#the mention of voltron gives me ptsd | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-ferocious-kittyrose · 4 years ago

Text

What I would’ve done w/ Lotor’s character

It’s not exactly a secret to anyone who’s been following me for a while that I’m not the biggest fan of canon Lotor. I had high hopes for the character from his 80s counterpart and intro in season 3 but I was really let down by the direction the writers went with him in canon.

When he was introduced, I was so hoping for him to be this cocky manipulative asshole that’s only out for himself. I love that character archetype so goddamn much.

But in canon he was just kinda boring to me. His personality was bland and his motivations never really made sense. He’s introduced using empty promises of peace and comradery to manipulate people, then its revealed that he actually does want peace and comradery and wants to lead a peaceful empire, then that turns into draining Alteans and wanting to kill all Galra...

I also didn’t like how the writers decide to tack on this whole child abuse plot to explain why he was the way he was. As if that’s the only way to make a villain sympathetic. Yeah other versions of Voltron have touched on Lotor’s childhood before and it was never pleasant, but VLD really leaned into that shit, to the point where it felt like the writers were just shoving angst down our throats thinking that equals good writing.

It takes more than a tragic backstory to make a character compelling. It takes an interesting personally and motivations that make sense. And you can make a character tragic/sympathetic in more subtle ways.

For me personally, I wanted Lotor to be a sorta fusion of Loki and Littlefinger in space.

Loki is a sly trickster who grew up feeling like an outcast, unaware of his true heritage. He grew up believing he could be king but when his shity father handed it to his perfect brother he felt he had been robbed and decided to take the throne by force.

Littlefinger is a small man from a small house with no power, and after getting the shit beat out of him trying to win the hand of the girl he loved, he decided he would use his intelligence and skills in manipulation to screw over all these noble lords and weasel his way into the throne. And when he did he would finally get vengeance on all those who had looked down on him.

I feel like this fits Lotor well. Lotor is a prince, so he isn’t small in that regard, but he is not respected in the way a prince should be.

He is a lot smaller than the average Galra. And even though Lotor is still quite strong, developing a fighting style that suits his small form and uses his opponents size against them, in a society so heavily based on physical strength that’s still a big blow to your rep.

He employs half breeds, which we know are looked down on in the empire. And there are definitely rumors about Lotor himself being a half breed. I think after 10,000 years Zarkon would’ve done a pretty good job at hiding Lotor’s heritage from the public but just looking at him compared to the average Galra there’s going to be some suspicion there. On that note Lotor is probably considered butt ugly by the Galra.

And Lotor works in the shadows and achieves his goals through lies and trickery, which Lotor himself says are things the empire looks down on.

So yeah, the people in the empire hate Lotor. Even Sendak who’s all ‘Gung ho empire’ has no respect for Lotor. And because of this it would probably be up in the air whether or not Lotor would even be allowed to take the throne if his father were to pass, even though it’s his birthright.

And in the face of all this rampant disrespect, Lotor decides that he is going to overthrow his father and take the throne. And when he does he will take vengeance on everyone who had ever undermined him and expand the empire beyond anything his father could’ve dreamed of.

And don’t try telling me, “oh that’s so out of character! Lotor would never take pleasure in the pain of others!” Because he does.

Remember Throk? Remember how Lotor sent him away to the worst station in the empire and joked about letting him, “rot with the ice worms?” Remember how Lotor later invaded his station then watched with a grin as he was tortured by Haggar?

Lotor 100% takes pleasure in hurting those who would hurt him, because it makes him feel powerful.

Now let’s talk about Lotor’s planet. The one given to him and destroyed by Zarkon. I always felt weird about this plot. Obviously it’s a very sad thing to have happen, but I always liked the idea of Lotor’s promises of peace to be empty, a means of manipulating people. So this whole situation being genuine feels weird to me.

In my version, Lotor didn’t get banished for being too kind. He got banished because Zarkon caught him in a plot to betray him.

When Lotor was put in charge of the planet, he seduced and married the princess Ventar. He filled her head with promises that her people would be free and they would rule the universe together and convinced her to secretly round up her armies and send word to her ally planets to do the same, so they could start planning a way to overthrow Zarkon.

It’s left ambiguous whether or not he was being genuine and whether he really loved Ventar and intended to keep his promises to her or if she was just a tool to get the throne. But either way, it ends the same. Zarkon finds out, destroys the planet, kills Ventar, and exiles Lotor.

Still sad/humiliating thing for Lotor, and definitely a story that could gain sympathy from Allura.

Speaking of Allura and Ventar, let’s talk about Lotor’s relationship with the women in his life.

(Trigger Warning: Brief mention of of a rape scene in GoLion)

In the 80s Lotor was incredibly misogynistic. He walked around with a harem of half naked women, tried repeatedly to kidnap and marry Allura against her will, and in GoLion it’s heavily implied that he raped Romelle because she looked like Allura.

It’s a common joke in the fandom that he went from this to drinking respect women juice in VLD but I don’t know if I’d go that far.

He’s definitely better in VLD than he was in the 80s, but even in VLD he manipulates, uses, and hurts most of the women in his life.

Allura is the obvious example, but you also have his generals. Acxa talks to the paladins, Allura in particular, about how persuasive Lotor could be. Implying that she and the other general were manipulated the same way Allura was.

Well not EXACTLY the same way Allura was, romantically I mean. Though there are people who believe that Acxa was also in love with Lotor and he used that to his advantage, which I can see.

But I feel like it was more about giving them a place in an empire that didn’t care about or accept them.

I hate The Last Jedi but I really feel like the line, “you’re nothing, but not to me,” fits really well. They were outsiders with no place to go until Lotor swooped in and gave them a purpose.

Do I think that there was a part of Lotor that genuinely wanted to help them because he saw a kindred spirit in them? Yeah. But I also think that at the end of the day, they were more tools than real friends. And he had no qualms about killing them if they betrayed him.

The situation with Narti proves that. As well as the fact that Ezor and Zethrid seemed very scared of the prospect of Lotor being alive and coming for them.

And then you have Allura. Lotor’s lust for Allura has always been a very important part of his character. In the 80s the reason behind his obsession with her was that he had a lot of baggage about his mother and had a thing for women that looked like her. Also the fact that he just didn’t like not getting something he wanted.

There was never any love. He didn’t want to be with her, he wanted to own her.

In VLD, his want for Allura seems to stem more from the fact that she’s Altean than an Oedipus complex. As well as the fact that she’s powerful and skilled in Altean alchemy, which makes her rather useful.

I don’t personally believe that Lotor ever really Loved Allura. I think he liked the idea of her and what she could do for him, but the end of the day she was more a means to an end than anything else.

Allura’s been trough a lot. Zarkon betrayed her family and destroyed her entire planet only about a year ago from her point of view, and she appears to have a pretty bad case of survivors guilt and PTSD. And to make matters worse, while Lotor was on the ship she was fighting with Shiro, someone she clearly cared about. The idea of loosing him after already losing so much must’ve been really painful.

She was hurting, conflicted, and lonely. Which made her all the more vulnerable to Lotor’s manipulation.

He took advantage of her loneliness and insecurities, making her believe she had found someone who understood her and could help her avenge her family and planet. She trusted him, let herself be vulnerable around him, which made it hurt even more when it was revealed to all be a ruse.

And then you have his relationship with his mother Honerva/Haggar.

I talked a lot about this in my whole rewrite/rant about Honerva, but I’m not a fan of how they made their relationship 100% negative. I feel like it robs the show of a lot of interesting character interaction.

It’s sad. The whole relationship is really tragic. Shit like this is literally my worst nightmare. The thought of looking my mom in the face and have her not recognize me as her daughter keeps me up at night.

But the thing is, in canon the relationship kinda falls flat because Lotor and Haggar/Honerva have no connection. Haggar was awful to Lotor and Lotor hates Haggar. What reason do I have to be invested in their relationship?

So If you haven’t read my Honerva rant, here’s how I would’ve done the Honerva Lotor relationship.

10,000 years ago, when Alfor came to Dibazzal to convince Zarkon to close the rift, Honerva went into labor. Alfor and many Galran doctors tried there best to save her and the baby, but the quintessence had damaged her body so much that she couldn’t be saved and died in childbirth.

Zarkon went ballistic and Alfor had the doctors take baby Lotor somewhere safe, fearing Zarkon would take his grief and anger out on the child.

After Honerva was resurrected as Haggar and throughout Lotor’s childhood, they had a strange sort of relationship. Lotor was an inquisitive child and was always curious about Haggar and her work, making a habit of following her around like a little shadow and watching as she worked. And there was also the fact that, while his father was never friendly, he was calmer when she was around.

Haggar had no idea what to make of this weird child following her around all the time. All these big strong Galra were terrified of her but this tiny child showed no fear as he tugged on her robes and excitedly asked questions about her work. And she never minded. She didn’t know why or how to explain it, but she cared for the child. As much as a soulless undead witch could care for something anyway.

But as time went on there relationship became more and more strained. Lotor was a smart kid he was gonna find out about his mother and deduce what happened to her.

He resented Haggar. Resented her for not remembering him. Resented her for the fact that he had to go through life without a mother while she was right there. And he resented her for being loyal to Zarkon, who had been making his life hell for thousands of years.

Every time she showed him something resembling kindness he’s conflicted. He knows he should feel happy that she cares, but at the same time, why does she care? It’s not like she sees him as her son.

He turned to denial, insisting that Haggar couldn’t possibly be his mother, even though he new the truth deep down, and a part of him always secretly longed for her to remember who she was, who he was, and embrace him as her son. He hates that part of himself.

And when he does meet Honerva for the first time, it’s... tense... to say the least. Having his mother reach out to him and acknowledge him as her son is something he thought would bring him joy, but in that moment all the pain he went through rises back to the surface and he lashes out. He draws his sword and is about to cut her down but he hesitates. He’s trembling with tears in his eyes. He can’t forgive her, but he also can’t bring himself to kill her.

Then you have his relationship with his father.

It’s no secret that Zarkon is an awful man and a shity father, always has been.

The explanation as to why is kinda shaky. All we get is Zarkon saying Lotor is his greatest shame because he’s Altean but I don’t know about that. Zarkon may hate Alteans but he loved Honerva and I don’t think he would be ashamed of his relationship with her.

He definitely did his best Lotor’s heritage from the public. But I don’t think that’s the reason he hates him.

In my version of the story, Zarkon hates Lotor because Honerva died giving birth to him and Zarkon blames him for her death. He lost his beloved wife and was forced to watch the son that killed her waltz around wearing her face.

It didn’t help that Lotor was a snarky rebellious kid that liked to show off. He did things his own way, didn’t care much for rules, and had a real knack for finding loopholes. All things that made his strict father very angry. He was an embarrassment. Small and rebellious. That’s why Zarkon began training Sendak.

I personally believe the reason Zarkon was so trusting of Sendak and had so much faith in him was because Zarkon had been grooming him to be his “true heir.” Sendak is the epitome of what a Galra should be. Strong, loyal, and brave. He would be the son Zarkon wished he had. The favorite child.

Lotor obviously hates Zarkon, and rightfully so. Zarkon hates him for something he had no control over and constantly disrespects him.

Lotor may not follow the rules, but he passes every trial. He excels at everything he does but Zarkon refuses to see that all because he blames him for Honerva’s death.

Lotor sees Zarkon as an old fool. He knows that he could do a far better job at running the empire.

Lotor dedicated thousands of years of his life to overthrowing Zarkon. His hatred for his father was his motivation, what got him out of bed every morning, so when the deed is done and Zarkon was finally defeated, in the moments after he felt empty.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on that feeling for long. He still had to deal with his father’s men and take the throne that was rightfully his.

Then you have his plan.

Lotor’s plan in VLD is really weird and over complicated. There was no real reason for the whole draining Alteans thing. Just a lazy way of making him 100% evil.

The plot could’ve been a lot simpler. He gains the paladins trust, gets them to help him build his ships and overthrow Zarkon, and then once he has the throne he pulls an Uno reverse card and is like, “yeah, nothing personal but this was all a trick and imma lock you and your lions up now.”

Obviously more complicated than that but that’s the basic idea.

One of my main problems with VLD is that they had a bad habit of over complicating the plot. People don’t care about VLD because of the plot, they care about the characters and their relationships, the actual plot doesn’t have to be anything spectacular.

It’s strange to say but I feel like the writes tried too hard with Lotor. He had the potential to be an amazing villain but the writers were too focused on tricking the audience and making him angsty that they forgot to make him compelling.

#Voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #prince lotor #Lotor #emperor zarkon #zarkon #haggar #honerva #princess allura #Allura #acxa #ezor #Zethrid #narti #galra #vld critical #discourse #sincline

64 notes · View notes

izlaria · 4 years ago

Text

Someone you like (part 5)

This is the fifth chapter of my “Someone you like” inspired fic. It’s also available on AO3 in case you prefer that platform.

This and the fourth chapter are also inspired by the “Distance” and “Talk to me” animatics by @suerakocy, so please check that out and give the artist some praise. They deserve it so much, because those pieces are beautiful.

Summary: It takes Lance years to come back to the Garrison but, when he does, his friends are there for him.

We finally get Lance pining hour!

Trigger warning: Talk of PTSD and mention of blood, but no description of violence. The story really just starts right in it.

24 and 22 years old

Lance woke up to a dark, quiet room and for a moment he couldn’t move. He could barely breathe. The air felt stuck in his throat, because as soon as he inhaled the sound of his haggard breathing would break the silence and alert whatever awaited in the shadows.

But there’s nothing there, Lance told himself.

He had dreamt of the war, again. In his nightmare, there was another explosion and Lance hadn’t been quick enough to shield whoever was with him in the room. The darkness that followed was oppressing, dense enough that he’d felt like it was water flooding his lungs.

And then the water had turned into blood.

He sat up in bed, trying to control his shaking. It had taken years and a lot of therapy, but Lance had managed not to fall into panic attacks every time such memories made their way into his dreams. Still, he was glad to have built his own house on the farm grounds. His parents deserved a good night’s rest, especially after what Lance had put them through during his time with Voltron.

He reached for his cellphone with unsteady fingers. After their last battle against the Galra, Lance had learned to leave it on during his sleep, just in case he woke up like this: with adrenaline running through his veins and the vague sensation that something was terribly wrong.

He hesitated over his contact list, before finally scrolling down and pressing call. It didn’t take long for the other person to answer.

“Is anyone hurt?” was Keith’s greeting.

“No.” Lance swallowed once, trying to erase the grit from his voice. “Nightmare.”

There was a second of silence and then the rustle of sheets. “Okay.” He heard Keith exhale harshly, but Lance knew it wasn’t in annoyance. The whole team had gone through this more times than they could count. “Okay.” Keith seemed a little calmer now. “Are you all right?”

“Not really,” Lance confessed. He leaned against the headboard and pulled his knees up. It was easier to concentrate on his breathing when he wasn’t lying down. “It was Sendak’s first attack, again.”

“You’ve been thinking about that one a lot lately.” Keith’s observation made Lance grind his teeth. It was true, but he didn’t need to say it.

“Could you call her?” Lance breathed out. His voice sounded pained and he winced, thankful that only Keith was privy to it.

“Lance, we can’t keep doing this.” His friend’s tone was weighted with his own share of hurt. “If you want to know how she is, then you need to call Pidge.”

“I do call Pidge. Just not…”

“Not when you are feeling vulnerable?” Keith sighed into the phone, sounding more tired than normal.

“You weren’t sleeping, were you?” Lance latched onto this realization. He felt stupid not to have recognized it earlier, with how quickly Keith had answered the call.

“Don’t change the subject.” The reply came harshly and it only served to confirm his suspicions.

“I’m not! We made a deal to call one another if the flashbacks started again.” He lit up the lamp on his nightstand and frowned at the pictures he kept on the opposing wall, as if it could make the real Keith feel his irritation. “Would you have talked to anyone if I hadn’t called?”

“My mom is here with me,” Keith admitted after a moment. “She and Kolivan have kept me company while Xitry is away.”

Lance let relief replace his anger. “Are both Xitry and Acxa on a mission?”

“Yeah… My leg still isn’t completely healed, so I couldn’t join them. Acxa will take another phoeb to come home, but Xitry should be back in a few days.” Keith paused and there was the sound of other muffled voices. “Mom says you should call Pidge.”

“You are a traitor and a hypocrite.” Lance scowled, despite how no one could see him.

Keith scoffed and Lance could feel the mockery in his expression even so many miles away. “I have called my partners every day they’ve been gone. Can you say the same?”

“Pidge is not my partner!” he protested, feeling heat rise up his neck.

“No, she’s just the first person you think about when waking up from a nightmare and then you call me, because if you called Hunk he would just spill it to her first chance he got.” Lance did not appreciate all the sarcasm Keith was giving him.

“I just want to be sure that she’s okay!” He frowned down at his knees, picking at a piece of lint that stuck to his pajama pants.

“Then ask her yourself!” Keith, too, was being too loud for the middle of the night. His vexation almost felt like a victory to Lance. “Pidge is smart, she can tell there’s something strange about my calls.”

“How are you a spy with this kind of acting skills?” Lance chastened.

“I’m no longer a spy, remember? I’m part of a humanitarian organization!” He heard Keith take a deep breath. “This would be much easier if you just told Pidge you’re in love with her.”

The words gave him pause. Lance didn’t yet know how to describe what he felt for Pidge. She was one of his best friends, the person who had stuck around the most after the team went their separate ways. Shiro had his own family to rebuild, and Keith and Hunk had a whole universe to help stabilize.

Pidge and Lance had found their own goals, but staying on Earth allowed them to check in on each other much more often.

“She doesn’t see me like that, Keith.” Lance hadn’t meant to sound so defeated, but it came out that way.

“Yeah, well, neither did Allura, but you wore her out.”

