#i do that every day whenever in see a Voltron post on my dash - i am literally sick and tired of ALL VLD ships because of the constant

[pannacottawarrior]

y'all literally out here on my dash hating shit and putting up anti posts when you could literally take a deep breath; question whether you wanna waste your time complaining and hating a ship, character, show, game, person, literally people with XXXX sexuality/orientation/gender or etc and actually enjoy the things you do love instead of being an asshole XDDD

like

do y'all have a life or what

[porchwood]

Hi just so I understand cause i keep waiting for it and it doesnt seem likely to happen have you kind of fallen out of love with wtm? and everlark in general tbh? cause ive been following you for a while now and you always had lil quotes and pictures and things that reminded you inspired you whatever it was about katniss and wtm and now alllll it is is gadge i followed you because personally i love what you did with everlark and im just wondering if thats gone and not foreseeable any time soon?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to answer this… It’s afair question - to a point. If you’re more of a drop-in person (like me) thanlive-on-the-dash, coming back to find my blog awash in Gadge might have beenquite upsetting. There are several reasons for the current state of things:

1. Life has been driving me into the ground since December26, 2013. (Yes, going on six straight years.) If you were a WtM reader from thebeginning, you may recall that I was pretty energetic and prolific in 2012-2013.Oh, there were tough times, but nothing like what started on the aforementioneddate (a car accident where I was in the “bystander” vehicle and it still got totaled)and has continued relentlessly ever since. Sometimes adversity leads to greatcreativity and sometimes it turns you into a depressed, exhausted, reclusivelump, and the past 5+ years have seen periods of both from me. These past 18months have been exceptionally awful (and expensive), resulting in very littlewriting at all, about any pairing.

2. Writing WtM takes a lot out of me. I don’t know whether thisis common knowledge or not, but it’s the gospel truth. I love that world, Ilove that version of Everlark, but every chapter requires so much hard work, itmakes me tired just to think of it. Not to mention, over the past couple of chaptersEverlark have been pushing for more intimacy than the plot/timeline allows, andso I’ve been struggling with how I want to handle that. Do I fight them andstick to the plan? (I can’t advance the timeline for several reasons.) Do I tryto figure out a cheat for them? They’ve got minds of their own and have changedmy plans multiple times, but this is something they genuinely can’t have, and Ihave to fight them on it. ☹ Which is sad, frustrating, and exhausting.

3. I’m a multi-pairing shipper, and have been from about 3chapters into WtM. Which means that my Everlark fics almost always feature asecondary pairing (or more than one), and sometimes I’ll get a plot bunny for afic about a pairing other than Everlark. Most writers in the THG fandom exclusivelywrite their OTP, whatever the plot bunny, but I find that some plot bunnies don’tfit Everlark as well as they do another pairing. (This is why I’ll never write aBeauty and the Beast Everlark fic unless Katniss is the “Beast,” if you will.)

4. The Everlark fandom is…tricky. I’ve never fit in there. Idon’t write Everlark the way the majority of fans see them (except for Peetabeing “sweet,” I guess), I hated the movies (I refuse to see MJ 1 or 2), and I’vemanaged to really rub some people the wrong way over the years –unintentionally, and for a variety of reasons – all of which leaves me feeling kinda down about Everlark in general. Don’t misunderstand me: I love Everlarkand WtM, but it’s really isolating to be this sad little island of unpopularopinions and unwelcome side-ships. That’s the part I really wish I could makeyou understand. For six years I’ve had Christopher Plummer in my head saying, “You’llnever be one of them,” and he’s so, cruelly, right. I want to cry every time Ithink of Embracing the Season (my E-rated Everlark modern AU oneshot for Lovein Panem - lots of daring for me!) because I poured heart and soul into that andit still wasn’t the Everlark that people wanted.

5. About a year and a half ago (when Strawberry Time reallytook off of its own accord) I participated in Gadge Day 2017, working my buttoff to find and schedule (and tag) over 100 carefully chosen Gale/Madge/Gadge aestheticposts, and for lack of a better way to say it: it turned on my Gadge-dar. After that, thosekinds of posts just leapt out at me whenever I had a chance to scroll, and forseveral months I wasn’t sure what to do with that. With a little encouragementfrom @ghtlovesthg, I came up with #march madgeness – wherein I turned my Tumblrinto Madge/Gadge-land for one month, and it was a blast. (Side-stepping Gadgefor a moment: Madge is a highly underappreciated and underused character,especially in fic/on Tumblr and I love splashing the dash with Madge-love.) Thenext month I launched a run of pent-up Everlark posts (i.e., regularprogramming), but I missed my Madge, so I instituted #madge monday – one day aweek when I could splash the dash with Madge/Gadge. At every juncture I gavepeople tags to block if they didn’t want to see this content (though I stillget unfollows every time I post, alas). I participated in last summer’s THG Reread– on the fringe of it, but my posts (reblogs and meta) were strongly Everlark-focusedagain during that time. So there’s definitely still been Everlark on my blog,but if you’re just dropping in (or for that matter, glancing at my archive), you’regoing to see a majority of Madge/Gadge.

6. Frankly, Gadge is fun. It’s a completely different dynamicthan Everlark, with less pressure to create something transcendent, and whenthe chips are down, I’m more likely to work on something that isn’t my six-years-runningopus. This spring, in the midst of lots of awfulness, I finally wrote a piecethat I’ve had in my head for years – The Best Part of Waking Up – with a differentpairing featured in each drabble “chapter,” including Gadge, Luka/Johanna (whoI’ve been wanting to put out there for AGES) and Jack/Raisa. I haven’t beenable to write quickly in years, and I think I finished those three “chapters”in about two days, maybe three. I completed the Raisa drabble in a couple ofhours and I consider it one of the best things I’ve ever written. (Honestly, ifa pairing was going to topple Everlark in my heart, it would be Jack/Raisa, i.e.,Mr. Everdeen/Mrs. Mellark. I love them to distraction.) Once upon a time I could drabble/sprint Everlark too – notoften, but I could manage it. Maybe it’ll happen again someday, but for thetime being, when I write in quick eager bursts, it’s usually about aside-pairing.

7. Because I just need to say it: about a year ago, I set up a secondary Tumblr for almost all my side-interests and ships outside of THG. When I first joined Tumblr, porchwood was just a fun page where I posted whatever struck my fancy (pretty things, funny things, whatever I liked), and over the next few years, I honed it into a pretty “writer’s notebook” for WtM and my other THG fics (related quotes, aesthetic posts, writing check-ins, etc.). When Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, I shared a handful of posts pertaining to a new ship (not a new direction for my blog or writing, just sharing my excitement) and it was made very clear to me that people didn’t want to see that content on my page. So when I started watching Voltron: Legendary Defender, I had a sneaking suspicion people wouldn’t want to hear about those ships either. So I started an entirely new Tumblr for that content, and every so often I accidentally post something to the wrong page, which I immediately correct in horror, but people still unfollow. Point being: this blog is THG (and a few personal life updates) ONLY, with a pretty consistent aesthetic. I hide literally everything else that I’m interested in so you don’t have to be bothered by it. Is it really so unacceptable for me to have side-ships (complementary to the main pairing, not threatening to them) in the same universe??

8. Believe it or not, I’ve been working on WtM all along,just not making any massive strides. I tried to chip away at the current chapterduring Camp Nanowrimo last July, and it was a disaster. I thought joining awriting group would be helpful, but I didn’t realize that Camp Nano is basicallya lot of writing sprints in which you try to churn out as many words aspossible, which you then report to your “cabin” – and that’s the onlyinteraction with your fellow writers. I can’t write like that anymore (seeabove) and especially not when it comes to WtM, so I got discouraged veryquickly and sort of drifted away. I reattempted Nano on my own in April and wrotealmost 15K words, but in that instance I was really just using the Nano platform toset and reach a goal (which I didn’t ☹ ); I wasn’t in a cabin and didn’t interact with anyother writers, except my friend @ghtlovesthg, who read the finished portion.

9. I want to finish this dang chapter so much, and frankly, theonly way that’s going to happen is if life gets a little better and I holemyself up with my laptop for hours on end for weeks at a time – and somemagical being comes to support/cheer/comfort me while I do so. It’s currentlysitting at about 25K and I anticipate it will need to be at least double that,which is beyond ridiculous, but that’s the nature of WtM. The chapters are asmany words as it takes.

TL, DR: I still love Everlark and I’m still working on WtM, but my life has been extremely difficult for a very long time and I don’t have a great Everlark lifeline. Gadge and all my other ships are fun, and most of the Gadge you see on my Tumblr is aesthetic stuff for themed days/months/occasions. Anything non-THG goes on my sideblog.

[sol1056]

S7: both here and there, pt1

The best word for S7 --- from a data standpoint --- is polarizing. 

The datasets have been pretty volatile, and that’s telling in and of itself. I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the earliest Rotten Tomatoes’ score for S7, at 13%. As word spread, I’m not kidding when I say I gleefully refreshed every five minutes to watch the votes jump up another 200 or so --- while the actual score inched upwards like molasses in January.

Crowd-sourced ratings --- Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Yelp, Good Reads, Amazon, etc --- aren’t unknown quantities anymore. We know the first round of reviews, the majority of the time, will produce the highest ratings. After that, it’ll slowly drop until it reaches an equilibrium (when a few votes could no longer tip the score). A break in that established pattern --- of the low votes coming in first --- is a bad sign. Displeased viewers are more likely to just turn off; it takes shit getting real --- or  personal --- to get action from the angry ones.  

A little context: the first 200 or so votes had an average of about 1.9, which is beyond abysmal. If it’d been a 2.5 to 3.0, that’d signal dislike. 1.9 is verging on serious rage --- and every time someone put out the cry that the average wasn’t climbing fast enough, it simply drew more attention to the developing schism.

S7 now has 2758 votes, 1.4 times more than S1-S6 put together. The fandom moved at a fever pitch, and many of those calls were exhorting fans to vote a flat 5. To still only get a 3.9 average means almost 700 people gave the season the lowest possible score. That’s one-quarter of the viewing populace. One-quarter. 

Let’s hypothesize the first 250 or so votes were a single cranky group. If everyone else was generally happy to give 4s or 5s, S7 would be at 91% with a 4.2 average. Without access to the actual breakdown, the only conclusion is that there was no single negative push. The anger continued, even as a larger group tried to cloak that anger with inflated values. 

And that’s just the simplest example of polarization and volatility I’m seeing in every dataset, which is why I waited a bit longer to report in. As a warning, there is no single value to say this season was good or bad; we’re going to have to consider all the data in context before we can pass judgment. 

We’ll start with the usual datasets to get a sense of estimated viewership and audience engagement and get the broad strokes. In the follow-up I’ll get into more datasets that will round things out for a fuller picture.

an explanation about Netflix ratings

For those of you just tuning in, Netflix is a black box. They never share the specific viewership data, and even the ‘trending’ is calculated based on the viewer + other various data. (Your trending on Netflix is not automatically the same list as someone else’s.) The few times anyone’s tried to capture viewing data, naturally Netflix swears the numbers are all wrong. 

The closest we can come is Wikipedia’s page analysis, which apparently correlates to Neilson ratings. That means we’re extrapolating that we could expect the same behaviors from viewers for digital shows. These aren’t the ‘real’ viewer numbers, but that’s fine. I’m using them for comparison, after all, so what really matters is the change, not the total. 

a note about the two core datasets

The wikipedia dataset and the google dataset are essentially measuring audience engagement. The drawback is that past 90 days, google’s dataset is combined into weeks, plus it’s relative. To compare multiple seasons, I’m stuck with by-week values. I prefer wikipedia’s dataset for this finer-grained look, because I can get down to the day.

