#like now picture a corrupted Druid

[fuckedprophet]

It’s the way I know Dallas would be a druid. It’s the way I know he doesn’t seem it, he reads warlock — but he’s a fuckin druid if there ever was one with a barbarian secondary.

#. ooc #like now picture a corrupted Druid #where what he shifts into is wrong #twisted from the original version is nature #imagine it’s because of being a demon #imagine he died in a dungeon only to wake up not tied as a human #but demonic linking and therefore what he morphs into #is what happens to nature when it’s wounded and killed #hos forms mimic dead or dying creatures #he’s still connected to the earth but it’s almost like she mourns him #a mother who wouldn’t turn her child away #aghhhhhh imma be thinking

[mysticforger]

A little Before and After

A milestone post to which I was looking forward too ever since I started! I now have four edits done and I really enjoy doing them. Here are the before and after for the four images already online. Let's start with my favorite boy!

Jojo

My first edit, the one that started my new hyperfixation. On the picture as actually the tree that gave birth to him (wow, this is so weird to say honestly). During the first months in the Maguuma Jungle he found out he had an unhealthy relationship towards Mordrem, which made him question the reason why he was on Tyria in the first place. Why he was allowed to be here still.

I mostly just changed the lightning and added a shadow underneath the tree and underneath Jojo. I also added some lightning on him because he deserves it.

Thravi

I probably took the longest time thus far with an edit. I removed some of the lights near her left arm, and also toned down some of the green. I darkened the area near her hand to enhance the glow showing around it. She is also opening portals to literal hell, so... I could've gone harder on the dark thing!

I also heightened some of the glow on her leaves. Loving the fact that even though she is now corrupted by the Kryptis, during the nights there is a hint of what she was (vibrant blue with hints of green).

Altrados

This is one where I maybe went harder than I should, but it is closer to her backstory than the original somehow. The first backstory I wrote for her was one where the tattoos would turn into literal fragments of the night sky, and she would grow in size. In that form, she could actually let the tattoo take her over and Altrados would change into an avatar of the night sky (much like the druid. Guess what build she still has to this day!). Letting her wield Astralaria is just... /cheffskiss. Love.

Dallas

I think this one hit me different. Dallas is the one character that changed the most. I used the most kits on her out of all my characters! And after every kit, she looked more like me.

Her backstory also changed a lot, and for some quests I found myself in the library more and more. But I just went through those quest bits mindlessly clicking through the pages. Why? I'm hella dyslectic! And so Dallas wasn't actually reading the books as well. She would literally grab the book, go to the person giving her the quest and throwing the book down at the desk like "here, read yourself.".

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #guild wars #screenshots #my screenshots #edit #my edit #art #my art #I never realized how much I loved these characters

[dungeonaspects]

Campaign Idea: The Heart of The Forest

"The lifeblood of the world has been drained to its last drops, once the heart fails, so do we."

The History

The heart of the forest was a secret for eons, the paths obscured by the will of nature. Within ancient texts and hidden murals the secrets of the heart can be discovered, its powers laid bare only to those that truly searched for answers.

From the heart the cure for all diseases and ailments can be found, age can be reversed, limbs regrown, lives saved. Many perished searching the world for the heart, even more gave it up as a fairytale. Yet one group succeeded, led by a great archdruid.

An avatar of a god had been struck down by a blight that ate away at their divinity, to maintain balance in the world the adventuring party persuaded the archdruid to guide them to the heart. It took many months and many trials to find, the twisting trails of the forest arduous even for the ally of nature.

The hearts guardian would not let them pass, so the party let their desperation take hold. They murdered the guardian, like a common animal. The druid was enraged yet the paladin struck them down, refusing to let their deity die over some beast.

And so the party cut into the heart, taking the oozing blood and feeding it to the god who convulsed before the blight receded, their grandeur returning. The god was grateful to the adventurers, granting each a wish within their power, one was wealth, another a weapon of great power, the third a guarantee from the god that when they die they will come to the gods realm, and curiously the last.

The final wish was for the party to leave the forest safely, recognising that without the druid they would likely die in the twisting forest. The god smiled and exerted their will, straightening the fractured paths and hidden trails. A single road led out the forest, perhaps a three day travel.

With that the god left, the party was met back home with a heroes welcome and accolades. They are now a story passed down in generations, the saviours of the gods.

The Hook

What happened next was where things took a turn. The god thought little of their actions, so grateful to be alive that the simple act of letting their protectors get home was without question.

Yet without realising they had broken an enchantment that nature itself had wrought, a protective defence around the very heart of life. The heart sat open to the world, a road now cutting through its maze-like home where any could wander through.

And so people did, some looking for the secret elixir to save their loved ones from death, others looking to save themselves. But then there were those that sought to make coin. Once a merchant company caught wind that the elixir was real they sent a convoy to the heart, the owner beseeching the king to sell them the "useless land" that was the obscure and impassable forest. The king sold it to the merchant company for only one-hundred gold.

The company threw out the commoners that had begun to settle there, before long palisades and guard posts were built around a huge complex that began to envelop the heart. From here the merchant company could bottle and sell the blood of life.

Sold for excesses of ten's of thousands of gold the company built a fortress around the heart, one so well fortified and manned that even the surrounding kingdoms feared the formidable force. It has been almost two centuries since it was first built, the same merchant leader standing atop a monopolised supply of eternal youth, selling it to the opulent to live forever as young and healthy.

However the price had just jumped to two-hundred thousand gold for a single mouthful, the rich elite now struggling to get their hands on the life-giving elixir. And what's worse, the regular users who cannot get their hands on the elixir have begun to age quickly and... mutate. Their hands ending in claws, their hair being replaced with black oozing vines.

But the true kick in the teeth for the kingdoms instead of the kings and queens are that the lands are dying, forests are blighted, crops are failing, even the bounty of the sea is dwindling. The heart of nature may be enduring its last fluttering beats, and the rich simply wish to squeeze the last few drops from it.

Some Ideas

While this is uncomfortably topical I do feel like it could be a good basis for a campaign. You must fight back the figurative (and maybe literal) corruption found within the land to give life to the source of life itself. Will you see the worsening world devolve into chaos as the rich (and often those in charge) fall to madness, could the earth turn to dust?

In terms of motivation players have a few different routes, the selfless:

"I wish to save the world and make it whole again"

The atonement:

"My god/family caused this, I must fix it"

The need:

"My (family member) is dying, and getting hold of that elixir is their only hope"

The selfish:

"That elixir can line my pocket, it can't do that if it's run out"

Or it can be a mixture of the above, someone employed by the merchant company to fix the problem, promising them an endless supply for their dying mother and riches if they resolve the issue. And of course I'd love to hear about different motivations you can think of, these are just a few off the top of my head.

As for how you resolve the issue that's up to you, there's always the mcguffin idea, an artefact that can heal it. But I like the idea that the heart needs straight up power to repair, and the lives of the sentient races are drops in the ocean, it would need a god. The party will need to convince a god to die to save the world.

This can go as smoothly or as rough as you like, you must complete some tasks for the god to "tie up some loose ends", or you need to overpower the god then drag their avatar to the heart and sacrifice them to it. A bit hardcore but will certainly make the players question how right it is to take a life (especially one that could be a good aligned god) to save the world.

We may all know the pragmatic answer but a divine being bound in golden rope, kneeling next to the drained pond below the mutilated heart, and one of you needs to kill the weeping deity, that's gonna be a gutpunch.

I would talk with your players about how dark you want it to go, since this can go in a rough direction. If everyone wants to participate this can be an intense emotional rollercoaster, just make sure in session 0 you know what may make everyone uncomfortable.

Art by Jakob Eirich

Words can't really describe how I feel about this picture, there's something ancient and foreboding about it, but I get this feeling of peace looking at it. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel, but damn do I like it. Thank you

#d&d #dnd stuff #dungeons and dragons #tabletop #rpg #Plot hook #Hook #Quest #campaign idea #campaign design #Lore #deity #gods #nature #corruption #blight #conflict

[thenerdyindividual]

Okay so yesterday @sterlingdylan made this awesome analysis post about BBC Merlin, stating that it was neither Arthur’s nor Merlin’s fault that Merlin didn’t reveal his magic, something I 100% agree with.

Unfortunately, this post also got derailed by a discussion comparing Arthur’s attitudes to homophobia. Now, to be clear, I do think there are some parallels there. Writers will look to real world bigotry in order to write their fantasy bigotry better. For BBC Merlin, the bigotry does feel a lot like homophobia because magic is: a part of the characters and not something they chose, something the characters must hide or be put in danger, something characters worry makes them evil/monsters, etc. However, parallels are not the same thing as an allegory.  If we try to take BBC Merlin as a direct allegory for homophobia it falls apart because there are genuine reasons for people to be afraid of magic in the canon because it can and has killed people, controlled people, and hurt people. Queer people can’t do any of that with their queerness. Our queerness is fundamentally harmless, whereas magic is not. Also, as sterlingdylan discussed last night, if we take it as an allegory it sets up a concerning narrative about “closeted” Merlin being good, and “out” other characters being bad. Which is injecting a really extreme and problematic moral into the show, and not something we as an audience should be placing on the shoulders of the writers.

I don’t think we need to take BBC Merlin as an allegory for anything, It is enough to discuss parallels to our lives, and examine how the bigotry functions in the context of the show itself. But If we are going to be comparing it as directly as possible to something in our daily lives, then it would probably be more accurate as a narrative about extremism and essentialism. It is still an imperfect comparison because usually extremism and essentialism are not founded on genuine concern, but stick with me. It gets long so the essay is going under the cut.

Uther experienced the death of his wife at the hands of magic. Now, we know that he and Ygraine asked Nimueh for help conceiving. Whether they fully knew the cost or if Nimueh downplayed it is neither here nor there. What is relevant is that Uther was given proof of magic’s ability to harm him and the people he loved. Now, someone who did not hold the black and white “The King is always right” attitude might have taken this instance and pushed for regulation of magic rather than a ban. However, as we witness in later episodes in which he locks up his own children for defying him, Uther can never admit he was wrong so rather than say it was a bad idea to use magic in the way he did, he convinced himself that it wasn’t him who made the mistake, but that magic itself was an inherently evil corrupting force, and started the purge. He took an extreme oppositional view towards magic.

On the flip side, much of the narrative of the magic half of this battle is also about extremism. They are, rightfully, infuriated by and afraid of Uther, but they also let their anger at Uther shade their perception of Arthur. Morgana, starting in season one, was already set against Uther, but was not yet set against Arthur. However, when she met Morgause her train of thought went from justice, to revenge against Uther, to a desire for power, and finally a deep desire to see Arthur dead. Perhaps in some way Morgause really does care about creating a just world for magic users, but she clearly also has a desire for power (as seem when she encourages Morgana to stage a coup and take the throne for herself instead of try to teach Arthur, when he’s demonstrated before a willingness not to lock step with Uther) which are two things that aren’t compatible.

Morgause encourages Morgana to see the worst in the people around her, and encourages her to give into acts of extreme violence against people who don’t necessarily deserve it (ie all the peasants she was prepared to starve when they disagreed with her when she took the throne at the end of season three. A move remarkably similar to something Uther would have done). Morgana no longer stops to consider the times that Arthur stood against Uther, and comes to view Arthur not as someone who can be shown the bigger picture, but as someone inherently against magic rather than the violence it can do. This cycle does not stop with Morgana either, it also reaches Kara who refuses to see the good in Arthur even though he has shown his willingness to make peace with members of the Old Religion (druids), and was prepared to let her get away with attempted murder simply because Mordred and Merlin asked him to show her mercy.