The reminder didn’t bring the same pain it would have a few years earlier.

Lance knew that he would always love Allura, but his feelings had settled into a more comfortable kind of affection. With the privilege of hindsight, Lance was able to see that their relationship didn’t have the same base as his friendship with the other paladins. Even if she had lived, Allura would have left to be queen, too invested in the rebuilding of Altean society.

And Lance would have stayed on Earth. That had never been in question. He had put his family through enough suffering while with Voltron.

He had seen the greatness in Allura when he was only eighteen, but that also meant he would have stepped aside if he thought their relationship was putting a strain in both of them. He didn’t regret the time they’d had together, but her continuous rejections had also taught Lance to value himself.

Keith’s voice snapped Lance out of his thoughts. “I didn’t mean to bring up Allura.”

“No, it’s fine.” Lance rubbed his eyes. “I just… I don’t want Pidge to think of Allura if I ever do ask her out.”

“I can’t promise you that.” He respected Keith’s honesty, even though it did nothing to calm his worries. “But she will never see you as a romantic prospect if you don’t make things clear to her. As far as Pidge knows, you’re still in mourning.”

Again, Keith was right. Lance had been ruminating this notion for quite some time. There were times when he still felt indebted to Allura, like he was the one responsible for maintaining her legacy, but the years had given him enough maturity to understand that was a burden Allura would wish on no one.

It was difficult to take the first steps towards a new future when he’d spent so long wallowing in the darkness of the war. In the middle of it all, Pidge had been a beacon of light, a safe port for him to rest his mind. It was no wonder that he had fallen for her.

“I’m thinking of going back to the Garrison.” He swallowed thickly, the fear of this confession rising up to knot at his throat.

The line went silent for a moment. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.” Lance chuckled. “I’ve been working with Shiro and Doctor Holt, because the quintessence Allura left in me allows me to interact with Altean technology a little better than most. And since I’ve put my pilot license to good use in my travels, Shiro said the officers are ready to reinstate me.”

“That’s amazing, Lance!” It was weird to hear Keith sound so enthusiastic.

“I think that’s why the memories are coming back again, actually.” His next exhale came out shaky and forced. “I keep thinking of the Garrison and I just – I’m afraid that I’ll get there and it will be too much.”

“The place has changed a lot since the war,” Keith assured him. “Even if something happened, though, Shiro and Pidge are there to help you through. This could be really good for you.”

Lance snickered at his directness. Keith didn’t hide his opinions, didn’t coddle him like so much of his family. “So you think it’s a good idea?”

“I think it’s the best idea you’ve ever had.” His friend’s voice was blunt, without the dramatics that Lance himself would have added to such a statement. “Which is not saying much,” Keith teased.

“Hardy har har.” But Lance felt a smile pull at his mouth. “Does that mean you will call Pidge for me?”

There was a groan from the other side of the line. “Lance, no. I’m putting my foot down.”

“What? Why?” he complained and, with his movement, one of the pillows slipped to the ground. Lance glared at it.

“Because I’m sick of watching two of my closest friends dance circles around each other.” Keith sounded increasingly exasperated. “Talk. To. Her. Pidge is a tough girl, but she has grown a lot. She won’t be mad at you for calling.”

“I know that!” Lance grumbled.

“Then do it!” Before he could disagree, Keith had already hung up the phone.

Lance stared at the screen in discontentment. The display told him it was just before 4 am in Varadero, meaning that it wasn’t even 2 am in Arizona. His talk with Keith had distracted him from the nightmare, but now that Lance was alone with his thoughts images of it had begun to flash in his mind.

Against the dimly lit wall of his bedroom, he could almost see the silhouette of Pidge’s younger self, her body contorted by the force of a blast Lance hadn’t been quick enough to protect her from.

His need to know Pidge was safe overrode his anxiety over disturbing her sleep.

The phone rang more times than it had with Keith, which was a bit nerve-wrecking, but also a relief. Lance hoped she was having a better rest than he was.

“Lance?” The breathiness of her voice made him swallow. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he replied, at a loss of what else to say.

“Nightmares?” From her low volume, Lance could tell that Pidge must have been at her parents’ house. He felt bad for disturbing them.

“You’re okay, right?” His words were jumbled together. “I didn’t mean to wake you up, but– You are safe, aren’t you?”

“I’m safe, Lance.” He closed his eyes, feeling the last of his distress leave him with the sound of her voice. “I’m glad you called, actually.”

He tilted his head back until it hit the headboard. “Were you dreaming of me, Pidgey-Pidge?”

“No,” she cut him off brusquely, “but I imagine you were dreaming of me.”

“Why would you think so?” He grimaced at how strangled his voice sounded.

“Because I know you have had Keith calling me for the past couple months.” Her no-nonsense attitude made Lance feel like a deer-in-headlights.

“I can’t believe he ratted me out!” Once again, Lance directed his glare at a photo of Keith on the wall. “I have some choice words for that half-alien tattletale!”

“Keep your words, he didn’t say anything.” Pidge heaved a sigh. “I just know you two. As soon as he mentioned the explosion Sendak caused, I knew he was acting on your behalf.”

Lance winced, but didn’t protest. He should have realized that Pidge couldn’t be tricked. Not only was she a certified genius, but her loyalty to her friends often translated into being more observant than one might like. She and Hunk had that in common: the uncanny ability to get involved in other people’s business.

“Keith dreams of Shiro or his father. When I do appear in his nightmares, it’s usually about not being able to grab me when we were in Honerva’s mindscape,” she went on. “That dude still harbors a displaced sense of responsibility towards us.” Her tone shifted into accusing. “Which we should not be exploiting.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to do that.” Lance slipped on the sheets until he was lying down again.

“What’s going on, Lance?” Pidge sounded concerned. “Why didn’t you just call me?”

There were many reasons, but none that he felt comfortable sharing. It had been a year since Lance had realized how much of an effect Pidge had on him, how happy he was to hear her voice, how warm his chest felt when she visited the farm. It wasn’t even a new development. He had loved her for as long as he could remember, so he couldn’t really define when it had gone from platonic to romantic.

Maybe the roots of it had always been there, hidden by the flashiness of other infatuations.

A part of him had resisted the urge to call Pidge because, despite how she probably knew him like the charted universe, he had hoped she would see strength in his recovery. Lance still wanted to be perceived as the hero who survived the war with a smile on his face and his psyche intact, no matter how far from the truth that might be.

“Shouldn’t it be easier?” he asked, so low that he hoped Pidge couldn’t hear him. “Shouldn’t I be over it?”

“Lance…” Even the way she sighed his name sent a shiver down his spine. “No. It shouldn’t be easy. We’ve talked about this.”

He had heard this from a number of therapists, as well as every other member of the team, but it was difficult to go against the ideals he’d created in his head.

“But you’re doing good,” Lance argued and his gaze fixed on the ceiling, without really seeing it.

“So are you, most of the time.” When Pidge said it like that, full of confidence, he could almost believe it. “When I feel like the memories are hurting me, I reach out. I come to see my parents, I stop by Shiro’s office.” She paused to take a breath. “I call you.”

Lance turned on his side, sticking the phone between his ear and the pillow. He badly wanted her to be there. They had slept side by side once, though he couldn’t remember the details of it. Even then, what had stuck out the most was the softness of her presence and the calm she provided.

He closed his eyes and focused on Pidge’s voice. “I really miss you.”

“I’m right here, Lance.” Like this, he could pretend she was in bed with him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I can’t believe you put a firewall to keep me out of your virtual diary, Pidge. It’s rude that you would think so low of me.”

Lance stopped short. It wasn’t the content of the conversation that surprised him, but the fact that it was Hunk’s voice, coming from the laboratories. His best friend had been on a diplomatic mission of two months and was supposed to contact Lance when he stopped on Arus to refuel his ship.

“I was clearly right, because you wouldn’t know of it unless you had tried to hack in.” And this was Pidge, sounding more incensed than he’d heard in quite some time. “I learned my lesson during our Garrison days, Hunk!”

“Shouldn’t you be buttering me up? You called me for help on this aircraft, young lady.” Lance almost snorted at this. He could already imagine the indignation on Pidge’s face.

“If I had known you’d be like this, I would have found a way to neutralize drag simply to negate your role here!” she spit back. From behind the glass walls, Lance observed the redness of her complexion and how her freckles disappeared into the color.

He expected Hunk to back down, but the man crossed his arms stubbornly and looked down his nose at Pidge. “You’re only saying that because I’m right.”

Lance knocked against a metallic frame on the door, which had been open.

“Team Punk is back at it?” He raised his hands in mock despair. “I knew I should have stayed home.”

“Lance!” Hunk rushed over to him, engulfing Lance in a hug. Over his shoulder, he saw Pidge hang back, but the anger had melted away from her expression. “Sorry I didn’t call you earlier, man. This little menace caught me on the way back from Firilar and she wanted me at the Garrison ASAP.”

“Yeah, I regret it now,” she retorted with a glare.

Hunk let Lance go in order to direct another exasperated look at Pidge.

“Hey there, Pidgeon.” Lance scratched the back of his neck, unsure of what to do. She didn’t move from her spot on the workbench and he approached almost without thinking. “Long time no see.”

As soon as he was within reach, Pidge pulsed on the balls of her feet and threw her arms around his neck. Lance’s arms were around her with no hesitance, holding her up against his chest.

“Hello,” she muttered into his shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the Cabul complex with Shiro and Curtis?”

Even as she talked, Pidge didn’t give up her grip on him. It made laughter bubble up Lance’s throat. He’d been all around the world, assisting the Garrison centers in completing Earth’s first fully functioning planetary defense system, so it had been months since he’d last seen Pidge in person.

“I flew over once the installation was done. They needed me to activate the shields with quintessence, but then Arizona called.” She slowly slid down back to her feet, putting some space between them. “Something about needing their star pilot to test a new jet.”

He watched as first confusion, then realization dawned on Pidge’s face. To the side, he could see that Hunk was also grinning.

“Are you back? Don’t you lie to me, McClain!” She pushed at his shoulders, but there was excitement in her eyes.

“I’m back. I got the go-ahead earlier today.” He felt awkward under the combined stares of his two best friends. “I do remember telling you I wasn’t ready to retire. Guess my vacation ran a bit long.”

“Oh, man, we’re back together! The last time it was just the three of us in the Garrison we were still cadets.” Hunk jumped in, waving his arms widely. “I still couldn’t go on a simulator without getting motion-sickness! Lance still thought Pidge was a guy!”

“Yeah, I’m not making that mistake again.” Lance gave Pidge a cheeky once-over, making her flush.

She had let her hair grow out again. It was tied back in a long braid, but some strands had already escaped and framed her face in a reddish halo. She looked pretty like this, but Lance thought she was always pretty.

It had taken her some time to find middle ground between the androgyny of her adolescence and the femininity of Katie Holt. Lance hadn’t always been the most tactful during this period, but Pidge had known he meant well and that he was supportive of however she felt like expressing herself. It was nice to see her feel good in her own skin.

Pidge socked him on the arm. “We’ve talked about this, loverboy. No flirting with me unless you want a new bruise.”

“But, Pidgeon,” he put a hand over his heart, “this is how I show my love.”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Hunk put a hand on their shoulders. “We don’t want to start a fight right next to the billion-dollar prototype.”

“Fine,” Lance drew out his vowels, making a show of it. “Honestly, though, you two look good.”

He wasn’t just saying this. Coming back to the Garrison allowed him to juxtapose the images of who Pidge and Hunk had been with their current selves.

Hunk hadn’t grown much taller and he had maintained the same robustness from their first meeting, but the anxiety that had followed him as a teenager now gave way to self-assuredness. He didn’t curl into himself anymore when going past other groups of students, nor did he cower in the face of Garrison officers.

They were all still young and maybe a little broken up after Voltron, but it had also taught them a lot about themselves and their worth. It was nice to see.

And then there was Pidge. With her long hair, her high-tech glasses, her unconventional wardrobe. She was nothing like what younger Lance had thought he wanted in a girl, but that didn’t stop her from occupying all of his thoughts.

“You do too!” Hunk exclaimed, clearly a little embarrassed. “I haven’t seen you this excited in years.”

“Yeah.” Lance chuckled, unable to stop himself. “It feels good to be back. We’ll see how things go with the other MFE pilots, but I’m not too worried.” He wiggled his brows at Hunk. “I’m pretty sure I can charm the pants out of them.”

“And if that fails, you can always count on Shiro and I to intimidate people,” Pidge cut in, a teasing smile on her face, but there was a deeper current of truth to her words. They had his back and Lance was grateful for it.

“I’m pretty intimidating myself.” Lance smirked. “We just need Keith and then the gang will be completed: the Garrison bad boys, who stole a prisoner and disappeared into the night!” He made a motion in the air, like a ship cutting through the sky.

“I take it back, I don’t want to be associated with you.” Pidge’s dry comment earned a laugh from Hunk and a pout from Lance.

“Oh, come on, Pidge!” He draped an arm around the girl to pull her closer, but Pidge didn’t react as he’d hoped. She leveled him with unimpressed eyes, making no move to acknowledge their proximity. Lance found himself as the one feeling flustered and hurried to mask his discomfort. “You could at least say you’re happy to have me around.”

“Of course I’m happy, Lance,” she conceded with little fanfare. “That doesn’t mean I feel like contributing to enlarging your already massive ego.”

Pidge was looking at him over the top of her glasses. Uncovered from the greenish tint of the lenses, the honey brown of her eyes appeared strangely expressive. There was an emotion in them that he had seen a lot through the years, when they were on video calls at night, by themselves, but that he hadn’t had the opportunity to see in person yet.

Lance felt his own expression soften as he stared down at Pidge.

Before he could figure out what to say, Hunk, who had been preoccupied with a series of beeps from his communicator, had turned towards them and snapped his fingers. “We have so much to show you, now that you have the clearance!” His smile was even more contagious in person than through a screen. “I don’t know how much Veronica has told you–”

“Told me?” Lance interrupted with a laugh, trying to seem as innocent as possible. “As if my sister would spill transnational secrets.”

Hunk’s mouth twisted disbelievingly. Pidge, too, shook her head.

“I know how it is to have a family in the Garrison, Lance,” she admonished, slipping out of his hold. “Everything is confidential until something slips out in the middle of Sunday lunch.”

“Well…” Lance squinted at the LED lights on the ceiling. “If something did slip out, like the existence of a certain wormhole-jumping craft that is supposed to make teludavs obsolete, then you couldn’t really blame Ronnie.”

“Especially since the only one with a high enough rank to know about that is Shiro.” Pidge groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “A lifetime in the military and he’s still the most trusting person I’ve ever met.”

“It’s not like he’s broadcasting it to the rest of the coalition,” Hunk pointed out good-naturedly. “It’s just Lance.”

Pidge didn’t look appeased. “I’ve seen Lance reveal all our identities because he wanted to impress an alien groupie.”

Lance grimaced at the memory. It had been a little after the war, when the Garrison was still arranging diplomatic meetings with the liberated planets. As a result of his words, he and the other paladins had been mobbed and Coran had to create a diversion to get them back in their ships.

“That was a long time ago,” Lance whined. “Besides, the so-called groupie was a child and you know I can’t resist children!”

Pidge fixed her glasses, her expression a mixture of aggravation and amusement. “If you ever have kids, you’re gonna spoil them rotten.”

Lance had to bite back his immediate response. His mind had come up with an image of what his and Pidge’s children might look like – brown haired and brown skinned and too smart for their own good – and the idea warmed him to the core. He had almost said that his kids would be fine, because of their mother’s genius.

His thoughts must have shown somehow because Lance caught Hunk looking at him with a smile that promised no-good.

Lance cleared his throat. “What were you two fighting about, anyway?”

“Hunk has been trying to access my daily annotations,” Pidge explained, moving to one of the nearby computer monitors.

Over her head, he and Hunk continued to share looks and mouthed words. He couldn’t really tell what his friend was trying to say, but Hunk pointed at Pidge, then at the computer, making exaggerated facial expressions that would have been comedic in any other circumstance.

At their apparent silence, Pidge’s fingers paused over the keyboard and she whipped around to look at them in suspicion.

“She means her diary,” Hunk interjected quickly, only to receive the brunt of her glare. “How am I supposed to know what’s going on over here if you won’t let me read it? I spend half my time out in space!”

“Can’t you just believe the things I tell you? Like, I don’t know,” this Pidge grumbled with a sour look on her face, “a normal person?”

Hunk snorted. “You want to talk to me about being normal?” He glanced at Lance, as if to ask if he had actually heard her correctly. “Pidge, we had to build you a dorm in the Mecatronics Advancement building, because you kept falling asleep in the lab.” Hunk turned back to Lance and pointed a thumb at Pidge. “She would be passed out with the new Rover just constantly knocking against her back.”

“So what?” She crossed her arms and jutted out her chin in defiance. “I like what I do. At least I’m not a busybody!”

Lance could feel a new fight brewing. Or maybe it was fairer to say that it was an old fight, one that every paladin had already had with Pidge.

“Katie.” His use of her given name made Pidge’s attention snap to Lance. “We’ve talked about this. Your therapist has talked about this.” He put a hand on her shoulder, then slid it down until their fingers intertwined. “I know you like feeling useful, but we’re not at war anymore. You can rest.”

“Exactly.” Hunk sighed, thankfully not making a big deal of Lance’s touches. He reached out to ruffle her hair. “We worry, girl.”

Pidge let go of Lance to bat Hunk’s hand away from her braid. The smile she gave them was tight-lipped but fond. “Then just say that, you idiot.”

“Why should I?” Hunk shrugged, sending her a sly look. “You only seem to believe it when it comes from Lance.”

He was saved from Pidge’s cold fury by his communicator going off. It sounded more like an alert than the normal message, filling the lab with high-pitched beeps that could have awoken even Pidge in her days of all-nighters working on the lions.

