! ***

Read Part 1, Part 2

Characters

Both Bungo Stray Dogs and K feature ensemble casts, with large numbers of characters. That being said, the shows have vastly different approaches for how they handle those characters and those approaches impact the way they come across for the viewer.

One of the things that K does a hell of a lot better than BSD, is fleshing out and managing of its characters. This may in part be due to the fact, K doesn’t attempt to give all of its characters a starring space in the story. It’s comfortable letting some characters fall into the background, allocating them to the role of side characters. There are only a few members of each of our main clans (Silver, Red, Blue, and later, Green) that are given attention and the rest of the clansmen (Red and Blue are the only clans shown to have notable clans members who regularly show up and are given names and little else outside of our mains) fall to the background. For some people, this may be frustrating, as we don’t learn a whole lot about the rest of Scepter 4 or HOMRA in the anime, but narratively, I’m comfortable with it because I’m not asked by the show to care about those characters, and the characters that I’m meant to care about are given adequate screen time to develop them into someone who’s story I am invested in. That being said, K does have moments that utterly flop. Scepter 4, for me, beyond Fushimi, is an absolute failure in presenting itself as a likeable or, even, relatable organization of individuals (Full disclosure, I hate Munakata, and while Awashima has potential, she’s treated by the series as little more than a miniskirt and bad boob job obsessed with Munakata). They seem to be there only to be obnoxious. I get the sense they were originally intended to be viewed as villains, but they became so popular following the first season, that the creators tried to treat them more as heroes in the movie and second season. However, it was painfully obvious in the final episode of K: Seven Stories – Nameless Circle, as the surviving members of the Green, Red, Silver, and good Colorless clan members (Yukari and Kuroh) enjoyed their final farewells with their fallen clansmen (I dare you not to cry when Mikoto and Totsuka pour Kusanagi a glass and Yata takes Anna’s hand in the background), that Scepter 4 staring up at Munakata’s lost Sword of Damocles was the least humanized of the Clans. They lost nothing, they felt nothing, their presence in Nameless Circle was nearly pointless beyond fan service. Likewise, K heavily drops the ball in Season 1 with its primary antagonist, the Evil Colorless King, who’s back history, motivations, and even his (her?) name remain a mystery to date.

BSD starts out with an already large cast, and while Atsushi and Dazai might arguably be the “main” characters of the show, starring roles in various arcs and episodes are given to the other characters, as well. Most of those episodes, however, can easily be relegated to the “filler” pile. On top of this, BSD continually introduces increasing numbers of characters, it also likes to bump characters up from side character to more main character type roles, which only serves to take limited screen time from the initial cast of characters and ultimately fails to give itself enough space to flesh out the cast. Time constraints, of course, doesn’t always mean a character can’t be adequately developed (see the first ten minutes of Pixar’s Up for how it’s done right), but possibly, because of this limitation, BSD has a tendency to fall back on telling instead of showing. It also feels like many of its characters were not fully developed in the creator’s minds (this appears to have been confirmed in several interviews with the creators) when they started their story, so that when those backgrounds are revealed, especially in those far too often instances where characters that have interacted in past episodes and given no indication of a history between them are newly revealed to have a connections to one another. It feels tacked on and last minute, and consistency of characterizations is lost. As previously discussed in a past post for this Review Series, this may also be due to the fact that K was envisioned as a self-contained story, and BSD seems to have been developed as an ongoing serial without a predetermined ending.

For these next several posts, I want to do more individualized character analyses, but to keep things simple, I will only focus on the characters of K that are given focus in the story and I’ll try to reference only its anime (just to be fair, because I’ve read all of K’s extra materials, and have not for BSD because I lack access in my country). Likewise, I’m only going to talk about BSD’s characters from the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, as well as, a few key villains like Shibusawa, Fitzgerald, and Fyodor. Once again, I will attempt to keep to only what’s been revealed in the anime.

A reasonable starting point on character analysis for these two shows would be our sort-of main protagonists. Although, BSD and K are both ensemble anime, they do each feature a character that may ostensibly be considered the “main” character, in the sense that they kick off our main events and are positioned as integral to all subsequent storylines. For BSD, that character is Nakajima Atsushi, and for K, that character is Yashiro “Shiro” Isana. Interestingly (maybe), these characters share a similar aesthetic. Both are young males, with white hair and light-colored eyes, they are also both small, waif-like, bishounen that might be better suited to a shojo or even yaoi anime, rather than leads on a seinen series.

At the start of both series, Atsushi and Shiro, respectively, find themselves thrust into a world of supernatural powered people in which they are targeted for reasons to be revealed throughout the story. The greatest similarity between these two, however, is that they are both weak characters. Neither one proves interesting enough to shoulder the responsibilities as main character of the show. You would be hard pressed in either fandom to find someone who would name Atsushi or Shiro as their favorite character. I’m not saying these fans don’t exist, because they do, they are just few and far between.

Shiro spends the first half of the first season trying to avoid being killed by the Red Clan, who believes he killed their Clansman, Tatara Totsuka, at the same time, he is trying to convince his reluctant ally and potential executioner, Kuroh, that he isn’t the Evil Colorless King responsible for Totsuka’s death. Atsushi’s story, on the other hand, begins with him finding out he’s an ability user that shapeshifts into a white tiger, and, subsequently, being rescued and recruited into the Armed Detective Agency by Dazai. Then the Port Mafia begins hunting him because a bounty has been placed on his head, conveniently only after he’s learned that he is the white tiger that he believed had been hunting him his entire life, he’s joined the ADA, and Dazai has the chance to warn him with a picture of Akutagawa “beware of this bad boy” mere hours before Akutagawa attacks him.

The initial drawback with both of these characters is that they are merely victims of the plot and not helping to drive the plot forward in anyway. Shiro only becomes invested in determining why there’s video footage of him murdering Totsuka because Kuroh demands he provide evidence that he’s not the Evil Colorless King or he’ll face justice at the end of Kuroh’s blade. When Atsushi learns about the bounty on his head that Port Mafia is pursuing, rather than show interest in why anyone would want to capture him (alive, to boot), he “nobly” decides to run away, in his naivete believing that it would spare the ADA war with Port Mafia.

Throughout the K story, we do see real change in Shiro’s investment in his own mystery when it’s revealed that his memories, and the memories his classmates have of him, are not real, but fabricated and imposed upon him and those in close proximity by the cat girl that’s obsessed with him, Neko, AKA Official Provider of Fanservice #1.  This provides a further explanation for why he’s so lackluster about pursuing the truth, she’s been bending his reality and his perception of it from the start. It isn’t until her ability and how she’s been using it is revealed, and she runs off in humiliation and panic, that Shiro begins to actively pursue the truth. Even before this, however, Shiro is shown to be a wily and clever character who is quite self-sufficient. In his first meeting with Kuroh, he’s able to escape Kuroh’s justice by lying and manipulating the swordsman. He later throws off the Red Clansmen pursuing him by appearing just as Kuroh is facing off against a very annoyed Yata and calling out to Kuroh as though they are allies. This falls in line nicely with the big reveal of Shiro’s true identity as the Silver King, Adolf K. Weissman. In flashbacks to an unnamed great war (FYI, people speculate this was WWII, which, fun fact, would make Adolf a Nazi, but because this story takes place in an alternate history of the world, it’s equally possible Nazis never existed), we see that Adolf was originally researching the Dresden Slate, a mysterious artifact capable of granting people mysterious powers.

As Adolf, Shiro is shown to be a light-hearted, goofy man with no place in war or battle (consistent with what we’ve already seen in the show). Nothing of his character feels last minute retconned, and no previously unheard of connections are revealed to other existing characters in the show that haven’t been heavily hinted at or already explained. He believes that his research will be helpful in granting people their wishes throughout the world, yet when his sister is killed during an air raid, he runs away, leaving his research and the Slate with his friend, a Japanese military officer who becomes the Gold King and curator of the artifact. This turn of events does grant Shiro greater weight as a main character, and an importance in the plot that doesn’t feel contrived or heavy handed. Hints exist early on that Shiro is not who he thinks he is, starting with his high school classmate, Kukuri noting in introductory scene that she feels like he’ll disappear if she takes her eyes off of him. After all, one of the things that K is often praised for is its mastery of foreshadowing, this comes from having a very clear idea of the entire story its creators hoped to tell and a firm grasp of the connections between all of its characters.

That said, Shiro still remains throughout the story as relatively uninteresting, serving more as a plot device rather than a character. After the Blue Clan, the Silver Clan is the second least relatable and their scenes in Nameless Circle also remain a bit ‘meh’ as the “losses” the Silver Clan experienced throughout the anime were far removed from the actual plot. They didn’t resonate. We see, in Nameless Circle, Adolf’s sister and the younger version of his lost friend, the Gold King, enjoying breakfast with the Silver Clan every morning on repeat. Yet, Adolf’s sister was never developed beyond “here’s a tragic thing that happened in Adolf’s past”, so it’s hard to really feel her loss. She isn’t a person but a plot device, used to reveal more of Adolf/Shiro’s character rather than having anything of her own. As for the Gold King, he suffers the same fate as Adolf’s sister, but also, he lived a long life, and died of old age, so his death isn’t any kind of tragedy in the same sense as Mikoto, Totsuka, or Nagare’s deaths. There’s certainly a melancholy to these scenes, Adolf misses his friends, but it doesn’t pull at the heart strings, quite the way the Red and Green Clans losses do.

The real reason that Atsushi is being pursued at the start of the manga is yet to be resolved. We’re given a loose explanation, a foreign organization known as the Guild put the bounty on his head because allegedly his ability is the key to finding some powerful book that can manipulate reality. When the main antagonist of the Guild, Fitzerald, is defeated, this explanation and Atsushi’s importance becomes all but forgotten in subsequent arcs featuring new villain, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Atsushi himself can best be described as whiny and severely underdeveloped. He continues to be a victim of the plot just dragging him along, but worse, he quickly becomes one note with the constant flashback to his Orphanage’s director telling him he’s useless and doesn’t belong anywhere. There are entire scenes dedicated to this refrain causing him to full-scale breakdown into bouts of self-doubt. All I can say is he was eighteen when he was “kicked out” of the orphanage, he had zero work experience, and when we find him at the start of the story, he’s only been on his own a couple weeks and is already considering turning to assault and thievery to survive. Considering that Dazai and Chuuya were sixteen when they became Executives in the Port Mafia, Kunikida is only twenty-two and has already had a successful career as a teacher before becoming a detective with the ADA, Kenji is fourteen when we find him at the ADA and a former hard-working farmhand, Kyouka is a capable fourteen year old assassin before joining the ADA, Lucy is eighteen and comes from a similar abusive background and is already busting her ass to work for the Guild and then the ADA’s favorite Coffee Shop (jobs she got herself, thank you very much, for spending anytime looking for her like you promised, Atsushi, you jerk), and so on…I’m inclined to side with the orphanage director: Atsushi is useless. It’s a good thing they kicked him out, or he’d probably still be a bum surviving off social welfare the rest of his life.

