#also bonus Thace/Ulaz

[calligraphist-artemisia]

I’ll Take Her Place (Chapter 5)

Summary:  AU. When Allura breaks the news that she is to wed Prince Lotor in order to continue the peaceful relationship between Altea and Daibazaal, Pidge knows that she has to do something to change that. And so, with a little help, she comes up with a new plan. A better plan

Pairings: Keith/Pidge (main) ; Shiro/Allura (minor), Hunk/Lance (minor) ; Lotor/Allura (one-sided)

Chapter 1 - Previous - Masterpost

Also posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net

Just a heads up, I work in retail and I'm now in The Week of Black Friday, which means the next chapter may be a little delayed while I try to survive work. (But not for long.)

Chapter 5

“I think I made things worse,” Keithir said the moment his mentor opened the door which joined their rooms together.

Thace sighed and stepped aside, letting the younger Galra enter. “Ulaz will be back soon. He was invited downstairs to see this castle's cryo-pods. Apparently one of them is malfunctioning.” He watched as Keithir wordlessly padded over to the couch and sat half-curled against one side, legs pulled up close to his chest. Not for the first time, Thace was struck by just how young the prince was.

He joined him on the couch, near enough to let Keithir know he was there for him, but far enough that the prince had the space he preferred. “Do you want to wait for Ulaz?”

“No. We don't have to.”

Thace settled back and waited.

Slowly, Keithir uncurled one leg and let it drop back to the floor. “Dinner was...” His heavy sigh explained more than words could properly describe. “I couldn't think of anything to say that didn't sound... stupid. So we just... we just sat there. Not talking. And then I asked to walk her back to her room afterward, and it wasn't awful, but... We were – well, I think we were getting along. We were talking, at least. Until we got back to her room. She asked me what my favorite color is, so I told her and then she just shut me out and went into her room!”

“Hmm...”

Keithir scowled at him. “Is that it? Is that all you have to say? I don't get it! How did I manage to make it worse, Thace?”

“Settle down,” Thace said sternly. “I know it was unintentional, but I believe you reminded her of something that has been troubling the paladins for years. According to legend, there are not four but five Lions. There are currently Black, Green, Blue, and Yellow residing in this very castle. The fifth would be...?”

“Red,” Keithir breathed. “I'm an idiot.”

“It's easy to forget,” Thace said kindly.

“Lotor wouldn't have forgotten.”

Thace fully turned to face the prince. “You are correct. Lotor would not forget that piece of information and would likely use it to find an advantage over her. You are not Lotor and that is a very good thing. Learn from this. Grow from this. There will be times when she steps beyond your boundaries as well. Will you shut her out or stop to explain when she has said or done something you are not comfortable with?”

Keithir stared at his knee, mulling over his mentor's words for a long few minutes.

Thace took the time to get up and walk around, straightening up a few odds and ends before his husband returned. They had only been there for two days, but somehow Ulaz had already spread his things out around their quarters.

“I want to spar.”

Thace picked up another of Ulaz's books from where it had ended up balanced on an empty mug. “I will look into it. Kolivan mentioned that this castle has an advanced training deck the paladins make good use of. We may be able to gain permission to use it when they are not.” He glanced over at Keithir, who looked less like he would lash out at anyone who got too close.

He couldn't stop himself from smiling. When Kolivan had first suggested that he be placed in charge of the younger prince's training and general well-being, he had thought it a recipe for disaster. Surely there were others better suited than him! He could barely remember to water the plants he'd been given to make his rooms look more “homey”, and those only needed to be cared for every few weeks.

One look at the cub's bright violet eyes and too-big ears surrounded by a mess of dark hair, and Thace couldn't bring himself to turn down the request.

Of course, he hadn't been without help. Not even Kolivan, as tough as he was, could resist the temptation to steal the cub away for a brief cuddle or (once he was older) to play fight. And Empress Honerva herself made sure to be a consistent presence in her adopted son's life, teaching him as much as she could when she was able to pull herself away from her work as both alchemist and Empress. Emperor Zarkon tried as well, stopping in whenever he had a chance, doting upon Keithir, and praising him on his training.

And then there was Ulaz.

Ulaz, who had at first been nothing more than Keithir's primary physician.

Ulaz, who had slowly found his way into their bizarre sort-of family, claiming a large piece of his heart along the way.

Keithir was a handful, even full-grown, but caring for him had brought more joy and love to Thace's life than he'd ever imagined possible. There wasn't anything Thace wouldn't do for him. So if Keithir wanted a space for sparring while they were on Altea, he would find a way to make that happen.

Lance didn't handle stress well.

Everyone else had some kind of constructive outlet when they were feeling overwhelmed. Hunk went straight to the kitchen to experiment with new recipes and improve on old ones, Pidge locked herself in her hangar to build killer robots, and Shiro typically hit the training deck for some one-on-one time with the simulator.