However, I’ve taken the two datasets, merged by week, and compared. They map almost exactly, with a caveat, The release-week values for wikipedia are always higher than google’s by around 5%, and the between-release lull values on google are higher than wikipedia’s by about the same. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, but without actual numbers from google, eyeballing is it probably good enough for my purposes.

post-release tails comparison

A little over two weeks in, first thing is we check the tails, which are a measure of how long engagement lasts after a season’s release. There’ll be a peak, and then interest will taper off until it hits a threshold, usually the level of audience engagement in the lull between seasons. Sometimes, the tail is relatively flat and long (ie S6). In others, the tail is a bit steeper, indicating a quick drop-off (S3-S5). But it’s also a factor of how high the peak reached, in that some seasons will have farther to go (S1, S2) before reaching that lull threshold where the ‘tail’ ends.  

After S6 (yellow line) reversed the falling trend, S7 (dashed green line) is following the same path. If you were expecting a tremendous rise (or fall), you’d be disappointed; the surprise in S7 is that it has no surprises in this dataset. It’s holding the line established by S6, albeit at a higher engagement rate.

This graph takes the above, and adjusts so the peaks are equalized. Now we can see the tails in a better comparison. 

S7 wobbles in equal measure to balance out S6; the most we could say is that S7 is holding the line. It neither gained, nor lost. Because the two graphs above are daily, there’s a bit of noise. To streamline that, we’ll take the same data but gathered into weeks (Friday to following Thursday, as releases are always Friday). 

comparing the first four weeks of every season

Here we’re comparing the totals for the first week of all seven seasons, then the second week, etc. (S7′s data is incomplete for the 3rd week, so that green bar will probably increase.) 

Even here, there are some interesting details hiding in the data. Basically, the rate at which S6 built on S5 is pretty close to the rate on which S7 is building on S6. And the fact is... that’s not how multi-seasons stories usually work. 

comparing viewership peaks across seasons

As comparison, this is google’s interest over time tracker for House of Cards:

If a series is expected to go out with a bang, there's usually a spike for the final season, but all the seasons before will steadily degrade, and often by a regular percentage. A quick comparison of several multi-season, serial, shows (Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Stranger Things, Daredevil, TrollHunters) seems to indicate the House of Cards pattern would be considered a successful show. Whenever it peaks, about 20% of those viewers will drop out, and after that, the numbers hold mostly steady, with perhaps a 5-10% drop at most. (Trollhunters breaks this mold with a 50% drop for S2, and a finale that almost matches its S1 peak.) 

With that in mind, let’s look at the rate of change from one point to another: the peak of season A to the peak of season B. They’re floating so you can see better how the drop from one affected the next. 

After S1, 31% of the audience dropped VLD. Of the remainder, 20% quit after S2; after S3, a further 20% didn’t come back for S4. This is where you can see S4's damage: 28% didn’t come back for S5. All told, between S1 and S5, 68% of the viewers quit the show. If VLD had been a Netflix original, S5 would have been its last season.

But thanks to marketing or hype, 17% of those lost viewers returned for S6, which in turn influenced the return of 22% more viewers for S7. None of the other shows had a mid-series rise, let alone a second increase. Viewership hasn’t caught back up to the levels after S2, though, but if I were to say any point turned around the sinking ship, it’s clearly S6.  

It’s too soon to say whether S7 will take that further, or if S7 is just holding onto the lead S6 put in place. We won’t really know that until S8.

weekly rate of change to see patterns

Some of the seasons peaked on the 2nd or 3rd day, so I started from that point; starting on the release date (with lower numbers) would camouflage that peak and defeat the purpose of this comparison. The question here is: can we see a pattern in viewership engagement over the first month after a release? 

With rate of change, the smaller the drop, the lower the difference. Frex, look at the 3rd and 4th weeks of S5. The difference between weeks 3 & 4, and weeks 4 & 5, is only 1%. That means the engagement level was dropping at a steady rate across those weeks. 

Now you can see the real damage: S4. Basically, a week after S4′s release, 78% of the audience checked out. Next to that, S5 regains a tiny bit of ground, and S6 increased that. So far, S7 is holding steady with S6. 

Again, S7 hasn’t lost ground, but it hasn’t really gained, either.

pre- and post-season context: measuring hype

What none of these graphs show, so far, is the context of each season. For that, we need to look across all the seasons. Again to reduce the noise (but not so much it’s flattened), I’ve collected days into weeks, starting on friday, ending the following thursday. The release week is marked with that season’s color.  

I know it’s kinda hard to see, here, sorry. To throw in a different dataset for a moment, here’s a simple track of all searches for ‘voltron legendary defender’ from May 2018 to now. 

This pattern echoes across several other datasets, btw. There’s a spike for S6, which never entirely drops off, and then we get a second spike for the premiere at SDCC. (Which is also the first time a between-season premiere has skyrocketed like that.) After SDCC, the base level stays high. 

In other words, does S7 appear as a larger spike because it began from a higher base rate? How do we compare season-to-season, when one starts at a radically elevated position compared to the rest?

The question became how to untangle hype from viewer reaction to the season. Here’s the viewership levels for S5, S6, and S7, again consolidated into weeks. 

After S5, things dropped pretty low. A week before S6, reviews, a trailer, and some wacky marketing hijinks lured a lot of people back in. Two things happened between S6 and S7 that are worth noting. 

The first, two weeks after S6, was the announcement that Shiro was no longer a paladin, and his link with Black had been severed. This weekly graph blurs the details slightly, but the drop you see in the next two light-gray columns actually starts the day after that announcement. 

The second gray bar is SDCC, where S7E1 premiered. In the gap between then and the week before release, the levels drop back to the new (higher) baseline. Excitement was high, propelling audience engagement. If hype is meant to increase engagement, and these datasets are capturing the same thing to some basic degree, there’s a value in what the pre-season week and post-season week could be telling us. 

the narrative in the data

If the week-prior is high, it means audiences are engaged due to pre-season marketing, trailers, rumors, and reviews. If the week-after is high, it means audiences are excited and engaging directly with the show itself. In other words, you could say week-prior measures how much people are buzzing or getting ready, and week-after measures how much they’re re-watching or encouraging others to watch.

For S1 and S2, the week-prior was really low. After S1 there was a splash in October, but not big enough to keep energy up through to S2. Both S1 and S2 had much higher week-after rates. The simplest reason would be that people who’d seen the season were now talking about it and raising buzz on their own, thus propelling further engagement. 

Until S7, S3 had the highest week-prior engagement --- and the first time there was a drop, comparatively, in the week-after. S4 follows that trend, with a much larger drop. S5′s before and after are close to equal, which to me says that whatever excitement was ginned up prior, the season didn’t have much of an impact one way or another. It feels almost apathetic, actually. 

S6 reverses the trend; people went into it barely more excited than they had been after finishing S5, but for the first time since S2, there was a post-release rise. Audiences were engaged again. Even with the drop from the post-season news, it wasn’t so far SDCC couldn’t rocket it back up again. But if you look at the graph above for S7, once again there’s a slight drop in the week-after. 

Given the level of week-prior excitement (especially with the SDCC spike still fresh in people’s minds), the lack of post-season buzz is noticeable. 

To get a better look, I’ve isolated the rate of change for each season, comparing week-prior and week-after. S1 and S2 had such extreme amounts (744% and 156% increases, respectively) that it torqued the entire graph. I’ve left them off so we can focus on S3 through S7. 

After S3, engagement dropped by 9%, indicating a less-enthused audience after seeing the season. S4 went further, dropping by 27%. S5 managed a small increase of 4%, and S6 increased engagement by 18%. 

S7 has a 2% drop. Not as bad as S3′s, but nowhere near the huge spike we should’ve seen, had the pre-season hype been borne out in the season itself. That excitement didn’t quite pop like S4; it’s more like a slow leak.  

comparing across datasets

One more thing before I wrap up this first post. Google’s data is on the left, and Wikipedia’s dataset is on the right, with the weeks marked that include the actual release date. (I did this in excel so the images don’t line up quite right, but hopefully it’s good enough to illustrate.)

With Wikipedia’s daily values added in a Fri-to-Thu week group, there’s only one week before a strong drop. With the Google calendar-style (Sun to Sat), S7′s second week goes even higher, and the drop is steep. 

In the Google numbers, 2/7ths of the green bar is ‘now showing on Netflix,’ and the remaining 5/7ths is the hype-based engagement levels. The same goes for the week following, which in google’s dataset is even higher; 5/7ths of that, plus the last 2 days of the week before, equal the S7 green bar on the Wikipedia dataset, on the right.   

And that means there was enough traffic in five days to propel an entire week to even higher than the week that contained the first two days of the season (which usually loom over all others by a noticeable degree). It’s even more remarkable when you look at the Wikipedia dataset, which is arranged to run from Friday to the following Thursday -- and which does have a drop-off. 

I’ll be tapping a few more datasets to unpack this anomaly, in my next post. I’ll warn you now, they paint a very different picture of S7. 

part 2 can be found here  

[yuki-setsu]

[New] Painful Nights, Sleepless Awakenings

hi hello please accept this while i meager up the strength to finish up my WIP;;; wrote this for an event called Langst Palooza (@langstpalooza), so take the chance to check out the other great works people will be putting out!!

there should be 4 chapters and i’ll be posting every friday until it’s complete ^^ (lord i hope the cut works i don’t want to clog people’s dashes T__T) 

it’ll also be updating on AO3 if you read on there! the full collection for the stories that’ll be part of this event can also be found here! 😃

Summary: A potential alliance gone wrong lands Lance at the receiving end of a curse that makes him experience unbearable pain whenever he tries to sleep. Unfortunately, trying to shrug it off and deal with it on his own might bring consequences that become too heavy to bear.

Forging alliances usually went smoothly.

It tended to be a simple affair: make contact with a peaceful planet with the intent of bringing them under the protection of Voltron, and then go for a face-to-face meeting once they got approval to land. Some took more persuading than others, having faced the horrific realities of Galra strikes and the Empire's suffocating influence. But most of the time, they came around and things were resolved amicably, sometimes even with a celebration.

Lance found the planet of Xa'Qar nice. Kind of dreary and too warm at first glance, but he thought the tranquil and steady ambience was comforting. It reminded him of days where he napped on the beach back on Earth, the sun soaking warm rays in his skin and the waves crashing in his ears.

He glanced around at the looming tree-like plants that seemed to span the entirety of the area the team was passing through. The Xa'Qans had agreed to meeting for a possible alliance, and Allura had landed the Castle in the one open patch of land they could find closest to the small village the species resided in. The planet was like a big, warm jungle. Except all of the trees were as tall as redwood, and weird yellow ginkgo-looking leaves covered every inch of what would usually be bark.

“These things look like huge, fluffy French Fries,” Lance said, reaching out a hand to gingerly touch the leaves of another tree they passed.

“They are called Zensag.” The Xa'Qan replied. A guide had been waiting for the team at the landing point, calmly greeting them before guiding them down a path towards their civilization. “They grow even without direct care from us, but they provide much to our people. Their leaves are used with other ingredients for effective remedies, their wood helps us create our homes, and they bear fruit that can feed many.”

“They look incredible.” Allura chimed in politely, earning a small nod from the guide.

