#crew on kerberos: 'what'

[spectraling]

Just saw someone point out that there's def a trend among Andreas' characters to be inexplicably (half-)naked and I suddenly realized I'm gonna get Captain Larsen all wet and naked on that damn ship aren't I

[tortoisesshells]

*

[halfagone]

Is it bad that I don’t necessarily agree with what seems to be a lot of people’s headcanon of Danny not being straight? Obviously people can headcanon whatever they want, but I myself strictly adhere to the rule that if there is no explicit evidence or implications from canon that prove otherwise, that I just assume a character is straight since that’s statistically what is most common?

You had me in the first part but you lost me in the second, unfortunately. You said it yourself, people can headcanon whatever they want. If you prefer him being straight, then that's really up to you! But that last line you just said is a little something called 'heteronormativity' and I'm not going to explain that here.

Moreover, I would definitely say that it can be very tricky to use 'explicit evidence' for reasoning, because it's a very slippery slope.

I'll use some other childrens' cartoons as examples to make my point clear here: In The Legends of Korra, Korra dates only guys for almost the entirety of the show. But in the very last episode, she and Asami become a couple. I know a lot of people say that they just threw that out there, but if you do some research you'll find out that the showrunners fought so hard to get just that scene in the show. If they could, they probably would have added more elements to their relationship and gave them more obvious on-screen chemistry. But they weren't allowed to.

In Voltron: Legendary Defenders, we find out in Season 7 out of 8 that before the Kerberos mission, Shiro had been engaged to a man named Adam. While the two ultimately broke off their engagement because Adam didn't agree with Shiro's decision to go on the mission despite his illness, we do see in the series finale that Shiro gets married to Curtis, who was a member of the Atlas crew.

Probably one of the more famous examples, The Owl House! As we know this is a Disney channel show, but the wonderful creator Dana Terrance made it beautifully, openly queer. And Disney didn't quite like that, so they cancelled the series. After which, the showrunners essentially decided for the final abbreviated season, "Fuck it!" And did whatever they wanted, as far as they were allowed to go.

Dave Filoni has said that he shipped Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee and we could have seen a romance from the pair. (And yes, this does make the betrayal that much worse.) I could use Steven Universe as an example, but I think I've made this section of my point clear here.

We only see one side of the show. We get to see the finished product, not all the hard work the showrunners and writers and artists and producers put into getting what queer representation they could. We probably wouldn't have seen any of this from Danny Phantom as a show, because we all know Butch Hartman is homophobic as fuck, but that doesn't mean there was nothing there that we as a fandom couldn't have taken to mean something else.

In the episode, "One of a Kind", there's a scene where Danny and Tucker are seen cuddling comfortably in each other's embrace. Of course friends can do this too. Hell, they can even be in something called a ✨ queerplatonic relationship ✨ but that is still queer. Even still that can easily be argued that Danny is just as attracted to guys as he is to girls. You never see Danny act like that around Paulina or Valerie while they were dating.

In "Fanning the Flames", Sam kisses Dash to break Danny out of his mind control. Except... This episode's summary explicitly states, "Danny and Sam find their platonic relationship turned forcibly romantic through the powers of Ember..." Over the show's seasons, we do get bits and pieces of evidence that Sam had a crush on Danny, but it's not until "Frightmare", episode 9 of the last season, that we get a scene where Danny realizes he might have a crush on Sam. I'm sure there are other bits and pieces of evidence, Jack had a ring for some reason in "Girls' Night Out". But "Frightmare" is where we get the first evidence of a possible relationship from them, which is a huge deal because this show is primarily from Danny's perspective.

But that is, quite literally, two seasons apart. So who is to say that- that first time Sam kissed Dash- Danny wasn't jealous of Dash but he was jealous of Sam. Here's what I'm talking about: in "Frightmare" we see in Danny's dream sequence that he wanted to be friends with the A-Listers and that's probably primarily because he likes the idea of being popular, yet in that episode and "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale" it's always Dash that Danny wants to impress and please. In the latter's episode's case almost if not equally as much as Danny did with Paulina, a girl he freely shows his crush on. And yet this is the same guy that makes Danny's school life hell and whom Danny antagonizes on many occasions. This could easily be a case of 'pulling someone's pigtails' and considering Dash's admiration of Phantom, that's not hard to believe on his side of things either.

In general, Danny's entire secret identity can just as easily be a symbolism for queer identity. All of Danny's Rogues know who Danny is, what he is, where he lives, and where he goes to school. And yet it's his parents he has to hide himself from. If you switched out the word 'ghost' for 'gay' or 'queer' in some of the Fentons' anti-ghost rhetoric, it would have been unabashed hate speech.

The Danny Phantom phandom has a lot of queer folks. We've done polls, I've seen the numbers. You said it yourself, anyone is free to headcanon what they want. But considering the community, I am not surprised that Danny being anything but straight is so commonly headcanoned. And maybe that's still not for you, but it's not as shocking as you might expect it to be.

Danny is only 14 years old at the start of the series. While we don't know the exact timeline of the series, and how long it's been when the shows ends, we can comfortably put Danny at 15 or even 16 years old at most. But there are plenty of people who don't realize they're gay or lesbian or bi or ace until they're much, much older. Yeah, we didn't get to see that in canon for obvious reasons, but who's to say we can't show that instead?

[pidges-lost-robot]

No one:...

Me: I have this idea on how to kind of improve the storyline of Pidge being picked on while adding a bit of a more complex type of relationship into the background of the plot cause she strikes me as a character that would fight back with viscious verbal responses. Basically one of the people that is mean to Pidge also has a parent on the kerberos mission (obviously with the result of there being more crew members) who dislikes her because she's sometimes a bit smug about doing so well on tests and it rubs this person the wrong way cause they're insecure about their struggling on tests and are mean to pidge as a result. But also pidge is the sort to really poke the bear when it comes to that, very much being quick to immediately zone in on this person's insecurity whenever they're mean to her andthis often results in things like being shoved or having her phone smashed.

No one still:....

Me: which ends up changing the conversation between pidge and her brother after a scene of this as a flashback where instead of being like "having brain is the best thing ever nerds will run the world" is actually the one to highlight the way pidge is quick to antagonise people especially by means of viewing her intelligence as making her better than them and suggesting that maybe there is another way to deal with this. Which is an example of bullying that can be underrepresented cause ultimately it is bad what this student is doing, but also shows the ways people can sometimes develop an unhealthy way to cope with it. We then see that Pidge, after really picking on this kid back and antagonising him about struggling to pass tests resulting in them getting angry and shoving her phone to ground and smashing, decides to apologise for what she said. The kid points out that they will never be friends and pidge says she knows, but that them being an asshole didn't justify her being an asshole in a different way.

No one:

Me: later when pidges brother and dad go missing in the mission she is left without much to focus on at school. Calls from the ship to families were prohibited from being stored or recorded. But one day from a random number she is sent some.pictures of a birthday of one of the crew members taken on a concealed phone. The bully's mums birthday. The bully when she asks about it in private denies sending her anything but it's clear that they did. They're still not friends but there's a begrudging respect there. And these pictures (I haven't thought of how cause I'm a hack) somehow lead to pidges theory that the garrison are covering something up

Still no one:

Me: now this goes further cause they find the bully's parent on their search for pidges family she's one of the only other crew members that survived but she unfortunately passes giving something yo pidge to give back to her kid if she makes it back to earth and when they eventually do, pidge decides to be the person to.give them the news about what really happened to their parent. She goes and they initially don't believe her but she gives them the message and the keepsake she gave her. They ask her why she bothered with how they were to her in school (it's been a few years since then obviously) and she reminds them of the photos they gave her that they sent her, tells them how it lead her to realise that garrison had been lying and thanked them for it and that it was only fair and right that she did this for them and how she's sorry about their mom. The bully tells her that this still doesn't make them friends and she nods. She leaves and Keith finds her on her way back, really upset and feeling like she should've done more and Keith assures her that there wasn't much more she couldve done. I just thought this could be a bit more interesting and true to her character than just getting called a nerd once and crying about it

No one: ..... what?

[discordiansamba]

was rotating the beta concept for cosmic dust while making dinner and somehow I rotated it too hard and came up with a concept that I basically like to call. oops! all Galra!

(well, except for Allura and Coran)

Keith is half-Altean, half-Galra and grew up on Altea as Allura's childhood friend. His mother Krolia worked as an ambassador to Altea, and ultimately sided with King Alfor over Zarkon. Keith was sealed away in a cryopod alongside Allura and Coran, while Krolia left before Altea's destruction to ensure that a rebellion against Zarkon would remain among his people and founded the Blade of Marmora.

They wake up on their own and have to figure out where to go from here. They know Keith has the potential to fly the red lion, but they'll need to find the rest of the lions and the rest of the paladins if they're going to have any hope of defeating Zarkon. They concentrate on finding the lions first, since perhaps they can use them to find their paladins.

Pidge is a low-ranking Galra working at a work camp for prisoners. She's not fond of the Empire, half because she's a runt and they treat her poorly- ignoring her talents and forcing her to work a terrible job that no one else wants instead. But half because she's used her talents at hacking to see things the Galra Empire doesn't want it's citizenry to see, and she's horrified. She strikes up a small friendship with a human prisoner named Matt, and when rebels come raid the prison, she helps bust him out.