“Shoot!” Hunk frowned at the device. “I have a meeting on the other side of the complex!” He looked around with wide eyes.

Pidge picked up a folder that rested on her workbench and thrust it into Hunk’s chest.

“I hope you’re late,” she said in a deadpan, making both Lance and Hunk laugh.

“I’ll see you in the taxiway later, right?” Hunk asked, already half-out of the door.

Lance gave his friend a thumbs-up. “And we can go into town after the demonstration!”

When he turned to face Pidge, she was back at the computer, shaking her head at the screen with a smile still on her lips. He leaned against the table and simply stared at her as she worked, knowing full-well that part of her attention was still on him.

“What?” she caved after a few seconds. Lance batted his lashes at her. “Ugh, stop! If you want me to go into town, then I have to finish this calculation.”

“Eight years since we were cadets here and you’re still a stick-in-the-mud.” He watched her roll her eyes. “Please, you gotta come! I don’t know any of the cool spots anymore and Hunk has been off-planet!”

“As if that could stop Hunk from knowing the good restaurants,” Pidge muttered under her breath, frowning at something on the computer. She clicked one final key, before fixing her gaze on Lance. “Also, it’s actually been twelve years since we were cadets. Time might not have gone by for us, but things here certainly did change.”

“Quiznack, don’t even remind me of that!” Lance ran a hand across his face. “Rachel has finally shut up about how we’re the same age now.”

“Did she?” Pidge raised a brow at him, leaning her hip against the workbench in much the same way as Lance had. “Cause she still called me hermanita the last time I visited the farm.”

“Yeah, you ain’t getting rid of that nickname.” He chuckled. “It’s better than mami and pop-pop calling you Palomita, though.”

Machines whirred around them, a distant sort of sound that barely registered in Lance’s mind. His thoughts were stuck in the contentment displayed across Pidge’s features, like talking about their adventures on the farm filled her with as much warmth as it did him.

And maybe it did. The paladins and their families had grown closer during the years following the end of Voltron. They had all needed support in ways that only those who had also gone through the same grief could understand. His mother had talked to Colleen and Krolia multiple times, looking for advice on how to handle his PTSD, and Lance himself had reached out to Matt when he didn’t feel like speaking to his siblings or to the team.

It was odd to look back and remember how lonely he would feel back in Castle of Lions, when there were so many people now who he loved and who had gone to the ends of the universe for him.

“What are you thinking about?” Pidge tilted her head to the side, her eyes glinting with curiosity behind those glasses.

“About the team,” he answered, because it was partially true. “About how long we’ve known each other.”

Pidge nodded, but her gaze had shifted to the ground. Hesitance furrowed the line of her brow.

“Does being here–” She paused, then seemed to gather her courage. “Does being here remind you of Allura?”

The question caught him a little off guard. It was inevitable to think of Allura when looking back at their time as a team, but Lance hadn’t expected Pidge to focus on that. Keith’s words from a few months ago echoed in his mind, that Pidge couldn’t know he had finished mourning for Allura if Lance never told her.

“A little, I guess, but it’s not bad.” He made a humming noise, considering what to say. “It feels strange to realize we’ve been without her for longer than we ever knew her.”

She pushed away from the table, just a little, so that they were facing each other. “Time doesn’t have to limit how significant a person is to us.”

“I know, but no matter how important Allura was to me, I know now that she wasn’t the love of my life.” Lance let Pidge catch his gaze, willing her to recognize that he wasn’t lying. “Because my life goes on.”

“Which is why you’re here?” There was doubt in her tone, as well as something that Lance wished he could call hopefulness.

“Which is why I’m here,” he repeated with more certainty.

#plance #pidgance #lidge #flirtyrobot #cyance #katie holt #pidge gunderson #lance mcclain #vld lance #voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld #vld fanfiction #vld syl verse

26 notes · View notes

quokkacore · 4 years ago

Text

you stole my star [kim junmyeon]

summary: ‘defeat the bad guys, save the universe, get the guy.’ that’s how it’s supposed to work, and you intend to follow it in that exact order, because it seems pretty complicated to not do it that way. but your team leader, junmyeon, makes you want to throw the entire plan out the window.

pairing: blackpaladin!kim junmyeon x gender neutral redpaladin!reader

genre: voltron!au, sci-fi, angst with a happy ending, i guess?

warnings: language, mentions of torture, war, and violence, implied self hatred, implied ptsd, mentions of attempted self injury, slight body horror?, mentions of amputations and forced body modification (reader is forcibly experimented on and given a prosthetic arm)

song rec: daft crush - instant crush (feat. julian casablancas) ♡ coldplay (feat. rihanna) - princess of china

word count: 1.8k

a/n: this was originally posted to my old writing blog on november 30th, 2018. at the time i loved the voltron reboot and was still optimistic that the final season wouldn’t suck. for those of you who don’t know what voltron is: voltron is a giant mech robot formed by five smaller robots in the shape of lions. each lion is piloted by a paladin, and the lion chooses their paladin according to the traits the person possesses.

masterlist

The training room was where you spent most of your free time, nowadays. You missed the days where you were able to throw yourself into bed and not get up until your body odor demanded you take a shower.

The training sequence you were currently practicing with was programmed for hand to hand combat. The drone you were fighting against was pushing you to your limits, feeling your muscles strain with every punch and kick you threw. You were quick to calculate when to dodge the punches the drone threw, when to step back when the drone advanced.

The drone advanced, and you took your opportunity, throwing a punch, followed by a kick to the stomach. The machine fell to the ground, but before you could finish, someone interrupted you.

“End training sequence.”

The drone vanished as it registered the command, and you rested your hands on your knees, lowering your head as you recognized the voice. “I almost had it there, you know,” You muttered bitterly, between pants. You heard him shift behind you.

“I know you did. But I needed to talk to you.”

You remained in your position for a few seconds, catching your breath, before standing back up straight and turning to face your leader.

Junmyeon had been your best friend, back on Earth, back at the academy where you both trained to be deep space pilots. Everything changed when the blue lion was found on earth, and you all realized Baekhyun was its pilot. It led you to the castle, which was also the ship you currently resided in, and eventually, to the rest of the lions that formed the mightiest weapon in the universe: Voltron.

As Baekhyun was destined to be the blue lion’s paladin, Sehun was to be the green lion’s paladin, Yixing the yellow lion’s paladin, and you the red lion’s paladin. Junmyeon had been destined for the black lion, the biggest one, making him the leader of the paladins by default.

“What is it?” You asked irritably, walking past him, pulling on your jacket and grabbing the bottle of water you always carried with you during training, both of which were next to each other on the floor next to the wall.

You eyed him warily as you uncapped the bottle, taking a long sip. He was still wearing his armor, black and white, fitting against his built, lithe body. His hair, slightly mussed from having worn his helmet, was sticking up in a few different directions. He looked rugged, handsome as always. But you were still pissed at him, regardless of how handsome he looked.

“I wanted to apologize,” He murmured, not meeting your gaze as he crossed his arms. You lowered the water bottle feeling a few drops fall down your chin as you leaned against the wall. You frowned and mirrored his posture as you crossed your arms as well.

“Jun, I get it,” You replied gruffly, pulling out the hair tie that was holding your hair up, “You’re under a lot of fucking stress. You’re the leader of the resistance against the Red Forces, and everyone looks up to you for guidance. I get that. But what you said? Calling me useless in front of the others, in the middle of a dogfight like that? Fucked up. Fucked. Up. I’m your second in command, Jun. I think I deserve a little more respect than that.”

“Why do you think I’m coming to apologize for!?” He fired back, immediately defensive. He was angry, you could tell, even as he looked down, and you shifted your gaze elsewhere. “You think I’m proud of the fact that I said that? I don’t, Y/N, not at all.”

His voice cracked, and you looked back to him, in shock. “Jun—”

“You’re not useless,” He insisted, voice quiet,” I was freaking out about what was happening. It’s the first time you’re in major combat since— since—”

He didn’t finish, but he didn’t need to. You knew what he meant.

About a year ago, you’d been captured in a major battle between the Red Forces and the Voltron Coalition. The months before your rescue were harrowing, full of torture and using you as their little lab rat. It didn’t cost you your life, but it did cost you your left arm.

Your left arm, which had been replaced with new RF tech in an experiment they’d performed on you. It wasn’t your arm. It was a piece of disgusting metal that was attached to your body and you hated it, almost as much as you hated the Red Forces themselves.

Ever since your return the team had been tiptoeing around you, especially Junmyeon. You were grateful for it, the first month or two, giving you your space and letting you recover, but the more time went on, the more restless you became, missions that could have been done much faster with your help became more tedious and dangerous as you were told to stay in the castle.

You were left behind with the others, Chanyeol, Minseok, Jongdae, Jongin, and Kyungsoo, all aliens of the same race whose planet had been destroyed by the Red Forces, to wait, and to be treated like glass began to put you on edge, until very recently when decided that it was time for you to rejoin the fight.

“Jun, I…” You lowered your head, sighing. “I get that you’re scared, I’m scared too. But I have to do this, not just for my sake, but for the sake of us. The universe.”

His hardened gaze was aimed towards the floor, but you could still see the uneasiness in it.

“Do you remember the medical assessment Chanyeol performed on you once we rescued you?”

Chanyeol was the head medical chief aboard the ship. You furrowed your eyebrows, trying to recall.

Truth be told, your memory of the rescue, before it began, during, and after it ended, was fuzzy. Subconsciously, you’d forced it to the back of your mind, not wanting to remember the traumatic events that occurred. If Chanyeol had performed a medical assessment on you, which sounded logical, you couldn’t recall.

You shook your head, telling him this. He shut his eyes, and shuddered.

“I don’t think you’d fully realized what they’d done to your arm until that moment when Chanyeol asked you to move your fingers, because he wanted to see how the arm worked.“

He was looking at you now, the look in his eyes grim, pained. You could feel his breath fanning your face. When had he gotten so much closer to you?

“Y-you started crying and screaming, freaking out. Before long, we had to restrain you, because you were trying to pull it out with your other hand. We didn’t want you to hurt yourself. I couldn’t let you hurt yourself, more than you already were.”

You didn’t say anything, because you could feel your throat tightening.

“Y/N, you’re the red paladin. The red paladins are always the toughest ones, the ones that keep it together when everything is going to shit. It’s why we work so well together, if I freak out about something I know you’ll be there to help me through it. To see you like that, I…”

He didn’t finish.

You looked up to finally face him, and the tears in his eyes were prominent, but he immediately began blinking them away.

“I panicked today, because I didn’t want them to take you away from me again. A-away from all of us.”

“Jun,” You mumbled, voice weak. He paused. You began subconsciously counting the seconds that passed.

Three… four… five…

Junmyeon surged forward, engulfing you in a hug. His armor was cold against your skin, and you could smell the faint metallic smell that came from it. He smelled like the body wash he’d picked up in an alien trading post a few months ago, the one that made him smell like incense.

You shut your eyes tightly, arms coming up to embrace him as well.

“I’m so, so sorry, Y/N,” He whispered, “And I know what I said isn’t justified but I don’t want you to think that I think—”

“Junmyeon?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Shut up for a minute, please.”

He didn’t answer, for which you were grateful. You willed your body to relax, your stiff limbs sighing in relief as you slumped against the black paladin.

You weren’t quite sure how long you stayed like that. But when you did break away, you could see that you were both crying. You sniffled, scrunching up your nose, before opening your mouth to speak. He did the same.

“I love you.”

“I’m still mad at you.”

Your eyes widened at his revelation, heartbeat accelerating rapidly. “What?”

Junmyeon licked his dry lips, eyebrows raised. “I said,” He murmured softly, as his words were only for you, “I love you.”

You stared at him, mouth agape.

“J-Junmyeon, I…”

You weren’t quite sure how to respond. Sehun had always teased you about how you two made “googly eyes” at each other when the other wasn’t looking, but you always thought it was just his overactive imagination. On Junmyeon’s part, at least.

One of his hands left your back to come up to your face. His gloved hand wiped away one of the tears that had fallen down your face, and you sighed as the rough material dragged against your skin.

“I know it’s a bad time,” He explained, shaking his head, “What with the universe depending on us to save it, and all. But never for a second have I ever thought that you aren’t the one for me.”

You inhaled softly, a sad smile ghosting across your face. “Jun, I… I don’t know if I can do this, right now.”

His face fell, and he began to pull away from you, but you grabbed his face to keep him in place. His nose brushed against yours, and you gulped in anticipation. His face was unreadable, eyes gazing into yours earnestly, sadly.

“C-can I kiss you? Just this once?” He murmured, resting his forehead against yours.

You nodded, drunk off of his proximity. “P-please, Junmyeon…”

His lips were soft, gentle, and warm against yours, and you felt he was trying not to overstep your boundaries, not too harsh or overbearing. His hands pulled you slightly closer as yours gripped his face tighter than before. He hummed into the kiss, and you hummed back, hands going to run through his dark, already mussed up hair.

You pulled away slowly, slightly out of breath. You exhaled shakily, well aware of what you’d just done. “Junmyeon, we can’t. N-not right now.”

He nodded, but didn’t let you go. You didn’t want him to, anyway. But the moment you left this training room, it wasn’t Y/N and Junmyeon, it was the red and black paladins, leaders of the Voltron Coalition. If you decided to go through with a relationship, you risked ruining your friendship, as well as the whole way the both of you ran the rebellion against the Red Forces. It was simply too much of a risk.

“But if you’re willing to wait for me, Jun…” You murmured, meeting his melancholy stare. He nodded, soft smile returning.

“I will, Y/N. Promise.”

#kpop x reader #exo x reader #junmyeon x reader #suho x reader #kpop angst #exo angst #suho angst #kpop scenarios #exo scenarios #suho scenarios #junmyeon scenarios #my writing

43 notes · View notes

bionicdragonguardian1 · 5 years ago

Text

Voltron Rewritten Defender (1/8)

Also known as My Almost Raging Bitch List for this Goddamn Disastrous Disappointment of a Show

I binged all 8 seasons in under a week, so believe me when I say almost nothing was forgotten between seasons/episodes and I do tend to note that.

If it’s not obvious by the title, I’m planning an entire show AU. I am extremely open to people’s opinions on what I’m currently thinking and when I finally post this I’ll be open to criticism there too. If you would like to avoid seeing anything in regards to this feel free to blacklist #voltron_rewritten_defender because that’s what I’ll be using for this whole thing.

Enjoy, I guess.

Fair warning I am a multishipper, but for this show I leaned towards Klance, so if that bothers you that’s okay, I’m not going to be bashing any other ships (mainly just Dreamworks’ forced Allurance). If you think I missed something for any other ship lemme know! If you wanna have a ship discussion that’s cool too. The only other thing I can think of is that Allura’s attitude in S8 really stuck with me to the point that she bothered me throughout the entire rewatch (I was admittedly one of the people who thought she could be very Mary Sue ish when I first watched this) so that’ll show up now and again.

If you want to look at the Google Doc for the whole show, click the link, if not you can expand this post to see Season 1. I’ll be doing these in chunks, but as some of you know I do a FicRecList on one of my other accounts here @sorcerusdragonbionics so I’m gonna be alternating between that and these for the next couple days.

If you do the Google Route it’ll have you ask me for permission, this is normal and if you request it I’ll give you commenting abilities.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t30IRJonrBFh0qvs8recf3ayGoQ0rx02y0Tg1e4NTaI/edit?usp=sharing

Key

Things I kinda wanna bitch about

Things I did genuinely enjoy and like

Rewatch Thoughts (basically what I remember from further forward and how I feel like it reflects back on earlier seasons)

Ship Talk (behold my multishipping insanity)

Things I think I’ll do in the Rewrite

Writing Notes (mainly for me or as explanation for what I’m planning)

VA and Closed Captioning Things

Other Fic Thoughts

This ended up being music commentary in S8

Season One

Problems with the Season overall:

To be honest if I hated this season I wouldn’t’ve kept watching because by the time I started S3 had just dropped

Episode 1

Here’s the deal, WHY ARE YOU SO LONG BUT SO EMPTY?!?

Yeah, nope, that’s mostly it

Fix the problem of telling instead of showing about the other Lions and remove Allura’s explanation of the Lions if possible (thank you Kross for explaining why it felt so empty- this vid is actually where I started getting the idea to actually go through with a full series AU)

DON'T RUSH THE LION INTROS

Also let the 5 introduce themselves to Allura and Coran

Also Character Drive to Complete Mission Should Be A Thing

Flesh out Paladin Personalities so that the Aris Arrival is End of Part One (making it closer to the length of E1)

Flesh out Lion intros so part 2+3 are more like full Eps without Sendak

Episode 2

75 degrees… that’s definitely in Fahrenheit, which why?

How does no one have a watch with a date on them?

“A man can be driven to do anything if a beautiful woman is just really really mean to him”

More inbetween scenes bc I can

I will accept the transformation sequence here, I’m just not going to write it

Episode 3

Please watch the use of Earth Time Slices please, because it’s confusing

I love the portrayal of PTSD in this show and I would die before I change it

Bye bye transformation sequence

Pidge’s talk with Shiro can please change

Episode 4

“I say Vol, you say Tron” will come up again if it kills me

Lance, how do you know what hotdog water and feet taste like?

I love how Coran is completely nonchalant about the fact that he’s drinking a hair tonic

Shiro, don’t bring down the mood

Goddammit Sendak, you could stay for this arc, but god I want you GONE!

Keith, having an emotion? Really?

The Pidge plot DID NOT NEED TO HAPPEN LIKE THAT!

Fight me I will change it

Or minimally change the fact that their selfish motivations are revealed to BAD and should be changed

Oh yeah, let’s not give the ONE GUY with notable homesickness a character arc around that

That moment when you realize Allura is like ‘wtf is a peanut’

Allura, don’t push it, some people don’t want to talk about it

You will have something to talk about, BIOLOGY

Decryption happens here, and next attempt to find family occurs… when?

