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be-ready-when-i-say-go · 4 years

Text

A Little Bit Like Home

You moving to school has been tougher than Calum would like to admit but there are some moments that make it easier to bear, there are small moments where it’s not so bad.

A continuation of these two blurbs (Blurb 1 and Blurb 2) Again it’s hella self indulgent. Inspired what really happened to me in my DnD campaign, see this post.

**Contains spoilers for the Waterdeep Heist from Dungeons & Dragons if you are currently playing that module!!!**

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“Can I make a perception check on the walls? See if there’s anything else funky in this room?” you ask, clicking over in your browser tab to the dice roller. The DM allows you to make that call and you click on the d20.

“Your the only one rolling well on those things tonight,” one member of your party, playing an Orc sent out to learn magic and getting packed in with your ragtag group, notes after their failed attempt to pick the lock. You managed to pick that that too, but you chalk it up to you being a Drow Rogue and lock picking being one of your skills.

“18,” you call out, looking back at your character sheet to make sure you’ve done the math correctly.

“18?” The DM asks, just to be sure. You nod. “Okay, so you look around the room and there’s not really anything worth noting besides some dirt and blood. But no traps, no buttons in this room.”

“This room,” the entire party echoes laughing. The six of you have just survived barely a lightning trap. Which you still refuse to admit to setting up, but it was definitely you since as the marching order had you in front.

“We’re going to have to go back to that mimic room,” the paladin of your group declares. Your party was warned that the room at the start of your adventure in this hell of a magic maze could be a trap and a mimic could be in the depths of it. But there was a chest still yet to be opened. However, you took the advice of your Orc and backed out of that room to avoid a fight just yet.

Your previous encounters in other rooms leaving some of your party is better shape than others. This early in your adventure together the five of you didn’t really want to risk loosing anyone just yet. Lightening and your pirates love of ale seemed to be your only foe at the moment.

“We should maybe just see what’s in here first,” Calum, playing as a Druid, counters. “Though it seems like if we find yet another key to a door that’s already been picked, it’s might be useless.”

You know the tease is directed at you. “Hey, look here buddy, I will not hesitate to shoot a quiver into your ass. I see a lock I’m going to pick it,” you defend.

“Besides,” your party’s pirate starts, “we’ve ducked a lot of rooms afraid of getting into another fight. If they pick a lock or two and we find the key later, at least we can add to the Bard’s collection.”

“Thank you,” you laugh.

Soon your party’s able to direct their attention back on the adventure and magic maze you’ve found yourself in. You and Calum end up smashing mirrors in a room to avoid any sort of magic in them that would cause your party to fight your soul doubles. This leads to a five minute debate of how to leave said room that didn’t involve shoving the unicorn that your party was tasked with finding up someone’s ass due to a riddle unveiled, Everything you see is mine.

“Wait,” you say, laughing at the argument about who can fit the unicorn into their mouth. It was deemed to be more dignified. Your pirate waits outside the room, still naked thanks to the magic that rips all the clothes, weapons, and armor off of anyone that attempts to leave the room. “Everything you see is mine. If the mirrors are smashed, then nothing can be seen right?”

“No, shards can be face up, so technically things can be seen,” the party’s Bard counters.

“No, no, you’re onto to something,” the pirate starts.

“Oh my god, we’re so fucking dumb,” the orc hollers. “Someone cover their eyes. You means us. Anything we can see can’t leave the room.”

Thankfully, you’re still dressed having only attempted to leave the room and letting others continue with their naked escapades. “Holy shit,” you shriek as you direct to your DM how you cover your face with your hood and hold it tight around your eyes so you can’t see anything and step through the door. You’re able to cross completely clothed, swords, crossbow, and pack still in tact.

“We’re so fucking STUPID,” you laugh.

Calum’s giggle cuts through the speakers of your laptop. “How were we so prepared to just be fucking naked through the rest of this maze?” He directs to the DM that he redresses, having also attempted several times to brute force the magic door with no success.

“We never speak of that,” the orc demands through their own laughter. “Never.”

The party comes to a stopping point about another hour later, saying goodbyes before leaving the Zoom meeting. Not even thirty seconds later after ending that call, an incoming FaceTime call comes from Calum. You answer it, wiping at the corner of your eyes. He’s grinning as the call finally connects. The weekend that Calum came up to visit, a friend in the cohort asked you if you’d be willing to going a beginner’s campaign. You had wanted to give the game a whirl but you knew it would be a time suck and asked if it was okay to bring someone else along too.

After getting a yes from the DM you know you had to convince Calum to join in. It took less effort than you thought for him to join in and the two of you spent a couple hours the night before picking out your characters before you emailed the information back to the DM. Now every Saturday night you and Calum spend about three hours in a Zoom getting into all sorts of trouble. He settled easily on the Druid but spent forever trying to find an artist rendering of his character, Okolian, that felt right. Long black hair with streaks of white was a must along with a single braid as well, which he stole from your character’s look though your hair is all white.

Slowly, it was decided that Okolian would have blue skin muscular, but not overly buff and refused to wear sleeves in order to wear leather arm bands around his biceps which could easily be mistaken for tattoos or markings of his people. Okolian prefers his staff but is also armed with a sickle and mace. The Calum touch of course was to add ferns rather than feathers.

“I can’t believe you were going to let me be the one to have to figure out the unicorn,” Calum teases.

“Hey, it was only six inches. Not that bad.”

He sputters his laughter. “Is that payback for calling you out for picking all the locks?”

“I would never do such a thing but maybe.”

“Anything else on the agenda for tonight?”

“No not really. Whatever work there is out in the world, I’ll get to it tomorrow. What about you? The night’s still young.”

Calum shrugs. “A friend was supposed to get back to me about drinks tonight, but I haven’t heard anything yet. If he gets back within the hour or so, I’ll probably tag along but if not, it’s not a big deal. But you never did tell me about last night. How’d that go?”

You cover your face for a second, remember how many drinks were consumed the night previously. Calum laughs at the slightly panicked look that crosses your face. “There was two drinks too many past my usual limit and I felt it. Big time,” you answer.

He’s glad to hear you getting out more. It’s in turned made him feel a bit better about getting back to his normal routine, getting dinner more with the guys or other friends. Missing you doesn’t hurt so bad anymore for Calum. He feels most often right before he’s going to bed, when he’d normally curl up into your side and open his arms wide for you to curl up into him. But it hurts less during the day.

Getting used to the cohort and getting out a couple Friday’s in the month has helped you as well. You don’t feel so chained to your phone, don’t feel so beholden to being there for every text right away. It’s still hard when you start to cook dinner and almost reach out for a second plate still by habit. And in the morning when you’re fixing your cup of coffee your brain still wants to pull down a second cup. Sometimes you do. Sometimes you just give in because you need it. Need to let yourself sit with those feelings.

“I’ll be sticking with cider after last night,” you tease. “Wine makes me myself too much. Never doing that again.”

Calum’s been privileged to see you wine drunk a couple of times and he can already imagine the type of trouble you nearly got yourself in. “Is your picture on the wall at the bar?”

“Not that bad, but close,” you giggle.

“What am I going to do with you?”

It’s just a joke but for a moment it makes you pause--what’s going to happen when you go back for break? Are things going to be different? Most of your clothes and things are still there though slowly more and more has been shipped to you. Is Duke going to remember you? Miss you too?

“Promise me the house isn’t too different?”

Calum furrows his brows, head titling just a little to the side. “What do you mean, baby?”

“Like without me, is it all going to be different when I come back?”

“It’s all pretty much the same here. Duke’s the king of the castle. Still have plenty of hoodies for you to steal and your side of the bed still misses you. I still miss you.”

“No, I--I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like I don’t want you to find ways to cope but I don’t know. What if it never feels right? Like so much has been missed that I just won’t ever fit in again?”

Calum shakes his head. “Babe, no. You still belong. Your shoes still have space in the closet. Your mugs still sit in the cabinets. There is so much of you still here--it’s how I get through the days.”

Maybe that’s what’s rough for you. There’s not much of Calum at your place. There’s none of his dirty laundry that’s halfway hanging of laundry baskets and there’s no bass rumbling and there’s snoring next to you at night. It’s all you, which is nice. But you wish you had a little bit of Calum too.

“There’s none of you here,” you say softly.

“I can fix that.” It’s a steady confidence, a nod of his head at statement. “Don’t you worry.”

You two steer the conversation to something lighter before you call it a night. And it’s harder to get up the next morning, to peel yourself out of the sheets. But you do it, you push up with a grunt and get your day started. Coffee, a quick bowl of cereal and fruit. You call Calum right before lunch to check in and then get back to work.

As the days pass, the conversation the ache gets buried in some stress. However, you get a text about a package to get from the lockers at the front of your complex so shuffle down the path thinking it’s the new mattress pad you ordered. It shipped late last week but you hadn’t expected it to arrive this soon.

As the door swings open to the locker you spy Calum’s handwritten on the label of the package. What the hell had be gone and done? You pick up the box and kick the door close with your foot before taking it back up to your apartment. Setting the box down on the kitchen counter, you find the scissors and cut into it. Right on top is a small envelope with your name scribbled across it.

You said you didn’t have anything of me. So I knew I had to correct that. I hope they help. And a little thing from the old man, well not from him. But you’ll understand when you get to that.

Love you.

Digging into the box, you notice a few guitar pics, a couple extra t-shirt and then a long thin box. You pick it up, noticing it looks like a necklace. But with Calum you never can be sure. As you crack it open, you laugh, finding a gold chain staring up at you, attach to it is a tiny locket that as a paw print on it. You crack it open though and find a tiny picture of Calum and you inside of it and your eyes well with tears. It’s from your last vacation before you left for school, just two of you reclined on the beach and Calum kissing your temple.

You draft a text to Calum. Tell Duke it feels like home now.

#calum hood #calum hood blurb #calum hood fanfic #calum hood angst #calum hood fluff #h writes #5sos #calum 5sos #calum hood x reader #calum hood x reader insert #5 seconds of summer

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toonqueen · 3 years

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Duckvember 2020

PART 2 OF 2

Frenemy AND Paramour

Part 1 is Here

This is my Negaverse Gladstone (Grimstone) and Nega Magica in my 87/Comics headcanon. SHELDRAKE is @cataradical 's and he’s a cool jerk. Wheee.

THERE IS CUSSING and dirty things said. It’s the Negaverse that's just what goes down there. PG-13ish?!

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"Is there any reason that a red bowling ball is in a cage?" Sheldrake asked a uniformed goose attendant in the silent auction. "Kinda funny… what's up with that tall wig it’s got on? Why’s it even wearing a wig at all? It’s… it’s a bowling ball, dude."

The attendant scoffed, turned up his bill to Sheldrake, and promptly walked away.

Shel raised an eyebrow at the attendant. Though he was used to people ignoring or giving him the cold shoulder, he was simply trying to do business with professionals who’d worked and trained their asses off to cater to eccentric, annoying customers. If there was anything more powerful than the hole in his chest, it was a retail worker faking pleasantries to make a sale. And this auction was technically a big hunter sale’s event.

He stepped closer to the displayed ball as he rubbed his chin. Sheldrake thought back to the kiss with Grim's wife. He couldn't pass up that opportunity of mistaken identity. Now the next time him and Grim fought, he could cheekily mention that he kissed his wife. It’d make for a great curveball, a nice distraction.

That second, deeper kiss, though... man. Woo boy.

Sheldrake suddenly realized something, and groaned irritably. Light witches and their kissing spells. It was a power boast meant for Grim's dark magic. “Shit,” he said softly to himself as he rubbed the spot on his chest. It made it harder to be stealthy if everyone hated him even more than usual. Which was something, he’d found, could actually happen. He looked up and saw a variety of both heated and cold glares from older paladins in the room. Though security seemed to want to avoid him at all costs.

Maybe Magica’s cursed kiss would be helpful in the long run.

The dark red bowling ball shifted on its own, slightly toward Shel when he had cussed. The speckled duck hadn’t noticed at first, but when he started bitching under his breath about one asshole paladin he’d partnered up with in the past, the ball moved again.

"Sounds like you are not too happy with the people here either.” It was a woman’s voice, but Shel knew only he could hear it. Telepathic dialects and all. He stepped closer to the ball. "You don't have to speak out loud to me. Just think the words, and I will hear them."

"Cool. Cool. So… Who are you?" Sheldrake tried to focus, keep the magic ball from “overhearing” his more intrusive thoughts.

"I'm known as the Brunswick witch in your universe. I was misplaced from my own dimension by a spell, and captured by your colleagues," the red bowling ball explained.

"Nice… two birds with one... ball.” Sheldrake blew a raspberry, ignoring the disgusted look from an old woman passing behind him. “A friend of mine needs your help, and I’m here to return you to your universe.” He recalled his fight with Grimstone on the stairwell-- Yeah, well, he guessed they were still friends.

"How do you plan to get me out of here? There are guards everywhere," the ball inquired.

"Plan is to purchase you fair and square… Annnd if that goes wrong, just yoink you up and run away. I got some backup to help us out," Sheldrake answered. He briefly thought about the kiss with Magica, then the memory of Grim trying to give him mouth to mouth a few missions back. If he could compare the two, they’d--

“Ahem,” the ball interrupted curtly.

"What? Don't people snog and make out in your universe? Don't tell me... when you get laid, is it called a strike?" The duck’s beak moved a little, mouthing half-bits of the words he was thinking.

If the ball could blush, it’d be an even brighter shade of red right now. "Well, I never!" she hissed, scandalized. However, given the curious and shocked reactions from people nearby, she’d been overheard.

"Great," Sheldrake grunted. He remained calm, but mentally assessed how he’d break the bowling ball free and fight his way out of the crowd with the weapons hidden on his person. To his surprise, none of the guards reacted to the outburst. That was a little confusing.

One of the attendants walked right up to Sheldrake. He hadn't even heard him come near before the attendant spoke.

“This item is not for sale... to you."

Sheldrake gave a curious head tilt. The hole in his chest was itching again but he held back scratching it. Blast that light witch and whatever she had passed on with that kiss. Fuckin’ aliens probably having a feast.

"Oh? But there’s a silent auction sheet right here. Let me just put my sect's name on there, sooo, technically, they’re buying it. Not me," he said cheekily as he reached for the auction sheet.

The attendant grabbed his wrist. “I’m sorry. This item is already sold,” he said calmly, although his grip on Shel’s wrist had tightened.

The speckled duck sighed and ripped his hand out of the hold. He’d done it aggressively, like he was ready to fight, but unfortunately could not given the social circumstances. Aw, beans; he wanted to see this guy’s face turned inside out, too.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Shel grumbled. He acted resigned and defeated, taking a moment to read the room. How exactly would he get the artifact out of here? He glanced back at the window, the fire escape stairwell attached to it.

There was a waiter serving drinks to guests. Probably one of his “partners in crime” disguised, though he couldn’t tell which one. He turned his attention back to the glowering attendant. “Well, if you’re just gonna be a big meanie, I think I’ll go get myself a drink.”

Sheldrake approached the waiter. The distinctive glare he got from the Borzoi left him to conclude it was the wife. He swiftly took a drink off the tray, said, “Sorry about earlier, sweetie. If it’s any consolation, you’re a better kisser than your husband. So where’s our boy at?”

The waiter gave a nudge toward one of the windows. Shel did not see anyone there at the moment. He knocked down his drink and placed the empty glass on the waiter’s tray.

The waiter glared then grumbled, “Well, can you get it? Without any unnecessary conflict?”

“Nope! Unfortunately, I have this effect on people. They always seem to get pretty agitated around me, like I’m some kind of big ol’ pest. Hasn’t your hubby mentioned it?” Sheldrake prodded, the waiter growing tenser by the second.

“Then you leave, and Grim and I will take care of it from here,” the disguised Magica growled. She smiled politely as a man took a drink from the tray and walked off.

“Oh, no, no. No. I’m not leaving you two alone with this,” Shel said with a cool smile.

Magica’s eyes narrowed, her chest tightening and face hot. “Then lay low. We’ll do the fighting, and you just act your normal paladin part,” she seethed, and nodded at another canine waiter--Grimstone. Shel wondered if his curse was causing her to act so bossy and high and mighty, or if the lady was always this aggressive and short. “However… I don’t see a witch locked up in here.”

Sheldrake motioned to the bowling ball a few feet away. “She’s got a weak constitution,” he said. “Prone to the vapors if you say anything naughty.”

Magica squinted at him, as if he were joking--badly. Nonetheless, she discreetly signaled at her husband, then to the ball.

Grimstone made his way over to the displayed bowling ball, examined it. He looked up, and nodded once.

Magica was surprised.

Sheldrake winked.

“Still… stay out of our way,” the witch ordered.

“We’ll see, we’ll see,” Sheldrake hummed.

Still disguised, Grim unceremoniously dropped his serving tray, smashed open the display glass, and snatched the bowling ball from its pedestal. In an instant, two guards were there to tackle him, but he leapt up on the plinth and out of the way.

Magica, spotting two more guards running to stop Grim, pushed away from Sheldrake. She threw her tray like a deadly frisbee, knocking one guard into the other. The couple’s plan had been a bit crude but simple: grab the artifact, jump out the window, and run away. The hunters probably predicted something more complicated and dangerous, essentially overestimating the two.

The guards by Grim stood up, reaching for their weapons; they stopped, gobsmacked. The waiter had transformed into a duplicate of the older guard.

The younger looked between the two. “You-- but how--”

“It’s me, Tony! I’m Mike!” the duplicate cried. “He’s the real thief!”

“What?” the older guard yelled. “That’s not--I’m me! I’m Mike!”

In the brief confusion, the duplicate slid away.

The guards that had been temporarily thwarted by a serving tray were getting back on their feet. They glared at Sheldrake, in the direction of where the tray had been thrown. Sheldrake made a playful “uh oh” expression, then stepped to the side to reveal Magica behind him. She was still in disguise, but now holding throwing daggers.

Gracefully and swiftly, Magica tossed the blades--none of which actually hit the guards. Instead, they pierced the two heads of a monstrous statue behind them. Another distraction to keep the attention off of Grimstone.

Despite the fact the room was full of hunters, none of them moved to help the guards. Surprisingly, Sheldrake was irritated by this. Sure, the plan was to get the item out of there as quickly and easily as possible, but he was still disappointed none of his colleagues actually stepped up and did anything. If he wasn't in on this couple’s crazy plan, Sheldrake would certainly, and most enthusiastically, try to stop them in what he hoped would result in a nice, big fight.

Now… Well, now that’d just be awkward, so he only took a few more steps away from Magica.

“Great party we’re having here, huh?” He attempted to converse with the nearest auctioneer. They gasped, appalled by this horrid duck, and swiftly rushed away. “Ah, that's right. Damn white witch magnified the curse. Great. Fuck, shit, and Hell.” No big explosive fight had made him grumpy.

He looked back to the couple. Magica was drawing another guard away from her disguised husband. In a flash, she threw some needle thin daggers at the guard. The spots down the side of the man’s neck and shoulder must have been perfect acupuncture to knock the attacker out.

Grimstone was at the window when another guard attempted to tackle him. He dropped the bowling ball, which made an audible grunt upon impact. Sheldrake kept an eye on the fight but also took another drink off a waiter’s tray. He spoke loudly, not really directed toward anyone specific in the room, “So we’re all really just going to stand here and watch the rent-a-hunters fight?”

Finally someone that wasn’t a guard grabbed Magica from behind. Still in her Borzoi disguise she slipped out of the hold, whipped around and stabbed the attack in the shoulder with one of her large throwing needles. Sheldrake winched and mouthed an “ou”. It wasn’t out of sympathy, but more mocking.

Another hunter that had been just watching managed to close one of the shutters on the large window in an attempt to block Grimstone’s escape. It was already clear the demonic duck wasn’t one of the real guards. This became more obvious when Grimstone blasted a fireball at the now closed window.

A young hunter made an attempt to toss a bottle of holy water at the demonic duckll. Grimstone had not noticed the bottle coming at him. Magica, however, had seen it. Grim’s disguise faded as Sheldrake came out of the crowd to catch the bottle. He held his drink in his free hand, which he unceremoniously smashed in a nearby paladin’s face.

“Turns out you did need some help, hm, babe?” Sheldrake teased as he backed up toward Grimstone. As an older hunter ran over, Sheldrake made sure to trip and kick him out of the way.

"I can't believe this is the paladin you grinded on in Austria," Magica snapped, blasting a ray of light at a pair of men attempting to intervene.

"Wow, you weren’t lying when you said you tell her everything. She’s got your balls in a vice grip," Sheldrake said to Grim before backhandedly punching an attacker in the face. He smirked at Magica. "He's certainly a keeper!"

“Most of the time,” she quipped, kicking and shoving a guard over a table--and right out the window. “I do hope that wasn’t a friend of yours.”

“Ah, I don’t have any friends here. No love lost. Maybe a friend and a half, if I generously count you guys,” Shel said as he grabbed a hunter by the head. The hunter was surprised, not expecting such betrayal--nor Shel to knee him in the chin. Shel’s grin was wide and manic; he looked back at Magica, guffawed, “I didn't realize you had to swap spit with your husband to give him a power boost!”

“Excuse me,” Grimstone huffed from nearby. He picked up a few artifacts, shook and tossed them in the air. That caught some of their attackers’ attention.

“It was an accident!” Magica sputtered out before she could be accused of anything. “I thought he was you in my glamor spell!”

“Excuse me?” Grimstone repeated, this time genuinely confused. Magica made an irritated grunt before throwing a needle knife at a hunter that was attempting to pick up the fallen bowling ball.

“Eyes on the prize, you two, or I’ll turn this mission around,” Sheldrake lectured, teasing, “We’ll deal with any jealousy and drama later. Time to get that Brunswitch.”

Magica was still annoyed but gave a nod. She wormed around a hunter trying to grab her, snatching up the bowling ball. Grimstone and Sheldrake both played defense, keeping all would-be attackers off of her.

“Your wife is a slightly better kisser than you,” Sheldrake said to Grim as he pulled out one of his guns, firing on the burning window. He shot a hole clean through the center.

Magica, without being told, made her way out.

Sheldrake shot at other hunters in the room running at them. “Like sittin’ ducks!”

Grimstone grabbed the back of his rescuer’s coat, dragging him to the window. “Eyes on the prize, remember?!” he sniped.

“Hey, if I drink that holy water, does that mean we can’t make out for like forty-eight hours?” Sheldrake asked, allowing himself to be tugged along.

Grimstone laughed, tossing the paladin out the window before following him. They landed on a metal fire escape, next to a tall mirror leaning against the stairs. Grim grabbed Shel’s hand hard, and jumped into the mirror as if it were liquid.

They both tumbled out a second mirror in Grimstone and Magica’s barn, rolling into a pile of hay.

Magica was standing by the mirror, hay stuck in her clothing and hair. “Well, our new friend has agreed to help change back the children. I’m taking her to the school. And then we’re going to talk about your behavior,” Magica explained, directing her last comment at Sheldrake.

“Oh ho, you think I’m still going to be here when you get back? I guess that depends how busy your hubby keeps me,” Shel replied, smirking.

Both Magica and the bowling ball scoffed.

Grimstone stood from the haystack as Magica went into the mirror with the ball to their next location.

Once Sheldrake got up, Grimstone went into lecture mode.

“What were you thinking!? You could have gotten yourself in trouble with the other paladins. I need you for inside information. You could be their next big target now!” Grim complained, more like an overbearing mother than an agitated, powerful demon.

Shel opened his bill to make a sassy comment, to explain himself, but stopped to consider what Grimstone had said. “What do you mean *could have*? I just--” Shel caught a glimpse of his reflection in a nearby window. An… everyday Joe, green-headed mallard stared back at him. He laughed. “Damn, your lady is good.”

“It will fade in an hour or so. Next time we run into each other on a mission, let me handle the fighting,” Grim said in his usual stern, reprimanding tone.

"Sooooo, you owe me now. I did you a favor." Sheldrake wore a shit-eating grin as he rocked back and forth on his heels.

"What do you want, Agent Netta?" Grimstone attempted to sound cold, detached.

"Gasp! Grim, you wound me! After all we have been through. I like it when you call me Shelly instead. Preferably breathlessly," the paladin's smirk widened.

