#and pidges entire vibe is so soft | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

panda-noosh · 5 years ago

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in the morning, we will see {Pidge x Reader}{The Rockstar Series}

The Rockstar Series: a series of fics documenting rockstar!Voltron falling in love.

Words: 9.9k

Summary: What a coincidence that you and Pidge are both having an identity crisis at the same time; the only difference is, Pidge is a rock star, and you’re a bartender.

Genre: angst

Warning: mentions of anxiety - mentions of drinking

Notes: masterlist - buy me a coffee! - this got so ... personal? like i projected my own issues with anxiety into this character and i don’t really know how it happened yeet.

---

Pidge didn't mean to become a rock star.

This is a fact that not many people believe when she tells them. They question how a person can be thrown into such a world entirely by accident. It's the kind of job that requires commitment, a life-long dream, a lifetime of experience and wishing. In the movies, that's always how it's laid out – the person picks up a guitar one day and immediately their one goal in life is to get on stage and make music.

Pidge wasn't like that.

She picked up her guitar at the age of nine just for the fun of it, and that was all it remained for a good portion of her teenage years; she would learn new songs, smile when she mastered them, and then swiftly move on to something else. She never itched to get her fingers back against the frets, never woke up in a cold sweat because she just had to write this specific riff down on paper.

To Pidge, music was a casual hobby that she used to fight off boredom.

However, she had friends who were of the opposite side of the spectrum, Lance being the most passionate of them all. For as long as Pidge could remember, Lance McClain was trying to form a band. He sang, but Pidge always had the impression that he cared more for the money and the female attention than anything else.

Nonetheless, she tried to support him. When he asked, she would provide a nice little tune for him to sing along to, but she never meant to fall into his trap of actually starting something. She just wanted to help out, but by the time she'd turned seventeen, Lance got a hold of her and had no plans of letting go.

That was how she came to be part of Smokey Saturdays.

Her dreams of becoming a programmer were dismissed. She dropped out of college, and her parents supported her decision, because at least she wasn't landing on soft ground. She had a fall-back plan, no matter how unsteady it was in the beginning. She led them to believe that this was what she wanted, what she'd always wanted, and they'd let her go with little to no argument.

Now she toured.

She was away from home for months upon months out of the year, dealing with her bandmates bullshit and losing herself to music she didn't even really like; she was an indie listener at heart. This rock vibe that Lance clung onto was something she would never get used to, but something she suffered through because it meant getting her pay check at the end of the day.

This was a difficult lifestyle to live. It wasn't the kind of thing someone just got used to, considering there was no routine to really get accustomed to in the first place; it only got worse with time, and Pidge was starting to feel those effects.

She sat with her feet up on Keith's bouncing knee, tuning her guitar as she waited for Lance to return with the news of when they would be going on stage. The dressing area was quiet, Hunk humming to himself in the background, the soft blow of the fan in the corner being the only thing filling in complete silence. Keith was never much of a talker, and Pidge was too far in her own brain to really start a meaningful conversation.

She wanted to go home.

She hated thinking like this; it was pointless. She knew she would never go home, not whenever she'd promised everyone else her complete, undivided attention. Despite knowing this, she couldn't quite keep her head out of the gutter, and it was putting a major damper on the mood. She must be the only person in the world who could sit back and listen to thousands of people cheer her name, and still feel down in the dumps.

Lance arrived with a flourish, bursting through the door with a grin on his face and a hop in his step. Pidge looked up from her guitar; he'd clearly been given good news.

“We can play next!” he exclaimed. “Is everything ready?” He pointed at Pidge, raising a brow. “That guitar of yours tuned?”

Pidge held it up as way of response. Despite that not really giving Lance a viable answer, he gave her a thumbs up anyway.

He span on his heel and slapped Hunk on the back. “You ready, big guy? We've got two new songs to perform tonight, and your drum solo's need to be perfect.”

“They always are,” said Hunk, before chuckling nervously. “Is there a lot of people out there, do you think?”

“At least a thousand,” Keith replied casually. Pidge always thought Keith had a bit of social anxiety because of how quiet he was, but the size of crowds was never something that bothered him.

Hunk paled. “A thousand?”

“One. Thousand,” Lance whispered, bursting into a grin. “We're really going up in the world, lads. They're out there waiting for us, and we have to deliver!”

“Which we will, considering you've had us busting our asses for two weeks straight,” said Pidge.

Lance continued to smile.

Pidge sighed, looking back down at her guitar. She forced herself to at least be grateful – this life she was living was unbelievable, and it wasn't as if she didn't appreciate it. Every night she asked herself how she'd gotten so lucky, what she had done to stumble into this lifestyle without even really needing nor wanting it.

But there were some days when she just wanted all of it to end. There were some days where she just wanted to breathe.

---

If this crowd were to get any larger you'd. . . you'd. . . .

You put your head in your hands, blocking out the sounds of the outside world for the time being.

Some days, you just wanted to breathe.

Being an adult was tasking. You'd learned this the hard way; after going through multiple job interviews, being too nervous to really fit for any of them, you'd finally been offered a job as a bartender – the least you job anybody could possibly conjure up.

In your desperation, you'd said yes.

Listen. It was the only choice you had. Things were expensive these days, and as you were thrown into adulthood entirely against your will, you were coming to realise that money was genuinely a thing you needed to take into consideration from time to time. Rent wasn't going to pay itself. Food wasn't just going to magically manifest in your cupboards; you needed to work for that kind of thing.

The band – Smokey Saturdays – was announced. You nearly rolled your eyes, still not looking up from the cocoon of darkness your hands provided. They had it so easy; they were living their dream, able to perform in front of adoring fans and get paid for it – you thought it was unfair.

What did they do to deserve such an easy ride through life? Who had they paid?

Certainly not you, that was for sure. You were too busy working nights at a bar that gave you so much anxiety it was almost dangerous.

Looking up, you noticed the crowd had started moving. You shuffled a little closer to the shelves behind you, analysing; this was perhaps the largest crowd you'd ever seen in this place. It was almost too large, some people being pressed into walls as the excitement started kicking in and people started jumping around, waving their hands above their heads. The music started, and you nearly scowled at the volume of it – was the crowd cheering not good enough for them? Did they have to have the added ruckus of bad music going on in the background, too?

The stage was almost entirely obscured by the people jumping in front of it. Craning your neck, you were just able to make out who was playing – all of them were so young. The lead singer was already jumping up and down, yelling the absurd lyrics into the microphone. Behind him, two men were bobbing their heads, less mobile but still enthusiastic.

And then there was the girl.

You'd read about her quite a bit – it was difficult these days to not come across some kind of article on Smokey Saturdays and it's members. They were growing quite popular, but Pidge was always the one you took the most interest in. Now, don't get it twisted – you didn't obsess over her. You didn't sit there and read through her biography, screenshotting her Famous Birthdays page – but you would admit that you spent the most time reading about her when she popped up on your phone.

She came from a fairly small family, from what you'd read. She was intelligent, had a history in both piloting and computer mechanics, as well as a fair bit of engineering. Overall, she was a very ambitious person, and it was clear she enjoyed learning.

Not once had you read anything on her love for music.

People shoved that to the side, it seemed. Whilst Keith, Hunk and Lance's biographies were filled with exclamations about how they'd started music at a young age and had always known this was the path they were destined to take, Pidge's was always more focused on her love for. . . other things.

Looking at her new, you were beginning to see why.

It wasn't as if she wasn't all in it. She was. Her fingers drifted easily up and down the neck of the guitar, and she was playing beautifully – there was no doubt in your mind that she was a talent when it came to music.

However, she was almost entirely stationary, bar the slight dip of her knees and bob of her head here and there. Just looking at her made you feel bad for her.

“Excuse me.”

Your head snapped up, fake smiling plastering on your face immediately. The man standing in front of you looked slightly annoyed, and you silently cursed the distraction Miss Pidge Gunderson had caused. You needed to shake her out of your mind – she was probably living her dream. You were just thinking much too deeply into things.

However, even as you served the man and apologised for your daydream, you couldn't help but wonder what was really going on behind the scenes – you desperately wanted to ask, but speaking to a celebrity was so far out of the realm of possibility that you nearly laughed at the mere thought. You'd learned not to get your hopes up – life never really went the way you wanted it to.

---

Pidge needed a drink. Desperately.

She ordered her manager to get her a couple of cans whilst she snuck out round the back. Lance was back on his bullshit, yelling his congratulations and over-enthusiastically thanking the staff at the club for letting them perform, as if the managers hadn't been hounding them for weeks to play a gig; they just wanted the attention.

After receiving her drinks, Pidge pulled herself up onto the industrial bins round the back of the club. Inside, she could hear the music pounding against the concrete walls, but it was clear the club was clearing out now that Smokey Saturdays had finished their set; it was getting awfully late, and Pidge wanted nothing more than to get absolutely wasted before going home and sleeping off the grimy feeling that had taken over on this particular night.

She inhaled. The night sky was pretty today. It reminded her of the days she used to spend in the library, hunched over a notebook or a laptop, or a textbook. She used to dive so deep into the pages that she lost track of time, and when she looked out the window after what felt like only minutes, the stars were blinking back at her, a warning that she needed to get some sleep before her body gave out on her.

The memory made her smile. She wanted to relive them. Nowadays, the only reason the stars gave her warning was because she was sat up late writing songs, or Facetiming Matt, or drinking until she forgot the simple mistake she'd made on stage that day; now, her reason for drinking was purely because she didn't want to feel guilty about the fact she didn't enjoy the show she'd just put on.

She emptied her first can and tossed it to the ground.

The door closed, startling her. She turned, glancing over her shoulder to see you standing there.

You were clearly startled, a black bin-bag in your hand, eyes wide and jaw open. Pidge raised a brow, cracking open her next can of beer before ushering you forward.

“You can do whatever you came to do. This is public property.”

“Sorry.” Your voice was quick. You ducked your head down, scampered forward and started plucking bits of rubbish from the floor.

Pidge tilted her head, swinging her legs as she watched you work. A tiny stab of guilt formed in her chest when she watched you pick up the can she'd just thrown on the floor.

“You work here?” Pidge wasn't entirely sure why she cared. She just wanted to start conversation.

You nodded. Clearly, you didn't have the same attitude.

“Hm. Did you see the show?”

“Yes,” you mumbled. “You did really well.”

“Do you listen to a lot of rock music?”

You paused.

Pidge grinned round the lip of her can. “No?”

You shrugged. “Not . . . Not particularly.”

“Nah, don't worry,” said Pidge. “Me neither.”

You narrowed your eyes, glancing at her over your shoulder. Pidge met your eyes, and immediately you looked away, getting back to the job you were assigned.

You were obviously a timid little thing; in Pidge's drunken state, she found something endearing about that. Most people would be trying desperately to impress her, but you seemed like you barely even had time to talk to her.

That was a very, very pleasant change.

“So what do you listen to?” Pidge asked.

“I like all sorts,” you replied. To Pidge, this was just a way to drop the conversation.

“Name me an artist you listen to,” she pushed. “I'll tell you if I like them or not.”

“Smokey Saturdays.”

“You don't like our music. You're only saying that to impress me.”

You winced, caught out. “Hozier.”

Pidge's eyebrows shot up. “Hozier, hm? I like him. What's your favourite song?”

You paused, hand hovering over a glass bottle as you thought. “Someone New.”

“That's quite old. 2014, I believe.”

You shrugged. “I don't think it gets old. I can listen to it on repeat.”

Pidge nodded, leaning back on the top of the rubbish bin. She watched you work, before slowly reaching into her back pocket and tugging out her phone; she was in a weird mood this night, and for some reason, this seemed like a good idea. She pulled up her Spotify app and put Someone New by Hozier on.

You shot up, turning to look at Pidge with wide eyes. Pidge simply grinned, holding the phone out as if to help you listen better, despite it being clear you could hear every word. Pidge watched you swallow, and felt a sense of pride at the fact she was the one who had made you so suddenly. . . surprised.

“Uh. . . Yeah,” you muttered. “It's a good song.”

“Have you ever listened to Oh Wonder?”

“A few of their songs. They're not one of my favourites, but I like them.”

“You should listen to Superlove by them – it's really good. Different to what they usually put out.”

Again, you only humbled Pidge with a small nod. It didn't tell her much; you were back to picking up the litter, not looking back to give Pidge a glimpse of your expression. She wasn't sure why it bothered her so much – perhaps it was the drink in her system. Maybe it was just because she was a rock star – she'd grown to thrive off of attention from others, even if that person was a strange bartender she'd never even spoken to before tonight.

Nonetheless, you'd somehow piqued her interest; it was strange how Pidge had met hundreds of famous celebrities, thousands of fans, so many other well-known names, and none of them knew how to capture her attention like this.

“Have you got a name?” she asked.

“Y/N,” you replied. “Just Y/N.”

Pidge raised a brow. “Okay, Just Y/N – why have your managers got you out here picking up litter? Surely you're more helpful behind the bar.” Pidge stuck out her bottom lip, furrowing her brows. “If I'm not wrong, I'm pretty sure that's where I saw you earlier on.”

You jerked up. “You saw me?”

“Yeah. You were trying to hide behind some of the shelves when we were playing.” Pidge grinned teasingly. “You really hate our music that much?”

You bit your bottom lip, looking back down at the bag in your hand. “I just get nervous when things get too loud.”

Pidge took pause with this comment, a rush of fresh guilt crashing down upon her. She hadn't taken into consideration that maybe you struggled in social situations – had she been making you uncomfortable this entire time?

She slowly sat up, pulling her knees into her chest. “Sorry. I didn't . . . If you want me to stop talking to you, I don't mind. I can go inside and leave you to your work.”

You were quiet for a moment. Pidge was sure she'd ruined it – you were going to ask her to leave and Pidge would be forced to go back into the building and face a life she was no longer sure she really wanted to live. She'd found herself enjoying the little bit of normalcy a conversation with you had given her.

“You can stay.” Your voice was barely a whisper.

Pidge tilted her head. “Are you sure?”

“Please,” you mumbled, not looking up. “Tell me a bit more about your band.”

Pidge bit her lip, staring at the back of your head. You continued to work, and there was something about the casual atmosphere that made Pidge feel comfortable. She leaned back on her hands, taking yet another swig of her drink before she said, “It's really not all it's cracked up to be, you know.”

“No?”

“Not in my head, anyway. I enjoy performing, don't get me wrong, but I've never been much of an outgoing person. I prefer to keep things fairly private.”

“You can keep your life private and still be a rock star, you know.”

Pidge scoffed. “Easy enough for you to say. You don't have cameras following you around everywhere you go.” She swigged her beer. “Or a Lance McClain forcing you to post on Instagram every two seconds.”

You snickered. “No. I just have famous celebrities talking to me whilst I do my work.”

Pidge grinned round the lip of her can. “I offered to leave and you said no.”

“I'm not saying it's a bad thing.” You glanced at her. Pidge was certain she glimpsed a tiny smile. “I'm just saying it's bizarre.”

“Yeah, well. I'm nothing special.”

“I'm still slightly awestruck.”

“Was that why you were so shy when you first walked out here?”

You shrugged. “That, or I was just embarrassed. You're up there in your million pound outfit and I'm here, picking up other people's litter.”

Pidge frowned, raising a brow as she looked down at the raggedy grey shirt and jeans she was wearing. “Hardly a million dollar outfit, Just Y/N.”

“Better than my alcohol-stained uniform.”

Pidge scoffed, and before she could think better of it, she tipped her can of beer straight down the front of her shirt. You gasped, shooting upright before you furrowed your brows and tilted your head in confusion. Pidge merely grinned, downing the remainder of the drink. She sat up straight, tossing it in your direction; it landed right in the bin bag.

“Kobe!”

“Why did you do that?”

Pidge slumped back, lazily shrugging. “Why not?”

“You're gonna go back in there smelling like a brewery.”

“Oh, boo hoo.” Pidge wiped her mouth on her collar. “We're going back to the hotel. And it's not like half the people in there aren't off their heads on drugs and alcohol anyway.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Now we match,” said Pidge.

