#I take Lance and Keith away from the writers

[princessallura052]

Why Kallura works Part One

Keith and Allura from Voltron: Legendary Defender are not the most obvious couple but they are by far the most healthiest. How, you ask? From the beginning, Keith stuck with Allura. They were not friends yet but he was the first to step in front of her from Klaizap even though he was tiny. But what makes them more special than Keith with anyone else? A lot of their arcs have to do with each other.

The writers made the deliberate choice to make Keith half-Galra and to have Allura have an issue with that. They could have gone with any Paladin - in fact if they wanted her to end up with Lance, making him part Galra would have actually made them have a little bit of development. But the evidence for Keith and Allura starts as early as the s1 finale. Keith might have sounded cold about not wanting to take Voltron to rescue Allura but guess what? Allura had the same thought because it was stupid to do a confrontation. I am sorry, Shiro but it really was.

Their moments became deeper when they ran away together - once again, they were on the same wavelength but besides that, we all have our dark sides and we all have our shortcomings. Allura's prejudice was one of those shortcomings and Keith even though he had some doubts that he had something to do with the Galra questioned her on this. That hey not all these people are bad, you're being a little closed-minded. Helping each other grow as a couple is amazing, I feel. There was another sweet moment between them where they recognise each other's importance on the team. Allura recognises Keith as a Paladin and useful part of the team and Keith starts off with this so while it may not be a big deal, valuing each other is.

Then finding out Keith was Galra. Hang on I'm going to get a screenshot of how Keith responded to Allura ignoring him:

He is devastated! She clearly means a lot to him for him to feel that bad and while we know they make up, this brings me to another point. Keith and Allura are the only two characters to apologise to each other. Allura when she hurt Keith with her ignorance and Keith when he snaps at her in The Journey Within because he started by lashing out at her father and then brought up Lotor so they are the only two characters to apologise to one another. Since I've mostly talked about season 1 and season 2, I will do a part 2 to this post so keep your eyes peeled for that.

[matt0044]

So... “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is a bop, right?

It’s firmly supplanted “Let It Go” as Disney’s latest ear-worm until the next one comes along but it’s more than just a catchy ballard. It spells out how the Family Madrigal view him as a blight on their family name, especially when they’ve been a pillar of their community.

It also describes how rather than dealing with his problem and maybe helping him through it, they opted to just let him retreat into his room never to be seen again. Better to sweep it under the rug. However, this also proves to be a root in while the house is coming undone.

The message is clear: a family can’t stay as one so long as they can’t talk about their problems with each other. It’s why Mirabel doesn’t get a gift so she can be the outsider looking in.

Where is this going? Well... somebody just finished Voltron: Legendary Defender... and enjoyed it.

Here me out before you scroll away.

I had finished up to Season 7 along with Teen Titans three days before Season 8 dropped. I knew that fandom discourse would be a bear and opted to let the season simmer before I viewed it for myself a few Watch Lists down the road.

What I couldn’t have known was this overwhelming hate for Season 8. I was on Twitter where handles were being altered to include #FuckVoltron and the like. I glimpsed spoilers of what happened in the finale without getting into the dirty details.

Thus I decided to put it off until the heat died down. A whole half decade at that. With Fandom Drama down to near non-existent, I decided to return and engage with Voltron on its own terms from the start. No shipping drama, no expectations for how it should go, no accusations of problematic behavior and no Purple Lion conspiracies.

And... I liked it. I highly encourage those scared off by the drama or felt Season 8 did it dirty to give it a(nother) shot. It deserves a full on renaissance the way Twilight got.

Why? (spoilers ahead).

I was sold on Allura and Lance’s relationship. I loved how he went from being a flirt to genuinely admiring Allura as a leader and Paladin, encouraging her in the season 4 finale without trying to get anything out of it.

I liked the tonal shift around Season 7 where the ultimate Golion homage is made with the Space Explorers coming home to a war ravaged Earth.

I liked how human Lotor and Honerva were as villains coming after Zarkon. I can see why there’s a whole ass conspiracy framed around him actually being in Season 8. Also them taking that “Your mother was an Altean bitch” like and running with it for Hagger was brilliant.

Keith becoming the Black Paladin after Kuron’s reveal was well done and felt weirdly natural in retrospect. He feels like he can’t measure up to Shiro and learns more discipline from

Allura sacrificing herself to restore all realities felt a lot better with the knowledge of spoilers. It helps that the ending went with a more noble feel than angsty, showing how the Paladins strove make sure that her actions set an example for years to come.

I love that they got creative with the multiple alien species and kept the Alteans from being just humans in space like in the original. It really took inspiration from Vehicle Voltron with more aliens in the mix.

Shiro the Hero, as Crazy Coran put it. What can I say except that he’s the kind of character you call a Mary Sue if he wasn’t a guy. Always calm, always perservering, putting the mission first and being a pillar the team can lean on. He even creates his own Voltron out of the Atlas

Honestly, the whole Adam thing isn’t something I fully blame the writers given the producers pushing back. Mind you, I feel like Keith would’ve made a good endgame pairing with him if they had even out their ages when they first meet, both as teenage proteges.

Studio Mir was amazing, especially with the space battles. Honestly, if Robotech managed to make a comeback, I could totally see them being tapped to match the classic Anime style.

So... yeah. Voltron good actually.

[autisticlancemcclain]

I’ve really enjoyed your writing and I was curious to know if you ever experience writers block and how you try to drag yourself out of it? (I’m in need of advice)

thank you!! and i most definitely have omg. only rarely do i actually have, like, ideas for a fic. most of the time the hours are ticking past and i’m like FUCK i don’t have a goddamn thought pinging in my brain rn for tonight’s fic 😭😭 so i deal with writers block several times a week lol. i have a couple strategies for it.

1. this one is more of a future set up thing. over the weeks and months i’ve set up a saved folder where i use social media the most —inst*gram — and every time i see something that either reminds me of the blorbos or i think has story potential (which takes some time to start noticing, don’t worry if it’s slow at first, i used to add to the folder like once or twice a week and now it’s once or twice a day lol), i save it:

sometimes i send the post to a friend with a vague outline of what i’m doing, which looks something like this:

and screenshot that for later. this way i have this folder of ideas and one-offs to turn to when the well has run dry. it doesn’t always work, but it works enough that i think it’s worth the effort.

2. this one is less cool and suave, but when i don’t have any ideas, i try to just…write whatever. i don’t mean, like, write a random story, i just mean write random ass words and see what happens. i tend to work best with dialogue, so i’ll just type out a random sentence and see what happens, see what my brain does without me focusing on it. i’ll walk you through one of those now:

“Don’t.”

there’s a random starting word. just a single word. it could go literally anywhere, from humour to actiony order-barking, but i’m getting a bit of an angsty vibe to this, so i’m just going to pick a character — my beloved — who i’m very used to writing and can picture easily and add a dialogue tag.

“Don’t,” Lance warns.

okay! now we’re getting somewhere farther. now i try to ask myself one or two prodding questions: what does his voice sound like? can i hear him saying this in my head? who’s he saying it to? what emotion is he portraying? i don’t have to actually answer any of the questions, but now i’m thinking, baby steps, and i can get going easier, because i’m actually starting to hear this in my head:

“Don’t,” Lance warns, voice wobbling. “Don’t do this to me.”

from here i just see where i can go. one thing i have to remind myself is that no one is holding me to a standard but me. this can be two words or two hundred. a page or a novel. whatever i come up with. i’ll give it a fair chance, but if it doesn’t go anywhere, that’s okay, i’ll try again later. i try to just get into things and go. i’ll lean into what’s familiar to make things easier on myself:

“Don’t,” Lance warns, voice wobbling. “Don’t do this to me.”

Keith looks away. He has a hard enough time keeping steady with Lance normally, when he’s smiling, smirking, when he puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder and teases him about his hair.

But when he’s looking at Keith like Keith has a choice to make? And he’s making the wrong one?

It’s almost physical, the ache. The pain of knowing he’s hurting someone but doing it anyway.

“I have to,” Keith says quietly. He clutches the strap of the duffel bag hanging over his shoulder, picking uselessly at a loose thread. “I can’t stay here.”

“You can.” Lance’s voice is still weak, shaking, but there’s something steady to it, a resolution. He’s sure he’s right. “You always can. You’ve never had to run.”

Keith says nothing.

“Don’t run away from me, Keith.”

Lance never pleads. He’s too proud. Keith pretends he doesn’t hear the desperation in his voice, for both of their sakes.

“I’ll call,” Keith offers. He looks up as he says it, but he still doesn’t meet Lance’s eyes. He’s afraid to see the hurt that he knows is there, the disappointment. If he doesn’t look he can pretend it’s not.

“No, you won’t.”

He says it like it’s a surety. Space is vast, time expands, and Keith won’t call. Keith is running away, again.

Keith turns around and leaves without another word.

that took me about six minutes. took some thinking, here and there, but it was easier as i kept going. i stuck to what i’m good at, remembered i don’t need any context for this (it’s just an exercise!) and moved forward.

i hope this is helpful! feel free to dm me if you’re still stuck, i’m happy to bounce around ideas :))

[the-kittens-of-vol-tron]

It's Just Pretend

Chapter 6: Getting Closer

AO3!

Chapter 5

First Chapter!

Word Count: 1,740

WOW HI EVERYONE!

I am so sorry for the delay, I was dealing with a lot of stress (my cat decided I paid down my credit card too much and had another death scare (she's fine now dw!!)) and I've been dealing with some hard-core writer fatigue.

I'm not terribly happy with this chapter but I wanted some form of an update, sorry for the wacky pacing!

-----

“Keith?! Hey, hey, it’s okay, open your eyes-” A panicked voice filled Keith’s head and he opened his eyes in a silent yelp. His eyes frantically scanned the dark, unfamiliar room. He felt suffocated despite the oxygen filling his lungs in rapid breaths. 

Two warm hands cupped his face, holding his head still as Keith tried to wrap his head around everything going on. “I got you, you’re okay. Can you breathe with me?” 

A deep breath filled the air and Keith tried to follow it. Letting the soft counting fill his ears. Slowly becoming more clear as his heart rate slowly calmed down. 

“There you go, just breathe baby. In and out, just like that-” Lance kept mumbling soft words to Keith. His voice is warm, yet laced with sleep and concern. 

Keith leaned into the touch. This wasn’t the first time Lance had helped calm him down from a night gone wrong. He had become very familiar with how to approach Keith, where to touch him, how gently, what to say. Everything. 

“I’m okay.” Keith managed to wheeze out, the room slowly becoming still. No longer spinning in a vortex of nightmares and confusion. 

“I know, I know you are.” Lance lowered his hands from Keith’s face, Slowly sliding them down his arms until intertwining their fingers. Lose enough that Keith could easily pull his hands away but tight enough to offer comfort. 

They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. The only noise filling the room was their breathing and the hum of the A/C unit by the window. 

