#i literally don’t know why god decided that voltron was the one thing that i needed to be spared from

[nothazellevesque]

i stopped watching voltron as soon as season two ended based solely on a singular Bad Vibe. i adored the first season, got through the second, and for some reason, the moment shiro vanished, alarm bells went off in my mind like “oh. this is going to go downhill QUICK.” literally had a that’s so raven like vision of the show becoming dogshit, and walked my dumb ass out of the show and the fanbase. watched the entire voltron phenomenon from the outside after that, and i truly believe that something stepped in and saved me from falling down completely into that hell. i can’t be sure if it was an older me who managed to send a singular message back, or some form of divine intervention that allowed me to escape voltron before it Did That To Itself, but i was spared, and for that i am eternally grateful

[fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy]

Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

[damnlance]

Klance angsty prompt 6 please 👀

Klangst Prompt #6

6. “You’ve never hurt me. Ever”

Summary: Lately, Lance has been stressed beyond the point of breaking… The end of the war was 3 years ago and yet, it’s not enough time to pass for Lance to feel better. Not even close. Everyone has always called him a hero. And since the day they landed back on earth, everyone has gone so far to ask for photos and autographs and all that. These days Lance is sick of it.

Or; the pressures of being the ‘savior of earth’ has been building up inside of Lance, causing him to erupt on any and everyone.

Good thing he has his amazing boyfriend.

-there’s a slow start, but I PROMISE it’s klance so just keep reading!

-also galra (kitten) Keith ?? I love him

-

It all started with a fangirl just a few weeks ago.

Lance decided to walk to his favorite coffee shop one chilly afternoon. He woke up really late and was immediately craving something sweet yet bitter. And since he lives with most of his family, running out of coffee five days after buying a brand new pack of it is very common, especially when no one wants to buy more for whatever reason.

So there Lance was, walking down the street. Hands tucked into his blue lion hoodie (thanks to all the merch the fans of voltron have made over the years), making his way to the closest coffee shop near his home. And then he hears the high pitched squeal of a girl at least 10 feet away from him. Then 9 feet.. then 6.. then 4 because she’s literally running at him with the speed of a hundred cheetahs chasing a gazelle until she’s right there, face to face with Lance.

“Oh my god!!” She yelled, jumping up and down like some 5 year old girl getting a puppy. She was about 5’7, short brown hair and huge blue eyes that almost resembled Lance’s. She wore this giant faux fur coat and beanie to match, and her phone was IN LANCE’S FACE.

She was all over him and it was attracting others to stare their way. Lance tried to calm her down by smiling and using a little of his charm but it was just making the girl fangirl even more. So he took a picture with her to be on his way before the coffee shop got too busy. But she wouldn’t back off. Apparently she wasn’t satisfied with the picture, something about how her eyes were closed? Or how blurry it came out? Lance couldn't remember, he just wanted his coffee.

The girl kept hounding him and following him, demanding that he retake the picture with her. Lance let her down easy, saying how he needed to be someplace important and that he was running late. The girl kept pushing him. Following his every move, right on his heels. Begging, pleading with him to take more pictures because she ‘needed them,’ whatever that meant. Lance tried his hardest to be nice and polite because as a former paladin of voltron and as one of seven someone’s who have saved the entire universe, his image is everything. Without him or his former paladins, there would probably be no earth. So he stopped in his tracks and took a better picture with the girl.

He felt good to see her happy because of something that he had done. Plus he looked really good in that picture, who knew the earth’s natural lighting at 1pm could make his skin look so smooth? Once he gave his approval of the better pic, he was on his way again, hoping that the line to the coffee shop wasn’t even longer now. As he started to fast walk down the busy sidewalk, something yanked him back by the neck and he came crashing down. Literally. He fell right back on his ass and when he looked up, this same crazy girl was looming over him like a mad woman. With his blue hand-knit wool scarf dangling from her grabby hands. The anger that had been simmering in Lance’s gut was at a full blown boil and he was just about ready to explode. So.. he kinda did..

Long and embarrassing story short, Lance yelled at her. He snatched his blue scarf out of her hands so fast, it scared her, and as he rubbed his most likely bruised tailbone, he got in her face and began blaming her for the world's most horrible fan interaction. He was so angry, that he balled his fists, stomped his foot and had veins protruding out of his neck and forehead. He called her names and most likely spit in her face, but he didn’t care. And when he was done, he took a step back and examined the girl in front of him. She was folded in on herself, holding her arms close to her body as her bottom lip quivered and fat, giant tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked so.. mortified. And actually.. scared of him. Like if Lance were to say anything or move a muscle, she’d flinch.

Seconds later, Lance’s face softened into something regretful and he went out to reach for her, to apologize. But, like he knew she would, she flinched. And then hurried away like he was a mad man. All the while crying and clutching her phone to her chest. Lance felt absolutely demolished inside. He tried to go after her but his feet were glued to the cement of the sidewalk. He didn’t even want his coffee anymore.

Thankfully, there were no viral videos or photos or posts about the incident. Lance ended up tracking the girl down a few days later and showered her with all the love he could muster, even taking as many pics as she wanted and liking them on Instagram when she tagged him. But.. something inside him still felt so horrible about the incident. For a moment, Lance had realized that he genuinely hurt that girl for no real reason. He just wanted some coffee but is coffee more important than the people who are thankful and want to show their gratitude for him for everything he did with voltron? If the roles were reversed and he stayed on earth, he would be bending over backwards to let all the paladins know just how thankful he was to live another day on their planet. That girl probably had family, friends, maybe a spouse and kids, and in the midst of that horrible battle 3 years ago, she most likely thought that one of those days would be her last with them.

It broke Lance’s heart thinking about it. He really hurt her. Sure, he made it right and she forgave him, but in that single moment, he actually hurt someone enough to make them cry, to make them run away from him. It was a terrible feeling. It wasn’t Lance. He never wanted that to happen again.

And at the same time.. he.. kinda never wanted to be the savior of earth. Not really.. he just wanted to feel like he had a place in the universe, and to know that he played an important role. That he mattered.

Guess he really matters now..

He sends a long text to Keith with shaky hands.

Message delivered..

The second he walked through the door, his phone rang. It was a three-way call with Hunk and Pidge. Lance pressed the green button to answer and placed the phone to his ear. Immediately, Hunk starts going on and on about how much he misses Lance and when the next time they’ll see each other will be. Lance smiled at his best friend’s inability to ever take a breath between sentences and replied with a warm ‘I miss you too, buddy.’ They got to catching up as Lance ordered his garlic knots and sat down at a private booth near the back of the place. He didn’t want to draw any attention to himself, especially when he got the call from his best friends.

Hunk tells him all the great things that’s been happening at the Garrison and even on the Atlas. He tells him how his restaurant is doing and how his family is doing and how Shay is doing. Pidge catches him up on things with her family, some new inventions she’s been working on, and how being the youngest teacher at the Garrison is going. Lance listens and gives his two cents on everything his friends tell him and honestly, he couldn’t be more happy for them. The way they were able to just get their lives together 3 years after the war is.. incredible. It made him think about everything he’s done since the war ended. Which wasn’t much.. he took over his family’s farm and brought it back to life, he helps out Colleen, Pidge’s mom, with medicine and finding cures to strange space illnesses with plants she has him grow on his farm, and his family’s market wouldn’t be as popular or swarming with business if he didn’t work there. Sad but true. And that’s really it. He hasn’t done much else. Nothing life changing or breathtaking like his friends.

But Hunk and Pidge don’t need to know that. So he simply replies with: “Oh, ya know.. same old, same old,” and hopes it works enough to keep the conversation flowing and follow up questions at bay. It does.

30 minutes into their conversation and Lance is starting to feel a little.. agitated. With the garlic knots consumed and digesting in his stomach, he sits in the booth, alone, listening to his friends go on and on and on about their perfect jobs and their perfect little lives. He gets lost a few times and at one point has literally no idea what they’re talking about. When he tries to ask what or who or even get the slightest details, Pidge lets out a sigh that Lance can’t help but feel like is out of annoyance. Lance sighs back and continues to stay silent because obviously he’s not getting anywhere. Why even bother putting him on a call that Hunk and Pidge could have just had on their own??

Balling his fist, Lance let out a loud, overdramatic sigh. He didn’t care if his friends heard it or how they took it. He was upset. The conversation between his two friends comes to a halt and then awkward silence. Pidge is the first to speak up with a:

“Something you wanna add, Lance?” The annoyance in her voice is very much there and Lance doesn’t miss it. He scoffs loudly and grits his teeth.

“No.” He says, voice deepening in anger.

“Oh really?” Pidge asks, poking the sleeping bear that lies dormant in lance. “Cause it sure sounds like it to me. Why don’t you stop being such a fucking child and tell us what’s bothering you this time??”

Lance damn near growls.

The line has gone quiet now. Hunk’s unsteady breathing is audible but other than that, silence. Lance digs his nails into the skin of his palms and tries to keep the angry tears in his eyes from falling down his cheeks. With a deep shaky breath, he smiles through the pain.

“You know what, Katie,” Lance spits and it makes Hunk gasp. “Fuck YOU and this stupid, shitty attitude you have all the time!”

“Oh, god..” Hunk winces.

“I don’t know what the actual fuck crawled up your ass,” Lance continues, “but I’m sick of it! I've been sick of it for years! I’m sick of keeping my mouth shut and quite frankly, I’m sick of YOU!”

Lance is standing up out of his seat now. His chest heaves up and down as the angry tears have fallen past his face and down his neck. His voice is two octaves deep from anger and the skin of his palm is bloody from how hard he’s digging his nails into it. The place has gone quiet now and Lance can feel multiple pairs of eyes on him. So much for not drawing any attention to himself.

The line is quiet. Then, the sound of a huff of breath. A small laugh.. And then:

“Wow. Nice one, McClain..” Pidge’s voice is small, but so full of something. “Go screw yourself, you asshole.”

The call ends. Whether Pidge or Hunk ended it, is unclear.

Minutes pass, and Lance is still standing in the same place with the phone to his ear. Tears are running down his face, and his Altean marks are buzzing so loud in his ears. His heart is pounding in his ribcage and ice cold sorrow runs through his veins..

He sends a long text to Keith with shaky hands.

Message delivered...

Now, exactly 3 months since that little incident, Lance sits alone in his home. In his childhood bedroom he can’t seem to rearrange because he’s still holding out hope that one day he’ll turn back time and be his child self and get a redo on his life. But hey, it’s better this way. After the whole dilemma with Pidge, Hunk tried to call Lance to help but ended up getting his feelings hurt. Yep. By Lance. Because Lance is a big jerk and can’t stop hurting everyone around him.

So he hasn’t talked to Pidge or Hunk since then. Mostly out of guilt and shame because those two are supposed to be his bestest friends and he hurt them. Nothing he could say or do could make up for his selfish mind and stupid mouth. Lance had this whole plan to go to Shiro about it, to get his advice so Lance could make it all better.

But Pidge being Pidge.. texted the whole thing in their group chat and.. well.. everyone saw it. Shiro, Hunk, Matt, even Keith possibly! It got so bad that Lance’s phone kept going off with alerts from everyone asking what happened and what he said. Curtis tried calling him and left a few messages. Shiro left him a long voicemail. And of course the word traveled so fast that it reached New Altea and Coran got involved. Which caused Romelle to be involved, too. She gossiped to Acxa, who told her girlfriend, who happens to be Lance’s sister, Veronica. Veronica blabbed to Rachel, who blabbed to Marco, who blabbed to Luis.. who blabbed to Lance’s dad.. WHO BLABBED TO LANCE’S MOM. And boy did she have some interesting words for him in the SEVEN, LONG voicemails asking exactly ‘what happened’and ‘why The Holt siblings were so angry with him.’

Everything escalated so fast. Lance can’t even remember what he said. Or why he said it. Since the war ended, it’s been so hard on him. Sure, it’s been hard on everyone, but for Lance it’s been different. Everyone looks up to him for some reason and expects him to do so good and be the hero they all think he is, when in reality? He was just a leg…

Exactly what did he gain from being a paladin of voltron anyway?? Get banged up and bruised almost everyday he was out there? Have people on his case, constantly reminding him how unimportant he was to the team? Pointing out all of his flaws and mistakes and focusing on those when there’s a million other good things he’s done that towers over all the bad shit?? Sure, he returned home to his family who he literally missed and cried for every single day, but he lost the love of his life in the process.

To put it all out there, Lance didn’t really gain anything. He got to travel through space, which was his dream since he was a little kid, and then space chewed him up and spit him out as some fake hero with PTSD and other trauma that will haunt him for the rest of his pathetic life.

So.. these past 3 months.

Lance has been sitting up in his childhood room.

Wishing he could use the power of Altea or something to turn back time.

And be his younger self.

His innocent self.

His happier self.

Back when he wasn’t so fucked up and had dreams and goals.

Back when everyone was proud of him.

Back to when he didn’t know who Allura was or that she even existed. Back to when Voltron didn’t exist either and everything was fucking fine.

Staring up at his ceiling, Lance counts the glow in the dark stars that he’s had up there since he was six years old. Somehow they’re still glowing and Lance is thankful for that because at 3 in the morning when the world is fast asleep and everything is pitch black, he could use the light.

It comforts him. Reminds him of a simpler, more happier time in his life.

Something sharp digs through Lance’s chest as he stares at those fake neon stars, and it hurts really bad. His breathing begins to quicken, matching the beat of his heart, and a lump finds its way up his throat. Tears pool in the rim of his eyes and spill down the corners, streaming down the sides of his face.

And they don’t stop. The stars get blurrier as Lance’s breathing gets heavier. His body begins to tremble with every hiccup of a sob that pours out of him and he’s crying so hard that his brain throbs in his head.

He curls in on himself in his bed and wraps his arms around his torso, crying uncontrollably into his space themed pillow. His Altean marks begin to buzz and glow and he can’t bring himself to care because all he wants to do is disappear.

Disappear from this game called life.

He types a text to Keith with teary eyes and a quivering bottom lip.

Message.. deleted…

As 3 in the morning turns to 4, a pod lands in the grass just a couple yards away from Lance’s farm. Boot covered feet step out of said pod and touch the wet grass waiting for them. It’s still dark out and the only light visible are the fireflies that buzz around a pair of cowboy booted feet. Those booted feet begin to walk, carrying a tall, broad, raven haired stranger up a hill to Lance’s home. The frogs and crickets seem to grow louder as the stranger in black cowboy boots makes their way to the front porch and pulls back the creaky screen door to a cold, locked doorknob. A set of keys are pulled out and a specific blue key is pushed inside the lock, turning and unlocking the door. The stranger walks in and is instantly met.. with..

Crying??

“H-Hello??” The stranger calls out. “Lance?”

The crying stops.

It’s dead quiet..

The door shuts on its own and the echo around the house is eery.

Light footsteps descend the stairs and before they know it, the stranger is being tackled to the ground in a bear hug.

“Ah-! Lance!?” They yell as the duffel bag from their hand falls to the ground.

“Keith!!” Lance yells out, voice rasped from endless crying.

Keith can immediately hear it and wraps his arms around Lance so tight, holding him close. His eyes glow yellow, something that usually happens out of fear, anger, or protectiveness, and his lips protrude to make way for his double set of fangs that are ready to bite any and everyone.

“Lance!” Keith tries to sit up but is pinned to the ground with all of Lance’s dead body weight. “Lance, honey, are you hurt? What’s wrong??”

A hand through curly brown locks and Lance’s crying dies down. He snuggles his face into Keith’s neck and hiccups through a response. Something too incoherent for Keith to make out, but he feels it has something to do with why he was told to go home ASAP.

A few weeks ago, Keith was contacted by Acxa via video chat. They talked and caught up for a few minutes before Acxa told Keith the real reason for her call. She explained that Veronica was having a tough time reaching out to Lance and that he might be in some kind of trouble. Not knowing the full extent of the story, Acxa only told Keith what she heard from Veronica and others. Fearing the worst, Keith packed up his shit and set a course for Earth as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, there were some setbacks on his way over where he had to make a few stops to tend to aliens in need because after all, that’s still his job as a blade member, but when that got finished, Keith hightailed it over. His Galra instincts wouldn't allow him to stay away for much longer anyway and having accepted his galra side a long time ago, it would have been best for everyone to let him go home.

Keith now lays in Lance’s bed, every inch of Lance’s body wrapped up around him like a snake. Keith strokes Lance’s hair soothingly and holds him close to his chest, right over his beating heart. A deep, soothing purr emits itself from Keith’s body and calms Lance’s nerves right down to the bone. Keith knows how much Lance adoreshis Galran features and at this point, Keith would do absolutely anything for Lance to feel better.

They talked about everything that happened and are now in the cuddle stage. Lance has his eyes shut, listening to Keith purr just for him. Long limbs wrapped around every inch of his boyfriend while Keith’s long nails scratch at his scalp, life is so good.

Life is so good with Keith around.

“So,” Keith says, voice as calm as ever. “What exactly did Pidge say?”

“Oh,” Lance answers, his voice quiet as a mouse. “You didn’t see the messages in the group chat?”

“No.” Keith shrugs, laying his cheek against Lance’s forehead. “Been kinda busy.. And I actually don’t understand how a group chat works.”

That rises a chuckle out of Lance as he sits up a bit to reach for his phone on the bedside dresser.

“Idiot,” he whispers with a small smile on his face and it makes Keith light up, his purring becoming a bit louder.

Lance lays back on Keith’s chest as he scrolls through the messages on his phone. When he finds the message from Pidge, Lance clears his scratchy throat and sniffs.

“From Pidgeotto,” he starts, looking at Pidge’s name in their ✨Paladudes✨ group chat. “Just an FYI lance is a.. a total fucking jackass and I am no longer friends with him..”

Keith immediately frowns at that.

Lance continues. “He can suck my big toe for all I care. I’m done with him. Have fun being a lonely loser @LanceyPants.”

“What the fuck?” Keith says, eyes glowing yellow in the dark room. “Why would she say that!?”

Lance shakes his head, tears forming in his eyes again. “Because she was right. I am a jackass..”

“Lance, no!” Keith sits up, bringing Lance with him. They sit side by side as Lance holds himself and looks down at his space blanket. He shrugs once and sniffs.

“Keith, stop,” he says, wiping a tear from his eye. “Look, I said some very hurtful things to her and she lashed out in a perfectly normal way..”

“Normal!?” Keith scoffs, grabbing Lance’s phone and rereading the message again. “Jackass? Loser?? Come on, Lance, she’s completely bullying you and you know it!”

Lance whips around with an angry expression on his face “Because I deserve it!”

The room grows quiet. Keith takes a deep breath and reaches over to grab Lance’s shoulders.

“Calm.” He says, taking a deep breath for Lance to mimic. Lance takes a deep breath with him and lets it out. Keith begins to purr again and it calms Lance even more.

“I.. Sorry..”

Keith nods. He reaches up to cup Lance’s cheek and rubs his thumb across Lance’s tear stained eye.

“You know I would never hurt anyone on purpose..” Lance sniffs. “That’s not who I am. I’m just.. I’m tired of being this symbol of everything strong and good and brave.”

“Mhm,” Keith rubs Lance’s back, leaning in closer to him to nuzzle his forehead. Lance nuzzles back and Keith’s purrs.

“I keep.. I keep hurting everyone I care about..” Lance whispers in a voice so low and fragile, it nearly shatters Keith’s heart.

“That’s not true.” Keith pulls back a little to look into Lance’s teary blue eyes. “Lance, you are the most incredible, selfless, honest person I’ve ever known. You are strong and good and brave even if you don’t mean to be. Or want to be.”

