#The fact that pidge was one of my two favorites when I was younger is the icing on the cake

[elkios-god-of-chaos]

Idk what the fuck Pidge from Voltron is but it sure as hell isn’t cisgender

[justmultifandom]

Kidge fall event 2024!!!

Day 2: Pumpkin!

Modern singleparent Keith! AU

Halloween was the most pointless holiday Keith had ever known: he had never seen anything funny about it as a child, and even now, as an adult, he was annoyed by the children who kept ringing his house at 11 p.m. But his daughter Nat adored him. Natalie had had to stay with him for the entire period from his birthday to Thanksgiving that year, because her mother, not his ex-wife, had decided to ditch everything and everyone for a month and go on vacation to Dubai with yet another sexy divorced millionaire lover. It wasn't that Keith didn't enjoy Nat's company, but she was always silent and sullen towards him, perhaps because she had felt abandoned when she was entrusted primarily to the care of her mother, who could give her a lot of money, but would never fill the gaps of indifference that she reserved for her daughter.

This year, however, Keith was going to do things differently: he was going to use the month they were together to fix a pretty bad father-daughter relationship and start with Halloween, her favorite holiday. If Keith hated Halloween, Nat LOVED it: he often received emails from his ex-wife about payments for scary clothes and masks, and flashy decorations, but this year he was going to go with something different. In fact, this morning he had taken some well-deserved vacation time to buy a real pumpkin to carve with her, as soon as she got home from school.

He was walking back and forth between the rows of pumpkins, studying them carefully, looking for the perfect one, but they all had at least one flaw: that one was too small, that one was wormy, this one too pale, another one not ripe enough... It was a tough choice! And then, after 15 minutes of searching, he found THE pumpkin: beautiful, big and fat, shiny. He already imagined it, two carved eyes and a mouth, lit by the dim light of a candle, in the dark of the night, on the terrace, with Nat proud of their work and a huge smile. Yes, it was perfect.

He approached, he was so close, and yet, two hands grabbed it. Keith looked at the woman who had taken, stolen, HIS pumpkin: she was small, younger than him, but not too much, maybe she was still in college or about to graduate, shiny hair, light brown mixed with ash, ash-colored eyes, freckles, glasses, pale skin with a warm tone. She was pretty, without makeup, and with simple oversized winter clothes.

"Did you want it?": the woman asked, looking at him.

"No, you can keep it, it's just a pumpkin after all...": he sighed, surrendering to his fate. She also sighed, offering it to him.

"No, take it, it's just a pumpkin after all, you shouldn't even technically choose..." she shrugged.

"Well, actually every pumpkin in this field is different..."

"Wow, you're an expert? They all look the same to me...": she shook her head.

"No, but I'm just very observant. I was just looking for the perfect pumpkin for my daughter..." he blushed.

"Oh, your daughter will be happy, then. I'm more of a girl who has a good eye for systems and computers...": she nodded.

"You must be very smart, then..."

"Pidge, everyone calls me Pidge"

"Well, Pidge, you seem like a smart girl, I'm sure you don't need to distinguish pumpkins in life" : they chuckled: "I'm Keith, by the way"

She smiled and nodded, but her phone started to vibrate, she took it, opened it and then closed it again.

"I have to go now, Keith, but it was a pleasure": she picked up a pumpkin not far away: "I have some work to do, and I wouldn't want your wife or girlfriend to find me around..."

"I don't have either of those, so you can rest easy about that last one, Pidge...": he smiled.

"Okay, that's fine, Keith": she giggled, then waved her hand: "See you around, then..."

She smiled once more, looking at him, then she left for the register. Keith smiled too, feeling somehow different: usually with strangers it took a long time to open up, but instead, with her he immediately felt at ease. Perhaps the only person he had felt this way with was Nat, and once, also his ex-wife. Since they separated he had never dated anyone else and had not been in a relationship for years. He looked at his pumpkin again, turning it around to see if there were any dents he hadn't seen before, and found, to his surprise, a green business card.

"K-12 Math and Science Tutoring by Katie Pidge Holt"

With her phone number and email.

Oh, shit.

[inspirashion]

Your turn! Tell me about your favorite head canon or AU that you’ve been wanting to write or are most excited about but haven’t had the time/energy/whatever to actually get too.

*Clears throat*

Well, let's start with Kidge stuff.

One of the AUs I have planned is a short featuring their sons - Kelsey (11) and Kameron (9). Some Galran rebels kidnapped them as a way to get back at the Paladins and use them as bargaining chips. However, the children are rather savage like their parents (probably even worse) and the kidnappers end up begging the parents to take them back. But throughout all this, Keith and Pidge tear through the universe trying to find their children, leaving behind a trail of destruction in their wake.

Eldritch. This one is about eldritch beings living in what humans call The Forest of Abominations. It shows how the two races view each other - Eldritch beings view humans as monsters that they should stay away from, and that the lands outside of their forest is dangerous while the reverse is also true. Keith is a half-eldritch that lives with his mother and pet wolf, and he ended up stumbling upon Pidge, who's craft had crashed into the forest. Seeing how tiny she was, Keith thought she was a baby and took her home. When all is said and done, Keith helps Pidge to return to Plaht, but the journey is far from easy. I have most of this planned out with my co-writer, just need to put the flesh on and stuff.

Destined. This is a dimension-hopping fic. Somehow, at the end of a really rough battle, the Green Lion went offline and a dimensional rift had opened up nearby to her. Not wanting to lose her, Keith tried to save her, but failed. They end up in alternate dimension -as a matter of fact, they keep ending up in multiple dimensions before they find themselves back home. In each of these, they encounter their alternate selves -normal college students, celebrities, entrepreneurs, police officers, and of course, chaos, hilarity and shitstorms ensue. The reason this one isn't really written yet, my co-writer and I just can't decide which Lion Keith will be piloting. We love him in Red, but Black is so badass too...

The Sword and Shield. We've worked out roughly all of the major plot points, since it's a Shield Hero AU with lots of twists. Instead of Lions, its the Bayards and these weapons choose their wielders, no matter where they are in the world. Like Shield Hero, this world has to deal with the Waves of Catastrophe and the Bayards are the only things that can vanquish them. Altea is still standing, and Zarkon was never an evil asshole.

For the Naruto AUs

Transtemporal. his one is the second installment of our Displacement series, and a Time Travel (yes, total sucker for that trope) but the catch is, Kakashi died in the Pein attack and even though he woke up in the past, he woke up in his father's - Sakumo Hatake -body. Of course, he decides to give his younger self the childhood he wished he had, somehow managed to rope in Orochimaru and stop him from falling into that dark place, and deal with his younger self falling for Obito, and just, try to change the shit future he had.. Like, I'm super excited about this one. I've never seen this been done before, and I wanna see how well it'll turn out!

Moonlit Haze (name subject to change). This is a Sakumo/Kaguya fic, in which Kaguya O. is Kakashi's mother. Of course, the whole Naruto canon gets thrown through the damn window. Pairing is of course, ObiKaka

I think on these shits every day and while I manage to scribble down some stuff about them, to actually get writing...I haven't gotten the chance to. Plus, I gotta the characters in these AUs before I actually describe them in the fic....so Hopefully next year.

And thanks so much for the ask! As soon as I get some better breathing space, I'll be popping up in your DM! XD

[justsomevoltronstuff]

youngest paladin hcs? (im a few months younger than pidge and shes 15) found family is my FAVORITE concept, so i just imagine them being protective ya know?

ASDFGHJKL okay so I ADORE found family (bc I have that so it’s more than a concept for me)

Shiro

the tired dad™ for all of the paladins

obviously even more dad-ish toward you

literally full on adopts you

gives everyone that so much as looks at you the scariest death glare ever

would absolutely murder someone for you in a heartbeat

is so so sweet and caring towards you tho

absolutely adores you

you and the team have yet to figure out if you’re like a child or younger sibling to him bc it could go either way most days

basically super protective and super gentle

Lance

minor youngest child syndrome

like he's got a big family back home, he knows all about being the youngest of the siblings

he’s used to being the youngest and takes his role as an older brother figure too seriously sometimes

defo does stupid things and then looks at you and says “don’t ever do that”

it kinda started out as you reminded him of his family

he always thought you’d fit in so well in his household

but then he actually formed a sibling like bond with you and it’s no longer some weird way of imitating his life back home

does not realize you are not his actual sibling

Hunk

defo the favorite sibling

deadass, big brother extraordinaire if there ever was one

teaches you how to cook

also teaches you family recipes his mom, dad, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins taught him

protective but in a “I’ll stay with you” kinda way

is the one that makes sure you get enough to eat and actually do all the basic necessities humans require to stay alive

does not necessarily like the fact that you’re a paladin and put yourself in danger just like the rest of them

absolutely treats you like his younger sibling through and through

Keith

you’re not sure if he actually likes you or not

taught you how to sharpen and throw knives

also taught you proper sword etiquette

“So you don’t accidentally cut your own arm off.”

props his arm on your head and uses you as a freaking post to lean against

also booping your nose or pinching your sides or something along those lines bc he knows it annoys you but also makes you laugh

says “take this seriously.” while tickling you during a paladin meeting

doesn’t seem like he cares but defo scares anyone and everyone that so much as breathes in your vicinity

Pidge

is the second youngest and closest in age to you so the two of you are never up to good

so many pranks pulled on the other paladins

tries so hard to act like a big sister

fails so miserably and tends to act more like a twin or cousin

never gets blamed when you two get in trouble

so many shenanigans really

All

treats you like a kid and often forgets you’re not

they’re all so frickin protective of you for sure

takes turns “babysitting” you during battles

(as in they’ll watch your six and take care of any bad guys they dub too close to you)

are also just really annoying sometimes, bc what siblings aren’t

they truly mean well, but sometimes go overboard

they just don’t want anything to happen to you

can and will tease the everloving life out of you but does not appreciate you teasing yourself

you joked about being nothing more than the teams mascot once and got an hour and forty three minute long lecture from almost all of them about how you are IN FACT a very important part of Team Voltron

was finally busted out of said lecture by Keith, who wanted to hear it about as much as you did

you’re their sibling, and they’re your siblings, you couldn’t imagine a life without them in it

when y’all get back to earth, the paladins try to set up a “shared custody” plan before remembering you have a family back on earth as well, you’re not just some stray dog they can keep

[voyager-into-the-unknown]

This is Part of a Plance fanfic series that I have been writing. Matt, Pidge, and Lance are going to play some Killbot Phantasm in this one.

Chapter 7: An Evening with the Holts

Lance and Pidge descended the staircase and returned to the dining room. Matt was there with the pizza, and Colleen had reheated the leftovers from lunch. After everyone settled down to eat dinner, there was a lengthy discussion of the Defenders project, most of it too technical for Lance to understand, but he still followed the gist of it. Pidge had taught him a great deal about science and technology over the years, so Lance wasn’t completely lost, and he was greatful for that fact.

There was also much reminiscing about their shared fondness for Shiro. Matt told stories of his involvement with the Rebellion, and Lance and Pidge told tales of the Paladins’ many adventures. Sam even had some interesting stories to tell about Pre-Kerebos space missions, and about life at the Garrison in Sam and Colleen’s younger days. Apparently when they were cadets, they knew of several different ways to sneak out of the Garrison Academy to have little mischievous escapades with their friends and not get caught.

“Oh, so that’s where Pidge gets it from,” said Matt, giving his sister a knowing look.

“Well, if you think of it, that’s how our adventures really got started,” Pidge replied. “I used to go out into the desert with the scanning equipment that I built in order to listen to top secret radio communication signals.”

“Which is illegal,” Sam added.

“Yeah, But Hunk and I caught her doing that one night.” Lance smirked.

“Oh, goodness! Did you turn her in?” Colleen asked.

“Of course not,” said Pidge. “Lance was always sneaking out of the dorms to go into town in search of pizza, girls, and astronauts, and not necessarily in that order. That’s probably what he was doing that night, am I right?”

Lance looked guiltily at her. “Well, yes, but I decided to follow you instead...”

Matt interrupted him, “And look where that led you.”

“We became Paladins of Voltron that night,” Pidge said.

“Oh. I was thinking more in terms of pizza, girls, and astronauts,” Matt said, and they laughed at his remark.

“Well, I am having pizza with these two lovely ladies and two genuine astronauts right now, so you can’t blame a man for living his dream,” Lance quipped. There was more laughter.

“That was the night of the U.F.O. crash. Shiro had returned to earth in a stolen Galra ship,” Pidge explained.

“Hunk wanted to go back inside before we got caught,” Lance added.

“But I wanted a closer look,” Pidge said.

“And I ran after her, of course. Hunk thought we were both insane, but he followed us anyway.”

“Hunk still thinks that both of you are insane,” Matt remarked. “But I’m glad he followed you. Someone had to keep you two out of trouble.”

“According to Shiro, that’s practically impossible,” Sam said with a chuckle.

Pidge smiled. “We actually met Shiro that night. Keith was trying to rescue him.”

“Hey, I was trying to rescue him too!” Lance said, unconvincingly. “Everything was going great until we all got on Keith’s hover bike and he drove us off the side of a cliff.”

Sam and Matt thought this was very funny.

“Who taught Keith how to drive that thing?” Matt asked.

“Shiro, of course!” Sam chortled.

Colleen looked horrified. “You all could have been killed!” She turned to her daughter. “Young lady, I should have grounded you even longer.”

After supper, Matt, Lance, and Pidge volunteered to clean up the dining room and feed Bae Bae while Sam was watching a favorite television program in the living room. Colleen went to check on the laundry. As they were finishing up, Pidge asked Matt if he wanted to play Killbot Phantasm with them.

“Neither of you has made it to level 36 yet, so you want my help, don’t you?” Matt asked, already knowing the answer.

“Maybe,” said Pidge.

When Pidge had finally convinced her brother to play the game with them, Lance grabbed the white bag from the sideboard and some cold drinks before following Pidge and Matt upstairs. He then helped Pidge set up the Mercury Gameflux II while Matt said in the chair by his sister’s desk.

“How many times have you two played that game?”

“Hundreds,” said Lance.

“You’ve had hundreds of video game dates with my sister? Alone in your room in your pajamas with my baby sister?”

“Matt—“ Pidge sounded annoyed.

“It was perfectly innocent,” Lance reassured him.

“Then why exactly do they call you Loverboy Lance? How many girls have you seduced in those Paladin Pajamas?” Matt asked.

“Matt, stop it!” Pidge was beginning to get really annoyed.

Just then, Colleen came upstairs with a basket of laundry.

“Matt, is this one of yours, sweetheart? Your father says it isn’t his.” She held up a light blue button-down dress shirt. Lance couldn’t hide his telltale blush.

“That’s Lance’s, Mom.” Pidge explained, a bit pink-cheeked. “There was a stain on it, so I put it in the wash for him.” Well, that wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Thanks, Mrs. Holt.” Lance said. He took off his sweater and began buttoning up his freshly-laundered shirt over his T-shirt. Colleen left, but not without raising her eyebrows and exchanging glances with Matt in such a way that said keep an eye on those two.

Matt looked at Katie’s bed. “Your covers are a bit wrinkled. What exactly were you two doing up here unchaperoned?”

“We had chaperones. Bae Bae and my trash nebula pets were with us.” The green and blue trash floofs trilled as if to affirm that statement.

“I was playing the guitar,” Lance said, pulling his sweater back on, “Pidge and I were singing a song that I’ve been working on.” Lance’s guitar was still leaning against one wall.

“Trying to serenade her, huh? Pretty slick. Loverboy is trying to put the moves on you, Katie.”

Pidge looked furious. “Matt, stop it! Lance wrote a song for me, and we were singing it together, and it was actually quite beautiful. Mom and Dad even came up here to listen and they loved it.”

“Okay, okay. Truce. I am sorry that you are so easy to tease.”

Pidge made a face at her brother, then turned to her boyfriend. “Lance, I hope you don’t have to deal with this sort of thing back home.”

“Well, I do have four older siblings instead of just one, so it’s actually much, much worse,” Lance confessed.

Matt cackled. “Well, that makes me look forward to meeting my future in-laws even more. When are you two getting married?”

Pidge glared at her brother. “I should have left you in space.”

“Yeah, But then you wouldn’t be getting these cheat codes. You are both up to level 34, right?”

Pidge sighed. “Yes.”

“Okay, well, you each get a turn to play against me. If I win, you have to answer a few very personal questions for me, and I will give you one of the codes as a reward.”

“Is this some kind of fiendish torture you learned as a Galra prisoner?” Pidge asked.

Lance moaned. “He’s worse than Veronica.”

Matt grimaced like the maniacal host of Garfle Warfle Snick. “Let the game begin!”

Pidge went first. There were some very intense moments in which she nearly beat her brother, and Lance cheered her on the entire time. In the end, however, Matt won. Pidge groaned.

Matt grimaced. “Okay, it is my understanding that you have owned those two fuzzy trash parasites since you were fifteen years old, but you have never revealed their names to anyone. My question is this: what are the secret names of your two trash nebula pets?”

Pidge covered her face. “No, Matt.” She was blushing.

“I’ve actually been wondering about that myself,” Lance admitted.

“Answer the question if you want those cheat codes.”

“Fine. The green one is named Pidgeon.”

“You named a trash parasite after yourself?” Lance couldn’t contain his laughter. “I’m beginning to like this game.”

“But what’s the blue one’s name?” Matt insisted.

“Let’s play another round.”

“Answer the question, Pidge. You want to get to level 36, don’t you?”

She sighed. “Okay, fine. His name is....” She would not make eye contact with either of them. “Lancelot.”

Lance and Matt erupted in a fit of laughter. Lance wiped away a tear, “Aw...that’s so sweet...I’ve never had a garbage poof named after me before.”

“Garbage poof?!” Matt laughed so hard that he nearly fell off of his chair.

“Hey! He’s a cute little garbage poof,” said Lance, giving the creature a little pat. It trilled happily.

“I hate you both.”

“And we both know that’s not true. Your turn, Loverboy.”

Matt made quick and easy work out of beating Lance, much to his embarrassment. But Lance dreaded what came next even more.

“Okay. Your question is this: what exactly are your intentions toward my little sister? Because if you are trying to seduce her and make her just another one of your conquests...”

“Matt, stop it! You have gone to far!”

“No, I’ll answer the question.” Lance said. “First of all, Even though I have flirted with a lot of girls, I don’t have any ‘conquests’ to speak of, and I have never thought of women in such a degrading way. Secondly, Pidge and I have been Paladins and best friends for three years, and I have the highest amount of love and respect for her.” Pidge smiled at him proudly. “Thirdly, both of us are in our first serious relationship, but we know that we are totally committed to each other and have even discussed our future together. A future that will hopefully include marriage and a children of our own, who I am sorry to say, won’t be named Pidgeon or Lancelot.” Pidge began to smirk. Matt was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

“I don’t think we’ll name any of them Kaltenecker either.” was Pidge’s deadpan addition.

“Aw, I thought Lance Kaltenecker McClain, Jr. would make a great name for our first child.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Pidge said before she finally collapsed in a fit of giggles.

Matt roared with laughter. He gave them all of the cheat codes after that.

Then Matt was finally silent, smiling to himself as they made it to level 36 to beat the final boss. They took on the challenge together, working together exactly as Paladins of Voltron should. As when operating the giant mecha’s right and left arm, the sword and shield of Voltron, they were unbeatable. When it was over, they high-fived each other.

“Team Plance does it again!” Lance kissed her.

Matt cheered. “We should celebrate.”

“I have already thought of that.” Lance said as he opened the white bag.

“Peanut butter cookies! I knew it!” Pidge exclaimed.

“Hunk’s special recipe.”

“I owe you both an apology,” Matt admitted. “I was just being an overprotective big brother, and I was really wrong about you, Lance.”

“No hard feelings. If I had a little sister as awesome as yours I would probably be overprotective as well.”

“A toast, then, to the garbage poofs! Or maybe to my sister and future-brother-in-law!” Matt proclaimed. “Here’s to Pidgeon and Lancelot!”

They clinked their bottles together, and then Pidge said, “We are definitely naming one of them after you.”

“One of your future kids?” Matt asked, flattered.

“No, the next garbage poof I decide to adopt.”

Lance nearly choked on his peanut butter cookie.

[cabbagebender]

Keith? Oh and Hunk?

Ahh, thanks for the ask! From this headcanon ask game:

Hunk

Age:

Supplementary canon: 17 - 18 in Seasons 1-6, 18-19 in Seasons 7-8.