Kara and Morgana both have come to view Arthur as inherently violent and set against magic the same way Uther came to see magic as inherently violent and set against Camelot. Neither of which are accurate views on the situation.

Arthur is the one who was prophesied to break this cycle of extremism and essentialism, and we can see him attempt to try. There are multiple occasions in which he considers that magic may not be evil. Off the top of my head there is the scene after Morgause reveals the true circumstance of his birth, the scene in which he allows Dragoon to attempt to heal Uther, and the scene where he asks Merlin if he should legalize magic in order to save Mordred. In all of these cases someone (usually Merlin) prevents him from exploring that thought deeper. Even so, he does make great strides towards taking up the proper nuanced view needed for this situation. He takes Camelot from a kingdom that relentlessly hunts down and persecutes magic, to a kingdom of fair trials and peace with druids.

Sadly, no one can meet him in the middle. Morgause and Morgana’s insistence on trying to take him down and harm the people closest to him prevents Arthur from learning the good aspects of magic just as much as Uther’s propaganda did. Merlin is the only sorcerer in the entire show not to be set against Arthur, and therefore the only one who could show Arthur how to break this cycle, but doing so presents no small risk to his own and Arthur’s safety. If Arthur took it badly and either banished or executed him, it would effectively prevent Merlin from protecting him. This leaves Arthur trying to draw his own conclusions, and he never gets the additional information that magic can, and is, used for beauty and healing. He can only operate on what he has seen, and what he has seen is magic being used against himself and Camelot repeatedly.

Arthur can’t be held responsible for not incorporating information he isn’t given into his view on magic, and Merlin can’t be held responsible for not risking himself to teach Arthur. We can, however, hold the people around them responsible for creating an environment that prevents Arthur from learning on his own, and prevents Merlin from teaching him. The fault lies primarily with Uther for kicking this whole chain of events off in the first place, and in Morgause who co-opted a genuine struggle in order to gain power. Morgana is also responsible for letting her view of Arthur (someone she has seen stand for justice) be corrupted. In the end the fault lies neither with Arthur, nor with Merlin. The fault lies in the very human tendency to view the world in black and white, and react with violence against those deemed dangerous (despite how much that title is or is not earned).

#bbc merlin #christ this turned into an essay #merlin bbc #merlin

[lynndoublelegacy]

just a cool dnd meme i saw

Yook so it’s less a meme and more like. a big ol questionare but hey, might as well do it. originally saw it on @/probablyottrpgideas, go check them out

1. Game Master, Player, or both? Why?

Ok so technically I’ve DMed twice but I really don’t find it fun? and don’t ever want to do it again. so. Player. I like building characters and their connections with fellow PCs more than building worlds

2. When did you start roleplaying? How old were you?

oh god, if we’re talking about roleplaying in general? I’ve been doing it basically as long as I can remember. As a kid I would play House, and then once I got older in like 5th grade I actually started making characters and playing out their stories with friends. Google+ is what made me realize this was actually like, a THING, though, and I got into some roleplaying groups there, then on DevaintArt. Dungeons and Dragons is a newer development? I got into it in late 2018 when my sister’s friend invited us to a one-shot, and... well, yea, I got hooked lol

3. What was the first roleplaying book you ever owned?

dude, bold of you to assume I really own any. I don’t have that kind of money and literally only own the Guide to Wildemount, and that was a gift

4. Describe the first game you ever ran or played in.

I mean... it’s not a game but ima describe the one shot, bc my first campaign was a hot mess without a true storyline and I used the same character for it anyway. I played a tiefling bard called Aisling Kai (I didn’t know this was a cliche combo at this point, and I honestly played her like a rogue with a music motif but Whatever) and we were a little group tasked to figure out why the hell anyone who goes into this cave never comes out. So we go in, make our way through the dungeon, fight some frog people (I made one of their ears bleed just by getting a nat 20 on a performance check to play a high f# on flute, that was fun, FWEET), and turns out yep, theres a hill giant down here. We kicked his ass and collapsed the cave on top of us (dw I think we were fine but my memory is a little screwy)

5. What system did you grow up with? / 6. Which system do you play now?

i learned on and currently play dnd 5e. I don’t really know anything else, but I’m debating checking out Vampire of the Masquerade.

7. Longest campaign you’ve run or played in?

That would be my Tal’Dorei campaign group, aka The Fatefallen! Started in the Fall of 2019 and still going to this day, just played our 45th session last week. I play Ilia Liadon, the drow grave cleric, and the only member of our party who has been there for every single session since the beginning.

8. Where did you meet your current gaming group?

...well first I feel the need to mention that I have 3 different groups (2 of them are on hiatus now for pandemic related reasons but! we’re still groups). My first group (with Aisling) was formed slowly over time as friends adopted friends into the group, I think it started as a school club? but that didn’t last long. The other two started from a different school club as well, though one has since branched out into other people as well. 

9. Strategic combat or dramatic plotlines?

I am a roleplayer first and a gamer second. Give me all of the backstories and dramatic plotlines. Don’t get me wrong, I still like combat, but story takes precedent for me.

10. Favorite RPG genre?

I don’t tend to define myself by genre? But I tend to fall into more of a fantasy, at most arcanapunk style. Give me all of the magic, and magic powered tech.

11. Your first character.

I got into her a little bit earlier, but my first character was Aisling, aka Calypso Kai. She was a homebrew subclass bard with a criminal background, who honestly? should’ve been a rogue. I’ve since rebuilt her into an Assassin Rogue/College of Eloguence Bard multiclasser, but this iteration was like. Baby her, baby me new to dnd, I did not know what I was doing. She tried to be edgy, but my mom energy came through HARD and she just. Never really had a set characterization. She deserves better and I plan on playing her better sometime in the future.

12. Your favorite character.

You are making me choose between my children. BUT, if I had to pick, either Ilia Liadon, or! Ashe Wednesday, a protector aasimar drunken master monk and my profile picture. Ashe also deserved a lot better from their campaign, so I have a massive soft spot for them, they were made during a really tough time in my life (as was Ilia) and was going through an equally rough time in-game, since I made them for a Curse of Strahd campaign without understanding what I was getting into. They’re my little rebellious asshole and I love them dearly, someone get this kid therapy. Ilia, on the other hand, is just... she’s a comfort character for me at this point. mostly soft edges, such a mom- while Ashe was me yelling “come at me” at the world while crying, Ilia was just... embracing it. Making it better. basically, if they actually existed, I would die for both of them.

13. Your most ridiculous character.

I don’t usually play super ridiculous characters, but! I would say Keothi “Bookfinder” Vaimeil counts. She was basically me looking all of the goliath barbarian stereotypes in the eye, and going “nah. she’s a nerd.” She’s literally a massive puppy dog, just the sweetest big old thing, sitting in her house and reading all the books she can get her hands on in order to make up for her amnesia. Oh, and did I mention that she’s a zombie? ...yea. She’s wacky, but I love her.

14. The best in-character line you’ve ever had.

“I need sleep. I don’t even sleep and I need sleep.”

~Ilia, after a particularly tough fight and an emotionally draining day

15. Your most epic death.

Ok so... none of my characters in game have ever actually died during the storyline? Keothi obviously has in her backstory, and Ilia might have in hers as well, it was never explicitly stated, but during the game? Nope. Ashe got stupid close, but nope. Since Keothi is my only death period, and her death was pretty epic, I’m just gonna describe that. Her parents and siblings in her Goliath tribe had all fallen ill, so she decided to go searching for a possible cure, and ended up getting conned into helping this cult, since they said they would cure her family. Turns out, yea, they were lying, they just needed a goliath willing to sacrifice themselves with a cursed sword. They made the mistake of revealing this before Keothi was actually dead, so as she was dying, she brought the entire goddamn cultist temple down to the bottom of the sea and took the cultists with her. The sword was why she was undead, in the Shadowfell, and couldn’t remember anything.

16. Your most disappointing death. 

As mentioned, I’ve never died in campaign, but I feel like I have to mention this one that happened to our party in Curse of Strahd. We were in the death house, all 5 of us, still level 1, and our barbarian falls into a pit trap with spikes. None of us realize she’s actually dead, so we send out paladin down to get her... with the monk, the bard, and the warlock holding the rope. ....yea both of them died.

17. Something that shouldn’t have worked, but it did.

I’m stuck between two options for this one. First one was the time our water genasi paladin/rogue bloodbended our gnome cleric into a bridge to keep her from falling all the way down a ravine. The second time was when our party managed to defend a small seaside town from a pirate raid with just an NPC with Control Water, a ballista, ourselves, and some explosives. Neither should’ve worked, but both did. Having a triton in your party can really come in clutch in a seaside campaign.

18. Something that went hilariously awry.

I have one that’s hilarious and one that’s horrifying. Hilarious one: in my first ever campaign, someone from Aisling’s backstory popped up and our sorcerer went “that’s shady” (to be fair, he was) and then went to investigate BY HIMSELF. He obviously got kidnapped by the mafia, and then we went all stealth mission to break him out. Stealth was immediately abandoned after our other bard used a SCREAMING SWORD to break open the locks, then we proceeded to go out the way we came, setting everything on fire on the way out, and with our bard lying their way out the front door (with the rest of us in tow as “prisoners”) by pretending to be a fellow mafia member. It was great. Horrifying one: Ilia tries to Send to a member of the party who left in order to let him know that a fellow party member had died. Forgot that he left bc his mind was invaded by a previously dead, very evil old god, and ends up trapped there with him for a while. Ended up with all of our main spellcasters trapped in their own heads while the barbarian paced around worriedly and the rogue decided he was going to get smashed instead of worrying himself silly.

19. Your most memorable in-character moment.

There are a LOT in Ilia’s campaign, but! If I had to pick one, it would actually be a pretty recent one involving Ilia and our party’s wizard, Liara. They’re basically the embodiment of head vs heart? Anyway, Liara is currently suffering from something called magic corruption, though idk if suffering is the right word. Anyway! It basically resulted in her getting... possessed? by her own magic during the night during Ilia’s watch, and they had a really, really interesting conversation regarding guilt, death, and grief, and yea basically I love them. Honorable mention to our druid’s death (he’s back and better now, but that was my first long-time death in a game, we didn’t know he was coming back) and also the moment that Ilia realized that her childhood bff/crush had been revived in a new body and that this NPC was her best friend. That was a trip.

20. The coolest item you ever got and how you came to possess it.

I got this item in the revamp of my first ever campaign and nothing has topped it since which is Sad but hey. Anyway! I got this really cool, possibly cursed dagger after I threw a knife at an absolutely eldritch being and it got stuck in him as he transformed. It looked really badass, and allowed me to cast Inflict Wounds on occasion when I stabbed someone with it. So yea, we love that. Honorable mention to my paladin/bloodhunter’s Helm of the Aberrant Gladiator which allows you to basically do a bunch of fear based affects and psychic stuff.

Numbers 21 through 30 don’t apply to me but. yea. enjoy this summary of my dnd history I guess

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #d&d #d&d 5e #dnd meme #i would like to apologize to Vail and Zohros #they deserved better than to be briefly mentioned but their campaigns are also on hiatus #so they're not overly relevant rn #vail is the paladin/bloodhunter #zohros is the triton #he's a rogue

[dreaming-mystic]

My DM just randomly posted this picture in our DnD Discord chat and said “Story Idea. Lets get the Juices Flowing.”