I also can’t help but agree with Akutagawa, Atsushi has practically had everything handed to him and yet still manages to pull a pity party routine on the regular. It isn’t long after getting kicked out of the orphanage that he’s taken under Dazai’s wing and handed a job with the ADA. This wouldn’t be so terrible if he didn’t constantly squander it, and consistently prove that he doesn’t earn it. It’s hard to like him, especially when the author seems to be bending the story over backwards to give him some semblance of importance in the plot to the point it hurts the narrative. This is best exemplified in Dead Apple. Throughout the entire movie, we see every other character acting to bring the plot forward, meanwhile, Atsushi spends the entire time whining that they need to find Dazai, because Dazai will know what to do. Bitch, Dazai is busy trying to outsmart two super smart bad guys; he doesn’t have time to also prop you up on your own damn feet. It gets so bad that even Kyouka becomes fed up and leaves him. It really says something that the majority of comments for the movie on CrunchyRoll are complaining about how whiny Atsushi is throughout the movie.

While some people are quick to defend Atsushi by pointing to his abusive childhood to excuse his behavior, it is worth noting, he is not the only character that has an abusive past and he is far from being the character who has suffered the most abuse, and that’s including the odd growth on the side of Dead Apple’s plot that is the inexplicable, unnecessary, and might I add, ridiculous connection that was made between him and Shibusawa at the last minute that only raised more questions than answers and created huge plot holes. Atsushi’s travel companions in Dead Apple, Kyouka and Akutagawa, both have their own history of being abused. Just to underline Akutagawa’s complaint that Atsushi has everything and manages to forsake it all, Akutagawa was abused by Dazai, whereas, Atsushi is saved, fawned over, and praised by Dazai seemingly only for the sake of further tormenting Akutagawa. This continues to contribute to making Atsushi a weak character that I find difficult to really like all that much or see as having anything more than a forced relevance to the plot.

Atsushi does have redeemable moments in his interactions with Kyouka and Lucy. With the aforementioned Dead Apple aside, Atsushi is often at his best when he is with Kyouka. She sees him as her savior, and it reflects in the way that he treats her, being seen that way helps to boost him from pitiful status to someone that may actually have potential as a hero. As for Lucy, because she has a similar life history as Atsushi (abused orphan with matching burn marks), he can’t get away with the same woe is me lines that he throws at every one else. She’s got the same kind of past and manages to stand on her own two feet, forcing him to also rise up to meet her. Both of these girls have tragic histories, but seek to lift themselves up from those histories and stand their own ground, which serves to lift Atsushi as well, unlike with other characters that only patronize, validate, or outright feed into his insecurities leaving me playing on my phone hoping his scenes end quickly. More interactions between Atsushi and Kyouka, Atsushi and Lucy, or all three together would be a welcome addition in Season 4. These babies build each other up, and it’s beautiful to see.

At the end of the day, Shiro and Atsushi are prime examples of the “perfectly innocent protagonist whose only flaw is their own self-doubt” and exemplify why this type of a character is always, ultimately a failure.  They’re bright eyed, they’re kind, without internal debate they always make the right choice, everyone is drawn to them because they are light and goodness, I guess, and even when they are clearly the weakest in a fight, they always come out on top without working towards bettering themselves in anyway beyond putting in some old-fashioned good guy gumption. This is so painstakingly evident in Atsushi, who receives zero training upon joining the ADA, and is expected to battle (and is successful) against exceedingly powerful bad guys on the regular. Contrast this against Akutagawa, who we see underwent harsh training from the Port Mafia, yet still manages to always lose in his battles against the untrained Atsushi. Proving yet again, that you don’t need hard work to become the best, when you got the power of good on your side. Self-doubt exhibited by these types of characters never rings true, because we see them always get their way, everything turns out fine for them in the end, they never encounter lasting consequences for their choices (at one point in BSD, Akutagawa mocks Atsushi that everyone around him dies, but we have yet to see anyone he cares about die – the only person’s death that we see him have to deal with is his Orphanage Director that was coming to visit him with flowers and probably apologize for being a jerk, and his struggle there is with whether he’s allowed to still hate the guy or not, I mean, come on), and everyone around them that matters respects and dotes on them even before them being shown to truly do anything that should earn that respect and affection. I still don’t fully understand what compelled Kuroh to swear loyalty to Shiro, if I’m being perfectly honest, when Shiro is a lay-about, coward and liar, that ditches his clan in the end to soul search in his airship. Though, I will note, Shiro does demonstrate this character type a mite less than Atsushi. He’s not often shown to come out on top in battles, he doesn’t actually engage in any physical battle himself (his fight with Nagare at the end of Missing Kings, not withstanding, because he’s really just blocking that whole time waiting for Kuroh to show up and do the heavy lifting), he typically needs to rely on the strength and intelligence of others, and is more often than not shown running away. Also, Shiro is never really put into a position where he needs to make any hard, moral choices which has its own drawbacks for a main character in a show where a lot of hard, gray moral choices are being made around him.

I have seen it commented in defense of these characters’ weaknesses that the main character of a shonen/seinen story are always weak. This is not true, and I will point to one of my all-time favorite characters from any anime, as example: Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions of the anime). Ed is badass, he earns his name as Fullmetal, and he earns his title as the youngest State Alchemist. We see him earn it as we watch him and his brother, Alphonse’s journey to become stronger, yet he also makes mistakes. It is his own arrogance that kicks off the entire anime when, in the Elric brother’s attempt to bring their mother back to life using forbidden Alchemy, Ed loses his arm and then his leg to save his brother who has lost his entire body. Their journey to find the philosopher stone for Ed is entirely about restoring his brother, he doesn’t care about his own body and, in fact, views his missing limbs as his own deserved punishment for challenging God, and throughout we see how their moral failing in the past effects all of their choices going forward. We know why Ed makes the choices he does; it isn’t merely because he is the “perfectly innocent protagonist that exudes light and good”; it is because he has learned from his mistakes. His naivete is not shown as a benefit, but as something to overcome. Ed is always acting on his own motives, while the plot is being driven forward by other characters around him, he is not merely a victim of the plot or being dragged along by it, his own actions and goals also help to forward the story and eventually brings him in direct conflict with the big bad. He struggles under the weight of the choices he’s made, he bears the burden of those he couldn’t save, he doesn’t leave the heavy lifting of gray moral decisions to the other characters, he’s seen to struggle and even lose in the anime, and in those instances, we watch him work to better himself so that he can come back stronger. We know where his power comes from – he trained and studied for it; it was never handed to him. Throughout the anime he is shown to literally and figuratively grow and develop into a powerful hero that we can believe is capable of overcoming our main antagonist, Father, in the end, but not without losses and struggle. This is a protagonist done right. Compared against Ed, the failings of both Shiro and Atsushi is glaring.

That is all I have to say about those two. Next up will be the Black Dog of the Silver Clan versus the Black Dog of Port Mafia.

[justheretobreakthings]

Remember Me - Chapter 19

(First Chapter) (Previous Chapter) (Next Chapter)

Word Count: 4,353 (Total Word Count: 75,456) Read on AO3

Story Summary:

It was strange enough for the paladins of Voltron to have found another human this far from home, locked in a Galra prison. But it was stranger still when this human insisted that he knew them, and even that he was the former red paladin of Voltron.

That couldn’t possibly be true, could it? After all, if this Keith was actually a part of the Voltron team, then why does nobody remember him?

Chapter Preview:

Lance laughed. “So, have you just been spying on all of us this whole dinner?”

“No,” Shiro said. “I’ve been people-watching. Much more socially acceptable.”

“Uh-huh.”

Shiro shrugged. “What can I say. Feel like it’s kinda my job to keep an eye on the lot of you. Someone has to make sure you kids keep yourselves out of trouble.” He suddenly frowned, squinting across the room. “Speaking of which…”

Lance followed his gaze and spotted Keith walking alongside one of the serving tables. Or, staggering, more like. He was moving slowly, hands on the edge of the table, taking awkward, lurching steps. “Oh God,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “You know, I had a feeling Mullet wasn’t the sort of guy who could hold his liquor.”

“How are you liking the nunvill, Number Three?”

Lance spun around to face Coran at the sound of his voice, then his eyes darted between the cup in his hand and the royal advisor’s expectant face. “Wait, this is nunvill?!” he said, incredulous. “It doesn’t taste a thing like it did last time!”

“Yes, it seems human taste buds aren’t well suited to appreciating nunvill’s intense flavor,” Coran said. “More’s the pity. However, the buoying qualities of the beverage are really too good for you paladins to have to miss out on, so I recruited Hunk and Shiro as taste testers to figure out a fruit juice blend that would be more, ah, palatable to you humans. Thought I’d debut it here. It’s always good party etiquette for the guest to bring along a dish or beverage for the host to serve. Keep that in mind.”

“Well, you did a good job. I can barely taste it. What is this, like, five percent alcohol?”

“One percent nunvill, although I don’t know how that compares in strength to your ‘alcohols’ on Earth. Considering that a single glass of nunvill can effectively de-rust an average-sized ion cannon…”

“Yeah, no, that’s - that’s strong,” Lance said. “I’ll try and be careful with it.”

“Good lad,” said Coran with a satisfied nod. “It’s nice that some of my efforts aren’t going to waste today.”

Lance grimaced. “Coran, you’re not too upset about us not doing the air show, are you?”

“No, no, of course not!” Coran said with a laugh. “It simply wouldn’t make sense to do the show anymore after that battle with the Holvarthans.”

“Oh, good. I was worried that you’d be - ”

“And sure, I may have poured my heart into that choreography to put on as elegant a show as possible, and spent a full day working on those new additions. And do I enjoy getting to play the roles of director and narrator and producer and everything I could have been if a career in show business had ever taken off for me? Of course I do! But upset? Bah! I’m not upset! Not at all, my boy, not at all!” He looked down at his own cup of nunvill-juice. “You know, I think I preferred the stronger stuff…”

He sighed and left without a goodbye, leaving Lance shaking his head to himself. And he’d thought Pidge could be passive-aggressive. Clearly, she’d been bested by a new master.