“Why would you want to match with me in the first place?”

Pidge shrugged. “You're a lot cuter than you give yourself credit for; I don't know why I wouldn't want to match with you.”

Your eyes widened. Sober Pidge would have been mortified at such a comment slipping past her lips, but Pidge was past the point of caring about that right now; she simply grinned, letting her legs fall so she could swing them back and forth. She planted her hands between her knees and gazed at you as if you were the celebrity and she was your biggest fan.

You coughed and turned away, biting down on your lower lip. “That was nice of you. I – I think you're cute too.”

“Is this the part where we give each other our numbers?”

“Do you want my number?”

“Do you want mine?”

You paused, grip tightening on the bin bag. Pidge watched you take a deep breath, as if hyping yourself up to answer her question. Your response was quick: “Yes.”

Pidge nodded, tossing her phone in your direction. You yelped, dropping the bin bag to catch it. Pidge casually leaned back on the rubbish bins, waiting for you to figure out the mechanics of her mobile on your own.

You glanced up at her. “Do I just put my number in your contacts?”

“Mhm,” said Pidge. “Save your name under 'Cute Bartender.' I'll know who you are then.”

“Stop flirting with me,” you grumbled, even as you punched your digits into her phone.

Pidge raised a brow. “Do you not like it?”

“I don't know how it works,” you said, tossing her phone back onto her stomach. “I can't reciprocate, so therefore it's better if you just . . . don't do it.”

“I don't mind a little one sided flirting.” Pidge read your name, grinning when she saw you had taken her suggestion and actually put yourself down as 'Cute Bartender.'

You scooped the bin bag up and looked at Pidge for a final time; even though you hadn't announced your parting, Pidge could just kind of tell that the conversation was drawing to a close; she wasn't entirely sure why it bothered her.

She smiled, waving at you.

You swallowed, nodded and awkwardly waved back. Without even saying goodbye, you ducked your head down and fled from the alleyway. Pidge listened to the door slam closed behind you before finally tilting her head back to look up at the stars; they were no longer warning her about going to bed. They were warning her about staying up and thinking on this moment for too long.

---

You hated this.

Whatever this was.

A feeling of terror mixed with excitement mixed with a tiny voice in your head telling you to just fucking go for it. For the past few years, your life had been just that – you willing yourself to do things. Maybe that was why you were so sheltered – there was only so much anxiety a person could ignore before they let an opportunity pass by them.

But this was just so far beyond what you were used to. You didn't even know where to start.

You stared down at your phone, the place where Pidge's contact was flashing back at you; it was just her name. Even though Pidge hadn't seen her own contact in your phone, you were still too shy to put her name as anything other than 'Pidge.' Even giving yourself a nickname in her phone – at her request – had left you heated and fumbling.

Did she expect you to text first? Maybe she did. She was probably too busy, was probably drunk when she first thought it was a good idea to ask for your number. This morning, she'd most likely woken up with absolutely no recollection of who you were, or what this random number in her phone even meant.

You groaned and rolled over onto your back, pressing your knuckles into your eyes. Why was this so difficult? Why did your chest feel tight? Why couldn't you just do it?

These were the thoughts that stampeded your brain for the minutes it took for your phone to go off.

Immediately you bolted upright, snatching the cell up and looking down at the message that had just come through. As if the gods had somehow heard your complaints, Pidge's name popped up on screen – only it wasn't a message.

She was calling you.

Phone calls made you nervous at the best of times. There was always more of a struggle to keep a conversation up when you couldn't see their face, so you tended to avoid them as often as possible. But if you didn't answer this one, she would think you weren't interested. She was giving you a chance here, and you couldn't just-

You cursed under your breath and hit accept.

“Hello?” You said it like a question, as if you hadn't read and reread her name when it first popped up on screen.

“Just Y/N!” Pidge exclaimed. “This is Pidge, from last night. The bassist. The girl you spoke to in the alleyway.”

“I remember,” you replied, relieved that Pidge at least seemed to be good at holding conversation.

“So, I hope you're not busy at the moment,” she continued. “We have the day off and I was hoping I could see you.”

You paused. “See me?”

“You know, go out. Just you and I. Perhaps to a place that doesn't have flies swarming around it.”

“What do you have in mind?” Why couldn't you just say yes? You had the day off, too, and you knew for a fact you wanted to talk to her again; it was strange. You were almost never so enamoured by strangers – actually, sometimes you were downright terrified of them. So why was Pidge any exception?

Pidge hummed in thought. “Well, are you hungry?”

“I could eat.”

“Then we'll go out to eat.”

“I can't afford to go to a fancy restaurant, Pidge. I work as a bartender.”

Pidge scoffed. “Bold of you to assume I'd let you pay for your meal. No. Don't worry; we'll go somewhere simple. Maybe get a chippy and then have a picnic – it's a nice enough day for it.”

You glanced out your window – she wasn't wrong. The sun was shining and the grass looked greener than ever. It truly was the perfect day for a picnic.

“Okay,” you replied. “Sounds good. When should I be ready?”

“Five minutes. I'm already walking out the door. Text me your address.”

You shot upright. “Pidge, no. I'm not-”

“Five minutes, Just Y/N!” she exclaimed. “Ready or not, I'll be at your front door in five minutes!”

She hung up before you could respond. You groaned, tossed your phone onto your covers and stampeded for the shower, scooping your clothes up on your way.

This was going to be an eventful afternoon.

---

When Pidge saw you, she was immediately reminded as to why she had taken such a liking to you the previous night.

Waking up this morning, her mind had been slightly foggy. Hunk was playing the drums in the basement, forever thinking he was being quiet, whilst Keith and Lance were arguing about their next gig in the kitchen. Pidge had been cursed with a hangover, but through the haze, she was still able to clearly make out the memory of you and her in that alleyway.

She'd thought about it all morning. As she was making breakfast, as she was arguing with Keith, as she was laughing with Hunk – she could not get you off her mind, no matter how hard she tried.

And so, she'd bitten the bullet and called you.

She wasn't entirely sure a phone call was appropriate – she just couldn't gather her wits to text you. She wanted to be coherent, and with the state she was currently in, talking was the only way she was going to be able to get her point across.

The entire journey to your flat was like some kind of fever dream; Pidge didn't even know where she was going, made a fool of herself as she pressed her phone to her ear, listening to the Google maps app talk her through directions. She'd ended up outside your block of flats, had been forced to ask the door man how to get up to your room; he'd simply nodded towards the door at the side of him, the bright green sign that read 'THIS WAY TO APARTMENTS' being a dead give away. Pidge had smiled and dashed up the steps before her embarrassment could reach higher levels.

But that embarrassment was ebbed away the moment the door opened and you were standing there, hair still damp and eyes glistening with what Pidge could only hope was excitement.

Pidge grinned, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “Well, don't you look pretty.”

“Five minutes isn't enough time,” you said. “My hair isn't dry yet.”

“We're going for a picnic.” Pidge stepped out of the way, ushering you out the door. “You don't need dry hair to enjoy some fish and chips, for crying out loud.”

You scowled but stepped out of the house anyway. You locked the door before you and Pidge started back downstairs and headed towards the chippy.

Pidge would be lying to claim things weren't a little more difficult than yesterday; your first conversation had been partially artificial, a product of the alcohol in her veins and the faux confidence said alcohol always gave her; today, however, she was overthinking everything. She wanted to call you pretty again – she liked the little smile you got when she said that – but couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to hold your hand, but she wasn't even sure you were seeing this whole thing as a date – maybe it wasn't. Maybe Pidge had been a little too hopeful, and she supposed it was partly her fault if you saw this as nothing more than a casual catch-up. She had asked you to a picnic. There had been no mention of a date within her request this morning.

Conversation was scarce and cracked as you walked into the small chippy and ordered a fish and chip each; Pidge chastised you for getting vinegar. You chastised her for having hers plain. The two of you gathered your orders and walked to the park, sitting down on the grass to enjoy the view.

And it was a splendid view; the park was right beside a rock beach, so the two of you could watch the waves softly lapping at the shore, plus the kids and families who were running up and down the length of it, giggling as the rocks prodded their bare feet.

You started the conversation this time, a fact which both surprised and excited Pidge. “Do you live here?”

Pidge looked up, raised a brow. “Here?”

“Here.” You gestured around you. “Or is this just a tour stop for you?”

“Oh, right.” Pidge wiped her hands on her jeans, ridding them of oil. “I have a house here, but we're on tour quite a bit nowadays. I wouldn't really say I live anywhere.”

“Is that not annoying?”

“It's nice sometimes. Although sometimes it's a little weird not having anywhere to call home.”

You nodded as if you understood. Pidge hated that you didn't, hated that she still wasn't talking to someone who could genuinely relate to her; however, Pidge also acknowledged the fact that she didn't want to be talking to anyone else.

She picked up a chip and tossed it at a nearby seagull. “What about you? How long have you lived here?”

“My whole life,” you replied through a mouthful of fish. “I don't think I've ever lived less than two miles from a beach.”

“Lucky bitch.”

You shrugged. “It's all I've ever known. Plus, that also means we always got the worst winds at winter time – living near the coast isn't always sunshine and sunbathing.”

“But it's always peaceful, isn't it?”

“There was one time a ship with a bunch of smugglers pulled up on the shore, and-”

Pidge raised a brow. You grinned, swallowing the rest of your story with a giggle. Pidge simply rolled her eyes, leaning back on her hands to gaze out over the ocean; it really was a peaceful sight, even with your attempts at dampening that.

You leaned back alongside her; Pidge's stomach erupted into butterflies when she felt your arm brush against her own.

“I think I need to apologise for last night,” said Pidge suddenly. The words weren't even planned, shocking even to her.

You turned your head. “There's nothing to apologise for.”

“I was brash,” said Pidge. “I was a little drunk, I think. I don't usually act that way in front of people.”

“I don't think you acted badly-”

“Cute bartender?” Pidge raised a brow, tilting her head in your direction.

You bit your lip, stifling a giggle. “Okay, maybe that was a bit bold of you-”

“It was disrespectful,” Pidge corrected. “I shouldn't have made you uncomfortable.”

You sighed. “Pidge, I wasn't uncomfortable.”

“But you could have been. I was treading on thin ice.”

“You entertained me.” You nudged her shoulder, urging her to look at you. “There's a big difference.”

Pidge stared at you for a moment longer; in this light, you looked utterly incredible. It almost took her breath away, made her feel flustered in the best way possible. Your eyes were glittering, your lips parted, a small glean of sweat on your collarbones, revealed by the slightly low cut summer shirt you were wearing. Pidge found herself slowly reaching forward, and you weren't stopping her, so she continued, and-

“Oh my God, is that Pidge Gunderson?”

She flinched away, letting her hand drop back in her lap. A young girl around the age of fourteen had dashed up to her side, was jumping up and down by the time Pidge finally managed to gather her bearings and look up, forcing a smile on her face.

You, however, had immediately ducked back into your shell, pulling your knees into your chest and looking away. Pidge had the impression that you were pretending to not know her, lest the fan take notice of her company.

Pidge greeted the fan as she always did – with enthusiasm, engraved into her head by Lance McClain himself. She took a picture and signed the girls shorts, before she turned on her heel and left, squealing to her friends that she finally met that girl she'd been telling them all about. Pidge watched them as they glanced back at her, and she knew then there was no point in staying if the fans planned on sticking around; you and her would get no privacy.

Pidge turned back. You looked flustered, ducking your head behind Pidge so the fans wouldn't be able to see you. Pidge sighed and grabbed your hand; you tugged it out of her grip, stuffing it into your shorts pockets.

Pidge frowned. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” you said a little too quickly. “I'm fine. I just – I think I have to get going.”

Pidge's heart stopped. “What? Why?”

You were already standing up, gathering your half-finished chippy. Before Pidge could even argue, you were tossing it into the bin, nearly stumbling over your own two feet in your attempts to get away quicker.

Pidge followed you, grabbing your elbow before you could get too far. “Hey, hey, hey. Slow down a second. What's this about?”

You couldn't meet her eyes. Your voice was a whisper, the words cracking. “I just have to go, Pidge.”

There was something in your tone that made her arguments cease; you were panicking. Pidge knew what panic felt like, but never before had she been triggered by something as simple as human interaction. She stared at you for a moment, fingers hovering beneath your elbow but no longer holding you; she couldn't put you through that. If you felt yourself getting overwhelmed by what just happened, Pidge wouldn't be the one to make you go through it again.

But there was no way to stop it besides letting you leave.

She swallowed thickly and nodded, stepping back. “O-okay. You'll text me when you get home, won't you? Just to – Just to let me know you got there safely.”

You nodded, already walking away.

“Okay,” Pidge called after you. “I'll see you soon, then, yeah?”

You nodded again, but there was no verbal response. Pidge let her hand drop, slap against her leg. The noise echoed, sounding dull in her ears. It sounded like the most pathetic noise in the world – the sound of rejection.

---

You hated everything.

You hated yourself, hated your brain, hated the anxiety you had been cursed with for entirely no reason.

It ruined things. In fact, there were some days you were genuinely convinced it ruined everything, because you knew for certain your life would be ten times better if your brain would just shut off for a few hours and let you live.

But that was never the case. It would never be the case. The world was bleak, and you let it get to you, and you hated it.

You hugged the comforter tighter around your body, Netflix playing as nothing more than background noise. Sometimes having something on in the background helped quieten your brain, but it was getting more and more difficult as the stresses of life emerged to the surface. You had a job now – you would need to interact with people again tomorrow night, and that thought was enough to keep you awake. You imagined all the ways you could mess up – you were still new. You hadn't learned everything, certainly hadn't mastered anything you'd been taught, and so there was every possibility that you would mess up somehow. People would stare at you and laugh, because you knew for a fact you looked odd in that place; a shy little thing being forced to serve burly, overexcited drunk teenagers.

You must have looked a sight.

In truth, you thought you were starting to get used to this new job. You were able to sleep a little better, was getting more skilled at convincing yourself everything was going to be fine. However, the situation with Pidge brought you right back to square one, reminding you of just how bad it was.

You liked Pidge. A lot. A lot more than you had a right to, considering you barely knew her, considering she was a rock star and you were a bartender.

But, weirdly, she seemed to like you, too.

So what was the problem?

That was the question you asked yourself on a daily basis – why did your brain go into overdrive over absolutely nothing? The pieces were all there – you and Pidge got along, enjoyed each others company. The only thing missing was your ability to understand her lifestyle, and it was your anxieties fault that you couldn't do that right now.

You'd at least had the decency to text her when you got home. Whilst your anxiety was strong enough to make you ditch her at the last minute, it apparently wasn't strong enough for you to disappoint her by not texting her back when she asked you to.

She'd replied, but you hadn't looked at it. If you didn't see it, you couldn't really chastise yourself for ignoring her.

You sighed and closed your eyes; nights like this were painful. You just wanted to go to sleep, but turning the TV off meant the thoughts had free reign. You would be up until the early hours of the morning fretting over what happened today, and you honestly saw no point in doing such a thing – if you were going to overthink, you may as well do it with Netflix playing in the background to keep you entertained.

And so, you stayed awake until your body could no longer properly function. You fell asleep upright that night, head tilted against your shoulder, Pidge's message going unread on your uncharged phone.

---

“You look like someone took a shit in your cereal.”

Pidge looked up, hair dishevelled and fingers aching from how hard she'd pressed into the copper strings of her guitar. Keith stood over her, toothbrush dangling out of his mouth as he got ready for the second night playing at the Club From Hell – that was the nickname Pidge had given it. As soon as she walked in the doors, she had been reminded of you, reminded of the date, reminded of the fact that she had been completely rejected.

He was shirtless, his guitar hanging across his chest. He raised a brow when Pidge looked up, but all she did in response to his mild insult was blink drearily.

Keith leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. “Did you sleep last night?”

Pidge shoved him away. “For a few hours.”