Poor Coran, if there is anyone who was more forgotten than Lance it was him

Keith isn’t wrong, but he also doesn’t know how to say it without getting mad, which mood

Just pointing out Lance is not only smart, but selfless, tell me how he’s not the main character

My inner Shance/Klance shipper is sobbing

“Bomb fuel” mentioned here, occurs… actually it’s ok

Timelines need to be a thing!

Can I make the fight scenes more intense? Yes, I write them for my YJ Scripts. Will I? Almost definitely.

Keith with that much fire your mask should be closed because smoke inhalation is bad

Can we explain Vrepit Sa before s6?

It feels like Coran forgets that 10k years have passed under an evil empire and part of me likes it, but it hurts me

Episode 5

The Katie flashback is hurts me

I want to add Gender Identity

Can we talk about how Shiro is a nickname for Takashi Shirogane?

That’s not how an EMP works

The Coran sitting on Hunk’s shoulders with a machine gun is everything

I know the back x-ray was a joke, but I still don’t like it

Rax is an idiot, just saying

Bonding Moment!!!

Episode 6

“Intergalactic time measuring competition.”

“We had a bonding moment!”

Where is Sendak’s arm?

Fight me, Pidge’s ‘gender speech’

It will be a gender speech if it kills me

Lance, why are you acting the way you are?

“I figured” and “We were supposed to think you were a boy” ARE NOT PROPER REACTIONS!

Rolo, sometimes I want to punch you in the teeth

Lance’s boner is going to get someone killed

Lance had 4sec of logic and then Nyma brings up Keith, which ofc does him in

Let’s expand on the Komar, yeah?

Quiznack means fuck and NO ONE can tell me otherwise

Keith’s ability to fly is impressive and it’s awesome

Friendly reminder that Lance acknowledged the bonding moment

Episode 7

I LOVE the laser gun sound effects!!!

I just realized that Allura has no clue what an Acronym is

We… literally just talked about this and YOU didn’t know that Shiro, I understand the point, but seriously?

LIONS are TELEPATHIC Shiro DID NOT need to say that aloud!

I do actually like the fact that Kieth gets excited before realizing what he did

FIRE and ICE PEOPLE come on! What the hell?! You barely had to try

“Yes sir?” Keith to Shiro, what?

I love them and their cute little arguments

Left vs Right, thank you Zamber

We be lovin’ Hunay bc it’s pure as hell

Thank you Shiro for validating Hunk’s concerns

You could check a little faster, Allura

I LIVE for this scene

Was it actually Rolo?

Do they have teleporters?

Keith being weird is my favorite thing

I love good big bros who argue tradition to save their baby sis

Zarkon is a bit of a moron

THEIR LIVES ARE IN DANGER ALLURA!

They all came through different doors… how?

What if the answer was no?

I’m ok with Lance embarrassing himself when he’s cocky, some people seem to forget that

Bye transformation sequence, I explained you ONCE and that’s it

Prorock… why are you familiar?

Episode 8

I admittedly forgot that they didn’t know these things would be different

Flying fight scenes I can do, teleporting not so much

Poor Shiro he thought he had an idea and he was wrong

I love Coran’s reaction

Also NO SHIT Allura

UHHHH Pidge said that not and of the other three so how did He know?

Allura may piss me off, but I do love this speech

“Your Altean Energy”??? Coran, you’re an Altean, I’m confused.

The “Sacred Altean” thing I get, but you must be more specific cuz it makes Coran sound like he thinks he’s not a proper Altean.

Oof, angsty

Also, I know we can’t kill Allura yet, but...

I love that Hunk forgot they hadn’t formed Voltron

Bye bye transformation sequence

Ummm, they NEED to explain the Bayard Equip bc that’s… two very different things that occurred between Hunk and Keith’s Bayard Weapons

Why is this a scene? It’s not a dog. So, yeah, I’m with Keith here

Episode 9

THIS IS NOT HEALTHY ALLURA!

I just realized that this doesn’t come back until S..7? 8? Whatever, WAY too long

I can’t unhear “Training Dick”

Did they have homework on Altea?

Be still my Punk shipper heart

WHY is he SO pretty?!

Y’know, the glowing red eye is usually a bad sign

I could SO mean and hurt Keith here

That moment when you’re like 90% sure Shiro heard that somewhere

Not what haunted means Coran, but accurate

Why could Lance see Alfor for a second?

I too would like the answer to “where was the Red Lion?”

PTSD IS AMAZINGLY WRITTEN!

It’s a shame this is NEVER treated properly again

Thank you for NOT making the swimming thing a thing

You didn’t need to TRY Voltron, what the hell?!

Here’s the deal, Altea not being Obliterated-obliterated is actually a really interesting idea

Lance still wins, for the record

If she was infected in any way this wouldn’t drive me crazier than a bot on Halloween

But she’s not so this is BULL

Shallura confuses me SO much…

Ok, admittedly the scene with Allura and Alfor is beautifully heartbreaking

Episode 10

The fact that Zarkon was a close friend to Alfor should be addressed

Also Shiro calling himself “an inexperienced Pilot” hurts

Allura’s a MORON!

YES! MASSIVE ISSUE WITH YOU COMING

Nice puppetry Hunk

What happened to THIS Allura?! She’s reckless but not INSANE (or so boring I might cry)!

Is this the same Druid from Season 8? Pretty sure it’s 8… I forget which, but the one Keith fought

“Don’t walk through that door!” / Keith does/ “I think I told him” // “You are a paragon of leadership, Lance”

Hehheh I love Hunk teasing Lance about Allura

I do actually the fact that I can’t tell what size the purple container is until Keith grabs it

Heheh the Allura interacting with the Galra soldier

The computer sounds like Lance

Also Shiro had that “holy shit” moment

I HATE WRITING TELELPORTING FIGHTS

I’m 99% sure that the ONLY reason I didn’t fall into the Galra Keith rabbit hole was the fact that I binge watched

This scene confuses me… so much now that I know Shallura was apparently never going to be a thing

So confused

Episode 11

That hair flip though...

Coran, I get it, but calm down

Okay, but Keith has a point. Seriously, he’s not wrong.

For the record, Haggar scares me

So much makes so much more sense now that we know Zarkon is the Original Black Paladin

That… makes no sense… “enough essence to open a wormhole”

Why are you transforming? More pieces to shoot at is usually a smart idea…

Hey hey, THACE!

Why can’t you have two active at once? I’m honestly serious.

I mean too OP, got it, but you can maneuver around that for temporary stuff

Shiro, use your words, yeah?

“Thinking” uh huh you mean “telepathy” right?

I genuinely forgot that Shiro got booted from Black

Damn! Yes Shiro! Kick some ass!

Ok, here’s the deal, Keith’s not listening to Coran, but he doesn’t have all the info (LIKE THE FUCKING BAYARD), Zarkon’s the OG Paladin, and he’s in distress

I HATE TELEPORTERS!

“Could have been” … uh Kuron exists ??

Also, Shiro with yellow eyes is fucking terrifying

We ain’t ficking stupid VLD

Zarkon’s a fucking idiot

Written properly his power-hungry attitude works even with him destroying his own ship

But it wasn’t so it’s null

You aren’t even subtle about Galra Keith

How can Allura see through Illusions?

Nobody knows!

Shiro, you have no jetpack, how are you so fast?

“Who cares, wormhole!” mood

I… uh… I want to do SO many things with this idea

Preferably not what they actually do...

#voltron legendary defender #voltron legendary disappointment #voltron legendary disgrace #voltron legendary disaster #voltron #voltron rewritten defender #voltron season 1 #ship thoughts #multishipper #episode thoughts #season thoughts #shiro #lance #keith #voltron allura #pidge #hunk #coran

4 notes · View notes

klanced · 6 years ago

Note

I don't know if you've already been asked this but will you be keeping the characters personalities the same? I understand you'll probably (hopefully) be changing the whole Hunk is only a fat guy who likes food thing and Lance is "the dumb one" thing, but will the characters mostly have the same personalities or are there any that you'll change completely?

Looking over my notes and miscellaneous snippets of dialogue… Here are some changes, be it minor or major:

Lance:

Lance is still pretty goofy but he’s not as “dumb” as he is on the show.

I put “dumb” in quotations because (minor rant alert) when you think about it, 90% of Lance’s airhead moments in-show are these totally contrived situations that the writers forced into the plot to either 1) make a character seem smarter in comparison, or 2) so they could meet their quota of bad jokes per episode, and don’t actually reflect on Lance’s intelligence. He’s smart. He’s a dumb teenage boy, but he’s still smart (you can have both).

Loverboy Lance is still a thing, but it’s altered slightly after his Bi Arc.

He also comes across as a bit more pensive/reflective than in canon because I give him a lot of moments to himself. He’s still very much an extrovert, but he retreats into himself sometimes.

I’m cementing ADHD Lance in V:LR so that also leads to some very subtle personality changes + habits. It’s less “in your face” changes and more just like… Mentions, I guess? There’s a minor sub-plot early on in Season 1 where the team collectively realizes they need to reproduce their misc. medication and Lance’s Adderall is mentioned lol.

This will very much be me projecting.. Lol…

Hunk:

Being fat and liking food/having cooking as a hobby isn’t a crime so Hunk still very much considers himself an “amateur” chef in this rewrite.

I put “amateur” in quotations because Hunk LOVES to plead humble but if you’re like “Oh wow this is really good!” his immediate response is “Thank you :)” with a knowing smile. Because he is DAMN well aware his food is good, thanks much, he just loves to hear people say it.

He’s still anxious about new things/experiences but his personality can do a complete 180 when it comes to familiar ground, because his moms raised him to have High Self-Confidence. Hunk is the first to acknowledge his flaws and short-comings, but will also unashamedly take control of the room when he wants to exercise his expertise.

Hunk wants to live in a kind world. When he was younger, his Mama encouraged him to believe in this ideal, but warned him that kindness can only come about through change. Now that he’s a part of Voltron, Hunk is determined to be the change he wants to see in the world.

Over time though, he realizes that Voltron is a weapon first and foremost… And that achieving peace through violence can be considered an ideal in and of itself. There are heavy questions he weighs against himself.

Shiro:

When nailing down a character’s personality, a good starting point is the question, “What do I want them to be?” Shiro is a brother, friend, boyfriend, leader, confident, teammate, champion… He’s so many things, to the point that sometimes it’s hard for him to know who he is when he’s alone (He’s similar to Lance in that regard, HINT HINT.)

Canon Shiro is honestly kind of bland and focuses too much on making him some damaged sort of perfect, which is boring and personally sucks for him. I do think he works very hard to keep up his perfect image, but his flaws existed long before the Galra kidnapped him.

He’s a prodigy, and that does come with a certain cost/strain. Shiro was labelled “gifted” when he was a kid, and he’s spent his entire life earning the title.

Shiro has high expectations for himself, and that sometimes translates into high expectations for the people around him. Keith and Adam bear the brunt of that.

One of the minor, recurring arcs in V:LR is Shiro dealing with his undiagnosed depression because I’m projecting the specific Asian Experience Of Being Mentally Ill.

Shiro’s PTSD will also be handled differently because I feel like the show was very Torture P*rn about it and I hate that. I’ll have to do more research about it though (and any input is also greatly appreciated).

There will also be lots of Shiro being an Absolute Menace Of An Older Brother because I think that’s hilarious. Let Shiro be funny 2k19!!

Keith:

If Keith watched anime, he would think he is Sasuke. But he does not watch anime, and he is definitely not Sasuke.

I personally believe Keith has the potential to be the funniest member of Team Voltron, but the writers were too COWARDLY to even try. But in V:LR.... Keith is finally allowed to be completely off the shits. And we love him for that.

Keith is NOT a mean person by nature. In fact, he’s honestly pretty soft, he’s just too emotionally stunted to realize it. (Just wait until he falls in love it’s gonna be WILD)

He is very blunt and impulsive though, which leads to him speaking very harsh truths with little to no warning. He deeply regrets these moments though, and will immediately wince, break eye-contact, and soften up his body language in apology.

For someone inclined to battering ram his way through life, Keith at his core is a naturally avoidant person. He always expects the worst, especially in social situations, so his preferred method of dealing with it is to just... Nope out of it entirely. Battling as a Paladin makes sense to Keith, but personal conflict? Help him.

You can tell he and Shiro are brothers because they’re both MASTERS at repression.

Pidge:

Canon Pidge is very in your face annoying about her intelligence and I absolutely hate it. That being said, Pidge having a slight ego/complex is both funny and realistic so it stays... But there are specific limits.

Pidge strikes me as being one of those kids who was bullied for her intelligence when she was younger so to compensate for all those years of emotional trauma she basically brags about herself all the time. Which is like, fair.

But it’s a veeeery delicate balance of ‘My brains are cool and I am the SHIT’ vs ‘all nerds are oppressed’ you feel.

TLDR: Pidge is a very earnest person who also enjoys showing off at times. She takes great pride in her skills, as she should, but her friends are Very Quick to remind her to stay humble.

Pidge is also the youngest and in V:LR she very much acts like it lol. She was BORN to be an annoying younger sister. Pidge is at her STRONGEST when she’s following someone around and pestering them with question after question.

Part of it is genuine curiosity, because she loves to learn new things and perspectives, but Pidge is also well-aware of the frustration she causes. She thrives off that. The best way to ensure Pidge sticks around is to make it clear that you DO NOT WANT HER AROUND.

Coran:

He’s still a naturally upbeat person, but there are cracks in his playful exterior if one knows where to look. He’s lived a long life, after all.

His bright personality hides an exceedingly pessimistic person. Coran is a constant worrier, and can also be incredibly paranoid. He took to the new Paladins well enough, but secretly watched them like hawks and harbored doubts about their intentions until Lance took that blast for him.

He’s a dichotomy of manic extremes. Like, Coran will grill a grandma for forty straight minutes over her entire life because he believes her grandchildren are a cover story, but if you’re an earnest underdog then he’s hook, line, and sinker. (except not really but really. it’s complicated.)

Coran: The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.

Coran is also a FIERCELY PROTECTIVE person. I mean, he’s this in the show, but in V:LR it’s turned up like 10000%.

Allura is obviously his first kid because she’s actually his daughter (polyamory babeyy) but he quickly goes on to adopt Lance and from there he just. Spirals. It’s like that one video of drunk BuzzFeed people holding puppies.

Coran, on his fifth glass of Nunville, cradling Pidge like Mary did Jesus, sobbing: I can’t protect her...

He’s also a willfully stubborn person, the kind who believes he can change the world if he just throws himself at a problem hard enough.

Allura:

Canon VLD wanted Allura to be this perfect, can do no wrong strong female figure, so when it came time to actually make her flawed they gave her the ugliest, most exaggerated flaws and it was bad writing and a bad time.

It’s important to me that Allura has a lot of flaws because I believe it makes her, and her character arc, all the stronger for it.

My Allura has spent the majority of her life existing as an ideal and symbol of hope for her war torn people. She was a child when the war between Altea and Daibazaal broke out, and yet still she chose to bear this burden. (Though really, I’d suggest looking more critically at the adults in her life who stood by and let her do this).

She is the Princess of Altea, and that is all she’s ever known. She is a Princess, capital P, and it is all she has ever known. As her people - people she had never met, people she was still charged with the responsibility for, and what does that even mean in a time where you send a thousand persons out and only three hundred at best return - lay dying, she learned to be kind, and gracious, and peace-loving.

And Allura is kind, and gracious, and peace-loving. But she is also grieving, and angry, and righteous.

Her planet is dead; her people are gone, dispersed to places beyond her reach. She is alive but alone, and Zarkon is alive and powerful. Where is the justice?

She is a leader, they tell her. She will guide, and teach, and sacrifice to preserve. Her hands, they say, exist to shape the future. When she sits, surrounded by her tutors, her feet dangle in the air. Her father is away with the War Council; her mother is dead, like all good leaders do. She listens. She learns.

I got a little carried away but the above is basically a very poetic way of saying Allura is SUPER repressed in how she acts and carries herself. The people of Altea needed hope, and so she became their model. She’s lived for her people so long, and now they’re gone. But she’s still here.

Allura is a leader, and she gracefully accepts the responsibility of guiding and teaching the new Paladins. And she is all-too willing to sacrifice. But these roles and responsibility chafe at her skin. They don’t fit quite right.

So sometimes, she slips. She’s curt when she should be patient, sarcastic when she should be diplomatic. And she is always, always kind; hands extended in friendship, Bayard at her hip.

#v:lr #voltron #lance #hunk #pidge #keith #shiro #coran #allura #long post #katiecanons #ask #anonymous #yeesh #i got very carried away lol

349 notes · View notes

wofuru · 6 years ago

Text

Voltron s8 (long post sorry)

So ... voltron has come to an end (unless there are more surprises coming). And I will say right of the bat that I am devastated.

I know this is 'only' a tv show, but let me explain some things to get you on the same line. I started a little late on the VLD train thinking it was only a mecha anime show at first and then I saw the character designs. Shiro caught my attention right away and Keith as well. And then watched season 1. That moment when Keith finds Shiro and turns his head, his expression at seeing the only person he loves and that have been there for him being alive after all... I fell in love with their relationship. I thought ‘huh oh ... I think I got a pairing I will be shipping XD’ and tough myself as silly.

And then as the episodes went on, the more we got to see a beautiful, respectful relationship between two men that are equals. Yes Shiro is technically his superior according to ranks at the garrison, but he treat him and all the other paladins as equals. He is their leader, but most of all their friends. Shiro/Keith relationship evolves through the serie, but have always been on the basis that they love each other so so much, but do not stop the other from taking risks, they trust in each other strenghts while they still worry for each other. They keep saving each other in so many ways that are shown to us through the series.