Headcanon: I take the birthdays and ages in the Paladin Handbook as if the book were written on January 1st, so Hunk is only three months younger than pre-space whale Keith, and he's closer in age to (psw) Keith than to Lance.

Ethnicity:

Supplementary Canon: Half Samoan, half African-American.

Headcanon: Samoan on his dad's side, African-American on his mom's. Yes, I have his entire family figured out. They were relatively major characters in a fic I was hyperfixated on writing for a few months.

Gender:

Sure!

Which is to say, I've entertained pretty much every gender headcanon there is for Hunk except cis girl.

Mental Health:

Anxiety

I've considered Hunk as having ADHD before

Physical Health:

I saw a colorblind headcanon for Hunk once and like, I can get behind that?

Also, I think it'd be tragically amusing if Hunk had a food allergy that piSSED him oFF because it keeps getting in the way of him trying dishes he really wants to try

Orientation:

Bi/Pan (I go back and forth on which label I use for him, but the sentiment remains the same – all genders)

Most of the time I headcanon him as someone who, well, doesn't necessarily actively identify as arospec, but acknowledges that he has NO idea how to differentiate between romantic and platonic attraction. He just? loves people? Once the other person is like "this is what our relationship is" it's a lot easier for him to then develop his feelings along the appropriate track, but like, for example, if Pidge, his best friend who he has a 100% platonic relationship with and has never wanted anything different from, was suddenly like "hey, i wanna date you!" he probably would be like "yeah, okay, sure, we can try that!" (he might be confused because Pidge hasn't historically been romantically attracted to people. But if he was convinced she was serious). And that's not because he's secretly harboring romantic feelings for her, he's just sort of down for developing romantic feelings for any of his most special people at a moment's notice – OR for nurturing a hearty platonic love that can never be broken.

I have written him as more alloromantic, though – but he always values his friendships as much as his romances.

Poly Hunk poly Hunk poly Hunk P O L Y

(The Hunk-and-Allura polycule is one of my favorite little brain things, borne out of the fact that I keep shipping those two with the same people)

Religious Background and Current Beliefs

Protestant Christian to both of the above, of the "be generous and love thy neighbour" variety

Keith

Age:

Supplementary canon: 18-19 in S1-5, 21 in S6-8

Ethnicity:

Half Korean-American on his human side.

(In human!AUs, I have him as half Korean-American, half-English-American. The biggest empire in recent history is the British Empire, so I usually make humanized Galra characters English for parallel reasons)

(which is funky bc I've done a LOT of human AUs, which means in my head I sort of think of Keith as mixed white/Korean but in the actual show he's none white)

Gender:

Agender

The hair. It's been growing out for years. It's Keith's (lack of) gender affirmation project.

Sometimes I have them eventually going by K and using they/them pronouns.

Mental Health:

ADHD

Autism

Prosopagnosia (face blindness)

Desperate, desperate need of a therapist

Physical Health:

Lots of fun funky alien biology side effects that made his doctors twitch when he was a supposedly all-human kid:

I've seen headcanons that Keith can't digest vegetables because of his Galra heritage. I'm not sure if I hold that headcanon 100%, because he is still half-human, but I definitely agree that Galra are carnivores (look at the teeth) and Keith is probably malnourished. Even his human parent is big and buff and Keith... is not. If he'd been raised by his dad throughout his childhood maybe he would have grown up beefier and taller (since I'm sure his dad probably at least somewhat understood the Galra diet from having lived with Krolia), buuut his dad died when Keith was prepubescent and then he was in the foster system and... yeah he probably wasn't getting the optimized diet for his particular interspecies genetic makeup.

I like to think that he grew up with a couple of Very Strange Health Conditions that turned out to just be Galra things, like UV vision and two sets of baby teeth and ridges of bone protruding from.his scalp like Acxa has (hello, big poofy bangs to hide that).

Also, any time he had to do a blood test or a urine test at the doctor's it just... did not provide anything resembling useful information.

Doctor: I... don't know what I'm looking at here exactly but we've run the test multiple times and this seems to be your actual blood? How do you have this much iron in your blood?? Maybe eat... less meat?

Hunk, looking at the same results years later, having adjusted for Galra heritage: Keith, you're anemic.

Keith: are you KIDDING me

(see: Keith is malnourished)

Like most real life interspecies hybrids, I think Keith is probably incapable of natural reproduction.

Orientation:

Asexual

Aromantic

But like also sometimes he feels intense things for people that are different from his usual platonic bonds, but the word romantic is all lovey dovey to him and he Can't attach that to the complicated place his feelings are coming from so ??? Is he actually aro?? or does he just have Stuff way too deeply seated to ever process his romantic attraction in a clear and conventional way?? does it make a difference at this point, if the word aro is what's comfortable for him? aka, stuff keith ponders alone in his room at 2:30 in the morning

(If you want my specific headcanons about Who "people" are, it's Allura and Hunk – his hella strong but also kinda messy emotional connection with Allura, where he's just like "I know this is different from every other bond in my life but Please do not ask me to explain idk the Fuck is going on," and the fact that every time Hunk grabs him or picks him up or otherwise manhandles him his brain just shuts down like "oh this is good please continue to make hold" when it SHOULD be going into fight mode the way it would for anyone else)

Religious Background and Current Beliefs

I honestly don't know what Keith's background would be, but I think he's sort of... generally agnostic? Like, he believes in a higher power but not necessarily a sentient one or something to be worshipped. It's more like a big spiritual pulse through the multiverse that connects everything and everyone – fate, but with free will. It's what he taps into to access his nigh psychic abilities, which I've talked about before but maybe not since I made this sideblog so let me know if you want me to make a post about that.

[echodrops]

Home and Half Galra Headcanons

I have owed @latransmearnsi this for forever, finally trying to squeeze a few drops of blood minutes out of a stone out of my day to share a whole bunch more worldbuilding Galra headcanons connected to my fic Home and a Half.

How long do Galra live?

I know the show was all about Alteans living hundreds of years compared to humans, but then considering that plot line was promptly dropped and never brought up again, and the fact that Zarkon and co. are the only Galra implied to have lived for 10,000 years due to the power of the rift, I’m just going to go with Galra living slightly but not much longer than humans. In fact, since it was never clear if Coran’s comment about years meant 600 Earth years or 600 Altean years, I’ve elected to just go with the idea of Altean years being notably shorter than Earth years. And since Altea and Daibazaal are in the same system in my personal headcanon--more on this later--they share somewhat similar year lengths. Altea’s years are 8 Earth months long, and Daibazaal’s are 10. Of the three species, Alteans live the longest (max about 150 Earth years), and Galra the second longest (max about 125-130 Earth years).

But this is somewhat a moot point, since military service is mandatory for a huge portion of the adult Galra population, and casualties are high; therefore, most Galra do not live long enough to reach the maximum lifespan.

What are some other traditions or games? 

I think I’ve mentioned two games so far: Renni, which is a card-based game that is similar to both Magic the Gathering/Yugi-Oh and chess (there are multiple types of cards--such as defensive, trap, spell, and attackers--and certain cards are placed in certain locations on a set board. Each card can move in a set way and distance; the objective is to get an attacking card through the enemy’s defenses and traps to strike their “castle”). Although I’m saying “card” here, of course what I mean is paper-thin electronics that project holograms in the shapes of monsters and weaponry.

Renni is a favorite past-time of Prince Lotor, by the way!

A second tradition/game is “Marfeil,” the hunting game children play on their clan day. A high-powered flying device (basically the equivalent of a super-powered Earth drone) is released in a set area, and all the clan’s children are set loose to track, hunt, and capture it. It’s a free-for-all where alliances are made and broken in an instant, and only one kid can make it back victorious with the prize in hand. It’s a test of the children’s athleticism and ability to tenaciously pursue a target. Big bragging rights go to the winner!

In terms of stuff I haven’t talked about before... The Galra battle arena is about as “ancient tradition” as they come, although the violent, horrific battles of Zarkon’s late reign are not what it was always like (just like the gladiatorial fights in Rome were not originally intended to be fights to the death). According to headcanons I wrote earlier, the Galra population was originally divided into autonomous clan groups that were eventually united under a king. However, especially in early centuries, the union of the clans was tenuous at best, and disagreements over territory and resources frequently sparked up into small-scale combat. Originally the arena was founded as a way for clans to do battle with each other in a relatively organized and more civilized manner--the two clans would send representatives who would duel fairly; the winner of the duel would correspondingly “win” the feud for his whole clan.

Eventually, clan feuds died out as power began to accumulate in the hands of the monarchy. Over time, religious views--more on this in a bit too--were altered to promote the kings and queens of Daibazaal as absolute monarchs, invested with the power of the goddess, and the arena took on a new meaning: it became the primary vehicle for choosing Daibazaal’s “champion,” the planet’s strongest fighter, who, once crowned, was appointed the right-hand of the king or queen. (Check out the religious question below for more on the symbolism here.) The champion was entrusted with protecting the lives of the ruling family, and enforcing the monarch’s word as law. It was once am extremely noble and revered position that Galra would train their whole lives hoping to attain, and even to this day, the concept of the “champion” is so engrained in Galra’s cultural consciousness that finding out Shiro is the current champion would absolutely blow Dulsara’s mind and she’d never want to hang out with anyone else ever again.

What determines the treatment of the natives of conquered planets?

This depends on two things: 1) who conquers them and 2) what they’re being conquered for. Although all of Zarkon’s generals and fleets report back to high command, there’s still flexibility in the way they carry out their orders. I.e., ten generals in a galaxy might be given the same order to conquer new systems, but each general might conquer in a different way--some in a bloody massacre and some in a significantly less violent manner. Generals are effectively the rulers of the planets they conquer (until they are called to conquer a new planet, and a viceroy is appointed instead), and therefore each of the conquered planets is ruled uniquely. Many of Zarkon’s generals are hand-picked for their violent, bloodthirsty behavior though, so unfortunately, many conquered peoples are brutally slaughtered or oppressed. There are a few rare situations where the opposite is true, however. In certain cases, Galra intervention has provided planets with lifesaving technologies that improve quality of life for the original inhabitants, leading to a few somewhat mutually beneficial situations.

Likewise, the reasons for occupying a planet also change how the populace is treated. Sometimes planets are conquered merely to eliminate strongholds for allied anti-Galra forces, and the conquered planet itself has no special use for the Galra. In these cases, sometimes nothing more than a single large base is built on the occupied planet, resulting in a situation where Galra occupation doesn’t massively inhibit the original lives of the planet’s people. This was case with the base where Niresh, Dulsara, and Xerci’s families lived--they were a military outpost for moving supplies and information, but the planet itself had no meaning to the Galra and therefore the original inhabitants were mostly left alone unless they attempted to interfere with the operations of the base. On other planet, Galra occupation has prompted important economic revivals that have turned impoverished civilizations into flourishing galactic hubs.

Unfortunately this is not the case everywhere--on planets rich with natural resources that the Galra empire needs, the planet’s original inhabitants are typically enslaved to serve as a workforce to extract the planet’s resources until the planet is no longer valuable; then the inhabitants are rounded up and exported for service elsewhere in the empire.

It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s also not a simple “The Galra are always bad.”

What do Galra eat? Mealtime customs and etiquette?

Galra are mesocarnivores with strong metabolisms. Traditionally their diets consisted of primarily meat proteins (about 60% of their diet was meat and eggs), with the rest being made up of fruits, mushrooms, and what would qualify on Earth as leafy greens. Nowadays, the Galra Empire largely runs on synthetic food goo, which is significantly cheaper and less resource-demanding than actual food and prevents the likelihood of Galra troops ingesting poisonous matter on the wide variety of planets they conquer. Galra stationed in space will pay large amounts of GAC for illicitly traded foodstuffs gathered by those stationed on planets, but food poisoning is alarmingly common because, despite their physical strength, Galra are chemically sensitive to many compounds which are not naturally found in their own star system. The list of things Keith is “allergic” to is actually obnoxiously long; Neuhahn once accidentally sent him into shock by allowing him to eat vanilla ice cream. When he’s in a good state, Keith is the team’s notoriously picky-eater, right up there with Pidge (who has issues with strange textures). Unfortunately, when Keith gets reallyyyy hungry, his thought process usually devolves into: “Nothing I’ve eaten has successfully killed me so far, so I’m sure I’ll survive.” Chomp.

On the other hand, there are some things Galra are not allergic to that would straight up kill humans; fugu fish and deathcap mushrooms are no problem for purple space cats.

One other aside about eating: there are a lot, a lot of mixed Galra in the universe since their DNA (if not their behavior) plays well with other species; generally a mixed Galra will still be sensitive to the same chemical commands that affect full-blooded Galra, but may have slightly different dietary needs. For example, Xerci is a granivore whose diet leans more toward staple grains and plant matter than meat. This actually makes the lives of mixed Galra much harder, as they have to account for their dietary limits as a Galra while also attempting to appease the diet needs of their other species.

In the current Galra Empire, mealtime customs are kind of a thing of the past for most people--soldiers just don’t have the time or energy to make a big fuss over food goo. As the empire spans on and Galra colonies become more and more remote from the source of their own heritage, the complex etiquette of the past is going by the wayside somewhat. Traditionally, Galra coalitions would gather together at mealtimes to eat as a family unit, and proper table manners were drilled into the younger generation by the older members of the family--sit up straight, no elbows on the table, etc. One notable faux pas that is still true today is sharing food directly from your plate to someone else’s. Doing so is a big insult to the cook--because either you didn’t like the food enough to eat it all, or your host didn’t serve their guests properly (Why are you trying to feed someone else? Are you saying I didn’t give them enough?). Because of this, Galra have a reputation among other species for being stingy with food--do not ask your Galra friend for a fry, you won’t get one--but it’s really just a matter of finding it rude not to eat everything that is placed on one’s plate. Keith has never heard of this rule. His habit of pinching from Shiro’s plate is an absolute scandal to the Blade of Marmora.

Table manners among royal families is a Big Deal(tm). Lotor has the rules for silverware on 200 different planets burned into his brain.

What exactly does Galra courtship entail?

Most of the answer to this is “I can’t tell you because spoilers.” But there are some things I can say, chief among which is: at all levels of the social hierarchy, Galra courting is just really, really... different.

In most human societies, the (highly heteronormative) goal is to meet a person, marry them, and raise a family. The opposite is true for Galra: having children isn’t at all tied to being in a couple relationship (there is no baby mama drama in the Galra world), so many of them have children first and then go looking for a permanent life partner later. The basic reason for this is that Galra are a lot more serious about the “’til death do us part” concept than humans are; when they finally settle on a person, that’s it, they’ve settled for the rest of their lives.

I don’t mean this in a soulmates AU kind of way--it’s not “this person I met at 17-years-old is my One True Love” it’s a lot closer to “Wow, I can’t believe it only took me until 52 to find the person I’d be happy to live with for the rest of my life!” They wait until they are absolutely, 100% sure of their choice before courting and formally settling down. (Caveat: Not everyone gets to choose. The higher up the social hierarchy, the less likely it is that a Galra would be free to pick their eventual match; Niresh’s parents had an arranged marriage, for example. The only reason Lotor isn’t betrothed to anyone is that Zarkon doesn’t want to run the risk of challenges from multiple potential heirs and also Lotor is not about that life thank you.)

So, long story longer, courting happens more among older Galra and less among impetuous teens. Also, it would be extremely rare (and foolish--ah, but they do say love makes fools of us all) for a Galra to court someone they don’t already know very, very well. That 100% sureness comes specifically from knowing the other person inside and out. It’s not unusual for Galra to be living together for years before finally declaring their intention to formally court.

The actual courting is... equally weird. The most common way to signal interest in courting is engaging the other person’s coalition in the Galra equivalent of “flyting”--you insult the person you’re interested in in front of every one of their family members. Your insults serve two purposes: first of all, the more detailed and personal your insults are, the more obvious it is that you completely and fully know the person you’re interested in. If you can fairly point out every single bad habit and negative point about them, then you’ve paid close enough attention to know them deeply, as well as their family does. Second, being brave enough to insult someone in front of their very close-knit family is a must in Galra courting. If you shy away from the challenge of facing the family, you’re not worth anyone’s time.

After your insults, the family answers back in the opposite, with nothing but praise for their family member, and a back-and-forth battle begins assessing the person in question. The final goal is for the courter to "be persuaded” that of course, of course the family is right and the person in question is worth all the effort in the universe and more. It’s a game designed to demonstrate your knowledge of the other person as well as air out any grievances or sticking points before the courtship proceeds.

(You can see where other species’ might struggle with this--many an intentional insult has been mistaken for the opposite.)

After that, things get even sillier, but in the interest of time and space, I’ll leave this answer here.

What are their views on pets?

Galra are big pet keepers! Historically the “pets” were war animals that aided the clans in their conflicts with other clans, but over time pets have come to just be beloved household companions. Unfortunately, military members are not allowed to keep pets, no matter HOW incredible the critters they find on their space travels are. This doesn’t stop everyone. Many an escaped secret pet has caused serious issues on-board Galra battlecruisers. Civilian Galra family groups often have a motley collection of pets. Two problems: 1) The illegal pet trade is hyper-aggressive in the Galra Empire. They import thousands upon thousands of species of animals, without too much regard for the long-term species survival of these animals. 2) What qualifies as a “pet” to the Galra sometimes includes the citizens of other planets. It does not pay to be a small fuzzy person (or a big scary fuzzy person) in the Galra Empire. Sometimes slaves who escape the arena end up in the pet trade instead. Pet abuse is strangely not okay in the Galra Empire, but that doesn’t mean that being treated like a pet instead of a person is any less horrific.

(God help Keith when the kids finally reason out the argument, “Allura has mouses, so why can’t WE have a pet?”)

What's Galra mythology like? Religions?

I’m glad you asked this because this is actually at the heart of a lot of Galra plot line in HaaH. As I mentioned earlier, in this fic, Daibazaal and Altea were both in the same quadrant and although they weren’t particularly near each geographically, they were close enough to each other that they inherited some surprisingly parallel mythologies, shared with numerous other planets in their general region of space. In particular, both Altea and Daibazaal prominently feature legends related to a lion goddess. On Daibazaal, the legend goes that the creation of everything we know began with the lion goddess, the first star. The roar of the goddess shook the universe and created the ever-expanding waves of space and time; the shine of her eyes in the void became the burning cores of stars; the weight of her swift passages formed gravity and orbit. She breathes and life flows over planets. (In short, the lion goddess is a sort of visual representation or embodiment for what we humans would just call “energy” or “order”.)

But the very existence of the goddess ensured the existence of her diametric opposite--the antithesis of all creation, the extermination of all life, all energy, all differentiation. This being has no form of its own (it is what all things will become when they become nothing--entropy or chaos itself, if you will), but it constantly fights to upset the balance in the universe, to claim more than its fair share.

The legends say that four times the lion goddess took a physical form and came to defend Daibazaal from the onslaught of darkness--once by fire, once by water, once by earth, and once by vine--and at last when the whole planet rang with the force of her being, she put part of her soul itself into a mortal, her first champion, that he and all his descendants would be blessed with the power to combat evil wherever they roamed.

Of course, you can see how this kind of origin story might lend itself to propaganda. The early kings and queens of unified Daibazaal used the legend to their advantage, first claiming that they were direct descendants of the blessed champion, and then a step further--that, by possessing the strongest remnants of her soul, they ought to be treated and revered as physical manifestations of the goddess herself. This evolved over time alongside other cultural fixtures like the arena, until religion became irreparably tied to politics for the Galra: by the time Zarkon took the throne, the general agreement was that whoever was emperor/empress was the representation of the goddess made physical, and the champion crowned in the arena was the one blessed and bound to carry out both the power--and the will--of that “goddess.”

Over Zarkon’s reign, the influence of the religious aspects have waned significantly--it was not beneficial for the Galra to believe in a higher power instead of their immortal emperor--and so the importance of the goddess has been continually downplayed while the importance of the emperor has grown. Although most people still treat Zarkon as if he were a god and “the champion” is still an awe-inspiring figure, the significance behind “the goddess gave us power so that we could fight evil” has definitely been lost behind “we have power and it’s only right for us to use it.”

(You can see the obvious links to Voltron here. It’s definitely not accidental, but I’m not going to say much more than that.)

What are some common Galran phrases?

Ha ha oh man, I don’t want to write anything here and then have to take it back later when I inevitably over-think language stuff...