Keith grabbed her wrist, inspecting the indents in her fingers; they shouldn't have been there. Keith, being a bass player himself, would definitely know this. Pidge had been playing guitar since she was nine years old – by now, her calluses should have been strong, able to take the pressure it took to make a good note ring out on the guitar. It was clear by the damage he was inspecting now that Pidge had been pressing extra hard into the strings.

She pulled her hand away, wrapping it back round the neck of her bass.

“Pidge...”

“Do you not have something better to do?” she snapped.

“Not until the show starts,” said Keith, sitting down in the seat across from her. “You gonna tell me what's going on, or do I have to get Lance in here to-”

“Please, for the love of god, do not get Lance in here.”

“Then explain.” He leaned back, going back to brushing his teeth.

Pidge inhaled; how could she even explain what was going on? Never before had she been so unsure about her life and her goals and her future – she'd always known that music had been an accident, but she'd enjoyed it. It was a happy accident.

However, she was starting to think of life outside of concerts, outside of touring, outside of the thousands upon thousands of fans who supported her. She was beginning to think of the people who she wanted to care for her, but couldn't because this lifestyle she owned wasn't something they could keep up with.

But maybe that wasn't right. Maybe Pidge should give herself more credit – why should she give up the life she enjoyed just to please somebody else?

Well, the answer to that was simple; the life she enjoyed didn't always include music. The life she enjoyed, however, did include being loved by family and friends.

“What would you do if you met someone you ended up really liking, but they couldn't keep up with the whole rock star life?”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “That's what this is about?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Well.” Keith sighed, his head falling back completely. He draped his arm over the back of the chair. “Why don't we take Shiro as an example here. His partner was a god damn criminal when they first met. They were robbing his house, for fuck sake.”

“So?”

“So.” Keith looked back up. “Their lifestyle didn't match up with Shiro's, but they managed to make it work because they love each other.”

Pidge frowned. “They ended up becoming a criminal profiler, Keith. They got out of that life.”

“Shiro fell in love with them whilst they were still living this crazy life. You wanna know why?”

“Because Shiro's a crackhead.”

“Because Shiro realised he loved them for who they are, and he was willing to help them change. He kept up with their life because he wanted to see them get better. If someone falls for you, Pidge, they'll stick around because they want to see you do what makes you happy. They'll stick around because they want to see you reach that point.” Keith put the toothbrush back in his mouth and scoffed. “And people say I'm not a romantic.”

Pidge ignored him, pondering on his previous example – it was true that Shiro and his partner had a horrendous story between them; Shiro had nearly been robbed by the person he would later become engaged to. In a sense, Pidge always thought that was stupid of him – but Keith was right. Shiro had helped them get their life on track. He'd stuck around because he wanted them to be happy, wanted to help them reach that happiness.

It hurt her heart to think that the person she'd been talking to, the person she enjoyed talking to, wouldn't feel that way. But it was the truth. You'd walked away, unable to handle the life Pidge had chosen for herself. That was your choice, but Pidge was under no obligation to drop her whole life just to please someone else.

It was a hard truth to conclude, but it was the truth nonetheless. She could do nothing but move on.

---

You could barely even hear Lance.

You weren't concentrating on the lyrics any more; you were concentrating on her.

Tonight, she really was wearing a million pound outfit. Her black shirt was decorated with golden chains that dangled from her arms and glinted against the spotlight cast down upon her. Her brown hair was sticking up in that crazy do she always seemed to have it in. Her body swayed just slightly to the music, fingers working wonders against the neck of the bass guitar she played so wonderfully.

You wanted her to look at you.

For the first time in your whole entire life, you wanted someone to look at you. You were prepared to meet her eyes, prepared to hold that eye contact until she understood what it was you were trying to communicate – you were sorry.

So, so sorry.

Anxiety vibrated in your bones as you stood behind the counter, but you were so willing to push that out of the way right now. You could do that. You were capable of pushing it to the side if you really tried, and right now, you were willing to put yourself through that exertion if it meant getting your point across to Pidge.

If you wanted to be with her, you would have to make sacrifices. That was what you'd learned, what you were willing to attempt. If it got too much for you, it would be okay. You could leave the fire knowing you tried to put it out – if you failed, then so be it. What more could you do?

You turned away from the stage as the last song came to an end; Pidge was clearly trying to avoid you. She knew you worked at the bar, so she hadn't looked over a single time throughout the entire set. You didn't mind. Sure, it hurt a little bit but you would be lying to claim it wasn't exactly what you'd expected to happen.

Nonetheless, you couldn't help yourself when you joined the rest of the crowd in exiting the club; your shift wasn't over, but that was fine. You could come up with an excuse when the time came. For now, you had one objective, and one objective only.

You found Pidge not long after.

As expected, she hadn't gone out the back. That was too similar to the happenings of the first time you met. Instead, she was with the rest of her band mates, huddled outside the front of the club, greeting fans. She was smiling, but that smile quickly faded when she looked over and saw you standing there.

You hugged your arms tight around your body, staring right back at her. You wanted to say something, usher her forward, but the words died in your throat, and you were suddenly growing much too nervous to do anything like that. So instead, you stared, and you hugged yourself, and you hoped she got the idea.

She hollowed out her cheeks, giving Keith a subtle nudge before she broke away from the crowd and walked towards you. You turned on your heel and jogged round the side of the building; she followed.

“You wanna talk to me now?”

“I'm sorry.” It came out a jumbled mess, not nearly as coherent as you'd originally planned it to be – but, well, that was how it often was with you.

Pidge narrowed her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. The chains dangling from her loose black shirt glinted under the late night summer sun. “Sorry for what? Ditching me on our first date?”

You blinked. “That was a date?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

You quickly shook your head. “What? No. No! I'm – I'm glad you thought it was a date. I just – I wasn't thinking. It was nice, though. I – uh – I enjoyed...” You trailed off, biting your lower lip when you realised just how badly this was going. “Look Pidge, I feel like an asshole.”

“You didn't want to stick around. I don't have a problem with that.”

“I panicked.” You grabbed her arm. She froze. You froze, but didn't pull away. “I'm working on that, alright? It's just . . . my anxiety has been an issue for me from day one, but I want to get better. I want to help myself, because it's getting past the point of manageable, and it's just. . . I can't keep going on like this, worrying about the smallest of things. It's not fair on me. It's not fair on you.”

Pidge blinked. You inhaled shakily, letting your hand fall back to your side.

“I panicked,” you repeated, quieter this time. “But I panicked even worse when I got home and realised I'd probably lost every chance with you. I think that says something.”

Pidge was silent. You thought for sure you'd messed it up this time – she was going to laugh in your face. She was going to turn on her heel and tell you to go to hell, and quite frankly, you were starting to believe that's what you deserved.

But then you felt her fingertips brushing gently over the back of your palm. Your breath hitched, lower lip trembling.

Her voice was quiet when she spoke, soft. “You're apologising because of your anxiety?”

“I – I guess so.”

“You don't have to apologise to me for that.” She stepped closer, examining your face for any signs of discomfort. You stayed rooted to the spot, fingers twitching with the need to grab her and pull her closer. “If anything, I have to apologise for making you feel bad for something like that.”

You closed your eyes. “Pidge, this is my mistake. You don't need to-”

“Why don't we just agree that we both slipped up?” Pidge flicked your chin, urging you to open your eyes. Looking back at her, you could see she was now grinning. She kept her fingers hovering near your chin, and when you didn't back away, she traced her thumb along your bottom lip. “We can pretend none of this ever happened. We can get you help for your anxiety. We can make all of this work.”

“I don't – I don't know how quick I'll be able to throw myself into the public eye like that-”

“You don't have to throw yourself into the public eye at all if you don't want to.”

You blinked. “But that's what you do. That's your job. I want to support you in that.”

Pidge chuckled, stepping closer. This time, the step saw your chests touching. “You can support me without getting involved in things you don't want to get involved in. Honestly, just seeing you at the bar when I'm performing helps keep me sane.”

Your cheeks heated. “Okay. Okay, that's okay. We can . . . We've got plans, then.”

Pidge raised a brow. “Plans for what?”

You swallowed. “Well, I mean . . . I don't know. I guess I was just kind of wondering if we could do that date over again. I promise I'll try my hardest not to, like, ditch you again.”

Pidge was smiling even before your sentence was finished. “Does this invite mean I get to kiss you?”

You blinked. “Uh, yeah.”

Pidge chuckled before pressing her lips to your own. Your heart thundered in your chest, but this time, it wasn't a product of horror and fear, but of emotions you'd never even felt before. Pidge's hands wandered to the back of your neck, and your own rested on her hips; you didn't know where else to put them, and yet Pidge still groaned into your mouth when your fingers made contact with the flowing material of her black shirt.

She pulled away first, looking into your eyes. “How about we re-do that date of ours tomorrow afternoon? The fish and chips are on me.”

---

You squeezed Pidge's hand. She was brought back to reality.

The fans were screaming her name. This was something she had grown used to in the years she'd been in the public eye, but it was different this time; they were here for the album.

The album.

The album the whole band had been working on for years was finally out, had debuted at number one in the UK album charts, was rising to number one on every other bloody music chart there was – Pidge was overwhelmed as she stepped out of the limo and waved to the fans who had been waiting on her for hours. Some of them had camped out for days.

You being by her side was the only thing keeping her sane.

You stepped out of the vehicle beside her, reaching for her hand almost immediately. Pidge looked over and smiled at you; you awkwardly smiled back. She was proud of you. It was only the year before you would have nearly passed out from so much as being beside Pidge when she was spotted by a single fan, and now here you were, standing beside her, smiling at the cameras at her album debut party.

She was so proud of you.

The two of you walked into the venue. Keith, Hunk and Shiro gave you a polite peck on the cheek, whilst Lance threw himself into your arms and cried out, “You made it! You made it!” You'd giggled and nodded, admitting you were a little nervous but more than happy to be there for Pidge on her big night.

The show started. You stayed back stage, and Pidge couldn't help but grin when she looked over and saw you dancing with Allura and Hunk's significant other – Pidge remembered the first time you had met them, how awkward you'd been, how you'd basically hovered round Pidge the entire time. Now, Allura was hanging onto your arm like she was afraid of losing you, and you didn't even seem to care.

Plus, it was only last year that you had openly admitted to not even liking Smokey Saturdays music.

Once the show was over, Pidge made a B-Line for you. You were waiting for her, arms already outstretched. Pidge laughed loudly, all but bounding into your grip. She nuzzled her head in your neck, pressing multiple kisses to the flesh there because she knew how flustered that got you.

You squealed and pulled back, shoving Pidge away playfully. “You're sweating.”

“I'm happy.” Pidge dived back in for a hug, wrapping her arms around your waist and pulling you into her chest. You didn't fight this time, simply laughed and hugged her back. “God, this is incredible. I feel so happy.”

“I don't want to hear it any other way,” you said. “I'm so proud of you, Pidge. You've worked so hard for this.”

“It would have driven me insane if you weren't there with me,” she replied, pulling away to look into your eyes. “Honestly, Y/N – when we first got together, I was on the verge of giving this whole thing up.”

You nodded solemnly, because you knew. Even after things with you had become official, Pidge had still gone back and forth with what she really wanted – music was part of her now, and it always would be, but she questioned it's benefits to her personal life more than she wanted to admit.

You had been part of the reason she'd chosen to stay on – not because you pushed her to choose music. You pushed her to understand. You sat with her until the early hours of the morning, listening to her rant about the recent song she was working on, how she wanted to give it all up and go back to university to study something she was good at. You'd always cut her off at this point, tell her with a firmness unfamiliar to you that she was good at music – but if she was losing her passion, you promised to stick by her no matter what path she chose to take.

You always just wanted her to be happy.

It had worked both ways. As Pidge looked at you now, she realised with a tiny sense of pride that maybe – just maybe – she had done the right thing with you. You had done all the work, gotten yourself to this fresh point of confidence entirely on your own, but Pidge had been there for you – it was all she really could do. She went with you to counselling when the idea of walking into that office on your own was too daunting. She held your hand when the doctors gave you the official diagnosis of generalised anxiety. She went running with you on days when not even Pidge's soothing words could calm you down.

You'd been there for each other, and you had somehow managed to reach this point of utter happiness that Pidge would not trade for the world.

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rosieclark · 4 years ago

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i swear im still floored at how beautiful this is!

For our Valentine’s server event I was paired with Rosie and she wrote an interesting take on Plance where Katie has a knight named Lancelot from another reality magically appear in her apartment and of course she tries her hardest not to fall in love with him while also trying to figure out how to get him back to his version of earth. As we know, both are seemingly impossible.

Rosie is fantastic and wants to make this a multichapter so there will be even more content for this AU down the road! Give her fic, Knight in Shining Armour, a read here!

#plance #i mean #look at his ABS!#and pidges entire vibe is so soft #its just perfect #*chefs kiss*

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optimist-pine · 6 years ago

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Hair Care || Voltron Crew

Prompt: What would the team do with a reader who has no clue how to style their own hair?

Featuring: Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, and Coran

a/n: I just want someone to play with my hair, can you tell?

- Shiro -

just gives him that much more of a reason to run his fingers through it

so soft

especially when it’s his metal hand

commits serious time to have Lance teach him how to take care of it

someone’s gotta

a couple of times a week you all gather near the couch

you sit on the floor and play video games with lose to Pidge

“(Y/n), sit still!”

there’s plenty of frustrated huffs coming from behind you

but Lance is patient, and really enjoys getting to teach Shiro something for once

he gets all flustered with the finished product because it’s “not good enough, there’s a loop sticking out here, and here...”

you reassure him that you’re going to bed soon so it’ll get all messed up anyways

but you can’t stop running your fingers across the braids

how’re you supposed to destroy such magnificent artwork?

eventually, once he gains more confidence, he’ll do it without Lance’s help

Lance all “look how fast they grow up” with tears in his eyes

he’ll even do it in the morning so that you can wear it throughout the entire day

“Can’t have it getting in the way during training”

“or during meals”

“or-”

“Shiro, you don’t have to have an excuse to play with my hair.”

*grumbles*

focusing on your hair becomes a big time de-stressor for him

bad day?

he’ll start undoing whatever braid is already in you hair, brushing it out slowly with his fingers

when he starts braiding it again you can feel him release a little bit of tension every time he adds a new strand

you don’t mind it much either

a free massage?

a piece of him to carry around with you all day?

not to mention if it weren’t for him your hair would be a hopeless case

but he does love it when you get out of the shower and it dries sort of poofy and funky all around

or when you haven’t done anything with it in the morning and it just sort of sticks. out. everywhere.

but it’s still so soft

nobody else asks to mess with your hair

they know it’s Shiro’s thing, and only Shiro’s thing

like doing so would be crossing a line of some sort

he has offered to do Keith’s hair

was rejected

- Keith -

not like he would’ve noticed

the boy’s got a mullet for golly’s sake

but he appreciates the fact that you aren’t too worried about it

not that it’s a bad thing to care about, but if you cared too much... eh

would never do it in public, but he finds comfort in twisting a strand around his finger when he’s tired, or stressed, or frustrated

so that happens a lot

you hum while he does so and it tends to put him (or both of you) to sleep

he’s tried braiding, but he’s gotta redo the same basic braid about five times to be okay with anyone else seeing it.

including you

even though Lance would never make fun of your hair, sometimes it’s implied that he considers the two of you to be compatible based on hair care alone

although he doesn’t believe he has a preference one way or another, during the few instances that Lance or Allura has done your hair, he has taken a few many extra glances

thinks wild hair during a fight is pretty gosh darn intimidatingly beautiful

he’s always stealing your hair ties

just so he can shoot them back at you later

like buddy, if you’re gonna take them, use them to contain your own flowing locks whydon’tcha

Maybe it’s because whenever the two of you go for ponytails, Shiro won’t stop being an annoying little brat and tugging on them whenever he gets the chance

- Lance -

at first he’s sort of offended on his own behalf

gets over that quickly once he realizes it’s just not your forte

it’s not like it’s unclean

you just can’t seem to keep it under control

then he realizes it’s pretty amazing that you don’t care one way or the other, and honestly don’t care what other people think either

like wow, he knows those things can be harder for girls, but darn, a confidant woman is his jammm

he sorta feels like he’s the insecure one in this relationship

until the one day your hair is just driving you crazy because yeah, you don’t really care what is looks like, but does it ALWAYS have to be getting in the way

but guess who can fix that

he doesn’t feel quite so upset now that he’s got a way he can help you

get ready for the full treatment

masks

oils

the fanciest styles you can imagine in the blink of an eye

you’re starting to rival Allura in the hair game

he’ll do your hair anywhere

regrouping during a battle?