He in turn asks if she wants to come with him- a chance which she seizes. She becomes a rebel, working alongside Matt who gradually becomes like a big brother to her.

(Matt holding up Pidge under the arms: hey mom. hey dad. I adopted a little sister while I was in space. hope you don't mind.)

Hunk is a low ranking Galra foot soldier stationed on a Balmera, but the lifestyle of a Galra soldier has never sat well with him. He's inherently kind, something which the Empire has tried and failed to stamp out. He sneaks extra rations to the Balmerans, doing what little he can for them, even though it's not much.

(Also there's a cute Balmeran girl named Shay he kind of has a crush on? He wishes he could do so much more for her, though...)

Lance is a member of the Blade of Marmora... in training. He has years to go before he can actually have a shot at the trials, even though he's got a burning urge to go out there right now and do something. Understandably, when he meets the literal son of their founder and he turns out to be a hotshot pilot who was personally trained by the Krolia, he feels the brewing of a rivalry.

(Keith still does not notice. Some things never change.)

Shiro was raised to be one of the Galra Empire's elite. He was promoted to Lieutenant at a young age, and served Zarkon loyally- until he was sent was sent on a mission to help locate the four remaining lions. He crash-landed on Earth and lost his memories, but was found by Adam. Without his memories, he became a kinder, gentler person- and falls in love with Adam in the process.

When a second scouting party arrives two years later, he's forced to confront his past- and vows to do better. To be better. He reveals himself to the Galaxy Garrison and works with them to strengthen their defenses. The true purpose of the Kerberos mission was to set up deep space sensors that would alert them of any incoming ships into the system... they were successfully installed, but what a bitter irony it was that they were too late for the Kerberos crew.

[two-nines-left-spleen]

Thoughts and rambling on HSR 2.2 (Part 2)

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Please feel free to share your thoughts, Ideas, things you noticed etc. I love when people ramble about things they found in the indulgences they enjoy.

Here are thoughts, pins and findings on Trailblaze Mission

Small Town Grotesque Quest

Misha's introduction as a Key Character was done a little clumsily. He did come a bit out of nowhere and him being suspicious was cleared a tiny bit too fast for me. I mean, as someone who actively tries to figure out the story beforehand, it was clear that there was way more to him, I just thought our characters would find out more -naturally. I blame Welt's perceptiveness, haha. The rest of his story however, was phenomenally executed. More on that later.

Hoyo PLEASE make Micah playable. One man with beard. You had no business designing an NPC this hot. (Siobhan too, please, please, please)

I have - and this is biased as HELL - massive Dr. Ratio brainrot. His fucking prescription he gave to Aventurine in 2.1 said Dormancy first. The Death Meme is revealed here to be Dormancy. Ratio is either a.) connected as all hell to the other characters or b.) really, really fucking clever to have this figured out earlier than everyone else who was NOT directly killed or in contact with Penacony's Kerberos. (Or c.): both). It also shows again, that, for being repeatedly advertised as a narcissist, he cooperates quite well with his surroundings. More on him later - yes, we saw this man for 2 seconds on screen, yes, I will write paragraphs about this. Stop me, I dare you.

Robin is a good-at-heart character and to me, she represents Penacony's heroine (like Bronya and Seele were Belobog's heros -alongside the Express Crew). I like that she was, like Firefly, instigating things on her own and thankfully subverted my fear of her being portrayed as a damsel in distress. I like characters that, at their core, are portrayed as kind. They are easy to write but hard to write well and I feel like HSR has done a very decent (not perfect, but decent) job at it.

I saw some people say that she wasn't in the story enough, and while we didn't get the whole Aventurine-Kakavasha experience with her, I felt like her impact was there during the whole quest, especially towards the end. (Put the metaphorical pin in that too).

Now, Gallagher. Hooooh this one's - hard. Difficult to pinpoint him and his stance and especially his stakes in this story too. I still think I don't fully get why he believes what he believes in. There's obviously so much more to him and this is the very first glimpse of History Fictionologists and the Enigmata followers. I doubt what we saw was the real him - and he did reveal some very interesting things regarding his path. I think we'll see him again, most likely in another form, most likely more complete. He is just a 'made-up character', even according to himself - his story in Penacony is over, but not in the universe. The Penacony Gallagher may have been Thirteen and younger than Mikhail but whatever bigger thing he seems to be part of seems to be- older. Also kind of hilarious that he actually told truths most of the time - in the most backhanded way possible. Frankly, he deserves a whole ass analysis post for himself (The CREDITS, THE CREEDIITS WHAT DOES IT MEAN??????).

And with this 2.2's second trailblaze quest concludes! See you in part 3!

[sonekwi]

☆ ⸻ the white paladin, keith x reader

chapter four: discoveries

characters/pairings: keith, female reader

genre: fanfiction

summary: the red lion is in the possession of a ruthless galra general and taking it back is no small feat. although, you never expected to find another lion.

word count: 2,216

links: previous, next, wattpad, masterlist

a/n: i'm sorry about the shorter chapter. i just couldn't find the right flow for this one no matter how many times i rewrote it. i still hope you enjoy!

You, Pidge, Shiro, and Keith sneak inside the Galra ship, crawling through the hole in the metal hull Pidge had cut out. As you look around, you notice that you're inside some sort of engine control room. Pillars of raw electricity arch from floor to ceiling along the entire length of the room, crackling and buzzing. You nervously keep your distance.

"Pidge, what's your ETA?" Lance asks over the intercom.

"We're in," Pidge responds.

"We shouldn't stay in one spot for long," you say.

Shiro nods. "You're right, let's get moving."

The group sneaks throughout the ship, carefully avoiding the Galra soldiers patrolling around. The purple lights illuminating your path seem to pulse with an eerie and malicious energy, constantly reminding you of the danger you're in.

Shiro stops as the group comes up to an intersection, staring down each of the two halls that stretch out before you. For a moment he tenses up, almost as if he's paralyzed. You reach out and grab his arm, and he flinches away from you.

"Are you okay?" you ask.

"I've been here before," Shiro says, his voice barely above a whisper. "When the Galra had taken us, they– they brought us here."

Pidge perks up, "That means the rest of your crew might still be here. We have to rescue them!" he exclaims.

Shiro shakes his head, "Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion back to Arus.

"But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge shouts. You hiss at him to keep his voice down, but he glares at you instead.

Shiro steps closer to Pidge, "Look, no one understands that more than me, but in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving," he says and begins to walk down one of the halls.

"No!" Pidge shouts again and Shiro stops. "Commander Holt is my father... He and my brother were the ones on Kerberos mission with you."

You give Pidge a quizzical look. That doesn't make sense. Commander Holt only had one son, Matt, and as Pidge said, he was on the Kerberos mission. So how the heck is Pidge his child?

Your eyes go wide, the dots finally connecting. No freaking way! You're his daughter Katie!? You're the kid that was blacklisted from the Garrison!

The only thing different is the glasses and short hair. How did Iverson not see it? How did you not see it? You met Commander Holt's children before the Kerberos crew left Earth. You were there with Keith to say goodbye to Shiro. You literally shook Pidge's hand that day!

     Wow, that is freaking embarrassing.

"Commander Holt is your father?" Shiro repeats.

"Yes! I have been searching everywhere for my family and I am not going to give up when I am this close!" Pidge says.

"We can split up," you blurt out, still caught up in your revelation. "Keith and I can go look for the Red Lion while you guys go look for the prisoners."

"Alright," Shrio says, agreeing with your idea. "Let's go then, I remember where they are held."

Keith glances between you and Shiro. "Are you sure that's a good idea? There are Galra soldiers everywhere."

Shiro places a hand on his shoulder. "Minor change of plans, but you'll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus-"

     A door down one of the halls opens, the sound of footsteps echoing along the walls. The group splits frantically, and you and Keith sprint down one of the halls. You skid to a stop as you quickly come upon another intersection. But you don't have time to think as the Galra soldiers are heading in your direction. You grab Keith's arm and run in a random direction.

     When you can't hear any footsteps other than your own, you slow down and eventually come upon another intersection of halls. You hum, wondering if you can feel the same pulsing energy you did when searching for the Blue Lion, but you have nothing.

     "Where do we even go?" Keith says, pacing between the two available directions. You can't feel the Red Lion, but you can definitely feel his growing impatience. "We don't even know where we are."

     You grab his hand to force his attention on you, "Hey, remember what Shiro said? Patience yields focus," you say. "Try feeling the Red Lion's energy. You'll find it."

     "Right," Keith huffs and closes his eyes. You watch his expression shift, his brows furrowing as he focuses. As he stands there, your eyes slowly begin to wander around his face. They drift from his eyes, to his nose, to his cheeks... to his mouth. You've never been able to keep yourself from admiring him when he wasn't looking.

     It's something you've come to do subconsciously.

     "I can feel it..." Keith says softly and his voice snaps you out of your trance. You frantically drop his hand and look away, your heart pounding wildly in your chest. For a split second, you thought he was talking about you staring at him.

     You mentally cuss at yourself and feel your cheeks heat up with embarrassment. You're supposed to be mad at him, not hopelessly crushing on him. You seriously need to get out of your head.

     Keith opens his eyes, "I got it. This way!" he says and you follow him.

     The two of you avoid the patrolling soldiers as Keith tracks down the Red Lion, and eventually, you enter a large hangar. Cargo boxes and supplies are scattered about, but what's in the center is what catches your attention.

     "What the heck?" Keith mutters.