Lance kissed his forehead and adjusted himself so he was lying on his side. Propping his head up with his hand. “Was it about…” Lance trailed off as Keith nodded. He rolled himself onto his back, starting at the ceiling. His body was damp with sweat. 

They laid in silence. Lance focused on Keith’s breathing, while Keith did everything to try and block out his own. He pressed his forearm over his eyes, trying to will the dream away. He wanted to fall back to sleep, but not quick enough he went right back into the dream. So, instead, he would keep himself awake a bit longer. 

He felt pathetic in a way. He was twenty-two years old and yet that day still haunted him. Did his mom stuffer with these dreams too? He would never ask. 

“You were a kid, Keith.” Lance’s voice was a soft whisper.

“I know,” Keith cleared his throat. Kicking himself internally for the tears that burned behind his lids. “I know.” 

Silence. 

Lance opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before speaking.“Would he be mad?” 

“Who?” 

“Your dad.” 

“...I don’t know.” 

More silence. 

“I don’t think he would.” 

Keith released a tense breath, ignoring how it hitched in his throat. “You don’t know that.” 

“I know,” Lance paused, adjusting so he was also on his back. His fingers slid down to grab Keith’s. “But he went back to save you. He wouldn’t be mad.” A gentle squeeze, “he couldn’t be mad.” 

Keith filled his lungs, ignoring the pressure that sat on his lungs. “You don’t know that.” He repeated, trying to keep his breathing steady. His tone level. He hated crying, almost as much as he hated these nightmares that haunted him. 

“I know…I’m sorry.” Lance whispered. 

Keith pushed himself upright, silently apologizing for soaking the sheets with sweat. “I need some air.” He stumbled onto the balcony, taking a shaky breath as he closed the door behind him. He arrested his elbows on the railing, focusing on the cool metal. His eyes follow a couple of people wandering the streets after a night out. 

He knew it wasn’t his fault. So why did he blame himself for it? Every therapist he had as a kid, every social worker, every family member, and his own mother, told him it wasn’t his fault. Why wouldn’t his brain listen to him? 

The door slid open, pulling Keith from his thoughts. Lance leaned awkwardly in the doorway, holding out his phone. “It’s your mom.” 

Keith stared at the device. His eyes shifted back to Lance’s eyes. “You called my mom?”  

Lance dropped his head slightly, “yeah.” 

Keith stuck his hand out, only bringing the phone up to his ear after Lance left the balcony. “Hi,” his voice was quiet, cracking on the simple sound. 

“Keith,” his mom sounded awake, he didn’t bother to look at the time zone difference. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” he took a deep breath. Blinking his eyes a couple of times. Keith cleared his throat. “I’m not sure why he called you. Just a bit of a harder dream. Nothing I can’t handle.” 

“Lance was concerned you were going to get caught up in your head.” His mother’s voice was strong and comforting. She always sounded like that. 

“I’m fine.” 

“I know, but I’m allowed to check up on you. Plus, we haven’t talked since graduation. I haven’t wanted to bother you with your new job and such.” 

“Sorry, I haven’t called more. Just be slowly adjusting to life.” 

“I know, baby, and I’m happy to hear things are going well. For you and Lance.” 

“Me too.” 

The conversation went quiet, a soft hum from a car could be heard on his mother's end. It was comfortable. He and his mom were never people who did small talk. “Do you miss him?” 

“Of course I do. Every day.” Krolia replied. 

“Do you blame me?” Keith whispered.

He could hear the frown in her voice as she replied. “I could never.” 

“Okay.” 

—

Lance didn’t remember falling asleep. Either time. He wasn’t a stranger to Keith’s nightmares. He just always felt useless when they happened. He didn’t talk to Keith’s mom a lot, but she seemed to be able to ground him better than he could. 

He signed, pulling something closer to him. His head pounded and he squeezed his eyes tighter. He was never good at knowing when to stop when he drank. He was a social drinker, the more others drank, the more he drank. Not great, but usually he was around others who didn’t drink as much. 

He buried his head in the mass in front of him. Something tickled his nose and he scrunched it up. It did little to help and he scrunched it again. The itch stayed the same. He forced his eyes open, meeting a black pile of hair. It took him a moment to register what he was looking at. 

Keith. He was looking at Keith. 

He swore under his breath and unwrapped himself from the snake hold he unconsciously put his friend in throughout the night. Keith began to stir at the motion and Lance quickly dove into the bathroom. 

Lance was a cuddler, he was the youngest in his family. He grew up showing his affection by kisses on the cheek and hugs. Keith on the other hand was reserved. He seemed awkward and stressed when any form of physical affection was displayed to him. It took some time but Lance eventually learned how to show his appreciation and love for Keith in a different, non-touching way. Hard moments, such as waking up from a nightmare, were a time when Keith was more open to physical affection. 

He put some cold water on his face, trying to calm down from the situation. Confused as to why his heart was beating so quickly. This wasn’t the first time he had woken up cuddling a friend. But he had never felt like this before. He took a shaky breath, the smell of Keith's shampoo lingering in his nose. 

He left the bathroom in a huff, immediately being greeted by Keith sitting in the bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “You okay?” His voice cracked on some of the words. 

“Yeah,” Lance forced his gaze into a random part of the room. “You hungry? I’m hungry.” He moved toward his suitcase, grabbing the first casual clothes he touched. Unaware of Keith’s gaze on him. 

“What’s going on?” Keith asked, his voice shifting into his “awake” mode. 

Lance paused briefly. “What do you mean?” He turned, his clothes shoved under his arm. 

“You seem frantic.” 

“Oh,” Lance found himself bounding on the balls of his feet. “Just hungry, that's all.” 

Keith squinted his eyes at Lance. “No something is bothering you.” 

Lance cursed himself internally. Keith could read him like a book, there was no way he was going to sneak out of this. “What shampoo do you use?”

Keith blinked, clearly caught off guard by the question. “What?” 

“Your shampoo,” Lance gestured toward the bathroom, “what is it? It smells nice.” 

“Just the store brand,” Keith’s fingers drifted to his uncombed hair. “I guess I’m used to the smell.” 

“Noted,” Lance made his way to the bathroom, “let's get ready for breakfast.” 

—

First Night Home

“Oh, I am so glad to be home.” Lance threw his bag on the couch, promptly falling to the floor. “That flight was brutal.” 

“I blame the layover,” Keith mumbled as he made his way to his room. He placed his bags down and flopped on his bed. Taking a moment to enjoy his space again. He liked the trip, it was fun, and towards the end, he finally felt comfortable enough to talk to the other people present. 

He sighed. The quietness of the room bothered him for once. He had become accustomed to having Lance with him almost 24/7. The slight displays of affection in front of co-workers. Attending dinners, sharing stories, sleeping next to Lance. 

He pressed his hands over his eyes. He had grown to like sleeping next to his friend. He even looked forward to it. And he wasn’t an idiot, he was aware of Lance pulling him closer at night. The sleepy mumbled as he tucked Keith’s head under his chin. It terrified Keith the first night it happened but he eventually was able to melt into it. 

Plus, he couldn’t deny how rested he felt. How the nightmares that tormented him had slowly begun to go away the longer he shared a bed with Lance. He wasn’t looking forward to sleeping alone again. 

But that was just Lance. He wasn’t getting special treatment, Lance was a touchy-feely guy. Even if Keith liked the treatment, he knew it wasn’t anything more than platonic. 

So why did that realization sting? 

-----

Again, the pacing is wacky and sorry for the time jump,,,, I'm tired.

The next chapter will hopefully be a bit better but thank you if you stuck around!

Thank you for reading and your support <33333

[sinelanguage]

20 questions for fic writers

taking from @fivedayslater who tagged anyone for this, i'll also pass around to 'anyone who wants to answer these questions is effectively tagged' but also @lostlegendaerie, @sharpenote specifically.....

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

36! not too shabby considering i'm not super consistent about writing.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

257,465! wow. jeez.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently One Piece, historically Voltron. 

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

predictably: this is almost entirely Keith/Lance.

Stormchasing: Keith/Lance handcuffed together fic i tried to pace like an actual episode! posting early in the fandom’s lifecycle gave it staying power, lol.

The Hustle: Keith/Lance espionage/heist-ish fic i cowrote with a friend. Really fun premise, and it was fun to co-write something!

Good Grief: Keith/Lance 5+1. i don’t remember anything about this.

Tallies: Keith/Lance 5+1. look… i wrote a lot of these.

Interstate 80: It’s not Klance! Jean/Marco, roadtrip modern day AU. i wrote this as a teenager, and i do not think this holds up whatsoever, but i made a lot of close friends through this fic and i'm fond of it solely due to that, haha.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try! i have like, a half-life where if a fic is more than a year old i probably won’t respond because i’ve probably forgotten anything interesting to say. 

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Haha i wrote a hunger games AU for Attack on Titan? i don’t know what possessed me to take Jean Kirstein out of one horribly depressing canon and into another horribly depressing canon. 

Outside of that, i tend to stick to relatively happy or neutral endings. Most recently, Time Turned Fragile probably has the angstiest ending but i’d classify it as bittersweet really, even though Sanji like. dies? look. don’t worry about it

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Uhhh??? this is harder to answer … Inaba’s Self-Appointed Cat Adoption Agency is a fic that is probably the fluffiest thing i’ve ever written and as such has the most feel-good fluffy ending as a result.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not really! i’ve gotten a-bit-too-bold concrit in bookmark notes, but i wouldn’t really consider that hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nah lol. (gestures to weaknesses answer) it is not my forte, and i’m not super interested. 

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

not typically! I did write Turnabout Heart, which is a brief Persona 5 / Ace Attorney crossover, because I thought Sae being friends with Mia would be neat.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

ah, i found someone reposting my fic to wattpad once (username still attached). i just gently told them it was in bad form lol, it was wattpad in 2017 or so so I’m sure it was just some kid haha. they apologized and deleted it and their other stolen stuff so it’s all good.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! Someone offered once, but never got back around to me. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! The Hustle from above, and for better or for worst which was a fun last hurrah for Keith/Lance.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

It’s really funny because i’ve never written for any of my all time ships lol. Ike/Soren is maybe my ship of all time. Keith/Lance i’m still stupidly fond of despite myself. i never even finished Voltron.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

this has historically been time loop fics, but I wrote two this year!!!!! Congrats to me!!

Currently i’ve been working on a Robin-centric Robin and Sanji roleswap fic, and while i have a good grasp on the emotional/plot arcs involved it is not easy to write Robin POV lol. i can only write characters who are more emotionally stupid than me. i keep chugging away at it though.

for one I know I'll never finish: I have a brief outline/scenes written for a Professor Sada/Robot Professor Sada (haha. lol. sorry.) fic that would be titled Stochastic Parent as a play on the machine learning term 'stochastic parrot', i.e. the principle that AI does not truly understand language, merely parrots it back to the user. i could not figure out how to write this without being on the nose.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Bizarrely i really like writing action scenes hahahaahaha. It’s one of the few scenes in fic i really fully visualize, so translating that is fun. emotions in a fight are fun too, i like writing fear. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The main one: romance! More specifically though, physical intimacy. hilarious to write mostly romance fic and be bad at it. i’ve been actively avoiding writing kissing scenes for the last 10 fic or so. at this point i’m trying to see how long i can go without one.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Think it’s incredibly neat to see but i don't think i'll ever do it. i feel like i need to return my linguist card for this answer....

