#and also how and why would alteans know what humans actually need? how would they know anything about humans?

[swagging-back-to]

i was just about to show what i think altean markings look like (full body) when i realized that lance is borderline skeletal?

both of them are. their legs should not be that small. where is thick thigh lance.

[hibiscusseaart]

Altean families hcs

Heya! I'm not stopping. Twi thread

Warnings: 18+ (mostly cuz biology talk), Half-altean Lance.

I am gonna start with alteans and their structure. I believe that alteans are quite matriarchal. We don’t have enough clues about it in canon, but from what I see, mothers are quite the leading power.

Honerva was unstoppable and she stopped only when SHE wanted (tho destroying realities, like she got what she wanted) and Allura talked to her. Plus she got Zarkon wrapped around her finger before going mad and even a lil after that. Imagine her not being evil. Jeez what a woman she’d be.

I believe that Melenor might be the Queen by blood and Alfor entering the family by marriage and becoming a consort. Why? One of the main reasons is that Alfor never ever wears any kind of crown, while Melenor and Allura always do. Also you can see in this screenshot, Melenor sitting next to Zarkon - the sole emperor of Daibazaal - closer than her husband, who is friends with said emperor, meaning Melenor has higher status than her husband.

Though, here, she’s standing on the side. But he is not a King for nothing right?

But it can say nothing about alteans being matriarchal. I hcs them like that, cuz it seems fitting for them to put mothers and families on a pedestal.

So, now I’ll start to explain altean process to start a family. I already explained their courting process here (вставить ссылку).

Alteans can only get pregnant when both partners want it and it can not happen by accident. Conception is actually considered a very special process and even a ritual in Altean culture and is not considered like something dirty or full of lust. It’s usually something very-very gentle. Though usual sex is kinda stigmatized and they mostly don’t talk about it. Yeah you have really slow social progress, when you live in monarchy and your population lives for more than 600 years (that’s around Coran’s age and he considered as middle aged man).

Getting back to pregnancies. At conception, a portion of quintessence from each partner is fused to form child’s. It’s a big strain for future parents cuz it’s literally part of their life force is gone to their child. Because of this, they rarely have more than 2-3 children.

This ritual is counted as the 1st day of child’s existence. So birthday counts from the conception date. Also, because of their huge life spawn, they count their age as centuries. For example, “I am 17” means that the child is 170 years old. They’re considered as a minor till their 250 birthday. Modern alteans can, basically, live forever until they’re killed (im pretty sure that they have tech to change DNA (also this shit is controversial as hell, but i will talk about it when i get to write about politics). But they can look old, like Alfor did, because of stress. Stress is their kryptonite in that case.

(also i suspect that Altea has a shorter year, being closer to it’s sun)

Oh, also, a little biology: alteans deffinetly have different sexes, looking at their bodies, they have pretty obvious sexual dimorphism. Though, knowing how advanced they are (thanks for changing DNA tech) and their abilities for shapeshifting, they probably can easily change how they like it and have a child. They might be like some kinds of fish or lizards, which can change their sex when needed. Like they’re born as hermaphrodites. but for some alteans male hormones are stronger, for some female are (and i’m pretty sure that they have their own hormones, they’re aliens after all, i’m just using this terminology for better understanding).

Anyway, mothers for alteans are the ones who bear the child and feed them later (and they def feed some kind of milk, why else would alteans have boobs? to store quintessence there?). And they are quite the heroes/heroines, cuz babies take a lot from alteans, mostly quintessence, I think. But physically too. I think that they can have longer pregnancies. The reason humans have their babies for 9 months and even then the baby is helpless and can’t even hold their head, it’s cuz the head is so big and if it’d grow more it’d be a big problem for mothers in the stretching department. But alteans don’t have that problem with shapeshifting so the babies are bigger. Maybe a lil smaller than Allura on the screenshot.

So because pregnancy is really taxing, it’s exactly why they prefer to have multiple partners, so they can help each other (looking at you, Coran). Also I think alteans could have little traditions, like giving a pregnant lady some presents or flowers, even if you don’t know her well. Pregnant one is a really precious one. Alteans if stress (kryptonite!) can easily have a miscarriage and it’s always devastating for them. So they try to avoid any bad news during pregnancies.

sidenote: it’s weird to refer to a pregnant altean solely as she/her, cuz alteans can literally alter their biology. who knows, maybe it’s alfor who gave birth to allura. we will never know.

(but, according to my hcs, we know, cuz allura calls melenor mother and that means that she was the one who was pregnant with her.)

So the next thing is really important for alteans and their families. As you well know, alteans have a deep connection with quintessence and can kind of control it. Each family has its own little “lake” of quintessence. This lake keep them all connected to each other, mostly emotionally. They can’t read each other’s minds, but it’s easy for them to sense a mood and feelings in general. I think, it’s the same how the Lions communicate and connect.

This connection is really important, because it can help all members of this lake to feel needs of altean mother and then children’s needs. It also helps them to feel their quintessence more clearly and develop empathy.

A child is accepted into family’s lake when their quintessence grows stronger and detaches from their mother’s completely (at first it’s really intertwined and helps mother to take care of their kid). They have a traditional ritual for that and it’s held by the most magically talented member of the family. But it can also happen naturally, if the kid is close with everyone in the family, tho connection will be a bit weaker, because no one leads kid’s quintessence in the right place.

The acceptance ritual usually happens at their 5-10 year (it’s really early for alteans if you remember their lifespan). If not accepted, then the child will feel unwanted, abandoned and in general will be very restless and prone to stress and depression.

If someone is not accepted, they’re not considered a real family. The marriage is all about future spouses to get this connection with each other.

This connection can weaken though, it’s not permanent and needs refreshing. Usually it’s enough to just spend time with each other. But it’s highly emotional and if someone doesn’t want to be connected, they link will break.

Now let’s talk about my baby half-altean Lance >:)

So, Luis and the others are not full siblings. Luis was born from the human, when the others were born from an altean who happened to get on Earth somehow (i know how, but i wanna save something for my long ass fic which MAY be translated if I could find a beta). That altean and Lance’s mom have had Marco and Veronica. But the altean didn’t expect that Lance’s mom would have 2 eggs. Alteans do not have that at all. A little later after Lance and Rachel were conceived, he died of the quintessence strain. On Earth no one really knew why.

But well, these two were never accepted in the lake with his father, Marco and Veronica (these two didn’t even know about being part-alien), so they grew up with diagnosed ADHD and self worth issues.

There we step into more of the AU territory, cuz Lance is known as altean much earlier, maybe before s 2. Coran and Allura are estatic. They were so used to their big families always buzzing lake, so felling only each other was really lonely. So Allura accept Lance as her own brother (yeah, Allura was that much uninterested). She did use a little too much magic because of her inexperience, so Lance got his marks and his ears started to change (cartilage are softer and can be bend easier).

He started to become more altean in general. Like he isn’t disgusted by food goo anymore for example and gets stronger easier. He can’t shapeshift, bc human bones, but he can change his skin color. It was weird af for him to feel Allura and Coran as he feels his lion, but it did helped him a lot with his ADHD and worries. Plus he got a new sister and, kind of, a new dad? Or Uncle? He’s not sure. But it’s the closest to his family he ever had since they got into space.

Thank you for reading! Hope you like it! Please let me know what hcs do you have about altean or maybe galra families!

[entrepy]

major canon & fanon divergences 

( i don’t expect anyone to read this because it’s a lot lmao. this is more so for me to have a reference because i forget things about my own muse / canon. if we’re rping together we’re probably also talking ooc so anything important from this post will be mentioned to you at some point. )

( please note that by canon, i’m referring to my general main verse which includes no interactions with other muses. each interaction with a muse is put into its own verse. new interactions can come into the main verse at any point of the timeline and then diverge from that point. )

canon divergences.

does not marry curtis. they noticed each other because they worked closely as part of the atlas crew and maybe if the time and place were different there might’ve been a chance for them to get to know each other and form something but for shiro, there is a lot weighing on his mind that he needs to wade through

( a ) shiro has been thru Sum shit and he has an endless list of reasons to be sad but i just want to make it known that shiro’s no. 1 source of guilt and just general mind-anguish is the fact that he is living in a borrowed body, that he took from someone who had to die for him to live. 

( b ) at this stage he is also coming in touch with his feelings for keith which have been with him for a while, so even if he was aware of other potential interests … he’s not actually interested back.

adam is alive. he was critically injured in the first wave of attack by sendak and recovered enough only to provide ground support for the second wave. he remains an officer of the garrison and heads training and recruitment. he does not fly again. he’s happily married and reaches out to shiro. they’re amicable, but not close friends. maybe eventually they will be. ( this will obviously be different if i’m writing with an adam muse. )

allura is alive – i need to rewatch the end of season 8 to figure out how, but she’s alive.

after a year or so of captaining the atlas, the need for atlas to be an offensive military ship decreases and shiro consults sam and pidge for their thoughts on deweaponising his prosthesis. the new arm is still powered by allura’s crystal but looks more similar to the galra arm ( except it starts at the shoulder since his bicep??? disappeared magically ), but it’s coloured white and light grey, and the lit up areas are aqua ( same as the crystal. )

speaking of the crystal …  the original arm was designed to operate via a balmera crystal, because that’s what most of altean designs are based off of. however they didn’t have a crystal to use, and sam says the remaining energy required for the arm to work would be drawn from shiro’s own electromagnetic field. he tries it for the first time and … his body rejects it, in what looks like an incredibly painful and potentially fatal way, if it hadn’t been for allura stepping in and replacing the original energy source for the arm with the crystal from her tiara. we don’t ever find out why shiro’s body rejected the first energy source but here are 2 theories:

( a ) shiro’s body is actually kuron’s body, a clone, manufactured by haggar, using ~space science~ and likely some form of quintessence. the electro magnetic field coming off of the clone’s body would vary to that of a human’s, which is what sam would’ve based his calculations on. balmera crystals have incredible properties that aren’t really explained in great detail but we know how powerful they can be, regardless of size. 

( b ) because it’s kuron’s body, maybe the connection to haggar didn’t completely shut off when keith cut off the arm. that flash that happens when the arm connects and shiro’s body starts rejecting it is very similar to the flash that happens when haggar starts controlling kuron earlier ( better explained in this headcanon piece. ) my only issue with this headcanon is that it implies haggar may still have some degree of control over shiro, and I just………….it’s been so overused, i just don’t want that for shiro anymore, so i’m most likely sticking to theory a !!!!!

still on the subject of the crystal, let’s talk about what shiro says after allura places the balmera crystal in his arm ; “i feel strange … i feel – great !” strange, as in he’s feeling something he’s never quite felt before. this is in contrast to what he feels when the first energy source is used in his arm ; “i feel … good,” but he sounds hesitant, like he doesn’t feel good at all, and obviously we see why moments afterwards. the great part is emphasised. he almost seems excited, like he really does feel great, and the scene cuts off with him trialling his arm by making a fist, and smiling. again, the properties of the crystals are pretty much undefined, but they are an immense source of power – what allura’s tiara contains is likely more than enough required to power shiro’s arm, and going back to how allura operated the castleship, and how shiro is able to operate the atlas, i’m loosely headcanoning that the crystal acts as a link between “captain” and “ship”, though obviously, allura herself channels quintessence and has so much more capabilities as a “captain.” 

what does the crystal providing an energy source for not only the new prosthesis, but also shiro’s body mean for shiro? an external boost of energy and human-compatible quintessence is probably the first dose of anything resembling treatment shiro has had since the kerberos mission. i don’t see the balmera crystal nor altean healing pods having the power to edit genes but as far as healing goes, it must have some effect in alleviating pain and / or fatigue for shiro to exclaim, “i feel great !”

( a ) sometimes it’s difficult to write in a universe set in the future because things of our current reality ( social injustices, shit politics, technological limitations etc. ) may not be a reality say 100 years in the future, and add space and alien technology to the mix and you’re sort of left with a lot of potential for creation and imagination and progression but also hindered by the reality of present day and representing present day. i wouldn’t want to “magic” away shiro’s disease or magically come up with a cure, but at the same time i don’t want to take away the possibility for him to be potentially cured ( which is what the “i feel great !” line hints towards ) just because of the limitations of today.

major fanon divergences.

does not qualify as space dad. it simultaneously infantilises the other paladins and takes away from their own journeys of being forced to grow up too quickly and take on the responsibility of fighting in a war, and puts undue stress on shiro who is only ~25 himself. shiro is responsible for his team only in the role of their commanding officer at best

his prosthetic arm is not a sex toy, it’s a prosthesis ( refer to this post on arm related bed time activities )

shiro did not have a romantic connection with keith pre-kerberos. if anything the earliest signs of anything resembling a romantic connection would be late into season 2, but that is pending heavy plotting

shiro came from a happy family … he just lost almost all of it very early on. he grew up loved even though he learnt about loss too quickly

shiro cannot sing lol … i know his voice actor can but i'm ~different~

i think it’s popular headcanon for shiro to have a little sister, or a big family; i wrote his backstory with his older sister before i came across this, so i’m sticking to my original headcanon because his bond with his sister is so strongly formed in my head  

shiro is not afraid of death … but he doesn’t want to die. i feel like his relationship with death needs its own post but the tl;dr version of it is that he had a timer put on his life when he was around 17 years old. life goes from seemingly endless to suddenly very very short ( not just in the sense that his lifespan is predicted to be shorter, but that his body will soon restrict him in movement and opportunity. ) and then kerberos happens, and the arena happens, and voltron and zarkon and he’s reminded that life is short regardless of whether they give you a timer at 17. any moment could be his last and shiro has had a long time to come to terms with this. it makes him incredibly grateful for the present, and of what he’s had in the past. it also is potentially why he prioritises a mission that will take him to see the stars, over a relationship with adam ten years down the track.

if anyone makes it this far … ur the real mvp, thank u for reading my brain ramblings <3

[aviationlover4life]

Prince of the Stars | Chapter 1

An Outsider Seeking Answers

Out in the Thezonian system, there flew a huge dark blue, purple, and black futuristic space shuttle, but this wasn't just any space shuttle, this was the space shuttle of the one and only 'Prince Lotor, Son of Zarkon'. He was half Altean and half Galran, he had long white hair, and pale purple skin, along with pointed ears and the area in his eyes where the white should've been, was actually yellow. 

He wore a suit that matched the shuttle's particular design, plus his suit also had a scabbard and sort of a half cape that flowed down from the belt at the waist line. He had a very skilled team of generals, their names being Axca, Zethrid, Ezor, and Narti.

"Prince Lotor, our fuel tanks are running low, we need to set down on this nearby planet and re-fuel." Axca replied to her leader.

"Take us in slowly, and turn on the invisibility shield generators, we don't want anybody seeing us." He cautioned, with a hint of worry in his voice, but he didn't let it show.

Axca and Ezor guided the shuttle into one of the docking bays and they all got out to re-fuel the ship. Axca opened the fuel hatch, while Ezor connected the fuel hose and started the re-fueling process. Lotor stood by with Narti and Zethrid, watching the skies for anything suspicious. Then, Lotor saw a small flash as something streaked across the sky in the distance. The prince perked up, and was about the draw his sword but Zethrid stopped him, 

"It's just a shooting star, sir," she replied quietly, causing Lotor to calm down and relax.

"Sir, you seem to be a bit more on edge than usual, is there something wrong?" Zethrid asked, wanting to know what was wrong with the Galran prince.

"It's nothing, I'm fine..." he said, trying to hide a certain feeling that he just couldn't shake.

"Please tell us..." Lotor looked up to see both Axca and Ezor standing next to him, with worried looks on their faces.

Lotor sighed and relented, "I've felt that someone has been following us, but they're not Galra, and they're not one of the rebels either, it feels like, the one following us, isn't even meant to be in this reality."

"Prince Lotor, how do you know about this?" Axca asked, a bit bewildered, "I really don't know, I guess it just came to me?"

Then, all of a sudden, there was a flash of blinding yellow light, and all of them were immediately knocked to the ground. Lotor was the first one up, but it was only seconds before he was knocked back down into the dirt again, and surprise surprise, his sword was gone. He looked to the side to find Axca, Ezor, Zethrid, and Narti all laying unconscious beside him.

He waited for the figure to pass by again and got up, as he grabbed Axca's blaster, rolled out of the way, and shot in the figure's direction. A beam of weaponized light then shot towards the blaster's ray of weaponized light and they both collided, creating a shock wave that nearly took down the invisibility shield generators.

The man set down a few feet away from Lotor, his generals, and the ship. Lotor kept his guard up, though he noticed something off about the man. He had blue shaggy hair and a red tattoo across his right eye, and wore a dark blue hood with a pair of cargo pants, boots, and a long sleeved shirt with a heart design lining the sleeves, but he had not one single burn mark on his body, neither was there a single singe mark anywhere on his clothes.

How, the heat that was surrounding him or whatever that was should've burned him to ashes?!

It's because I'm not from this reality, I'm actually a human who uses magic.

What? Who are you, where are you?

I'm right in front of you... just look up.

Lotor looked up and saw the man was now just mere feet from him. He charged the blaster again and aimed straight for the man's face, who raised his hands in surrender.

"Whoa there, easy now. I'm not here to cause you any trouble, I just need to talk to you alone."

"Why would I want to talk to someone that I don't know, much less someone who is not even from this reality?" Lotor replied with a confused look.

"Because you need me, there is something happening right now, that you wouldn't have even thought of, or thought could even happen." The man replied back as he closed his eyes and a blue energy began to glow brightly and brought out the very object that Lotor so desperately needed right now, which was his sword.

The prince gripped the blaster even tighter in his hands, readying himself for a fight, but the man did the exact opposite. The sword levitated over to Lotor and as it fell at the Prince's feet, he looked up at the man now standing before him. Prince Lotor thought about what the blue haired man had just said to him and skeptically picked up the sword, keeping his eyes locked with the other man's As Lotor stood up, he sheathed his sword and walked over to his unconscious generals, checking them all for injuries, constantly looking back at the man, who remained in the exact same spot with a now curious expression on his face, just watching the Prince. Lotor simply ignored him and continued to check Axca, Ezor, Zethrid, and Narti for injuries.

