#premium pandemonium

[velkynkarma]

In "Price Cut Paladins" what are the chances of Lance getting a less dramatic family reunion than Keith? His family may be less intense than Krolia, but there are also many more of them to jump to conclusions.

It'd probably still be a pretty dramatic reunion, given the circumstances of Lance's story. Since his family lost contact with him, and he has no idea who's alive (and if anyone did survive), it's already going to be a very emotional reunion. But to top it off, the family was attacked by the Covenant--and now Lance is in the company of a known (and hated) Covenant family member. Unless Lance has a chance to explain it ahead of time, they're almost certainly going to assume Lance has been kidnapped, brainwashed, abused, or some other terrible thing. They are a tight-knit family and will do whatever it takes to rescue him.

Shiro on the flipside has no interest in harming any of them, so he'd be doing his best to mitigate damage and not hurt anybody. Difficult, if there's a pack of lizard-dogs trying to kill you.

[velkynkarma]

it's almost time for my annual reread of premium pandemonium 👀✨

Eeeey! Enjoy, anon! It's a long one so bring snacks and stay hydrated :)

[velkynkarma]

I just wanted to say thank you for introducing me to the InCryptid series! I read Premium Pandemonium back when you first published it and it's easily one of my all-time favourite VLD fics, but recently the stars (hyperfixations, executive dysfunction, etc) finally aligned for me to try the InCryptid series itself and I immediately fell in love. In just a few days I'm already into book 4, and I fully intend to binge the entire series and recommend it to anyone I can.

Eeeey, awesome! I always love it when I can recommend books to people that they enjoy. And InCryptid is such a fun series! I also tried to keep some big plot points in the original series out of Premium Pandemonium so readers could still have some fun surprises when/if they jumped into them too :)

Enjoy the rest! There's some GREAT stuff in the later books. I also recommend other works by Seanan McGuire, she does some great stuff.

[velkynkarma]

I love your Voltron stuff so much! ESPECIALLY Premium Pandemonium. I found it when I had just joined the Voltron fandom, back when the fic was still being posted. I never finished it, but I stumbled upon it a few days ago and have been rereading it since. I was just wondering, do you had more instalments planned for that series?

Hey! I noticed your reblog spree today, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog :D

There are a few more fics in the Premium Pandemonium series (the whole thing is called Price Cut Paladins and can be found here). Beyond that, I currently have no plans, but I do love the series and might go back to it some day. Every time Seanan McGuire releases a new book I start thinking about it again, so maybe one day! I love the universe, I just don't have any plots currently on tap.

[velkynkarma]

In your Incryptid AU Krolia points out that Keith has a recognizably Shirogane fighting style. Do any of the others show similar signs of training? and does it ever cause trouble?

Good question!

Lance might have some familiar combat styles when it comes to firearms. Shiro trained him specifically in how to properly use guns when Lance asked him to. That said, what Shiro trained him in there would be less unique I think, since he'd be going more into proper gun safety rules and not specific martial arts styles. The Covenant has a practical and military approach to firearms, they're not out there teaching gun katas and stuff like that from anime. More likely than not people would just know who specifically trained Lance how to use firearms because of the fact that he's using them at all as a chupacabra, so if he's whipping out a gun, probably the only other gun-using person in his friend group showed him how. Most of Lance's other training was the standard variety of 'how not to get murdered by monster hunters,' due to his combination of inexperience and urge to be a hero, but he has his own protections as a chupacabra if he needs to fight in close combat.

Hunk never asked for training from Shiro, so he'd never have anything recognizable. He's got his own defenses and he's used to using them. Who needs knives and judo chops when you have a literal stunning stare and hair that kills people if it bites them?