19. First fandom you wrote for?

some different answers here: Fire Emblem (never finished or posted online), Harvest Moon (posted on deviantArt and deleted when i scorched my warrior cats username from the face of the earth), and Attack on Titan (first fic on ao3)

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

All time it’s Dead Horizon. i got to write a lot of fun environmental storytelling and horror in that one, and I liked the emotional arc overall. i really like environments/settings in terms of storytelling, and i don’t get the chance to write much of that since i stick with shorter one shots typically. Still very, very fond of it. 

Recent stuff it’s Same As It Ever Was. i’ve wanted to do a Once in a Lifetime themed timeloop for ages but I kept dropping the concept, until now! Finally I wrote a scene based off the ‘not my beautiful house, not my beautiful wife’ lyric! dream come true.

[erithel]

It’s definitely a thing. I cannot begin to count the confessions from klancers who after the fact just said they always hated him. Or they wrote klance fics and you can tell it’s not a labor of love- with a confession later on that yes they hated lance and purposefully wrote him like That(tm) because they think he’s a selfish no good asshole. There’s actually a really popular klance fic I know whose writer said if they did a rewrite of it they don’t want it to be associated with lance at all.

And it’s just heartbreaking.

And I don’t know, with the years gone by the makeup of the fandom really shifted from loving lance to despising/resenting/couldn’t really give a shit for him. And it really feel like klancers who only really like keith led this charge. I’ve seen another klancer said Lance isn’t a noble character while only Keith is. There’s others who said he contributed nothing to the show but followed allura around.

Just from observation even if they don’t despise lance or to the degree above, it’s like many klancers don’t think of him as a character that’s worth investing in? Keith in current prevailing klance content is given a lot of leeway, excuses and characteristics to mull over (or in the previous ask ppl like that give him positive canon Lance traits) but Lance is just… there in their content. He’s canon alluranceLance but to keith: to be the support and make Keith feel better or loved or simp over without any nuance or reciprocal. His complex canon traits and the early deeper fandom traits are just given away because his role is just Keith’s love interest or, worst, to be the asshole that Keith rises above and be superior to but also falls in love.

And it’s more blatantly clear when they on the occasion just replace Lance with any other character in their content and it’s literally a cut and paste same character but different names. There’s no investment, no thought to Lance’s person and there’s no love to him when you can just replace him with hunk/matt/lotor/allura/etc with Keith and it’s the same dynamic, same relationship and Keith reacts the same way.

People can have their opinions blah blah but I feel like the popular opinion on Lance in the klance fandom had really deteriorated for the worst since allurance. Like people feel like they can’t be mad at allura because they don’t want to be seen as something (which is true cause it’s not alluras fault) but taking it out on the male character who equally was a victim of bad writing is A-okay and passable. I rather they just find a different ship for keith and leave lance out of it if they dont even like him or make an OC to be shipped with Keith and be done with it.

Okay. (deep inhale) Hold my beer.

Holy shit this is really sad.

And honestly a bit problematic in my opinion, if you look at it from a deeper level.

Because people not being able to find the good traits in Lance’s character (that are definitely there, like wtf) means that they (like the showrunners) are operating with the mindset that people have to be the best at something to have value.

One of the most interesting things about Lance’s character for me was his insecurities. Mainly, how he didn’t think he was contributing anything to the team because he felt like everyone around him was better.

But what would happen if you took Lance out of the equation?

The team would still function, yes.  But they would function as coworkers, thrown into a situation and forced to get along because they had no other choice. 

Lance was the human aspect of the team, and that is just as important as being tech savvy, or a skilled fighter.

And I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to understand that they still have worth; that they can still contribute even if they aren’t The Best.

And oh, yeah, there’s the little thing about how there literally wouldn’t be Voltron at all if Lance wasn’t there?  Like in terms of contribution, thaaaaaaaat’s a pretty big one. 

Also damn, it’s doing such a disservice to Keith’s character if people are writing him in such a way where his partner is just there to simp of fawn over him. To me, that seems extremely out of character and honestly just plain boring.

Any kind of relationship is only good if both parties are getting an equal amount out of it.

Klance is good imo because they work well together.

Keith grew up an orphan, never feeling like he belonged anywhere. Always being the one to leave first. Lance grew up with strong family values, but a ton of personal insecurities about not feeling good enough/ constantly being compared to others.

Keith embodies self-worth to Lance. Lance embodies home and family to Keith. They inspire each other, learn to trust each other, and challenge each other.  But most importantly, they take no shit from each other.

I think this is where a writer would lose me if they are writing “Lance” who could easily be replaced by any other character, because the fun part of writing anything is learning to write the different ways characters might view the world or react to situations.

I get that some of these stories are most likely just Keith-glorification fics - and whatever, people can write what they write - but it will always be more interesting to me if someone actually takes the time to write a well-rounded character instead of just a space filler to just exist in the orbit of the character they really want to write.

And, look, I think I also deserve an award for waiting until the end to mention that the entire time, the gossipy bitch inside me was slamming her hand against the table demanding to know who this popular klance writer was you mentioned (out of sheer curiosity).  But in all honesty I’m glad you kept it anonymous. :)

[feyravenchatter]

So, I accidentally may have (very, very) roughly plotted another fic. It was not my fault, I swear. I fully blame Jason Mraz for this one, as it was I'm Yours that set it off to begin with.

This really is super rough, don't say I didn't warn you

·::·★·::·

Coffee shop/bar (yes it’s both) - lgbt flavored w/open mic

Bartender/barista/writer Keith (also wears glasses occasionally, which Lance thinks are f’ing adorable)

Musician Lance

Writer Keith

Comes in bc his family doesn't like the idea of him being a professional musician or bi, and it’s a space he knows they won’t know about

Mutual pining for a bit bc they're dumbasses

Lance is def wearing a denim jacket w/a bi pin

Shiro def gives Keith shit about Lance

Has to come to the conclusion himself (w/help from Veronica, who doesn’t speak to them much anymore outside her siblings after she came out in college) that his parents are toxic

Couple of hookups & makeout sessions leave Keith thoroughly confused

He eventually ends their unspoken arrangement bc of all the mixed signals

Lance talks things out w/Veronica (^^^^^), who convinces him to go low-contact with their parents at least for a little while and go after Keith

Which he does, catching him as the bar's closing for the night and Confessing in the parking lot

Mami overheard part of the convo btwn her children & confronts Lance when he gets home

Tells him that she's thought about it and that she just wants him to be safe and happy and that if it's ...not with a woman... then she's ok with that

She also understands if he still doesn't want much to do with his father since he's a bit more old school catholic

Lance says he'll think about it, but that he probably won't talk to his father much if he can avoid it

She asks him if he's seeing anyone and he tells her about Keith

She's still a little unsure, but he's happy, so she lets it go

Lance still goes to open mic nights & they take their newly solidified relationship slowly

Until they're confronted by lances father one night when Keith drops him off

Lance pulls back, afraid that Keith won't want to be with him bc of that

Keith's the one to reach out first reassuring Lance that he's not breaking up with him bc of his parents

Mami finds out about the confrontation and a fight starts

This is at the same time as Luis shows up with Lisa and the kids

He sends them off and goes inside with Lance, backs up his mother and baby brother and tells his father to pull his head out of his ass and grow up

Mami tells him not to speak to his father that way, but Luis says that he's earned this and that she knows he's right

He gets Lance out of the house with the excuse of getting Lisa & the kids

In the car, he tells Lance to come stay with them for a while to get away from their father and the tension he knows will be between their parents

It takes a little but Lance finally gives in

About 3 weeks later, during which time Luis has gotten to know Keith a bit (he's also been formally introduced to the rest of his siblings who have decided they're adopting him) Lance is back for another event at the coffeeshop during the day

He's been a bit hesitant (slowing their relationship down even more after the blowup with his parents but decides that he doesn't want to wait anymore and tells Keith in the way he knows best - through music - and forgoes playing one of his own songs in favor of Jason Mraz

Keith gets it immediately and by the end of the song, so does everyone else

Klance are so focused on each other neither of them noticed Lance's father standing by the door, or when he stepped out just before the song finished

Shiro kicks Keith out from behind the bar, sending him out to the café floor.  He ends up just standing in the middle, between tables watching.  Or he would be if Lance could keep his eyes off him

Lance doesn’t even bother putting his guitar down, just swings it around to his back to rush the few yards between himself and Keith, where he says that he can’t keep waiting and fuck whatever his father has to say about it.  The next person in line for the event takes over the stage area, a bohemian punk (90s-style sundress w/combat boots, leather jacket) lesbian with a ukulele, and quietly hands Lance’s guitar case to Shiro over the bar before starting her own performance

Keith makes the suggestion that they get out of there, and Shiro calls out that he has the case and reminds Keith that all his shit is still in the break room.  Finally on their way out, Lance asks if Keith drove in, and he says that Shiro did, which Lance then says means that he gets to keep Keith for as long as he wants for the rest of the day

Lance’s father had been waiting outside, hoping he wouldn’t be staying at the coffee shop for too long.  Keith takes Lance’s hand, grounding him, but he still asks why his father’s there.  He says that he and mami had several very long conversations, and he eventually realized that he couldn’t hold with that part of his faith anymore.  Mami made him realize that he was getting to the point of losing one of his children permanently, and that if it went on long enough, he was going to alienate all of his children.  Family is more important than his faith, and while he’s not giving it up, he’s not giving up his children either, and apologizes for how he’s been, and hopes that Lance can forgive him for it eventually.  Lance says that he has to think about it, but that he and Keith have plans and he needs some time

When asked after getting to Lance’s car, he says that his plan for the rest of the day was that he didn’t have a plan and just wanted time with Keith, doing anything and everything.  Keith says that maybe they should just leave the car there in the shop’s parking lot.  He knows that Lance doesn’t know the area as well as he does, and takes his bf on something of a walking tour of the city’s queer quarter.  They end up at the end of the day in the park right between the shop and the ocean.  The only other thing that’s still bothering Lance is his parents lack of support for him wanting to chase his dream of being a professional musician.  Keith says that while having his parents support would be great to have, he does have the support of his siblings, friends, and especially his boyfriend.  Lance knows he’s right, and decides fuck it, he’ll never know if he doesn’t try it, and just hopes that his parents will come around eventually.

A few days later, and Lance is at Keith’s city apartment, his exposed brick bohemian writer’s loft a good backdrop for his first video, which then gets posted to various social media.