I wrote a short thing I’m pretty happy with, so I thought I might as well post it here.

Picture (c) S. Koidl

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

"We've come for you..."  

"I know." 

 The Aasimar Druid looks upon the crowd of people she once knew.  Friends, people she laughed with, formed bonds with... people she considered family....  She does not see those people now.  Eyes glowing white with stolen life, these are merely corrupted ghosts wearing the flesh of those she once held dear.  Wearing familiar faces that make her gut twist and wrench in agony. In misery. 

"There is no escape..." one of the meat puppets rasps, and the Druid agrees.

She is indeed trapped. The entire village stands before her, ready to pounce if needed.  It feels like they had been chasing her through the forest for hours, keeping up with her canine speed with unending stamina.  They did not tire, did not rest, did not stop in their pursuit, until she was chased to the edge of a gaping chasm... and as a result she is exhausted beyond words.  Barely able to keep herself from collapsing even while sitting upon the ground before them. 

Panting heavily, the dog looks beyond the crowd of husks to the towering monstrosity behind them.  Their king, their liege, the consumer of their souls. 

They wish to feed her spirit to the demon, believing it powerful.  Special.  Blessed.  It leaves her bitter, angry, at how they couldn't see how the most precious treasures of the village have already been taken.  Everything that was special and wonderful has already been devoured. The Druid then turns to look at the deep ravine behind her, hesitates for but a moment as she spares one last, sorrowful look at the ones who meant the world to her... and then jumps, plummeting into the rapids of the winding river below. 

The raging river beats her against rocks, pulls her under, nearly drowns her, but she does not die. 

And when she finally pulls herself from the water, miles and miles away from home... only then does she allow herself to break down and mourn for what she has lost.  Her wailing cries to the moon go unheard as she lets her grief consume her.

#one shots #random stories #dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd stories #short story #random writings

[nyameowtherfucker]

Robin Hood(Elizabeth Bathory)

Temporary summon: Deerlet/Puppy!!! Are you ready to redistribute candy!? We can't have selfish people hoarding it! We must become the Robin Hoods of Halloween!

Summon: Woop~ I'm in the Archer Class, Elizabeth Bath- oh, I mean Robin Hood! Good job, Deerlet/Puppy! We saved Halloween! I'm putting my trust in you, please take care of me!

QQAAB

Skill 1: May Princess EX

Apply Evade(1 turn) and Damage Cut(3 times) to self. Gain delayed buff(gain 20 stars).

Skill 2: Animal Communication A

Increase your NP gauge (50% - 70%)

Skill 3: Breath of the Nature Dragon D

Clears Debuffs from party and inflicts toxic status, attack down, and defense down on all enemies.

NP: The Legend of Robin Hood

(Arts) Deals Minimal damage to all enemies, inflicts poison >increases with overcharge< all enemies, and Reduce targeted enemy's Arts resistance >Increases with overcharge<

Battle Start 1: Is someone disturbing the peace again!? Let's go, troupe!

Battle start 2: With the blessings of the Forest, I will defeat you!

Skill 1: Laaa~

Skill 2: Am I doing this right? I'm new to this Robin Hood thing!

Skill 3: Listen to the song of nature!

Card select 1: Hold on, I'm cocking my bow!

Card select 2: Right away!

Card select 3: No holding back!

Noble Phantasm Select 1: Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do~

Noble Phantasm Select 2: Hold on! Where's that flute, it's somewhere in my cloak...

Noble Phantasm Select 3: I wrote this myself! I do not take criticism.

Attack 1: Just how he taught me!

Attack 2: Ahahaha!

Attack 3: Behold! The beauty of nature!

Noble Phantasm 1: Now! Listen up, open your ears! This is only one of the most famous European myths in all of history! *flute rendition of Oo-De-Lally* Thanks for joining, you were a great crowd!

Noble Phantasm 2: The many legends of Robin Hood, gathered into one beautiful ballad! A concentration of vigilante heroism! Don't even bother to plug your ears! *Oo-De-Lally, Oo-De-Lally, golly what a day*

Damage 1: Gah!

Damage 2: You're so rude!

Damage from NP 1: I...! Can't...! Back...! Doooown...!

Damage from NP 2: My costume!

Defeat 1: Robin... Help...

Defeat 2: I just wanted... to be a hero of the people...

Battle Finish 1: Thanks, critters of the forest!

Battle Finish 2: Doing good is so hard, but it's so rewarding!

Profile:

Initial bond: Elizabeth has taken inspiration from the infamous Robin Hood to become the shadowed and hidden protector of Halloween! Neither the words shadowed or hidden apply to her, she still does her best.

Bond 1:

Height/Weight: 5'1" ・ 97lbs

Source: Historical Fact

Country of Origin: Hungary

Alignment: Neutral・Good

Gender: Female

Comment from her archery instructor: "She has potential, but did she have to go with Robin Hood!? It's embarrassing to deal with for me!"

Bond 2: One of the Robin Hood myths involves him being a noble, or an ex-noble, unhappy with the treatment of the people by their fellow nobleman. This Robin Hood is the manifestation of that, being a well-meaning noble wanting to give back to the people through stealing from other nobles and distributing wealth.

Bond 3: While this Robin Hood is not specifically money, this case involves the redistribution is candy! Elizabeth Bathory, with her love of Halloween, refuses to let someone hoity toity mysterious nobleman hoard all of the candy for himself, and thus donned the classic Green of the specter Robin Hood!

Bond 4:

May Princess EX: A unique take on the May King that Elizabeth associates with Robin Hood. However, this is mostly due to the cloak in question being enchanted by the very one in question, knowing that if she was going to go through with this, she would most definitely get hurt. Feeling responsible, he placed protection runes on it to make certain she wouldn't die.

Animal Communication A: Her dragon nature mixed with her current link to nature(not to mention her status as the May Princess) has given this Robin Hood the ability to communicate with animals.

Breath of the Nature Dragon D: An enhancement of her Breath of The Dragon E skill. This skill was tweaked when she adopted the persona of Robin Hood, making the mana more equivalent to that of a druid's than a supersonic blast of sound, restoring her allies to their normal state and debilitating the enemies somewhat with song.

Bond 5:

The Legend of Robin Hood: A manifestation of the myriad legends of Robin hood gathered into one song, weaponizing all the concepts and beliefs that people have about the figure as an assault on the enemy. The poison comes from both the death that Robin Hood was believed to have and her own connection with "Robin Hood" and "A person who uses poison as a weapon of justice".

Bond 6: (Complete Elizabeth Hood and Her Merry Troupe)

While Elizabeth Bathory is one of the most infamous murderers in all of history, we can't forget that she has been summoned as a 14 year old girl. Hyped on imagination, silliness, ideals of the Robin Hood persona, and sugar, she's bound to be a bit more active than usual. Sometimes, even a princess can want to run around and frolic, to get a bit dirty, to be a kid. Let her play the roll, let her be a child. She doesn't have to be that evil vampire, the murderer, or the proper dragon idol all the time.

My room lines:

Bond 1: Remember! I am not Elizabeth Bathory, I'm Robin Hood! I'm not hiding it, but refer to me as Robin! Or Robinette since we already have a Robin... Wait, Robin is already a name that isn't feminine or masculine! Hmmm... AUGH! Lizzyhood! I'm Lizzyhood!

Bond 2: My thoughts on the common folk? I certainly treated them wrong... Well, it's in the past, right? Even if people remember me that way, I can't change their thoughts.

Bond 3: Hm? Does how people view me bother me? Of course not! I've abandoned such silly ideas, I'm Lizzyhood now! ...You like me though, right? I want you to like me at least, since you're my Master.

Bond 4: I learned everything I know about Robin Hooding from the real deal! His face was priceless when he saw me in this outfit, so funny! And he immediately got me into training with a bow too! Though... he didn't really look like he was having fun... I must've been a bad student? Ugh, why am I worrying about that!?

Bond 5: You said that Robin was just like that because he was worried, right? I'm... relieved. I don't want him to find me annoying, or bratty, or anything like that. I want to be his equal! I want him... to like me as a comrade and friend! Even though what I said should be true... I want people to like me, even now. But... because of my past... Eh? You-you're... my biggest fan? Even with... I... *sniff* You can't go making a hero of the people cry like that, Master...

Conversation 1: Deerlet/Puppy, what shall we do today? Shall we go out and help the people?

Conversation 2: Master and Servant? Someone like me doesn't need a Master! Can I call you backup for now? At least for a bit?

Conversation 3: I made this myself you know! What do you think? I'm pretty, right? Like a little forest princess!

Conversation 4: People are really calling me cute in this outfit... Ah, I'm too adorable, I can't stay hidden!

Conversation 5 (Robin Hood): Oh hey! My fellow protector of the common folk! Robin, I've been doing great, right? Are you proud? ...What was that about childhood flashbacks? What's with that grin!? This isn't a game to me, I'm serious!

Conversation 6 (Any Nero): My rival! Even moreso now that I am a hero of the commoners, she is the picture perfect image of a corrupt leader who wants nothing more than to waste her time doing nothing and stealing citizen's money! But she's still a friend so I'm not mad at her or anything.

Conversation 7 (Emiya): When I was talking about how I'm a hero of the people, that red guy got all nervous. Does he have issues with that phrase? ...I probably shouldn't ask.

Conversation 8 (Any demonic servant): U-um... I-I-I-I'm a hero against tyrants, not demons... No! I can do this! Anything to protect the people...!

Likes: I love the commoners, and protecting them against the evil and the corrupt! But, other than that, singing is still my favorite thing to do.

Dislikes: With this on, I like closed spaces even less. Give me a forest over an inn's room any day!

During an Event: Ooh! That looks fun! Um, Deerlet/Puppy, let's take a bit of a break! Even a Robin Hood needs to do a bit of R and R now and again!

Birthday: Because it was your special day, I went out and picked some berries for a fruit pie! The crust is only a little burned on this one, but other than that it's perfect! Please enjoy!

Robin on Robin Hood (Elizabeth Bathory): She's still at that... Look, don't get me wrong, seeing her be so excited is heartwarming, but when I see her I see myself, when I started. I don't want what happened to me happen to her... As long as she's having fun, who am I to stop her beyond keeping her safe?

Nero (Caster) on Robin Hood (Elizabeth Bathory): Aw, how disappointing… I really wanted Elizabeth to be in a swimsuit so we could have a bit of fun in the ocean... But, even in those garbs she is quite the adorable figure indeed!

Proto Cu on Robin Hood (Elizabeth Bathory): Well, look who it is! Someone's having a fun time, why don't I give you a hand with that whole justice for the commonfolk thing? Come on, let's have a bit of fun whacking corrupt officials together! I got a few in mind right now!

Tristan on Robin Hood (Elizabeth Bathory): That dragon girl is playing dressup, and she seems to be even more interested in me now. Ah, it's because I'm a knight, a musician, AND an Archer...? Am I going to have trouble, Master?

Bedivere on Robin Hood (Elizabeth Bathory): The legendary Robin Hood... I know there are many alternate character interpretations of him, but... Wings and a tail? And hot pink? I never envisioned such flashiness on a thief...