Lance had nothing like that.

Working in the kitchen reminded him too strongly of home and how much he missed his mom. Not to mention, it was Hunk's space and he'd just end up distracted by his boyfriend.

He could hardly understand Pidge when she got on a roll talking about robotics and algorithms and all of the stuff that she loved, so the thought of him trying to build any kind of robot was a laughable one.

Training should have been a cinch. All he had to do was set up some targets and take aim. There were rare days when that was enough, but on most his nerves were too jittery, his mind too occupied by all kinds of thoughts to stay focused, and the sight of his shots missing their mark time after time only stressed him out more.

That was why Lance found himself wandering the halls with no real destination in mind, after Hunk had shooed him from the kitchen for being an even bigger distraction than usual. Hey, he couldn't help that he found his boyfriend irresistible! He was just expressing his appreciation for him with a little more affection than was appropriate in a public space.

(Yeah, alright. He totally deserved getting booted out of the kitchen and he knew it.)

He wondered if visiting Blue would make him feel better. It had been a week or so since they last went for a fly, so maybe that was part of why he wasn't feeling like himself.

Lance mentally reached for the bond he shared with his Lion and got a reassuring purr in return.

“Lance?”

The sound of Allura's voice jolted him back to reality. He turned to watch as the princess jogged up to him, a cloud of silvery hair billowing behind her. Her tired smile told him she had just gotten out of the meeting she and Shiro had gone to earlier that evening.

“Everything okay, Allura?” he asked.

“Hm? Oh, yes. Just a little lost in thought. There's so much more to planning this wedding than I thought and I want to make sure I'm able to explain it to Pidge clearly,” Allura told him. “Actually, I'm glad I found you. Shiro left before I had the chance to talk to him about it, but maybe you'll be a better partner for what I have in mind.” She tilted her head, appraising him.

Lance wasn't sure he liked the way she was looking at him, but he shrugged anyway. “So what do you need help with?”

“Dancing.”

“Uhh...?”

Allura laughed at the confused expression on his face. “Father suggested that I teach Pidge formal dances for the wedding, but it's been some time since I last practiced. Pidge will also need a partner later on, though I may be able to do that myself. So what do you say? Want to learn?”

She looked at him with such hope in her bright blue eyes that Lance couldn't bring himself to say no. Besides, what better way to impress Hunk at any future formal functions?

“I'll do it,” he said. “When do we start?”

Allura beamed and linked her arm with his, already pulling him down the hall. “No time like the present! We'll go find Coran first so he can coach us. I heard someone mention he's been down in the cryo-room all day.”

Lance cheered up at the thought of getting to spend time with the eccentric royal adviser. Back when they first arrived on Altea, Coran had been there with Allura to greet them and introduce them to their roles as paladins. Since then, he had stepped back more and more, giving full run over to Allura. It was rare that any of them had the chance to talk to Coran anymore.

“Coran can dance?” Lance asked.

Allura nodded. “Of course! He taught me everything I know! No one is a better teacher.”

Lance didn't doubt it. Coran was naturally good at anything he tried, and with his flair for the dramatic, dancing sounded like something he would be exceptionally good at.

The two filled the air with chatter as they walked, their conversation effortlessly flowing. Before Lance knew it, they were entering the med-bay, where Coran was talking to Prince Blaytz and an unfamiliar Galra with pale blue skin.

“Lance!” Blaytz greeted, lighting up at the sight of his favorite paladin. “And the princess as well! I hope both of you are well. It will be some time before any of the cryo-pods are up and running again. We had to shut them all down.”

“We're fine, Blaytz,” Allura said. “Actually, we're here for Coran.” She quickly explained her idea, ending with her hands clasped under her chin, gazing pleadingly at the royal adviser.

Blaytz laughed as he clapped a large hand on the Altean man's shoulder. “You picked the right one for the job! Coran and I used to tear up the dance floor in our youth!”

“Ah, yes, we were quite the pair. Won the hearts of many young ladies! And gentlemen too, of course,” Coran said proudly, twirling his mustache. “It would be a pleasure to teach the two of you!”

With that settled, Lance turned his attention to the Nalquodian Prince. “Blaytz, you dance too? Will you teach me something?”

“I'd be glad to, but I'm afraid I don't have time today,” Blaytz said apologetically. He leaned in, gesturing for Lance to step closer. “I am on a mission of love, you see. My beloved is all alone on Daibazaal, awaiting my return to whisk him away. I can't keep him waiting.”

“I would ask that you not continue to talk about sneaking over to Daibazaal while in my presence, except I know it only spurs you on,” said the unfamiliar Galra. “Please keep in mind that it is part of my duty to report any suspicious behavior to Emperor Zarkon.”

“Oh, have a heart, Ulaz!” Blaytz said, dramatically placing a hand over his chest. “Would you not do the same if you were separated from your husband?”