A few years later, and Keith is there in the front row for Lance’s first major tour, starting in their hometown.  He’s already published his first novel and already working on another.  Lance may not be selling out in every stop on the tour, but it’s far better than projected, and he’s not forgetting his coffee shop roots, playing a second, shorter show in a queer-friendly spot in every city the next day.  Keith is going on tour with him, writing while on the road.

But the last night spent in their apartment (Lance moved in with Keith 6 months after the apology from his father – they’ve made up, with both him and Veronica, and his are parents fully on-board with his music career) is the important one.  They’re leaving after the set at their shop the next day, and this will be the last night in their own bed for a while.  Lance is wiped out from the show, but Keith won’t let him go to sleep just yet.  Both in their pajamas, the only light the moonlight and the strings of warm fairy lights, Keith pulls small a leather box from the back of his nightstand and proposes to his emotional boyfriend.  Lance tackles Keith to the bed, and Keith laughs, asking if he can take that as a yes?  Of course it is, you bastard.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 25: Short Run of The Centipede Express Season 1, Episode 26: The Invisible Robeast

Episode 25: Short Run of the Centipede Express apparently the gg are still in contact with arus because they're sending status reports of a centipede robeast blowing up asteroids in its path i'd rather not hear from the gg ever again thanks

i know this is post ep 20 now, but coran letting the team go observe that damn robeast who's literally a whole galaxy away is eating me whole, i will never forgive coran

Honestly the one thing dotu did right is showing straight up torture, like yea we know the rulers of doom are evil but seeing people forced into a gladiator ring against a robeast for refusing to work on a secret weapon and having the rest of the slaves watch is fucking despicable

Revolt! The slaves snapped after watching one of them get eaten by a robeast and are demanding freedom, sucks to suck lotor, if you kill them you won't get shit done, but if you listen you ALSO won't get shit done

Apparently planet Mora (the planet the weapon is being build on) helped Arus at some point, Hunk seems to remember it, so it must be real recent that's probably the writers way of justifying hunk and allura wanting to go down to help the people, but I think freeing them from slavery against an oppressive government is a good enough reason LMAO

Surprisingly, Keith Lance and Pidge went planet side through the lion head attack, where green literally disconnects her head and launches away, I thought they were going in green because she seems to be the smallest lion also allura wanted to go with Lance and Pidge, but Keith essentially told her to sit the fuck down because he was going instead and to keep watch with hunk LMAO

Where the fuck did pidge go, is he staying in green's head while Keith and Lance act out their spy kids dreams?

Oh god, they tried to censor some guards drinking on duty by calling it some kind of juice OINVSD It's a flask, it's so obviously a flask, though definitely would've worked on kids since they shouldn't have known what it was

ooh real talk time, this dude is swearing loyalty to lotor because he feels abandoned by Voltron, apparently his people helped arus after one of the attacks on it but when their planet own got taken over, voltron was busy elsewhere I understand where he's coming from, it's hard to ignore bad things when it's happening to you so when you actually need help and nobody comes it's devastating

The plan to destroy the secret weapon, which is a laser that's able to fry voltron, goes wrong because of that guy so keith and lance make a break for it the only reason the guy stopped the plan was because lotor was going to kill him, so i don't think he would've said shit if that didn't happen

Why is pidge still in the body of green lion?? I thought he fucking went with them! Everything is so confusing

Time to take down that laser gun, that dude is in charge of aiming it but after keiths pep talk about trusting voltron and not zarkon he ends up shooting it at the centipede express that's coming in for a landing with zarkon and haggar in it it misses, of course, but the guy ends up taking down a tower anyway

i mean i assumed the centipede express was a robeast but seeing it actually set itself up to be one was cool as fuck

Voltron was formed waaay earlier but the robeast is destroyed and the bad guys escape also keith and that one guy have a really weird and really emotionally charged stare for a bit lol

/episode end

Episode 26: The Invisible Robeast Haggar found out how to turn things invisible,,, great Lotor obvs is going to use that to kidnap Allura, sometimes I think that Zarkon isn't on his ass about being driven by his dick more than his head because taking Allura would still make voltron weak enough to destroy

Ew Nanny Pidge keeps inhaling apples, so now his favorite fruit are apples because I say so

your honor i love them

Lance giving Pidge advice on how/where to shoot so the princess doesn't get hurt is the cutest thing, I want to see more of them just being dofuses together

"i just don't like things i can't see" - Nanny you mean like your fucking attitude, but you can definitely see that so no wonder you don't have a problem with it

Keith saves the day from a falling boulder, I know allura going back for nanny was the ethical thing to do but also LEAVE HER TO DIE YOU DON'T NEED HER EVER ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF HER

The boys tell allura to stay in the castle since the robeast is going after her specifically, for once I agree since for now it's good for her to keep her distance as long as she's still watching Keith and Lance bait it to the desert and watching for it to cast a shadow before all 4 let loose on the thing, smart plan

Animation error? keiths background when he's in his lion is all white and just outlined oh all their backgrounds are like that, maybe to save money

the robeast attacks the castle and lures the boys underwater to blue's launch area, turns out we get confirmation that every lion but blue sucks at being in the water also it's princess time now, she's the only one who can actually do well down there

aaand she's knocked out again, but on the bright side the boys had time to figure out how to beat up the robeast and get her back while it was distracted

Voltron's formed, robeast defeated, everyone's safe, hooray!

/episode end

[shima-draws]

Alright

I have a lot of things to say so it’s all under the cut

First of all, wow. What a finale. What a fucking finale, man...

I’m warning you now this is not a nice rant so if you really love Voltron and don’t like seeing other people hate on it do not read this lol

Let me be honest, Voltron really isn’t that great of a show. I’ve pretty much stayed here watching the new seasons out of obligation and my love for the characters. Even then the writers still fucked that up so I’m stealing them all and they’re mine now. I’m not even sorry.

Voltron has always been a really tough show to keep track of and follow along with;; I never really know what’s going on and they introduce characters and planets so quickly that I forget about them right away and there’s like maybe 3 that are really memorable. So honestly the whole series has just seemed like an EXCESSIVE amount of filler that nobody needed. Even starting season 8 I had no fucking idea what was going on because the end of season 7 was just THAT unmemorable lmao. And they brought back so many characters I was like “Who the FUCK are you??” And it just made it ten times more confusing.

There was just so much unnecessary content we didn’t need in there. In season 8 they fought Honerva in her giant robot for like three or four episodes straight and that got really tiring really fast. Honestly most of s8 was just robot fights and I’m like “Are they writing a meaningful story or just 7 billion eye candy action sequences” TAKE THE TIME TO DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTERS, UNIVERSE, AND PLOT MORE INSTEAD OF DEDICATING 15 OUT OF 20 MINUTES OF SCREENTIME TO ROBOT FIGHTS THANKS. There are SO many plot holes and questions left unanswered that we’ll never get answered so that’s fantastic. Not to mention all of those fights were so fucking repetitive I got so bored watching the same thing happen over and over again. Voltron always wins, what’s fucking new?

Also man jesus christ they fucked over their characters SO MUCH. I’ll get into Allura last but let’s go down the list, shall we?

Lance was reduced to not only the comic relief but the super boring love interest. His relationship with Allura felt so forced and unnatural and there was no chemistry between them whatsoever. It was almost as if the writers were like “We need something for Lance to do in season 8” and then they decided “Let’s just make him a foil for Allura and make him her boyfriend!!” Like it was SO unnecessary and I’m sorry to any Allu//ance shippers out there but I felt so uncomfortable watching their romantic interactions. And I’m not SUPPOSED to feel that way. I actually did ship them until I watched this season but now I’m just really put off by it because WOW they wrote that romance horribly. I know people hate comparing Voltron to ATLA but take Sokka/Suki for example. Their dynamic is very similar to Lance and Allura’s and it’s a PERFECT example of what a good healthy relationship is like that isn’t forced or super awkward. If the writers had written their relationship like Sokka and Suki’s I’m sure I would like it SO much more! I was so upset to see Lance lose pretty much ALL of his development and be reduced to just a foil or a background character they could beat up on and use for fodder about Allura’s death. So fucking uncool. On top of that Lance became a FARMER?? REALLY?? He had dreams of becoming a famous pilot and yeah a war will do shit to you but I CANNOT imagine him living that sort of boring life it’s just not Lance at all!! So immensely out of character and not what he deserved. Lance deserved a real, true happy ending kicking ass in space and being in love with someone who really loved him back.

And Shiro—god, they fucking abused the shit out of him and treated him like a punching bag. Not to mention the awful queer baiting with Adam and then, to rectify their awful mistake, the writers made it so that he got married at the end of the series. Great. I don’t even know who the other guy is. Congrats Shiro, but it really doesn’t mean fucking shit if it was added on last minute and seems like a way to appease fans rather than to actually give Shiro a good ending. They could have brought Adam back and let Shiro marry him but nope!! They fucked that up too

Also all character development for Hunk went down the drain and he was also reduced to comic relief. He didn’t end up with Shay like I was hoping and just god so much racism I’m too irritated to even get into that

Keith and Pidge were the only ones who really got semi-decent endings and even still they were written badly too. (Doesn’t mean I’m not proud of them tho, good kids.)

And Allura.

FUCK. THE WRITERS.

They absolutely did not need to kill her off like that it was so pointless and utterly stupid that I’m sitting here rolling my eyes into the back of my head. They literally killed her for dramatic effect and that’s it. Yeah whatever she saved the fucking universe but they could’ve done that another way! That’s just lazy ass writing and it really offended a lot of people including myself so yeah! Not happy about that! It’s really racist and also pretty misogynist too?? Also Allura during the last season was not my favorite character at all she was written so terribly and out of character that I just ended up hating her and she deserves so much better than this absolute fucking bullshit

If they wanted to have a good final season, they should have kept Allura alive, given everyone actual GOOD character development, not threw in a super forced and uncomfortable relationship, and gave the characters proper happy endings with the people they SHOULD have ended up with. Not that romance is that big of a deal since Voltron isn’t about that but man they could have satisfied so many fans doing that but they just took the show and spit on it

So yeah I’ve had a really great experience being part of the fandom and creating content, and there’s definitely some good parts to the show. Voltron is a bad show lmao but I still had fun, and I’m still gonna make content that the fans actually deserve and want—and forget canon even exists. I’m salty and disappointed but I’m not surprised. Even so the show did end on as good as a note as it could have considering the circumstances and while I’m not 100% satisfied it was what I was expecting so. I’m like, iffy about how I feel towards the finale.

Anyway Klance is canon king, Adam and Shiro are married, Hunk is a universally famous chef with his gf Shay, Allura and Romelle are the new Altean Queens, Pidge is fucking amazing being herself and everyone’s happy the end

[the-ferocious-kittyrose]

My complicated opinion on Keith Kogane

Keith Kogane is definitely one of the more popular characters in the VLD fandom. People love brooding emo bad boys.