Fuuma on Robin Hood (Elizabeth Bathory): I feel an odd sense of kinship with Elizabeth right now. Both of us, the blood countess and a person with oni blood, beings of evil that are trying to protect people... I must thank her for letting me join, it was really fun.

[pastelpoison88]

PastelPoison’s Witches Story

So I thought of this after I saw a Medieval Warriors M.A.P on “Song of the Witches” by S. J. Tucker and now am finally going to write it down.

I was thinking about witches all over the world, not just Western interpretations of witches and such (I have no idea about modern witches) and had never heard of witches from anywhere but the west and basically this is how my story would go if I had the time to write one.

BTW: I talk about myself a lot but just know that these are my frustrations of being a multi-racial person trying to figure out some of my roots on my own.

Though it wasn’t the first thing I thought of, it’s best for me to write down what the world is like for the sake of organization:

Time period has to sort of make sense (ex. While this is happening in Japan in 1400 AD, that is happening in Europe around the same time)

Attitudes have to make sense (ex. two groups are racist towards each other, female homosexuality is more accepted than male homosexuality, mild sexism)

Demographics have to make sense (ex. no one of African descent is going to be in Japan in 1400 AD [unless it’s our traveling cast of characters] and no one is going to be trans and not looked at like a freak, even by our main cast [tsk, tsk; shame, shame]) 

Keep in mind: I’m trying to explore what witchcraft is in other cultures so how should I make my characters meet? (ex. slave trade, running away)

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

First thing I think about is my characters and 1) my main one, or at least the one that shares (most of) my cultural background, is Japanese. Before even thinking about this, the most I had ever heard of Japanese witchcraft was about this dog demon in a temple in a Japanese murder-suicide graveyard near Honolulu who bit a Filipino man who got very sick and couldn’t be healed because he wasn’t Japanese. And so I did some of my own research but the most common “witch” I could find were people who hired foxes. There was some mention of snake employers but I could never find any reading material that goes in-depth. Also, I want this character to be a reflection of me, I’m mostly Okinawan (25% Okinawan to 4% Northern Japanese, a very unbalanced ratio) but if I have to make her fully Japanese for the sake of keeping her simple enough I will. 

So, “Yuki” is a simple name and a memorable one and I also imagined a picture of Yuki-onna that I saw once whenever I thought of the character so that’s her name for now. And I will alter some stuff in the story as long as I can explain the alteration, so if people don’t turn into animals in the origin story but do in mine, I should be able to explain why I didn’t stick with it, this is basically a fanfic.

Witch by association (has a tsukimono as a familiar/pet) [+also might have it possess her at some point if it fits]

Very close to her family but the relationship with her community is strained due to being slightly wealthier and also being part of a tsukimono-suji. Otou-san is still in charge but Okaa-san is the one that is more than happy to get back at you if you mess with the family business simply because she can get away with it. And letting it be known to any outsiders that there’s a spirit helping out, not that good when you’re looking to support your family. It didn’t help that Obaa-san is from the Ryukyu Kingdom and works with her hands, often exposing the odd tattoos that she wore. 

Eventually is the sole survivor of a massacre.

Overall is a neutral character, going her own way, not trying to change or dismantle society (just doesn’t want to be in one)

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

2) The second and third characters I know I want to be European, one female and the other male because the first and second verses of the song are sung by females (I don’t know if it’s another woman or her putting on a different voice, but it’s definitely female) and the last is sung by a guy.

I’ll put the guy down first, his name is... I don’t even got a name for him yet. “Lennox” he used to live in an elm forest, just roll with it.

I had a druid in mind when I was thinking about him but Druids disappeared when the Roman Empire took over so instead he’s a scholar. He knows a lot about astronomy, plants, herbs, law, religion, geography, trying to get him as close to a druid as I can.

He’s from Soctland (whether to have him be Scottish or Irish really tripped me up so just bear with me here). He can speak English and Gaelic.

Overall good guy, wise teacher, oldest member of the group

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

3) The female European. “Minerva”

Basically what first pops into your head whenever you think of a witch. 

Looks normal, my vanilla witch. Just your average white girl in whatever time in whatever village.

Doesn’t always have the best intentions and usually has less than stellar results 

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

4) The Little African Girl. I don’t really have an official name as she’s more of an idea at the moment than an actual character so I just gave her a title.

Represents regular people who perhaps seeks the help of witches

More of side character as she doesn’t stick with the group but engages in business with them against some sort of tyranny to save her family, community, friend, etc.

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

5) “Tyranny” S.J. Tucker says in the song that the witches fight against tyranny and I only thought of one character representing tyranny but perhaps there will be multiple forms of tyranny as I expand on this (if I expand on this).

But the one I have in mind so far is the Little African Girl’s rival. Some sort of corrupt leader or evil witch. 

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

6) Others I’ve thought of:

Hawaiian witch (I’ve been surrounded by Hawaiian culture my entire life but have only recently heard of Hawaiian witchcraft. It’s sort of like skinwalkers from what I’m told: the more you talk about the more it comes closer to you. Also in Hawaii: you’re not supposed to outright say that someone’s wrong, they’ve just been taught differently “maika’i” [good/fine/alright] so if I’m writing down too much detail or not enough, hopefully this answer will satisfy you) The forbidden portion is this martial art but every family is tied to the Gods and certain spirits (aumakua).

Gypsies (might be a racist stereotype but I want a crystal ball with a ghost inside it)

Australian Aboriginals (a culture I know nothing about, have only learned about in the last three months, and want to research more of)

Native Americans (again, a culture I know nothing about besides wendigos and skinwalkers)

Voodoo 

Also I should mention: sometimes there’s going to be two characters representing the same type of witchcraft but going against each other just to balance everything out.

Sources

Witchcraft in Japan: The Roots of Magical Girls - https://www.cavernacosmica.com/witchcraft-in-japan-the-roots-of-magical-girls/

Encyclopedia of Shinto - Tsukimono - http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=792

The Yuta, The Noro, and The “Okinawan Witch Trials” - https://www.tofugu.com/japan/yuta-noro-okinawa-witch-trials/

The Romans and the Druids - https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ancient-rome/the-romans-and-the-druids/

To be continued?

#my prompts #prompt #fic prompts #witch #witches #japanese witchcraft #tsukimono #songfic #witchcraft #history #historical fiction #fantasy #just roll with it

[captainofthefallen]

Aurelia

Because I feel like it, I’m going to talk about Aurelia more. And her completely batshit personal quest.

She was raised in the Dominion of Rhom, the god-king who brought an end to a civil war several decades ago. Magic in the Dominion is... frowned upon. To put it mildly. Though she’s starting to learn that it is not infrequently used, if it benefits those in power. Aurelia was born with magic--natural magic, specifically. For the first few years of her life, she didn’t quite understand the necessity for keeping it a secret. Her parents were executed when they took the blame for something she had done, and she was sent to an orphanage. She never forgot that lesson. Her parents died because of her magic. She was afraid of herself, afraid of nearly everything, for a while.

When she was ten, she was... adopted is the wrong word. She was recruited into a secretive order of monks called the Umbral Repentia, by a woman named Emilia Mercer. She saw it as an opportunity to learn the discipline she had lacked when she was younger, to try and suppress her magic. Part of her hoped that maybe, with enough training, she could eradicate it entirely.

The trials that recruits into the Repentia undergo are... not kind. Most say that they are saved by a vision of Rhom himself, that their faith is rewarded with salvation. Aurelia agreed with them, but for the most part kept silent. She saw no vision of Rhom during her trials. She survived because of the magic in her blood, and she spent the next years at war with herself--part of her was terrified that someone would find out what she was, and she would be killed; part of her believed that she should want that, to keep the world safe from her magic.

As she progressed in her training, she was assigned to work with a team: a human boy named Roderick and an elf girl named Farah, all three of them trained by Mercer. Roderick was assigned to lead their group, and they began to undertake missions--targeting dangerous magic users and defeating them for the glory of Rhom and the protection of the Dominion.

Their third target was a druid who had been ambushing military patrols, and that was when things went wrong. Aurelia saw the trap a split second too late to stop Roderick, but with just enough time to push him out of the way. She was caught in his place. Badly wounded, bleeding out, she ordered the others to leave her behind and finish the mission, and they did. She died not long after.

She woke up. That, first and foremost, was a problem. She’d died, and if she was still around, that meant that she’d been corrupted by the touch of magic, even more than she had always been. Before, she’d hoped that if she served well enough, if she proved herself and suppressed her magic, she could still be saved. But now that might as well be beyond hope.

But it was worse than she first realized. Her right arm was missing, replaced by some kind of metallic casing. When opened, the casing revealed a tentacle. Each of the others who awoke with her--Saphir, Korver, Kallista, Val-Grimm, and Scabby (it was a childhood nickname, and he never actually got a real name. Scabby needs no name. Scabby is chaos incarnate who prefers to live in the sewers, and that is all you need to know.)--had some other kind of mutation, some more easily hidden than others. Kallista was changed entirely--the girl who was once a half-elf (I’m pretty sure) now resembled something like an opalescent dragonborn.

They learned, as they escaped the abandoned lab where they awoke, that they were alive because of something in their blood, a corruption called ikhor. A parasite. Because of it, they can’t die, not permanently, but there are things worse than death, and Aurelia is pretty damn convinced that this is one of them. She also learned that she’d been dead for fifteen years.

But even knowing what little she knew of the ikhor, she knew that the magic and the evil that was now a part of her had put her beyond any hope of redemption. And so, almost subconsciously, she started to think strategically, as she was trained to think of her targets and her enemies. Only now her analysis was directed toward the Church, and the Repentia. What she’s found so far is... well, she doubts. She doubts a great deal.

Also while escaping the lab, the party met one person who wasn’t either dead or consumed by ikhor-induced madness: a warforged monk named Jonas Evanwood, who was himself investigating the source of the ikhor, and if there was any way to stop it. For a while, Aurelia knew almost nothing about him, except that he worshiped the Jensai, some vague power which, as she had been taught, was a power opposed to Rhom. But he happened to be the one who was walking with her the first time she broke down, when she admitted that she fully believed she’d lost everything that gave her worth, that gave her a purpose. And he understood. He was built, originally, to serve in Rhom’s army, to kill. He and several other warforged were sent to assassinate the leader of the monastery of the Jensai, and instead of killing him, she took him in, taught him to be more. And he told Aurelia that she could be more too, if she wanted. And for the smallest moment, she almost believed him. She’s still... struggling with that, a bit, believing in her own worth, but at the moment Jonas is the one person in the world she trusts completely, so... that’s something.

About a week after she came back, she found herself being followed. She managed to slip into the shadows and get the drop on them, only to be met with two very familiar faces: Roderick and Farah. Older now, almost twice her age (she was eighteen when she died), but still recognizable. They gave her a mission from the leader of the Repentia himself--the Grey Knight--along with a promise that if she completed it successfully, she would be welcomed back into the Repentia, no questions asked.

The mission was this: Emilia Mercer fled the Repentia several years ago, taking with her a relic that contained a small piece of the divine power of Rhom. Since, there have been a few sightings, some traces, but no one has been able to track her down. No one, as far as any of them know, were ever close enough to know her very well, but Aurelia was the closest. They’re hoping that Aurelia will succeed where others have failed.