Lance hummed, lightly bumping shoulders with Hunk once in a while as they walked side-by-side down the path. Shiro, Keith, and Pidge were walking just ahead, but they trekked on silently, too exhausted for small talk. There had been an Galra raid in the middle of the night on a planet not too far from Xa'Qar and two other separate emergencies throughout the day before they'd finally come here in the evening for the alliance talk, leaving most of them running on—at most—5 hours of sleep. No one was really in the mood to expend any more unnecessary energy.

“We are here,” the guide announced, stopping in front of a large arch, a clear division between the end of the forest and the beginning of the Xa'Qan's home. The houses, needless to say, were... yellow. Turns out the wood of the Zensag were as bright as its leaves.

For some reason, the guide chose to wait until they all navigated to the small hut in the heart of the city to announce that the leader preferred to have small company during negotiations, resulting in just Allura and Shiro heading inside to talk. The rest of them were told that they could “explore the village as they wished”, but the guide hesitated for a moment before adding, “we advise that you disregard anything the witch doctor says should she approach you.” They ducked inside the hut before anyone could fully process the statement.

Lance had no idea what they meant, and quite frankly, the words sounded a bit worrying despite the calm and brief manner in which the warning was delivered. How were they supposed to even know who the witch doctor was, anyways? He doubted this planet held the same stereotypical interpretation of what a witch was imagined to look like back on Earth, with her green skin, pointed hat, and smoking cauldron. He leaned over to voice the question to the team, but found that everyone else had already dispersed. Pidge and Hunk were busy fawning over a snack offering of what looked like warm biscuits brought over by a young Xa'Qan, and Keith had opted to linger and keep watch near the leader's hut, so Lance headed over towards a pair of Xa'Qans that were quietly watching under the shade of another home.

“How are you?” He started brightly, keeping what he felt was an appropriate distance for a first encounter. “The name's Lance, also known as the incredible Blue Paladin of Voltron. But the pleasure's mine.”

The pair seemed to neither accept or reject his introduction, simply staring at him with their hazel eyes. All of them seemed to have the same eyes, he realized—piercing but accented against the dark brown of their skin. The only thing that distinguished them—asides from their outfits—were their ears, which looked like the equivalent of large, floppy dog ears that drooped down to brush against the top of their shoulders. The color of their ears seemed to differ with each Xa'Qan, even similar shades having a slightly different hue.

The extended silence had Lance shifting uncomfortably. “Uh, sorry. Was that rude?”

One of the Xa'Qans finally responded with a slight shake of their head, donning a small grin as their gray ears jostled with the movement. “It was not. We have just not met an outsider who acts as... familiarly as you.”

“Oh.” Lance smiled again, the tension in his shoulders receding. “Well, when it comes to making conversation, you can say I'm the best Paladin for the job. Love the planet, by the way. Very, uh, yellow and warm.”

The green-eared Xa'Qan straightened slightly, perking up at his words. “We take very good care of it, and it us. We let the trees grow and prosper throughout the days, and we work in the nights to harvest and collect wood.”

Lance tilted his head. “Wow, busy workers. When do you all sleep, then?”

It was the gray-eared Xa'Qan's turn to puff up their chest, a smug look on their face. “We do not need sleep to function. We are always awake.”

Lance blinked, not sure if he heard right. “You...don't sleep? At all?” His eyes widened at their nods, a smile growing on his own face. “You don't feel tired ever? That's insane! In a good way, I mean!”

“The most exhaustion we will feel is from overwork, but that is easily overcome by sitting for a short time and eating to regain energy.” The green-eared Xa'Qan was speaking animatedly, her eyes shining. “After so many tries, we can finally use every dobash possible to commit ourselves to prospering as a village.”

The question was already lodged in Lance's throat, and he couldn't stop himself from asking. “Wait, 'so many tries'? Does that mean your species wasn't born not needing sleep?”

The conversation reached a lull, neither of the Xa'Qan's scrambling to speak this time. They exchanged a quick glance before the gray-eared one cleared their throat. “You could say it was an...improvement. Our village gained the ability through the mixture of an herbal concoction and some...witchcraft.” Their face grew dark at the last word, and Lance had the nagging sense not to press further on the subject.

But before he could even find a topic to switch to, another voice rang out from the side, low and ragged. “Not witchcraft, but magic.” He glanced over to see a small hooded figure standing a good few feet away, their form hunched and obscuring their appearance completely. “Good magic, bad magic, stolen magic.”

One of the Xa'Qan let out a noise of disgust, and Lance looked to see them already inching away from the newcomer. They met Lance's gaze, giving him a curt nod before turning in the opposite direction. “We will be leaving now. Be well, Blue Paladin.” They left almost too quickly, heading towards the middle of the village where Hunk and the others still were.

Lance stared at their retreating figures, a bit dumbfounded before he blinked and turned back around to see if the figure was still there. They were, and even though their head was ducked, Lance felt like their eyes were trained solely on him. It was an uncomfortable sensation that crawled up his spine like spiders.

“Blue Paladin,” the figure croaked, as if they hadn't spoken properly in ages. “Blue. You are indeed blue. Come a little closer.”

He took a step forward reflexively before freezing, a bit of uncertainty tickling his chest. “Uh, are you... Are you the witch doctor?”

“I am no witch.” The form hissed, practically bristling under the large robe. “I am a doctor, yet they call me a witch. Even though they live this way due to me.”

'Disregard anything the witch doctor says should she approach you', the guide had said.

Lance shifted his weight from side to side, not knowing how to exactly approach the situation. After a few seconds, he opted to smile, trying to look as friendly as he could. “Okay, doctor it is. I'm guessing you mean you were the one who helped them achieve this 'no sleep needed' thing?”

For a moment, the figure didn't respond. But then she straightened up, letting her hood fall back to reveal an aged face lined with wrinkles and black ears. Even with that appearance, Lance had a feeling that she was even older than she seemed. But what unsettled him the most was her expression. It was angry, haunted, bitter—a stark contrast from the peaceful and quiet vibe the other Xa'Qan's gave off.

“Yes. My biggest accomplishment, my biggest mistake.” She growled, creeping closer. Lance fought down the urge to back away, although he was ready to bolt for it if things got out of hand. “Do not trust this village. They took everything from me for themselves.” She was right in front of him now, her height just barely reaching up to his chest.

“Lance, whatcha doing over there?” Hunk's voice drifted in before he draped an arm over Lance's shoulders, happily oblivious. “Look, you gotta try this Zensag bread. I swear it tastes like oatmeal cookies.” His voice tapered off for a second, realizing Lance hadn't been alone. “Oh. Hello.”

Lance took the bread from Hunk's hand, choosing to save it for later. “Thanks, buddy. This is, uh, the village doctor? Hey, did you know that they don't—”

“What do you seek on this planet?” The Xa'Qan cut in, voice low.

The question threw both Lance and Hunk for a loop. Lance couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a trick question, or if she genuinely had no idea why they were here.

Hunk recovered first, a confused noise at the back of his throat. “Um, Voltron's alliance with this planet, I guess? I mean, the Princess and our leader are still in talks with your leader, but yeah.”

The witch-doctor's eyes flashed, an almost deadly look creeping across her face. “You wish to ally with this village? They will only take. Never give. Bad beings. If you negotiate with them, you are no better than they.”

Lance straightened up slightly, suddenly glad Hunk was there with him as support. “Look, I don't know what you have against the village, but Voltron just wants to provide protection for the planet should it ever come under threat by the Galra.” He could feel Hunk's hand still on his shoulder, the slight anxiety dancing off his fingertips. “We fight the bad guys, defend the universe, all that jazz.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, and her face twisted into one of raw anger. “You wish to protect them? Then you are even worse.” Her hand whipped out, reaching for Lance's wrist. “You will regret saying such vile words.”

Her fingers had barely brushed the top of his armor, and it should have been impossible for him to feel the fleeting contact at all. But he felt it, a slight twinge sparking across the area like a burst of static electricity, as if she'd touched his bare skin. It wasn't painful, but Lance jerked his arm back in surprise. Hunk jumped at the movement, already stepping backwards as he used his arm to drag Lance with him.

“Uh, I think I hear our teammates calling us.” Hunk laughed nervously, voice high. “We'll be leaving now.”

The witch-doctor said nothing as Hunk led Lance away, although the boiled anger in her gaze already spoke plenty. Lance finally forced himself to turn around, swallowing down the mild panic that had been rushing up his throat as they reached the front of the leader's hut again. Keith was still propped against the yellow home, arms crossed and a bored expression on his face. He raised an eyebrow when the two approached, but he said nothing as Hunk came to a stop, letting out a large sigh.

“That was... kinda creepy.”

Lance nodded, the spot on his armor that the Xa'Qan had touched feeling...oddly exposed, even though his armor was still fully covering what it should. He couldn't understand why she'd been so angry, but suddenly, this planet started feeling a bit more unpleasant than peaceful.

There was movement out of the corner of his eye before someone snatched at the bread that had still been lying in Lance's hand. He glanced over to catch Pidge shoving the last few bits into her mouth, a triumphant grin on her face.

“You snooze, you lose. Should've eaten it when you had the chance.” She sing-sang. Her smile faltered slightly when she caught Lance's expression. “Did something happen?”

A door opened before he could reply, and all eyes landed on Allura and Shiro as they made their way back out of the hut. Allura was smiling, but the strain in it was poorly hidden. Shiro hadn't even bothered, looking more than a bit disgruntled as he followed behind her. No Xa'Qan accompanied them out.

“Paladins,” Allura started, her voice excessively upbeat. “Let us head back to the Castle. We will debrief once we've taken off.”

From the looks of it, the talks clearly didn't go well. Everyone followed along silently, and Lance took a chance to see if the witch-doctor was still there as they headed back towards the forest. She wasn't.

By the time everyone had filed into the Castle, Allura had stopped looking cordial, a scowl on her face as she set the ship for a course back up into space. They were gathered on the bridge, standing awkwardly with Coran as they waited for a sort of explanation, one Shiro clearly wasn't tripping over himself to offer.

“So...” Hunk said slowly. “The alliance...?”

“Is not happening.” Allura answered flatly. “Our ideals and methods simply did not align, so it was bound to not reach fruition.” She turned around at the heavy silence, an apologetic smile on her face. “Do not be too down. Our goal is still the same. We will continue to expand Voltron's protection with planets that seek our help. We are not guaranteed to be accepted by all of them.”

“The Princess is right,” Coran piped up brightly. “We've all had a long day, I think we all deserve a good rest for now. Good work today, Paladins.”

The team mumbled in acknowledgment before they all headed towards the kitchen for some food. They'd been so busy that they'd barely eaten all day. But somehow, Lance somehow didn't feel that hungry. His mind kept flashing back to that witch-doctor, so resentful and overflowing with anger. His wrist tickled again, but he ignored it.

That night, Lance woke up to the worst pain he'd ever experienced in his life. It was like knives scraping at the insides of his body, the pain radiating throughout so violently it jolted him out of the slow tendrils of sleep in an instant. He pushed himself upright, practically tearing both the eye mask and headphones off and tossing them to the side in his panic. What was hell?

His head felt like it was threatening to split open any second, not helping the almost burning sensation that was dragging across the rest of his body. But as soon as it started, it seemed to ebb away, like a slow and receding tide. He doubted it at first, thinking that the pain was just so great it was numbing out his senses, but no, it was definitely going away. It didn't take more than 30 seconds before Lance was sitting in the dark with nothing but a cold sweat and slight shudders that ran down his skin with each heavy breath. His throat felt raw. Had he screamed? He couldn't remember.