You pause, "Allura? Are you seeing this?" you ask over the intercom.

"Hold on, (y/n), let me pull up your feed," she says and then there's a very long silence.

Not one, but two Voltron Lions sit in the middle of the hangar, protected by their force fields. The Red Lion is there, as expected, but you stare at the other. Its metal body is entirely white, save for the few crystal blue and yellow accents consistent with Altean architecture and design.

The strange Lion's bright eyes seem to eagerly lock onto you as you approach it.

     "I don't understand," Allura's voice barely crackles through the speakers in your helmet. "There's only five Lions..."

     "Do you think the Galra built it?" Keith asks, running up to his Lion. As surprised as he is, he needs to focus on bonding with the Red Lion.

     "That would be impossible," Allura says. "The blueprints died with my father."

You suddenly feel a pulse of energy, but not in the same way as you did with the Blue Lion. It's as if the strange Lion's very essence is tethered to you, and you can feel that tether tug throughout your whole body, urging you. You stop right in front of it and place your hands against the force field. The material ripples at your touch, but it doesn't open. The Lion purrs deeply.

"It's me! Keith!"

     You look over at your friend, wondering what's going on. He stands in front of the Red Lion, who doesn't let him in either. His hands push against the force field.

      "I am your Paladin!" he shouts, but the Red Lion continues to ignore him. "I'm bonding with you! Hey, we're connected–"

     A group of soldiers burst into the hangar and begin shooting at the two of you. You raise your arm in front of you, activating your shield.

     "Why did you have to be so loud?" you snap at Keith and run over to him.

     "Why weren't you watching our backs?" Keith says to you. He transforms his bayard into a sword and rushes at the Galra soldiers.

"Oh, well I'm sorry!" you sneer at him and activate your bayard. You stop for a small moment as it materializes into a double-bladed scythe, the weapon feeling balanced and weighted in your hand. "This is new–"

A Galra soldier shoots at you, interrupting your gawking. You brace yourself behind your shield, the lasers dispersing in bright flashes upon impact. Then, for a small moment, there's a pause. You take the opportunity to charge the Galra soldier.

As you join the battle, you try your best to remember what you learned at the Garrison. students were required to take a hand-to-hand combat class, but you're much more used to the small batons and wooden knives they provided rather than a lengthy scythe.

You swing the blade at the feet of a Galra soldier, knocking it down on its back. You swiftly bring the other blade down right on its chest. It penetrates the armor, exposing a bundle of wires and computers.

     "Robots?" you mutter, then grunt when another Galra soldier body slams you.

     You stumble and catch yourself on one of the cargo boxes. The soldier doesn't waste a second and swings its fist. You manage to move just in time, its knuckles slamming right next to your head. As you side-step, you raise your scythe and swing at the soldier. The blade pierces through its back and it falls limp to the ground.

     "(y/n)!" Keith calls out. "Hold onto something!"

     "What?" you look over at him and see him standing at a control panel. You grab onto the cargo box, your fingers wrapping around the rope strapped across it.

     Keith presses a button and the hangar door opens. Your body jerks as everything gets sucked out into space. You cuss under your breath and you fight to hold on.

     Keith holds onto the panel. He struggles to reach the button and close the doors, the vacuum of space overpowering him. You watch as his grip slips and your heart leaps into your throat.

     "Keith!" you scream when he gets sucked into space. You let go of the cargo box and follow after him. As your body is thrown out of the hangar, you reach out for your friend.

     "What are you doing!?" he shouts.

     "What do you think I'm doing?" you shout back. You're almost to him. Just a little more and you can grab onto him.

In a flash of red and white, Keith is gone. You scream, terrified of what space monster could have eaten him. But you stop when you see the Red Lion circle back around. It saved him.

A fearsome roar rattles throughout you and you turn to see the other Lion heading right for you. Its jaw opens and it scoops you up into the safety of its mouth.

You lay on the floor for a moment, panting as you try to gather your bearings. When the inside of the Lion lights up, you scramble to your feet and dust off your armor.

"Uh, thank you!" you call out and get a purr in response. You look around and the inside layout is nothing like the Blue Lion's. Granted, everything about this Lion seems different, either subtly or majorly.

"(y/n), are you okay?" Keith asks over the intercom.

"Yeah," you say, quickly finding your way to the cockpit. "Let's get back to the castle."

"Copy that."

⁀➷

     Your feet hit the solid concrete of the courtyard. Behind you, the sixth Voltron Lion sits down on its metal haunches, its eyes watching you. As the others return with their Lions, Allura and Coran come running out into the courtyard.

The two Alteans stop dead in their tracks at the sight of the sixth Lion. Allura remains as stunned as she was when you found it, but now she seems to truly believe it's real now that it's right in front of her. Coran, however, doesn't seem as surprised.

"After all these years..." he says, moving closer to the Lion.

"There's another one?" Pidge gawks as she steps out of her Lion.

"Holy crow!" Lance exclaims, running up to you.

"Can anyone explain what's going on?" Hunk asks. "Why is there a sixth Lion?"

Coran looks to everyone, then gestures to the robotic feline sitting behind you, "When King Alfor was constructing the Lions, the White Lion was the first," he says. "It was... an experimental design."

"How come I never knew of this?" Allura asks.

"Your father had swept its existence under the rug," Coran continues explaining. "Although it was powerful, the White Lion was deemed too flawed to be fit for the battlefield. It was stashed away to be used for scraps... but King Alfor couldn't get himself to take it apart."

"That doesn't explain how Zarkon had it, seeing as he didn't know about it," Shiro notes.

"King Alfor knew the White Lion would still be dangerous in the wrong hands and sent it away with the other Lions," Coran says. "Zarkon simply must have found it."

"Did it have a Paladin before... everything?" you ask, feeling a slight tug on the invisible tether between you and the White Lion. Deep down, you hope it means something, that it's real. You hope you aren't imagining things.

Coran shakes his head, "No."

"Well, it sure doesn't hurt to have some extra firepower," Shiro says. "Sendak is still coming for the Lions and we'll want all the help we can get to defeat him."

"Right, and now that we have the other Lions, let's go get the Black Lion," Allura says.

[killxz]

03 ━━ 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞

Pairing: Keith Kogane x Fem!Reader

trigger warning(s): confrontation?

The group perches on a small cliff jutting out, giving you a perfect view of the containment bubble. The crashed ship is beside the metal bubble, with scientists checking the wrecked ship. Pidge zooms in with her computer thingy and scans the area.

"Whoa, what the heck is that thing?" you point to the crashed ship on the screen. Pidge then zooms into the entrance of the containment bubble. A pretty, slim officer walks out of it and salutes the guard at the entrance. "And who the heck is she?" you hear Lance swoon. 

You whack the back of Lance's head. "Lance!"

"Ow!" he complains. "Right, alien ship. Man, we'll never get past all those guards to get a look."

"Aw man, yeah, yeah, I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?" Hunk tries. You pat his back encouragingly.

"It's alright, Hunk. Worst-case scenario, we all get found by the alien in that ship, and it kills us mercifully," you shrug. "Totally painless."

"Not helping, Y/N!" Hunk whimpers.

"Wait. They set up a camera in there, and I grabbed its feed. Look!" Pidge pushes her computer towards you.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" A familiar voice shouts.

"Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests," a scientist says.

"S-Shiro?" you whisper, eyes wide.

Shiro struggles against the restraints. "You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds! Aliens are coming!"

Lance points to the screen. "That's Shiro! The pilot of the Kerberos Mission! That guy's my hero!"

"Guess he's not dead in space after all," Hunk marvels.

Pidge frowns. "But where's the rest of the crew?"

The voice of one of the scientists comes out. "Do you know how long you've been gone?"

Shiro struggles again. "I don't know. Months? Years? Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us. We have to find Voltron!"

"Voltron!" Pidge exclaims. You aren't paying attention, still stuck on the fact that Shiro is alive. Shiro had been your mentor, your only father figure in your life.

"-what are they doing? He's a legend. They're not even gonna listen to him?" Lance's worried voice breaks you out of your thoughts.

"W-we have to help him!" you blurt out.

"I hate to be the voice of reason, always, but weren't we watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?" Hunk reasons.

"We've just got to think." Lance taps his chin. "Could we tunnel in?"

"Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs." Pidge suggests.

"Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary... little late-night snack." Hunk tries.

"No. What we need is a distraction." you interrupt.

As if on cue, explosions light up the space behind the containment bubble. Hunk shrieks. "Is that the aliens? Is that the aliens? Are they here? They got here so quick!"

"No, those explosions were a distraction, for him!" Pidge points to a speeding hover ship.

"The Garrison's headed toward the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side." She finishes.

"No way! Oh, he is not going to beat us in there!" Lance jumps up, ready for action.

"That guy is always trying to one-up me!" He snarls.

"Who is it?" Hunk asks. You spot a familiar head of raven hair and his favored cropped jacket.

"Keith," you whisper. You begin to run towards the containment bubble.

"Who?" Pidge asks, confused.

"Are you sure?" Hunk asks, running beside you.

"Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!" Lance shouts.

"Who's Keith?" Pidge yells, running behind you. You slide down the cliff and run towards the bubble. When you get in, you see Keith supporting Shiro, and the scientists lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Nope. No, you... No, no, no. No, you don't. I'm saving Shiro." Lance grabs Shiro's other hand.

"Who are you?" Keith asks.

"Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance. We were in the same class at the Garrison." Lance says, incredulous.

"Really? Are you an engineer?" Keith asks.

"No, I'm a pilot! We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck." Lance tries to jog Keith's memory.

"Oh, wait. I remember you. You're a cargo pilot." Keith clicks his tongue.

"Well, not anymore. I'm a fighter class now, thanks to you washing out." Lance brags.

"Well, congratulations." Keith deadpans. He looks at the entrance and sees you. His eyes widen. "Y/N?" He breathes. You look away, your heart clenching. Anger sparks in your gut. You continue down the hallway to his hovership.

"Do you mind if we caught a ride with you?" Hunk asks, not waiting for an answer before climbing onto the back. The ship tilts backwards, hitting the ground.

"Is this thing gonna be big enough for all of us?" Pidge adjusts herself.

"No." Keith groans. You stand on the ground, not knowing where to sit. There isn't any place for you. Keith notices your hesitation and grabs your arm, pulling you up behind him. Your cheeks flush at the close proximity to him. Dang it. "What do you think you're doing?!" You demand.

"Oh shut up! Would you rather get left behind?" Keith shouts back.

The Garrison's vehicles are coming towards you. Keith revs the engine, and you speed off away from the Garrison.

"Why am I holding this guy?" Pidge demands.

"Hey, we did all fit." Hunk cheers.

"Can this thing go any faster?!" Lance demands, looking back at the vehicles gaining on you.

"We could toss out some non-essential weight." Keith snarks.

"Oh, right!" Lance agrees and looks around before catching on. "Okay, so that was an insult. I get it."

"Big man, lean left!" Keith shouts.

Hunk leans left, and two of the vehicles crash into each other. "Aw, man! Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery! No, no. He's fine."

"Big man, lean right!" Keith shouts again. Hunk leans, and the whole ship careens off the side onto a thin road on the side of a cliff.

"Whoa!" Hunk, Pidge, and Lance scream.

"Guys, i-is that a cliff up ahead?" Hunk points a shaky finger.

"Oh, no no no!" Lance screams.

"Yup," Keith leans down and speeds up. You yelp and instinctively grab onto his waist as you shoot down the cliff, squeezing your eyes shut, your head against his back.

"What are you doing?! You're gonna kill us all!" Lance shouts.

"Shut up and trust me!" Keith increases the speed, and you are suspended in the air for a moment before crashing back down harshly on the ground and speeding away.

---

Soon, you reach a small shack in the middle of nowhere. As the three of them carry Shiro into the house, Keith turns to face you and quirks a brow. You realise you're still clutching on to his waist and quickly let go and jumped down from the speeder.

"Don't say a word." You snap before marching to the shack, cheeks warm.

You settle in to wait for Shiro to wake up. 

It's about dawn when Shiro wakes up. He trudges outside for fresh air. It's not long before Keith follows him out.

You all sit in silence as the door closes.

"Okay! Now that he's gone, Y/N, I thought Keith broke up with you a year ago! Why was he flirting with you back there?!" Lance demands. 

"Huh?!" You demand. "Shut up! We were not! He could go fall inro a ditch for all I care!"

 Lance continues to pester you about Keith until the door opens, and Keith and Shiro walk in.

Keith motions for you all to follow him, and you walk in front of a covered board. Keith removes the cover with a flourish.

"What have you been working on?" Shiro asks, awestruck.

"I can't explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kind of lost and found myself drawn out to this place. It's like something... some energy was telling me to search." Keith replies.

"For what?"

"Well, I didn't really know at the time... until I stumbled across this area. It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night." Keith explains. "Then you showed up." He looks at Shiro.

"I should thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?" Shiro shakes Lance's hand.

"The nervous guy is Hunk, she's Y/N. I'm Pidge." She introduces.

"Y/N?" Shiro's eyes widen. "You've changed so much!" He pulls you into a hug. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Shiro." You hug him back tightly.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Lance asks, confused.

"Shiro used to care for me all the time. He's something like a brother to me." You smile.

"So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?" Pidge asks hopefully.

"I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces." Shiro says apologetically.

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for us? Where are they at this very moment?" Hunk bites his thumbnail.

Shiro sighs. "I can't really put it together. I remember the word 'Voltron'. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do."

"Well, last night, I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff, and I found this picture." Hunk holds up a picture of Pidge and her brother. "Look, it's his girlfriend."

"Hey, give me that!" Pidge snatches back the picture. "What were you doing in my stuff?!"

"I was looking for a candy bar. But then, I started reading his diary-" Hunk now holds up a red notebook. 

"What?!" Pidge spluttered.

"-and I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line." Hunk continues like nothing happened.

"Frown-who?" Keith looked confused.

"It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element." You answer. Keith looks towards you with a surprised look and you look away.

Hunk nods his approval. "Only, this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron, and I think I can build a machine to look for it, kinda like a Voltron Geiger counter."

"Hunk, you big gassy genius!" Lance exclaims.

Hunk smiles bashfully. "It's pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this." He pulls out a piece of paper with a graph on it.

"Give me that!" Keith snatches the paper and scrutinises it carefully. He turns around and holds it up in front of one of the many pictures on his board. The picture was of a rocky canyon, and the many hills looked like the wavelengths of the graph. 

"Looks like that's where we should start," Hunk mused. 

"Okay, let's rest more before we head out tomorrow." Shiro, ever the team leader, instructs everyone. As the group voiced their agreement, they spread like water, Lance flopping onto the couch while Pidge and Hunk start planning their 'Voltron Finder'. 

As everyone settles down, you find a quiet corner of the shack to collect your thoughts. The sudden reappearance of Shiro has thrown you into an emotional whirlwind, and on top of that, there's Keith. You can still feel the heat of his touch on your arm, and it frustrates you.

You stare out the small window, lost in thought, when you hear footsteps behind you. You don't need to turn around to know it's him.

"Y/N," Keith's voice is low, almost hesitant.

"What do you want, Kogane?" you reply, not turning to face him.

"I think we need to talk," he says, coming closer. "About...what happened between us."

You don't look at him, instead pretending to focus on the makeshift sleeping area you've set up. "About what?" you ask, your tone clipped.

He sighs, clearly frustrated but trying to keep his cool. "About what happened between us. I know it wasn't the best way to end things—"

"You don't have to explain anything, Keith," you cut him off, finally turning to face him. Your eyes are hard, even as you feel the sting of old wounds threatening to reopen. "You made your choice a year ago. I don't need closure or whatever you think this is."

You cross your arms, the anger bubbling up inside you. "And don't tell me, you thought ghosting me was the right way to handle it? You didn't even give me a chance to understand, Keith. You just vanished, left me to figure out where the hell you went and why." Your voice is steady, but the hurt is evident.

He sighs. "It's not that simple. I didn't want to leave you, but—"

"—but you did," you cut him off, finally turning to look at him. Your eyes meet his, and for a moment, you see the old Keith, the one who made you feel safe, the one you thought you'd spend your life with. But then, the memory of him walking away from you, leaving you without so much as a proper explanation, crashes back in.

"So, whatever reason you had, it doesn't matter now," you continue, your voice firm. "You left, Keith. You don't get to just walk back in and expect everything to be fine."

Keith looks at you, clearly struggling to find the right words. "I never wanted to hurt you. I thought... I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Well, congratulations," you say, your voice laced with sarcasm. "You succeeded."

You see the hurt flash across his face, and for a split second, you almost regret your words. But then you remember the sleepless nights, the unanswered messages, the pain of realizing he wasn't coming back, and your resolve hardens.

Keith looks down, guilt written all over his face. "I thought it would be easier that way, for both of us. I didn't want to see you get hurt."

You scoff, shaking your head. "Well, newsflash, Keith, disappearing hurt more than anything else could have." You take a deep breath, trying to rein in your emotions. "But that's in the past now. We've got bigger things to worry about, so let's just focus on that."

His shoulders slump slightly, and he nods. "Yeah. You're right."

As he leaves, you let out a shaky breath, your emotions swirling. You'd thought you were over it, over him, but seeing Keith again has brought everything rushing back. But you push it down, reminding yourself of the mission ahead. There's no room for personal feelings when the fate of the universe might be at stake.