The demonic duck rolled his eyes. "I'm not without honour. I do owe you a favor, but within reason. You know my boundaries when interfering with the dealings of mortals," Grimstone returned stoically.

Sheldrake glanced around a moment as if looking for something.

"What is it? Is someone here?" Grimstone couldn’t help but look around, too.

"Nah, just checking for hidden cameras for whatever warlock reality show you just made that dramatic speech for," Sheldrake teased. Grimstone sighed, seemingly annoyed, but Shel saw a hint of an amused smirk at the corner of the demon duck's beak. Even Grim was aware he was spouting shit.

Grimstone crossed his arms. "What did you need, Sheldrake?" His shoulders relaxed as he spoke. As much as he hated to admit it, he did trust this damn paladin.

Sheldrake explained. "There's an old paladin at that hunter convention. I worked with him once, and he shot several children in the back of the head during a mission. Seemed like something he did a lot. Usually we gotta call back-up when we find kids on the scene. Instead this dickcheese went in with guns blazing like it was any other big scary shoot ‘em up monster battle. We didn't even know if the kids were victims or transgressors."

Sheldrake stepped closer to Grim and put his hand on his arm. He gave it a light squeeze. He knew Grim just ate up small touches like these. "But, see. Remember when I was gone for several months? This bastard had knocked me out when I tried to stop him. We held a trial to get him removed, but all his friends were on the jury. Also, I mean, what’s *my* word against--well, *anyone* else’s? I couldn't hang out with you during the case because he had people tailing me to dig up dirt since I was the only witness. I couldn't even feed right with all that going on--"

"I don't need to know anymore. Which one is he?" Grimstone asked.

"Oh, I'll bring him out to you. But you have to make him suffer slowly." Sheldrake's eyes shimmered like a kid opening gifts on Christmas morning.

"Anything for a friend."

#duckvember #duckvember 2020 #magicstone #magica de spell #gladstone gander #morgana macawber #sheldrake #negaverse

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echodrops · 4 years

Note

*Slides in on a office chair* Now that you shared some of your HaaH headcanons for Shiro and Hunk, can you do Lance and Lotor?

Didn’t want to post these until I finally had some time to update them a bit and trim out spoilers, but I got a second last night, so here you are:

HaaH Lance and Lotor headcanons:

(Under the cut to save everyone’s dash)

First, a warning: Neither one of these characters’ backstories or plot event headcanons remotely line up with the show, one because I originally wrote most of this stuff around the time season 2-3 was being released and two, because I stopped watching Voltron after season 6 and have no intention of watching the rest of the show due to my dislike for the directions the writing took. I went back and updated some stuff, such as the names of some of Lance’s siblings, to more closely match what came later in the show… but for the rest… I’m just gonna do my own thing and pretend canon does not exist.

Lance:

- The literal definition of “rich as fuck.” When relaxations on economic policy were passed in Cuba that increased opportunities for private business, Lance’s grandfather made a solid deal for three massive sugar refineries. Today, artisanal coffee houses across the world utilize the sugar refined in Lance’s family’s factories.

- Grew up in a giant villa on the peninsula just outside the town of Varadero, on a sprawling property that included a long stretch of beachfront and individual bungalows for visiting family members and the family’s several live-in staff members.

- The whole family is incredibly down to earth despite this. Lance’s aunt and grandmother insist on having a hand in every family meal, Lance’s parents always make time to be involved in the children’s activities, and Lance was taught from a very young age never to take advantage of people, regardless of their position in the world.

- Lance is the baby of his immediate family by almost ten years. He was an accident that occurred after Lance’s mother believed she was too old to become pregnant. Of course his parents never treated Lance like an accident and loved him, but still, Lance has never been able to shake the idea that he wasn’t planned—and therefore he wasn’t wanted.

- He has four older siblings, two sisters and two brothers.

- All of Lance’s siblings are extremely successful in their careers. Lance’s oldest sibling, his sister Veronica, is a captain of the Cuban Navy and commands the impressive warship Audaz. Lance’s second oldest sibling, his brother Yuniel, is a decorated conservational ecologist working to protect Matanzas’ native forests. Lance’s third sibling, his brother, Marco, is a famous solo folk musician who made it big in Cuba. Rachel, Lance’s closest sibling, runs an immersion-based cultural heritage museum that preserves the rich and complicated history of Cuba and its people.

- In short—Lance grew up surrounded by the rampant success of his older siblings, watching as they excelled at everything they pursued—which just bred a greater and greater sense of insecurity in him, as he feared he would never be able to measure up.

- On Lance’s eighth birthday, in an attempt to cheer up his very depressed youngest son, Lance’s father dragged the family’s telescope down to the beach so that they could watch a space shuttle launching from the cape in Florida. At first Lance couldn’t work up the slightest interest, but when he finally saw the huge plume of the shuttle, arcing off into the unknown depths of space, he had a Moment™. Lance knew, right then and there, exactly what he was going to do with his life, something that none of his siblings had ever achieved: he was going to go into space and explore worlds unknown.

- Lance decided that he had, absolutely HAD, to go to Galaxy Garrison when he grew up. This part worried his parents, who pointed out that Garrison was not only in another country but also a solely English-speaking school and extremely competitive. Nonetheless, Lance was determined that he would not settle for anything less than the absolute best.

- Was totally that space obsessed kid. Still thinks Black Holes are the coolest thing in the universe. His parents bought so much “Astronaut” ice cream that they probably kept that entire industry afloat.

- Lance attended Garrison’s summer Astrocamp in Arizona when he was nine. Quickly made friends with his cabin-mate, Hyrum Tava. The nickname “Hunk” came about from a slip-up when Lance tried to compare his new friend to one of his favorite American cartoon characters, the Incredible Hulk.

- Even after leaving the Astrocamp, Lance and Hunk stayed close friends, exchanging frequent emails and phone calls, which helped Lance stay on top of memes popular trends back in the states.

- Shiro was Lance’s cabin leader at the Astrocamp, and his kindness and exciting stories about actually visiting space(!!) made a huge impression on Lance. Lance… may or may not have had a celebrity shrine to Shiro made of photos and news clippings taped to his wall for several years. Whatever, every kid does it and he took it down eventually, gosh!

- Identifies as bisexual, but has never successfully dated anyone, male or female. Due to several bad experiences and close calls, Lance doesn’t talk about his sexuality or express any attraction to men except around people he is extremely comfortable with. Hunk has known for years, of course. (In fact, it was Lance’s struggle with his feelings that helped Hunk develop strong sympathy for LGBT people, despite the fact that his religion is very against it.)

- Never had a real kiss. Might be just a tiny bit desperate to have a real first kiss.

- Also might buy a bit too much into the idea of needing to be stereotypically attractive to fit in. Although his nightly beauty regime is now a comforting routine, it originally stemmed from Lance being extremely self-conscious about his looks. He’s more comfortable about his body than he used to be, but he still frequently compares himself negatively against others; do you know what kind of hell it is to have to share a locker room with people like Shiro?

- Cries at the drop of a hat. Sad book? Sad movie? Abandoned kitten? Dropped something on his toe? Tears times ten thousand. Lance was never pressured by his family to “man up;” in fact, he was always encouraged to empathize, so Lance is extremely sensitive to others’ feelings. (He and Hunk are a great fit in this regard.) He can perceive even minute changes in people’s emotions and is always ready to cheer up people who are down.

- He can’t read Keith for crap though. Not really his fault. Keith’s a literal alien.

- Lance’s extreme empathy actually backfires on him. Because being sensitive to others is second nature to him, it’s often hard for Lance to remember that not everyone is as perceptive as he is. Lance has, many times, mistaken the other paladins’ obliviousness for indifference. Everyone on the ship cares deeply about Lance and would never want him to feel bad about himself—but not everyone on the ship is perceptive enough to notice when Lance’s insecurities are affecting him.

- Wasn’t put in the cargo pilot classes at Garrison because of his flight test scores—most green cadets have zero flight experience and all do pretty badly at first. Lance was placed in cargo class because he scored too high on a combat sensitivity test, indicating that he was a poor fit mentally for becoming a soldier. Fighting monstrous looking aliens is one thing, but Lance would have coped very, very badly if he’d ever been required to kill another human being.

- Struggled to fit in at Garrison. After the crushing disappointment of ending up in cargo class, Lance also dealt with a lot of people treating him like an outsider because he was an international student. “Why is someone from Cuba trying to join the U.S. military? Are you a spy?”

- Couple that with the complicated student visa process and how his status as an international student might affect his ability to take part in Garrison-sanctioned internships and cross-border activities, and Lance felt utterly alienated at Garrison in his first few months.

- May… or may not have done exactly what his parents taught him not to do by looking for a scapegoat to take out his frustrations on. Keith, the lone wolf, ace pilot pretty boy who was too cool to even talk to the rest of the cadets (really thought he was too good to even make eye contact with Lance, huh?!) was an obvious target. Keith had every single thing that Lance had ever wanted in his whole life—the combat class, the talent, the prestige, the respect, the effortless looks—and he didn’t even seem happy to have it!

- Lance had never hated anyone before in his entire life, but Lance hated Keith—Keith basically came to stand in for every obstacle in Lance’s way, every mocking insult thrown Lance’s way, every harsh reminder from the professors that he’d never even be close to good enough, never measure up when someone like that existed… Lance started to honestly believe that the only way he’d ever be able to achieve his entire life goal was if Keith was taken out of the picture—something that proved unfortunately true when Lance was bumped up to combat class the moment Keith went missing from Garrison.

- Lance never actually said any of this stuff to Keith’s face before Keith left Garrison (Lance dreaded his parents finding out he’d been rude), but he would shit-talk Keith to anyone who would listen, a bad habit that was reinforced by people actually accepting Lance more when he started gossiping and spreading rumors than when he’d just tried to be genuinely nice.

- Even though he’d like to repair his relationship with Keith now that they’re teammates, Lance has no idea how to do that after so much time has passed. He really has no clue how to treat Keith normally after building him up into such a bitter rival. It’s… a work in progress.

- A big fan of RPG games and roleplaying. Definitely gets the most in-character when it comes to Monsters and Mana. His favorite thing about meeting new cultures is discovering nifty space items that look like key items from video games. Used to play old school RPGs with his cousins every afternoon. Playing with Pidge is extremely nostalgic for him.

- Has a host of other hobbies that don’t get much use inspace but are nevertheless impressive: he can surf, dive, and was part of a traditional dance group all the up until he left for Garrison. He doesn’t tend to think much of his hobbies as they’re not exactly practical skills you need every day in a space war, but the other members of Team Voltron are quietly impressed whenever they’re reminded of the cool things Lance can do.

- Lance has the strongest bond with his lion of any of the paladins. His connection with Blue is so innate that he can actually activate Blue’s abilities from outside his lion.

- The first one of the paladins to transform his bayard and the only one whose bayard can take three forms. And no, none of the three is a sword because what was the point of that, even??? Lance can wield his standard blaster, a long rifle, and dual pistols. The strength of theshots from Lance’s bayard can be consciously controlled—his thoughts and intentions determine whether a shot has the strength to kill or merely stun.

- Lance’s incredible aim isn’t a natural talent. Actually he’s spent hours and hours in a shooting range he found in the castle, working on perfecting his shot. Just like the gladiator levels on the training deck, the targets in the range keep getting harder and harder, but Lance is progressing very well. No one but Coran knows that Lance has been training so hard with his bayard, since Lance desperately wants to pretend his skill is all natural and has sworn Coran to secrecy. Coran covers for him by pretending he’s sent Lance off on absurd cleaning missions all the time.

- Is 1000% Coran’s favorite of the paladins. Coran won’t even try to lie if asked. Although Coran has never expressed it out loud, he sees Lance as an example of the brave, kind-hearted son he would have hoped to raise—if his son had survived the war. (On Lance’s part, although he’s also never shared this, Coran reminds him very much of his beloved uncle, who passed away when Lance was very young, but whom he still remembers well and extremely fondly.)

- After his uncle passed away, Lance’s aunt moved in with Lance’s parents permanently, and Lance essentially helped to raise his two very young cousins, Nadia and Silvio. Lance does have very good experience with children—unfortunately for him, what human children respond well to doesn’t always work for Galra kids!

Lotor:

- Has not spent 10,000 years kicking about the universe. We’re not doing that weird “If he’s immortal because of the rift creatures then how come his governess is still alive?” plot hole song and dance routine from the actual show. Lotor was born after the war decimated the Alteans 10,000 years ago, but due to Haggar’s condition (aka being, you know, dead), he was essentially unable to live on his own and was placed in cryostasis very shortly after being born.

- Roughly 20 years before the discovery of the Blue Lion on Earth, Haggar used advancements in quintessence manipulation technology to successfully revive the infant Lotor. But she didn’t wake him for no reason—she has a very specific intention for her son, a long endgame plan, of which Lotor and even Zarkon are currently unaware.

- We’re also not doing that dumb “How could Haggar—the only remotely Altean-looking being in all of Zarkon’s presence—possibly be my mother?” plot from the show either. Lotor is aware that Haggar is his mother, although he has never been able to infiltrate her research facilities and therefore has no idea how an Altean scientist ended up where she did, looking like she did, and siding with the Galra against her own people.

- Because his parents’ past and his own origins are such a mystery, Lotor is obsessed with learning the truth of the war, the Alteans, and every hidden secret from that time period, including Voltron and the mysterious “rift.” He devours any information he can get on this period of history, and especially on Alteans, voraciously.

- But even though he’ll take any pieces of information he can get, Lotor’s real favorite obsession is mythology. He’s a deep lover of folklore and fairytales, bestiaries and local legends, and more than one assassin has traded a good story in exchange for having his life spared. Lotor may or may not hunt for space cryptids in his spare time. However, no single legend occupies Lotor’s mind as much as the legend of the mythical realm of Oriande, home of the ancient Altean alchemists. As practical as he tries to appear, Lotor has never given up his deep-down childish wish to be the one who finds the promised land of Oriande and prove it is real. But when he thinks back… Where was it that he first heard about Oriande, again? Who told him…?

- That entire thing with the hidden Altean colonies is just… not going to happen. The writers were bad and they should feel bad. Although Lotor has looked, after 10,000 years and plenty of centuries of hiding any Altean connections, distinguishing those who still have Altean blood has become essentially impossible.

- Part of the reason Lotor has looked for Alteans is that he was born with a bizarre grab-bag of Altean instincts and abilities and no guidance on how to deal with them, because he’s certainly not going to reveal to Haggar that he has unexplained talents like precognition and the ability to speak to planets. Growing up with half of his bloodline extinct has been ROUGH on Lotor.

- Speaking of growing up… Even though he remains the crown prince on official record, Lotor took the first opportunity he could to leave his parents’ sphere of influence, and he has not physically been back to Galra Central Command in more than ten years.

- Lotor is effectively a universal wanderer. Aboard his personal ship the Urbanus (a Destroyer-class star cruiser which has been heavily modified and improved by Lotor himself), Lotor and his generals travel wherever they like, both within the Galra Empire and outside it, dodging Haggar’s frequent attempts to re-exert control over Lotor and even more frequent assassination and kidnapping attempts from Zarkon’s enemies.

- Although Lotor has a very specific goal in mind, progress on this goal has been slow and painstaking, and he’s often left waiting for the next bare bones clue to chase after; this has resulted in the young prince having an unfortunate abundance of free time, which is dangerous for everyone involved. In between progress on his mysterious life’s goal, Lotor and his generals frequently get into trouble with small planets, local governments, militaries both official and off-the-books, giant monsters, and at least two hundred museum curators. They may or may not be wanted for grave-robbing in 13 different star systems.

- Basically he’s space Indiana Jones, if Indiana Jones was still 20 and also purple and also not being paid enough to be a good guy.

- All that said, as much of a devil-may-care rogue as he’d like to be seen, Lotor did spend all of his childhood under the thumb of the empire’s brutal authoritarian dictators, and he is therefore every inch a crown prince; as befitting one of his stature, he speaks eight languages fluently, flawlessly matches his formal dress to the occasion, knows exactly which piece of silverware to use when, can engage in political battles of wits and diplomatic machinations with the best of them, and has been training in armed combat since he was three years old. Lotor’s impeccable manners and steely leadership ability were literally beaten into him, to the point that now, even among trusted allies, he sometimes finds it difficult to turn off his cold, calculated princely persona.

- Not that his generals really let him get away with that kind of thing for long. Only those who have lived with multiple older sisters can truly understand the constant state of teasing and mortifying blackmail that Lotor lives in. On official record, Lotor’s generals are a crack team of terrifying bodyguards; in practice, they’re more likely to be dragging Lotor for all he’s worth than rescuing him. They might keep up formal appearances in front of others, but they’re effectively a close-knit family behind the scenes.

- It’s not a coincidence that all of Lotor’s generals are women; besides generally being awful, most Galra men make Lotor uncomfortable. From a human standpoint, Lotor is ridiculously tall and powerful; but from a Galra standpoint, Lotor is a thin, unhealthy-looking thing whose stature doesn’t command authority or respect in the slightest. It’s exhausting feeling like you have to constantly prove yourself, so Lotor prefers to spend time with a group that doesn’t invite negative comparison.

- However, it should be noted that a Galra man having only female friends has completely different connotations than a human man having only female friends—Galra women are, on the whole, considered more aggressive, bloodthirsty, and over-bearing than Galra men, so any Galra man who would choose to surround himself with that many women must either be out of his mind or incredibly badass.

- When asked what it’s like to live with four beautiful women, Lotor is basically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ personified. Despite living together for years, none of the generals are romantically interested in Lotor and he’s not romantically interested in any of them.

- Many people have incorrectly assumed that Lotor and Axca are a pair, but Lotor helped Axca escape from a slave colony and she will never let another man touch her in her life. Axca is extremely grateful and loyal to Lotor, but given that Axca was Lotor’s first real friend, he’s just as grateful to her.

- If you think I’m killing off Narti, you’re out of your mind.

- Despite the fact that Lotor does not feel connected to the Galra Empire or the Galra as a whole, he’s somewhat more traditional and more likely to conform to Galra social standards than he wants to admit (even to himself). He insists that he has no interest in upholding the classic values of the Galra or meeting their expectations for how a prince should behave—but in truth, it’s impossible to fully kill that deep-down desire to just fit in. When push comes to shove, Lotor always finds himself falling in line with the Galra’s oldest and most deeply ingrained beliefs.

- With Lance in the “has never had a real kiss” club. Is not with Lance in the “wants a real kiss” club. Lotor is actually uncomfortable with being touched by strangers (36 assassination attempts will do that to you) and doesn’t make real friends, let alone anything closer, remotely easily. Some people are open books; Lotor is that one book from Harry Potter that bites people’s fingers off when they try to open it. Once you’re in his inner-circle, he’ll let you hang all over him, but before that, the space bubble is ten feet in every direction.

- Doesn’t actually put any special effort into his appearance. He just Looks Like That™.

- In fact, he actually kind of hates that stupid cowlick hair that’s always in his face but no matter how many times he cuts it off or slicks it back, it just keeps falling right back in his eyes. He’s basically given up at this point.

- His sword’s name is Eris and it was actually forged in the heart of a dying star.

- Kova the space cat hates Lotor. Lotor hates Kova. It’s a mutually antagonistic relationship. Somehow though, Lotor never makes any effort to get rid of Kova and Kova never takes the opportunity to leave. No one else understands it either, especially since Lotor gets along great with basically every other animal he meets.

- He’s not a pacifist by any means, but he is painfully practical and knows that, on occasion, sparing the life of one’s enemy nets more gain than indiscriminately crushing opponents beneath his heel. More manipulative than outright aggressive, he’s easily capable of twisting even the worst of situations to his advantage. Has an unfortunate tendency to be overly cunning—sometimes the tricks and twists he comes up with are unnecessarily full of flourish just because he thinks manipulating people like pieces in a board game is extremely entertaining. Riddles and mind games are Lotor’s favorite—the more convoluted, the better.

- Although most people refer to him by the basic “Prince Lotor” (Lotori Ahn in Galra), Lotor’s full name and official title is Lotori Kir Ahnja Avel i’ya ne Daibazaal, His Royal Highness Prince Lotor of the First Star. As the emperors and empresses of the Galra are said to be physical representations of the goddess, the firstborn children of emperors/empresses are always called “the first star,” after the supposed first creation of the goddess.

- Extremely competitive, but mostly about weird things—like sure he’s going to win if you challenge him to a swordsmanship duel, but challenge him to a staring contest? Your eyes will rot out of your head before this boy will blink. Do not think he will let you beat him in a spelling bee. More than once the generals have had to drag him away from getting involved in the bizarre competitions of the alien cultures they come into contact with. He was 1000% ready to learn to knit eight-armed sweaters with Rikrik fur, thank you. Would totally take up pig-farming JUST to win an Earth state fair.

- Likes to collect interesting artifacts and trinkets of lost civilizations by force if necessary. His ship is basically a floating museum at this point. The generals are starting to worry that they’re going to have add a whole ‘nother deck for all the war prizes Lotor wins himself. Lotor’s gathering hobby extends to games too—he’s a big fan of games that involve sets of items, like Renni, the Galra collectible card game. Would 110% be that Magic the Gathering nerd back on earth.

- In terms of other interests, Lotor is the picture definition of a Renaissance man. Although he’s not a flawless genius savant in every field, he is wicked smart and has studied a vast array of subjects; he’s a capable engineer, a skilled mathematician, a deft philosopher, a good scientist, and extremely well-read, and he is not going tolet you forget any of those things at any point in time. Lotor is always going to be better than you, please just accept your fate.

- Art is… another story. He might be able to sketch detailed architectural blueprints without breaking a sweat but ask him to draw a dog and you’re going to be in for some trouble.

And that’s more than enough for now I think! XD

#lance mcclain #prince lotor #lotor #Voltron #voltron headcanons #voltron fanfic #Home and a Half #HaaHVLD #echo answers asks

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melodyalanaroster · 4 years

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From Now On

“Are you ready for this?” Derek asked as he and Alana stood in front of an abandoned warehouse at the edge of the city. “Yes. It’s time we finish this.” Alana replied. They were in full armor, with her glasses activated. “The Paladins, and the rest of the Executioners and Crown Jewels have gone inside already. They’re simply waiting on us to make our entrance.” Derek explained. “Good. Everything is going according to plan.”

They made their way into the warehouse. “The Two Team Leaders! What an honor!” The Kingpin greeted as they made their way to him. “It’s no secret what this is, so, let’s get it over with.” Alana stated. “I have no intention of dying today.” The Kingpin smirked. “Well then, your intentions are misguided.” Derek remarked. The Kingpin pulled out a gun and pointed it at Alana’s head. “If anyone is going to die, it will be you two.” His smile widened. Alana’s composure refused to change. “I think you are mistaken. You are the Kingpin of a lower level, European, drug cartel. In the circles of your industry, you’re basically nothing.” Alana smirked. “The Mexican Kingpins that we’ve taken out were far more formidable.” Derek chuckled. Suddenly, several “Pop!” sounds could be heard from throughout the warehouse. With each “Pop!”, there was a light “Thud!” that followed. Not long after the “Thud!” sounds, the Paladins appeared before them, on the upper levels. The Kingpin looked up and instantly understood what had happened. “You bastards! They were good people!” The Kingpin hissed as his hand began to shake. “Is that your definition of good people? Drug dealers and pushers who prey on the weak? Your people threaten the innocent. Therefore, they are guilty.” Alana remarked. The Kingpin’s composure began to waver, and fear began to take it’s hold. The remaining Executioners and Crown Jewels joined the Paladins, creating a circle of thirteen people looking down at the Kingpin, Derek and Alana. The Kingpin dropped his gun, his eyes filling with terror.