Blue was fuzzy in his mind, her concern washing over him. He glanced down, placing a shaky hand against his chest where the pain had felt the greatest. Then checked under his shirt to make certain that he didn't actually have some sort of injury. There was nothing, and Lance was starting to think he just had some sort of crazily realistic nightmare. That had to be it—there was no other explanation.

His heart rate was still well above the norm by the time he'd retrieved his eye mask and Pidge's headphones (they hadn't broken, thankfully—Pidge would've killed him), and he opted for a few breathing exercises before he let himself lie back down.

The second time around, he woke up to the same excruciating pain almost immediately, and this time he didn't even have the energy to sit up and recover his senses. He pressed his face against the pillow, screaming into it as his hands gripped at the fabric so tightly it might have torn. But the same thing was happening. The moment his mind began to jolt awake and reorient itself, the pain was already beginning to fizzle out like a dying flame. Only when it seemed to have completely disappeared did he finally release his death grip on the pillow, rolling onto his side. The headphone pressed uncomfortably against his ear, and he took them off a bit more gently this time, placing them next to him as he removed the eye mask and blinked blearily at his darkened room.

Something was wrong. He had no idea what was going on. Was he sick? He felt fine now, though. Shaken up, but fine. He pushed himself upright again, pressing his hands gingerly against his stomach. Felt it rise with each unsteady breath he took. Why did he feel so normal now? All he could remember was waking up both times to—

He blinked. Now that he thought about it, the pain left nearly as soon as he woke up. As if it only seemed to trigger once he fell asleep. A shudder passed through his body, settling into an uneasy weight in his chest. That almost sounded like a curse...

An image of the witch-doctor flashed through his mind for a quick second, but he swallowed down the sudden panic. No, he was overthinking this. It sounded crazy. It was crazy. Even still, his stomach lurched at the idea of trying to go to sleep again, of having to relive that sort of rude awakening a third time.

He didn't sleep that night, sitting against the wall of his bed as he thought about blue oceans and orange sunsets.

                                                        (Hour 28)

All-nighters never came easy for Lance. Sleep was important—vital—both for healthy skin and a healthy mind. If given the chance, Lance avoided all-nighters like the plague. Usually, it never came to that extreme, and he always managed a few hours of sleep in between late night Galra attacks and distress calls from nearby planets. But as morning crept around, Lance wondered how Pidge managed all of her sleepless nights. His body felt particularly heavy as he slumped against the wall, wishing he could sink into his bed and be wrapped into a warm cocoon. It was so tempting, the idea of curling back under the blankets and drifting off, even though it was the completely wrong time to do so.

Lance sighed, pushing himself onto his feet as he rubbed at his eyes. The room's lights felt brighter than usual—he'd turned them on halfway through the night to keep himself awake—and he trudged to the bathroom with heavy steps.

What was wrong with him? He had no idea, and he had no idea how to explain to anyone if he tried to bring it up. He hurt whenever he tried to fall asleep? He didn't know how to describe it if anyone asked; the sensation felt too visceral in a way that words seemed to fall short of portraying it accurately. Maybe it was just a psychological thing. But how does he fix something like that?

He figured it might wear off. He hoped, at least. Then maybe later through the day, he'd be able to nap without any of his current worries. It sounded optimistic, almost too optimistic, but Lance was desperate for anything that would help him get through the day. Hopefully they wouldn't have to do anything that required a lot of concentration—he could barely focus on one thing at a time.

After he'd gotten ready and headed down for breakfast, he wasn't surprised to see he was the last one to arrive. The others were already seated, in various stages of finishing their bowl while they shared idle chatter amongst themselves. Hunk was the first to catch his eye when he walked in, his smile slipping into something more concerned by the time Lance got close enough to slide into the seat next to him.

“Dude...” Hunk started hesitantly. “You look kinda...”

“Terrible?” Lance supplied, eyes shut as he slumped against the chair. “Worse for wear? Like a dried up plant?”

There was a small clatter, and Lance peeked an eye open to see Hunk grabbing a bowl that Shiro passed over the table before placing it in front of his seat. “Yeah, basically,” Hunk said, a slight grin on his face. “Trouble sleeping last night?”

The question brought back the current reality of his situation back with startling clarity, jerking Lance out of his drowsiness. He straightened up, grumbling as he reached for the bowl of space goo. “Don't get me started. I didn't sleep at all.”

Across the table, Pidge made a slight noise, almost surprised. “You pulled an all-nighter? That's new.” She'd already finished her bowl, one hand propping her head up as she stared at him lazily. One look was enough for him to tell that she didn't get much sleep, either. Although that was probably out of poor life choices, not whatever he was dealing with. “What were you doing up?”

Lance picked at his bowl, his appetite failing to rouse him enough to eat. He could hardly remember last night, his memory a blur of bright lights and hazy thoughts. It was exhausting just to try and recall the past few hours, so he gave up, opting to focus on the weird texture of the food in his bowl as he mixed the spoon around. It was gross, but it kept him awake.

“Uh, hello?” Hunk's voice suddenly cut in, and Lance startled at the hand waving in front of his eyes. “Earth to Lance? Don't tell me you fell asleep.”

Lance blinked, looking up to see the rest of the table had quieted down, all staring at him after Hunk's question. He felt the heat rising to his face, shaking his head as he sat up, the spoon all but abandoned in his bowl. “I didn't, I was just... thinking. I probably just had trouble sleeping because I wasn't feeling that great last night.”

Hunk's brow furrowed, eyes scanning even more closely. “Maybe you're sick?” He raised a hand towards Lance's forehead. “Do you have a fever?”

Lance batted the hand away, clicking his tongue. “I'm fine. No fever. Not sick. Nada. Don't mind me.”

“We will be training around one varga after we finish eating and preparing,” Allura said, watching him carefully. “Are you sure you will be alright?”

Just the thought of having to train had his body groan with exhaustion, but Lance forced himself to nod, a tight smile on his face. “Don't worry, Princess. Nothing I can't handle. Appreciate the concern, though.”

He was glad no one pressed much further, although Lance grew acutely aware of the subtle glances people threw his way, as if they were expecting him to fall asleep in his food. Not a far off possibility, but Lance wasn't going to let that happen. The last thing he needed was to wake up screaming in the middle of breakfast and freak everyone out. So Lance ignored the fatigue pressing at the back of his eyes, shoveling down a few spoonfuls of food at Hunk's insistence.

He'd deal with it after training.

[reigensarataka]

You are just??? the sweetest??? You're so nice!!!! I love seeing your stuff on my dash because you're so kind and sweet to everyone jsksshwhwjshhs sorry for taking up your time thooo ^-^'

whenever i wanna feel reinvigorated about my klance optimism, i do two things,, 1) i reread the klible and 2) i go through your blog 😂 -🐬

*whispers: you’re an intellectual. I knew there was a reason I followed you. (You know apart from you being nice and positive and funny and etc etc :) ) -🐠 

Thank you again for being so positive and keeping positive about s7. I send all my love to you - 🦑

NO!!! DON’T SHUT UP NESSA!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hi i love you. you’re doing amazing today sweetie. ALSO TOMORROW IS THE DAY -🐨

hi i love ur acc and u as a person so much like, thank u for always trying to stay optimistic abt this stuff, it sucks that there’s even an option not to be like… it’s 2018 ppl shouldn’t be scared to have lgbt rep in their shows sigh

Honestly at this point I’m expecting a disaster and only hoping for the best. Also thank you for staying positive through these trying times and neglecting the FUCK out of Voltron twitter cause I’m feeling so drained 💖💝💓💗💕❤️💘 - hope

nessa i only started following u like a week ago but ur so optimistic and great and ily ♡            

That’s so pure and sweet! We don’t deserve you, Nessa! 💖 - 🦑

Nessa, Queen of KeySmash.

nessa whenever i wake up i check tumblr to see if you posted bc your funny and every day without fail you make me laugh and ily!!!

[rosesnvines]

Little Mouse & Komainu: Keith’s POV

Keith’s side of this post, though it starts after school, there is a quick backstory and more details about the Voltron team. And man oh man, @kalluralove, now I really want pics of the two with their arusins! I’m just squealing at how cute Keith and Blachu got!! XD This can be for the Lion and Mouse prompt, as well as Lost and Found, maybe? But it’s mainly only a mention made by Keith about finding his place. Anyway, without further ado, enjoy these adorable babies!

The drive home was unusually quiet. Shiro usually liked to talk about the other grades he taught science to and their antics. But right then, Shiro kept glancing oddly at Keith. Keith let out a groan and gave in.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that for?”

“Just wondering if it’s the same Keith, that’s all. Whenever Allura was around, you changed, you seemed . . . different.”

“Different how? Allura was the only thing that was different about today.”

“Hmm . . . maybe you’re right.”

“Well of course I am, today was only different because it was Allura’s first day. What more did you expect? Romelle to come rushing into your classroom to greet her cousin?” Keith let out a snort when Shiro blushed slightly.

“Oh, alright, fine, just cut it out. I’m sorry, but, it was just so odd to see you act so . . . soft and kind around her.”

“Hey, remember, you keep drilling into me that as class rep, it’s supposed to be my job.”

“Alright, glad to hear all that drilling finally paid off.” But when they came to a stop at a red light, Shiro leaned in. “So, you’re absolutely sure you’re not falling in love with Allura on her first day here?”

“What? No . . . yes! I’m sure! Now cut it out!” Keith pushed Shiro back, only for the two to turn it into a playful brawl, until Shiro yelped. “Shiro! I’m so sorry! Are you alright? I didn’t mean to . . .”

“Oh, no, the light turned green. And man, you fall for that every time,” replied SHiro with a grin as the car lurched forward.

“Shiro! Come on! How do you expect me to know when you’re actually hurting?”

“Oh believe me, you’ll know,” quipped Shiro.

Keith crossed his arms. “I’m not sure if I want to know. I just don’t to go back into the system.”

“I know, Keith. Just two more years, and you won’t have to worry about it anymore. Except maybe helping me with my diapers every now and then.”

“What?” exclaimed Keith. Shiro merely laughed. “Oh come on Shiro, that’s disgusting!”

“What? Admit it, you were seriously wondering if I did, didn’t you?” Keith just grumbled in reply. Shiro just laughed as he pulled into their driveway. It was a pretty small house, just three bedrooms and one bath, with one of the bedrooms turned into Shiro’s office. Keith immediately walked off towards his room, but not before Shiro called him.

“Hey, Keith! You feel like Chinese or pizza tonight?”

“Chinese, I guess,” replied Keith with a shrug before he closed his door. It didn’t matter to him, they didn’t have many options thanks to Shiro’s medical bills. Thankfully, a couple of the lunch ladies would sneak them whatever leftovers they had. Sometimes it wasn’t much, but for the weekends, it usually was all they had. Shiro found out that they really weren’t supposed to do that, but they told him it was better than letting all that food, little as it sometimes may be, go to waste and tossed when someone could have it. They were also the ones who told them about the food drive that the school district did over the summer, and the two had never been so happy. With as much food as they got every week, they practically feasted that summer. Shiro didn’t have to worry about purchasing food and could save up that money for something else. Now, they were getting back into the old swing of things, lunch at school, take-out for dinner. Keith let out a sigh as he slumped on his bed. Well, this year should be interesting, what with a new Altena at school. Keith just hoped that she would come to understand why he and Lance wouldn’t let her near Lotor. He pictured Allura in his mind, she was so pure and innocent, yet he could sense a fire burning within. He didn’t want Lotor to tarnish her, to put put that fire. Keith unknowingly watched it happen with Avok before finally realizing what was happening, but by then, it was too late. He liked Romelle, he liked Bandor, he had even liked Avok too, before Lotor got to him. And now he simply refused to let another Altena fall to the influence and clutches of Lotor. He didn’t know what Lotor wanted with the Altenas in general, that not only drove Keith nuts, it also worried him. As such, he swore to protect the other three, if not for Avok’s sake, for Shiro’s as Keith did notice how close the two teachers had been getting. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey Keith? I’ve placed the order, the driver should be here in a few minutes. Keep an ear out for him, please? I’m going to take a shower.”