"If your looking for any injuries on them, there are none, I made sure of that, and I know that may sound ironic, but it's not the way it looks." The bluenette spoke up with a very gentle like voice now.

"*groans* Lotor what's going on, and who's that?" Ezor mumbled groggily, rubbing her head as she slowly sat up.

"Hey! Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" Zethrid exclaimed as she snarled at the young man standing mere feet away from the ship that was still re-fueling.

"Prince Lotor, who is this guy? What does he want with us?" Axca asked, looking towards Lotor. "I apologize for knocking you out like that, but I needed some time to talk with Lotor here, plus I would like to ask permission to board your space shuttle, that is, if you'll let me?"

"No way! We don't even know you!" Zethrid exclaimed in an angry tone, "That's enough Zethrid." Lotor warned.

"I'm not sure about this..." Axca stated, looking at Lotor with concern, who looked back at her with the same concerned look on his face. He didn't know who this guy was, but now he felt like there was something way bigger on the horizon and this guy  was their only chance at finding out what it was, and actually having a chance at beating it.

"Alright, but you will remain in cuffs until I feel you can be trusted on the ship." Lotor said with a very commanding and stern voice.

The man simply nodded and said, "Yes sir," as he held out his hands and allowed Ezor to cuff him. A beeping noise on her holographic wrist band alerted Axca to the ship that was finished re-fueling. She disconnected the hose, placed it back in its proper positioning, and joined Lotor and the others on the bay area of the ship as it took off.

Down in the ship's holding cargo bay area, Axca was ordered to stay with the man that they'd agreed to allow aboard their ship. He wasn't doing much, just sitting there, looking around.

"Why do you want to speak with Prince Lotor?" Axca asked with a stern voice, and cold eyes piercing into his dark brown ones as the man sat forward to answer the question.

"I'm afraid I can't personally speak with you on the matter, I need to talk to him about it and then he can debrief you on the situation." He said as he sat back in the chair, hands still restrained. A few minutes later, Lotor came down into the cargo bay area with two armed guards at his side. They both approached the man, each of them roughly grabbing one of his arms, restraining him even further.

"First of all, I need to know your name if your going to be on my ship." Prince Lotor said, as he caressed the man's cheek with one of his clawed fingers.

"Alright now, that won't be necessary, the name's Jellal Fernandes," The man answered in a calm tone, knowing that if he so much as even tried to escape, he would have a serious life threatening injury, "I'm from Fairy Tail, it's a magical guild in a small town called Magnolia located in a larger kingdom known as Fiore."

"... I'm listening..." Lotor replied skeptically, letting go of Jellal's face, motioning for the guards to loosen their grip on Jellal slightly.

Jellal sighed as he continued explaining, "Something's happened in my reality which somehow lead me to this reality and our guild master Mokarov said that I had to speak with you because you would have some very useful information on what's going on here."

Axca couldn't help but butt in, "Well then, if you have to speak to Prince Lotor so badly, will you please explain to us what this 'something' looked like?"

Jellal sighed once more, trying not to let his frustration show that was now starting to rear it's head, "Well, obviously since your being so stubborn, I'll just have to tell you all. It looked like the sky was trying to split open, and it was pure white inside, yet I could see another world on the other side, but then I felt something, something different from what I usually feel back in my world, and to be honest, I still feel it right now. It's like some sort of energy source that I can't quite put my finger on."

"Energy source you say? I think I have the answer to your predicament." Lotor said as he signaled the guards to bring Jellal up to the bridge where the energy storage rooms were, with Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid in tow.

[raziroo]

Cotton Candy

Pairing: Lotor x gn!reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Saying "Shit" twice

Word count: 2,076 (yay) (also, I edited this, I still need to update the word count)

Author’s Note: I'm crap at writing dialogues, and this is my first time writing for a gay couple. I'm so sorry if it seems forced or unnatural or shitty. Don't be afraid to call me out.

Story Moodboard!

It’s with a grunt of effort that I manage to lift the carton containing the cotton-candy-maker.

‘Here, dad,’ I say as my dad takes the box from my hands. ‘That’s all?’

‘Yep, that’s all of it. We’ll conquer this carnival with our delicious cotton candy,’ I nod, doing jazz hands while saying the last part. Dad chuckles. I grin.

‘Hey, Honey!’ I turn back, squinting to spot where my other dad is in the crowd of bustling people. Where, where…? Yep, there he is – in his embarrassingly brilliant sunshine yellow and bottle green striped shirt and hot pink trousers, a sharp contrast to his natural bright red hair. Don’t say that it can’t look that bright; you’ll never know just how blindingly bright bottle green can really be until you see the shirt my dad’s wearing. And trust me, he usually dresses in simpler tones; such bland tones that you’d be surprised to know he was capable of wearing colourful hues as well. It’s only that he’s very passionate about his job, and so whenever we set up a booth in fetes such as the current one, he never misses to match the shop logo.

‘Hul-lo, father dearest, how seems to go your day?’

‘Oh, quite lovely, if I do say so.’

‘Well, that’s simply charming –’

‘Alright, enough,’ my other, not redhead dad snaps with an exasperated sort of smile on his visage. You see, my not redhead, a.k.a. brown-haired dad happens to be British. And that means that me and dad would rather paint our teeth blue than to not tease him. ‘You both need to shut it and start helping me with the decorations, now. You know I’m trash at all that.’

‘Aw, now don’t get discouraged,’ I say, patting dad on the back. ‘After all, not everyone can be as blessed as me, can they?’

‘Hey, why don’t you go look around for a bit? You’ve been helping out since before I have.’

‘Yeah, he’s right, pet. You should.’

I huff, rubbing my palms on the fabric of my jeans. ‘You guys sure? I’m not tired, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

‘We’re not worried, we’re just saying you should also get a look, you know? There’s a lot of surprising booths this time around. I mean, there are aliens participating too, so…’

‘Hmm,’ I play with my bottom lip a little, then, ‘yeah, okay. I’ll be back in like, an hour? Forty five minutes? Sound okay?’

‘Sounds great.’

‘Bye, then.’ And with that, I turn on the heels of my Converse, wandering about the pretty stalls and eager children and kissy couples and aliens with curious features.

It really feels bizarre, just how astonishingly fast mankind has accepted the existence of aliens. It seems simultaneously ages and just a day before when conspiracy theorists raged all around the world, presenting baseless theories and concepts as to why and how the three-man squad on the Kerberos mission disappeared. Then came the Galra, bringing along with them global terror – because alien life, intelligent alien life existed and humanity remained oblivious all these millennia, and now they were actually attacking us. It could’ve been, perhaps even was, in some other dimension, the end of Earth. But then a defender appeared; Voltron appeared in all its glory, bringing along with it proof that however much these purple aliens claim that humans are scum of the universe, humans were, in the grand scheme of things, the ones that saved the universe too.

It feels even more puzzling to actually be on a first-name basis with the leader of Voltron; that’s right, I’m personally acquainted with Keith Kogane. It was around six months after him leaving the Garrison did I come across him. He’d been loitering around the neighbourhood, had ended up in a fistfight with some other kids, and along with that a split lip and bruised cheek. I’d been watching. When the fight ended, I (somehow) persuaded him to come along so that I could at the very least provide him with a band-aid.

Long story short, we’d bonded over how our moms were no-shows and how dads were the best and we became surprisingly close friends; the only difference was that after the death of his old man, he lived alone. I’d been adopted by my two current fathers. I told him about how when they’d initially adopted me, I was excruciatingly shy. I wouldn’t even come out of my room except meals. It was only when I came to know that they knew how to make candy floss had I timidly approached them if I could have some, because previously I’d always been grossed out at the thought of having to eat that. I’d overheard this group of kids saying that cotton candy was actually just dyed granny hair, so that’s where that came from.

I love cotton candy now. So much so, that even at the age of twenty-six, I will pout if someone takes some of mine without my permission. As if I’d ever allow them to.

Speaking of Keith, I haven’t seen him in years. We lost all contact when he turned eighteen, and then he went off into space, and even when he came back, I didn’t get a chance to meet him. I bear no ill will, though. He must have formed some close relationships. Our past friendship is comparatively much more trivial.

I spot a booth selling grilled corn. I instantly head there.

As I’m about join the crowd of humans and aliens who also want corn, a familiar call of my name leads me to pull a three sixty.

Lo and behold. Keith Kogane.

Despite him having obviously grown a lot, the face was still the same. I’m sure that, if he gets a split lip and bruise on his cheek right now, he won’t look all that different.

There’s a questioning hesitance on his features; he’s probably wondering if he’s got the right person. My pleasantly surprised smile and raised eyebrows assure him. As I step away from the grilled corn stall, I notice a motley crowd behind him; some are purple, some are holding Voltron plushies, and some look way too curious to be in a carnival. The introduction is going to be fun.

‘Keith! You're gonna live a hundred years - I was just thinking about you. But anyways, it’s – it’s great to see you,’ I say with a little giggle. ‘Though I am kind of surprised you actually approached me. The sixteen-year-old you would never.’

He smiles awkwardly in return. ‘Y – yeah… I, just… oh God, this is – I’m sorry,’ he says, his inner turmoil evident.

‘It’s all good. I know you’re shit at small talk, so… like, introduce me? Maybe?’

He nods rapidly, brows furrowed. ‘Yeah, um,’ he turns to the people behind him, telling them my name, how we met, the whole affair. I give them a wave. Most of them greet me back.

‘And, this is Shiro and Curtis,’ he points to the tall, white-haired yet young man, holding hands with a tanner guy, ‘Lance, Pidge and Hunk,’ he points to a lanky, bright-smiled guy, a buffer, kind-seeming person, and a short chestnut-haired woman who, despite wearing baggy jeans and a baggier tee, looks somehow better dressed than me. ‘Then that’s Allura, Coran, and Romelle, they’re Alteans,’ a woman with enchanting beauty and a regal aura surrounding her, a redhead who’s significantly older than the rest with an impressive moustache, and a youthful appearing girl with a big grin, ‘and Lotor, he’s Galran. The Galran Emperor, in fact.’ Lotor is a tall, lilac-skinned man with aristocratic features who shares the same cheek markings as the Alteans. Oh, and he’s unfairly gorgeous, his hair a luscious mane of white which I just know will be soft. It’s hard not to stare. You remember how I said Allura looked like royalty? Yeah, the way this man carries himself, he has the aura and visage of a God. Even in a white tee-shirt and jeans he looks way better than should be legal.

I rip my eyes away.

‘So…are Noah and Oliver here too? I’d love to see them. I mean, I never did get to thank them to permit a possible criminal to sleep in their house.’

I laugh. ‘Never mind that, but we actually sit up a stall here. I could, you know, maybe even get you guys something to eat.’

‘Free? Please don’t.’

‘It’s nothing, really, just… I don’t know, accept it as a small thank you present for not letting the planet go to shit.’

A bit of thinking. Even after a nod from Shiro, it was Lance who said yes. Good ol’ Keith.

When we reach the stall, my British dad is the only one we find there. He looks up, about to say something to me, when he notices Keith.

‘Dad. You remember Keith?’

‘Your possible criminal friend who turned out to be the saviour of the universe Keith?’

‘That Keith. He wanted to see you.’

‘Oh? Well then,’ he dusts his hands, stands up, and greets Keith. Both of them engage in a conversation.

‘You guys wanna try something?’

‘What do you got?’ asks Pidge.

‘What do we got? Um, we got chocolates, candy, marshmallows, jellybeans, tortilla chips, ice cream, popcorn – butter, cheese, caramel, peri peri – Lays, like, a lot of Lays, and the good old cotton candy. What d’you want?’

So, after providing the humans with two Cream n’ Onion Lays, a pack of tortilla chips, a double scoop of butterscotch and chocolate, a small tub of popcorn, and three cotton candy sticks, I turned to the aliens.

‘I’m assuming you guys aren’t familiar with a lot of this stuff, so you could either pick whatever looks to be good, ask your friends, or I could recommend something. What’ll it be?’

Romelle was the one who asked, ‘What’s ice cream like?’

‘It’s sweet. It’s cold. And it’s like… heaven in mouth.’

‘Ooh. I want an ice cream. The… pink one?’

‘That’s strawberry. You can eat it in a cone, or in a cup.

‘What’s the difference?’

‘Well, the cup you can’t eat. The cone is like a crispy biscuit,’ judging by her face, she didn’t know what biscuit was. ‘I’ll just give you a cone. It’s all on the house, so no worries if you don’t like it.’

I watched eagerly as she licked the ice cream. An unreadable look crossed her face. Then – ‘This is almost as good as Hunk’s cookies!’

‘Really?’ Coran asked, twirling his moustache. ‘Well, then…’ he squinted to read the names of the various flavours. ‘I would like “cookies and cream”. Yes.’ A cone of cookies n’ cream was served.

‘Allura?’

‘Do you have something that isn’t sweet?’ That was a plot twist. I’d have taken her as someone who appreciated sweeter foods.

‘We do. You want spicy?’

‘…Sure.’ Peri Peri popcorn was given and enjoyed.

And last… ‘Lotor. What would you like to have?’

It takes me a lot of will to not laugh at Lotor’s way too analytical expression. ‘What would you recommend?’

‘Me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Out of all this stuff, candy floss is my favourite.’

‘Candy floss… the item that looks simultaneously like a cloud and an old woman’s hair?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I would like a helping of candy floss, then.’

As I hand Lotor a stick of cotton candy, I wait with anticipation for his reaction.

‘How am I supposed to eat this?’

It takes me a moment to process that. ‘Uh, you just… pinch a little of the stuff in between your fingers, then eat it. Or you could just, um, go in directly, which I’m thinking isn’t really your style.’

He narrows his eyes, but follows my instructions nonetheless. Only a second after putting the stuff in his mouth, Lotor purrs.

Everyone around him, being me, Coran and Romelle (Allura’s off telling Lance how great Earth food is), looks with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Lotor appears as if he’s just died inside. The berry-shaded blush on his face is adorable, though.

'I didn't, like, poison you or something, right?'

'No. It's that... I would never in my lifetimes have expected something so tooth-rottingly sweet to be this delicious.'

'So you're okay?'

‘Yes. In fact, I quite like… this cotton candy.’

I grin.

[chaoticevilbean]

Voltron Humans are Weird 4/?

"What the heck, Coran?" Lance's shout echoed through the hallways. When more, less coherent shouts continued from the Blue Paladin, probably directed at Coran, the other Paladins followed the noise curiously.

In the middle of the medbay, laying on the floor, Lance was struggling to get Coran's hands off of his leg. The Altean seemed to be trying to drag the boy into a healing pod, only stopped by the death grip the human had on a nearby table. It was definitely a good thing all the tables were magnetized to the floor to avoid movement.

"Coran, I told you, I'm fine!" Lance screamed at the alien. "I don't need a healing pod!"

"You shouted gibberish and didn't react to something shocking!" Coran countered. "For you, that's all that is needed to warrant at least a scan!"

"That was one time! We were in the middle of a battle!"

"You didn't come in afterwards!"

"REFUGEES NEED IT MORE THAN ME!"

"YOU ARE A PALADIN! YOU ARE DEFINITELY IMPORTANT ENOUGH AND YOU WERE DEFINITELY INJURED ENOUGH TO WARRANT PRIORITY!"

"GUYS!" Shiro hollered over the two of them. The duo froze, staring at the Black Paladin. Both seemed extremely hopeful that he would support their side of the argument. "What is going on? Lance first, mostly because this might be another 'humans can do weird things'."

"Coran and I were just cleaning the healing pods, and you're not supposed to keep using one of the rags if it gets to a certain level of dirty. So, I'm over here," Lance pointed to the left-most side, "Coran's over there," he pointed to the right, "and he's got the bucket we're supposed to put the rags in when they're done. And I just finished my rag, and I don't want to walk all the way over there, then all the way back, just to put it in the bucket. So I ball it up, toss it into the bucket from where I'm sitting, and shout, 'Kobe!' Coran turns right as this happens, and his eyes went all wide, then the next thing I know, he's tackling me and demanding I go into the healing pod."

"Coran, what's your side of the story?"

"Why aren't you questioning his side?" Coran asked instead.

"What d'you mean?"

"He claims to have thrown something from there to there and hit his target," the Altean gestured as he spoke, "and says he shouted some form of gibberish as he did, and you aren't challenging it."

"Well, sure, it's a bit hard to believe someone made that shot, but Lance has good aim. And 'Kobe' is what some people shout when they throw and make the shot. It isn't that strange."

"So Lance has been trained in throwing?"

"... I'm beginning to think this is something that has to do with us being humans and you being Altean."

"What is this about throwing?" Allura walked into the room, pausing to give both Coran and Lance an appraising look.

"OF COURSE!" Pidge yelled suddenly. The entire group turned to stare at her, confused. Seeing this, she launched into an explanation.

"We've already learned that humans are a lot different than most aliens, maybe all. We have high tolerances to things that are considered deadly, we adapt to new environments and temperatures with ease, we literally consider living with other predators that aren't sentient to be completely normal. It would make sense that Alteans..." Pidge paused for the drama, "...are like primates." Lance, Hunk, and Keith all let out noises of understanding, though Shiro, Allura, and Coran remained confused. Lance clicked his tongue, ignoring the weird looks he got from his alien peers, and instead started his own explanation.

"In the Garrison, we had an entire biology unit dedicated to the fact that humans are extremely unique compared to Earth animals. One of the biggest discussion topics was the one about how primates, our closest biological counterparts, can't throw things very well. But humans..." Lance stopped, jerking his leg from Coran's grasp, and stood. He grabbed a small roll of bandages, then turned sharply.

"Catch!" Hunk caught the roll, tossing it to Shiro quickly. The leader snatched it from the air on reflex, chucking it at Keith's head, who then lobbed it at Pidge. The motions quickly escalated into a game of hot potato, though there was no timer. Lance almost dropped the bandages when Hunk faked throwing it at Shiro again, before instead flinging it towards his buddy. The Cuban caught it with his foot, bouncing it up into his hands and launching it back at his bro.