"Sticks and flungr” is a very unflattering why of saying someone doesn’t have their shit in order. A messy house might be described with this saying, or turning in a half-assed report at work. (For reference, it’s referring to the Frinunnel bird’s habit of making lopsided, disheveled nests out of well... sticks and poo.)

“Vrepitsatir” is a “yes man,” a military flunkie who mindlessly agrees to everything the higher-ups say without questioning it.

“Notches” is a way of referring to past lovers, based on the common habit of ear-nipping between partners.

“Be careful--Zarkon’s watching!” is an empire-wide joke, especially among the lower-level military, when you find out someone is up to something they shouldn’t be. The effect is pretty close to the joking Earth phrase ���Ooohh, I’m tellinggg.”

Phew, I think that covers it!

[snake-house]

Galran!Shiro X Altean!Male!Reader - first sight. [1]

Galran!Shiro X Altean!Male!Reader warnings: mentions of mpreg he/him pronouns used for reader (i dont put [Male Name] because my name is gender neutral so it weirds me out, so i just put [Name]) *complete au from series ahhh **i am sorry if anyone is too ooc & female pronouns used for pidge ***contains lance x keith and allura x lotor, sorry not sorry lol (also started before season7 sooooooooo) ___ Here is everyone’s species: Allura: Altean Shiro: Galran Keith: Galran/Human (like canon so he looks mostly human) Lance: Altean & Allura’s little brother Hunk: Balmeran Pidge: Altean/Human Matt: Altean/Human [Reader]: Altean ___

word count: 1,770

___

"Welcome to Altea," Allura beamed as her old friends Shiro and Keith walked off the ship, "How was your mission?" She asked immediately, ignoring Keith's wandering eye, already knowing he was looking for her brother. "It went well," Shiro started, sighing and nudging Keith to pay attention, "Nothing unexpected, we were simply sent to scout the rogue planet. It hasn't seemed to slow down since it was ejected from its solar system, so we are still watching it. There still hasn't had any civilian life been detected from it, but there are still signs of life, we are getting ready to send some probes to investigate more thoroughly before it decides to collide with something, but such a thing is far in the future." Allura nodded, Shiro already noticing the traces of deep thought on the Princess's face and smiled softly.

"How have you been since we have been gone? Any word on the marriage contract?" He asked gently, knowing the subject was rather touchy with her. "I've been well, Lance has been a wonderful distraction. He and I are training a boy who has shown quite a connection with Quintessence and wants to go into healing. Since my father has been distracted by that rogue planet, I have started his training along with Lance, though Lance doesn't show half the potential [Name] does. It's quite amazing too." She said with a smile, "I need to introduce you to him, he is becoming a wonderful friend, and Lance is quite taken with him," Keith's eyes narrowed at the words, "As in very protective, [Name] is a bearer." Allura fiddled with the sleeve of her dress, "As for that marriage proposal, I have ignored it as it is not the time to think of such things, but I am only barely into my second century, I have time." Shiro grinned at the princess, watching her straighten and her eyes turn determined. Even though she was younger than him, she always seemed to be able to hold herself in such a way that made her seem so much older and refined. He knew of her current distaste for such a thing, but he was curious. He had been gone for almost two months after all. "Let us find Lance and I will introduce you to [Name]. I am sure you'll like him, he is a sweetheart." She smiled brightly and led the way to the castle. The older Galran let his mind wander to the mistery Altean Allura was talking about. He was certainly a new development in the last two months, and he wanted to know more. They eventually found Lance in his room with Hunk and Pidge, and a smaller boy with [color] hair that neither Keith or Shiro recognized. "Hey, guys!" Lance brightened when he saw the two Galrans and stood up quickly to pull them into a hug, "How have you been? Did you just get back from the scouting mission? How was it?" Lance bombarded the two with questions. Allura pouted at being ignored by her brother. "It went well, we are going to send some probes to confirm there are no lifeforms on the planet, and when that comes back, then we will see what the next phase is," Keith explained easily, "How have you been?" "Great! Hunk and Pidge have been keeping me company, as well as [Name], who you guys need to meet!" The prince exclaimed and quickly motioned for the fourth and previously unknown person in the room to stand. "This is [Name]?" Shiro asked Allura with slightly wide eyes as the boy stood up and approached him. You were sitting on the settee by the window before you were called over, and the sun effectively shadowing your face. You stood rather short compared to Shiro, coming up just below Shiro's sternum. The smooth expanse of your skin really gave way to your Altean markings, making the stand out proudly against your skin. The sickle-shaped markings that sat under your [color] eyes were [preferred color], as well as the diamond shape that stood between your eyebrows and the other dainty markings beside it. (here is what reader's altean markings look like and ignore the bad art i haven’t drawn in ages but i thought you guys would like a visual) (and btw the marks are only pink so you could see them

Allura's smile lit up as she nodded, "He's beautiful, isn't he?" She teased as she noticed her longest friend staring at the boy. Before Shiro could respond to the tease, you spoke up. "It's nice to meet you," You said meekly, looking at the two Galra soldiers and giving them a slight bow of your head. "Likewise," Keith said, "I'm Keith Kogane." He held his hand out to shake yours, which you easily took and shook. When you reached your hand out to Shiro, Shiro couldn't help but eagerly grab your hand and shake softly, just barely restraining himself from bringing the hand to his lips, "I'm Takashi Shirogane, I hear you're sensitive to Quintessence?" He asked, wanting to further the conversation with the smaller male past just an awkward introduction. You smiled slightly at the question and nodded, ignoring the fact that Shiro still held your hand, "I am, a prodigy according to Allura." "What do you plan on doing with such a gift once you are fully trained?" Shiro asked curiously, only now realizing that he still held your hand and tried not to make it awkward as he let go. "I wish to go into healing," You said, looking away from the taller male as you blushed at his action, "But that is still a long way away, and I have other duties to tend to along with my lessons." "How old are you? If you don't mind me asking," Shiro quickly added. A small smile tugged at your lips at his question, "I don't mind, I'll be 94 before the year ends," You replied simply, "Meaning I still have many more years before I can use my gift to help people." A bell sounded from your being. Shiro watched as you pulled out a small blinking blue screen. "Allura," You said looking away from the device to the princess, "Your father has requested me to do a lesson with him today. He has asked for you and Lance to come along too." "Oh shoot, I forgot what time it was," She started, pulling a reluctant Lance away from the smaller Galran soldier, "We'll catch up later?" Allura asked turning towards Shiro. When she got a nod from him, she gave the Pidge and Hunk a farewell and left Lance's room with you trailing behind them with your own round of goodbye's to the group. Shiro watched you leave with a slight hint of disappointment, he wished to talk with you longer. He only looked away from the door when he felt eyes on him, and he met the smug look of his brother in all but blood. "What?" He snapped hastily. "You're already smitten," Hunk chimed with an equally as smug look on his face, "[Name] has a habit of making people fall for him." "What do you mean?" Shiro asked again. "Oh don't worry," Pidge started, "You don't have any competition towards him, but Matt has already sworn himself in as [Name]'s protective older brother so you'll have to go through him if you want to pursue him." She added with a grin. "Who would have thought one of the best soldiers and commanders of the Galran Empire would fall for a small Altean bearer," Keith said smiling brightly, "If Allura's and Lotor's arranged marriage doesn't bring our empires together, your union definitely would." Shiro flushed, ignoring the deep purple hue that must have taken over his features, "Isn't that a bit much to assume we are going to get married? We've just met today." "Yeah, but with the way you looked at him when you walked in," Hunk said with a wide grin. “If you’re going to court him, you’ll have to first get his parent’s permission first, they’re super traditional," Pidge started in again, pulling out her mini com to start taking notes for him, "And once you get their permission, you'll have to ask him with a hand-made gift. My dad made my mom a circlet, with her favorite Earth gemstone in it." She prattled, fingers tapping quickly across the soft blue light. "Whoa-Whoa," Shiro said waving his hands in front of him, "We've only just met!" He repeated, feeling himself heat up at the confrontation. "Courtship does not mean you have to get married, it's just like dating, but in a more traditional way," Keith said, as he already knew all about Altean courtship rules and guidelines. "Either of you can end it whenever you wish." "At least let me get to know him before you all start throwing courtship rules at me," Shiro groaned, "Anyways, Keith, we need to report back and finish relaying what we found about that planet." The younger Galran nodded and gave Lance one last longing look before he followed Shiro out of the room. The two walked in silence back to their ship. They would be meeting with Alfor and Zarkon soon to talk about their mission and needed to regroup with the rest of their team before the meeting. They had already briefly filled Zarkon in when they arrived, but they were given some time to cool down from the intense mission before they would be grilled with every detail so they could work on their next move. "If you do wish to pursue [Name]," Keith started as they walked up to the ship, "I would support you, no matter what." Shiro understood the underlying meaning to his words. Keith was and has always been his little brother in all but blood, and knowing that there was always some risk to social stigma for dating or courting someone outside their own race, Keith would be there for him for he was in a similar situation. This what why it was important to Zarkon and Alfor that their heirs married. "Thank you," Shiro said genuinely, "I'll be there for you too, whenever the two of you decide to go public." It gave Shiro immense pleasure to see the younger light up red at his statement, he always knew how to catch Keith off guard. "Right, thanks," Keith said blandly, cheeks still painted pink.

Shiro grinned and ruffled the younger’s hair before letting the silence wash over them, both deep in their thoughts.

[the-sinnamon-roll-writes]

I just want to say I love your works, it's probably one of my favorite whump bingos out there! Can I request revenge by proxy with Pidge?

Oh gosh, I’m so glad you’re enjoying them! So I got about ¾ of the way through before I realized I had just assumed you wanted Pidge to be the “by proxy” part rather than the “revenge” part, so if you wanted it the other way around, just let me know! I will also say, there are two parts towards the middle that could read as implied threats of noncon. They’re meant to be threats of violence, and not that though. My 12th work for @badthingshappenbingo

It was hard to place the scratchy voice. It was clear it knew who he was. It did sound incredibly familiar. And not a good familiar. The sound of it made him feel uneasy, and Keith desperately wished he wasn’t wearing a blindfold so he could see what was going on. Actually, he would’ve liked to know why he was wearing a blindfold to begin with. He had a feeling that that question should take priority. 

