#SIBOTM spoilers

[sexisbetteronthemoon]

Kosmos perspective this chapter was so cool! Could we get a know a little more about its thoughts throughout the fic? Why did it follow Lance? Does it have any opinions on the constant will they/won’t they between Keith and Lance?

thank you! i loved writing it! 🥹❤️

there's really not that much to kosmo's thoughts up to this point. it gains insight via scent and body language (and specifically with Keith and Lance, tone of voice), as that is how its species communicates. 

it learns what words mean by observing (and given its intelligence and excellent memory, doesn't require much more than a couple of times of repetition) such as seeing Lance respond to “Princess” and Keith to “Mountain Man” and “Mr. Blade”. in that same vein tho, kosmo can tell that Lance calls Keith “Mountain Man” affectionately and “Mr. Blade” when he's serious/angry. so while it has yet to understand all words they use, it gets the gist given how they act/smell and picks up on repeated words/actions, especially when combined. (yes, this does mean kosmo has the ability to learn languages to some extent, tho not to speak them, it doesn't have those vocal cords.)

the answer to why it followed Lance is the same as to why everything on the planet follows Lance. why it stayed tho is also quite simple. Lance is loving and affectionate, and kosmo is alone and would not survive without a pack to protect it (baby! it's a baby!!!), given there's much bigger things out there (remember the giant semi-deaf cat? not the only thing out there.)

it doesn't have much of an opinion right now, given it's a baby (i'd put it at around 3/4 planet red months of age, so its worries are relatively simple and mostly revolve around immediate needs and wants.) it's always observing Lance and Keith for how it's supposed to be reacting to any new situation and reacts accordingly. it's only just starting to develop its personality, too, figuring out what it likes, dislikes, and what it's willing to put up with. in addition, kosmo is starting to pay much more attention to Lance and Keith personally, so we'll be seeing more of kosmo giving its opinion.

as for the situation between klance, since kosmo is still in early stages of learning (think 3/4 year old), all it knows is that Keith isn't taking Lance as his mate even tho it can smell that he wants to. (incidentally, as it's still learning, this is why it was frightened by Keith when he shifted. it was the first time Keith had ever done that, and he was putting out really aggressive (and horny) pheromones. the only reason kosmo didn't attack him is bc Lance was so calm and picked it up.)

it's also coming to its own conclusions on what's going on (right now it believes both Keith and Lance joined up together bc they lost their packs like kosmo did, tho we know that's not true, and that's got to do with why Keith is so bad about being a good pack member.)

but long story short, kosmo is incredibly unimpressed with Keith. he loves Keith! but whenever Lance is unhappy with his actions, he loses points. it thinks Keith could do better as a pack leader, and its trying to teach Keith to be a good pack member in its own way.

as for Lance, kosmo just loves him, completely and utterly. all the points for Lance. 1000/10, it would change nothing about him.

uh, i hope this answered your questions? feel free to follow up! ☺️

[sexisbetteronthemoon]

quick meme for sex is better on the moon bc i couldn't stop thinking about it

[sexisbetteronthemoon]

Is there any lore/world building in ur au that won’t be brought up in the the fic but is still a fun fact u can share?

thanks for asking, i'm delighted to answer!  i've been trying to incorporate as much as i can of the world through Keith's observations, but hmm well here's a few fun facts off the top of my head since i had too much coffee and am not getting any sleep anytime soon:

the planet is always trying to kill Keith in one form or another, and still, Keith loves it there.

there's mermaids!  they're not like the mermaid planet in vld.  to provide a comparison in human evolution terms, these are barely evolving from advanced australopithecus to homo erectus (they could still deviate into something else).  they're almost as smart as ravens and can use tools and mostly avoid surface waters bc there's often tidal waves that can sweep them out and strand them to dry out and die.  Keith has not yet discovered them.

the smartest animal on the planet is actually Kosmo's species!  they do not speak, but use body language and scent/chemo signals to communicate.  Kosmo is very confused as to why its adoptive parents do not understand it unless it's yelling at them (barking/growling/whining).  it'll get the gist eventually, it's still baby.  bonus:  the blink dogs can convert the radiation from the crystal fields into energy!  it's how they survive on such little food.  but like some animals, it needs more than one type of “food” to survive.