Alana stepped forward. “YOU ARE CHARGED WITH EXPLOITING THE WEAK, TRAFFICKING ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES, MURDER, ATTEMPTED MURDER, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, AND FRAUD. THESE CHARGES HAVE BEEN PROVEN WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR YOU TO PLEA FOR YOUR INNOCENCE. YOU ARE GUILTY FOR THESE CRIMES AND ARE HEREBY SENTENCED TO DEATH.” Her voice boomed throughout the warehouse. The Kingpin dropped to his knees as he began to babble and beg. “Is this the R.D.R’s meaning of justice?!”, “I don’t deserve this!”, and “You monsters!” flew from his mouth. He quickly attempted to look around for an exit, but to no avail. The fifteen Senior Staff members staring down at him made it clear that the only way he’d be leaving the facility would be in a body bag. He looked at his gun and started to reach for it, only to have it stepped on by Derek. “Do you really want your last words to be useless pleas for a mercy that will never come?” Derek asked as he raised his gun to the center of the Kingpin’s forehead.

A minute later, a “POP!” resounded throughout the warehouse followed by a light “THUD!”, and the Kingpin’s lifeless body lay on the ground. “I must say, nice job of choosing an area with a drainage system. He’s self cleaning!” Derek laughed as the Kingpin’s blood swirled down the drain. Alana sighed as a small drone flew to her. She looked up and noticed Nora holding the control. “Alright. It’s time.” She grinned as she looked at Derek. A red light on the drone turned on. “My fellow Red Death Regimen members, after weeks of hard work, the Cartel that has been the focus of the most recent Purification has now been obliterated. The Paladins have done beautifully in their mission and will be rightfully rewarded. This Cartel is no longer a threat to the innocent people in this area, and it has already been reported that the crime rate in the area has begun to drop significantly. So, it is with great pleasure that I hereby declare Purification, COMPLETE!” She announced. The Executioners, Crown Jewels and Paladins began to cheer as Nora controlled the drone to look at everyone in the warehouse.

A couple of minutes later, Derek walked Alana outside. Alana looked at her motorcycle, then back at Derek. “Go, we’ll clean up here.” Derek smiled. Alana smiled and hugged him. “Thanks Derek, for everything.” She cooed as she got on her bike. “Anytime Mels.” Derek beamed. Alana revved the bike’s engine and rode off back towards the tower.

She parked her bike in the garage, stepped into the elevator and ordered it to take her to Death’s Domain. Throughout the floors, she could hear people partying. “It’s good to hear they’re enjoying themselves.” She thought. It only took her a few minutes for the elevator to get to Death’s Domain.

“JARVIS, play “From Now On” from The Greatest Showman Soundtrack, then play the same song but from The Greatest Showman Reimagined.” She ordered as she walked through the door. “Yes, ma’am.” The a.i. replied. “I saw the sun begin to dim and felt that winter wind blow cold...” Hugh Jackman’s voice began resounding through the apartment as Alana went to her bedroom, took her armor off, packed it in it’s bag and got ready for a shower.

The song played on repeat, alternating between Hugh Jackman’s and Zac Brown Band’s versions as she bathed, dressed, and packed a bag. “’Cause from that rubble, what remains can only be what’s true. If all was lost, there’s more I gained. ‘Cause it lead me back to you...” She packed a couple of days worth of clothes and looked at her phone. She walked over to the wall and turned on the recorder. “Girls, I’m sure you all know this already, but, I’m not gonna be home for a few days... I need you guys to take care of Serenity and Blanche until I come home.” She recorded. Once she was finished, she sent the message to the other Crown Jewels. She looked back at her phone and pondered for a minute. She quickly nodded, grabbed her phone and dialed a number. “Hey, it’s Lady Melody, I’m picking Castiel up tomorrow and he won’t be available for a couple of days. No, I’m not telling you why. Crowstorm can survive without him for a couple of days. Don’t worry, your precious rock star will be returned in one piece.” She stated before she hung up. She then dialed another number. “Hey, Cas. Pack an overnight bag. I’ll be at your apartment early in the morning. Your manager already knows that you won’t be available for a few days. You’ll find out why when I pick you up.” She told him. He kept asking her questions. “Cas, if you really need to know why I’m picking you up tomorrow, use your powers of observation. Now, don’t argue and make sure you’re ready for tomorrow.” She smiled as she hung up. She grabbed her overnight bag and the bag her armor was in, put her earbuds in her ears, checked to see if the cats needed anything, transferred the music to her earbuds, made sure she had her phone and car keys and left the apartment.

Standing outside her door was The Red Death. “I do hope you intend on sleeping before you run off to Weathering.” He grinned, his jade green eyes soft. “I’m going to Agatha’s house tonight, then I’ll head out in the morning after I grab Castiel.” Alana smiled. “Alright. Give me your armor, I’ll take it to where it needs to go.” The Red Death ordered. Alana handed him the bag that contained her armor and they got in the elevator. “It’s almost hard to believe that just about five years ago, you were a terrified girl...” The Red Death started. Alana looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re getting sentimental old man.” She grinned. “Yes, I am and you’re gonna listen to it. When you first came to the organization, you were a weak, terrified, lonely, child. And now... After you’ve suffered so greatly, you’ve become a force of nature.” The Red Death sighed. “You know, everyone outside the tower would argue that I was a force of nature before Azrael broke my brain and you had to make sure I was pieced back together properly...” Alana commented. The Red Death rolled his eyes. “I’m proud of you Melody. You have been working your ass off to get better... Going to therapy, going to school, making time for all of your friends, getting your true love back and becoming stronger... You have earned all the rewards that you are being given.” He grinned. “I wouldn’t have been able to do most of that if it weren’t for you protecting me and giving me the ways and means to do it.” Alana sighed. “I did all that because, once you decided to begin overcoming your depression, you rose to your potential. I saw that potential when you first came to us, and you have definitely surpassed my expectations.” The Red Death smiled. Even his body language showed his relief. His green eyes were soft; his silver hair disheveled, and his shoulders were relaxed. Even his bright red cloak seemed less striking. They got to the floor that he wanted to go, the doors opened and he stepped off the elevator. “It’s time to begin properly enjoying yourself. Have fun Melody.” He grinned as the doors closed.

A few minutes later, an expensive black car pulled up in front of Agatha Roster’s home and Alana stepped out. “Melody, is something wrong?” Agatha asked, slightly alarmed. Alana smiled at her aunt. “Nah. I just didn’t wanna sleep in Death’s Domain.” She replied. “Why are you using your Reaper Car?” Agatha asked as Alana walked into the house. “So I don’t get pulled over for speeding tomorrow when I pick up Castiel and we go to Weathering.” Alana immediately walked to the bedroom that Agatha had set aside for her. Agatha sighed as she followed Alana to the room. “So, Purification is over then?” She asked. Alana sat down on the bed, put her phone on the charger on the bedside table. She looked at her aunt, relief rushing through her. “Yes, it’s over.” She smiled.

★

Dawn began to shine through the window of the bedroom, it would have awoken Alana, had her body not already told her to begin her day. It didn’t take her long to get dressed and ready to go. She quickly gathered her things and passed through the house, checking to see if Agatha was awake. As she got to Agatha’s room, she could hear snoring. She smiled. “It’s best not to wake her.” She thought. Alana made her way to the kitchen, found a pen and a pad of paper and wrote a note.

“Agatha, Sorry I left without saying anything. I’m sure you know full well that I couldn’t wait to head out. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to get something to eat before I leave the city... And when I come home, I’ll have Nathaniel. I love you. ----- Melody”

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Alana stood in front of the apartment door for a couple of minutes, waiting for a response. After no response, she knocked again. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! “Castiel, I told you I’d be here early today... So, wake up and let’s go!” She called. A minute later, the door opened and Castiel appeared before her, wearing only a pair of black boxer briefs. “Alana, it’s the crack of dawn. Stop being so loud.” He yawned as he let her into the apartment. “I know you said you’d be here early, but I didn’t think you’d be here THIS early.” He yawned. Alana sat down on his couch. “I wanna get there as soon as possible.” Alana smiled. “Get where?” Castiel walked over to his closet and grabbed an outfit as he spoke. “Think about it Cas.” Alana replied. Castiel shot Alana a tired, yet annoyed, look. “It’s to early to think.” He yawned as he began to get dressed. Alana sighed. “We’re going to Weathering.” She grinned. Castiel’s eyes shot open and he looked at Alana. “Purification is over.” He gasped. Alana’s grin became slightly devilish. “Exactly. That’s why Severina went home yesterday morning and why I’m here now.” Castiel thought for a minute. “That means the Kingpin was executed last night.” He commented. Alana nodded. Castiel looked at her for a minute. “What does that mean for the rest of the organization?” He asked. “It means that they all get to take a week off then go back to training.” She replied. Castiel walked to the bathroom for several minutes. “Alright, let’s go. But we need to get something to eat first.” he yawned as he grabbed his bag. “I know.” Alana smiled as they left the apartment.

“There’s a perfectly good donut shop at the edge of the city going towards Weathering.” Alana whined as they got out of the car and sat at a table in front of the Cozy Bear Cafe. “You dragged me out of my apartment and are kidnapping me for a few days. We’re getting an actual breakfast and sitting down for a while to wake up.” Castiel demanded. Hyun quickly showed up and took their orders. “Alana, I get you’re excited and happy that today has finally arrived, but you’ve got to slow down.” Castiel commented. He looked over to a group of girls that were watching him. Alana noticed the girls too. “Cas, I know you’ve been worried about me all this time... But, everything is gonna be okay.” She smiled. “Alana, you can say that all you want... And, while I’m more sure of that now than I was when I first learned what you are... I’m still going to worry.” Castiel looked down. “Look, my ultimate goal has almost been realized. When we get to Weathering, I’m going to take Nathaniel aside and offer him two things. One, to move in with me... And two, to travel the world with me after I graduate. I’m not sure if he’ll be graduating this year or not, but we can work around that...” Alana explained. Hyun quickly appeared and delivered the food. “Thanks Hyun. Here’s what we owe and your tip.” Alana smiled. “Thanks Alana.” Hyun smiled as he walked off. “So, you have no plan for your career?” Castiel asked as he took a bite out of his food. “I do. I’m just not ready to reveal it yet.” Alana grinned.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been to the main Roster Family home.” Castiel commented as they drove through Weathering. The car ride was an interesting one to say the least. Alana explained some of the plans for graduation. “Do you want Crowstorm to play at the party?” Castiel asked. “Are you offering?” Alana inquired. “If you want us there, count us in.” Castiel smiled. “Thanks. I’d love it.” Alana beamed. As they pulled up to the gate, Castiel became awestruck. “It looks like Sam has worked on the dragon.” Alana commented. The wrought-iron fence was made to look like a massive dragon, with the name Roster over it’s head. “What do you mean she worked on it?” Castiel asked. “Look, the metal looks nice... She cleaned it.” Alana replied as she put in the code and the gate opened.

As soon as the car stopped, Alana and Castiel got out and looked at the house. Sam was waiting in the doorway, looking smug. “Took you long enough!” Sam called. She turned her head to the inside of the house. “Hey! Nathaniel! Amber! You’ve got visitors!” She called. Sam stepped out onto the porch and sat down on a chair. Nathaniel came to the door and stopped, speechless. Alana smiled. Tears came to Nathaniel’s face as he ran towards Alana, took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

The kiss seemed to go on forever before they had to stop for air. “Alana.” Nathaniel breathed as he rested his forehead on hers. “I love you Nathaniel.” Alana whispered as she caught her breath and tears came to her eyes. They held each other for several minutes before Sam called their names. “Mels! Nathaniel! Come on! I’ve ordered lunch!” She called. They pulled away from each other to see Amber standing next to Castiel. “Come on Cas, let’s get our stuff.” Alana suggested. “Why did you bring him?” Nathaniel asked. “Because he’s been worried about Amber, and I thought it would be nice to bring him here for her sake.” Alana replied as she and Castiel pulled their bags from the back seat of her car. Nathaniel gave Castiel a slightly snide look before sighing and returning to Alana’s side.

Several minutes later, they all had taken seats around the dining room table, a bounty of tacos sitting before them. “Again? We had this a couple of weeks ago.” Amber commented. “Yes, but, Mels is here, and this is a celebration.” Sam clarified. “Thanks Sam.” Alana smiled as she took a bite out of her food. “So? Mels? Did that Kingpin go down like a bitch?” Sam asked. Nathaniel, Amber and Castiel looked at Sam, shocked, while Ken just continued to eat his food. “Yep. Honestly, the Mexican Cartel that we brought down was much more entertaining of an opponent. This guy was pathetic.” Alana replied. Nathaniel, Amber and Castiel turned their shocked faces to Alana. “You could have been killed.” Nathaniel gasped. Alana raised an eyebrow. “No, my love. I couldn’t have. I’m far to well trained to let myself die by the hand of a lowly European Kingpin.” She explained. “Especially considering that basic protocol for that states that the entirety of the Crown Jewels and Executioners must be present for the death of a Kingpin.” Sam added. “Oh.” Nathaniel looked down. Alana put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, my love. The threat has been eradicated. Right now, what matters is moving forward.” She smiled. “I probably won’t be able to graduate this year... With all the time I’ve missed.” Nathaniel sighed. “Then you shouldn’t have skipped.” Castiel shot. “Cas, hush.” Amber snapped. “It’s alright, I’m sure something can be figured out for you to finish. After all, we have all the time in the world now...” Alana sighed.

“Alana! Alana!” Nathaniel was calling as he walked around the property. It had gotten dark and the lights around the property had begun to flicker on. “What are you doing?” Castiel asked, annoyed. “You haven’t seen Alana, have you?” Nathaniel asked. “You just got her back, and you’ve already lost her?” Castiel sneered. “Shut up!” Nathaniel growled as he stepped towards Castiel. “What the hell is going on here?” Sam called as she walked up to them. “Have you seen Alana?” Nathaniel asked, a flicker of irritation still in his voice. Sam looked up at the sky, then back at Nathaniel. “Knowing her... On a clear night like this, she’ll be on the roof.” She sighed. “Thanks Sam.” Nathaniel grinned as he ran towards the house.

As he got closer to the house, he noticed Alana sitting on top of the roof with her headphones on, staring at the stars, and a large ladder propped against the wall next to a pile of leaves. He carefully climbed the ladder, scaled the sides of the roof, sat down next to her and touched her hand. She slightly jolted, paused her music and took her headphones off. “Nath! You scared the shit out of me!” She gasped. “I was looking for you.” Nathaniel looked slightly worried. Alana looked down. “Oh, I’m sorry love... I didn’t mean to worry you... It’s just... I haven’t come up here in years... I wanted to do it again...” She sounded nostalgic. “You never told me about doing this.” Nathaniel’s replied. “I never felt like it would be relevant...” Alana sighed. “Sam automatically knew where you’d be.” Nathaniel pointed out. “Well, she would know. It was always something that she and I kept from mom... If we really wanted to have our privacy, and not be found... Then we could come up here and the other wouldn’t snitch....” She explained. “Did Viktor and Severina know about this?” He asked as he looked down. “They did, but they never bothered me up here... And they never told our parents...” Alana looked at Nathaniel before she continued to speak. “Nath, I know there’s a lot about my childhood that I haven’t told you... And I’m guessing you don’t feel like you are connected as Viktor and Severina are... But, I want you to know and understand how much I love you, and that I want you to be brought completely into my family’s fold. I have been choosing you since High School and I will continue to choose you for the rest of our days.” She took his hands and smiled. “I love you Nathaniel.” Nathaniel blushed as her ran his thumbs over her hands. “I love you too Alana.”

They sat there for several minutes, holding each other, in silence before Alana spoke up. “You know? One thing I used to do a lot when I would come up here as a kid was dream about traveling the world with the one I love... And now that I’m so close to achieving that dream, I must admit, I’m kinda scared... Not in the terrified sense... But in the thrilling sense... After we get our affairs in order, we will be free to go anywhere we want... We could go to New York City and see a Broadway Play... Or have tea in a cat cafe in Japan... Or we could go back to London...” She began to have that faraway look in her eyes. “Hell, we could even see about going into orbit!” She smiled. “Really? Space?” Nathaniel chuckled. “It does sound kind of outlandish... But it would be one hell of an adventure!” She cheered. He looked at her, lovingly. “What about our careers?” He asked, his voice softening. “We can figure that out along the way... For now, we don’t need money... The doors ahead of us are all open. Just tell me what you want to do, and so be it. But, at first... I think you and I deserve a vacation after all this.” Alana sighed. She looked at him and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I think we need to rest a bit.” Nathaniel cooed as he kissed Alana’s head.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This finally ends Purification... Thus, reuniting Nathaniel and Alana. The song “From Now On” from The Greatest Showman has definitely been in my head as a theme for this one for a while... Especially ever since the release of Episode 20 of MCLUL...

Just to let everyone know, whenever Alana leaves her apartment, any music or extra lights she has on automatically turn off.

Credit goes to:

@rowenna-887 for Nathaniel’s jacket.

andanguyen for the background.

ChiNoMiko and Beemoov for MCL.

Special Note: HOLY CRAP this took me forever to finish! I know I had a lot of stuff to do, especially considering this is the first bit of Alana’s Canon that I’ve finished after my mother’s death on 03/10/20... But damn!

18 notes · View notes

michiigii-writes · 4 years

Text

Of Shadows and Tyr (2/??)

The second night of our campaign, following this post!

In this installment, Strive struggles with the whims of Wuy and Fai, twin pagan deities of communication and connection.

Shadow’s POV is right here.

-----

Condor, Fallon, and Usaris

"My daughter! They took my daughter!"

Turning sharply to the tavern doorway, I saw a dishevelled half-elf, aged somewhere in his late thirties, pleading with anybody who would hear him. He looked sincerely upset, but all the bar patrons around him were laughing and waving him off.

"What else is new?" I heard one patron snicker.

"Sit down and calm yourself," another patron jeered.

I wanted to continue with my filched pie, and finish drinking my cider, personally. I hadn't eaten much that morning. Valzan, on the other hand, got up and of course he offered his assistance to the man at the door.

I wondered if all paladins went out of their way to offer people their assistance, or if this was specific to Valzan. Maybe it was part of the tenets of Tyr. Or maybe it was just his catchphrase. I'd have to ask Elyssia the next time I saw her.

The man joined our table, Valzan directing him to sit a good distance from Shadow. He introduced himself as Condor, the town crier of Kendrith. He reported that the reason why the other bar patrons had laughed, was because his daughter had a habit of sneaking off. But this time was different; normally, she stayed away overnight, but she had been missing for ten days, already. Clearly, something was wrong.

As Condor continued his tale, I happened to notice that there was a human seated nearby, dark, tangled hair falling around his face. He wasn't obvious about it, but the way he was leaning slightly towards our table made me suspect that he was listening in. I didn't sense any danger or aggression coming from him, but I kept him in the corner of my eye.

"Can you help me find my daughter?" Condor asked, looking around the table at each of us, desperation clear on his face.

I examined him before answering. He seemed sincere; this wasn't some strange bait to lure us to a second location. Genuine concern for her daughter was apparent.

He lost a few points with me for admitting that he usually locked his daughter in their home while he was away. If she was about 12 years old, surely she wouldn't need to be caged in, like that.

Valzan and I were pretty sure that we could trust Condor (Shadow, naturally, seemed ambivalent about the whole situation), but Craven wanted some kind of character witness. When Condor admitted that he was a regular to this tavern, Craven got up crossed the room, searching briefly until he came across three dwarves who were settled at their own table. I didn't catch the conversation, but from watching across the room, the dwarves seemed civil, Craven nodded as he questioned them a few times, and then he suddenly got very flustered and yelled something about, "Not that there's anything wrong with dwarves!" before hurrying back to our table.

Our waitress, Mildred, returned around the same time that Craven did, and he requested that whatever foods we didn't eat be sent to the dwarves across the way. He seemed contented with that for about a split second, before regret flashed across his face.

"Wait, but then I'm leaving them with our scraps!" Craven bemoaned, "Oh, no, the implications...!"

Muttering to himself, Craven sat down heavily, shaking his head. I wasn't sure what had happened between he and the group he had interviewed, but chances were, he was being silly again.

Noticing that Mildred seemed less busy, Valzan requested to speak privately with her at the bar. The two of them moved off, leaving Shadow, Craven and I with Condor.

“Anyway," Craven sighed, "Condor checks out!"

I nodded my agreement, and Condor seemed relieved. We made arrangements with the town crier to investigate his home and see if we could figure out what happened to his daughter. Craven decided to keep Valzan informed.

"Hey, Valzan!" he yelled across the room, "We're going to Condor's place!"

Valzan made a shooing motion with his arm, indicating that he was busy, but Craven seemed to think he was waving. The Kalashtar stood up and waved his own arm enthusiastically over his head.

"Yeah, byeee!!" Craven boomed, making Shadow cringe.

I pulled my hood even deeper over my face. The tavern wasn't crowded, but there were still enough patrons that we were gathering stares. And it was embarrassing. I did not like being the centre of attention in a public space.

Being the centre of attention got you kicked.

At the bar, Valzan put a hand up in a clear "stop" signal. As in, "Craven, please just stop!"

"You want five more rounds?!" Craven exclaimed, motioning to the mug he had been drinking from.

"nO!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet, "We should step out!"

"What?" Craven asked too loudly, probably not able to hear me because he was so used to hearing the sound of his own yelling, and I have a normal voice.

"Craven, we should step outside!" I said, panic rising in my voice as I could feel even more eyes turning towards us.

I tried to pull him by the arm towards the door, but of course he was a giant lump, and strength was my weakest attribute, so I couldn't budge him.

"We're going to go outside!" Craven yelled, giving Valzan a thumbs-up, and finally to my relief began moving towards the exit.

"Shadow, are you coming?" I asked, motioning to the door while Condor got up to follow Craven.

I looked back at Shadow; she seemed pretty content where she was. The silver-eyed stranger who had been eavesdropping looked like he was snickering, but he, too, didn't move. I glanced at Valzan; he seemed to be keeping an eye on Shadow. I didn't trust him with much, but at the very least, I knew Shadow was safe with him.

And I really, really wanted to get out of the Room of A Hundred Judging Eyes.

On the way out the door, I could have sworn I heard Shadow hiss something, and suddenly Craven was reeling slightly.

"Ow..."

The three of us finally outside, Craven turned around and I could see a thin trail of blood leaking from his nose. I made a mental note to thank Shadow later.

"We should wait for the others to come out before heading to your home," I said to Condor, but also speaking to Craven, "They don't know where you live."

"That suits me just fine," Condor nodded, taking a seat on a nearby bench.

Craven also sat down, pinching the bridge of his nose to stop the bleeding, and I pulled out one of my library books, examining diagrams and comparing them to plants growing in the lawn and garden out front.

"What are you looking for?" Craven asked, a little nasally. "Healing herbs," I answered, squinting at what was probably just a daisy, "You'd be surprised how many plants that people think are weeds end up having healing properties." The Kingsfoil plant came to mind.

"Well, if you find a health potion, that'd be great," Craven suggested.

I hid a smile. Like I would give him a free health potion for a minor wound like the one he had.

"It's just a nose bleed; you'll be fine," I waved dismissively, content in waiting outside for the others to join us.

To my surprise, our mystery eavesdropper was accompanying Valzan and Shadow when they finally exited the tavern. Valzan introduced him as Fallon Kalabtihn, and apparently, he had volunteered to join our party. He was a very, very tall human; even taller than Craven, by a couple inches! But he wasn't as muscular as Craven or even Valzan; most of his body was hidden by a long, flowing cloak, but from his face and hands, he looked lean.

Again, he did not seem dangerous, but he smiled in what I could only describe as a friendly look. Nobody I had ever met had warmed up to me that quickly. Clearly, there was something off about him.

While we walked, I made sure to keep Valzan and Craven between Fallon and I.

It wasn't too long of a walk, heading out of town with the sun at our backs. Craven kept up conversation by chatting with Fallon. Apparently, Craven was from the west side of where he was from, not to be mistaken for the east side. This was very important to him.

We came to the edge of a forest, and in the shade of an oak, Condor's house came into view. It was a weathered, old building, and when he opened the door, we could see that it was mostly just one main room, with a couple beds for its residents. Valzan asked if Condor knew about a group of slavers working nearby; the town crier reported that he hadn't been all that aware of them.

Not seeing much indoors, I let the others investigate there while I moved outside. I knew about survival and terrain, anyway. Craven joined me, and we looked around for tracks.

Interestingly, nothing was out of the ordinary. It was like Condor's daughter had never left.