My feelings on Keith are... complicated. I definitely don’t hate him. I have a lot of problems with the character but I don’t think I could ever bring myself to actually hate him. Mainly because I kinda relate to him. We both have problems controlling our emotions, interacting with people, and making friends.

And we both have trouble believing there are people who truly have our best interests at heart and won’t abandon us because we’re a burden.

What I do hate is the way his character was written and the way it negatively impacted the characters around him.

There are definitely a lot of factors that contributed to VLD ending up the way it did. But to me, Keith and the writers insistence on pushing him to the forefront was the poison that killed the show.

Ok, before we get into this whole rant I feel like I should talk about the things I do like about Keith.

I like the premise of Keith’s character. He’s half Galra and never really fit in on Earth. He didn’t act like the other “normal” kids so kids made fun of him and adults didn’t want to deal with him. So in order to protect himself from the pain of rejection he would put up a tough angry facade and push people away and reject them before they could reject him.

This is something that really resonates with me personally having grown up neurodivergent. It’s awful growing up in a world that isn’t made for people like you and not knowing how to interact with or connect with your peers. Especially when you don’t know why you’re like that.

You learn to avoid social interaction because it always ends up negative. You put up walls because you don’t feel like anybody understands you or what you’re going through.

I know the writers probably didn’t intend to code Keith as neurodivergent. They just wanted Keith to be a hothead with abandonment issues, but nonetheless, this interpretation means a lot to me.

I also really like his relationship with Shiro. Keith is so used to being left behind and abandoned that when he meets someone like Shiro who’s patient and genuinely cares it’s new and strange. He’s so ready for Shiro to abandon him, even telling Shiro to send him back to the home, but Shiro refuses to leave him and tells Keith ethat he’s never going to give up on him.

It’s also interesting to see how their relationship develops over time. It’s clear Keith trusts Shiro, but you can tell that that fear of abandonment is still there deep down. In S2, Keith tells Shiro that he’s like a brother to him, and then in season 6, he takes the extra step and tells Shiro that he IS his brother and that he loves him. And for someone like Keith, telling their friend they love them is a big scary thing.

And also it’s just great to see a platonic “I love you,” especially between two guys. Don’t be afraid to tell your bros you love them!!!

Now let’s talk about the stuff I didn’t like.

Keith doesn’t have much going for him in terms of personality. He’s just sorta brooding and serious all the time. He does make jokes occasionally but it’s rare. The writers were more focused on making him cool and badass rather than fun.

I always loved the idea of Keith as a cocky carefree asshole who doesn’t give a shit about rules/laws and is kinda rude/aggressive but has a heart of gold deep down and would do anything for the people he cares about. (Just like a cat.)

I would also make him more alien esc. In terms of design I like the idea of Keith having red eyes with narrow pupils and fangs. And also just small things like the way he walks and holds himself. He growls and bears his teeth when he’s angry, his hair puffs up when scared, he’s fast and agile, disappearing and reappearing without making much noise, small things.

Then you have his race and sexuality. I have no doubt in my mind that Keith was intended to be a straight white dude. A lot of people see him as gay and Asian but there’s no evidence for this in canon. Acxa was originally intended to be his love interest and his race was never mentioned in canon. His name isn’t even Kogane in canon. (And the race of the voice actor doesn’t equal the race of the character. If that was the case Shiro, Hunk, and Lance would be white.)

They should’ve totally made Keith Japanese like he was in the original. It would’ve been so easy! Just canonize Kogane as his last name and have the book say he’s half Japanese half Galra. They could’ve also done what they did with Shiro and keep his og GoLion name. Just have him be Akira Kogane. Definitely cooler than “Keith.”

And as for his sexuality, I definitely think they should’ve had Keith be gay. But well get to that Later...

I also don’t like how they handled the whole Krolia thing. Not only was it crazy rushed, but it completely goes against the shows theme of found family.

Keith’s arc should’ve been about overcoming his abandonment issues and learning to accept the paladins as family. But instead they just get rid of the abandonment issues by just giving him his mom back.

I know a lot of people love Krolia but I don’t feel like she should’ve been introduced in anything other than flashbacks. Because Keith’s mom isn’t really that important. The show is about found family and friendship, not blood relation.

You can definitely have Keith learn about his mom and his family, but I feel like giving him his mom back was too much.

Personally, I always headcanoned that Kolivan was Keith’s grandfather or just a close friend of Krolia’s, and when Keith showed up at the Blade’s base Kolivan recognized the blade as his Krolia’s. Keith could learn about his mom through Kolivan telling him about her, how she was a great person and warrior who died fighting to make the universe a safer place for her son.

Another thing I didn’t like was the whole Keith leaving the team for the Blades thing. I know why he did it, he felt like the team was gonna reject him, he wanted to be more useful, and wanted to learn about his family, but I feel like you could’ve touched on all that without having him abandon his team.

One of the biggest problems with the show is that they did a bad job at establishing the paladins as friends, they feel like coworkers more than anything, and I feel like Keith being absent for two seasons contributed to that.

And his absence is hardly addressed. The team forms Voltron perfectly without him and no one ever says they miss him. Keith doesn’t even seem like he missed them after being gone for two years.

And a lot of the weight was taken out of that Keith v Kuron fight by the fact that Keith and Kuron hardly interacted.

That whole thing amounted to four things, Keith meeting Krolia (which I don’t think should’ve happened), them finding the colony (which was a dumb plot I don’t think should’ve happened), Keith aging up two years (which was weird and unnecessary), and Keith meeting Kosmo (which is... complicated).

I don’t think this plot was necessary. Keith should’ve stayed with his team.

Then you have his relationship with Lance. I know people are very sensitive about this topic. People have very strong opinions about whether or not Keith and Lance were intended to be romantically coded.

Personally, I do like Klance but I don’t believe they were romantically coded. I think if you want them to get together some things would have to go differently.

For example, the bonding moment. In canon, Lance tells Keith, “we make a good team.” I don’t see this as referring to him and Keith. I think he was talking about the whole team. If you want it to be about the two of them, I feel like it should be Lance telling Keith something like, “ya know, you’re not so bad after all,” and then Keith smiles and responds, “you’re not so bad yourself.”

Another example could be the scene where Lance comes to Keith with his insecurities. (Whether it’s as a leader or a friend.) This scene was weird in canon, Lance comes to Keith for advice and Keith basically tells him to just stop thinking about it.

I would prefer if Lance brought up to Keith how he doesn’t feel like he’s good enough or that he doesn’t have, “a thing,” and Keith is completely dumbfounded like, “what are you even talking about?” He goes on about all the good shit about Lance. Talks about how Blue chose him, how he’s a great shot, how he’s good at dealing with people, meanwhile Lance is standing there in shock as Keith says all these nice things about him.

Over all you would just have to develop their relationship more. More meaningful interactions. And if you want the relationship to be romantic you would have to establish that early on. Establish that one or both has romantic feelings for the other in like S1/S2 because if you wait too long it’s gonna feel forced/out of no where.

And then... you have the Black Paladin arc... I’m gonna be real with y’all, this is the arc that killed the show for me, for a few reasons.

One, even ignoring the whole quintessence bond thing, it makes no sense for Keith to be the bp. He doesn’t fit the role. I adore Shiro but choosing Keith as his successor was a dumb move. I get that he saw potential in Keith but they’re are fighting a war, there’s no room for favoritism.

Shiro should’ve chosen Allura as his successor. Not only does she have actual leadership experience, but you would only have one paladin in a new Lion instead of three.

If a lifeguard breaks his leg and can’t work, he should choose an experienced swimmers to take his place, not his little bro that’s still in water wings in the hopes that it’ll teach him to swim.

Two, Keith being the bp doesn’t help his arc. Keith’s arc is about overcoming his abandonment issues and learning to be a team player, he doesn’t need to be the leader for that.

VLD should’ve been about the paladins growing into the best versions of themselves they could be. Their development shown by unlocking new abilities in their respective lions, new forms for their bayards, and new Voltron bayard power ups. They shouldn’t have to change lions and themselves.

Keith and Red have a strong bond and work great together. Keith and Red are both temperamental, unpredictable, and have issues with trust. Keith having to fight to get Red to trust and open up to him mirrors how others have to fight to earn Keith’s trust and get him to let down his walls.

It would’ve been interesting to see them grow together. Keith has no emotional connection with Black.

We never even get to see them bond. Keith just suddenly becomes the “perfect” bp/leader because he got over his mommy issues

Three, it’s a MASSIVE disservice to Shiro’s character. Shiro put all the work in earning his position as the bp, he literally fits fought Zarkon on the astral plane to earn her trust, yet Keith is the true bp? What?

It sucks. Sendak told Shiro that a monster like him could never be a paladin and the writers went and proved him right. Hell Shiro didn’t even get to kill Sendak, Keith got that too.

And don’t tell me, “but he got the Atlas!” REALLY!? A massive Deus ex machina that required absolutely no effort from him to acquire!? Filled with a bunch of rando background characters no one gives a shit about!? You’re totally right, that 100% makes up for it.

I could go on and on about how the treatment of Shiro in this show (and fandom) is blatantly ableist but that’s a rant for another time.

It sucks. I want to like Keith! He had the potential to be an amazing character but the writers just kept on trying to turn him into something he wasn’t and it ruined him for me.

They kept trying to turn Keith into the main character and ignored that ALL the paladins are the main characters. It’s an ensemble cast! You don’t have to have everything come back to one guy.

[izlaria]

I'm gonna go on a rant about Lance, because he's a character I relate to and I'm currently feeling awful about myself, so I'm gonna project that onto a fictional character:

Lance is one of the most interesting characters in Voltron and the reason why is that he's not supposed to be a super special anything, among all these chosen ones in their respective fields, and that makes him captivating.

Shiro is this great pilot and leader that everyone spends S1 admiring. He's the dad friend, even if we take away the added fandom characterization. Allura is a magical space princess, enough said. Pidge and Hunk both excel in their fields and are extremely necessary to the team when it comes to tech. Then we have Keith, who is used a lot as Lance's narrative foil.

Where Lance is boisterous and flirty, Keith is quiet and broody. Where Lance comes from a big family, Keith is alone. Where Lance talks about being the best pilot, Keith actually is the best pilot, even becoming leader later on. Keith is Shiro's right hand, despite how much Lance clearly admires Shiro and wants to be of use to the team. At the same time, in order to be foils, they also have to be similar: pilots who think they have something to prove, competing with each other every step of the way. And Keith has a lot of things that make him interesting, with his half-Galran bloodline and the finding family/friends plot, as well as growing into his leadership.

The difference here is that Keith's stories were actually developed (or as developed as Voltron goes), while I felt that Lance was set aside, despite how much there was to him.

The plot regarding his feelings towards war alone would have been... Such a better storyline than the romance with Allura. Through the seasons he (and Keith too, which adds to the narrative foil thing) consistently throws himself in harm's way to protect others. He actually dies saving Allura. Then we have that scene where he positions himself between Veronica and a Galra ship with only his bayard and the boy just heaves a sigh and closes his eyes. Talk about traumatized.