Lance pulls away and stares at his hands. Keith keeps his eyes focused on Lance.

“I know you think you hurt that fangirl from a few months ago.” Keith continues. “Or Pidge. Or Hunk. Or your parents or friend or family or whoever, but you could never hurt anyone.”

“Yeah, right,” Lance shakes his head. “I already did. I hurt everyone.”

“And even if that’s true,” Keith grabs Lance’s hands in his own, “which it’s not, you’re not doing it on purpose. You have a right to your own feelings! And you have a right to speak your mind.”

“And what if that hurts people??” Lance looks up and meets teary eyes to indigo ones. “What if I accidentally hurt my mama or my sisters or brothers, or nieces and nephews because I can’t be who they want me to be, who they think I am!?”

“Lance,” Keith shakes his head.

“What if I hurt you???” Lance’s eyes go wide. He looks Keith up and down and exhales a panicked breath. “God, Keith.. wh-what if I hurt you??”

“Oh, Lancey,” Keith sighs that lovey-dovey sigh where his eyes go all big and black like a cat’s, and the purr in his chest gets louder. “You’ve never hurt me. Ever.”

Lance stares into Keith’s eyes like they’re his lifeline.

“B-but.. but what if-?”

“No more what if’s!” Keith cuts Lance off by covering his mouth with his hand. “Listen to me, Lance. Are you listening??”

Lance nods repeatedly.

“Good,” Keith smiles, all crooked and cute and beautiful. “The only person you ever need to worry about hurting is yourself.”

And there it is. The one thing Lance has been dying to hear without knowing he’d been dying to hear it. It’s like a breath of fresh air, or cool rain on a hot and sweaty day. The permission he needed but didn’t really need. He has a right to care about himself and put himself first but whenever he tries, the guilt eats him alive. Why should he care about himself when he has to care more about others???

No. That’s not the case. It’s never been the case.

“You’ve gotta stop doing this to yourself,” Keith finishes, stroking the endless sea of tears that are falling from Lance’s eyes. He strokes Lance’s glowing Altean marks and leans forward to kiss one softly. Lance trembles slightly, closing his eyes to bask in the moment.

“I’m sure Pidge has gotten over it by now,” Keith reassures. “She just has too much pride to make the first more and apologize. You know how she is.”

“Y-Yeah,” Lance hiccups, nodding.

“And Hunk?” Keith scoffs. “I bet your mailbox is full of letters from him, explaining how sorry he is and hoping you’re doing alright. You know if he can’t reach you from your phone, he has other ways.”

That makes Lance smile.

“There’s probably cookies on the way right now.” He looks into Keith’s eyes, exhaling a small laugh.

“Oh, yeah,” Keith agrees, laughing that angelic laugh and showing off his perfect pearly fangs. Lance’s heart skips a fucking beat.

“And your fangirl?” Keith’s purring stops. “Well, she never should have gotten all up in your space that’s for sure. You had every right to punch her.”

“Keith!” Lance squeaks, face contorting into shock and confusion. “I-I didn’t punch her!”

“Really?” Confusion etches itself all over Keith’s features and he puts a finger to his chin. “I could have sworn I read that in your text.”

“No way, man!” Lance defends, waving his arms around. “Why would I ever in my life-!” He stops mid sentence to see the shit-eating grin plastered on Keith’s face.

“Just kiddin, lil lady,” Keith says in his best southern accent, smiling big and wide.

Lance bursts out into a fit of laughter, hitting Keith’s chest and arms and back. Keith shields himself and laughs, grabbing Lance’s arms and bringing him down onto the mattress. They fall back with Keith looming over Lance, his long raven hair surrounding their faces.

Lance stares up into those beautiful, indigo eyes and sniffs, unable to look away. He reaches up and cups Keith’s face, rubbing his thumb over Keith’s Galran stripe.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Keith asks in his softest voice, eyes roaming from Lance’s teary blue eyes to his luscious lips.

“Yes,” Lance nods, not even bothering to blink because if he does, he’ll miss Keith’s everything.

“Don’t let anyone get you down, my sweetheart.” Keith whispers, leaning in closer. “Ever.”

Lance nods.

“And if they do,” Keith’s face turns serious, indigo eyes going dark. “I’ll bite their throats out and hand them to you on a silver platter.”

“Keith,” Lance exhales, going red in the face and ears. “Holy shit, you can’t just say things l-like that.”

Keith’s hard demeanor falls as he giggles and leans in close. Before they close the gap between their lips, Lance whispers, “And hey. I thought pet names were my thing?”

And Keith kisses him to shut him up.

They kiss like they haven’t seen each other in years and it’s the greatest Lance has ever felt. Keith kisses like he’s starving for it, craving it so much more than air and it’s hot and powerful and so, so damn good.

Lance wraps his arms and legs around Keith’s body and kisses him back with fervor. He allows Keith to make him feel better, and kisses his pain away. Keith pulls away slowly, licking into Lance’s mouth before he does so. Lance lets out a small groan and smiles before he opens his eyes.

“I love you,” he whispers, tucking some hair behind Keith’s ear.

“I love you, more,” Keith whispers back, settling himself between Lance’s legs. “Feeling any better?”

“A little,” Lance looks away, sniffling a little. His eyes focus back to Keith’s and a small smile appears on his kiss swollen lips. “But I know a great way you can make me feel all the way better.”

“Oh, yeah,” Keith smirks, burying his face into Lance neck to start kissing slowly. “And what’s that?”

Lance giggles like a little kid, running his hands up and down Keith’s sides. When Keith pulls back, he trails his kisses up the side of Lance’s face and stops at his Altean mark.

“Make love to me,” Lance whispers, rubbing his nose against Keith’s. “Touch me all over and hold me until the sun comes up and just.. love me. Please..”

Keith’s face softens into something full of love and adoration. He moves forward to peck Lance’s lips, then his chin, and then his other Altean mark.

“Anything you want, my sweet..” he kisses Lance’s cheek. “Beautiful..” he kisses Lance’s jaw. “Amazing.. wonderful..”

“Alright, enough!” Lance laughs, slapping Keith in the back. His cheeks are on fire as he closes his eyes when Keith starts nibbling on his neck with his fangs. A chill runs down Lance’s spine and tingles to his toes, making them curl.

Keith sits up one last time and stares at Lance like he’s the world.

“I’ll take good care of you, baby.” He says with the utmost truth in his sultry voice. “I promise. We’re in this together.”

“Yeah,” Lance nods, letting his tears fall down his face and glowing Altean marks. “Together.”

And as Keith kisses Lance so lovingly, Lance can’t help but be glad that he can’t turn back time to be his younger self. Because with Keith around, he feels all the happiness in the whole world just like he did when he was young.

-END-

(send me a klangst prompt)

[pretty-setter-bois]

cute

request; The paladins headcanon reaction to started dating their crush and it’s been like 2 weeks and maybe like they’re both just doing something together and s/o with the straightest face ever says: “oh my god… you’re so cute…”?

summary; fluffy shenanigans with the paladins of voltron.

word count; 822™

warnings; none.

SHIRO

shiro is a very straight forward man

but there are times where he may lose his composure

so when you accepted his proposal (to date) he was the happiest man alive

he was still getting used to calling you his and enjoying your company

so during the times that he’d review battle plans

you’d join and help

and this one time you were helping him with the notes

you recommended he take a break after working for so long

when he comes back, he finds all the work done

even a cute little note heh

‘don’t over work yourself <3’

he had a little blush on his face

and it was one of those moment where he realized you were dating

and he just

squeezed the life out of you

‘thank you’

‘what for?’

‘for being you, for being mine’

KEITH

literally the ceo of antisocial

let’s be real here, you probably asked him out

he got all flustered (like the red lion flustered) and almost said no

lance was def in the back yelling something like ‘say yes, idiot!’

anyways, theres two things he’s overprotective over.

one: you

two: his belongings

one time he was training

and you being you, took the chance to come and see him

he didn’t notice you when you came in, so you sat on the bench to wait

you wear his jacket

he finished training after a while

he catches a glimpse of you in his jacket

at first he’s confused

he’s sure you must have bought another one to match his

but then he goes to grab his

it’s gone

he looks at you

you look at him

‘is that… my jacket?’

‘oh, uh, yeah. i was waiting for you, and i don’t know why i wore it, but i’ll give it back.’

you begin to take it off and he stops you

‘n-no. keep it.’

he even zips it up to your chin, and you look even cuter than before

you look up at him, confused

‘cute. i-i mean, y-you. you’re… cute.’

LANCE

we all know resident lover boy has tried every trick in the book to get you to date him

every trick

but every time, something had to go wrong

or you wouldn’t understand

so when you asked him out, he had to back track a little

‘w-wait, really? y-you, want to date… m-me?’

long story short he began to run around the castle on pure adrenaline but got lost and got tired

anyway, lance sometimes forgets you’re dating — or it seems too good to be true

and he just can’t get used to your cute little gestures

one time, when coran had dragged him off to help him clean the cryopods, you offered to come with

coran said he was going to get more cleaning supplies, and left you two

you began to clean — to which lance payed no mind — and somehow got your towel stuck above the cryopod

so, you nervously approach lance

tug on his sleeve (and your hand stays there)

and mumble something about your towel

although you can’t see his face, he’s blushing because he can’t believe how cute you are

he hands you the towel, and you shyly thank him

‘c-cute!’

‘um… huh?’

‘you, you’re really… cute.’

‘oh. thanks.’

and then you smile

and lance isn’t sure how to keep it together

HUNK

ahh

i feel like he would worship the land you walk on if you dated

he gets such an ego boost once he remembers that you’re dating

‘yes, my s/o is that absolutely good-looking person over there. need anything?’

he’s very respectful of boundaries though, and won’t hesitate to try and make you feel better if you’re feeling down

he’d find everything you do cute, to be honest

his reaction would always be the same,

bear hug

wide smile

‘you’re so cute!’

and it would instantly make you feel better :)

PIDGE

she’s not very romantic

it’s always slipped her mind, really

until it came to you

it felt like you were the first person that understood her, besides matt

you would always find her in her lab

help her out with experiments

and you soon began dating

anyway, you were helping her out in her lab again one day

and she said she had to grab something from coran

and left you

you decided to try and understand her experiments

so you looked at the open books and beakers and her laptop

you end up getting what she needed to finish it, and did it for her

she comes back, defeated because coran didn’t have what she needed

you show her the experiment

she instantly perks up

‘you… finished the experiment?’

‘well, of course.’

‘you… you’re… cute.’

‘oh… thanks. you too.’

awkward mess of a tech whiz and science nerd

[whatthehelliswrongwithme]

Voltron Part 28

Everyone says that S7 and S8 are bad. But at least they dont have this stupid half-season thing going on. Season 6, episodes 5+6! These ones were pretty wild. Let's go!:

The aaangst! So much aaaangst!

Also. Congatulations, it’s a Sheith!

Keith once again went off on his his own because of Shiro...

Colourful Ty Lee, Big Gal! Don’t call Shiro “it”. He’s our fucking space daddy!

Space witch calling Keith the “Red Paladin” is literally me. Like. Guys, you’ve had your new lions long enough! Colour coordinate accordingly!

This entire episode, I'm just that meme, “Hey. Check out how hard I can cry”

Stone Cold Bitch is hesitant to shoot Keith! The brOTP continues!

Is the virus affecting the castle supposed to be created by Shiro/space witch? And therefore it knows what Pidge would do?

Lotor don’t talk to your mother like that. She may be an ass, but you’re the bigger ass

Lotor got his girlsquad back, eventhough he doesn't deserve them

OH FUCK! OH SHIT! OH FUCKING SHIT! OH SHITTING FUCK!

That stupid fucking clone theory got it right!

AND I FUCKING HATE THAT!

NO!!!! THAT'S DUMB! I DON'T LIKE THAT

Okay. First of all: How did people think of this theory? I only knew that it existed because of old Voltron-fandom videos on YouTube. Did I miss so much foreshadowing?

Second: I absolutely hate this. I want MY Shiro. Not some stupid clone

Third: That discovery scene was really well done! Kudos to the people responsible

(Fourth: There probably exist a Sheith Gangbang fic on AO3 based on this scene. And i will find it)

It’s time for more ANGST!

That fight scene is SO anime

Tam Voltron, don’t fucking mistrust Shiro (even though you now know that the virus is his doing)

Did Keith just have goddamn yellow eyes? It’s probably a Galra thing, but I just wanna send him to an optometrist

“Shiro”, honey. That “Your parents abandoned you”-thing won’t work on Keith. He basically just had a 2 year pep talk with his mom

I know it’s an animation thing, to show that Keith's breathing heavily. But the Paladins armor must be really shitty if it just bends like that

Keith said “I love you”. I repeat: Keith said “I love you”

(I know it won’t be canon because apparently !No! shippers were happy with the ending. But just let me have this)

And their backstory is so cute!!!

Is Shiro good again? Because of the power of love, or something like that?

God. This episode was just an emotional roller coaster...

.-•-°-•-.-•-°-•-.-•-°-•-.-~☆

Hey, it's the spirit realm where Shiro fought Zarkon!

It's good-haircut-Shiro!

God. Him telling Keith he died broke my fucking heart...

Sooooo. What are you gonna do with "Shiro" ?

~I predicted it~ ~It's time for some Allura-angst because of this whole situation with Lotor~

Is it bad that I don't feel that sorry for her? Because, like. Lotor was obviously still an evil ass

And being a Leader, she should have a better judge of character

But. At least we got a good Allurance moment out of that

Big Gal and colourful Ty Lee are suprisingly okay with siding with Lotor again. That's either non-developed character motivation. Or part of some greater scheme(?)

Moustache man, sorry but I do not care about your b-plot of trying to fix the castle.

(But also: Good for you, for living this ~Disney princess life~ with all these animal companions)

Lotor. I don't think that anyone still believes that you're a good guy

Does Allura get to kill Lotor?

His reaction to being compared with Zarkon sure was something. Dude got some serious daddy-issues to work through

Wow, Lotor you're such a great guy~♡. Talking about, being the Altean's great leader and erasing Allura+her dad from history. Such a good guy~ ^^

And the girlsquad abandoned him again. Nevermind

Why did Lotor decide to have his 99cent-version of Voltron be a scalie?

It's kinda sad that Keith has to listen to his friends potentially dying.... But I'm also pretty impressed that he's still getting signal all the way in space...

Shiro said his line! "Patience yields focus".

And now Keith had his magical-girl transformation sequence with the black lion!

So the final episode gonna be an epic mecha battle? Again? Like in season 2?

Is Allura gonna "die"? Again? Like in every other season-finale-episode?

Also they still have to figure out, what to do about this entire Shiro and "Shiro"-thing

[astralscrivener]

🧠 😈 🛒 and ✨ for the emoji ask!

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

well you didn’t give me a character, so i’ll go with keith bc that’s my guy: he is clingy as fuck. i make this no secret in my writing but listen. listen. dude has abandonment issues. pushes people away before they can leave him because he doesn’t want to go through that heartbreak again. once he begins healing and lets people lance in again? once he learns to trust again? dude is all over people. but ONLY the people he trusts. and that pool is so so so small (first it’s shiro and adam. then lance. and eventually the rest of team voltron but that’s it. but he LOVES IT he just has a very hard time admitting it)

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

[stares at SGD] define playfully,

anyway there were many instances specifically in the deceit so natural trilogy where i was mean on purpose. every little “nothing is going to happen to us” / “i’m not letting us get separated again” / any variant of that sort of reassurance was all heavy-handed foreshadowing and also being a bitch. a mean little bitch.

also keith and lance were supposed to reunite in chapter 15 of stars go down but in a move equal measures me having adhd, me being a pantser, and me being a little bitch, i decided to prolong the separation another 16 chapters instead. 

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

so first of all. as far as themes go: trust and betrayal. huge ones. mostly from my own unresolved trauma bc by god do i need a therapist, but trust and betrayal are huge. 

this one is more so my original writing than my fics (but my fics, too. this happened in squad up and deceit so natural), but exes who are The Worst who are out to ruin your life. because, again: i need a therapist

always love some good space imagery, but also fire and water come up frequently bc of keith and lance. [jack voice] IT’S FUCKING KLANCE AGAIN. 

and also i started doing this thing that comes up a lot where if lance and keith specifically are having a heart-to-heart conversation, lance literally holds keith’s hand to his heart. i don’t know when, why, or how this started, but it’s just a thing now

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

all right u bitch i see what ur doing (i love you)

anyway my writing is so so sexy and my brain is huge. i am so good at foreshadowing and writing fun dialogue and also on occasion i’m really good at fucking around with doublespeak

once more: THANK U FOR THE ASKS BESTIE I LOVE U

fanfic writer emoji ask!

[just-my-fandom]

Voltron Headcannons

Date set to post; July 25th, 2020

Date posted; August 6th, 2020

Request; Basically Headcannons where the reader gets hurt and the paladins take care of her!

Style; Headcannons

Note; I went in dept with this. Stay home and stay safe, guys!

Masterlist

Shiro

You scared yourself awake

After the paladins and their lions were thrown into the ports to different areas of space, you, Shiro, and Keith landed on the same planet

Not that you knew that

You had passed out during the fall out of fear, and when you woke up, it hurt to move because of the purple marks on your side,

Your helmet glitched as you tried to look around, noting how your lion, the white lion, had shut down

You heard your name being called through your ear piece, but you couldn’t tell which paladin it is, or if it was Allura or Coran

The back door to your lion hissed open and it startled you enough to jump in your seat, which caused you to hiss when the wound pulled,

“Easy. Try not to move,”

You lifted your head, and behold, your knight in shining armor

Not really, but Shiro was close enough

His brows were pinched with worry as he squatted down in front of your chair, and tried to help you stand without touching your burning side,

After three attempts and a thousand “ows,” Shiro settled on keeping you in your seat and trying to get in contact with Keith

Cue the weird creature things that had spotted the lion and the door that Shiro left open (stupid fuck), and Shiro ended up having to defend you with his glowing hand,

Sure he got a few scratches, but what’s a few more scars to match the rest

Keith eventually found your lion, and Shiro had you laying down because the position you were sitting in made the wound ten times worse

Keith and Shiro tried to patch up your side with what you have in your lions, but eventually they decided that they have to wait for the others to find them so you can be put in a healing pod

That night even after you’re healed Shiro still wouldn’t let you get out of bed even for a cup of water-

Keith

You were just training when it happened

Swinging a few at the training bot with your sword, out of breath, before it got knocked out of your hand and you were left throwing punches

You didn’t catch the arm of the bot pulling back (it had somehow caught your sword), before it lunged forward,

The sudden problem you had to breathe caused your movements to stop, and you finally looked down at where the sword had pierced just under your left breast

A wheezed “oh my God” escaped your lips in horror, the bot pulling the blade out to step back, announcing you had lost before it vanished,

You mentally prepared yourself to scream, only getting out a, “Keith!!” before you dropped to the metal floor,

Keith and Lance were both making their way down the hall to the training deck when they heard your shout, so naturally they both took off towards your voice,

Keith saw you first, cursing out loud when Lance rammed into him due to not stopping fast enough,

They both saw you on your back, one arm sprawled to the side as the other held your workout shirt, that was once a light (favorite/color) and was then stained red,

Keith demanded Lance to go get Allura as he fully stepped into the deck, using the towel he was going to use for sweat to press it to your wound, squatting down to fully look at your face,

“The bot,” You wheezed, eyes wide in a panic, “It stabbed me. I didn’t know it could do that,”

“Don’t talk,” Keith’s voice came out tougher than he had liked. You had gotten stabbed, you didn’t need a lecture,

You instead tilted your head back and whined, and Keith racked his brain to figure out what he could do to stop the bleeding until the other teammates got there,

“Holy Quiznack!” Keith had rolled his eyes at Corans shout, then when he looked up three of the paladins- plus Coran- had surrounded you

When they got to the medic bay and you were put in a healing pod, Coran was able to bring up security cameras that revealed how you had gotten injured,

“What level did you have that thing on? Death?”