Giving up our search, we headed back to the house, and were just in time to see Shadow scurry into a hole in the ground. Pushing past the others and hurrying after her, I saw that she had moved one of the beds, and there was ladder leading down into the dark. Worried about Shadow's safety, and feeling pretty confident that I would be able to see in the dark, I followed suit, moving quickly down the ladder.

At the bottom, I was surprised to see a decently sized bunker, small, but just large enough that I didn't feel too claustrophobic. And the air was surprisingly fresh; maybe even better air than in Condor's cramped house upstairs. A torch lit the room, revealing a wardrobe in one corner, and a table towards the room's centre, where Shadow was already investigating some trinkets.

"There's a room down here," Valzan called up; I started a little, then turned to see that he had followed me down, Craven and Fallon not far behind.

"A room?" Condor's voice from above sounded shocked, "I didn't know of it!"

I crossed the notably empty room, to the wardrobe. I knocked on the door a couple times, in case Condor's daughter was hiding there, hoping not to startle her, before trying the door.

It swung open smoothly; there was no lock.

A breeze of cool air, and the scent of blood and dead flesh wafted out at me. This was no simple wardrobe: it was a hidden passageway! A tunnel stretched before me, further into the dark. I meant to call back to my friends, but something in the middle of the passage caught my eye.

A bloody body.

I moved toward it immediately, nothing in my mind but the vision of a slain child. Was it the daughter? Were we too late?!

--- "She is small and weak, the little hellspawn!" "Useless!" "Garbage!" "Let us eat her!" "No! She is mine, now. If she turns against us, we eat her, but until then, she is mine!" ---

Even the demon-marked deserve to come of age, Master had often said, he and the other Lizardfolk never realizing I could hear.

Before I could even see the body clearly, skittering claws scratched across the ceiling of the tunnel before me. Three soft thuds fell, not far from me, and a trio of hissing, green creatures revealed themselves.

They looked like a pale imitation of the Lizardfolk, thin and gangly as they menaced me. They had elongated skulls, huge, clawed hands and feet, and rows and rows and sharp, long teeth. Feeling sick to my stomach, I realized I had made a mistake; I had run headlong into some kind of monster nest.

"Chokers!" I heard Valzan yell, and before long, the rest of the group had joined me.

Valzan was faster to react than me, he ran further into the tunnel and swung his axe at one Choker, getting a good hit in. Shadow stopped not far behind me, pulling out her daggers and spitting a curse at another Choker, making him reel a little. I took the opportunity to take the shape of a Giant Lizard; it was one of the few forms I could take, and I felt safer being heavier and having thicker skin and longer teeth.

That got one of the Chokers' attention; it took a swipe at me with its claws, but missed as I managed to lean out of its way.

Craven made very quick work of one of the Chokers, felling it with his sword. The second Choker went after Shadow, but missed her, too. Fallon joined Valzan, stabbing his monster, and Valzan dealt the finishing blow.

There was one Choker left; Shadow stabbed it successfully. I snapped my jaws at it, but it was too fast and managed to dodge my bite. The creature knew it was cornered, and made a great leap, though whether to attack or run away, I would never know; Craven swung his sword, slaying the monster in mid-air.

I felt incredibly stupid. Obviously, it wasn't smart to rush into a dark tunnel alone. And I was not that good of a fighter. I had to act more wisely, in the future. I was usually so very cautious, but the sight of that body...

That temper will be the death of you, Charity, Master liked to scold.

I looked back at the body I had been so worried about. It was a deer carcass, and an old one, at that. It wasn't even good enough to scavenge a little venison off of.

I risked my life for you? I grumbled, moving away to travel down the tunnel with the rest of the party, Amazing.

Valzan walked beside me, very politely asking for a little healing. I gave him a once-over with a yellow, reptilian eye. He seemed sore, having clearly taking some damage during our scuffle, but he looked like he could manage.

I wanted to tell him to rub some dirt in it and walk it off, but I was a lizard.

Even if I had wanted to heal him, I was a lizard.

I sent a little prayer to Wuy and Fai, pagan twin deities of connection and communication, before I gave Valzan a little shake of the head, and he seemed to understand.

We continued to the end of the tunnel, where another ladder was waiting for us, this time leading back up. Naturally, Shadow scurried back up, followed by Valzan; I dropped my Wild Shape and climbed the ladder as myself. I could have shimmied up the wall, but I wasn't sure if the hole leading out was large enough for my lizard form.

Coming up through another trap door, we found ourselves in the middle of a forest. Checking the ground, we found tracks for a small person, most likely Condor's daughter, heading away; they were maybe six days old, but we followed them anyway. It occurred to us that we had never actually asked what the girl's name was.

I supposed we were more eager to help Condor out than we were willing to admit.

On the way, a large, beautiful white bear joined us from the woods; I was a little wary, but Craven seemed very happy to see it.

"This is my spirit guide! His name is Usaris!" Craven explained, happily, "He's who I talk to sometimes, but you can't see him. He wanted to take a physical form, so here he is!"

Oh, I thought, remembering all the times I had seen him muttering to himself, I thought he was just talking to himself. That explains some things.

I muttered an incantation that usually let me talk to animals, and tried to Speak to Usaris. He didn't really react, and if he was trying to talk to me, I couldn't hear it. He was clearly something more than just an animal friend; I could believe Craven's claim that he was some kind of spirit.

Before long, we came to what the others called Old Rivermount Lake; the person we were tracking seemed to have come right up to the edge of the lake. Looking forward, we could see an island at the lake's centre. On our left, there were some old buildings and abandoned docks. On our right, the rivermouth opened to some rapids flowing south.

Shadow occupied herself with admiring the lake, sitting on the ground at the edge. Valzan and I went searching for supplies; he went to the buildings, while I tried the docks. I didn't find much at there, just a moldy old oar, but I brought it back to the group in case we needed it for firewood.

It was at that point that the deities Wuy and Fai decided to turn against me; I wasn't sure what Fallon was doing at that time. It was quite possible that he was the one who found a boat, not Valzan; the point is that somebody found a boat. I was happy; that gave my oar a purpose! And Valzan could stop making comments about us Tieflings using our tails to somehow propel the boat through the water.

Valzan also showed me something he had found in the buildings: a little rucksack, the right size for a child, and filled with colourful, shiny things.

"The girl was here," I realized, my eyebrows shooting up.

"I think so, too," Valzan nodded grimly, "I'm going to hang on to this."

"Good idea," I nodded, then added after I thought for a moment, "But maybe don't show it to Shadow yet."

Valzan chuckled, nodding as he, too, remembered Shadow's love of shiny things.

I noticed that Craven and Usaris had opted to jump into the lake for a paddle. They looked like they were enjoying themselves, but then I saw Craven jump onto Usaris, and how the bear still managed to stay afloat. Usaris was very strong, so...

"Craven!" I called, getting both of their attentions, "Do you think Usaris would be able to swim and pull the boat?"

The Kalashtar conferred with his companion before answering, "...not on a full stomach!"

"Ah, then we should not feed him," I muttered to myself, before calling, "Okay, never mind!"

Usaris was very strong, but pulling the boat would be asking too much of him. We would have to make do with our single oar.

All five of us piled into the boat, while Usaris swam close beside us. Fallon took to the oar, moving us slowly, but surely, towards the island at the centre of the lake. Valzan took the time to tend to his wounds, as we all took a short rest. I considered all of the spells that I had prepared, thinking to move the boat faster, but none of them were particularly useful. I contented myself with resting. Everyone in the boat seemed quiet; it had been an eventful day.

It took us half an hour to reach the island, and we climbed out of the boat onto a sandy shore. There were footprints everywhere, of varying sizes; there was no way we could tell if this was where the girl landed. Further up, we could see several buildings, and the beginning of a forest, but no people.

Valzan scouted ahead, and it wasn't long before he waved for us to follow him, and then entered one of the buildings. I hurried after, noting in passing that there was a grate in the beach, filled with various bottles. Going into the building, with Shadow, Craven, Fallon, and Usaris following suit, I was pleased to see that there was a group of Tortles huddled in the room. A few wandering Tortles had traded with my tribe, in the past. They had always been kind to me, ignoring my horns and tail. I was always grateful for that.

"What were you doing outside?" one Tortle exclaimed, urgency written all over his face, "It's not safe, these days!"

"What do you mean?" Valzan asked, and I held my breath for his catchphrase, "Can I offer you some assistance?"

I did not laugh out loud, but I wanted to. Of course he was going to offer to help. The Tortles told us that they were being preyed upon by flying things, and had been for some time, now. Many of their people had been carried off; usually the smaller ones, but really, it wasn't safe for anyone to be outside.

I was a little more focused on finding Condor's daughter. I asked if a child had come this way, but none of the Tortles could say that they had. One suggested that they had seen a child on the other side of the lake, toward the Manticore Mountains; that was where we had come from.

My heart sank a little. What if we had put in all that effort to cross the lake, but the girl was at the opposite side the entire time?

But then another thought occurred to me.

Valzan was already making efforts to move on, denying the Tortles' request for help. I tried to get his attention, but once again, the twin deities Wuy and Fai were against me. It was like I was trying to speak through a communication device of some kind, but my voice had been turned to an absurdly low volume, so no matter how loudly I spoke, or how many times I repeated myself, nobody could hear me.

I tried to say that if smaller creatures were getting carried off, there was a very real possibility that Condor's daughter had been carried off. The Tortles may have never even seen her. But it was to no avail; nobody could hear me. Semuanya protect me, I had to make some kind of sacrifice to Wuy and Fai soon, or I would never get anywhere with my group.

The Tortles clearly looked upset, too. They had wanted rescue, and we looked like we were leaving them to their own devices.

But then:

THUD.

Something impacted hard against the building's roof.

We weren't going anywhere, after all.

---tbc---

part 3 is here

#dnd campaign #dnd #Of Shadows and Tyr #Strive not Charity

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whatusernamex3000 · 5 years

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Kacxa Week 2019 Day 6: Free Day - Halloween

Just your typical Halloween fluff. Lots of ships! All aboard!!!!

"Hey Acxa have you seen my Paladin suit?"

From down the hall he hears her shout, "uhhh no." He swore under his breath as he dug through all his clothes. "But you're not seriously going to wear your Paladin suit for Halloween. That's just dumb," Acxa added as she walked into the room.

Keith eyed her suspiciously. "Fine. I'll just wear my blade suit." Suddenly the back of his head was hit by a balled up shirt.

"Absolutely not. You will not be wearing your work clothes to my first ever Halloween party."

He playfully rolled his eyes. "you're the boss," he said, pulling her in for a kiss. He was so relieved that he was finally as tall as her. Three years into their relationship.

"Damn straight. Now you better figure out what you're going to be." Acxa booped his nose before heading off to the bathroom to shower.

"Well what about you? You shot down the couple's costume idea I wanted us," he pouted.

"Well I'm sorry that I don't know what the point of dressing up as salt and pepper would be," she teased before closing the door and starting the shower. "Now remember I'm going to meet Romelle so you can go ahead and help the McClain's and Holt's with party decorations."

"Yeah alright." He yelled through the door.

"And get a better costume!"

So Keith found himself alone, buying a 12 pack of beer and a cheap Halloween vampire kit. He'll be Dracula, and Acxa would think it's incredible because she'd have no idea what the hell he was. But hey, it was better than nothing. The costume kit came with cheap plastic teeth, a cape, and fake blood, it was perfect for what Keith was going for. And for $10 how could he say no.

When he returned, Acxa was gone. He assumed she went to Romelle's like she said she was going to. So Keith quickly changed into his cheap Dracula costume and headed to Lance and Katie's house.

He was pleasantly greeted by a very enthusiastic Mario. "Keith! You're here early!" Pidge exclaimed, pulling him into a hug. "It's been too quiznacking long. I've missed you."

Keith smiled as he returned her hug, it had been a little over a year since he had seen her. "I've missed you too Pidge."

"Easy there mullet. Don't get to clingy with my lady," Luigi shouted at him jokingly.

Keith glared Lance down and lifted Pidge into the air and spun her around. He and Pidge always had a special relationship, being that they knew each other far before Voltron. "Okay, okay, you can put me down Keith. Lance is going to pop a blood vessel," she teased. He obliged and set her down beside Lance.

Smirking, Keith greeted Lance with a quick "bro hug" before giving him a hard time about Pidge. "She's really grown up hasn't she?"

Despite the fake, overly large mustache, Keith could still see Lance blush. The two have been living together since they stopped being Paladins. Everyone had a bet as to when they were finally going to stop pussyfooting around each other and date.

It's been nearly five years since Allura's sacrifice, and things finally felt normal. Or as normal as their lives could be.

Suddenly Keith was tackled by Wario. "Keith buddy!"

As much as he pretended to be annoyed, he loved Hunk's hugs. "Good to see you too bud." Hunk put him down and eyed his outfit.

"Dracula huh? Not too bad."

"Yeah, you're really not giving up on the whole "goth loner" schtick any time soon huh?" Lance teased causing Keith to shoot him a death glare.

Pidge was laughing uncontrollably. "Leave him alone Lance. I think he makes a very nice shitty Dracula."

Keith missed this.

Slowly every single one of his good friends had shown up accept for Acxa and Romelle.

Shiro and Adam showed up as Tarzan and Jane, or in their case, Tarzan and Jenson.

Shay showed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She was a little bit peeved at Hunk for not being her beast. Keith wished he didn't hear Hunk promise to show her his inner beast later.

Matt and Nyma were Jack Skelilngton and Sally.

Veronica and the MFE pilots were the power rangers.

A few more rebels and blades showed up. Sam and Colleen Holt even showed showed up. Sam was dressed in a suit that was covered in clocks, while Colleen was in a green dress covered with leaves, sticks, and flowers. Claiming to be father time and mother nature respectively.

Ezor and Zethrid showed up dressed as Captain Hook and Peter Pan. It was cute because when they showed up everyone asked Ezor why she wasn't captain Hook. She already had the eye patch. So within minutes of showing up, the two vanished and returned with each other's costumes on. Hence Ezor in a pirate outfit that was one size too big, and Zethrid in a Peter Pan outfit one size too small. Adorable.

An hour into the party, and he hadn't seen his girlfriend or his pseudo sister. Keith didn't know how or why, but he was always somehow surrounded by amazing women. Allura, Pidge, Acxa, Romelle, Ezor, Zethrid, his mom, Colleen, Nyma, and dozens of other blades and rebels that he's come across.

He was alone at the kitchen counter talking to a girl that just joined the blades, Aria. She was telling him about her life and how her parents kicked her out because she was gay. For most of her adolescence she was homeless until now. The Blades gave her a home and she thanked him. He only just met this young Galra girl, but he vowed that if anything happened to her, he would kill everyone in the room then himself. Eventually, he ended up being about five or six beers deep when he heard all his close friends laughing.

Aria also seemed to notice the growing laughter as both of them made their way to the dining room, aka the dance floor. His friends parted for him and his jaw dropped at the sight, his fake teeth almost falling out.

Acxa had finally arrived. She had dyed her hair jet black. She had given herself a black scar on her right cheek. But most importantly she was dressed in his Paladin armour, carrying around a stuffed black panther. Apparently there were no black lions available.

She noticed his stupid face. "You like?"

He closed his mouth and checked her out. She was supposed to be him, yet he doubted he ever looked that good. "Oh you're so dead," he teased before giving chase. Acxa squealed with glee as he chased her. Eventually he finally caught her as Aria may or may not have gotten in her way by accident.

He brought the two of them to the bar and made introductions as he made his girlfriend and new friend a drink. "... So I'm just really thankful for the opportunity to have a place." He heard Aria say as he returned with their drinks.

"So… where's Romelle?" He was asking when a blade in uniform walked passed. Keith shot Acxa a glance mouthing "not fair" causing her to just laugh. The blade he was checking out ended up being tackled by Kosmo.

His eyes widened. He had no idea how Kosmo got here. Keith made his way to the blade that was being mauled, and for the second time his jaw nearly hit the floor. "Romelle?"

The blonde altean was giggling uncontrollably as Kosmo licked her face. "Oh heya Keith."

Kosmo stopped his attack and allowed Romelle to stand up. Acxa was suddenly by his side with a handkerchief, handing it to Romelle. He turned and gave his girlfriend another death glare. "I guess that's why I couldn't find my blade uniform either."

Romelle answered since Acxa pretended not to hear him and take a sip of her drink. "You'd be correct," she teased. "So what do ya think?" She asked doing a quick twirl. Keith could've sworn he heard Aria gasp slightly.

He took his chance to check her out as she spun. For being his blade uniform, he was shocked by how it highlighted her curves. Despite her being basically his sister, he had to admit that she looked hot. And he could tell he wasn't the only one that thought so as he caught Aria blushing. "Hey Romelle have you met Aria? She just recently joined the Blades."

Romelle stopped her twirling and introduced herself, claiming that she wasn't a blade jus stealing his uniform. But it did give him the idea to maybe start allowing non-galra to join. "I love your outfit. What is it?"

"Oh," Aria said looking down at her outfit realizing just how much skin she was showing. She had on hiking boots, a grappler, skimpy hiking shorts, fake bandages wrapped around her arm and thigh, and a tank top which helped show off her… assets. "well… it's one of my favorite female warriors in Terran fiction, Lara Croft: The Tomb Raider."

"I don't think I've heard of her, but I bet she's hot," and Keith caught her whisper, "like you."

The four of them sat around and drank before Acxa vanished to converse, or most likely make fun of Ezor and Zethrid.

Keith was explaining to Aria about how her and Romelle met when two fist slammed on the table interrupting them. He looked up to see his girlfriend. "You owe me twenty bucks."

He raised a single eyebrow, "uhhh why?"

"Cus unless I'm mistaken," she stepped aside to show what she was talking about. "Mario and Luigi are making out."

"Finally!" Romelle shouted causing Aria to look at all three of them with a confused look.

Keith gave her a reassuring look, "It's a long story."

#keith x acxa #kacxa week 2019 #kacxa #vld kacxa #all the ships

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justheretobreakthings · 5 years

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Seen Much Better Days - Chapter 1

Written for @sunshine-hime, who, like quite a few others it seems, was in the mood for a follow-up to my fic Torn and Frayed. This one got away from me a bit, and I decided to post it as seven short chapters instead of one long fic, because I am the god of this realm and I can do as I please. Here’s part one!

By the way, this picks up right where “Torn and Frayed” ended, so you’ll have to read that one first for this to make any sense.

Hope you enjoy!

Fic content warnings for past slavery and rape.

Read on AO3

The flight back to the castle was silent save for one more check-in on Allura’s part to let the others know how far out they were, reassuring them that she and Keith would be back soon. To her surprise, she managed to keep her voice steady and calm. Professional. Neutral.

As cool and collected as if she hadn’t just rescued Keith from the hands of a slaver.

She kept her eyes on him now, sitting beside him against the wall of Blue’s cockpit, letting the Lion pilot herself rather than needing Allura at the helm. There were no tricky maneuvers that necessitated an active pilot right now, just a straight path back home, and Blue seemed to know that Allura was needed more on the metal floor than in the chair.

Keith had gone still, closed off, the drying tear streaks on his face the only evidence of his earlier meltdown in Allura’s arms. He had failed to meet her eyes again after the sobbing had subsided, as if he were embarrassed by his display. He needn’t have been. It was certainly well-earned.

Allura had pulled an emergency blanket from Blue’s survival kit, and had draped it over Keith, wrapping it over his shoulders and knotting it in the front. The blanket was very thin, and not particularly soft, but it was keeping him warm in lieu of a shirt, and now the bruises and lash marks that decorated his chest and back were hidden from view.

It hadn’t done anything to stop Keith’s shivering, but Allura didn’t think that was due to cold.

Allura stood when Blue touched down in the hangar, glancing down at Keith as she worked out in her head what to do now. The other paladins would surely be just outside the Lion, waiting to see Keith again after so long, but how should they approach it? Should she try to feign normality, take the lead on trying to keep things subdued so as not to overexert Keith? Should she let them all react naturally to the situation at hand, so Keith could know just how worried about him they were, how fired up they are on his behalf?

She realized that, first things first, what she really needed to do was get Keith out of those shackles on his wrists and ankles.

She descended the steps of Blue’s jaw alone, unsurprised to see the other paladins and Coran ready and waiting in the hangar, impatience and worry written on all of their faces. “How is he?” Shiro asked first.

“He’s…” Allura started. She hedged for the right words before giving up and turning to Pidge. “You all right to pick a couple of locks?”

“Um, sure?” Pidge said with a frown. “Why?”

“Come on up,” Allura said, waving her forward. “He’s got a couple of, er… restraints, still.”

Varying levels of shock and anger flashed on the waiting faces, and Pidge’s only increased as she followed Allura into the cockpit. Keith lifted his head, and Pidge whispered a couple of choice Earth swears under her breath before hurrying to him. “Hey, Keith,” she said, making a face that must have been an attempt at a smile. “It’s - it’s good to have you back. Um - ” She nodded toward the shackles on his ankles. “Allura said you needed some help with those?”

Keith nodded silently, and Pidge got to work, pulling out the lockpicks she kept in the pocket of her sweatshirt at all times. She had never given an explanation for why she had those beyond the nonspecific fact that ‘they came in handy’, but in situations like these, Allura was perfectly happy to forgive any troublemaking she might get up to with them.

She made quick work of the shackles on the ankles, and was about to straighten up before Allura stepped him. “On his wrists, too,” she said. “Keith, do you mind sitting forward for a moment?”

Her fingers brushed against Keith’s shoulder as she said it, and Keith’s back stiffened as he immediately leaned forward, complying automatically. She and Pidge met each other’s eyes, but neither commented as Allura lifted the emergency blanket just enough for Pidge to start picking the remaining lock.

The moment his hands were free, Keith moved them to the front with groan and gripped tightly to the edges of the blanket, pulling it closed. He started to his feet, unsteadily, as if he hadn’t used his legs in a while and had to get used to them again.

“Need any help?” Allura asked.

“I’m fine,” Keith grunted, and Allura didn’t push it.

The three of them left the cockpit together, slowly to account for Keith’s shaky gait. They were greeted by sighs of relief and cries of Keith’s name, and smiles all around that looked less genuine the instant the others got their first look at Keith’s face, but that they otherwise maintained.

Hunk had his arms out, and had stepped forward for a hug as they descended, but he hesitated. “Hey, um, is it okay if I…?” He bounced his arms a little.

“Best not,” Allura answered. “He’s got a couple of injuries that need attending to.”

“What sort of injuries?” Shiro asked, immediately letting his forced smile drop.

“Nothing life-threatening,” Allura assured him quickly. “But there’s definitely some pretty bad, er, lacerations. And bruising. And there’s quite probably a risk of infection for some of them.”

Shiro’s expression stiffened further, and Allura imagined it was taking all of his self-restraint to keep composed right now.

“Well, not to worry,” Coran said in a stilted affectation of his typical brightness. “Nothing a quick trip to one of the pods can’t fix. If you want to pop on down to the med bay - ”

“No,” Keith snapped, the first he’d spoken since they’d exited the Blue Lion. “No cryopod.”

Coran frowned at him. “Keith, my boy, Allura said some of those cuts and bruises are definitely in need of medical care.”

“So give me a first-aid kit and I’ll take care of them,” Keith said.

“It really would help you heal up and feel better much faster if we use the pod,” said Coran. “Come now, it shouldn’t be more than a couple of vargas. I can cook up a nice hot meal for you while you’re in there - er, that is, we could have Hunk cook it up, get you settled and cozy. We’ve set one up already with your specs just in case, so we’re all ready to go now.”

He reached for Keith. Not a sudden grab or anything that could have been mistaken as a power move of any sort, just a light hand on his arm to steer him toward the med bay, but Keith flinched and jerked away with a scowl all the same. “I said no cryopod!” he growled. “I’m not going.”

“Keith, you really need - ”

“Coran,” Allura said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “He said no cryopod.”

Coran looked to her in surprise, brow raised. Allura could hardly blame him. She had always been very strict about ensuring that all of the paladins saw to their injuries properly after battles, and would never let them get away with trying to defy Coran’s nursing. More than once she had come just short of picking up and physically forcing a stubborn Shiro into a pod after he tried to brush off a gushing wound as a minor scrape.