His eyes roved around the room, eyes out for his fellow paladins. Most everyone in the room was engaged in conversation; the Thotirnians were talkative people on the whole, it seemed, and they moved about the room easily to dart between conversation partners, the gangly limbs on their reptilian bodies that seemed to contain triple the number of joints as humans no doubt helping in the endeavor. The banquet hall, too, seemed to have been arranged for optimum sociability. The dinner was served buffet-style, but with the dishes scattered across different tables all over the hall rather than on one long serving station. There weren’t many tables for actually eating, and only enough chairs to seat about a third of the occupants in the hall. The majority Thotirnians apparently preferred to eat while standing and walking about.

Fortunately all the dishes served were basically finger food, Lance noted as he turned to a table refill his plate with a particularly sweet dish that resembled half-sized spring rolls in appearance. His focus at this party had been more the food than the people. The scaly, oblong-faced Thotirnians weren’t particularly appealing to flirt with, and their culture seemed perfectly okay with interrupting speakers in conversation and cutting each other off, making story-telling difficult.

They were honestly just a bit exhausting. The introverted Pidge must have been getting irritable by this point, and even Shiro got worn out by chatter at times. And Keith…

Well, Lance actually hadn’t paid much attention to Keith’s whereabouts during this whole gathering. The mullet wasn’t exactly a social butterfly. A social pill bug, perhaps. Deciding to check and make sure Voltron’s guest hadn’t gone and imploded from oversocialization, Lance started weaving through the crowd, keeping his eyes peeled for the silvery armor.

He spotted Keith after a few minutes, standing near one of the few empty tables that was available for dining rather than serving food, leaning awkwardly against a chair as if he wasn’t sure what to do with his legs. He was in the middle of a talk with three Thotirnians, and judging by his expression, whatever they were discussing wasn’t Keith’s preferred topic. Lance casually sauntered over to listen in.

“So would that make you some sort of soldier for the Voltron alliance?” one of the Thotirnians, the tallest of the three, was asking. “Are you a conscript?”

“No, that’s not - I do more than just help out in battles,” Keith said. “I mean, I’m living in the castle and - ”

“You are a tenant?”

“No, no, I - it’s not like I’m paying them rent or - look, I’m an ally, but, like, a close ally. I live with the paladins and I do my part in the battles and around the castle and - and stuff like that.”

The Thotirnians were quiet a moment, expressions pensive, before realization crossed the face of one of them and he spoke up: “Ah, so you are a servant.”

“Oh my god,” Keith muttered, closing his eyes and lifting his cup to his lips to drink.

“What are we talking about over here?” Lance asked, moving in so he was standing right at Keith’s side.

The tallest Thotirnian gestured with a wave of his hand toward Keith. “We were simply inquiring as to this one’s relationship to Voltron. He is obviously not a paladin, you see, nor a soldier from any military we were aware of, and yet he flew with your team in battle.”

“Ah, well,” Lance said with a shrug. “Let’s just say our relationship with ol’ Keithy here is ‘complicated’ and leave it at that. Right, Keith?” Keith grimaced and took another gulp of his drink.

The Thotirnian nodded solemnly. “Understandable. It must be a strange transition, putting a Galra into your servitude, but - ”

He was interrupted by the sound of a spluttering cough as Keith choked on his drink. Lance thumped him on the back, and Keith managed a couple of gasping breaths before asking in a strangled voice, “How - how did you know I’m Galra?”

“Well, your smell,” the Thotirnian said, a hint of annoyance in his tone as if he were explaining something patently obvious. “It is fainter than most Galra, but it’s there. And your blood is not as warm as that of the paladins.”

“How can you tell - ?”

“I can see it quite clearly.”

“And your eyes,” one of the other Thotirnians added. “Those irises - I have only ever seen the color on Galra, haven’t you?” The other two nodded in agreement.

“Yes, they are quite frightening,” the first one said.

“All right, cool,” Lance said, before clearing his throat. “Hey, have you three heard about how the flux capacitors on the Lions work? It’s super cool, you should go ask the green or yellow paladin about it. They’d love to share some of the gritty details.”

“Really?” said the Thotirnian, brow raised - or, the ridge over his eyes angled in such a way that a brow would be raised if one was there. “It sounds interesting. Thank you, we will search them out.”

The Thotirnians left, and with a sigh, Keith collapsed into a nearby chair and ran a hand over his face. “Thanks for that,” he muttered.

“No problem,” Lance said with a shrug. “I’m kinda guessing parties aren’t really your scene, huh?”

“I had been getting better at them,” Keith sighed. He took another swig from his drink and then set the empty cup down with a thunk. “It’s easier when I actually know what I’m doing at them. I - I thought maybe coming to this thing with you guys was gonna feel a bit like old times…” He brought his index finger up to idly brush around the rim of his cup. “Guess that’s not really a possibility anymore. I gotta get another drink.”

“You haven’t been drinking too much of that stuff, have you?” Lance asked. “It’s weak, but it’s still nunvill. So, you know, space alcohol.”

“I can handle alcohol,” Keith said, rolling his eyes.

Lance snorted. “Oh, please. You can’t even handle milk.”

“That’s not even - whatever,” Keith said. He stood up from the table. “I’m drinking, and I’ve been drinking. Only way I’m getting through this party. You can go ask Pidge about her flux component, leave me be.”

“Flux capacitor,” Lance corrected. “And they’re not real. Did you really not - dude, that was a Back to the Future reference, don’t you…?” He shook his head in exasperation at Keith’s blank stare. “Wow, man. Whatever, I guess. Enjoy your drinks.”

“I will.” With a languid wave of his hand Keith left, and Lance resumed his wandering. He eventually found himself near Allura and stuck around for a while to listen in as she fielded questions from curious Thotirnians about the other planets in the alliance. He even helped answer a couple himself, to give Allura’s voice a break, although there weren’t many he could. He resolved to start making an effort to pay better attention during meetings - a resolution that he had already made a dozen times over in the past and never stuck to, but this time surely he could follow it through.

Eventually he grew bored, though, so he politely ducked out of the group and scanned the crowd for the other paladins. Shiro was the first he spotted, by himself, leaning against a wall with a drink in his hand, eyes roving about the room.

“Having a good time?” Lance asked as he approached.

“Perfectly mediocre,” Shiro replied.

“Ah, well.” Lance leaned against the wall next to him. “At least the food’s good.”

“That’s true. I think I’ve seen Hunk go to every table in this place at least twice. And you see how Pidge is carrying her helmet around two-handed like that?” He pointed across the crowd, and Lance followed his finger to peer at her. “She stole a bunch of those rolls with the jam fillings and hid them in her helmet. Guess she wanted to take them back for later. She really thinks she’s being subtle.”

Lance laughed. “So, have you just been spying on all of us this whole dinner?”

“No,” Shiro said. “I’ve been people-watching. Much more socially acceptable.”

“Uh-huh.”

Shiro shrugged. “What can I say. Feel like it’s kinda my job to keep an eye on the lot of you. Someone has to make sure you kids keep yourselves out of trouble.” He suddenly frowned, squinting across the room. “Speaking of which…”

Lance followed his gaze and spotted Keith walking alongside one of the serving tables. Or, staggering, more like. He was moving slowly, hands on the edge of the table, taking awkward, lurching steps. “Oh God,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “You know, I had a feeling Mullet wasn’t the sort of guy who could hold his liquor.”

Shiro sighed and pulled himself away from the wall, setting off toward Keith, and Lance decided to follow. When they reached him, he had just made it across the whole table and had stepped away from it, arms out slightly at his side to steady himself. “Hey, bud,” Shiro said, reaching out a hand to take Keith’s arm. “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m great,” Keith said, flashing him a smile. It was clear instantly just how flushed his face was, and his eyes seemed to take a second to locate Shiro’s face before slurring, “This is - ‘s a good party, Sh’ro. Everyone’s fun.”

Shiro raised a brow. “Huh. Keith, how much have you had to drink tonight?”

“I dunno,” Keith answered. “I had - hmm. There was a cup…” He frowned. “I d’nno what happened to that.”

“Damn, he’s really gone,” Lance said. “He wasn’t like this earlier.”

“How much earlier we talking?” Shiro asked.

“A while? Not sure. He, uh, he said he’s gotta drink a bit to get through the party, and some of the Thoti-, um, the Thor-, the alien dudes, they were giving him a little bit of a hard time, so…”

Shiro frowned and looked to Keith, who didn’t seem to have been listening and was instead staring in wonder at the ceiling. “Keith, are you having a tough time at this dinner?”

“Mmmmm, yeah,” Keith said. “S’okay, though. The juice is good. Shiro, ‘ve you tried the juice? Ya gotta try it, Shirooooo…”

“All right,” Shiro said. “I’m taking him back to the castle.” He threw an arm around Keith’s shoulders, and Keith leaned into it instantly, eyes lidding sleepily. “Lance, could you let Allura know where we went?”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” said Lance.

“Well, Keith doesn’t seem to be in any state to be up and about, and he definitely can’t get back to the castle on his own. I have to leave.”

Lance paused, gaze flicking between Shiro and Keith, the former’s arm securely around the latter to steady him as he slumped comfortably into his grip. “Hey, um, I can take him.”

“Thanks, Lance, but you don’t have to - ”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Lance insisted. He slipped his own arm around Keith’s back to tug him away from Shiro. “You’re the Black Paladin, you should really stick around ‘til this thing’s wrapped up. And I’m feeling pretty sleepy, been wanting to head back anyway.” He yawned for emphasis, and beside him, Keith yawned too.

Shiro hesitated, frown deepening, but finally he nodded. “All right,” he said slowly. “Just put him in his bedroom and try to make sure he doesn’t make a mess or fall on his face or anything.”

“Will do, Shiro,” Lance said, giving him a thumbs-up before turning away and dragging Keith beside him. “Come on, you idiot, let’s get you back.”

“‘Kay,” Keith said, falling into step obligingly, and already Lance decided that drunk Keith was leagues better to deal with than migraine-y Keith. Drunk Keith didn’t need to make it a point to be stubborn for the sake of stubbornness.

It turned out, though, that drunk Keith was just as unsteady on his feet as migraine-y Keith, and as they walked back toward the castle under the darkening sky, it became increasingly obvious just how much of a lightweight Keith was. At one point, he mumbled something incoherent, knocked his head onto Lance’s paultron with an audible thunk, and closed his eyes, apparently trying to go to sleep on his feet right then and there.

It would have been hilarious if it didn’t have to come with muscle strain on Lance’s part, he mused as he shook Keith off of him and set them moving again.