This was her mission. She’d always operated alone, or with Roderick and Farah, and this was her assignment, so she kept it from the party. She mentioned once to Kallista that she’d been given an assignment, and she told Korver a bit more about it, and she’s told Jonas nearly everything, as he believes they can help each other. But most of her searching has been done on her own. And what she’s found has led her to a web so tangled neither of us are really sure if it can even help find Mercer. But it all has to lead somewhere.

Here begins what I call my conspiracy notebook. I literally have a journal with every piece of information I’ve gathered written in it.

I mentioned this in an ask post a few weeks ago, but one other thing: while she was in the orphanage, there was a girl brought in, one with magic so powerful even her guards seemed to be afraid of her. Her name was Evelyn. Three things about Evelyn: she’s somehow connected to the ikhor, she seems to be some kind of antichrist, but for Rhom, and she’s also Rhom’s daughter. Her mother, though, was Emilia Mercer.

For a while, Aurelia was afraid that Mercer had abandoned the Repentia to join Evelyn, which... well. Evelyn is trying to bring down Rhom, but she’s using terrorism and murdering a bunch of innocent people to try and get them to lose their faith. Mercer was always vehemently opposed to harming innocents or people getting caught in the crossfire. It doesn’t fit. Aurelia doesn’t know if Mercer has contacted Evelyn at all since she was sent to the orphanage, or even if Mercer raised her until then, but it doesn’t fit. Mercer wouldn’t condone this.

Other bits of information: based on evidence found at an abandoned campsite believed to be Mercer’s, Farah has theorized that Mercer gave birth at some point during her travels. Both Roderick and Farah noticed that, in the few months before she disappeared, she was quieter than usual, not speaking out against harming innocents or collateral damage in the way she usually would. Roderick also knew that Mercer had spoken with Rhom directly around the time she went quiet.

Jonas has been one of Aurelia’s best assets. Mostly for his perspective, but also because his connection to the Jensai enables him to sense connections between others. He felt the connections between Aurelia and Roderick and Farah, allowing her to prepare herself to face them. He has attempted to use this connection to find Mercer, only to find his attempts blocked by a stronger power, some type of divinity. He doesn’t believe it to be simply the artifact Mercer stole, however (a relic known as an Augur, containing a small piece of Rhom’s divinity.) He said that the power he felt had an energy that felt... childlike.

The current working theory is that Mercer somehow, intentionally or otherwise, transferred the divinity from the Augur into the child that Farah believes she had. That doesn’t help us find her, really, but I’m trying to get a picture of what happened, what made her leave, and what she’s hoping to accomplish, so anything helps.

Something else we learned: she had a second child. There’s no record of who his father was, but his name was Alexander, and he died when he was six years old. Aurelia and I both think Evelyn had something to do with it, intentionally or not.

Someone had been leaving flowers at his grave. We needed to leave the city for a bit to complete a job, but Aurelia asked Jonas to keep an eye out, and he did learn something: a mysterious woman, too young to be Mercer herself, was the one leaving the flowers and taking care of the grave. He gave Aurelia some locations this woman was known to frequent, and she tracked her down.

This bit may not be entirely coherent, because I’m still processing all this and that woman scares the shit out of me. She claims that in addition to the three branches of the Church (the Repentia, the Dictorum (scholars mostly) and the Maledictum (knights, guards, the police equivalent, the people who murder people for magic)), there’s a fourth, consisting of fourteen people who answer only to Rhom and make all the decisions for literally everyone. I’m not entirely clear on that point tbh but that’s not the important part. This woman--who goes only by N--claims that she’s one of these people, and that Mercer used to be one too. N says that she’s hunting Mercer as well, but only for the Augur that she stole, that she has some kind of claim on the power that used to be within it. She gave Aurelia the empty vessel, the thing that used to be the Augur, but now it’s impotent and worthless. And she’ll do whatever it takes to take back what she believes to have been stolen from her. She’ll kill Mercer, without a doubt, and Aurelia has no trouble believing that she would kill a child if it got in her way. She left Aurelia with a warning: if Aurelia can get her back that power, she won’t kill Mercer outright. But she says she’s very close to finding her, and Aurelia is very, very far behind.

Needless to say, Aurelia is fucking terrified right now. My DM did allow me to make a disadvantaged insight check on my memory of the conversation, since I was too caught up in plot to think of it at the time, and I was able to get the general vibe that maybe she doesn’t know quite as much as she thinks she does, but still.

But we did get one more lead. One of the places N was known to frequent was a grocer, and after easily kicking the asses of some thugs who were threatening the guy running it, Aurelia was able to get a bit more information. The man’s name was Enoch, and he knew Mercer. He’d been friends with her, actually. But the last time he saw her was a few months before, and all she said was that she was “going home.”

We’re still trying to figure out what that means, because she didn’t really have a home. She had where she was born, which was our initial thought, but she barely ever lived there. She was raised in the Repentia, and at least as far as Aurelia knew, she never really thought of a physical place as home. We can only hope that N made our initial mistake, thinking that she would return to where her family came from, and that she was dropping some kind of hint so Aurelia could find her before anyone else.

Last bit of information that Aurelia doesn’t know yet: we’re about to be majorly fucked over. Kallista, last session, encountered an asshat of a cardinal who seems to think he has the right to conscript the six of us to the front lines of the war (the war being, pretty much, the Dominion vs the Rest of the World). And he threatened to destroy the mind of Kallista’s best friend if she doesn’t bring us back, fully on board, in the next twenty-four hours. So that’s, y’know. Not great. I do have an idea to get around it, but I have no idea if it’ll work for all of us, or even for more than just me. But, ah. We’ll see, I guess.

This has been me ranting about my D&D character. If you actually read this whole thing, congratulations! Also thanks. I really do love her. If you actually read this whole thing and have questions, feel free to ask me questions! There’s a lot of stuff going on, and mostly I was hoping to gather a few of my thoughts by typing them up. Haven’t had any new epiphanies yet, but the night is young. Also @risualto wanted to be kept apprised of the situation, so. Here’s the situation.

#long post #hopefully the cut works but if not #sorry about that #aurelia vesta #i'm way too invested in this girl and her quest #also don't get me started on her relationship with her magic because that's gonna be a Whole Thing and she's already making so much progress #and I'm so proud of her #anyway i'll shut up now

[storiesbeyondthestars]

I remember watching S4 & 5 and realizing ‘oh, Lance is going to end up having a huge part in Shiro’s arc’, though at the same time, as anyone who has read my story Ignite the Stars knows, I predicted the shit out of the Keith and Shiro fight (which, to this day, remains one of my favourite moments in Voltron). I always knew that a Keith and Shiro showdown was the only way for that to go, I just thought Lance would be involved somehow.

But he wasn’t. It was one of those little moments that had me stumped. A lot of people just got mad  and accused the creators of hating Lance, getting rid of his arc, being racist, all kinds of bull like that.

It got me thinking though. Why set up Lance being the one to notice something was wrong with Shiro? Yes, a few others noticed that he was a bit off, but not in the same way. 

It was one of those things, in retrospect, that Lance pieced together and realized ‘oh fuck it was staring me right in the face’. Some fans like to claim that Lance is the most observant one attuned to others feelings but…no, he’s really not. I can now confidently say that that wasn’t the point of the entire thing at all, because I think I know what it was, and I think we’re about to see this play out in S8. (Heads up, this gets super long.)

Lance isn’t the most observant of the Paladins. He’s not the most sensitive. He’s not the most intelligent. He can think of good plans, but he’s also an impulsive little shit too and isn’t the most patient.  Lance’s greatest strength is the fact that he’s adaptable. Lance, from episode one, has been shown to learn from his mistakes. We see this when he crashes a simulation but learns from it and adapts, and is able to better fly Blue later.

We saw this when he went from claiming he would never follow Keith’s lead to being the first one to vocally support him. We saw this when his gun turned into a sword and he rolled with it.

Lance learns and adapts like no one else, especially when he makes a mistake. And we know a part of him feels guilty about what happened with Shiro.

That’s so important with Lance, because he’s not going to make the same mistake again.

I want to talk about Keith for a second now.

I’ve been one of the ones with the on-going theories that something is going to go down with Keith, that Honerva wants to get her hands on him for some reason that likely has to do with his connection to quintessence (and the fact that he was soaked in an entire vat of it). It’s very likely that she’s going to try to corrupt him in some form.

As we know now, in moments of extreme emotional distress, Keith does seem to get access to more Galra characteristics. The sclera of his eyes turn yellow, his irises become slits, it looks like he gets fangs, and, from those two moments during his fight with Shiro, he seems to become stronger.

While fighting with Shiro, those two moments were there for a reason. Keith was thinking about his actions, he was entirely on the defensive, but Shiro pushed him once and he lashed out, and that’s when we saw the Galra eyes and Shiro saying “There’s the Keith I remember”. It’s not because of Keith’s eyes, it’s because that’s literally the Keith he remembers, the one who would run full-tilt into a fight rather than play defensive.

The second time, Keith’s life is in danger, and Shiro says that the others are dead and Keith once again acts on instinct.

That part of him that shows up isn’t necessarily ‘feral’ or bad by any means, but when Keith’s in whatever frame of mind he gets in to prompt the physical changes, he moves by pure instinct.

A lot of people who don’t like the theory that Keith’s going to be corrupted or something argue that it’s playing into the ‘Galra are animals’, ‘Galra are all bad’ and stuff like that, but no, in this case, it’s not. Galra have never one been shown to react the same way Keith did. Not once. Galra have never once been shown to be able to shift their forms without quintessence. And that’s why I bring it up in this at all.

And Haggar/Honerva never showed any interest in Keith prior to this, where she would have been watching from Kuron’s eyes. We know this, because she wants Kuron to kill him. Keith’s eyes changing is the only thing that really would have caught her interest. She saw something there, something that made Keith stand out, and I doubt it was just the fact that he defeated Shiro.

I think that Honerva’s been targeting Keith ever since. The last thing she told her druids to do was to target the Blade of Marmora. Pidge assumes that the destruction came about because everyone in the Blade was exposed after Lotor fell, but what if that wasn’t the case? That was just Pidge’s assumption and we do face unreliable narrators all the time in this show. 

Honerva doesn’t know what happened to them, but she was watching through the clone’s eyes when Keith introduced his mother to Shiro and called her ‘a member of the Blade of Marmora’. Not hard to extrapolate that Keith was one too.

She’s a puppet master. She doesn’t need to do everything herself. So she sends her Druids after Keith – taking out the Blade of Marmora in the process, but keeping Kolivan alive to draw others in.

The fact that the druid doesn’t target Krolia immediately in The Ruins tells me something was up with that. She admitted to training a ton of Blades. She’s a high ranking member. She should have been target #1. But she wasn’t. Keith was. Yes, Kosmo separated Keith from the others, and the druid threatened to kill him – but I don’t think that would have ended up being the case.

I think that a part of him maybe hoped to hold Keith (like Kolivan) until he could find ‘Haggar’ again.

Except, she was gone doing her own thing with the Alteans, growing her own Empire. And she didn’t leave it at that. I think that Acxa too is working for her (in a show of loyalty towards Lotor most likely…to try and help him), and has been trying to track Keith specifically. She literally tells us this.

Unlike the Druid, Acxa helps them. Acxa puts herself in a position where it seems like Keith and everyone else can trust her. She plays on Allura’s feelings for Lotor too – relating to her over the entire thing. It works.

Now, why am I talking about all of this? Because something’s up with Keith.

