#on one hand deck 1 is very faithful and is fun in a nostalgic way

[trident-dragion]

Currently testing for Elemental HERO. My first deck was a pure build (save for Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste) that was designed for balance and access to all of the "Omni HERO" fusions available. My second deck, which I'm testing right now, is a more aggressive Synchro variant using Debris Dragon and Skyscraper. I know I like the first (though I often wonder if I'm just being biased), but which version sounds more appealing to you?

[faequeen40]

Candlelight and Supernovas

Day 6: Birthday!!!

Day 5, Day 4, Day 3, Day 2, Day 1, Day 7

Morning greeted Lance slowly, eyes blinking at the ceiling of his quarters absently. For just a moment, he was home again, the last vestiges of his dreams making him remember the smell of pancakes and spice, the ambient noise of a full household dancing along the edges of his awareness.

By the time he came back to wakefulness, his chest ached and his eyes watered.

It was his birthday.

And he was millions of light years away from home.

It was almost enough to make him want to curl up under his blanket and cry, just spend his birthday with himself and his homesickness. It had helped to talk with his fellow members of Team Voltron this week but this was a feeling that wasn’t going to abandon him anytime soon.

The idea of staying in bed all day was tempting, so very tempting, but he pushed himself through it, sitting up and looking out over the room that he had claimed for his own.

Despite the rather Spartan furnishings, he’d done his best to liven it up and make it look like a place he resided in. He’d done so much to it already. Delicate pictures from exotic alien markets hung lightly on the walls, hovering lightly over a shelf he had begged off Hunk, the whole thing covered in all kinds of strange alien rocks, many of them glowing dimly in the darkness of his room.

There were holographic pictures of the team pressed to the walls around his bed, scenes of celebration painting his room with hope.

Every morning it inspired him to keep going, to push past the homesickness and general funk of being in the middle of a millennia long galactic war. Some days were harder than others, certainly, but he had to try. Especially when the others depended on him.

They depended on him to pull them out of the same funk and remind him that there was happiness worth fighting for. Sure, it was important that they were fighting to free the universe from Zarkon’s tyranny but it was such a lofty goal that sometimes it was difficult to keep in sight.

Personal happiness was often much easier to fight for.

Maybe Keith had had a point yesterday. Today could be a lot better than he anticipated. It was a brand new day and full of possibilities.

His Mama’s old optimism pushed him to his feet and he could feel a contented smile stretch his face.

Every day has the potential to be the best day ever.

He padded to his door before it hit him.

That smell hadn’t just been in his dreams.

The familiar smell of pancakes and cinnamon drifted down the hall and Lance had to choke back a sudden surge of emotion. There was no way.

He nearly flew down the hallways, skidding into the kitchen with a wild look on his face, half-dressed and beside himself. The slickness of the floor under his socks made him slide into the room, his almost inevitable fall stopped by the most familiar arms in the world.

Good Hunk. Best soul brother in the universe.

He looked up to his best friend incredulously, a wild hope burning in his chest.

Lance hadn’t really expected anything special today. No one else had celebrated their birthday since they had come to the Castle and he certainly didn’t think that he would be the exception.

“Hunk…Is that…?” He breathed, almost unwilling to believe it.

To his credit, his best friend only beamed, his smile almost too bright to look at. “Why don’t you take a look and see for yourself?”

Excitement building, Lance pulled himself back to his feet and peered over Hunk’s shoulder, seeing the team all beaming at him, several plates stacked high with pancakes passed around the counter in the dining room. “It’s nice of you to finally join us, Lance.” Allura teased, the far more informal set to her shoulders pulling a huge smile to his face.

It had been so much fun to sit and talk with her, his hands braiding her frankly monstrous amount of hair even as they sat and laughed at the crazy situations of her favorite soaps. It was nice to be able to see Allura as a person instead of a frosty princess.

If anything it made him respect her more. He knew her and now he had every faith that she would never steer him wrong.

“Can’t rush perfection, Princess.” He drawled, suppressing a laugh as she rolled her eyes at his antics.

“Your pancakes are gonna get cold.” Keith sighed, the very tips of his hair looking oddly singed, “Or I’m going to eat them all.”

“Don’t you dare.” Lance gasped, jetting past his best friend to move between Keith and the stack of delicious, nostalgic food.

Keith only shrugged, a smirk pulling at his lips. “Don’t take too long, birthday boy.” Pidge grinned, “We have a bit day planned.”

Lance looked to his friends, his second family, with a grin so wide that it made his face ache. This really was happening. They had come together to celebrate with him today.

And Hunk had listened. He had paid attention while Lance had spilled his woes into his shoulder, waxing poetically over his mother’s typical birthday pancakes and how the cinnamon sugar had been his favorite.