“Luckily, I do not need to find out. But just this once, perhaps I misheard your plans. Or I heard nothing at all,” Ulaz said.

“You are my new favorite Galra.”

Ulaz chucked as he tucked his tablet away into a bag at his side. “We both know that is not true.”

While Allura continued talking to Coran about all of the dances she hoped to cover, Lance was listening with rapt interest to the conversation between Blaytz and Ulaz. He already knew all about Blaytz's love affair with the Galra servant he met while visiting Zarkon's home, but Ulaz was a mystery. A mystery who apparently had a husband and was on joking terms with Blaytz. (But then, who wasn't on joking terms with Blaytz?)

“So, this is one of the young paladins?” Ulaz asked, turning solid yellow eyes onto Lance, who could only nod at the surprise shift in topic. “It is good to meet you. I am Ulaz, personal physician to Prince Keithir. Though at the moment, I am here as a personal favor to Coran.”

“The cryo-pod?' Lance guessed.

Ulaz nodded. “Indeed. Worry not, young one. We will have them all back up and running soon.” He looked over at Coran and loudly cleared his throat. “Coran, I will take the data with me for review. Are we still meeting tomorrow afternoon?”

Coran made a questioning sound as he looked away from Allura. “Oh, yes! Tomorrow at lunch!”

Ulaz returned his attention to Lance and Blaytz. “I should get back before Thace rearranges our entire room. Good luck on your mission, Blaytz. And Lance, it was good to meet you.”

“Uh, yeah. Good to meet you too,” Lance automatically responded, watching the Galra leave.

“I should get going too. I've got a long jouney ahead of me,” Blaytz said reluctantly. “Give my regards to the others and let them know I'll be back soon. The new few months will be interesting around here... I'd hate to miss it.”

Lance's stomach churned at the reminder. “Right. Interesting.”

“Lance,” Blaytz began gently, lowering his voice to keep what he had to say just between them. “Things have a way of working out, often for the better. Just be patient.”

“You know I'm no good at that,” Lance said with a small grin.

Blaytz chuckled as he stepped away, calling his goodbyes as he went.

Lance was left alone with Allura and Coran, and Blaytz's odd words repeating in his head.

Pure exhaustion had caught up with Pidge the minute she stepped into her room after that awkward first dinner (date?) with Prince Keithir. She couldn't remember more than crawling beneath her blankets and falling into a deep sleep, but she must have cleaned up and changed into pajamas before that, because when she woke she was no longer wearing the dress Lance gave to her.

Pidge slowly got ready for the day ahead, trying to map out everything she needed to do. Breakfast was first, or else Hunk would hound her about every meal for the next week. After that she was pretty sure she could get away with staying in Green's hangar until lunch.

She tried to remember if there was any important paladin business to take care of after lunch. Usually a day of light training was followed by a much harder one, or else a lengthy flight test in the Lions to help keep their skills sharp. She didn't think Shiro said anything about it before rushing off to join Allura for the meeting...

Her mood took a dip as she recalled how cold she had been toward her leader. She owed him an apology.

And he wasn't the only one who deserved one.

She finished getting ready and left her room, planning a detour to the guest rooms on her way to the kitchen. Every step felt heavy, a feeling of guilt curling tightly in her gut as she relived the walk back to her room the night before, over-analyzing every little detail.

Unexpectedly, the walk had taken a pleasant turn. She'd made a joke and Prince Keithir rolled with it, which wasn't something she thought would happen. (It was so rare that she came across a Galra with a sense of humor.) And then...

“Red.”

That simple, singular word was enough to knock her off balance. It should have been expected. She should have seen it coming, the moment their conversation began.

“Red.”

Pidge stopped outside his door, suddenly unsure if she could get the words out. There was an ache in her chest. A tug. An insistent pull. She could feel Green trying to reach out and offer comfort, their bond stretched tight. She couldn't let her Lion in. Not at that moment. She wasn't ready.

Green's roar vibrated through her, shaking free the last vestige of her control. Pidge stumbled into the wall and slid down to the floor, trembling as her connection to her Lion burst wide open, leaving her paralyzed beneath a staggering torrent of loss and a desperate need to find missing friend-family-partner. She clenched her eyes shut, feeling the burn of overflowing tears, her own emotions reflected and magnified by her Lion.

And that was where Keith found her.