The walk back to the castle was slow and unsteady, but they made it with Keith still on his feet, and that was the important part. Keith lolled his head back and watched the lights along the ceiling pass by as Lance steered him to his living quarters. “Hey, hey Lance,” Keith said, too loudly for the silent and empty halls of the castle.

“I can hear you, man, you don’t need to shout,” Lance replied.

Keith continued in the exact same volume. “Th’s castle - it’s so big. Y’ever think about that?”

“Uh, I don’t really think about it. But, yeah, it’s big. Good on you for noticing.” He turned down the hallway that housed Keith’s room. “Nearly there, buddy.”

“It’s too big,” Keith said, expression falling to a frown. “Too big. Things… things’ll get lost…”

“I’m sure they do.” Lance opened the door and led the two of them in. “All right, we’re home. Bedtime.”

“Yep,” said Keith. He pulled away from Lance and simply tilted backward onto the bed, flopping onto it face-up right along the head of the bed on top of the pillow. “Bedtime.”

“Okay, dude, if you sleep in full armor you’re gonna be sore as hell come morning.”

“Mm. Tha’s smart,” Keith slurred. He pulled himself back up into a sitting position and gazed silently down at his vambrace for a few ticks before reaching out a hand to fumble uselessly at it. “I can’t get ‘t off,” he declared.

Lance sighed. “God, you’re like damn a toddler when you’re drunk, aren’t you? Remind us never to let you drink at a party again.”

“Okay,” Keith said, obligingly holding out his arm for Lance to remove the vambrace, then move on to the rest of the armor. “Thanks,” he added after a bit, drawing out the ‘s’ in a hiss.

“Whatever,” said Lance. He set the vambraces and gauntlets aside and moved to the breastplate. “I’d really hate to see this armor get covered in vomit tomorrow morning when you wake up with a hangover. Which is definitely going to happen, Mister Lightweight.”

Keith just hummed appreciatively, swaying a little where he sat until Lance grabbed him by the shoulders to hold him still. “‘S nice armor,” Keith agreed. “Liked my old armor better, though.”

“Yeah, your old armor,” Lance muttered, lifting the breastplate off of him. “Stick your legs out a bit, will you?”

Keith obliged, and he let out a small burp before continuing. “It was the red armor. Allura says I di’n’t wear it, but… I dunno… feels right. I like red.”

“Mm-hm,” Lance hummed, pulling the greave off of his right ankle.

“Heh,” said Keith. “I said ‘I like red’ because - b’cause, like, the color. But I like Red, too. Th’lion. She’s a good lion.”

“Yeah, I know,” Lance straightened up, tossing the last of the armor aside. “Okay, so, I guess you’re gonna have to sleep in your undersuit tonight. Because I am definitely not gonna change you into your pajamas. I think we’ll both rest easier forever if this is the most I ever strip you, yeah?”

“Yeah…” Keith agreed softly. He turned and stared down at the armor, his brow creasing.

After a few seconds of the silent staring, Lance tilted his head. “Uh, Mullet? You all right there?”

Keith turned back to Lance. His face still flush as it had been this whole, but now with the addition of a dewiness in the eyes that took Lance by surprised. “Lance?” Keith said in practically a whisper. “I miss it.”

“Um,” Lance said slowly. “What - what do you miss?”

“Bein’ a paladin,” Keith answered. “I miss - I miss Red.”

Lance let out a slow exhale. “Yeah, I know you do. We’ve been over this, man, I know it’s no fun for you and all, but you - ”

Keith suddenly let out a loud, strangled sound before leaning to the side, his expression crumbling as he flopped against the wall at the head of the bed. “I miss Shiro,” he croaked.

“Um.” Lance cleared his throat and shifted his stance awkward. “Do you, uh, do you want me to go back and get him, or - ?”

“No!” Keith snapped, face immediately falling to a scowl. “No, no, no, no, not - I miss my Shiro.”

“What do you mean, your Shiro?”

“My Shiro. The one from - the one I r’ember…” His chin trembled and he let out another strangled whine before burying his face in his hands. “This one, he’s nice, an’ he’s good, but… but he’s not m’brother. He doesn’ remember… he was the first - the first family tha’ I had in sooooo long, and - an’ now i’s all gone…” He lowered his hands and stared at them, curling and uncurling his fingers against his palm. “It’s all gone…” he whispered.

Lance lowered himself cautiously onto the bed, staring at Keith’s face, where the tears had started flowing. This was… not good. He wouldn’t have offered to take Keith back to the castle on his own if he had known that he was going to end up like this.

He had dealt with drunk people before. Once someone had spiked the punch at a party he and Hunk had attended during their Garrison days, and Lance had wound up having to babysit his friend for the rest of the night. But drunk Hunk had simply found everything hilarious. And Coran had once vastly underestimated both the strength of the beverages on one of the planets they had once visited and his own tolerance level, but drunk Coran had simply become an even more loud, talkative, and flirty version of himself.

Giggly drunk, he could handle. Bold drunk, he could handle. Weepy drunk, though?

He lifted a hand to awkwardly pat Keith’s back. “Uh… there there?” Keith didn’t even seem to notice, just began mumbling something under his breath. “Keith?” Lance said. “I, uh, I didn’t catch that, what’d you say?”

Keith turned his head, blinking blearily as his eyes slowly met Lance’s. “It just keeps happ’n’n, Lance,” he whispered. “Every time I try… just all goes away… ” He let out a hitched sob and buried his face back into his hands. “‘S my fault,” he said, voice muffled through his fingers.

“What’s your fault?”

“I left,” Keith said. “I left, ‘cause I was gettin’ it all wrong... messed it all up - tha’s what happens, Lance, I ge’ there, I mess ‘t up, an’ then I have t’ go… but I really really tried, Lance, I tried an’ I thought - I was doin’ it, I w’s doing good, and we were all friends, but then - b’t then - but then it was bad again, and I had to go - had to go - had to - I still tried, I tried with the Ba-… with the - the Bade - the Blades, but then it all just… poof.” He let out a sigh, his shoulders shaking. “All gone,” he finished off in a whisper so tiny Lance barely picked up on it.

He listed to the side, letting his eyes drift close, before softly adding, “It hurts. Hurts so much…”

Lance took a deep, uncertain breath. “Right. Um. I’m not - I’m not sure I followed all of that but - but, um - ” Good God, he was definitely not the person who should be doing this. He could give a pep talk with the best of them, but that was only when he knew his audience. He knew all the buttons to press to get Hunk smiling again, and how to bolster Allura’s strength when she needed it. But Keith - Keith was a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mullet. He had no clue what Keith needed to hear, or wanted to hear. Or even whether he was so drunk that he wouldn’t even gauge any meaning out of anything Lance did say.

He regretted not letting Keith just fall asleep on their walk back to the castle. Would have made things much easier.

For now, he just needed to get Keith to settle down. Get him to stop crying, and get some rest. Then, by morning, surely he will have forgotten all about all this shit on his mind. Or, at least, he would be sobered up and be able to discuss it in some way that made a lick of sense, and hopefully with someone who actually had some idea how to handle it.

Cautiously he stood up from the bed. “Hey, uh, look, Keith,” he said slowly. “I’m, uh - I’m sure that, whatever it is you’re on about, it - it wasn’t your fault.”

“Was,” Keith said softly.

“Well, um, okay, even if it was, that’s - that’s over now. You have to remember, of course, none of that - any bad stuff you remember, it didn’t really happen, right? So, you know. You don’t even need to worry about it!” Keith’s lower lip began trembling hard, new tears starting to pour from his eyes. Okay, shit, Lance thought. Not the strategy to go with. “I mean - I mean, just the - just the bad parts. The parts about, uh, messing up and stuff? Those were - that part’s fake. But, um, I’m sure the rest of it is… that’s real?”

He examined Keith’s expression intently, trying to gauge how Keith was taking it. It didn’t exactly feel good to lie to him - in fact his stomach was turning more leaden every passing second - but the guy was three sheets to the wind; it wasn’t like any lie Lance told now was going to stick. And if being told that, yes, sure, his memories were real, if that was what Keith needed right now to stop crying, so be it.

“My team?” Keith asked quietly. “They’re real? … They know me?”

“Yeah, man, ‘course they do.”

“Where are they?”

“Uh…” Lance cleared his throat. “Tell you what, how about - how about I leave and go get them?”

“You’ll… where’re they?”

“They’re kind of a ways away, but I can go get them for you. But it’ll be a little while, see, so - so in the meantime you need to stop crying and get some rest.”

“Get some rest…”

“Yeah. And then by the time you wake up, they’ll be here, and everything will be great. Sound good?”

Keith seemed to mull it over for a few seconds, then he gave Lance a woozy smile. “Thank you,” he said.

“No problem,” said Lance. “So, you just get some sleep, and I’m gonna - I’m gonna leave.”

“Yeah…”

“Good night, Keith.”

Lance turned to leave, and made it across the room and had his hand on the door before Keith cried, “Wait! Lance!”

Lance whipped back around, to see Keith suddenly wide-eyed, urgency written across his face. “What is it?” he asked.

“I gotta - I gotta tell you - ” said Keith. “It’s important.”

Lance hurried back toward him. “What? What’s wrong?”

Keith placed his hands firmly on Lance’s shoulders to look him squarely in the eye. And with an amount of solemnity and directness that surely shouldn’t even have been possible in his drunkenness, he announced, “I am going to throw up.”

Then, to Lance’s dismay, he turned around, leaned over, and did just that.

[tearofaeons]

UHH F/O february!!

1-.Reverse Self-Ship: You are your F/O’s F/O!!

I have a hard time picturing any of my faves having me as their f/o because i think most of them aren’t of people to consume media (books, tv shows) in excess. they might look at something and think “oh cool” *never picks it up again*.

BUT!!  HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING--

Zeтsu... well?? he seems like the type of guy to read a lot of comics and books but never participate in fandoms or tell anyone about it.

One day he heards of a comic series about a character who hunts demons and is searching for their siblings, who are lost somewhere in the deepest parts of Hell, he´s interested, so he buys it, reads it, and immediately gets attached to the protagonist.

He just... relates... you know? Like, both sides, but they never talk about this.

(Kuro = black side. Shiro= white side)

Kuro was in denial for the most part, like

“Why do people like this character” *searches for fanfics*

“Disgusting, badly written. Doesn’t make any sense.” *consumes EVERY story and headcanon post he can find until there´s nothing left*

Kinda just keep going like that until he realized he was too deep in the mud to say he was doing it ironically. Who’s the fool now!? huh!?

I make him feel at ease and, in a weird way, understood, like well, maybe things are going to be okay.

Goes back to the source material, reads it over and over again until he memorizes it, just for fun.