He didn’t really want to know how much trial and error had gone into finding the ingredients even slightly similar to those on Earth but he appreciated it. The effort was overwhelming.

Emotion swelled in his chest and he eagerly took his seat, tucking into the food with a gusto that bordered on overdramatic. They were delicious and perfect, almost exactly as his mother would have made them.

If only they weren’t slightly purple.

But he’d accept it. Space wasn’t perfect after all.

He ate pancakes until he couldn’t anymore, the rest of the team enjoying the sweet breakfast, Allura and Coran scarfing them down even faster than the paladins.

“What are these?” Allura breathed, shoving yet another fork full into her mouth.

“We call them pancakes.” Hunk said proudly, “I tried to make them the same way that Lance’s mom did. I remember how good they were. She really did make the best pancakes I’ve ever had.”

Lance nodded along enthusiastically, patting his full stomach as he simply took in the atmosphere. It was homey and happy, an environment that made the smile on his feel more genuine than it had in weeks.

Once everyone had finished eating, many of them turned to Allura, a huge grin on her face. “Next surprise is courtesy of Shiro, Lance.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Lance shifted his gaze to their leader, a bit surprised to see Shiro looking a bit embarrassed. “I remember how you said you missed the ocean.” Shiro explained, “I didn’t know how soon we would find one but Allura actually found a planet in this system that has one. One that isn’t going to boil us alive, anyway. So we’re gonna spend today at the beach.”

By the end of his explanation, Lance’s eyebrows were almost to his hairline and he was sure that he was thirty seconds away from ugly crying.

Shiro had paid attention too. He hadn’t been humoring him when they’d spoken in the training deck. Shiro had listened and acted, trying to find him a small piece of what he missed from Earth.

It was touching and at the same time, thrilling. His idol, the person he had admired so much that he’d crossed the country to go to the same school as him, had paid attention to him and found a way to give him a priceless gift for his birthday.

“I…uh, thank you.” Lance choked, “Thank you so much. Shiro, that means so much to me.”

Shiro gave him a fond smile, a look that hadn’t really been directed at him in the whole time they’d known each other. “Yeah, Lance. I know. But we all wanted to make your birthday special. We even have a few of the traditions from the Altean ceremonies to throw in.”

Lance threw a happy look to Allura and Coran, the Alteans at the table beaming at him. “It’s only a few things.” Allura assured him, “And they’ll take place tonight.”

Nodding, Lance climbed to his feet and the others followed along. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to the beach.”

“We figured you’d say that.” Pidge chuckled, “We’re all gonna meet in the hangar. Black is gonna take us down to the surface of the beach planet.”

Basically vibrating in his skin, Lance bounced on the soles of his feet. “Sounds good!”

Without a look back, he ran for his room, almost skidding past his door as he forgot about the slickness of his socks once more. He caught himself on the wall and barreled into his room, grabbing everything that he thought that he might need. He changed into his trunks and grabbed for a loose shirt, just in case, before he made his way down to the hangar. He spotted Pidge first, a giant t shirt draped over her body and long shorts sitting low on her legs. “Are those even yours?” Lance snickered, throwing his towel over his shoulder.

“No. I was just gonna wear my normal clothes because I am not swimming.” Pidge sighed, “But then Shiro threw these at me. I don’t know whose they are and at this point, I’m not gonna question it.”

“You look more comfortable now.” Lance offered, grin staying strong.

“They are a bit cooler than what I normally wear. I won’t fry entirely.” Pidge shrugged, her laptop clutched under one arm.

“Hopefully, none of us will be frying.” Allura said, her voice chipper even as she popped a sun hat on Pidge’s head.

Lance nodded at her modest swim suit, the swirling pink marks on her arms and legs proudly displayed. She gave him a bright smile before ushering the two of them into the hangar where the others waited.

He really couldn’t contain himself as they all clambered inside the Black Lion. He bounced on the balls of his feet and drummed his fingers, an excited energy surging through his veins.

The beach. On his birthday. In space.

It was almost more than he could stand.

The Black Lion brought them to the surface of the planet without incident the bright sunshine almost blinding after the dimmer lights of the Castle. Lance could scarcely wait until the ramp descended before he was jumping out of Black’s maw, his feet meeting the bluish-green sand, eyes tracing over the infinite shoreline.

The water was clear and the breeze off of it smelled salty and fresh, just the beaches of home. He allowed himself a moment to just experience it before he turned back to his friends, their fond smiles making his heart swell.

“What are you waiting for?” Keith smirked, “The water is right there.”

“Race you?”

If anything, Keith’s smile broadened and Lance could only laugh, so happy to be sharing some of his joy on his birthday. “You’re on.”