Sheith vs gays representation in stories/series

Sheith has been since the beginning something more than any of us, more then what anyone could have expected. They represent something we haven’t seen before. And this is a m/m couple relationship that is pure, non-toxic and natural, not forced. And also not between background characters. Yes we have been having as the LGBTQ2+ community more representations in the last few years in different shows. while females couple were more rarely seen at the beginning, they were there as a beautiful and cherished relationship and treated as normal (unless it falls under the stereotype that it’s hawt because its 2 girls having sex in the mind of classical straight guy characters representation). But with m/m relationship, we have been shown as either toxic relationship in which one or both partners cheat with sleeping with someone else or are blatantly sleeping around with just everyone (cheating or as an open relationship sort of). Every gay couple shown as kinky stereotyped relationship that are together only to have sex all the time and nothing else. IN the rare cases that it is not the situation we see, instead we get a character that we learn is gay after a while and mentions having someone in their life that we either never see or are simply a nobody OR someone super stereotyped like a girly boy or drag queen (in which there is nothing wrong with being at all, but they are used as a moquery to being gay in these cases which IS disrespectful). Sheith is the 1st relationship that are neither these. Both are important characters, both are strong characters and none girly to have like a “Who’s the girl in the couple” vibe. They are equals, have a healthy and interesting relationship. Every interactions they have are natural and transpire sensibilities that as men we are still told or shamed everyday if we dare show or talk about.

AND take into account that not only adults watch the show. Kids of all age love those characters for WHO THEY ARE and learn that it is alright to love people around them, to show them. That it is not wrong to be two boys and love each other so so much, to show your affection towards the other.

Shiro is also a man that was sick and lived with it knowing he had little time left. He got abducted, abused in so many ways. Lost an arm and still continues to love and care about people. He still continues to fight to what is right, despite his ptsd, despite all.

Characters in the season

What Season 8 did (and 7 as well to a certain extent) is show us that it doesn’t matter how hard you fight, how hard you care, you’ll get everything get ripped from your hands. Life won’t be kind to you ever. Shiro lost the black lion for no real reason, just an excuse to have Keith become the main character. But moreover got shoved on the side in a corner to be seen once in a while so we in the fandom would not rant too much about him barely existing anymore as a character. In s8 they have stripped him of every character traits he had to make him become the basic space ship AI character type that speaks to only to explain what the audience and the other characters needs to be explained to let the story move on. He does not even get to be the one leading the meetings and building the strategy. Every occasion they had, he was put on the back up line to let Voltron pass forward. He became a plastic character with no personality.

As for Keith... Keith got every dialogue Shiro would have normally have, even the phrasing of how he speaks is not reminiscence of himself, but the same as Shiro speaks, his words, attitude, everything. So his personality was thrown out the window. The goal of the series had been for him to evolve from the right arm character to a leader (which does not stand right with me for other reasons I will speak in another post maybe in the future), but that is understandable. But for that, he didn’t have to become someone else. Being a leader can be done different ways. Yes Shiro was and is a big influence in his life, but they are two different persons. Why they are so strong together is because they complete one another. Keith could have picked on some things from Shiro, but make it is own that is what I mostly want to say. To see him preside the meetings at the garrison, make the strategy, tell people what to do inside the Atlas, not just the Voltron team is simply bad, both for him and for Shiro’s character. This is completely OOC in many ways and also put Shiro in the corner as non existant, especially since we see in the room with them sitting and saying nothing.

I have been speaking mostly of Sheith, but the other paladins also lost all their flavors in this season to become 1 dimensional. Hunk is the cook that cares, Pidge the genius geek and Lance ... the worried boyfriend, Allura the character that wants to save everyone herself alone and will stop at nothing to do so. All the side characters of the series were on point, but none of the main cast characters were. Every paladins became those plot exposition devices to explain what was going on because it became so condensed with concepts and ideas that were interesting yes, but there is such a thing a too many things happening. And with all those things they have sacrificed what the people loved the most about the series and it was the characters and their story. The season was about mechas fighting mechas so the universe would not explode too much or will come back.

Wrapping everything up

Through the series we met a lot of different people, planets and all. We even got the AUs that were confirmed and given in a way to the fandom to validate that all the content fans have been doing were considered as possible because of the infinite quantity of realities in which the characters could have had different lives. This was truly a beautiful gift to everyone, to every crack ships even.

Now in season 8 we see all those aspects being reduced to shreds. The paladins of old are shown, but disappear forever. The olkari gets destroy and we never hear from them again, all the realities get destroyed expect the one we are following which makes it so that ONLY this one is the real one starting from there. Putting the fans to realize that however this ends in the next minutes of the show, this will be the only possibility the story will end, so you better put your seat belt on, because if your ship doesn’t happen, then no hope for you.

Pairings and couples

Allura and Lance became a couple through this season after a well evolving relationship through the season, but at the end Allura sacrifice herself, with the team not really trying to stop her, except Lance. Which does not make sense since they do not even react that much until she says her goodbyes to everyone. So they kill one of the pairing right here and there saying that Lance will always think of her and remember her. He gets marks just to remember him more. But there is no chance of redemption, Allura is dead, becoming cosmic dust in the skies.

Punk didn’t happen, but this is something we could have anticipated. Since they do not seem to be with someone else, this at least gives lenience to an open ending game for them.

And now Sheith ... at the very end, they have decided that Keith would go back to the Galras and try to make them evolve in a better society, which is interesting BUT. As we see in the 1 year later skip, they do not seem to have been in contact with him at all because they were asking news on how things were going with the Galras. And Shiro is the one asking so it means that they haven’t both been in contact in a long while. Then comes the epilogue in which we see Keith continue to travel the galaxies helping people in his separate way and Shiro ... gets married to a nobody that we never saw before s8 (unless maybe in the background once in s7 I hear). They made the guy speak a few lines during this season and these moments always seemed forced implanted so we would know who he is sort of. The whole s8 (and even 7 to a certain extent), Keith and Shiro never interacts. Like at all. They become complete strangers. Keith is seen behind Shiro at the marriage seen like a posted image half hidden. Which does not make sense and is simply insulting to the fans. If they were not romantically involved, they were if anything at least best friends, there were their everything. And Keith telling Shiro he loved him was never addressed, the whole black paladins episode either. They never talked about it on screen and if it was behind the scene ... it made Shiro stop talking with Keith entirely ? Which he would simply never do and Keith would never abandon Shiro either. We have seen him run the universe times and times again to help him, save him, be there for him. To have Shiro simply leave (and become a HOUSE WIFE no less) is worse then killing the ship, it is an insult to every gay out there. This tells us all that it is ok to be gay, but choose someone that nobody will care so it does not make waves, that when you do, leave to live the discreet life and abandon your dreams and your personality. That basically you need to lose yourself, to hide, to be afraid. That if you tell someone you love that you love them (especially between guys), you will lose them, that they will never speak to you again.

And THAT is the problem. Yes I am sad my ship didn’t become canon on screen, but if they had made an open ending, it would have been just fine. Have Shiro arrive when Keith leaves for the galras saying ‘hey Keith, we need to talk’ or just leave with them. Anything, but not this. But aside from just my ship, don’t just coward behind because you are afraid to show a main m/m couple show on screen. Sheith is the most beautiful gay representation in American history and instead, DW decided (not Lauren and Dos, I mean above them who made these decisions) litterally piss on our face and throw a bone at usby marrying Shiro to a guy to say hey you got your representation and we are the first animated show to have a gay marriage seen... but it does not count DW. The guy is a nobody cares about, this is just throwing gays under the rug, again.

Modified scenes

With everything that have been digged out by now after s8 dropped, we now know that this ending was NOT the one the creators did and wanted. They wanted to most likely make Sheith cannon, and I am pretty sure this wedding sequence was suppose to be Keith and Shiro due to a post Lauren made not so long ago about what seemed to be it showing a black and a red hearts which has been the representation logos the fans have been using for Sheith since the beginning. I also found this last scene when the lions leaves slightly off. The moment we see Shiro and Keith one behind the other (which is gorgeous), Shiro seemed weird and I realized why by seeing someone talk about it on twitter. Shiro is missing his left arm at that moment and shoulder making him look was thinner. Which look like he was there maybe with his hand on Keith’s shoulder like on the drawing Lauren gave us the day before the season aired. We know that Ezor was supposed to be dead, but they brought her back after all with another VA which means they did this change very last second and couldn’t get the VA to join perhaps. They added scenes with this couple maybe to purchase our silence into the lgbtq2+ community representation, so we would have 2 couples and shouldn’t whine about it. But ... by doing this and sacrificing maybe scene Shiro and Keith had during this season to have none at all is again just an insult to the fans of the serie. S8 was bad from beginning to end. Some elements were fine, but 90% not. This is an insult to the fandom, to the dedicated fans and also to the crew who worked on the show for so long.

.... with all that said, since we know now that LM/DS didn’t have this ending in mind, this means the S8 ending (at least the epilogue) is actually not canon. Yes it was aired, but it was made by people who took the final result, basically sabotaged/vandalized it and gave it to people to see. Sheith is canon and this is not fine that it ends this way. I do pray they will hear us all and make things right. Give us the real footage of this season, release it to us and even better remove the season we have on netflix now and put the real one. This is something they can do, they have the real footings. And some series have done this before by removing episodes that ended up being racist and disrespectful. Making things right would prove they care about the fans of the show and the people that were there to support them and also the crew who worked so hard and made so much efforts and put their soul into their work.

I’ll still be posting Sheith arts and fic. This relationship have moved me like nothing ever did in my life (and I am 32) and made me get back on my feet from a very dark place. I am like Shiro, I have ptsd due to events that happened in my life that were done to me. I was judged all my life and worked hard to be where I am today. I am disabled in some ways and also come from an abusive family where I was raised to be a slave. Seeing a show like voltron, a character like Shiro made me see what I was and the wounds I had that I was walking on all those years. Because of him I finally got the courage to get to see doctors and specialists to heal all those wounds so they would become scars. And I know I am not the only one. Voltron was the best thing that happened to me in many ways and to see it destroy so many lives now (because this is what this season has done) is the saddest thing. I am scared to see kids when scars from this and I know this is already happening. And adults will have to.

Send your love to the animators and VAs and LM/DS for all their work and let’s hope we can fix this somehow or help them do it.

#shiro #keith #sheith #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld s8 spoilers #voltron s8 #vld s8 #these are my opinions #I'm a train wreck right now

87 notes · View notes

harinezumiko · 6 years ago

Text

Okay like... These are some useless nitpicks that bothered me about how much the S5 finale felt like it was supposed to be a series finale--especially since the interview bits I’ve seen since do... seem like that was the crew’s initial intention? But here are some things that I’m trying to keep my shipping bias out of, but which seem like they needed addressed and weren’t:

Dewey and Buck’s relationship doesn’t seem to get addressed after Dewey stops being the mayor. Which... yeah okay, Buck is off doing band things with Sadie Killer, but I don’t think we even saw Dewey find out that was going anywhere unless he was in the pan shot at the very end?

I can only assume namedropping Sabina was a late-stage decision after they knew S6 was going to happen, but having “nobody shows up only once” as a Talking Point in this series, and then only seeing Mystery Girl/S at a concert in Empire City in a crowd shot is... not really good, imo.

Pearl and Lapis have never spoken directly. At all. I presume they talked about what humans like for the “not-Thanksgiving” episode, but that was off-screen. That’s... kind of an issue. Especially if Lapis is living in Beach City now. And friends with Bismuth. Which also should’ve gotten touched on. But a’ight.

Steven has never actually been shown having the much-needed-all-along talk with the CGs directly about thinking that they resented him for existing instead of Rose. Like. He never talked to Garnet or Pearl about it. He mentions it to Amethyst before they realize they share horrible self-esteem. As far as we’ve seen, the Cool Kids know better than the mom squad about it.

Didn’t actually... see the Diamonds’ pearls in that finale. So I mean, I obviously want to know more about that, we know they knew each other, but no interaction at all. But also, what the hell becomes of Pink’s original pearl?

Speaking of, did the CGs actually see what was going on during the fight where they were puppets? Did they hear everything? Do they now know that Steven can’t be separated from his Gem? Do they now know that Pearl almost killed him as an infant?

I take issue with the musical montage to gloss over “fixing” the corrupted Gems. Like... So much of the series was about them. About the fact that these used to be Gems. Garnet says their minds were torn, and apparently what it took to heal them was combined Helping from all four Diamonds--which, okay, makes some sense with the out-of-canon explanation about the Diamonds making up a Freudian archetype--White is the Superego, Yellow and Blue are two sides of Ego (alternatively left/right brain), Pink is the Id, all four need to exist and be harmonious for Gemkind to be balanced, for individual Gems to be balanced... but I had to go back into my psych notes and Google shit to refresh that shit, and other than the Voltron Diamond ship we really don’t get canon explaining it in a way that I think kids would get at all? The previous canon explanation that the corrupted Gems’ minds were torn in a way that couldn’t just be healed by Steven’s love and good intentions was a good message regarding PTSD and psych issues, so glossing over everyone getting “fixed” to some degree at the very end and then... not anything else, that seemed rushed and weird.

Are the uncorrupted Gems going to live on Earth now? Were we just supposed to assume they stayed? Jasper stops attacking because Yellow Diamond gives her a Look and Amethyst is suddenly friendly, but dude, there were hundreds of corrupted Gems, and they weren’t all Earth-friendly or on the CGs’ side. They’re just copacetic now?

Also what about Homeworld’s adjustments? White is going to be part of Homeworld again, but they have to Do Change and have literally no example to go off of. It’s not like their minds changed about anything except Pink, which White was the only one who needed to change her mind about.

Zoomans...? Famethyst...? Holly...? Whatcha gonna do with them? Also do our fused Topaz babbies get to be happy? We didn’t even get them in a pan shot. Is Aquamarine still horrible? Where the fuck is Emerald? Crazy Lace? Snowflake?

So yeah, idk. Like. There are many things I would have changed about the S5 finale. I am very excited for the prospect of a sixth season to address some of this shit.

#steven universe #su meta #su spoilers #complaints department #no1curr o'clock #so many opinions

22 notes · View notes

the-sixth-lion-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Things Happen For a Reason... Unless You Write For Voltron

There are tons of continuity errors and full on missing character arcs. So many, in fact, that I wonder if they didn't know how many seasons they were cleared for or how much time they had.

Has Lance Always Been Like That?

The Lance I met was a relatable character. Erratic, rash, defensive, but also empathetic, loyal and infectiously optimistic. Still, he's... The dumb one. That's his main title, the running joke, the flatness of his character.

So where did this suave, sweater wearing, humble nerd come from? He uses words that indicate a college reading level. He is capable of expressing his thoughts and emotions with beautiful fluency. It doesn't feel right.

This is a massive change from his fairly well developed character arc of him finding a place in the team, growing as a sharp shooter, being uplifting and learning selflessness. It also completely undermines his budding brotherhood with Keith to let him go have fun with Allura. Sure, we all like a well dressed Lance who uses big words and likes... Farming?

Yeah, so nothing about Lance's love for piloting persisted past Voltron I guess. His extreme passion for being in a team, his clear ability to shoot and his love of flying and exploring must have diminished the second he touched Earth and transformed into a completely different and unrelated field of work. I understand that, I promise, but it doesn't seem like Lance, who spent years overcoming his intrinsic dumbness to be a pilot at the garrison. We see him struggle for this! He wanted it.

He loved it.

And Speaking of Love

Guess what, this isn't going where you think it is!

That's right! Friend love!

These guys are best friends. They hang out, they know each other, they spend excruciating amounts of time stuck with each other at the Garrison on ships. So why does that all nearly disintegrate come Voltron? Lance and Hunk almost never exchange memories of their time at the Garrison. Anyone who has moved knows how fast those memories of their old life flow. And Pidge completely isolates herself. If you didn't know it you would never guess the three had been a lovely little friend group.

No wonder Lance had such a crisis when Keith showed him up as a pilot. Hunk and Pidge are immediately emotionally distant, his hero Shiro thinks he's a dumbass and he has to live on a crazy space castle with the usually angry and creepy closeted emo kid (adored by Shiro, who don't forget is Lance's #1 role model) who is somehow also clearly better than him.

Their friendship has been reduced to filler episodes.

Was That Shiro Cowering in a Corner or am I Imagining Things?

Nope. There it is.

Wow. Well. If I'm not mistaken this man has a rocket arm that delivers swift and capable punches. Now, that is clearly not as important to the show as his arm wrestling capability but if the writers wanted Shiro to have true, consistent and well written PTSD I would have accepted that as an explanation for his sudden inability to fight. But seeing as Shiro's nothing but traumatizing past (torture, losing his arm, being made to fight for his life in a space Colosseum while grappling with the existence of fully developed alien life that is trying to end earth, losing Sam and Matt, being trapped in a Lion, suffering the loss of Adam) has had almost no effect on his life past serving to provide minor exposition or to give Keith a chance to do something.

To further this point, here is a list of every time Shiro (not Kuron) got into a fight before and after Keith became black paladin. Here, a fight is if Shiro was outside of Voltron and engaged in any hand to hand combat or was injured by a malevolent being that was targeting him.

Ep 3 S1

Ep 4 S1

Ep 8 S1

Ep 9 S1

Ep 12 S1

Ep 13 S1

Ep 1 S2

Ep 3 S2 (in flashbacks)

Ep 4 S2

Ep 6 S2

Ep 7 S2 (in the astral plane)

Ep 10 S2

Now let's skip ahead.... 4 seasons... Oh man

Ep 12 S7

that's it

Ah. Hm. I think the data speaks for itself, don't you?

So what in the world happened to Shiro, gladiator and protectorate who would die for his team? When the enemy infiltrates his ship and attacks his friends, he is transformed into an inexplicably incapable soldier.