1.He doesn’t appear much in the trailer. Two scenes (get to your lions and when he’s fighting). The last time they pulled that with Keith, it was because he left Voltron. Now, I also think they only showed us footage from maybe 3-4 episodes, so that’s still a lot, and there was plenty of Voltron shown so Keith has to be there (not to mention stuff from NYCC), but the point still stands.

2. In this first pic of the group, he’s up front and center. Keith doesn’t shy away from being the leader now. His posture is open, confident, and he’s ready for anything.

Then we got the picture from what’s likely the filler episode, and it was pointed out that something looks terribly wrong with Keith’s eyes. 

There’s no shine to them, which is a pretty good indicator that you should be wary of a person, that something’s wrong with them. At first I thought it was just an error, cause budget, but they’ve added in that detail in smaller scenes before.

 It’s not there on purpose. (This series of pics came from this post here on twitter!)

It’s very likely that something or someone is working to ‘corrupt’ Keith in a sense. Probably his quintessence. Who does he currently trust that was shown looking for him specifically at the end of S7? Oh, right. Acxa.

It wouldn’t be hard to isolate Keith. Get Pidge and Hunk doing their own thing, Shiro busy being the Captain of the Atlas, and Lance and Allura off with one another? Not to mention the hurt Keith probably feels about that whole thing? Yeah, he’s going to be spending time with Acxa, likely being more isolated from the others and slowly corrupted.

The newest picture tells me this too. 

His eyes already seem dull there, and he’s physically very separated from the rest of the Paladins (outside of Shiro, but that makes sense given the layout of the ship). Pidge, Lance, and Hunk look ready to throw down with whatever they’re looking at, Shiro too, and Allura looks super concerned, but Keith doesn’t even look like he’s looking in the same direction.

He’s Voltron’s leader. He should be front and center if there’s a threat there (plus that’s the Keith-thing to do). He’s not. This is the second image where he looks off. Something is wrong.

In the trailer, we see him alone. He has nothing but his Marmora Blade with him. He looks cornered and desperate. That’s not a good thing. Something is wrong.

Now this started as a Lance post and turned into a Keith one. Why?

Well, if Keith’s subtly being corrupted, subtly starting to change and act differently, no one’s going to catch onto this, right?

Unless, of course, there’s someone around who almost caught onto a very similar scenario, but ended up just shrugging it off and felt terribly guilty over that. Someone who just happens to be defined by being adaptable and learning from his mistakes. Someone who seemed to lose part of his own story arc out of nowhere.

Lance was never going to be the one to save Shiro, because he’s going to be the one to save Keith. THAT is what the entire thing is building to. I mean, you can take it from a platonic standpoint if you wish though I don’t see it that way.

Keith being ‘corrupted’ is super similar to what happened with the clone, and that’s the entire point. Lance wasn’t able to help Shiro and sees it as a personal failure. We know he does because he was in tears about it. It’s especially important that Shiro tried to reach out to Lance in the Astral Plane – because that moment turned into a failure, and ultimately, that’s the place that Lance is going to actually save Keith.

I still think that we’re very likely to see a fight between the two of them – and no, I’m not romanticizing violence between a pairing. Jesus. The assumption that the fight in and of itself is the exciting part is disgusting. Keith won’t be in his right mind at all, and in the end, it won’t be Lance defeating Keith the way Keith defeated the clone that decides the ‘winner’. Keith outclasses Lance as a swordsman by a long shot, and Lance isn’t going to be able to defeat him.

Keith tried to reason with Shiro, tried to talk to him, but it didn’t work. In this case, Lance is going to try to do the same. He’s going to try and reach Keith because he doesn’t want to fight him. They’re not enemies. At the very least, they’re friends. And it’s going to work. He’s going to get through to him, because no, violence isn’t the answer to this at all.

That’s what makes it so powerful.

So, to summarize: Lance’s storyline with Shiro appeared to be dropped, but it really wasn’t. It was set up for his upcoming storyline instead.

#klance #theorytime #my thoughts #s8 spoilers #vld spoilers #vld s8 spoilers #voltron spoilers #tagging those for the pictures used #and also s8 speculation #just in case #lance #keith #long post

[bubblelliot]

Here's my second character! I will also present their teammates a bit since the crew is much more like a family this time! (Might also add pics of the others in following posts and MAYBE of his animals too)

Særos Sandiel and The zookeepers

(This art is a picrew which I do not have the rights on, here is the link to it: https://picrew.me/image_maker/62745)

The name of the team mostly comes from a joke saying that "Mama Lyræ is our zookeeper and that we are the Zookeepers to a ton of pets. Also, Yarina can shapeshift into beasts sooooooo yeah.

Technicalities:

Særos is my very first character played in D&D. We actually started playing on the other game I talked about last time, but we switched to D&D. His character sheet is actually available on DND beyond, but I'm still gonna give details here.

Those are his attributes. (He actually got an additional point of charisma after I wrote this and was too lazy to take another screenshot sorry x) )

He is recorded as a high Elf, but is actually of two different bloodlines. He is VERY young for an elf, but his exact age is unknown (well yes but know, you'll see). He has 5 wizard and 2 cleric levels, making him currently level 7.

Equipment:

I am NOT gonna go through everything Særos has, cause that would be VERY long. He has a heavy armor, he has a staff of healing and a shortsword, but he mostly uses his magic. He also has, in his spellbook, a collection of dried flowers.

Familiars:

Særos has a TON of pets he acquired through the different quests the party went on. The first one is a frog named Lepiota he found wounded and saved. He then bought an old black cat he named Persephone (even if the cat is a male 😂). Finally, he also bought two ferrets (fluffy noodles ❤️❤️) which he named Elton and Freddy (this one was as a reference to one of our former player who really loves Elton John and Freddy Mercury). He loves them with all his heart and will absolutely kill anyone who tries to hurt his babies.

Allies:

Særos' main ally is, obviously, his twin, Edran. They are very similar, but Særos is usually pretty well kept with his short hair always brushed and his braids made every morning, whereas Edran is a bit shorter, more immature, usually pretty dirty with blood all over their clothes (which are poofy dressed he hides poison in 😂) and messy hair. There is also Lyræ. She is a paladin coming from far away lands. She is a human with elf ancestors and dragon blood. She has a wife and children and thus, she is pretty much the mom of the group. (The DM literally gave her two custom attacks she can use in RP: the flick of anger that gives 1pt of bludgeoning + 1pt of psychic damage and the disapproving look that gives 2pts of psychic damage everytime she does it + makes the target intimidated). Then, there is Finian, a human assassin. Finian and Særos are pretty neutral about each other, but Edran is in absolute admiration of him, so Særos is grateful that Finian doesn't just shatter his sibling's trust. The last member, who was actually someone that was rescued by the party, is Yarina. She is a very shy aasimar and is pretty much the definition of being pure EXCEPT she is obsessed with daggers (no joke, she has 23 of them). They were recently joined by a rogue elf called Adressin who actually attacked them at first.

Appearance:

This picrew is already pretty accurate. Særos (as well as Edran actually) has blond almost white hair, but it's actually fluffier than on the picture. He has two braids, one in front of each ear, a few freckles and red-pink eyes. He is very pale, quite small and very frail. He looks pretty androgynous and rather young, though he usually passes as a bit older since he is an elf.

Backstory and campaign:

So the campaign isn't really a big story like in Rhodrag's case, so I'll tell the party's story, but not the quests.

The twins' first memory is waking up in a bed, only knowing their name. They meet with the lovely wood elf lady who save them, and learn they were found in the sand by a nearby river. For that reason, they are given the last name "Sandiel".

They live a relatively normal life with her, for around 10 years, until they are attacked by drows. Their adopted mother successfully hides them by using magic and they learn they are wanted because they are part drow and part high-elf, meaning pretty much every every elven races will want to kill them. The woman successfully protects the twins. She is taken out of the house and, to this day, the twins don't know what happened of her, whether she was killed or taken.

They left and reached a nearby city. There, they survived by stealing and being street entertainers (for example, even if he has no rogue level, Særos is proefficient in stealth, sleight of hands, deception, etc. He also is proefficient in performance. He learned to sing, the art of divination and a bit of magic.)

One night though, Særos came back to their hiding place to find his sibling dead. All he could understand was that they died of both malnutrition and hypothermia.

Out of desperation, he tried every spell he knew, but nothing happened. He tried reanimation, but it had been to long. Out of despair, he prayed any god possible to help him, saying he couldn't live in this unfair world without Edran.

A god did answer. He is actually a god from the other game we started the campaign in before switching to DND.

He is called Nuodai the Trickster.

He offered a deal to Særos: he would bring back Edran and even guarantee him power and success, and in exchange, when Særos would be powerful enough, the Trickster would take his elven traits which hold part of his powers, as well as 200 years of his life. Out of desperation, Særos accepted.

He woke up the next morning. His sibling was by his side, clearly not dead, but not entirely alive. They were now a revived.

Things went on, Edran not knowing, and Særos eventually stopped thinking about the deal, only happy to have his twin back. They moved from the city, trying to reach a bigger one, and were, once again, attacked by drows. He used a spell to put his twin in safety and attacked the drows, but was, if course, neutralized.

He was taken and they made him a slave while they tried to capture Edran to kill them together.

Fast forward, Edran is taken into an underdark prison. He meets again with his brother and both if them are beaten up. They successfully defend though and they are thrown in a cell as it is decided they're are to be executed the next day. This is where they meet Lyræ and Finian.

They plan to escape as well as a few other NPCs. They are able to leave the cell and steal a bit of stuff while a vrock attacks the guards. They escape and reach a teleporter. There, Særos successfully brings everyone back to the surface. Newly free, they all start to look for a village. After properly introducing each others, they finally reach a tiny elf village. The twins stay as stealthy as possible but end up being noticed and attacked by guards. They then have a choice: they could be changed into simple would elves or they have to leave. Særos knows it's not gonna work on Edran, and bargains to be able to stay. At first, the headmaster threatens to kill him for that, but he ends up agreeing to let them in the city, guarded, until the night falls.

They then shop and leave the city.

They end up in a forrest Særos realizes is corrupted. There, they were attacked by a HUGE snake touched by the corruption. At first, everyone tries to kill it except Edran and quickly, Særos and Finian join them. Særos finally cuts the tip of it's tail where the corruption was and Edran and Finian calm it.

Lyræ is terrified of it and finally lets them all know that her best friend was killed by a giant snake who ate her alive. (This is freaking terrifying yo.)

In the end, a fight starts and Særos, enraged, leaves everyone and runs towards the center of the corruption. There he is attacked by corrupted elves and tree creatures we happily called Groots. Edran joins him and Særos basically rages (he used they most powerful spell he had and literally exploded them.

Edran, while attacking, starts gaining weird memories.

Fast forward to the end of the quest, Særos is happily searching for animals and flowers when he and Edran hear strange noises coming from a tree. Edran climbs it and a wood elf girl falls from the tree, before Edran jumps on her from the too of the tree.

The team introduced themselves to her and she happily talks to them. So yeah, that's how we met Nayhru.

The team reaches a weird village and after the whole snake incident, leaves the party for a while, promising to find them again soon and assuring she would always be closer than they think.

They reach the village which reveals to be a village of gnomes and there they meet with a gnome (who's player inspired the names of my furrets x) ) and a Goliath travelling together. They all find the village empty before being attacked by a troll and... Metal gnomes?