“Your hair’s a mess!”

“It’s been shoved up in my helmet this whole time. Of course it’s a mess.”

mumbles while whipping your hair into a braid in like 3 seconds

diplomatic meeting?

leans in close to whisper sarcastic comments while creating rows upon rows of braids

but when the two of you are alone he’ll braid slowly and purposefully and murmur songs his mother would sing while braiding his sisters’ hair

afterwards he’ll hold onto you tightly, running his hands over the braids he put there

he wants to braid his niece’s hair again when you all return to Earth, so he’s gotta practice, right?

even so, he does find it melts his heart a little when he catches you with a messy bun

he knows you’re trying your best

- Hunk -

he gets so excited to do your hair

he may not be the best but he does try his hardest

his favorite thing to do is to braid things into it

feathers

beads

flowers

whenever you’re on a new planet, he’s searching for things that’ll look just perfect framing your face

Coran would definitely help him collect a wide assortment of items

flowers are his favorite

he’s in love with weaving them into braided crowns

and they smell so good

and they leave you looking like Rapunzel in Tangled when all the little girls braid her hair

yeah, okay, so maybe he does leave you feeling a little bit like a Disney princess

beads are cool too

on planets that have markets he does his best to find you the most beautiful ones

he’s gotten you some to match each lion and it’s paladin

especially yellow (duh)

so many yellow beads

there’s some in your hair at all times

he doesn’t realize that he’s doing it though

but you don’t mind

some of his favorites are each hand painted with alien symbols

once he found out that they could be translated into English he was ecstatic

instead of wearing his heart on his sleeve, he’ll braid his thoughts and feelings right into your hair

when a battle is coming up:

strength

justice

perseverance

courage

honor

helping a planet get back on it’s feet:

hope

peace

kindness

unity

assurance

finally getting some downtime

joy

family

humor

rest

love

when he’s had a rough day, or just wants you to know how much you mean to him:

comfort

warmth

trust

calm

safe

he also likes to tie in feathers to give you that warrior goddess vibe

he doesn’t do that too often because he can’t handle it for very long

blushy blushy

- Pidge -

hair care?

the two of you are literally the embodiment of ‘I woke up like this’

bed head is now ‘all day’ head

Lance and Allura team up to try and tame the locks of the both of you, but it only ends in ridiculous faces and bubbling laughter on all of your parts

what’s the point when Shiro’s just gonna come and ruffle it all up anyways?

or Pidge is gonna somehow singe the ends of it with whatever new tech she’s working on?

*after the both of you take your helmets off*

Lance: “look! it’s Thing 1 and Thing 2!”

pretty sure he got tazed for that

you gave her pigtails once, and she tried to return the favor but...

let’s just say there’s a reason she works with machines

Matt would definitely rub balloons on your heads then run away

- Allura -

hope you like gemstones

if she was on Earth during the bedazzling era

ooh booy

she loves to tell you tales about Altea while she makes your hair sparkly

the task at hand keeps the bad emotions from reaching her as strong

and it’s good to talk to someone other than Coran about her home

she’s got all these ancient Altean hair products, and you bet your bottom dollar that she’s gonna use every. single. one. on you

your favorite is the one that makes your hair all shimmery in the light

but she really loves to give you a tussled wavy/curly look

the opposite of her smooth and gently flowing locks

when your hair is in it’s natural state, the mice love to make a little nest on top of your head

she’ll sprinkle seeds over your head so that they have a snack

you would protest, but she’s having such a great time, why bother?

- Coran -

among the whole assortment of ridiculous hidden talents the man possesses lies hairdressing

sure he can cut or style your hair, but his favorite thing to do is color it

he’s got some great vibrant, but temporary dyes

every week is a new color

you even got him to let you dye his hair once

and for some reason the dyes smell like fruits and flowers, and nothing like the chemicals used on Earth

the two of you’ll prank dye the others’ hair occasionally

that time the Paladins of Voltron all had hot pink hair?

that may or may not have been your fault

#voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld #voltron imagines #shiro x reader #keith x reader #lance x reader #hunk x reader #pidge x reader #allura x reader #coran x reader #voltron x reader #voltron headcannons #voltron reader insert #optimistic-pine

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dinomight · 5 years ago

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all the stars in all the skies: a playlist for Home and a Half by @echodrops

the chain - fleetwood mac // sorrow - the national // nothing’s gonna hurt you baby - cigarettes after sex // child i will hurt you - crystal castles // constant craving - the cat and owl // run boy run - woodkid // female robbery - the neighbourhood // sleepsong - bastille // small things - ben howard // iron - woodkid // greens of june - neko case // mars - sleeping at last // iscariot - walk the moon // human - daughter // body - mother mother // i come with knives - iamx // all these things that i’ve done - the killers // an angry blade - iron & wine // all the stars - the wailin’ jennys // i’ll be good - jaymes young // slow wake up sunday morning - mountain man // someone to stay - vancouver sleep clinic // it’s alright - mother mother // this is home - cavetown

Song explanations under the cut!

First I’d like to clarify: I’m not insane. I’m just a huge ass dork for this fic. (For a lot of things, really, but irrelevant.) HaaH is one of my favorite written works ever, fanfiction or not, so I really, truly should not have been surprised that this playlist ended up being so much longer than I meant for it to be, and it probably could’ve been even longer if I’d let myself keep going. In my defense, I can’t art, so this is one of my only ways to show my appreciation.

Anyways, I’m not gonna wax poetics about how much I love this story because we would be here all day and this post is too long as it is, so down to business: this playlist is very loosely structured. It’s hard to give the songs a significant order when only a few correspond to specific moments or lines; most of them I chose to focus more on bigger picture themes and concepts from the story. So the order isn’t that important, I just organized them so they’d transition relatively smoothly sound-wise and tried to keep similar concepts together. Additionally, I did use both quotes from the fic and the songs in some of my explanations, so fic quotes are bolded and song lyrics are in italics. Some of these are short, some are a bit longer, some are just the quotes because I didn’t feel the need to explain further, but hopefully all of them give a good idea of why I chose the song. I thought about just posting the playlist by itself, but I felt weird not explaining the thinking behind it, so uh, here it is I guess?

1) The Chain - Fleetwood Mac: The best song in existence. Objectively speaking, of course. The first time I heard this while thinking of HaaH though, it just fit so well, and I haven’t really been able to un-associate the two since. (Not that I want to lol) It just has such a desert vibe to it that matches with the story, and I think it represents Keith’s desperation to avoid rejection from the team so well. It’s like...if I were to picture a trailer for HaaH, this is the song I would hear in the background, y’know?

2) Sorrow - The National: This one’s a bit of a weird one because I can’t quite put into words why this is on here. Like, I added it back when I was just throwing some songs together for background atmosphere while reading HaaH, but when I was working to make this into something more thought out, I couldn’t bring myself to take this song off. So here it is, I guess.

3) Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby - Cigarettes After Sex: This one is here more for its sound and atmosphere, not really the lyrics. It just sounds like...nostalgia, I guess. Like it’s supposed to be reminiscing about something comforting, but it’s not quite there because the pain of the present is keeping you rooted. The way I hear it, it’s like Keith is thinking about his mom and her love and comfort, but it’s tainted by the loss of all of that. (I might be slightly insane. I’ve come to terms with that.)

4) Child I Will Hurt You - Crystal Castles: I don’t know how else to phrase this so I’m just gonna say it: this song gives me the heebie jeebies, just like Keith’s flashbacks to his earlier times with the Garrison. I swear, every time he says replacement mother or father it gives me chills. Or makes me want to cry a bit. It just feels so wrong, and that’s why I picked this song, ‘cause it gives me the same feeling. The music is so soft, like it was supposed to be a lullaby, but the lyrics and the feeling underneath is...disturbing. Plus, “Hide all that you could / Done for the greater good / It’s later understood” reminds me all too well of the Garrison scientists and what they did to Keith.

5) Constant Craving - The Cat and Owl: So while I was searching for songs to add, it suddenly occurred to me that despite the fact that one of Keith’s major problems is that he can’t put his thoughts and feelings into words properly, every single song I’d added did exactly that. And so began my search for some instrumental songs that unfortunately only turned up this one, mostly because I realized this playlist was getting far too long lol. Though now that I’ve thought about it, an all instrumental HaaH playlist would be an interesting challenge. Hm. I already knew I wanted to add Constant Craving as a sort of representation for Keith’s own craving for love, acceptance, and family, but when I heard this version I knew it was right. Keith knows he desperately needs all these things, but he can’t put it into words, can’t communicate it right. It’s made even better by how well known the original song is, because you can feel the familiarity in it, feel what’s missing and what should be there, but it’s different at the same time, like that absence has created something strange, something off-kilter from what it should have been. Plus it’s sorta a lullaby version, which I like since Keith’s childhood is an often reoccurring topic.

6) Run Boy Run - Woodkid: Seems to me like there’s a lot of shit Keith’s been running from. (also...running makes me think of “escaped from the Garrison”. Escaped. Escaped. ESCAPED.)

7) Female Robbery - The Neighbourhood: There’s some really fucked up stuff in Keith’s past in addition to the whole Galra thing, and he really does not want the team to find out any of it. This song makes me think a lot about that.

8) Sleepsong - Bastille: “You go to sleep on your own / And you wake each day with your thoughts / And it scares you being alone, it's a last resort” & “All you want is someone onto whom you can cling / Your mother warned of strangers and the dangers they may bring / Your dreams and memories are blurring into one / The scenes which hold the waking world slowly come undone.” ...yeah.

9) Small Things - Ben Howard: Another song that’s on here more for the sound than the lyrics, though the lyrics could possibly fit. I just love the dreamy, suspended feeling that this song exudes and how well it fits with the feeling that Keith’s flashbacks and memories give me.

10) Iron - Woodkid: “But Keith was gone—every reflex retuned for battle, every nerve sparking under his skin, and all there was fight, win, refuse to be killed.“ - “I'm waiting for the call, the hand on the chest / I'm ready for the fight, and fate” So the lyrics don’t *exactly* match up, but the underlying themes are there, I think, and the atmosphere of this one was more important to me anyways. The intensity of it just screams fighting and death and red to me.

11) Greens of June - Neko Case, k.d. lang, Laura Veirs: “Just in the moment / Everything's changed / My dark disposition / Has been rearranged” The arrival of the kids is certainly not a very happy time considering the circumstances, but it brought a change that Keith desperately needed, one that will hopefully help him actually be happy. (My other reason for choosing this song is, for whatever reason, it also gives me desert vibes.)

12) Mars - Sleeping at Last: “We let the end goal blind us to the means. We’ll have to re-evaluate before we take on any more missions. If violence is our go-to method of beating the enemy, we’re no better than the empire ourselves.” - "Lay your weapons down! / They're calling off the war / On account of losing track / Of what we're fighting for." The team has taken up an immense and necessary duty to protect the universe, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get caught up in the grey areas of war, and it doesn’t mean they get to come home without scars.

13) Iscariot - WALK THE MOON: Broganes, anyone? For real though, this song is about betrayal between two people who are essentially brothers (specifically Jesus and Judas but I didn’t pick it for the religious references). While I don’t think Shiro is gonna see Keith being Galra and hiding it as a personal betrayal, Keith clearly does. “How long did he have left before…Before Lance said he’d known all along there was something wrong with Keith, before Pidge threw his hypocrisy back in his face: no secrets between paladins, huh? Before Allura turned her back on him. Before Shiro couldn’t, and Keith had to meet his eyes, watch betrayal dawn white-star bright and burning.” Ah. That sweet, terrible angst.

14) Human - Daughter: “Underneath the skin there's a human / Buried deep within there's a human / And despite everything I'm still human / But I think I'm dying here.” I think this song works on two levels. One, you can take “human” to be quite literal and interpret it as Keith’s desperation to hide his Galra heritage and keep pretending that he’s entirely human, even though it clearly has awful emotional repercussions for him. Two, you can look at “human” with a metaphorical lens to talk about how even though Keith seems like a cold tough guy on the surface, underneath that is a complicated mess of emotions and trauma, and not being able to properly deal with all of that is killing him.

15) Body - Mother Mother: One of the things about HaaH that I find most interesting is Keith’s relationship with his body. Between the whole Galra form vs human form, the fact that his human form is not how he was born, and everything that the Garrison did to him...it’s a goddamn mess. Hence, this song. can I please give this boy a hug

16) I Come With Knives - IAMX: First and foremost, I had to include this song for the irony, because Keith did, in fact, come with a knife. However, I also included it because I really like how on the surface, it can be written off as just another angsty emo song, but if you take the time to really listen to it, it’s filled with genuine emotion and hurt. (Almost like a certain knife-wielding alien boy I know...)

17) All These Things That I’ve Done - The Killers: I have a few different reasons for why this song is here, but the main one is pretty much “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier”. I mean...yeah. That screams Keith to me. He’s driven and angry and passionate and willing to fight so hard to protect the people he loves, but...that doesn’t mean he’s emotionally okay with being a soldier, even if the rest of the team seems to think otherwise.

18) An Angry Blade - Iron & Wine: Another one that immediately earned points for Keith irony in the title. Seriously though, I love the tone of this song for Keith. It’s got desert vibes to it, and maybe it’s just because my hearing isn’t fantastic, but I like that the lyrics are a bit hard to make out. You really have to listen. (Again, almost like...hmm...) Plus: “You’re an angry blade and you’re brave / But you’re all alone”

19) All the Stars - The Wailin’ Jennys: I swear I didn’t just pick this for the title. It was a little bit for the title though, sue me. Nope, it was more for “So open wide your wounded heart / Feel yourself be blown apart” because for the love of god, Keith, please open up a bit more to the people around you. On a more serious note, I was also struck by “You don’t know me / You know one side of a story” because it’s true for both Keith and his mother. The Keith part is obvious--the team, with the exception of Shiro, only really sees the Keith that’s on the surface. But it’s kinda true for Keith and his mom too, right? He’s missing so much information because of his spotty memories. Up until the kids arrived, it seems like he didn’t even consider the idea that she might be, y’know, not evil. So...yeah. Also “All the stars in the sky / Say goodbye say goodbye” because I didn’t need my heart, it’s fine, it’s okay, I’m not crying over a fictional character and the death of his alien mother, there’s just dirt in my eyes--

20) I’ll Be Good - Jaymes Young: “But if there was a way to stop the blood flowing down his glove, the sound a sword made when it struck bone, the way her breath came in pieces between the shocks her sobs, then he definitely would have... “ - “I've been cold, I've been merciless / But the blood on my hands scares me to death / Maybe I'm waking up today”

21) Slow Wake Up Sunday Morning - Mountain Man: “It's lucid dreaming; he knew it wasn't real, not anymore, but still he couldn't focus his eyes, couldn't see past the fall of her hair in the pale morning light...” - “The light / It moves / Across this room / Like it could reach us, honey” & “We are already there, it seems / (I know I can't stay in this place)” I don’t quite know how to explain why I connected this song with this moment beyond the whole early morning thing but...this moment was an especially emotional one for me. It felt like something Keith wanted to hold on to, wanted to go back to, but just like the sun continues rising, the world keeps moving, regardless of whether we want it to or not.

22) Someone to Stay - Vancouver Sleep Clinic: “You were alone left out in the cold / Clinging to the ruin of your broken home / Too lost and hurting to carry your load / We all need someone to hold” I just...yeah. There’s not much I need to say about this one. Just Keith and the kids, man.