The Alteans watched on, frozen in abject shock. They had been so sure that most of the Paladins had never completed their training, but here they saw that the humans could throw with extreme speed and precision. If it was something they all could do, then it was no wonder Shiro didn't question Lance's accuracy.

"When did you all learn to throw?"

"Two! Booyah!" Lance cheered as he flung the roll into the bin where it was meant to be.

"You are very skilled for having learned two decaphoebs ago. Or rather, less than two, given your strange times," Coran praised. The humans shared weird looks with each other, preparing themselves for what was about to happen.

"Um, Coran," the Blue Paladin began. "I didn't learn two decaphoebs or two years ago."

"Then what did you mean by two?" Allura inquired, curiosity piqued.

"I learned when I was two years old."

"You learned... how to throw... with speed and accuracy... at less than two decaphoebs old?"

"Yep. It's a little early, but my brothers wanted me to start practicing so I could join some sports when I grew up. Probably why I'm the sharpshooter now."

"How do you say that so casually?" Allura demanded. "It takes decaphoebs of experience to learn to throw with even a little accuracy. Alteans and Galrans can throw with some speed because of our strength, but even then, we cannot throw much more than a few meters. Coran can throw due to practicing since he began his training, but he misses a quarter of the time."

"Well, humans have the natural ability to throw with a bit of speed and accuracy, and we have a lot of activities that are based on that fact. Sports like basketball, baseball, football, ultimate frisbee, all of them require being able to throw. I learned to throw better at a younger age, but things like a simple game of catch is pretty simple. What we just did was easy because we aren't that far from each other and there are only so many directions that we'll aim for." Hunk shrugged as he finished his answer. He had been the most involved in that unit of the Garrison.

"You all can throw because of biology? Not training?"

"I mean, if we want to throw better, we still have to practice, but yeah, that's the basics of it all. Watch. Lance, go long!" Hunk tugged off his shoe, waited for his bro to reach a certain spot, then hurled it through the air. With a small jump, the Cuban caught the shoe and threw it at the ground.

"WOOHOO! I LOVE THIS DAY!"

"Lance enjoys catching and throwing things more than a lot of activities. Do it enough and he's basically a dog. I once literally played a game of fetch with him because he was having a depressed day. Perked right up and I could barely keep up for the rest of the day."

"Perhaps we should include throwing in our training, then," Coran suggested. The next moment, the Altean was receiving a hug from behind as Lance laughed ecstatically.

"¡Gracias, gracias, gracias!"

"What?"

"He's saying thank you. Lance, let go and I'll find a stick for you."

"Puedo ser humano, pero mi alma es un perro."

"Si hermano. Now let go of Coran." Lance did so, racing out of the room with Hunk trailing afterwards. Pidge and Keith followed, wanting to see if their comrade would actually play fetch with a stick, and Shiro hesitated before tagging along, not keen on an actual injury happening.

"Coran, I believe it is yet again time to update the guide."

"Indeed."

Humans have the ability to throw with amazing speed and accuracy, developed from a young age. They are born with a larger natural aptitude for throwing, and improve upon it as they mature. If the word 'Kobe' is heard, assume that a Terran has thrown an object and most likely hit their target. Some humans enjoy throwing and catching objects more than is considered usual. These humans are likely to be more proficient at throwing, and should be given many opportunities to practice their skills.

Terrans also sometimes participate in competitive games called 'sports' or simple recreational games called 'catch'. These are based off their throwing abilities, and often including passing a specific item between players via throwing. Do not get directly between two or more players, as, while humans will often change their targets, they may be attempting a pass at that moment and the speed at which they throw could cause physical harm. Do not distract a player for this same reason.

Both Alteans and Galrans would need to train for over twenty decaphoebs to be at the same skill level as many mature humans are naturally. For an example of this, a clip is included of the Paladins of Voltron, who are all Terran, playing a game of 'catch'.

[harukamitsuki]

I don't think Lance should have swapped to the Red Lion.

TL;DR at the end.

Lance's connection to Blue was the first connection shown in the series, which makes it all the more meaningful, and it made no sense to the series own rules. Red is temperamental and difficult to control, which is why Keith was her paladin. I have defended Lance's piloting skills in a previous post, but he is not as good as Keith and does not suit the Red Lion. His affinity is water - as emphasised by the start of season 2. Red is aligned with water.

Plus, if he stayed in Blue he would have gotten a proper character arc by living by his own rules and standards and not in Keith's shadow. I know it was supposed to be symbolism - him accepting Keith as leader and not being selfish about it made him qualify as the right-hand man, but the others accepted him as well, despite ribbing Keith about it earlier.

If anyone should have gotten the role as the Red Paladin, it should have been Allura.

Allura as the Red Paladin would, not only make sense narratively, but would also seem right. Colour-wise, she's closer to Red's hue than Blue's, but honestly, I didn't really care about the colour match-up. What is important, is that it would seem like a much bigger deal than Lance accepting Keith as the leader. Lance hates Keith, but that's probably due to being constantly in his shadow and being compared to him, consistently reminded at the Garrison that he was only moved up because Keith was expelled.

Allura, however, has a deeper reason. (Lance's reason is still valid, btw, just not as big as Allura's). She hated Keith for a good portion of Season 2 because he is half-Galra. Obviously, to us, this is a shitty reason to hate someone. It's racism and the show doesn't handle this well. It doesn't handle a lot of stuff well, but whatever. She gives Keith the cold shoulder and Keith knows she hates him. He says so himself to Hunk and doesn't listen to his reassurances. Then again, Hunk was making jokes about something Keith was clearly sensitive about, so that may have had a hand in it too.

Now, I am not condoning her actions. She made Keith feel unwelcome in a team - a family - while he already has abandonment issues, (not that they knew that), and hated him for something he cannot control. Keith probably hated himself for being born. Both of them disregarded the fact that he is still a person with feeling and blood doesn't change that. Hunk too, as much as I love him, was also wrong in his 'Galra Keith' jokes, as if Keith was someone else entirely, when nothing changed apart from their knowledge.

However, what I am saying, is that Allura's reaction was, somewhat, believable and had a genuine reason - and a good one. The Galra Empire completely annihilated her species (as far as she's aware), betrayed the people she loved, and has monopolized entire planets and controlled them - forced them to work and even fight to the death for their entertainment. Apart from Ulaz, she hadn't a single good interaction with the Galra. One good person is not enough to change your opinion about entire races. I know people who are racist, proper racist, to their own race, no joke.

Allura's reaction was actually rather tame, especially compared to how extreme racism can be in the world, even now. She never rose a hand to Keith and kept it passive-aggressive. She gave him the cold shoulder and genuinely hated him, but she never hit him and she never deliberately sent him on a death mission. The Weblum mission was dangerous, but it was also a requirement and she didn't send him in alone. She may have refused to acknowledge his achievements, but she didn't blame him or accuse him of anything. It's likely that, when she saw him, all she saw was Galra. That being said, she wasn't a bad person, simply badly written. There are many people who hurt others for no reason - people who haven't been wronged in any way, but rate a community simply because they exist or they think they're lower than them or less human, which is wrong on so many levels. Allura, at least, had a good reason, though it should have been built on and written better.

In the end, Allura acknowledged her toxic attitude and apologised to Keith. This in and of itself does not make everything okay, but it's more than what Lance did, (virtually nothing except telling Keith that he has to be the leader). Allura knows she was wrong and sets out to make it right, and this development would have been solidified by her becoming the Red Paladin. Like, let's be honest. Lance does not treat Keith right and it's never explained why, in and outside of the show. He's the one antagonising Keith, even during their first proper meeting, and he's the only starting all the arguments, especially in season 2. Keith has been volatile too, I will admit, but he stops his behaviour in the second season. Lance is the one starting everything. Allura, however, stops her behaviour before it takes extreme lengths and becomes a better person and a better friend as a result. It's then that she calls Keith family for the first time, and becoming his right-hand would have shown how serious she was and how far they've come.

Seeing Allura, who, just the season prior, hated Keith's guts, accept Keith as her leader, the Black Paladin, become his right-hand, would have meant so much more. The symbolism goes even deeper. Red's first paladin was Altean and Black's was Galran. Need I say more? (No, but I will). Many of us were incredibly disappointed with the ending of Voltron, especially with Allura dying. The reason she died was to complete the circle, so to speak. The war against the Galra Empire truly started with the death of Allura's father, Alfor, and the entire species of Altea, and the war is finally ending with Allura and Honerva's death. That being said, it was just so insulting and pointless and nobody was happy. Instead of dying to complete the circle, Allura should have survived and broken the chain, for both herself and Red's own paladin tragedy. It was just a huge slap in the face for people who actually powered through seasons 7 and 8 and trusted the show to pull through and get its head together. I know that Shiro was supposed to get Black back, Keith goes back to Red and Allura controls the Atlas, but if that wasn't the plan, then Allura in Red would have made much more sense.

Additionally, the fight in that realm would have been more emotional if Allura was forced to fight her father and bring him back. Lance had no emotional attachment to Alfor, and I know that was the case with Hunk and Pidge, and Allura had attachment to all of the previous paladins, but still. Think about how heart wrenching it would have been for her to face her father, whom she loves dearly. he wouldn't have even recognised her and would have fought her with the intent to kill after his soul was trapped for 10,003 decapheobs/years. (I know they're different, but Allura says 10,000 years even when she didn't know what years were, so I didn't know if that was a mistake or not). Allura would not have been able to fight as well as she did against the Blue Paladin of Old.

Let's not forget that Allura was the one to convince Keith to take up the role of the Black Paladin. Of all the paladins, it was Allura who knew what to say; who knew why Keith was acting the way he was in season 3. Lance saw Shiro as his idol, Pidge as a legend, and Hunk as a mentor. Keith's relationship with Shiro is so much deeper than that. Shiro wasn't the youngest man to be sent into space. He wasn't someone to look up to. He didn't go to the Garrison because Shiro went there - he went there because Shiro convinced him. He doesn't see Takashi Shirogane, piloting prodigy, idol for all. He sees Takashi Shirogane, his best friend and brother, a man he can trust and how can trust him. Nobody else realises how deep this goes. Nobody but Allura. She's the only one to see how much Shiro meant to Keith. She's the one to call him 'irreplaceable' and she's the only one even by the end of the series, who isn't Keith, who has sacrificed something for him. Allura gave up her freedom for him by allowing herself to be captured, and then she gave up the crystal for his arm. Keith has saved Shiro many times, even his clone, and literally gave up his place in Voltron for Shiro. Allura trusts Keith and Keith allowed himself to trust her. She understands his pain when nobody else saw it.

Finally, Allura would have been inheriting Red from her father. Coran has explicitly said that Allura wanted to pilot Red due to her father piloting her. The Lions clearly have some amount of sentience, Red and Black especially. Black only opens themselves to Keith because he of Shiro. The first time, it's to save Shiro from death. The second, it's because Shiro wanted him to become the leader. Red only accepted Keith because he proved himself to her and has saved Keith many times while he's floating in space. She's described as temperamental, which suggest levels of sentience. Obviously, Red would have more of a soft spot for Allura, the daughter of her previous paladin, than she would for Lance, whom she only opens up to well into season 3 and is someone antagonised and even bullied Keith, her current/transitioning paladin. Allura also shows that she's fiercely loyal and is willing to give one up for the team.

Allura has sacrificed her only contact to her father, she has allowed herself to be kidnapped for Shiro, she has constantly exhausted herself for both her friends and strangers such as the Balmerans, she has given up the crystal in her crown for Shiro without hesitation, and she even dated Lance despite not showing any form of romantic attraction previously. (That last one was joke, obviously).

TL;DR - Lance has literally no reason to have become the Red Paladin outside of a rubbish character arc, and Allura has all the reasons. It would have marked an excellent character arc mid-point and would have set up a great ending, if handled well.

I have nothing but respect for the writers of Voltron for their work, especially after all the intervening of their higher-ups that caused many issues, especially regarding Shiro, Keith, Lance and Allura, who were all robbed of excellent character arcs. That doesn't mean I can't hate what came of it.

[cacophony-eg]

What if Haggar had no control over Kuron (Kuro)?

This one question started many other questions like What if Shiro didn’t Die? What if Lotor passed the White Lion Test? What if Lotor’s Colony of Altean’s didn’t exist? How all these things could happen in (mostly) the same universe?

First Lets Start with “what if Haggar had no control over Kuron?”

Kuron’s escape was an accident, also Kuron wouldn’t have any memories past his time as a gladiator.

(Cause sorry the fact that his memories were up to date made no sense to me. Because going by the show’s canon Shiro was gone, he died there was nothing left of him. Then given this as fact, how would they have gotten all of Shiro’s memories?

Haggar had shown no ability to see through or control the original Shiro, so there would be no way to have Kuron’s memories or the other clones memories up to date after original Shiro’s escape.)

Kuron would have no idea he was part of Voltron, have no memory of piloting the black lion.

During his escape, he still runs into Varkala and Remdax, whom Kuron has to convince that he is not a spy, that he’s just escaped from one of their labs. Once Kuron helps the two not so coordinative rebels against a Galra attack there wholeheartedly trust Kuron, though they keep saying they’re going to keep an eye on him.

Eventually, Varkala and Remdax catch an old broadcast from the Olkari looking for a male human. The two are like ‘hey we got one of those’ and they have to convince Shiro that it’s okay to contact the Okari about him and tell Shiro about Voltron. Explain how Voltron is fighting the oppression of the Galra, and how Voltron’s a force for good. They explain that most of the Voltron lions are piloted by humans. (and make a side note that it used to be piloted by all humans but something happened to one of them, though neither could remember what happened.)

Vakala gets in contact with the Olkari saying they have a human male on at their station, but their connection is so static and weak that the only thing the Olkari can confirm is that their’s a human male with them, and relay that information to the Voltron crew.

Pidge is the one to go investigate thinking it might be Matt, and to her shock she finds Shiro. Kuron introducing himself to the green paladin as if they have never met before. This confuses Pidge a great deal.

“Shiro don’t you recognize me?” Pidge asks taking off her helmet and Shiro nearly has a panic attack thinking she was Matt for a moment before he realizes the height and her voice is completely wrong.

“Katie?” Shiro says shocked, and they both tightly hug each other, both almost crying as Kuron starts apologizing for not being able to protect her brother and Father. As she assures him it’s alright that she knows.

Vakala asks Remdax if he thinks that little person was Shiro’s family or if all humans greet each other this way? Remdax can only shrug as they watch the emotional reunion.

Kuron than starts asking her a bunch of questions about how she became a paladin and how in the world do metal Lions fly. Pidge’s blood goes cold realizing Shiro has no memories of being a paladin or finding the blue lion on earth and is only calling her Katie never Pidge.

And when she tries telling Shiro that he used to be Voltron’s leader and the pilot of the black lion he doesn’t believe her.

Pidge gets in contact with Keith telling him she found Shiro but that he’s missing some of his memories and that she’s headed back with Shiro to the ship. Keith is so relieved and concerned about hearing the news about Shiro. Keith relays this information to the other paladins, Allura suggesting that the healing pods could help resort his memories as they did help restore some of his memories last time.

When Pidge and Kuron get back to the castle of lions, Shiro and Keith have a touching reunion. Kuron telling Keith that he always knew Keith was destined for greatness, then have a somewhat awkward reunion with Hunk, Lance, Allura and Coran. (one involving the confusion over who has what loin based on their colours) Shiro recognizes Hunk and Lance as Garrison cadets but not much else.

When Pidge tries to guild Kuron to the healing pods, he freakouts thinking they’re the same pods that the Galra had him trapped in. This surprised the group, Keith and Pidge manage to calm Kuron down assuring him he doesn’t have to go in it, they try asking him about what he remembered from being in the Galra pod and he does his best to tell them all he remembers though it’s not a lot.

Hunk and Allura use more traditional medical supplies to fix some of Shiro’s injuries. Lance offering to give Shiro a haircut, and Kuron agrees. Of course, Lance talks as he’s cutting Kuron’s hair, saying he gets why going into an alien pod is pretty freaking, but Lance explains why he’s pretty grateful for them as he probably wouldn’t have survived an explosion without them. This catches Kuron’s attention, as he starts viewing Lance more like a real soldier than a cadet and they talk about Lance’s experience in the pod and Kuron feels a little more comfortable about the pobs but admits he’s still not ready to go in one. Lance is very understanding and tells Kuron it’s okay for him to take his time.

While Kuron rests, the team starts talking and making theories as to what could have happened and how he lost his memory. (you know to begin the mystory of if this is really their Shiro or not.)

Since Kuron isn’t being controlled by Haggar and has no memory of being a paladin or piloting the black lion he’s not particularly bothered that the Black lion doesn’t respond to him. (The Black lion even goes as far and putting up its shield when Kuron approaches.) So there’s no tension between Keith and Shiro over that, though that doesn’t stop Kuron from getting easily irritated by Coran or argue with Allura and the others. Lance usually the one to step in between Allura and Shiro to settle them down and find a middle ground, cause Keith keeps falling into the habit of fallowing Shiro that it feels like Keith forgets he’s now the leader. Lance feels like Allura and Shiro can’t find compromises and is now the one doing his best to build a bridge between the two of them as now theirs a constant rift between the black paladin and the Princess.

Part 2: What if Shiro didn’t Die?

Keith is continually surprised by how Shiro’s reacting and even when Keith tries talking to Shiro about it the black paladin is unusually aggressive. Pidge ever the suspicious one asks to do a check-up on his cybernetic arm and Kuron wholeheartedly agrees, still calling Pidge, Katie more often than not. Pidge discovering that even though Kuron’s arm appears the same as Shiro’s old one it’s actually a new one made to look like Shiro’s old one.