They kill them, uneager to die, and search the village. They find flowers in the middle of the village and Særos takes one for his collection. Særos and Edran are attacked by an ooze and at some point, the ooze attacks Edran just before being killed by Nayrhu. At that moment, Edran starts turning into a robot as well, with the corruption growing from their arm. Særos tries to cut off the arm, but us unable and the corruption takes Edran's whole body.

They leave the village and are able to find a Druid eager to help them make a cure for Edran and the gnomes, but he needs Elder sage. He describes it and Særos shows his flower to the Druid, who confirms it is Elder sage. They go back to the village to get flowers, cane back and turned Edran back into a flesh being.

And that's when they remembered dying and being brought back to life. Edran and Særos cried in each other's arms and then continued on.

They got in a cavern near the village from where the trolls always came. There, the found a girl, chained, with glowing wings. They freed her and she introduced herself as Yarina. (Fun fact: Yarina's player is my SO, and both Yarina and Særos have the spell suggestion, so when the crew found a the boss hiding something, we just made it run away. Nice. )

The team found a clockwork dragon and helped it. They then left again. Finian had to leave a couple times, and at some point, the team realized that, even if they are young, the twins were actually a lot older than they thought: They assumed Edran's death happened when they were around 13 and that it had been around 6 years, meaning Særos was actually around 19.

They were reunited with Lyræ and began other quests. In one of them, the team encountered a wishing fountain that filled any wish you had under certain conditions. Særos asked to know his whole story, from the lives of his parents up to now. The fountain gave him a magic book that tells his story and updates. It has no name so Særos just calls it The story book.

Some time passed and the team continued on. They were traveling to the capital until one night, Nayrhu and Edran caught a thief about to steal their stuff. They quickly stopped him and realized he was very young. Instead of kicking his butt, they woke up the whole team and decided together to bring him to the capital and help him make money to survive there. And that's how they met Adressin.

The zookeepers reached the capital where they are supposed to find Finian who joined outlaws he met in another quest.

Before finding Finian, they decided to do a few quests to earn money with Adressin.

Everyone through the day kept noticing Særos bring super bold, a lot bolder than he usually is, for example, telling Yarina who was wearing a magic dress that she looked "Incredibly beautiful" as if she was "made if pure light". No one really thought anything of it though and just shoved it away.

One night, they decided a drinking contest was a good idea and everyone joined except Adressin. The next morning, everyone was doing good, maybe a tad nauseous, except for Lyræ and Særos who were absolutely fucked up. They both used spells to heal their hangover, but Særos remained mildly unwell, choosing to go on their quest anyways.

Symptoms were the following:

-A headache that was mostly located to the top front of his head

-His low back itching and hurting a LOT

-His eyes feeling dry

No one really knew what was going on, some didn't even really notice.

As they went on with their first quest, they started noticing weird stuff about Særos' appearance: His hair looked more golden than white, as they used to, there were two bumps appearing on his forehead around the location of his headache, his eyes looked.... Weird...? But no one really saw anything peculiar, his skin, usually also white, now looked kinda pink.

He doesn't really notice the changes and doesn't understand what is happening which utterly FRIGHTENS him, but he hides it. Yarina started understanding what was happening and Edran out all the pieces together and now they know everything.

To be continued...

[curseofstrahdxeli]

Inverting Stereotypes in Curse of Strahd

Originally from this reddit thread by JimCasy

Modules

While looking for some art to post in my Curse of Strahd group, I ran into this interesting article on racial stereotypes in this long-time classic D&D adventure. For the sake of this post, I won't be debating the observations or stereotypes the article covers. Instead, I'll be taking these at face value, and seeing how one could work the story in a way that inverts these stereotypes in ways that actually enhance the overall story and experience of Curse of Strahd.

A Note on Stereotypes and Storytelling

It's been my experience thus far as a DM that stereotypes need not always be avoided. Indeed, many players come to the table to live out some of the common tropes of D&D. At the same time, I've also found that bending these tropes, working in more variable gender roles, and generally subverting players' expectations has made for much better storytelling.

The Vistani

Though the campaign begins likely with the party trusting the Vistani, if you play it by the book, they're likely to hate these wandering Romani-counterparts nearly as much as they hate Strahd himself. While the twist is good, I think we're served better by dishing out a more intricate picture of these people.

This one is very easily addressed! Some of my plans:

Rather than mostly thieves, bandits and thugs, we can throw in a bunch of different stat blocks for Vistani, which also have corresponding personal traits we might expect.

Bards. Vistani are all about music and entertainment! Every Vistani camp should have a musician or two, and perhaps every other camp has a particularly magical one (aka Bard). This character can use Song of Rest to help characters recover, and perhaps even be recruited to help the party out on their many missions. This character would be mostly interested in uplifting spirits, gaining renown, and is a perfect source for humor in this very dark setting.

Druids. Vistani have to eat, care for animals, hunt, and obtain fresh water on their many travels. It only makes sense that a Vistani Druid or two wander around Barovia helping the various camps make ends' meet. These would be more of a neutral bent, more interested in the state of the land and its creatures than the politics of the Vistani and Barovians. They would likely be willing to grant insight to the characters on the creatures of the land, and serve as temporary guides.

Guards. While the book states Vistani aren't allowed in Vallaki, I think throwing a few Vistani guards into the mix shows that this prejudice is pushed back upon and not always tolerated. Rather than assuming that this kind of segregation has won out in Barovia, it creates more tension to have character which break the mold. Vistani guards would be more willing to turn a blind eye to characters trying to do good - such as feed or even release prisoners. They may also cause distractions for the players or assist them in town in other ways, provided it doesn't get them into too much danger. These guards would be respected and appreciated by some Barovians who can't provide much entertainment or soul-ful light on their own.

Craftspeople. The Vistani have tons of trinkets, instruments, weapons, leather armor, and other supplies that all need to be made and cared for. This is an important stat-block or character type to subvert the typical criminal stereotype, as it shows these are a people who work and create for themselves (though some still resort to thievery and deception!).

Some others would be Scouts, Priests, Archers/Hunters, Knights, and Veterans.

Alignment changes: have more Good Vistani in the mix.

We have a couple of options here. We can maintain the overall structure of the story and the alignment of the main Vistani characters (who are mostly in line with Strahd one way or another), OR we can flip these on their heads and change up the core story to account for that.

If we do the former, we can simply throw in more Vistani NPC's (per above examples) that break the mold and are actually Chaotic Good like Esmerelda. While she is most likely to join the party on their adventures, the other Good Vistani will serve as temporary helpers and guides along the way. They may even hint at the underhanded plots of other Neutral and Evil Vistani.

Madam Eva is a central figure to the story, and she's said to be chaotic neutral. However, I'm likely to play her more as Neutral-Good, as her ultimate aim to free Strahd from his curse is definitely good. The means by which she attempts to do this may stray into grey areas, but particularly in the story with our players we can highlight her inner tension (once they learn more of her history), and not simply cave to allow her to be a more neutral and sometimes evil character.

With Madam Eva as a central leader of the Vistani, this inner-tension she has would be shared among her people. While some can be played as a bit more opportunistic and villainous, the story gains a great deal more depth if most Vistani are chaotic-neutral or neutral-good. They're primarily a very creative, poetic, passionate, musical, talented and charismatic bunch, with some bad apples who use their talents for their own gains.

Drunkenness

This one is easy - not all Vistani need to turn to the drink. It's a cop-out and overplayed stereotype! However, to play up the Vistani's love of the party we can throw in other types of recreation and creativity. Depending on your group, this could include more herbal remedies, druidic magic, competitive hunting games, card games, duels (physical or poetical), and lots of romance.

Prime example: rather than the party stumbling upon a wagon filled with 4 drunken, unconscious Vistani, I think it'd be far more interesting that they stumble into a wagon filled with 4 sleeping Vistani lovers.

Lying

Break this trope by having some Vistani actively abiding by a code of honor to never tell a lie. This would include telling things straight even if it means harm to them at times!

Theft (of children and otherwise)

Vistani can be providers not only to themselves but also to lonely Barovians struggling under the oppression of Strahd. Many Vistani don't see Strahd in a more tragic light - so too would they see the listless souls wandering about his realm. They may even see it as an important spiritual exercise to soothe the suffering of these empty vessels whenever they can. Perhaps some even believe that the souls of Barovians can be rekindled, and it's their life challenge to try to do so.

"The Evil Eye"

I'm likely nixing this entirely from my game, as I don't believe it adds much at all and plays into a very negative stereotype. This is D&D! Loads of characters have magic, including the Bestow Curse spell. Play up other types of spells that some Vistani can have, as well as Divination magics.

The Mongrelfolk

I'll be referring to them instead as the Fael-Iasg ("Fail-y-as-ick") which means "wolf-ish" in Gaelic. This avoids bad stereotypes, and also adds some culture and flavor to them.

In our game, I'm not going to play them as idiotic or unable to speak. Instead, they'll be susceptible to going into "wolf-mode", at which times they'll become more animal than human. However, when they're in their humanoid mood, they'll be able to communicate. Just not super well, since they're not the most sociable of folk.

In my view these are not a whole lot different than Kenku, and so I'll be playing them in a similar way. They're the result of a curse laid down centuries prior, and while there is some tragedy to their story, they do their best with what they've got. They can be incredibly strong, fast, and sneaky.

Ultimately I'll be playing them a bit as a different genus of Werewolves, though less powerful.

To maintain the horror elements of some of the encounters with these folk, it's fairly simple - some of them have been possessed by a spirit of the land that has corrupted Barovia. This would be Baba Lysaga - not Strahd himself. These Fael-Iasg are known to get out and attack villagers at times, and is a big reason why they've become more isolated.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading.

#;;post: Written #;;important #I won't be adding all of these #but I use utilize some #;;group: Vistani #;;group: Mongrelfolk

[everythinginslowmotion]

Ep 2: Shadows

Part 2 of the Voltron Season 8 Rewrite

~Honerva~

The signifying glow of the gun appeared as it was about to shoot. She had heard the charging of those weapons several times before. She was the one to design them. But it didn’t matter, the weapon was aimed at her and while her son was only just out of reach, he wanted nothing to do with her. So she let Acxa aim and fire but the only thing that the blast would hit would be the black smoke that she left behind as she transported herself back onto the ship.

The sadness that started to take over her could only be temporary. A fleeting feeling before she turned it into anger, a motivator to keep trying until her son is finally back in her arms where he had always belonged.

She sighed, closing her eyes before putting her hood back on her head and letting herself transform into the witch that she had destined herself to become.

If the Voltron paladins didn’t deserve to be hated before, it is justified now.

Her hand touched the cool control panel in front of her causing the screen to light up revealing Mar’s face.

“Commander Mar, the emperor has been taken. The paladins of Voltron have betrayed him. Track him down and return him.”

“Understood. Vrepit Sa.”

-

The magic she possessed had evolved in many ways over time. Doing more with her own mind than anything that could be accomplished by person or machine. She had controlled and corrupted souls. She had created black holes that removed the very core of all life itself out of objects. But even having done all of that, her magic was useless in accomplishing the one task that she desired the most- to return her son back to her.

Her eyes closed as she let her mind and magic scour the universe for her lost boy. She saw planet after planet, empty pockets of space where there was nothing in sight but stars off in the distance. She saw her destroyed homes of Daibazaal and Altea- the only link other than her own blood that she had to him. All of them flipping through her mind like pages of ancient text that contained no words. There was nothing.