“Alright.”

“Thanks! Money’s on the table!” Keith heard Shiro walk into the bathroom and start his shower. Letting out a sigh, Keith rose from his bed, and paused. Was that there when he came in? A rectangular box was sitting on his desk, one he had never seen before. Did Shiro get him something? But that wasn’t right, Keith’s birthday wasn’t until October. So then, what was it for? Curious, he opened the box. Inside was a belt buckle with the image of a lion etched in black. OK, it actually looked pretty cool, and Keith tried it on, it fit his belt like it was made for it. But then, a flash of light emanated from it, and the next thing Keith knew, a little lion with a black mane and violet eyes was floating before him.

“Ah!” yelped Keith as he fell backwards, onto his bed. “Wh-what are you? Shiro!”

“No, sh! You can’t tell anybody about me!”

“Then what are you?”

“I’m a magical being called an arusin, my name is Blachu. I merge with the belt buckle to give you superpowers!”

Keith blinked in surprise. “Say, say what? Superpowers?”

“Yes! I can make you go faster, leap higher, jump farther, than you have ever done before! My tail can even turn into a sword!”

“A sword?” asked Keith, perhaps with a bit too much longing in his voice.

“You like swords? Nice! Yes, my tail can turn into a sword! I think we’re going to have lots of fun!” Blachu quickly covered his stomach with his paws when it grumbled and grinned sheepishly. “Um, do you have anything to eat?”

Keith’s eyes widened. “The Chinese food!” He dashed out of his room, just in time to hear some knocking at the front door. He rushed over, grabbed the money, and rushed to the door, flinging it open. “Uh, hi.”

“Hello, here is your order. That will be twenty-five dollars and thirteen cents.” Keith quickly counted out the money, and realized Shiro rounded up to twenty-six and added four dollars.

“Right, um, here you go,” said Keith, handing him the wad of bills.

“Thank you, have a wonderful day!” replied the driver quite cheerfully as he exchanged the food for the money.

“Thanks, and the same to you!” replied Keith as the driver walked away. He knew Shiro would kill him if he wasn’t at least somewhat cordial. He quickly shut the front door, locked it, and let out a breath. He set the food on the table as he glanced at the clock, it was pretty early, not even five yet. Then he noticed the sad, hungry little face of Blachu. He reached into the bag, fished around for a bit, before pulling out a dumpling and handing it to Blachu. “Here, try this.” Blachu inched forward and sniffed it.

“What is it?”

“It’s a dumpling. You haven’t been out for long, have you?” asked Keith as Blachu took a few licks.

“No, it’s been several years since any of us has been out.” Blachu decided that dumplings tasted good, took the food from Keith, and began chewing on it.

“Any of us?”

Blachu nodded as he swallowed before replying with, “Yes, there are seven of us total, five cats and two mice. We cats do the majority of the fighting while the two mice, though they are excellent warriors, are better off using their powers, the power of quintessence. They can revert all damage done by a monster, like nothing had happened. We cats must protect them at all costs because without them, nothing could go back to normal.”

“And, what are these monsters? Do you have a special power?”

“The monsters vary, sometimes they are true monsters and must be completely destroyed, sometimes they are people being controlled by an evil entity, and we must find the symbol of their controller to break the spell and enable the mice to revert them back to normal people. And yes, we do have a special power, it’s called forming Voltron!”

“Huh?”

“When the five cats are together, we can form a giant robot! I am the head and chest, the cheetah is the right arm, the lynx is the left arm, the panther is the right leg, and the tiger is the left leg. Then there are the two mice, the white house mouse and the brown field mouse.” Blachu paused as he took another bite and glanced at Keith oddly.

“Uh, what? Why are you looking at me like that for?”

“Oh, um, it’s just that, the holders, or the paladins, of the black lion and the white mouse tend to fall in love and get married,” blurted Blachu.

Keith blinked. “Say what?”

“Keith, is everything alright?” Keith and Blachu paused and slowly glanced at the bathroom door before Keith snatched up Blachu and the dumpling, rushed into his room and began taking out the few homework assignments he had.

“Uh, uh, yeah, yeah, everything’s fine! Just, just one of the problems was worded weird, that’s all!” Keith quickly shouted back. He and Blachu let out a breath when they heard Shiro laughing.

“Alright. Did the Chinese food come?”

“Yeah, about a couple of minutes ago,” replied Keith.

“Good. I’ll be out in a minute to take care of it.”

“Alright!” Keith let out a grin as Blachu chuckled softly before letting out a satisfied sigh.

“Dumplings are good. Can I try the rest of the Chinese food?”

“Alright, I’ll see if I can sneak it in here for you.”

“Thanks! Oh, aren’t you wondering?”

“Wondering about what?”

“You haven’t asked why you yet! Everyone else I’ve ever been with asked that question.”

“Well, would it be weird if I said because this felt right, like, I’m meant to do this?”

“Whoa, you’re already thinking like that?” asked Blachu.

“Yeah, well, before, when I was in foster care, I felt . . . lost. I wanted to know what my purpose was. When Shiro came and got me out, becoming my legal guardian, I thought I had something of a purpose, making sure that he was alright, but, it didn’t seem like it was what I was meant to do. Then I met some people, I got it the most when I met this girl today . . .”

“Ooohhhh,” said Blachu.

“Hey, don’t you start either,” Keith mumbled.

“But you do like her,” said Blachu with a grin.

“Didn’t you say that whoever’s with you gets together with the white mouse?”

“Yeah, but you don’t know if she is the white mouse,” quipped Blachu. The two became quiet as they heard the bathroom door open and Shiro’s footsteps walking into the dining room as he hummed. Keith moaned.

“I’m so glad he’s not a music teacher.” Blachu snickered. Just then the phone rang. “Oh good.”

“Hello? Oh, hello Mr. Holt! I actually wanted to talk to you . . . wait, what?” There was a pause. “No, I haven’t seen Katie since school ended.” Another pause. “Say what? A robotic what is attacking the city?” Keith and Blachu glanced at each other in alarm.

“A robeast,” whispered Blachu. Keith jumped up and walked to his door. “No, no, I’ll head out right now to look for them. I’ll bring them to my house until everything passes over, alright? And I’ll call you when I get back. You’re welcome sir.” Keith opened the door to his room as Shiro returned the phone to its receiver.

“Shiro? What was that about?”

“Apparently Mr. Holt is worried, Katie’s not back yet, and there’s some kind of robotic beast attacking the city. I’m going out to find her. You’re staying here.”

“Wait, what?”

“In case anyone else calls. If Katie’s still out, that means she’s still with Lance and Hunk. If their families call, I want you to let them know I’m looking for them. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“But, Shiro!” began Keith, only to be cut off by Shiro closing the front door behind him. “Ugh! Blachu!” Blachu zipped around the corner. “How do you merge with the belt?”

“You have to say, Blachu, roar out!”

“What? Oh, never mind, we’ll talk about that later. Blachu . . .” Keith was interrupted by the phone. “Well, at least it’s now rather than later,” he mumbled as he quickly picked up the phone. “Hello, Takshishi residence.”

“Hello, is Shiro Takashi there?” came a female voice.

“No, this is his brother Keith. May I ask who’s calling?”

“This is Mrs. McClain, I’m Lance’s mother. I’m with Hunk’s folks right now, neither one have come home! And there’s a monster on the loose!”

“Yes ma’am, I know, that’s why Shiro’s not here. We just got a call from Principal Holt, Katie’s not back yet, and since she tends to hang out with Lance and Hunk, well, we’re on our way to look for them. As soon as we find them, we’ll bring them here and call you to let you know that they’re fine.”

“Oh thank you so much! You’re such an angel! I could just hug you!”

Keith bit his lip to keep from sounding disgusted. “Yes, I’m sure you would. Um, could you please pass the word to Hunk’s folks? We’ll be sure to call you when we’re back.”

“Thank you again so much!”

“You’re welcome. Um, bye!” said Keith with a smile, trying to get her off the phone. Not to be rude or anything, but, he needed to go.

“Good bye, and good luck!”

“Right,” he said, before he hung up the phone. He turned to Blachu, “Let’s do this. Blachu, roar out!” Blachu flew into the belt buckle, and the changes happened instantly. Keith was in a red and white suit with a black mane-like hoodie. But he didn’t pause to glance at his new outfit, he rushed out the door, leaping and bounding through the streets. Where should he go first? How was he going to find the robeast? Was a mouse already on the scene? He hoped not, as Blachu had said, they were good fighters, but they were needed to repair the damage the robeasts, or any monsters, had caused. Apparently none of the cats could do it, only the mice. Which did make them pretty important. With a grunt, he leapt to the top of the buildings to try and get an idea of where to start looking. It didn’t take long to see the path the robeast had carved out of several buildings, and the throngs of screaming people running in the opposite direction. “Well, that was easy,” he muttered as he took off in the direction the screaming people were running from.

“Katie!” Keith paused, was that the Katie Shiro was looking for? He glanced around, sure enough, it was Katie Holt, dangling from a twenty-story building. How did she get up there? Lance and Hunk were running towards her. “Hang on!” shouted Lance. Keith let out a soft growl, they weren’t going to make it in time, she was about to lose her grip.

“Lance, Hunk!” Katie called out, right as she lost her grip and fell. Keith jumped for her, grabbed a hold of her, flipped in midair, and landed on his feet.

“Whoa, that was awesome!” exclaimed Hunk as he and Lance approached the two.

“Team Voltron! I have your precious mouse lady! If you don’t show up when I get to zero, I will cut her in half!” came a voice over the din. Keith let out a gasp, that was the robeast, and it had a mouse! He practically shoved Katie into Lance’s arms.

“Take care of her!” he shouted before turning and rushing off in the direction of the voice.

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!” That’s right, keep counting as loud as possible, lead me to you, even though it’s a trap, though Keith. He rushed down a couple of streets and turned a couple of corners, he could tell he was getting close. “Five! Four! Three!” He turned another corner, and saw the robeast, looking like an odd contraption of robot and bat. He had his sword out, over the spot where the mouse lady, the white mouse, in fact, was struggling with two poles wrapped around her. She just about had enough room to squeeze out and drop to the ground. Keith unclipped his tail and rushed forward as it changed into a sword. “Two! One! Zero!” The white mouse dropped to the ground and the sword came crashing down on her. But Keith had arrived.

“Stay down!” he ordered as he lifted up his sword to meet the robeast’s sword, hoping that it could take it. A sharp clang rang out as the two blades met, but Keith’s sword stayed intact, and Keith found he could match the robeast’s strength.

“The black lion of Voltron,” muttered the robeast as its lips curled into an evil grin. So, it was looking for the Voltron team, but why? Keith quickly glanced over its form, he couldn’t see a symbol that indicated that this robeast was under control of somebody, but Keith had a feeling it was, and whoever was controlling it was looking for Voltron for some reason. Keith pushed up on his sword, sending the robeast’s sword up, and kicking it as hard as he could to give him and the white mouse some breathing space. He turned to give her a hand up.

“Are you alright?” he asked her. She took his hand and stood up.