Of course, he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to see anything, even if he wasn’t wearing it. Shit, he wasn’t even sure if he was actually awake. Maybe this was all just some hugely unsettling dream. Then the blindfold was yanked off. He blinked blearily, still trying to decide if he was actually conscious. Then a cold liquid that Keith really hoped was just water splashed down onto him and a foot kicked his left thigh. Keith bolted upright- or at least, he tried to. It was hard to move quickly when he was being held down. It only took a second for him to realize that his hands were tied. “It has been awhile, hasn’t it?”Right, someone was talking to him. His eyes finally focused on the tall figure in front of him. ‘Oh fuck. That’s Zethrid. How did I end up with Zethrid?’ He tried thinking back- he could remember when he realized it was her, but after that, things were just slowly coming back in useless chunks that he was having a hard time putting together. Fuck- he had no way of knowing where he was, or how long he’d even been missing from the rest of the team. He was then uncomfortably aware of a stinging in his upper chest. When he looked down, he saw an angry red mark just below his collarbone. Had he been tased? Could tasers really make people pass out? Of course, if it had been a taser, it was probably a space-grade hell taser that was more than capable of knocking someone out. Nothing surprised him anymore. “I had originally planned to simply kill you. But then I was told that one of my crew was able to obtain something that might interest you.” She had continued talking without stopping to see if he was paying attention. Keith didn’t like the way she was looking down at him. She was too happy about something. And if she was happy, then he was in trouble. Even with his basic knowledge of her as a person, he assumed that the ‘something’ they found was some unspeakable torture machine that would make him plead for death or something. “Bring it here.”He steeled himself. This wouldn’t be pretty. A minute later a sentry came in with a small, squirming person slung over his shoulders. Keith was horrified to see a red-faced Pidge being dumped onto the floor in front of Zethrid. Just out of his reach. It took her a moment to realize just who it was that she had just been handed over too. Her face paled and the fierceness that had been there vanished when she recognized the half-Galra. She tried to scramble back away from her, only to bump right into a wall. “Do you remember what you took from me?” Zethrid asked Keith, her voice chillingly calm. She hadn’t even acknowledged that Pidge had arrived. “Do you know what you did to my life?”“I don’t know what you think I did, but she didn’t do anything!”Zethrid slammed her foot down less than an inch away from Pidge’s shin. “You know what you did! I want to hear you say it!”“Tell me what you want me to say, and I’ll say it,” Keith said desperately, “just leave her out of this!”“You took Ezor from me. She was the only thing in my life that mattered, and you took her from me!”“Okay, I took her from you, and ruined your life. There, you got what you wanted. Now just let her go!”“I don’t think so. What providence that you were the other one we were able to catch. It’s too bad she isn’t here,” Zethrid finally sneered down at Pidge. “Ezor was anxious to get her claws into you. The small ones usually scream the sweetest. I wonder whether he still has a soft spot for you. A tiny little creature like yourself- I’m sure it would absolutely kill him to know that you’re the one taking the hits for him. What do you think?”His blood went cold. Zethrid was going to hurt Pidge to get at him. No- he couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let Pidge get hurt on his behalf. Without sparing a second glance at the thugs standing at his side, Keith lunged forward at the two of them. Big mistake. The butt of a gun came down on his right shoulder with a harsh thunk and the promise of a nasty bruise the next day. It left his arm dangling uselessly at his side, and he groaned loudly. “Keith-” Pidge said with just the slightest hint of a tremor in her voice. “I’m okay- get your fucking hands off her!” Keith tried to jerk forward again when Zethrid seized the hair at the back of Pidge’s head and jerked her up. A weak protest came from Pidge’s mouth, and the fact that she wasn’t putting up a fight was testament to just how scared she really was. She looked absolutely terrified, and Keith could only imagine she was recalling the last time they’d crossed paths with Zethrid. She had narrowly avoided torture then, and now she was right back at her mercy. He’d forgotten how much she’d been affected by Ezor and Zethrid’s threats. He had never asked her about it, but he had a feeling that she had lost some sleep over it. His mind raced as he tried to think of a plan. “Get your hands off of her!”‘Hell of a plan there, Keith.’Of course Zethrid ignored him and ran a hand down along Pidge’s face, drawing a shudder from her. “You’re the smart one, right?” she asked Pidge. “Any guesses as to what we’re going to do with you? Well?”Pidge stayed silent, although Keith couldn’t tell whether it was from stubbornness or fear. Either way, it was enough to irritate Zethrid into shaking Pidge roughly by the head before looking back at Keith. “What about you? What do you think we have in store for this one?”“Come on, she’s not the one you want to hurt,” Keith tried helplessly. “Please, just let her go.”“We’re going to hurt it. Than when we’re done hurting it, we’re going to kill it. You took someone I loved from me, now I’m going to take something you love from you,” she said simply, looking down at Keith with a twisted smile. Pidge wasn’t a person to her, he realized. It didn’t matter to Zethrid at all that she was hurting the younger girl. It was like she was taking away his toy to break in front of him. This was bad. “Please don’t hurt her! Please,” Keith begged. He didn’t think he could live with himself if Pidge got hurt because of him. There was nothing he could say that would make any difference. He needed to do something“You’re lucky,” Zethrid purred, jerking Pidge up to look her in the eyes, “that Ezor isn’t here. She’s the one who liked to get creative. I prefer a more direct approach.”With that, Zethrid rammed her knee into Pidge’s stomach. Pidge immediately tried to double over, but Zethrid didn’t release her grip on Pidge’s head, and she just wound up getting a large chunk of hair torn from her scalp. “Shit,” Pidge managed to cough out before being dropped to the ground. She didn’t get much of a break before Zethrid’s boot collided with the side of her head and knocked her down flat. For a moment, Keith was concerned that she wouldn’t get up. But then she blinked and lifted her head an inch off the ground before struggling to get back up. She had just made it to a sitting position when another kick to her ribs knocked the air from her lungs, and she fell back again, gasping. Judging by the way Pidge was clutching her chest, he was ready to bet one or two of those ribs had just been broken.  Then Zethrid was grabbing her by the collar and pulled her up to her feet again, where she swayed dangerously. A fist flew into Pidge’s face once, then twice, then a third time. When Zethrid stopped, Pidge’s nose was a bloody mess and her eyes were unfocused and looked to be crossing.  She was literally being used as a punching bag, and it was making Keith sick. The pure ferocity in Zethrid’s attack was stunning. There was no way Pidge would survive if it continued. “Stop it! You’ll kill her!” He was still struggling to reach them, even though he had no idea what to do once he got there. It wasn’t like he had much room to maneuver. But that was his thing, right? Figuring things out in the moment? How often did he actually have a plan when he did things? He could count on one hand the amount of times he had actually made a plan himself. “That’s the idea.” Zethrid was loving this. Standing just out of his reach with Pidge in her grasp, watching him struggle and beg. She laughed at the feeble cry Pidge let out when she was slammed against the wall and had the air knocked out of her. Without giving her the chance to catch her breath, Zethrid landed another series of cruel blows to Pidge’s torso. From her neck to her lower stomach, it seemed like Zethrid was determined to bruise or break every part of Pidge’s body. “How does it feel, knowing that you’re the one putting it through this?” Zethrid asked Keith out of the blue, looking down on him. She hadn’t released Pidge, leaving her dangling against the wall by her neck. Occasionally, Pidge would kick out weakly, like she just remembered she was supposed to be struggling. Then she was being swung around to dangle right in front of Keith. “You may as well throw a few punches yourself.”Keith could only grind his teeth. If he said anything right now, he would just be encouraging her to hurt Pidge even more. She had been right of course, he did have a soft spot for Pidge, and it was absolutely unbearable to watch her getting beaten to a pulp like this. For him. When Zethrid turned her attention back to Pidge, she realized that her eyes were starting to droop. Zethrid frowned with mock concern, and she backhanded Pidge across the cheek hard enough to snap her face to the side. “We can’t have you passing out now.”She jerked her head at one of her cronies who hurried away. As she waited for him to return, Zethrid stroked Pidge’s cheek again, and brushed some loose hairs out of her face. Her hand angled Pidge’s face up to look at her more clearly. “You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you? Even when you’re all bloody.”Keith shuddered. He almost couldn’t wait for the one who left to come back with whatever it was he went to get, if only to stop whatever the fuck Zethrid was doing right now. It was disturbing, and he didn’t like any direction that this might go in. His stomach dropped when he heard what she said next. “I’m sure some of my crew would have a fun time with you.”“No!” Keith shouted, going back to fighting as hard as he could against his bindings when he worked out what Zethrid was doing. He wasn’t entirely sure if Zethrid meant they would enjoy beating Pidge up, or if she meant something far worse, but he didn’t like the leers on the faces of every disgusting fucking pervert in here. Either way, there was no way in hell he could let them get at her. “I’ll rip your fucking throats out! Let her go!”Zethrid grinned wickedly down at him, letting him know without words that she would do no such thing. Pidge was wiggling again, but she was trembling too hard to make any progress. Blood, tears, and snot were dripping down her face. To his concern, she actually looked like she wasn’t sure what was happening. Had Zethrid really managed to hit her that hard? What a dumb question, of course she had. He had to get to her and get her the hell away from here somehow, and he had to do it before the creeps bearing down on her could lay a finger on her. But he couldn’t reach her before three of Zethrid’s men were there. One of them grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, dragging a sharp nail down her exposed neck to her collarbone, leaving a faint red trail. Another grabbed her arms and jerked them harshly behind her back, and another seized her jaw and squeezed the tender skin there. She tried to say something, but no sound got out before the one behind her smacked a hand down over her mouth. Pidge was sobbing around the hand that was covering her mouth, and Keith wasn’t far behind her when the thug that Zethrid had sent away returned, empty handed. “Captain, I’m sorry I didn’t bring back any smelling salts, but I was told that we’ve arrived, and that I was to tell you immediately.”Keith could’ve kissed him. A distraction like that was just what they needed, and it got everyone but Zethrid’s hands off of her. “Ah. Thank you Yondor.” Zethrid looked down at the small girl she was holding, then at Keith. With an exaggerated sigh, she tossed Pidge down at him like she was throwing away a piece of trash. He did his best to catch her, but with his hands tied, there wasn’t much he could do to keep her head from banging into his, or to keep her from tumbling down to the floor with a grunt. “We’ll be back later to continue.”With that threatening promise, Zethrid turned around and walked out, followed closely by her henchmen. “Pidge?” He tried to sound relaxed, but he knew he was failing miserably. Keith looked down at her, and put a hand on her cheek as gently as he could. It took a moment for her to come to her senses, but when she finally did, she threw herself at him. She was still shivering violently, and whimpered as she grabbed at him. “Keith- Keith don’t let them t-touch me. Please d-don’t let them.”He brought his arms down around her as best he could.  He had never seen her so scared before. Not that he could blame her. He’d probably be in the same boat had those threats been directed at himself. “I won’t Pidge. I swear I won’t. I’m gonna get us both out of here. I need you to do something though. Can you get my hands free? I need to have my hands if we’re going to escape.” He spoke slowly and as calmly as he could manage. She was close enough now for him to see that her pupils were unevenly dilated, and her nose was definitely broken. Pidge nodded and set to work getting his hands free. It took longer than it might have normally. She kept blinking and frowning down at her hands- her shaking hands, that made the simple task much harder. And he was right there with her, feeling rather shaken himself. And overwhelmingly guilty. Like Zethrid said, he might as well have been throwing the punches himself. And here she was, looking to him for protection. As soon as he was free, he wrapped his arms around her to give her a real hug, as tight as he could. One hand had gone up and cupped the back of her head, and the other one was rubbing small circles on her back. Normally he wasn’t huge on hugging, but he felt he owed her this one small comfort. She returned it with fervor. This was sure to stick with her for a while. It was all his fault. Zethrid had done this because of him. Suddenly he was having a hard time not crying. Shit. He couldn’t, not now. Push it down, save it for later. He needed to be strong for her, to get her as far away from here as physically possible. Okay. First things first. He needed to find out where they had arrived at. Wherever they were, there was sure to be some sort of communications center. Maybe if they got there, they could contact the Atlas and get an evac. That seemed like their best bet for now. But first he needed to know- “Pidge, can you walk?”She paused a second before answering, closing her eyes and taking inventory of her body. She was hurting- really hurting- but she was sure she could power through. Power through… through walking, right, she could do that. So she nodded. “I think I can.”He would’ve preferred a ‘yes’ to ‘I think I can’ but that’s what he got. And it was better than a ‘no’. “Okay, I think I have a plan.”Pidge nodded again once he recounted his idea for her. She didn’t offer up any other ideas or suggestions, and Keith wasn’t sure if he should take that as a good thing or a bad thing. He couldn’t even tell how much she’d understood. But again, he would just have to take it. Now to figure out just how exactly to get out. Keith studied the bars of the cell closely. They weren’t anything fancy. He was able to summon his bayard and slice through them easy enough. Apparently Zethrid hadn’t realized he was able to do that. He walked through the hole he’d made first, looking up and down the hallway to make sure it was safe for Pidge. When he was satisfied that they were alone, Keith looked back and gestured for her to follow him. And she did, cautiously, creeping out like a mouse on watch for a hungry cat. Which, he supposed, was basically what she was right now. A proud Lion, reduced to a scared little mouse. It was unnerving to see her like this. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her like this- he wasn’t even sure if there had been a last time. She was fierce. She didn’t get scared easily. Apparently Zethrid was in the small category that did frighten her. All the more reason to get her out of here. Confidence. He was sure she would feel more at ease if he just convinced her that he was confident about their escape. If she sensed any weakness, it was no doubt going to be a blow to her tenuous feelings of security with him. So he kept his head up and shoulders squared as they hurried through the hallways. And he was starting to actually build up some real confidence for himself. It was so empowering. Then an intercom sounded, and Pidge just about jumped out of her skin. “The prisoners have escaped. Recapturing them is now of the highest priority. First one to reach them gets the first turn at the girl.” Zethrid’s rough voice was followed by a loud alarm and flashing white lights. The terror was back as Pidge grabbed at Keith’s arm. Damn it. Right back to square one. “Keith, they know- they’re gonna catch us! And I’ll be- she’ll let them- Zethrid will let her crew…”She quieted when he took her once-again trembling hands in his. He was a little panicked himself, but he couldn’t let her know that. “They aren’t going to catch us. I’ll kill anyone who even comes close to you. Look, we have a head start, and they have no way of knowing where we’re going.”Neither did they, really, but that was another thing she didn’t need to hear. She probably knew anyways. She wasn’t an idiot. But he really needed her mind to be as clear as possible right now, so he was saying whatever he could to keep her from freaking out too badly. She was hurt, and scared, and probably having to fight to focus on where she was right now. Now that he thought about it, Keith wasn’t even sure if she actually knew what was happening. It was possible that her brain was just throwing her in this position, in pain and totally lost, surrounded by people who wanted to hurt her. No wonder she was close to tears again. And that was exactly where Pidge’s head was at. Everything was loud, and the alarm’s flashing lights only added to the pounding in her head. She could vaguely remember threats- words that made her shudder and brought her dangerously close to vomiting. Threats that were far too close to being a reality. Every few steps she took seemed to erase, then bring back bits of memory, leaving her confused and anxious. Why couldn’t it all just stop for a minute? If she could just have a minute to try and clear her head a little, she was sure she would be fine. “No Pidge, I’m sorry but we need to keep going. I need to get you out of here. Once we get out, then we can find some place to take a breather.”Huh. Apparently she’d been talking. She felt a warm weight in her hand then, comforting and so wonderfully solid in the spinning world around her. Pidge looked down to find Keith holding her hand and pulling her along. Oddly enough, it helped. It didn’t make her hurt any less, or make the blaring alarms stop, but in some way, it made it a bit easier to remember what they were doing. That hand wasn’t going to leave her behind.She was still running slower than she was normally capable of, and Keith was struggling not to groan and just drag her into a sprint. All things considered though, she was holding up about as well as he could’ve expected. If he had been right about her having some broken ribs earlier, then she was probably running about as fast as she was could. Patience. He needed to have patience. But while he would’ve liked nothing more than to let her sit and recuperate, they simply didn’t have the time. There was no way he could allow her to fall back into Zethrid’s claws. When he heard shouting approaching them, Keith tugged on Pidge’s hand again to urge her to speed her back up. Luckily his urgency was wearing off on her, and she went along with him, fighting the thick fog that threatened to overwhelm her. One foot in front of the other. Left, right, left, right. She just… needed to focus on that. Unfortunately, focus wasn’t exactly in her vocabulary right now, and it was unbelievably hard to do. She could hardly remember why they were running right now. She would still get the occasional flash of a cruel face, or remember snippets of threats the had been directed at her that would encourage her to keep going. But those were growing few and far between. Then Keith felt the small hand he was holding jerk to a stop and drop with a yelp. Keith spun around to see Pidge on the ground with her ankle twisted the wrong direction. God fucking damn it. Of course. Of course this would happen. Why the hell not? Nothing else was going right, might as well give the poor girl a sprained ankle. The cherry on top. ‘… My crew would have a fun time with you.’Before he could even think to help her, Pidge was pulling herself up on the wall and starting to stumble forward, spurred on by those words playing in her head. She was a damn trooper. As quickly as he could, Keith rushed over to stand on the side with her injured ankle. He had to crouch down to wrap her arm over his shoulders. A part of him was actually starting to hope that someone would show up. With every passing second, the desire to beat the ever-loving shit out of someone was growing. They were moving so much slower now, it would take a miracle for them to not get caught. Didn’t they deserve a miracle right now? Pidge certainly did. He still had his armor on. Shouldn’t the Atlas have been able to track them down that way? Maybe they were. Maybe they were already on their way. That was a plausible idea. Shiro wouldn’t just let them go if he could find them. An unpleasant realization hit him when he thought about what had happened to the otter Paladins. Were they okay? If the trap had been primarily for him, did that mean they were left behind? ‘Please let that have been what happened.’Keith stilled when he heard footsteps approaching from ahead, and Pidge followed suit. Damn. He’d wanted a fight, but not while Pidge would be caught in the crosshairs. He pulled her off to the side against the wall and placed himself in front of her. They would get to her over his dead body. Naturally he hoped it wouldn’t come to that- Pidge would have an extremely hard time getting out of here on her own in her condition. He brandished his bayard, preparing himself for a fight. Whoever it was had to be getting close to the corner in front of them. Keith glanced back at Pidge one last time before starting to charge down the hall and around the corner. Best to get the jump on them, rather than wait for them to come to him. When he turned to face them, he was surprised to see Shiro and Curtis standing there. They looked just as surprised as he did. “Shiro- oh thank god, you guys are here! Why didn’t you radio us?”“We didn’t know if you had your helmets. And we didn’t want to risk giving ourselves away if they had been taken,” Shiro answered. He had a smile on his face, relieved to see his adoptive brother out and able to fight. “Have you been able to find-““Keith?” A timid voice called out from where Keith had emerged from, startling them all. Kicking himself mentally for forgetting about her, Keith turned around and sprinted back to Pidge without offering an explanation to Shiro or Curtis. She hadn’t moved from her place on the wall, and watched with wide eyes as he cleared the distance towards her. “Pidge! It’s okay, it was just Shiro,” Keith promised her, once again taking her hand to guide her down towards them. She leaned heavily on him, and Keith had a feeling her ankle wasn’t doing any better. And if he had to guess by the expression on her face, neither was the rest of her body. “They found us. They’re gonna get us out of here.”She went along with him, albeit a little suspiciously. She relaxed a little when she saw that it was indeed Shiro, but she didn’t release her grip on Keith. Shiro frowned, then raised an eyebrow at Keith. All he received in reply was a barely perceptible head shake. A silent ‘I’ll tell you later.’Curtis didn’t miss the interaction, but he didn’t say anything either. Instead he led by example and started walking back in the direction they had come from. He and Shiro had their hands free, and had taken up the job of defending Keith and Pidge without question. With them leading, it was only a short walk to the exit of the absolute fortress that Zethrid flew. “Alright, I’m going to go let the crew know we need to leave right away,” Shiro said, catching Keith’s eye and nodding. He sprinted ahead, leaving Curtis there to keep an eye on  Keith and Pidge as they trudged along as quickly as they could. Which wasn’t very quick. But Keith was feeling much better than he had been just a few minutes earlier. They were still technically in enemy territory, but now with the crew of the Atlas, they outnumbered the enemy by far. It took them longer that it would’ve taken to reach the Atlas, had Pidge not been injured. But as it was, they still made it, and they both survived. Keith could only imagine how they must’ve looked. Limping along, supporting a battered Pidge who was so exhausted she could hardly form individual words. The first person running up to them was Matt. He didn’t even acknowledge Keith. He hurried to stand in front of Pidge, reaching down to cup her cheeks and look at her eyes. “Katie?”“Mm. Matt?” Pidge blinked as she struggled to focus on him. “There she is.” Matt looked incredibly relieved, as he bent his knees to take her off of Keith’s hands. “What happened?”“That’s… a long story.” Just then, exhaustion hit him like a bus, leaving him swaying where he stood. “Then it can wait.” Where had Shiro come from? Hadn’t he gone to address the Atlas crew? Didn’t matter. Keith was just grateful that he wasn’t going to have to answer any questions any time soon. He felt like there were some questions he wanted to ask, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of them. He’d just spent the last who-knows how long running for his life- and Pidge’s. Wait- where had Pidge gone? Keith’s heart stopped when he realized he couldn’t see her anymore. “Where- where’d she go? Shiro, where’s Pidge?”Shiro looked alarmed when Keith grabbed his arm desperately. “Keith, it’s okay, Matt just took her to the infirmary. Calm down. You’re both safe now. It’s alright.”Keith stared at him blankly while he processed what Shiro had said. It took him longer than it should’ve. When he did, Keith just shook his head slowly and ran a hand through his hair. “No it’s not. It was my fault she got hurt. She went through- if you had heard the way Zethrid was talking about her, what they were going to do- Shiro, she hurt Pidge to get to me. Because she knew I care about her. And Pidge was so scared-“ his heart ached when he thought of Pidge’s face as they ran. She hadn’t deserved any of that. He felt Shiro’s hand on his shoulders, and forced himself to meet his eyes. “You can’t do this to yourself. You can stand around and blame yourself all day. But you weren’t the one throwing the punches. You were trying to stop them. Alright? And blaming yourself- that’s exactly what Zethrid wants you to do. She wants you to feel bad, even when you’re far away from her. And Pidge is going to be fine”“Well it worked. I feel terrible. Pidge is probably gonna live with this hanging over her head for the rest of her life.”“And so are you, if you don’t let yourself move past it. I’m not saying you have to right away. But you need to let yourself heal.” Shiro knew Keith well enough to know that he was going to be internalizing this and letting it fester in his mind. The sooner he could plant the seeds of self-forgiveness, the less likely he was to hurt himself like that. “Come on, you need to rest. Okay? You look like shit.”It wasn’t often the Shiro would cuss in front of other people. If he was the one saying that, then Keith knew he had to be looking really rough. So he went with Shiro to the infirmary himself, peeling off his armor as they walked. When they arrived, Keith was guided towards a bed near the end of the room. He tried to catch a glimpse of Pidge, but the only Holt he saw was Matt talking to one of the medical staff members. He didn’t look too upset, so Keith took that to mean Pidge was doing okay. It was that thought that allowed him to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. •••Pidge screamed and writhed as she felt even more hands grabbing at her. Some were pulling out hair, others were hitting, scratching, prodding, tearing at her clothes. Hands, just endless hands hurting her body. A seemingly unending sea of hands. She no longer had any control over herself. Her every movement was dictated by the hands. But despite that, she didn’t stop screaming. She was going to fight them in any way she could. Even when one of them clamped down over her mouth, she still whimpered and wiggled as best she could. It was no good though. Her face and chest were sore, and growing uncomfortably stiff. She wasn’t going to get out of this. Not by herself. Her body was rigid now, and she couldn’t move at all.  Her eyes were sliding shut. Despite every brain cell she had screaming at her to keep struggling, it was just too hard. More and more hands were dragging her down, somewhere she didn’t want to go. She wanted to be back up where she had been before the hands. That had been a simple place. She had been able to just sit and breathe. It wasn’t a struggle, or a constant violation of personal space. God she just wanted to get away from them. Her eyes cracked open blearily for one last look up. Any minute now, one of those hands would cover her eyes, and prevent her from seeing at all. Honey eyes widened when they took in another hand, right in front of her. It wasn’t grabbing, it wasn’t suffocating, it wasn’t trying to drag her down. This hand was reaching down from up above her, like it was reaching down to pull her up. It didn’t seem possible that this one hand would be able to do anything, but she struggled for it like it was a lifesaver. The hand was warm and strong when she finally managed to grasp it. She refused to let go, even at first when it felt like nothing was happening. But she realized that it really was pulling her up. It was slow going- the other hands didn’t want to let her go. But the higher she got, the fewer hands there were to drag her down. And the ones that were left had no chance of getting at her with the hand that was saving her. It was stronger than the other feeble hands trying to seize her once again. She was rising, ascending through hell by way of what Pidge could only think of as an angel’s hand. As she neared the top, it felt like she was able to see a fuzzy face start to come into focus. It got clearer and clearer with each passing moment as she neared the light it was bathed in. Who’s face was it? She was having difficulty placing it. Dark hair, piercing eyes, a worried frown. She knew this face. She knew who it was. She just… couldn’t remember… the name.Light flooded her eyes as realization hit. It was-“Keith!” Pidge woke up with a gasp, sitting upright. “W-what…?”She looked around frantically, but stopped quickly to groan when the movement caused flashes of pain. The short glance she had gotten of the white room told her that she was back on the Atlas, and if she had to guess by how her body felt, she was in the medical area.Taking a heaving breath, Pidge laid back down and wrapped her arms around herself. After the dream she’d just had, she didn’t particularly want to go back to sleep. But she couldn’t move, and there wasn’t much she could do when she was laying still in a bed but drift off once again, and hope for the best. •••“Keith. Hey, Keith, wake up. Pidge is awake and she was asking about you.” Lance was shaking his shoulder as he spoke. Sometimes Keith could wake up after hearing a bug skittering across the floor. Other times it took a bullhorn and some physical contact. Looked like this was one of the other times. But this was the first time the Pidge had been up and talking for a long enough time to hold a conversation, and she wanted Keith. Lance considered picking him up and carrying him to Pidge, but decided against it. He wasn’t interested in getting out of a chokehold. So Lance kept shaking Keith and talking to him loudly until one gray eye peeled open to squint up at him. “There you go. Come on, it’s time to get up.”With a groan, Keith sat up and stretched before he stood. “How long was I asleep?”“You were coming up on thirteen hours, if you can believe that.” He couldn’t believe it. Keith had never slept that long in his entire life, and once he was in space, he rarely got more than six. Was he supposed to feel refreshed? Because he didn’t. He felt just as tired as he had when he’d entered the Atlas three days ago. Now that he thought about it, Keith was surprised that it had taken two and a half days for him to crash that hard. It had been a busy two and a half days though. “Did you say Pidge wanted to see me?”“Yup. She wanted to talk to you about something.” Lance was watching Keith carefully.“About what?”“Beats me. She didn’t really want to talk to any of us- not even her family.”That was enough to prompt Keith to pull on a baggy shirt and walk with Lance to where Pidge was resting.  When she saw Keith, she actually smiled. She waved him over, so he sat beside her on her temporary bed.“So how are you feeling?” Keith asked. “Been better. Been… way better. Still a bit sore. Shiro mentioned you were a bit pissed off with yourself.”Damn it, Shiro. He was just totally incapable of keeping anything to himself. He was almost as bad as Hunk. That was the last time he’d share anything with him, Keith decided. “Well, I guess I’ve been better too.” Keith tried to offer up a smile, but he had a feeling he was failing. “Pidge… You shouldn’t have… you shouldn’t have gone through that. Zethrid- and I didn’t even do-“He cut off, grinding his teeth, but Pidge could guess what he was going to say. Sharing feelings wasn’t something either of them were particularly good at, which was usually why they were able to get along. They didn’t need to talk too much to understand one another. But this time was different. There was something Keith wanted- needed to say to her, and she wasn’t sure how to make it any easier for him. It felt like she should have been reassuring him, but she knew that Keith would take that as her patronizing him, and he wouldn’t like that. So she chose to just stay silent, and let him take the time he needed to get there. “They captured her,” he finally said. “Zethrid. She’s in a holding cell. I thought Lance was going to try and kill her. And I’m pretty sure Shiro would’ve let him, after he heard what she- what happened.”“That’s good. I’m glad she’s not running around anymore. Wish they’d put her somewhere else though.”Keith nodded understandingly, then sighed. “Pidge, I’m so sorry. It was my fault this all happened. Zethrid used you to get at me. And I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t protect you. And now, I look at you and all I can see is just… how scared you were. And even though it was my fault, you still… I don’t know, you still wanted me to stay with you.”Pidge had watched him carefully as the words spilled out. She was mostly expressionless, up until the last sentence, where she frowned at him. “Of course I did. I was scared. I don’t actually remember… very much. What I do remember- most of it I wish I didn’t. But I remember you. It would’ve been easier for you to just leave me and come back with help. You didn’t though. You brought me with you, and you did protect me. It was a- bad situation all around. But it wasn’t your fault. And she would’ve killed you if she hadn’t gotten to me.”“Yeah, but she would’ve killed you if it hadn’t been for that guy distracting her.”“Well she didn’t. Neither of us died. I’m counting this as a win.”Keith looked at her a moment before smiling and shaking his head ruefully. “I don’t think any of us won this time.”Pidge sighed and looked down at her hands. “Yeah. You’re right.”“You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say that to me.”“First time I’ve said that, and I’m agreeing with you calling us losers.” They both laughed weakly, but Pidge stopped quickly and reached up to tenderly touch her face. “Ugh. It hurts my face to smile, and it hurts my chest to laugh.”Her complaining didn’t make Keith feel any better, but he tried not to let it bother him too much. He reached out and gently held up her chin to get a good look at her. Her face was a mess of black and blue bruises, and Keith knew that her chest and stomach weren’t looking much better. Once again, he sighed. No matter what she said, he was still going to feel at least a little guilty whenever he saw her. Because no matter how she felt, he knew that he was at least partly responsible. The fact of the matter was, if not for him, she wouldn’t have been targeted. Like she knew what he was thinking, Pidge reached up and took his hand. “We’re both here, Keith. That’s what matters. We made it.”

[decidedlysarah]

Mer Questions

This part will be rambling, sorry!  Mers have pointed ears (like Alteans) that can very in length.  They can breathe air or water and they have claws and sharp teeth (like seals, not jagged like sharks).  Their tails are on the long side.  It makes them about twice as long as they would be if they were human.  Hands are not webbed.  