Pidge might have something familiar, one or two moves maybe, but nothing incredibly intense. She also has her own defenses as a bogeyman, but she's also pretty small and scrawny. Shiro definitely taught her to use the taser he gave her in her introductory section more effectively, but I think he mostly would have just stuck with self defense unless she asked for lessons in martial arts or blade fighting, and she doesn't peg me as being particularly interested. Because he is also a self-defense instructor for his "day" job, he would have taught her the normal, unrecognizable moves he teaches everyone else.

Allura has her own combat styles from her father, and probably would not be cool with learning Covenant moves, so I doubt Shiro ever offered. At most, they've sparred so he can make sure she knows some common Covenant tricks so she can protect herself.

Keith is the only one that really aggressively pursued combat and showed an interest in both martial arts and knife fighting, so he's the only one Shiro ever seriously trained. Keith enjoyed learning it, but also sparring and meditating and practicing his physical control helped him get better with his vampiric abilities. The others were never in that situation since they've always known what they are and were comfortable enough in their own skin, so they didn't need that extra layer of help.

Does it cause trouble? Rarely. People aren’t going to recognize Shirogane combat styles unless they’ve actively encountered a member of the family directly. Krolia was in a very unique situation there, where she’s been fighting and running from Shiro’s mother for years. Most people won’t recognize it, because most people died the first time they encountered a Shirogane.

[velkynkarma]

I reread Premium Pandemonium recently and I was wondering - if Shiro's fears had come to pass and he had been brainwashed into hunting his friends, could they have survived?

OH BOY. That depends on a lot of factors, I think...how long Shiro has time to prepare and get all his supplies, and whether or not he's able to target everyone individually or if they come at him as a group.

If Shiro is given optimal preparation time, and especially if he's given the opportunity to hunt each one of them individually, then they're screwed. Shiro knows each of their weaknesses, not only at a species level but also at a personal level. If he was brainwashed into hunting them, he also would not be holding back, and Shiro fighting at 100% is pretty scary. Meanwhile, most of the team would definitely be hampered by fighting their friend since they wouldn't want to hurt him. Some of them could probably fight him without any permanent damage, but some of them (like Hunk) would be in deep trouble since his only form of combat is in fact lethal and he wouldn't want to statue-ify Shiro.

If on the other hand it's Shiro vs Entire Rest of the Team, things would be more even. Shiro's good, even amongst Covenant agents. But fighting a vampire, chupacabra, pliny's gorgon and several bogeymen—not to mention other vampires from the Marmora Society or Griffin's Sanctuary werelions if the team really called in the cavalry—would be difficult even for somebody as good as Shiro. Plus with Allura there playing healer, the team would constantly be at their best and could wear Shiro down until the fight was out of him and he could be restrained. If he tried to flee, vampires are experienced apex hunters for humans, so Keith (and any Marmoras) could probably track him down. Even if he's using tricks to put off vampires, having a whole team hunting for him with various cryptid tricks means he's not hiding long.

[velkynkarma]

Summary:

When Shiro sends an emergency call while the Covenant is in town, Lance is ready to follow instructions and lay low. But he's not too thrilled with one of those orders: to rescue his vampiric roommate Keith from their apartment and get him to safety. In broad daylight. While he's out cold.

Living was nice while it lasted.

A missing scene from Premium Pandemonium, Chapter 19.

Warnings: None

Excerpt:

“You are of course more than welcome to stay here,” Allura says graciously. She sits down on her chair again, accompanied by a chorus of “HAILS!” and “PRAISE THE KINDNESS OF THE LION GODDESS!” from the mice.

“I’ll prepare your rooms, once we’ve finished warning the community,” Coran adds.

“Better prepare one more,” Lance says, and winces slightly. “We, ah…we have one other order from Shiro. Hunk…we gotta go get Keith.”

Hunk blinks. He and his swarm of hair-snakes stare at him. Lance is very glad Hunk is wearing contacts, because otherwise with that much stunning power he’d be on the floor in seconds. “But…it��s day,” Hunk says after a moment, as though this was obvious.

“Who’s Keith?” Pidge asks.