“Why are you angry”

“I  read a FICTIONAL THING that made me genuinely happy for no logical reason and I HATE IT”

He doesn’t like feeling vulnerable and really takes pride in being a “mature adult” who has NO ISSUES or PROBLEMS he would like to deal with but doesn’t know how.

So when something external acknowledges these feelings he just... nope. goodbye

Kuro likes to write and create stories, so at some point, already bored with the lack of content, he starts to make his own “headcanon” and theories posts. Arguing with people and having discussions about me, what might be my possible next steps if i want to find my siblings, my plans, things i wouldn´t do. etc.

Later, he creates a RP blog of my character, but then remembers months later that he actually detests interacting with people, so he opts for writing stories, which he adamantly REFUSES call fanfiction.

Kind of took the “job” of debunking theories and popular headcanons, with proof, of course. He likes talking about me and he LOVES being right, it’s a win-win situation !

Writes really long posts about me, explaning my character arc with extreme detail, why did i do a certain thing and not the other. He also talks how did my actions reflect a certain part of my story that are worth exploring. Fancy pictures, dramatic italics, the whole thing, you know?

His posts are always interesting to read, though. He’s a good writer.

One particular day he wasn’t feeling so good, he wrote something that could be called a reader insert (but he definitely doesn’t call it that), where i’m doing the dishes and having an imaginary conversation in my mind with a character who is struggling with the same problems he is, comforting them and stuff.

Made it an habit to write about me comforting this hypothetical person when he’s dealing with difficult emotions. It helps him get back on his feet.

Has one article of clothing that is.. very similar to a jacket i wear in the series.

and a sweater

and some pair of gloves...

He also bought a plushie to have it as a reference whenever he needed to describe me in a story (i have a very complicated outfit in this parallel universe), but stll kept it even after it wasn’t necessary,  he occasionally likes to hug and squeeze it, or merely hold it when he’s  watching videos or reading something.

“It’s just a toy, it doesn’t have any emotional meaning” he says.

*brushes strand of hair off forehead so i don’t look sad*

*stops to pat my head every now and then*

:( *holds the plushie’s hand* :)

He just really really likes the texture, okay! jeez!!

but no seriously he has a crush on me

Shiro just goes on with the ride and doesn’t think too much about how he feels or why. He just knows he likes me and that’s enough for him.

Collects fanart and enjoys re-reading the source material once in a while.

LITERALLY RECOMMENDS IT  AT LEAST ONCE TO EVERYONE HE MEETS.

Somehow never runs out of things to say?? could talk about the series for hours, but he’s not saying things with substance and plot it’s more like a casual conversation.

He just likes talking about it.

Zones out thinking about me doing domestic stuff (sleeping, cooking or--his favorite--playing with a cat), sometimes imagines himself being there. Would rather die than to tell anyone it makes him happy.

Daydreams a lot.

Gets home and is somewhat upset his girlfriend isn’t there!! where are his kisses!! haha jk jk he doesn’t have a crush on a fictional character..

..... unless?

Doesn’t want people to find out about this because people tend to make fun of him or not take him seriously at all, so he covers it up by acting nonchalant.

“Yeah i like them a normal amount”

Is broke so he can’t afford merch, saves up for one lil figure of me and takes care of it as if it were one of his plants.

Has one-sided conversations with the figurine.

*to the figurine* “Hey, did i water my plants today? i can’t remember”

“I wonder how the shell of a lemon tastes like.... I have one in the fridge, should i eat it? for science? yes? no? alright, i’ll do it”

Writes posts about the series/me and shares them, they’re tend to be very nonsensical and funny, or downright cursed.

“Here’s some art i commissioned of Julia wearing a button up shirt with shorts and sandals :)”

His inbox is a mess because of this.

Likes to participate in conversations and add his two cents, but his favorite thing to do is send people (particularly Kuro) dumb questions just for the giggles.

anon: “how would julien react to their s/o having tapeworms? :)”

“I cannot phantom what kind of illness compels you to send me this.”

anon: “would julia read shrek x reader fanfiction?”

“GOD DAMMIT!!! NO!!”

Shiro got lowkey jealous thinking about me reading x reader stuff because it kind of implies me having a crush on someone else, he then had to mentally punch himself when he realized he was getting jealous of shrek. 

Has one cactus he loves very much named Julia. It’s a pincushion cactus.

[vcepsis]

Could you do I5 for the drabble thingy for Keith? Any pairing is good for me ❤️

Thanks so much for the request! You said any pairing is good so you can take a wild guess what I did (it’s Sheith). My first Keith whump fic, hopefully you enjoy it!

Shoutout, as always, to @feverflushed for reading this and putting up with my yelling about it lol

I(Fever) + 5(In public), taken from this drabble request meme (really enjoying these, they’re so fun to write!!). About 2k.

“The Blades are coming over today,” Shiro announced at breakfast.

Lance shoveled another spoonful of  space eggs into his mouth. “For what, a playdate?”

“Yes, Kolivan and I figured you could use a friend your own age.” Lance choked on his eggs as Pidge burst out laughing. Shiro rolled his eyes. “They’re coming to the Castle to discuss our next operation.”

Hunk settled into his seat next to Lance with his own plate. They had found these eggs—so similar to chicken eggs they might have been from a bonafide space chicken—on a planet not too long ago, and Hunk managed to barter for a few boxes of them. “So wait, if Kolivan is arranging playdates for Lance, does that make him his father?”

Pidge scoffed. “No, Hunk, Kolivan is Keith’s father. Obviously Shiro is Lance’s father.”

Hunk nodded, like this made perfect sense. “Right, of course. But then, who’s the mother?”

Pidge hummed in consideration. “Allura? No, even better—Coran.”

“Oh my gosh it’s perfect,” Hunk exclaimed. “Coran is definitely the most motherly person on this ship. He and Shiro make great parents.”

Shiro sighed heavily into his eggs. “I’m giving you all up for adoption,” he muttered darkly.

Keith poked at his own breakfast, listening to the exchange with a kind of detached interest. Normally he enjoyed watching Shiro join in their banter—Shiro had a wicked sense of humor that they were rarely allowed to see, and Keith loved it. Today, however, Keith was hoping if he pushed his eggs around enough, they would come to life and kill him on the spot.

He’d woken up feeling off, but had dismissed it as a bad night’s sleep. Now, though, he found himself shivering into his jacket, no matter how tightly he pulled it around himself. He was actually considering zipping it closed, not that it would make much of a difference. Eating was also out of the question, if the twisting in his stomach was any indication. He was definitely coming down with something, but he decided to employ the tried and true “ignore it and it’ll go away” method.

“Keith?”

Looking up from his mangled breakfast, Keith saw Shiro frowning at him. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Keith said quickly. There was no need to worry Shiro over this. It was stupid, and would go away eventually.

Shiro looked like he didn’t quite believe him, but thankfully didn’t push it. “We’ll need you at the meeting today. You’re the perfect bridge between Voltron and the Blade of Marmora. Hopefully it’ll make these talks easier.”

Keith tried to sit up a little straighter in his seat, nodding. They needed him. Shiro needed him. He would be fine.

---

Keith wasn’t fine. Not at all.

He and Shiro had changed into their armor before meeting Allura and Kolivan—along witha few masked Blade members—on the bridge. They were currently discussing……something. Keith had tuned out almost immediately, all of his attention focused on keeping himself from doing something embarrassing, like passing out.

The chill in his bones was slowly creeping up his spine, and though the armor was climate controlled, it didn’t stop the small shivers that were wracking his body. Despite this, his bangs were sticking to his forehead slightly, sweat collecting at his collar. A cough had started brewing in his lungs, and his chest was feeling tight from keeping it repressed, throat aching.

At the moment, though, Kolivan was talking. Keith could barely make out the words; the blood was rushing in his ears and his vision had started going spotty. Kolivan was standing at the head of the table, hands behind his back in the perfect military stance. Shiro sat to his left, listening with rapt attention, interjecting now and then with his own comments. He was also sneaking glances at Keith, a frown pulling at his mouth. Keith figured it had to do with whatever Kolivan was talking about.

Watching them interact was almost enough to keep Keith’s attention. Kolivan was like a glacier: tall, imposing, ice cold. His presence was almost oppressing, weighing down the room with his authority. Shiro, though…Shiro was the sun, bright and beautiful and warm. While he yielded easily to Kolivan’s influence, his aura of leadership was still very much present. But instead of sitting on Keith’s chest like a weight, Shiro’s presence wrapped around him like a blanket, making him feel safe.

Huh. Maybe Keith was more delirious than he thought.

He was just thinking up an excuse to leave that wouldn’t be too suspicious—aliens went to the bathroom, right?—when he heard Shiro speak up. “Maybe now is a good time for a break.”

Kolivan turned to him, keeping his face carefully expressionless, yet somehow still managing to exude an aura of contempt. “A break? I assumed the Paladins of Voltron were more sturdy than that.”

Shiro stood carefully, crossing his arms, but not backing down. “We’ve been at this for hours. And we’ve been going in circles for the last little while. A break would do us all good.”  He raised his chin just slightly, a quiet move of defiance in the face of Kolivan’s cold gaze. “I assumed the Blade of Marmora understood the definition of efficiency.”

Kolivan stared, unblinking. There was a moment of silence, the tension pressing down on the room. Finally, Kolivan relaxed slightly. “Let’s reconvene in fifteen doboshes.”

Shiro nodded once, stiffly, and Keith couldn’t help his small sigh of relief. He started to push back his chair, praying to whoever was listening that his legs would hold, when he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t need to look up to see who it was.

“Hey, buddy,” Shiro said softly. “You alright?”

Keith did look up at this, trying to give a reassuring smile and hoping it didn’t look like a grimace of pain. “I’m fine,” he replied, though the tightness in his chest reminded him that no, he wasn’t.

It didn’t matter. He’d push through it; he always did.

Shiro didn’t move his hand, expression unreadable. “Let’s take a walk.”

Keith groaned internally, but just nodded, rising to his feet. He swayed a bit, but Shiro’s hand had moved from his shoulder to his arm, a steadying weight. They slowly made their way to the hallway, Shiro not commenting on Keith’s much slower steps. The walls were shimmering dangerously, and the black spots in his vision were growing larger with each passing second. Where did Shiro even want to go, anyway? Why couldn’t they just stay on the bridge?

The answer came quickly enough, though it felt like an eternity to Keith. The door in front of them looked familiar, but Keith, in his fevered state, couldn’t place it. That is, until Shiro pressed his free hand against the pad, and the door opened with a whoosh.