[uniquecellest]

More Adashi AU

- Adam talks to Shiro while Shiro pilots the Atlas, Adam says some words that feel like a goodbye and Shiro calls out to him. He thinks Adam is dead (Adam was able to evacuate his plane before it crashed with the Galra)

- Upon hearing that the Galra are coming, Shiro and Adam argue over Adam being involved

- Once the quartet of Matt, Adam, Shiro, and Keith are reunited Matt and Keith hound Shiro like annoying brothers for leaving Adam and Keith behind

- Adam saying the words "we're going to get you to the medbay and once you're all healed up we're going to have a sparring match where I throw you around like a rag doll" / "don't ever worry me like that again. I don't know if I can ever take a loss like that again"

-Adam infiltrates Galra forces and travels with them in space. Shiro can't believe what he sees when he thinks Adam is willingly working with Galra

-with Kerberos being considered a bust bc of "pilot error" The Garrison wants to send others into space to retrieve the Kerberos crew. Voltron crew finds Adam's ship just floating in space with no life force seeming to be inside. They investigate to find Adam on the floor and alone. Turns out there's barely enough oxygen for even a new born let alone a grown adult (bonus if Adam's ship was hit with quintessence); Shiro refuses to leaves Adam's side while he's in the healing pod

-Adam somehow being used to help power the Galras main ship that attacked earth like some Alteans were

-They never confessed their feelings so when Shiro is determined to go on Kerberos Adam just sits with his feelings and waits; both thinking they've missed their chance with the other (cue Matt, Keith and Pidge trying to get them together when they reunite)

-Soulmate/soul marks AU where Shiro and Adam do not meet until Shiro comes back from space

- (shout to Chibi-pix for this one) Adam is like a brother figure to Pidge which results in Keith and Pidge being siblings causing Iverson to lose his mind bc Keith and Pidge are Matt and Shiro 2.0s (Lord help him when an Adam 2.0 enters the picture); Adam and Shiro are blissfully aware of their siblings antics but act like they aren't

-Kuron goes to Earth and kidnaps Adam

-Shiro is forced to choose between Keith and Adam

- They start off as a one-sided rivalry until an incident forces them together and they start to get to know each other

-more patient Adam and reckless Shiro

-Adam joins the Blade of Marmora where he runs into Keith (Adam still thinks Shiro is dead) Adam is with him in the two years in the Abyss and reunites with Shiro when Keith returns to the Paladins

-Eros!Adam and Psyche!Shiro

-Teen Titans AU where Shiro is Cyborg and Adam is Bumblebee (points for Kuron being Brother Blood)

-Camp Half-Blood demigod Shiro and Camp Jupiter Half-Blood Adam

-Adam and Matt get buried alive and Shiro is a reck trying to find them (Adam) so they don't die

-Baker/Cook Adam and Shiro who can't boil water without setting it on fire

-Adam and Shiro swap roles (neither are dead though)

-Shiro and Adam meeting once when they were kids but not meeting again until they are older. Both remember but Adam acts like he doesn't recall it at all

-Both are cadets and one has a significant other while the other is pining hard (s/a with the significant other doesn't last long, significant other also happens to be mutuals with Adam and Shiro)

-Shiro trains and gets a bad bruise on his neck that everyone thinks is a hickey until Adam returns from a trip (cue Keith defending Shiro but the other Paladins and co think maybe Shiro cheated)

-Shiro confesses to Adam one night but acts like he doesn't remember it then he and Adam spiral in their feelings

[niku30]

What if 1899 was 2D animated? I absolutely adore drawing in this style so I thought I’d try it again in form of a screenshot redraw of some of the crew of the Kerberos!

[fatherramiro]

I've been thinking a lot lately about the backstories we didn't see in 1899 season one, especially in the wake of Olek's postcard being translated. Obviously with an eight episode first season, you can't really get into everyone's backstories and some characters - like Sebastian - were always going to be held back for season two for Mystery Purposes. But there's still a deliberate choice in which backstories we see.

For the purpose of this post, a backstory is a flashback sequence featuring a character prior to the Kerberos, even if it isn't their story that's being told. It does not include discussion of backstories - because all these characters do is lie - or stepping into a memory if we don't see the full backstory. Ergo, the characters who see backstories for are Maura, Daniel, Eyk, Ling Yi, Yuk Je, Jérôme, Lucien, Tove, Krester, Iben, Anker, and Elliot.

That leaves us with several major players who we don't know the full story about, namely Olek, Ramiro, Ángel, Virginia, Clémence, and Sebastian. We know Sebastian is deeply tied to the Singleton family drama (and yet seems to posses a strong loyalty to Eyk). Everyone else is ostensibly as trapped as everyone else is. But I wonder if the reason these backstories were specifically selected to not be shown in season one is because these characters might be somehow more connected to the simulation plot/Singleton family drama than we previously anticipated.

Let's break it down under a cut.

The easiest character to apply this theory to is Sebastian. He's basically Noah from Dark in that we see him as an antagonist character in season one! He's betraying Eyk and the crew, he is the one that gets the mutineers to want to kill Elliot, he actively does murder Eyk, he kidnaps Elliot, he kidnaps Maura, he's working for our main antagonist (at the time of the season one finale, that is)... and yet what do we really know about him? Whatever his story is, there's a lot to be explored there, and it makes sense that he's got a larger narrative role to play beyond double agent. This is a Bo and Jantje show after all - they don't do anything simple.

Virginia is also a logical choice for mysterious backstory/potential connection. She practically screams "I'm going to play a huge role in the story" from the moment she walks on screen. She tells Maura within five seconds of knowing her that she needs to stop being a seeker ("aren't some better things left in the dark?") before she leads the room in picking up their cups at the same time. She knows more than what she seems to know, even if at the end it seems like she's dissolving into dust. It is her undermining Maura that leads to most of the survivors going through Spooky Memory Hell after they split up. And it's very telling that she's saved just in time from the calling. She's up to shit, and it would make sense for her to not only be a much bigger player in the story but for her backstory to be saved for season two.

Virginia also has a very strong, almost fearful reaction in episode two to the ship going back to England. There's a couple other characters who get equally as freaked out by the concept in episode one...

Olek's second scene is him panicking in the engine room because the ship is turning around. He grabs one of the other workers and asks "why turn ship?" We don't know much about Olek at this point, only that he doesn't want to return to England, but why? The postcard translation implies he's taken over the identity of someone else named Olek, and quite possibly murdered a priest and thrown him in an oil well (doesn't that sound familiar...). He also, unlike every other "ghost" that appears to the characters, seems to be physically able to interact with the world around him in episode eight. And finally, while I realize the answer is probably "the plot", he was randomly on the deck when Ling Yi needed help in episode three. Yes, plot contrivances, but also why has he left his post? Usually he just goes to the loading area, but he's suddenly on the first class deck? What sparked that.

There's also the fact that Maciej and Rosalie (the actors who play Olek and Virginia, respectively) share a title card. With the exception of Emily, Aneurin, and Andreas, who have their own solo credits, all the actors who share title cards in the opening credits play connected characters (Miguel and José, Yann and Mathilde and Jonas, Isabella and Gabby, etc.) I know contracts determine who gets billed when and where but also there was a choice, along the line, to not put Maciej with Isabella and Gabby. And I think that's interesting.

The characters who we see panicking immediately after Olek in episode one are, of course, Ramiro and Ángel. We know mostly why they'd be freaking out - they're on the run after murdering a priest! But of all the character backstories who were saved for season two, these two make the most logical choice to be shown in season one. Not only would it provide character depth for Ramiro, who's already showing himself to be developing across all eight episodes, but it would provide some much needed backstory for Ángel which in turn would not only contextualize his shitty behavior in the first few episodes but also maybe give the audience more reason to feel sorry for him. It would also make Ángel's sudden turn from smug douche to loyal boyfriend make even more sense. There's a lot we can assume from what we're told about both characters but there is also a lot left vague and that begs more questions.

Both characters also display fascinating behaviors throughout the show. Ramiro, even as the show's moral center, never talks about his past at all. We know he killed a man, and we know he's a servant, but unlike everyone else (except Olek and Virginia) we have no idea what his life was like prior to the Kerberos really. Everyone else will talk themselves silly about their home lives and their traumas, but Ramiro keeps his past under wraps, despite the narrative easily having space to give him a chance to monologue about it. Ángel, on the other hand, seems to have some precognition about the simulation. He draws the final scene in the engine room in his sketchbook. He's the only person on the ship who is affected by the calling but not to the extent that he'll jump. In episode eight, he is the only ghost who can be heard by everyone and not just the person he's most connected to. I also think that the strange shot of him looking up the ceiling in episode seven as the ship creaks is a sign that perhaps he knew that it would kill him. So, what does he truly know, and does he even realize he knows it?

Speaking of not talking about one's past, we end with Clémence. It is very interesting that besides Clémence talking about her sister and how the things she wanted changed with Tove, we know very little about Clémence. Lucien implies her parents arranged the marriage between them, but we never see any of that on-screen. We do, however, get that interesting beat of her reacting to Lucien storming out in episode one with a rather odd look on her face. There's a pyramid paperweight that looks exactly like the pyramid outside Henry's office in her and Lucien's cabin. Her costume practically drips with symbolism - her earrings and hairpin are both the triangle symbol and she has a beetle detail on her collar.

Strangely enough, she and Jérôme are the only ones who we don't see escape from the memory wells in episode eight. Tove and Virginia run through a door, Ling Yi follows Olek, Ramiro pursues Ángel. But we just see Jérôme and Clémence facing down a monstrous wave of the crystals and then they run around a corner perfectly fine. There's a reason we did not see their escape. Bo and Jantje do not fuck around. This wasn't a cut scene.

I think that these characters are the ones with a deeper tie to the overarching mythology, even if they are not aware of it in the simulation at the time. The question then becomes who knows what, and who has loyalty to who? Is Virginia the secret main antagonist of the series, and is Olek potentially connected to her? Do Ramiro and Ángel have varying levels of knowledge and differing loyalties which is why there is a tension between them in the beginning of the series? Clémence, girl, what do you know and was that really your envelope at the end of the show?

I don't think all of these characters were secret bad guys. I don't even necessarily think this theory is 100% the direction they were going in. But there was a choice made to hold these backstories back until season two (RIP) and it feels like, based on what little we know and what we can draw from season one, there was a specific reason to do so. So now, let's just bully netflix into changing their damn mind because I too would like to know for sure.