Variety of tail types!  They are all long and sinuous/flexible but not to the degree of prehensile.  They get more flexible the further they get away from the body.  The fins are long and tapered (I’ve included a shitty sketch for your viewing pleasure above--thank you, Paint and also free image search).  When a mer is relaxed or asleep or just floating, the fins are soft like a betta fish’s.  More blood gets pumped into them as a mer swims, making them stiffer so they can move faster.

What type of fish do they look like?  A variety!  More for coloring than fin variety, but there is still some.  A few have extra fins along the tail, but it is rare and they are smaller.  Their human half is more “normal” in coloring.  Hair and eye color has a lot more variety than humans, though.

Are there mer!sharks?  …..maybe, lmao.  I kind of like the concept because let’s face it—mer!sharks are badass.  Two reasons I don’t really like it: shark skin is rough and not conducive to cuddling or sex  and, more importantly, the tails are wrong!!!  I have mers (in my mind) set up as having fins on the side (like a whale) not up and down (like a shark).  So…maybe??  

And mer!squids? Also maybe.  I like the idea of consentacles (what do you mean I base all my decisions on the sexual implications??), but for the pure aesthetic of it, I don’t like a mer ending without a tail.  So…… *maybe*.

And mer!Puffer fish? Lmao!!!!!!  Too good a question.  I’m going have to go with no, in part because of the bad sex/no cuddles, but mostly because my mers are streamlined and puffer fish are (adorable) little boxes.

Genitals—hidden via slit when unaroused, like whales.  Tits Out™ for the ladies. On the off chance you want to draw my mers, feel free to give shell bras.  They are cute.  ^3^

Mers eat fish.  They really don’t do much by way of “cooking”.  But, they will combine different fish or add in seaweeds or mollusks or what have you.  They don’t go searching for special ingredients or spices—everything is salty underwater lol.  Mers don’t eat mammals or birds unless they are wanting pelts or tusks or what have you (they don’t waste meat).  

Mers use weapons! Spears and knives!  Mostly for hunting.  For self-defense they use claws or their tails.  Their tails are very strong and whip-like, so most creatures would get knocked out with a hit.  The only creatures that really give them trouble are  larger sharks or some of the more aggressive seals (leopard seals will kick your ass to the moon—lovely creatures but omg so dangerous).  Killer whales can also be a problem, but generally only if they are competing for food.  Mers are immune to most poisons, so jellyfish and urchins aren’t a problem.

Mers get along very well with dolphins and the friendlier types of seals and definitely sea otters because omg they are SO cute.  Mers live near shorelines (will go to deep water but don’t live there as a rule) and if they live near an island where there aren’t any humans, they will sometimes sun themselves on the beaches/rocks and snuggle with any friendly seals.  They don’t go to the surface that often, though, and almost never hang out anywhere even near humans. They consider humans to be mostly harmless but potentially deadly and keep their distance.

(Keith is a stupid fish.  Pidge is very curious about humans, but she doesn’t hang out under docks like Keith the Stupid.)

Very important but entirely unnecessary sea otter facts:  The babies can’t drown—they are too fluffy to sink!!  Otters sleep holding hands so they don’t drift away from each other.  And they keep favorite rocks/shiny toys in their arm pouches because they are God’s most perfect creatures.  Also, they are dying in droves and they are essential to the ecosystem—if they aren’t there to eat sea urchins, the urchins will eat all the kelp.  Everything in a kelp forest needs kelp for food or protection or something else.  Sea otters dying = no more sea life in that area.  Well, some crabs and stuff.  But NOT a real ecosystem.  ;^;  They are so cute and important omg.

Mers aren’t exactly solitary, but they do spend a lot of time alone.  There won’t be more than three or four families in a given area and even then individuals will find their own caves/hidey-holes.  

Mers see very well in low-to-no light and do alright above water, but on very sunny days the glare can be too much for them.  They can handle extreme temperatures so they live in the tropics all the way up to the arctic comfortably.  They have very good hearing but do not use echolocation.  The skin on their finger tips very sensitive to vibrations, so they will do some seafloor hunting by placing their hands on the sand and “seeing” that way (makes for an easy time finding treasure in sunken ships!).

Homosexuality in my AU

There isn’t *too* much homophobia.  It’s mostly a live-and-let-live thing, but there is some of it for royalty/gentility because of issues of succession. It’s sort of like polygamy, but if a lord or ruler has a same sex partner, they are supposed to still produce an heir with someone else.  Both the lover and the heir producer hold titles/honor/influence.  This dual partner thing also applies if the lord or ruler is infertile (they’re allowed to try with a concubine).  So, a nicer approach to the importance of bloodlines, basically.  In Shiro’s case, he has a younger brother (Ryou) who would be next in line, so as long as Ryou has kids, Shiro wouldn’t be required to have a lady.  Also, Ryou is unofficially the crown prince at the moment since no one (Shiro included) expects Shiro to be well enough to become a proper ruler.  I felt This Shit was important to include because it bothers the crap out of me when fantasy stories don’t care about the political difficulties of succession.  Yes, I am That Person.

Families:

Shiro has three siblings (listed by age): Yumi (sister), Ryou (brother), Yuki (sister).  I haven’t decided on the ages, but they are about 23, 19, and 14.  Shiro is 27.  He’s closest to Yumi but he gets along well with Ryou and Yuki.  He doesn’t know Yuki very well.  

Lance has a  ton of siblings and family members (as in canon).  His father is the valet of Shiro’s father, so that’s how he got the job.  He and Shiro have known each other since childhood.

Keith is an only child.  He has mother, Krolia, and several uncles (Kolivan, Ulaz, Thace) which is unusual as merfolk don’t usually have a lot of children.  Fertile grandmother!  His father was an only child and has passed away.   Is this a plot point that I spy!?!?!?!??!  Maybe.  I have like 6 different endings to sort through still omg.

Pidge is like in the show.  Matt, Sam, and Colleen.  Kickasses, one and all.

[sohotthateveryonedied]

Voltron Hospital AU

Okay so like a month ago I came up with a Voltron Surgeon AU and rambled to @damthosefandoms about it all night, but guess what I still want to talk about it so I’m just posting my headcanons here because why not 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Some background: 

Heavily inspired by Grey’s Anatomy because I love it (at least until around season ten; I don’t watch anything after Derek dies and Christina leaves because I’m bitter) 

The paladins work at Altea Memorial Hospital 

Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are residents, Shiro and Matt are attendings, Allura is the chief of surgery, and Coran is the best nurse in the known universe 

The color of their scrubs changes depending on their specialty 

(Putting under a read more because this is pretty long) 

Shiro:

- Dr. Takashi Shirogane

- Head of Neuro surgery 

- Black scrubs 

- Lost his arm in a car accident with Keith during his residency that nearly ruined his medical career. His arm was so damaged from the collision that it needed to be amputated, but Matt made him a prototype prosthetic that wound up working 

- Was out for two years while he was learning how to use the prosthetic, but he eventually became able to do surgery again 

- Is continuously trying to come up with a way to surgically cure ptsd and trauma flashbacks for obvious reasons 

- Crushing hard on Allura, the chief of surgery and his work wife 

- That one surgeon everyone is in love with 

- MCDREAMY 

- “It’s a beautiful day to save lives” 😭 (listen if you don’t watch greys anatomy you prob won’t get the reference but it’s just,,, it’s what Derek always said before surgery)

- I can’t believe Shiro is actually Derek Shepherd who knew

- Was the paladins’ attending back when they were interns and trained them all until their residencies, so they’re really close 

- Shiro had always wanted Keith to go into the neuro field like him, whereas Keith wants to follow his own path. This sometimes causes conflict between them 

- Looks after the residents and comforts them whenever they lose a patient or have a bad day

- DOCTOR DAD

Keith:

- Dr. Keith Kogane 

- Trauma surgeon (so he mainly works in the ER and takes on all the emergency stuff and the more gory surgeries like when someone gets an arm chopped off or is hit by a truck) 

- Red scrubs 

- Shiro’s adoptive younger brother 

- He feels like he has to prove himself constantly because people assume he only got the job because he’s the neuro attending’s brother 

- Pidge’s bff 

- Worked on cars to pay his way through med school 

- Originally got into trauma surgery because he was there in the accident when Shiro lost his arm. Keith was fine besides some cuts and scrapes and a broken bone or two, but Shiro’s injuries were far worse. The worst was his arm, which was super messed up by the impact. It took a while for the paramedics to get there, so it was up to Keith to try and save the arm at least until they arrived because he couldn’t be the reason Shiro loses his medical career, but he cracked under the pressure and in the end, even with all his work to stabilize his arm, they still couldn’t save it and that’s why Shiro lost the arm and Keith will always blame himself for that 

- Kolivan is the trauma surgery attending and a major hard ass, and Keith is his protege  

- Was at the top of their class all throughout med school and he’s a natural with a scalpel 

- ✨ Ponytail ✨ can I get a hell yeah for Keith in a ponytail 

- “Patience yields focus” is his mantra for basically everything 

- Dropped out for half a year during their internships because of a patient’s death that hit him hard. He was performing his first solo surgery and everyone came to watch from the gallery because this was his big moment, this was his time to prove himself. It was supposed to be a simple appendectomy, but something went wrong during the operation. He ended up losing the patient despite working in a blind panic for almost twenty minutes doing CPR until Shiro finally managed to get him to stop and understand that the patient was gone, he had to let it go 

- The whole event really rattled him, and after scrubbing out of the OR he straight up left the hospital and no one saw him back there for months 

- He returned eventually due to Shiro’s coaxing, and in three months managed to make his way to the top yet again 

- Loves his trusty scalpel (you know I had to fit a thing about the knife in there) and he has it with him every time he performs a surgery. He says it’s lucky and has never performed a surgery without it since that first one 

- Shares an apartment with his bro Shiro, but rarely ever goes home because the hospital is his life. He spends most nights in the on-call rooms and is always up and ready to go whenever an emergency trauma comes in 

- Actually wanted to be a paramedic for a while, but in the end chose trauma surgery because it’s more competitive and intense  

-He is so bad at bedside manner and interacting with patients in general; he’s totally the Christina Yang of this au (also Alex Karev too because let’s be real HE IS) 

He’s really quiet and with patients he’s always distant—he tells them what they need to know about the surgery and that’s it. He just sticks to the facts and doesn’t make it any more personal than it has to be 

-He’s the guy who intimidates everyone without meaning to, so everyone’s kinda scared of him tbh. 

But overall he’s a great doctor and works well under pressure, which is why he’s so great for the trauma field 

Lance:

- Dr. Lance McClain 

- Lance works primarily in plastics (plastic surgery, skin stuff, transition surgeries, facial injuries, burns, etc) 

- Blue scrubs 

- He first got into the field because years ago he got into an accident and came out of it with burn scars all over his back and shoulders that he prefers to keep hidden. He specializes in burn injuries because of that connection 

- Hunk’s bff/roommate 

- Keith’s rival all during med school and their internship 

- He competes with Keith a lot over surgeries since Keith is trauma and Lance is plastics, so whenever a burn victim or similar case comes in they fight over literally everything  

- Flirts with all the nurses shamelessly 

- Super good when it comes to bedside manner and even better with kids

- Acts suave and cocky, but he really has a great heart and most of his confidence is an act to hide how insecure he is about his skills that he worries aren’t good enough even though he’s the best plastic surgeon in the state 

- During their internship, he and Keith competed for who would get the reward of performing his first solo surgery. Keith won in the end, and Lance resented him for it for a long time 

- Went into plastics because he likes getting to improve lives, being able to fix what other people can’t themselves. He takes pride in the fact that by doing what he loves, he gets to help people at the same time 

- This is a lot of why he clashes with Keith so much. Keith gets too invested in the surgery itself so much that he often forgets about the patient altogether, whereas Lance sees the patient before anything. He makes all his cases personal and tries to get to know his patients as well as possible so he knows what he’s working for. It makes him feel better about it all if he knows that when he’s finished, he’ll have changed someone’s life and that makes him feel really good 

- I can’t believe Lance is actually Mark Sloan in disguise who would have thought 

Pidge:

- Dr. Katie (Pidge) Gunderson, which is her mom’s maiden name that she uses as her last name, that way there’s not two Dr. Holts because that would be confusing 

- Cardio surgeon because she’s a badass 

- Green scrubs 

- She loves doing the more experimentational procedures with new equipment. Her favorite thing is coming up with new ways to advance the cardio field and make her own mark in the world of medical science 

- (Has to use a step stool during surgery because she’s too short to reach the table rip) 

- Her brother Matt works at the hospital as well, and they’re the ultimate surgery duo 

- Keith’s bff 

- That one doctor who knows everyone’s business and loves gossiping about other doctors with the patients 

- Steadiest surgical hands this side of the Mississippi 

- Once performed an emergency valve repair in the dark and they talked about her around the hospital for weeks it was awesome 

- “Why do you like cardio so much?” “Because I have no heart and operating on other people’s is satisfying” 

- So competitive when it comes to surgeries it’s not even funny. She’ll steal a surgery from right under you and you won’t even realize she did it until you walk into the OR later and find her already halfway finished with the surgery 

- Wears Heelies to work so she can skate into the OR like a cool person 

- She works fifteen hour shifts at a time and no one ever sees her go home or use an on-call room?? Does she sleep?? Is she a vampire?? Was she ever alive in the first place?? No one knows 

Matt:

- Dr. Matthew Holt 

- Matt is the ortho attending, so he specializes in bones 

- Gray scrubs (he doesn’t really have a color, but he wore a lot of gray-ish stuff in Voltron so I’m working with what I have here) 

- Bffs with Shiro and is the dude who strolls into the OR with a bag of chips while Shiro is in the middle of brain surgery to talk about Game of Thrones 

- Was the one who saved Shiro’s arm and got him the prosthetic after his accident. He was working in a medical trial for a new high-tech bionic arm, and he submitted Shiro’s name to be a candidate and he got picked 

- The one who eats everyone else’s lunches in the break room

- (jackson avery jACKSON AVERY JACKSON AVERY)

- The one who fills plastic gloves with helium and gives them to kids as balloons 

- Draws anime characters on people’s charts to make them laugh 

- “Hey why’d you go into ortho, Matt?” “I like shattering people’s bones and this is the only legal way to do it” 

- Plays the Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeuf song on a loop during his surgeries because he claims it helps him focus 

- *sings* ”STAB IT IN HIS KIDNEYYYY” *accidentally does it* “sHIT” 

- But really though, despite being a walking meme, Matt is the best orthopedic surgeon in the whole hospital he’s awesome 

Hunk:

- Dr. Hunk Garrett 

- Peds surgeon (So mainly he works on kids)(He started out med school wanting to go into anesthesiology, but he found he has a gift for pediatric surgery and switched and has been proud of that choice ever since) 

- Yellow scrubs 

- During medical school he was super squeamish and could barely start an IV without puking, but he eventually overcame that and became a fantastic doctor 

- Actual ball of fluff and amazingness 

- Most definitely has a teddy bear pin on the pocket of his lab coat why is this even a question 

- The best pediatric surgeon in the whole hospital and is recommended all over for his fantastic bedside manner and ability to put any patient at ease 

- He’s great with kids and super good at comforting the parents as well 

- Spends a lot of time in the NICU looking at all the cute babies and drags everyone else in there when they’re sad 

- Lance’s bff/roommate 

- Dating Shay, who’s the super sweet neonatal surgeon 

- Always carries around stickers in his pockets and gives them to sick kids to cheer them up. Also to adults who look like they could use a scratch and sniff dancing strawberry sticker because honestly who doesn’t 

- He gave one to Keith once after the guy lost three patients in one day and it actually made him smile a little. It was Hunk’s proudest moment

Coran:

- Coran Coran the Gorgeous Man is the toughest damn nurse in this whole hospital 

- Orange scrubs 

- He’s also Allura’s dad for all intents and purposes after her own father died 

- Also a war vet who worked as an army trauma surgeon years ago, but when he came back he became a nurse because it was a more rewarding field and he wanted to be closer to Allura. It was right after her father’s death, so Coran wanted to be able to help her more since now she has inherited an entire hospital to run all by herself 

- Knows everyone’s business because he’s the nurse whom everyone confides in, so he knows all 

- “That’s why his mustache is so fabulous. It’s full of secrets”

- Knows all the long-term patients by name and stops by their rooms every once in a while for exciting talks about his long treks across the desert with nothing on his back but a bottle of water and a cabbage 

- The head nurse and basically a mom to everyone in the hospital 

- Allura’s right hand man 

- His mustache is fabled to cure cancer just by looking at it 

- Doesn’t have time to remember all the resident’s names, so he has them ranked by height 

- “You know, Keith, you’re lucky Pidge didn’t take that offer to transfer to Hopkins” “Uh, why?” “Because then you would have been the shortest” “hOW DARE—“ 

-The backbone of that whole hospital and he knows it 

Allura:

- Dr. Allura Altea (listen she doesn’t have a last name so I’m working with what I have) 

- Chief of surgery 

- Pink scrubs that nobody else in the hospital has because she’s fabulous and she knows it 

- Actual goddess 

- Tough af and doesn’t take anybody’s crap. Don’t mess with Allura, she’ll make you do push ups in the middle of the ER if you even try it

- Has feelings for Shiro, but because she’s his boss, she tries to keep her feelings under control and stay professional so as not to cause any problems. For real though, they are absolutely work husband and wife 

- Her father Alfor owned the hospital until his death during what was supposed to be a routine heart surgery. His death was really hard on Allura and Coran, the latter of whom is now like a dad to Allura 

- Allura now owns the hospital as well as runs the surgical field, so she’s super busy. But it’s all good because she’s the best at running everything smoothly and she’s just so great okay 

- (Is it just me or is Allura just Miranda Bailey but even more radiant)(the answer is yes, yes she is) 

- Has four pet mice that used to be lab mice, but she got attached and now keeps them in a cage in her office 

[flutterbyhime]

So, like everyone, I’ve got some thoughts on Voltron Season 7. Spoilers inbound so... skip this if you still haven’t watched it. Which you should, because despite at least half the fandom acting like it’s the end of the world, season seven is actually pretty goddamn engaging. Like “oh, I’m just gonna watch the first three or so episodes and call it a night. I’ll watch the rest tomorrow.” followed by “It’s nearly three in the morning and I have finished Voltron season seven.” engaging

Okay. So I just want to give everyone a quick warning apart from spoilers, that I am not super used to writing reactions/reviews. Usually I just mule it over in my head, talk it out with some friends, and then that’s about it. BUT~~ since I’m the only one in group of friends that loves Voltron and I would like them to watch it at some point without certain story beats spoiled, I figured I would write out my thoughts this time. You know, try and put my thoughts, praises, and criticisms in a concise and constructive piece. And while I realize that some of the things I’m going to say are probably gonna invite some interesting...responses on my post or inbox, my first few browses of the Voltron tag haven’t actually shown constructive/concise criticisms outside of how the writers handled Shiro’s relationship with Adam (something that I’ll go into detail later. The actual relationship and what I think the text is, feeding on my first Voltron season 7 post, that is. The whole backlash to the writing I do in the next paragraph).