“What—Shiro?” Keith asked, confused. Unless he was hallucinating—which he would believe at this point—Shiro had managed to steer Keith to his room.

Shiro stayed quiet, and gently but firmly started guiding Keith to his bed. “You need to lie down, Keith.”

Anger flared in his chest—but it was more at himself than at Shiro. How could he let this get in the way of their mission? Shiro needed him, and he was letting him down. Again.

Keith shoved Shiro off of him, taking a shaky step back. “I don’t need you taking care of me,” he snapped, frustration at himself turning his tone sharper than he intended.

Keith just didn’t want to drag Shiro down with him.

Instead of looking hurt, Shiro just raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I know, I know.” Shiro took a step toward him, closing the distance Keith had put between them. “But what if I want to?”

Keith blinked. He didn’t have an answer for that.

Slowly, Shiro stretched a hand toward Keith. Putting a hand on his own forehead, Shiro started to reach out with the other, only to stop dead when he saw he was reaching with the Galra one. A small noise of frustration escaped him, and Keith’s heart clenched. The Galra arm wasn’t great with temperature, so checking Keith’s forehead with it would be pointless. Another thing the Galra took from him.

But instead of moving on, Shiro just continued to reach out to Keith, cupping the back of his neck and gently tugging him forward until they were just inches apart. Dropping his natural hand, Shiro pulled them together until their foreheads were touching.

Keith’s delirious mind kicked into overdrive. Shiro was so close; Keith could count every one of his eyelashes. Those gray eyes bored into him, an ocean on the verge of a hurricane, and Keith was drowning in the storm—

“Definitely a fever,” Shiro murmured, finally letting go. Keith blinked a few times, resurfacing.

Shiro sighed, brows drawn into an unhappy frown. “I thought you seemed off this morning. I’m so sorry, Keith. I shouldn’t have dragged you to the meeting.”

Keith’s legs were shaking, the room was spinning—but none of that mattered. He took a stumbling step forward, latching on to Shiro’s arm with both hands. Shiro turned to him, eyes wide.

“No,” Keith rasped. “I wanted…to help.” Keith felt like fainting, like he was floating, but he gripped onto Shiro harder. Shiro had always been his anchor, after all.

But just then, his legs gave out, and he was falling, he was drowning—

Strong arms wrapped around him, one under his legs and the other behind his back, lifting him up.

“It’s ok, I have you.” Shiro’s voice soothed the panic that had started to bloom in Keith’s chest, the rumbling vibration of it a comforting presence.

After a moment, Shiro laid him on the bed, gently letting go. Keith couldn’t help the whine that escaped him, reaching out for those strong arms again.

A cool hand caressed his face, and Keith sighed, leaning in to the contact. And then it was gone, but before Keith could complain, there were hands on his chest, carefully unbuckling his chest plate. They worked down his body, gently taking off the uncomfortable armor, leaving Keith in his black undersuit. Keith shivered, curling up onto himself. Why was it so cold in his room?

Suddenly, a blanket was being tucked around him, the weight of it settling comfortably on him. Keith sighed again, ducking his head under it.

“I have to get back to the meeting,” Shiro said softly. “Will you be ok until I’m done?”

Oh shit. The meeting. Keith blinked a few times to try to clear the black spots, then pushed himself up on shaking arms.

Only to be gently pushed back down. “No, no, you’re staying here.” Shiro still sounded worried, but there was a small smile on his face. “Who taught you to overwork yourself like this?”

Keith mumbled something about Black Paladins who can’t take a break. Shiro chuckled at that, sounding a little more at ease.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said, running his hand through Keith’s hair. Keith’s eyes fluttered closed at the contact, a warm feeling spreading in his chest. Was that from his fever, too? Keith couldn’t tell, but the warm feeling was making him feel good, so probably not.

Just as he was about to drift off, there were lips on his forehead. Keith’s heart rate picked up at the contact, but he sank further into the bed as that warm feeling continuing to spread.

There was the familiar whoosh of the door closing, and Shiro was gone. But Keith knew he’d be back, and that thought carried him into a dreamless sleep.

[ursae-minoris-world]

25 sheith moments

This is a collection of 25 drabbles (of exactly 100 words each) I did for @sheithfest, each using one of the prompts suggested for day3.

You can read it on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19432342

There's a little game going on that the 3 most popular drabbles will either get expanded as ficlets or get an illustration. :)

Here's the thread on twitter: https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2/status/1144886396106301440 People can vote for their favorite drabbles by liking, commenting, or re-tweeting them.

It is also possible to vote on tumblr by reblogging and commenting with the numbers/prompts of your favorites drabbles, or on AO3 in the comments.

Votes should be open for the first week of july, I think. I'll edit here when they close.

---

1- Pride

What Shiro felt when Keith came back looking so grown up and strong and confident should have been pride, shouldn’t it? Pride that the young cadet he had taken under his wing earlier had grown to his full potential, not only an amazing pilot, but also a strong leader. You just needed to look at how the team was eagerly listening to his explanations and discussing his plans to see it. And Shiro was proud, of course he was.

What he hadn’t expected was to stumble on his words like an idiot because he found his best friend so hot.

2- Meet again

Keith would have hugged Shiro if the situation wasn’t so dire. But they have to stop Lotor first. No time to get emotional. Even if he has missed Shiro immensely.

It seems to be always like that with Shiro and him. They keep being torn apart, but they always find each other again. He remembers saving Shiro after his disappearance in the Kerberos mission; and their reunion when he had been missing after the fight against Zarkon. And now, after Keith was stuck in the Quantum Abyss.

He knows he will always find Shiro. As many times as it takes.

3- Long hair Shiro

When Keith helped him out of the galra ship, Shiro felt weirdly self-conscious. His hair was too long and greasy; he would have needed a shave; his skin was sticky and his own stench made him uncomfortable. That didn’t seem to bother Keith as much as it should have; he didn’t shy away from holding Shiro close.

“Don’t look at me...” he muttered, his parched tongue making the words indistinct. Keith said something, and the rest of the team cleared the room. Coran left last, after insisting that Shiro was too starved for the pods. Only Keith stayed with him.

4- Distance

3 billion miles. The current distance between the Earth and Kerberos. Keith thought about that number often, while watching the stars in the clear sky of the desert. He wished this was a distance he could cover with his hoverbike. He knew Shiro was out there, possibly in danger. He refused to believe he was dead.

After being kicked out of the Garrison, his last chance to go to space seemed to have vanished. Sometimes he thought of stealing a spacecraft from the Garrison; he knew that even if he managed to pull it off, he wouldn’t go far alone.

5- Sunset / sunrises

Shiro was clutching his side, which was both burning and feeling numb, a strange sensation. He felt his consciousness slip away, and he knew he wouldn’t survive for long on that desert planet; not hurt like he was. He could only hope Keith would outlive him long enough for the rest of the team to rescue him. The young paladin was resourceful and resilient, so Shiro trusted him to survive. He would be a great leader, and Shiro’s only regret was to not being able to witness it.

It seemed like a fitting end, watching the sunset alone with Keith.

6- Monsters & Mana

“Thanks for saving me again”, said Jiro.

“Always”, answered Thunderstorm Darkness. “You have done the same for me.”

“Of course I did.” answered Jiro, softly. They shared a long hug.

“Pleaaase stop flirting with your characters.” complained Pidge.

“Wha… what? They’re not flirting!” protested Keith.

“They’re just friends.” added Shiro nervously. “They help each other.”

“Sure, like you and Keith are just friends, I guess” replied Pidge, the sarcasm in her voice thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Well, yeah.” replied Keith, tone deaf as always for that kind of things.

Hunk grunted. Coran let out a long sigh.

7- Drunk dialing / wrong number

“I missed you, Shiro. I’m glad to be back.” admitted Keith.

“Keith, please don’t use the Atlas’ general hailing frequency for personal communication.”

It was Veronica, not Shiro, on the screen. Despite her formal tone, he could see her grin. Behind her, Acxa was rolling her eyes, Curtis was blushing, and Iverson was looking purposefully away.

“Good to have you back, Keith” answered Shiro warmly, undisturbed by his crew.

Keith didn’t get it either. What he had said wasn’t that bad, after all.

“It’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it”, Hunk had once tried to explain.

8- Battle / fight

Seeing Keith getting beaten up during the first part of the trials had been hard enough. Shiro had ground his teeth and held back for Keith's sake. This was Keith's choice, and Shiro didn't want to stand in his way. It still felt like dying inside watching his friend get hurt.

Seeing Keith unconscious on the ground while Shiro's image was used against him had been too far. Now they were using Keith's trauma about his parents, and that was unacceptable. Even Red was furious. Shiro would fight the entire Blade of Marmora to get Keith out of their claws.

9-Pining / Mutual pining

“I think... I always loved him. From the beginning,“ admitted Keith, thoughtfully. “At the time, I didn't really understand it, but...” He trailed off.

“Maybe you should tell him?” suggested Romelle.

Keith let out a breathless laugh. “No. He doesn't see me like that.”

“Hu. Are you sure?” replied Romelle, dubiously.

---

“I know I shouldn't see him that way”, Shiro tried to explain to Matt. “To him, I'm some kind of big brother, he trusts me. If he knew what I feel for him, it would ruin our friendship.”

“Are you serious?!” growled Matt, slamming his beer on the bar.

10-Denial

“Sooo… how was your date?” Pidge's carefully casual tone was a trap.

Shiro realized he was still holding Keith's hand and swiftly let it go. “P...Pidge! It wasn't a date.”

“Yeeaaah, right. So what were you doing?” It was going to be difficult to get out of this discussion if Hunk paired up with Pidge. It didn't help that Keith was leaving all the defense to Shiro, arms crossed and expression sulky.

“We. Were looking for resources.”

“Did you find any?” Hunk retorted.

“Not really.”

“Maybe you'd find more in daylight.” insinuated Pidge. “But I'm sure the stars were pretty.”

11- Cooking

One night, at the Garrison, Keith noticed a burning smell in the air. He hurried down the corridor. Dark clouds of smoke were crowding under the ceiling, and Keith’s heart jumped in his throat.

He teared a fire extinguisher off the wall and sprinted in direction of the kitchen, where the smoke was coming from.

Inside, the smoke was so dense you could hardly see; his eyes were watering and he started to cough.

“I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Shiro as he opened a window. “I was trying to make mac-and-cheese”.  In the sink, a blackened plate was all that remained.

12- Confessions

Seeing Keith in his hospital bed was jarring. He was uncharacteristically quiet in his sleep. On his pale cheek, the scar stood out blatantly.

Keith suddenly became agitated. Shiro was starting to worry, but Keith opened his eyes, saw him, and calmed instantly.