[cabinboy100]

1899: Season 1: Reverse-engineering the sim…

Beware: Season 1 spoilers! If you have not watched all eight episodes of 1899 season 1, get thee to your streaming device and watch! Then come back for some boring rambling and probably way too many occurrences of the words "sim" and "simulation". =)

In the 1899 season 1 finale, we see a "survival ship", the Prometheus, in the year 2099. If the destination coordinates provided define a point in the sky on Earth, then it the ship is built for interstellar travel, as the point does not correspond to a body in our solar system.

When Maura wakes in 2099, she sees 16 total sarcophagi, fourteen with familiar faces from the simulation, her own, and one more empty one. She doesn't seem to be restrained in any way when she disengages from the sim and steps out of her coffin. Based on this and some familiar science/science fiction conventions, I am going to assume that all the people aboard the 2099 Prometheus voluntarily went into some form of induced hibernation to retard the aging process while on a possibly lifetimes-long journey to a planet orbiting another star. At the same time, to maintain their mental health while their body slows its functions, their consciousnesses enter a shared simulation.

Based on what we see of the travelers and their experiences aboard the 1899 Kerberos and Prometheus, I'm going to try to piece together how the simulation is designed to run, before any modification or corruption of its code.

WHY A *SHARED* SIMULATION?

A shared simulation, as opposed to 1423 + 550 independent and perhaps customized simulations. I do not have a great answer that clicks into place for this. Some possibilities…

1. A single shared simulation is less taxing to maintain than almost 2,000 individual ones. I doubt this, but depending on the scope and allowances of the simulation/s, the nature of the simmersion tech, and the limitations computing power, who can say?

2. The social interaction between living minds is vital to the mental health of the travelers.

Honestly, it may very well be that each 2099 sleeper is the star of their own simulation, but for the purposes of this ramble, I'm assuming they are all in a single shared sim.

WHY SET THE SIM ON A CRUISE IN 1899?

Using a cruise ship as a setting means the sim only needs to manage a closed and finite environment. The ship's simulated crossing is an elegant substitution for the actual voyage of the travelers, and is a perfect pretense for having almost 2,000 strangers share the same space for a time. Simulating the technology of 1899 requires less power and processing than that of a more advanced era and also restricts travelers' exposure to and ability to communicate with and travel to the world beyond the ship.

WHAT IS THE BASIC SIM EXPERIENCE DESIGNED TO BE?

The simulation is of a transatlantic cruise set in 1899, from England to America. By design, it runs for eight days and does not include the departure from London or the arrival in New York (unnecessary complexity/processing of cities, people, shorelines, weather, etc). It begins when the ship is already at sea, perhaps with the passengers and crew waking on the second day of their journey, and ends with them going to sleep on the second to last day, still at sea. Every traveler enters the simulation as a first class passenger. Every crew member enters as an officer. All service and labor roles are assigned to NPCs (unless a traveler has specifically requested such a role — why not, right?).

WHY A LOOP OF LIMITED TIME?

The simulated voyage of the 1899 Prometheus covers eight days. That means that the most time a traveler can experience, the greatest duration of new memories they can create during a single loop run, is eight days. At the end of those eight days, the ship is archived and a new one is launched with rebooted passengers and crew who have no memory of the previous run. (No one aboard the Kerberos except Daniel, Elliot, and First Mate have any awareness of previous simulation runs.) This prevents the minds of the 2099 travelers from living every minute of their journey between the stars. I hypothesize that in the show's world, the creation of memories that amount to a lifetime or more (the duration of the 2099 space voyage) of experiences would result in damage to or malfunction of a person's mind.

THE TRAVELERS CANNOT KNOW THEY'RE EXPERIENCING A SIMULATION…

Awareness that the world of the simulation is virtual invites irresponsible behavior, ranging from abuse of the environment to violence against other travelers to self harm. To avoid this, the travelers' 2099 knowledge and memories are blocked/suppressed and replaced with backstories and memories that fit the 1899 setting and as much as possible, reflect their own personal characters and histories.

These backstories are adapted from their real lives to help preserve within the simulation their already developed personalities and natures, as well as established relationships with other travelers if they have them. Their real life data might be collected via interview and/or memory scan. Adapted 1899 memories are conjured via AI and implanted via a kind of technological hypnosis and suggestion. Within the simulation, at least one backstory "cut scene" is built for each traveler to experience, providing scripted dreamlike experiences and a sensory touchstone from which their minds can extrapolate the details of the rest of their implanted memories.

I think that the nature of the induced hibernation and simmersion technology put the mind into something similar to a natural dream state, and minds in the simulation cannot truly dream within the pseudo-dream of the sim, so when travelers do sleep in the sim, the scripted backstory cut scene is played for them in the worlds connected to their cabins by the hatches under their beds.

TRAVELERS ARE GIVEN A CHOICE…

Before being immersed in the simulation, each traveler is given the option to remove or preserve certain traumatic life-defining events. Removal is allowed if the predicted effect on the traveler's experience is judged to promote better mental health and decrease stress, anxiety, conflict, and/or depression in the simulation experience. If a traveler has experienced a traumatic loss that pains or haunts them at the time they enter the simulation, imagine the impact on their mental state if they must live with it in an almost arrested state in loops for decades, or even centuries, while in hibernation?

HOW IS THE SIMULATION DESIGNED TO CHANGE…?

One simulation loop consists of eight days aboard the Prometheus at sea, traveling from London to New York. The ship travels with many empty cabins (perhaps all first class cabins are full, but second and third class are empty) and carries very little cargo. That amounts to a lot of unused and uninhabited space. It is in this space that the simulation constructs the backstory worlds of each traveler, within the bowels of the ship itself.

Travelers spend their time doing whatever they wish, enjoying the sea air, dining, relaxing, and socializing. The voyage is meant to be a pleasant experience and the AI running the simulation monitors brain activity to gauge whether that is true for each and every traveler. If it discovers that a traveler has had a suboptimal loop, it makes adjustments to the traveler's memory and environment to improve their experience in the next loop. Over time, it's possible that this iterative optimization process can result in radical changes to some travelers' backstories and even their relationships with other travelers.

SO, WHAT HAPPENED…?

If the sim is designed to be a pleasant journey, how did it transmogrify into what we witness in the eight episodes of season 1? I have several theories, and almost all of them build on the idea of an original benign purpose and design of the 1899 simulation that is ultimately modified and/or corrupted. Yes, the 2099 that Maura wakes up to may be a simulated world as well, but the above notions of the 1899 simulation still work. These 2099 travelers voluntarily entered it.

Will try to put some of my theories into posts soon, but wanted to get this Out There as a starting point.

Wake up 🜃

Keep on keepin' on~

[tortoisesshells]

I wish you would write a fic where the ocean gets a chance to describe itself instead of being described by others

Kind anonymous friend, this absolutely knocked me over as something that is so very toothsome as a concept and something I haven't the first idea to get around writing - I've so often relied on how characters think about/talk about/conceptualize the ocean as a means of characterizing them that the idea of turning it on its head is a fascinating one -

(by which I mean, for example, in 1899, Eyk Larsen's line to Maura that "Right down here, the ocean has a depth of almost 4,000 meters [...] what's down there is still a mystery." carries a lot of weight for how I think about Larsen as a character - I wonder, then, how the ocean would describe Larsen & the other crew & passengers of the Kerberos?)

[anxiouspotatorants]

Maura and Daniel fic ideas because I’m going through brainrot and I need y’all to give me more fics of them:

Season 2 AU (?) where the space setting is another simulation but only Maura knows. As in everyone else has a new script they’re convinced is their life. Including Daniel. And now it’s Maura’s turn to help him remember, all the while dealing with grief over knowing what she’d made herself forget for so long.

AU where everything is fine actually. Daniel and Maura go fishing with Elliot and have date nights and sick days and gossip about all their cooky coworkers and who’s dating who (like what is going on with that French trio?). Life is still life, but theirs is as close to that wonderful moment that Maura wishes could last forever as possible.

Fantasy/Sleeping Beauty AU where Ciaran has put Maura under a sleeping spell or she put herself under one after the death of Elliot and now Daniel has to find her and wake her up.

Season 2 AU (?) where 2099 is real and everyone immediately finds Daniel and him and Maura have to figure out what they are to each other after everything and guess what they still love each other and are still in love they just need some time to grieve their child both individually and together and get comfortable with being together as the people they’ve become.

Normal AU without any sci fi plot twists where everyone on the Kerberos live in the same small town/neighbourhood. Either Maura and Daniel meet and fall in love or they’re already together and just have a lovely life while also getting to know and love everyone around them. I’m talking Elliot and Ada being forced to hang out because they’re the only kids around. Ling Yi and Olek are international students and the sparks are flying. Eyk is their sweet but tortured neighbour who just started therapy and gets invited to dinner at the Franklin/Solaces more than once a week.

An in depth fic depicting everything from when Maura and Daniel first met until they had Elliot. Cute crushes, awkward flirting, moving in together, how they dealt with the in-laws etc.

Total angst AU where both Maura is Ciaran and Daniel is an AI copy of his dead self. Maura can’t face who she became in order to escape her grief. Daniel can’t accept that he’s the digital spectre of his dead human self. A complete tragedy. I’m ready to cry.