Shiro Actually Married "Adam", if You're Hard of Hearing

Have you happen to have heard the video guide for the ending of the last episode?

I'm a little skeptical of the source so let me know if this is incorrect. If it's real audio then I'm just disappointed.

Full Metal Paladin, Brotherhood

Sorry for forcing the title but it's the best thing that came to mind.

Keith and Shiro are close. Since they met, Shiro has been gently guiding Keith to his best path. Their bond is undeniable.

Out of all of the paladins, Keith should understand Shiro the best. So why in the world does Keith never bother to check in with Shiro? Strange migraines, not feeling like himself, making unnatural decisions? I doubt that anyone would see this as a warning sign for "clone," but anyone who has claimed a close friendship with someone will be concerned when they begin acting erratically. When Shiro mentions how terrible he's feeling-

(here is where I used up my image allowance so just imagine what I put in brackets)

He gets no response, and even Keith ignores his joyous outburst of "I feel so much better!". There's an appropriate "friend" response to that that Shiro does not receive from anyone. Keith, above all other paladins, is likely to know just how much Adam meant to Shiro, but Keith doesn't supply a shoulder to lean on at any moment. The writers want us to know that Keith loves Shiro. In what exact way I care not to delve into, though I would personally argue in a brotherly way. So why does Keith let Shiro's heart waste away like this?

[Shiro being sad which happens a lot actually]

Me too, Shiro. Me too.

The Allura of Power is Too Great

Why did the white lion choose Allura if not because of her intrinsic incorruptible self? And what changed in her heart or the story to make her seek dark power? She got infected with S1 Lance disease I suppose, because all of a sudden she's being dangerous and thoughtless.

[Allura opening up the stupid case and letting that thing out]

In s8, the situation is pretty dire. But it was dire before. She already learned not to trust Lotor, but then you know, he shows up and looks like Lance a little bit and that's enough for her to open up her arms and give dark alchemy a great big hug.

The white lion chose her over Lotor because she was bright and accepted her fate for the future of everything she held dear. What became of her, and why did we only see this change truly take form with less than an hour of the entire series left?

[White Lion jumping around with Allura]

Thanks for Making it Through This Post

There are hundreds of other things that I could mention, and feel free to add on to this with your own opinions! I know this isn't exactly plot continuity but characterization continuity. I hope that is okay! If you want me to focus more on plot next time, let me know 😊

11 notes · View notes

superstressedspidergirl · 6 years ago

Text

VLD Personality Thoughts

I just have a lot of feelings right now. I guess.

So, Shiro. Is up there with Matt and Pidge’s Dad. They’re all teasing about the space ice, and specimens and Shiro is like LOlwhatevernerds. But he’s helping brace the equipment, so My assumption is:

He might not be a scientist, but he knows how to use the equipment and stabilize it, and he’s able to make recommendations. So, he’s capable there.

When they see the ship, he JUMPS into action, RUN! and hauls them off. He knows something bad is coming. When they’re captured, for some reason his helmet is gone and not theirs. (Their faces are hidden to focus on him? Or hint that they’ll be missing? I don’t know I’m not a good literary analysis type.)

He’s instantly like: we come in peace, let us go. We don’t have weapons, we aren’t here to fight. He seems genuinely upset about this.

So, moving on from what we know about Shiro---

So we find out Keith was kicked out for behavioral issues. After the Kerberos mission goes missing. (Shiro, Matt, the dad) Pilot error is the cause. I have a feeling Keith, like Pidge, doesn’t believe that for a second and flips out and gets kicked out of the Garrison. So he has to live with that. And be frustrated that the guy who gave him a second chance, pulled him out, and saw something special in him is considered the fuckup who killed 3 people.

Not to mention he’s out there, putting things together. He finds his old home, and he’s putting together all the stuff about the blue lion. So we know Keith is crazy smart to do all of this, and he’s noted as the top fighter pilot in the garrison until he washes out. Best and brightest with an attitude problem.

Pidge also clearly doesn’t believe it’s pilot error. I assume she knows all about Takashi Shirogane from the mission. Prepping for the mission, getting trained, being chosen. He’s probably some kind of hero to her and a lot of other people. She also wants her family back. So she’s up on the roof all the time searching, she knows about Voltron, and she’s trying to figure out if she can find her family.

Keith is clearly able to do this, too. He anticipates the landing. Somehow. Shiro’s landing. He’s got it rigged well enough as the ship is landing that he has explosions hooked up and ready to go and an entire escape plan. Like process that. He sees something falling from the sky, plots the trajectory more or less sets up a trap... and executes it WITH complications from 3 garrison students.

So just like, kudos.

So back to Shiro. He lands, he’s clearly distressed, he’s SMART as hell, right? A good pilot (there’s stuff later he says about trajectories) he’s a good team leader, etc etc. And instead of listening to him, they chain him up like he’s insane and they sedate him because they won’t listen. He seems calm and in control he’s just like: You have to listen they’re coming. And honestly considering he crash lands an alien ship it doesn’t seem unreasonable to believe him all that much. He’s in weird clothes, he’s missing an arm and his hair is messed up and his face scarred (mutilated). He’s having a bad day. And he gets treated like trash by the garrison people who find him. Not fun.

Keith swoops in, makes sure it’s Shiro and gets him the hell out of there. The others are trying to talk or do something and Keith is just going to get something done. He gets them out, he gets them to the safe house, gets Shiro his dad’s old clothes. And interesting to me, here’s the thing that seems weird for Shiro.

He just decides that these kids are his people now. He’s not gonna take Hunk, Lance or Pidge back. He’s not mad Keith got kicked out of the garrison. He’s not worried about getting the people on earth to listen to him. He just kind of collectively goes: fuck it let’s go look at lion cave art, that’s a good a plan as any. Since we know that he got Keith into the garrison and worked hard to keep him there, it doesn’t make sense to me he’s not remotely annoyed. (Maybe this was added later and never an actual plan the writers made.)

I Love that Hunk who is kinda relegated to being the like, fat foodie actually is a really solid engineer and mathematician (I didn’t like him much season 1 but I appreciate him more now). He comes up with a device based on a mathematical concept most of them don’t seem to understand, he invents it, and uses it to find the blue lion.

So I basically find it interesting is that the lions have their own personalities, and we find out about each one. Red is temperamental and hard to control, but also requires the best pilot. Keith. Makes sense from what we know. Good strategist, top pilot, and quick to react both mentally and physically.

Green is inquisitive and creative and knowledge seeking. Pidge. Also makes sense.

Yellow is kind and caring, Hunk. Heart of the team.

Lance is so busy being scum we don’t find out what Blue’s temperament is.

Black is the decisive leader with a cool head who can handle any situation without getting flustered. Which works for Shiro almost all the time. Outside of his massive PTSD flashbacks that absolutely wreck him. But he’s a solid leader, he’s trying to build a team, he’s sensitive to their needs, and he wants everyone to succeed and do well. He’s also completely focused on the mission.

I love when they’re basically doing trust falls with their lions and Shiro basically succeeds from force of will alone. He’s like: Well I am GOING to do this, and I give myself over because it’s the only way. And he is able to pilot the lion blind. Kickass.

#vld #voltron legendary defender #voltron #shiro #keith #pidge #hunk #lance

18 notes · View notes

sol1056 · 6 years ago

Note

How should now a fic writer handle Shiro's situation properly? I, personally, am one of those writers that believe that tragedy brings growth, and I was trying to write a fanfic in which Shiro is plagued by nightmares due to his time in the gladiator pits and, even though I plan on rewarding him narratively, I'm afraid on how a inexperienced writer like me should handle a character that's, well, already on thin ice. By the way, I love the way your explains stuff, its pretty enlightening for me.

Sorry it took so long to answer, life has been… a lot of try/fail cycle in the past few months. My guess is that by ‘situation’ you mean his PTSD? Well, the first step is to research. I’m serious. Start with wikipedia — just to get the broad sense of the issue — and follow the footnotes to more specific articles. If you have specific questions, you could try sending them to @scripttraumasurvivors or similar.

The second step is to think about why you need the tragedy.

I don’t mean, “so you can tell me and I can talk you out of it,” I mean, “so you know what you’re trying to say.” In the broadest sense, stories have two general types of catastrophes, and they do different things. (It’s more complex than that, but I’ll stick with generalities and if you have questions, just ask.)

Behind the cut: the two types, how they relate to change and flat arcs, and the use of tragedy.

before the story vs during the story

When a catastrophe happens at the very beginning or right before the story, it’s the instigating event. It kicks off the story, but it’s not necessarily the story’s main conflict. This is the one time you can get away with coincidence: it can be as simple as wrong place, wrong time, and bam, catastrophe for character.

When a catastrophe happens during the story, you need to steer clear of using coincidence to heap more bad on top of bad. The character has to be making choices that put them in the path of that bad, and then they need to learn from those choices.

catastrophe before a change arc

Shiro’s instigating event (where his story begins) is when Ulaz frees him. This throws Shiro out of one world (slavery) into a new world (freedom), where the old rules (fight for your life, trust no one, etc) no longer apply.

In a change arc, we’d look to that past wound (the trauma) as the source of Shiro’s lie. He would have learned something from that experience that kept him alive, and the story is about his path towards un-learning that. Your task as the writer would be to determine what his lie is, and — once the story strips that away — what his revealed truth will be.

You’ll need to give thought to what Shiro would’ve heard or felt the most during his imprisonment, and how that would affect him. Perhaps he had cellmates who turned on him, and he learned that trust makes you vulnerable. Or he was praised most when he maimed rather than killed, until he told himself he didn’t deserve to be happy after making so many others suffer.

The story, then, is the deconstruction of that lie; the try/fail cycle is the struggle between keeping that lie vs accepting a truth. The longer the character clings to their lie, the more the story should punish them. If nightmares are your chosen method for punishing Shiro, then you’d need to make sure those get worse and worse the longer Shiro clings to whatever lie he’s telling himself.

His midpoint (and breaking point) is when he realizes he can’t keep holding onto the lie. He has to walk away from the coping mechanisms that kept him alive, and figure out who he really is. If he backslides, then nightmares, but as long as he keeps pushing forward, he’ll get free of that cycle.

catastrophe before a flat arc

Shiro’s instigating event is when he meets the other (future) paladins and they find Blue, or possibly as late as when he meets Black. In this kind of arc, his PTSD is a facet of his experiences, but they’re not a punishment per se for truth or lie, anymore than his prosthesis is.

He begins the story with a truth — that he can somehow help bring Voltron back and defeat the empire — and the try/fail cycle is flipped. The character has the truth and the world has the lie. The more Shiro holds onto his truth, the harder the world (via the narrative) should punish him.

That means superficially the first half of his story looks much the same: he does something, has nightmares. But the driving force is different: he does his best to prove he’s a good and worthwhile person, and he’s knocked down/back.

For either arc, gradually, Shiro should reach the midpoint. In a change arc, this is when he discovers his truth. In a flat arc, this is when he reaffirms the truth he’s had all along. Hopefully you can see how nightmares work a little better in the flat arc, where nightmares could feel like an internalized voice of the world, pushing a lie on him; in a change arc, his instincts/subconscious should be pushing him away from the lie, not backwards into it. Make sense?

during the story

One thing I’d counsel you not to do is to show the nightmares. Instead, show the effects: exhaustion from not sleeping, waking with cold sweats, maybe behaviors like insomnia or reluctance to sleep alone (or anywhere near anyone else at all).

A nightmare is a hugely personal thing, and sometimes we can find utterly terrifying things that in the light of day (where the reader is, as they’re reading) sound almost silly. Leave the contents of a nightmare completely untouched, and the reader will happily fill in for you some horrendous visuals that would terrify them.

The other thing is that like I mentioned above, what happens during the story should be there to push the character in one direction or another, towards a goal. It’s not just set dressing; the character should be learning something from the experience.

That means you might need to think hard about what prompts the nightmares. In a change arc, that means Shiro has to choose or do something, actively, that then prompts the nightmare as a kind of narrative punishment. In a flat arc, the nightmares might get strongest when Shiro gets closer to establishing his truth.

In the first case, he learns that if he doesn’t do X (by some subtle connection, you don’t want to sledgehammer this), then the nightmares lessen. In the second case, he learns the opposite. How to put it… as in, the nightmares are a manifestation of his fight. In a change arc, he has to walk away from the lies that make him think he should fight; in a flat arc, he has to face the fight head-on and conquer his doubts/fears.

using tragedy

With the possible exception of Carol Berg (who has to be one of the biggest woobifiers in original fiction, even worse than George Martin), extreme woobifying is really a fanfic hallmark. The purpose isn’t the try/fail cycle so much as seeing how much a character can take before they fall (or rise).

Honestly, if VLD were well-written in regards to Shiro, everything he’d gone through would’ve had a narrative purpose that leads him to some final point. His premise as someone with a major time-stamped illness, an ex-boyfriend, his dreams, his captivity, whatever he experienced in the arena or in Haggar’s lab, his prosthesis, being cloned, dying, and on and on... All of it together should’ve had some meaning, some greater purpose. His pain should’ve had a place.

Instead, it’s just... more pain. Over and over.

Normally, fanfic is more likely to woobify characters like Pidge, Hunk, or Lance, who aren’t really tested all that deeply by the narrative. None of them are really ever pushed to their breaking point, so fanfic steps in to give it a shot. For Shiro --- undoubtedly tested repeatedly and with few long-lasting narrative rewards --- canon has already kinda woobified him to an unnatural degree. (Keith and Allura also, to a lesser degree.)

Which means if fanfic gives what canon doesn’t, then I’d suggest you look at the story with an eye towards delivering that purpose, that greater meaning. When Shiro experiences each tragedy, what does he learn from it, before he heads into the next one? And what does he choose not to learn (and why), such that this wrong choice precipitates the next tragedy?

Everything the narrative does, it should do for a reason. There must be something Shiro could’ve done to prevent something (at least once the story starts), such that he can learn that lesson and avoid the tragedy, the next time.

I’ll toss in an example since I made you wait so long (sorry). Look at whatever happened to Shiro at the end of S2. If the story had done its proper job with the stakes, we should’ve had warning of how things could go wrong in battle. Like, say, a previous fight where a particular type of weapon strikes and, say, vaporizes something. The team realizes that it needs to avoid that kind of strike, or the worst will happen.

Then, while fighting Zarkon, Shiro must balk in some way (or doubt or hesitate) and that sets off a chain reaction. Like, hrm, he hesitates on using the bayard, just long enough that Zarkon can get in that particular vaporizing strike. So Shiro doesn’t twist the bayard but instead leaps to block the strike so it doesn’t hit whomever --- and he’s vaporized.

In other words: it’s not Shiro’s protective instincts that were the wrong move, but whatever led to the situation that necessitated doing that. He hesitated, or wasn’t sure in some way --- which means preventing a repeat requires his certainty or willingness to act faster. There must legitimately be something he could’ve done, and learning that lesson should be key to his final victory.

#vld #voltron #characterization #writing #story structure #character arcs #sol thinks about stuff

33 notes · View notes

x-i-l-verify · 6 years ago

Text

Top 10 TV Show List

Tagged by the awesome @rum-and-shattered-dreams (thank you!)

10. Over the Garden Wall The shortest entry on this list, but damn if it wasn’t a memorable one from start to finish. This little miniseries has it all: mystery, comedy, drama, horror, insanely catchy songs (damn you, “Potatoes and Molasses”!), surreal imagery, and fantastic characters, and manages to be quite unlike anything I’ve seen before or since.

9. Voltron Legendary Defender AKA how to do a reboot cartoon right. I never watched the original Voltron, but from all appearances, this show took all the elements people loved about the original, kept them, and changed basically everything else. It’s not afraid to branch out and do its own thing when it wants to, but it also pays homage to the series that came before it quite a lot, and you can tell the creators deeply respect the source material. The animation and cinematography are fantastic, the characters all lovable and well-written, and the plot gripping and able to keep you on the edge of your seat the entire season.

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (circa 2003, seasons 1-4) THE definitive TMNT for me; if there was a series that combined this series’ sense of maturity and grit with the art style of the 2012 Nickelodeon series, then that would be the perfect TMNT TV show, imho. I am still utterly astonished by how dark this series was allowed to get at times while still never losing the franchise’s unique brand of slightly absurdist humor. Where else can you find a series rated Y-7 where the lead villain is decapitated on screen, one of the lead characters spends an entire season with blatant PTSD, and a main character’s pet kitten drowns on screen (sure, the episode turned out to be all Just A Dream, but still!), while, in the same series, you have a main character distracting the bad guy with a pigeon puppet, the main characters defeat an entire coalition of armed guards with nothing but a toilet scrubber, a broom, two toilet plungers, and spoons, and this iconic scene? Not to mention the writing is absolutely top notch, and the characters feel so delightfully three dimensional and human (er, for lack of a better term.) [Do keep in mind that my praise for this series only pertains to seasons 1-4; I’m really not a fan of the direction the writers decided to go in after that, and I prefer to pretend that the later seasons don’t exist, especially season 5.]

7. Goblin This show is basically Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series with Korean mythology instead of Greek, and it is absolutely delightful. The character writing here is sublime, as are the performances turned in by every single member of the main cast. The main couple’s chemistry and relationship progression is incredibly satisfying, but honestly, the other relationships in the series are just as intriguing and well-written as the romance, especially the Goblin and Grim Reaper’s budding friendship that honestly is almost more compelling than the actual romantic subplot. The story admittedly does move a bit slowly, but this series is more about the characters and the journey they go on than it is about the plot anyway, so since I loved all the characters so much, I didn’t find myself overly minding that all that much. I also want to give a shout out to just how damn pretty this show is; the cinematography, the special effects, the costumes - both period and modern, they spared no expense on anything here, and it really shows. Oh, and the OST is one of the greatest soundtracks of all time for any show ever, and you can quote me on that.