That earned Lance a punch in the shoulder.

Keith did scold you when you were healed and out of the pod,

Pidge, Hunk and Coran took time to tweak the training bots so they couldn’t go as far as causing fatal injuries like yours,

You were low key scared to use the training bot again

Keith will do.

Hunk

So you and Hunk were sent on your own mission.

You had to sneak into a part of a Galra ship and steal a piece of tech that Pidge needed for an important part of the castle

Everything was fine and dandy until an alarm was set of- a Galra soldier had spotted you

Galra soldiers ended up raiding the halls that you and Hunk were in

While Hunk was able to to defend himself your bay yard had been shot from your hands so you were only given hand-to-hand combat

You were fine holding your end of the grudge until a Galra Solider had snuck up behind you and Hunk

He must have knew you would be more effected if you were shot, so just as you were about to pin another soldier, a hot wave of pain had hit your shoulder and caused you to release the soldier

You didn’t realize that it actually hurt until you turned to face the soldier who shot you, then black began to spot your vision and you were unable to keep yourself up

Hunk noticed that you’d suddenly just stopped fighting and that’s when he saw the blood on your uniform

Hunk was able to shoot down the remaining guards, then he was left to catch you, but he was freaking out so much he couldn’t bring himself to run, instead he just sunk to his knees and began yelling into his mic,

This led you to laughing despite literally fading in and out of consciousness and telling Hunk he needed to get you to the ship

Which he did, but running back to the ship even with more Galra soldiers chasing him wasn’t easy because he couldn’t just pull out his weapon and shoot with you in his arms

You may or may not had done a badass thing of pulling your gun from your thigh pocket and hazily shooting at the soldiers,

You luckily shot all of them so when you patted the back of Hunks head and dropped your gun, he stopped running to look back and realize he didn’t have to run anymore,

“Babe, I love you more than usual sometimes,”

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not so I’m gonna take it as one,”

Hunk then reminds himself that you’re barely there with them so he starts sprinting again and yelling for Coran to power a healing pod

You healed pretty quickly but Hunk had to give you a run down and scolded you as to why you didn’t use your thigh gun during battle instead of just using your fists,

All is good tho dw

Pidge (Short)

Believe it or not, it was Matt who had hurt you

You and Pidge had found a room with a map and locations and realized it was a spy facility

A figure suddenly snuck up on you and Pidge, and while Pidge was able to duck and roll to the side, you were hit upside the head with the strangers staff

And since you had taken your helmet off, it caused more damage to where you had to lay on the floor just to gain your vision back

Pidge is pissed, running at the figure with her weapon and they ended up fighting, and sure enough, low and behold, Matt’s identity was revealed

Pidge almost forgot about you when she hugged Matt, and she turned and called out for you in a panic, having not seen you move to show you were okay,

Which you were, just in pain from the force your head and face took and your head had began to throb,

“I did not mean to hit you that hard,” Matt said, when Pidge ran to your side and helped you sit up, her hand at your jaw giving Matt the go that you weren’t just a friend,

It ended up bruising, so there was just this big line going across your cheek and jaw that was an ugly purple and green color

Matt still apologizes to this day even tho it’s been weeks since it happened

You and Pidge sometimes laugh at him for it

Lance

So what had happened was-

You and Keith had to sneak on Zarkons ship

Yes, you and Keith

Lance wasn’t happy about that but

And right before you reached the area you had to get to, Keith was jumped and you were pulled into a side room, pinned to a wall with a hand at your throat

You easily passed out and when Keith turned around, you were no longer in his sight

Lance was livid

You woke up like three hours later in a cell

It was dark, clammy, and your throat was hurting from the pressure your capturer had put on it

Zarkon had his men chain you up and started electrocuting you for answers on Voltron

Of course as a valid member of the team you weren’t telling him shit

Which ended with you having a broken nose cause you had spit in Zarkons face and told him to “go to hell”

The one time Zarkon left you alone Lance and Keith rescued you, and the whole time Lance was reminding Keith that he should have gone on the mission with you instead of him

You ended up collapsing halfway through Zarkons ship, and it only freaked Lance out more because an alarm had gone off to alert that you had escaped

Cue Lance swooping you up and shooing Keith to run

Again you woke up a couple hours later in your bed at the castle and Lance was all sobby about it because “You could’ve died”

“But I didn’t,”

“Let me have my emotional moment, dammit. I could have left you behind,”

“Keith would’ve rescued me,”

Great, you made Lance mad and pout.

“I’m your knight in shining armor, not Keith,”

“Yes you are. Thank you, Lance,”

[recurring-polynya]

As we all know, I am Perpetually Rewatching Bleach, and I hit the Reigai Arc a while ago, but I didn’t feel like recapping it, because recaps are a ton of work and I am Tired, but Bleach 333 might be the Bleachiest episode in all of Bleach, so I had to.

In the immortal words of Gideon the Ninth: “Things were happening too much.”

So, this is pretty deep into the arc-- all the lieutenants are in the World of the Living and all the (real) captains are in Soul Society, Nozomi has just unlocked her zanpakutou, and Reigai Zaraki and Byakuya showed up to start shit.

At the end of the last episode, all the lieutenants put their reiatsu in Nozomi’s sword (why does some variation of this happen every filler arc??) and she blew up Zaraki and Byakuya. The episode opens with Renji muttering “Did we get ‘em?” which is really how every episode should open. It looks like they successfully KO’d Zaraki, but Reigai Byakuya survived, and he proceeds to take out all the lieutenants with a single Soren Sokatsui.

This seems bad, but then, the Captain Commander shows up out of nowhere and sets Reigai Byakuya on fire. Yes. Really.

Ichigo and Rukia get Yamamoto up to date, but the best part of this scene is that Renji is just...lying there in the middle of it, like a sleepy boi.

All of sudden, more Reigai show up, and there’s a split screen reaction shot, but... it’s just of the unconscious lieutenants. Friends, I literally screamed. They made this episode just for me. We’re also going to start counting SSRS’s, because this episode has... a lot of them.

I also want to point out the Ichigo, Nozomi and Kon seem to be entirely uninjured; Rukia, Chad and Uryuu are able to get themselves up, Renji is Hanging In There, and all the other lieutenants are toast. I am pretty sure this Says Something About the Lieutenant Class.

Oh God, there is so much Peak Renij Dialogue in this episode.

At this point, Renji attempts to sit up, and falls down again.Good hustle, buddy, you tried.

Somewhere around here, my husband got up to let the dog out and he said, “pause it if anything good happens.” I had to pause it almost immediately because Reigai Ukitake and Kyouraku showed up and then this happened:

There’s like 4 minutes straight of releasing, literally everything is on fire, and after being told to stay back like 5 times, Nozomi jumps into battle and we get split screen reaction shot #2.

Nozomi attacks Kyouraku and Ichigo goes after Ukitake. Yamamoto literally grumbles “Those darn kids...” and then Unohana comes out of nowhere and casts four different binding in a row on Yamamoto while an electric bass guitar plays. I say this all the time, but this is exactly how I would fight if I were a shinigami fighting another shinigami: just bind the fuck out of them and then attack them while they’re down. This scene was incredibly gratifying to me, Unohana is the GOAT.

How’s Renji doing?

Keep working at it, you’re doing great, pal.

The true purpose of filler arcs is more fights for characters that we didn’t get to see fight enough, and this episode delivers with some excellent Kyouraku and Ukitake throw-downs. Whoops, here’s reaction shot #3:

Because his spiritual energy has been on its last legs this whole arc, Ichigo is supposed to use his powers very carefully, for example, not going to bankai or using Getsugas, except when he can’t think of anything else, which is constantly. #4.

Did I mention that Fake Ukitake and Fake Kyouraku are Very Real Husbands this episode? Because they are.

We cut back to Rukia and Renji (still prone) and Kon. Kon is Big Sad because he can’t help. I have no love for Kon, but I respect this great compliment he lays on Rukia after she punches him.

Rukia and Renji decide they gotta go help and-- and Renji is UP! The man is up!

Except that Yamamoto abruptly busts out of his wards and Rukia has to breathlessly gasp “What is this reiatsu?” as per her contract.

SHIT FAM the real Unohana is here and she’s got Dramatic Singers! Fake Unohana is literally about to pee herself and so would you if you say this coming for you:

Wards still be exploding, Obligatory Renji Protects Rukia (and Kon) Shot!

Split Screen Reaction Shot #5: Karakura Kids Edition

Then, um this happened.

AHEM.

This was my favorite SSRS in the episode because it was kinda high concept. Rukia starts talking in the left panel, but you can still see her arm moving the middle panel. Didn’t they do this in Pacific Rim, with the heads-up displays? Or maybe that was Voltron. I don’t care, I love this shit.

Anyway, when Renji picks up the dialogue, BAM, he takes over the middle.

The fireball has done nothing to the Reigai, so we get a walking-thru-flames drama shot that ends with... yet another SSRS.

They start to attack Yamamoto who is 1000% ready to throw down, but then Kageroza shows up and declares that he will be taking on the old man himself.

Ichigo gets real concerned that Kageroza will use Yamamoto’s power against him (Yamamoto is like, ‘whatever’). Nozomi volunteers to act like a decoy, and Kageroza does his villainous laugh, “you’ll never steal my spiritual pressure-- NANI??”  It turns out Nozomi already charged her sword up with the Head Captain’s spiritual pressure when Kageroza...was...checking his phone? I do not know how me missed this sneaky, sneaky maneuver:

I guess he didn’t see anything because they were behind Ichigo’s back. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

Anyway, it’s not enough, so Yamamoto attacks. That’s not enough, so Ichigo unleashes his final Getsuga (not, like, the Final Getsuga, just like, the last one he has. Very confusing naming scheme here.)

Does this count as another SSRS? It doesn’t do the BAM/BAM/BAM, so maybe Rukia/Renji/Kon have been in split screen mode this entire time, and it’s just a revisit. Whatever, I’m gonna count it. We’re up to 8.

Ichigo is now spent. He mumbles “Did I get ‘im?” and then falls out of the sky.

“I NEED RENJI TO CATCH HIM,” I scream, while my husband winces and pinches the bridge of his nose. “GET UP, RENJI!” I yell. “YOU CAN DO IT.”

He’s thinkin’ about it!

Oh, no, Ichigo, did not, in fact, “get ‘im.” Kageroza appears to have survived, which I guess justifies a SSRS #9.

Look at Renji’s face. He’s ready. He’s goin’.

And he’s off!!!! I LOVE THIS MAN.

UGH, we have to sit through Kageroza explaining how he survived the attack by absorbing Nozomi’s attack and Ichigo’s Getsuga who cares who cares who cares, get to the good stuff--

yaaaasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Kageroza is powering up his attack, we’re gonna get the “To Be Continued..” any second, but NO there is STILL TIME FOR ONE MORE!

Ten. TEN. This episode is only 22 minutes long and they managed to fit in 10 split screen reaction shots. I suspect this may be the record.

This entire episode was just split screen reactions shots, people powering up, shots of my OTP, and Renji catching Ichigo and then cradling him lovingly. Perfect episode. 1000/10.

[raziroo]

Chapter 3 | I Am Not At All Wise

Pairing: There's hints, but none

Genre: Angst?

Warnings: Overly Casual Mentions of Depression and Anxiety, Mentions of Trading of Lives

Word Count: 1,926

Author's Note: This might appear a little rushed, because I got this sudden surge of inspiration and sat down to write this and this isn't even proofread. Sorry, hehe.

‘Guys, what’s wrong with you?! This my father we’re talking about, my father! Why are you so hesitant to trade him for Lotor?’

The tense energy in the room only became even more suffocating when Pidge let that question, among others, loose like cannonballs. I was glad I was sitting even a bit away from the ongoing discussion, because the questions and not up to par answers were succeeding in making me uncomfortable. After all, the topic at hand wasn’t light at all – a topic such as trading of lives is one that questions your morals, your beliefs, literally everything you, as a person, stand for. I stared at Pidge, her absolutely enraged expression making me gulp nervously`. If Pidge didn’t get her father back now, after finding out his destination, then God knows how many shots are going to get fired at whom. And although I’m not saying that Pidge is wrong, she isn’t even right.

That’s confusing.

What I meant to say was, that although Pidge’s actions and fury and incredulousness were fully justified, it didn’t mean that we could all just nod heads in tandem and send Lotor off as some sort of pig for slaughter in exchange of Pidge’s dad. It wasn’t fair.

As my eyes lost focus, I recalled Captain America’s words – we don’t trade lives.

I snapped out of my thoughts. I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t want to. I wouldn’t, ultimately. Heading to my room now instead of just sitting there and making myself look like an unopinionated fool wasn’t helping me anyways, and neither was Lotor’s presence a couple feet beside me.

I decided to head to my room.

After all, that was what I was best at, wasn’t it? After finally accepting that I was a time traveler and couldn’t ever see my friends or family ever again and that aliens did actually exist, and not just on Mars (wait, did aliens exist on Mars? I never asked that), all I did for a good sum of time was hide in my room. Activities except hiding in my room included roaming through the castle and running to my room as soon as I deducted any trace of intelligent life near me, being strangely intimate with the white lion – intimacy including venting about how I was probably depressed, possibly had anxiety, caressing the lioness because she’s beautiful, and nestling in her cockpit because she felt like home – and running to my room when Shiro questioned me about my connection with White.

A bit after, when I felt more reassured and had begun craving human communication, I finally emerged from my cave, only to find that some of the Paladins didn’t seem too happy with my presence. Time went on, spirits fell, only to rise once again in blazing hopes of dethroning Zarkon, and my naturally social abilities helped me blend in with the Paladins soon. A lot of the comfort I felt among the Paladins, I owed to Shiro and Hunk. Those two were literally angels, especially to me. I couldn’t count on all the fingers of the Paladins and Allura combined how may times those two, and occasionally Lance, came to offer me a hug or talk to me when I looked glum. Even Allura and Pidge talked to meif they were free. The only person I had problems interacting with was Keith. But we’d nod to each other, say our greetings, and I accepted that. I couldn’t be besties with everyone. However, mine and Keith’s communication skills only worsened and problems only increased once Shiro disappeared. Keith straight up would refuse to pilot the Black Lion, and even when he finally agreed, he was so unorganized and his decisions so rash it was costing the coalition. When Lions started becoming unstable to fight after longer, tougher battles, White was expected to fill in. After all, it was the White Lion’s purpose – to be the mind of Voltron when the Paladins couldn’t, to keep the soul, fire, water, air and flora elements in check, Allura had once said to me. Only, White needed a pilot, a Paladin. And all expectations of being White’s pilot were pinned on me, naturally, because I was the one who seemingly materialized in her cockpit out of nowhere.

I, obviously, failed to do that. Because apparently (and quite obviously, if I do say so myself) even though White warmed up the cockpit for me when I slept there and seemed to purr when I caressed her face, I wasn’t worthy enough, in her gaze, to be a Paladin. And I truly had no qualms about that. The only issue was that Keith wasn’t satisfied with that. Pidge and Lance tried to hide it, but they too, felt that I should try harder. Hunk comforted me when I accidentally let the hurt I was feeling shine through. Allura tried to convince everyone that it wasn’t my fault at all, that the Lions only accepted whom they deemed fit to Pilot them, and the reason the White Lion even was the “extra” Lion in the first place was that it was hardest than any of the other Lions to convince to be Pilot of. It was simply too calculating and cynical and choosy – and I agreed with White wholly, because stepping in as the voice of reason, as the mind of Voltron when all these worthy, noble, brave people who were specifically selected to be the defender and judge of the universe when no one else could failed to do their jobs, then you needed to be one hell of a person to be honoured with the name “White Paladin of Voltron”.

When Shiro had come back, or as he said, when Keith brought him back, the Castle seemed to light up more. I understood why he was chosen to be the soul to combine the other elements and form Voltron. I was ecstatic, perhaps happier than some of the Paladins even, but that didn’t mean I didn’t notice – or rather, didn’t choose to shrug off - his strange and simply out of character behaviour at times. I wasn’t the only one that did. It was when I voiced to White about my concerns, and she glowed – literally glowed as if in agreement did I know that shit was serious. White, as weirdly impossible as it sounds, also noticed. She knew, too, that something wasn’t right with Shiro. It was beyond me how she did, but I didn’t get to ponder on that for too long.

Why?

Because Lotor happened. He arrived as our saviour at the most unexpected moment and in the most unexpected way, and then became unpredictability, unanswered questions, and uncertainty personified for us. How many rifts and arguments he alone had caused between the Paladins was the slightest bit alarming, but justified, in my opinion. Lotor had succeeded in messing up our functioning. It didn’t matter if it was only a tad – he was the anthropomorphic form of all the flaws and hesitancies and wrongs and uncertainties in the coalition that we’d turned a blind eye to.

And now Zarkon had offered us Pidge’s dad’s freedom in exchange of Lotor, but I would be lying if I said if I wasn’t the tiniest bit worried as to just what Zarkon would do to Lotor. I know, I know, I really was no one to be straining my brain for that, since Lotor was an alien Prince who had equal chances of being good and evil, was capable of killing us all if he wished to, and had probably endured worse than his father’s wrath. But that wasn’t even the biggest issue we had. Pidge getting fired up was reasonable enough, I was aware of how emotionally driven she could become at times despite being a genius. And her brain refusing to work when her family came into play was the reason I was bothered most – even if she convinced the other Paladins to go through with the exchange, there was absolutely no surety that Zarkon would keep his part of the deal. It was legit the dumbest, most irrational thing the protagonist could do. If that happened, we’d lose both Pidge’s father, and an extremely valuable asset to the coalition.

I didn’t really realize that during my very acceptable train of self-depreciating thoughts I’d changed my route and had instinctively begun for White. I guess it was only right, as I felt more at ease there than anywhere. It was only when I reached her and stroked her, she seemed to… close in on her herself. I furrowed my brow, a small frown on my lips.

I sighed. It was probably nothing.

Relaxing my facial muscles, I closed my eyes, leaned forward, and nudged White’s snout. I jumped back with a start when instead of the usual purr or whimper, she growled at me. The crease between my brows returned with a higher intensity.

‘What is it, girl? Hmm?’ I cooed at her, not risking touching her. ‘Is something wrong? Do you not want to talk? Should I go?’

Silence was what I received in exchange.

‘My love,’ yes I called White “my love”, “girl”, have and will continue to call her “babe”, and no you cannot do jack about it. ‘You need to tell me, please,’ I continued, my voice gentle as ever, ‘how am I supposed to know what you want to say? You’ve never growled at me before. I don’t know how to interpret that gesture. Do I take it as you being upset? Angry? Sad?’ She still didn’t answer. All the life seemed to leave her.

I tilted my head. My sigh bounced off the walls.

‘The White Lion is said to be the mind of Voltron,’ a naturally assertive, deep, thunder-like voice called. I was sure I jumped at least a foot before whipping my head to where the voice resonated from. Lotor. What -?

‘Forgive me if I scared you. I thought it wise to offer some assistance; you seemed to be in need of help.’