Gothic romance AU. It’s the late 1800s and Maura is moving to a small town that has grown desperate enough to request a female doctor for their hospital/asylum. There are a lot of tortured souls in town and Maura keeps feeling like this place is familiar. Also there’s this guy dressed in black named Daniel who always stares at her like he’s about to break down. She gets caught up in a mystery and ends up solving the one of her own disappearance because she was so distraught at the death of her and Daniel’s son that she got memory loss and moved away, losing years of her life. Also please give this a bittersweet ending where she gets time to grieve Elliot but ultimately decides to live a life again with her husband and all her new friends and found family.

Vampire AU where instead of sci-fi solutions Maura turned Elliot into a vampire to save him. She also turned Daniel and herself, but somewhere in her own transformation she was compelled to forget her human life by the vampire that she got to turn them all (Ciaran? Henry?). So now Daniel and Elliot are following Maura onto a ship to New York to get her back, all the while trying not to get found out or kill the other passengers out of bloodthirst.

Modern cruise comedy AU. All the passengers are there on vacation and meet and interact. Maura is there with her husband and child and meet all these wacky people. They practically adopt Eyk who lets Elliot hang out in the bridge. They get caught between an arguing French trio and a blossoming romance between a tourist from Hong Kong and a Polish crew-member in the buffet line. Some tense Danish people keep setting their youngest child up on playdates with Elliot. Maura has to comfort the Danish boy when he gets caught up in a love triangle with a Spaniard and a Portuguese guy. Daniel somehow finds himself comforting the Portuguese guy. Elliot and Ángel just play Nintendo games together.

[discordiansamba]

did some rotation for the earthbound Krolia AU again and came to the conclusion that it's actually more interesting if Krolia still has direct contact with the Blades even while living on Earth, so here's some spitballing based on that idea:

She briefly leaves after the second scouting party arrives, in order to report back to the Blade. She informs Kolivan directly that she fully intends to stay on Earth and protect the blue lion herself. She does debrief him about her partner and her son. He gives her an exasperated look, but signs off on her mission.

The Blade are the ones who build the illusion tech for her.

While she's there, she picks a blade that she will train Keith with, since she fully intends to raise him in the ways of the Blade even on Earth. She gifts it to him once he turns four.

(Heath questions if this is an appropriate gift for a four year old.)

She also brings acolyte armor with her. Safety first!

Krolia periodically brings Keith to space with her. She thinks it's important that he's exposed to what's out there- both the beautiful and the harshness of war.

Krolia brings Keith back to the main base exactly once- so that he can take his trials when he turns sixteen. She arranges for him to take a week off from the Garrison for it. When he returns, he's a full Blade and can now awaken his own blade.

(Shiro notices his shoulder is sore for a few weeks after, and expresses concern once he later sees the scar on it. Keith just says he got into a bit of a mishap on vacation, but it's fine.)

Shortly after the Kerberos mission is abducted, and around when the Garrison is reeling from the discovery of alien life, Krolia and Keith show up on base in full Blade armor. Krolia tells them about the Galra Empire, and that they are members of the Blade of Marmora, a group of rebels fighting against them. She offers to retrieve their captured men if they agree to an alliance with the Blade.

(She was already planning on rescuing the Kerberos crew anyways. This is against Kolivan's orders.)

The Garrison is left reeling with the revelation that one of their cadets has been half-alien the entire time. That they've had an alien on campus for parent's events unbeknownst to them.

(Admiral Sanda and Krolia's relationship is... frosty, as one might expect.)

[sonekwi]

☆ ⸻ the white paladin, keith x reader

chapter two: the blue lion

characters/pairings: keith, female reader

genre: fanfiction

summary: after saving shiro from the garrison, the universe pieces everything together. you and your friends stumble across the very thing he returned to earth to find: the blue lion.

word count: 3,145

links: previous, next, wattpad, masterlist

     Keith had brought you all to a small cabin in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. And while waiting for Shiro to wake up, the group lazed about. Hunk and Pidge sat on the floor, going over notes and theories. You and Lance lounged on the couch, your head in his lap while you took a nap. And Keith was pretty much glued to Shiro the entire time, watching and waiting.

     But now, Shiro is awake and taking some time outside to recollect his thoughts. You can only imagine how scrambled he must be after being in the hands of aliens for so long, and the trauma he endured.

     Keith paces back and forth. From where you lay on the couch, your gaze follows him. He chews on his cuticles impatiently and stares down at the dusty old floor. Shiro said he wanted to be alone, but Keith is too protective of his family to listen to him for long.

     Just as you open your mouth to say something, Keith huffs and walks out of the cabin. But it's not long before he comes back with Shiro.

     You sit up and stretch your arms above your head, smacking Lance in the face. He jolts awake and glares at you. You give him a wry smile and say, "Sorry."

     Keith walks over to one of the cabin walls and rips a tarp down, revealing pictures, maps, and articles. Messy red arrows and circles are marked all over to connect evidence and facts. However, one particular spot on a map was circled heavily, the ink bleeding through the paper.

     "What have you been working on..?" Shiro asks slowly.

     "It's kind of... hard to explain," Keith says, looking at everyone. He turns back to the wall, pointing to the spot on the map, "After leaving the Garrison, I felt... lost. But then I was drawn to this place. It was like something, some energy, was telling me to search."

     "For what?" Shiro asks.

     "I'm not sure," Keith says, "But when I did search, I came across a cave system with all of these ancient drawings. Each one depicts a slightly different story about a blue lion, and some... arrival happening," he explains as he points to the photos on the walls. He then turns to Shiro, "And then you showed up."

     Shiro hums, an impressed smile spreading on his face. He turns to where you, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are clumped together across the room.

     "I should thank you all for getting me out of there," he says. He reaches his robotic hand out to your brother. Your brother, awestruck, grins and excitedly shakes his hand. "You're Lance, right?" he asks. Your brother nods.

     Shiro turns to you, "And you're (y/n)?"

     "Yes!" you smile, shaking his hand.

     "I'm Pidge and this is Hunk," the short ginger says, pointing to his friend who nervously pulls his fingers. "Do you know if the rest of your crew made it?" Pidge asks.

     You look at Pidge. He's weirdly obsessed with Shiro's crew and the whole Kerberos mission. Thinking back, you remember his outburst with Commander Iverson after the simulation.

     "I don't know," Shiro says after taking a moment to dig through his memories. "My brain is still pretty scrambled. But one thing sticks out... I kept hearing the word Voltron over and over. It's some kind of weapon."

     "That's what Pidge was hearing on his space radio," you say and Pidge nods.

     "Maybe those were the aliens that captured Shiro?" Lance suggests.

     "Well, we need to find this Voltron before the aliens do," Shiro says.

     "Okay," Lance raises a brow, "How are we going to do that? We don't even know what Voltron looks like."

     "We have Pidge's artist's rendition?" you say.

     "It could look totally different though," Pidge says with a shrug.

     "Fear not," Hunk interjects and pulls something out of Pidge's bag. "I was looking through Pidge's stuff and–"

     "What!?" Pidge shrieks and snatches his bag from Hunk's hands. "Why were you going through my stuff!?"

     Hunk smiles sheepishly, "Looking for a snack," he says, "But I was looking through his diary–"

     "Seriously!?"

     "–and found a repeating series of numbers that looked like a Fraunhofer line," Hunk quickly finishes speaking before Pidge can interrupt him again.

     "A frown-what?" Keith asked with a puzzled look.

     "It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only this element isn't on Earth," Hunk elaborates. "I was thinking this could be Voltron. I could build something to track it, like a Voltron Geiger counter."

     Lance flashes a smile. "Hunk, you big gassy genius!"

     "It's pretty great," Hunk says and pulls a piece of paper from his pocket. He holds it up, and you observe the graph drawn onto it. "The wavelength looks like this."

     "Give me that," Keith snatches the paper from Hunk's hands and examines it closely. He then turns to one of the pictures on the wall, something connecting in his brain. He holds the paper next to it, the spikes of the graph looking uncannily similar to those of the stone pillars and rock outcroppings in the photo.

     The group shares a look, concluding that's where you need to go.

⁀➷

     "Okay, this is freaky," you say, standing before the stone structures. The blazing sun beats down on you, but you have to admit the dry heat feels better than the humid heat back home.

     "I'm getting a reading," Hunk says as he pushes to the front of the group. The small device he holds in his hands beeps, slowly but prominently. You all follow him as he hikes into the desert, tracking down whatever element Voltron is made of.

     Coming upon a cave entrance, the Geiger counter freaks out. Hunk hums curiously and shoves the device into his pocket. Even from where you stand outside, you can strongly feel the eerie thrumming of energy emanating from within the cave.

     "In here," Hunk gestures to the rest of you as he enters the cave.

     Inside, you inhale deeply. The stuffy, damp air within makes it uncomfortable to breathe. You take note of your surroundings, listening to the water drip from the stalactites. And as your eyes wander and adjust to the darkness, they land on the carvings.

     You walk up, placing a hand on the cold stone. Your fingers run along the grooves and ancient paint, outlining the figure of what Keith had described as a blue lion.

     "These are the carvings I was telling you guys about," Keith says, walking up beside you.

     "Those pictures do not do them justice," you say, smiling softly at the beauty of the ancient art.

     Keith glances at you, his eyes wandering over your face. When you turn to him, he looks away and clears his throat. "I am... sorry," he says, "For not reaching out. We just– you always said that we were going to be pilots together, and I didn't know how to face you after everything."

     "Keith..." you say softly. "I'm not mad, I never was."