The two of them raced for the water, meeting the lukewarm waves with a crash, Shiro and Allura hot on their heels. Hunk only called out warnings after them, a tube of alien sunscreen held halfheartedly in his hands. “Guys! I know that Lance doesn’t burn but two of you are so pale that you glow in the dark!”

With a grumble, Shiro and Keith returned to the beach even as Allura splashed at them, a wide brimmed hat sitting on her head, white hair bound up in a bun. Lance couldn’t help but laugh as the two paler boys resigned themselves to Hunk’s mothering.

He dove between the waves, a piece of him relaxing at last as he swam in the clear waters of an alien planet.

They swam for hours, playing in the water and even dragging Hunk in at some point, Lance climbing upon his shoulders to take Shiro and Keith on in a game of chicken.

Lance would still claim the win on that one.

When at last the sun began to set, a gorgeous muddle of orange reflecting off the crystalline waters, they returned to the beach, a roaring fire set up near the waves.

Pidge smirked at him craftily as she typed away on her laptop, soft notes starting to play from its speakers. He could only frown at her, confused as to why she was giving him that expression when it finally registered.

He knew this song. He’d listened to his song hundreds of times back on Earth. It was the most played song on his iTunes account.

But there was no way any of the others would know it. They’d clearly established that all the paladins had very different tastes in music.

“Pidge, where did you get that song?” Lance asked quietly, coming to sit near her so he could hear it better.

“Funny story.” Pidge chuckled, “I managed to hack a satellite around Earth and through that I managed to find your iTunes account. Your password was kind of disgustingly easy to break.”

“You managed to hack my iTunes account?” Lance frowned, “Wait! So all of them?”

“Yeah, Lance.” Pidge said happily, “I got you all of them. I downloaded them to one of the tablets back at the castle. I have your top ten most listened right now.”

Lance flushed at her words, a lightness to his heart that he really couldn’t explain. “Thank you, Pidge.” He smiled, “I love it. I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Lance.” Pidge laughed, “But maybe we could have an impromptu dance party again sometime.”

Lance beamed, bumping gently with his shoulder before looking up as Keith cleared his throat awkwardly, Allura standing beside him with a stern expression.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes.” Keith blurted, “I just wanted to give you the present I got.”

Pushing his hands forward, Keith looked to the side awkwardly, Allura’s expression gentling slightly. Lance leaned over his hands, jaw dropping when he saw the rough, blue stone sitting prettily in the cradle of Keith’s fingers.

“This…this is gorgeous, Keith! Where did you get it?” Lance gaped, looking between the stone and the Red Paladin.

“Remember the blue planet we raced to?” Keith explained, a happiness to his face, “I went back. Turns out it was all volcanoes…in the midst of their eruption phase. But I managed to snag a rock before they blew.”

“What he’s failing to tell you is that it was a very close call.” Allura huffed, “The Red Lion is still a bit scorched.”

“Keith!”

“I didn’t want to be empty handed today.” Keith grumbled, “And you wanted to go to that planet.”

“You didn’t have to bring me anything, Keith.” Lance said gently, “None of you had to do anything today. I’m so appreciative that you did but it would have been enough to just hang out with you guys. You’re my space family and I love all of you.”

Keith flushed at his words, all but pushing the stone into his hands, clearly unsure of how to respond even as Allura choked back a small sob. “Lance, you might actually make me cry.” Pidge sighed, a hand rubbing at her eyes.

“We’re so thankful to have you, my boy.” Coran hummed, clapping a hand on his back, “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“For the fire jumping!” Coran crowed, ignoring the concerned look on Lance’s face.

He looked to Allura in a panic, the princess only resuming her previous smile. “It is tradition.”

A little uneasily, Lance moved to his feet. “Is it safe?”

“If you run fast enough.” Keith said offhandedly, the two Alteans looking at him askance.

With a sigh, Lance just shook his head. “Alright, if mullet can do it, so can I.” He bragged, stepping next to Coran, “Am I jumping solo?”

“Of course not.” Coran crowed, “Allura and I are both going to jump with you! Your family is always supposed to make the jump with you.”

As he faced the flames, Lance could only smile, his chest so light he couldn’t think of anything but how happy he was. Allura and Coran stood beside him, Keith and Shiro on either side of them. Hunk and Pidge waited on the other side, their faces bright in the flickering flames.

This was beyond what he had expected.

It was better than cakes and candles. It was better than his previous plans to while the day away in the rec room and eat his weight in Hunk’s food goo.

As the happiness only compounded in his chest, Lance looked at his family, the family who stood beside him in this fight against an intergalactic tyrant. They had his back and he had theirs.

So he jumped.