But this time, it was different. It made sense why Keith would be averse to going into the cryopod. Being essentially put on display in a container, unmoving, no awareness of his surroundings, no control, outfitted in the thin and body-hugging cryosuit.

Painful and inefficient though old-fashioned healing methods may be, Keith still would probably find them a thousand times easier to endure than the pod.

“No cryopod,” she repeated, staring imploringly at Coran.

The latter seemed uncertain, but after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. “All right,” Coran said. “I, er, trust your judgment on this, princess.” He straightened his shoulders and cleared his throat. “All right, if one of you will help me take Keith down to the med bay and get supplies readied, we can start on this whole process. And the rest of you, perhaps Hunk could use some help in the kitchen?”

Hunk nodded, and Shiro stepped forward. “I’ll help you out, Coran. Keith, you want to lean on me, or - ?”

“I, um, actually,” Keith said, and to Allura’s surprise, he took a step back toward her, his eyes flitting to her face. “If, um, if - if you don’t mind, Allura…”

“Oh. Oh, of course,” Allura said with a hasty nod, casting Shiro an apologetic glance as the latter blinked at Keith, confused. The other paladins looked just as puzzled, but thankfully no one argued the point. They stepped aside and let Allura be the one to guide Keith down to the med bay with Coran, and she stole glances over her shoulder as they left the hangar, hurt and worried gazes meeting hers.

“Good to have you back, Keith,” Shiro called after them as they left.

The three of them were silent as they made their way to the med bay, bypassing the cryopods to set Keith down in the infirmary instead. Allura helped Keith settle onto a cot as Coran left to the med supply room, and the two of them were left alone, with Keith sitting up on the cot and fixated on the opposite wall with a thousand-yard stare.

“Keith?” Allura said softly, and Keith flinched almost unnoticeably at the sudden break in the silence. “Sorry,” she continued. “But I was wondering - is there - is there something wrong, between you and Shiro? I know you two were having a bit of difficulty before you left for the Blade, but I assure you he - ”

“It’s not that,” Keith cut her off. His voice was somewhat raspy. “I’m not upset with Shiro. Or with any of you. I swear.”

“In that case, is there a reason you didn’t want him accompanying you now?”

Keith turned to her, and in the shadows of the infirmary’s relatively dim lights, the bruises on his face looked particularly dark, bold. Haunted. “He doesn’t know,” he answered softly. “You do. I’m not… I’m not ready for the others to see. Not yet. Especially - especially Shiro…” His voice cracked at the name, and he brought the heel of his hand up to scrub at his nose as he sniffed.

“Oh,” Allura. “That… yes, I suppose that makes sense.” She chewed her lip before tentatively adding, “You know, Coran is going to find out too, now.”

“Yeah,” Keith sighed. “Can’t be helped. But the fewer, the better… Is that okay?” he added, brow suddenly creased in worry, looking over at her as if he needed her permission to have this privacy.

“Of course,” Allura said immediately, and Keith’s shoulders relaxed minutely before their conversation was ended by Coran’s return to the infirmary.

#vld fic #voltron fic #keith #allura #shiro #my writing #fic: seen much better days

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penandpaperadventures · 5 years

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100 Mansions of Gnomeopolis

My D&D group is very light on actual combat, and I was very excited to learn that our sorcerer had found the perfect job for our party just posted on a message board:

Somebody needed a few guards for some sort of vampire banquet.

Now, I am a very paranoid player. Nobody gives a mission to a level 5-6 party to GUARD 50 CR 13 monsters. So I knew something was up.

Our sorcerer, on the other hand, did not. After making our way to a literal emerald city, our DM revealed where the party was being held. It was to be held in a mansion. Big surprise. The real surprise? We discovered that there was more than one mansion. There were one hundered identical ones on one street.

How do a 6th-level paladin (me), 5th-level rogue and sorcerer find a mansion full of undead without any divination spells?

Our rogue got the brightest idea I had ever heard: We go door-to-door.

After discovering that literally EVERYONE in the city was a gnome, we made our way to door 45 and found the right place. Our rogue got some nice takeaways from his doors:

A basket of 300 cookies

An invitation to a sorority party (he is male)

2 gnomes he tried to suplex were gnome-ninjas, so he had a few lovely bruises, too. I, on the other hand (the 20-charisma paladin) was:

Mistaken for a lunatic

Mistaken for a solicitor

Almost arrested by the gnomish SWAT

And, my personal favorite:

Mistaken for a cultist (YOU DO NOT CALL THE PALADIN A CULTIST!!!)

Eventually we made it to the right place. We were told to hide so that the vampires would not see us (lets see here, who's good at hiding? A rogue, a sorceror, and hmmm... a heavily armored paladin with 8 DEX? BWHahahahahaha!)

Guess what happened? THE GNOME KILLED EVERY LAST VAMPIRE WITH THE FOOD. And then invited us to dinner. Oh, I forgot, he did leave one vampire alive (his friend). That vampire was dispatched after eating one of the 300 cookies our rogue brought with, apparently he had flour allergies.

Now, I am very accustomed to combat. I always bring a couple of nets with. As an experienced fighter, I threw a net at the gnome (assuming that he was the BBEG), stopping him and his death-knife in his tracks. I was just gearing up for a big fight when...

It was the sorceror's turn. He hit the gnome with Fire Bolt for 2d10 damage, and the gnome died. So much for combat.

That apparently concluded our mission, ending our great 3-hour search. The encounter took us maybe half an hour from our arrival, due to descriptions of the dying vampires. My takeaway: Not everything is hard to beat. It just takes time.

#D&D #Roleplaying #submission

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chancellormatt · 5 years

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Voltron Rewrite Episode Eleven - The Coalition Strikes Back

Prince Lotor walks carefully, as if on eggshells, into the planning room of his father. Zarkon has his back to Lotor, staring at a display showing a holographic sequence of a teleduv opening, and lines of energy coursing out. A readout of numerical calculations are projected alongside.

Lotor waits for his father to speak. Zarkon says nothing. Lotor’s hands clench and unclench, as he continues to wait. Zarkon just keeps staring at projection, watching the numbers change as the calculations continue.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Zarkon speaks.

“You failed.” The voice sounds neither angry nor surprised.

“...yes.” Lotor says, forcing the word out.

Neither says anything for several long moments.

“...your mother took the teleduv to a secondary location for some preliminary tests. You will go to her.”

“...for what purpose?”

“To be out of the way.”

Lotor flinches. “...and...my punishment?”

Zarkon finally turns around to face Lotor.

“There is nothing I think I can do, that is worse than the dishonor you have laid upon yourself. You know what a failure you are. Do I have to hammer in what is already clear to see?”

Lotor’s eyes bore into the floor, tightening his fists so hard the knuckles go white.

“Leave me. Do not return until you have something of value to offer.”

With a jaw clenched so tight the words can barely be heard, Lotor says:

“...yes father.”

With that, he leaves.

***

Pidge gazes intently at a display showing frequency readings. She sits inside a laboratory in the Garrison base, at a computer terminal. She types a few keys on the board and more frequencies appear, overlaying on top of the existing ones. Her expression grows harder.

The door slides open, and Keith walks in.

“Hey, Pidge. You wanted to show me something?”

“Take a look.” She nods to the screen.

Keith walks over, and looks down at the display.

“So uh...you wanna tell me what I’m looking at right now?”

She sighs. “When we first got back to Earth, I had them tune the astro spectrometers to look for quintessence, and other unique energy signatures.”

“And lemme guess: You picked up some?”

“You could say that. I’m getting some crazy readings all over the place. Been using my spare time trying to locate the epicenter, which I finally did. Check it out.”

A map of celestial bodies appears on the display.

“This,” she says, pointing to a highlighted spot, “is the source of these energy readouts. And this,” she points to another spot, “is the Quantum Abyss. Just a couple of lightyears away. I’m betting that’s not a coincidence.”

“Me either.” Keith says, eyes narrowing. “It's got to be Zarkon.”

“So...what do we do?”

“For now, just keep an eye on things. Let me know if anything changes. I’m going to ask the Blades and the Warlords if they know, or can find anything about this.”

“Roger that.” Pidge says, returning the display to the readouts. “Oh and Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Whatever this is...it's big. These readings...I can’t even begin to describe how scary they are. Whatever Zarkon and the other Dark Paladins are planning...we have to do everything possible to stop it.”

“We will.” Keith says confidently.

“How can you be so sure? We sure got beaten last time.”

“Because we’re the Paladins of Voltron. That’s why.”

Pidge nods, seeming to accept this answer. With that Keith leaves her to her work.

***

Lance walks inside an open hanger, towards Hunk, who’s back is to him. The big man is talking to a group of cadets that surround him. Lance smiles as he approaches, hearing his friend’s words.

“-rookie mistake. I used to make it all the time. Those gyroscopic stabilizers can get a little wonky once you get past three G’s. Talk to your engineer about it, they should be able to adjust the compensators, to make that a little-”

“There he is!” Lance calls out, for the whole hangar to hear. “The man, the myth, the legend: Hunk Garrett!”

Hunk cringes, but the cadets seem all the more excited.

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little bit…?” Hunk says, as Lance walks up to throw an arm over his friend’s shoulders.

“Not even a little! Ya know this guy always talks about how scared he is? Turns out he’s a real heroic one. Totally called it.”

“Come on, I was the last one to even get in the fight.”

“Yep. Real thematic entrance, too. I’m proud of you buddy.”

The Cadets start to clamor, asking questions and swarming them. Hunk, however, cuts them off with a wave of his hand.

“Alright, alright. Cool down guys. We aren’t going anywhere. You all on the other hand, are due for flight drills if I’m not mistaken? I’d get to your fighters before your drill sergeant starts to wonder what’s taking so long.”

The cadets get a wave of panicked looks, and quickly disperse, calling out farewells as they run.

“Amazing.” Lance says shaking his head. “Just hold one of your eyes shut and you really would just be the spitting image of Iverson.”

“Oh stop it.” Hunk says shrugging off Lance. “I was just running their tests on the Yellow Lion, and after seeing Voltron firsthand they wanted to ask me stuff.”

“Uh huh. So in other words, you’ve become their beloved hero-pilot.” Lance sighs exaggeratedly. “Man, how come no one ever notices how heroic I am?”

“Well I’m sure before long they’ll all be singing the praises of ‘Lance the Sharpshooter.”

“Guess we’ll just have to see…” Lance grumbles. A slight quirk of his lips indicates that he is not as downcast as he pretends.

Hunk chuckles.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. Just glad I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

Suddenly a wide grin grows on Lance’s face. “Not yet ya aren’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well buddy, I think it's time we both got some well deserved R&R. Whatcha say we sneak out of this place before another alien invasion or something happens, and go hit the town? Yaknow, for old time’s sake.”

“That does sound like it could be fun.” Hunk admits.

“Great! Now let’s just make sure Keith doesn’t-”

Both of their communicators squak to life, with the sound of Keith’s voice.

“All Paladins, gather in the usual meeting room. Follow up on the attack, and discussing where to move from here on. Attendance is non-negotiable.”

They both sigh.

“Well he’s sure got ordering people around down.” Lance says.

***

The five Paladins of Voltron, Shiro, Coran, Matt and Sam Holt, Admiral Sanda, and all the other various leaders of both Coalition and Garrison sides sit in the large meeting room.

Admiral Sand sighs long and hard, before standing up to speak.

“The council has agreed to support the Coalition in their efforts to stop Zarkon and the Galra forces he controls-”

Before she can continue the room erupts into a cheer. She gives an annoyed look, though a slight tug at the corner of her mouth seems to tell a different story.

“-this means that we will supply the Coalition with all our resources.” She goes on once the cheers die down.“Most important of these, is our own military forces which, when necessary, will join the Coalition in deep space, and assist in the fighting.This includes the Atlas mecha, and all the currently battle-worth starfighters we possess. That is all.” Sanda sits back down.

“Oh come on Sanda, it's okay to get excited!” Matt says with a smirk. “This means we can finally officially work together again! I know you’ve missed my sense of humor.”

“With how much time you spent hanging around base, one could be convinced you never left.” Sanda sniffs. The comment however, is lacking it's usual bite. Though reserved, she does seem pleased.

“Thank you, Sanda. Really.” Shiro says. “Delays aside, I know you fought hard for this. We all owe you for this.”

“Pay me back by finishing this war quick. Oh and try not to bang up the Atlas any more than you already have. Speaking of, how are the repairs coming along?”

“Just about finished, actually.” Sam Holt replies. “While the arm came off, the actual damage was relatively minimal. Plus Coran showed us how to implement some Altean technology that expedite the repair work. Should even make upgrades easier, too.”

“Ah yes, modular construction.” Coran says, massaging his mustache.“Very helpful in building the Castle. Interestingly enough a version of the same tech was instrumental in Voltron’s-”

“I’ll leave the details to the engineers.” Sanda cuts in. “As long as it's back to being battle ready. I don’t want us to be caught with our pants down, again.”

Keith clears his throat. All eyes turn on him.

“On the subject of battles...I think we should probably discuss what we’re doing next. Moving forward with the war, I mean.”

“I’m all ears. You’re in command here now.” Sanda says simply.

Keith looks taken aback by that, but recovers quickly.

“Right. So, I’ve been thinking lately that we’ve been fighting a little too defensively. So far we’ve just waited for our opponents to show up first, then deal with the aftermath. But we’ll never win like that. I think it's time we attacked, and put them on the defensive.”

“A good decision.” Sanda nods approvingly. “But my question would be, where? As far as I understood it, you were not aware of your...our, enemy’s precise whereabouts.”

“That’s not...exactly true.” Keith says carefully. “We know that at the very least they’ve taken over the Altean Colony in the Quantum Abyss. The Blades have confirmed as much. They also verified that a lot of enemy galra activity is centering around there, so it's a safe bet that they’re using the colony, or a place very nearby as their headquarters.”

“So we attack this ‘Quantum Abyss,’ then? Cut the head off the snake, as it were?” Sanda asks.

“Tempting as that is, we don’t really have enough info to make that kind of attack, yet. We have no idea what kind of defenses they have, how they have their forces situated, or any of that. The Blades, unfortunately, haven’t been able to get close enough to get a read on the place.”

“Do you have an alternative suggestion then?”

Keith nods. “Over the past few days, Pidge has been monitoring some suspicious energy readings coming from an area not far from the Abyss. Just recently I was informed by the Blades that there is, in fact, a large compound there, with a significant amount of security guarding it. We think they might be testing some kind of new weapon.”

“Whatever this thing is, it’s a big deal. I can tell that from the readings alone. We’ve got to figure out what they’re doing there, and stop it if we can.” Pidge explains.

“I assume you have a plan?” Sanda asks.

“So far, the idea is we launch a good portion of our forces to attack this thing. We’ll have a ton of ships, Atlas, and a few Lions, but not Voltron. The reason for this, is because the attack is just a distraction. While our forces are attacking outside, one of the Paladins is going to sneak in, hack their computer and take every scrap of data on what’s going on in there, then evac. Then we’ll pull out, before reinforcements can arrive.”

“Wait a minute.” Lance cuts in. “Hack in? That means the one going in will be…”

“Me.” Pidge says, as if it were obvious. “I’ve got the computer skills, plus Green already has cloaking abilities, so getting in should be easy. I’m going to be the one sneaking in.”

“...alone?” Lance asks, looking confused.

“Well yeah, that’s the idea. We don’t exactly want them to find out the real reason we’re there.”

“Why don’t we send in some of those Marmoran Blade guys, too? They’re all space ninja-ey.”

Pidge sighs. “The more people we send in the more likely it is we’ll get noticed. As good as the Blades are, adding more people will just make sneaking harder. Besides, they”

“If...you say so.” Lance says, uncertainly.

We can discuss the finer details later.” Keith cuts in. “But, right now this seems to be the right move. We’ll deal a blow to our enemy, and gain some much needed intel, in one move. Any more questions?”

There are none.

“Alright, then. Let’s get ready for battle everyone.”

***

Prince Lotor, inside the Dark Red Lion, flies towards a massive space station. It is built in a gigantic, flat, ring shape. At the center of the ring, is the teleduv, with six robeasts hovering over it.

Lotor pulls into the station’s hangar bay, and lands his Lion. He steps outside, and is met by Raimon, standing there, in his usual maroon armor.

“Raimon.” Lotor nods.

The other man nods back, ever so slightly.

“I suppose this is where Zarkon is sending all those he wishes to punish. Though, I should hope I never do something to earn as much ire from him as you.”

Raimon does not reply.

Lotor sighs. “Ever the quiet one, my friend. Very well, take me to my mother.”

“Yes sir.”

***

Lotor and Raimon step inside a room, where the far wall is one long viewport. The viewport is built into the inside of the station’s ring, giving it a clear view of the teleduv and the robeasts hovering over it. Honvera stands in front of the port, looking out, unmoving.

“Mother.” Lotor greets.

“Son.” She replies. “How did it go with your father?”

“He didn’t throw anything at me, so I suppose that’s something. Just told me to get out of his way, and stay like that. Almost makes me more worried, that he didn’t do something worse.”

Honvera pauses before replying. “...I see. Well that aside, your timing is impeccable. Come, we are about to start the next test.”

Lotor walks over to stand next to his mother. “How goes your mad plan to open the quintessence field with the teleduv?”

“So far the readings have been promising. By using the robeasts, and by extension, the altean pilots, we can more easily control the rate of quintessence draw.”

Violet lighting begins to crackle along the teleduv’s surface, then begins to arc out to connect with the robeasts.

“...does it hurt the pilots?” Lotor asks after a moment.

“Yes. I suppose it does.” Honvera says unconcerned. “I believe it only takes a few hours to recover, however. No one’s died yet, so it shouldn’t be a resource concern.”

Lotor winces, but his mother doesn’t seem to notice. The crackling grows more intense. A glyph appears at the center of the teleduv.

“...what is the purpose of today’s test?” He eventually asks.

“I’m trying to solve a rather interesting conundrum.”

“Interesting how?”

“After the first few tests, the outputs suddenly changed. It appears as though there is some kind of block in the quintessence field. Like a large stone obstructing a stream. Quintessence still pours out, but not nearly as much as we should be getting.”

“What could be causing that?”

“My best hypothesis, is that there is something physical stuck in the quintessence field, and due to the nature of reality, it is trying to slip out every time we open the teleduv.”

“Something physical…” Lotor muses. “...could they have tried to make another-”

“Mistress! Something is coming through!” A voice crackles over comms.

Honvera narrows her eyes. “Expand the portal, and run stabilization. I don’t want it-”

There is an explosion of violet light, sending several of the robeasts flying. The violet lightning grows more erratic, striking out at the station itself, causing the whole facility to shudder.

“Shut it down!” Lotor calls out.

“It does not appear to be responding.” Honvera replies, fingers flying across a holographic keypad.

The crackling grows more intense. Lotor grabs his mother’s arm and makes as if to run for it.

Then, all at once, the energy crackles to nothing, an all is dark. Honvera tests the comms.

“Report.” She says.

“Damage was minimal, mistress. Just a power surge from all the quintessence. We’ll have things back up and running soon.”

“The pilots?” Lotor asks.

“Two dead. Rest are in critical condition. Reeling them in now.” The operator replies.

Lotor’s eye twitches at that.

“Prioritize getting me a visual.” Honvera says. “I want to see what we just dragged into the physical universe.”

After a few moments, lights from the station come on, illuminating the thing in the center of the teleduv.

A mecha of dark armor, with a long segmented tail, hangs limply in space.

“What…” Lotor says carefully. “...is that?”

***

Lance runs through a crowd of Coalition and Garrison personnel. They are standing in a crowd around Keith and the other Paladins.

“...the Atlas is going to be flanked by Garrison fighters. Now remember, as good as you guys think you are, you’re still at a technological disadvantage, so don’t take unnecessary risks…”

“Sure cutting it close huh?” Hunk whispers.

“Just psyching myself up, before the battle, as usual.”

Hunk gives him an odd look.

“What? Do you not do that?”

“I usually just pretend we aren’t actually fighting until the last minute. That way I don’t have time to think about how terrifying it really is.” Hunk shrugs.

“...Meanwhile our Galran allies will attack from another angle. Finally us Paladins in the Lions will attack from a third angle. This should convince them we really mean business. Meanwhile Pidge will be commencing her operation. ONce this begins, Lance and Hunk will board the ship as well, but in less covert fashion...”

“He means awesomely.” Lance whispers.

“I think he means make a bunch of noise.” Hunk corrects.

“This, hopefully, will keep them for looking for other intruders, by giving them a false lead. After that, it's just a matter of waiting for Pidge to get the data…”

Lance shoots a look over at Pidge, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

“...destroy as much as you can on the way out. And, I’ll say this again, but no unnecessary risks. The more people we lose today, the fewer we have to fight Zarkon tomorrow. That’s all. To your posts.”

The group disperses, to head for their respective ships. Lance however, instead of heading to his own Lion, walks over to Pidge.

“So, going in there all commando style, gonna steal the glory from the rest of us, eh?

“Glory’s got nothing to do with it. It's just the logical move.” Pidge shrugs.

“Riiight.” He smirks. “I think you just decided video games aren’t enough you gotta beat me at being a hero, right?”

“Oh sure, we’re all just trying to beat you Lance, but you’re just too hard to one up. Really we all feel inadequate with you around.” She rolls her eyes exaggeratedly.

Lance chuckles. “Glad someone recognizes me…” his expression suddenly get serious. “But uh...be careful.”

“Where’s this coming from?”

“It's just...these guys are dangerous. Really dangerous.” He glances down at his hand, as if expecting it to star shaking. “ I wouldn’t want…” He shakes his head, and his smile reappears “...I wouldn’t want to have to come rescue you. It’d be really embarrassing for you.”

Pidge snorts. “Yeah, sure.” She moves to enter her Lion, then hesitates. “I’ll...try to look out.”

Lance nods. “Good luck, then.”

Then, he turns around, and heads over to his own Lion. Pidge watches him go. After a moment she shakes her head, and steps inside the Green Lion.

***

Prince Lotor watches, as the strange mecha is laid down inside a hanger on the station. Workers using laser-torches make vain attempts at opening the hull.

“Where do you think it came from?” Lotor asks.

“I do not know.” Raimon replies.

“Best guess then.”

“I have no guesses.”

Lotor narrows his eyes at the other Paladin. “My father really did a number on you didn’t he?”

Raimon remains silent. Lotor sighs.

“Wherever it came from, hopefully what's left of the pilot or onboard computer will tell us more.”

“What is that?” A voice suddenly says.

Lotor and Raimon turn to see Sendak approaching.

“Sendak.” Lotor smiles. “What brings you around here?”

“Routine inspection of the contingent I left here. I heard something of note had been found but…” He gazes up at the mecha. “...this is something.”

“It is, isn’t it.” Lotor muses. “I must say I like the color choice…”

“Hold a tick.” Sendak says, as his communicator beings pinging. “This is Sendak, report.”

“Sir! Enemy activity detected!”

Lotor perks up, with interest.

“Numerous enemy ships on a course towards our location.” The office goes on.“It seems they are approaching the compound in force. Lions have been spotted but no Voltron as of yet.

Sednak furrows his brow. “ETA?”

“Just under a varga.”

“Understood. Launch defenses, and prepare for assault.”

“I will be in my Lion. I suggest you do the same. Perhaps a good performance here could...improve your situation.” Sendak says carefully.

Lotor hesitates. “...no. Don’t get in your Lion.

Sendak quirks his head looking confused. “...forgive me, Prince Lotor, but you are not currently in command here.”

“Fine. Take it as a suggestion, then. I don’t think we should go out. At least not yet. If we wait to show ourselves, we’ll get a better hand on what their goal here is. More than that, we’ll be able to upset their rhythm. They launched a surprise attack on this station. Seems only fitting we should return the favor.”

Sendak stares at Lotor for several long moments, before finally nodding. “Your words are wise, Prince. Let us try this plan…”

***

The forces of the Voltron Coalition open fire on the ring-shaped space station. Defense turrets and galra cruisers return fire. Swarms of fighters on both sides pour over the battlefield. Four of the Lions of Voltron tear through the battle. Energy-fire from all sides turns the whole scene into a lightshow.