“I know it’s day,” Lance says. “That’s how bad it is, I guess. Shiro warned me to bundle him up good and get him over here. Which makes sense…you know he’s useless during the day. If Sanda showed up…”

“Ooooh.” Hunk grimaces. “Yeah. Yeah, that could…that could be bad. Really bad.”

“Who’s Keith?” Pidge repeats. “And what’s his beef with day? Is he a bogeyman?”

“Vampire,” Lance says.

“Oh.” Pidge’s eyes widen in understanding.

[velkynkarma]

Not my usual fare, but I put together a playlist for Premium Pandemonium and figured I’d share :) It goes a bit in order to the fic, too, with some of these songs specifically for certain scenes or chapters or characters. 

Let me know what you think! What songs do you like the best?

[velkynkarma]

New follow-up to Premium Pandemonium! 

Summary: 

After the Galra Cult incident in Garrison, Keith heads to the city of Daibazaal with the Marmora Society to help with their recruitment efforts. He's hoping to find clues about his missing family, if they even still exist, in the city of his birth.

He doesn't expect to find his mother. And he doesn't expect it to be as complicated as it is.

Excerpt:

“I just want to know your name,” Krolia says. “I’m not going to hurt you. Please.”

There’s a little desperation in her own voice, Keith realizes, well disguised though it is. And her own heartbeat has picked up significantly too. She’s nervous, or excited, or afraid.

Why? He obviously posed no threat. She had him cornered in an alley. But the fact that she’s just as worried about the situation has more of a calming effect on him than her words. He licks his lips, but then after a moment finally admits, “Yeah. That’s my name.”

She breathes in sharply. “I don’t believe it,” she says after a long moment. “I thought...I was so sure you were dead.”

What?

“What are you talking about?” he asks, incredulous. “Who are you? How do you know me? What’s going on?”

She hesitates. For just a moment, like she’s unsure of how to speak, or what words to use. Then she says softly, “I think I’m your mother, Keith.”

[velkynkarma]

Found a song that strongly reminds me of Shiro in Premium Pandemonium, Coat of Arms by Jonathan Thulin. The feeling of how he's always fighting for a cause but struggling to define what the cause is and what he stands for, centered around the time he leaves the Covenant.

That’s actually pretty catchy! I might need to add it to my Premium Pandemonium playlist. It does seem pretty fitting!

[velkynkarma]

What was /that scene/ for Premium Pandemonium?

There were two That Scenes for Premium Pandemonium! (Understandable considering it’s so damn big!)

The first was a crystal clear image of Shiro in an alley, confronting a scared and starving teenage vampire Keith, and convincing Keith to let him help by giving him a meal of his own blood. I was so excited about writing this scene that I wrote the first three chapters before it in a whirlwind before getting to this moment, and I re-read it often while writing the rest of the fic. The final product is almost exactly like it was in my head.

The second That Scene was a dazed, barely coherent Shiro that had been captured by Haggar, and the rest of the team in all their furious cryptid glory smashing their way through obstacle after obstacle to save him. Although I had the general idea since the beginning and looked forward to writing it from the start, a lot of this one changed by the end (location, point of view, and originally there wasn’t even any fire). The core of it is still there, though, and I had a blast writing it.

What was That Scene for my fics?

[velkynkarma]

In your incryptid AU, what would it take for the cryptid team and the covenant to meet and not try to kill each other? a common enemy? both pretending to be normal human civilians and just not clocking each other?

Based on both the original series and the info dropped in my AU, there’s a few ways this could possibly happen:

A common enemy bigger than each other (such as the Sanda situation). This would depend on the agent and would probably end up being a mix of a ‘lesser of two evils’ and ‘the devil you know’ situation. No guarantee this would last.

The covenant agent(s) are younger or less experienced with field work, or have less indoctrination and/or ties to the covenant. This might make them more open to new experiences or willing to question previous teachings (such as with Shiro, or Dominic from the original series). 