I didn’t answer. He took it as a “yes, I need your help”. ‘The most probable reason it is not responding to your calls, is because you are contradicting what the White Lion stands for, you aren’t being wise. That is, assuming the Lion does answer you typically.’

I turned back to White, my jaw setting. My lingering suspicion turned into certainty at Lotor’s remarks.

Well. As much as I cherished my relations with White, I wasn’t going to voice my thoughts and concerns regarding the life trade. I wasn’t particularly keen on getting involved. I wasn’t the White Paladin. I wasn’t the voice of reason. I couldn’t be. This was the exact reason as to why I couldn’t be the White Paladin. I had many a thought, but didn’t always think it wise to share them with others.

Especially not when “others” included a leader that was not being himself, a princess who wanted to get rid of the Galra empire and Zarkon as soon as possible no matter the cost, and a Paladin who was going feral and becoming blind by rage at the thought of not getting her father back when she was so close.

Yes. Now definitely not.

Without sparing Lotor or White another glance, I headed to my room, for real this time. I didn’t notice both of their piercing gazes aimed at my retreating figure.

[fandomrewrites]

Season 3a; Episode 9: The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Hello all! Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist and please answer my pinned post! I want as much opinions as possible from you guys. And if you have any questions about the pinned post or this story feel free to ask! As always constructive criticism is appreciated! Also as you can see Isaac is no longer in the pairings, if you read the last chapter you’ll know why.

Season 3a; Episode 9: The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Pairings: Scott McCall x Twin Sister, Lydia Martin x Best Friend

Warnings: Mentions of death

Word Count: 2,495

Season 3a masterlist

I was sitting on my bed working on some homework when my phone rang startling me. Quickly picking it up, I checked the caller ID seeing Lydia's name flash across the screen. "Hey Lyds."

"Can you come to the school? Like right now?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" I ask, eyebrows knitting together in concern. I stand up and pull on my black vans as I wait for her to answer. 

"There's a dead body. I went out but without realizing where I was going I ended up at the school."

"Okay, just stay there. I'll bring Scott. We'll be there soon."

"Thanks, I'll let Allison and Stiles know too." She hung up the phone before I got the chance to say anything. 

Walking through the bathroom, I pushed Scott's door open. "We need to meet Lydia at the school. She said there's a dead body."

Scott's eyes widened in surprise. "Okay, let me tell Stiles-"

"Lydia said that she would. She's going to tell Allison too. Let's go."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Arriving at the school, Stiles' jeep pulls up beside Scott and I. As soon as he's out of the car he asks, "Where is she?"

"Over here!" Allison calls. We all turn our heads to see Allison and Lydia coming around the corner.

"What happened?" Scott questions.

"I don't know. I just got here."

We all turn to Lydia to wait for her to answer. "It's the same thing- same as the pool. I got into my car, heading somewhere totally different, then ended up here. And you told me to call when there's a dead body."

Stiles interrupts, "You found a dead body?"

"Not yet."

"What do you mean not yet? You're supposed to call after you find the dead body. After."

"Oh, no. I'm not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on."

"How are we supposed to find the dead body?"

"Don't yell at her!" I wrap a protective arm around Lydia as I scold Stiles. "She's still new to this, hell we all are still pretty new to this supernatural thing. And you can't blame her for not wanting to be the first person to find the dead body! Especially by herself."

Stiles opens his mouth to retort but Scott speaks first, "Guys... I found the dead body."

We all follow his gaze to the Beacon Hills High School sign. On top of it lays the dead body of a deputy, blood streaming down the sign like something you would see in a slasher film.

*_*_*_*_*_*

"Idioms, analogies, metaphors and similes. All tools for the writer to tell their story." Ms. Blake says as she walks between mine and Lydia's desk. She pauses as she looks down at Lydia, who is drawing rather than taking notes. "Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."

"You and every guy I've ever dated." Lydia replies.

I immediately bring my hand up to my mouth and bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. "And that was an idiom by the way." Ms. Blake answers.

Lydia looks back down to continue drawing as Ms. Blake continues, "Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying jump the gun is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race. Or a phrase like seeing the whole board."

"In chess." Stiles speaks up, my head turning to look at him.

"That's right, Stiles. Do you play?"

"My father does."

"Now when does an idiom become a cliche?" Some hands go up to answer Ms. Blake's question but my eyes stay locked on Stiles. Scott leans over to say something to him but before I can listen in I notice Lydia looking at me from the corner of my eye.

I break my gaze to return her eye contact, "What?" I whisper.

All she does is cock an eyebrow. "What?" I ask once more. 

"Nothing." She hums, turning her attention back to her drawing. I sneak one last glance at Stiles then turn to focus on Ms. Blake once more. 

*_*_*_*_*_*

"I can't believe you two! Having Lydia distract Aiden. If she gets hurt I swear to God I will skin both of you!" I yell at Scott and Stiles. 

They both look at me with their mouths hanging open. Stiles opens and closes his mouth a few times, unable to form words. Scott finally speaks up, "I get why you're mad but we need to talk with Ethan and Aiden has been by his side nonstop."

"Fine, then let's go talk to Ethan."

A few moments later Ethan, Scott, Stiles and I stand in a stairwell. "You want to know about Emissaries?" Ethan asks.

"We want to know about your Emissaries." Scott corrects.

"Why are you even talking to me? I helped kill your friend. How do you know I'm not going to kill another one?"

My eyes flash white and a low growl sounds from my throat as Ethan looks at Stiles. Scott wraps a hand around my wrist when Stiles starts speaking, "Is he looking at me? You threatening me? You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to break off an extra large branch of mountain ash, wrap it in wolfsbane, roll it in mistletoe and shove it right up your freaking-"

"Stiles. We get it." Scott cuts him off. He then turns back to Ethan, "We're talking to you because I know you didn't want to kill Boyd. And I think if something like that happened now, you wouldn't do it again."

"You don't know what we owe them. Especially Deucalion." Ethan replies.

"What do you mean?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't Alphas."

"What were you?" Scott questions.

"Omegas. In actual wolf packs the Omega's the scapegoat, the last to eat, the one who has to take the abuse from the rest of the pack. That was us."

"So, you and your brother were the bitches of the pack." Stiles says.

"Something like that."

"If this is your idea of a sob story and you think we're going to feel sorry for you, you're mistaken." I snap.

Ethan clenches his jaw but continues his story, "Our pack- they were killers. People talk about us as monsters. They're the ones who gave us the reputation. And our Alpha was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you just fight back? Form Voltron wolf and kick all their asses?" Stiles asks.

"We couldn't. We didn't know how to control it back then."

"Deucalion taught you." Scott states.

Ethan nods, "And then we fought. We took on the whole pack, one-by-one. By the time we got to our Alpha, he was begging for his life. We tore him apart. Literally."

"Well, that was heartwarming." Stiles says sarcastically.

"Truly. A beautiful story." I roll my eyes.

"What about your Emissary?" Scott asks, ignoring Stiles and I.

Ethan shakes his head with regret. "Then they're all dead? Kali’s and Ennis’s too?" Scott asks once more.

"All except for Deucalion's." Ethan answers. He then flinches as if someone attacked him.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Scott asks the Alpha.

"Not me. My brother."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Quickly making it to Lydia and Aiden, Ethan and Scott rush over, stopping Aiden from attacking Cora. "Aiden, you can't do this!"

"She came at me." Aiden tries to defend.

I rush to Cora's side as Ethan continues to talk with his twin. They both leave the room as I help Cora off the floor. "I'm fine." Cora says, trying to push me away.

"You're bleeding, let me help."

"It will heal."

"Yeah well, it's not healed right now so let me help." I say again. I bring her to a bench so she can sit down, "Stiles can you get me a wet paper towel?" He nods and moves to the sink.

"I can do this myself." Cora tries to push me away once more.

"Cora, I know you can. But it will make me feel better if I can help." She looks at me carefully then nods, allowing me to clean the blood off her face.

"Are you okay?" Scott asks from behind me.

"She doesn't look okay." Lydia replies, seeing how Cora flinches when I reach up to clean the wound.

"I'll heal." 

As Stiles watches us he decides to ask Cora what she was doing. "You know how suicidally crazy that was? What do you think you're doing going after them?"

"I did it for Boyd. None of you were doing anything." Cora answers.

"We're trying." Scott says.

"You're failing. All of you. You're a bunch of stupid teenagers running around thinking you can stop people from getting killed. But all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies." She then abruptly stands up pushing me away and walking out of the room.

"She's definitely a Hale." Stiles says, "I'll make sure she gets home."

"I'll come with you." I say, feeling concerned for the girl.

*_*_*_*_*_*

I have Allison on speaker while Stiles drives and Cora sits in the back of the jeep. "Philosophers?" Stiles asks.

"And Guardians. Which after last night has to mean something like Law Enforcement, right?"

"When I think of Guardians I think of parents. You know, like get a parent or guardian signature?" I pipe up. I then turned to Stiles, "Was Tara a mom?"

Stiles shakes his head, "No, she wasn't."

"Stiles, you have to tell your dad. Tell him whatever you need to, but get him to believe." Allison says.

Stiles looks scared, I reach over to grab his hand and provide some form of comfort. "What about Scott?" He asks.

"He's not answering. I'll keep trying. But Stiles, tell him. Tell your dad. Warn him."

"Okay. Okay- I know."

Allison hangs up, "I'll be there for you the whole time Stiles." I say, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Are you going to do it?" Cora asks.

Stiles reluctantly nods, "And I'm going to need your help. Both of you."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Cora and I sit on Stiles bed as his dad and him sit in front of a chess board. Stiles is using the chess pieces to try and explain the supernatural. We all awkwardly sit in silence, "Stiles," Mr. Stilinski starts.

"I'm just trying to figure out how to start." Stiles interrupts his dad.

"I don't have time for this." Mr. Stilinski begins.

Sighing, Stiles begins to explain, "For the last year you've had cases you couldn't figure out, right? The murders involving Kate Argent. Matt killing the guys who drowned him. And the murders now. It's like you've been playing a losing game."

"Stiles, the last thing I need now is a job performance review from my own son."

I grimace at the Sheriff's words, but Stiles continues. "That's just it. The reason you're losing the game is because you've never been able to see the whole board. I need to show you the whole board."

After about 15 minutes the chess pieces are labeled and Mr. Stilinski looks very confused. "Scott, (Y/N), and Derek are werewolves?"

I nod as Stiles answers, "Yes."

"Kate Argent was a werewolf-"

"Hunter. A werewolf hunter." Stiles corrects.

"Along with Allison and her father." Cora adds.

"Deaton, the veterinarian, is a Kanima?" Sheriff asks.

"No. He's a Druid. We think."

"Think of him like a Celtic witch." I try to explain.

"Who was the Kanima?" Sheriff asks.

"Jackson." Stiles answers.

"I thought Jackson was a werewolf."

"He is now. He was the Kanima first and had to die to become a werewolf." I reply.

"Who's the Darach?"

"We don't know yet." Cora says.

"But the Darach was killed by werewolves." Sheriff says, eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Slashed up and left for dead." Stiles states.

"We think." Cora adds.

"Why was Jackson a Kanima?" Sheriff asks, still confused about the Kanima.

"Because sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are." Stiles answers, looking back at me.

"It's why I'm not a normal werewolf, but a Zeta werewolf instead." I say.

"What kind of shape does an incredibly confused, getting angrier by the minute father take?" Sheriff asks.

"That would be more of an expression. Like the one you're currently wearing." Stiles says.

I quickly stand up to stop any argument that may occur, "We can prove it, Mr. Stilinski." I look to Cora.

She nods and stands up, "Watch this." Stiles says. Before I can shift Cora tips over. I reach out my arms, catching her before she can hit the floor.

"Cora!" I exclaim, searching for her pulse.

"Call and ambulance!" Sheriff Stilinski yells at Stiles, also making his way over to the unconscious teenager. 

*_*_*_*_*_*

In the car on the way to the school I start to feel an ache in my chest. It's the same ache I get when someone in the pack is in danger. I know that Derek is alright because he was at the hospital with Cora. And I know that Stiles is fine because he's driving.

"Can you go any faster?" I ask, pulling out my phone.

"Why what's wrong?" Stiles looks at me, concerned.

"Danger sense." I simply state, pulling my phone up to my ear.

"Oh thank God." I say when Scott answers. "Are you alright? Stiles and I are almost there."

"I'm fine, what's wrong?" Scott replies.

"Danger sense. Who else in the pack is with you? Who can you see?"

"Ethan, Aiden."

I interrupt, "I don't care about them. Who in our pack can you see?"

"Uh." Scott's eyes search the room, "Allison and Isaac."

"Where's Lydia?"

"She- I don't know. She was just here."

"We're here. Meet us by the main doors." I hang up and call Lydia, not getting an answer.

"Lydia isn't answering." 

Stiles shakes his head, "She's not answering me either."

I move forward, my body telling me to go towards Ms. Blakes classroom. We make it to the classroom to see Lydia tied to a chair and Sheriff Stilinski aiming his gun at Ms. Blake.

We try to move in but she flicks her hand, sending a desk to block the door. "God, I really wish I had more strength as a werewolf." I grunt out as Stiles and I push against the door. 

After a few moments of us pushing against the door, the desk moves away and we stumble through. We look around the room, I rush to Lydia to untie her from the chair as Scott shakily stands up. 

He's bloody from his fight against Ms. Blake. Stiles finally chokes out, "Dad?" When he can't see his father anywhere in the small classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist:  @crazy-fan-101 @rogershoe @judayyyw

[popculturebuffet]

The Legend of the Three Caballeros: Mt. Fuji Whiz and Thanks a Camelot Reviews: Thank God, No Daisy (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Saludos amgios and welcome to the final sprint of THE RIDE OF THE THREE CABLLEROS. If your wondering if this is a bit soon.. that’s because it is. While I planned to do the episodes as is before.. this bottom half of the series so far has been so good I couldn’t bare waiting days to get to the next episode just as things are getting really good, especially after the last episode’s cliffhanger. So today, I intend to FINISH the series, with an epilogue next week for my look at the cabs as a whole via a top 12 moments list. Plus i’m already excited for the next retrospective, so there’s that. And yeah Kev’s funding ANOTHER one and you can too.. serioulsy just shoot me an ask for any solo episode or arc you wan’t covered. But now’s not the time for shameless plugs, it’s the time for adventure and to sew up a cliffhanger! So come with me after the cut for some ghouls, ghosts and arthur won’t you?

PREVIOUSLY ON LEGEND OF THE THREE CABLLEROS:

And now the conclusion...

Mt. Fuji Whiz:

First off... let’s talk about the episode titles for the series since I don't think I have yet. 

It has bothered me for the ENTIRE run of the series how terrible most of them are. There all a pun of some kind on something involved with the episode.. but out of 13 episode titles the only ones I like are World-Tree Caballeros, No Man is an Easter Island, Stonehenge Your Bets, Nazca Racing and Thanks a Camelot. And most of them fit the theme of the episode with the exception of Stonehenge: World Tree is a clever pun they couldn’t NOT use, no man fits the theme of the episode as bad as that episode is, Nazca Racing is just another good pun and fits the race at the end, and thanks a Camelot while a very simple one, fits the story of that episode, i.e. everyone's dissatisfaction with Arthur’s training. More on that later. Point is the rest are just.. really cringe inducing puns. And I do LOVE a good pun.. but that’s a GOOD pun, not obvious ones about a “pyramid life-crisis” or a play on gee whiz in 2018 for god’s sake. And the finale title is just.. really awful as they gave up entirely and named it after square dancing for HOPEFULLY no adequate reason. And look the series is a comedy first with the action second, pun titles would be fine.. their just so bad it sucks all the pun out of them. See what I did there? THAT’S a pun. And not even a great one, but it’s still better than this. It feels like the titles were an afterthought and it’s obnoxious. and frustrates me every time I have to type them out. And with only four episodes left I had to get it out sometime. 

So moving onto the actual episode we pick up with the ending of last episode: Death killing the Cabs and Team Sheldgoose. And as we see shortly. he wasn’t bluffing. We pick up with them in the underworld in a dmv line. My god.. it’s even worse of a beaurcrcy than Beetlejuice. Feldrake informs the cabs where they are and Donald, being Donald, dosen’t have the patience to wait in line with the bilions of souls down there, especially since the take a number thing gave them a number that needed to be printed on both sides.. and their at 4. Good gag though. So Donald storms out the moment he sees and exit and our boys head into the city of the Damned. Sheldgoose meanwhile decides to do his best Karen and demands ot speak with the manager.. whose another Sheldgoose it turns out. Uh-Oh.  After the credits our boys explore the city and hoping not to get hit with more ghost cards, find shelter in a little tavern owned by none other than Clinton Coot, Donald’s Great-Grandpa and father of his grandmother Elvira Coot. Clinton initally mistakes the boys for their ancestors, and is disapionted in meeting donald, but once he learns their the ones that inehreted his Cabana, he’s exastic to meet and learn about them. We also learn he had a collection of fragile frontiersman figurines.. which cleverly, are all various versions of Scrooge from life and times. His second cowboy outfit from the side story “The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff”, his prospector outfit from “Terror of the Tranysval”, his klondike prospecter outfit and him finding the goose egg nugget from “King of The Klondike” and him bitterly hauling a sack of his loot into town from the same story. Also some palet swaps of all but the last one because animation is expensive. Panchito.. destroys them all while putting down his pIzza. “NOTHINGS BROKEN”. Clinton then invites the boys to have a sip of his memories, literally he drains some out and despite their relcutance the cabs take a chug.  They reveal prettty much.. every nagging question about the cabana. Clinton, after finding out about his ancestor Duego Duck, the original cabs version of donald, Clinton traveled the world and the 7 seas, everybody’s looking for something.. and he was looking for every trace of the cabs, and their mysterious ally, who we know as Xandra. He gathered all of it, hence the massive collection of books and magical treasures in the cabana, eventually finding their hidden lair and building his cabana on top of it, founding New Quackmore with Sheldgoose’s own great grandmother.. who betrayed him and took the institute from him. His consolation prize was finding Ari and the atlas but he couldn’t open it like the boys and is curious what they found. I absolutely love this and while I feel Clinton’s history would’ve worked better as an overaching mystery, there were seeds for all of this planeted throughout the season, with Sheldgoose being in charge despite the name and Clinton being involved, Shelgoose’s mention a sheldgoose has always been president, and the tease last episode. Still would’ve liked MORE exploration and build up to this , but what we got was facenating upgrading Clinton from a footnote on the duck family tree, to a throughly loveable character: A guy who was so fascenated by his ancestor’s adventures he became an adventurer himself and who lovingly catalogued eveyrthing the guy and his friends ever did.. and had some heartrending reasons why we’ll get to. 

 As Jose leads in with not what but WHO, and likely tells clint about their adventures, a clever way to get that exposition out off screen, we cut back to the world of the living. Xandra is beating herself up, if not literally over things, and while the girls just suggest going to the underworld via zoom point, Xandra points out that won’t work. There’s only one way in: Charon, the greek ferryman of the dead.. and she realizes that’s exactly how, while the girls try a seance.  I’ll just cover the séance stuff now. The girls hold a séance to summon the boys, finding some unfinished business (A piece of said pizza) and having ari dress like a fortune teller because eh why not. There’s some good gags and stuff, but it’s mostly plot irrelvant, only hurting Panchito’s brain at first, then summoning him just as their about to fight a Tengu, with humphrey eating the pizza finsihing the buisness. Not a bad plot at all and certainly refreshing after all the Daisy nonsense last episode, but nothing really important.  Meanwhile let’s also get to Xandra’s subplot, which is both mroe relevant and funnier and again i’ll be covering all at once for convience. Xandra finds that the horn to summon Charon... is now a sax.  Huh so THAT’S what pamela anderson’s character CJ was doing when she was introduced on baywatch. 