“Shiro...”

“Keith… I’m sorry.”

Keith blinked, confused. “For what?”

Shiro hesitated. He brushed Keith’s scar. “For hurting you.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Keith frowned. “You remember what I told you?”

“That I was your brother.”

Keith scoffed. “That I love you. Not really...as a brother.”

“I love you too.” replied Shiro, before realizing what he was saying.

13- Astral Plane

Time didn’t really exist, on the astral plane. Shiro didn’t know how long he had been there. Both dead, and existing here, in this strange place. Sometimes, he felt himself dissolve in the lion’s consciousness, aside from when he was in contact with the team. When the team formed Voltron, or when they had called out to him, he felt more solid. He felt the most like he was existing when Keith was piloting Black, of course. He tried so many times to reach out to Keith.

When Keith finally joined him on the astral plane, Shiro felt alive again.

14- Soulmates

Black was the only one to know Shiro and Keith had held hands in the astral plane. The only one, because they had not realized it. And they had no idea of the implications, either. Of two souls touching, directly. Not in a fight, but out of love. The way Keith had so easily reached the astral plane through his connection with Shiro. The way Shiro had been able to materialize enough to put his hand on his shoulder. How they had held hands afterward. Black already knew they were soulmates. But how could they still be unaware of it?

15- Festivities

When the war ended, there were festivities for weeks all through the universe. Keith could understand this. But in big cities, it implied lots of excited people in the streets. Too bad that, for diplomatic reasons, they often ended up in big cities. And the team always wanted to enjoy the festivities once the formalities were over.

And now, he had lost Shiro. They were walking together, and suddenly, he wasn’t there anymore.

Shiro came back, holding two pastries. Keith let out a relieved sigh. “I hate crowds.” he grumbled.

“Should we go home?”

“No. It’s fine if you’re here.”

16- Overworked

“I thought that meeting would never end,” confessed Shiro.

Keith sighed. “Yeah. And I still have paperwork due tomorrow...”

“I know, me too...” Shiro checked Matt’s last message on his phone. “You know what? The team is chilling in the rec. room, we could join them and work there.”

“We won’t get any work done.”

“We could give it a try!”

“Fine”

–

“Told you we wouldn’t work!”

“Well, it’s late, but let’s try to get it done now!”

–

“Are… Are those the Captain of the Atlas and the Leader of Voltron cuddling on the couch?”

“Shhh. Don’t wake them up.”

17- Waking up together

When waking up, Shiro was startled to find arms around him; he was lost for a moment, before recognizing Keith. He remembered his nightmares, and how Keith had heard his panic from his  room -the Castle’s walls were not exactly soundproof. Keith had come and helped Shiro calm down. They must have fallen asleep together.

Keith was still sleeping, snoring softly. Shiro brushed his dark hair away from his forehead. Keith moved slightly, but didn’t wake up. Shiro smiled. He still marveled that, after all that happened, he had Keith at his side again, even so far away from home.

18- Folklore, myths & legends

Do you know the legend of Voltron?

Of course you do. The Robot that freed the Universe.

But, do you know about it’s pilots? No? Let me tell you of two of them, then. Let me tell the tale of the Black Paladins, who both piloted the Black Lion, head of Voltron. Let me tell you about their love, that was stronger than death itself. Let me tell you about how fate tried over and over to separate them, and how they always found each other again. Let me tell you how their love saved us. Gather around, and listen.

19- Fist dates / blind dates

It was the early hours of the morning, and most of the wedding guests had gone. Only their closest friends remained – the paladins, Matt, Romelle… They were watching the sunrise together, quietly sipping the fresh juices a waiter had brought them. Keith was a little hungover, but the headache didn’t matter: he was greeting the morning with his husband.

“What I always wondered was… when did you two start dating?” asked Lance.

“After the war” said Keith.

“No, we already dated on Clear Day, remember?” replied Shiro.

“That was a date?”

“I’m pretty sure you were dating before” stated Allura.

20- Shenanigans with Kosmo

Kosmo was was really good at guessing Keith’s moods. And he had his own ways of helping him out when his spirits were not so high. Frequently, it involved Shiro.

–

“Hi Keith!” said Shiro when a grumpy, half asleep Keith was teleported in the training room.

“Hi Keith!” said Shiro when an exhausted, sweaty Keith in training gear was teleported in the middle of a Garrison meeting.

“Hi Keith” said Shiro when a brooding Keith was teleported beside him on the couch.

“Goodnight, Keith”, whispered Shiro when a fast asleep Keith still in his uniform was teleported into their bed.

21- fix-it

“Be with the ones you love”, Shiro had advised. And Keith had panicked. He had hugged his mom, and had hidden in the desert. Well, if you can “hide” on top of a giant mechanical lion.

Shiro was busy with Garrison business, and Keith didn’t want to bother him. They still hadn’t  talked about what had happened at the clone facility, and he wasn’t sure if Shiro had understood what Keith really meant- or even if he remembered.

Keith’s heart jumped when he heard a hoverbike approaching.

“You’re here”, he whispered when Shiro joined him.

“Of course” answered Shiro softly.

22-seasonal

“What's that?”

“Takoyaki. Just try it.”

Shiro scoffed when Keith's eyes widened in surprise while tasting the food; he hastily went for more. It didn't help that he looked ridiculously cute in a yukata; Shiro was glad he had convinced him to wear one. “I knew you'd like this.”

They walked in silence for a moment.

“Did you… enjoy these summer festivals when you lived here?” wondered Keith.

“Yes, I loved them! My Granddad always took me. Good memories.” Keith nodded. Shiro continued. “Thank you for coming. It's good to make new memories with you.”

“Thank you for inviting me.”

23- canon alternate reality

When Sven opened his eyes, he recognized the space hospital. Slav was curled up, asleep on a nearby chair. In the other chair was…

“Sven!” exclaimed Akira. His desperate tone as well as the worried curve of his brow made guilt  tighten Sven’s throat. “I came as soon as I heard!”

“I’m sorry. I’m fine!” Sven exclaimed.

“No, you’re not! You’ve been shot!”

“I had to protect Lance!”

Akira blinked, and looked even more concerned. “Lance wasn’t with you.”

“Not this Lance.” He chuckled at Akira’s puzzled expression. “You wouldn’t believe what happened to us.”

“Well, you’d better tell me.”

24-Monsters

Waking up after a transformation was always painful and scary; even more so for Keith when he found himself lying on dry leaves in the forest rather than in the basement where he usually secured himself for the full moon. But Shiro being there too… that had to be the worst ever.

Despite the horror of Shiro knowing the truth about him, Keith’s first reflex was to hide as much as he could in the cover he was rolled in -before realizing that Shiro had to be the one who wrapped his naked body in it in the first place.

25-Rockband AU

The group had been less than enthusiastic about taking Keith in as a second guitarist, but Shiro was convinced of Keith’s talent, and he had been right. The young punk was a diamond in the raw, and since he joined the group, their popularity was off the charts.

He didn’t get along that well with the others, but they could work on that. Lance might complain about Keith being a show-off, but the public did love his solos. And Allura could keep accusing Shiro of being biased towards Keith… they still had found the new sound they were searching for.

[ambivalentangst]

When to Give (More)

A day late but!!!! Here with my piece for the @klancepoetryexchange, I have a fic inspired by A Question by Robert Frost, for @kittymeow321. It’s been a pleasure creating for this event, and I hope you enjoy!

A voice said, Look me in the stars

And tell me truly, men of earth,

If all the soul-and-body scars

Were not too much to pay for birth.

tw: heavy mention of self sacrifice and near death experiences

Lance and Keith have a nasty little habit of throwing themselves in harm’s way. They have a habit of gritting their eyes and shoving a teammate away to take the blow meant for them, and as those wounds have come to turn stretches of skin into leathery scars, they smile anyway because their team is safe.

Veronica comments on it, seeing her brother heading for the beach on a rare day off after evicting the Galra from Earth. His back is a mottled, pale mess. “Hermano,” she hisses, pulling him aside when his team isn’t watching. They all have scars, faint little nicks and tallies of days they’ve lived to tell the tale of their victory, but none like that. “What’s your back from? Why didn’t you tell any of us about it?” He’d had time, certainly, more than enough time in the hospital after he nearly died yet again.

Lance merely shrugs. “Coran was going to get hurt. I had to do something about it,” he tells her in that simple way of his, head snapping back around to stare at Pidge as she cackles something crude from the waves. Veronica watches him go, teeth gritted together and brow furrowed in concern because she can’t help but feel like she’s just missed something important. She knows just as well as anybody about the merits of sacrificing for the team, but there’s a fault lying in Lance’s shiny flash of a grin—a grin that, if she remembers correctly, used to be brighter—as he runs to tackle his teammate into the surf. Try as she might, Veronica can’t seem to find it and is left with nothing but the memory of her brother without a lion, ready to meet his maker.

Krolia pretends that she doesn’t notice, is completely oblivious to the way her son’s fingers are too tight—strained—around the controls of his fighter. There is a fear there she’s yet to uncover, and attempts to do so with subtle prods at his team, as her status as a Blade leaves her prone to do. She is met only with the occasional confused stare or bewildered silence over the comms, that she knows they chalk up to her not knowing their patterns as a team. She does not divulge that she has spent her every waking moment memorizing the people who she will inevitably have to entrust Keith to, being sure to correct any flaws she sees in her eagerness to remedy the cracks running through them.

In the cave, with her leader, she smiles at him and lets their time together keep her from shedding a single, undignified tear until they’re far away and Kolivan is fast asleep. Even with all that Keith has grown, she knows there are gaps in him that she’s unable to fill. She merely hopes that someone, anyone, can. If not, she hopes they can keep them from growing wider.

And Lance should be able to.

Keith, as leader, has tried very hard to know his team. To read when they can carry out a mission without a hitch, and when they’re seconds away from falling down a hole far too treacherous for Keith to dig them back out of.

Lance, in particular, he’s kept his eye on. He asks him on Earth, once, if everything’s alright. There’s good reason for the question; when Lance thinks nobody’s watching, his face will fall and his nails dig into his palms with force just shy of enough to draw blood. Lance snaps back to normal with blinding speed. Keith can only blink in surprise as Lance nods. “Course. You know me, mullet, ready for anything the universe decides to throw at us.”