They were already not great covenant agents to begin with or were taking field work agents as a way to try and learn new things or get out (ex. with Thomas from the actual series)

As you suggested, both undercover and not clocking each other...but this would be hard to pull off. Covenant agents are trained to be able to recognize most forms of common cryptids. It definitely would be hard to do with Shiro’s friend circle since most of them have very recognizable features, and Shiro is a known face to them. Lance and Coran are the only two that might be able to pull off not getting caught immediately, and Lance would have to be very careful to pass for human the whole time or risk being very stabbed.

At the end of the day it really comes down to individual characters too. Some are much more hardline about their stance than others.

[velkynkarma]

I saw your asks about Premium Pandemonium, and I got to wondering: Do the Prices exist in that universe? What would happen if Shiro met them (in 'canon' or with whatever wild reality melding)? Who do you think he would get along with the best? How might the Prices react to him? (sorry that's a lot of questions!)

Oh man, don’t apologize, these are great questions. (All answers are without any context from Calculated Risks which I haven’t finished reading yet).

I don’t think the Prices exist in the PP universe, mostly because they seem to be pretty well known and established all over the USA, which would make ‘supposedly reformed Covenant agent’ a little easier to grasp as a concept. That would’ve lessened the impact of Shiro breaking out on his own in the fic. 

But that being said, inter-reality travel is firmly established in both the InCryptid and Voltron universes, which means they could theoretically meet in two Earth realities sitting next to each other on the horizontal. So we’ll use hand-wavy ‘world hopping’ excuses to answer these questions.

Assuming Shiro could poof into the actual canon InCryptid universe, I think he’d be both surprised and delighted to learn about a whole established family of multiple generations with his own viewpoints. He’d definitely want to meet them if he could...which he would probably need to anyway, in order to get their help to get back home. 

I think he’d probably get along with the younger generation the best, since Alex, Verity and Antimony are all pretty accepting. Elsie and Artie too, although Artie miiiight be a bit dicey since he’s an incubus who doesn’t have full control over his pheromones, so that could get awkward and weird. Annie in particular, I think, would be somebody he’d get along with well, once he gets past her initial abrasiveness. She’s a fire-based sorcerer, and he’s now an artificial one; he could probably learn a lot from her. I think he’d also have a particular connection with Dominic, who is the only one currently living and there in the current books who has his exact scenario: having been a part of the Covenant for years, but then left it after seeing things in a different light. He’d probably like to have a few serious conversations with Dominic just because it’d be nice to talk to somebody who actually gets how confusing and complicated it is to flip sides and leave behind everything you knew. 

Some of the older generations might be trickier, though. If I recall, Verity had a pretty tough time integrating Dominic into the family. Her parents didn’t really approve of the marriage, and if I’m remembering Chaos Choreography right, she was actually pretty afraid Grandma Alice might decide to just stab her ex-Covenant husband because of the ‘Covenant’ part. They would have even less of a reason to trust Shiro, whose story is all kinds of weird, and it might take them a bit to trust him. 

I think some of that could be alleviated if they allowed Sarah to do a deep-dive in his mind to confirm he’s legit, but that raises its own complications, because Shiro for obvious reasons is not going to be cool with a jorhlac digging around in his head. That whole conversation would probably be pretty rocky to start, and could get very messy with so many people who are used to violent solutions...but both sides are also used to trying non-violent solutions first, so I think they could eventually work through it. (On the flip side, I think Sarah would be genuinely surprised that Shiro has more or less the same mental resistance that her cousins do, because that isn’t exactly common in humans).

I think eventually, once Sarah can confirm Shiro’s legit and apparently has just been adopting and protecting cryptids all over the damn place, the Prices would be cool with him overall. They also have this tendency to just adopt people into their family because they deserve a better family. I think Shiro would be a little overwhelmed by it at first but also come to enjoy it.