Pidge takes Keith to the side and shows him this evidence, Keith says the galra could have just outfitted him with a new one to put him back in the gladiator rings or something like that. Pidge counters that logic; if the galra were going to do that they would have upgraded his arm not replaced it with a near replica. She also points out Shiro’s different behaviour and how the Black Lion treated this Shiro as if he was a complete stranger or as if an enemy was trying to pilot him. As if this Shiro wasn’t their Shiro.

Keith at first doesn’t want to believe Pidge, he desperately wants to believe that this is their Shiro, but as the team spends more time around this Shiro the more different he feels to Keith. Eventually, he comes back to Pidge and admits that this might not be their Shiro and if that’s the case they needed to find the real Shiro. Pidge glad he’s finally on the same page as her and shows all that she has found so far.

That point forward Keith and Pidge team up to find the real Shiro, under the guise that Keith is helping her to find Matt. Since her persistence is what leads them to find ‘Shiro’, Keith says it’s the least he can do. This in turn causes Lance to spend more time around Kuron since the other two people Kuron feels most comfortable with are constantly busy.

This eventually leads to Kuron falling for Lance and kissing the blue paladin. Lance goes through all the stages of Bisexual denial, before finally admitting to himself after a long talk with Hunk that yeah Lance likes Shiro and that he wanted to try and build a relationship with Shiro.

(Adds montage of fluffy Shlance or Kuance moments along with snippets of fluffy Kidge moments between hunting for the real Shiro.)

It takes some time but team wildfire eventually finds hints about a human male working with a vigilant team along the far outskirts of the known universe. To Keith’s and Pidge’s relief and surprise, they find both Shiro and Matt.

Apparently, the black lion teleported him to Matt when the male holt sibling was in desperate trouble. (flashback episode that also explains why Shiro’s hair is now completely white now maybe for the simple reason that the two-tone hair was driving Matt nuts. Matt thinking all silver hair looked better on Shiro then trying to turn it all black. Along with some other cute Shatt moments)

When Pidge and Keith come back with the real Shiro and Matt, Kuron of course has an identity crisis stating ‘he’s the real Shiro he had to be’. But to prove to the others who the real Shiro was Keith and Pidge have their Shiro go into the Black Lion, and the real Shiro is able to pilot the black lion with no resistance from said lion.

Kuron feels confused and betrayed the two people he remembered the most ( Memories of Katie and Keith were nothing but fakes.) But like always Lance is there assuring him what they have wasn’t fake that their relationship only started with him, not the other Shiro. Kuron finding comfort in knowing what he and Lance have is real and tightly holds onto Lance.

Lance chooses to step down as the pilot of the red lion, saying Kuron really needed him right now and knows Keith can handle red no problem. Lance comes up with Kuron’s new name to be Kuro.

Then the episode where the team almost gets destroyed by Haggar, Kuron’s the one that almost sacrifices himself before Lotor steps in to save everyone. There’s also hints of Lotor and Lance bonding since Lance is the only paladin not going on missions he’s the one that often tends to the locked up Lotor and gives him something to do besides being board all the time. Which also causes some jealousy from Kuro and Lance needing to reassure his boyfriend that he’s being nice to Lotor because he was the one to save Kuro’s life and that his greatest interest towards Lotor is figuring out what he uses for his hair to be so silky and shiny.

They defeat Zarkon in a very similar way to the show, (expect that Keith is also there this time around) though Pidge never fully trust Lotor since he kept information about her Dad a secret. Later on Keith is given a speical mission from the Blades that involves his mom but this time Pidge is there as well. Krolia silently impressed with how good of a hacker her son’s compion is, and approves of how close the two seem to be.

Part 3 What if Lotor passed the White Lion Test?

Lotor finds his own way of passing the final Oriande test against the White Lion. Doing it differently than Allura had but still passes. This leads to Lotor and Allura developing the White lion, by far the largest of all the lions.

The White Lion is so big that it splits into two smaller lions for movability and can fuse back together for massive attacks. Needing pilots that can completely trust eachother and work together, Lance and Kuro are chosen by the white lion, both of them being gifted with a bayard and Kuro becomes the white paladin.

High jinx ensues as Lance and Kuro figure out how to pilot the white lion as both one unite and two separate units. Lance taking on the teacher role as he tries to help Kuro understand how to pilot a lion. (as again Kuro has no memory or knowledge of how to pilot any of the lions.) And after going between Blue to Red lion and now to White, Lance feels like he’s getting pretty used to handling all different types of lions. (giving Lance a nice character arch about adaptability.)

Lotor learns to be the new pilot of the castle of lions though still feels guilty over killing Narti and it takes time to reconcile with his old team. With Coran and Krolia there to help, now that she’s found her son she is sticking around.

(Tough without the two years on the time whale, Keith and his mom’s reconciliation is slow going.) Eventually Keith, Pidge and his mom all go on a mission together and they discover a puppy space wolf. Keith feeling sorry for the pup that just lost his parents and Pidge encourages him to keep him. Though he says he has to give him a name and Keith is very confused why he can’t just call the pup wolf.

The team all do their part to try and have Keith and his mom have some bonding time. through they both seem to really enjoy the digital training sessions that Pidge makes for them. The first time Keith ever calls Krolia mom is when she strongly suggest that Keith should date Pidge while standing right infront of Pidge and the rest of the team. Getting a very embarrassed ‘MOM!’ out of Keith. Lance coeing off to the side going ‘awe their officially family now’.

And Lastly: What if Lotor’s Colony of Altean’s never happened?

The Altean Colony thing doesn’t happen, Lotor never created it. Lotor has a whole new level of self-respect as he now not only proved his abilities as a warrior when he became emperor he also proved himself as an alchemist by helping to create the White lion. So now their main enemy is Sendak and the Galra who follow him and refuse to become peaceful and still want to follow Zarkon’s original plans of galactic domination.

Even Sendak eventually brushes Haggar (or Honerva) aside which leads to his downfall and Haggar’s heightened desperation. So just as the enemy Galra seems defeated (after sacrificing the castle ship in the last battle against Sendak) They all try heading to Earth, as without the castle all their lions are low on power and having trouble connecting to anyone, and Earth according to their maps is the next friendless planet.

They get to earth but have to deal with being treated like an enemies before they manage to get people to listen to them. Thanks to Sam Holt vouching for the Voltron team. All the Paladins get their family reunion. Lance introduces Kuro as his family saying he’s Shiro’s twin brother, Kuro surprised and grateful for the warm welcome.

Shiro and Adam get to have their reunion though it’s bitter sweet. Adam pretty much stated that they would never work, that there was a bigger gap between them, then before and that too much they didn’t understand about each other. That Adam can’t be the one by Shiro’s side, but points out that there’s clearly someone who understands what Shiro’s been through and gets Shiro in ways he never could. Adam glances over at Matt who keeps looking at the reunited ex-boyfriends and shyly blushes and looks away when Shiro and Adam look at him.

Honerva does find a way to split between relatives, entering the reality the team had been in during the Hole in the Sky. And not only does she recruit the Alteans in that reality, but she also becomes their empress. Bringing an army of Alteans that have had 10,000 years to advance their technology and when they take prisoners they turn those prisoners into mindless allies increasing their numbers with each victory.

This pushes the teams skills and abilities to the max, because they can’t just destroy their enemy when many of them are allies turned against them against their will. It makes the whole team have to ask hard questions and this also gives the Galra a way to make up for past sins as they fight these intruding Alteans from another reality and since these Alteans have never fought Galra before as they were wiped out thousands of years ago. They are completely thrown off by Galra’s way of victory or death. Altean’s not used to alien creatures risking their life for victory. 

Lotor and Allura have to come to grips with their views on altean culture and how all of it is not perfect. Lotor becomes a great leader for the Galra and Allura eventually becomes a leader to those Alteans that wish for a different way of life who don’t wish to conquer others and want true peace with compromises not forced servitude.

This then causes the Altean rebels and Lotor’s Galra to team up, uniting the two races in a way that hasn’t happened in 10,000 years. (Giving greater purpose to Allura and Lotor having feelings for each other and becoming co-leaders to their united people.)

And that’s how all these things could happen in one universe.

(Sorry there was quite a few other plot points I didn’t touch on such as Lotor’s generals, Rombelle and many others but this is long enough as it is.)

[velkynkarma]

merry april fools day! what about a whump fic where Allura and Coran end up taking care of a bundle of sick humans in their paladins (plus whichever else of the humans are present on the Castle at the time)

You got it! This exists in a miraculous AU where Shiro didn’t die/disappear into the void, Keith still stays at the Castle, and the Castle still exists, because I Can. Also Kosmo is here for some reason, even though it doesn’t technically line up with any timeline. It’s silly sickfic, who cares about timelines, amirite?

———

Allura stares down at the box of recipe cards in her hands and wonders, not for the first time, how she got into this mess.

Well, she knows how, in the broad sense, at least. The team had liberated another planet to join the Voltron Coalition, and had taken part in a wonderful celebration the Kazenites had thrown in thanks. It had been a very nice party, actually. The food was positively divine, and the entertainment had been enjoyable. There had even been a parade, which had cheered Lance in particular immensely. Everyone had fun.

But the next day, everyone—well, almost everyone—had been bedridden, complaining of illness. And the symptoms were positively disgusting. Elevated temperature, mucus-filled noses that made breathing difficult, aches and soreness all over, harsh, wet coughs, and the...expunging of their innards. 

The discovery had been frankly revolting.

But Allura was fine. Even Coran, who was an older Altean gentleman, and more prone to some illnesses, remained equally unaffected. They aren’t sure what the cause is—food that humans couldn’t handle, or perhaps a local pathogen on Kazenar—but it seemed only those from Earth had been affected.

It at least meant they weren’t helpless. Allura could wormhole them away if they ran into significant Galra opposition, or handle a smaller force with Coran’s assistance, between the Castle and the Blue Lions. But it did leave the two of them with five humans to care for—a daunting prospect at the best of times.

“Chicken soup,” she murmurs, repeating the phrase Hunk had given her. “Chicken soup…” She frowns. “What exactly is a chicken, and why would one make soup out of it?” 

She wonders if it’s anything like the ‘cow,’ Kaltenecker. Perhaps they extract a liquid substance from these ‘chickens’ to consume as a health food.

The thought alone makes her feel sick to her stomach. She certainly hopes she won’t need to extract chicken-liquid. She will do it for her friends, if she absolutely must, but she does not look forward to the prospect. 

It truly is a pity that whatever this illness is, is resistant to both her healing abilities learned through alchemy, and the healing pods. Those were the first things they’d tried, when they’d realized the situation was serious. 

Unfortunately, the box of recipe cards Hunk had directed her to yields no answers. She had found the box in the kitchen easily enough. But the handwriting on each of the cards, presumably belonging to Hunk, is in a language she doesn’t recognize. She assumes this is some variant of Earthese, but she’s not familiar enough with the characters to be able to decode any of it.

She sighs in frustration, and sets the box on the counter, staring at the cards. Sadly, willing them to become legible doesn’t change anything.

“Why must it be chicken soup?” she mutters. “And why me?” 

Well...she knows the answers to those questions too, really. Coran had already tried to make a big batch of terskargal for the paladins, the moment he and Allura had discovered they were all sick. The scent brought back fond memories of old dinners, cozy mornings indoors during the cool season on Altea, and moments of comfort when she had been sick ten thousand years ago. 

Unfortunately, the humans had not taken to it so kindly. Shiro had reacted the most politely, in that he had simply said, “No thank you, really,” but his face had turned an interesting shade of green that Allura hadn’t thought non-camouflage based humans capable of. Lance and Pidge had been forced to suppress gags that had threatened to bring up whatever else might be in their stomachs. Hunk had thrown up, and asked why one would ever feed something that smelled so revolting to an ill person. Keith, by far the least affected of the group, had still threatened to throw his bowlful of terskargal out the nearest airlock. 

Needless to say, it had not gone over well for a number of reasons. Allura is a little offended that something so comforting to her and her culture could be rejected so blatantly out of hand. But then again, they do also drink cow secretion and think it is delicious. Human taste simply cannot be accounted for.

But it did mean the humans blatantly refused to eat anything prepared by Coran, and they did need nutrients while they were ill. Which meant Allura had been recruited for cooking some variant of human food, in addition to her other caretaking tasks. Coran had instead adjusted to laundering fresh bedding for the humans, and working in the infirmary to synthesize a medicinal cure their bodies could actually process safely.

There is just one problem: Allura is not a terribly skilled cook.

In her defense, cooking was never considered to be a necessary skill-set for an Altean princess. By her tutors’ own words, she had excelled in acceptable subjects—history, military tactics, diplomacy, dance, crystal engineering, etiquette, piloting, energy manipulation, and advanced weapons training in multiple disciplines. Cooking had never been one of those important duties. As a princess, she was expected to have cooks for that. 

Still, her friends are sickly, and she would like them to feel better. Sometimes, that means learning something new to heal, even if it is a monumental or difficult task. She will attempt to make this chicken soup, or die trying.

Even if it does mean milking a chicken. 

She shudders.

She’ll have to interpret the cards, though, before she can do anything. Pidge had a working knowledge of both the Earth language and Altean. But Pidge was also—if Plachu’s recent mental message was accurate—finally dozing after emptying the contents of her stomach into a bucket for the third time in the last varga. Allura doesn’t have the heart to wake her, not until she has some working chicken soup to offer. 

So she does the next best thing, and heads to the lounge to bother Keith instead.

Of the five humans, Keith’s illness is comparatively minor. Which is to say that he’s not throwing up as often as the others, and can maintain a coherent conversation without spinning off into delirious ramblings or passing out. Allura suspects his Galra heritage is giving him some degree of resistance to the illness, whatever it is. 

It means Keith has also been her and Coran’s on-call expert any time they need to ask a question about human physiology, or their requirements while ill. After the fifth time they’d knocked on his door to inquire about how much hydration was strictly necessary or which remedies were most common on Earth, he’d finally rolled out of bed and muttered, “I’m just gonna sleep on the couch in the lounge. Less walking for you.”

It had, admittedly, made things a little easier for her and Coran in the long run. So there was that.

Allura finds him in the same spot as before in the lounge, sprawled out lengthwise on one of the couches. Coran had supplied him with several extra pillows and blankets, along with the things they’d so far discovered were important for human health when ill: a pouch of water, and a metal basin for when they inevitably threw it up. Allura is thankful to see that the pouch of water is three-quarters gone, and the basin is completely empty. Cleaning those out is...not an entertaining process. 

It’s hard to tell if Keith is awake or not, as his head is currently sandwiched between two pillows. A light blanket covers him. So does Kosmo, who is sprawled out at full cosmic wolf length along the couch, wedged against the couch back and half on top of Keith. His long muzzle rests on Keith’s chest and his nose is buried in what is presumably a comforting fashion in the crook of Keith’s neck, just under the edge of the topmost pillow.

Allura can’t even begin to imagine how any of that is comfortable, but to each their own, she supposes.

Kosmo’s ears flick up as she approaches, and the wolf’s gleaming yellow eyes roll to the side to watch her enter the room. “Is he awake?” she whispers. 

Kosmo snuffs, and flicks one ear. 

She’s not really sure what she expected, really. They’ve had enough evidence to indicate the cosmic wolf is at least as intelligent as the average human being, but communication is not one of his strengths.

She sighs, but approaches slowly and gently nudges Keith’s shoulder. A congested, muffled snort sounds under the pillow, and then one of Keith’s arms slowly raises to peel it back. He stares blearily at Allura. “What’s wrong now?” he mutters, after a long moment.

“I’m sorry to wake you,” she apologizes. “However, Hunk has instructed me to make chicken soup. I’m not sure how to go about doing so, as the cards with the instructions aren’t in Altean.” And then, before she can lose the nerve to ask, “It won’t require me to milk a chicken, will it?”

Keith stares at her blankly for so long that Allura is afraid he’s grown as ill as the others. She’s been reliably informed that when human body temperature surpases a certain level of internal heat, human brain function can become unreliable. She’s already witnessed it in a few instances and can attest that it’s real. 

She’s about to feel Keith’s forehead—this is also, she’s been informed, a reliable way to measure human temperature without an instrument on hand—when he shakes his head. “No. No...milking chickens. Ew.”

That offers at least some relief. Allura lets out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. 

“Can you find the card for me?” Allura asks, offering him the box of recipe cards. “And translate it? I will do the rest.”

Keith grumbles under his breath, but dutifully starts to sit up after a moment. Kosmo helps by poofing off of his chest, and reappearing behind him, giving him a large cosmic wolf to help him sit upright against. “Alright. Fine.”

“Thank you,” Allura says gratefully. “I really did not wish to disturb your rest, but I did not see any other option.”

“S’fine,” Keith mutters, as he painstakingly opens the box of recipe cards, and starts flicking through them. It takes him longer than it should, which is a mark of the illness’ effect on him; Keith is normally quite dexterous and quick. The way he squints at each of the cards is certainly far from normal, too. “How’s everyone else doing?”

“Let me check.” Allura closes her eyes, and reaches out with her mental connection to her mice companions.

Keeping track of five human beings had proven a difficult task, especially with all of them ill to varying states, and with Allura and Coran required to perform multiple duties. To that end, Allura had come up with an alternative solution: assigning each of her mice friends to one of the paladins. With a mouse stationed in each room, the humans could be monitored consistently. If the mice thought there was a health concern, Allura could focus on that paladin immediately. 

Keith was the exception, stationed in the lounge. But he had Kosmo, and Allura figured the cosmic wolf would be intelligent enough to hunt her or Coran down in the event his master took a turn for the worse.

The check in with the mice yields results fairly quickly. Chuchule reports Shiro sleeping fitfully and waking repeatedly from bad dreams. They will need to find something to settle him so he can actually begin to rest and recover. 

Platt shares that Hunk is out of water again, which means Allura will need to stop by soon to replenish the fresh water packs. It is imperative the paladins stay as hydrated as possible or risk becoming sicker. 

Chulatt is of the opinion that Lance’s temperature has risen, which has been a problem with their sharpshooter all day. Allura will need to prepare another cold compress to try and help bring his temperature down again. 