6. Motorcity “Sexy Cars, Absurdly Badass Action Sequences, and Heartwarming Bromance: The Series” and there are not enough words in the English language to convey how pumped this series makes me every single time I watch even a gifset from it. No, it’s not the deepest or most profound show I’ve ever seen, but one thing it is is pure, unadulterated fun, and we all need a little fun in our lives every now and then. Plus it has hilarious writing, great characters, incredible animation, and one of the most absurdly entertaining chaotic neutral villains in the entire history of fiction. It has only 20 episodes, due to Disney putting the kibosh on production only one season in, but luckily, the creators were able to account for this and give the show a satisfying ending, so you have no reason to not watch this and then treat yourself to a proper viewing.

5. Stranger Things I’m not sure there’s much I can say about this particular series that hasn’t already been said by other better writers, so I’ll keep this brief. This is THE best live-action show to have come out in at least the last decade, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you have done yourself a disservice.

4. Star Trek: The Original Series The nostalgia is strong with this entry, it’s true, but this show holds too much of a special place in my heart to put it any lower on the list. I have many fond memories of watching episodes on my dad’s old VHS tapes over and over again, just loving the old school sci-fi aesthetic and wonderful character interactions in every episode. Even today, the writing holds up remarkably well, even if the special effects have aged very obviously. Still, it just adds to the show’s charm, and I’d still wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who loves science fiction.

3. Firefly My experience with this series is probably a bit different than most, since I actually watched the theatrical movie (which was basically meant to be the series finale) first. I had no idea who these characters were or even that they came from a series, but the universe and characters were so engaging and different than anything I’d seen before that was incredibly drawn in all the same. When I figured out there was a series, over four years later, I knew I immediately had to watch it, and was hooked from the first episode. The character writing on this show is some of the best I’ve ever seen in my life, the worldbuilding absolutely top notch, and it’s a damn shame it didn’t get the chance to become the next big hit because of FOX’s meddling. There’s a reason this is still one of the biggest cult classic sci-fi shows in the west, that’s for sure.

2. Fullmetal Alchemist (2003/Brotherhood) While I prefer the 2003 anime for personal reasons, I love both anime adaptations of Himoru Arakawa’s magnum opus too much to leave one or the other off this list, so into the number two slot they both go. Besides, I’ve always privately held that if you combined both series into one, they’d basically cancel out each other’s personal failings and you’d be left with the single most perfect anime in existence. And come on, how often do you get two adaptations of the same incredible story and characters that are so drastically different in tone and themes? It’s just more FMA to enjoy, imho, and spending more time in this fascinating world which such dynamic, well-written characters exploring such heavy, thought-provoking concepts and themes would never be something I’d say no to.

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender I think this one speaks for itself.

I tag: @rainewhisper, @epic-and-kitty, @bill-beauxquais, @quicktothebatjalopy, @vietbluefic, @be-the-piano, @arthurpenhaligons, @fredgolds

#tag meme #XI Writes #about me #over the garden wall #Voltron Legendary Defenders #Motorcity #Avatarverse #Fullmetal Alchemist #TMNT #goblin #Stranger Things #firefly #star trek

25 notes · View notes

pr3ttym3ssy · 6 years ago

Text

Only Time Will Tell

Only Time Will Tell – A "Voltron: Legendary Defender" Fanfic / Pidge&Lance -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Authors Notes: This is my first published work, I've written before but never made it public. Decided to take a chance this time around.

This is a little head canon that came to me after the end of Season 7, specially with all the Plance scenes we were blessed with("DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"). It takes place at the hospital during those flash forward scenes and I decided to fill in the blanks. Angsty and fluffy and just what I think we all need, Hope you like it, constructive criticism always welcomed. On with the story, Plance On! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

White walls, that's what he first saw when he opened his eyes. His dreams in a form of PTSD keeping him from sleeping. All the images of those last couple of days, replaying in his mind. The reunion with his family, his little niece and nephew. Then, the Galra ship and his unconscious sister on the ground feet away from him. He was so ready to lay down his life and then he wakes from his lucid nightmare. Lance was so sure he was out and done for. He still felt the serge of adrenaline like muscle memory coursing through him. The vital indicator jumping and beeping irradicably at his change in heart rate. Trying to catch his breath and coaxing himself back to reality. A reality where he is safe, his family and friends were safe under the care of the Garrison. He lets that notion sink in, but he can't seem to get the tears to stop running down his face. He tries to no avail until he hears a soft knocking of knuckles against his hospital room door. Its dark, but the light from the moon against his windows brightens the room enough for it to glisten against a pair of glasses.

The tiny figure tiptoes into the room "Lance? You awake?" Katie's soft pixie like voice whispers at him.

"Yes Pidge, I am" he quietly sniffles and tries to blink away the remaining tears in his eyes. He doesn't want to worry his friend, so he tries to bring his free hand to his face and rubs his hand down in a one swiped motion. "Why are you awake?" he asks her.

"Can't sleep, just had a nightmare" he hears the melancholic sound of her voice and he understandingly smiles at her.

"Same here", they stay in silence for what feels like a minute before Lance finally speaks up again.

"Ya coming in?"

Katie flinches, "Oh… yea, sorry" she sheepishly smiles closing the door behind her. She trots over to his bed, the slapping of her bare feet on the cold floor indicating she didn't think to put on slippers. Must have been a pretty bad dream if it means she wasn't thinking enough to cover her feet to the cold. They were all still pretty worse for ware and catching a cold would be pretty bad on top of it all. He feels his bed shift under her body pressure, as she situates herself comfortably.

"Do you want to talk about it? Your dream I mean, penny for your thoughts?" she gives him a lopsided grin. He can now see her clearly, the moon lighting up her features softly. Intently staring at her, he begins to wonder when she grew up? In front of him was no longer the young man he had met at the Garrison 4 years ago. Before him was now this young lady by the name of Katie Holt, the young badass that had come into their life as a pure coincidence. No snark, no teasing, just genuine concern in her voice and she wanted to listen to him. Somehow he felt the lump in his throat return and a new wave of fresh tears prickling at his ducts. He pushed them down and stayed as strong as he could, he would not cry in front of her just yet.

"I dreamt about the battle, but my nightmare had started as a happy memory. My family, us clumped together on the ground like that. Pfft… we must have been quite the sight, but that's how we all are up in each other's personal space" he laughed at this. Pidge warmly smiles at his memory. They really were quite the sight, she knew he had family from how he once spoke of them, but not to that extent. They were a happy and wholesome group and more so now that they're youngest son had returned to them. His smile changed from happy to a sad look and he continued. ''Before I know it, I'm staring at the lifeless body of my sister Vero just inches from me. The Galra ship taking a nose dive right for her and all I can do is close my eyes, take a deep breath and just give up. Then…I wake up."

A tear falls to his fisted hand, he doesn't realize he's crying again until he feels the warm droplets fall. Katie touches his hand comfortingly reassuring him that he's okay again. "It was just a dream Lance, you're finally safe. We all are, and you don't have to be scared anymore."

Lance looks at her before he tells her, "this actually happened to me Pidge, except Red came and saved us in the nick of time." Katie's eyes go big and glassy at this new information. She didn't know that he was on the brink of sure death and that if it hadn't been for the Red Lion, he wouldn't be around to talk about it.

"Lance? This all really happened?", she said tears now pricking at her eyes.

"Yea, the Galra ship that had taken the nose dive for us had found our location and shot us out of the cruiser when we were on our way to our assigned location. When I came to, there was a ringing in my ears and I saw Veronica unconscious a couple of feet away from me. The only thing I could think of doing was take my Bayard, get my assault rifle and shoot the thing down. But, it was already taking a nose dive for us and I….I made my peace with it. With the fact that I would die so my sister could live.''

Katie was full on tears and quiet sobs. She couldn't believe that this had happened to him, no wonder he couldn't sleep. Who could sleep after all that emotional distress and after accepting death none the less. "I'm so sorry we couldn't be around. Christ, Lance y-you could have died, and we wouldn't have known about it. Shiro kept it all under wrap, he never mentioned anything in the intercom. If I had to think of a reason though maybe because he didn't want to distract us." Katie rubbed at her eyes to dry the tears.

"It's okay Pidgey. You're right, we are safe and for now we have to regain our strength and meditate so we can keep a leveled head." He rubbed her ducked head trying to hide her tears from him by looking down at her clenched fists.

She sniffled and slightly met his eyes. "Can I…can I hug you Lance? Please?", she said through her hiccuped sobs. A look of shock crossed his face but then his features changed. Smiling he nodded and extended his free hand. If this were any random moment, he would have found a way to tease her for wanting to hug him. This time however, was different because they had been through hell and back and the mere thought of him not being around actually scared her to death. She crawled over to him and fell against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist careful not to hurt his casted arm. "I'm glad your safe and alive Lance. I don't know what I would do without you."

Lance smirked at that, "I'm sure you would have been fine", he chuckled. Katie hugging him tighter at that remark.

"Lance you're my family too and I would have not been able to let it go so easily. I can't believe you would think so little of yourself. Please don't make me break your other arm." Rising-up from her position, she punched his good shoulder and got back to laying down on his chest.

"Ouch! Pidge geez…still healing here."

"Well stop saying stupid things, idiot'' she retorted back.

"Anyway, enough about my nightmare. Tell me about yours'. What woke you up?" Pidge stopped at this and began to think back a couple minutes ago when she woke in a cold sweat. She felt his hand lay gently against the back of her head, slightly trying to sooth her. This action brought her back to reality. She had calmed some now from her earlier crying. It amazed him that she was still embracing him, like he was the only thing tethering her to earth.

"I… I had a similar dream. Similar in notion, different circumstance. I swear my minds' messing with me. Its' not a coincidence I came here though. I dreamt that Ezor had hurt you. Like wounded you, when you attacked her to defend me. She hurt you badly and I just saw your lifeless body in front of me." He could feel the hot tears through his white shirt. "I was mad I couldn't fight back, she had me. Her yellow eyes bearing into my very core. I was frozen, stuck with all this anger inside me. Incapable of doing anything for you" she said between sniffles. "But my nightmares hold no comparison to what you went though." If she was being honest with herself, the act alone of defending her sparked something in her that laid dormant since that time he helped her find enough Gac inside the fountain at the space mall to buy her game console.

The moments they spent together and had fun were very special to her. It made her believe that she might be feeling more than just a friendship towards him. She would be lying to herself if she didn't admit she felt a twinge of affection for the young Cuban. He was easy on the eyes. They we're pools of bright Cerulean, and he was very selfless. Flirtatious demeanor aside, he stood for what he thought was right. Besides Keith, he was the only other Paladin to have a strong connection to two Lions for crying out loud. If that wasn't impressive, then she didn't know what was. In that moment she felt the arm that had been splayed on her in a hug, tighten around her.

"Pidgey, what do you mean your nightmares hold no comparison. Last time I remembered this wasn't a competition. Besides, I couldn't just stand there and let Zethrid and her goons do anything to you. She's right, we all do have a soft spot for you" he chuckled and laid his chin against her head. Katie's blush was creeping up her neck. She was thankful the only light now was that of the moon through the window, otherwise he would have totally seen what his words did to her. It couldn't be what she was thinking though. Lance wouldn't see her as anything else besides his close friend.

He had a massive crush on Allura, that Katie was sure hadn't subsided even when he knew that the princess had a thing for Lotor. It was obvious, they all saw it. She figured she wouldn't be able to tell him how she really felt. Katie or better yet Pidge was the kind of person that didn't beat around the bush and spoke her mind. Albeit without thinking sometimes, she remembered how she hurt Allura's feelings once. "Still awake Pidge? Are you okay?" his voice was soft, and his eyes were getting droopy.

They were still in a comfortable embrace, and she was getting sleepy too. "Still awake, but not for long. You're very comfy and I don't feel like going to sleep alone. Is…is this okay?" she asked carefully scared of rejection. Katie wanted to stay? She was still hugging him too? He had to be dreaming right?

Why was he feeling suddenly conscious that if she left he would be all alone with his thoughts and he did not want to relive that nightmare again. "I don't want to be alone either. But what about our families? I think my Mama' will be coming back in the morning to see me along with Veronica. I love my sister but, she's very much like you. Very smart, very inquisitive, and very intuitive and I would flip my quiznak if she thought we did anything besides sleep."

He was blushing at his comment, Katie saw it and she didn't believe it. The rosy tint on his handsome face was matching hers' now. She giggled, could have been the nervousness and giddiness rushing through her that she was this close to Lance. Could have been that he had effortlessly described her in three words, and that made her feel on cloud nine. So, he did notice her, what made her special. But no, it would be too good to be true. He wouldn't see her as anything else. "I will leave to my room at the crack of dawn. We still have some time to catch some shut eye. Besides, I wouldn't want to cause any trouble or confusion. Specially if Allura were to see me step out your room, it would ruin any chance you have with her." Lance looked at her at the mention of the princess.

He wasn't worried about that happening, it's true that Allura confused him to no end. First, she was flat out rejecting him and then next she was asking him to be careful while showing honest concern for his safety. It's true he had felt strongly for her but with time he pushed those feelings aside. You could only get rejected so many times til it finally clicked. Then there was that time she had needed comforting. They had found out that Lotor was a total fraud and had played them the whole time. Lance was just genuinely offering his comfort, not trying for anything romantic. Allura had made a mistake, and she had felt pretty cruddy about it.

"Why would I be worried about her? I'm honestly more worried that Veronica won't stop it with the questions if she were to see you. Believe it or not I am a gentleman and I don't just sleep with pretty ladies", he said matter of factly.

Did he just call her pretty? "Oh, of course not. You wine them and dine them, right?", she giggled. He found very quickly that he liked the sound of her laughter. He wasn't sure if it was the proximity to her or the fact that she had always intrigued him, but he liked this. This was easy, she wasn't complicated, and she was comforting.

The nightmare completely forgotten and now just talking with her was placing him in a state of serenity. "Yes, contrary to popular belief. I am a total gentleman." Katie laughed again and smiled. Hiding her joy over the fact he didn't worry much on Allura catching them.

"Okay good sir, I promise we will keep this interaction our little secret", she placed her index finger over her lips. Then It happened, Lance ever so gently brushed his lips over her forehead. She wasn't dreaming, this was actually happening. His hand gently cupping the back of her head, while he pressed his soft lips into a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"You got it, night Pidge," he leaned his cheek against her head.

"Katie, you can call me Katie. If you'd like that is, Pidge is fine too. I don't care whichever is fine." She was rambling at this point and he hugged her too him, to make her stop.

Stop she did, "okay Katie, good night and see you in a few."

"Night Lance," Katie setting her glasses on his night stand, settle in again. Comfortably against his chest with his arm wrapped around her. Her arm draped around his waist, happily drifting off to sleep. Content with how everything turned out. Lance now sound asleep, dreaming of the pretty girl in his arms. Her giggles and how well she fit against his frame. He had a lot to think about when the morning came around, because truth be told he was sure something sparked within him for Katie. Maybe there had always been something there. Only time would tell. For now, nightmares all forgotten, they fell into a deep sleep until the morning came.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well I hope you all like this, I will continue it. I chose to post it here because my Fan Fiction page is not working for me. I have to fix it, but once it is Ill will add this to that and continue from there.

Please feel free to add any tags I missed :D

Part 2

#plance #pidgegunderson #LanceMcClain #postseason7 #angst #fluffy #slowburn #voltron #voltron: legendary defender #flirtyrobot

70 notes · View notes

theprodigypenguin · 6 years ago

Text

Make Peace: Part 3/4

Ratings: violence, blood, PTSD, angst, nightmares, fluff

Pairings: James Griffin/Keith Kogane (mentions of sheith and vague klance)

Notes: Yay now I’m caught up, I’ll post the fourth part as well, gonna be late for work but I don’t really wanna go anyway so I don’t care _(:3 」∠)_

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4(final)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightmares had become pretty routine for Keith, ever since meeting Ulaz, quickly followed by the revelation of who, what, he really was. Those nightmares just got worse with every day that past in space, every battle, every sour look from Allura and attempt at comfort from Shiro's gentle hand on his shoulder.

They seemed to get worse when Keith left the Castle of Lions to instead train with the Blade of Marmora. The dreams depicted darkness, death, and left him with a feeling of echoing guilt, panicked thoughts of I should've been there, why wasn't I there, I could have helped. His terrors settled somewhat during his two years travelling through the Quantum Abyss with Krolia, but they still lingered even then, bringing him out of restless unconsciousness with a start.

Sometimes he would scream himself awake, once he even struck out at Krolia from pure terror. She didn't blame him, of course, said it was okay, but he wouldn't let her get near him for days after the fact, worried he'd go crazy from PTSD and hurt her again.

It seemed the dreams had just gotten worse since rejoining Voltron and taking a place as the Black Paladin. Ever since his fight with Shiro, and Lotor, and especially the war with Sendak back on earth, it seemed that every time he shut his eyes he saw destruction. He saw a world he couldn't save, fires burning homes and destroying fragile families. Even though they'd managed to fix everything, he was still so scared of failing.

He got Shiro home and safe, but what if something else happened and Shiro disappeared again? They managed to defeat Lotor, but what if he was still out there, waiting, plotting revenge? Earth was safe and Sendak was dead, but what if more Galra cruisers showed up and Voltron couldn't fight them off? The success didn't matter, because Keith's dreams were plagued by overthought fear of failure.

Being hurt the way he was now, causing a fever to settle in his body, made his mind even more vulnerable to the terrors of darkness.

James was blissfully unaware of Keith's distress, as he was crouching beside the window, watching the sun rising in the distance before peering over the sill and down at the street, cringing when he noticed the sentries marching by. He quickly hid himself back in the room, holding his gun higher when a trio of drones flew by just beneath the window, letting out a slow exhale of relief when they were gone.