Shiro would be surprised at the Price Aeslin colony, because they’re obviously the same species but not the same religion as Allura’s Aeslin colony. But he’s familiar with their general practices, and it is admittedly a huge relief to not be the High Priest of Those Who Walk Out of the Darkness for once in his life. The Prices would definitely be shocked that he doesn’t just know about Aeslin mice, but has interacted with a colony and knows his way around the basics of how they work even if he doesn’t know their exact religion...which I think would be another point in his favor for them. 

Assuming the opposite happened and one or more Prices got dropped into PP universe, I think most of the above would still apply, but Shiro would have an easier time of it. At that point he’d have the others to vouch for him, including an entire Aeslin colony that worships him as a deity. The Prices trust what Aeslin have to say unquestionably, so they’d probably just roll with it. 

In either case, a Covenant infiltration plot could happen quite easily, which would be sort of interesting to mess around with. 

[velkynkarma]

So...this is something I’ve been curious about for Premium Pandemonium, but, what exactly is Shiro’s sexuality for this fic? Canon’s WoG really only specified canon!Shiro as mlm...so since I’ve always read Shiro as panace, I kinda ran with it for fanon unless someone else’s fanon specifies otherwise. In PP Shiro still read as ace or aroace to me, but with a slight to moderate preference for men vs women.

Shiro would be mlm in Premium Pandemonium. I did want to match that to canon. My approximate timeline is that he starts questioning his sexuality towards the end of being with the Covenant, but doesn’t fully recognize and accept that he’s gay until he’s been in Garrison for a few years. There are some hints for it here and there, most notably his immunity to Nyma’s succubus abilities, which only affect people attracted to women (the fact that he mentions it had been a surprising day when he discovered his immunity was intended to be a sort of extra definitive confirmation for him). At one point during his conversation with Sanda he thinks to himself that the other running theory that he disappeared with a woman isn’t right for ‘a lot of reasons,’ the main one being that he left to stop murdering cryptids, but also because he’s not attracted to women.

That said, he probably read as ace/aroace because I didn’t really want to get into any relationship dynamics in a story that was intended to be platonic and found-family themed. Also because I’m aroace and really not comfortable writing romantic/sexual relationships or observations, or opening that particular ship-based can of worms in the Voltron fandom. You can feel free to interpret it however you want, though!

Based on the way it works in the original InCryptid series, even the main characters interested in relationships tend to struggle to have them. As one of them points out, romantic or sexual encounters are a little awkward if the other party isn’t expecting you to be packing a dozen knives and a couple firearms on your person at all times. Shiro is notably pretty paranoid in PP, so even if he was interested in a relationship, I imagine none of them have lasted very long because he’s got too many aliases to juggle, is very cautious about letting himself be vulnerable in any capacity, and his apartment is a no-go zone. I imagine that would be difficult for most people to get used to. And if he’s ace/aroace, well, then I guess that’s just one less problem for him to have to deal with lol.

[velkynkarma]

I finished premium pandemonium recently and I just... <3

I still don't wanna let it go like after you finish a really good book! So is there any little fun facts about that universe that you didn't get to mention before that you wanna share now?

I feel the same way, anon! I’ve been having a hard time letting it go too, which is why I’m writing more fics for it :) There’s one in the works, and since I’m reading the latest book in the series it’s based off of, I’ve been getting even more ideas :)

Facts, though! There are definitely some interesting facts I can share. I also suggest digging through my Premium Pandemonium tag, where I answered questions after I finished posting the original fic. 

Some other tidbits and behind-the-scenes:

Before fleeing the Covenant, Shiro was set up for an arranged marriage, since the Covenant likes to ensure they will always have a new generation of skilled agents and the Shirogane lineage is highly coveted. Presumably his fiancée-to-be was let off the hook once he was presumed dead. Of course, this was all arranged before he even started questioning his sexuality, so he never actually questioned the plan to marry him off. None of the others know about this or they’d probably all be horrified, but it’s not something he ever thought to mention.