So, yes, Lance is the normal dude among them all, always searching for something he's good at, even though he doesn't necessarily want to be there - see, his breakdown regarding his family and Earth - and repeatedly checking on people - chilling with Pidge and Hunk, helping Keith lead, even checking on clone Shiro - despite being shut down by the others. Honestly, I hate that. I hate that Lance is chosen as this punching bag for the team, when all the others also have their irritating mannerisms.

Maybe if the writers hadn't added those moments of seriousness, then we wouldn't care so much about Lance, but they did. They gave Lance that depth and then did nothing with it.

So, yeah, if you people have any Lance appreciation fics or headcanons, I'm here for it. That boy deserved better.

[whatthehelliswrongwithme]

Voltron Part 29

Okay, guys, gals and nonbinary pals. It's time for the season 6 finale! As always I'll also put my thoughts bout this season as a whole into this part. Hope you enjoy!:

Lotor, hows the weather like in there? You know? Up your arse. Because you're so fucking full of yourself

Is Keith's scar-thingy permanent?

Lotor: "Omae wa mou shindeiru"

Voltron: "NANI?!"

This asshole is worse than Abra with all these teleports

Remember when I said that this show couldn't get more anime, when Sailor Moon appeared? Well now they've got a sword...... that's on fire

Pidge you just send you lion head/Voltron's fist flying towards Lotor. Weren't you sitting in that?

Allura, why won't you leave Lotor in the quintessence-realm? Do you still have feeeeliiiings?

Is it done? Is the ass dead?

Let the joyous news be spread, that wicked old ass at last is dead!

Good. Won't miss him

Noooo! Not the castle!

Sailor Moon hasn't said a word the last few episodes. But simply by standing next to Allura, I know that this ship exists

I love the idea of them saving the universe, while having all of their shit packed into the lions

They're just glorified U-haul trucks now

Hunk, what kind of eagle-eyes do you have to have seen this castle-diamond-thingy?

I don't really care about Shance. But I appreciate the scene of Lance angsting over Shiro

Heeeeey!!! "Shiro" is Shiro again!

But why the fuck is all of his hair white (gray?) now?

Also, wouldn't it feel fucking weird to just like not have your body anymore. And instead someone else's. Even if it's an exact replica of you....

But, also: SHEITH!

They're finally going to earth!!!! I've predicted it since season 2 and now it's finally happening!

Thoughts on the season as a whole:

I really, really liked this season

Seriously, better than season5 and much better than season4

Many good episodes, fave was probably "Cheaper by the dozen, but it's just Shiro" because of !Sheith!

But the DnD episode was also really good

I disliked that Keith aged 2 years on the space whale, to bond with his mom

Because it wasn't acknowledged AT ALL. Even though 2 years is such a long time!

I'm still conflicted about this whole "Shiro was actually a clone" thing

Might actually make another "Rant"-post about this

(Also, in terms of foreshadowing: Apparently "Kuron" literally means clone. So I can see how that theory existed.)

(I just knew, that "Kuro" means black. And I thought that this was supposed to mirror the Shiro-white thing)

{Huge thanks to @living-for-fiction and especially @non-plutonian-druid for explaining!}

It's nice to have Keith back in the MAIN-main cast. Feels good to have him back. Missed him

Shiro is his own whole situation. I'm glad to have him back. I just hope that the writers won't fuck his character up

Lance had some serious self-reflection since season1. And I actually kinda enjoy him now. Being so smitten by Allura is kinda cute

Allura is weird. She's got that whole angst/confidence issue going on, because she was fooled by Lotor. But honestly, she's kind of right. She really should have been more suspicious of him

(Also: Why didn't you "die" this finale?)

Pidge is my sassy, unhinged nerd daughter. And no one can take that away from me

Hunk is my nerdy, sunshine boy who's a little bit too much into cooking. But I still love him, and he had some good scenes

Lotor's dead. Good. Finally. Hated him from the start. He was irredeemable ever since he killed Furry

Moustache man is great. I'm still mad that the fandom gave Shiro the title of "Space dad", when he's clearly so much more deserving of it

Krolia, Sailor Moon and space wolf..... seem interesting? They haven't had any real time to shine

Though I still absolutely love Sailor Moon's design

Sheith! There was so much Sheith! And that's great! So much content! And honestly, these two just have the best dynamic between all the characters

Allurance is cute. And I'm kinda rooting for it now. I just hope, that it won't be as one-sided anymore

Lotura had a kiss! But also, one of the people involved in this ship died. So.... I'm sorry for any Lotura shippers

Klance, Plance and Punk had a few crumbs here and there

Shallura starved the past few seasons, and is now a skeleton in the corner. It's cute, but there's like no canon content/potential anymore

Predictions/Hopes for season 7:

Are they gonna do a space road trip to get to earth? Will they make truckstops, sit in a diner and drink milkshakes?

When Voltron combines, do you think that everyone inside can just walk from one lion to another? I want them to just, float through space, combined as Voltron, living out their lives.

Seriously, just imagine them, basically using their giant-murder-robot as a house

Sorry, Allura. But I want Keith to replace you again. You can do your own thing with this castle-diamond-thingy and the team-constellation of S1 and S2 returns

ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT KEITH AGED 2 FUCKING YEARS!

Season 1+2 felt like one big arc, and it ended in a mech battle against Zarkon. Season 3-6 felt like one big arc and ended in a mech battle against Lotor. I'm gonna guess that S7+8 are the next big arc, which will also end in a mech battle, probably against space witch

I'm honestly expecting the worst, because everyone seems to dislike S7. So.... maybe I'll be positively suprised

I've noticed that the parts, where I just review 1 episode are getting more notes? Are these smaller, bit-sized parts better to read?

Anyways! Once again, thanks for all the support I've been getting! It's really fun to read your guy's comments! Appreciate all kinds of notes! Love Y'all!!!❤

[teatimecrumpetsandsugar]

ethereal (voltron fantasy/royalty AU) (set up; part zero)

Heyo! It’s your friendly neighborhood Voltron fanfic aficionado- now your friendly neighborhood Klance writer but that’s honestly besides the point I don’t even know why you’d bring up my increasing obsession with them in this Klance fanfic that I swear everyone else will be in, too-

Today, I’ll be writing from a fantasy royalty AU with my favorite show cast ever, even though it may or may not be solely because I want to put water elemental!king!Lance in pretty dresses and makeup and just go crazy with my descriptions of gowns and other things.

I imagine, here, Lance would be from a kingdom with strong ties to Pidge’s kingdom, who has strong ties with Hunk’s kingdom, making them a powerful trifecta. I also imagine that Keith and Lance’s kingdoms are on very thin ice with one another, so Pidge encourages Lance to sit down with fire elemental!king!Keith. 

I also imagine that Pidge’s kingdom is closely allied with Allura’s and that the two of them grew up together, while she didn’t meet Hunk or Lance until she became queen. Also, I’d like to have my beloved Ruler Pidge go by she/they pronouns, simply because I see a lot of myself in the way she dresses and carries herself and I actually believe that these pronouns would fit her, alongside all pronouns.

Hunk and Lance likely grew up together in a very close ally ship and continue to be close friends well into adulthood because that’s just how they are. I can imagine Lance is very vaguely aware of Allura’s kingdom and would never dream of picking a fight with hers since, by default, allying with Pidge made him allies with Allura, but he probably doesn’t know her very well pre the canon timeline because I kind of want to build that relationship from the ground up to make up for what the show did to me-

Keith is definitely allied with Shiro, and Pidge and Shiro were always friends through her older brother, who, along with her father, abdicated from the throne and joined an adventurer’s guild instead (because they believed that Pidge would be a better fit for a ruler and decided that, given how they are, reconnaissance and exploration fit them better. She agreed with this insight, deciding to rule the kingdom the best way she knew how). Shiro, being a much more experienced king and friends with their brother, likely prepared them for the role as they grew into it; the two are on friendly terms, but allied isn’t exactly the right term as none of the people in their alliance knew Keith, so they weren’t sure they could ally with him. 

Lance met Keith at a gala years into his reign; they did not get along.

The system of Magic here will likely be dictated by what element one is born in the kingdom of, (i.e., Lance’s kingdom being the Aqua Kingdom, Pidge’s being the Spiritus Kingdom) and the strength of it in each person will be chosen based on a random set of variables that usually depends on the mood of the Gods corresponding to each element.

Lance- Water (Aqua Kingdom)

Keith- Fire (Ignis Kingdom)

Pidge- Life (Spiritus Kingdom)

Hunk- Earth (Terra Kingdom)

Shiro- Moon (Luna Kingdom)

Allura- Light (Lux Kingdom)

I imagine the reason an alliance is called for with Keith and Shiro’s kingdoms is because a traitor to Allura’s kingdom, either Lotor is planning on starting an entire mutiny with the ranks he’s managed to gather and then, consequently, conquer all of the rest of the kingdoms by force in the name of a long-dead kingdom- the Tenebris kingdom. His parents having died in the midst of a total economic crash caused by a codependent relationship with Allura’s kingdom whilst it was under her father’s rule, he was taken in by the state of Lux by Allura’s request, since they grew up together; unfortunately Lotor held lingering feelings of resentment- towards Lux, for causing the destruction of the only thing he could’ve ever considered his own by right, and towards his parents for always making him feel as if he was of no worth. He wants to conquer the entire world just to prove to himself that he is worth something, though, unfortunately, he’s on a path straight to death.

Might redeem him, might kill him off, might exile him- who knows at this point?

Hunk, I imagine, was a commoner who won the title of king through a series of magic-based trials (upon the death of the last ruler) and now keeps his entire family in the palace with him, using his title to take care of his family and citizens as a benevolent ruler. This likely happened when he was quite young- likely when he was 9 or 10, since magic is an innate thing and, in this kingdom, it’s tested in the youngest members of the kingdom in order to deem who is the most connected to their Goddess Terra.

Allura inherited her title when her own father died in the conflict with Tenebris- he went to battle with the people they’d unintentionally doomed in order to protect his daughter and his people, and died in the process; similar to her story in Voltron except her kingdom survives and Lotor and a select few survivors of the Galra become refugees.

Keith became king by beating the previous king’s son in a battle- his mother, being one of the higher ups in the government, sent word to him that the prince didn’t want to be king, so Keith wound up challenging him for the title. He won, successfully making his way into the world of prestige and getting closer to his mother. The prince left the kingdom shortly after- it’s believed that he ran away to be with someone, but no one is quite sure. All anyone knows is that he’s happy.