[balmerancrystalance]

canon divergence bom!klance hc inspired by @leggylance because i have no self control apparently

rumor has it lotor came back from the rift so the bom asks for backups

keith: so what you’re saying is that there's a whole other blade of marmora division that was prepared in case lotor lost his fucking mind and came back from the death just like his parents 10 thousand years ago?

krolia, blinking slowly: precisely

keith demands to know why they kept it secret

krolia tells him they weren’t worried much about what a crazy cat lady like zarkon could do, lotor on the other hand, b OI-

thace didn’t fucking die is the leader of the special division

also altean orphan lance’s mentor

thace found lance during a mission crying alone on a cave when they were evacuating a planet that was falling apart so he decided to take lance with him because he always wanted a child saw himself in lance

lance, smirking: lmao how do you think ulaz is going to react to seeing you after all this time?

thace: leTs fOcus on The MisSionN

ulaz decides to put a “no kids allowed” rule at the bom meeting out of spite

cue to both little blades bumping into each other (◕‿◕✿)

keith finds a bom member training but instead of having a blade like everyone else they have a staff that embedded to the gun strapped over their shoulders turns into a sniper rifle

keith, to himself: well, mark me down as scared and horny

keith’s too busy staring to notice they are aiming at him

lance, still masked: wait, i know who you are. you’re krolia’s son. the earthling, right?

keith, still masked: how did you- 

lance, shapeshifted to fit with the bom, looking down at keith: there are not such thing as short galras

they banter for like solid 10 minutes

lance: where are my manners? the name’s lance. part of the special blade of marmora division and apparently your new ally

cue to both masks fading and both shamelessly checking the other out

keith, at the verge of an aneurysm: well, welcome to the voltron coalition, lance 

bonus:

thace: lance! i want you to meet krolia’s-oh

ulaz, balding: keith, nO

psa: i’m actually working on this if ya’ll interested but there’s no way i’m finishing it any time soon

[we-found-him]

Short Hair (+ ahoge)

Requested by @simplydlightfuldestiny: “I’m going to cut my hair sometime during summer may I have a headcanon of the paladins + Matt, Alurra, Lotor, Thace and Ulaz of short hair s/o

Bonus when they suddenly have an ahoge.

The hairdresser explains that I was born with curly hair until I had my first haircut, since then an ahoge always appear whenever my hair is short.”

~

I have short hair, and I love this request!

Also, I apologize for my sorry Ulaz and Thace headcanons.

Shiro

So he’s always loved your long hair.

He would try to braid it if you allowed (/trusted) him.

So when he suddenly sees you with short hair,

He may not recognise you at first….

Don’t get me wrong, he loves you more than anything,

But he’s taken by surprise.

He, honestly, loves your short hair so much.

The way it frames your face is beautiful to him.

Also, he thinks the ahoge is adorable.

Imagine cuddling with him, and he just weaves his fingers through your hair because he love the style on you so much.

Keith

He liked your hair long.

It looked good, he probably didn’t notice it too much.

But when you’d style it, he’d think it looked nice.

Once your hair is short, he may not notice at first.

Like, he’d take a minute or two to realize that your hair is different.

Once he saw the difference, he would get really excited and, if you’d let him, he would play with your hair.

He really likes the new look on you.

He would poke at the ahoge a bit.

Lance

When your hair is first cut off, he is so surprised.

He l o v e s the new look on you.

He would 100% run up to you and begin to feel your hair.

He totally loves the feeling of freshly cut hair and he would just be in awe for a few days.

He would give you head messages since he wouldn’t have to worry about knotted hair.

He thinks the new cut looks totally badass on you.

Pidge

She loves it.

When she first sees your new hair cut, she is briefly taken by surprise.

She immediately smiles up at you.

You both have short hair, and she is so happy.

Pidge totally supports the short hair cut as she has one herself.

First thing she’d to is ruffle your hair before giving you a genuine complement.

Hunk

He immediately falls in love with the new look.

He would miss braiding your long hair (if you had let him) though.

He would play with your hair every now and then.

For the first few days, anytime he saw you be would just smile at the new refreshing look.

Complements all the time.

He just loves you so so much.

Matt

He loves the idea.

Once your hair is cut he will Totally laugh at the fact that his hair is longer than yours.

Her thinks that this makes you look 100% more kickass and he loves it.

He would totally ruffle your hair ask the time.

Also, he would now not hold back when it came to any pranks, now that your hair wouldn’t get nearly as knotted.

He thinks that your attractiveness went up with the cut too.

Allura

She hadn’t really seen many females with short hair before. (Besides Pidge)

So she was a little taken aback at first.

She would take some time getting used to your short hair,

But on the end, she would grow to like it.

She also sees the tactical use in short hair, (harder for people to grab).

Lotor

He has seen a number of women with short hair, but it’s isn’t common.

So when your hair is shortened, his concerned that you have a disease our something.

Once you explain that it was just cut, her calms down.

He begins to like the new look on you.

He would totally run his fibers through your hair in admiration.

The way it frames your face is absolutely beautiful to him.

Be prepared to get plenty of comments.

Ulaz

He hasn’t ment really any females with short hair before, so at first he is confused.

He wants to make sure that you are okay health wise before really looking at your hair.

He grows to like it.

Thace

Like Ulaz, he doesn’t really know any females with shirt hair until you.

He thinks that this look on you is quite pretty.

He begins to prefer short hair to long hair from then on.