Which, speaking of how the writers handled Shiro and Adam’s relationship! First things first, I just want to say that I can see and understand why a lot of people are upset. Voltron has grown to mean a lot of things to the fandom, and with the news that Shiro is a gay man serving in the military with a long term relationship that was leading to marriage before Kerberous Mission was really exciting. It was fantastic to get a beloved character to be confirmed to be apart of the LGBT+ community. It still is in my book. The fact that Shiro has been through a lot of shit and still has hope and love to give to his newly found family already made him an amazing character. And with his confirmed sexuality, it’s like extra decorative and delicious strawberries on an already amazing proverbial cake. It brings that much more depth and interest in a character that could have very easily been a one note character. And for me, the confirmation announcement and the announcement that we would see parts of Shiro’s life pre-Kerberous was exciting. Of the core cast, the person we know the least about in terms of home life was Shiro. With everyone else, we either knew or learned some aspect of how their lives were before this grand space adventure happened. But we never really knew with Shiro beyond he took in Keith at some point and that he was a prisoner of a ten thousand year old war for about a year. So the glimpse of how he met Keith, came to took him in, and how his relationships were before leaving for Kerberous was a welcome story addition (also greatly needed from a character stand point in my opinion. Shiro was starting to get a touch...mythical). So with what we saw of Shiro and Adam was a fight about Shiro wanting to do the Kerberous Mission, followed later by Adam passing in a first wave offensive and later with Shiro realizing that Adam died, yeah... I see why a lot of people are upset. And if you are upset, I completely understand. You have every right to be upset. But here’s the thing.  Sending hate or being nasty to the writers and the cast isn’t going to help. What will help is giving actual feedback to Dreamworks and the writers. Whatever passion you feel for the show will come through, but an off the hip reaction doesn’t give someone a lot to go off of. Being calm and concise does though. Again, you can be disappointed and upset, but you can voice it in a way that doesn’t come off as an attack (which is what a lot of initial criticism read to me).  Joaquim Dos Santos, an executive producer of Voltron, wrote a wonderful open letter to the fandom addressing all this that you should read. A lot of it puts a number of things into clearer light.(https://twitter.com/JDS_247/status/1029181981572050945)  And I don’t want to get tin-foil-hat on you guys, but something tells me that the writers and producers had to fight to get ANY LGTB+ representation in, let alone confirm it. Which is sad, but Voltron is still a kids show. And I wouldn’t be surprised that some stuffy, out of touch white guys in suits said that you can’t do the gay thing because children can’t be corrupted or some similar bullshit. So be mad, be upset, be loud. But be loud at Dreamswork.  Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers and producers were showing all this backlash to the suits and going “YOU HAVE TO LET US GIVE THEM THE GAY FOR SEASON EIGHT. LOOK AT HOW MUCH THE AUDIENCE IS DEMANDING IT! THESE ARE THE PEOPLE BUYING THE MERCHANDISE FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!” Because I sure as fuck would.

And with that out of the way, let’s move on to some positive things!

This season was actually well-written. Were there mis-steps? Yes, but again (and getting a litte tin-foil-hatty here), I feel like certain elements were probably more studio driven than writer driven (looking at you Axca and your weird stares at Keith!). But overall this season was excellently written. The stakes were kept high, there was tension throughout, and the comic-relief episode was a wonderful play on fan headcannons (making Keith a terrible artists is something I’m still laughing about). And yeah, the last few episodes can be a little too similar thanks to all the action scenes, but at least the stakes were upped at each turn. And also, what better way to introduce the new big-bad than right after defeating Sendak?! It subverts the exception of a huge celebration with showing our heros that they may not have the chomps to fight against this new threat (which, let’s be real, it’s most likely Lotor and/or Haggar. If it’s not either of them, I will be thoroughly surprised).

One of my favorite things from season seven though is that is explores what happens after a major political leader of an empire is killed. It would have been so easy just to have another galra take the reigns of the Zarkon’s empire, but the writers went with the harder option of a bloody fallout. They showed a world/universe where people have formed their own factions and fighting for power, along with the mess that that creates. You honestly don’t see that a lot in fiction, let alone fiction aimed for younger audiences. 

And let’s talk about episode five for a hot minute. It’s been a long time since I was legit terrified from a children’s show. Like since Avatar: The Last Air Bender (that blood bending episode still gives me chills). The set-up and pacing is so perfect. Starting light before slowly turning tragic, which only leads to the sheer-terror of not only the situation, but of how brutal and cruel the universe has gotten in Voltron’s absence. With so little, it makes the viewer question of what’s happened to other allies of Voltron. And considering it follows the game show episode, it’s the hard left turn I personally wasn’t expecting. But I’m not going to lie, it’s probably my favorite episode of the season. Also, I legit started tearing up when Keith called Krolia “Mom” and they hugged. While I wish there was more mother-son moments in general when in comes to Keith and Krolia, I think that moment alone showed how much Keith has grown. He may still have some abandonment issues, but it’s clear that the trust he has in his family is helping him overcome that. That he trusts Krolia to come back and that he trusts his team/new family to be there for him. And I’m hoping we get that explored some more in season eight. (#MoreActualSpaceMomPlease)

There’s also the fact that they made the four years of Sam Holt’s time back on Earth engaging to watch. While I think we all knew that they were going to explain what Sam, the Garrison, and Earth in general was doing before Voltron arrived, I was worried how they would handle this. This is exposition that’s very easy to make clunky and a slog to get through. I was worried even when the first shot was “Four Years Earlier...”. Even with two episodes dedicated to some very important exposition, this is stuff that I think any writer can tell you is tricky to pull off. Yes, Sam is Pidge and Matt’s father, and we get the bonus of Lance’s sister Veronica (#BestBigSister #MoreVeronicaAndLanceSeasonEight), people who we’re emotionally invested in because members of the core cast are, but this is still focus away from characters we’ve gotten to know and love for six seasons.  These two episodes had to not only re-familiarize us with character we met briefly in season five, but had to reintroduce us to characters we’ve really only seen in episode one with brief cameos in various flashbacks, introduce us to both new characters and the command structure of the Garrison. And that’s a lot to do in less than a total of forty minutes. So the fact that it’s engaging and does not only that, but also clearly gives and raises the stakes for the rest of the season without ham-fisting it is impressive. We knew that Voltron was going to have to save Earth thanks to the trailer, but we didn’t know how dire the situation was going to be when we returned to Earth. Even though these were the episodes that Adam died, I still found myself emotionally invested.  If anything, its inspired me to write AU fanfiction where I take all the ‘humans are space orcs and Earth is a death planet’ ideas and put them in there, having Sendak and the Galra lowkey realize that the Lions of Voltron probably chose the most-level-headed humans to the be the paladins because fuck man, earthlings be terrifying and maybe we should leave??? (I’m serious about this bit. I’ve been going through all my saved screen-shot pins of them on pinterest and making note of which ones I want to use)

I like how we get to see more of the relationships between all of Team Voltron and the core casts’s family. I like that we got to see more of Hunk’s story and how Lance’s relationship with his siblings is very much the same as Keith and Shiro’s in terms of the emotional bonds (seriously, the paralles between Lance and Keith when their siblings (or if you’re a Sheith shipper, loved ones) are in danger is great. The Klance shipper in me is on the floor in tears crying about how these two boys will sacrifice themselves if it meant that their loved ones would live. Thanks for emotionally wrecking me on that Voltron writers). I love that we got to see Colleen Holt reunite with her husband and straight up go “FIGHT ME”  and win when Garrison command tells her she can’t stay because protocol, along with her being active in her own way. When she and Sam broadcast to their entire planet that an alien invasion is imminent, she doesn’t shy away from being the one to drop this bombshell. From the text, it appears that she fought long and hard trying to figure out what happened to her family long before Sam came back, I love that about her. She just wants to know her family is safe, or at least get some potential closure if their not, and she never backed down from that fight. So it’s great to see that reunion. And, quick aside, it’s clear from the visual text that she and Sam have a beautifully healthy relationship despite their years apart and they emotionally support one another. And I hope that we see more of that in the next season. And I’ve got high hopes for season eight for so many more reasons!

So now I guess I should address the one relationship that I said I would talk about at the start of all this.  Shiro and Adam.

Okay, so some of you may have already read my thoughts on an earlier post how how I didn’t believe we were going to get a tearful and heartfelt reunion between the two. (here’s the link if you want to read it in full: http://kirika-hime.tumblr.com/post/176794551537/okay-before-season-7-of-voltron-is-up-ive-got-a  It’s long, so sorry about that, but I’m going to be referencing it a bit here) And even with what little was given to us or even what could have been given to us, I can’t fully get behind Adam. 

Yes, we pretty much just got a fight, but hear me out for a moment. First things first, that fight, when you’re paying attention to it, actually sounds like a fight between two adults who care for each other and have been gone over the topic ad nauseam. Adam sounds tired. Shiro sounds tired and frustrated. The topic of Shiro going on the Kerberous Mission when his health is probably beginning to decline is clearly something that has truly strained their relationship. The acting and the animation show that with so little. And here’s the thing with that, it makes me asks a lot of big questions. If Shiro had stayed and they had gotten married, would that strain still be there? Would Shiro potentially resent Adam for convincing him not to go on the mission? If he does, does that strain begin to grow into a rift? What if their relationship was already showing some cracks in the foundation and they didn’t realize it? What if the fight and their split actually healthy for the two of them?  Would Sam and Matt still have gone the Kerberous Mission? And if they did, would Matt still even be alive? Would Sam find a way to escape? What about Pidge? Colleen? What happens to them? If Pidge is still demanding for answers, does Shiro demand for them as well? Does their relationship change? Does Pidge and Keith’s relationship change? Does Shiro get kicked out of the Garrison instead of Keith? Does Pidge still disguise herself And what about Voltron? Would the Blue Lion have been found at all? Or would Zarkon have found the others, including the Black Lion? Because if that’s what could happen, what does that mean for Allura and Coran? What does that mean for Earth? For Lotor and the Alteans he deceiving and manipulating? What about Romelle? What would have happened to her if Keith and Krolia never found her?

And I know a lot of these questions probably seem dumb and fanficcy to a lot of people, but I think they’re legit questions fans should ask. A lot of this story hinges on Shiro, Sam, and Matt going on the Kerberous Mission when you boil it down. So it’s important to explore how certain characters made certain decisions.  I don’t doubt that Shiro went on the Kerberous Mission to fulfill his dream one last time. He had no way of knowing that he was going to be abducted. But I’m positive that he wanted to be out in space one last time. I don’t think it was about breaking records, like Adam seemed to suggest. I think it was one man trying to get as much joy and fulfillment out of his life before he was fully confined by his illness. Shiro didn’t want to have any regrets when that time came. And possibly, he wanted to show Keith that even when the deck is stacked against him, he could still do amazing things. And it’s also selfish. Which is great because it gives Shiro a character flaw! And we can see how it shapes him when rewatching previous seasons. The guilt he feels from how he left things with Adam, of how he left Keith behind, probably drove a lot of his decisions and choices during his time as a prisoner and as the Black Paladin. Adam may have said that he wouldn’t be waiting for Shiro when he returned, but that still doesn’t mean Shiro wants him, anyone, to experience the horrors of war. Not when he potentially keep that from happening. As a Paladin, he can potentially redeem a lot of his perceived mistakes. That’s what makes Shiro interesting! (It’s also what makes him so difficult to write)

Adam is in his right to not want to put up with Shiro’s selfishness.  But I still hold from one argument from my previous post, that Adam gave up on Keith.

Now a lot of this is on assumptions and personal interpretation of the text (both actual words and visually) that’s been given to us, but I stand by that Adam gave up on a kid who needed him. No matter how you view Shiro and Keith’s relationship, Keith’s important to Shiro. He saw a lot of potential in a lonely child who, more than anything, needed someone to care about him beyond questioning if he was going to get into trouble or not. And as Shiro got closer to Keith, he saw a child who needed a family. A person who he could turn to when things started getting rough, for someone to be in his corner.  Keith at a young age was difficult to get along with, the first episode of this season showed us that. He’s closed off, kids his age don’t really want to take the time to understand him, and it seems that most adults aren’t willing to invest in the time to tease and pull out his strengths or see the kid that feels deeply for his loved ones. Keith has a lot of emotional baggage, and combine it with whatever possible galra childhood tendencies he might have that no one could have known about, you have a really tough job on your hands. And that’s what makes Keith and Shiro’s relationship so powerful. That Shiro was able to see the potential in him. Not just to be a great pilot, but to be a great and loving person. Shiro never gave up on him. 

But Adam did. Not once during episode seven or eight do we see Adam inquire after Shiro or Keith. Something that would have been so easy to include, and it never happened.  Adam no doubt was the first person Shiro talked to when it came to Keith (followed most likely by Sam, because, hey. Sam’s got two kids, he’s gotta know a thing or two about parenting overly-talented children, right?). He probably tried to get feedback, ideas, even confirmation on how he was interacting and raising Keith. And considering how close Keith and Shiro are, Adam definitely met and interacted with Keith.  Adam may not have fully agreed with Shiro pseudo-adopting Keith, but he saw how close the two were. He knew that Shiro was trying to give Keith the tools to succeed in life and get him out of a system that clearly did not care for him. And that could have been part of the reason why Adam loved Shiro.  Like I said in my first post, I fully believe that Shiro asked Adam to look after Keith while he was gone. I still believe that Keith acted similarly to Pidge in trying to get answers after Kerberous went belly-up. And I still fully believe that when Keith was kicked out of the Garrison and left homeless. And I still fully believe that Adam did nothing to help. Nothing that was given to us indicates that Adam tried to reach out and support Keith when Shiro disappeared.

In fact, I’m more angry at Adam now than before season seven was released. He understandably ended things with Shiro. He was tired of watching the man he loved putting his personal goals/desires before his health and couldn’t watch anymore. He told Shiro that he wouldn’t be waiting for him anymore. And I get that.  That sucks. Watching a person you love potentially destroying themselves hurts. The more you care about them, the more it hurts. But Adam, whether he meant it or not, included Keith in that. He cut Keith out of his life too. I don’t have any doubt that Keith tried to get Adam to help him in finding answers. Keith probably had his fair share of fights with Adam, trying to appeal to him that Shiro was too of a pilot for there to be an error, illness or not. That they have a right to know what happened to a person they love.  And Adam shut him out. He abandoned Keith. Whether it was to deal with his own emotional pain over Shiro’s disappearance or that he never cared for Keith in a similar way that Shiro did, I don’t know. But his response was to abandon a child he knew had no one. We get no indication that Adam opened up his home for Keith, or that he tried to find out where Keith went when he left for the desert.  And that’s what makes me angry. Is that Adam, whether he felt equipped to deal with Keith’s problems or not, abandoned a child who needed support more than ever. He didn’t have to care about Keith like a brother or a son, but he could have saw someone who was hurting as much as he was. Adam could have tried to talk to Keith and give him support. They could have potentially healed together over the loss of Shiro. But Adam let a young teenager, a child, feel abandoned once more and homeless on top of that. 

I can’t forgive him for that. Nothing in the text, via words or visually, indicates that Adam tried to help or be there for Keith. And I really wanted to like Adam, but what I’ve got to work with says otherwise.  Who knows, maybe season eight will prove me wrong. But until then, I just can’t. 

[mydearestreaderfanfics]

6 Times You Didn’t Leave and The 1 Time You Did: Part 2 (Keith x Reader)

Warnings: Abandonment, death, loss of parent, grieving

Word Count: 2,818

Prompt/Request: N/A

Summary: As their friendship crumbles, the reader finds themself hoping for a way to talk to Keith again. That opportunity shows itself in a much more painful way than anybody expected. Warning: The ending is very dark and left unresolved. This is not the final installment of 6TYDL&1TYD, though.

Author: Mod Alex

Chpt. 1      Chpt. 3

Age 13: You and Keith remained as close as ever, if not more so, as you went through elementary school. Some of your fondest memories were of summers spent hanging out at the pool with Keith to beat the Texas heatwaves. It was only when the summer before your first year at middle school rolled around that things began to change. You and Keith had found out that aside from one measly history class and lunch, you had no chances of seeing each other during school hours. Needless to say, this was wildly different from your years in elementary school where you were together for all almost eight hours of the school day. The day before classes started, you and Keith went up to the park that you had spent most of your early childhood at.

“Do you think it’ll be fun at all?” You nudge a rock with your foot, stealing a glance at Keith. He stayed quiet and you sighed, his silence answered your question. “But hey, we gotta make the best of it right? We’ll still hang out all the time.” This prompts a small smile from your best friend. “Yeah, you’re right.” You bumped your side against his. “Don’t look so sad, we’ll figure it out. We can catch up on at lunch and then again in history.”

Middle school, despite being in separate classes, was off to a great start. You and Keith had made it a point to always eat lunch with each other and hang out after school. But slowly, as the homework and drama that came with being a preteen began to add up, you were no longer able to see each other as much. It was always “I’m sorry (y/n), but I was thinking about trying out for the soccer team, can we meet up tomorrow instead” or “I can’t meet for lunch, I’m really sorry Keith, but I did promise my mom I would study during lunch for the test in my math class”. Between your two conflicting schedules, it was a miracle you two still talked to each other at all. Even still, not having your other half by your side hurt. And the loneliness stung as if someone had stabbed an icicle into your chest. That’s why when the familiar face of Lance and his best friend Hunk had approached you in the hallway one day to ask if you wanted to hang out, because they thought that you seemed upset, you had immediately accepted the offer. It’s not like Keith would care, you had thought bitterly, he was always too busy for you anyway. As you befriended the duo, you found yourself laughing again; smiling without any strain behind it. As far as you could tell, Keith had done the same by befriending student council president, Shiro, who was a year above the both of you. While it stung to see yourself get replaced so easily, you were honestly happy for Keith. Everyone knew Shiro was the nicest person in the school, so it made you happy to know that Keith had extended his usually guarded heart to another person aside from you; even if deep down it twisted your gut uncomfortably for reasons you didn’t completely understand. You wrote it off to missing your oldest friend. The end of the year rounded the corner quickly after that, and you found yourself unable to focus on the way your stomach felt all in knots when you saw Keith due to being busy with final tests.

“Don’t you think I should, (n/n)? Uh, Earth to (n/n), is anyone there?” Lance waved his hand in front of your face, snapping you out of your thoughts. “Wuh- Oh, Lance, sorry.” “Hey, it’s no big deal, dude. But you should know, you were totally staring at mullet-head over there.” Despite yourself, you blushed. “Was not! Why would I? You know we don’t talk much anymore… Anyway, what were you saying?” Lance and Hunk exchange a knowing look before looking back at you. You give them a half-hearted glare in return. “I KNOW that look. It only ever leads to trouble. Whatever you’re thinking, you can forget it now. The last time you two had one of your ridiculous looks, we got detention for almost a week.” “I’m hurt. Your lack of faith, it wounds me really.” Lance placed a hand over his heart, feigning being in pain. “All we were thinking was that maybe you should go talk to him. Like you said, it’s been a while. Maybe you could rekindle that old friendship-” “Romance~,”Lance had butted in while Hunk was talking. You socked him in the shoulder. “Don’t be an idiot. But maybe you’re right Hunk. I barely saw him this summer and when I did, it was only because our parents are friends and he was forced to tag along, not because he actually wanted to be there. He was always too busy hanging with Shiro and Allura.” Allura was a transfer student in Siro’s year. Apparently, Shiro had met her during summer and they had become fast friends. Now she was practically a celebrity at your school. And more importantly, your friend Lance was ridiculously head over heels for her, so you hoped mentioning her would take the spotlight off of you. It did. “I bet they don’t even realize how lucky they are,” Lance grumbled as he looked up at the table where Allura sat with the rest of the Student Council and a handful of other students, Keith included. You stabbed into the “mashed potatoes” on your plate, nudging them around instead of actually eating them. “Hmm? Maybe you’re the one who should go talk.” You grin at him. “Yeah and embarrass myself? Maybe I can do something for Valentines Day. Oh, I can volunteer in that thing the student council is doing maybe that’ll grab her attention.” The rest of lunch was full of fun chatter and you and Hunk teasing Lance. Still, you couldn’t shake off what Lance had said. Why romance? You didn’t like Keith like that, did you?

It wasn’t long until your trio became a quad? Quartet? You weren’t sure what to call it, but nevertheless, you were grateful for the addition. She was a sixth grader, a year younger than you, but she was super smart and in several of your classes despite being younger. Her name was Katie, but after overhearing her brother who was in high school call her Pidge, you all lovingly started calling her Pidgeon. Initially it annoyed her, but she grew to be fond of the silly nickname. She also quickly adjusted to keeping up with the dynamics and talk of the group. The best thing, at least in your opinion, was that she was snarky enough to shock Lance into silence. Those few seconds of pure heaven were usually enough for you to recover from whatever teasing he had dished out your way. Pidge wasn’t the only surprise that came to you, though. Since you were a seventh grader, you were required to choose an elective. Without a second thought, you had chosen art. That had led to surprise two.

Keith Kogane. Your ex-best friend. The person who was basically the other half of you. The guy that your friends were sure you had a major crush on- was sitting in your art class on the first day. You almost freaked out before remembering that Keith did, in fact, go to the same school as you and was just as entitled to choose art for his elective as you were. Gulping silently, you made your way to a seat close to the paint, which just so happened to be on the opposite end of the classroom to where Keith was. Either he hadn’t noticed your entrance, which you highly doubted since he was always very observant, or he just didn’t care. The thought that the second option might be true sent an ache through your chest that you brushed off as nerves. When the teacher arrived, she explained that she would be placing everyone in groups of four every couple of weeks, so to not unpack yet. Much to your relief, you hadn’t been paired with Keith yet. You knew you wanted to talk to him again, but you wanted to on your terms not due to him being forced to interact with you. Besides if things went south when you talked to him, you’d rather not have to be working with him right afterward.