Lance wound up being king at a really young age- I’m imagining that, prior to his reign, his kingdom was incredibly strictly patriarchal. The previous king likely only had daughters, and the day of his death, Lance was born with incredibly powerful water magic. As a result, at the age of 6 years old, he was forcibly taken from his poor family and raised strictly to be a perfect king- however, he still saw his sister Veronica frequently in secret, the two of them sneaking around to eat baked goods and try on dresses together. When the palace staff found out, they tightened security and warned Veronica that she was no longer allowed to see him unless she wanted to be publicly executed. After his coronation (at age 8), however, he started making drastic changes to the laws that made the laws against commoners interacting with royalty more lax, and, once allowed to dress himself, started wearing dresses and makeup because it reminded him of home and made him feel as beautiful as he knew he was. He gets quite homesick quite often, and he’s still battling to get his family into the palace with him- he has, however, stripped the kingdom of its strict patriarchy. He constantly tells the kingdom that he hopes to one day pass the throne down to his own future daughter and still keeps the three princesses as his trusted advisors because he believes what happened to them was horribly unjust. The story will be told primarily from his perspective.

Shiro became ruler of his kingdom by fighting his way through gladiator ranks when he was only thirteen, winning the entire kingdom by brute force alone and leaving him with a lot more experience and trauma than he’d have liked. Being the oldest of the current generation of rulers and having inherited a kingdom that was closely related to Pidge’s and Keith’s, he guided them both through the process of becoming a ruler and the process of ruling, no matter how difficult it gets. It’s taken far longer with Keith than it has Pidge, since Pidge was raised a royal and has an innate sense of leadership and Keith is... interesting at the whole being a royal thing. Shiro, having grown up with Keith’s mother on the streets of the kingdom of Tenebris, was more than happy to take Keith under his wing- it helps the both of them come out of their shells more, so they have a mutual appreciation for one another.

I imagine this world will be vaguely futuristic and medieval at the same time- they’ll be able to have video conferences and reach other via communicators, holographic calls, things of that nature; but they’ll also be pretty old-fashioned in their manners of dress, their social systems, their currencies, and the vast majority of their laws. I hope that makes sense.

I wonder if it’s visible here that I spent three hours winging this and started getting more and more into it as I went, or if it’s obvious that I spend most of my time working with really obscure fantasy concepts. 

BAHDHAAHAHA I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS- 

If you’ve got any suggestions for relationship dynamics (platonic, romantic, or otherwise), any pitches for traits you think the characters may have based on their slightly altered backstories, or any feedback in general, feel free to share- I hope you all find this as fascinating as I did while I was writing it!

Also, @keefsteefs It’s happening, I’m doing it, it’s gonna be so fricking awesome-

[erithel]

I have read all of iybms fics like it’s the last drop of water in a desert. She’s a wonderful and exceptional writer and her love for Lance’s character really comes comes through bc she puts him through a heroes journey and actually gets the good the bad and ugly parts of him and working with them as just aspects.

But that’s another thing that bugs me about the difference in the way keith is treated and lance is in the fandom. The fandom kind of pretends Keith is flawless. And I am totally serious about this.

You will see Lance get criticized six ways from sunday about his looks, his attitude, the way he behaves etc etc. But point out that Keith had a bad habit in s1-3 of being callus with feelings and lives and desires of his team (willing to sacrifice allura to the galra, berating pidge for wanting her family, bringing his knife to the BOM hq jeopardizing his life and Shiro and the plan AFTER HE WAS WARNED)and uncaring about how his actions hurt the common cause and his teammates, you get the common line about his tragic backstory and why it was actually the team that is in the wrong! Like when he went AWOL abandoning post as leader of voltron to go blading and the rest of the team got mad when they almost died? The fandom blamed the team entirely for almost dying and, worst, making Keith sad!

Like yes Keith’s tragic backstory influence his actions, but they are still his to take and when he acts poorly great character interpretation is when fans understand how he is in the wrong and have him do better. The showrunner let him get away with it and the fandom does too!

It’s what leads to “keith is a noble character and lance isn’t” cracks and why it bothered me so much.

So I'm going to approach this one lightly, because I don't want this to turn into a Keith-negativity thing.

I'm not saying what you are saying is wrong, anon, I just don't want to open the floor up to people now posting asks just hating on Keith (because that has happened with other characters in the past).

That being said -

No character is or should be flawless. That's just boring.

The flaws and struggles in any character is what makes them interesting.

Keith is a flawed character. He made a lot of poor and single-minded decisions in the early seasons, and because of the time skip on the space whale, we never got to see him learn from those mistakes.

The real issue here with this for storytelling (and let's be honest, life) is that a tragic backstory is an explanation for certain behavior.

But it is not an excuse.

Using Keith's tragic backstory as a crutch for poor behavior comes across the same way to me as someone being rude and then trying to brush it off with something along the lines of "oh, I'm a Scorpio that's just how I am."

As for the scene you are referring to where the team was angry at Keith, and he ended up leaving...

Hear me out.

That scene was from Keith's POV.

So I can understand a bit more why people react to that scene the way you described.

It's harder to tell with animation or comics because there is no narrator, but when the camera lingers on an emotional response from a certain character, that is meant to put you in that character's shoes for a moment.

And in that scene we see Keith's face fall as he turns and walks away.

People get angry at the team for making Keith sad because you are meant to feel what he is feeling.

Our of anyone else, Lance has moments like this the most (which is why this whole "people disliking Lance's character" thing is so weird to me, still).

Both Keith and Lance are noble, just in different ways. As I said in a previous post, Keith is noble in a way that says "I will sacrifice myself for the cause because it's what I have to do." Lance is noble in a way that says "I will sacrifice myself for the cause because it's the right thing to do."

Characters are complex - or at least they should be. And they can't be complex without flaws.

[corvus--rex]

Long ago I had a writer's fever dream where I thought "What if Keith had a twin? And what if that twin was on the Kerberos mission..." So I decided to rewrite VLD from the beginning with these things in mind. This one's pretty well given up on as of right now. I realized that I needed to figure out how to fit people in and never quite got there. Anyway, here's the first ~1.3k words of Double Threat (working title). (also, for the record, I don't actually ship Keith & Matt, but ocs are always fair game ;) )

}~{~}~{

“Why you? Why does it have to be you? If anything – and I mean anything – happened…I…I don’t know what I’d do. Not after…” Keith began his rant angry, furious even. But then the walls began to crumble like they always did around his brother, and the truth began to slip out.

Finlay stopped. He sighed, turning around. They’d gone over this so many times. Despite their both still being cadets at the Galaxy Garrison, despite both of them having unmatched scores in their classes and flight training, it was Finlay who was chosen in the new mentorship program. It was Finlay who had been selected for the opportunity to go along on the Kerberos Mission as a co-pilot, to have the experience of real space flight. They both knew why. Not that it made sense to anyone but Commander Iverson.

Keith and Finlay, despite being identical twins, despite having nearly identical scores, weren’t viewed the same way by some of the Garrison’s faculty. The brothers stuck together, backing each other up in everything. But James Griffin had gone out of his way to harass Keith one day, and Keith snapped, getting into a fistfight with the other boy. Ever since then, Iverson had decided that Keith was trouble, even though the class full of witnesses all said the same thing: that Griffin had purposely goaded Keith into that fight.

“I know. But I’ll be with Shiro, and Sam. And Matt. We’ll be fine.” Finlay huffed a laugh. “If anything, you’ll have the tougher job. Keeping Katie in line.”

Keith cracked a smile, albeit a small one. His brother considered that a win.

“Of course,” he said with a knowing smirk, “That also means I won’t be around to give you someone to hide behind whenever your crush is around.”

Keith’s smile hardened into a glare at his twin. “Fuck.”

“Sorry,” Finlay said, smirk still in place, “Looks like you’re just gonna have to deal with McClain all on your own for a few months.”

“Kill me now.”

The smirk widened into a grin. “Nope. Either suffer, get over it, or y’know…just fucking tell him.”

“Never gonna happen,” Keith said, but his immediate stress had been relieved.

“You say that now, dear brother, but you are way the fuck too gay to keep it to yourself without me.”

“You’re just as gay as I am.”

Finlay slung an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Oh, well aware. How else would I know?”

Keith snorted. “Yeah, about that. How areyou planning on dealing with being out in space? With Matt? In such close quarters?”

“Fuck you,” Finlay spat without malice, shoving his brother, who only laughed.

_~*~_~*~_~*~_

Keith raced along the desert, the memory unbidden, but not unwelcome. He was getting them back. Both of them. Finlay and Shiro. He wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to manage it with just his hoverbike and not knowing what kind of shape they were in, but he was doing it. Whatever the hell else was going on, he was getting them back.

Taking out the guards was easy. Taking out the Garrison scientists was even easier. Just as Keith was working on releasing the restraints around Finlay’s wrists, his twin began to wake. Keith’s efforts became hurried, nearly frantic, in his attempt to free his brother. The instant one wrist is free, Finlay rolled, pushing Keith’s hands away so he could free himself.

“Shiro took most of the impact,” he managed weakly, “He needs more help than I do.”

Keith had only just gotten Shiro free and his weight supported when a hand was on his shoulder. One of the hazmat-suited scientists was awake. It took Keith a second to recognize him through the suit.

“Adam?”

“Let me help.”

Keith didn’t think, only reacted. “Ok. What now?”

“Nope. No no no no no,” said a familiar voice from the entranceway.

Keith froze, not having heard that voice in six months. He felt more than heard Finlay’s rough chuckle behind him. What the actual fuck was Lance McClain doing there? Not that it mattered, they didn’t have time for that. Adam took charge, leading them and the other two Garrison cadets that looked like they’d been following Lance out and over to one of the Garrison vehicles.

“Keith! I need you to take point! Get us the fuck out of here!” Adam yelled, ushering everyone but Finlay into the truck.

Finlay followed Keith to the hoverbike, climbing on behind his twin. He was still weak from the crash, and whatever it is that the Garrison techs did to him, but held on with what strength he had left.

“Finn, you good to ride?” Keith asked, flipping the power switch.

Finlay nodded against his back, knowing his voice wouldn’t be heard over the roar of the engine.

“Hold on.”

Keith took off, feeling more secure than he had in months. He led Adam through the desert, knowing that the ace pilot could keep up with him, even in something like a Garrison truck. They lost the rest of the Garrison pursuit, but Keith didn’t trust them. He took off again, making a turn he knew would make the trip longer, but it was less likely that they’d be followed.

Coming over the crest of a hill, the cabin that had belonged to their father came into view. Keith felt it when Finlay gasped against his back.

“It’s still there,” he said softly.

The hoverbike had slowed down, the engine nowhere near as loud as it had been. Keith heard his brother’s astonished whisper.

“Yeah. It is.”

Adam and the others were still unloading both themselves and the still unconscious Shiro from the Garrison truck when the Kogane twins entered the cabin. Finlay was surprised to see that it looked lived in and turned to face Keith. For his part, Keith was looking more at the floor than his twin.

“I, um, I kind of got kicked out of the Garrison,” he admitted, “You went missing, and they tried to claim that it was pilot error. I knew it was bullshit and I tried to fight it, but Iverson just called it ‘disciplinary issues’ and got me booted. He tried to say that I wasn’t thinking clearly and that I was trying to see things that weren’t there. I never believed it was pilot error. I’ve been out here listening to the Garrison’s radio chatter; that’s how I knew where to find you.”