Anyways turns out Charon’s reinvented the old boat and since Xandra’s an immortal he offers her a free ride. It’s now a cruise ship with him as the captain, voiced by voice acting legend Jim Cummings who does a fantastic job. The reasonings also brilliant: he wasn’t getting many WILLING souls with his creepy old setup, so he reinvinted things and now has a packed house, plenty of coins and a nonstop party. He even gives us an add for the buisness... this whole thing is fucking amazing and deserves to be praised and is the series at it’s best: taking something mythic and giving it some wacky but still clever tweaks. Xandra eventually gets annoyed as he isn’t going into the city so she can’t look for the cabs and takes the wheel, cursing her to be the captain now, but she just uses that to get in and finds clinton who agrees to guide her to the boys... we’ll get to where he guided them in a moment. 

And that moment is now, Clinton tells the boys there is a way out, but it involves fighting the Tengu, which is misdentified as a falcon despite, even as someone with only a surface knowledge of yokai, I knew it’s modled after a crow, or at least some versions are as it turns out.. and so is the one here so how did they screw that one up?

Point is they need to get past it, and are on a timer as when the Creepy combination of jack skeltington and that moon from Majora’s mask that’s in the sky sets and night ends, their stuck. But first they run into a guard who says they have to fill out paperwork.. and his superior is intend on that, his superior being unsuprisingly sheldgoose, who got the gig since his family runs the afterlife. Oh goodie the rich also somehow run death....

But Donald decides FUCK PAPERWORK, throws it in the air and they run for it with Sheldgoose sicing the tengu on them, which looks awesome by the way. Panchito disappears as mentioned before just as they get a plan but returns in time to free his friends and they triumph.. only for Sheldgoose to not take this lying down and summon his entire family to kick their assses. So both sides power up: having learned the trick from clinton earlier, the cabs inflate.. part of their bodies while sheldgoose forms a voltron style fusion made up of his ancestor’s heads.. with the caveman as the crotch. 

So a fight insues that’s fluid and beautifully animated, and Xandra even arrives to provide backup, with Charon relieving her because he’ could loose his five star rating. I hear you man I struggled just to get my island up to a four. So it becomes a gorgeously animated and awesome fight with Clinton joining inn, finally able to be one of his heroes. He also reitarates something he told donald, that it’s not the journey.. it’s who you take it with and part of his love of the cabs was never having companions like that. Donald takes it to heart and our heroes take their leave, Clinton finally having achieved his lifes’ work. They decide to see japan because why not. Maybe they’ll run into hannibal there. 

And to tie things off, Shelgoose and Feldrake, whose spent the etnire epsidoe still in the staff depsite being dead and...

And find.. a demonic version of Donald in a devil costume, from that short with the devil and angel Donald's.. okay I have some questions. 

He sends them back and we’re out

Final Thoughts for Mt. Fuji Whiz: One of the series best. It’s well paced, has an amazing concept and both sideplots have some form of relevance while being utterly hilarious, especially the charon one. Seriously best bit character of the series calling it now. Already headcanon him as part of the ducktales universe. Along with a lot of this actually. IT’s good stuff and despite the series falts episodes like this prove why it really needed, and still needs, a second season. 

Thanks a Camelot:

Our heroes return to the land of the living with Xandra and to the Cabana, and while Donald wants to relax a bit, Xandra being an ass shoots that down. Though her reasons are valid: Feldrake has been stepping up his game with every scheme.. which is true. HIs last two schemes, not counting his post mortem one, only BARELY didn’t kill them and actually did kill them, and him too but that wasn’t on purpose. They need some good old fashioned hero training so Xandra’s taking the to king arthur and camelot, which of course are still around, to get it and since his training involves leaving everything behind, they leave htier weapons and other stuff behind including their amulets.. which haven’t come up since but are now since their important to the finale i’m guessing and they’ve been wearing the whole time. The girls are tagging along too as they want to document things because the plot says so but their entertaining so fine and leaving Ari and the Bear to guard. And the barrier.. more the barrier.  So with our heroes off Feldrake decides they need to strike and Sheldgoose has a plan to get around the barrier to get Humphrey’s spark: hide inside a cake and have humphrey so overcome by his desire for cake he comes to them. Feldrake is unimpressed but it works.. and even better as he drags them in.. but apparently while Feldrake’s protections are keyed to our heroes bloodline.. coot’s only extneded to feldrake. Which makes sense: he was friends with a Sheldgoose and probably didn’t consider her an enemy till he’d already set the spells, and cleverly, and i’d forgotten this till writing this review: Sheldgoose has already BEEN on the Cabana grounds once and to the doorstep, in the first episode when he visited the yardsale and in the finale of the second when he showed up to give Donald his check. So the show even showed it.. we just didn’t think about it or assumed having the ring meant he couldn’t now. But nope Sheldgoose is inside and Humphrey’s knocked out. 

Back in merry old Camelot, I apolgoize for having a deficit of spamalot and Monty Python refrences, our heroes meet King Arthur, voiced by former star of said spamelot John O’ Hurley, who I was going to give a good treatment and go into his career.. then I found out he’s VERY conservative, pro trump even post riot and generally kind of an ass in how he conducts himself soooo instead a hearty

Does a good job here, still a weasel fiesta. So King Arthur trains our heroes.. via motivational statments, trust falls and what not with his knights who get the same traning, one of which is Gallhad, a frog voiced by the same guy who viced Kermit on muppet babies. Yayyyyy. The girls wonder off, finding Merlin, whose busy with spells and such and clarfying which one is which. They give him june’s phone as Merlin has a video game addiction but Arthur forbids it because well. he has a problem why wouldn’t he.  Ruined Todd Chavez’s life it did. I mean it’s exceptional now but it took a bit of living on a drunken horse with serious issues couch. 

Anyways, Donald soon gets fed up because.. hes Donald. And because.. Tony kinda leans on the more classic constantly angry donald in this one, since he DID help write the lines. It’s not BAD mind you.. but I prefer the melding of his comics and shorts self other works did, the smug ego and everyman desperation to be noticed and liked from the comics mixed with the ego but also tons of rage of the shorts. Kinda like how Daffy had his own egotistical smartguy version merged with his screwball version for the Looney Tunes Show.. which i’ve been rewatching lately. Even better than I remember, highly underated. 

My point is this Donald, as we approach the end .. isn’t for me. He’s just not as intresting as the cloudcuckoolander panchito or the smootha nd wise jose. He ballances them well, being the more direct angry one to panchito’s unpredicablity and Jose’s smooth compemplation. He’s not BAD, and i get why some would prefer this one over Ducktales, as he’s more in line with his classic characterzation.. but I just prefer a more nuanced Donald and this one isn’t it. He spends most of the series either complaning, pissed off, or pining for an ungreatful she demon. There’s not a lot of notes compared to Jose or Panchito, as Jose isn’t just a ladies man or a charmer but a fairly smart guy who has pretty damn good plans and Panchito isn’t just spacey but, kind brave and with his own moral code. They just got more fleshing out as things went and Donald didn’t and it’s disappointing. 

So Donald gets fed up with the training, and calls out it’s only motivatoinal, with the other cabs agreeing, if more tactfully, and the knights.. also agreeing, pointing out King Arthur dosen’t even do his own goofy self motivational exercises and abandon him.. at the worst possible time as the girls conjur up a super powerful magical dragon. So the knights leave him to it and Arthur is too cowardly to face it. So the Cabs do what he won’t and charge in to defend the holy grail, called the grail of immortality here for ..r easons, and fight the dragon.. and Arthur joins them, inspired to finally get his groove back and gives the knights a rousing speech and even reconclies with donald. So our heroes fight the dragon and nearly die, before the rest of the round table pitches in, and the girls find the dragons scroll and impulsively burn it.. which destorys it. So the day’s saved, and Arthur apologizes to everyone and decides to give the boys proper combat training as thanks. Also we get a really funny bit with Merlin, who throws the phone into the fire.. and much like the dragon, apparenlty it was tied to the employee who activated it because he suddenly and horrifcly burns up. PFFT. Dark but beautfiul

But of course what about the Sheldgoose subplot. Well I saved that for now to cover it all at once SO: Sheldgoose pokes around, being annoyed by a dart board of his face and what not and tries to find something to fish the spark out with... but Ari finds him and proves to be entirely useful, beating Sheldgoose down into the treasure chamber and getting inot a fight with him. Sheldgoose holds pace.. until Humphrey wakes up and with the odds against him they throw him out. Meanwhile Feldrake zaps a dog that was going to get peed on him but when sheldgoose is ejegted is surronded by dogs and clearly didn’t escape as he dosne’t want to taklk about why he smells to sheldgosoe. He is ABOUT to berate him for failure again.. but Sheldgoose points out he swiped something more important: The amulets. 

Proving once again Sheldgoose is the real power in the team. 

Final Thoughts on Thanks a Camelot:  This was a fun one. While finding out about John O Hurley was... unfortunte.. he does a decent job and the episodes a fun take on camelot with, as usual , really excellent gags, pacing and a hell of a fight scene with a dragon. Good stuff as usual

NEXT TIME; It all ends! It’s a visit to some yeti’s before one final dance betwen good and evil and one last set of episodes for this retropsective! Be ready! 

[crowmagpie]

Voltron and the Hero's Journey through the Major Arcana of the Tarot

«The journey of the hero is the oldest story in the world. As the basic structure, it is woven into myths, fairy tales and legends that tell us how a person sets out to accomplish the great work. It is the story behind all these stories, which to this very day are always told in the same way under countless names in all languages and cultures over and over again.

<…>

The journey of the hero is the archetypical pattern of a range of actions woven from these primordial images. This is why, despite its many variations, the journey and the image are always so strangely familiar to us. They always tell of the quest, the adventurous search for the treasure that is hard to find, and are composed of elementary components.

<…>

Yet, as often as this story has been told, as many collections of fairy tales and myths as it may fill, only once has it taken on a complete form as a whole in pictures – and this is in the 22 tarot cards of the major arcana. However, not only are the archetypical events illustrated in these motifs, many connections between individual stages become transparent in the structure of the cards. Their meaning for our path in life becomes comprehensible on the deepest level»

© «Tarot and the Journey of the Hero» by Hajo Banzhaf, Brigitte Theler, Christine M. Grimm

0. The Fool

The very beginning of the story, but by no means the moment since the beginning of the first episode. The story comes to its first stage when the future paladins, and for now completely unaware guys from the Garrison, get inside the Blue Lion and go into the unknown. The Fool depicts a person taking a step into the abyss. The one who doesn’t know where he or she’s going. The one who doesn’t know whether they’ll fall, whether they’ll step on a new ledge or take off. This person simply performs a somewhat thoughtless action - and sets off.

Then the paladins get to the Castle of Lions. There they meet another new phenomenon – literally a new race. Their consciousness expands when they learn that there are other races, other planets, that war is going on in space.

The Fool depicts the unknown, events when a person can’t even imagine what awaits him or her next. And so the paladins - they have no idea what awaits them further.

Also, many of them don’t have the necessary skills, and absolutely for everyone the piloting of Lions is absolutely new.

At the very first stage, they still don’t learn anything, they just try to do something, in the hope that it’ll work out.

Our heroes don’t yet have an idea of what purpose they have. But they will know this. Later.

1. The Magician

The second stage of the path and development of the paladins.

The Magician depicts a person that considers him/herself practically immortal and god-like. A person that is capable of a lot, the one who has an unlimited number of talents (the paladins definitely have individual talents) and thinks the whole world as one big playground. The main problem is that in spite of all the abilities and power, this person isn’t omnipotent and won’t end well without a proper training.

Paladins follow the path of The Magician, gradually mastering Voltron, starting to reap the benefits of their actions. They help, they save, they do a lot, they move their own way and, obviously, consider themselves the real saviors of the universe. They don’t know yet that their power will end where the strength of someone else begins.

2. The High Priestess

In the events of the series, The High Priestess finds several manifestations at once.

The High Priestess herself carries mystical experiences, secret knowledge, secrets that are carefully hidden, but will still emerge in the end. It has many meanings, but we need only a few.

The first correspondence to this card is Allura, possessing the gift of Altean magic, which is hidden deep inside her. We remember this from the episode when she gave new life to Balmera. But this moment will reveal itself later. In another archetype.

At this point, it’s only the power itself napping in Allura. She remains aloof from the battles of the paladins, maintaining a more passive position. Her potential is hidden inside, waiting in the wings. And it will come.

The High Priestess card is constantly revealed in the plot. Through secrets that pop up unexpectedly. For example, through a story about the past of Zarkon and the Galra.

In my personal opinion, this can also be attributed to the moment when the paladins decided not to act «in advance», but by some cunning, using Teludav. The secret may be the meeting of Keith, Hunk and Acxa inside the stomach of the Weblum, as no one knows Acxa yet. As well as revealing that Haggar is an Altean. She also fits the archetype of The High Priestess, but not as much as she fits the card that’ll be shown next.

3. The Empress

The archetype of The Empress is the archetype of Mother. The Mentor and the one who cares, who is willing to help. She is the inexhaustible source of all life, our creativity and our ability to embody something. But it is also a development of the situation, a period of abundance and good luck.

And this is again the archetype of Allura. However, she manifests herself as The Empress not so often as the plot requires. However, this is her arc of personal growth. It should be so.

The most important manifestation of her as The Empress, which can even be called the first, is the healing of Balmera. It was then that power began to awaken in her, which in the future would make her the real Empress, which would give her a lot. Moreover - in the future she’ll show herself as The Empress... with the help of Lotor. Because the Empress always needs the Emperor nearby.

In terms of the plot itself, these are all those moments when the paladins conceptualize something, when they seriously think about what’s happening. But the most important thing is a period of abundance for them, a period when they succeed and it seems that it will always be this way.

The highest manifestation of The Empress is Honerva. She’s both a mother and a ruling figure, who rules from the side, as if from a shadow. She has the power to create and great talents. After all, she’s a scientist. Exploring the matter that the Empress represents is her work. Also, in the future she’ll literally possess unprecedented power, Altean magic. As Haggar, she’ll still remain the Empress, but turned into a negative, like the inverted position of this card. The inverted Empress is a trick, a desire to rule over men, such a woman doesn’t care about her children and her family. A great embodiment of the archetype in action.

4. The Emperor

Under the card of The Emperor are all the rulers, people who have power, as well as those who adhere to serious rules and restrictions. Also, under this card are those who are ready to fight to the end, until their death. Those who have a certain cruelty and coldness. The Emperor is a regime and system that erases the powder of those who don’t correspond to it. He’s conservative and adamant, and it’s not easy to appeal to his heart, despite the fact that he’s inclined to impose his point of view, to teach and control. He suppresses any rebellion in the bud.

In other words, we smoothly come to the fact that the entire race of the Galra, in the form that it exists in most of the episodes, goes under the card of The Emperor. They have strict rules, many, even the most insignificant offenses are punishable by death, and their system works like a clock under the control of their ruler. The leader’s word is the law, the one who doesn’t respect the leader will meet his end. Stability is also part of their lives. Their emperor didn’t change for more than ten thousand years. They’re used to it. They’re used to a lot of things.

And then we go to the obvious personification of the archetype of The Emperor. That's right, to Zarkon. He’s so consistent with this card. Not only is he literally an emperor in his empire, but if before the Rift he was just a serious ruler, a leader capable of holding everything in his hands, then he combined the worst features of the Emperor. He’s a despot and tyrant who doesn’t care about others. He only adjusts everything for himself - with the help of his Empress, Haggar. He strives for even greater power, crumbles under himself everything that meets in his way. Races, planets, his own kind, his own son.

I must say, in the story itself, The Emperor literally means a meeting with Zarkon and a battle with him.

At the same time, we have Lotor, who’s partly an archetype of the Emperor, but not completely. He has both negative traits of this archetype and positive ones. And this is far from the only part that makes up his character. We’ll talk about this later.

5. The Hierophant.

This card means a lot. Both a spiritual teacher, and connection with religions, and traditional actions, and any organizations, all sorts of serious things.

One way or another, in the plot this card is displayed as the beginning of the diplomatic activity of the paladins, all their communication with other races.

You can add the Blades of Marmora to The Hierophant, because they’re an organization that’s very difficult to get into, it’s devoted to underground activities and is associated with information - that is, with knowledge.

Equally important are the negative traits of The Hierophant, which also find a response in the plot. The purity of faith, party, teaching, blood, race - this is its professional headache. Its worst trait is complacency, intolerance and exceptional conviction of its own righteousness.

Lynching, the search for enemies of the people, the fight against infidels, the witch hunt, the tribunal, the auto da-fe – this is its gloomy bottom or black peak. Actually, this we definitely meet in the plot, and more than once. From the side of Allura. From the paladins. From the liberated races. This topic we’ll see many more times.

Another thing is that not everyone is ready to poke The Hierophant into its failures.

6. The Lovers

The card, despite its name, which could warm a shipper’s heart, is not about love. Well, it can be about love, but not in this case.

It may mean a situation of choice, not necessarily related to love. Then it means that one way or another we’ll have to make a decision, decisively and irrevocably, without leaving any loopholes for ourselves and taking on certain obligations. The Lovers depict a bold decision made by your heart. This is an internal knowledge of what is good and what is bad for you personally, which can’t be faked or deceived. You can’t listen to it, you can pretend that you don’t hear and don’t know it, you can act in defiance, but its tone doesn’t change.

In fact, the entire Keith’s story arc goes under this card. And the point is not in his possible romantic relationship.

The fact is that from the very moment he found out that he was a half-Galra, from the moment he began to do something with the Blades... a choice began to arise in front of him.

To take a step towards what really attracts him – the Blades, life with the Galra, inner freedom...

Or to stay with the paladins, in a place that he doesn’t like, but which he «must» take. As we all remember, he made a choice by the heart. He followed the call to work with the Blades.

Choices often confront heroes during narration. But these choices aren’t always truly right.

7. The Chariot

This card is a movement, it’s a pure impulse. At the same time, it’s control over one’s life, a clear understanding of what one wants and what needs to be achieved. Also, various journeys and adventures pass through it.

In fact, under The Chariot card, Lotor and his actions pass in many ways. Because he knows what he needs to do, he knows what he wants, and achieves this in all possible ways. He drives his chariot confidently, rarely doubts anything, and at first he succeeds a lot.

However, the farther the plot, the more we see that The Chariot doesn’t always go in the right direction and sometimes Lotor still loses control over it. This happens when it’s revealed that he built ships secretly from Zarkon. In general, very quickly he passes from a state of triumph and regular victories to a state where it’s difficult to do anything and he’s forced to rush to wherever his eyes look.

In part, The Chariot is also part of the character of Lotor, who’s used to keeping everything under control. At the same time, he’s not just a harsh Emperor, he’s an inspirer, he’s a traveler who never stays in one place and is always open to something new.

On the part of the paladins, The Chariot is their whole journey. Their entire movement is largely chaotic, albeit with an understanding of what needs to be done. They don’t always hold control, and then it carries them away - it carries them into serious, very serious problems.

8. Justice

It’s a very important card. It connects the relationship between action and consequences, taking responsibility for their actions, comprehending social laws, and the ability to make informed decisions. In other words, everything related to karma and responsibility is here.