~

Again, I apologize about my last two, and for the delay on this.

[revasnaslan]

Thulaz + cuddling in a blanket fort, I know you want to. Bonus points for bby Keef

ao3 link | i am always accepting prompts just fyi

i don’t normally put the summaries from ao3 onto tumblr but i think this is my favorite summary so far so…

Summary: “Thace is taken prisoner by the (very sleepy) officers of Fort Marmora… and it’s way past General Keith’s nap time.”

“I’m home,” Thace announced as he entered his room. He paused just inside as the door automatically slid shut behind him, but Keith didn’t come running with Ulaz trailing a couple of paces behind him. Thace’s shoulders deflated as he sighed dejectedly, before he turned and set his datapad down on the desk. Perhaps they were down on the training deck—there was a climbing wall in there that Keith had been saying he was going to reach the top of, even though he never actually went that high at Thace’s insistence.

With a tired sigh, he collapsed into his desk chair, groaning as he massaged the back of his neck with one hand. He hadn’t sat down since he had left the room that morning, and the training session he had overseen had been exhausting—for both him and the new initiates. He really wanted nothing more than to take a nap, but he still had some work he had to get done. Kolivan needed a report on the training progress, for one; and as the training assistant, that was Thace’s job.

However, Keith had also seemed to have left a mess with his toys. Thace withheld his groan as he got back to his feet, even though his muscles ached. He silently began collecting the toys he had somehow managed to avoid tripping over, and took them to the screened-off section of his room, which was what had to pass for Keith’s room—it just hadn’t made sense to keep him down on the lower levels when his fathers were up on one of the upper levels. So, they had compromised.

Thace set what toys he had collected down on Keith’s bed, making a mental note that he would encourage Keith to organize them himself whenever he got back. Keith was normally pretty good about cleaning up if they made a game out of it. As he sighed and turned around to go and finish collecting the rest of Keith’s toys, he heard a soft chirping sound behind him, and one of his ears twitched and turned in the direction of the noise.

When he looked over his shoulder, he noticed a fort, hidden away in the corner of Keith’s space, that he had completely missed. It was made out of blankets, haphazardly tacked up on the wall, and it appeared that all the pillows in the room had been shoved inside of it as cushioning. A sign was also pinned to one of the blankets.

Keith’s Blanket Fort was written on it in Ulaz’s meticulously neat handwriting, and underneath that was Keith’s incomprehensible scrawl. Whatever he had been trying to say was lost in translation. However, underneath of it there was another note, written again in Ulaz’s handwriting—nobody else is allowed. If Thace were to guess, he would say that Keith had merely dictated what he was trying to say and Ulaz had written it out for him.

Then, Thace caught sight of a set of glowing eyes peeking out from underneath the flap of the fort and managed to make out the outline of Ulaz’s head, as well as the cub who had evidently decided to fall asleep face down with a tiny hand clutching at Ulaz’s headfur.

“There you are,” Thace said, quietly as he could—he had been trying to keep from disturbing Keith, but it seemed that Keith had already awoken anyway, as Thace saw the flash of his eyes in the shadow of the blanket fort.

Ulaz blinked blearily and tried to stifle a yawn. “What time is it?”

“I just got back,” Thace assured him, before his eyes flicked to Keith. He still appeared to be incredibly drowsy, perking up only slightly when he noticed Thace crouched outside the blanket fort.

“Hello, cub,” Thace said.

“Laz and me made a fort…” Keith said, rubbing one of his eyes with a tiny fist.

“Yes, I can see that,” Thace said patiently. “Did you have a nice nap?”

Keith shook his head. “Still sleepy…”

“Well, how about you come and finish your nap out here?” Thace suggested.

To Thace’s surprise, it was Ulaz who put up the most argument to that suggestion. “Do we have to? It’s warm in here…” he said, voice still heavy with sleep. Keith let out quiet agreement that was little more than a soft and half-hearted mumble, before he yawned widely.

Thace smiled, watching them with a fond tilt of his head. “Well, then I hope you two sleep well,” he said, getting ready to stand again. “I’ll be over at my desk if you—”

“No!” Keith whined, and Thace watched as the cub clambered over Ulaz’s chest—and knocked the wind out of him, judging by Ulaz’s surprised grunt. Keith poked his head out of the blanket fort, blinking against the brighter light and reaching out to make a grabbing motion with his hand. Thace sighed, but he offered Keith his hand, and Keith latched onto his fingers and pulled. “Come, come!” he insisted.

Thace’s ears drooped, twitching slightly. “Cub, I can’t—” he began. Cleaning up the rest of Keith’s toys could wait, since Keith was actually here, but Thace still had that report to write and file.

“Pleeeeease?” Keith asked, staring at Thace with big, wide eyes and a pout.

Thace sighed, ears pinning back against the sides of his head. “Fine… fine—Ulaz, move over. I’m coming in.”

