#perhaps mother is an advisor… shadow queen if you would but technically not working or something..

[paunchsalazar]

Ootori family hcs… still deciding… boxes are confirmed canon facts… ages for Akito and Yuuichi are a guess

[thebiscuiteternal]

Members of the blade of the marmora being curious about Coran. Like this goofy Altean, but an adviser to the royals. There's just something suspicious and also sneaky. oh they're familiar with masks but this is just straaange.

“He’s not... like that all the time... is he?”

Thace looked up from the blaster rifle he was repairing to where Coran, his princess, and Aldri were nearly in hysterics watching Triad try to drag a shrieking Ylva into a particle bath with her tractor beam. “You mean-?”

The younger apprentice -Irechel, wasn’t it?- wrinkled his nose faintly. “He’s just so... not what I expected from the person in charge of all these operations. He acts like a cub.”

“I see. No. No, he isn’t like that all the time.” He clicked the chamber closed and checked the safety, then tested the trigger a few times to make sure it wasn’t still catching. “I suspect he does it to put his closest comrades at ease, since they are very much cubs themselves. I do admit, though-” he added as he looked over to see Coran finally give in and rescue his smaller fellow tech, only for Ylva to promptly climb his back and hiss at Triad from behind him, “the difference is like night and day. I have never seen such a well-constructed mask before.”

“Hrm...”

---

Technically, he wasn’t spying. After affirming their loyalties, the Princess and her Advisor had allowed them nearly full-run of the castle.

He was just... observing, that was all.

Kolivan always said that keeping one’s eyes and ears sharp were the way to the truth, didn’t he? 

Irechel nested himself silently in the shadows of the cables of the Lions’ hanger, well above the steel beasts. He had a prickly itch up his back that always made him uncomfortable around them, even when they weren’t looking at him and the other Blades.

Like they were always watching.

But no matter!

He’d overheard from conversations between their spymaster and his Princess that her mother was returning from some important trip to several worlds. If Coran had indeed worked for the previous royals as well, this would be a prime chance to see what sort of mask he used in front of the old Altean Queen.

The hissing of the far control doors alerted him to his quarry’s approach, and he flattened his ears to lower his profile, crouching deeper into his nest as Coran came into the hanger with a cheerful whistling tune.

A blast of air from the bay doors opening suddenly made him regret his hiding place, and he clung to the cables to keep from getting thrown free, glaring down at the Altean who seemed to have no trouble keeping his footing. Gritting his teeth, Irechel resolutely dug his claws in and stayed put, waiting for-

-not the enthusiastic hug he saw, the dark-haired woman from the ship barely touching the floor before she and the advisor were swinging each other around in glee. 

“Ah, Illy, as always, you’re a sight for sore eyes!”

“Hah! You say that now, Red, but just you wait-”

What in the- that was not the behavior he expected the Altean to treat his superior with. The Princess, perhaps, because she was a cub, but surely the old Queen was of his age or-

And just like that, before his confusion had even abated, the two were walking away arm in arm, heads together like old friends... or old conspirators.

Scowling, Irechel crept along the cables, trying to get a better view. 

What he saw almost... frightened him.

Gone were the two cubs at play, and in their places were a pair of war leaders, expressions as stone and serious as the words he couldn’t hear. 

And in a heartbeat, they were... laughing again!

Was this what Thace had meant?

But no! No one had been watching but him and the Lions! And surely they had not known of his presence!

But then...

Then that meant...

Irechel shivered as he watched them go, trying to put this new development together.

Adult Alteans were truly an unnerving species.