#so i'm inclined to believe there's a kernel in there

[idontlikeem]

I don't know what to think of the quote from Geno that was published today and is trending on twitter. Is it actually a real quote? Because if it is and was translated within context, oooh boy I'm gonna be pissed!

sigh ok i was hoping this wouldn't happen.

this is the only time i'll be addressing this.

that quote was from 2019. whatever the twitter account that posted a snippet of it is, it was clearly attempting to imply it was said today. it was not. i have proof!

is it the best quote ever? no. however, let's remember the context here: he's talking to a russian news outlet. what's he gonna say?

additionally, when you add in all the rest of his commentary, it's significantly less inflammatory.

[crystal-rebellion]

Meep, hello! Been thinking about how crossover VLD/DotU Lotura would react to one another and your Beyond the Stars story came to mind, and while I love how DotU Allura immediately befriended VLD Lotor bc he’s so polite and diplomatically inclined, I can’t help but wonder - how do you think DotU Lotor would react to VLD Allura?

Like yes, she has the same temperament and righteous ambition, but unlike her counterpart she’s also so freaking powerful. Of course he would admire her, but would he also feel threatened? And how would she handle his abrasive behavior, since she could easily match him physically?

Anyway, I was just curious. Love your writing and hoping to hear your thoughts!

Ahhhhhh!

Aaaaaaaahhhh!!

(First of all, thank you, thank you, I'm so delighted you enjoyed that story so much - it started off as a silly crack piece that wasn't supposed to be serious, but ended up creating its own actual story.)

Second-- FUN FACT - I too, have wondered that same thing, and have a Part 2 started. I genuinely don't know if this will end up as a story in full, but I very, VERY much wanted to see what DotU Lotor and VLD Allura would do when they met.

Ahem - since it may end up being a sequel story at some point, and it's a little long, I'll drop it under the cut. But, here we go 👇👇

“What is this, Princess?”

“I believe the boys call it popcorn.  It’s something from Earth,” the princess gowned in pink explained, passing the striped bin between her palms to the Galtean emperor beside her.  “It’s good to see you again,” she added with a warm smile.

The strange man from beyond the rift smiled calmly down at her, clawed hands accepting the strange offering of food.

“Our paladins often bring strange delicacies as well.  I’m surprised they haven’t mentioned anything like this. I must ask them,” he conceded, popping a fluffed kernel into his mouth.  “It appears my advice has served you well,” he added, blue irises sliding to glance down to the blushing blonde beside him.

“I won’t say we haven’t had our differences, but yes.  I… shortly after you left, I corralled my courage and spoke directly with Prince Lotor.  We negotiated a cease-fire, and I agreed to offer to help him take his throne.  You were right.  About everything,” she added with a blush.

“And now you are his queen,” he observed in between bites of popcorn.

Allura’s shoulders rolled in a shrug and she gestured to their surroundings.

“It seemed natural.  It took… quite a while to prepare for the strike against King Zarkon, by the time we finally succeeded, we had become close enough that… well, at least I realized I didn’t want to just stay friends.  Or simply allies.  And now here we are, Castle Doom,” she grinned cheerfully up at him, in stark contrast to the gloomy surroundings.

The Emperor wordlessly popped another kernel past his lips, studying her quietly.

“Your husband has a curious taste in decor,” he murmured, his eyes leaving hers as he swept their surroundings, taking in the vast number of empty seats in the coliseum.

The two sat alone alone atop the pedestal marked for royalty, the only spectators to the match below.  The two competitors were none other than their very own partners.

Allura winced as a silver haired-woman hurled her husband across his own coliseum.

“...He’s going to feel that tomorrow,” she murmured, reaching over to steal a handful of popcorn from the emperor’s hands.

“It does indeed leave a bruise,” he murmured, watching his counterpart stagger to his feet and charge back at the woman, a warcry echoing from his lips.

“Are you worried for her safety?”

Allura’s bright blue eyes flickered up to her friend.

“No,” he answered simply.  The statement of faith marked as the warrior woman quickly dispatched her challenger effortlessly.  “Are you worried about him?”

“A little.  I had no idea there was an Allura of such strength on your side of the rift,” she murmured in awe.

Lotor dragged himself to his feet and glared angrily at his opponent.

“He’s certainly determined,” the emperor observed.

Allura coughed before popping a piece of popcorn past her lips.

“You have no idea,” she groaned, drawing a soft chuckle from him. “I’m pleased you’ve returned,” she added.  “It’s been fascinating to meet her.”

“It was very much her idea.  Not,” he paused, his eyes popping wide as he realized the implication and he quickly corrected himself.  “Not that I didn’t wish to return and thank you myself, but she was the one who spearheaded the research to figure out how to control the rift technology once I explained what had happened.”

“It’s such a relief to know it worked.  I had no way of knowing, on my side.  You know, that you had made it, or that she had found you.”

Galtean eyes glanced down at her and he could only exhale for a moment.

“Oh my stars,” she muttered after a moment, her hands covering her lips when Lotor landed on his backside, only to glare across the stadium.  “Please just give up,” she whispered to herself.