23) It’s Alright - Mother Mother: Whenever I listen to this song, I feel like I’m getting a hug. Since I cannot project myself into fictional stories and hug the characters myself, I instead gift this song to Keith. Please, someone give this boy more hugs. Please.

24) This is Home - Cavetown: “Get a load of this monster / He doesn't know how to communicate / His mind is in a different place / Will everybody please give him a little bit of space / Get a load of this trainwreck / His hair's a mess and he doesn't know who he is yet / But little do we know the stars welcome him with open arms / Oh / Time is / Slowly / Tracing his face / But strangely he feels at home in this place.” <3

This got way too long, so to anyone who actually made it through all of that, I sincerely apologize. >.<

#echodrops #home and a half #haah #not using fandom tags cause ha no way am i getting involved in that mess again #anyways imma just...leave this here #and go have my anxiety in the corner so bye

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calligraphist-artemisia · 6 years ago

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Across Time and Space (Chapter 8)

Summary: Sequel to I’ll Take Her Place. Slav is showing off a piece of experimental equipment, when it malfunctions and blasts Katie and Keithir to another universe. At the same time, it drags Pidge and Keith over into theirs, effectively swapping places. With their fate resting in the hands of Slav, will they be able to get back home? Or are they stuck to live the rest of their lives in the wrong universe?

Also posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net under the username “kishirokitsune”.

Chapter 8

NEAR RANVEIG'S BASE – (STOLEN) GALRA FIGHTER

Patience had never been something Keithir had an abundance of, (as Thace loved to remind him) which made sitting back and waiting for the right moment a monumental task. The familiarity of his borrowed Blade uniform and the feeling of a mask hiding his face from view served to aid him, a physical reminder of what was at stake.

He kept his eyes on the orbital base. At any moment, he would have his sign that it was safe to approach. Kolivan had laid out the plan very clearly and Keithir wouldn't be the one to deviate from it.

There!

Keithir leaned forward, hands gripping the controls as a cruiser departed the base and sped a good distance away before going into hyperdrive. He let a few more ticks pass and then a low frequency hum came through his comms and he guided his ship towards the base, keeping a wary eye out for unexpected movement.

He anchored it to the underside, out of sight in case Ranveig or anyone else returned sooner than expected. After that, it was a matter of slipping in through a nearby maintenance shaft and avoiding all sentries as he made his way to the security center, where Krolia was meant to stay and monitor all transmissions until Ranveig's return.

Keithir made it past all of the patrols he encountered without making a single slip-up, ducking out of sight and waiting until their heavy footsteps went by. He paused just outside the door, taking a moment to prepare himself before going inside.

She stood at the center console, her eyes on the screens around her to keep track of what was happening witch Ranveig. She glanced at Keithir as he walked in.

“I told Kolivan it was too early for an extraction. There's still more I can do here.”

It took everything in Keithir's power not to react to hearing her voice for the very first time. He never thought it would matter that much. Honerva was his mother; she'd raised and cared for him all his life, not always perfectly, but in the best way that she could. He never needed more than that. But the moment he heard Kolivan say that Krolia was alive, all of that changed.

“Kolivan wouldn't have sent me if he didn't think it was important,” he said, once he found his voice. He deliberately shifted to his human form and then removed his mask. “We should hurry, before Ranveig returns.”

Krolia looked taken aback by his appearance, staring at him for a tick too long before collecting herself and nodding. “I just need a moment to set the hangar doors to automatically open as Ranveig approaches. The longer it takes for him to realize I'm gone, the better chance we have at getting away.”

“I may have something to help with that.” Keithir removed a small drive from his pocket and handed it to Krolia.

She took it and looked it over critically, recognizing it as Blade tech. “What will it do?”

“Exactly what you're trying to do, but it will also cause a lockdown once Ranveig is inside. Katie designed a quick learning virus to thwart any attempts to override it,” Keithir said, trying not to smirk. He loved bragging about how smart his wife was. “That will keep him busy for a while.”

Krolia looked unsure, but plugged it in anyway. “I hope you're right. Ranveig is smarter than he looks.”

“And Katie's a genius. If she says it will work, then it will,” Keithir easily countered.

Krolia let the virus download onto the ship and then removed the drive, passing it back to Keithir. There was no more talking as Keithir led the way back to his ship, continuing to carefully dodge patrols. (The less Ranveig knew about Krolia's disappearance, the better.)

Keithir was well aware of his mom watching his every movement as he unhooked the ship from the underside of the base and began to pilot them back to the Castle of Lions. His palms began t sweat.

Surely she had noticed his age didn't line up with how much time had passed. She had to see how much older he was. Any moment, she would asked about that.

“Did Kolivan tell you about the strain of unusual quintessence we found?”

“I'm-” Keithir stopped himself as his mind processed what she was actually asking. He furrowed his brow, thinking back to everything Kolivan told him earlier that day. “He said that it was more powerful than any quintessence he has record of, but that Ranveig used all of it on some kind of weapon. Should we go back for it?”

While it wasn't part of the mission, if it meant turning the tide more in Voltron's favor, it would be worth the risk.

“No, it's too dangerous to transport,” Krolia said. “I spent time analyzing the radiation of the ship we found it on and all of my readings indicated that it passed through the Quantum Abyss. We have to find out for certain.”

Keithir had first heard of the Quantum Abyss from his mother – Honerva. It was a place where the flow of time was easily disrupted and distorted; where hostile creatures capable of taking out entire fleets lurked in space rock and debris. She'd told all of that to caution him about the perils of space flight when he was first learning to pilot.

Naturally, the possibilities of what could be found there fascinated him as a cub and it was a long-held dream of his that one day he would be good enough to explore and map it himself. As he got older and heard more stories of those who'd tried to do just that, his enthusiasm waned and he turned his focus onto things that were less life-threatening. At least, until some time during his fourth year of marriage to Katie, when she stumbled across files detailing the unusual zone of space and they worked together designing drones capable of entering it and mapping out a safe path. All of their work came to a stop when they adopted Yorak shortly after.

It wasn't worth the risk.

Keithir kept them on track to the Castle of Lions. “I can't. My mission is to take you back to Kolivan.”

“He would understand that we have a duty to find out where this quintessence came from,” Krolia argued. She kept her voice level and calm, but there was a spark of heat there. “If this is the work of Zarkon and his witch, we have to destroy the source before they can use it against us.”

Keithir flinched. “I can't,” he repeated, thinking of Katie. He took a deep breath, keeping his thoughts on her, and relaxed his grip on the controls. “If you really feel like you need to do this, I'll help you once we get to the Castle of Lions. There are Altean shuttles there that would be better equipped for your journey, but I can't go with you, mom. I'm sorry.”

There was a silence so still that Keithir's ears rang, though that may have been because his control over his shifted form was slipping. He quickly adjusted his focus to keep from doing so in front of her.

The last thing he wanted to do was try to explain that he was from an alternate reality while they were stuck in such a cramped cockpit.

“So you already know.” Krolia's voice was soft when she spoke again.

“Dad has pictures. He likes to talk about you.”

Krolia's smile was a sad one. “I've missed him. I've missed both of you so much, Keith.”

Keithir had to swallow his words as the radio crackled to life and Coran's voice came through to say he had a lock on their location and was opening a wormhole to bring them back.

Space lit up blue in front of them.

In a way, Katie was glad for something to do. With her lack of focus, her only other option was to pace back and forth on the bridge. She was sure Coran was equally as grateful, if his relieved sigh when she made an excuse of going to see the Lions was any indication of his feelings.

Of course, that had only been an excuse to get away. Coran didn't need to know that her real goal was to sneak down and find where they were keeping Lotor prisoner. She had enough context clues to know that it was somewhere near the cell she was kept in when she first arrived. If she could find that, it would be her best starting point.

Katie traveled down through the Castle, checking out rooms and halls as she went. Her footsteps echoed around her, no less eerie than the first time she noted the emptiness of the Castle. It made her wonder how Pidge was handling things back home. There was always someone awake and walking around there. Did she miss the quiet?

She supposed it was peaceful, in a way, and allowed the paladins time to bond without distraction.

It also made it impossible to sneak up on anyone.

Katie slowed to a stop the moment she heard a second set of footsteps echoing alongside her own. Within a few ticks, Lance strode up next to her, his hands in his pockets.

“You're going to see Lotor.”

“I don't want to talk to him, I just want to see where he's being held,” Katie said truthfully. The last thing she wanted was to give Lotor something to use to his advantage. Seeing that he was there would be enough for her.

Lance looked at her for a moment with a frown on his face. “You don't trust us when we say he's safely locked up?”

“I don't fully trust Beta Traz to keep him and I helped update the security there,” Katie said. “It's not you guys that I don't trust; it's Lotor. He's talked his way out of trouble too many times for me to not be cautious.”

Lance relaxed at her words. “Yeah, I kind of get that vibe from him. Hunk keeps telling me I need to relax and appreciate that he's willing to work with us, but it feels so wrong to me. I tried talking to Shiro too, but he just brushes me off! It makes me actually miss Keith. He'd be with me on this.”

“How did Lotor end up here, anyway?” Katie asked, sensing an opportunity to get some answers while no one else was around.

“He used his super-powered comet ship to take down a barrier and save us from a galaxy destroying bomb and then turned himself over to us, so naturally we now listen to whatever he has to say,” Lance told her, sounding bitter. “It doesn't make any sense! Just a month ago he was trying to kiss us, and now he's here telling us everything he knows about the Galra, and sure, it's all turned out true so far, but how long will that last? What happens when he gets tired of playing nice? What does he want from us?”

Katie stayed quiet, letting Lance go off on a much-needed rant.

“I keep thinking about what you said earlier; what does he get out of all of this? He could've let us all die and then there wouldn't be anyone around to stop him anymore! Is it because of the Lions? Zarkon was always after them, so maybe Lotor wants the same? But he already has a ship made from the comet, so that doesn't make any sense!

“I just... I don't know what to do,” Lance admitted, loosing a bit of steam. He slowed down to catch his breath. “Everyone else acts like I'm making a big deal about this. Maybe I am. Maybe Lotor has made a change for the better and this is his way to make amends.”

“It took us three years before he slipped up badly enough that we got proof of his wrongdoings, and Keithir and I almost died for it,” Katie said. “The Blade had been looking into his actions for even longer than we did. None of us could predict what he would do next or what his goal was. I guess what I'm trying to say is, at least when the moment comes, he won't take you by surprise. You'll be ready.”

Lance didn't look very reassured by that, and Katie couldn't blame him.

“Hey,” she said, nudging him. “Wanna help me sneak in to get a look at the security? I may have an idea for an improvement or two.”

“I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to make sure you get nowhere near Lotor, buuuut...” He dragged out the last word as he grinned at her. “If you find your way into the room next to him where there's a one-way mirror, I don't see how that's breaking any rules.”

“Lead the way!”

ALTEA – CASTLE OF LIONS

The more Shiro tried to explain the bond between the Lions and Paladins, the more confused Pidge felt. It was on a completely different level from what she'd experienced and it was hard to wrap her mind around it all.

They were sentient beings, with unique personalities and preferences, and that was pretty much the same, but then Shiro started talking about their form of mental communication and how they could use it to influence their chosen Paladin. He lost her more when he made mention of a second type of bond shared between the Paladins and how it was strongest between the two arms and the two legs.

“It's an impossible feeling to describe with words,” Shiro said. He looked at Pidge and Keith as they sat on the floor together and tried to focus on “reaching out to their Lions”.

Keith frowned.

Pidge groaned and stretched out her legs, giving up on any type of meditative pose. “This isn't working.”

“Then lets try something different,” Shiro said, being supportive. “Instead of trying to connect to the Lions, why not each other?”

Pidge glanced over at Keith, who scowled at his knees. “We've never felt that kind of bond you keep talking about. And I'm not sure it'll work. Lance pilots the Red Lion where we're from.”

Shiro blinked in surprise at the information. Somehow, during the hour they'd been working at connecting to the Lions, the subject of which one they piloted never came up. Pidge was sure she'd mentioned Green, but Keith hadn't breathed a word.

“Then which one does Keith...?”

“Black,” Pidge responded promptly, but Keith had a different answer.

He got to his feet and avoided looking at either of them. “None of them. I'm not a paladin anymore.”

Pidge gaped up at him. “That's not true!”

“Yes it is. Shiro pilots Black. You have Green. Lance has Red. Hunk's in Yellow. Allura pilots Blue now. Sorry, but this wasn't a good idea. I can't help afterall.”

Shiro's and Pidge's protests fell on deaf ears as Keith pulled up his hood, hiding his facial features from view, and headed back towards the paladin wing.

Pidge stood up, unsure of what to do. Should she chase after him? Give him space? It was so hard to know which one was best for Keith when he was in a mood like that.

And it had been happening a lot since they arrived. (Or at least, Pidge couldn't remember Keith being so broody during their time on the Castle of Lions.) It was like there was something weighing him down – dragging him down – but if he wouldn't open up and talk to her, then what could she do? She couldn't force him to talk and trying would only result in him closing himself off.

She glanced at Shiro, wondering if he had any advice, but he looked just as lost as she felt.

It was something she would have to figure out on her own.

Too bad they didn't share the type of bond Shiro mentioned. That would have made it much easier to understand what was going on with Keith. He sounded okay when he suggested the Lions the night before, so what changed? Was it because he couldn't communicate with Red or Black? She was in the same boat with her inability to reach Green, so she understood that it was discouraging, but maybe there was something beyond that. Maybe It was a bunch of little somethings all piling up and adding up over time until it became too much.

“Sorry, Shiro,” she apologized as she pulled on her hood. “We'll have to try this again later. Thanks for helping us.”

Pidge saw him nod before she turned and left, finding her way back to their room and hoping she'd find him there. Luck was on her side, as he was sitting on his bed when she walked inside. She approached slowly, giving him ample time to ask to be alone, but he didn't move as she sat next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Keith?”

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It's been a stressful few days. I'm surprised I haven't broken down yet. I've been told I get mean,” Pidge said, only half joking. “We'll take a break and then we can try something else. I'm not willing to rule out the Lions yet, are you?”

Keith weakly shrugged. “I don't think it'll work for me.”

“Why not?” Pidge asked gently.

“None of them came to help the last time I was in trouble.” Keith took a deep, shuddering breath, the simple statement draining him more than he thought it would. “I... When Naxzela happened... you guys were so far from the command ship. I had to try and do something. None of our attacks were working. I... I was desperate.” He looked at Pidge and there was something pleading in his gaze. “I knew if I could take out the barrier, Matt and the others would have a chance. I thought... I thought my ship would be enough.”

Pidge went cold.

Keith hadn't really-!

“That thing Shiro was talking about with the bond, I've felt it. Or I think I have,” Keith continued. “The other times Red came in to save me, there was this weird feeling. Like... I don't know. An emotion that wasn't my own. But that didn't happen then. I didn't feel anything.”

Pidge wasn't aware of the tears spilling down her face as she scooted closer to Keith and stretched her arm across his shoulders, giving him an awkward hug.

“Sorry, Pidge,” he apologized again.

With some hesitance, he shifted to wrap an arm around her waist, reciprocating her hug.