“Yes, thank you,” she replied with a smile. She paused, and the two gazed into each other’s eyes. Did she know that every other person who had had the white mouse would end up with whoever had the black lion? But that wasn’t the only thought in Keith’s head. Why did she seem so familiar? He snapped out of his thoughts, they had a mission to finish.

“Were you expecting to take care of the robeast yourself?” he asked.

She seemed to shake herself from her own thoughts before replying with, “No, just keeping it from hurting innocent civilians until you arrived, that’s all.” She pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms. He didn’t even realize he had still been holding it. “Though, if you hadn’t gotten here when you did . . .” she began.

He walked towards her, finishing the thought, “We would have lost you, and from what my asurin was telling me about the mice, that’s not a good thing.” The robeast could be heard groaning, reminding Keith that they weren’t out of danger yet. He readied his sword, and noticed that she had a whip. “Wait, is that a whip?”

“Uh, yeah,” she replied. Keith thought fast, if the robeast’s symbol wasn’t on the front or that sides that he could see, then maybe it was on its back. An idea began to form in his head and a grin began to form on his face.

“I think I have an idea. You see those poles there and there?” he asked, pointing out two poles opposite of each other.

The girl let out a gasp. “You want me to trip him?” Keith’s grin grew bigger, she was smart and caught on quick, he liked that.

“Yup, but keep your whip slack until I give you the signal, alright?”

“Right, but, what’s the signal?”

Keith thought quickly. “I’ll nod at you.”

“Got it,” she said before taking off for the poles. Keith kept his focus on the robeast, he didn’t want it to guess at what his plan was, nor did he want it to catch the white mouse again. The robeast finally got up and locked eyes with Keith.

“Hand over the belt buckle of the black lion, and I will stop rampaging this city!”

Keith scoffed, “What are you talking about? We’re just getting warmed up.” The robeast let out a roar and charged, but Keith didn’t move a muscle. He was waiting for the robeast to reach the right spot before signalling the white mouse to pull the whip taut. He waited and watched, and when the robeast finally reached the right spot, Keith glanced over at the white mouse and nodded. She pulled, and the robeast went tumbling over. Keith jumped up and took a quick look over the robeast’s back. Ah-ha, there it was! A glowing purple symbol, there, on the left side of its back, though, it looked oddly familiar. Keith brought his sword down on the symbol and heard a distinct snap. He glanced at the white mouse as he jumped off, shouting, “Use your powers now!”

The white mouse raced forward and raised her whip high, shouting “Power of Quintessence!” Keith watched in amazement as the whip detached from its handle and whirled around the robeast in a pale purple whirlwind before expanding to include the entire city. When it returned to the white mouse’s hand, the city was back to normal and the robeast was a normal, yet confused, person.

“Whoa!” Keith whispered. He shook himself out of his stupor and ran towards the white mouse. “That, that was amazing!”

She grinned at him. “Thank you! Whoa.” Keith reached out his hands and grabbed her shoulders to steady her as she stumbled. “I guess that’s why we need two mice,” she chuckled.

“Are you going to be alright?” asked Keith, worried that she had used too much power. They had better find the rest of the team and fast if they were expected to make it through the day without collapsing, especially her.

“I, I think so, just need to sit for a minute,” she replied as she allowed him to steer her towards a chair. Keith tried to figure out what made her so familiar to him when they were rather rudely interrupted.

“Oh wow! That was so cool! How did you guys do that?” Keith nearly blew his cover by letting out a soft growl when he realized it was Lance who had spoken as he recorded them on his camcorder. Katie and Hunk weren’t far behind him. Of course, they had followed Keith. But he only got even more annoyed when Lance tried to get close.

“Hey, back up! Can’t you tell she needs some rest?” Keith snapped as he pushed Lance back from the white mouse. Why couldn’t the idiot just leave girls alone?

“So, you’re superheroes, huh? What are your names?” asked Lance, training the camcorder on Keith. Keith let out a moan, he really hadn’t thought of a name. Well, wait, what about all those Japanese stories that Shiro’s family liked to tell? Wasn’t there a lion creature? Oh yes.

“Ugh, you can call me Komainu.”

“Komainu?” asked the others. Clearly only Shiro and Keith really knew that much about Japanese mythology.

“Yes, the guardian lions of Japanese mythology. You must know your Japanese mythology quite well,” came another voice. Keith’s eyes widened as Shiro walked on to the scene, he just hoped Shiro didn’t recognize him.

“Mr. Takashi!” blurted Hunk.

“Just Shiro outside of school, Hunk,” came Shiro’s reply. Keith quickly thought of a way to get out of there, Shiro had found the three he had been looking for, it was only a matter of time before he’d take them back to their home.

Keith quickly spoke, “Yeah, well, I need to go, have a lot of other things to take care of today.” He paused and turned to Allura, he was still worried about her. “Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

She nodded at him, a soft smile on her face. “Yes, I will be, thank you.”

“Oh, we didn’t get your name!” blurted Lance. Keith rolled his eyes and bit his tongue, someday, that kid was going to get it.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry, I’m a little too tired to think right now. I think I should head home and sleep. I’ll get back to you on the name.”

“Hmm, how about . . . Little Mouse? I mean, no offence, but you look like a mouse,” said Hunk. Keith had to agree with that, she looked really cute as well. But, what about the other mouse? What name would the other mouse have?

“Well, that is the idea, but there is going to be another mouse joining our team, so, I don’t know if that will really work,” she replied.

Keith shrugged, the name was already growing on him. “We can figure that out when the other mouse arrives. For now, I think Little Mouse works.”

“Hey, shouldn’t you be going somewhere?” asked Lance, somewhat annoyed.

Keith shot him a glare. “And I will be, once I make sure that you stop annoying Little Mouse long enough to go home and get some rest.”

“Um, I didn’t agree to the name . . .”

“Hey it works,” said Lance with a shrug.

“It is kind of catchy,” remarked Keith. He just didn’t want to admit just yet that he thought it was as cute as she was.

“Oh, alright, Little Mouse it is. You’re right Komainu, it is kind of catchy.”

“Glad you agree. Now, are you going to go home, or should I carry you there?” he asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“No! No, no, no, thank you, I’ll, I’ll go home now, thank you.”

“But can’t you stay a little longer? There are so many questions I want to ask!” quipped Lance.

“You’re going to have to wait for a time when she’s not so tired, alright?”

“Komainu has a point, you should let her go home and try again next time, alright?” said Shiro as he placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Oh, alright. As long you promise me an exclusive!”

“I’ll consider it,” replied Little Mouse before she lept away. Keith quickly followed suit, going off in one direction before quickly changing course and following Little Mouse from a distance. He could tell that she sensed him following her, but being a black lion meant he could use the shadows to his advantage and managed to keep out of her sight. When he noticed that she seemed to be getting close to her destination, he quickly turned and rushed back home. He had to get back before Shiro and the others! Panting, he realized with a grin that he made it back before them and dashed into the house.

“Um . . . Blachu, roar out!” Blachu came flying out of the belt as Keith’s suit disappeared. Keith took the Chinese food, fished out two dumplings, and placed the rest in the fridge. “Whew, that was close!”

“No kidding!’ replied Blachu between happy mouthfuls of dumpling. “And we still made it back before they did!”

“And before that robeast could kill Little Mouse!”

Blachu seemed to shiver, “That was a real close call.”

“So, how did I do for my first day?” asked Keith.

“Awesome! You’re really good! Almost as good as my last paladin!” Blachu paused and seemed to grow sad.

“Blachu?”

“I really miss my old paladin, we had such great times. You remind me so much of him. But, I guess that’s part of the reason why I like you a lot, Keith.”

“I like you too, Blachu. And it’s alright, you can still miss him.” Blachu flew to Keith’s cheek and rubbed his cheek against it. Keith let out a soft sigh and rubbed back. The two paused, there was the sound of a key turning in the lock. “Quick, Blachu, my jacket!” whispered Keith as he held it open. Blachu ducked in before Keith made his way to the door and opened it. “Shiro!”

“Hey! Sorry it took so long, but, we kind of had a little adventure,” said Shiro as he ushered in Lance, Hunk and Katie.

“There were two superheroes!” blurted Hunk.

“And Komainu saved me!” Katie quickly added.

“And Little Mouse is so adorable!” cooed Lance.

“Wait, what?” OK, first Allura, and now Little Mouse. Did this guy ever take a break?

Shiro let out a soft chuckle. “I’ll let them explain, I have some phone calls to make.”

“Oh, Mrs. McClain did call, she was with Hunk’s family.”

Shiro nodded. “Thanks Keith.” He went to making the calls while Lance, Hunk, and Katie explained everything that had happened. When the robeast had attacked, the group had been on their way to the mall to take a look at the new game system being shown that day. But then the crowd running form the robeast came in, broke them up, and Katie retreated to the closest, tallest building to see if she could find her friends when the robeast walked by, smashing through the building, leaving Katie trapped with nowhere to go but down. From there on out, Keith knew the rest, but it wasn’t hard to add in exclamations of awe or astonishment as Keith had no idea how awesome he looked when he moved, he just acted, thinking only of the mission, destroying the robeast. They also convinced Keith to instruct them on some Japanese mythology, eventually learning not just about the komainu, but also about a few other large cat-like creatures. Shiro eventually interrupted them with a little announcement.

“Listen up everybody, I’ve called your folks, they’re going to meet us at Olive Garden.”

“Alright, food! I’m starving!” quipped Hunk, the first one out the door.

“Don’t you ever think of anything else besides food?” quipped Lance as he followed him.

“Don’t you ever think of anything else besides cute girls?” Hunk shot back.

“Uh-oh, shots fired,” quipped Katie.

“Well, I’m taking Hunk’s side, I’m hungry. Three dumplings isn’t exactly very filling.”

Shiro blinked as he locked the door. “Then, where’s the rest of the food?”

“In the fridge,” replied Keith. “Hey! No, you’re sitting in the back!”

“But I called shotgun!” replied Lance as Keith dragged him out and practically tossed him in the back with Hunk and Katie.

“Too bad, this is Shiro’s car, I own shotgun.”

“If you two are going to fight about it, I’m giving it to Katie!” stated Shiro firmly. The two sat down and buckled their seatbelts grumbling. It was a little while after Shiro had pulled out of the driveway that Hunk attempted to break the tension by talking about Italian food. Katie soon joined in, being Italian herself, and the conversation eventually got the other three to open up about what they were going to get. And though Lance was still annoying, talking about how cute both Allura and Little Mouse were in one breath, Keith’s spirits were still high. He had found his place, and quite possibly a future girlfriend, according to Blachu, but he had never been happier.

[a-secret-land]

Thank You Followers

Okay so you probably see those posts now and then where people let their followers know that they appreciate them. But if you’re like me, even though its nice to see those types of posts from someone you follow, you tend to brush it off without taking it to heart because you assume that, even if the person means well, they don’t really notice you past being a unit in their follower count.

I really didn’t want that to be the case with this post so:

@crash-and-burn-kid — Thank you for following me. You show up often in my notes, and even though we’ve never talked, every time I see your icon in there I have this moment of: “Ah, its that person. I like that human. I hope they’re having a good day.”

@coolishnerdbeans — Thank you for following me. Not only does your icon feature our beautiful space dad, your taste in memes and fandoms is exceptional. You’re also one of those people that I feel a camaraderie for just because I see you in my notes so often and because we share several fandoms. Also your url amuses me in a very good way.