Pidge ignores all this, engaging her Lion’s cloaking ability and disappearing from sight. She guides Green in a careful trajectory, weaving around and out of the way of all the other ships, friendly or enemy.

She makes it all the way to the station’s surface without incident, touching down on the dark metal.

“On the surface, gonna see about getting inside, now.” She reports.

“Roger that. Lance, Hunk, time to move.” Keith orders

“You got it!” Lance yells over the comms. “Gonna hit these guys so hard they crawl back to Zarkon and tell ‘em stories of ‘Lance, the Greatest Paladin that ever lived!’”

Pidge smiles and shakes her head.

The Red and Yellow Lions tear their way through the battlefield, aiming for a hangar bay that fighters are streaming out of.

Pidge picks her way long the surface of the station, still unnoticed. She comes upon a hatch built into the top of the station.

“Found the maintenance hatch.” She reports, inserting a wire from her wrist into a side-panel. “Just making sure they don’t notice me entering…” The hatch pops open. Pidge slips inside, and the hatch closes after, shrouding her in darkness. There is a hiss as the compartment fills with air. “...I’m in.”

***

Lance and Hunk glide their Lions inside the hangar bay, mouth beams blasting all the way. Dozens of enemy fighters are destroyed, and galra sentries go flying.

After a few more rounds of shooting, they both land.

Lance dashes out of his Lion, rifle at the ready. “We just made our entrance. And with a lot of style, too.”

“Good work, now go make some noise.” Keith says.

Lance and Hunk share a look and nod. Hunk hefts his bayard cannon, and opens fire on a door at the end of the room. After a few shots, it crumples, and falls to the floor. They dash through, to find a squad of sentries running up to meet them.

“Well buddy guess it’s just you and me against the world.” Lance says, taking aim.

“More like against the universe.” Hunk corrects.

“I guess so. Thinking about running away, yet?”

Hunk blasts apart a pair of sentries before they can get shots off. “Not a chance.”

“I thought so.” Lance smiles.

***

Pidge sneaks down a long corridor. She stops just before an intersection of hallways. Across the gap, on the next wall over there is an access panel. She starts to move across, glancing around the corner, before jumping back into cover.

A pair of sentries walk down a parallel hallway. She waits several moments before peeking around the corner again. Nothing. She runs across and plugs into the panel. She types on a holographic pad for several moments before a light turns green, and her wrist projects a virtual image of the station’s inner layout. She zooms in on one location.

“Central servers. Got ya.” Pidge smirks, unplugging from the panel.

She resumes her creeping down the hallway.

***

Lotor watches the battle being waged outside. The Black and Blue Lions still tear their way through fighters and cruisers. On the other side, Atlas is wreaking havok on the station’s defenses. Yet another feed shows Hunk and Lance shooting their way through the inside of the station.

“Tell my mother and Raimon to fly out and engage the Lions outside.” Lotor says. “I assume you should be able to handle those two making a mess inside?”

“Do not insult me Lotor.” Sendak scoffs. “But even still, where will you be?”

“I’m going to go confirm a hunch.” Lotor says, walking out of the command room. “If I’m wrong it's galran ale on me for you and all the men.”

“Very well, sir.” Sendak says a slight smile touching his lips. “Happy hunting.”

“And you.”

***

Keith and Allura fly in a tight pair, keeping the fighters off each other, and blasting lines through the enemy fighters.

“Two more on your six!” Keith warns.

Allura fires the Blue Lion’s tail laser, taking out one. Keith finishes off the other.

“Thanks!”

“Don’t thank me just yet. We got trouble.”

Sure enough, the Dark Blue and Green Lions fly out from the station, opening fire. Keith and Allura dive into evasive maneuvers, narrowly dodging the blasts.

“Let me take the Blue one. We have unfinished business.” Allura says narrowing her eyes.

“Careful.” He warns, letting out a blast that is aimed at the Green Lion, but is evaded. “These guys are no joke.”

“I’m well aware.” Allura says, dodging a blast. She fires her sonic cannon, to stun the other Lion. She follows up with a mouth beam, but despite the previous blast, her opponent is still able to move enough to make the shot only grazing.

The other Lion then replies, by firing with his own mouth blast, forcing Allura to dodge into his second shot from his tail.

Allura shakes off the hit, and punches her Lion back into motion, facing off against the Dark Blue Lion.

***

Pidge creeps up to a corner, around which is a short hallway, ending in a door guarded by two sentries. She notes these on her map. Biting her lip, she dismisses the map, and pulls out her bayard. She takes a deep breath, then dashes around the corner.

The sentries notice immediately, raising their weapons to fire. Pidge is faster. She fires her bayard, it's blade taking the first in the chest. She reels in the line at the same time, dragging herself and the sentry towards each other. An energy shot from the other one flies over her head, narrowly missing. Pidge kicks off the first sentry, leaving it a broken mess on the floor, and freeing her bayard to stab at the second. It's weapon cleaves in two. The sentinel tries for a punch at Pidge’s head, but she slips under it and drives her bayard’s blade upwards. The sentinel’s head shears off, and it collapses.

Pidge admires her handywork, giving a self satisfied smile. Hacking through the door takes only a moment, and she steps into the room beyond.

Long columns, from floor to ceiling, with blinking lights fill the room. The central and thickest columb is the one Pidge moves for. She immediately sets to work on the terminal built into the side of it.

“Guys, I’m in the server room now. Should only be a few minutes now.” She says, fingers typing quickly.

“G-” there is the sound of an explosion over the comms. “Good work!” Keith manages to get out. “Just make it quick, these guys are putting up a fight!”

“Will do.” Pidge pulls a drive out from inside her armor, and inserts it into the server. “Gonna copy everything I can down. Until then…” She opens one of the files on the terminal display. “...let’s see if we can’t take a peek as what you guys have been up to…”

Pidge opens another file, scanning it before closing it and opening another. She does this for several minutes, before finding one file that is different. When she opens this one, her eyes immediately widen with shock. She nearly falls as she stumbles back from surprise.

Sincline. Lying in a hanger, held in the very same station she stands inside.

“I take it that you recognize that machine.” A voice says from behind.

Pidge whirls around, throwing up her bayard.

Standing barely two dozen feet away, is Prince Lotor.

“When did you…?” Pidge says with confusion.

“Oh, I was here from the start. Just, waiting for you to show up.” Lotor explains causally. “To be honest, my first thought was that you’d go after the power. But, that’d be too well guarded, with too man redundancies. After I thought about it for a moment, I knew that you’d have to actually be here for information.”

Pidge’s eyes flicker to the drive, still slotted into the server.

“Tell me little one. That mecha there, do you know where it’s from? I’m betting you do. If you tell me outright I promise to make sure my mother doesn’t torture you too badly. I might even let you live after that, though perhaps that would not be much of a mercy. My mother does do nasty work when it suits her-”

Pidge dives, snatching the drive free and rolling across the floor. Lotor summons his bayard, cracking against the spot she just vacated. The energy whip slashes a glowing tear in the column, having missed Pidge by inches. Lotor cracks the whip again, and Pidge only barely dives behind another column in time.

“Prepare to disengage!”She yells over the comms. “I was discovered, evacing with as much data as I could get!” Then, as an afterthought, she adds. “Keith, Allura, blow a hole in the hangar on the third quadrant, and see what’s inside. You’ll understand when you see.”

“Roger that.” Keith replies.

“Wait, discovered?” Lance asks. “You need help evacing?”

“Negative! Evac with Hunk as planned!” Pidge is forced to dive again, as Lotor’s whip slices the column she was hiding behind in half.

She makes for the door, sprinting as fast as she can. Lotor’s whip slashes across the floor in front of her, cutting off her exit. She spins, bringing her bayard up and firing at Lotor. He smiles, shifting his bayard into it’s curved sword form, and knocks the green blade aside. Then he launches himself at Pidge, blade swinging. She tries to dodge, but the blade connects.

Pidge cries out as her helmet is knocked from her head, and she tumbles across the floor.

“What was that? Pidge? Pidge!” A suppressed voice says from her helmet lying several feet away.

Pidge looks up, fear in her eyes, as the towering Lotor approaches.

“...you realize, of course, that I cannot let you leave with that data.” He explains, twirling his sword experimentally. “Not that I was ever going to let you leave anyway…”

***

“Pidge? Pidge!” Lance repeats over the comms. “Pick up, quiznak it!”

No response. He shoots Hunk a worried look. He opens his mouth as if to speak, but is cut off when a door ahead of them is blown out of the wall. Sendak steps through, staring them down. Hunk and Lance raise their weapons, but no one yet fires yet.

“At last,” Sendak says. “I get to test myself against the Paladins of this realm. It is one things to fight in Lions, or Voltron itself. But there’s nothing quite like beating a man with your hands.” Sendak clenches his large robot hand into a fist, as if for emphasis.

“We should evac.” Hunk says.

Lance nods slowly. His gaze shifts away from Sendak, past him, deeper into the station’s bowles. Hunk notices this. He takes a breath, and turns back to Sendak.

“Go.”

“What?” Lance asks with confusion.

“I’ll keep this guy busy. Go find Pidge. Make sure she’s all right. And if she’s not, get her out of here in once piece.”

Lance hesitates only a moment before nodding. “...okay.”

Sendak laughs. “That assumes I will let you do such a thing.”

“Go!” Hunk repeats,

Lance does, dashing down the hall, towards the doorway Sendak blocks. Sendak throws out his fist, hurling the metal hand right for Lance. It is blasted off course by a shot from Hunk’s cannon. Hunk fires the next shot at Sendak himself. Sendak activates his bayard in shield mode, blocking Hunk’s blasts. Lance dashes past Sendak, not even giving the galra a second glance.

Sendak turns to throw his arm at Lance’s back. His shot his thrown off balance when something slams into his shield, pushing him back. Sendak looks up to see Hunk, standing there with a large hammer having replaced his cannon.

“I’m not going to let you stop my friend.” Hunk says, hefting the hammer.

“Interesting…” Sendak says, pacing back and forth. “...and do you really think you’re strong enough? Can you can defeat me with what pitiful power you have? You’d be better off running. At least you’d live a little longer.”

Hunk sighes. “You know, not so long ago, I might’ve taken you up on that. But here’s the thing: I realized that bad guys like you don’t just go away. Someone’s gotta step in your way. Someone’s got to stop you. And today, that’s me. No one else is gonna do it, so I’ll have to. To answer your question, I don’t know if I’m strong enough. Let’s find out.” Hunk raises the hammer to his shoulder.

Sendak grins hungrily. “Yes...show me your strength…” He turns his bayard into an axe. The two Paladins of the Yellow Lions charge each other.

***

Lance dashes for a group of galra guards. He shoots the first two sentinels down before they can even react. His third shot misses, but the following one lands, taking another sentinel in the head. The fourth and final guard’s shot glances off Lance’s energy shield, as he crashes into the guard. They tumble and Lance comes up on top. He shifts his bayard into a sword, and holds it to the guard’s neck.

“Oh, a living one, not just a bot. Good.” Lance says, noticing the flesh of the guard’s mouth and chin from the gap in the helmet’s chin. He presses his sword against its throat, making the guard swallow in fear.

In a very cold voice Lance says: “Tell me where the server room is, and you’ll get to keep your head where it is.”

***

Keith and Allura spins their Lions around, avoiding fire from the enemy Lions, while letting out blasts of their own. They try disengaging from the fight, but the Dark Lions give them no opportunity to escape.

“Dangit, we can’t shake these guys!” Keith calls out.

“What about that part of the station Pidge told us to find?” Allura asks.

Keith looks out at the enemy Lions, as if deciding what to do. He moves to intercept the Dark Blue Lion, which is gunning for Allura. The Dark Green Lion fires a crackling Violet shot from its mouth to stop Keith. He evades easily, but oddly the bolt of energy, once past him, loops back around to strike Keith’s Lion in the back.

Meanwhile, Allura fires three quick shots in succession, all of which are deftly avoided by her enemy. The Dark Blue LIon blasts Allura, sending her flying back.

The two Dark Lions are moving in, about to strike on their weakened foes. Before they get a chance, the Atlas flies in blasting both sending them tumbling backwards.

“Need a hand?” Shiro’s voice asks.

“Sure can!” Keith replies. “Just hold them as long as you can.”

“Roger that.” Shiro says raising both of the Atlas’ fists.

He flies up to meet the now charging Dark Lions, while Keith and Allura slip away, to further down the station.

***

Pidge dodges out of the way of Prince Lotor’s latest attack. He chases after her, wicked sword in hand, an even wicked her smile on his face. It is all Pidge can do to avoid getting her head taken off. Her armor already features many scores, where the blade has grazed her. Panic is in her eyes.

She keeps glancing back at the doorway, searching for a path to escape. She makes as if to duck around to the side of Lotor, then jumps back to dash around the other side.

Lotor sees through this, and puts a kick into Pidge’s gut that throws her halfway across the room. He back slams into the side of a server column. Pidge seethes with pain. Despite this, she manages to push herself up, and takes aim with her bayard. She fires at the open doorway, the green tethered blade sailing for freedom.

Lotor knocks the blade off course with his sword, then with his free hand grabs hold of the tether, and yanks hard. Pidge is dragged across the floor, sliding to a stop just in front of Lotor. He smiles down at her.

Pidge tries to scramble back up to her feet. Lotor slams a foot down into her chest, holding her there. The blow makes her cough and gasp for air.

“Finally.” Lotor sighs. “You Paladins of this reality are so slippery. Just when we think we’ve got a hold on you, you manage to worm yourselves away. Pathetic.”

While he is talking Pidge tries to drive the tip of her bayard into Lotor’s leg. Before she can he slams his other foot down onto her arm, pinning it.

“Do you know how much trouble you lot have cause me?” He sneers. “How many of my atleans I sacrificed, by sending them on futile attacks? How much of my father’s ire I earned with the failure at your hands? It's worse that you aren’t even very competent. You;re just children, playing at an adult’s game. We should have finished you off when we had the chance.”

“These...these children are gonna kick your ass!” Pidge glares up with defiance.

“I don’t think so.” Lotor says, lifting his sword.

He drives the blade down into Pidge’s shoulder. She screams. Blood starts to pool where the blade enters her suit. Pidge tries to squirm, but Lotor presses his foot down harder on her chest, making her gag. He leans down, so their faces are only about a foot away.

“You shouldn’t have come here alone. Maybe then you’d have stood a chance. Probably not, though. But to your credit, at least the only screams you’ll hear, when my mother questions you, will be your own.”

Pidge, with tears in her eyes, looks up with absolute terror at Lotor.

Suddenly, there is the sound of an energy rifle being fired.

Lotor leaps back, pulling his sword free as he does. A bolt of blue energy blasts into the column, where Lotor’s head had been just a moment prior.

“Don’t. You. Touch. HER!”

Lance stands in the doorway, rifle held in his grip, fury in his eyes.

“...Lance.” Pidge says with shock. She winces throwing a hand over the bloody wound on her shoulder. “L-Lance get out of here! He’ll kill you!”

Lotor smiles. “Your friend knows what she’s talking about. Go on then. Abandon her. Leave her to-”

Lance fires again, aiming for the Prince’s skull. Lotor blocks the shot with the edge of his sword. “...I was really hoping you’d do that.”

Lotor charges. Lance fires two more shots, both blocked by Lotor’s blade. Cursing, Lance lowers his rifle, and shifts it into a sword. Then, letting out a battle-cry, he meets Lotor’s charge.

Blades clash, throwing up sparks in their wake. Lance pushes the offense, throwing rage-fueled blow after rage-fueled blow. Lotor blocks, deflects and dodges each of the strikes. Lance continues to hammer down on Lotor, but the Prince moves like water, with none of the blows coming close to hitting.

“You really don’t know how to use that thing do you?” Lotor asks, amusement written on his face.

“Shut up!” Lance barks, swinging to take Lotor’s head off, but meeting only air.

Lotor deflect’s Lance’s next strike, an overextended thrust, and slams a fist into the boy’s ribs in reply. Lotor then steps forward, and lands a slice on Lance’s wrist. Lance retreats back, clutching his arm. He looks down to see his bracelet, the one Pidge made, in two broken pieces on the floor. He looks back up at Lotor, not masking the utter rage in his gaze, and raises his sword again,

“Lance stop!” Pidge cries out, struggling to sit up. “You can’t beat him! He’s been fighting with that sword longer than we’ve been alive!”

“You think I don’t know that!?” He retorts. “But like hell I’m going to use that as an excuse to leave you!”

Pidge can only stare, unable to muster a reply.

Growling, Lance charges at Lotor again. This time, the Prince does no playing around. Every strike Lance throws Lotor counters with one of his own. Lance thrust forward. Lotor parries, and lands a hit on his Lance’s arm. Lance swings overhead. Lotor blocks, and slams a foot into Lance’s chest. Lance tries a wild trio of blows, Lotor deflects each of them, before slicing into Lance’s side. Lance steps back, wincing from the shallow, but painful wounds.

Lotor pounces, unleashing an onslaught of sword strikes at Lance’s guard. Lance is barely able to defend, only partially blocking most of the strikes, and earning multiple scores along his armor, and some biting into the skin below. Lance is forced to retreat backwards, as Lotor’s flurry does not let up.

“Is this really all you can do!?” Lotor demands, sharp teeth revealed in a grin. “Is this all that this reality’s Paladins can offer!?”

Lotor smashes Lance’s sword to the side, and drives his own blade into Lance’s leg. Lance cries out, stumbling back into a column. He brings his sword back up, in a weak guard. Lotor chuckles and shakes his head. The Prince raises his sword and motions for Lance to come forward.

“Come on. Face your end like a man. I only need one of you.”

Narrowing his eyes Lance moves forward. He nearly stumbles, from the leg wound, as he strikes out.

“Pathetic.” Lotor knocks the blow aside.

Gritting his teeth, Lance strikes again.

“Weak.” Lotor uses a lazy backhand to fling Lance’s strike off course.

Yelling, Lance launches himself forward, for one more swing.

Lotor moves to sidestep the blow. “Honestly, you really are-”

Pidge fires her bayard along the floor, tether blocking Lotor’s feet.

Lotor stumbles, and for a moment his guard opens. Lance’s sword swings forward, slicing across one of Lotor’s eyes.

The Prince howls with back, stumbling back. He falls to his back, clutching his wounded eye, fury filling the other.

“Let’s go!” Pidge yells, running over to Lance. He stumbles, but she supports him as they dash for the exit.

Lotor lashes out, shifting his sword to a whip, but he just misses them, as they slip out the door.

“We’ve...gotta get out of here…” Lance says, wincing as he forced to run on his bad leg.

“This way!” Pidge say guiding them down a side hallway. She leads them to a large panel on the lower half of the wall. “Blast it.”

Lance complies, raising his bayard, shifting it to a rifle and firing. It blows apart the panel, showing a small vent beyond.

“Service tunnel. Short cut.” She explains in a tired voice. Lance nods weakly.

Clutching to each other, they leap down.

***

Keith and Allura blow apart the blast door holding the hanger close. They guide their Lions inside.

“Now what could be so important that...oh.” Keith says, seeing what lies in the hangar.

“It...it can’t be…” Allura gasps.

Sincline sits in the hangar. Galra workers scatter at the presence of the Lions, leaving the mecha behind.

“Lotor. Our Lotor. They...they freed him. Why? How?” Allura asks.

“Dunno, and at the moment, don’t care. Come on.” Keith flies his Lion up to Sincline.

“What are you doing?"

“Taking him with us. Friend or foe, we can’t let Zarkon use Lotor for whatever he’s got planned. Get the other arm.” Keith says, locking his Lion’s mouth around one of the mecha’s arms.

Allura hesitates for a long moment, staring at the Dark metal of Lotor’s mecha. “...you’re right.” She finally says. “We can’t leave him.”

She moves her Lion over to grab onto Sincline’s other arm, and together they haul the mecha out of the hangar.

***

Lance and Pidge move down the hallway, each keeping the other from stumbling and falling.

“...sorry about that bracelet you made for my hand. I broke it.” Lance laughs hollowly.

“I don’t care about that idiot!” Pidge scolds. “You almost just got yourself killed! What’d you do that for!?”

“You’re one to talk.” He scoffs. “And here I thought you said you’d be perfectly fine by yourself.”

“I’m serious!” She elbows him in the ribs. Both of them wince. “Sorry.” She apologizes.

“It's fine. What’s a little more pain, on top of the rest?”

Pidge gets a sick look. “...I mean it, though. Why did do that. Come rescue me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“That’s not an answer. We had the mission. I told you guys you should all get out. But then, not only did you come after me, but you tried to fight Lotor! With a sword! How insane do you have to be to do that!?”

“Oh come on, Pidge. As if I’d leave another Paladin behind.”

“And that’s just it?” Pidge scoffs. “You’d be and idiot and try to save any one of us in that situation? It’d be the exact same, and you’d do the same dumb thing?”

Lance seems to think about it. Pidge studies him as he ponders.

“...no.” He says finally. “I mean, yeah I’d still try to save them if it were Hunk or Allura or Keith. That’s just the kind of guy I am. But, no, it wouldn’t be the same.”

“Wh...what do you mean?”

“I mean, that when I saw you sitting there, blood on your armor, Lotor standing over you, I lost it. I just...I couldn’t stand the idea that I’d lose you.”

Pidge looks up, eyes widening.

He goes on:“In that moment, no one, not Lotor, not an army of galra soldiers, not even Zarkon himself wouldn’t have stopped me from trying to save you. You are the one person I can’t lose no matter what.” He looks down at her, as if having realized something for the first time.

For a moment, they just stand there staring at each other. Then, they both blush and avert their gazes. Pidge gaze flickers back to Lance, studying him one more time. She sighs.

“...dang you Matt.”

“Huh?” Lance asks.

“Nothing.” Pidge shakes her head. “I just...know something, now.”

***

Several minutes later, Lance and Pidge shamble past the scene of Hunk and Sendak’s fight. The two combatants slam powerful blows against each other, both looking beaten and weary. Despite this, Sendak is smiling.

“So you do have power! And here I thought there were no worth adversaries in this reality!”

“Well...sorry to cut things short then…” Hunk backs away to his retreating friends.

“It's not over yet!” Sendak sneers. He pulls back his fist to strike, and throws it towards Hunk, and the other retreating Paladins.

Hunk stands directly in front of it, and shifts his bayard into a shield. The fist bounces off. Sendak doesn’t even look mad, as Hunk slams the door shut and destroys the panel

“What happened to you guys!?” Hunk asks as the run.

“Lotor.” Pidge winces. “He was waiting.”

“I…” Lance cringes as he steps too hard with his bad leg. “...had to come in and save the say, as usual.”

Hunk eyes them warily but doesn’t question them further. He runs inside Yellow, while Lance and Pidge stumble into Red.

“Drop me off at Green.” Pidge says.

“Can you fly like you are?” He asks, nodding to her shoulder.

“I’ll...be fine.” She says, covering the wound.

Reluctantly, Lance nods, and pulls the Blue Lion out of the hangar bay. He dodges the odd fighter as he brings Lion around the station, to where Pidge directs.

Pidge hits a button on her wrist and the Green Lion appears. She moves to leave the Blue Lion, then stops. Then, she spins around and hugs Lance from the back of his chair.

“...thank you, Lance. For saving me.” She whispers.

Lance blushes and lets out a strangled cough. “You uh...you saved me too. So, really I think we’re even.”

“I...guess so.”

Then, before either of the can say anything more, Pidge pulls back, and turns to leave. She jumps out of one Lion, and into the other.

Back inside her own Lion, Pidge immediately winces as she tries to move the throttle with her bad arm. “Gonna be a fun ride home…” She opens her other hand, and allows a slight smile. She still holds the drive.

“Keith...I got it. Mission was a success.”

Then, gritting her teeth, she pushes the Lion into motion.

She rejoins the rest of the now retreating Coalition forces. There is still some exchanging of fire, but the Coalition breaks away, and one by one, jump out of sight.

***

Prince Lotor watches them go. His right eye now shut, with a deep cut running through it. Sendak, Raimon and Honvera are also in the room, watching the display.

“Zarkon will not be pleased.” Sendak notes.

Honerva’s eye twitches ever so slightly at this comment.

“No...he wont.” Lotor turns around, facing the others. “Which is why I won’t be here when he arrives.”