“Do you think he will?”

Allura returned his curious look with a flat one.

“Absolutely not.  At some point I’m going to have to go down there and drag him away before he gets a concussion,” she grumbled.  With a huff, she crossed her arms over her chest. 

“They aren’t so bad.”

Allura’s eyes popped wide as his words, coupled with his prior statement, clicked in her mind.  Slowly, she turned her gaze up to the calm man beside her; so vastly different than the one she called her husband.

“Has… did she…?”

A grin split across his lips.

“We had a slight disagreement about something.”

“Are you alright?”

His eyes widened in genuine surprise as he stared down at her in surprise, touched by her concern.  He studied her expression for any trace of derision or jest and found none.

He swallowed.

“I am now, yes,” he answered honestly.

Allura’s worry melted into delight, another cloudbreaking smile splitting across her features.

“Good,” she praised, looking away from him to regard the combat of wills on display below.

Slowly, Lotor returned his attention to the spectacle as well.

“After this, could we…”  He trailed off, hesitant to ask for such favors from his host.

“Would you like to return to Altea?”  Allura grinned, not even needing to hear the rest of his request.  “We wouldn’t even be here if King Lotor hadn’t challenged the Empress to an Honor Duel,” she added dryly.  “Of course he would want to do it here.��

He exhaled weakly beside her.

“...I like the aesthetic of your Castle of Lions better.”

Allura erupted in a fit of giggles.

“As do I,” she agreed.

“...Allura, I believe, would prefer Altea as well.  She… she couldn’t stop talking about it once I mentioned I had been to a place where it still existed.”

A strange mixture of both a warm happiness and a chilling dread settled across the queen’s heart.  While pleased she was able to offer such a thing to the Empress from beyond the stars, it was a chilling reminder that her planet - her people - in some places had not survived Zarkon’s warpath.

“Of course,” she said, her voice tight with emotion.

She blinked suddenly at the duel.

“Oh, this is finished,” she murmured, rising from her seat.  Gathering the folds of her pink and white gown, she bustled swiftly down the staircase toward the railing edging the wall of the pit.  “We concede,” she called out.

Lotor’s head snapped at the sound of her voice.

“I do not,” he called out.  “I’m not done!”

“Yes, yes you are,” she said delicately, smiling gently at her war-bred husband, her palms delicately folding on the railing.  He stared at her for a moment before looking back at the Empress staring at him coolly.

“I can’t lose to her!”

The queen stifled a giggle behind her hand and she shook her head once.

“You already have, Lotor.  I want to go home now,” she added with a pout.

Unable to deny the sunkissed woman anything she wanted, he exhaled and nodded once to his opponent.

“I… yield,” he ground out, the last word twisting in his throat as if it were something vile.

“Thank you.” 

Serpentine eyes flickered back to his wife as she spoke, extending her hand out toward him.  He wasted no time in mounting the wall to stand beside her.

“You were magnificent,” she praised when he only gave a disgruntled look over his shoulder at the silver-haired woman who scaled the wall to curl into the arms of her emperor.

“I lost,” he pouted.

Her fingers curled around the skull belt at his hips and tugged him closer.

“Yes, yes you did.  And that’s alright.  I want to go back to Altea.”

She turned and snaked her arm around his, leading him toward the other couple.

“The Emperor has requested a return to Altea, does that sit well with you, Empress?”

Allura tilted her head to the side as her elfin mirror glanced her way.

“You need not address me so formally,” she spoke, the lilt and cadence of her voice matching her husband’s.

“It seems strange to speak my own name, but, as you like, …Allura.”

“Thank you.  Come, I wish to explore this planet that is both so similar and yet so different from the one I grew up on.  I am pleased it exists still, at least somewhere in the universe.  In… a universe, I suppose.”

“Have you found other realities?  With other… people?  Like us?”

Brilliant blue eyes were riveted on her spirit sister in wonder, fascinated by the technology they had unearthed.

“We have not yet looked, though we suspect yes.  Lotor mentioned he’d left you the blueprints for the modulators… have you not… tried?”

Allura bit her bottom lip and she turned her gaze forward, continuing to glide side by side with the Empress, their partners trailing silently on their arms.

“I was a bit… intimidated by it.  Besides.  The rule was not until we had taken the Empire from Zarkon’s control.  This… peace across the galaxy now is very, very new.”

“My dear, I’ve been offering you the galaxy since I met you.”

The queen scowled at Lotor.

“Yes but I couldn’t trust you, with all your beastly mannerisms and conquering sprees.  What was I supposed to think?”

His nose wrinkled slightly in a scowl as the blonde turned her attention back to a smirking Empress.

“What?”

She didn’t reply to her blonde haired proxy, but instead swiveled her prismatic gaze to an equally bemused Emperor.

“They suit just as well as you predicted,” she murmured, eliciting a blush from the woman on her other side.

When her warlord husband only laughed triumphantly on her other side, her flushed deepened and she smacked his arm lightly.

“Hush,” she scolded. “We’re here.” She released the king’s arm and proudly strode up the ramp to the Altean ship that had brought them to Daibazaal in the first place mere hours ago.