Along those lines, when I was originally writing up the first draft notes for this story, Shiro’s encounter with Nyma was originally intended to make him look crazy prepared, by just always having lilu charms on him. Then the series officially recognized him as gay, at which point I just shrugged and made him immune to succubi instead. (This meant I also had to ensure he was crazy prepared to fight Macidus later, but it worked out better that way anyway). 

Shiro is a bit of an unreliable narrator in Premium Pandemonium. There’s hints about it in Keith’s 2 chapters, but he’s a lot more paranoid than his narration would let on, sometimes to the exasperation of others. He has no social media presence and almost never lets anyone take photographs of him unless it’s secured. This also goes for any of his alias roles, including ‘Ryou Tanaka,’ leading most of his self-defense students to share increasingly wild and highly inaccurate conspiracy theories as to why their friendly self defense teacher is not in touch with the internet world at all.

Unlike his canon counterpart, Shiro can’t pilot most aircraft. He does know how to operate some helicopters, but it’s been a while since he’s had to and his skills are a bit rusty. That said, he would probably jump at the chance to learn to fly a plane. (Since PP is set in the modern era, spacecraft will pretty much never be a thing he can learn).

Since they’re both cosmic forces, Crossroads!Lotor has met Bob at least once. They don’t terribly care for each other, or the other’s methods of dealing with mortals.

Lotor was also not intended to show up in the final battle in the initial rough draft, but while on a walk I had such a spark of inspiration for how to include him that I reworked half the ending. That’s actually what this post was about. 

There are a lot of scenarios where I would’ve loved to write the POV of other characters but had to stick with Shiro. Other scenes that would’ve been fun to write would include:

Lance and Hunk moving suncoma!Keith during the Sanda incident

The team breaking in to find and rescue Shiro when he’d been captured

Lance and Keith rescuing people on the campus when they split from Hunk and Shiro

Allura’s POV when she first discovered a Shirogane in her city, or during the fight at the end

The Aeslin mouse religion was altered a little to be different from the book series. In that series, ‘gods’ and ‘priestesses’ are based on either being born into the main family or marrying into it. Since I wanted to write a platonic, found-family story, but I also wanted the aeslin dynamics, I restructured their religious beliefs to be centered around those Allura’s lineage considers ‘family.’ 

Thanks for reading anon. I’m glad you enjoyed the fic :) And if you still can’t let go, I highly recommend picking up the InCryptid series, which is excellent!

[velkynkarma]

didn’t lotor say that he had voided/returned the payments he had received while under haggars control? lotor told shiro that, so shiro knows that the flames would have been returned if they could have been? that assumes he trusts lotors word though

He nullified any payment owed, so all payments still due are no longer due (for example, Pidge owing him a favor, but hadn’t paid it yet; now she doesn’t owe anything). 

In the case of an unfinished deal (for example, a debtor made a payment, but Lotor had not completed his end of the bargain yet) it’s possible it could be returned. In that case somebody made a payment in good faith and Lotor didn’t uphold his end. If he could, he would return the payment and consider the contract voided. Of course, some of these payments could be a bit irreversible (ex. ‘sacrifice your firstborn son’) so he has limits to what he could return.

For contracts already fulfilled on both ends, there’s not much he could do about it since it’s already done and sealed. Even if the deal was unfair, it’s done and there’s not much he can do about it unless the debtor comes back a second time.

Also bear in mind, that would assume Lotor had access/control over the taken payments. Remember, Haggar appropriated a lot of stuff, too. Lotor technically doesn’t own those flames anymore since that property had since been given to Haggar. So he doesn’t have much control over them either way, and he can’t willingly take something that is no longer ‘his’ possession.

Basically, Lotor just cut his responsibility to anything that Haggar did. He’s not calling in her debts anymore and he’s not expending the effort to hunt those people down. He wiped the slate clean and he’s starting fresh. Any debt currently existing is wiped out on either side and new debts begin at square one.