With little more than a soft, amused snort, Ulaz sat up and lifted the flap for Thace to crawl inside.

The blanket fort was roomier than Thace had been expecting it to be, given that it appeared rather small from the outside. Thace had assumed that Ulaz would take up all the room, as Ulaz was even taller than Thace was himself. However, it appeared that there was just enough room for all three of them to fit comfortably. And Ulaz had been right—it was warm in here. Almost like sitting in front of a fire—cozy, rather than overpowering and muggy. Thace settled down back against the wall, taking care to not disturb the blankets over his head. Even if he did, though, he doubted that Keith would get too upset. He loved building things up again after destroying them.

Keith immediately clambered into Thace’s lap and snuggled into Thace’s arms when Thace picked him up. Ulaz, meanwhile, settled down heavily against Thace’s side, pressing his face into Thace’s shoulder, and seemed intent on actually going back to sleep.

“When did you start building blanket forts, cub?” Thace asked.

Keith’s eyes flashed in the darkness as he turned in Thace’s arms to look him in the eye. As Thace’s eyes adjusted to the darkness of the fort, he noticed how Keith appeared to be getting drowsy again.

“Ani and me did…” Keith said through a yawn. “It was big, though.”

“Yes, I would imagine so, if it had to fit Antok,” Thace said, unable to contain his amused purr. Then, he lightly began running a hand over Keith’s headfur, since he didn’t have a comb to fix it. Keith squirmed, batting his hand away, and uttering a soft, displeased hiss. It was about as intimidating a sound as a three-year-old cub was capable of making. With a light frown, Thace gently caught Keith by the ear—not hard enough to hurt him, just enough to catch his attention. Keith immediately stopped arguing and pouted.

“Hissing isn’t polite,” Thace chastised lightly as the corner of his mouth quirked upwards into the making of an amused smile. Then, he released Keith’s ear, and the cub shook his head, messing up his headfur even more.

“Laz—” Keith began whining as his eyes darted to where Ulaz was sitting, pressed comfortably against Thace’s side. But Ulaz was sound asleep, breathing evenly. Keith pouted, but seemed to think better of reaching out to bat at Ulaz’s nose to wake him up when he noticed Thace was watching him.

“Shhh… he’s asleep,” Thace whispered. He adjusted how he was holding Keith in his arms, before ducking his head, and beginning to run his tongue through Keith’s headfur. Keith only squirmed for a moment to get comfortable and then sat still. With each pass of Thace’s tongue, Keith’s eyes started growing more and more bleary, and he seemed to be unable to stifle his yawns.

“Getting tired there, cub?” Thace asked.

Keith shook his head, rubbing his eye. “M’not tired…”

“Little cubs need their sleep,” Thace said, before he glanced at Ulaz again. “And so do big cubs.”

Keith yawned again, and leaned his head against Thace’s shoulder, snuggling close and clutching at the fabric of Thace’s hood with one of his hands. He continued insisting—half-heartedly—that he wasn’t tired, even though he seemed to be unable to keep his eyes open. A soft purr rose in the back of Thace’s throat as he settled in, carefully adjusting how he was holding Keith while taking care not to disturb him or Ulaz. Once Keith had dozed off, Thace sighed, letting his purring die away as he rested his cheek against the top of Ulaz’s head.

Evidently, he wasn’t going to be getting any work done until nap time was over.

[blazerought]

Usually I put my comment at the end of the submission but omg this is long and also really cool and tbh the first one sounds like Azula and I’m always down for badass villain ladies like Azula. Bonus points if Lotor is like my dweeb son Zuko. He doesn’t need the redemption arc just the angst and crazy hair and daddy issues.

SUBMISSION.

A friend and I were chatting nonstop over various video games and shows and Voltron and we came up with a fun idea about the Galra, more specifically about a Galra princess. (It’s not canon, it’s just for fun~)

This could come in a few different flavors:

Version 1: She could be “Daddy’s little villain.”

It’s all in the title–she’s Zarkon’s little girl. She does what Zarkon asks of her (and she never fails to get it done) and in turn, Zarkon rewards her with something (or worse, someone) that she can do as she pleases with.

Not at all interested in taking the throne. She is interested in the Empire’s agenda, however.

Allura’s possible rival when it comes to magic; she’s an extremely powerful sorceress (and pesters Haggar to let her participate in experiments) and is extremely clever with how she uses her powers, having trained with them all her life unlike Allura, who has barely had them for a day and as a result has no practice whatsoever. (Put her and Allura together and you’d get one of the biggest catfights in the universe.)

Haggar: “Princess, please, try not to slaughter them all. We still need them for research.”

Slightly bad temper. Has very little patience for when something needs to be done and people fail to get it done.

Knows how to be terrifying when subtly threatening others.

She’s beautiful, and she knows it.

Has found a new hobby: toying with Allura and the Paladins. She leaves false clues, ambushes and traps everywhere for them.