Plachu reports no change from when Allura had checked in five doboshes ago. Pidge at least is thankfully still sleeping, although the basin she had been vomiting into will need to be cleaned out again. Allura can’t help but sigh.

Honestly. Human illness makes no sense. The slipperies make sense. Stomach parasites make sense. Quintessence weakness makes sense. Randomly becoming unable to breathe easily, overheating, and vomiting for this long, because of visiting a planet? Absurd. 

“The same as before,” Allura says, as Keith stops slowly flicking through the cards to give her his best attempt at an inquisitive look. “After you find the card and translate it for me, I will bring them new supplies, and then begin cooking.”

Keith nods slowly, and goes back to his task.

It takes him about five doboshes, but towards the back of the box he finally selects one card and tugs it out. “This one,” he says, and reads out loud, “ ‘Mama Hunk’s Homemade Chicken Soup Recipe, space-ified.’” 

“Excellent!” Allura claps her hands together once, and regrets it immediately when Keith winces at the noise. “I’m sorry, she says, contrite. “Please...just translate the instructions for me, and I will do the rest.”

She brings up a holographic screen linked to the Castle’s main database. Whatever she types up here she can easily reach back in the kitchen. She waits expectantly as Keith squints at the card, skimming it once. 

“Ingredients’re listed first,” he says finally. “One cup of rice or rice equivalent—”

Allura’s heart immediately sinks. “Wait. What?”

Keith blinks at her, then slowly looks back to the card. “One cup of rice or—”

“No, no, I heard you,” Allura says, a little helpless. “But...a cup? As in, a drinking cup, full of a food item? And what is rice?” 

Keith stares at her for a long moment. He blinks slowly, and Allura can almost hear his brain trying to process. Finally, he says, “This isn’t going to go as easy as you thought, huh.” 

Humans. She is great friends with them, she respects them for their adaptability and survival skills and potential to learn and create so much. 

But often, they simply make no sense. 

———-

Allura is forced to take a detour from that poor attempt at decoding chicken soup to deal with her patients.

She makes her rounds with the paladins, dragging a hovering tray with her piled with supplies. She plies them with fresh water and herbal teas and little crackers and cajoles them to at least try them, checks everyone’s temperatures (higher than they should be, but not too dangerous), and cleans out the basins. The last is a truly vile task, but a princess should never expect her people to do something she wouldn’t do herself, no matter how abhorrent. 

Some are better patients than others. Shiro wearily thanks her for her assistance and does his best to insist she doesn’t need to focus on him, which she politely disregards. Hunk is asleep by the time she arrives, somewhat thankfully, so he doesn’t have to hear what a debacle the chicken soup fiasco is. Pidge is mostly just happy to have the smell of her basin gone. Lance is possibly the worst; it takes Allura a full five doboshes to convince him to let her assist with a new cold compress and to measure his temperature, as he is, in his own words, “too ugly and gross to even look at right now.” 

By the time that exhausting task is done and she returns to the kitchen, Keith is there. 

He’s bundled up in one of his blankets and sitting haphazardly at one of the stools adjacent to the counter, with a pillow on said counter and his head flopped on the pillow. Kosmo sits dutifully by his side, attentive just in case his chosen human decides to pass out and collapse to the floor. 

“I can help you figure out the soup,” he mumbles into the pillow. He sounds half asleep, but his grayish eyes manage to meet Allura’s as she stares at him, bewildered. “Never made it, but I know what it’s supposed to look like. Kinda. It’ll...it’ll look different with space ingredients, but. Yeah.”

This is one of the most talkative moments she’s ever heard out of Keith, and yet simultaneously one of his more jumbled sentences. Still, Allura is impressed.

Impressed, but not so sure this is a good idea. “You should be resting,” she chastises.

“Shiro and the others need the soup,” Keith argues. It’s less heated than his usual arguments to search for or protect Shiro and the others, but this is probably due to the fatigue and the fact that his stuffed nose makes him sound a bit distorted. “It makes you feel better. And you don’t have medicine yet, so we need the soup.”

Allura sighs. “I would be grateful for your help,” she admits. “But if you strain yourself too much, I will forcibly drag you back to the couch, if need be.”

“I’ve got a teleporting wolf,” Keith argues, a little petulantly. That is highly unusual, but probably another sign of illness. “I can come back.”

By the way Kosmo flattens his ears and half closes his eyes—an approximate summation of an annoyed expression if Allura has ever seen one—she has a feeling Kosmo will not be compliant with that particular rebellious attempt. She smiles understandingly at him. 

“Alright,” Allura says. “Let’s try this again.”

Keith manages to explain, in between sniffles and coughs, that ‘cups’—along with ‘teaspoons’ and ‘tablespoons’—are a measurement system for dry and wet goods from one large country on Earth that Hunk hails from. Allura at least knows not to dump an entire drinking cup of food items into the pot she’s procured, but that doesn’t help her know what to actually measure.

Hunk has saved her in this regard, though. Keith produces a second card from the box. “Found this when I looked through again,” he mumbles. “S’got measurement translations. Like doboshes to minutes. But for food.” 

That does help. Allura learns very quickly that it’s two quarzaks to a cup, a tablespoon is three quarters of a sestent, and a teaspoon is half of a glurzark, and after that everything makes a lot more sense. She finds the measuring materials that Coran had pulled out for the terskargal earlier, and from there it’s mostly a matter of translating Hunk’s bizarre recipe into sensible measurements.

Knowing what foods to use is a little trickier. But Keith eventually spots a large piece of paper taped to the fridge, and when Allura brings it to him, it’s a list of food equivalents for easy reference. She now understands, for example, that ‘rice’ is an Earth food, but that Hunk has determined it’s comparable to boiled teslak grain. 

After that, it’s just a matter of properly parsing the ingredients, chopping them into smaller pieces, and carefully measuring. That part is simple by comparison. It’s a lot like rudimentary alchemy, and she had always enjoyed her father’s early alchemy books.

In the end, the pot on the stove bubbles merrily with some Earth concoction. It doesn’t smell as comforting as Coran’s terskargal, but it’s not unpleasant, and there was—thankfully—no need to milk any chickens, as Keith had promised. The chicken, as it turned out, was the shredded and boiled meat of the creature on their homeworld. Although it had been replaced with alkecha bird in this case, which Hunk had determined had a similar nutrition content. 

Kieth dozes against the counter, face mashed into his pillow, with Kosmo’s muzzle resting gently on his knee. He hasn’t been needed for the last half a varga, now that Allura has an understanding of what she’s doing, but now is the moment of truth. She ladles some of the soup into a bowl, and nudges Keith’s shoulder gently. “I believe it’s done. Would you give it a try?”

Keith blinks awake. Allura places the bowl and spoon on the table. Keith gives it an experimental stuffy sniff before scooping up some of the vegetables, broth, and shredded blue meat, blowing to cool it, and giving it a try. 

“Well?”

He considers. “Think it’s okay,” he says, after a moment. “Had to tell with my nose stuffed. It’s not that other stuff Coran tried to feed us, though—”

“—terskargal,” Allura supplies helpfully.

“—so I think the others could stomach it,” Keith finishes. 

It’s not exactly glowing praise, but Allura will take it. “Thank you for your help,” she says, smiling. “I’ll leave the bowl for you—please try to eat it, and then go lay down again. Kosmo—make sure he does both of those things. We want him to feel better, too.”

Kosmo takes his muzzle off of Keith’s knee and offers her a flick of the ears and an almost human nod. Keith mutters to himself tiredly, but pulls the bowl closer to eat.

Allura fills several more bowls and sets them on a hovering tray, along with more water and other supplies the team might need. The mice haven’t reported anything alarming, but it never hurts to be proactively prepared. She leaves one of the bowls on the floor for Kosmo, who gives her an appreciative wuff of thanks before sticking his nose in it, and then pulls the tray after her to the paladin’s quarters.

Hunk is the first stop, for the real test of her cooking capabilities. Allura knocks and lets herself in at Hunk’s weak acknowledgement, and smiles sympathetically at the human flopped uncomfortably in bed. “I used your recipe and created some of that chicken soup of yours,” Allura says. “Would you like to try it?”

Hunk’s eyes light up. “Do I!” he says. “Mama Hunk’s recipe is good for the stomach. Keeps you fed and from throwing it up again.” And based on how wan he looks, he certainly needs the nutrients. All of them do—they’ve been throwing up all quintent. Keeping down even a little bit will do them all wonders.

“It’s my first time cooking it,” Allura says, as she sets one of the bowls and a glass of water on a smaller floating tray. “You’ll have to let me know what you think.” 

She helps Hunk sit up, propping him with several pillows. Hunk is not at his strongest, but he does manage to take a spoonful of soup, blowing it on it carefully before trying. He swallows, considers, and finally says, “For your first time, it’s not too bad. Way better than that other stuff Coran gave us.”

That does seem to be the general opinion. Why, Allura will never understand. Terskargal has got to be better than this.

“I’m glad it is acceptable,” Allura says, smiling, and keeping her true thoughts to herself. “Will you be okay to eat while I deliver the rest to the others?” 

“Sure,” Hunk says. “They should definitely all get some.” He sniffles uncomfortably, but then helps himself to another spoonful of soup. “It’ll definitely help everyone feel better. Good healthy stuff in here.” 

“I’m glad to hear it,” Allura says. “I’ll be back to collect your dishes in a little bit.”

The next varga is a busy one, as Allura delivers the rest of the soup, helps everyone sit up and get acclimated, and supervises in the cases where her patients are a little too wobbly or disoriented to be left with a hot bowl of liquids alone. The mice, thank the ancients, are invaluable in monitoring the process, keeping her updated on everyone’s status as she rotates room to room. By the time she’s finished making sure everyone has eaten and hydrated, collected the dirty dishes, refilled on water, cleaned out basins again, and made a mental note of which paladins’ sweat-dampened sheets need to be changed by Coran (something that does make sense to her as an Altean), she’s exhausted. 

Keith, at least, is no trouble. She swings through the lounge to check on him, on her way back with the dirty dishes. He’s sound asleep again on the couch, with Kosmo once more stretched out atop him, nose snuggled into Keith’s neck. His empty bowl has been left neatly in the sink, and Kosmo’s is out of the way on the floor, licked clean.

Allura wearily collects the dishes and sets them into the automated cleaner. The rest of the soup is still kept warm on the stove, ready if anyone else needs it. She’ll need to check in soon with Coran on his progress, but for now, everyone is as cared for as can be, at least for the moment. 

Really, caretaking is so much work. Especially with five humans to look after. She has much more appreciation for her mother, and for Coran, and the servants of ten thousand years ago. But she’s proud of herself, too, for being able to handle it all. Who would have thought looking after five sick paladins would be more exhausting than an entire Voltron battle? 

At least she’d done it, and everyone had looked marginally better after the soup. No one can ever say she wouldn’t do anything for her friends. And she hadn’t even been required to milk a chicken.

Thank the ancients for small favors.

[eldunea]

Will Magic and the Divine Power of Humanity

there are six elements to altean magic: white, black, fire, water, air and earth. the latter four are known as the physical magics, whereas the former two are called the metaphysical magics. of the magical forms, white is said to be the strongest, followed by black, and then fire/water/air/earth are the next step down and are all equally strong. the most powerful specific form is a white-element practice known as will magic.

will magic is the ability to control the flow of events, particularly historical events, just by thinking of their course. it is the deepest and most powerful of all altean magics, and it is one that for alteans takes centuries to master. it is subtle, never manifesting in huge explosions (fire magic) or ferocious bolts of lightning (air magic), but rather in the ebb and flow of the future’s currents. it’s also distinct from other forms of magic due to--and this is the most important part--the lack of apparent or actual effort from the caster, to the point that it is impossible to prove without an advanced magic tracer whether any magic was used at all. for example, let’s say you have a crush on a guy who you’ve never spoken to and who doesn’t even know you exist. directly going into his mind and mind-controlling him to be your boyfriend is not will magic, it’s psychic abilities (and also a really shitty use of them). but if you merely wish that he becomes your boyfriend and events transpire to bring you together without you doing anything else supernatural, that is will magic.

will magic is extremely powerful once perfected--if there is no equally powerful magic going against it, it basically allows the caster to get anything they want. however, it takes a very monklike mentality to master; in the same way that you need to give your life at oriande to receive the secret of life, you need to accept a complete lack of control in order to harness the secret of complete control. (this explains why lotor has never been able to master will magic--he tries so hard to control everyone and everything around him!) not only that, in the early stages--which could last for a century or more--you won’t be able to get much of anything, because the more improbable your wish is, the stronger the magic you need. going back to the boyfriend example--if he’s a fellow college student, it doesn’t take much magic to chuck the two of you together in the same mandatory class and have the teacher pair you up for the semester’s first project. but if he’s a super-famous celeb who you currently have no real way of meeting, you need to be like a level 100 will magic caster to draw him in and you probably aren’t.

for their one million years of existence, alteans have pondered the depths of will magic--a great universal secret that they have only ever scratched the surface of understanding. they did, however, have some idea of the genes that could make will magic possible. during the first altean empire and their creation of the human race through experimentation, they experimented on inserting will magic genes into us and tweaking them; they used us in the same way that medicines are tested on animals first, as a basis for whether they could enhance their own genetic code to create the potential for will magic that can dominate the universe. but testing early human will magic did not work, since even their most advanced magic tracers at the time proved inadequate to demonstrate whether will magic existed in us--and nobody could agree on any other signs of proof. eventually, we were given up as magicless flops, and abandoned to live on our own. but the alteans’ attempts at creating the ultimate will magic users did not fail. in fact, they succeeded exponentially more than any of the scientists ever dared think.

humans are, in fact, a deeply magical species. we may not be able to cast lightning bolts or create illusions like our altean ancestors, but our will magic is the most powerful in the universe. unlike other magical races, who may spend lifetimes studying the craft and never mastering it, we have the capacity to use it flawlessly from the moment we’re born. thanks to our genetic code, we are the only species in the universe who has managed to bypass the drastic mindset shift of accepting lack of control to get will magic. many humans, no matter who they are or how they think, can use will magic to an extent that poor lotor--and many other alteans--can only dream of.

our will magic outdistances that of even the semidivine alteans. even a newborn human baby has more potential for will magic in their little finger than some adult alteans have in their entire bodies. alteans angst over perfecting this elusive craft for decades and even centuries, but when a human child makes a simple wish upon a star, they’re almost bound to get what they want without even trying. on a broader scale, entire altean peoples have tried and failed to will the course of history to their benefit. but the overthrow of monarchies, the veneration of human rights, the continued survival of so many peoples who were threatened with extermination--that was the power of human will magic at work. we would never have emerged from our feudal chains into a world of democracy and prosperity without our species’ indomitable will to make the world better; the spirit of democracy itself is a product of our hidden divinity, a manifestation of our subconscious understanding that we are truly governed not by emperor’s edicts but by the power invested in each of us. when republics around the world say they rule by the will of the people, they literally rule by the will of the people.

our immense amounts of will magic also explain why our lifespans of 100 years are so short compared to the 1,500-year lives of our predecessors. the sheer amount of divine power within our bodies ages us faster, burning us out like candles--in contrast to the alteans, who have just enough divinity to live extremely long lives. also, ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? that’s will magic at work--if you keep telling yourself the narrative that you can’t do something, you’re magically cursing yourself to never do it. but the most important thing in this post that human will magic entails? it’s the reason why team voltron has won every single fight that was ever depicted in the voltron series. voltron is ridiculously overpowered and more or less unbeatable because it combines an incredibly strong manifestation of altean alchemy with five of the strongest will magicians in the universe: the paladins. voltron unites the supernatural best of the universe’s most magically powerful species, creating a juggernaut that only gods themselves can truly oppose.

our wishes decide our fates. our thoughts carve the course of history. knowing this, descartes’ famous saying deserves an addition:

We think, therefore we are. We think, therefore it is.

[snaileer]

Chips & Salsa Chp 3

Quick recap from last chapter:

Lance winced and grit his teeth, stumbling forward again before straightening harshly, “This is sweet and all but I’ve really got to go.”

“Why,” Pidge asked, her voice betraying the anger on her face for desperation, “We just got you back from the Galra and now you’re trying to leave! Why?!”

Lance’s eyes narrowed with a cold hardness to them, “Because they chipped me like a f*cking dog and I’d bet you they’ve already called Animal Control on my ass.”

x--x--x

“What?” Everyone paused at the declaration. “What do you mean they chipped you?”

“I mean, they held me down and played a rousing game of Operation as they put a piece of metal inside my body like the bunch of purple furry creeps they are.” Lance bitterly ground out the words. It may have seemed like a joke but they could tell it was just a cover.

“And if they put a chip in you, they can track you anywhere you go and you need-” 

“I need to leave,”  -  “You need our help.” Keith and Lance finished the sentence at the same time, though in vastly different ways

“Lance, why would you leave!?” Keith whipped around to face Lance from standing next to him.

“Because I’m a danger to you. I’m putting you in danger just by being here!”

“We can fix this. We can get rid of the chip, we can help!” Pidge cut in again.

“Not without the Galra finding us first, I don't even know where they put the chip! Once they find out I’m gone, they’re going to come for me! And they’re going to find me... I can't be here when they do, I can't put you guys in more danger, not again.” Lance’s voice was still angry and defiant, but it also sounded a little guilty. As if Lance had any responsibility for what was happening.

“Lance, you’re not-” Keith seemed ready to start up another full-blown argument, but not before Hunk cut in from his surprised silence.

“What if we were able to temporarily disrupt the chip long enough to get it out?” Or maybe not surprised silence, but planning silence.

“How?” Lance turned his head to Hunk, finally stopping his lackluster struggle against Allura. He seemed to be honestly considering the possibility; it was progress.

“Well, remember when we were first fighting Zarkon, and he kept chasing us around the galaxy but we couldn’t figure out how he was finding us?”