@following-the-fairy-lights — Thank you for following me. You seem like a really compassionate person, and your blog is very aesthetic. I love seeing all the magic and nature in it, as well as the humor and the important issues. You’re one of my “biggest fans” on tumblr and I really, really appreciate it. You are a vital part of my dash and I’m so glad I followed you. Keep being you.

@upcummingattractions — Thank you for following me. I know hardly anything about Alan Cumming but I love stalking your blog. Your text posts and super relatable and I love how you often post things reminder your followers to take care of themselves and stuff. Its really nice to see and I’ve gotten a lot of tips from your blog too. Also the posts about the ace spectrum. And the nature gifs? <3 Quality. Is that a weird thing to notice?… Nah.

@thecardinalsharpsichord — I’m pretty sure about half the things I reblog, I reblog from you. Every darn thing on your blog is so beautiful. Not only am I following you on this blog, I’m following you on my other one too. I don’t know how you manage to find pictures and quote that are so perfectly storybook, but I’m very glad you do. Thank you for following me.

@maximumsheepjellyfish— Thank you for following me. I was scrolling through your blog and there are so many animals! So much cute! I love it. Your blog is such a positive place. I hope you’re having a good day.

@choco-di — Rise of the Guardians though! I feel such a bond with anyone who’s a fan of that movie, even if we’ve never talked. Also, how did you manage to find a flower crown that fits Pitch, king of nightmares, so well? Your icon is a blessing to this site. Actually, your whole blog is. That is some quality content.

@lindzem-blog — Clearly we both have amazing taste in fiction. Voltron, Rise of the Guardians (I’m so glad to see someone making fresh content for that btw), Kingdom Hearts, and other things too! Go ahead and imagine the “you’re doing great, sweetie” meme here. Thank you for following me.

@crysalgira — Thank you for following me. Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons, am I right? (I just love it so much.) Also, this might be a strange thing to pay so much attention to, but you have really good taste in aesthetic boards.

@trag1cally-beaut1ful — Not to sound like I’m reviewing your blog or anything, buy you’ve got a lot of variety in what you posts and should be proud. Also your url is clever and I’ve watched too many of your animal videos. Thank you for following me.

@xxxhippiesoulxxx — Thank you for following me. Your whole blog is super aesthetic. From the quotes to the pictures, its super pleasing. its always nice to see a fellow bookworm on tumblr (we’re lucky there’s so many.) I’ve written down a lot of the quotes you post and reblog because I like them so much.

@dtwizzie — Your icon is my daughter. And every other character that appears on your blog is also my child/son/spouse/problematic-fave. From Voltron, to Merlin, to Steven Universe, to Avatar: the Last Airbender, to Percy Jackson (you have no idea the feels that series gives me. Oh my goodness. Ahhhhhhhh) your blog is full of the good stuff. Thank you for following me.

@yardarm — Thank you for following me. Because of your icon, you are Hunk making that face in my mind. Own it. I laughed so much going through your blog. Everything is so goooood! I feel like we definitely share the same sense of humor. I hope you’re having a good day, and good luck on that thing you’re worrying about (fit you’re worrying about anything.)

@smolyuurio — Thank you for following me. Ships are the correct top priority. Well done. I feel like you probably know a good amount of conspiracy theories, which Keith would approve of.

@elegant-zoroark — You are the MOST elegant zozoark. All your content is so good! Like wow! You understand my obsessions and weird sense of humor/ way of thinking. I just filled up my queue with so much stuff from your blog. Thank you for following me.

@evilfan01 - One word. Barbie. You have earned my applause. P.A.C.E and thank you for following me.

@idontthinkweareinkansasanymore — I have url envy for you. Also its always nice to find another romantic ace person around. I think its great how accommodating you are of people who request tags for certain things (I saw it in your bio.) Also, you seem to be a fan of some great Youtubers. Thank you for following me.

@libraryfaery — Fellow bookworm! Hello! You have exactly the right amount of cats, books, magic, tea, art, and architecture on your blog. I am following the heck out of you. Thank you for following me. I hope you’re having a good day, my friend-whom-i’ve-never-actually-talked-to.

@aethericc-moved / @aethxric— Thank you for following me. You have all the best memes. And the Voltron stuff, oh dear lions. Its wonderful. Also, hey we’re the same personality type! (Well, I’m either infp, or infj, but still.) I really love your blog(s).

@ship-is-canon — I don’t know what ship you’re referring to, but yes. Yes it is. Scrolling through your blog is the equivalent of having a feels attack. Thank you for following me.

@nanianela — I really like the design theme of your blog and I’m glad you share my love of cartoons. You are a rocking space ace. Thank you for following me.

@louellaanthony — Animals are the best, aren’t they? Whenever people ask me if I’m a cat person or a dog person, I have to tell them that I’m both because there’s no way I could ever choose. I feel like you’re probably the same way. Thank you for following me.

@illumihoe — Thank you for following me. Descendants is so iconic. Its cheesy in the best way and I absolutely love the characters. I haven’t watched the 2nd movie yet, but I plan to soon. I’ve definitely seen you while scrolling through the descendants tag before, so it feels like a big accomplishment that you’re following me. Thanks!

I really mean it everyone. Thank you for following me. I appreciate each and every one of you. I hope you all stay safe and have a good week. Ok, you can go ahead and continue tumblr-ing now.

[velkynkarma]

These have probably already been asked, but: 8, 23, 40 and 45?

They have not! Let’s see..8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?It’s funny because I never intended to get into Voltron at all. Shiro showing up on my dash so often actually used to annoy me pre-fandom because visually he is very similar to Batman’s Jason Todd, so I’d get excited for a batfam pic and then it wasn’t. And it didn’t help that a lot of the batfam blogs I’d been watching were suddenly swapping to Voltron. But back in September I think it was, I’d been working on a big art project for a contest, and my motivation was starting to lag. There hadn’t been any decent new fic in the Batman fandom recently (my usual carrot on a stick), so I thought, “Okay, whatever. I’ll check out that Voltron thing I guess. It’s short enough I can do that. Every time I reach an art goal in the project I will reward myself with an episode.” It was just supposed to be something to keep me going, a one-off thing to watch on the fly without getting majorly involved in multiple seasons. Only, it didn’t stay one-off. I was intrigued by it too much. There were too many possibilities. So then I did my usual post-new-series thing and went to check out the fanfic. This is usually where shows/movies/books fandoms still die for me. I’ll lightly browse fic, but if I don’t find some good ones fairly quickly my interest in the fandom dies pretty fast and I move on. Except through extremely lucky circumstance I happened to stumble across @maychorian‘s Boom Crash The Sound Of My Ship which had literally everything on my wishlist for light browsing: H/C and adventure with the two characters I had already decided I was most interested in, Shiro and Lance. After that I decided that damn, this fandom has some decent work in it, and delved further. But there were still things I’d wanted to see and hadn’t even after a much more in-depth browsing of the fic offering at the time. So I wrote it. And people responded positively, so I decided to stick around. And here I am! 23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.In the Voltron fandom Phantasmagoria still holds a high place for me. I really like writing psychological horror and creepy stuff and this fic just came together perfectly for me. I liked it so much I commissioned this gorgeous art for it, and I got a big kick out of peoples’ reactions to it too. However more recently Prince of Memory has become quite special to me. That one was very tricky to write, and had been more of a personal challenge project than anything. Not only was I pleased with how it turned out, but the reactions people had to it were exactly what I was going for, so I know my challenge was successful.40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?Oh boy. Word length for starters, I literally cannot write anything short. Longfic is great, but there’s a time and a place, and keeping things short, sweet and to the point is a skill I fail at hardcore. I’m frankly stunned at people who can write drabbles. I also struggle a lot with emotional responses and character interaction, specifically for things like characters needing comfort or dealing with grief. The ‘comfort’ part of hurt/comfort is time consuming and exhausting, especially since I’m not a person who is very good with expressing emotion or physical contact to begin with. So a lot of those moments when a hug or a pat on the shoulder or characters just letting out all their grief and pain are a real struggle for me to wrap my head around, because for me they tend to be very uncomfortable responses IRL. It’s kind of funny since I write those scenes quite a bit, but you have no idea how many times each sentence is carefully examined, each character action is reworked, each word is picked oh so deliberately, in the hopes that I get it right. (See above as to why Prince of Memory was a challenge project). 45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?I’m honestly not sure I could answer this question with just one fic because there’s so many go-to fics in so many fandoms that I’ll return to for different moods. So I’m gonna point to this post I did a while back with Voltron fic recs because they’re all fics I adore and each one hits the spot exactly right depending on how I’m feeling. But then for other fandoms:For Young Justice/Batman Black Friar has some of the best, but The Volatile Verse is definitely my fave of the lot.For HTTYD, To Soar into the Sunset: A Night Fury’s Odd Memoir by Fjord Mustang is a tongue-in-cheek clever piece that I still love to this day.From One Piece, Seven Deaths by x-parrot is still incredible even 13 years later, and peroxidepest17′s Zoro’s Directions will have you dead from laughter (I just read it again while writing this. I died of laughter again).And from Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan, Ketita’s Levi’s will have you in stitches, and Emamel’s On the Shoulder of a Giant is an interesting AU take that I reread whenever I get back into AoT.I like a lot of fic I can’t choose just one okayCurious what this is for? I’m playing the ask challenge. Feel free to ask something!

[bxlora]

an appreciation post for a few of my followers (mostly the active ones on my dash). now this will be thrown in my queue so i’m not sure when it’ll post but i hope it shows how much i love you guys;

first i’ll start with robyn ( @contracas ) without you i wouldn’t even be here?? you stuck with me till now and i am ever grateful for that bc you gave me first of all confidence to stay and write even when i felt like wasn’t really doing that well. you stuck with me even through my senior year where i was mobile for like 99% of the time, and sending you things through that fan message thingy back then and you had to do the formatting and ugh i can never thank you enough. i love you and wishing you luck on your studies and even though you’re not on as much i’ll probably always be here to chat. 

and now i’ll mention people without specific order; 

emmanuel & thi ( @miissiing  &  @saiichii ) you two are absolutely amazing and talented each in your own way and whenever you two interact ic or ooc i’ll just squeal like a child and read through it to see how much you two love each other and it’s clear how long you two have known each other. thi is from now on my little sister who’s creativity and potential is sky rocketing and i know you’ll do wondrous things as time goes. your hiro is just a gift and i’m happy i waited this long to finally follow a bh6 blog and that it turned out to be yours bc honestly it’s been so rewarding. we can all tell how much you love this kiddo and how much he means to you.

and em i didn’t think i could even be this close to someone this fast but here you are proving me wrong. i have never been this comfortable with anyone this fast really, and you’ve introduced me to many topics and opened my mind to things i never thought even existed. you don’t give yourself enough credit and love but i’m here (and so is all of us) to keep reminding you of how awesome and heartwarming your presence is. your muses (even tho i don’t interact with them all) are all unique and we can see your personal touch you put into each one. you’re strong and put up with so much nonsense from people bc of the way you characterize your muses but the rest could care less and support you with it 100%. your writing is so easy to read and it flows just right. and now you’ll be my star no arguments. and the both of you are the unstoppable duo to me btw. 

alice ( @blazerought ) i have no idea what to say to you honestly bc just thank you so much for existing and being here??? we don’t talk ooc much but that’s mostly because of me (im a nervous turtle) but the interactions we have with both of our muses is enough for me to look up to you and appreciate every single effort you put into it. and also your art especially your pig tails keith and galra keith. you introduced me to voltron and helped me bring make my muse for AU’s i gave up on. you’re kind and considerate towards your friends (and your squad) and are always there to back them up. you put so much love into keith and it shows and it just makes me smile every time. every headcanon and every post seems so thought out and just seeing how passionate you are about him warms my heart. like even the smallest of detail is discussed and you can notice how dynamic you are with him? does that make sense? i don’t show you much appreciation and i’m sorry but i hope this does it for now. 