Really thinks it’s a bad idea to bring Lotor into the mix after S2 finale. Not surprising that so many commanders were flinching when she started screeching about it. (Many have tried–and failed–to appease her anger.)

In general: a sadistic little bitch who can be quite a spoiled brat. She’s a loyal daughter in Zarkon’s eyes, however.

Constantly gave Prorok indigestion when he was still alive.

Version 2: She could be trying to destroy the Empire from the inside.

Unlike her father and Haggar, she actually has a conscious.

More often than not she would sneak into the prisoner cells to accommodate them by bringing in blankets and proper food.

She’s only ever been known by Zarkon and Haggar to be quiet and compliant, rarely asking for anything. Neither of them know that she’s conspiring to overthrow her father.

Absolutely despises the arena, and finds having gladiators fight to the death for entertainment to be barbaric.

Leaks classified information to the BoM on a daily basis. This is how she meets Voltron–she tried to leak the info to BoM but ended up contacting one of the Lions instead. (She was in a bit of a hurry that day.)

Genuinely likes Matt Holt. The guards assumed she just wanted him and gave him away to her. The reality was that she just liked him and looked after him when they plopped him at her feet. She still fusses over him and rarely lets him go anywhere without her in case his leg starts acting up, and has managed to hack into more classified databases and leak information to the BoM with his help. (They’re also those two super judgy friends that mimic each other.)

Has a sense of humor. It’s a little weird, but it’s a sense of humor. Like the space ketchup bomb prank. (She actually freaked out Prorok with that prank once.)

Haggar catches her betraying the Empire. One big, “Oh quiznak.”

Version 3: Yorda

Her name’s not really Yorda; this version just happens to remind me of Yorda from Ico. (Unless you want to call her Yorda, then go ahead.)

Unlike the previous two, this one is not physically strong.

She’s fragile and gets sick easily. Doesn’t help that she’s small compared to everyone else in her species. (She might be taller than Pidge but she’s shorter than Keith.)

She is powerful with magic, but it easily exhausts her. She’ll collapse if she pushes herself for even a few moments.

She’s fast, but she can’t run very far.

Magic is all she’s capable of. She doesn’t know how to fight. Unless you need her to bust open a magically locked door, or do whatever involves magic, she’s just load.

There’s no place in the Empire for the weak, and she wasn’t even strong enough to defend herself in the arena; so despite being the princess and his own daughter, Zarkon had her locked up and she was left to rot.

The only reasons why she managed to survive were because Thace and Ulaz had taken care of her, and Haggar saw something useful in her.

She was never allowed outside of her room, to the point where no one in the Empire knows she exists except the BoM, Haggar and, obviously, Zarkon.

Thace and Ulaz are gone. Who’s going to help her?

One of the new objectives for the BoM now is to get her out of there and hide her in a safe location. The problem? Haggar snatched her up and hid her somewhere, so no one knows where she is.

Then Keith finds her.

On the way out though they get ambushed by Haggar, who tries to manipulate her into staying behind, even offering to let Keith leave them unscathed, only verbally abusing her when she proves difficult to manipulate.

Haggar: “You’re weak. You can’t defend yourself, and you’ll only burden him. He won’t be able to protect you. You won’t survive out there.”

While she unintentionally held him back with her frailty, she did save his life and gave him enough time to get the two of them in an escape pod. Too bad it got blasted by Haggar and crashed onto a faraway planet, leaving them stranded. Safe and sort of out of enemy sight, sure, but stranded nonetheless.

Then there’s the language barrier. She speaks a very old dialect of Galran, and translators in the Castleship and Lions (let’s face it, English is not the universal language for aliens) either can’t recognize it or they’re too far away, so Keith has no way of understanding a word she’s saying, and she can’t understand a word he’s saying.

They manage to communicate with hand gestures and signals.

You have a cute little montage of Keith leading her along by taking her hand and guiding her over natural bridges and canyons, and saving her from Galra sentries. In turn, she does what she can, pointing out something important whenever Keith might not notice and finding really good hiding spots.

Eventually they find a beach with space watermelons and they just chill out while waiting for the Voltron crew to find them. It’s a lot sweeter than what’s being said here. (Two people who don’t know each other become super nice friends and eat space watermelons together how can that not be cute???)

Meanwhile, Kolivan is amazed that Keith found her by sheer accidental luck. “Where did you find her!?”

The BoM want to hide her in a secure location, but she doesn’t want to leave Keith. Seeing as how spend her life alone with only Thace and Ulaz for company, it’s easy to see why.

[adamancer-blog]

fur brushing. yay nor nay ?? (or should i say nyan ??)