“You mean when Allura and Keith decided to run away together in a fit of teenage angst and endanger the whole team? Why yes, Hunk, I do remember that.” Shiro threw a glare at his brother and the princess, who had the good sense to look mildly ashamed. He turned back to Hunk, “But what does that disaster have to do with this one?”

“Well, when we were still trying to figure it out, and before we knew it was the Black Lion’s connection, Allura wormholed us into a space storm that we thought would disrupt their trackers. So...” Hunk seemed to be rambling a little bit, losing certainty as he talked.

“Sooo, if we can find another metallic storm like that one, it would cause enough interference to give us time to remove the chip!” Pidge caught onto the idea quickly and gained confidence the more she thought it through, “Hunk, you're a genius!”

“So, Lance, are you willing to work with us on this? Take a chance?” Shiro looked to Lance with hope and determination. They were so close to being done with all of this.

“I’m sensing I don't actually have much of a choice, do I?” Lance said with a small chuckle at his friends.

“You always have a choice with us. But not this time, not really, no.” Shiro chuckled back with a smile. Lance had barely been back for more than an hour and the team was already healing, he could tell.

“If I let go of you now, you’re going to stay then?” Allura asked.

“Yeah, Princess, you’re good. I’ll stay,” Allura finally released her grip and stepped back, “But only to see if this works, if you can’t get rid of the chip, I will leave. You have to let me leave.”

“Lance, no. We can't do that-” Hunk started, but Lance interrupted him with a stern look.

“Promise me,” Lance looked at all of them, even Coran who’d approached at some point, “Promise me, if we can’t stop the Galra from tracking me, you’ll let me leave.”

“But we-”

“Fine,” Shiro stopped the other’s arguments, “We promise to let you go if we can't fix this,” he paused again, “But I trust in our team’s capabilities, you should too, Lance.” Then he stepped back and led everyone back to the bridge for Allura to wormhole.

Everyone would be lying if they said it didn’t make them smile when Lance sat down in the Blue Paladin chair.

“Whenever you’re ready, Allura, I’ve entered the coordinates for the strongest storm I could find nearby. Zylo-Tuun Quadrant actually. Why, I remember my first trip to Zylo-Tuun, on the planet Ghakin, ugly planet that one, too far from Altea, the people there were too hard, in my opinion. Nothing like you squishy humans.” And by the time Coran was finished talking, they’d already made it to the other side of the wormhole. The team stood to head off to the medbay. Except Lance.

“Lance, you coming?” The dazed look on Lance’s face made them hesitate, but it disappeared with a quick shake of his head as Lance got up and walked over to the group. 

“I’m fine you guys, just ready to get rid of this thing. I just want to get back to normal.”

“That we can do,” Coran moved behind them down the hall, “First, I’ll need to do a scan of your body to find the quiznacking thing before we remove it.”

“And how do we do that, Coran?” Shiro asked as they entered the medbay, blatantly ignoring the left-over mess and bits of shattered glass on the floor.

“Just need you to step into the stasis pod. It’s not going to close, so no need to worry about that, my boy.” Coran motioned to Lance and moved him into the open pod. A blue light projection scanned over his body and caused something to beep on Coran’s holo-pad. Lance stepped out of the pod.

“Oh-no,” Coran’s aura of cheerfulness drooped as he looked from the pad to the team.

“What is it Coran? What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing’s wrong with you Lance, it’s just… the chip… this might be harder than we thought. It’s not somewhere we can just get rid of it.”

“Are you saying you can’t do it? That I’m stuck with this thing?” 

There was a sense of desperation in the air, though it was audible in Lance’s words, no matter how angry they sounded.

“No, but… Lance.. the chip is implanted in your brain.” Coran turned the holo-screen towards them. It showed the scan of Lance’s body, zoomed in on his head, with a tiny solid light blip in the diagram of his brain. 

“Oh my God.” Lance’s voice was breathless, “Oh. My. God,” The second time sounded a bit deranged, especially followed by the huff of almost-laughter. Lance looked down at his hands.

“Lance…”

“I knew it. I knew something was off,” Lance shook his head, then put a hand to his hair. He looked back up, a sort of broken, angry, sad smile on his face, “That’s why they cut my hair… Of course!” He laughed again.

“Sorry, what? They cut your hair?” Keith asked, stepping forward. He didn't like the look on Lance’s face and Keith was just as close to breaking down, probably into a fight.

“Uh yeah, Keith, they cut my hair. You know what that is, right?” Lance’s words were bitter and sarcastic, “Maybe you should try it on that mullet sometime. But this undercut thing I’ve got going on wasn’t my choice. They did it for the surgery! To put that god-forsaken THING in me!” Lance whipped around to point directly at the screen with the chip diagram.

“And now! We can’t get it out! And isn't that just fan-freaking-tastic!” The yell sounded angry and exasperated, but most of all tired. Lance didn’t want to deal with this, he just wanted this whole mess to be done with. 

He had to leave now, Lance knew he would have to leave. It was stupid to think he could stay with his team.

“Lance, we have time. We’re safe in the storm. It’s blocking the chip from sending out a single, they can’t track us here,” Shiro knew 

“But you’re still in danger. I’m still a danger to you.” Lance 

“No, you’re not Lance. We care about you, we’re a family, you’re not putting us in any danger we can't handle.”

“But I’m the one that’s dangerous! Don’t you get that!? I’m the one that hurts people! I’ve done it before! You don't know what I did in the arena! What if I’ve changed?!” Lance’s heart ached as he looked at his team.

How could he ever stay on Voltron? He had so much blood on his hands, blood put there all on his own. And it still wasn't enough blood to keep him from needing to fight.

Shiro stepped in, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder, “You’re still our family. You don't have to feel guilty for what they forced you to do, Lance. You told me that before, now I’m telling you. What happened was not your fault.”

Lance roughly yanked his shoulder back from Shiro’s touch. He scoffed and his face grew angry, “Well, not everyone can be as perfect as the universe’s golden boy, Shiro. Not everyone is as good as you are on the inside. Some people are just bad!” He stormed out of the room after throwing a hard glare at Shiro.

How could Lance ever stay on Voltron? How could he willingly ruin Voltron with his darkness, his problems? What need did they have for someone like him? Someone who only relaxed when he was fighting and hurting others. Someone who survived on the suffering of others, on hurting them. 

But Lance wouldn’t let that happen to them. Not to them. Never to them. 

Not to Hunk.

Not to Pidge.

Not Shiro. Or Allura. Or Coran,

And not to Keith.

Even if that meant he couldn’t stay, no matter how much he wanted to.

Lance hesitated at the doorway to his room. It seemed like this small pocket of normal that hadn't been touched by everything that had happened. The motion sensor opened the door for him, allowing him in to sit on the bed.

He could stay. He could just lay down now, fall asleep and act like the bed didn't feel too soft compared to the cold floors of a cell. Wake up in the morning, go to breakfast with the team, complain about Altean food goo with them even though he’d tasted worse in the prison. He could pretend.

Lance breathed deeply, trying to convince himself it was okay to stay with the team. As he breathed out, his calm was ruined by the ringing sharpening in his ears. 

His fingers twitched with the urge to hit something.

Of course he couldn’t stay, not when he couldn't control himself. Not when he was still addicted to the fights. Addicted to hurting the people around him. Killing them just because they befriended Lance when-.

No. He still needed to leave. Lance got up from the bed, changing out of the healing suit and into his Earth clothes. And how he relished the feeling of air between fabric and skin. Of the feeling of the cotton in his favorite t-shirt and the rough smoothness of his jeans. It was amazing: the feeling of wearing something he liked, that was comfortable and not prison rags that stuck to his body with blood and dirt.

Still, as he took off the med suit, Lance had to remind himself there was nothing similar in the way this fabric stuck to his skin with sweat from the day.

x--x--x

Keith had destroyed a probably, only maybe, tinsy bit excessive number of training bots after Lance had left the medbay. Shiro had gone to bed halfway through, telling Keith to do the same. Which he didn’t and would probably get chewed out for but it was pfff, whatever. 

He was currently heading towards the showers, if only because he’d get to- have to pass Lance’s room on the way. Usually he’d be fine showering in the morning instead.

“Keith?” 

Keith turned back to see Pidge standing in the hallway outside her bedroom-turned-workshop. 

“Pidge, uhh, what are you still doing up this late?” 

Pidge raised an eyebrow at him, “We’re both standing here, fool.” 

He winced. “I’m coming back from training, just heading to take a shower.”

“Down the one hallway with all of our rooms?”

“I’m worried about him, sue me.” Keith was more than a little worked up from training so hard and all he wanted to do was-

“Don't have the money for it. Oh, this is perfect! I need a second pair of eyes, come here, I want to ask you something.” She perked up for a second then grabbed his arm and dragged him into her room.

“God, Pidge you really need to clean in here,” Keith precariously stepped over the piles of stuff on the floor. “I don't think this place is up to any sort of fire safety code.”

“It’s organized chaos Keith, get with the program.” She leaned over her bed to grab her open computer, which was tangled in a number of wires. “Anyways, I was looking over the coding in the chip Coran found and I can’t tell if I’m missing something.”

“So why ask me? I know literally nothing about coding.”

“Obviously.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Pidge,” He leveled a look at the gremlin.

“No problem, always happy to help. You don’t know coding, but you do know strategy,”

“Uh..huh, and?” Keith was still lost with why she needed him.

“And implanting something in someone’s brain is crazy difficult, especially on a different species. So why would they go through all that trouble instead of just putting it in his arm or something?”

“Maybe so we couldn’t get it out?”

“But-” Both paladins heard a dull thump in the halls and looked towards the door. 

“What was that?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t think anyone else was awake.” Keith started out of the room, Pidge right behind him.

The corridor had barely enough light to see, just enough for Keith’s Galra genes to catch a bit of movement coming from one room in particular.

“Lance?”

The figure froze, their shoulders bunched up like a teen caught sneaking out of the house past curfew.

Lance turned around slowly, “Heyyy, Keeithh. What’re you doing up this late?”

“Training.” Keith narrowed his eyes, “What are you doing?”

“Oh, y’know, just getting a drink from the kitchen.”

Pidge stepped out from Keith’s shadow, “With all your stuff?” She glanced down at the bag Lance was carrying.

“A long drink...?” Lance shrugged cautiously.

“Give it up, Lance. Why are you trying to leave in the middle of the night?” Keith stepped forward angrily.

“Because I’d thought there’d be less people awake at 1am and that seemed like a better option than midday.”

“Cut the crap, Lance. I’m serious. We want you to stay. What would have happened if you were gone when everybody woke up? Huh? Did you even think about that?” Keith got closer, his voice furious.

“Of course I thought about it!” Lance yelled at him, then immediately lowered his voice again, “Of course I thought about what would happen. How you would feel. I want to stay too… but I also want to keep you guys safe. You’re my team, and I can’t keep you safe if I’m a danger to all of you.”

Keith was close enough now to set his hand on Lance’s shoulder, “For the last time Lance, you’re not a-” 

“Let me leave. All of you promised me, you told me you’d let me leave if I was still dangerous to the team.”

“Yeah but I also told Shiro I wouldn't punch Iverson, yet here we are.” Keith motioned with his hands, “Iverson’s only got one working eye and I’m definitely not letting you leave.”

Pidge piped in after Keith, “Please, Lance, I’m working on something.”

“So?”

“So, It could help with the tracker in the chip. It would let us get back to being Voltron.”

Lance looked doubtful. Keith didn’t, “Lance, I believe in her. If she says she can make something to stop the chip, she can make something to stop the chip. Right, Pidge?” Both of the boys looked at her for the affirmation.

“I can. I know I can.”

Keith turned back to Lance, “So, just give us a chance to help you. Even just one night.”

“One night? Really? You think you can disarm high-quality alien tech in one night?”

Pidge smirked to hide her uncertainties, “Oh Lance, you should know by now not to doubt me.”

“We both know I’ll never learn, Pidge.” Lance looked at Keith seriously, “I’ll give you one night. One. Because I trust Pidge, not you Mullet-Man,”

“Good, then see you in the morning?” Pidge said hesitantly. Neither of them was leaving before Lance, just to make sure he stayed with them this time.

Lance sighed and rolled his eyes before he stepped back towards his bedroom door, “Yeah Pidge, see you in the morning.”

Once the door closed, Lance slid down to sit against the cool metal. He listened to his friends murmur and settle back to their rooms.  

Lance crossed his arms on top of his knees and rested his chin on them. He stared out at the dimness of his own room. It felt crowded and empty at the same time. It was blaringly bigger than the cell he’d been kept in. Yet every available surface was crowded and filled by knick-knacks and souvenirs that he’d found and kept, it just seemed like so much. 

Lance sighed deeply with resignation; there was no way he was sleeping tonight. He moved to the center of the room with a small grunt. 

He laid his back against the ground, breathed once and then sat up. Down. Back up. Down. Back up. Down. Up. Again. Again.

Again.

Again.

9

Again,

10

Again,

11

Again,

12

Again,

13

Again,

14.

Again.

Next Chapter: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/616522538695213057/chips-salsa-chp-4

First Chapter: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/613092735756402688/chips-and-salsa-chp-1

[backupblogforjg]

The racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and cruel tropes in Voltron

So, it’s the anniversary of the ending of Voltron. And I’m getting really, really tired of people saying that only shippers hated the ending. There were many issues with Voltron, and they were neither limited to shipping nor to S8.

So, I’ve decided to compile a list.

It gets LONG. Turns out there was a hell of a lot of racist, sexist, ableist and cruel tropes in VLD.

In fact, I had originally planned on writing a list of both the terrible tropes and the plot holes. But there just wasn’t enough room for both. The post is huge as it is, and with the plot holes, it would have been twice as long, so I had to focus on only one thing.

Salt, obviously. So, so, so much salt. I could turn a lake into a sea here. You’ve been warned.

RACISM:

1) The Alteans are genocide survivors. Out of all the Alteans, only the black Altean was used for a Reverse Racism story where she resents a teammate for belonging to the race that exterminated hers. The white Alteans are totally cool with him, and with his race in general, and only hate the bad people. But the black one had to be taught that hating people because of their race is wrong.

2) VLD Allura is also the only version of Allura who is black. In every other Voltron media (several different cartoons and comics), Allura is blond with blue eyes. All the white versions of the character get a happy ending, while only the black version ends up dying to save the world.

While "hero sacrifices their life to save the world" is not a bad trope in and of itself, it becomes bad when it kills off one of the extremely few black female characters in leading roles. You kill off a white male hero, there are 463278462387 more. You kill off the black female hero, you are kinda screwed. Making it worse, Allura had been portrayed as suffering from depression throughout the latest seasons, so that her death comes across less as heroic sacrifice and more as suicide.

3) The brown Cuban kid who dreamed of being a pilot, and never once in 78 episodes ever expressed anything but sheer love for an exciting life, in the final two minutes of the final episode ends up realizing that the place for him is a farm.

4) As told in interviews, Lotor was meant to be a bad example of mixed-race person, to contrast him with Keith as good example of mixed race person. Do I even have to point out how messed up this is?

5) Even before they became Space Nazis, back when they were still on the side of the angels, the Galra invaded and conquered planets. This is portrayed as totally cool when they happily name the prince after a "hero" who invaded and conquered a lot of worlds, and the peaceful Alteans think the guy is just as heroic as one of their greatest scientists. Apparently there is such a thing as ethically killing people to steal their land.

6) They whitewashed Keith, a character who is poc in every other iteration of Voltron.

I’m sure a lot of people are going to get angry here, claiming that I hate Keith. Let me assure you, I don’t. I love Keith, and I hate what was done to him. I hate that they took a traditionally poc character and went to frankly ridiculous lengths to erase that part of his character. Keith should be Asian, and it would be incredibly easy to make him so in VLD (seriously, all they’d have to do is update the freaking bios, an intern could do it right now in 5 minutes). But they refuse to do it.

A lot of people don’t realise that the surname “Kogane” in VLD is fanon.

I’m serious. Check his official bios page. Keith is not actually called Keith Kogane in VLD. Fans started calling him that in fanfiction, and it stuck, but it’s not canon.

In every other Voltron media, Keith is an Asian guy. But in VLD, they:

- went out of their way to always avoid giving him an Asian surname

- gave him a Texan father

- refused to confirm his race, even when every other character had a specific race. Again, check his official bios. All the other characters got a race, Keith gets “human.” It got so ridiculous it would be funny if it weren’t sad. It pretty much went like this:

Fans: Keith is half alien, but about his human half, what is his ethnicity? EPs: oh, we couldn't possibly say, because the story takes place in the future, and in the future, everybody is mixed up! So, Keith is HUMAN, we can't give him a specific race because there are no specific races in the future! Fans: ok. And what are the races of the other characters? EPs: Pidge is Italian, Lance is Cuban, Hunk is half-black half- Samoan, Shiro is Japanese. Fans: but Keith...? EPs: HUMAN! There is no such thing as race in the future!

Some people at least hoped that Keith's Texan father had Asian ancestry because he kinda looked like Shiro, who is Japanese. But the EPs confirmed that the resemblance was just a coincidence, they never meant for the dad to look Japanese.

At this point pretty much the only evidence that Keith is Asian is that he is voiced by an Asian person. But then, Josh Keaton is not Japanese, is he?

7) After whitewashing Keith, they claimed he is the best leader of Voltron, better than his poc predecessor, because he has Galra blood.

So, instead of bringing up any sort of legit reason to justify why Keith should be in charge (like his empathy or pilot skills), they go with "the half-white guy is also half space-nazi and that's why he should give the orders instead of the poc guy."

If you think I’m bashing Keith here, please ask yourself why you are getting angry at the person pointing out the whitewashing instead of getting angry at the whitewashing. Especially when, again, making VLD Keith canonically poc could be done anytime with zero cost and zero effort, and DW just doesn’t want to.

- Hunk, the half-black half-Samoan guy, was going to be killed and replaced as Paladin by a blue alien. The EPs were pissed when DW forbade them to, and complained in the interview about it.

SEXISM:

Every single woman who is ever put in charge ends up going insane, making terrible decisions that endanger her planet, or losing all of her authority.