Finlay was exhausted, physically and emotionally, but still found the strength to pull his brother into a tight hug. “I knew you’d never give up. Too fuckin’ stubborn for it.”

Keith returned his twin’s hold. “So are you.”

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of conversation and what they knew was Shiro’s unconscious body being dragged across the compacted sand and dirt. The rest of the group stumbled inside, Adam and Lance carrying Shiro.

}~{~}~{

From a later scene that wasn't even half-baked:

“Go away,” Pidge snapped, “I’m close, I know I am.”

She tried to throw off the hand on her shoulder, but it held on, squeezing once. “We’ll find him.”

That voice used to throw her off, never knowing if it was Keith or Finn. But after months in space together, she learned the differences between the twins. Sighing out a combination of stress, exhaustion, and frustration, she let her hands fall from the keyboard and slumped into her chair.

“Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, it always leads to a dead end. I’m getting frustrated, Finn. The only thing that keeps me going is that I know Matt and Dad are still out there somewhere. I have to find them. I'm going to find them.”

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

[delaneytveit]

Satellites Part 16

Insomnia at its finest! wow, 3 chapters in one day, amazing! This has now turned into the How I Wish the Writers Handled Lance’s trauma. because lets be honest, we did not get that in the show, and I will mourn it until my dying breath! 

So what else will we learn about Project Leo and Lance’s time as a captive? Let’s find out! 

As always, here are my twitter handles if any of you want to follow me or yell at me or anything. 

Twitter - sfw -> @/spacemom_laney | nsfw -> @15_agentwash

and maybe buy me a coffee??

ko-fi - ko-fi.com/delaneym_15

oh, and before I forget! TW: blood, gore, death?, corpses

(part 15) (Masterpost) (part 17)

The mission had been approved an hour before they were to embark. As simple as it seemed on paper, there was nothing simple about it. They were to go to the exact facility that Lance had been held in.

Lance was to return to the place that had taken everything from him. The place that had broken him and made him into their own perfect image. It made him sick to even think about it. They thought they were helping him, making him stronger, better, faster. They thought that what they were doing was just and that their findings could be used by the very empire trying to colonize the entirety of the universe.

Lance had never believed anyone could be evil, not the pure kind in which they held absolutely no shred of humanity. He had never believed that anyone could be so deprived of morality. They had changed that.

His time in the lab, and in the prison before it, had changed that. He had been exposed to people who treated him as nothing more than an experiment, people who found enjoyment in his pain and torture. He had found people who would so easily deliver pain to anyone they deemed as below them, take power away from the already powerless.

He was going back.

But this time it was different.

This time it was on his own terms.

The argument over whether or not Lance should accompany the rest of the team on the mission was surprisingly brief. Allura had been very adamant about ensuring Lance’s dependability, regardless of his mental state. And frankly no one could really argue against her due to the fact that Lance was the only one who knew the layout of the facility.

He had been the only one able to escape after all.

The flight to the ship was brief. Allura had wormhole the castle to a neighboring gas planet that it was able to hide behind. Due to the Green Lion’s ability to remain undetected, the paladins each boarded it, and Pidge was the only one to pilot to the facility. In just under 20 dobashes, the Green Lion had made its way onto the ship.

Keith was the first out of the Green Lion, activating his bayard and plunging it into the steel outer wall of the ship. In a few ticks he had successfully cut a circular hole wide enough for the team to slip through individually.

Up until now, no one had really noticed the lack of security of the facility. No one except for Lance.

The last time he had been here, it had been hell to get out. Patrol ships were everywhere and the large ion cannon would have shot anything down within half a tick. It was weird how quiet the facility and the area around it was, and he most certainly didn’t like it.

“Keep your eyes open,” Lance called over the comms just as his feet touched the floor of a familiar hallway. “Something’s not right.”

“Lance is right.” Shiro announced, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”

Once everyone had successfully boarded, Lance wasted no time in leading them down the ever winding hallways. He was honestly surprised he was able to remember the path. He had only walked it once, and it was more of a wild sprint than a walk, but the path came with ease.

He knew something wasn’t right from the very beginning. In no way should a team of five paladins be able to simply walk into a heavily guarded lab facility. They should have encountered at least a dozen sentries since they even stepped foot on the ship, and yet, nothing.

He didn’t like being back, the memories were much too overwhelming, but he needed to do this. He needed to put on a brave face for the team. He needed to get them to the people that needed them the most.

He could break down later. Until he turned down one specific hallway.

“Where are you taking me? Who are you?”

“Subject 7234, you are in distress. Please I need you to-”

“Stop calling me that! That’s not my name!”

“Subject 7234, I really must encourage you to calm down, you’ve already ripped your stitches.”

Lance looked down. He hadn’t even felt it. He should have felt it, the pain of it, filling his abdomen. It was only the thick dark blood that told him she was right.

“What are you doing to me?” he yelled, he couldn’t move his arms to wipe the tears from his eyes. He was tied to a bed again, at the mercy of Clipboard and her assistants. The squeak of the wheels was loud as they wheeled him down the hallway.

The vision evaporated almost immediately as Keith grasped Lance’s hand.

“Hey, you okay?” The red paladin scanned his face, searching for anything that could possibly give him an answer.

Lance took a second to breathe before he steeled himself. “I’m fine.” He turned and made his way to continue down the long hallway.

Not now.

It was much too quiet. It made him uneasy, and it was clear that the team was equally as confused and were likely thinking the same thing.

Where is everyone?

After a few more long hallways, a few more twists and turns, the armed paladins finally made it to the infamous lab itself.

Like the room he had been held in, the walls of the lab were made entirely out of glass, thick and at the time virtually unbreakable. And yet, shards were everywhere. The entire wall had been smashed and glass had spilt over the otherwise empty hallway.

Hunk cleared his throat, “What...happened?”

Lance had been thinking that exact same thing.

Shaking his head, Lance responded. “I-I don’t know.”

“...Mmmaybe we should head back?” Keith had placed his hand on Lance’s arm, apparently trying in some way to comfort the obviously affected paladin.

“No, we keep going.”

“Lance-”

“We owe it to them, Keith! We have to search for survivors.”

“Lance, do you really think that there is anyone still alive on this ship?” Pidge questioned. She was beyond skeptical. The destruction she could see of the room before her only fueled it.

There was a long silence before Lance moved out of Keith’s grip. With long legs, Lance stepped over the broken sill and into the destroyed lab.

“We have to try.”

As much as Shiro wanted to just turn back, there seemed no way to convince the Blue paladin of such. He was too focused, too determined. The only way to get him to leave prematurely would be to drag him out kicking and screaming. For the sake of Lance, and whoever would have to carry him out of the ship, he decided against the notion and instead turned to the remainder of his team.

“Alright guys, split up but keep you comms on. If you run into any trouble just say the word.” He announced. The group nodded and followed the suit of Lance, into the lab.

As much as Keith wanted to follow Lance, he knew that doing so could only do more harm than good. This was something Lance had to do on his own. So he made his way through the room, to the opposite side of where Lance was walking.

More glass littered the floor as it seemed that everything in the room had been completely destroyed. Test tubes and glassware were shattered. Debris was everywhere. Someone had done this on purpose. Someone had wanted to erase whatever work had been done here.

He couldn’t say he was sorry for it. All that they had done to Lance, in his mind they deserved it. He hated them for what they did to Lance.

The small amount of satisfaction had quickly dissipated once he walked closer to one of the aisles of lab tables. At the far end, staring back at him, was a corpse.

The body slouched against the wall, its chest ripped apart and blood was splattered everywhere.

“Holy shit.”

Shiro wasn’t doing any better. He had found three more bodies scattered throughout one of the storage rooms. Each with their chests ripped open, their mouths open in a silent scream.

Pidge and Hunk had set up working on one of the only non destroyed computers hopeful that they could somehow get some information out of it.

Lance had taken his own path, towards the back of the room. The place he called home for 5 months. The room stood no longer. The glass having been given the same fate as everything else. The only evidence that it had even stood was the foundation. The metal that kept the glass connected to the floor.

Without the frosted vision, he was able to make out 6 more foundations. Six more rooms. Six more patients. Five bodies discarded among the debris, now nothing more than nameless faces.

Six experiments.

Four successful trials.

Only one survivor.

It wasn’t until then that Lance noticed the archway behind the holding cells. It must have been obscured before. Or maybe he had just never chanced a look behind him. But it was there now, standing in front of a lightless hallway.

Slowly he made his way towards it. Crossing the threshold, Lance took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust.

The hallway was completely new territory, one he hadn’t even known existed, though he explored it all the same. The fluorescent light at the end of it flickered from where it hung haphazardly from the ceiling, giving off the only bright light in the area.

Lance took a step, then another before he heard something.

“Did you say something guys?” he asked over the comms and various negative responses answered him.

“You good, man?” Lance heard Hunk say.

“Y-yeah, just thought I heard something.”

“We should leave soon, there’s nothing here that can help us.” Keith had never been the one to call a retreat, though Lance assumed it was for his sake. Him being back in the facility put them all on edge.

Keith was right though, the only place that could have held prisoners was completely trashed. There was no one here.

They were too late.

He debated turning back when he heard it again. A high pitch sound that could obviously just be a machine, though no machines were down this way.

“Give me a sec.” he called, before muting his comms and continuing down the hall.

He was surprised to see the metal walls turn to clear glass, shattered but mostly intact. A glass door separated the rooms from the hall, one on each side of him, though both were wide open.

The sound came again, this time a bit clearer. He turned to the right room and stepped inside.

He was greeted by rows upon rows of open topped containers. Many of them tipped over but all of them empty. They almost resembled those plastic tubs his mother used to buy for organization, though the walls of them were much higher.

The ones that were still upright sat on little rolling carts, placards adorning the carts with various numbers.

7839

9846

4562

9843

There were multiples of numbers. Some having been printed on six or seven placards.

The sound came again from the far side of the room. Lance quickly transformed his bayard from its sniper configuration to a simple handgun, and made his way towards the muffled sound. For some reason it almost sounded familiar, as if he had heard it before. Though he couldn’t place his finger on it.

Up until then, the containers had been empty. Clearly though, he was wrong. They were empty, all except for one. As he got closer he understood what the sound was. And he cursed himself for not recognizing it sooner. There was no mistaking what was making it.

He walked to the singular container, the placard reading clearly.

7234

His breath caught in his throat as he approached the cart. What he had previously seen as just a lump was instead a blanket, thick and dark grey in the glowing purple of the emergency lights.

With a shaky hand, Lance reached out to the blanket and with one swift motion pulled it away revealing the one thing he never thought he’d find on this ship.

Large blue eyes stared up at him, as the owner of the cry ceased their noise almost instantly and suddenly everything became clear.

This was how they were going to make their soldiers.

With those bright, blue eyes.