And this same card is really important for the plot, for the development of the paladins. Because they often acted without thinking about the consequences, relying only on spontaneous, impulsive impulses. There are a lot of such examples, they go through the whole plot, but let's take a few.

The first meeting of Lotor at the paladins took place under the direction of Keith, and he certainly doesn’t realize the lesson of Justice. He’s not used to following the rules, he’s not used to commanding, and all his actions will shout at them in the future - Lotor throws their Lions in all directions like kittens. If he would like to - he would easily kill them.

In many ways, Lotor’s interaction with the paladins goes under the flag of Justice. More precisely, its non-compliance.

The paladins are going to give the prince into the hands of Zarkon – and immediately receive the consequences of their incorrect decision, that is, fraud and further problems.

But the most important thing that our heroes do, which very strongly comes around to them in the future, happens in S6. On the part of Allura, this is a belief in the words of Romelle and an instant decision to punish Lotor, on the part of the paladins – it’s the decision to fight Lotor. One way or another, in the future, their wrong actions will be scourged by the Earth, which, due to their loss, will be captured. The empire is fragmented due to the disappearance of Lotor – and these are also serious consequences.

It’s difficult to say whether the characters learned a lesson in what Justice provides. They at least tried.

And you probably would have understood the whole point if... yes, yes, right, if not for the broken S8.

We’ll return to this topic. Because the amendments that were made to the plot... contributed to its complete destruction.

9. The Hermit

A card of self-development, immersion in oneself and the study of one’s own abilities. The card is also associated with receiving magic gifts that will help the hero fulfill his mission.

One way or another, it’s this card that suits Allura.

She not only differs from the others; the further in the plot, the more distant she is from the others, and the more she plunges into self-knowledge to understand what exactly happens to her, who she is and what she needs – not for everyone around, but for herself.

A gift comes to her through Oriande, when she comprehends her essence in many ways. Then, a «teacher» comes to the rescue – in this case, more likely a «guide», who is Lotor. He could instruct her and help her get to the state of the Empress, which she needed so much. But the story didn’t complete the training of Allura. The Hermit’s path hasn’t been completed. And this is another fail of the changed plot.

Also, this card suits Keith. His choice has already been mentioned earlier, but one way or another, he also went through internal growth in order to find his real self. His Galran self.

Also, the path of the Haggar-Honevra is important. Because she passes through The Hermit at a time when she gradually regains her memories and herself. She again remembers herself, her personality, her son. And she also receives gifts having passed through Oriande.

The development path goes absolutely for all characters. I described only those that have a serious impact on the plot.

10. Wheel of Fortune

I like this card. It carries the inevitability of development, random events, it helps to accept oneself, and also reminds us that everything will end one way or another. That’s why you need to continue to move on and seize the moment. But the most important thing is fate and events, especially influencing what’s happening.

In fact, the most significant events in the plot take place along the Wheel of Fortune. This is the victory of the paladins over Zarkon, then – the battle of Lotor with Zarkon and his victory over him, the rise of Lotor as emperor, the disappearance of Lotor and the capture of the Earth. And also other events... that were supposed to be, but didn’t happen. For example, the return of Lotor. The salvation of the universe is real, not what was provided in the series. One way or another... development stopped and sticks began to be inserted into the wheel.

But its influence doesn’t become smaller.

11. Strength

This card depicts reconciliation and integration of opposites within the hero: male and female, mind and emotions, instincts and rational principles, consciousness and the unconscious.

This card follows all the way of Keith. His decision to be with the Blades, the fact that in the end he became a better leader than he was at first. Because he was reconciled with himself. Because he found strength in himself.

This is also the path of Allura. Its very important part, which was supposed to be decisive. This is the alliance of Allura and Lotor. The way they would balance each other, complementing, improving, not by force, but with the help of soft influence. Strength is never about physical strength. This is primarily strength of mind and gentleness at the same time. The ability to tame the beast, which doesn’t allow to move on.

This was clearly an important development in the fate of Lotor. Because he contains the Galran teaching, their eternal «victory or death» is fixed in his mind. And that bothers him. This doesn’t allow him to fully reveal. In the future, he would surely be able to come to a harmony of the Altean and Galran principles in himself. There was no opportunity. This opportunity has been missed.

Allura also had to cope with her aggressiveness and intolerance, to come to a merger of the two parts. Well. Partly she did it. But because of all the same interference in the story – not to the end. Development hasn’t been fully completed. She didn’t come to harmony in her soul.

12. The Hanged Man

Important card. Special card. It carries a loss of meaning and purpose of the path, awareness of hopelessness in the face of future death, readiness for self-sacrifice. Everything connected with the voluntary sacrifice goes through this card.

Well, the plot has everything connected with it.

If the Galra go under The Emperor’s card, then under The Hanged Man’s one there’s the entire Altean race. In the plot, they’re in a suspended position – in a colony, with the danger that they’ll be found and destroyed, as well as with great willingness to sacrifice their lives for the good of society. Voluntary sacrifice is what they do all the time. Since there’s every reason to believe that the Alteans readily went to possible death when Lotor called for them, this fits even more precisely into the concept of The Hanged Man.

Ulaz, who literally sacrificed his life to help the paladins, also suits here.

The same card suits Allura. And also – Honerva. Not surprising, given that they’re both Alteans. Their sacrifice at the end is a sacrifice for salvation.

Unnecessary and stupid sacrifice, but still we have what we have.

13. Death

Despite the creepy name, this card doesn’t carry a real negative. Death is a card of transformation.

Although it can mean literal death, which is happening all the time in the series. The death of an almost entire race of Alteans. Permanent deaths of the Galra’s victims and the Galra themselves.

But much more important are the «death» of Lotor, who stayed in the Rift, and the immediately subsequent «death» of Allura, who hasn’t died yet, but she’s undergoing a serious transformation during her lifetime. She literally dies in her soul, being on Earth. It’s something like a limb for her, where she wanders, trying to understand what’s happening.

14. Temperance

In general, this card depicts inner harmony. And it always goes after the Death card. When you go through perdition in order to find the radiance of the soul and happiness.

One way or another, the story arc of Allura continues under this card, who was supposed to come to harmony on Earth, figure out herself, realize where she was wrong and so on. This card differs from The Hermit: it occurs precisely after the advent of trouble and a certain depression.

According to this card, life comes after death. We saw this at the end of S8, when Allura sacrificed herself. That there’s afterlife for her. However, in a normal plot this is not the end.

This is just the beginning.

15. The Devil

This card carries a meeting with internal demons, suppressed by desires, as well as with an antagonist who acts as the external carrier of the Shadow of the Hero.

One way or another, Lotor’s life goes under this card. His Shadow is always in front of him - this is Zarkon. At first, he doesn’t fight with him, but tries to reconcile, what we see in his childhood and youth, but not all demons are subject to taming, and Lotor quickly realizes that it’s impossible to reconcile with him. Rather, it can be possible... but he doesn’t want this.

So our prince begins the battle with his father, with his Devil, whose echoes are also found in himself – in the form of a severe Galra upbringing. Lotor isn’t a bad person, he goes as far as possible from what his father did, but one way or another, the dark sides in him manifest themselves from time to time. Take, for example, his actions after the battle with Throk, when the exile to the most distant post was a manifestation of mercy.

In any case, the most important meeting of Lotor and his Shadow occurs when he encounters his father and defeats him. An important detail happens at that moment. The sun is falling on his face – which further confirms this way out of darkness to the light that he committed.

Each character has its dark sides. Pidge has endless egoism, she always puts herself and her family in the first place, and in the series there was no necessary progress further, she didn’t outgrow it and remained together with her demons.

Keith is too hot-tempered, his hasty decisions ruin a lot, and he only partially moved away from this to the very end, but... not completely. Perhaps it’s impossible, after all, it’s part of his character.

The dark side of Allura is her bias, her post-traumatic xenophobia... and also – a hot temper and impulsivity. Take, for example, how she pilots her Lion and how she fights. Over time, she becomes more tolerant, but still doesn’t get a full development, and her darkness remains with her, continuing to poison her life.

Again, everyone has negative aspects, but it doesn’t make sense to describe it for a long time, everyone understands everything.

16. The Tower

My most unlikable card, but very important one.

The Tower is the collapse of obsolete foundations and plans, the resolution of an obsolete value system.

The first moment, perhaps, is the story about Zarkon in the past. This has already destroyed past guesses, thoughts and the belief that he’s actually «pure evil».

Next is Zarkon's hunt for Lotor.

Then comes the betrayal, when the generals betray Lotor and thereby destroy the world familiar to him.

Next event is Allura discovering that Lotor is half Altean. This becomes the collapse of the past plan of thoughts for her. And now everything is moving into a new direction.

And most importantly... there are even three events in a row: this is Romelle's story, the battle with Lotor and the understanding that Shiro had been a clone for a long time.

In general, there’s nothing to say. Some events of this card led to a successful resolution. And some destroyed it all. That's why it’s The Tower.

It leaves nothing behind.

17. The Star

...well, something still remains, and that’s good.

The Star card is hope in its purest form. These are dreams and fantasies, a certain fragility, which may eventually manifest in life, or may not appear. It exists and doesn’t exist at the same time.

Hope really shines on the paladins throughout the seasons. Moreover, it shines both to Lotor and Honerva.

Everyone has different hopes and dreams, but one way or another, everyone has the belief that they will succeed in doing what they want.

To save the universe. To find a safe and convenient source of quintessence. To get the son back.

Not all hopes are justified.

But all the characters continue to believe.

It also describes the events after S6. When everything around gives hope. The hope that Lotor will return to the story.

Again... unfortunately, not all hopes are justified. Sometimes they’re destroyed by someone else's intervention.

18. The Moon

And again, we have a mystery card. But it’s much deeper, it’s the mystery hidden so far that only few could reach. Secrets of The High Priestess are always revealed, but secrets of The Moon – almost never.

Also, this card is responsible for fears and wandering in captivity of illusions. And for deceit too, which is important.

This card mainly refers to the situation with Lotor and the colony. This is a dangerous secret that shouldn’t have surfaced, which created a huge amount of fears – in just a few seconds – and destroyed everything. But much more important is that under this card goes... Romelle. A dark horse, in the words of which there are too many suspicious omissions, and even more in her behavior. A snake hiding under a pretty appearance, pretending to be a victim and a fool. She suits The Moon. And now her secret would have been revealed in the future... if not for the changes in the plot.

19. The Sun

This card, in fact, only partially appears in the story, as well as subsequent ones. Rather, it’s present, but... it’s expressed incorrectly. Because of all the same changes.

The Sun is the first card of rebirth. And also it means happiness, harmony, the beginning of the end of the path and the final victory.

One way or another, it was The Sun that had to fully manifest itself in the last season.

We have already seen its power – when Allura brought Lance back to life. In the same way, she could bring Lotor back to life, which is exactly what the plot was supposed to happen. Reunion.

And next comes…

20. Judgment

Oh, what a beautiful card, twofold and amazing! How much was to happen in Voltron!

This card means healing, transformation, removal of all masks. It continues the theme of The Sun, being its final chord. Masks are dropped, and all things open in their true light.

At the end of the story, or rather, closer to its end, Romelle was to be exposed, and the return of Lotor took place, and the discovery of the true goals of Honerva.

But as a result, we have a completely dead Lotor – which, however, also fits into the concept of Judgment, which also means ultimate death. But given all the past signs – the card wasn’t fully used. What was about to happen didn’t happend. 21. The World The last card completing the Hero’s Jounrey. Homecoming. The completion of the plot. The end of all, achieving goals.We all know how VLD ended. The «happy ending», or rather, what was disguised as it, can only be called an inverted World.The storylines didn’t reach the end. The story arcs of the characters weren’t finished.The Hero’s Journey wasn’t completed. It was rudely interrupted.As if there was one straight line at the end of which someone drew a bunch of strange lines.The World doesn’t mean a complete end. It symbolizes the beginning of a new story. Each of the characters went in different directions, each with their own path.If they all went through the journey that was laid down in this story, as in all other stories like this, they would be really happy. A new era would come for them. A new life.But the broken plot left them with the severity of the past. The plot threw them, spat out, like unnecessary details.The plot grind the lives and arcs of Lotor, Allura, Lance and Shiro. It changed the lives of Pidge, Hunk and Keith in the negative direction.Everything that happened was wrong.Because the Hero's Journey is always the same.Only the heroes themselves differ... and the details.And this journey didn’t reach the end. Real development slowed down somewhere.So, this story isn’t complete. What we’re shown is an unfinished stub.We still love this story. Even as it is.But actually... we all love this story as it should have been. So, we went through the Hero's Journey through the 22 Major Tarot And remember, cards exist not only for divination.Cards are a unique system for exploring the world, psychology and much more. 

[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.

[bubblegum-switch]

hello! idk if you’re still active on this blog but i saw a post saying you’d accept requests and headcanons?? you’re honestly one of my favorite blogs and your writing is adorable 💞 anyway, my request because voltron still owns my entire ass. i was thinking maybe pre established klance and errr, lance having a huge thing for tickling and not knowing how to tell keith he likes it, bc he’s worried that keith would be weirded out by it if he finds out but when does keith finds out, he’s not? 🥺

YOOO SAME BOAT W VOLTRON STILL OWNING MY ASS

no i have not watched s8 and no i will not but i still love the characters SO much

Anyway absolutely I can do this yes. I haven’t written tickling in literally years (whoops) but I can only hope it’s improved since then. Also good lord ticklish!Lance still owns my whole heart so omg thank you for this amazing prompt, i hope you weren’t hoping for a full one-shot and are okay with a less-formal one this turned out longer than expected lmao

Also aaaaaaaaaaa your words are so kind, ily anon <3 I hope to remember this blog more often bc I’m so bored bc of quarantine and what better way to pass the time than to write?

Note: There’s like. no actual tickling in this bc I wrote it pretty much entirely around the confession itself but there’s still some teasy Keith which is always good. Also I wrote this from like 3:30-5am whoops

Also this isn't letting me put in a working Read More and I am sorry for the resulting long post

Rating: T, it gets suggestive in words but not actions and there’s nothing explicit

---

Lance bit his lip. It was Space Family Movie Night, and while it was a good movie that Hunk picked out, the scene that was currently playing was...

Well. The two main characters were having a (brief, but still) tickle fight on the protagonist’s bed. Lance had been hardly paying attention up to this point - it just wasn’t his kind of movie - but this... this scene had his eyes glued to the screen

He tried not to pay attention to Keith’s arm around his shoulders. He tried not to think about the fingers that absentmindedly twitched every so often. It was probably just a byproduct of his arm getting tired and wanting to move, but during this scene Lance was hyper-aware of those fingers.

None of the others seemed to pay much attention to the scene. To be fair, it wasn’t a major scene. It was objectively cute - the protagonist had a mutual crush on the other character, and they were finally getting close. But Lance couldn’t help but be minorly petrified by it. He tried to be nonchalant, but felt restless throughout it. He tried to hold still, but found himself drinking from his glass of water less calmly than he’d have liked to afterwards.

All too soon, his cup was empty. He extracted himself from Keith’s arm and walked to the kitchen both to refill his water and take a breath.

He looked out the window of the castleship at the vast expanse of stars as he turned on the sink’s faucet. After testing the temperature with his hand, he brought the glass to it, nearly overfilling it. He raised it to his lips and let the crystal-clear water cool him off from the inside-out.

After a few sips, he set it back down on the counter, looking out into the cosmos once more.

“Coming back soon?”

Lance jumped as he heard his boyfriend’s voice suddenly in the room with him.

“You startled me,” he chuckled nervously, picking his glass back up. “I’ll be back in in just a minute.” 

Keith smiled at him, then walked over to him, gently embracing him against the counter and following his gaze outside.

“I’m glad we did this,” Keith said softly into his shoulder. It was still a relatively new relationship between them. They had been dancing around their feelings for long enough, and about a week before they decided to cut their losses and give in.

“Me too,” Lance said, nuzzling into his arms, letting his earlier flustering dissipate from his mind.

“So, care to tell me why you left so suddenly?”

Lance could hear a gentle smile in Keith’s voice. “Hm?” he asked, feigning ignorance.

“You got up so quickly, are you alright?”

Lance thought quickly to cover himself. “Y-yeah, I just got thirsty all of a sudden.” He took another sip of water to cement his point.

“Well,” Keith pulled himself away and began turning to walk back to the lounge, “don’t keep me waiting too long, okay?”

“I’ll be back in soon,” Lance smiled warmly back at him. Crisis averted, for now at least.

---

It was movie night again, a week later. This time, Pidge had control of what they were watching. It was a spy movie of sorts, one Pidge said she used to watch all the time on Earth.

Lance was laying with his head in Keith’s lap, feet hanging over the arm of the loveseat they were in. He was more invested in this movie than the one Hunk showed the previous week.

When the protagonist was kidnapped by the enemy agents and woke up tied to a chair, a tiny warning bell went off in Lance’s head. Be on guard, it said.

When the head enemy agent approached the protagonist saying she had ways to make her talk, the warning bell got significantly louder. Logically, Lance figured it wasn’t going to be what he simultaneously hoped and feared it would be.

When the enemy spy walked around the back of the protagonist and extended her hands to the tied woman’s sides, Lance tensed up. Yep, here it comes.

Sure, the scene only lasted a few seconds before the enemy paused, threatened more, and the protagonist gave in, but it felt like an eternity to Lance. He quickly downed the juice in his glass, leapt up and went to the kitchen once again. 

“Come on, it’s not a big deal,” he said to his reflection in the window’s glass. He gripped the edge of the countertop. He felt that his face was probably glowing pink, and tried to shake his head to clear his mind.

“You should be able to handle 10 seconds just seeing it.” Lance set his head on the cool stone under his hands and groaned.

“So you’re obviously not okay,” a voice behind him spoke.

He jumped up and whipped around to, sure enough, see Keith standing across the kitchen. Lance noted he seemed to be fighting a smile.

“I’m fine,” Lance said shakily, filling his glass with water once more.

Keith’s trace of a smile melted away into a concerned frown as he closed the distance between them.

“Look,” he began. “Two weeks in a row you jumped up and ran out of the room. Is it me? Is it the movie choices? Do you now want to be touching me when we watch them?” The genuine concern in Keith’s voice hurt Lance to hear. 

“N-no, it’s not that,” Lance rushed to amend. “It’s just... uh...” and he quickly faltered. How was he going to explain this? It hadn’t ever come up between them, and it wasn’t exactly easy for Lance to talk about.

Keith’s face changed before Lance could continue, and for the life of him Lance couldn’t name the expression he now held.

“Is it something with tickling? You don’t like it, do you?”

Static was now the only thing in Lance’s mind. He flinched and felt his face grow warm as he fought back a smile with an attempt at a frown.

“Ah-n-no it’s not that I just - uh--”

“I can make sure there isn’t any content of it in movies from here on out,” Keith stepped closer and took Lance’s hand. “I want you to be comfortable, and if this helps it helps, right?”

Lance still couldn’t figure out the expression on his face. In the meantime, he was panicking. Oh god, Keith was saying things Lance didn’t want to hear. This was embarrassing, but for the wrong reasons. Keith was wildly incorrect, but Lance couldn’t bring him to tell him so.

The blue paladin only couldn’t handle those scenes because of everyone around him. If Lance let himself react naturally to it, surely they’d notice the squirming and stifled giggles coming from him.

He just couldn’t bring himself to tell Keith he not only enjoyed but loved being tickled. It just felt too weird to admit, plus he couldn’t exactly say The Word out loud which made things significantly more difficult.