“Running, Prince?” Sendak asks. “That is...unlike you.”

“Not running.” Lotor shakes is head. “But I’m not going back to him empty handed, either.”

“What then?” Honvera asks.

“I think...I’ll have to go after them myself.” Lotor says, as if coming to a decision. “We know where they are now, and I think I’ve begun to understand how they think. It’ll take a subtler touch. I don’t think I’ll manage it alone. They seem to work well together...” He rubs his new scar, absently. “...Raimon?”

“...yes?” The armored man replies.

“Will you come with me?”

The man does not reply.

“Sendak is occupied with the armies. My mother is occupied elsewhere. It's just you and me. The two ones Zarkon hasn’t deemed fit more much else.”

Still, Raimon remains silent.

“Oh come on. I know you’ve got your dedication to Zarkon, but he hasn’t give you orders yet. If he hasn’t given you orders you can’t defy him, right?”

Raimon gives the barest of nods.

“Then come with me. The two of us, we can show Zarkon why he needs us, what we bring to the table. We might even deliver the critical blow to our enemy in the process. What do you say, old friend?”

Raimon seems to hesitate, as if torn. After a long pause he finally says in a quiet voice: “...I will join you.”

“Good.” Lotor says, narrowing his good eye. “Let’s go hunting.”

#plance #pigdance #pance #garden #voltron #lance #pidge #hunk #lotor #prince lotor #season eight #fixitfic #fix it fic #voltron legendary defender #katie holt #lance mcclain #theplanciestepisodeyet

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cyangarden · 5 years

Text

Not Anymore?

An S8 AU (full) of misunderstanding between Pidge and Lance. Kinda angsty but I tried it to be as fluffy as I can. I’ve written this sometime ago in the PPD and I thought I’d share it here.

Lance and Allura still had a date however, they talked about what they should do afterwards, and they realized that it's the best for them that they shouldn't go any further but be best friends instead. Pidge still helped her get the dress using the KBP 26 she bought.

Lance made his way back home until his eyes caught a copy of KBP 26 and he decided to get it since he knew Pidge would like it (he still didn't know that she gave up her copy for them).

He then arrived at his home, carefully placing the game aside so he could give it to her before they leave, feeling excited about his surprise gift to her.

The next day arrived, Lance managed to talk to Pidge before she went away to prepare her stuff. He gave the game to her which surprised her because it's the same one that she bought and gave up for them.

Pidge was so joyful that she gave him a koala hug, causing him to blush. Lance enjoyed moments like this and secretly craved for more. Thankfully, they were facing away each other which helped hide his face.

Pidge then asked how the date went. She was surprised by answer because she found out that they decided to not go any further. She wanted to ask why (and more questions regarding it), but it still might be a delicate topic to him. She felt a bit relieved because maybe she would have the chance to be with Lance. Unknown to her, he was actually fine with the decision and maybe it was good that they had a realization during that moment.

They eventually went on their own ways to prepare themselves to leave Earth again

While Pidge was walking back to her house, she just realized that Lance might've found out what she did for them and maybe this was his way of thanking her. However, it just coincided with what Lance did and he still didn't know about the dress.

Skip a few days later while they're in Atlas and she finally had setup the game, so she can play it with him. Lance was more than glad to accept her invitations and he frequently visited her, playing the games and just spending more time with her

However, it became less common for them as the challenges they faced were harder.

Pidge realized what was happening and tried to apologize to Lance for not spending time with him, but he understood the situation and told her that she shouldn't even apologize.

He told her that he's going spend as much time as he can in hanging out with her after everything was done which came to a surprise to Pidge because she thought that he wants to spend time with his family

More time passed, and Nadia noticed that Lance was occasionally visiting Pidge's room. Nadia asked him why and he told her that he was playing KBP 26 with her. It astonished her since she saw Pidge giving up the game for Allura's dress and she asked Lance how they were able to do it.

Nadia: "You're playing KBP 26 with Pidge???" Lance: "Yep, you could play it with us if you want." Nadia: "I thought she gave that up to get Allura's dress." Lance (startled at what she said): "Wait, what?! She did that?" Nadia: "Yeah, she felt a bit sad when she did it at the time." Lance: "Oh.... oh." Nadia (felt that something was up with him so she excused herself): "Yeah... Anyway, I'll go with to my team now. See you later." Lance (his voice was weak): "T-thank you for telling me."

Lance felt touched and ashamed that she had to do that to help him be happy. He started thinking ways of making it up to her.

They were able to play together again, but he was quieter than usual. He kept thinking about what Nadia told him and Pidge noticed he was slumping a bit in the game. He just reasoned that it's just he's busy thinking about the harder challenges they would face.

They shortly stopped playing the game, so they could rest. Before Lance left her room, Pidge gave her a hug and told him that he could approach her if he needs anything. He told her that he’ll take that in mind.

A couple of days later, there was an incident with Pidge where she was almost taken in, but Keith was there to save her in time. Lance saw what happened and he felt a pang of jealousy hit him.

They got back to have Pidge checked if anything happened to her.

Lance wanted to approach Pidge and ask if she was fine, but Keith was already there accompanying her. He chickened out and went to his room, feeling dejected and hopeless.

He only came out of his room when a talk about the team/mission was needed or when he got some food.

Lance noticed that Keith was frequently visiting her, but he was doing it as a leader being responsible for his teammates, not for something else.

Lance mistaken Keith's actions as there was a thing going on between them and he felt defeated, thinking that he had hurt Pidge too with what she did for his happiness.

Maybe her recent actions meant that she finally moved on with him and she's treating him just like a best friend and nothing else.

Pidge was actually kind of annoyed that Keith was bugging her, but she understood him because he was just doing his role.

She wanted to see Lance and play KBP or other games with her though he was nowhere to be found.

He distanced himself from her to avoid feeling the pain of apparently losing the chance to be with her.

Lance kept reasoning that he's just training more to prepare of their final battle and needing more rest, though she didn't believe him, but she didn't press it any further.

Lance’s interactions with Pidge were just short and he did her best to not be rude with her. She was saddened because she observed that he's becoming more distant to her.

The team finally defeated Honerva and the Galra forces, all of them came back in one piece. Everyone was happy that it's all over now.

However, Pidge and Lance felt that there's still something else empty, but they couldn't piece it together yet.

They arrived back on Earth, celebrating the victory and spent time with their loved ones. A couple of days later, a ball was planned, and the team's presence was needed.

Pidge found herself wearing an elegant green dress that her mother helped her with it. Lance ended up staring at her beauty, leaving his mouth open in the process.

His thoughts were snapped when Veronica nudged him to move towards the stage to be recognized.

Pidge and Lance went up on the opposite sides of the stage, gazing into each other's eyes.

She was smiling at him, but he forced his and she noticed that something was up with him.

The Paladins gave a speech about the recent events, telling their experience, gratitude to everyone that helped, being glad that it's over, etc.

Lance was the last one to speak and in one part of his speech, he told everyone, "If there's a moment to make things right, please take it. You never know when you will be getting the chance to do it again but if you did, it might be already too late."

He actually alluded his situation with Pidge, but no one seemed to notice it, even her.

The celebration commenced, and everyone spread out to talk with one another.

Lance got himself a drink and stayed out of the crowd, trying to avoid interactions with anyone else. He then saw Pidge approaching Keith, but he didn't notice that Hunk was behind her.

He thought she was going to ask him for a dance, so he left the room, finding some space, trying his best to not think about them.

Pidge actually talked to Hunk to ask where Lance was then they tried approaching Keith to ask the same question, but she was leading ahead

The circumstance made it look like Pidge wanted to be with Keith because she was rushing to get to him.

She went out on her own, trying to find him because she wanted to talk and celebrate with him.

She then thought of going to the roof top and she saw him sitting on one of the ledges, staring at the stars.

Pidge: "Did you come up here to rock out?" Lance: "AHHH! Oh, it's just you, Pidge." [She sat beside him] Pidge: "What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be having fun with everyone else below?" Lance: "Just wanted some fresh air, that's all." Pidge: "Really? Lance: "Yeah... really."

They sat in silence, but she knew she had to talk about his recent behavior.

Lance was startled but he knew that there's no way out of this, so he came out and confessed everything. He first apologized for hurting her with what she did for his happiness. Then berating himself for being an idiot and not realizing his feelings for her.

He looked away from her, thinking that all of this was nothing because she probably moved on

Pidge was having none of this, so she just kissed him to shut him up. Lance surprised, but he kissed her back feeling relieved.

He then asked her about Keith and she told him that he's just doing his responsibilities as the leader and making sure everyone was okay. There was nothing going on between them in the first place. Lance was just glad that Pidge was still in love with him.

They went back in the room together with their hands held and ending their night with a dance that made everyone in awe.

#plance #pidgance #cyance #rainforest #flirtyrobot #smartwater #pance #lidge #pidgeance #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender

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svartalfhild · 6 years

Text

The Knight Stars - Session 12 - Faces and The Faceless

A summary of the shit that went down in last night’s DnD game. (Previous summaries found here.)

We began with The Knight Stars finally finishing their job as caravan guards, getting paid by Iggy, and rolling on through the shitty northern suburbs of Baldur’s Gate.

Mornath got a letter from Lander telling her that there has been no information flow out of Baldur’s Gate lately and that he’s sure that the government there has been infiltrated and compromised by The Faceless Court. He warned us to trust no one but each other, because even the people he knows within the city could be compromised.

As we rolled through the streets, we noticed a great air of tension and unease in the people and found out the reason why fairly quickly: the mysterious people in dark cloaks who appeared to be some sort of law enforcement, as they were arresting people.

The people they were arresting were mostly non-human, mostly tieflings, and most if not all casters of some kind.

Given that our party is a half-orc paladin, a drow wizard, two half-elf sorcerers, and a halfling bard, we were all understandably very nervous about all of this.

We quickly headed to the nearest shitty tavern, which was called The Broken Crow, a name that Mornath was not comfortable with, given that her correspondence with Lander is usually via crow and she’s just fond of crows in general. Feels like a bad omen.

Inside, we found a dark corner to occupy and began hashing out our plans for how we were going to conduct ourselves in the city to avoid attracting attention. We wrote most things down instead of saying them aloud to avoid the possibility of being overheard. Mornath conveyed everything important from Lander’s letter and we all agreed we were going to have to refrain from using any magic whatsoever, which meant that we had to rethink our disguises.

Heliodoro found out from the barkeep while getting drinks that the people in cloaks are called Witchfinders and they were brought in by the Dukes to “find demons” (lol fuck that’s a damn lie, ‘cause we have it on good authority that demons be whispering in the Dukes’ ears).

We deliberated for some time over how to get ourselves through the gate to the city proper, because it looked like the guards were going all TSA on people coming in. We eventually agreed that we should approach as honestly as possible and not try any funny business unless the guards start some shit.

We went back out to our wagon and Helio used make up to turn Cael pasty white like Mornath so now he can pretend to be her cousin.

We rolled on up to the gate, Heliodoro and Mornath driving and everyone else inside the wagon where no one could see them.

After a tense moment of telling the guards that we’re performers who’ll be staying for about a tenday, we were let through and made our way to a tavern called The Cup and Stone, where we secured a room at a reduced rate in exchange for our services as performers.

We then split off into two groups: Mornath, Heliodoro, and Cael, who went off to find help finally destroying the Evil Sword of Evil (and also to attend to some personal business of M+H’s), and Rue and Renestrae, who went to find the courier office to see if there were any letters from Renestrae’s father and to see if they could hear any gossip about the situation in town.

While there, Renestrae got her letter and a package of goodies.

On their way out, they had to pass an incoming Witchfinder and two guards. As they were passing, the Witchfinder turned around and grabbed Renestrae by the wrist, saying “I can smell the magic on you, demon”. Rue freaked out and tried to tell him that he was mistaken, but then he grabbed the amulet hanging around Renestrae’s neck and pulled it off. The half-elf we knew dissolved away to reveal an ash grey tiefling and the Witchfinder ordered the guards to arrest her.

END. FUCKING. SCENE. WE ALL LOSE OUR GODDAMN MINDS.

Now we all have to fight @throneoflaurels when we see her at a con in a couple weeks.

APPARENTLY RENESTRAE’S NAME ISN’T EVEN RENESTRAE AND RUE WOULD’VE FOUND OUT IF SHE’D PEEKED AT THE LETTER.

So anyway, that’s the cliffhanger we’re left to stew on for the next few weeks. Thanks, Laurel, and also @ostrichmonkey for bringing that drama into our lives. Good fucking content.

#The Knight Stars #KS summary #Dungeons and Dragons #Forgotten Realms #long post #if only standing ovations were possible over voice chat

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primrose-path-of-dalliance · 6 years

Text

(voltron s6 spoilers in the block quote)

this is an excerpt from a wip i started working on after voltron s5 came out....... and was written with the assumption that lotor would continue being a protag in s6 without....... all that.

so i’m tossing it out, but i’ll share it to purge myself—bc i don’t want to delete it completely and bc lotor didn’t completely blindside me, and i have to achieve catharsis somehow

For what seems like forever after she revives the Castle of Lions, Allura is surrounded by the paladins—her friends, babbling and excited, relieved at their survival and her success.

They all interrogate her about Oriande ("A truly marvelous place, I wish you all were able to see it"), the capabilities of her new powers ("I just received them! And really, it's more like knowledge than anything mystical"), what they feel like ("So far, as if something's been unlocked inside of me—as if I could find anything I need if I search hard enough").

Shiro is the most interested in these details, but once Allura has reached the limits of what she can explain, his expression grows distant and distracted. They leave him to his own devices; he gazes out, deep in thought, at the stars and ancient wreckage around them.

Pidge and Hunk puzzle over whether these new developments means Allura can invent new and powerful weapons like Voltron now if they just give her a bunch of metal ("Doubtful, but I appreciate the confidence," Allura says with a laugh), and how well alchemy relates to their understanding of science and engineering.

"Workable so far, but the lack of some analogues makes it pretty confusing," Pidge says.

Hunk shrugs. "I haven't dabbled super hard in it yet, but I think it's been pretty easy to work with on Castle stuff."

They wander off, debating about semantics Allura is perfectly happy being unable to grasp. She smiles and turns her full attention to Lance, who talks cheerfully about how "Pidge and Hunk get bat-crazy intense when they're hyperfocusing on the same thing together." He then dives into a story, which Allura listens to with fascination (and no small amount of confusion), about the time they attempted to create the most scientifically perfect muffin over spring break and had to clean the bathrooms for weeks because they nearly blew up the kitchen.

"What is a muffin?" she asks.

Lance grins. "Do not say that around Hunk unless you want to hear a varga-long lecture about batter and fruit."

As he proceeds to explain muffins, Allura realizes that sometime during the chaos, Lotor slipped out of sight. She quickly glances around, half-listening to Lance's attempt to translate flour, but in between the two of them, Coran running system checks on the Castle, and Shiro silently pondering space, Lotor has vanished.

She frowns.

Eventually, even Shiro departs after a brief, polite goodbye. Patiently and curiously, she listens to Lance describe the concept of a spring break before finally cutting him off.

"You should get some rest, Lance," she says. "You look like you need it."

"Are you saying I look terrible?" he replies with mock outrage.

Allura smiles. "Yes. After all, you did almost suffocate to death quite recently."

Lance's teasing smile morphs into one that acknowledges the truth of her statement. "Then you should get some rest, too, Allura." He touches her shoulder. "After all, you just flew into a white hole and faced down a giant lion guardian... spirit thing."

"Don't worry about me, Lance."

He gives her a look.

Allura laughs. "I promise I will get some rest. But you need it more than I do right now."

Lance smiles and acquiesces. "All right, Allura. See you later." He turns to leave but hesitates, immediately setting off alarm bells in Allura's head.

"Lance?" she asks.

He spins back around. He's frowning. "Don't mention this to anyone, but I think we need to talk later. In private."

Allura only grows more concerned, but she nods sharply. She desperately wants to ask about what—but knows that if she does, the conversation will not end there. Better to wait until later as Lance asks. "All right."

Lance leaves, and Allura sighs.

She needs to talk to Lotor. No rest for her yet, indeed.

"Coran?" she asks, approaching the man still performing tasks on the Castle interface. "Did you happen to see where Lotor wandered off to?"

"No, Princess," he replies. "Would you like me to find him for you?"

"Please."

Coran pulls up the Castle biorhythm sensors, and they both spot what must be his signature at the same time, blinking within the Castle Library.

"Thank you, Coran. I think Lotor must need some company today."

Allura turns to leave, but Coran's very serious "Princess, wait," has her halt before she can take another step. "Yes, Coran?" she asks.

He wrings his hands. "I've been meaning to talk to you about Lotor, Princess."

Allura turns back fully to frown at him.

As a child, Allura was wilder than any Altean crown princess had a right to be. She suffered many minders (and many minders suffered her), but the most persistent was always Coran, far out of his job description—her father's advisor, but in many ways also family.

When she hid from her frustrated tutor in the palace gardens, Coran was the one to pull her out of the bushes, to drag her to her rooms kicking and screaming with his nose turned up and a simple, "Just wait until your mother hears about this," to shut her up. When she got in a fight and had her nose twisted into a crooked mess, Coran was the first one at her side, handkerchief in hand to catch the blood. When she came home after her very first breakup, Coran was the first one to see her tears, his open arms the first ones she fell into.

Even before the war, they were close. Now, with Altea long gone, the only thing they have left of their people, their home, is each other. Allura can hardly blame him for being as protective of her as a mother yalmor is to her poglings.

Nevertheless, her frown is one of frustration. "Coran, I will be fine with Lotor. He has more than proven his devotion to peace. Besides," and she switches to a teasing tone, "I thought you liked him now. Didn't you two have a stimulating conversation a couple days ago about how the Empire romanticizes greed?"

"We did! I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he considered their treatment of the Balmera abominable—which indeed it is. To so abuse such a magnificent creature's life... For a Galra, he has a remarkable passion for sustainable practice." Coran shakes his head. "This is off-topic, Princess. What I wish to talk to you about has nothing to do with liking or disliking him."

Allura crosses her arms. "All right."

Coran sighs. "Princess, I don't mean to imply that your judgment is mistaken. I agree wholeheartedly that Lotor has been an ally to our cause."

"But?"

"But—and please allow me to explain fully, Princess—I don't think Lotor is on our side."

Allura (well-understood by Coran) resists the urge to object and frowns.

"I was your father's advisor for a very long time, Princess," Coran says. "A big part of my job was to judge the characters of those he worked with and give him my own assessments. I want to advise you. Especially since it seems that this relationship has become more than a simple political alliance."

"I'm listening."

"Thank you, Princess. From what I understand, being a team player does not come to Lotor naturally. His plans of attack, too, have been much different from our own. He is used to working on his own, for his own goals."

"His methods and goals are not that different," Allura says. "He told me the reason for his exile. He was resisting the Galra Empire's methods by cooperating equally with a planet he was assigned to rule over. He befriended them, learned their ways, worked side-by-side with them. When Emperor Zarkon discovered what he was doing, he ordered him to destroy the planet. He refused."

"What happened after?"

Allura presses her lips together. "He was dismissed. His father destroyed the planet. He couldn't stop him."

Coran nods. "I see. Princess, this story only assures me that the conclusions I've come to about him are correct. I do agree that Lotor is working with us in good faith, or at least not bad faith. But Lotor has also been working towards his own desires for centuries. Remember what happened when he had been the Emperor Pro Tem. He tricked us into recovering the comet ore. He tried to use our teleduv. And we still have the ship he created from the ore in our hangers."

Allura considers. The ore, a mysterious transreality material; the teleduv, a device that opened wormholes with Altean energy; the Sincline ship, built like Voltron from the transreality ore...

"He must have had some kind of plan to access the space between realities," she concludes. "But we already know that. He's asked us to do so in order to harvest quintessence and appease the Galra Empire. He wants to change them, Coran."

His father, too, wanted quintessence, the distrustful part of her whispers, not for the first time. And Honerva... who is almost certainly Haggar. Lotor thinks optimistically of his mother, but she led the research into the Rift. She could not possibly have been an innocent bystander before her death. She certainly was not afterwards.

"I believe he has good intentions, Princess. If he is lying about everything, it would be difficult indeed to fake the passion and knowledge he has right to our faces. But... do you really believe that this plan will satisfy the Empire, Princess?"

Allura opens her mouth but pauses. She then frowns, growing more concerned and disturbed by the second. "No," she admits. "No, I do not. The Empire is endlessly hungry for power. We may open a rift, but they will simply demand more. Perhaps for the rift to be widened, or for more to be opened. The one alone will be an incalculable risk if it breaches into another dimension. And there is still the matter of what they will use that quintessence for."

She remembers the war—how it began because Emperor Zarkon refused to close the rift destabilizing his planet, providing an entryway for unfathomably dangerous creatures, all for the sake of a power that provided a source of endless clean energy but enabled horrific tyranny. She remembers the alternate Alteans—a universe where she, with the best intentions, preached peace, and whose empire went on 10,000 years later to deprive living creatures of their free will for the sake of those ideals, twisted into grotesque mockery.

It doesn't matter if Lotor has good intentions, she realizes. It doesn't matter if something—something deep and inexplicable within her—wishes that he can be trusted. Allura must look beyond them.

"Lotor was Emperor Zarkon's son, Princess," Coran says, "and the prince of the Galra Empire. For better or worse, he has been indelibly shaped by his past. Perhaps he believed he could bring about change with endless quintessence; it could have been the perfect foundation upon which to build a coup. Perhaps he truly loves Altea, as much as one who has never seen it could. But the fact remains, Princess, that Lotor did not ally with us until the Galra Empire wanted him dead on sight, until he needed our shelter. Why?"

"Why, indeed," Allura murmurs.

"This is why I must insist, Princess, that you remain cautious with him." Coran places his hands on her shoulders, brow furrowed deep. "Lotor is not on our side. He has always been on his own. It is difficult to blame him for it; Emperor Zarkon was clearly far from a loving parental figure. I suspect he has had to fend for himself for 10,000 years with little if any support."

I envy you, growing up with King Alfor.

"I understand, Coran," Allura says, meeting his worried eyes. "I greatly appreciate your advice. And I believe you may be quite right. I promise I will be careful."

Coran smiles. "That's all I ask for, Princess."

He pulls her into a hug, warm and close, and Allura returns the gesture with the same smile.

#voltron #vld fanfic #allura #coran #lotor #prim post #prim writes #rip my hopes and dreams

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calligraphist-artemisia · 7 years

Text

I’ll Take Her Place (Chapter 3)

Summary: AU. When Allura breaks the news that she is to wed Prince Lotor in order to continue the peaceful relationship between Altea and Daibazaal, Pidge knows that she has to do something to change that. And so, with a little help, she comes up with a new plan. A better plan

Pairings: Keith/Pidge (main) ; Shiro/Allura (minor), Hunk/Lance (minor) ; Lotor/Allura (one-sided)

Chapter 1 - Chapter 4 - Masterpost

Also posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net

Chapter 3

It was too much for her to handle all at once.

The moment she was able, Pidge slipped away from the celebration, easing her way out onto the nearest balcony. The feel of cool air against her face was a welcome relief from the stuffiness of the room behind her, though the figure standing against the railing was an unexpected one.

Allura turned at the sound of someone approaching her. When she saw who it was, she gasped softly and rushed forward, wordlessly wrapping Pidge up into a warm, tight hug.

“Allura?” Pidge questioned.

“Thank you,” Allura's words were slightly muffled by Pidge's hair as the princess continued to hold onto her. “I nearly made a terrible mistake. Oh, Pidge...” She drew back, tears brimming in her eyes. “I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have listened to all of you!”

“You were only doing what you thought was right. And so am I,” Pidge said. “This... this isn't really how I thought it would go when I went to speak with King Alfor, but maybe it's a little better. After all, now neither of us has to marry Prince Lotor.”

Allura laughed, though it wasn't a truly joyful sound. She wiped the tears from her eyes before she spoke again. “Yes, I suppose that is the bright side to all of this. Though it still leaves us with the issue of you marrying someone you have yet to truly meet!”