He'd been awake all night, moving from the window to Keith's side the entire time. He wasn't a doctor, but he was certain the Paladin's fever had just gotten higher through the night. The shirt James had tied against his side had long been soaked through with blood, and frankly James was too worried and scared to check and see if the bleeding had stopped or not. All he cared to know was that they needed to get out of there, fast, because Keith needed a doctor. If he wasn't treated properly...

James was yanked out of his thoughts when Keith literally jerked into consciousness, his body jackknifing into a sitting position as he gasped. He continued to gasp, as if he hadn't been able to breathe just moments before, and James set his gun down so he could slide over to Keith's side.

"Keith, take it easy, you're okay."

"No, no, no, where's Shiro?"

The question had James blinking numbly, noting the pale haze in Keith's wide eyes as he looked frantically around the room in a panic, "Y... uh."

"Where is he? No, where's Hunk? Where's Shiro? Where is everyone? No, I have to-have to get to them!"

"Whoa. Whoa!" James grabbed Keith's arms, moving in front of him as he tried to get up, "Keith, look at me, calm down!"

"We can't just sit here, they need me!" Keith screamed at James, surprising him at the fact he could raise his voice like that, "I can't leave them again, I can't-!"

"Hey!" James squeezed Keith's upper arms, leaning in close and fast until their foreheads had knocked together, "Listen to me, numbskull! Everyone is fine! Hunk, Lance, they're fine, Gunderson and even that Altean chick, everyone is okay! The captain is perfectly fine! Are you listening? Voltron is fine, your team is fine, they're safe!"

"You don't understand, I have to be there," Keith said, voice trembling, eyes wide, "I left them, I left them before and I-I can't do it again. I left them, I almost lost them, you don't understand. I almost lost Shiro, he was almost gone for good, I almost-."

"Hey," James lifted his hands from Keith's arms and instead grabbed onto his face, fingers burrowing into the his black hair and squeezing his cheeks a little, forcing his head up so their eyes were locked, "You almost did, but you didn't. Your team is alive and safe, all of them. I can almost guarantee they're in better health than you, you colossal dumb shit. You're the one stuck in a building bleeding to death, they're probably worried sick about you."

Keith's unstable breathing was slowly starting to regulate, clouded eyes still somewhat glazed, though he was definitely calming down. James glanced down, teeth gritting when he saw fresh blood pooling around Keith. It was only small splotches, but clearing jerking up the way he'd done had restarted the bleeding.

"Lie down, you're okay," James soothed, helping Keith back down, "I'm going to get you out of here, got it? I'll get you back to your team."

Keith shut his eyes and James pulled his hands from his face, moving back to the window to ensure no one had heard the Paladin screaming while giving him a minute to collect himself into consciousness.

"Sorry," Keith whispered vaguely, and James hummed.

"S'fine, understandable," he looked over his shoulder to watch Keith rub at his eyes, "With the fever you're suffering from you probably won't remember a lot of this, which is super convenient."

"How are we?"

"Well I feel great," James said with false enthusiasm, "There are sentries passing now and then, but I haven't seen any sign of that Galra from before. It's been quiet, I think we might be able to make it to the MFE if we go fast. My only concern is how far you can walk yourself."

"We won't know until I try," Keith grunted, pushing himself up and leaning his shoulders against the wall at his head, "God... this would be so much easier if my head was clear enough to call my lion. I can't concentrate on anything, my head aches, feels... like there's blood in my lungs or something."

"It could also be the interference from the Galra's distress signal," James offered, "The micro satellites that Commander Holt shot up into the atmosphere have limited range as it is, they can only do so much until he updates them or the Garrison shoots a bigger dish to clarify signals."

"I don't need a satellite dish to contact my lion, James," Keith sighed, "It's hard to explain this, but they aren't just ships. They're... alive in a way, the Paladins of Voltron have psychic connections with the astral consciousnesses of their lions."

"Satellite dish."

"No, you're not listening," Keith poked his forehead, "I'm connected to my lion with my mind and my quintessence, not-."

"No, no, Keith, the satellite dishes!" James moved closer and got to one knee beside Keith, "There's a satellite dish on top of this building! We could hack into it, connect your helmet to the tech and boost your range of comm system to contact the Garrison!"

Keith stared somewhat blankly and unresponsively at James before his brow drew together, "But wouldn't that Galra be able to locate us?"

"Who cares? If we can contact the Garrison it won't matter!" he held his hands out and up, "Look, you're not going to last like this, we don't know if we can reach the MFE, and you can't tap into the psychic link with your lion. We need to do something."

Keith breathed out through his nose and reached over for his helmet and broken gauntlet, securing it best he could over his wounded arm before looking at James in the eye, his own a lot clearer than they'd been since he got shot.

"Help me up," he said, and James gave a sharp nod, taking Keith's right arm and pulling it over his shoulder, wrapping his left arm around his waist as Keith grabbed hold of his helmet with his left hand, cringing and clinging to James' shoulder as they started to stand.

"Let's get the hell out of here."

"Block the door," Keith ordered once they'd stepped onto the roof and into the morning sun rays, pulling his arm from around James' shoulder and reach over to hold his left side as he started for the satellite across the roof, "At least lock it somehow. Buy us time."

"Got it," James shut the door before he began looking around for something to jam it closed with.

Keith wasn't a tech wizard, he certainly wasn't Pidge, but after spending so much time around her, he'd learned one or two helpful things, falling to his knees and breaking open the panel at the base of the satellite so he could flip familiar switches and break off one of the wires, connecting it to his helmet and messing around with more knobs and switches until the blue light of his helmet flickered, prompting him to yank it on over his head.

"Reaching out for contact with the Galaxy Garrison or Atlas, this is Keith from the MFE Aries Alpha field team, please respond," white noise met him, and he shut his eyes, listing forward and propping his forehead against the satellite.

He repeated the same phrase as James wandered over to join him, sitting down rather unceremoniously and propping his gun against his shoulder as he side-eyed Keith.

"Contacting the Galaxy Garrison... contacting Voltron... Shiro, it's Keith, please respond... anyone?"

His body kept curling in on itself, and he pulled his hand from his side to look at the blood staining his black glove. It was almost hard to make out against the fabric, but it was slick and shiny, and made his vision swim at the reality that his injury was so much worse than he had expected.

"Shiro, this is Keith, are you there? Guys, please respond," Keith pinched his eyes shut, clinging to his side, teeth gritting, "Damn this."

"Keith," James reached over to set a hand on his shoulder, "Don't push yourself. Give it a minute, be patient."

Keith gave a shaky exhale and sat a little straighter, "This is the MFE Aries Alpha field unit contacting the Galaxy Garrison, please respond! Shiro, please respond!"

"-eith? Keith, is that you?"

"Shiro," Keith breathed, "It's me."

"Keith, thank god! We haven't been able to contact you for the past twenty-two hours!"

"Has it been that long...?"

"You were cresting on the deadline with no check-ins, I was getting worried. What happened?"

"Bit of a delay, there were complications. We need backup and an extraction."

"Why? What happened?"

"More sentries than theorized, and an unknown Galra soldier on the ground. He's using the remnants of a destroyed fighter to cast out a distress signal to any cruiser passing, but it's so weak we were unable to pick up on it. It's been interfering with the communication in my suit so I haven't been able to get a hold of you."

"Are you both okay?"

Keith hesitated visibly, Shiro probably heard it, and he looked at his hand again, "I mean, define okay."

"Keith-."

"Griffin is fine, we're both alive."

"Keith, are you okay?"

"I'm alive, Shiro, but I can't say for how long. I can't call my lion, my head's... my head's a mess, we need help."

"Damn it, alright. We're going to lock in on your position and head over now."

"Don't overreact, just send Lance and Hunk, they should be enough. This is still a simple mission that can be handled by a small team, I just happened to trip up. I'm sorry, this is my fault," James winced and looked over at Keith, "I wasn't paying attention and got a little hurt, ended up putting the mission in jeopardy, and I apologize-."

"That's a blatant lie, captain!" James yelled, leaning into Keith's space and slamming his forehead against Keith's like he'd done before, only this time the helmet acted as a barrier between his head and Keith's, "Keith jumped in front of me and took the hit in my place, he didn't mess up at all! I was the one not paying attention!"

"Griffin, shut up, my injuries are my own doing-!"

"He's lying again, captain, I can vouch for him saving my life!"

"Dude!"

"Okay, I'm glad you're both safe," Shiro said, amusement in his voice, "I'll send out Lance and Hunk now. Are you sure things can be settled with them?"

"Yea, and don't worry about me, Shiro, I'm fine. It's barely a scratch-."

"He's lying yet again, captain, I'm requesting you send a physician with the Red and Yellow Paladins, your Black Paladin needs treatment as soon as possible."

"James would you shut up?!"

"What are his injuries?" Shiro asked, sounding somewhat panicked and exhausted, like he already knew Keith was hurt and lying about his own condition, and James felt honestly smug at that.

"Suffering a fever in addition to a deep abrasion caused by the hand canon blast," the smile fell heavily and his eyes shifted down to the sloppy bandages stained red around Keith's side, "I did my best to stop what bleeding I could and bandage him up, but he needs medical attention as soon as possible. His condition is getting worse and he's not gonna last much longer like this."

"Understood, thank you."

James just pressed his lips into a tight line, feeling tense, and looked up only for his eyes to clash with wide indigo. He'd almost forgotten he'd been leaning his forehead against Keith's, only the glass visor of his helmet separating their faces. Keith's eyes were wide in surprise, and James couldn't be certain, but that discoloration across his cheeks looked a little like a blush, lips parted slightly as if he wanted to speak but couldn't.

The MFE pilot jerked back, his eyes widening as heat lifted onto his cheeks, "Uh, no-no problem, captain," he cleared his throat and turned away, reaching for his gun again as Keith dropped his head to stare at the roof.

"We're... we're on a roof of one of the buildings."

"Hold your position, we'll be there in two ticks," Shiro said, and Keith nodded slowly.

He wanted to speak, to say something to James. Just then, the expression on his face, the guilt, was heavy enough that even Keith could feel it settling over him. James felt helpless, useless, and Keith could empathize with those feelings. Being a leader meant... reassuring his team, and Keith was a leader.

"Listen, James-," but he couldn't get anything else out as the door was broken down.

The sheet of metal that James had jammed into the crease of the door flew out, and a group of sentries flooded onto the roof. Keith caught sight of purple skin and yellow eyes, the Galra making his way to the front with the same hand canon he'd used before, and Keith squared his shoulders in fury as James scrambled forward, positioning himself in front of Keith without a moment of hesitation, down on one knee and gun raised.

The group didn't attack immediately, which Keith decided was a good thing. They had to stall as long as possible until Lance and Hunk got there, so he reached his hand out to set on James' shoulder, whispering to him.

"Don't engage, Griffin," he ordered, and James locked up, finger hovering over the trigger and teeth gritting.

"Keith? What was that just now? What's the situation?"

He was still connected to Shiro through the comms, that was good, but he couldn't make it obvious that he was talking to him, so he went for an indirect route, "How many are there, forty? Fifty? Surprising you can fit all your sentries on the roof."

"Oh no; Lance, hurry it up! They're cornered on the roof!"

"Ah of course they are!" Keith heard Lance in the background, and idly wondered if Shiro had tagged along with him.

That was kind of a pleasant thought, that he was worried enough to come here himself, but at the same time Keith wasn't pleased. Shiro didn't need to put himself in even more danger, especially because of Keith's own mistake of underestimating the situation.

"Call if overkill, Paladin, but don't worry, I have no intention of you losing your life," the Galra spoke, "If I bring you back alive, all the better. Your friend, however, is in my way."

"No shit," James snapped, and Keith frowned a bit.

"He's not really my friend, more like an acquaintance. Former school bully, rival, whatever."

"Whoa bitch what?" Lance's voice echoed, and Keith almost blanched at the fact he'd been insulted at the whole rival thing.

"Then what's he protecting you for?"

"He's always been a stickler for following the rules, and losing a team mate is clearly not on his agenda."

"Hardly," James agreed, "Now, why don't you and your ugly friends get back through that door before you get yourselves hurt?"

"What can you do, human?" the Galra sneered, "With a primitive weapon that's nearly useless against sentries, and a broken Paladin, you'd last twelve seconds, top."

"That's so inconsistent math there," James noted, "Besides, I never said I'd be the one kicking your ass," and as if on cue, the Red and Yellow Lion appeared overhead in a blast of air that buffeted across the roof violently.

The sentries shot at the lions, but the Galra kept his wild, violent eyes on Keith and James, teeth grit as he shoved Sentries aside and lifted his hand canon. Keith turned away and yelled into the comms.

"Shoot the roof up!"

"What?!"

"You're both still up there!"

"You'll get caught in the crossfire!"

"Not for long!" Keith yelled, breaking away the wire connecting him to the satellite and grabbing James around the wrist, hauling him to his feet and sprinting around the satellite, "Shoot it up, now! Don't let any of them off, especially the Galra!"

"He's charging the gun!" James yelled, "Where are we going?!"

"Jump!"

"Keith your fucking jet pack was blasted off!"

"Then I guess we're gonna fucking die!" Keith yelled back, and despite how casually he said it, making James worry greatly for his mental health, he decided to just go with it.

They didn't stop running, and when they got to the edge, they jumped, clinging to each other's hand as the canon blast just barely missed them. James cringed midair as the lions made good on their word and let loose on the sentries on the roof, debris raining around them and dust enveloping them.

His grip around Keith's wrist tightened when it occurred to him that they were actually falling through the air, and would absolutely die if they hit the ground like this. He whipped his head back and forth, searching the air wildly for something, anything to make the fall easier, a lightbulb flashing into existence when he caught sight of the drones baring down on them.

"Hang onto me!" he yelled at Keith as he threw his gun aside and reached wildly, grabbing one of the spherical drones.

It held their weight just barely, bobbing as it dropped fast before hovering again, the light blinking as if it didn't know whether to shoot or shut down. When it flashed purple James assumed that meant he was going to lose his hand like that, so he let go just half a second before a laser shot out.

It was pure luck they were so close to the ground, but it still hurt like a fucking bitch when his back hit the concrete of the road, sliding across it for a few feet before coming to a stop, blinking as he stared up at the blue sky. He took a silent moment to assess himself, wincing from the sting at the back of his head and lifting it so he could cup a hand around, pulling it back to see red smeared across his fingertips.

"Ouch."

A moment passed before he remembered his other hand was occupied, and he sat upright, looking to see he was still clinging to Keith's hand, but Keith was on his side, eyes pinched closed in clear pain. The bandages had been torn off when they'd slid across the ground on impact, showing the bloody wound in his side that he was clinging to with his left hand, blood slipping between his fingers as he grunted lowly.

"Keith," James got to his knees, left hand still clutched in Keith's right, grabbing onto the Paladin's shoulder and shaking him gently until his eyes peeled open, shifting to the side to look at James.

"Is it over?"

James looked up, his shoulders sagging as the two lions approached before touching down, then sighed and shut his eyes, "Yea," he looked down at Keith, squeezing his shoulder, "Told you I'd get you back to your team."

Keith's lips twitched a bit, James saw the ghost of a smile, pulling his hand away from Keith's so he could instead pull him upright to sit as the lion's opened and three worried pilots ran down the ramps.

"Keith!" Shiro was the first to reach them, dropping to his knees on Keith's other side as the Black Paladin managed to get the helmet off his head.

"I'm okay," he assured, looking at Shiro and this time, he did smile, eyes tired but grateful, and it made James' feel somewhat ill, "Thank you."

Shiro smiled back, setting his left hand on Keith's shoulder before looking over at Lance and Hunk, who stayed standing in front of them, "That's the last time you go on a mission without us as backup!" Lance decided.

"Let's get out of here before something else unexpected happens," Hunk added, looking around.

"Right, we'll send another wave in later to ensure everything's been dealt with," Shiro agreed, turning his attention to Keith and frowning down at the torn bandages on his side, "We need to get you to the Garrison now. I'll be a crutch, put your arm around me, can you stand?"

"Yea, I'll be fine," Keith grunted, looping an arm around Shiro's neck so he could cling to Keith's hand, the prosthetic supporting the small of his back to ease him to his feet.

"Get his other arm, Lance," Shiro ordered, and Lance quickly did as asked while Shiro looked at James, "What's your status?"

"What? Status?" James stared blankly at Shiro before lighting up, "Oh! Sorry, no, I'm fine."

"Can you fly the MFE back?"

"Yea, definitely, I'll take care of it."

"Good. Head to the infirmary when you return to get yourself checked out. Hunk, stay on him in case something else happens."

"You got it, Shiro."

Lance and Shiro then started to help Keith towards the Red Lion, leaving Hunk and James to watch, and James bent down to pick up the helmet that Keith had left on the ground, dusting it off pointlessly before looking at the trio hiking up the ramp into the lion. He probably imagined it, but he could've sworn Keith looked back at him, but then the ramp closed and the lion raised its head, eyes glowing before it shot off the ground, and James suddenly felt worry and panic crowd his throat.

"We should get going, I'll carry you as far as your MFE so you don't have to walk there," Hunk said, turning, though he immediately paused in his steps to look back at the pilot, who was standing silently staring at where the Red Lion had disappeared, "Uh, you okay?"

"What?" James dropped his head to meet Hunk's eye, then locked his jaw and tucked Keith's helmet under his arm, walking past the Paladin, "I'm fine, just tired. Let's go home."

"Yea, let's go home."

#jeith #jaith #james griffin #keith kogane #james/keith #takashi shirogane #sheith #shiro/keith #lance serrano #cannon name guys #hunk #klance #keith/lance #fanfiction #voltron legendary defender

61 notes · View notes