#voltron #fanfiction #kidgemas #kidge #reality swap au

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kaiayame · 6 years ago

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post s8 thoughts

the good, the bad, the mixed.

the good

the marketplace at the garrison in ep 1! i’m a sucker for a marketplace. and allura got to go shopping!!

romelle was back! her hair was cute.

i think the tone of the first episode was actually a really smart one to start the season on. i’m glad they jumped a few months (or was it a year?) since the end of last season.

pidge and allura got some good bonding time in general this season. pidge giving up her game for allura was cute. and then when they were together on that planet where the olkari had lived, that was strong.

pidge being upset about the loss of the olkari, lamenting over “how much more they had to offer us” was solid. i think they spent too much time on it, but the sentiment of mourning all the good that a people could’ve given the universe if they hadn’t been lost was solid.

omg listen. keith and lance. literally sat together. just the two of them. watching a FREAKING sunset. and keith, in my opinion, basically said the nicest things anyone has ever said about lance to his face, and it felt like a confession of feelings from keith’s end tbh. the writers did that. they know that they did that. and it happened. it was real and so, so soft. i had to stand up in front of the tv while i was watching, clutching a pillow and screaming a bit.

i think the amount shiro and coran were utilized throughout the story felt balanced. shiro especially has dominated so much of the story over the seasons, and even tho i love him, it felt nice to kind of have him become somewhat less of a focus.

i think the episode where they got trapped in the ship with the monster was fun! did you see how crazy lance went when keith got stuck in that room with it??

the carnival episode!!! I love a good carnival setting :) i like that they all wanted to get something for allura.

the day 47 episode was also cute, imo. I thought it was clever. I loved kinkade! the overall concept could’ve gone really badly but it felt creative enough to me. I wish it had focused more on just the paladins, but still.

all of the MFE pilots actually didn’t annoy me this season, yay.

veronica and axca had super gay vibes.

keith and axca didn’t happen! *throws confetti*

lance got called a genius by his fellow paladins! and they meant it!

we got to see them all in their under suits and out of their paladin armor!

that short bit where Hunk made the recovered alteans food from their home world? I think that was actually more powerful and potent than the writers even intended. I thought that was really well handled and not heavy handed and had a lot of weight to it.

the bit before the final battle with keith and lance alone at the war room table...................... prime, prime content. THEY HELD. HANDS. there was a CLOSE UP. i’m still living off of it. another “lost my shit” moment. favorite scene of the entire season.

there was some genuinely good moments of humor. keith had some especially funny moments, i laughed out loud a few times, tho i can’t name anything super specific atm.....

it was nice that they tried to really work in the idea that unity is what’s important, and the best unity is built through love, and differences shouldn’t tear us apart and we are always stronger together, etc etc.... i think that was obviously the writers referencing our society’s current climate to some extent, so i appreciated them at least trying to touch on that, however generic and vague it was.

they had some good new outfits this season?? it was nice to see the paladins in so many different clothes. and a lot of the garments were really cute!!

i like how often keith urged them to not give up. I think that’s another strong theme that’s existed throughout the series. it just strikes a personal note with me. i like how far keith has come as a character in general.

pidge’s mom making that flower for allura?? very sweet.

i liked all of lance’s reactions to anyone mentioning someone having an interest in keith, haha. Obviously, i’m projecting, but still.

i think the concept of ALL realities being threatened was actually great, because otherwise idk why they would’ve brought up there being other realities in the first place. the significant level of what was at stake with that being what the paladins were dealing with was a good choice.

keith turning down becoming the new head of the galra. phew, thank you @god.

as always, studio mir is the lord’s animation studio and so much of the visuals were so excellent. can’t wait to see their future projects.

and honestly, it’s been fun. it’s been a fun show. it’s had a ton of problems but i cannot deny that i have seriously enjoyed watching a lot of it as a whole.

i guess technically they did end the show on a gay kiss.

the bad

i’m not even that personally upset but it just goes to show how important an ending is. how a story leaves you makes such a significant impression. it’s probably the most important part of a narrative and OMG THESE WRITERS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WRAP THINGS UP AT ALL, IT’S SO FUNNYYYYY.

so anyway, yeah........ episode 13.......................... what.

like wtf was ep 13.

what.

what even WAS THAT. PEOPLE got PAID to write THAT.

lance became... altean? can that.... happen? also........... why???

and a farmer?? a simple life?? where did that even come from??? like sure, lance was homesick and missed rain one time. that doesn’t.... it just..... that doesn’t mean he should just be a random farmer?????? whose gf died, i guess??

speaking of that, OMG they fucking KILLED ALLURA. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. WHAT A DUMB CHOICE. I’M STILL LAUGHING. I HAD NO EXPECTATION THAT THAT WOULD HAPPEN. WOULD NEVER HAVE EXPECTED THAT. AND YET IT DID. WTF. HOW CAN YOU MAKE SUCH A DUMB WRITING CHOICE. HOW???

and the fact that they didn’t even EXPLAIN why honerva & allura had to do whatever it is they did????? criminal. ridiculous.

and all that aside, allura and coran’s relationship was so important and so special and the fact the she and him didn’t get a goodbye? garbage. unbelievable.

and to add to that, all of her goodbyes were underwhelming. shiro being like “you don’t have to thank me for anything” umm, what. yes she does. you did a lot. wtf, what was with that?

like i love allura, but also, why was the ending SO FOCUSED on just her?? And by that, i mean including the choice to kill her off. VLD has always been about the group. It just was a weird vibe to end on for many, many reasons. The ending should’ve been about her and the rest of them recognizing how they were more than just friends or paladins. They were family... like ALL THE WRITERS HAD TO DO was have them all together at the end?? I’m not even joking. That needed to be the ending, point blank...... AND THEY COULDN’T EVEN DO THAT. WHYYYY

ok moving on but still related, I HATE slideshow endings like that, in pretty much anything that isn’t a documentary or historical drama. I feel like it’s such a cop out. Writers should find confidence and end their story on a specific note. Not a series of slides.

as i was watching ep 13, tbh, the title got me excited. “the end is the beginning” made me feel like they were somehow going to get thrust back in time for a brief second to the moment they all met at the garrison, or met allura and coran, and somehow that was going to get pulled into the finale as a way they could re-establish all the destroyed realities.... so i guess this is my own fault for just hoping for something that wasn’t there, but whatever.

i think lotor and zarkon also got some really undeserved positive recognition. like, they both killed a LOT of people... some things are just too little too late.

lotor coming “back” was also like, half assed. it was weird. it would’ve made more sense for honerva to start jumping through different realities earlier in the season “looking” for a version of her son and husband that she could be with.

too many big robots. like..... so many different kinds of big robots. i couldn’t care less.

as always, a lot of the fight scenes were repetitive as hell. I wish they’d been more creative and written them taking on different approaches rather than just charging at the bad guys.

WHERE IS MY FORMAL WEAR EPISODE

sorry to hate on allurance, but like, neither lance or allura felt like their actual selves whenever they were together or trying to be a couple... it was weird and sad. Lance barely ever acted like himself this season.

I thought they threw krolia around a bit too casually. Like she barely pops up and when she did it almost felt like the writers were like “oh yeah, i guess we should include her every now and then”

i thought allura being like “i don’t have a family” to lance was bullshit. like, hello, coran and romelle are right freaking there. more alteans are showing up every day. girl, what tf do you mean???

allura was also kind of excessively mean on multiple occasions?? she was cutting people off, being unreasonable, reckless, and kind of dark..... i didn’t really understand the sudden downfall of her character when she’d started out as this sort of insecure victim, but season after season became stronger and stronger and an awesome member of voltron. idk, it just felt out of place to make her a part of the problem for the final act.

i wish i had......... cried. i wish they’d written at least one moment well enough that i actually got to experience at least a little bit of a tear.

adam didn’t magically come back from the dead.

OMG and the kiss between shiro and random dude???? IT WAS SO SLOPPY, I WAS SO EMBARRASSED. it was obviously thrown in at the very last possible moment because they were trying to cover their own asses about the adam thing. like, what was with that bad animation....

epilogues in general are just........ so bad. no one should do them. stop.

omg they never explained the altean colonies...

honestly, as we kept getting closer and closer to the last episode, i was like....... they do know this is the LAST season, right??? they’re kind of running out of time??

that black entity thing should’ve been fleshed out more and had more of an actual purpose, especially because they touched on it before with the paladins of old.

i feel like the writers just threw so many things out there over 8 seasons and didn’t actually.... resolve most of them. like, they needed to edit down sooooo much of what they were trying to do. it would’ve been such a stronger series overall if they’d just FOCUSED on the actual compelling parts of this story and its characters.

i feel zero closure tbh, lol. whatever.

the mixed

overall, i was pretty engaged for the most part from episode to episode, but i did get pretty damn bored a few times.

oh god, the leaks were real. it’s good and bad.

lance and allura still felt SOOOO forced and awkward but at least they tried to give them some actual substance.

like I said before, yay romelle was back! but boo, she wasn’t as quirky or funny anymore :(

Slav bothering everyone was still quite enjoyable to me. i wish shiro had gotten roped into that more, tho. Missed opportunity.

Atlas didn’t feel quite as dumb... but it was still kind of dumb.

i thought honerva honestly held up as a villain. Maybe not a FINAL season villain, but meh. her motivation seemed legit enough and the lengths she was willing to go after 10k years of pain seemed real. I just..... ugh, i wish they’d stuck to her just being evil. Or revengeful. Lok tried to do the same thing with kuvira right at the end. there just... wasn’t enough time to actually do that right, in either case. Or if they were going to do it, Honerva should’ve sacrificed just herself and allura should’ve left with all the other paladins, and that could’ve redeemed her character if that’s what they were going for.

the 2nd episode that focused just on honerva was... fine i guess, but i thought they didn’t define the mixing of timelines very well. it would jump from one clip to another and i didn’t realize fully that we’d gone back in time, or returned to the present, or were seeing this important thing before moving on to another. idk, the order just didn’t work for me.

i’m glad allura got so much more focus but i feel like keith had so many important story points throughout every season and it felt weird that he was kind of just in the background for the most part of every episode.... like if vld had a “main” character, i always kind of felt that it was slightly keith.... so i’m sad that he didn’t really get much of an ending.

and that being said, i guess this is just a negative, but i feel like keith and shiro’s relationship just didn’t matter anymore??? that was so weird to me?? it was such a focus for SO LONG, it didn’t feel good to just never address them ever.

there was this really awesome momentum going in the first half of season 8 for this theme of “not holding on to the past / letting the old give way to the new” and they just….. totally lost it. Like, it just never came up again by the end, lol. But i liked it a lot while it was initially there. Just.... wish these writers knew how to stick a landing, jesus.

like, that older olkari woman that pidge was trying to call out to? she probably had one of the best speeches of the season when she was telling that little olkari girl to go on and be a part of the future. that’s what i’m saying. it had good momentum. they just didn’t fully realize it :/

i think where they started to lose the narrative was in the two part episode, the knights of light ones. going into honerva’s mind seemed cool and i appreciated them trying to do a few interesting things with it, but bringing back the old paladins didn’t feel right. For some reason, I didn’t enjoy allura reconnecting with like, the spirit of her father. I felt like it was a loss that should’ve remained a loss. and yeah, just in general, having them bring up the idea of the benefits and power behind “the old making way for the new” just wasn’t supported by bringing the old paladins BACK... it felt counterproductive. i didn’t like it.

Anyway. I feel like i’m still forgetting stuff and I’ll probably go back and edit this post but yeah. Enjoyed a decent chunk of the final season. Cannot..... even believe how dumb some of the writing choices were. Will forever be slightly confused. Canon is whatever. I’ve still enjoyed this show and its characters and a lot of the amazing content fans have created for it, and it is what it is and at least it’s over and done with :]

#spoilers #so many spoilers #vld spoilers #voltron s8 #voltron #my thoughts

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kallura-icedcoffee · 6 years ago

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Okay season 8 was a MESS 100%. And whatever theme or message they were trying to send got lost in translation or something. Legit the moral of S8 is that if there is no kallura the entire multiverse will implode. There was so much potential, I was fine with S7 was it was a platform for kallura and Plance but they wasted all that potential. I know this season was Allurance centric but I kept getting MAJOR kallura vibes among he obvious allurance! Like u CANNOT take kallura out, it’s not possible!

Yeah it was a mess and I don’t understand what they were going for. They gave Kallura such a beautiful beginning and it seemed like a perfect example of the supposed slow burn they were saying was going to happen, even right up through the first half of season 7 and then they just tanked it, but not completely because Keith and Allura saying goodbye to each other, and him talking about her later was just a little too…soft to simply be chalked up as friendship?

Then you have Plance which would have also fit the slow burn, friends to lovers. She excepts him exactly as he is, he barely flinches finding out she’s a girl. They go on crazy fun adventures together. He literally hulks out when Ezor threatens to harm her, that damn hand hold out in space, then the second half of the s7 comes and they…tank it.

If Allurance was meant to be the IT couple all along, why waste all that time building that angsty push and pull and longing with Kallura? Why have Allura be the one begging him more than anyone to stay when they could have easily just had that be his “brother” Shiro? Why the hint that Lance will get someone he needs, not wants (hinting at Pidge)? Why wait SEVEN AND A HALF SEASONS OUT OF EIGHT for Allura to stop being irritated by Lance’s presence and accept him and his feelings? They could have easily skipped the Lotura romantic plotline in season 6 and started building it then. Lotor could still betray the whole team, Allura can still feel guilty about it, Lance can comfort her, the mice can still snitch and she could have told Lance he had the wrong idea about her feelings for Lotor and they could’ve already start developing it then but instead she needed to get over Lotor first so moving on to Lance got rushed as hell. None of it makes sense narrative wise if Allurance was their plan from the very start. Honestly with all the writers going in an out it seemed like too many cooks in the kitchen and everyone wanted different things to happen with the story and this is what we got. Like it literally felt like some people working on the show were Team KA and the other half Team AL and you see that fight sloppily play out in the story.

I got long winded there but I guess my point is the writers don’t know shit about writing relationships and if they were trying to be slick by introducing love triangles and fake-outs they should STOP because they aren’t good at it and the end result left a lot of fans feeling cheated, baited, confused and underwhelmed.

#KIC runs her mouth #vld s8 spoilers #vld spoilers

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flipping-voltron-imagines · 6 years ago

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Could you write about the paladins' s/o being kidnapped by galra and tortured in front of them in a video call

A/N: So this is kinda intense… sorry some of these are short, I had a hard time with this one. I hope you like it!

Warnings: just a little graphic, mentions of blood and much violence…

Lance

he’s angry

he wants to cry

he wants to kill every last Galran until his s/o is safe and sound

but most of all he just wants his s/o to give up the information so that they’ll stop hurting

he feels selfish because he’d rather have his s/o safe than the entire coalition

but can you really blame him?

for the first few injuries, he just screams at the screen

“Don’t touch them!”

“Leave them alone!”

Or just straight up screams of rage

so he just stands there, not breaking eye contact with his s/o, and clenching his fists

he doesn’t even notice when his fingernails draw blood from the palms of his hands and it starts to drip onto the floor

Shiro had to pry his hands open so that he’s not hurting himself

when he gets his s/o back he’s very protective and he can’t help but think about that moment when he saw his s/o in so much pain

Every night as they’re falling asleep, he’ll brush his fingers over their cheek and whisper, “I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again.”