“N-no, it’s not...” he bit his lip and avoided Keith’s gaze. He was so afraid his boyfriend would think him weird for it, especially the extent to which he loved it.

“Then what is it? You know you can tell me anything, right?” Keith squeezed his hand. 

Lance couldn’t meet his gaze. He tried his best to squeeze out the words anyway. 

“It’s not... that I don’t like it...” and he couldn’t speak any further. He could only hope that Keith could extrapolate far enough.

Lance felt a squeeze on his hand again as Keith laughed softly. “That’s it, Lance?”

“I’m sorry... I know it’s weird--”

“Look at me,” Keith interrupted, gently cupping Lance’s chin and turning his face to meet his own. The blue paladin still struggled to make eye contact. “There’s nothing weird about it.”

Lance stayed quiet, looking down at the floor.

Keith fondly rolled his eyes before pressing a kiss to Lance’s forehead. “If anything, it’s adorable. You like laughing and smiling so much, it’s only a natural progression.”

Lance snickered at his boyfriend’s logic.

“Oh? Was that a laugh?” Keith quickly responded, enjoying watching Lance blush deeply. “I wasn’t even doing anything!” he smiled, moving to pin him between himself and the counter. With a shift to a bit of a darker expression and an evil grin on his face, Lance knew things were going to be alright.

“But I can,” and Lance’s stomach was full of butterflies.

A nervous giggle spilled from his lips. “Not here,” he whispered back. “The others might hear.”

Keith leaned in close to his ear. “Then tell me, Lance, how much do you like it?”

A shiver went up and down Lance’s spine. The blue paladin grabbed his boyfriend’s wrists in  surge of energy and started leading him towards his bedroom, so they were out of earshot. 

Their impromptu “sparring sessions” were about to get a lot more interesting.

[leakinghate]

Chasing the Ghosts of Season 8

Let’s skip the flowery intros and get to the point, because this is important.

Lotor’s vindication and reunion with Allura were originally part of VLD s8 and I can prove it. Most animation relating to this plot was excised, while other clips were re-purposed to make it look like he was dead all along: but some are still in there.

The removal of this plot line was one of the major factors in completely messing up season 8, and it was a change that was made very recently; no earlier than August in fact. There is a significant, non-zero chance that an unedited version of Season 8 exists in its entirety; completely finished.

The evidence is below the cut.

Trigger Warnings: Gore - that image and discussion of it, body horror, sexism, and major character death.

There’s something rotten in the house of Voltron, and by that I mean Dreamworks animation, because for reasons yet unknown the season 8 we got was not the one the writers had planned to give us.

The people involved likely can't talk about it due to NDAs, but I follow *most* of the cast and crew on social media, and from the way many of them were talking prior to the drop it’s obvious that whatever they'd recorded had led them to expect a very different season.

The almost total radio silence afterward is also telling.

So far as I can tell, AJ (Lotor’s VA) is the only one actively posting about it, and his posts have been expressing his distress over what happened to Lotor - a stark contrast to his excitement about the season prior to its airing. It’s very apparent that he thought Lotor would have a very different fate than he appears to. At the moment of the season drop he tweeted out “Lotor was framed”, and later didn’t seem to realize that ‘Allura’ was trending because she’d died.

Some of the other VA’s scarce posts lead me to believe that they’re having similar reactions: a now deleted post from Bex (Pidge’s VA) about having watched up to episode 6 consisted of an image of DOTU Lance captioned with “[internal screaming]”. Bex has since removed all references to VLD from her bio.

I’m certain that the VLD s8 we got was NOT the s8 that was originally planned. Or the one the writers and VAs had been alluding to in various interviews up until recently.

We know there were some very last minute changes to season 8. I guarantee you that Ezor was actually dead before the backlash over Adam in August, and you're kidding yourselves if you think that epilogue existed before then either.

Kihyun Ryu's 'last Shiro' tweet - that we now know to be from the wedding epilogue - was posted on September 13th, 2018. Less than two months ago these changes were still in progress. Less than a month before the first trailer premiered at NYCC these changes were still being made.

And those was absolutely not the only things which were changed. It was hinted we should pay attention to the s7 episode "the Feud" to spot some foreshadowing. Well? I've seen both that episode and s8 and I sure as heck can't find it.

This was beyond last minute.

JDS and LM were still talking in ways that would lead us to expect Lotor’s redemption roughly up to s7 in August; so whatever happened, it went down between August and November. Which is probably why s8 is so shitty; with such a terribly compressed timeline to make edits.

And edits they were, because with those time frames season 8 was either completely finished or very near to it when someone decided that things had to change.

I can prove it.

Do you know how?

Because the animation was recycled and altered to fit the new story, with only small parts made new for it. And because it was something else first, it’s still possible to partially reconstruct the original Season 8 from it.

Lets start with the big one, the one I’m sure you’re here to read: Lotor’s redemption and reunion with Allura.

One of the most frustrating things about season 8 is that it leaves the colony unexplained. The big question, the thing that results in Lotor’s murder at the hands of people he calls friends, and leads to a power vacuum that causes the deaths of untold billions of people. What was Lotor doing at the colony?

It’s never addressed or given an answer.

At least in the version of season 8 that we got.

Or is it?

Because they might have removed the conclusion to that plot thread, but they couldn’t get rid of it entirely.

In e8 ‘Clear Day’. Allura's suffers from several nightmares/dream sequences. They don't make any sense in context, and it’s never explained what caused them. Except, they make perfect sense, if you watch them as the first step towards understanding The Colony. 

Allura sees herself standing in a Juniberry field on Altea. Her mother greets her and proclaims that Allura has arrived just in time, and that only she can save them, “Only you can protect us.”

A Galra fleet passes over head, raining down laser fire.

Allura suddenly finds herself the pilot of one of the white mechs. She plunges her spear into the ground, draining the quintessence, and then fires on the fleet; obliterating it.

But as she grins in victory she realizes that the quintessence she siphoned from the planet has turned her immediate landscape to ash, including her mother. Allura is horrified, but as her mother crumbles away her voice echoes, telling Allura she is so proud of her.

In case me describing it wasn’t clear enough: what just happened to her was that Allura was literally put in Lotor’s position, operating one of his mechs. The places and the people were those that Allura cherished deeply, so that she could understand how terrible Lotor felt about what he had to do. It literally puts Allura in Lotor's place: having to take the responsibility of destroying parts of something she loves in order to protect the whole. 

And her mother? The Altean who was ‘sacrificed’ in this scenario? Praised her for taking the actions she did, because Allura was the only one able to do it. And the only choice was to save most of Altea, or none of it.

When Allura eventually does take the entity into herself we see the lights of Honerva’s mech’s faceplate lighting, then flash to a scene of Lotor in Sincline. He’s laughing, grinning as he did during s6′s finale, and as the camera zooms in on his face he shouts “Follow me!”

Briefly we see Voltron in front of the planets of Earth’s solar system, which is drowned out by a peculiar scene transition: an intense white light that appears to obliterate everything as though in an explosion.

None of these scenes are ever explained, but it’s reasonably comparable to the flash of images that Haggar sees in season 3 when she is first confronted with Zarkon’s memories. We’re left with the impression that we’re about to be enlightened, and the end of the episode reveals that Allura has passed out on the floor unconscious.

In this version of season 8, we never are told what exactly caused Allura to experience those visions. We can guess: was it perhaps the entity tempting her with its dark magic? Honerva attempting to place her under a spell?

But is the entity really dark magic? It’s different from the types of magic we’re used to, and the colors of it are certainly dark, but it in itself never actually causes Allura harm. Any harm she suffers after taking it into herself is caused by Honerva exploiting it.

Could it be a spell by Honerva? Unlikely. It took her almost two whole episodes of the paladins fooling around inside her mind for her to notice they were even there. If Allura had never taken the entity none of Honerva’s plans would have ever been found out. Yes, she did steal all the energy from the Atlas’ crystal, but she did that primarily to combat the Atlas and disable it. She didn’t need to get it from there, the energy her Komars were able to provide was all she needed.

So what caused those visions?

Lotor did.

Once he was free of the rift he was able to connect with Allura somehow and reach out to her. That was really him. Where he is now, trapped under Haggar’s control, he has no means to combat the witch. But Allura does. Everything he says to her? Is true.

The next episode, s8e9 “Knights of Light: Part 1″ begins with Allura awaking, Coran and Lance by her bedside. She’s been asleep for two quintants (days). She has apparently come up with a plan to infiltrate Honerva’s mind, but from whence she gets this plan is never explained. That’s because we’re missing an entire episode between these two. This is where Lotor’s redemption happens, where he and Allura finally reunite. God knows what else was in that episode, what else was happening while the paladins were waiting for Allura to wake. Lotor bids Allura to follow him, to finally allow him to tell his side of the story, and for some reason we weren’t allowed to hear it.

But from what we did get to see? It all but confirms @crystal-rebellion‘s Colony Theory. Albeit, the white mechs were built by Honerva, but Lotor was attempting to keep the colony safe in the only way he knew how. The Alteans who died did so willingly; to preserve the lives of all the others.

There’s a repeated narrative that the only person who encourages Allura to take action, to strive and push forward, is Lotor. Sometimes others accept it, but they never encourage her. Everyone else seems to consider her too fragile, or not capable of making her own decisions. They want to protect her and coddle her, don’t believe she should be taking any risks. They are supportive emotionally, but want to limit her physically. They care about her, but don’t truly trust her judgement or want her to be making her own choices.

With Lotor though, it’s different. He truly sees her as an equal, respects her judgement in her areas of expertise. This plot line revolving around the entity is a prime example. Lotor provides Allura with the information, that she has everything she needs to take down Honerva right in front of her; she just needs to utilize it. But from the moment Allura wakes the people closest to her doubt her decisions and choices.

And yes, those choices lead to painful consequences, but in the end they are proven to be the right ones, to have been necessary. Allura took a calculated risk, and it pays off - if she hadn’t they’d have never caught Honerva in time to stop her from destroying everything. They wouldn’t even have discovered her plan in the first place.

If Allura hadn’t made the choice to listen to and trust Lotor, by her own judgement, reality itself would have ceased to exist.

Both Coran and Alfor are given specific scenes this season where they judge and approve of Lance in his pursuit of Allura. But key, neither of them ever ask - or even mention - Allura’s feelings on the matter. The s8 we got, rather disgustingly, portrays this as the right thing. I believe the original s8 was meant to subvert this. Because Lance is everyone else’s choice for Allura, but when Allura was allowed to make her own choice? She chose Lotor.

Allura once again ends s8e10 ‘Knights of Light: Part 2′ unconscious. I firmly believe we are missing more moments  - if not an entire episode - with Lotor here, in s8e11 ‘Uncharted Regions’ - probably explaining somewhere along the way how exactly he is able to contact her in this manner.

Which, uh... as to my personal theory on how that is, well... what did Lotor and Allura do together that might have crafted a unique spiritual bond between them?

What did you two experience in the quintessence field Lotor?

But, those were happier times...

I also think this is the episode, this missing one, that that particular image properly belongs to. We now see it in the previous episode, as one of Honerva’s memories. But the reason we see it is that the paladins apparently see it too. The only problem is, they don’t react to it at all. They literally have a stronger reaction to finding out they can see Honerva’s memories in the first place. There’s no possible way that Allura saw the melted corpse of the man she loved and had no discernible reaction. We see her reactions to Lotor’s presence multiple times over the course of s7 and s8, and they’re always intensely emotional ones.

But speaking of that image, since we’re on the topic. That’s a very detailed image.

There’s details there you don’t immediately spot, because you’re too distracted by the horrific imagery of the corpse of a main character. A character who’s tragic, abusive childhood was the focus of almost an entire episode earlier in the season.

Details such as the motes of light floating up from his body.

Motes of light we’ve seen in exactly two instances before: from Zarkon and Honerva’s eyes immediately after they were restored back to life by the rift.

And from Zarkon’s body: vanishing after he died.

Yeah guys, I’m about to make that image much worse.

That’s not Lotor’s corpse, because he’s not dead.

He’s still in there, in that state, and he’s been in there for over three years.

Melded, physically and mentally, with Sincline by his time spent in the quintessence field.

What. The. Fuck.

As the season progresses it becomes much more difficult to tell what was supposed to be happening because of how badly it’s been chopped up, re-arranged, and edited.

But there is a very distinct difference between Sincline’s two appearances in action - that is, it’s only in the first one that it actually is in action.

The last time we see Sincline move of it’s own accord is e6 ‘Genesis’. From the moment he reappears Lotor is on the attack; he is stopped only two times, once of his own accord and once by Haggar’s mind control.

And that one time he stops himself? Is when he takes aim at Allura. She’s running across the ground, about to strike Honerva with her bayard, when he raises his right arm and takes aim. We see her in his sights, through his eyes. And the view zooms in on Allura’s face.

Lance sees what’s happening and dives in Red to stop him, but is blocked by one of the white mechs.

Yet. He lowers his arm and doesn’t take the shot.

Lotor never fires.

But immediately afterwards the white mech lingers too close and Sincline impales it with it’s tail. It’s not an aversion to killing that stayed his hand.

It’s that it was Allura.

This scene unambiguously shows that Lotor is both alive inside that mech and somewhat aware of himself. He’s become a robeast.

Yet after that episode the mech never moves again. It hangs lifeless in space during the battle at the pyramid; the white mechs having to do the fighting. The lights on it’s chest have gone out, only relighting when it is charged with quintessence from the Komar. For all intents and purposes, Sincline is empty.

Oh, and speaking of Sincline, up until s8e9 it’s only ever referred to as “Lotor’s mech,” but suddenly, in e11 ‘Uncharted Regions’ they’ve learned its name and Allura calls it “Lotor’s Sincline”.

I think that at some point between ‘Knights of Light’ and the second half of e11 ‘Uncharted Regions’ Lotor was to have been rescued. 'Uncharted Regions’ is one of the worst episodes this season for flow: it’s extremely choppy and hard to follow - flicking back and forth between scenes without anything really happening in them.

But the most telling thing?

‘Uncharted Regions’ begins with Honerva in her haloed mech searching Alternate realities for her ‘perfect’ one. We see several clips of her doing this, the mech floating in front of the pyramid, alone, with the spinning disk of its wings as a viewport.

Suddenly, almost exactly halfway through the episode, we get an image of Honerva kneeling inside the pyramid, in her Altean commander uniform, one uniformed Altean to either side. She says “The princess has awakened,” and then the scene changes.

When next we see Honerva she’s floating above the pyramid, the silent and immobile Sincline by her side.

The entire time this is happening there is combat going on around the pyramid, first with the coalition fighters and then with the Atlas itself. This sequence appears in episode as though it all happens successively in a very short period of time. But it doesn’t make sense like that. Why should Honerva stop what she’s doing, and exit her mech just to check if Allura is awake?

In this scenario why does Honerva even care if Allura is awake? By this point she’s apparently found her perfect reality and is prepared to move on to it? She doesn’t need Allura for anything, none of her plans require Allura. Why should she even bother to announce that Allura is awake, as though this is something she’s been waiting for?

This entire episode, including the fight scenes, has been chopped into little pieces and rearranged. Other scenes have had edits to their animation, or were re-done entirely. What we have in ‘Uncharted Regions’ is a frankenstein’s monster of an episode constructed of the tiny remnants of of at least two, possibly three, original episodes.

If you watch this episode carefully you’ll notice that there’s a clip out of order. The lights on Sincline’s chest are dark until it’s charged with the quintessence from the Alteans on the Atlas. But. The close up shot of Sincline the paladins see immediately upon exiting the wormhole in front of the pyramid has the lights lit up. This clip clearly is part of the sequence we see later in the episode just before the mechs combine. So when the crew on the bridge of the Atlas is shown reacting in horror, whatever they’re actually reacting to has been cut out.

These original missing episodes would have contained what I’m fairly certain was our big Alchemist vs Alchemist reprisal fight between Honerva and Allura; something we’ve been waiting for since season 2′s finale.

Why was such an anticipated fight removed?

I think it’s because the fight was over Lotor, and ultimately Allura would have rescued him.

Every time Allura uses the powers she obtained in Oriande it’s mentioned where she got them, and often that she has them because of Lotor.

She’s shown again and again restoring life and health.

What happened, what we’re missing, is her using the abilities she has thanks to Lotor, to save him.

Allura is supposed to storm that pyramid, infiltrate it, and rescue Lotor from the evil witch holding him captive. She’s supposed to find him in that horrible state we saw him in, and she’s going to heal him. She’s going to fight for him, to protect him, when no one else in his life ever has.

There’s also a clear switch. When Sincline is active and alight Honerva several times refers to it as ‘my son’ but afterwards, she stops and uses Sincline as a tool for her to reach an Alternate Reality and obtain a ‘new’ version of Lotor. With the exception of one shot, where, since we can’t actually see her speaking it seems that the audio and animation are sourced from different original scenes, Honerva ceases treating Sincline as Lotor after the lights go out.

The line that causes Honerva to snap s8e12 ‘The Zenith’ is when the little alt Lotor says “My mother is dead”. It’s framed like a deliberate callback, like it should be echoing something. But it’s a line we’ve never heard. I’d hazard that this final rejection, this line was spoken by *our* Lotor as Allura is rescuing him.

Lotor was not dead in there, he was alive, and he was saved.

There is a really good theory going around, my friend @tsunemori told me about it. I don't know who first came up with it, but I fully support it, because I noticed the scene in question was really off too.

But the theory is that that hospital bed scene? Was originally Lotor in the bed after they rescued him, and Allura was in Lance's place. Which makes total sense, because after that scene, when Lance takes Allura to the bridge? His height is all wrong, and he is hanging onto her for support instead of the other way around: it should be Lotor there.

Do I have any concrete proof of this one? No. But there is something off about that scene. It just doesn’t feel right.

So yeah, if I ask myself, “Is this a scene that might have been re-animated, the characters traced over and re-drawn as different ones?” I can absolutely see that. When looking for places where actual edits to the animation have been made you have to factor in several things: the complexity of the animation - how many characters, how many settings, how much movement, who is the focus/moving/talking.

This is both a pivotal scene, and an incredibly easy one to alter, comparatively. Two characters, one laying still in a bed and only getting a single one-syllable line - the other character’s name, which might have been taken from anywhere. Lance has a long string of dialogue, but he’s sitting beside the bed the entire time, and he moves very little.

I strongly believe this scene was either altered significantly or created whole-cloth for this edited version of s8.

Things that are much harder to alter, because they’d be much more expensive, are the fight scenes. It’s where I started looking once I suspected what had happened with season 8, and it’s where I started finding things.

S8e12 ‘The Zenith’ is one of the best episodes in terms of flow, and I believe that’s because it suffers some of the least editing.

We are however missing at least two scenes: a farewell between Allura and Coran - presumably as Allura boards the Blue Lion - and an explanation as to how Voltron followed Honerva into her destination reality after the rift closed on them. I believe both of these scenes were edited out because Lotor was key in them; several scenes in the following episode s8e13 ‘The End is the Beginning’ lead me to believe that he spent the final battle in the Blue Lion with Allura.

Two scenes during the fight stand out to me: the first, a split screen where Keith is mysteriously given a double width section as compared to the others. It’s especially noticeable, because he’s not even centrally placed and he’s scaled to a different size than his fellow paladins. In the entirety of the series we have never before seen a split screen cut among an even number of characters where one of them is given odd prominence like this. The screen is arranged so the characters appear in a color gradient, Keith is red-black and immediately to his left is Allura who is blue. If there was a missing section here, the color space would correspond to indigo/purple - and those are Lotor’s colors.