Pidge stepped away to lean her forearms on the railing, casting her gaze out over the sprawling Altean gardens surrounding the Castle of Lions. “Prince Keithir... I don't know much about him.”

“Nor do I,” Allura admitted, joining her. “I've met him once before. He's very different from Lotor. It's difficult to explain. Just... please be careful, Pidge. There's one thing I know for absolute certainty, and that is that Lotor and Keithir do not get along. You may find yourself in the middle of their private war.”

“It might already be too late,” Pidge pointed out, looking over at her friend. “Allura, Lotor is determined to win you for himself and I just got in his way of that. Never mind that he's never stood a chance against Shiro.”

Allura went a little pink. “Me and – no, no, it wouldn't be proper. We just lead the team together. That's all. There's nothing going on between us.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “Allura, even Lance knows the two of you like each other as more than just friends.” She paused for a moment and decided to go for a more gentle approach when the princess went scarlet and avoided looking at her. “You love him. That's why I did this. You deserve to have that happiness.”

“You're going to make me cry again,” Allura said, her voice thick with emotion. “You.. you deserve to be happy too.”

The balcony door opened, ruining the mood between them as loud chatter spilled out into the peaceful evening air. Hunk stuck his head around the door.

“Hey, Shiro's looking for you two.” He frowned when he saw the state Allura was in. “Is everything okay?”

Allura nodded. “Yes. We'll be in in just a moment.”

Hunk hesitated, turning his gaze to Pidge. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine,” Pidge assured him. “I might need a few more ticks before I'm ready to go back.”

“Take all the time you need,” Allura told her, understanding that her friend needed more time than she was letting on. “If it's important, Shiro can contact you through the built-in comm in your armor.” She pushed away from the railing to walk over to the door. “Let's just say I sent you back to your room early. The celebration is nearly over anyway.”

Pidge smiled at her gratefully.

“Escort me back inside, Hunk?” Allura requested.

After one final worried look at Pidge, Hunk offered the princess his arm and led her back inside to where Shiro and Lance waited.

Pidge stood on the balcony for a few more minutes before deciding that being outside wasn't helping her. She needed to do something productive. She needed to be in Green's hangar, where all of her equipment and projects were waiting for her.

New goal in mind, Pidge set off without as much as a backwards glance at the festivities she was leaving behind.

After a quick detour to her room to change out of her paladin armor and into something more comfortable, Pidge was back on her way. She spent her walk debating which of her projects she wanted to work on most.

There was the miniature anti-gravity field generator she wanted to build to help her colorful, fuzzy pets feel more at home. (If a couple of oddly adorable creatures had followed her home after she was briefly stranded in the space equivalent of a junkyard, could she really be blamed for keeping them?)

Then there was the broken Galra sentry drone she'd found one day and decided to try and fix. (His name was Rover and, once fixed, he'd ward Hunk away from her stuff and keep Lance from “borrowing” her things.)

Not to mention the twenty-something other more useful things she wanted to get done.

Pidge got lost in mapping out how to implement a new, simplified artificial intelligence in Rover as she briskly walked through the deserted corridors of the Castle. With everyone presumably still celebrating the upcoming wedding, the last thing she expected was to round a corner and literally run into another person.

They caught her by the arm, keeping her from tumbling to the floor, and Pidge was midway through babbling an apology when she raised her eyes and got a good look at who she'd collided with.

“You're human,” she blurted out in surprise.

There was no other explanation for his appearance. He could almost be mistaken for an Altean at first, except for the lack of markings on his face. He also didn't have the unusual pink-purple irises common to most blue-eyed Alteans. (And even the blue of his eyes was the wrong shade; it was darker and almost violet in color.) His hair was charcoal black and he wore it in a small ponytail at the nape of his neck.

“So are you,” he said in return. There was no surprise in his voice.

Pidge stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest, frowning at him.

He couldn't possibly be human. Altea was lightyears away from Earth. She, Hunk, Lance, and Shiro were only there because they found the Blue Lion on Earth and were whisked away to the other side of the universe by use of a wormhole.

So how was he there? Had he been kidnapped by the same aliens who stole her brother and father? Was he human? Maybe there was another alien race out there in the universe who looked similar to Alteans and humans that no one had bothered to tell her about?

“Who are you?” she demanded. “How did you get in here?”

He hesitated a moment. “I, uh, I'm Prince Keithir's servant. He... wanted some time alone, so I'm out here.”

Pidge narrowed her eyes, nowhere near convinced by his story. There was something off about what he was saying, and the way he couldn't quite look her in the eyes wasn't helping her suspicion. “How does a human become the servant to a Galran prince?”

“I'm only half human. My mother was Galra,” he explained.

And that, at least, seemed to be the truth. Pidge relaxed a little at hearing he wasn't kidnapped and taken away from his family like her father and brother were.

“Are you done interrogating me now?” he asked with a touch of annoyance. “You're human too. How did you get in here?”

“I'm Pidge, the Green Paladin,” she said, fearlessly meeting his eyes. She knew she didn't exactly look the part at the moment, in her sweatpants and gray hoodie, with her short hair pulled back messily, but did he have to look so stunned by the revelation of who she was?

“You're...” He stopped and then started again. “You're the one Prince Keithir is to marry?”

“Yes.”

He looked at her for a long moment. “Maybe it's not my place to ask, but why volunteer? I heard that Prince Lotor was meant to announce his engagement to Princess Allura today.”

Pidge figured it couldn't really hurt to tell the truth, though she wasn't about to go into the specifics with a stranger. Maybe he was hiding something, but he seemed nice enough; she didn't have the impulse to punch him in the face or run as fast as she could in the opposite direction, and she'd learned to trust those gut instincts she'd honed over her years spent in space. “Because Allura deserves the chance to be happy with someone she loves. And because it's my job, as a paladin, to secure and keep the peace. This was my way of doing all of those.”

“You're a good friend,” he said after a minute. “I should get back to Prince Keithir before he wonders if I got lost.”

“Ah, right,” Pidge murmured, stepping aside to let him pass. A thought crossed her mind as he walked away and she called after him: “Hey, what's your name?”

“...It's Keith.”

Keith wanted to bang his head against the nearest hard surface as he re-entered the guest chambers where he was staying. The moment the door was securely shut behind him, he carefully shifted his form back to the way he normally looked.

While not painful, the entire process of changing his appearance from human to Galra was an uncomfortable experience. His ears were the worst and he always tried to get them out of the way first, and never with anyone around. The few seconds of vulnerability as he went completely without hearing due to his ears shifting in place was the closest he came to feeling pain.

“Ah, damn,” he grumbled as his skin tingled and lavender fur grew back. His vision went momentarily blurry as his eyes changed as well. “I'm so fucked.”

Meeting Pidge in the halls of the castle had not been part of his plan, especially not in human form. He'd expected her to still be with everyone else, celebrating their future wedding. It was what she'd wanted, right? To be married to a prince?

At least, that was what he thought at first. Until he asked her the question he'd spent several hours asking himself.

Why volunteer? Why agree to it?

It certainly wasn't for a princess he'd only met once before, even if she was as kind as she was beautiful. It wasn't even because his father had specifically requested his attendance on such short notice, a rarity for sure.

“To keep the peace,” Keithir repeated to himself, mulling over the words she'd said.

That sounded like a pretty good reason.

#voltron #kidge #arranged marriage au #have I mentioned this is a slow burn yet?#because yeah #these two are going to take some time #i feel like this chapter only raises more questions #i'll answer them i swear #in time

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paladinsheadcanons · 7 years

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Zhin and ying, first dates?

I’ve been shipping these two lately so I just had to give it a try! Zhin might be out of character though, so I apologize in advance. It got a little long so I put it under a cut. Enjoy!

- Mod Lex

Zhin makes his way across the courtyard, his sheathed sword glowing dimly in the moonlight. Normally he’d utilize this free time he had by sharpening his weapon, or by training. He always had to be ready for a battle. Would he be a conqueror if he wasn’t?

Regardless, he was here per Ying’s invitation.

Ying. There was something so...peculiar about her. It puzzled the Tyrant. He remembered her from long ago, of course. A blossoming flower in midst of the flames he left. She hasn’t changed a bit. Even now with the Paladins, where he had been shunned or ignored at the very least.

It didn’t matter to him, anyway. He thought too highly of himself to be bothered by the words of anyone. They were inferior. Beneath him. They did not matter.

But Ying...she had welcomed him with open arms. Never dismissed him. Never sneered or sent an evil look his way. He always thought she was too nice. Too naïve. It would’ve lead to her downfall.

But it didn’t.

The Blossom had remained steadfast and strong throughout the years. Perhaps he was mistaken? Nevertheless, he wouldn’t have minded in this case.

In any case, he was quite curious as to why she wanted to see him. And here too, of all places. What could she want that was so dire that she wanted privacy? He could not think of any.

The moments passed, and still there was no Ying. It did not matter. Zhin was a patient man. He knew Ying; she wouldn’t be the type to play tricks. Aside from her illusions, of course, but that was a different story.

Multiple thoughts were going through his head now. It was all about Ying. About what she might have wanted. About all the good she did for those people whose villages he had razed. About...how pretty she was.

He wasn’t going to lie; she was beautiful. More so than any flower. He had shown some interest in her, but of course she’d never know about that. Could she have been...interested in him too? He’ll admit he’s thought of them as partners.

He never thought too much of feelings. They were a mere distraction to what was truly important, and he had always thought that was power and glory. But now...he wasn’t too sure. Whatever Ying wanted from him, he’d do it. He’ll conquer a small village if that was what she wished.

The Tyrant soon found himself pink in the face from his thoughts. How embarrassing. Fortunately no one was here to see him in this state.

“...Zhin? You’re...actually here.”

Ah, luck was not on his side.

He exhales softly, getting his bearings before turning around to face her. His expression had turned to its usual stone cold one like he wasn’t just thinking of her.

“...Ying. You asked me to come, I did.”

“...I didn’t think you would.” Ying replies, voice quiet. She looked up at him, expecting to see anger in his eyes, but there was none. His expression was the same as always, but that little difference changed so much about him.

He was...beautiful. Especially under the moonlight. True, he had done some horrible, horrible things, but Ying believed in change. She believed in him. He was capable of it. Would he have joined the Paladins and their cause if he wasn’t? It was alright if he didn’t find it easy. She would always lend a hand. Always.

“So. Why did you call me out here?” Zhin asks, breaking her out of her thoughts. Which was a good thing, too. If she kept thinking about it she would’ve gotten lost in his hazel eyes.

“...I simply wanted to spend some time with you.” Ying replies, looking down for a moment. “Are you alright with that? If you want to leave, I won’t stop you.”

He blinks. So she really had no reason to see him other than...giving company? But why the privacy? Sure he thought of himself as important but he couldn’t be that important, could he? To her, at least.

“...Why me? ...Do we need to be alone?”

“Well, I don’t see anyone else talking to you, so I figured I would. As for the privacy...it’s a different reason.”

“And that is?” Zhin raises an eyebrow. Now he was even more curious.

“Well...I’ve been told this is what you do when you like someone. You ask them out on a date.”

“A date?” The Tyrant tilts his head to the side. But that was what...couples do. And they were no couple. But...she said she liked him. Did she mean that? He couldn’t believe it. He fought the urge to blush once more. “...You like me.” He repeats, for confirmation.

“...Yes. Do you like me?” She asks in response, noticing his cheeks had the slightest pink on them. She might have been digging her own grave with the question she asked, but it was better now than never.

“...Yes. I do.”

“...That makes me happy.” She gives him a little smile, offering her hand to him. Ying was not lying, although ‘happy’ was an understatement. She was, simply put, ecstatic. She had this flutter in her chest, but she tried not to let it show. It was a lovely feeling.

Zhin looks down at her outstretched hand and promptly takes it. Her hand was much smaller than his, but it seemed to fit perfectly with his. Could that mean something for them?

“What do we do on this...date?” He soon asks, carefully intertwining their fingers after a few moments of hesitation.

“I’m not too sure...but we can find out as we go along? There’s plenty of things we can do here.” The Blossom replies, happily tugging him along.

“...Yes, I’d like that. And perhaps we can do this again sometime?”

“Always.”

#zhin #ying #paladins #paladins headcanon #paladins fic #paladins champions of the realm #anonymous

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gaogaigar-the-king · 7 years

Text

Showdown! - Paladins: Champions of the Realm / Skyrim

The (Long awaited?) sequel to ‘Amazing Holiday’, where Ash, Sariel and Seris have their (long awaited?) showdown. It’s not very long but, well, I’m not very good at writing long fight scenes.

“So, uh, battlemage, huh?” Sariel raised an eyebrow, carrying Seris on her back as they ran across the Realm. It didn’t come with a welcome map, so they were left to just guess where they were going - Thankfully, rumours of Paladins activities were rather frightfully easy to follow. Something about them being locked in a constant struggle with shapeshifting monsters who they never can get the upper hand of.

“Yeah, battlemage. Never was very good at the whole hacking and slashing thing, got too tired and you can probably tell why.” Seris hummed, resting her head against the side of Sariel’s neck. “That doesn’t mean I won’t pick up a sword if I need to though, although now I rarely do need to.”

“I never could get the hang of that magic stuff. I know a few spells but, well, it just didn’t work out for me, although I’m pretty handy with a healing spell. But I could kill an entire army wielding only a knife and fork any day of the week.” Sariel shrugged. “And that’s not even my primary battle skills. Nothing is more satisfying to me than the weight of my greatsword taking someone’s head off, or the sound of a well struck arrow taking down it’s foe.”

“I prefer just a simple disintegration and run. That or just send them flying half way across Skyrim, that’s ALWAYS satisfying.” Seris chuckled.

“Oh, you’re dead right there.” Sariel agreed, laughing. She never thought she would be so grateful to meet another Dragonborn in all her life, especially not a like-minded one.

“Buncha cowards.” Ash laughed as the small squad they had just been fighting fled rather rapidly when she delivered the payload the last few seconds, taking it to the face as the cart full of explosives served it’s purpose. Fernando hid his ever-precious face behind his shield. Accompanying them was Seris, Tyra and Maeve, who debating raiding the fleeing coin purses, but her injuries made her decide against it.

They quickly set up a small camp in the remains of the captured base in Fish Market, something which from experience took them only a mere couple of hours, where Seris tended the injured - Which was all of them - in her usual fashion. Most of the Paladins were still a little bit unsure of how they felt about being directly healed by the souls of others trapped in the Abyss. Some of them were still unsure of how they felt about the Oracle of the Abyss as a whole, although she seemed friendly enough once you got past her creepy exterior. Fortunately, her little group had taken quite a liking to her, it made healing them that much easier.

Idle chatter took the Paladins as Tyra prepared them dinner. No matter where she was, the Untamed always managed to find game for them to eat and while salty roasted meats were perhaps not the nicest of foods, food was food after a long battle and none of them were in a hurry to refuse it. Fernando tried his luck flirting with his team of ladies over the dinner, but a threat of a new haircut from Maeve saw him stopping that. If there was one thing that Maeve of Blades did not do, it was idle threats about cutting things and Fernando quite liked his long, sexy hairstyle. He still complained about Seris to the bump on his head from where Ash had crashed it into Drogoz, and the lizard was still conveniently missing in action.

Seris rolled her eyes behind her blindfold as Fernando complained not that it hurt but that it ruined his good looks. “Time will heal your wounds, Fernando. I can do no more and I care not for your looks.” She told him. It was a useful thing that most of the Paladins had mistaken the blindfold for her being unable to see, where in reality she saw everything so clearly she had no need of eyesight anymore. In fact, it detracted from her gift.

“Stop complaining about your precious looks, pig. You haven’t got any anyway.” Ash laughed. It was a deliberate provocation and Fernando just sat back with a small, offended pout. After all, he was the hottest one on the team, right? Right? He tried to act all confident but even the Self Appointed Knight felt insecure sometimes, although he did his best to mask it quickly, putting on a smile.

“You are just jealous, amigo. After all, we all know that I am the sexiest member of this team.” Fernando boasted.

“We all know that you are the most big headed member of the team, ‘amigo’.” Maeve answered back, harmlessly teasing. He was begging for it.

It started a small debate on who was truly the sexiest person on the team. At some point, without them noticing, their camp grew by two unexpected Dragonborn guests.

“I think you’ll find that I’m the sexiest person on this team.” Sariel interrupted soon enough with a somewhat amused expression. She would admit that she’d never had two ‘guns’, a flamethrower and two daggers pointed at her so fast in all her life. Then again, she’d never had a combination like that pointed at her in all her life. The only one that didn’t become aggressive was Seris.

“Hello wanderers, Sariel and Seris. We weren’t expecting guests.” Seris greeted them. Almost before she had finished talking though, Fernando had dropped his lance and grabbed the two Dragonborns with both arms, squishing himself between them.

“My, damsels, you look even more beautiful out here than in that place of hell! Do tell my friends how I heroically rescued you from the clutches of the evil monsters, while Ash and Drogoz were kept busy.” Fernando grinned.

“That, or you can let us go and we won’t tell what REALLY happened.” Seris wasted little time answering, feeling already the urge to singe his hair with her magic. Fernando got the hint quickly enough, dropping them and sitting down. “Is he always like that?”

“Only around ladies.” Ash replied, taking a toothpick and chewing the end lightly. “How the hell did you find your way here?”

“No offence, but you guys are stupidly easy to find. Just ask at any town about Paladins they’ll point you in the right direction.” Sariel snorted. “You could at least TRY and cover your tracks if you don’t want to be found.”

“Try to tell the rest of them that.” Seris muttered, before introducing herself. Tyra and Maeve soon did the same, the Untamed dropping two chunks of meat on plates for their new guests while the Paladin of Blades fascinated herself inspecting Sariel’s greatsword. “Sharp weapons are somewhat of a specialty of Maeve’s.” Seris gave by way of explanation.

“So, you here for our showdown?” Ash asked after the introductions, snapping her toothpick. She was trying to be intimidating, bless her.

Dragonborns were immune to intimidation.

“You’ve had a busy day. We can fight in the morning, to give you a chance of lasting even just a few seconds longer.” Seris replied with a small shrug, earning a laugh from Ash.

“Fine, I’ll take that, but I could beat you both now. You’re just dragging out the inevitable.” Ash smirked, even as she turned over into her bedroll for the much needed sleep. Bemused, the rest of the Paladins followed suit, although one later than the others.

Maeve learned the hard way that night why Sariel always kept a dagger in her boot and her admiration of the Dragonborn went up massively in those few seconds she found the dagger plunged into her hand.

Morning found the Paladins in a primarily messy heap. It had gotten cold over the night, leading to them all unknowingly huddling closer to their Front Liners - Fernando might have been a smug bastard, but he was also extremely warm to cuddle against. And a messy sleeper. It took longer than it should just for the five to disentangle themselves from the awkward ways they’d ended up asleep and figure out who’s bedroll was who’s. Seris at some point slipped into the Shadow Realm to avoid the morning mess, and was making some soup for breakfast.

Sariel was sunbathing - In full armour - on the docks while the other Seris meditated, gathering her magicka and the strength of her Voice for the upcoming fight. She’d tried to recommend the same to the Bosmer, but Sariel had just laughed and said that meditation was beyond her at this point and she just wanted to enjoy the sun and climates closer to Valenwood before they returned to the cold, harsh landscape of Skyrim. Seris did not argue that.

“Ready for our throwdown? I’m good to beat you to the dirt any time.” Ash taunted, coming up behind the Dragonborns. She planned on scaring them slightly but apparently elf ears were good at hearing loud, clunky footsteps. The two got up, Sariel stretching and cracking her back while Seris designated yesterday’s capture point as a good place for the battle, since it was even on both sides.

“Do not worry, I’m prepared for the outcome.” The Paladin Seris reassured the two Dragonborns. Sariel went to take her place on one side of the point while Seris hung back slightly.

“You already know who will win, don’t you?” The Dunmer asked, head tilting slightly.

“I know things that are, things that were, and things that have not yet come to pass.” Seris non-answered, earning a laugh from the Dragonborn Seris.

“I like you.” She grinned, giving the Paladin Seris a light punch on the arm, teasing, and running to the battlefield.

“Two Vs One duel, pitting the Dragonborns Sariel and Seris against the Paladin, Ash, known more widely by her title The War Machine. The rules are that you fight using your own abilities with no external aid. The winner is declared either when the other concedes defeat or if the fight cannot continue.” Tyra announced from the sort of impromptu observation platform in the tower.

They started facing opposite ways, Ash to the newly captured base and the Dragonborns to the launching point of yesterday, readying their spells and weapons. A grenade from Tyra’s ‘Nade Launcher served as their queue to begin the fight.

Ash spun around right away, readying her cannon to blast. She expected one of the Dragonborns to charge forward. Instead they both stayed put momentarily, facing towards her and Shouting. “Why are you yelling? I haven’t even started to pound you yet!” Ash taunted.

She didn’t know what ‘FUS RO DAH’ meant, but she knew it could send her flying over the walls uncontrollably into the middle of their camp. Paladin Seris got this slight grin on her face at seeing Ash at a disadvantage. The War Machine didn’t even notice, too busy she was getting angry and charging back into the control point. She dropped down her Siege Shield to temporarily protect herself from the barrage of spells Dragonborn Seris sent her way, the distance covered by the shield enough for her to give the Dunmer a blast to the face with the Burst Cannon.

Dragonborn Seris didn’t even flinch.

The Paladins watched as Ash spent a few minutes being the ball in a round of what appeared more like Dragonborn Ping Pong, being blasted and Shouted across the map, set on fire, frozen, zapped by lightning and slashed at with the greatsword. They - Well, Fernando, Maeve and Tyra - wondered why Ash didn’t just throw in the towel after the first two minutes, but they soon realised why when Ash leaped into the air, yelling “C’MON! LET’S FIGHT!” and slamming her banner into the ground.

For those few seconds, she was immortal. Nothing could even touch her, and she used that to take down the less armoured Dragonborn Seris with an onslaught from her Burst Cannon. Explosives to the face weren’t her strong point and the Dunmer, dripping her own blood everywhere, was forced to withdraw momentarily to use some healing spells. It wasn’t against the rules. Dragonborn Seris didn’t even have to step into the battlefield again.

Ash’s invulnerability wore off after the few seconds and she turned to face Sariel, aiming a blast straight at the remaining Dragonborn. She wasn’t certain what the words ‘WULD NAH KEST’ meant either, but the Shout sent Sariel behind her with such speed she might as well have teleported - maybe she even did - and gave Sariel the time to cast her own invincibility power.

Today she had witnessed the Dragonborns breathing fire, frost, freezing her in place, sending her flying around, becoming ghosts to avoid damage, teleporting, and other things that made her think she was imagining this whole fight. But the sight of Sariel, charging at her with greatsword raised, every shot from the Burst Cannon having exactly no effect, made Ash realise what a stupid idea this fight may actually have been.

SHE was about to be the one pounded into the dirt.

Sariel had used a higher power to gain half a minute of invulnerability and she planned to use it well. Her greatsword slashed and swung at Ash while the War Machine could only try to back up and dodge, but she ended up taking most of the blows to the face, unable to do anything to deter the Dragonborn. Soon enough she was forced onto her knees, admitting defeat only seconds before she would have had her head parted from her shoulders. HOW Sariel had managed to stop that swing in time, Ash didn’t know, but she was grateful of it. A trip to respawn was not in the list of things she wanted that day if she could avoid it.

“You are both worthy adversaries. Ha! Few could best me in combat like that.” Ash laughed, giving them a warrior’s salute while Paladin Seris jumped into the square to give the War Machine some much needed medical attention.

“You have proven yourself to be an honourable opponent as well.” Sariel acknowledged, saluting back.

“Perhaps one day we could have a rematch of this right. It would be interesting to see, if things might change.” Dragonborn Seris mused, giving a small bow. “Know that you are a welcome warrior in my plane of Mundus, if ever you might drop by for a visit.”

“As you are in mine. May you die with honour and a sword in your hand.” Sariel nodded. Ash laughed at the blessing, but she didn’t argue. She’d ‘die’ with her cannon in hand, every time.

They parted ways as respectful friends, and Fernando gained two new crushes that day.

#Paladins: Champions of the Realm #Paladins #Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim #Skyrim #Look GGG wrote more crap

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