Seventh grade was shaping to be a much better year than the previous year had been. Your group of four were the best friends you could ask for and art class was easily shaping up to be your favorite class. However, you still haven't confronted Keith, and your friends were nowhere near letting you get away with not talking to him. It’s not that you didn’t want to, you did, it was just that you weren’t sure how to even bring it up with him. Your friends' suggestions didn’t really appeal to you; Lance wanted you to just walk up to him and call him out, Pidge said you should consider befriending his friends to get close to him again, and Hunk suggested you go to the soccer meets where Keith played. Despite this, you had begrudgingly agreed to try out Hunk’s idea first if you hadn’t already talked to Keith by the end of the week. Little did you know, you didn’t have to worry about trying Hunk’s idea out; you’d end up talking to Keith the first day of that week, long before your “agreement” would be up.

Art class on Monday was the one thing you were looking forward to. You had a bad case of the Mondays and needed some art to clear your mind. Thoughts of working on a new charcoal piece danced through your mind until you stepped foot into the classroom. There on the board was the new seating chart showing what you were dreading the most. You had to sit across from Keith in the four-seating table. He wasn’t here yet, though, much to your relief. Even as class started he hadn’t arrived. At first you were glad to not have to deal with speaking to Keith, although, that anxiety quickly melted to worry. He was never absent. It was something that you always found odd when you two were friends still. You had gotten sick every now and then and had to miss school, but Keith had always had perfect attendance. The entire period, you were barely able to focus on the assignment at hand, and instead you nervously wondered where Keith could possibly be and what had been bad enough to make him not come to class.

You got your answer on your way to lunch. Pidge and you were walking to the cafeteria when you heard sniffling. Being the gentle-hearted person you were, you told Pidge you’d catch up with her after you went to make sure whoever was crying was okay. What you found froze you in your tracks, shattering your heart into a thousand tiny pieces. There, by the dusty storage closet in a nearly abandoned part of the school was Keith, tears bubbling in his eyes and trickling down in streaming rivers as he hiccuped pitifully. “Keith..?” He looked up to the source of the voice, looking panic-stricken and rubbing his eyes frantically. “(y/n), wh- what are you doing here?” Your backpack clattered to the floor and you were by his side in an instant as if you two had always stayed friends. As if nothing had ever happened. “Keith, oh my gosh, what happened? Are you okay?” Your eyebrows knit together as you carefully inspected him for any wounds. “Like you care.” He grumbled, scooting away from you. A hurt look shot across your face. “What- what do you mean?” He glared at you as best he could with puffy bloodshot eyes. “You leave me for some people you’ve barely ever talked to before and now you come rushing to me acting like you care. I don’t need your sympathy! I don’t know how you heard but forget it. I don’t need your help just cause our parents were friends.” Were? They still were, weren’t they? “Keith, I’d never do that to you. I wasn’t trying to leave you. You did the same to me, anyhow. But- wait what do you mean? Hear what?” “Don’t play dumb! I know you know!” “No, I don’t!” You noticed how his hands were shaking and how he had clenched his jaw. He was trying not to cry. Whatever was going on, it was serious enough to cause Keith to break down. You took a breath, calming yourself, before trying again. “Keith, I honestly don’t know what’s going on. We may not have talked in a while, but that doesn’t mean that seeing you hurting doesn’t hurt me too. I just want to help, please.” He seemed to realize that you aren’t lying. “So you really don’t know?” You shake your head. “Dad- he,” he chokes back an oncoming sob and continues very strained, “there was an accident at his work.” A single tear trickles down his cheek before more follow suit. What he’s trying to say finally dawns on you and before either of you have a chance to fully realize what’s happening, you pull him into a hug. Your eyes, too, were filling with tears. “I’m so sorry. God, I am so sorry.” Keith hiccups, letting himself fall apart as you hold onto him, both of you sobbing openly now. You cling to each other as if you were at sea and you both would be swept away into the nothingness if you didn't hold on tight enough... In a way, you would. The man that was like an extension of your own family was gone. No warning. No goodbye. Just gone. You couldn’t even begin to imagine how Keith felt. Had he left that morning with a hug to his father, expecting to be picked up after school in his old beat up pick up? Did he even get to say I love you? You felt sick.

You two had skipped the rest of your classes, you didn’t have the energy to argue when Keith had tugged your hand to the fields in the back of the school. The tidal wave of anguish had given way to a hollowness for now. The two of you laid in a patch of grass outside the view of the school. There wasn’t anything either of you could say, not that either of you really felt up to talking. So instead, you laid there hoping that this was all some mistake. That some other Mr. Kogane had been in an accident, even if the thought was selfish. What would happen to Keith now, your mind asked. You didn’t know. His mom had left when he was younger. And now with his father gone, you weren't sure who would raise Keith. He didn’t have any grandparents, at least that you knew of. Subconsciously, your hand found his and you intertwined your fingers. He squeezed your hand slightly and you did the same to his. It wasn’t much, but it silenced your mind for a moment. You really hoped it did the same for him.

Your mother picked you both up. She looked the same way you both did. Nobody spoke on the car ride to your house. There wasn’t anything that could be said that would fix any of this, so no bothered trying to. At your house, your mother had to talk to people from the state while you and Keith went to your room. “They’re gonna take me to a foster home. I can hear them.” Keith was crying again, though it was more of a silent, steady kind of crying. You were sitting beside him, close enough that your shoulders were pressed against each other. “Maybe- maybe you can stay here? My mom has always loved you, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” He stayed quiet; you both knew the idea had no base in reality. The state wouldn’t allow that. It was a while until either of you spoke up again. “Hey, (y/n).” “Yeah?” “Can I ask you a favor?” “Anything.” “Can we keep talking. Even when I leave, I mean. Maybe we can e-mail or, or something. I just… Don’t want to be alone again. I can't handle losing someone else, not now. Please don’t leave me, not again.” “I promise you, Keith, you will never ever be alone again. Not as long as I’m still here.” You held out your pinky finger to him and you saw a ghost of a smile on Keith’s face for a split second as he hooked his pinky finger on yours.

[sp4c3-0ddity]

(24) Wishes / (4) Pets / (11) Brothers and Sisters / (18) Hopeless Romantic

For the @pidgancemonth2017 prompts listed above!! I know four is a lot for one, but they do all tie in and/or are important in some way.

Word count:  ~4300

Also I tried something a little different this time, inspired in particular by the prompt ‘Wishes’. So please, tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy it!! <3

Warning for referenced animal death

On his brother’s tenth birthday, Lance made a wish and blew out the candles on the cake.

The cake was chocolate with strawberry-flavored (not strawberry, but strawberry-flavored his sister liked to insist) pink frosting, his brother’s name and birthday wishes written in mustard-yellow icing. Narrow candles of various colors poked out of it, flames waiting to be extinguished.

“Make a wish!” their auntie said, smiling from behind the camera in her hands.

Lance did, pinching his eyes shut and making several fervent wishes – one for each candle. Then, without opening his eyes, he swallowed a big gulp of air – as much as his small lungs could handle without bursting – and leaned forward, exhaling in a great huff.

Seven of the ten candles sputtered out, threads of gray smoke spiraling off the wicks. Lance grinned, still holding his wishes close to his heart, at least until his brother spun around on him.

And Lance knew he was in for it.

(#1) “I wish for Javier not to be mad about this”

Lance’s first wish did not come true; in fact, his brother made his life a living hell – or, that was what he promised anyway – for the entirety of the next month.

After that, well, it was all uphill from there.

(#2) “I wish for my own brand-new Game Boy”

Lance got the Game Boy and a few cartridges to play for his own birthday. He started to think he’d wasted his wishes, one on something that didn’t come true, and one on something he thought might’ve happened regardless.

Oh, well. A new birthday meant candles on the cake, and more wishes.

Except this time, Javier retaliated and blew them out before Lance got the chance.

(#3) “I wish for a dog”

Cecilia named the dog – a border collie and German shepherd mixed – Cerberus, which sounded clumsy off Lance’s too-young tongue. But she told him he could just call him Spot, and the dog would be smart enough to recognize that was as much his name as Cerberus.

Lance adored Spot, who was large enough to take rough treatment from him when he wasn’t careful. He was always quick to apologize when he stepped on his tail or paw, but Spot was quick to forgive him with a bump of his head against Lance’s hip.

“Spot!” Lance called from the back door, staring into the thicket of trees behind his family’s house. “Spot!” He wandered away, the screen door slamming shut behind him, and stepped into the trees at the very edge of the backyard. He stared in among branches thick with summer growth, trying to peer through the early evening shadows.

No one in his family saw Spot since the night of Independence Day, when fireworks rained from the sky.

Lance rattled the bag of treats in his hand, one, two, three, four times before he gave up, returning back to the house. He wiped furious tears from his eyes as he opened the door and stepped in, sniffing loudly.

When he spotted Cecilia, who loved Spot as much as he did and was always the one to take him on walks, he couldn’t help the surge of hope within him…until he caught sight of the tear tracks on her face and the redness in her eyes.

“You didn’t find him?” Cecilia asked, her voice croaking.

Lance shook his head and dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands.

“I’m calling the shelter,” she said, disappearing into the kitchen for the home phone.

He could hear her making the call after finding the number in the phone book, but within moments the click of plastic as she closed the line sounded.

Lance stored the treats back in their cabinet and sat on the sofa. He reached for his Game Boy and, without looking to see what game he had inserted into it, turned it on. Cecilia sat with him, holding a magazine between her hands, though he noticed she never turned the page in all the time they waited for Javier to come home, with or without Spot.

After Lance lost the same level for the sixth time in a row, he turned off the Game Boy and leaned against Cecilia. She loosely wrapped an arm around him, pressing her cheek to his hair.

“We’ll find him,” she promised, though her voice trembled on the words. “Javier will bring him home.”

Javier came home without the dog, face dour, and a few days later the shelter called to tell them Cerberus’ remains were found just outside of town, where he was hit by a car.

Cecilia didn’t speak to Javier – who she blamed for letting him out right before the fireworks – for a month.

Lance hoped his parents would agree to another dog eventually; not to replace Cerberus, of course, and even Cecilia favored the idea. Instead, his father bought a few chicks to raise for eggs. And Lance liked them well enough, but it wasn’t the same.

(Later, when Pidge introduces Lance to Bae-Bae – when tears swim in her eyes because she never thought the aged pooch would be alive to see her again – he’ll wish for Spot again.)

(#4) “I wish for a younger brother or sister so that I’m not the baby anymore”

When Lance was four he told his parents he wanted a younger brother or sister. They smiled at him – his father ruffled his hair – and informed him they were quite done with having children, that four was more than enough, and that Lance would have to live with being the youngest.

“You get spoiled,” his mother promised – or perhaps warned – him with a twinkle in her eye. “I was sometimes jealous of my baby sister.”

So Lance never got his younger brother or sister, but when he was six his eldest sister’s first child was born.

Rosario named him Ares, because she had a fascination with the stars and her husband didn’t like the name ‘Mars’. She let Lance hold the baby on the second day of his life, when he went with his father to visit them in the hospital. His father made sure he sat comfortably in a chair before gently taking the baby from Rosario and settling him into Lance’s arms.

“Hold his head like that,” said his father, putting Lance’s hand behind Ares’ head. “Let him lie here.” He smiled when Lance eyed the baby suspiciously.

For some reason, it never occurred to him that his siblings could have babies of their own until Rosario told them she was pregnant.

“How do you like being an uncle, Lance?” she asked him after a ravenous Ares returned to her.

Lance shrugged. “I’m not old like our uncles,” he pointed out.

She smiled. “Maybe he’ll be like your little brother instead,” she said. She stroked the baby’s nose and cheek and added, “Maybe he’ll look at you like an older brother, like Cecilia looked at me and you look at Javier.”

“Maybe,” Lance said doubtfully.

“Maybe,” he told Ares, who sat next to him with a book about the solar system open in his lap. “Maybe I’ll go to Mars.”

“Or Venus?”

Lance laughed. “Or Venus. Or…Jupiter, or any of the others.”

“Saturn?” Ares asked. He turned a few pages until he reached the one about Saturn. “You can see the rings up close if you go to Saturn.” He glanced up at Lance. “If you do go, can you bring back pictures?”

“Sure,” Lance said, smiling as he ruffled his nephew’s hair. “I can bring back pictures.”

(And he will; he just has to figure out a way to explain all the…women in them before he shows them to him.)

(#5) “I wish to go to Pluto”

With his grades and flight simulation scores, Lance would be lucky to get to the moon, let alone the outer reaches of the solar system, and between Hunk’s weak stomach and Pidge’s distance, it looked less and less likely even when Lance was promoted from cargo to fighter class.

“Look, if we want to get as far as Pluto”—Pidge jerked his head up and away from his computer at that—“then we have to learn to work as a team.” He narrowed his eyes at Pidge, who stared over the monitor and directly at him. “What?” He touched the side of his nose. “Is there something on my face?”

The corner of Pidge’s mouth ticked up in the slightest hint of a smile, but he said, “Nothing that doesn’t belong there anyway.” His attention returned to his screen.

Lance glanced at Hunk, who sat beside him picking suspiciously at the food in his tray. “Listen, Pidge,” Lance tried again, “when I say we should work as a team, that means bonding outside of the simulator.”

“I already know what your favorite food is, Lance,” he said, eyes flicking up to his face.

Lance rolled his eyes. “I mean, besides the obvious—”

“I know how many siblings you have,” he continued as if Lance hadn’t said anything, “what you got in chemistry, and what kind of girls you’re attracted to.” He pushed his glasses up his nose as he rolled his eyes at Lance. “Am I missing anything?”

Lance crossed his arms. So Pidge was more observant and receptive to information than he thought, but that didn’t change the fact that he knew next to nothing about him. “Oh, and what about you, Mr. Secretive Communications Guy?”

“What about me?” Pidge said, tone cautious.

“We know hardly anything about you, and none of the stuff you mentioned knowing about me.” He rested his elbow on the table, leaning across it towards Pidge so he could peer at his face from around the computer screen. “Got any brothers or sisters? What did you get in chemistry? Oh, wait, you probably aced it like everything else you do alone.”

“Lance,” Hunk cautioned.

“And what is your type, Pidge?” Lance continued, ignoring Hunk. “Tall? Busty? Long hair?”

“Pretty sure that’s your type,” Pidge muttered, low enough that Lance could pretend not to hear him.

Which he did. “Or perhaps…male?”

“Really, Lance?” Hunk said, sounding supremely unimpressed.

Pidge only glared at him before shutting his computer – carefully, so carefully, despite his obvious anger – and sliding it into his backpack. Then he climbed over the bench and left them, his lunch tray virtually untouched.

“Guess I’ll…take care of that,” Lance said, nodding towards it. Shame crept over him, and he realized that maybe he shouldn’t have pressed Pidge that far.

So much for acting like teammates.

“That wasn’t cool, Lance,” Hunk chided him.

“I know,” Lance agreed easily enough.

“You should apologize.”

Lance rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, I’ll go by his room tonight with a nice apology hot chocolate.”

Lance kept his promise to Hunk and arrived at Pidge’s door a few minutes ahead of curfew. He knocked and waited…

And waited…

And waited…

Lance knocked again, with more force, but when the door still didn’t open, and no voice from inside called to him, he pressed his ear to it, listening for a sound.

The hall lights shut off right at curfew, blue emergency lights flickering to life, and there was still no sign of Pidge. Lance sighed heavily and returned to his and Hunk’s room, a mug of cooling hot chocolate in one hand.

From the awe in Pidge’s voice as the Blue Lion fled the Galra ship past Kerberos – a moon of Pluto’s – Lance knew he’d wished the same thing too.

If only they could’ve found that common ground sooner.

(#6) “I wish to rescue a princess”

Lance lurched forward on reflex, catching the woman as she fell. When she blinked up at him in confusion, sleep trickling away, he had the perfect line ready.

One minute later, she held his arm twisted behind his back, and Lance realized this was not the rescue he was looking for.

Lance became acquainted with a new sort of fear every time he saw Allura in any danger. First he thought she died, when the witch’s quintessence attack drained Voltron and the Castle of its energy, and then there was Naxzela, and Lance understood what it meant to fear for another more than you feared for yourself.

He was the first one at her side when she fell, and the first to reassure her that she could rescue them.

(He doubts it will be the last.)

(#7) “I wish to be a hero”

Almost everywhere Voltron visited, the people there heralded the Paladins as heroes, and if not greeting or thanking them with a parade, they at least showered attention on them

Lance, despite Keith’s incredulity and Pidge’s skepticism, basked in the glow, more than pleased to have his praises – shared with his teammates, of course – sung.

“Why so glum, Pidge?” he asked. He found her standing on the roof of a temple long gone to ruin – though the structure was as firm as ever, the foundation barely crumbled – alone and staring out at the night sky.

This planet had rings, much like Saturn’s, flat-looking slices of stone and ice decorating the sky. Two full moons, one with a distinct blue glow, peered down from just beyond the rings, bright enough that it would be a poor night for stargazing, though stunning nonetheless.

It was a romantic sight, the sort that Lance would love to see with…well, he wasn’t too sure about that lately.

He shook that thought from his mind as he positioned himself beside Pidge, his hands next to hers on the stone railing ringing the roof, which she grasped tightly while her shoulders were stiff with tension. But she seemed to relax when her eyes fell on him, her fingers unfurling so that only her palms rested on stone, her spine less rigid. She smiled, and for a moment Lance’s breath caught.

He remembered their first meeting, and how much things changed since then, whether in their lives or merely…between them.

“I’m fine,” she said, and he believed her.

But that didn’t stop him from retorting, “Then why were you frowning”—he mimed an exaggerated frown—“when I got up here?” He gestured to the beautiful view. “Is it because you can’t see as many stars when there are two full moons?”

Pidge chuckled, gaze pulled back to the rings and the moons. “No, I was just…thinking of my dad, I guess.” She shrugged, staring at her hands, still so close to his, close enough he could brush the side of his hand against the side of hers and it would seem like an accident.

(A peculiar thought.)

“That’s it?” Lance said, raising a skeptical eyebrow at her.

Her eyes darted to his face before shifting away again. “They think we’re heroes,” she said.

“We are,” Lance told her, confusion in his voice.

Pidge turned so that her back was pressed to the railing. “Are we?” she said. “Are we heroes if we’re not even done yet? And what happens with Voltron after the Empire falls anyway? To be a peace ‘enforcer’?” She stuck air quotes around that last word, lips twisted bitterly. “Wouldn’t it undermine all of Allura’s efforts of peace if Voltron stayed…intact?”

Lance raised an eyebrow at her. “What’re you saying?”

Pidge met his eyes. “I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “I’m just overthinking things, like usual.”

Lance touched her elbow. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t,” he reassured her, smiling.

To his relief, she returned his smile. “Thanks, Lance,” she said. “I know I don’t show I…appreciate you – any of you – enough, so I’m…grateful to hear that.”

“Anytime, Pidge,” he said.

They held each other’s gazes for a few seconds, long enough that Lance started to get uncomfortable, though he was reluctant to look away first, too busy admiring the way her eyes reflected the light of the moons, and how—

Pidge grasped his chin in firm fingers, tilting his head down, as she leaned up and kissed him.

Lance inhaled sharply, shocked for only the short moment when time seemed to freeze, when the rings circling this planet didn’t crumble and clump, and the moons didn’t change phases, and the temple didn’t fall to ruin.

Time resumed – or perhaps renewed – when Lance finally returned the soft pressure of Pidge’s lips, his hands cupping her soft cheeks as he leaned his head down. Something in his head and in his heart clicked into place at Pidge’s touch against the back of his neck, and at the feeling of her warm breath spreading across his face.

When they parted to breathe, Lance rested his forehead against Pidge’s, her wide smile so obvious this close to her face. She reached up, tracing a fingertip along his hairline, and he asked, “What’re you doing?”

“Not overthinking so much,” Pidge said as she leaned up to kiss him again.

The next time Lance emerged from a healing pod after an injury in the side, Pidge stood ready to catch him. “You’re my hero, Pidge,” he teased, still half-delirious from sleep and whatever was in the air he breathed during his medically induced coma.

Pidge rolled her eyes and helped him find his feet.

(#8) “I wish to have the nicest ride”

“Just admit it, Pidge.”

“No.”

“Come ooooon. Search yourself; you know it to be true!”

“Uh, no, I actually don’t.”

“Pidge!”