Allura starts out as co-leader of Voltron and leader of the Coalition. Ends up as a foot soldier who takes orders from the new leader and his right-hand man, and is treated as a cadet by the Earth military.

HOMOPHOBIA:

1) Dreamworks, Netflix and the EPs very, very, very heavily promoted S7 as GLBT-friendly. The EPs gave whole interviews about the past relationship between Shiro and new character Adam, retweeted a ton of posts celebrating Shiro’s homosexuality, and enthusiastically sent tweets like "you are going to see more of Adam in S7! :D" from their personal accounts after they showed the episode that introduced him.

In S7:

- Shiro's homosexuality is so ambiguous that even the Brazilian voice actor didn't realize that he was supposed to be gay. Just by watching the show, without knowing the World Of God, you can’t tell he and the other guy were engaged.

- Adam gets about 30 seconds of screentime after that one episode they had already shown. Then he dies screaming in pain and terror in a fire.

A lot of people claimed that it was okay to kill Adam because Shiro was supposed to be our rep, not Adam, who was a brand new character we knew little about. And, out of context, that would be true. Adam was pretty much a NPC, why would his death matter?

But the problem here is the context:

- Shiro is closeted in S7, you need to read interviews to know he is gay. So, if only Shiro is meant to be the rep, they couldn’t even do that right.

- They very heavily marketed both Shiro and Adam as gay rep, and specifically talked at length about Adam in several interviews.

In THAT context, REGARDLESS of what you ship, killing off Adam revealed a complete willingness to manipulate the audience to the point of outright lying. Even if you hated Adam, even if Adashi is your NOTP, the clear evidence that the creators had absolutely no problem making empty promises was NOT a good sign.

2) The moment Shiro is revealed to be gay in interviews, he is practically quarantined from the Team.

3) Shiro is also given a Totally Not AIDS deadly disease.

Making it even worse, Shiro never actually gets cured in canon. We are told he is cured in interviews, but the show itself drops the topic entirely. Depending on where you lean in the Word Of God VS Death Of The Author debate, Shiro may be doomed to die.

4) A female villain is revealed to be a lesbian. 30 seconds later she gleefully tortures a little girl. Then she, too, dies in a fire.

(Fan outrage about pulling two Bury Your Gays in the Season that had been very heavily promoted as GLBT-friendly caused DW to retcon her death and bring her back in S8, but she was originally meant to die in the explosion)

5) Shiro ends up marrying a random character who doesn’t even get a name in the show.

ABLEISM:

1) Shiro's PTSD magically disappears offscreen. In interviews, the EPs claimed that he "got over it" between S6 and S7 because "he is a professional." Wow! Who knew being a professional magically cures mental illnesses!

2) Shiro is an amputee. The EPs admitted that they never put any thought into his status as disabled rep, they just wanted a character with a cool-looking arm. It literally didn't occur to them that making him lose his arm (TWICE! First up to the biceps, then up to the shoulder) meant anything. Also worth noting that Shiro’s new arm makes him look like the guy who tormented him.

3) Shiro is systematically robbed of his agency.

- He is the only Paladin who never gets to use his bayard.

- He loses his bond with Black for no given canon reason (and the reason they give in interviews makes no sense, they basically say that transferring his soul out of the Black Lion makes her stop loving him. But she still lets Zarkon fly her!).

I know that Keith is traditionally Black’s pilot in Voltron media (although that shouldn’t matter, because VLD made a lot of huge changes to the traditional status quo). But if they wanted Black Paladin Keith that badly, they could have given some non-insulting reason for it. For example, say “because Shiro has spent so much time within Black, their bond is now so strong that he will get absorbed again if he flies her again.” Or co-pilots in Black (if Pidge can co-pilot with Matt, why can’t Shiro co-pilot with Keith?).

- He is defeated not only by Sendak, but also by a bunch of random Alteans. He basically can’t win a fight anymore unless it’s played for laughs.

- His new robot Atlas is bigger than Voltron, but also much weaker, and can only buy a few minutes for Voltron to come save the day.

- Every single enemy he ever defeated comes back to be finished off by somebody else (even the friggin' Gladiator from S1 comes back in S8). In the epilogue, he retires in his twenties.

4) Narti, the disabled General, is fridged shortly after her introduction. For a while at least it seemed like her death had affected the remaining three Generals, but then it turns out that the "For Narti" line was a trick and they never actually planned on avenging her.

CRUEL TROPES:

1) They intentionally baited the fans by pushing the plot thread that Lotor would be redeemed. They named the episode where he defects "A New Defender," they kept saying in interviews that they come from Avatar and they are very familiar with Zuko *hint hint*, they showed his family as incredibly abusive and Lotor himself as desperate, they showed that Lotor was a victim of severe racism (he is mixed race, and as stated above, the Galra are Space Nazis and are pretty obsessed with blood purity).

Then, after revealing him to be a villain, they gave an interview where they practically dislocated their shoulders by patting themselves on the back as they gleefully bragged that "we made them think we would give them a Zuko, but we gave them an Azula!"

(Nevermind the fact that Azula herself was a 14-year-old child, not a monster, and that Aaron Ehasz himself confirmed that he always wanted her to be redeemed).

When fans who are survivors of child abuse told them that the bait-and-switch was really hurtful, they laughed it off, and claimed that Lotor was just beyond redemption. Then they proceeded to redeem Lotor's abusive parents, who were objectively much worse.

2) Shiro’s clone, who sincerely believed he was Shiro and always meant well, was dehumanised, demonised and discarded like his life meant nothing. His short existence was full of pain from literally the moment he first opened his eyes, as Haggar kept torturing him with migraines to manipulate him. In the end, she brutally violates him body and mind, and brainwashes him to force him to turn on the family he was so desperate to find in The Journey. He dies in incredibly questionable circumstances, without ever getting to learn that his family survived Haggar’s plans. He is victim-blamed for the things she forced him to do against his will with mind-control, and is never mourned because the only family he ever had writes him off as a “thing” and “evil.”

In fact, the horrific treatment of Kuron foreshadowed S8. The Medium article “It never stops at one - Why Voltron: Legendary Defender's tragic ending wasn't a surprise and why more DreamWorks' series will follow suit” explains how.

The tl;dr version is that, when a story posits that the circumstances of your birth determine the value of your life, so that good intentions and hard work mean nothing, and long-established bonds can be discarded with zero thought and care, and your very humanity can be revoked over something you have absolutely no control over, and the whole sociopathic disaster is celebrated as a happy ending... it really, really can’t end well. Not just for you, but for the entire cast.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Do you think quintessence exposure prolonged Allura’s life and she would’ve lived an unnaturally long life for even an Altean if she’d lived? I think about this question a lot because this girl got blasted by and was exposed to insane amounts of it.

Hi, asennnaa. Ah, those are good questions! I’m not sure I have a perfect answer because I’m still grappling with how to handle some of the holes or contradictions in this show. I do think VLD’s entire universe confirms that infusions of quintessence into a body, as you suggest, can unnaturally prolong a life. But what counts as “enough” quintessence exposure to really make one immortal? Just “how immortal” can Allura get? Because other characters are shown to require multiple infusions of quintessence in order to remain even marginally immortal.

It looks like Zarkon was still aging, even with quintessence infusion. Here is a fresh Zark:

And here he is again ~10,000 years later with the wrinkly lips, sunken-in cheeks, and big eye baggies that are all standard signs of aging.

Old zarkturtle status achieved.

So despite standard access to quintessence infusions, and even being overcome with quintessence in the rift itself, both he and Haggar seem like they’re fighting a battle with the clock and still losing. Could their lack of immortality and constant need to infuse with quintessence be because they were accosted by rift creatures (so not experiencing “pure” quintessence infusion in the rift)? I suppose it’s possible.

And a lack of ongoing access to pure quintessence might also be part of the entire Galra Empire’s continuous desire to get to purer and larger amounts of quintessence. Because it’s not just power on the line.

Zarkon himself confirms what he hopes to achieve through quintessence in s3:

Desire for immortality is a huge motivator for the entire empire harvesting quintessence in the first place. Zarkon wants to live forever with his friends and family. But oh nu, he’s still aging. And even Lotor?? What is ten or one-hundred-thousand years in the face of a universe that is billions of years old? Is anyone technically immortal in this show? How long can anyone actually live?

An “imperfect-immortality” would also explain the strange reality of Lotor. He is a beautiful boi and is also 10,000 years old as well. Executive Producers Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos suggest in a Season 5 AfterbuzzTV interview that Lotor’s infusion with quintessence in utero results in him aging very, very slowly.

(Here’s the dialogue from the interview if you want it, from around the 13:30 mark:

JDS: It’s pretty safe to say that Lotor’s kind got that Daywalker kind of thing going on.

Interview: —Little vampire—

LM: Being in…in her womb, as [Honerva] was being exposed to all of this quintessence—it’s part of his DNA. It almost puts him on a level with Allura, pretty much who her quintessence is a part of her DNA. So it’s interesting to see.

JDS: And it’s allowed him to stay so beautifully young.

LM: He’s aged at a much slower rate than your average Galra.

Interviewer: So he IS a vampire.

LM: I think all Galra are kinda space vampires.

JDS: They’re kinda space vampires, yeah. Safe to say. You’re getting instead of blood, you’re getting like…planet juice.)

And it just so happens that, in the active plot of VLD, we’re introduced to Lotor at a point in time where he’s aged physically and mentally to the point of, what, maybe early twenties? The canon’s not clear about it. Despite the lack of a canon-backed “mental-to-physical human-age equivalent,” Lotor appears to careen between a tricky mastermind and a boi who’s still a bit embarrassed about his nanny:

(While I tend to think he’s early 20s in physical and mental agility, you could probably even argue Lotor acts like an older teenager still sometimes, lol. Quality eye-roll and pout right here. Does anyone else get, “Mom, shut up” vibes from this gif? And even his idealism, his unshakable belief that simply giving the empire what it wants will result in peace--it lacks a critical foresight about other people experiencing quintessence madness, dangers from within the rift, and the inevitable wars to “control the gates” and such technology. And there’s some things to be said about humans obtaining full brain development around age 25, as the prefrontal cortex, which inhibits impulses and assists with critical decision-making, is the last section to develop in full. So it makes me think, for all his intelligence and schemes, that he’s mentally a bit younger than he’d like to appear. And obviously doesn’t want to appear, considering how embarrassed he is about his nanny in front of his new-found friends, lol.)

But I digress. So just based on the evidence and the extra-canon commentary from EPs, it seems that if we panned out 20,000 years in the future, we might see a significantly aged Lotor, with the deep face lines and lip wrinkles and gaunt cheeks. Because he’s never stopped aging. His body clock is just totally and utterly creeping along, lucky boy.

If you want to trust the extra-canon text, then you might be able to extrapolate that like Lotor’s DNA, Allura’s DNA gives her an extended life. Although unlike slow-age Lotor, Allura appears to have had a more accelerated childhood. She can’t be more than Kova’s 28 decaphoebs (years), given that the season 3 finale shows Allura was born after Kova’s introduction. And yet, unlike Lotor’s strange history of taking forever to grow up, Allura presents as physically mature within a fairly normal timeline.

This would actually suggest that something is a bit weird about Allura’s DNA. And its something that makes her quintessence more intense than even Lotor’s own quintessence signature, if you want to go by the interviews where LM says, “It almost puts him on a level with Allura.”  

So what was this mysterious event?

Allura certainly could still infuse herself or be infused with quintessence to prolong her life, but that wouldn’t prolong her life indefinitely or put her even within range of what’s naturally going on with Lotor’s DNA.

Is there something inherently unique about Allura’s lineage or species, then, that could answer this?

Let’s look at Alteans first. The canon seems oddly contradictory about the natural age of Alteans. Coran is at least 600 years old because he was alive with the Castle of Lions was being built. But yet executive producer LM states that there’s something inherent in Allura’s DNA that makes her even more special than the average person, and even more strangely…Allura’s father, Alfor, doesn’t seem to fall into either of these two categories.

??

Despite Alfor understanding the deep secrets of the universe via Oriande, and having personal direct exposure with unlimited pure quintessence through building and even fighting in Voltron, he ages. Hard.

Here’s Alfor as a young man:

Here’s Alfor, only decaphoebs later, not long before he died.

So here we have an aging Alfor. And oof, in less than 28 decaphoebs, with no explanation as to why Coran would be doing so well in comparison. (Feel free to speculate!)

So whatever is wrong with Alfor’s life cycle, it would seem to be an isolated incident that not even exposure to Voltron or to the rift could undo. In which case, it’s hard to know if Allura’s DNA would naturally have the same weaknesses from her lineage. If not, then she should at least be able to reach 1,000 years naturally, if the spunky Coran is any measure to go by.

But Alfor did do something that I think places Allura as entirely unnatural and probably the most likely candidate to have a form of true immortality in this entire show:

So right in season 1, episode 1, Coran admits that Alfor has done some pretty wild alchemy. He physically connected Allura’s essence with the essence of Voltron—the single source of self-regenerating, infinite quintessence throughout the whole of the entire universe.

I’m not sure if this alchemical forge-bond would protect Allura from physically aging, but it would suggest that Voltron’s life force and Allura’s life force are intimately tied on the material plane. There is no other canonically shown bond like this in a living person, in the VLD universe. It makes Allura entirely unique as a character and likely helps to explain why she is so consistently over-powered compared to even Haggar/Honerva.

Because unlike ANY other Altean, including Honerva, Allura has an infinite, massive battery of pure quintessence to pull from at will. And it’s tied to her very life force.

I don’t know if a person’s life force being personally connected to Voltron would confer physical immortality, but I do think there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that as long as Voltron exists, Allura’s essence would be preserved within it. And as we saw in season 6, Shiro was capable of interacting with other paladins despite his physical death, because Black Lion had preserved his essence.

So I guess all of this is to say, it seems there would be a lot of reasons for why Allura could live a very long life. It does seem that if she infused herself with quintessence in an ongoing fashion, and she quite often has, then her already long Altean lifespan would become longer. And even in physical death, Allura could still “exist” like s6 Shiro to communicate and interact with the living, in a way that not even her father could.

(Which makes you wonder about that s8 ending with the Lions mysteriously flying off for an unknown reason and Lance’s Altean marks lighting up like a homing beacon, but oof, that’s perhaps another topic.)

Thank you so much for the ask! I hope my winding ramblings help to answer your question or encourage further thought about the possibilities!

[thenixkat]

Voltron notes 2 (edited)

Ep 2

We get the full opening this time. Its pretty bland. Like? What is the music trying to go for b/c its not reaching it. Otherwise mostly generic action/scifi.

Where did Hunk get those jammies? Shiro is an early bird. Where’d Lance get those jammies? And that skincare mask and eyecover? Those are Pidge’s headphones? Sleeps to music and an emergency alarm is not waking him up.

Keith was awake but not up and that’s valid. He doesn’t have jammies. Keith is ready to fucking go

Pidge just fucking fell asleep working on the computer while sitting on the floor in the medbay

Ya know what? I don’t like Allura’s nose. Give her a fucking negro nose you cowards.

Severed heads cant talk, they don’t have lungs or a diaphragm

75 degrees what? Does Altean meat thermometers record shit in fahrenheit? 

Lance arrives 15 mins late with a drink and fabulous skin. Where’d he get the slippers?

Actually… Hunk, Lance, Pidge were attending a military school. And Shiro graduated and was teaching at that school. They should be used to this sort of shit?

But also how the fuck are they supposed to know when its morning on an alien fucking planet? Were they even able to get at least 8 hours of sleep?

??? ALien timekeeping gibberish but I guess Wednesday? They’ve been in space for ~2 days?

Your mission is to free most known inhabited planets? Yer not gonna accomplish that in your lifetime. Especially not their lifetime.

Ranked by height.

Why can’t they go back to Earth and pick up supplies and/or help and/or let their families know they're ok? The lions can generate portals. The kids with families need to talk to them. What about Mrs. Holt? Also go check and make sure that Earth isn’t being fucking invaded. Make Earth yer first stop on your Voltron coalition?

Also how they gonna form Voltron if they barely know each other?

Why is Allura in charge?

HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I HATE FAT JOKES?! 

What shitty writers.

Why break up a sequence that we’ve not seen b4 with a shitty attempt at humor?

How do the controls for the lions work?

Again these kids barely fucking know eachother.

Keith tries. Lance be nice.

What is this joke? Also why can’t the other lions also be the head? We know they can fucking shapeshift and shunt/pull mass from the aether

What the fuck Allura. Are you trying to kill them? Why the fuck is she in charge?

Lace tries to go back into the castle to avoid being shot by Allura and just fucking misses the fact that the force field is up?

Hunk tries begging for mercy. Allura doesn’t give a shit and continues to use deadly live ammo on these kids. Why is she the leader?

This bitch turns on the auto lock and just fucking leaves the control panel. Imagine if one of these kids fucking died from this? How’s that for team morale! 

Why the fuck is she the leader and who let her use the fucking weapons?

Also, people fucking live on this planet. Allura just fucking exploded a decent fucking chunk of the land surrounding the castle with no fucking heed to checking to make sure no one got hurt.

Zarkon doesn’t give a shit about his people. And doesn’t understand what luck is.

Today a Galra general/commander/someshit finds out that compassion and good leadership skills get you punished.

How the fuck did this dipshit keep and empire going for 10000 yr?

Wow Allura! It's like shitty leadership skills don’t produce the results you want!

Keith is very honest.

Ok but like these kids have to be talking shit about Allura behind her back.

Hunk asks good questions. When the fuck are they going back to Earth?

Also Pidge nice to see you give no shits at all about your mom.

It's almost like these kids barely know each other or how to work together as a team and have very different priorities.

Also like? Pretty sure the lions also have a say as to whether they form Voltron? Like we know those bitches are sentient, maybe the lions are the reason they can’t form Voltron either?

These kids don’t even know all the functions of their paladin armors yet! But yeah, combat scenario that’s what they need

What is the point of Lance’s one sided rivalry with Keith?