The second is a moment when Allura is speaking facing forwards and very clearly looks to the side and makes eye contact with someone. Now, VLD does have moments when the paladins will react in their own lions as though they can see each other, but this isn’t like that. It’s the way her eyes move, and look, she’s talking to someone who’s point of view we’re seeing her from. And that person is Lotor.

There’s also a peculiar moment in this episode where the same split screen is used twice; another thing which has never before happened in the series. It appears first about a quarter of the way through the episode as the paladins enter the stage for the final showdown and then again as they push Honerva into the glowing whiteness at its center. I believe that the second one of these is its proper place, and that the one that originally went in the first instance had Lotor included in it.

Finally, and this is going to take several images, so be warned. When the paladins appear before Honerva in the heart of it all, fading into view, they’re spaced very strangely.

There’s six of them, so you’d expect they’d be spaced something like this:

But they’re actually spaced like this:

(yes, I know Honerva would be blocking someone there. She moves. I just picked this cap so you could see all the shadows; there’s no point showing you the empty space)

It rather looks like there’s someone missing.

The last half of the final episode is so heavily manipulated that it’s difficult to say what actually happened. But we have two very strong clues from which we can reconstruct it.

Remember the leaks?

Now that we know the leaks were real, it begs the question, why was this scene one of them. Unlike the others, which were all from the epilogue, this scene is from roughly halfway through the episode.

Well, I believe we have the answer now: whoever leaked them chose those because they were the scenes they had on hand. These were the scenes that were not originally part of VLD s8, and were added only in the last minute edit.

This one in particular is another where I think it’s taken an actual scene and traced over it to make it into something else. Lance is far too tall here, and doesn’t look like himself hardly at all.

It’s also very clear from the framing of the shot where Allura is going down the line of paladins and hugging them that Lance should be getting a send off in sequence to the others, not apart like this.

No, I think Lance was animated over Lotor here, and the audio was spliced in parts from Lance’s actual goodbye scene and Allura’s “I will always love you” comes from somewhere else. That portion of the line is said in a distinctly different tone of voice than Lance’s name beforehand. There’s different emotions to it than the rest of their conversation, and I’d guarantee we’re hearing it out of it’s original context.

I don’t know what else changes in the ending, but I’m very certain that it was not supposed to be read as Allura dying.

The reason we now read it that way is that Allura and Honerva are seen greeting the spirits of people we know that are dead. I’m fairly certain this scene is either new, or it was only Honerva going to meet them, and of course, that Lotor wasn’t among them.

And I think it was Allura and Lotor who stayed behind to do the work of restoring all realities. My proof of this is one of the very best and strongest among my evidence: the very last closing shot of Voltron: Legendary Defender, after the credits.

The lions of Voltron take off to rejoin their new Cosmic Entities; Allura and Lotor. Whoever was responsible for editing Lotor out of this picture only actually slightly blurred him.

Thanks to @articianne for the outline!

If you play around with the image contrast and brightness it’s even more obvious that the both of them are there, back to back.

It only looks like Allura dies because the spirits but without them there? It looks like they ascended to a higher plane of existence or something.

They haven’t died at all. They’ve become, of all things, like Bob, the gameshow host from s7e4 ‘The Feud’. An ‘all-powerful, all-knowing interdimensional being’.

And y’know? Bob was perfectly able to interact with the paladins no problem.

I don’t understand why these changes were made. To me? This looks like a perfectly happy ending.

What else was cut I don’t know. But I found all this evidence by looking for the things that weren’t there, that a competently structured plot would lead me to expect would be. Chasing ghosts, as it were.

A short list of additional things I strongly suspect were cut?

Several scenes between Keith and Shiro.

A pivotal scene between Allura and Coran.

A follow up event with Pidge referencing her sacrificing her videogame to get Allura a dress.

A scene between Lance and Pidge, possibly referencing said videogame.

A resolution to Lance and Pidge competing to get Allura the best present.

A conclusion to Axca’s sub plot.

A Hunk and Shay scene, to explain how and why the Balmeras all show up in s8e12 ‘The Zenith’.

An additional scene with the blade for the same reasons.

Actually, y’know what? I’m not just going to leave this, because I have a strong suspicion what one of the other cut subplots was about.

You see, the other half of ‘Clear Day’ isn’t entirely filler - it’s specifically a callback to the season 2 episode ‘Space Mall’, and it’s not the only one in this season. The little shopping trip from s8e1 ‘Launch Date’ is also one. Specifically they’re part of a plot for Pidge about her feelings for Lance.

In ‘Space Mall’ Pidge and Lance spend their time scrounging up change to buy a videogame console. The game that they purchase is part of a series that Pidge later trades the only copy of the latest version of to get Allura a dress. During ‘Clear Day’ Pidge and Lance both spend their time trying to get the best present for Allura (hint hint, Pidge is the one who actually got the ‘”something sparkly”).

Now, as I’ve already covered, there’s missing content between ‘Clear Day’ and the next episode. Part of that content should have been what the other paladins were doing while Allura was unconscious. And in series, we never actually see Allura receive either of those presents that were bought for her. So where did they go?

I think Pidge and Lance spent the time waiting for Allura to wake up together, and they got to talking about how Lance has once again failed to acquire the sparkly thing Allura would like. Perhaps Pidge trades her mining helmet for Lance’s signed Blue Lion, and then it comes up how both times Lance went to get a present for Allura he ended up getting one for Pidge.

And that first time was the video game wasn’t it? A perfect place for Lance to find out what happened with the video game in s8e1.

So why did Pidge trade that game? To make Allura happy, yes, but also to make Lance happy. Because Lance likes Allura and Pidge wants them to have a good time, because Pidge likes Lance. Like, check e1 when Allura tells her she's going on a date with Lance, Pidge's reaction... isn't really a happy one.

I think this should have been the turning point for Lance, where he learns the difference between infatuation and sincere affection. I think very soon after this his relationship with Allura would end, and he would naturally progress into a different sort of relationship with Pidge.

As much as I love s8e7 ‘Day Forty-Seven’ I don’t think it was originally part of season 8. I also get the feeling that s7e2 ‘Shadows’ may be composed of scenes we were supposed to have gotten throughout the later half of season seven - though I expect that this change was made in a much earlier spate of edits, likely when s7 was re-done. It’s been confirmed that this happened, and that s7e4 ‘The Feud’ was made to ease the pressure on the exhausted animators who’d been working overtime to get the other episodes done in time. It’s never been confirmed what exactly was changed about season 7 or why, but I highly suspect it was to include more content with the MFE fighters, who the higher ups at Dreamworks might have been hoping to spin off into a sequel.

I suspect that the episodes were shifted forwards, because the first half of the season has no 'event' episode. s8e6 ‘Genesis’ should have been that, and what we're missing is the mid-season event. Which was where they would have saved Lotor. They excised an entire climactic fight between Allura and Honerva, reprising their battle from season 2. The alchemist vs alchemist fight that was repeatedly alluded to being inevitable, yet we never got.

It was animated and voiced to be Lotura and Lotor's vindication.

But someone wanted that changed.

We know when and why ‘The Feud’ was created, and because we were teased in several interviews to pay attention to it so that we might spot some foreshadowing, we can definitively say that the mucking around that was done to season 8 happened at a much later date.

In fact, the animation portion was likely completed all the way back in June. These are two bumper images that were used to advertise Season 6, which released on June 15th.

We haven’t yet seen this image of Lotor appear in the show (for what it matters, the full color one is the correct way around; Lotor’s hair always curls up over his right shoulder, the left can go either way), we have scoured every frame of him to find it, but it’s just not there (yes I know it looks like it should be from s5e4 ‘Kral Zera’, but trust me it’s not). Every other image that’s ever been used in these promotional bumpers has been from somewhere in the show, but this one is so far absent. Therefore it’s from a piece of animation yet to appear, and one which was made by the time these images showed up in June.

Now that we know what the truth is, I am sure we will get the full story eventually. It's only a matter of time before it filters out.

But right now is the key time if we want to convince Dreamworks to release the original season 8. Tweet at them, email them, snail mail if you have the time! Sign that petition!

The fandom response now will determine if we find out what really happened sooner rather than later - and later could mean years.

We are the only people who can make this happen. The cast and crew are all bound by NDAs, and publicly reacting negatively towards a show you worked on is practically career suicide.

It has historically been fans who’ve made a difference when companies interfere with their favorite shows. Fans have been able to effect change in the past, and they will again in the future; lets make sure this is one of those times. We need to fight to get the VLD we should have gotten in the first place.

Just remember to apply your energies in the right places. JDS and LM aren’t perfect people (no one is!), but this isn’t their doing. This is someone above them responsible for the mess that was s8. Dreamworks Animation is the culprit. There is a very real chance that the original season 8 is completely finished and able to be released, and we just might get it if we’re persistent enough. 

Be polite, be reasonable, but be firm. Take this proof and use it. Show them that we know they changed things and that they can give us the original if they so choose.

The messages they inadvertently pushed with this slap-dash edit are vile and toxic, and people far more knowledgeable than I in those areas are speaking out about them. This needs to be fixed.

They need to say something. They need to tell us why they changed it. They need to give us the original Season 8.

Click here for Part 2: Seek Truth in Darkness

I, and any of you who enjoyed this meta, owe @nomadicism a huge thank you. She reminded me of that strange "Follow me!" scene, which prompted me to crack open 'Clear Day' for another watch... and I realized that Allura's dreams weren't nonsensical at all.

As always, thank you to my many friends in the Lotura Discord. You give me the strength and encouragement to keep going. I couldn’t have done this without you.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 98

98

   It was weird to have slow weeks again with all the excitement Keith had brought into his life. Keith had called to update him on things in Platt which weren’t exactly good. A scuffle had broken out between three vampire clans, so Lotor, and his generals, were now calling VOLTRON home for the foreseeable future. Asking far too much over Lance for Keith’s comfort. Keith and Shiro were both back in with Blades after the failure of a mission, though Keith was two weeks out of loop, so he’d had to work extra time to catch up on everything he’d missed. Then the last two weeks August had seemed to disappear into thin air, without seeing Keith. Lance honestly didn’t know where they’d gone, only that they were wankers for leaving him without Keith for so long.

  Filled in far too much, Sendak seemed to be the cause of the recent vampire fighting. The four clans suffering heavy casualties, which meant pretty much every night hunters and Blades were on the look out of for potential vampires turning humans to bolster their numbers. Plus they had to deal with werewolves getting all uppity with their mangy noses out of joint. Two murders had made their way into the news, the reports on the details varied differently with between each printed news report. Someone had brought up the question of it being related to the theft he and Keith committed, with that particular story disappearing within 6 hours of making it to socials. The Blades could make anything disappear, maybe even him if they got sick of all these vampire drama. Lance didn’t envy Keith at all. He knew his boyfriend was working hard, even harder as he tried to avoid his approaching birthday weekend... despite how freakin’ long it was until their holiday. The broody anger loaf as as bad at him over birthdays. He could have easily pushed it to the back of his mind, but instead he wanted all the information and considered hiking it ahead of time so they wouldn’t get lost.

  Lance was working in his own way. Pidge found them a “case” a few towns over. Lance didn’t want to go. He felt wiped from his heat. Pidge had no pity for him after a “romantic week away”, Lance ending up going. Matt coming along for the night and succeeding in pissing off Pidge by explaining away phenomenons with science. He was kind of right. There wasn’t the feeling of death in the building despite its age, nor any annoying shadows to ignore. Hunk saved them all from Pidge’s bad mood by suggesting the turn the video into a “debunk” video for the watchers. It was nice to have part of his old life back. He felt as if things were finally settling down for the Garrison Trio, and that they’d worked past his whole “vampire” issue. A new video landed him a couple of new clients seeking advice, giving him a chance to feel helpful in a different way from tagging along because Lotor wanted it.

  Vegged out on the sofa, their new family member mooed loudly from outside. Yeah. They’d kept the damn cow. Three weeks seemed too long to now be going out and finding the owner seeing she hadn’t been reported missing. They’d even named her Kaltenecker. Blue wasn’t fond of her. Her Royal Highness was sulking as it was. She and Kosmo had gotten pretty close, Lance feeling she missed the hyperactive pup as much as he missed Keith. She’d tried to be friendly with Kaltenecker, but was out the moment Kalternecker’s long slobbery tongue passed over her head. He didn’t like to admit that he slept with one of Keith’s shirts over his pillow these days, because it felt kind of stalkerish and really rather lame. He couldn’t help that he slept better with Keith’s scent close to him, despite the fact he felt a 45 year old man should probably have grown out of nightmares long ago.

  Matt and Rieva both tried to help with his nightmares. Lance appreciated the thought, but his dreams had been so weird lately that he had no idea what to make of them. Sometimes they were about him being turned. Sometimes he’d turned Keith in them and they were having the weirdest adventures. He’d had one dream where he was pregnant and Keith was on a quest to find him shorts... though, the worst dream he’d had was when Nyma and Rolo had kidnapped Keith and he’d come home to find his boyfriend dead. It took calling Keith to calm him down from that one.

  There was also one big change in the house that made Lance happy. Curtis had moved back in. When he’d come to check on him at the hotel, they’d talked, entertaining the idea of finding an apartment in Platt, only to decide that it was more practical if Curtis lived there. It was nice to have him back. Curtis felt as lost as he did over not being able to be in the field with Keith and Shiro. Having found a home outside VOLTRON, where his curse wasn’t such a big deal, Lance fully supported Curtis moving in and having fresh air and freedom. Plus, it helped to have someone get as emotional over soap operas as he did. Matt forced to watch the pair of them make fools of themselves as they’d yell at the TV over the script.

  With Rieva at her waitressing job, Lance having cleaned through the house, and nothing much to do, Lance was curled up against Curtis, Christmas shopping for their friends group, and trying to ignore the feelings of anxiety that came with waiting for Keith to check in with him. Seeing he was giving Keith a twin set of blades for his birthday, Lance was facing he dilemma of “Did he buy Keith another blade” or “Should be he buy him camera equipment without knowing anything about cameras”. His boyfriend really did get excited at the idea of stabbing things... Maybe too excited so he shouldn’t give him a potential murder weapon?

  He could always gift Keith a voucher to a camera equipment store, but he didn’t want to spend too much on the voucher and have Keith feel guilty over the cost of the gift. He could probably pick up a vintage camera as a gift...

  Then again, he’d seen some amazing antique blades. As well as custom jobs that seemed to scream Keith’s name at him. It was hard containing himself. Huge gifts would be nice, he’d spoil Keith rotten for every single bad birthday memory he had, yet a heartfelt gift was worth more than spending thousands. That’s why he loved that he had a small selection of Keith’s photos. His photography so super personal that the vampire felt kind of honoured. He adored it. He adored the photos of them all, the photos of the caves, but his favourite was of Keith and Kosmo cuddled up together, even more so of the ones where he was kissing Keith’s cheek. Now he was missing his boyfriend again. God. Okay. No more swords. Time to move on to Shiro and who better to ask than his boyfriend?

  “Hey, Curtis. What are you getting Shiro for Christmas?”

“I’m not going through this again”

Tilting his head back, Lance frowned up at Curtis

“What does that mean?”

Curtis sighed at him

“It means Keith nearly had a mental breakdown trying to decide on your gift. I will not go through that again”

Lance blinked at him, a warm feeling in his belly that his boyfriend cared that much. He didn’t blame Curtis for not wanting to go through that again, a stressed Keith could be very bossy and uncooperative

“No, I’m being literal here. I don’t want to get him the same thing as you. I’m tossing up between getting Keith another blade, or some camera equipment. I thought I’d move onto Shiro”

“Oh. I was sure you were edging into asking what you should purchase for Keith. He was quite the wreck the morning of your birthday. 5 cups of coffee, all in different cups. Pacing nonstop. Freaking out because he hadn’t purchased a present and it had to be just right and in no way lame”

  Lance huffed at Curtis. He really wanted to call Keith now... Their camping trip seemed so long away... 52 days. Every day counting down was being marked off on his office calendar and his friend calendar

“I am trying not to think about how much I miss my boyfriend. What should I get Shiro?”

Shiro was filled with “Dad” vibes. Sometimes it felt he was the only mature one around them

“You could get us matching T-shirts. I’m with stupid pointing to him, and his saying “I am stupid””

“Dude, that seems more like something you should give him. Maybe I’ll skip him for now”

“You could get him an ugly sweater?”

Lance hummed. Shiro was a closet nerd. He’d seen the bobble head collection... and the movie collection...

“That could work. Maybe some socks to make it feel like a dad present. Thanks for the idea. What are you getting him?”

“I’m thinking I should get him an ugly sweater now”

Lance rolled his eyes

“That’s what you told me to get him”

“But it’s such a good idea. Why don’t we all get him ugly sweaters?”

“Because you’re the one who’s going to have to live with the consequences”

“I don’t mind”

“Fiiiiine. But you better gift him something else to make up for it, or he’s really going to think we don’t like him”

“I think I’ll manage. Why are you shopping now?”

“So it’s all out the way. Postage gets hectic around Christmas and if there’s going to be delays than I want the extra time”

  He was letting his age show. But with two months to go before everyone started going mental for Chris, he wanted things all organised so he didn’t have the last minute rush to deal with. He had his eye on a nice outdoor setting as his birthday gift to himself, a little late, but if he timed it right he couldn’t always say it was an early Christmas present. He wanted something bigger to fit them all comfortably, once he’d extended the brickwork... maybe built a pen for Kaltenecker... ohhh... Kaltenecker could have her own stall near the house. They could build a doggy training course for Kosmo... and Matt...

“Curtis, do you know anything about construction”

“Not particularly. Dismantling measures... Explosives. Survival measures”

“Do you want to try building a cow pen with me?”

“No. And you will not be building one either. Go back to your Christmas shopping”

  Lance pouted. Not liking being told not to do something. It wasn’t an ego thing. It was something he’d heard so many times in his life. No matter how good he’d been, he wasn’t good enough

“I did all the repairs on the house for like the most part, and things are still standing”

“So you did the electrics, the plumbing, reroofing...?”

Well... no. The walls had to come down to tackle the mould and... his ego didn’t like what Curtis was saying

“I pulled down the walls and replaced them once I got rid of the mould”

“Great. You broke stuff. Speaking of broken stuff, Matt and Rieva broke the bed again”

“I heard. Maybe it’s time to get them another bed for that room? Instead of two singles pushed together?”

“Weren’t they planning on moving out once their probation ended?”

“That’s beside the point...”

  He really liked having them there. Not just because he’d become friends with them, but for the added security of having two werewolves in the off chance of things going south

“You’re acting delusional. Maybe it’s the stress of Christmas shopping?”

“I’m not stressed. And before you ask, I’ve already ordered your present”

“I know. I’ve been on your laptop”

“Dude! Privacy! I’ve got confidential client... you’re an arsehole”

Curtis started laughing as he snapped at him

“You should have seen your face”

“You should see what I’m going to do to yours”

Curtis brushed his hair back from his horn

“It’s because I’m horny, isn’t it? You wouldn’t hit a horny man”

Lance choked on air. Curtis laughing at him as he spluttered. Part of Curtis’s Christmas present might have to go missing in revenge. Sulkily, Lance snapped his laptop closed. His friend was a dick. He was a raisin cookie pretending to be filled with chocolate goodness

“I’m going to go make lunch while you think about your actions”

And check in on Matt who was doing “Top Secret Research”

“Oh, good. Food and free entertainment. This really is the life”