Keith

he’s beyond mad

he’s so angry that he literally can’t even feel anything else

Keith just screams and begs for the galra to stop, and Shiro has to restrain him from going out to reckless search for his s/o

when he finally stops struggling, he falls to his knees and just cries

he pounds his fists on the ground

can’t bring himself to look up at his s/o

their cries and screams of pain echo in his ears for the next year

when it’s over, he’s extremely proud of his s/o for surviving that and not giving away any info

but he wants to force his s/o’s torturers to relive every second of agony that they caused them

he won’t leave his s/o by themselves when they’re back and safe

he knows that there are some serious mental affects

flashbacks, nightmares, etc.

so he sticks with them

he’s really clingy, tbh

which causes a lot of tension

Hunk

he doesn’t say anything as he’s watching

he’s angry and scared, and feels like throwing up the entire time

he just cries

whale-sized tears

every time his s/o cries out in pain, he flinches

he’s wringing his hands the whole time

by the time it’s over, his hands are really sore and his thumbs hurt

pretty soon, he’s not able to watch any longer

he just looks away, clenching his jaw and trying not to cry anymore

after that, he just kinda locks himself in his room

he doesn’t know what to do ow how to deal with it

they go and rescue his s/o

he doesn’t let go of them for nearly four hours

he’s gotta be touching his s/o in some way

Pidge

in this tiny body is a lot of rage

Pidge doesn’t let her eyes leave the screen

she needs to know everything that’s happening to them so she knows how to help when they get back

she’s trying to send like, mental vibes of comfort to her s/o

her s/o finally passes out, and she’s relieved

they won’t feel anything

the adrenaline probably isn’t letting them feel anything too deeply at that point, anyways

“Please be okay,” she whispers over and over again

Shiro

he understands a bit about what his s/o is going through so he can sympathize

but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch

he just wishes it would all stop

but as soon as it’s over, he’s rallying the troops and getting ready to go rescue them

Allura

“Coran, there must be something we can do”

“Sorry, Princess, but I can’t lock onto the location of the video just yet. We’ll have to wait”

the hardest part for her is knowing that someone she loves deeply is being hurt, and there’s nothing she can do to stop it

her inner control freak is making her very frustrated

she’s very snappy

might have flipped Lance onto his back when he tried to comfort her

Coran

he struggles to remain calm and not scream or cry

he’s lost literally everyone in his life and he doesn’t want to lose another person

he starts planning a rescue mission right away

only Allura can really tell how distressed he is, even though he acts like nothing is wrong

he has nightmares about it for a long time after

literally his worst fear almost came true

he’s not okay, despite how he might appear on the outside

he takes really good care of his s/o when they came back

Matt

despite how soft he is, he has to be restrained by Shiro, Keith, and Hunk

he tries to drag Pidge with him to rescue his s/o

Pidge, with tears in her eyes, tells Matt that they can’t go just yet

they need to figure out where his s/o is and come up with a plan first

once he’s talked down, he can’t stop watching

he doesn’t look at their wounds or how they’re getting tortured

he digs his fingernails into his palms so hard that blood literally drips onto the floor

he’s deemed too emotionally compromised to go on the mission to save his s/o, but he eagerly awaits their return

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mermaider00 · 6 years ago

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Hello! What about a lotura moment during the moment they were building sicline, something like eating something together or a fluffy moment, like Allura finding some silly things Lotor did like singing an old altean song, or getting stresed or her finding him playing with the mouses???? (sorry, my english is awful :c

(I choose… singing an old Altean song as they build the Sincline. Enjoy the sweetness before season 7 drops tomorrow, and some made up Altean folklore)

————————————————-

Allura enjoyed working with Lotor. It was quickly becoming one of the better parts of her day, if not the best, as of late.

She didn’t have to listen very carefully to him or try to dissect strange genius family sayings like she had to with Pidge and Matt. She didn’t have to constantly put him back on the topic at hand, like with Hunk when her yellow Paladin would get distracted. And she didn’t have to remind him she was still in the room and they were partners, like with loner Keith when he would go quiet. Working with Lotor was like working with Shiro. They were usually on the same page.

So when it came time to meet him at the Sincline ships, she happily went with a slight skip in her step.

Once she arrived, they took a whole varga to reassess their last updates, to make a plan on what they would do in today’s session with the third and last of the ships. Now that they were settled, another varga went by as they worked, sitting on top of the ship after climbing up from a nearby platform. It was quiet as she handled the alchemic side of their work and he the mechanical, the only sounds the hum of the engines of the command ship and the metal footsteps of patrolling sentries as they guarded their Emperor. Every now and then there would be a spark and a buzzing noise as Lotor fiddled with a few wires inside an opened control panel.

The other sound, one she wished would either stop or wander off, was Lance’s foot as he impatiently tapped it from the platform below them.

Allura sighed with a roll of her eyes and glanced down at the blue Paladin. Lotor didn’t seem to acknowledge Lance’s existence or slightly annoying noises. He continued on building his ship, eyes intense and focused on his work.

After a while her own mind started to wander. Not because she was bored, she told herself, but because being here with Lotor in the quiet had a strange way of making her remember Altea. It was never a topic he didn’t wish to discuss, and had quickly become a natural thing to think of her home world when around him. Her gaze studied his hands, either deep in the panel or scrolling away on a screen. The quiet and his presence was nice when she could block out the other small noises. She was comfortable, relaxed.

It felt like there was nothing else she needed to fight.

Lost in contentment, Allura continued watching his hands as her throat began to hum. Just a soft sound, just a little tune, one that hadn’t been on her mind when she’d started, but now consumed her as she kept on. With her eyes on the metal of the ship now, she placed one finger on the shiny surface, started tracing Altean symbols with a glowing blue fingertip, infusing more magic into the Sincline.

Lotor didn’t mind. She would hum sometimes when they worked, but usually it was something quick and meaningless. He kept working; hands and gaze focused as he listened to her with half an ear, a prettier sound than simple quiet or the everyday racket of the Empire. It was nice, dreamy and calming. When her voice picked up and the tune of her hum more pronounced, Lotor listened carefully. Allura then started to sing properly, using words instead of a simple melody. He recognized them

He knew the song she was singing, and smiled.

Minutes later, Lance’s ears perked up and he was snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality. Singing, he realized. But there were only two other people… His head jerked up from his spot on the raised platform next to the ship. He stared and blinked, mouth set firmly.

Lotor and Allura were softly singing a song as they continued working, something he guessed to be in the Altean language, since it was the only one that would connect them. The song was slow, something wistful and otherworldly, almost haunting with both of their smooth voices giving it sound. A sad song, a romantic one if he was picking up the correct vibe. They sang it together almost perfectly, Lotor able to pronounce and enunciate the dead alien language just as well as the full blood princess. He knew every word, like she did. He knew when to stop, when to hold the note, when to deepen his voice to accommodate hers. They were in harmony.

The entire scene, two royal Alteans singing an old song of their people as her energy and his work shined on their grinning faces, was almost hypnotic. Even to Lance.

But he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit because he was unable to relate in any way, and would never be able to. Careful not to damage the ship, he hastily climbed it to meet them.

When the song ended, Allura laughed softly, her eyes bright and cheery. “I can’t believe you know that song.”

Lotor lifted a shoulder casually. “When I tell you my studies on Altea have been going on for as long as I’ve been able to read, I’m not putting it lightly. I know the song and the story behind it quite well.”

Allura sighed dreamily. “It is one of my very favorite tales.”

“What tale?” Lance said suddenly, groaning some as he lifted himself further onto the ship to get to them. “What’s that song you guys were singing? Sounded kinda sad.”

Neither seemed to be bothered by the human’s sudden appearance. Any chance to educate on Altea - even something so small like a song - was always swiftly taken by them both in the right setting. Allura waited for Lance to grab a spot next to her without almost sliding off.

“It’s an old Altean song inspired by an even older Altean myth,” she told him. “There’s a happier way of singing it meant for children, usually little girls, but the true version is not for them, and the lyrics are more romantic and sexual, and changed for the young ones. It’s a song that somehow survived many generations. Back on Altea, everyone knew it. It was a small part of our history, that song.”

“So it’s like London Bridges?” Lance asked with a tilt of his head.

“Um… I suppose. I’m not familiar…”

“How does it translate to English? Or do you only sing it in Altean?”

“Hmm.” Allura glanced over at Lotor with a questioning lift of her brow.

“The lyrics were written in a more ancient form of the language than what they spoke during Alfor’s reign as the last king of Altea,” Lotor explained, taking a moment from his work to give them both his attention. He brushed a few stray locks of long white hair from his face as he sat up straighter. “As Allura said, the song is very old. I’ve read there were countless debates through time by various historians on whether the tale the song sings of was only a bewitching fable, or actual mystical Altean history. No one ever knew for sure, and now all attempt to find out is lost, obviously.”

Lance had never been one for a history lesson, but stories were always fun, and he was intrigued. His family back home were all storytellers. “So what’s the tale?”

Allura settled in and brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “Generations ago, before Alteans traveled the stars, the planet, though always prosperous, was not a magical one, and Alteans were not a magical race. The former Royal Family’s crest and name was lost with time, save for only one, for whom the song was written. Princess Sarvi, the mother of Altean magic.”

“Princess Sarvi,” Lance repeated, squinting some. “She sounds hot. Was she hot?”

She looked to Lotor and saw him confused. “Earthlings sometimes use hot when they want to say attractive.”

The Emperor gave a nod. “Princess Sarvi, whether she is a historic figure or only myth, was described as one of the most beautiful Alteans to ever breathe. The most reoccurring descriptions of her tell of pale skin and extremely black hair that matched her equally black eyes, an unusual hue for Alteans of any generation. She is said to be the first Altean born with the markings that we see on Allura and Coran everyday. The marks under her eyes and scattered along her body were gold, a deep, true gold that made her quite literally shine. The song has a lyric of her gliding in brightest white, my deep desire for the night. The color of the Royals was said to white in the ancient times, before proper documentation.”

Lance tried to picture her. Of course an ancient princess would be exquisitely beautiful; they always were. And it seemed to be a trait for all Alteans. He narrowed his eyes some at Lotor. Even half Alteans too. Bastard. “So I’m guessing there’s a long lost love thrown in there somewhere? That’s the trend, I guess.”

“A little of yes and no,” Allura answered. “Princess Sarvi didn’t relate well to her own people. She cared more for the planet itself. She had no interest in friends or suitors or her own royal duties, and her subjects thought her to be cold and even insane. But really, knowing what we know now, she was just extremely introverted, and felt more connected to Altea than the Alteans. She was a ghost to her people. A mythical creature only few laid eyes on. A man who led one of Altea’s Royal Houses at the time, Commander Rainer, fell in desperate love with her when he spotted her late one night in a field surrounded by juniberries. From then on, he worked tirelessly to somehow convince her to marry him.”

“Commander Rainer is the poet, the one who wrote the song as a love letter to the Princess,” Lotor continued. His eyes were bright with knowledge as he stared at Lance. “Rainer was highly respected, a great warrior for Altea and beloved by all for his immense courage and generosity. It made sense that he would be the one to take her hand in marriage. But Sarvi was a master at evasion, and only ever spotted at night in different regions. When he would find her, his nerves got the best of him. He kept his distance, and wrote the song on the nights he would watch her as she glorified Altea with creatures surrounding her.”

Altean Snow White, was what came to Lance’s mind. But no dwarves or evil queens or poisonous apples. “How does the song go?”

They were both quiet as they thought it over, each one trying to translate the lyrics to the Paladin’s spoken language. This was nice, Allura decided. It was nice to share her culture with her friend, to go back to her time with a curious and longing emperor who never got to truly experience it.

“You drift, you sing, you rival the moon. The sun creates dawn and you’re gone far too soon,” Allura began, not singing a handful of the lyrics, simply speaking them like a poem instead. Song was for Altean. “The solar sea is in your gaze, I can see locks like black fire on the shore ablaze. Oh, my love, the Ancients have stitched you, I want you, I need you. I can see the gold under your eyes, it makes me feel alive.”

Lance grinned at her. “Who wouldn’t fall for that?”

“Sarvi,” Lotor answered plainly, not realizing he’d killed the dreamy mood. “At night, her markings would glow, turning her into a beacon for him to find. As time went on, Altea began to change, slowly transforming into what it ultimately became. But the planet was not alone in the change. Rainer discovered that the Princess was deteriorating more with each moon cycle. Fearing for her life, he finally approached her in the night, to confess his love and marry her. But Sarvi’s skin, once dewy and lively, was almost completely translucent. Her dark hair had turned white, black eyes a pale gray. Her beaming gold markings was the only color she had left, shining brighter than he’d ever seen before. He told her he adored her, asked her to accept him as hers. Begged her when she didn’t answer. It wasn’t long until she lost her solid form right before his eyes. But before she became nothing, she held out her hand to him,” Lotor continued, mimicking the gesture by showing Lance his hand as if he wanted the boy to take it.

“And she said,” Lotor went on, eyes focused on Lance’s, “if you love me, brave commander, sing me your sweet song forever. Rainer reached for her in haste, unable to live without her. Markings of metallic silver appeared on his face and body, glowing as hers did, before Sarvi and the Commander became light and were absorbed into the planet.”

“Man,” Lance whispered.

“All babies born after that night were given the markings, and the abilities,” Allura told him. “Altea became magical, and soon it was discovered by astronomers that our home world suddenly possessed two rings around the planet. It was also decided that Sarvi didn’t keep herself from her people out of hate or discomfort, but because she knew her work and her sacrifice would better all the Alteans to come after her.”

“Princess Sarvi had a deep connection to Altea, one that has never been replicated since,” Lotor added quietly. Moments like these were now the closest he would ever come to experiencing his own connection. It filled him with more regret. “She gave her entire being and all of her inner magic gifted to her to the planet, and the Commander followed. All that is left of him is his song.”

Allura smiled up at the Emperor. He may have never known Altea, but his incredible interest in her home delighted her. And why shouldn’t he be interested? she asked herself. He was just as much a part of Altea as she was. She could see it now.

Lance had enjoyed the story, but as the two reminisced silently in a way he couldn’t and practically glowing around each other, his face dropped and his brow shot up.

“You two are a couple of nerds,” he told them.

#lotura #lotor #allura #voltron legendary defender

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orange-----blossom · 6 years ago

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good things about s8

-Lance being a good tio to all the lil aliens

-PONYTAIL KEITH

-the entire clear day ep

-Coran’s talent

-KEITH AND HUNK GETTING TRAPPED IN THE RIDE WAS SO FUNNY JHJDHJ

-Lance signing all the lions uwu

-Pidge and Colleen’s relationship was: everything

-PIDGE’S FORCED FAMILY PHOTO

-Pidge/Allura’s hug was soft (the first one lol OOPS TOO SOON)

-Hunk continuing Allura’s diplomacy

-the vlog ep is my favorite song

- Y E A S T

-Lance and Keith having genuine heart-to-heart convos

- THE H A N D S H A K E

-if we didn’t get romantic klance, at least we got lance+keith deeply supporting eachother and keith saying why lance was amazing

- Zarkon actually regretting his actions kinda broke me

-Honerva trying to stitch together her family while the ENTIRE universe was being torn in the process showing how the universe was literally telling her she had her chance and she can’t go back

- “classic keith”

-all the casual outfits were just a collective nUt

-Alfor/Allura reunion made me c r y

-all the different realities being ripped apart and the paladins just helplessly watching gave me pidge graveyard vibes

-the og paladins were everything

-80′s pidge and current pidge combo was a good meal

-“pointy chin”

-wHen those lil kids made fun of keith was comedy gold fight me

-paladins with only undersuits

-the destruction of the olkari evoked so much emotion and really meshed well w/pidge’s arc

-maybe the wedding felt a little rushed but HAPPY RETIRED SHIRO IS CANNON

-veronica and axca scenes were a blessing

-i don’t care what u ship lance and allura cuddling and a parallel of her mother and father in love was a soft uwu

-lotor’s development/backstory was finally addressed

-maybe we didn’t get a ezor/zethrid kiss but we saw how broken they were without eachother

-KOSMO

-no hetero keith :)

-pidge puttin her glasses on chip was so tender

-allura saying goodbye was heartbreaking and all of her goodbyes felt so personal to each paladin it made me feel some kind of way

-“but there is no voltron without you”

-“she will always be.. family”

-the lions leaving was so sad but so necessary and made a beautiful ending

-- ok while some parts of the season were disappointing, i think we are getting too wrapped up in the negatives and need to focus more on the season as a whole :)

#voltron #vld season 8 #s8 spoilers #lance #hunk #keith #shiro #allura #pidge #romelle #coran #veronica #axca #ezor #zethrid

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ganymedesclock · 7 years ago

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Your thoughts on Matt???

I had to find an appropriate picture of Matt to express my undying adoration for this person because oh my fucking god.

The Holts are confirmed for, first, an entire family of unbelievable goddamn nerds and I say this with the greatest and warmest love in my heart. They are also confirmed for an entire dang family of Slytherins, jesus Matt.

Like we all totally had that soft sentimental nerd boy vibe from him before and that wasn’t entirely wrong, it just like... we didn’t realize just how indicative of the older Holts Pidge’s general antics were. No wonder Iverson let her off with a slap on the wrist, the first time he found out a fourteen-year-old broke into his office he probably just went, “given who your parents are I really should’ve expected you slashing my tires a week ago. I don’t know why I’m surprised.”