Why the fuck is the maze electrified? It doesn’t need to be. And did Coran take human anatomy into effect when calibrating the voltage? I don’t think so.

Keith is trying and I respect that

Why? Why a dangerous nose dive bonding? Shouldn’t they try hanging out with their lion and talking to them first? Not everything needs to be potentially deadly during training

Expert level drill that they shouldn’t be trying until they’ve had years of experience. So what if one of them fucking dies during the drill? You gonna be up shit creek without a paddle

Why would anyone put a feature in a helmet that would allow someone to remotely blind them? Why put a blinding feature in a helmet? The shit could glitch at the wrong moment and then someone fucking dies.

Can Lance just not read Keith’s voice?

How incredibly lucky that they landed in sand and not on the hard earth or any of those rocky buildings strewn about

Shiro has the best bond with his lion. Glowy eyes

Wow actual bonding attempts.

Coran attempts good leadership. Like yes? Give people breaks and make sure they’re hydrated

Ok but like the bonding actually works? Like maybe mindmelding with a bit too much for this stage but actually trying to like bond and work together is a good

Oh fuck off Allura

I don’t see this fight going well. They’ve got an engineer, a navigator/tech support, and 3 pilots. Out of the 5 humans only two seem to have like actual combat experience. Like? Teach these kids how to fight before throwing them in the pit, might be helpful

Yeah, teaching people how to fight and use their weapons is probably very helpful

I still don’t think Coran and Allura are taking human physiology into account with their calibrations on this shit

Lance might have a concussion. 

And Shiro needs therapy

Wow Allura, it's almost like they aren’t Alteans. It's almost like most of them have no real combat experience. Its almost like some of them don’t know how to effectively use their weapons in this situation. Also why are Altean children fighting fucking gladiator robots if yall peaceful.

Its almost like they’ve only been at this shit for two fucking days Allura.

Let Lance cuss

Coran is a lot better than this than Allura.

Ok this type of exercise is the short that they should have been doing more of. Just fucking working together and team bonding

Haggar can use the Force

So did she design the robeast with the gladiator dude in mind? She would have had to given the appearance of it. How long does it take to make a giant robot?

What the fuck Lance? Why are you so hostile to Keith? This makes no sense

American revolution against the space Brits

Yes they should yell at Allura. She’s been fucking unreasonable and could have gotten them killed with the fucking shooting at them earlier and she’s mostly fucking yelled at them today.

Also princess of fucking what? A building and a retainer? She ain’t got no kingdom and they don’t have to respect her nonexistent authority.

Damn right Pidge, princess of fucking what?

Allura hits Pidge with food for not respecting her nonexistent authority

My man Keith steppin in and defending his teammate

Coran’s got some skill but I’m rootin for the humans

Ya know, the foodfight coulda been both a nice bonding thing and a decent action piece. Still frames aren't action

The kids won.

Yes bonding. Team bonding is what they needed. Not bad drills.

Also Allura yer bitch ass better not try to spin this like you planned this shit

Stock footage

Allura’s bitch ass is trying to spin the food fight like she planned it

Bonding and hugs are good

I’m just gonna assume that all of the paladins AND lions have to be on the same page to make Voltron

Hunk bear hug

Pidge has secrets

Also if Pidge really looks so much like her brother that people look at her photo and mistake her for him how the fuck did her disguise work?

So how does Zarkon expect to have a giant robot both kill the paladins and have Voltron in any form of working condition?

[patientfocusly]

major canon divergences 

( i don’t expect anyone to read this because it’s a lot lmao. this is more so for me to have a reference because i forget things about my own muse / canon rip. if we’re rping together we’re probably also talking ooc so anything important from this post will be mentioned to you at some point. )

( please note that by canon, i’m referring to my general main verse which includes no interactions with other muses. each interaction with a muse is put into its own verse. new interactions can come into the main verse at any point of the timeline and then diverge from that point. )

does not marry curtis. they noticed each other because they worked closely as part of the atlas crew and maybe if the time and place were different there might’ve been a chance for them to get to know each other and form something but for shiro, there is a lot weighing on his mind that he needs to wade through

( a ) shiro has been thru Sum shit and he has an endless list of reasons to be sad but i just want to make it known that shiro’s no. 1 source of guilt and just general mind-anguish is the fact that he is living in a borrowed body, that he took from someone who had to die for him to live. 

( b ) at this stage he is also coming in touch with his feeling for keith which have been with him for a while, so even if he was aware of other potential interests . . . he’s not actually interested back.

adam is alive. he was critically injured in the first wave of attack by sendak and recovered enough only to provide ground support for the second wave. he remains an officer of the garrison and heads training and recruitment. he does not fly again. he’s happily married and reaches out to shiro. they’re amicable, but not close friends. maybe eventually they will be. ( this will obviously not be the case if i’m writing with an adam. )

allura is alive – i need to rewatch the end of season 8 to figure out how, but she’s alive.

after a year or so of captaining the atlas, the need for atlas to be an offensive military ship decreases and shiro consults sam and pidge for their thoughts on deweaponising his prosthesis. The new arm is still powered by allura’s crystal but looks more similar to the galra arm ( except it starts at the shoulder since his bicep??? disappeared magically ), but it’s coloured white and light grey, and the lit up areas are aqua ( same as the crystal. )

speaking of the crystal . . .  the original arm was designed to operate via a balmera crystal, because that’s what most of altean designs are based off of. however they didn’t have a crystal to use, and sam says the remaining energy required for the armto work would be drawn from shiro’s own electromagnetic field. he tries it for the first time and . . . his body rejects it, in what looks like an incredibly painful and potentially fatal way, if it hadn’t been for allura stepping in and replacing the original energy source for the arm with the crystal from her tiara. we don’t ever find out why shiro’s body rejected the first energy source but here are 2 theories:

( a ) shiro’s body is actually kuron’s body, a clone, manufactured by haggar, using ~space science~ and likely some form of quintessence. the electro magnetic field coming off of the clone’s body would vary to that of a human’s, which is what sam would’ve based his calculations on. balmera crystals have incredible properties that aren’t really explained in great detail but we know how powerful they can be, regardless of size. 

( b ) because it’s kuron’s body, maybe the connection to haggar didn’t completely shut off when keith cut off the arm. that flash that happens when the arm connects and shiro’s body starts rejecting it is very similar to the flash that happens when haggar starts controlling kuron earlier ( better explained in this headcanon piece. ) my only issue with this headcanon is that it implies haggar may still have some degree of control over shiro, and I just………….it’s been so overused, i just don’t want that for shiro anymore, so i’m most likely sticking to theory a !!!!!

still on the subject of the crystal, let’s talk about what shiro says after allura places the balmera crystal in his arm ; “i feel strange . . . i feel – great !” strange, as in he’s feeling something he’s never quite felt before. this is in contrast to what he feels when the first energy source is used in his arm ; “i feel . . . good,” but he sounds hesitant, like he doesn’t feel good at all, and obviously we see why moments afterwards. the great part is emphasised. he almost seems excited, like he really does feel great, and the scene cuts off with him trialling his arm by making a fist, and smiling. again, the properties of the crystals are pretty much undefined, but they are an immense source of power – what allura’s tiara contains is likely more than enough required to power shiro’s arm, and going back to how allura operated the castleship, and how shiro is able to operate the atlas, i’m loosely headcanoning that the crystal acts as a link between “captain” and “ship”, though obviously, allura herself channels quintessence and has so much more capabilities as a “captain.” 

what does the crystal providing an energy source for not only the new prosthesis, but also shiro’s body mean for shiro? an external boost of energy and human-compatible quintessence is probably the first dose of anything resembling treatment shiro has had since the kerberos mission. i don’t see the balmera crystal nor altean healing pods having the power to edit genes but as far as healing goes, it must have some effect in alleviating pain and / or fatigue for shiro to exclaim, “i feel great !”

( a ) sometimes it’s difficult to write in a universe set in the future because things of our current reality ( social injustices, shit politics, technological limitations etc. ) may not be a reality say 100 years in the future, and add space and alien technology to the mix and you’re sort of left with a lot of potential for creation and imagination and progression but also hindered by the reality of present day and representing present day. i wouldn’t want to “magic” away shiro’s disease or magically come up with a cure, but at the same time i don’t want to take away the possibility for him to be potentially cured ( which is what the “i feel great !” line hints towards ) just because of the limitations of today ???????? i’m just having an inner conflict over this - i will update what i decide when i decide !! 

major fanon divergences

does not qualify as space dad. it simultaneously infantilises the other paladins and takes away from their own journeys of being forced to grow up too quickly and take on the responsibility of fighting in a war, and puts undue stress on shiro who is only ~25 himself responsible for his team only in the role of their commanding officer at best

his prosthetic arm is not a sex toy, it’s a prosthesis ( refer to this post on arm related bed time activities )

shiro did not have a romantic connection with keith pre-kerberos. if anything the earliest signs of anything resembling a romantic connection would be late into season 2, but that is pending heavy plotting

shiro came from a happy family . . . he just lost almost all of it very early on. he grew up loved even though he learnt about loss too quickly ( please refer to this headcanon. )

shiro cannot sing lol . . . i dont know where this headcanon came from, but it’s sticking

i think it’s popular headcanon for shiro to have a little sister, or a big family; i wrote his backstory with his older sister before i came across this, so i’m sticking to my original headcanon because his bond with his sister is so strongly formed in my head  

shiro is not afraid of death . . . but he doesn’t want to die. i feel like his relationship with death needs its own post but the tl;dr version of it is that he had a timer put on his life when he was around 17 years old. life goes from seemingly endless to suddenly very very short ( not just in the sense that his lifespan is predicted to be shorter, but that his body will soon restrict him in movement and opportunity. ) and then kerberos happens, and the arena happens, and voltron and zarkon and he’s reminded that life is short regardless of whether they give you a timer at 17. any moment could be his last and shiro has had a long time to come to terms with this. it makes him incredibly grateful for the present, and of what he’s had in the past. it also is potentially why he prioritises a mission that will take him to see the stars, over a relationship with adam ten years down the track.

if anyone makes it this far . . . ur the real mvp, thank u for reading my brain ramblings <3

[chaoticevilbean]

Voltron Humans are Weird 6/?

The Paladins had once again won an intense battle. It had been on the planet Cygoth, which was home to a group of humanoids. The Cygi, as they were called, had skin in shades of pale pinks and purples and blues. Their heads were like those of bald humans, but with upside down ears and eyes like felines. Instead of five fingers and five toes, the Cygi had four fingers and six toes, to aid them in their strange environment, along with bug-like wings that hid under hard green and yellow shells.

Said environment was one with 'extreme weather conditions' and 'toxic' rain. The Cygi lived in caves that were on a large cliffside. Since the elements often got within the rocks and all the animals were terrestrial and highly territorial, the aliens would hang upside down and crawl across the ceilings like spiders. They also collected rare minerals that grew down to build their homes and helped them grow food in their strange way of living.

It was these minerals that the Galra wanted. Stronger than 98.97% of all other metals or rocks, they could be used to create impenetrable ships and armor. The Cygi had called Voltron to Cygoth to aid them in protecting their resources and freedom. After they had succeeded, and it became clear that the team only wanted to help, no reward necessary, the leader of the Cygi offered an alliance. New armor and some upgrades for the Paladins and Castle, an increased amount of trade for the aliens, and a plethora of allies for both because of their union.

The talks were boring, and the four younger Paladins found themselves quickly becoming inattentive. Lance got them excused and Pidge ran straight to the edge of the central cave, ignoring how the Cygi were suddenly watching them keenly. It was likely to avoid the Terrans getting attacked by the fauna or killed by the 'toxic' rain that was cascading down just outside. A device was pulled from the depths of the Green Paladin's armor to scan the substance pouring from the atmosphere, and they all peered over the girl's shoulder tensely.

The screen lit up in green.

"HECK YEAH!" Keith shouted, his voice echoing loudly against the stone walls. "Nontoxic!"

"C'mon, Paladudes!" Lance waved his hand at the others in a beckoning motion. "It's time to explore this world and turn Shiro's hair whiter than before!"

The kids dashed forward towards the more organic part of the planet's surface, but paused and turned at the sound of buzzing.

A large group of Cygi were heading straight for the humans, frantic expressions and furiously beating wings drawing the Paladins' attention. It seemed that the team's newest allies were more knowledgeable about their intentions, and were attempting to avoid what they assumed was a dangerous situation.

The teens were not about to let that happen.

"BREAK FOR IT!" Hunk screamed, and there was no way that Shiro and Allura didn't hear that. They only had a few minutes before they would be caught in their escape. The humans dashed for the entrance, and Keith was definitely gonna make it. Pidge wasn't, and Hunk was a coin toss, so Lance took action. The self-sacrificing idiot.

The Blue Paladin grabbed his smaller friend and threw her at his bro.

"CATCH!" The cook caught the child easily, still sprinting to freedom. But the action left Lance behind the herd and much closer to the Cygi. It became obvious how close when his feet left the ground.

"What the flippity floppity flapjack‽ WOAH!" The flying aliens were swift to bring the Terran over to the suspended platform where Shiro, Allura, and all the diplomats were staring down from. It was from there that the kids had originally climbed down the rungs of the strange ladder to get to the floor. "Ah, you lily-livered sons of witches! You snackers! Oh, tick-tack snick-snack frick-frack paddlywack! My father will hear about this, you barnacle-covered Caprisun knock-offs! I'll steal your kneecaps and eat your curtains! You moldy walnuts!" He continued spouting off insults as he was carried over to his leaders, smiling slightly at the look of exasperation on Shiro's face. His words stopped the moment his feet hit the mioxite platform, smile growing exponentially.

"Lance, what were you guys doing?" The older man didn't let Allura speak, taking over the conversation immediately.

"The rain isn't toxic for us, so we were gonna explore. I gotta join the others soon."

"No, you don't gotta."

"I do gotta."

"Why?"

"You want Keith and Pidge alone in unknown territory with just Hunk as their voice of reason?"

"You definitely gotta."

"Shiro, Lance, what is going on?" Allura finally managed to interject. The humans turned towards the Altean, both confused. Lance had just said that he and the others were going to explore Cygoth.

"What d'you mean, princess?"

"What code was Lance speaking?"

"Code? What co- oh." The Black Paladin's face lit up in realization. "She meant the curses. Lance, explain."

"I was cussing without swear words."

"What?"

"I was spouting profanities without ever using actual words that are considered profane. For instance." The boy faced his fellow Terran once more. "Let me strawberries and cream go before I rocky road your face, you useless paperclip."

"Where's that from?"

"Ice cream flavors with the classic inanimate objects with no function. From Tumblr."

"What is ice cream? Is it more... omnivore things?" Allura seemed to be scared she might have to hear more about the meat-eating habits of humans.

"Nah, don't worry, princess," Lance assured her. "Ice cream is a chilled treat back home. We found out that there's many animals we can safely farm for their milk. When done correctly, it doesn't harm the animals, and we can process the milk for consumption. Process the milk properly, and then you can get ice cream. It comes in many flavors."

"Such as?"

"Strawberries and cream, and rocky road, to name some."

"Are any of those poisonous?"

"I think lactose might be, which is in a good portion of milk, and some nuts are, and definitely chocolate. So, to animals, yeah, most ice cream is toxic, but not always enough to do more than a stomachache."

"Princess, I can take over explaining, but Lance has to go make sure none of the others get into trouble."

The Blue Paladin took that as his cue to leave, climbing down the ladder once more and bolting back to the entrance. In moments, he had disappeared from view, joining his fellow humans outside the caves. Shiro watched him go, internally wishing he could join them.

But they had once again caused a situation that needed explaining, and Lance was needed to prevent an actual disaster from happening, so Shiro had to do damage control solo this time. That's what he got for letting four teenagers kidnap him back into space.

If a human seems to be speaking in code, yet other humans seem to understand them, even on a basic level, ask if they are speaking in 'slang'. This is a Terran term that encompasses many variations of speaking. Much like the difference in linguistics between Blue and Green Zithians, humans will likely have very different slang depending on where they spent their time. A place called Tumbler often fosters a more complex version, whereas Insta Gram has a simpler code.

Humans might invent their own slang in order to packbond properly with one another. Two groups of Terrans hailing from the same locations may have entirely different lexicons due to the change that each team may make. Some individuals may even know more than two versions of slang, in order to establish better relations with their fellow humans. There is very little evidence of what requirements are needed to include learning more than one variation of slang. An example of this would best be shown by the following interaction:

Terran Blue, addressing Terran Yellow: Then he just yeeted it at me, as though I was gonna sit there like a soggy popsicle.

Terran Yellow, responding: That doesn't explain why you turned him into an ice cube.

Terran Green, addressing Terran Blue: "Blue", what was the 411 on those rocket launchers?

Terran Blue, responding: The main man blew a gasket. Didn't make it far, but managed to nab a couple of the suckers.

Terran Yellow, addressing Terran Green: You throw a glitter bomb down the chutes and I'll cop all the cookies.

Terran Green, responding: Do it and you'll lose your kneecaps.

In the above interaction, it was explained that Terran Blue and Terran Yellow were discussing an instance where an object was hurled towards Terran Blue's head. He dodged the object and used a weapon to freeze his opponent in a section of ice. Terran Green was inquiring about a mission and the weapons that were supposed to be gained if it succeeded. Terran Blue informed of the partial success they achieved, after which Terran Yellow warned Terran Green to not perform certain playful acts. Terran Green responded with a more intimidating warning.

However, as seen, there were many different instances of slang usage. All three of the humans used at least two versions, yet they all hold very different positions. Terran Green is a scientist, Terran Yellow is (assumed to be) a chef, and Terran Blue is (assumed to be) a diplomat. Their needs for their positions are greatly varied, leading to confusion as to the education of humans.

In all events of slang use, please proceed with great caution. A greater percentage of this subject is unknown than the previous logs. Refrain from attempting the replication of slang unless the code has been explained to you by a Terran. Humans have not shown much aggression yet, but they may do so if provoked on an emotional level.