LET’S TALK ABOUT GALRA FUR !!  yes okay so mammals have fur bc mammals are warm-blooded  &  fur helps to keep them both warm  &  cool.  the leading theory on why  HUMANS  evolved without fur is bc when humans began developing large brains,  the brain getting too hot  &  overheating was a  SERIOUS THREAT .  coupled with living in hot savanna grasslands,  humans needed a more efficient way of thermal regulation.  so humans evolved without fur bc bare skin allows body heat to be lost through sweating,  which is more effective.

ENVIRONMENT ,  then,  was largely important.  some theories say that humans should have evolved  ( devolved ? )  back to being furry as they expanded into colder climates,  but by then we had the mental capacity to craft clothes so there was no longer a need for fur.

so even though you didn’t ask,  my  BEST GUESS  as to why some galra have lots of fur  &  others have little to no fur is that there were two or more surviving splits from their common ancestor,  &  they all evolved in different climates and / or at different speeds.  this also explains why there are so many appearance variations  (  BONUS HEADCANON  :  galra with big ears like sendak  &  thace probably evolved from ancestors that hunted large  &  fast insects,  &  therefore had a more advanced echolocation call structure  ;  galra with smaller ears,  like ulaz,  would have evolved from ancestors that had echolocation better suited for foraging in open spaces,  or  for locating  VERY LARGE  prey in order to support a liquid diet,  like vampire bats  ) .

it’s also possible that some have less fur than others simply because of cross-species mingling.  there doesn’t appear to be any furriness / furlessness discrimination in revealed canon,  but i’m willing to bet that galra with  LESS FUR  are considered more favorable / more attractive within the empire for no reason  OTHER THAN  they look more like zarkon.

but to answer your question  :  yes.  yay.  of course.  absolutely.  what kind of question……

[revasnaslan]

o yah and ask meme numbers 1, 8, 9, 13, 18, 19, 20

1. Describe yourself how you would describe a character you’re introducing

tbh this was the question i wasn’t looking forward to getting and i’d prefer not to answer =_=;;

8. Why do you choose to write?

For myself mostly. I normally only ship rare pairs (see any pairing i really rEALLY ship from voltron) and when i ship something, i usually have a specific dynamic in mind when i picture them in my head… basically i’m really really picky and so my motto is “if you want something done right you’ve gotta do it yourself” which is why a lot of my planned fics ended up happening.

I also write stuff for Vox since she ships rare pairs too :P

if someone happens to enjoy my writing, that’s just an added bonus i guess xD

9. Do you ever have plans to write anything other than fic?

I have a worldbuilding project which is mostly just for fun right now, and working on those skills, but i do have some ideas for novels written down in that project :> 

13. Favorite fic from another author?

Oh… um… not from Voltron, but my favorite Mass Effect fic (which is T’sovik cause that’s like my favorite pairing from Mass Effect) is That Hunts the Lonely Hill by ninaunn over on Ao3… it’s like… really good. I’ve been reading it as it updates since last January so…

18. How old were you when you started writing?

I believe my first fics were actually Avatar fics, but none of those ever saw the light of day xD i mostly wrote on word and I’m sure all of them were really really awful but i was only eleven or twelve so i had no idea what i was doing… i really started getting into writing (as one of my main hobbies) when i was fourteen because i started taking creative writing classes as electives in high school, and i took creative writing every semester for four years (as @voxiferous well knows since we were absolute menaces to the poor teacher our senior year cause like an idiot he sat us next to one another)…

unsurprisingly, most of the works i submitted for a grade for fanfiction… my poor creative writing teacher was giving me A’s on Naruto fanfiction and he had no fucking clue lol

19. Why did you start writing?

god that was like ten or eleven years ago like hell i’m gonna remember the actual reason i started writing… if i had to guess tho i’d assume it was a means of creative outlet??

20. 4 sentences from your work that you’re proud of

hoo boy let’s see =3=;; i’m really a bad judge of this shit so you get one of the ulaz and thace exchanges from the first chapter of Raised Amongst the Stars (which is posted over at Ao3 so) i think it showcases my love of dialogue and character interaction

this is more than four sentences but w/e you can’t get context with only a portion of the scene

“How is it looking?”

Thace’s voice held a tired undertone as it come over the com, but Ulaz didn’t comment on it. He stood on a rooftop opposite of the spaceport, monitoring the streets down below, while Thace remained about a block or so back, keeping out of sight with Keith. Ulaz had scouted ahead to determine what their best course of action was from here.

With the amount of security that was present, they would be lucky to get back to their ship without attracting suspicion.

“Lots of guards,” he finally settled on, ducking down and out of sight, pressing his back against the half-wall that ran along the roof’s edge. “I don’t know if our ship is compromised or not—”

“Kolivan’s been looking to dump that ship anyway. I doubt it would be missed.”

“Did you remember to wipe the logs when we landed?”

“No, Ulaz, I’m a complete idiot,” Thace said dryly, and Ulaz could almost hear his eye roll. “Of course I remembered to wipe the damn logs. I scold at initiates every day for forgetting to do less.”