Pidge rolled her eyes at his needling, though she didn’t look towards him, too intent on the enemy ahead of them. Her face on his screen concentrated on the battle, though she didn’t make much effort to ignore him.

“If you don’t admit it,” Lance said with a smirk, “you’ll be on your own.”

“Lance!” Shiro’s voice yelled in his ear, the start of an imminent scolding.

Lance hissed a curse under his breath; he’d thought he and Pidge were using a private frequency. “I’m coming in, Pidge,” he said, steering the Blue Lion after Green.

“Good to have you and your superior Lion, Lance,” Pidge quipped as he lunged past her at the Galra battle cruiser bearing down on them.

“So you admit it?” Lance asked. He shot laser fire at the flyers swarming Blue’s flanks, not missing a single one.

“In your dreams,” Pidge retorted. Green’s laser fired at a flyer at Blue’s back, one he hadn’t detected.

“Thanks, Pidge,” he said, wiping sweat from his face.

“Anytime, Lance.”

“Hey, Princess, tell Pidge the Blue Lion is the best Lion,” Lance kickstarted the conversation during dinner. Under the table, Pidge nudged his foot with more force than she usually did, and he flashed her a smirk.

Allura, distracted by a report on her tablet, only said, “Pidge, the Blue Lion is the best Lion.”

“See?” Lance said smugly.

“Allura is obviously biased, Lance,” Pidge pointed out. “She flies Blue too!”

“So I guess that means Blue has two votes, and Green has…how many?” When Pidge only furiously tapped her fingers on the table, Lance said, “Can you count to one, Pidge?”

“You’re both wrong,” Hunk interjected.

“Let me guess,” Lance said, turning to look at his oldest friend. “You think the Yellow Lion is the best?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love Yellow and he’s my favorite, but…” Hunk pointed his spork towards Shiro. “I’m pretty sure the Black Lion beats the rest by miles.”

Lance’s jaw dropped, but Pidge seemed to consider this, for she nodded and said, “You know what? I’m with Hunk. So that’s two votes for Black, and two for Blue. Any tie breakers?” She glanced towards Shiro. “Shiro?”

“I vote for Black,” Shiro said.

“Keith will vouch for Blue,” Lance said with growing desperation.

“Keith will vote for Red,” Hunk muttered, smiling apologetically when Lance shot him an indignant look.

“Betrayal!” Lance said.

Pidge then looked at him, a sly smirk on her lips as she kicked his foot, her toes sliding along the inside of his leg and making him twitch. He shot her a look, but she only shrugged and finally glanced away.

Her smirk didn’t falter, and Lance figured he was in for a surprise later.

In that case, he decided he could live with defeat after all.

(And Blue would always be the best Lion in his heart.)

(#9) “I wish to marry a princess”

Lance met more princesses than he could count on both hands in space, and, to his surprise, he had no desire to marry any of them.

(Except maybe Allura, once, but he could now dismiss that as a sort of teenage delusion.)

So he felt no disappointment, no lingering regret, when Allura and Shiro announced their engagement. He only told them he was happy for them, that surely they would make beautiful babies together (Shiro’s face flushed a very impressive shade of pink at that), and that he hoped they would still make time for their friends and teammates.

And at this point, the only person Lance could imagine marrying was Pidge.

As soon as that thought entered his mind, it could not be dismissed. It sat there, constantly waiting for him to address it, while on missions and during relaxed evenings, while in meetings and during training, while with his teammates and during time spent alone with Pidge.

They were young, he then thought, so what was the hurry, especially now that the Galra Empire was all but vanquished?

The question still slipped out one evening as they settled into bed. Lance laid back against his pillow, hands underneath his head, while Pidge sat up with her computer in her lap, working on something for her brother and the rebels.

“Hey, Pidge?” he asked.

“Hmm?” she said without glancing towards him.

Lance shifted, trying to get more comfortable. “Do you ever think about going back to Earth?” he wondered.

Pidge’s hands froze over the computer keyboard, and after a second’s consideration she snapped it shut and set it in the alcove in the wall beside the bed. Then she turned so she could look at Lance and said, “Yeah. Don’t you?”

“Yeah.” He sighed, then tugged at the back of her shirt. She rolled her eyes but agreed to his implicit request, lying down next to him until he could wrap an arm around her and pull her against him.

Pidge sighed, but from her it sounded like contentment, as she looped her arms around him. She rested her head on his shoulder and asked, “So what’s on your mind, Lance?”

“Do you want to get married?”

Pidge stiffened, and Lance braced himself for disappointment, but then she said, “Yes.”

“Uh…to me?”

She sat up and glared down at him. “Who else?”

Heat rushed to his cheeks, and his jaw flapped uselessly until he recovered enough to say, “I’m just…making sure. It’s not too soon, is it?”

Pidge smiled and laid back down next to him, her arms snaking around his back and her legs tangling with his. “Let’s go back to Earth first,” she said. “Maybe see our families too, and then…then we’ll talk.”

Lance fell asleep smiling.

(“I do,” she’ll say, and she won’t wait for the priest’s permission to kiss him.)

(#10) “I wish to come back home after a grand adventure”

Lance knows it’s a Sunday when he knocks on the door to his family home because of all the cars on the street and the number and volume of voices trailing out from the open window. He can hear laughter and excitement, and the sound of a soccer match on TV while someone jeers in anger at something on the screen.

His heart pounds, and sweat drips uncomfortably down his brow – the humidity seems worse than he remembers it – and he’s grateful for Pidge’s hand squeezing his own in silent reassurance.

(They visited her family first, and seeing Pidge, Sam, and Matt reunited with her mother stirred jealousy and a longing to be with his own family within him.)

The door opens, and the person behind it still speaks over their shoulder, but as they turn they freeze mid-sentence, jaw dropping in disbelief seconds later.

“Lance?” Cecilia gasps as her wide eyes take in his face.

“Hi, Cici,” he says, smiling and raising his hand in a wave. He drops Pidge’s hand and holds his arms out.

Cecilia jumps into them, wrapping her arms around his back and clinging to him. “Do you know how long it’s been, you bastard?” she grits out.

“Uh…” Lance glances towards Pidge, who holds up a hand with all five fingers. “Five years?”

“Yes.” Cecilia withdraws, resting her hands on his shoulders and scanning him from head to toe. “You look healthy, and strong even—”

“You sound like Mami—”

“A lot has changed since we last saw you, Lance,” Cecilia says, “and one of those things is that someone calls me ‘mami’ too.”

Lance grins. “Really?” he says. When he left, Cecilia didn’t have so much as a boyfriend, but now…

“Yes,” she says brightly. Her fingers dig into his shoulders, as if reassuring herself that he’s still there, and she looks so happy. “Oh, Mami is going to murder you,” she singsongs.

“Sounds just like home,” he says with a smile while Pidge chuckles.

“Oh,” Cecilia says, finally catching sight of Pidge – who stayed remarkably silent – beside him. “I’m Cecilia. Who are you?”

“Pidge,” she says, grinning and offering her hand.

When Cecilia takes it and they shake, Lance wraps an arm around Pidge’s shoulders and tells his sister the same sappy words he rehearsed in his head more times than he would ever admit:

“She’s my home away from home, and my next great adventure.”

[ragecndybars]

How about Voltron for the fandom ask thing :o

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Uhhh that’s,, hard,,,, probably either Allura or Shiro?? Maybe??? I love all of them, but Allura’s very relatable to me and I love how she gets to be peace-loving and kind but also able to make tough decisions and unafraid to stand up for herself and others. Also the fact that she isn’t demonized for being driven and confident is A+. Meanwhile, I have a huge soft spot for Shiro because A) y’all know i’m all about that angst and B) I’m a sucker for characters who are generally understanding, parental, and natural moderators, but neither condescending/patronizing nor a pushover. Pidge and Hunk are a close tie for second (because adorable snarky genius and adorable sweetheart genuis are both A+).

Least Favorite character: Probably Keith, not because I dislike him but t because I don’t love him as much as I love the others. I’m not usually a huge fan of the whole “antisocial brooding rival who thinks they can do everything by themselves” type (probably because I relate to it too much, lol), although Keith is pretty well-executed, and I haven’t actually disliked him since early season 1.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Shallura is number 1 by far. Because, first of all, they’re my two favorite characters for the reasons listed above, second of all, the pairing of “team mom” and “team dad” is always golden, and third of all, I like the idea of them bonding over being the leaders of a bunch of homesick kids who have to basically turn them into galaxy-saving supersoldiers while also coping with their own trauma and the fact that they were both stolen from their homes without warning. I also like Matt/Shiro (because uhh Shiro sacrificing himself for Matt and not knowing if Matt was actually afraid of him or not is angsty fanfic Valhalla), Hunk/Lance (because best buds becoming #relationship goals is my aesthetic), Hunk/Shay (they’re so cute together oh my lord), and Pidge/Hunk (one snarky genius and one sweetheart genius come together to form the ultimate genius couple),

Character I find most attractive: Tie between Shiro and Allura, because I like the type of person who can kick my ass. Also, every fanart I have ever seen of Allura with a different haircut has made me become approximately ten times gayer upon sight.

Character I would marry: Honestly, any of them, except maybe Keith? (sorry for all this keith hate, like I said i don’t hate him, I just love him the least, haha) If I had to choose, probably Hunk. We would get along perfectly. He’s a sweetheart, and he’s also intelligent (like, REALLY intelligent), which is good because I’m kinda pretentious tbh.

Character I would be best friends with: Pidge. We’re too similar to ever date, but just similar enough to be best friends. I bet we could have nerd talks and snark/bitch about people together.

A random thought: I like reading fanfiction more than I like watching the actual show tbh, if only because I like the characters and universe more than the plot.

An unpopular opinion: don’t get too upset but,,, I hated Kl@nce when I first saw the show. I like it in fanfics, and I like the relationship they have in the show now, but I absolutely HATE the whole “we hate each other but are secretly in love” trope with a burning, fiery passion, so I used to hate the ship.

My Canon OTP: Honestly the only relationship that’s anything close to canon in the most superficial way is probably Hunk/Shay, but I do like that one.

My Non-canon OTP: I’m gonna have to say Shallura again. For the reasons listed above.

Most Badass Character: Allura. I,, don’t think I really need to explain

Most Epic Villain: Haggar’s pretty intimidating

Pairing I am not a fan of: I already gave my rant about Kl@nce (which, again, I must emphasize, that hate was pre-season 2), but a ship I continue to dislike is Sh3!th. Not because of the age-gap squick factor (because when I first watched the show I honestly thought everyone but Pidge was supposed to be early twenties? idk why), but just because I feel like the chemistry they have is purely familial, not romantic. I think they could have a stable relationship (canon ages notwithstanding), but, the way I see it, they wouldn’t really be happy enough together to last long-term.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Voltron doesn’t suffer from this too often, but I feel like Hunk really got the short end of the stick in a lot of episodes. His character was built well, but most of the episodes seem to just feature him as a comic-relief character. Which wouldn’t be too bad, except that all his comic relief comes from him talking about food, getting scared, and/or screwing up. I mean, do we not remember the absolutely genius shit he pulled in episode one?

Favourite Friendship: Probably Pidge and Hunk or Pidge and Shiro. I like Pidge and Hunk as intellectual equals with vastly opposed natures / viewpoints who can nonetheless respect and admire each other, and I like Pidge’s relative deference to Shiro despite her not being particularly fond of authority and Shiro’s somewhat parental guiding of Pidge while still trusting and relying on her as much as the others.

Character I most identify with: Uhh probably Pidge or Keith honestly. I know I said Keith is my least-favorite, but that’s mostly because I’ve been there and I cringe to see my behaviors replicated, lol. Pidge, meanwhile, is younger than her peers and makes rash decisions based on her own desires, which uhhhh same.

Character I wish I could be: They all suffer so much so I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes, but I’d love to be as competent and confident as Allura.

[heavymetalhexcode]

Paladin Character Analysis

Here I am once again where I should be doing something productive yet thinking about Voltron. I am hyped for season 5! The thing on my mind today is an analysis of the Voltron crew’s personalities, largely viewed through the ways I can relate to them (or not). Each character is very archetypal, but I think the show does a reasonable job of throwing in a bit more complexity, allowing a lot of very different people to see different qualities that they admire or possess. That's how people decide they like fictional characters, after all. I've ordered this list roughly in order of how much I identify with or think I understand each person.

More after the cut. Much more.

Lance

Water. This is my element. It ebbs and flows, displaying equal gentleness and strength as befits the situation, and Lance has proven he is a versatile member of the team. The scene where he told Coran he misses rain really stuck with me – rain on the roof is possibly the most relaxing sound I can think of.

He's fun and lighthearted, often cracking jokes and trying to make the others smile. I find humor is often the best way for me to deal with stress or grief. Immediately upon coming out of the cryo pod, he makes a joke about Allura asking him on a date – and yes, I do believe that was a joke -- which shifts the tone of the conversation away from grievous injury. In the space mall, he jumps to help Pidge find the money for the game console so they could have something fun to do in the Castle. The blue lion is probably the most welcoming and friendly of the bunch, something that I strive to be despite being kind of terrible at dealing with people, and I'm sure that my first flight in a lion would have looked a lot like his. Despite putting up a front of confidence and cheer, he's insecure about his role on the team. It's only after he receives explicit recognition from his idol Shiro that he begins to feel confident in his skills. Even then he still has doubts, so much so that he offers to step aside for Allura.

Overcompensating. Absolutely. He likes girls, sure, but he's also way too overt about it. It's possible that he really is just that flirty, but I think he's overplaying it to draw attention away from something else, either intentionally or not. It could be that he's still figuring out or uncomfortable with his sexuality (there's just enough Klance chemistry that I would believe it if the show went that way), but it might just be that he's being loud, boisterous, and obnoxious to draw attention away from the fact that he's not always a carefree party boy. It's hard to say right now, but I bet we'll be getting some clues down the line. Personally I like the idea of a bi character on Voltron, and Lance fits the mold for someone still in the closet.

Lance's self-care routine is an awesome inversion of typical gender roles.  I think he and Hunk (cooking) are the only ones we've seen with noteworthy feminine-coded interests, and you know who's not about that "girly" life? Pidge! Allura is more typically effeminate than Pidge, which is fine, but I love that not being the only kind of femininity we see on the crew. It can be hard for a guy to accept having feminine interests, and Lance being comfortable doing so shows that either a) he really cares about making a good impression and strives to be well groomed or b) he don't give a shit what you think and will pamper himself if he wants. Possibly both.

Pidge

Nature! Technology! It seems conflicted! I'm a computer scientist who loves to unplug for a few days and go hiking or whatever. These two seemingly opposite interests in a person can absolutely blend, and it was great to see her realize that on Olkarion.

Machines > people. One of the primary reasons I decided to become a programmer, and I'm pretty sure the same is at least partly true for Pidge. She was a misfit at school because she was driven to learn (and possibly some other stuff), made fun of for her intelligence, and appears to have withdrawn from people to work on computers. I didn't have to deal with a lot of that, and I'm very thankful for the environment I had in my schools growing up. She needed the team to help draw her out of her shell, and now her friends are a surrogate family. Apparently, a lot of people like to characterize her as ace because she's a nerd, and while I agree with the ace bit, I argue it's actually the other way around.  Computers don't ostracize you because they don't understand you. Computers won't mock you or tell you that you just "haven't found the right person yet." I know some ace folks who have told me what it's like to grow up with that crap, and I'm not surprised Pidge gave up on people. I also headcanon her as trans, which is yet another possible source of social issues. That bathroom moment at the mall? Very telling.

The way she reacts to alien technology may look over the top, but let me tell you, an elegantly written algorithm is one of the most beautiful things in the universe. AI is exciting! The materials are exciting! There's so much shiny technology to explore out there!

Shiro

He is in his 30s. I will fight you. I know it's only supposed to be an age gap of a few years, but his appearance, behavior, and voice all make me believe he is older than canon. 

Good lord, this man needs a therapist! Shiro is so busy supporting the rest of the team and helping them through the zillion difficult situations this war has gotten them into that he hasn't taken time to deal with his own demons. He needs that. He's put things behind him, sure, and we're not seeing his PTSD so much anymore, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. He managed to shove it all away in a corner and stop looking at it. It'll be interesting to see what Sendak's return does to his mental health. Poor Space Dad.

Shiro is my favorite paladin. Hands down. I'm very drawn to dad figures, and he's attractive to boot. He's confident, a quick thinker, and does a remarkable job keeping emotions in check and leading with logic without being perfect. We get to see that even he has his limits with Slav and Sendak. He supports his team, knows their strengths, and doesn't force anyone to do things they don't want to. We've seen gallows humor from him as well as bad sound effects, and when he thinks he might die, he names his replacement to be sure that the team won't feel lost when he's gone. I'm also pretty sure he and I handle emotional stress in similar ways: poorly.

On the subject of stress as relates to shipping, I have thoughts. Shiro is hurting hard, and he needs someone he feels close enough to that he can confide his pain in them. I've been in a similar situation (to a lesser degree), pushing things away and bottling emotions up until it did very bad things for me. It took the kind of trust I could only form with my SO to start learning how to lean on someone else, and even now, years later and in a much better place, I can only think of three people I consider confidants. (Yes, I am absolutely projecting here, but) I wouldn't be surprised if Shiro has similar difficulties opening up. There isn't anyone he feels comfortable talking to yet, and he might need a stronger bond than the one between friends and teammates before he can. Unfortunately for our black paladin, I have a hard time picturing him with anyone currently available. The age/maturity gap that I can't get over immediately rules out the younger paladins. Besides, they're his kids. If Shiro is going to get into a relationship, he needs someone who can give him the kind of support he extends to everyone else, not someone who looks up to him like a father figure. Next choice? Allura, but they're both too focused on the war. They've got bigger things to worry about than dating, and neither will probably even think about such things until after they've won. Maybe a someday option, but not now. Coran? Just... no. Despite needing a deeper relationship in a bad way, I think Shiro is too private, focused, and traumatized right now to even think about it.

Can I just say I love watching him fight? It's beautiful. He's very fast, fluid, and in the other guy's face. Always very well animated, too.

Hunk

I love Hunk. Dude's awesome. He reminds me a lot of my sister: obsessed with food, just wants to be comfy, a little high strung when things don't go according to plan. No wonder he and Lance are bros. Not a lot of character depth for him yet, which makes me sad. Seems like Hunk is mostly played for laughs, so I appreciate that he was suspicious of Rolo and Nyma instead of any of the others. Of course, Hunk is also pretty stable as a person, so he's not in need of as much growth as the rest of the paladins. He's a solid grounding presence (ha ha) for them.

Keith

Keith is... difficult. I have a hard time getting into his head. He's a rebel; I'm not really. His anger is hot; I think mine is cold. He needs to figure out his family to know who he is; I couldn't do that until I got away from mine. He obviously cares about his teammates, and they're probably the closest thing to a functional family he's ever had. I wish we had gotten to see him struggle and grow more in a leadership role. While he is too reckless to be a good leader, the consequences of those disastrous first missions should have helped him do better. Instead there was an irritating time skip and OH YEAH KEITH'S TOTES IN THE BLADE. I wish that time had been handled better.

That said, he's doing well in the Blade. I like him there. There's more room for personal responsibility and the snap decision making that he likes to do. It's letting him stay in his comfort zone instead of pushing him to improve like leading Voltron would have, so pros and cons, but that was not a role that suited him. He'll find opportunities that are better for him. Even after real Shiro comes back and they beat the stuffing out of Kuron, I think staying with Marmora would be better for Keith.

Allura

I WISH SHE HAD MORE DEVELOPMENT. This gal kicks ass. I love her. She's not your standard princess in some ways, but she's also been their magic plot device more than once. Alteans are chameleons? Let's see that referenced again, please! The Balmera thing? Sweet, but I wish we knew more about that too. Is that a royal thing only? Could Coran do a ceremony? Probably not to save the whole creature, but I don't see why he wouldn't be able to do it on a smaller scale. Haggar/Honerva does magic stuff, too, which either tells us magic isn't just a royal thing or it's a result of messing with quintessence. Hard to say.

The mice? Much Disney princess. Such wow. Useful little buggers, though.

She really is the heart of Voltron, and she's the commander of the war effort as well. Devoted as hell. She killed her dad a second time for the war. She got (partly) over her Galra grudge for the war. She's been a diplomat, a support pilot, and a paladin for the war. Allura is cool.

Coran

He's the goofy uncle whose prime function is watching out for Allura. Flair for the dramatic. Not really much to say here. Nice 'stache.