When Keith isn’t happy, he shows it. He closes himself off and uses everything he has to scream comfort away. Usually, it works, with the exception of Shiro. Lance, on the other hand, is a clam with a pearl of hurt he’s desperate to hide, and every time Keith comes knocking, he closes up even tighter. He nods, pretending that Lance has him fooled. “As long as you’re good,” he says casually, and when they talk about their strategy for their next mission, doesn’t make mention of the tightness of Lance’s eyes. In turn, Lance doesn’t mention what Matt confessed to him once, after everybody else had long gone to bed and the two of them were left around the table, reeling from Nacxela.

“Keith, he—he was going to give himself up. He was ready, Lance. If Lotor hadn’t—” Matt had shaken his head. “We’d be down one more man in the fight.”

Lance had lain awake in his bed then, staring up at the ceiling and wondering why, when he thought of making the same sacrifice as Keith, he didn’t mind it so much on him. When had he stopped caring?

Lance hopes, sincerely hopes, that Keith wouldn’t do that again, but he never brings it up again because how can he? He’s such a hypocrite, really.

Keith can only ask himself the same.

One might think they’d break individually. A chip here, a crack there. When one blow after another meant for someone else turns into nightmares that aren’t calmed as easily as they used to be. It’s almost cruel in its irony though, how in sync they’ve always been. Tit for tat, them.

They’re back out in the universe, answering the distress signal of a planet a good few systems away when it happens. An explosion rocks the lions, sends the both of them down for a good few minutes.

They come to eventually, and the battle is hard won.

For Lance, there’s the memory of something almost like a friend floating in front of them, and then searing blackness that ends days later as he stumbles out of a pod. For Keith, there’s the weight of a thousand cuts when all he wants is Shiro.

They meet that night.

Both of them are fresh out of the Garrison med bay, skin like ash and the taste of what had almost been flaky in their mouths. It’s almost eery, the way Lance’s hand slots into Keith’s like it’s the most natural thing in the world, and yet there’s no emotion accompanying the action. It’s all empty, meaningless.

They walk to Lance’s room, sit on his floor and stare at each other, a thousand unsaid almosts hanging between them.

“I can’t do this,” Keith whispers first. Lance—never still, never motionless—has his fingers drumming lightly on his thigh.

“Yeah?” he murmurs. The utterance is neither approval nor condemnation.

It’s a nice thing that Keith can’t be bothered asking for either. He doesn’t even respond.

“You never realize how close death is until it won’t leave you alone. I thought I was okay with that, as long as everyone was safe.” Lance sighs. His fingers haven’t stopped moving. A pause. “You think we’d be better at this whole heart to heart thing. I mean, it’s not like we’re hiding how hard it is to care when you think you’re helping the team.”

Keith huffs a laugh that smacks of fire and their fellow paladins screaming through the comms. A beat.

“What do you think the Garrison will say?”

It’s like that, drained and so fucking tired of the constant fear and wondering which goodbye will be the last, that Keith doesn’t even have to ask for him to clarify. “They’ll be mad. Yell at us about it.”

Lance nods.

It’s so weird, how not caring turns into the only thing that matters being the not caring, and then everything starts to matter so much. It’s so weird how death gets a wave and a slap on the back when it passes by, but when it arrives with purpose, that’s something to fear.

“Haven’t we done enough yet?” Lance asks, standing like the conversation’s over now that the unsaid decision is mostly said. He takes his shirt off and strips down to his boxers, not bothering with any of his skincare as he crosses to the bed and rubs his hands over his eyes.

Keith follows his lead but keeps his top on. Lance holds up the covers for him to slip under.

It’s not the first time they’ve done this, exactly, but before it’s always been with a kiss and some kind of lightness between them. Holding onto each other’s shoulders as the lights flick off just feels like it’s all there’s left to do now.

The discussion doesn’t stop. “It’ll never be enough. There’s always another battle to fight,” Keith responds, voice lacking inflection.

Lance nods. “Wanna’ ignore the alarm?”

Keith shrugs. “Shiro’ll be mad.”

Before, that might’ve meant no. Lance sighs, closing his eyes and ignoring the tickle of Keith’s hair on his cheek. It’s gotten shaggier since being with Krolia. Keith thinks of what his mother would say should she know that he has so little left to give now.

“I’m glad you’re with me tonight,” Lance says. Keith smiles from above his head. There’s a little flicker of love in that, but to feel it in full force is too exhausting. A little love is good. Between the two of them, a little means there’s at least some semblance of realization when it’s too much. That’s important to them right now.

“Me too,” Keith responds.

They’re tired, and the sound of their heartbeats together is a perfect lullaby. Tomorrow will be a beast, surely, telling the Garrison that they can’t keep going, that they need a break. Just for now though, in the space between heartbeats, it’s okay to pretend like nothing is waiting for them in the morning.

[ahumanintraining]

we used to talk all night He knows he shouldn’t, but he calls Adam anyway. — adashi

notes: we don’t even know the dude but i got obsessed. sorry. [ao3 link]

Shiro’s hand hovers over the name displayed on the screen, the blue hologram light flickering over his fingertips.

Weeks before take-off, as the spaceship was in preparation for travel to Kerberos, he was allotted only one contact to put on file for video calls throughout expedition. At the time, it wasn’t difficult for Shiro to provide just a single contact, and he did not hesitate once — rattling off a long-since-memorized SLD code addressed straight to Adam.

Of course, this was before their last goodbye.

Now, as everyone else on the ship retreats to their cabins to talk to their family or friend or significant other over video, Shiro finds himself unable to call any of those — after all, what is Adam? A best friend he no longer talks to? A classmate he graduated with? A co-pilot he no longer works with? A stranger he used to know?

Shiro sighs heavily. He knows he shouldn’t call him, but there’s a tear gnawing at the center of his chest that he can’t take anymore. He thinks anything is better than this uncertainty, this non-closure — he’d take even another full and complete break, just so that he can let go of this hopeful thinking that has been distracting him from the mission since leaving ground.

He closes his eyes and lets his fingers touch Adam’s name.

The dial tone starts, and Shiro’s heart starts thrumming in panic, regretting his actions immediately.

Shut it off. Hang up. He’s not going to pick up. He’s not going to want to talk at all.

What is he even thinking — trying to call him after he chose the stars over him?

But then the screen opens up — and when Shiro sees his familiar brown eyes, rimmed by the same dorky rectangular glasses, he almost bursts into tears.

“Adam,” he calls out, a dense ball at the back of his throat. His voice clips off at the end of Adam’s name.

It’s still hard for him to accept he can’t call him by any other name — not babe, not love, not honey, nothing his heart wants to call him.

“Hey Takashi,” Adam greets him, saying his name in the way that always made his stomach flutter ever since Adam first ever said it.

Adam has a small smile on his face, and for the first time, Shiro doesn’t know what it means.

“Hey,” Shiro croaks. He swallows slowly. “How’s it going?”

“I should be asking you that,” Adam snorts. “Things are the same as ever at the Garrison. The incoming class of pilots just arrived, and boy, do they need help.”

Shiro laughs softly. “Cut them some slack. I don’t think we were much different when we first came to the Academy.”

Adam also laughs. “I guess,” he agrees. He chooses not to reminisce about their past. “The mission’s going well, I presume? That’s how you’re still able to talk to me, I suppose. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have time to make a call.”

Shiro thinks Adam might be reminding him about the last time Shiro shot himself up in space for a mission — he hadn’t returned a single call until the day he was landing — but he knows thinking that is too optimistic.

Adam has moved on, and Adam doesn’t want to discuss a single moment of their past.

“Yeah, it’s actually going great,” Shiro finally answers. “We’re actually a little ahead of schedule. Commander Holt’s got me on payload management — which is a lot more responsibility than I expected. I thought he’d just keep me as solely the navigational specialist.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” Adam replies, almost flatly.

“Shiro?” a loud voice calls outside of his cabin. “Sorry to interrupt — we have to do some reconnaissance before Main shuts off communications for their night-cycle.”

“Got it. No problem,” Shiro immediately responds. He whips his head back to face Adam. “Sorry,” he apologizes. “I have to—"

“That’s fine, I heard. You’re busy,” Adam says quickly. “Thanks for calling.”

“Yeah.” Shiro holds his breath. “Thanks for picking up.”

“Yeah, bye,” Adam finishes. “I don’t want to hold you up from your duties. Hear from you soon.”

He doesn’t say ‘I love you.’

Shiro doesn’t either.

Shiro doesn’t call Adam the next day.

He decides to wait another day-night cycle before reaching out again. Of course, it’s a long twenty-four hours, but Shiro knows that Adam likes nothing less than clingy ex-boyfriends.

Adam had told him about all these past exes.

That must have been when Adam thought Shiro wasn’t going to be one.

Ultimately when Shiro does call Adam, he doesn’t pick up.

Adam calls back in the middle of the ship’s night-cycle with apologies, but Shiro doesn’t have much to say to him anyway.

“How’s it going?”

“The new class is improving, slowly but surely. You?”

“We’re still making good time. We’ve accelerated to about 30 percent max speed now, so we should be settling into hypersleep next week, assuming there aren’t any obstacles that prevent us from attaining steady state.”

“That’s awesome.”

“Yeah.”

Adam looks off to the side, smiling and waving at someone beyond the screen.

It’s a genuine smile — one that Shiro hasn’t seen in what feels like years.

“Hey, sorry. I gotta go,” Adam says. “I’ll catch you later.”

“Okay.”

This time, they don’t even say goodbye.

Calls back to Earth grow shorter and less frequent.

Shiro used to think of Adam at least five times a day.

Funny things would happen while on board, and Shiro would automatically remember them just to share the experience with Adam — only to remind himself that Adam wouldn’t care very much for his stories any longer.

He’d have a glimpse of a faraway planet he used to only imagine through a telescope lens and he would be elated his childhood dreams of seeing it so close and in person, separated by just the insulated quartz glass of a small round window, were coming true — only to remember that these dreams were the reason Adam wasn’t in his life anymore.

Eventually Shiro learns to not think of Adam very much.

Adam only appears in his dreams, and his name remains untouched on Shiro’s screen.

Two days before the ship flies completely out of range for video call transmission to Earth, Shiro decides to call Adam — for maybe the very last time in a very long time.

Adam doesn’t pick up.

He doesn’t pick up the next day either.

Call failed, his screen reads to him.

A few minutes before all communication with Earth is lost, Shiro stands in front of the video call screen, his hand hovering over a single name flickering on the monitor.

He closes his eyes, and he doesn’t let his fingers touch Adam’s name.

The next time he opens his eyes, he sees white-and-black static — the ship has moved completely past range of transmission — and Shiro convinces himself that he missed his last chance at reconnecting, hesitating at the choice to press the button.

But it’s a lie he tells himself. Because he knows that even if the ship was still able to connect, Shiro wouldn’t hear from Adam anyway.