This guy literally got a bounty on his head, faked his death to become a space espionage agent and the first time an unfamiliar person arrived at his station he was 300% ready to throw the fuck down and didn’t even flinch when said person pointed a laser katar at his face.

Y’know, the same weapon that the tough-looking unilu guy Pidge interrogated earlier in s4e2 suggested was an incredibly formidable thing to be packing.

So first I gotta love how both Holt siblings separated, became hardcore, and then upon reuniting got ready to protect each other, realized the other intended to do the same, went “am I ready to kick this guy’s ass with my beloved lost sibling”

“hell yeah I am.”

Like that’s just it. No patronizing no this-is-my-kid-sister just like. “You also became a deadly warrior in space? Wow, great. That makes us kicking this guy’s butt a bonding moment.”

In general I think it’s fantastic about how like... after how much Pidge has missed her family, and been looking for them, when we really see Matt, through the flashbacks and in person... he lives up to the hype? A lot like Keith’s relationship with Shiro, you can see why this person meant so much to Pidge. Because he really adores her, they really adore each other, and while as the older sibling we do see him wanting to protect her and doing what he can to prop her up, he also does it in a way without stifling or talking down to Pidge.

I also love that both Pidge and Matt’s concepts of tactical espionage involve dressing like a jedi.

In brief, Matt is not only building on threads that I anticipated but he built on them in an incredibly enjoyable manner. Seeing him volley off of not only Pidge but also Hunk effectively and expand the Science Team to more of a Science Trio was fantastic, and given both the younger Holts are pretty obviously Rogues, I now fully expect Sam Holt to make an appearance pulling a Doctor Doppler on somebody- seeming to just innocuously prattle and then mid-sentence pulling a gun on someone, “Is this your weapon?”

The added significance of the glasses being a gift- and the one to take out the lenses and replace them with more ornamental ones being Matt himself- and “Pidge” being a family nickname contextualizes something really interesting that I think is also a thread plucked by Matt and Sam’s encrypted conversations, and Matt making sure to leave the clue to his survival in that same encryption: that the Holts are a close, loving, supportive family, but they had a level of being closed off, not callously to other people, but that there were things that were limited to being in the family. Layers of subterfuge.

They built a kind of private intellectual space in and among each other, and Pidge grew up nestled in that sort of realm of secrecy- knowing all the answers. That scene of her in her classroom offering something only to be laughed at hurts, but it also tells us something about Pidge’s home life- that the reason why Pidge was so eager to offer it was because at home? The Holts would have loved talking about that. She probably knew that because of Sam.

Information, code, and secrecy were not just things the whole family seemed to value, but they were means by which the Holts embraced and nurtured each other- which is why it hurt so much for Pidge to lose her family, but also, from a storytelling position, brilliant- because it forced Pidge to leave that safe nest of her family and strike out on her own, to find the ability to plant her roots in new places.

But that doesn’t mean she can’t have her family, too- which makes Matt’s reunion with Pidge also deeply satisfying.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Matt Holt #season 4 #readmore #Anonymous

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sp4c3-0ddity · 7 years ago

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tagged by @hailkuvira and @amillionsmiles. thanks!! <3

tagging uhhhh who have i somewhat interacted with that writes and hasn’t been tagged already uh @magical-merlance, @cosmicdusttrails, @tiredgaykeith, @rueitae, @elby9001, @ anyone else that wrote fic this year and wants to take a stab at it??

STATS:

Fics posted: they’re all...VLD

Tumblr exclusives: my fic tag for your viewing pleasure. but here’s a list of everything (i think) that i didn’t also post on ao3 (with the exception of a few that will be posted probably within the next week):

Misnomer, a crack fic

a euphoric plance kiss that i just wrote on a text post i reblogged

a Cupid AU plance ficlet i also wrote based on a text post

ficlet about Acxa, Ezor, and Zethrid after Lotor escapes them

Pidge getting Love Advice from Lance, also an addition to someone else’s text post

How I think Hunk learned Pidge is a girl, with a teeny tiny bit of plance because it’s a section of a plance fic i meant to finish that i’ve since lost this is why you save/back up your work often

Outtakes from ‘Howl at the Moon’

A The Wizard of Oz AU (honestly bless the anon that prompted this)

A shallura hurt/comfort prompt fill

Whatever the hell this is, all i know is that it’s gen but still involves kissing and is kinda a crack fic

FF.Net: N/A

Archive of Our Own: i’ll just go with oldest first like i did in the last section

Give a Little (5859 words), fake dating, my first posted plance fic

Ship to Wreck (3544 words), gen (despite the title hehe), sailor/age of (western) exploration-type Pidge-centric AU

Spectrum (9562 words), gen, a Wheel of Time/fantasy AU

Winging It (2187 words), gen, fun canon-verse fic where they race paper airplanes

A Slip of the Thumb (18697 words), plance, wrong number/text modern AU

Break a Leg and Other Cliches (29293 words), plance, modern ballroom dance competition AU

Incompatible Schedules (1025 words), plance, canon-verse fluff

All’s Fair in Love and Gaming (653 words), plance, canon-verse fluff

Be Gentle (4881 words), plance, canon-verse body swap AU

If Wishes Were Fishes (1167 words), plance, canon-verse vaguely bittersweet beach fic

Lightning Round (3003 words), plance, canon-verse battle couple in training fic

Build on Shaky Ground (3337 words), gen/plance (platonic), kinda angsty Garrison era

Unknowable (562 words), plance, canon-verse philosophical fluff

Wisdom of Hindsight (1344 words), plance, canon-verse angst

Caught (2727 words), plance, canon-verse lovebug AU

In Time (724 words), pallura, canon-verse hurt/comfort

The Art of Seduction (2075 words), plance, canon-verse fluff

Falling’s Not the Problem (26179 words), plance, future canon angst with a happy ending sorta thing

Smuggle Your Heart (21931 words), plance, Star Wars-ish AU

Pocket of Space (6203 words), kallura, a Vorkosigan Saga-ish AU that’s kinda...languishing at the moment

Howl at the Moon (10271 words), plance, future canon undercover fake marriage thing

Failure to Launch (1740 words), gen, Sam & Coran hurt/comfort and feels in general

Specter (18325 words), plance, future canon AU, and, um, major character death fic

What Not to Do in Chemistry Lab (2458 words), gen, modern/college AU with my chemist Hunk headcanons

Search and Rescue (1684 words), gen, pre-canon baby Holts fluff

Shopping for Disaster (6108 words), gen, canon-verse Allura & Pidge bonding-gone-wrong fic

Ink on a Page (8807 words*), gen, Pidge-centric Inkheart AU

In the Making (8184 words), plance, canon-verse/future canon ~over the years~ kinda thing

Strangeness and Charm (73407 words*), plance, a collection of prompts cross-posted from tumblr so they’re really a bunch of individual fics but i’ll count them as one for now

*word count not entirely accurate because subsequent chapters are complete but not posted

Total number: 39 (counting S&C as one fic) Total word count: 288,132 part of me wishes i was making this up

Ship/Character breakdown: Ship breakdown: plance, undoubtedly, wins; gen stuff takes second place. then there’s the odd shallura/kallura/pallura stuff (i like all Allura ships so) Character breakdown: hmm. Pidge and Lance dominate, obviously. Pidge also tends to dominate by gen stuff, with Allura possibly coming in second. Poor Shiro and Keith (though i still love them) kinda......lose

Characters that had the main focus: Pidge in much of my plance and gen stuff, Lance in much of my plance stuff, Allura in a decent amount of my gen stuff as well as in that languishing kallura fic

Specifics:

Best/worst title? Best title: None really jump out at me, but I think‘Build on Shaky Ground’. Also before i suffer some serious post-posting (hehe) embarrassment, I’ve titled this brand-spanking new fic ‘The Start of Something New?’ (the question mark is compulsory) and i’m way too proud of myself for that reference to HSM at the moment. Honorable mention to ‘Search and Rescue’ for sounding more serious than the fic’s plot actually is

Worst title: I’m actually displeased with most, but only ‘Smuggle Your Heart’ makes me cringe every time I see it

Best/worst first line? Best: not sure but as i look now the first line from this fic gave me a good laugh:

Lance thought that after two years in space fighting furry purple aliens while flying a sentient robot lion that merged with four other sentient robot lions to form one large robot man nothing could possible surprise him.

Worst: if i actually took the time to look through all my fics, i’d probably find so many awful first lines, but i’m too lazy so this one is a weak first line from my one and only shallura fic:

Shiro had never seen Matt and Pidge happier.

Best/worst last line? Best: uh to be honest i think they’re all kinda bad but here are a couple funny ones (from this and this) that don’t require much work on my part sorry i’m lazy:

Lance watched him go for a tic, shrugged, and went off in search of someone else to bother, preferably someone he would not mind kissing.

“It was strange enough that I actually don’t want to forget, so listen closely, because I won’t tell it twice.”

Worst: point at any one of my fics. i’m never happy with the Last Line. but here from Shopping for Disaster (it makes sense in context):

He still wrote the ticket.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I wrote...way more

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

definitely VLD in general, because i was still...hesitant to get into it?? i didn’t watch it till spring of this year 2017 a few months after season 2 came out, i think What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

There’s this one (named ‘Siren Song’) that has yet to be posted into my collection on ao3 and it’s a concept i very much want to expand into a fully fledged long fic. and, to be honest, i thought it would get more notes than it did

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

By tumblr notes, this one ('A Sticky Situation’ on ao3) takes the cake with 168 notes

By kudos/bookmarks/comments on ao3, that would be A Slip of the Thumb with 225 kudos and 31 bookmarks

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Me, constantly: I write gen fic too guys (in all seriousness, my Inkheart AU is going to be great)

Story that could have been better?

Can i say all of them?? No?? Okay, taking recent fic into account (because i do think i’ve improved overall even in the last few months), i wish i’d spent more time and put more effort into ‘Shopping for Disaster’, especially with making the action scenes more plausible, making the Druid scarier (because i want to get better at writing horror, believe it or not), etc. Pro tip though: don’t write while you have a headache

And actually now that i think of it, I would scrap all of ‘Wisdom of Hindsight’ because it’s awful and uses a trope i really hate

Sexiest story?

sex?? in my fanfic??

but anyway!! hmm...’The Art of Seduction’ probably had the most graphic (except also not really) makeout scene. ‘Propriety’ (part of the collection) was almost definitely the most suggestive. ‘Howl at the Moon’ had the double whammy of a fakeout makeout and a fake marriage along with the kiss at the very end of the fic. so i dunno, i guess it’s in the eye of the beholder??

as far as vibe is concerned though, i actually think ‘Smuggle Your Heart’ is kinda...sexy?? *shrugs* Saddest story?

‘Specter’ without a doubt. *cue evil laughter* Most fun?

‘Smuggle Your Heart’ was actually wildly fun to write. i was really into action scenes at the time

Story with single sweetest moment?

not sure, but in my humble opinion it would the majority of ‘Burnout’ (also from the collection), particularly this sizeable bit:

Pidge would never admit it to anyone - except to Lance himself, maybe - but she liked it when he clung to her like this, or when she latched herself onto him. There was just something soothing about having another human body pressed against hers, a balm for the mind and a relaxant for the muscles.

Some of the tension trickled out of her as she leaned back into Lance, and his arms tightened around her, sensing her need.

“Guess what?” Lance said, voice soft and close to her ear.

“…did Coran get his hand stuck in something weird again?”

Lance rubbed his nose - scratching, probably - against the side of her head, then chuckled, the vibration reverberating from his chest into her back. “No,” he said. “Try again.”

“Hunk figured out a way to imitate peanut butter?”

“All right, you get one more guess before I tell you.”

Pidge rolled her eyes but said, “Did you finally find out how to swim in the upside down pool?”

“Oh, ha ha, very funny, Pidge,” Lance grumbled.

For some reason, that made her giggle, if only because the image of Lance’s last pitiful attempt to swim laps in the Castle’s pool cheered her.

“So…what?” Pidge said, turning her head slightly so that Lance could see her frown. Of course he would dangle a mystery in front of her without giving her a chance to solve it…

“I love you,” he said, pressing a doting kiss to her forehead.

Pidge’s face flushed, pleased and embarrassed all at the same time, her worries dissolving as easily as sugar in hot tea. “So?” she said, trying to show him how unaffected she was. “I love you too, so it’s not that special.”

“But you are, Pidge,” Lance said. He buried his face in her hair. “You’re special, and smart, and confident, and we wouldn’t be able to function without you. And anytime you’re faced with a challenge, it bows down to you, its queen - wait, no, it’s empress.”

Pidge laughed and rubbed her face. “Oh my God, Lance,” she said. “That’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“But it’s true,” Lance insisted. “And I know for a fact you love being praised.”

“Well…”

Lance let go of her and moved away, and Pidge missed him instantly…at least until he knelt on the floor next to her, putting him at below eye level in relation to her. He cupped her face, gently, and made sure she met his eyes. “You’re amazing, Pidge, and when you crack this code, we’ll all sing your praises.”

Pidge rested her forehead against his, reaching behind him to bury her hands in his hair. “But especially you, right?”

He smirked. “I’ll be the loudest one.”

Lance then kissed her, so softly it wasn’t much more than a warm brush of lips, and he pulled back before her eyes even closed. “Also,” he added, with a slow, sly smile, “it wouldn’t hurt to take a break, right?”

Hardest story to write?

This borderline crack fic that had a shippy premise but the prompter challenged me to write gen for it. i succeeded (i think), but was it worth it?? probably

Easiest/most fun story to write?

They’re all fun to a certain degree, but this The Wizard of Oz AU was great fun once I hit my stride. also honorable mention to ‘Smuggle Your Heart’, of which i wrote about 17k words in one day in a hyperfocusing haze (i didn’t sleep till 3 AM that day and i would’ve skipped dinner if my parents hadn’t reminded me).

(i haven’t had a day so productive yet inefficient since)

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

I actually....disliked Lance until i started shipping plance, and then my love for him only grew the more i wrote him lol. even season 1 Lance can be fun to write now, if only because he’s so ridiculous

Most overdue story?

hmm, perhaps something like ‘Failure to Launch’ because there’s a lot to explore in the adultier adults important to Team Voltron, particularly what Sam - the dad - might feel about his pretty young children getting sucked into a fight like this. but *shrugs*

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

not really?? i...kinda played it safe?? perhaps ‘Ink on a Page’ is my riskiest venture to date because it’s a long fic and i have a poor track record with long fic that i start posting before finishing. hopefully i’m learning discipline and like actually finishing things

also i think ‘Specter’ was pretty risky, as would be writing anything i really have very little experience in feeling, plus people tend to feel very strongly about major character deaths and i was unsure how people (particularly people i interact with) would receive it. and i guess i learned that it’s okay to take risks?? i was pleased with the way the fic turned out (even if it broke my heart to write it), and it was sorta begging me to be written (you know that itch you get when a story wants out??). and ultimately i’m writing for myself...but it’s still nice when other people like your writing too

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Finish ‘Ink on a Page’

Finish and post my definitely unconventional The Holiday AU that’s currently languishing as a Word doc of about 20k words

Write something amazing for the plance zine

Expand/write my sailor AU (of which ‘Siren Song’ is the prelude)

Write a slow burn plance fic (to be fair, The Holiday AU and the sailor AU are looking to be slow burn, of sorts)

Maybe...not write so much by the seat of my pants, be less impulsive and more thoughtful, outline more but remain flexible, be more efficient so i don’t burnout, push myself to write even when i’m not feeling ‘inspired’

Not compare myself to other writers (sad but true)

write for a different fandom/pairing?? who even knows at this point

#this got really long whoops #qna #thank you for the tags though!!#this was so much fun #but God i'm still only just understanding how disorganized i am #and the fact that i forget so much of what i write is kinda sad #so answers may not be entirely accurate #reem writes fic #plance #because let's face it that's mostly what i write

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