     That was a lie. The first few weeks after he left, you were angry and hurt. You texted him, sent him videos and pictures of mundane life, and tried calling him. You did everything you could to talk to him again. You didn't understand how he could just leave you.

     Eventually, you got over your anger. The past few months were filled with loneliness and wishing you could see him again. Which, now that you think about it, feels more pathetic than screaming and punching your pillow.

     Nadia kept telling you he wasn't worth crying over. You didn't listen.

     "I know you're lying," Keith says, his grey eyes flicking up to yours. "I'm sorry I hurt you, (y/n)."

     You clench your jaw as an unwanted emotion bubbles up. Why are you still mad? You got to see him again and he even apologized!

     You open your mouth to say something when a strange, glowing blue light illuminates the entire cave. Your eyes immediately shoot towards Lance, who stumbles away from the cave wall.

     "Lance–" you say, interrupted again by the sound of cracking and rumbling. Below you, the ground begins to crumble away.

     You grab ahold of Keith as the ground caves in and you fall into a hidden sub-chamber of the cave. You scream, feeling the cold, wet air rush past you as you plummet further down. And after a few very horrifying seconds, you land on solid ground... in a shallow pool.

     You push yourself up, water dripping from your soaked clothes. Beside you, Keith groans and sits up. "Are you okay?" you ask.

     "Perfectly fine," Keith growls. He stands and holds his hand out to you. You take it, reluctantly, and he pulls you to your feet.

     "What the heck is that thing?" Hunk says.

     You follow his gaze and your eyes land upon the otherworldly machine before you. The Blue Lion. You gasp with awe, "How hasn't this been found? It's freaking huge!"

     "Do you think this is Voltron?" Pidge asks.

     "It must be," Shiro says.

     "This is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here," Keith says and steps closer. "Looks like there's a force field around it."

     Lance hums, "Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?" he walks side to side, feeling uneasy as the machine's eyes glow brightly yellow. "Yeah... the eyes are totally following me."

     Keith places his hands against the force field, ripples moving through the material upon contact. "I wonder how we get through this..."

     You look up at the Blue Lion, then at the force field. "Maybe you just have to knock," you joke as you raise your hand, knocking twice.

     You yelp as the force field glows brighter, the Lion's eyes lighting up eagerly. As the force field drops, the ground beneath the Lion illuminates in a strange alchemic pattern. The Lion growls deeply, a strong wind suddenly blowing all around you.

     As you stare into the Lion's eyes, a vision flashes in your mind. Five Lions fly through space, the Blue Lion among them, and come together to form a robot. It bears a flaming sword, and as it swings it towards you, you are brought back to the real world.

     "Did anyone else just see that?" you ask.

     Hunk geeks out. "Voltron is a robot! A huge, huge awesome robot!"

     "And this is only one part of it!" Pidge exclaims, "I wonder where the rest of them are?"

     Shiro stares up at the Blue Lion, "This is what they're looking for..."

     Suddenly, the Lion begins to move. It rises from its metal haunches and lowers its head to the ground. You're awestruck, the mere size of the thing making you seem like a tiny ant. It slowly opens its mouth, allowing entry. A soft, playful purr rumbles through its chest.

     Your brother smiles and walks inside the Lion.

     "Wait!" you chase after him, "You don't know what's in there, you idiot!"

     When you catch up to him, he seats himself in what you guess to be a pilot's chair. You roll your eyes as your brother clearly has no survival instincts. But, knowing that he's alive, you take the chance to look around the cockpit as it powers up. Various diagnostic screens and holograms pop up, and the interior lighting matches the Lion's color.

     "Woah..." Lance says as the large screen spanning across the entire cockpit displays what's outside, providing a 180 degree view from left to right. "This is fancy."

     "No kidding! You don't have to worry about glass shards getting all over you!" you say, remembering the numerous times during flight training when the windshield had shattered.

     The rest of the group enters the cockpit, the small area becoming crowded very quickly. As Lance looks at the main dashboard quizzically, he goes quiet. Everything seems to be written in an alien language.

     He pauses and his body tenses and his eyes widen, almost as if he senses something the rest of you don't. He then turns to everyone, "Did you guys hear that?" he asks.

     "Hear what?" you say, raising a brow.

     "I think this thing is talking to me," Lance says. He reaches for the controls and presses a few buttons. The Blue Lion lets out a fearsome roar and fully stands. Lance then grasps the levers at either side of him, smiling eagerly. "Alright! Now let's try this!"

     He shoves the levers forward and the Lion crashes through the walls of the cave, emerging into the open desert. He flies the Lion around, performing crazy maneuvers and nose dives. You grab onto your brother's shoulders, holding on for dear life.

     "You are the worst pilot ever!" Keith barks, fighting to stay upright. 

     "Isn't this awesome?" Lance asks.

     "Make it stop!" Hunk gags, the excessive motion making him feel sick.

     "I'm not making it do anything! It's like it's on autopilot!" Lance says.

     The Lion dives towards the ground, its metal claws digging into the dry earth. It begins to run around, almost as if it's excited to be out of the cave. You swear you can even hear it purr.

     Then, the Lion jumps and blasts into the air. It heads further and further into the atmosphere, seemingly heading for outer space. Or maybe another nose dive.

     "Where are you going?" Keith asks.

     "I just said it's on autopilot!" Lance sasses, rolling his eyes. "It's telling me there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it."

     "What did it say exactly?" Pidge asks.

     "Well, it's not like it's saying words, it's more like feeding ideas into my brain," Lance says.

     Hunk whines, "If this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone."

     Shiro snaps at him, his tone low and serious, "You don't understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them, they won't stop until everything is dead."

     Hunk looks away, "Oh... never mind then."

     As the Blue Lion enters space, the gravity within the cockpit strangely stays the same. But you decide not to question it.

Then, out of nowhere, a giant alien warship pops up in front of you.

     "Lance, move," you say, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. "Now!"

     "What? Why?" he asks.

     "Just move!" you shout and he does so. You take his seat and grab onto the levers. This is serious, and you do not want to risk your brother failing at this as he did with the simulator.

     You maneuver the Lion around the warship just as it attacks, shooting purple lasers at you.

     "We've got to get out of here!" Pidge says.

     "I know," you say, "But we can't just leave it here. If Shiro's right, they'll destroy our home."

     Quickly, you turn the Blue Lion to face the warship and push one of the levers forward. You simultaneously press the button on the side of the handle and the Lion blasts a laser across the length of the warship. The fiery heat of it explodes the exterior.

     "Come on," you mutter as you turn back around, flying away from Earth. You bring up a rear camera on the dashboard, waiting for the warship to follow.

     And it does.

     "They're gaining on us!" Pidge says.

     "Weird... They're not attacking, just following," you say, pushing the levers forward more to gain some speed.

     "Okay, so now we think having aliens follow us is good?" Hunk asks.

     "Where are we even?" Keith asks.

     Shiro looks around, "The edge of the solar system... There's Kerberos," he says, pointing to Pluto's moon.

     "Seriously?" Pidge says, "It takes months for our ships to get out here! It took us five seconds!"

     "What–" you stop when what looks to be a large wormhole opens in front of you. The cloudy blue and white center swirls, obscuring whatever is on the other side of it.

     "I think this may sound crazy," Lance says, "But I think the Lion wants us to go through there!"

     "Where does it go..?" you ask warily, looking at your brother.

     "I don't know," he says. "Shiro... you're the superior officer hear. What should we do?"

     "Well, it seems like the Lion knows more than we do," Shiro answers. "But we're a team now, we should decide together."

     You look over your shoulder to everyone else, watching as they consider their options. After a moment, Lance places a hand on your shoulder and the group gives you a confirming nod.

     "I guess we're skipping class tomorrow," you say and fly into the wormhole. It closes right before the alien warship can follow you through.

      On the other side, the wormhole opens near an Earth-like planet. You stare at the blue waters and green continents, wondering how likely it is for the inhabitable chunk of rock to exist. All the other planets humans have discovered in faraway galaxies and systems never looked like this, even the ones that could have alien life.

     "I don't recognize any of the constellations," Shiro says, "We're a long way from Earth."

     The levers jerk from your hands as the Blue Lion takes over the controls. You sit back, "The Lion seems to want to go to this planet... I think it's going home," you say softly.

     As the Lion breaks through the atmosphere, it rumbles and shakes. Hunk groans, getting motion sick again. "I am the only one that's having second thoughts about going through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a sentient robotic lion anyway?" he asks, agitation clear in his tone.

     "It got us away from that alien warship!" Lance says.

     Keith glares at your brother. "I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship."

     You roll your eyes and tease, "What? Are you scared?"

     "Terrified," Keith sarcastically retorts.

     "Alright, knock it off," Shiro warns, "No one wants to be in this situation, but we're here now. The only to get through this is to do it together."

     "So..." you purse your lips, "What do we do?"

     "First, we figure out where we're headed," Shiro says, then looks to your brother expectantly. "Lance?"

     He shrugs, "I don't know, the Lion's not talking to me anymore- wait! Shh! You guys hear that?" he says and everyone falls silent. For once you do hear something, but it's nothing like the mythical and mysterious whispering voice you imagined.

     "Uh, it sounds like a high-pitch squeal?" Hunk says.

     Lance rips ass and you groan, slapping a hand over your mouth and nose. With your free one, you whip around and smack him. The group says their fair share of insults and complaints, too.

     He laughs, "But seriously, there's a castle up ahead!"