speaking of the crystal fields, there's more creatures there, including a few plants.

the desert is cold, yet dry/arid.  it's not uncommon for it to snow there in winter (just an inch or two), but the snow melts and evaporates pretty quickly.  Keith is actually a little afraid of this place because of the sandwalkers.  “the elephants of the desert”, they're simultaneously large and hard to see bc they're thin with four limbs and capable of flattening to burrow slightly in the sand to blend in.  they move silently and walk very slowly to conserve energy unless they've spotted prey, and everything that moves is prey.  they produce a kind of silk web they use to travel during wind storms bc they're very light.  they're also not very good eating, so most predator animals don't bother with them.  (if you're picturing a walking stick bug at around 11 ft long, you've got it!)

rock worms are based on the creatures in Tremors movies!  (which someone already figured out in the comments on that chapter, way to go!)  they differ from cave worms in that rock worms only eat rock and burrow into it.  cave worms eat excrement and apparently Lance's jumpsuit as well.

it was an earthquake that separated Kosmo from its family.  many died, but there were some survivors.  this will not become a problem until Kosmo is an adult, and thus beyond the story's end.  i may write a short one shot about it later on if anyone's interested.  in that same vein, i will likely ask before the last chapter, or after, if anyone has unresolved questions curiosities, etc. and i'll answer or make one shots about it once the main story is over.

the red light refraction is caused by a ginormous red crystal that lays in the path of the sun to cover the mountain range where Keith lives and hundreds of miles around it.  it can actually be seen from the ground level if you go up a tall tree (it is always visible from the mountain).  it's very big.  and yes, this does mean there there are places on Planet Red where redset doesn't occur and there's normal sunsets.  there's also places where there's redrises.

Allura met Lance's mother when she visited a beach on Earth (on a diplomatic mission to include Earth in the space council after the war) and she absolutely snuck away from her guards and party to hit on her while she was working, but ended up embarrassing herself and thought she'd ruined her chance.  but it made Lance's mother laugh and it completely won her over bc Lance's mom loves to laugh.

on the subject of the war, zarkon did not live thousands of years.  mofo died a regular ass death (as did honerva) and his descendants carried on the war for ages until an armistice was reached.

Planet Red used to be mostly covered in water until massive earthquakes and continental shifts brought land up and emptied the water out into oceans and seas.  this was hundreds upon thousands of years ago, however.  there is also a caldera beneath the jungle which keeps it warm.

the sun has a pair but it orbits too distantly to affect Planet Red.  it's a dwarf red and can be seen via telescope in the night sky.  Keith calls it “Little Red” (as in Riding Hood).

there's a mushroom forest with enormous mushrooms and tiny, humanoid fairies closer to the crystal fields, but they're basically wasps and very territorial.  if they sense something is a threat, they swarm, biting and scratching, until it leaves or they're killed.  they make hives in the gills of some mushrooms and are often targeted by birds and other creatures.  they need sodium and glucose and will enthusiastically feed upon blood to get it.  since it's so close to the radiation, Keith doesn't go there often.

once, Keith managed to convince Shiro (takashi as he's called in the fic bc they're blood brothers) that he's adopted bc Shiro doesn't look like either Heath or Krolia.  he does have Heath's chin, but that's it.  he mostly looks like Krolia's father, whom they've never met.  Shiro cried about it and Keith got grounded.  Shiro was just a preteen then.  (Keith was a whole menace and a half when he was kid.)  all three kids used to fight over the control of the big tv and Acxa always won bc she waited for Shiro and Keith to tire each other out before diving in and sitting on them until they surrendered.

“Kogane” isn't Keith's surname!  it doesn't come up at all, but since Shiro is the only one with a surname, i slapped that baby on the whole family.  only Shiro's friends call him as such.  (it felt weird to get rid of the “Shiro” nickname entirely for this fic, so i finagled it to still be possible, just not within his family unless Keith or Acxa is mocking him (as siblings do).

i hope you found these tidbits entertaining!  if you'd like more info, hit me up! ❤️💙