salt ( @hyetalrought ) well if you remember how i reacted the day you followed me i think that’s enough. i have admired you for soooooooo long but i was just too afraid to follow. i saw you with alice and i just ugh i loved your lance so much but you seemed like the cool type of kid and i just watched from afar. till that day. and now you gave me child yuki and father lance AU and i cannot thank you enough. we don’t know each other much and i really want to bc you seem super cool still but like a nice and my type of cool?? what are words honestly. you’re super talented and your lance is my life let me tell you. he doesn’t follow the stereotypical headcanons everyone stuffs down other’s throat and uggghhh you make me fall in love with him more and more. you also have the kit family which melts my heart. you’re creative and supportive i can tell towards those you love. you put lots of thought into your portrayal and i just want to thank you for that. hope we get to know each other more!!

spencer ( @rainveined ) i was super nervous to follow you but i did and I AM SO GLAD I DID. you’re filled with so many references and i told you i’m going to learn alot from you. you think of headcanons that no one would even think of?? like scared of furbies? and his halloween custom that i forgot?? roombas eating his toes? his middle school phase of bleached hair?? that drawer in his room?? this is proof i read like 95% of your headcanons and remember them bc their so weird i love them and so unique. your super easy to talk to honestly and even though i get kinda scared of not understanding a ref i ask and you answer like it’s nothing and that’s super kind of you. the little interactions we’ve had– the muse i have for any thread with you is crazy. i know i’m gone for a while now but i hope we continue with them when i come back. your lance is special and i’m so happy i met him and yuki has him as a friend. you’re awesome and i always look forward to seeing you on my dash. 

@windrawn i do not know your name yet shame on me but i’ve hardly seen you or rped with you but even though you’ve made me laugh with your klaus and i love him okay?? i still remember the little crack thing with yuki freaking out about him being their missing brother and now they’re triplets. i just wanted to mention you to let you know i look forward to seeing more of you and klaus on my dash!! 

@queenmiko also your name i’m sorry ; ; but I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MUCH I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW THAT YOU’RE A KIMIKO BLOG. you brought back my memories of this show and i love love love love how you are so passionate about her and the others. i will admit i forgot most of the show but not the feelings oh no never. seeing how you write her, your headcanons, your little icons to show she finger guns, your expansion on her character oh i cannot describe my emotions. wherever you are god bless you for bringing this character here and sticking with her. i am sorry i have not written much with you but yuki is tricky but i assure you i appreciate you and love seeing you on my dash. i love your kimiko too. 

@bblogan i am so happy to see you active again i cannot express how much i love the teen titans and how much yuki loves beast boy and when i found your blog i was ecstatic bc i figured by now the fandom would’ve disappeared but nope here you are!! we haven’t rped except..maybe twice?? and i know we haven’t even finished them but no worries we have plenty of time ahead of us. i wanted you to know that i look forward to that time and i want to thank you for your affection towards this special green child and i want to say that the way you write him is wonderful and just so fun to read and i could hear him in every word so kudos to you!! and i hope you feel better soon too!! 

@moonrought , @faafetaifoi , @sundrought: you three are just people who i look up to and REALLY WANT TO INTERACT WITH BUT THE TIMING WAS TERRIBLE and also i’m a shy bean. i’d gush over you too but sadly we haven’t talked yet but it’s never too late

[geek-ology-blog]

Well it’s been quite the year and well all lot of bad things happened (for me most were very personal) there were good things. And when I say good things I mean good people. Scratch that amazing people! These people helped me get through the year so that I would see this new one (even if the year is already starting bad for me). And even though I may not know a lot of them personally I still want to personally thank each and everyone of them. (Also I can draw better than this sorry)

@srpelo - Thank you for making me laugh till my stomach began to hurt. Every “shitpost” be the best post. And I will never stop slamming my desk and saying “OH BOI” thanks to you.

UltimaAlmighty - The only reaction channel done right. You are a such a positive person in a negative world. When you smile I can’t help, but smile back. Your sincerity won’t go unnoticed. (I know you will probably never see this, but I couldn’t not include you.)

@vadeva - Thanks for being the British man of Starbot Dubs. Your voice is so much fun to listen to and makes me wish I had a low awesome voice too. I can’t wait to see what you and Stephanie do next! (I also really wanna see your audition video).

@rahafwabas - Thanks for filling my dash with angst! You are an amazing artist. You taught me how bad and angst life can be, but to every bad side there’s a good that’ll be worth the pain. (Also short people for life!)

@jakei95 - Thank you for your creativity! You are such a nice and beautiful person. (Sucks that I couldn’t draw you like that… I can draw better I swear!) Cross and Underverse is just too awesome not to love. You taught me that making something new out of other’s ideas and turning it into your own can lead to finding your own new thing! You have encouraged me to do a lot more with myself as well as my art.

@jokublog - Thank you for sharing your hopes and dreams! Every time I see a picture of Dream I always smile (same is for Nightmare, but it’s an evil smile). Your art is so beautiful with its colors and flow. And even when others put you down you scare them away by getting back up again doing what you love. (Also you and Jakei be adorable together)

@loverofpiggies - Thank you for your amazing comics and snazzy pink hair! I love Aftertale and Geno since I connected to him in a sad way that Geno actually felt to be a real “person”. You also taught me that even if you’re known for one thing it’s good to make your own thing. And that being Gloomverse. One of the greatest things I’ve ever read in the entirety of one night (I was that hooked). In fact it encouraged to to start my own comic and punch anxiety in the face!

@hawker-rawr - Thank you for making me laugh at a drunk man (and questioning what kind of drunk I’d be)! You are such a cool artist and I love your take on Chara and Asriel. I fell in love with them all over again. So excited to see whatever you do next. (StarHawk ftw)

@camilaart - Thank you for playing with my emotions! I love GlitchTale so far and am pumped to see what happens next. You are an amazing storyteller and an awesome nerd at heart. I so happy that everyone got together when things got tough. Me from being from a poor household myself I know what it’s like. May all good things come to you and your family. (I also just wanna point out that I totally called Betty, like I screamed at the school computer when Sans died like my gosh I hate-love her!)

@starbotdubs - Thank you for sharing your beautiful voice (and face). You are an amazing voice actress and introduced me into so many comics I’d come to love so much. I’m so excited to see what 2017 brings for your channel (especially you guys dining Gloomverse, like I screamed that my dog jumped 2 feet into the air I was so excited). May you, Vade, and your channel become greater than it already is. (DEUS VULT)

@popelickva and The Real-Time Fan Dub Cast - Thank you for making me giggle like a baby during class. Your gravity falls series and dubs never fail to make me smile. And even though I miss nearly every stream because of timezones, I can’t help but feel determined to try and watch it. (You guys also got me into Voltron and made me obsessed)

@manontheinternet - Thank you for the music! Music has always been apart of my life, especially musicals. I play a couple instruments and like to sing, but not a lot of people even know since I have a literal panic attack whenever I try Iin front of people. So turning a game I’m still obsessed with into a musical which I’m already obsessed with is amazing! Every singer/actor is superb and you feel what the character is feeling. I can’t help, but to always sing along. I’m stoked to have found you so that I may be able to listen to greatness. (Listening to you guys sing seem to always calm me down)

@nekophy - Thank you for being so adorable it’s adorable (which is weird to say since you’re older than me)! You may, if not are, the biggest Poth (and/or Geno x Reaper) shipper I have ever seen. Your art is so cute as well as your reactions to every piece of art you receive. You are a fantastic stick cat Miss Nekophy. And an awesome mother to a certain Goth. (Also tried to draw a kinda “human” you but looks bad so I’m sorry!)

@knittinggiantbeanies - Thank you for being a source of positivity! You as well as your following feel like a safe warm hug. You are so beautiful (much more than me by an immense amount because you’re so gorgeous). I’ve been here ever since Bill’s birthday video and am glad I stayed. You even introduced me to some of my now best friends in your Undertale stream. And I’ve never felt so close to those who are so far. I cannot thank you enough for that.

@chongoblog - Thank you for filling my dash in memes and references I still don’t understand! Never stop because you’re an All Star.

@superyoumna - You are a literal wizard with a mouse! You’ve showed me that even with limited resources you can still make something great (heck all I had to draw on was napkins and printer paper till this Christmas). Your art is almost as beautiful as you are. But your talent is so great I don’t think anything can compare. (I just now realized how many Undertale blogs I have on here)

@thatsthat24 - Thank you for being the king of 6 seconds. You spread positivity like a wildfire and smiles like a tsunami. You have an amazing voice and proved to all parents out there that watching cartoons is not only for kids, it’s for child-like adults as well. I love how you can turn my most depressing day just a little happier. (All the guys, gals, and non-binary pals love you bro)

The rest of these people are not in the drawing because I don’t know what they look like, forgot to add them, was lazy, or are personal friends:

@linnttop - You are an amazing artist and goofball. Im so happy I met you and that we made our friendship work despite the 11 hour time difference (Living on the other side of the world sucks man). But the fact you even tried to stay with me is truly inspiring. I shouldn’t even be worth your time, but you still do even if it’s short and sweet.

@straberrysoup aka Hotdogs - The oldest of the group yet you never act like it! She’s the yin to my orangutan. Your art is adorable as well as your face. I hope your glasses come in soon!

@mclov3ly101 - Such an amazing artist all around always getting better and better. No one in our group (or probably ever) will ship more people than you do. You have the look that turns girls lesbian and gay guys straighter than a stripping pole. I can’t wait to see what your Reaper comic has to offer. (Sportarobbie)

@chariskreplies aka Sans - Always in the shadows watching and sending things to the wrong chat. You’ll pop in and everyone’s happy when you do. Never stop punning EVER. 

@shitpilot and every other Voltron blog I follow - Thank you for helping keep Voltron on my dash so that its not entirely Undertale and TF2.

@comyet - Thank you for creating my favorite Sans of all time! Ink is my spirit skeleton and I love it. Also your art is incredible! I would totally buy your stuff if I had the money. NEVER stop doing what you do because you’re just too awesome to stop now. ( I can’t wait till you come back from your hiatus.)

@kenzykills - The one always asking me to draw yaoi for her shrine. You are the pervert yaoi shipper we all know and love. Thanks for making Japanese and science more “interesting”. (Stop asking for smut)

@quelloz - Thank you for making sure I don’t get too out of control. You are beautiful and an awesome friend. And I won’t rest until I get you with your lady love! I’LL HIT HER SO HARD WITH YOUR LOVE SHE’LL NEVER SEE IT COMING! (Raquello Raphaelo Ze Bastard Ze III :) Elizabeth Gurrrrero)

There’s no way I can thank all of you enough.2016 wasn’t the best year for me. Due to anxiety, depression, numbness, and a family member rushing in and out of the hospital. I doubt myself a lot saying I’m not pretty or my art is trash when i should have more of a positive outlook on myself, but it’s hard to when your parents tell you stuff like that every day. If it weren’t for every single one of these amazing people I don’t think I’d be alive today. I may not know all of them personally, but without them even knowing they helped me a lot. Even some of my friends that I mentioned are so close to my heart, but so far away for a hug. I love each and everyone of you and am looking forward to everything you do from here. Not just because you’re all amazing and talented, but because you give me something to live for. Thank you.