Her knees hit the ground beneath her as she let go of the search. Lotor was just out of her reach, but she would never be able to close that distance at this rate.

Sadness had began to run through her veins once more just as the doors of the room opened up behind her. She quickly put the hood of her cloak back over her head and transformed from Honerva to Haggar once again as she rose up from the ground.

“Have you any word from Commander Mar?” she said not even turning around to face whichever druid had come to find her.

“Nothing, High Priestess. All communication with the Commander has been lost,” the druid, Macidus she believed its name was, said in it’s monotone voice.

“What of Emperor Lotor?”

“Still unknown,” he replied.

“Leave me then,” she replied coldly, having already known the answer. The door opened and closed once again behind her, leaving her alone in the dark room.

~Shiro~

Everything was dark and cold in this room here on the Altas. They had been boarded on here for a few days now and every time the lights dimmed signaling it was “night time”, he made his way up to the captains quarters- it was really just like every other room except he had his own bathroom- and laid in his bed and got  little-to-no sleep.

The bed was fine, top notch quality for a giant spacecraft actually. The room was nice too. And all through the day he would be fine, distracted by the everyday duties that he had to go through due to being the Altas’ captain, but night time was always too loud for him. His mind woke up. Not like it had on the castle ship. Not with the nightmares of being trapped in a cell, forced to fight innocent people to the death. Not of losing his arm. Not even of being dead for months. No now his mind was awake with him.

Adam.

His fiance.

Well former fiance.

The love of his life.

The thought of him being trapped the very same way that he had been so many years ago by the Galra caused a sickening feeling to crawl up his stomach and into his throat.

He has to be okay.

There was so much that Shiro would want to say to him, yet anytime he tries to think of the right words- what he would finally say after all of these years- nothing seems to form.

Night after night he does this.

The same thoughts. The same routine. Like clockwork.

Except this clock wasn’t counting down to anything. They didn’t even know if he was still alive. They didn’t even know if Adam would be with the prisoners that they were trying to find. There were so many things that the Atlas crew didn’t know about this rescue mission and it was about to drive Shiro insane because there was nothing he could do about any of it.

He should’ve left after I did. He didn’t want to stay there anyway. It was my dream not his. Why did you have to stay, Adam.

-

“No, mom he hasn’t shown up yet.- No, I’ve told you, I’ve never met him. I don’t even know what he looks like. I can’t just go ask every guy in the hallway ‘Are you my roommate?’”

Shiro just stood in the doorway of his new room. He didn’t want to interrupt the conversation his new roommate was having over the phone, but it was about him not showing up, so maybe it would relieve the poor guy.

He knocked on the doorway softly before walking in. His new roommate, Adam, turned quickly, eyes wide under his square framed glasses as he realized that his whole conversation with his mother had probably just been heard.

“I have to go now mom.- Yeah, I know, I know.- Yeah, I have to go, mom.- Love you too, bye,” He said quickly before hanging up the phone and stuffing it into the back pocket of his uniform. He smiled shyly before taking a step towards Shiro who was still standing by the doorway and held out his hand.

“You must be Takashi.”

“Call me Shiro,” he said extending his hand and putting it into the other boys to shake. “And you must be Adam.” Adam just nodded and when they let go of each others hands, Shiro noticed he wiped his hand on his pants. Strange. Shiro didn’t know where to go with the conversation from there.

He was shorter than Shiro, not by much, but enough that it was noticeable. Short, messy brown hair fell over his forehead. His glasses were square and needed to be pushed up further on his nose.

“So I already have my side of the room established. I left everything on your half alone, as I expect you will do with mine,” Adam began after a good minute of them both just standing awkwardly by the doorway of their room. “Once you get settled, we can talk about our schedules. I follow a pretty strict schedule morning and night and I would rather that not get interrupted so I  expect that you will eventually adapt to one as well.” Again, Shiro had no idea where to go from there.

They were 18 and it was their last year at the Garrison and this guy was acting like they had to have their lives synchronized as if they were spending the rest of their lives together rather than just a year in a dorm room.

“Uh, yeah. I guess we can do that,” was all he replied with before setting his bag down on the bed on his side of the room. He sat down at the top of his bed and pulled out his phone. He stayed on his phone for a while before he got a strange feeling, looking up to find Adam sitting on his bed staring directly at him.

“Dude, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Well you’re just staring at me. Why?”

“I was just waiting for you to unpack your stuff so that we can discuss our schedule.”

“Do I really have to unpack it all right now?”

“Well, considering we have about 2 hours until dinner, and it’s a 10 minute walk to the cafeteria, and you will probably take a while to unpack and then who knows how long it will take us to establish a schedule, I would say it would be wise to go ahead and get started.”

“Uh, yeah. I guess I’ll do that then,” he said standing up and unzipping his bag.

It’s not like it really would take him that long to unpack. They had uniforms that they had to wear everyday so Shiro only brought a few clothes for the weekends and nights out, then a couple of nice clothes for interviews that he would be doing at the end of the year. He didn’t have very many pictures either. Just a couple of his grandparents and him, who he lived with during the summer and a few of him with friends. Other than that, he just had his pain medication that he has to take occasionally, his laptop and other school stuff, and the very basics of toiletry items. The total time it took him to unpack everything was 30 minutes max and that was only because his new roommates eyes were following him around the room every time he did something different.

He was probably counting the exact minutes of how long it took me to unpack everything.

Shiro sat down on his bed and looked back at Adam who didn’t say anything.

“Okay, so now what?”

“Is that everything?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is that all that you brought?” Shiro looked at his side of the room. It was very neat and put together. His desk was already stocked with anything that a student could ever need during the year. He had more pictures than Shiro did and his bookshelf was filled completely. Some of them even had titles that seemed to be in a completely different language. Even when Shiro had gone into their bathroom, he noticed that there was already more stuff in there than any of his past roommates or himself ever used.

“Yeah. That’s everything.”

“Oh. That didn’t take as long as I thought. Well are you ready to make the schedule then?”

“Don’t you think we should get to know each other a little bit? We are going to be sharing this room for the next year,” Shiro asked. He didn’t know what was up with this guy but he was odd. Cute, but odd.

“Well you already know my name. I am here as a communications cadet. I know your name and that you are here as a fighter pilot. What else do we need to know?”

“I don’t know. Do you have any hobbies? Why did you decide to join the Garrison? What do you do in your freetime? Where are you from? Anything like that.”

“Oh, well I guess I like to read a lot. I can speak four different languages, five including english. But I know the basics of all the romance languages. I was born here. My dad has been working here for a long time and I was always meant to come here, I guess.”

“Oh, cool. I was born in Japan but my family moved here when I was really young, but I still speak the language. But nothing other than that and English.”

“Who are those people in your picture?” Shiro looked to his desk where he had put up the picture of him and his grandparents at the beach last summer.

“They’re my grandparents. I live with them,” Shiro replied. It used to bother him to tell other people that, he felt weird and out of place, but not anymore. Sometimes people ask why, sometimes they don’t, but he is comfortable enough with himself now to answer when the question arises.

“Oh,” he replied, Shiro could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to ask more, to know more. Shiro didn’t think he was going to ask him though.

I guess he’ll probably find out sometime this year, might as well tell him now.

“I’m gay,” he said. Adam opened his mouth as if to say something but no words came out. “When my father found out, he kicked me out of the house. My grandparents on my mom’s side took me in. They don’t really understand it but they don’t hate me because of it. So I’ve lived with live ever since- when I’m not here for school,” he explained. Adam closed his mouth and just stared at him a little longer. Shiro didn’t know where to go from there. Usually people say something to reassure him that they don’t mind sharing a room with a gay guy or that they are cool with it- as if it mattered to him what they thought- but Adam just kept staring.

“You know, maybe we should just go ahead and get started on that schedule,” he said trying to move on. Or at least trying to get the guy to say something.

He shook his head in reply, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. We can start that. Let me go get my notebook.” He stood up from his bed and walked over to his desk. When he got to it, he opened up the drawer and pulled out a black notebook, then paused before closing the drawer again. “It’s okay.”

“What?”

“I don’t care that you are gay,” he said as he closed the drawer and came back to sit on his bed facing Shiro, his head looking down at the notebook in his lap.

“Good to know. I didn’t really care whether or not you did anyway, but that will make things easier I guess.”

“I don’t care that you’re gay because I am too.” He looked up at Shiro then who really didn’t know what to say to that. Nobody had ever come out to him before, and that certainly was not anything near the response he was expecting.

“Oh,” was all he managed to get out. “Cool.”

“Well technically speaking, I’m pan. But a lot of people don’t really seem to get that so I just say gay most of the time. My dad doesn’t really understand it either, but he also just doesn’t really pay attention to it since I’ve never even been in a relationship.”

Oh.

“Anyway,” he said opening up the notebook to a blank page, looking slightly uncomfortable now- probably as uncomfortable as Shiro felt just talking to the guy, “we should get started.”

~Honerva~

Varga’s passed as she stood alone in the command center of the ship. They had moved from star system to star system, all varying in different ways from one another. Some had a green glow to them, others blue and foggy as they made their way by, some were filled with rocks or planets. They each were their own, all littered with stars in the distance that reached as far as the mind could imagine. To anyone else, they might have described them all as beautiful. Unique in every way possible, except for one. The one reason why she could never find them beautiful, they didn’t have Lotor.

She hadn’t realized how far they had gone. Maybe the ship had drifted here by chance, maybe her thoughts had lead them here. But somewhere during her time of just staring out into the vastness in front of her, she began to recognize the rocks they were floating through.

Daibazaal.

Destroyed and left in ruins. Just a shell of a former planet she once called home and a shell of a life that could have been.

-

“I don’t see anything…” her husband said as he looked at the screen in front of them.

She took his hand in her own and held in on her stomach so he could feel their child.

“Can it be true? I am to be a father?” Zarkon said excitedly keeping his hand over her stomach. Honerva just smiled and nodded and him. “And you, my queen, will be the mother to the heir of the galra throne!”

Zarkon was always relatively happy, but she had never seen her husband this way before. It was like this child alone was the sun that Daibazaal spun around. He was now the center of their universe. He would be their everything.

“Yes, but there is still much to do. We must keep harvesting quintessence. It will be needed for your sons empire,” she said as she stepped back towards the screens she had been showing Zarkon a moment ago. He wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“He will be the very best of both of our people. Brilliant and respected. The reminder of how our people work best together rather than apart.”

-

She continued to look past the rocks of her destroyed home into open space as they passed by.

“I will find you my son. No matter what it takes.”

~Shiro~

Hours had passed since the light had gone out. Eventually, the silence and darkness of his room became too much and Shiro found himself wandering the halls of the Atlas. He had done this a few times on the castle ship when the nightmares got too much for him to handle. When his room would turn into the place that trapped him in his mind and he needed to get away. But tonight was the first night he had done so on this ship despite having spent the last several nights in a restless sleep.

The empty halls were calming. There was no noise from crowded rooms filled with crew members or rushed movement as people went from place to place. Everything out here was soft and quiet in the dim lights of the hallway.

He walked everywhere, exploring places that he didn’t get to see much of since he spent most of his time in meetings or controlling the ship.

He let his mind wander as well. He had come out of his room to escape his thoughts but at this point he really didn’t think it would be possible.

Would Adam even recognize me?

He thought about how he looked when he first met Adam. Dark black hair, messily styled on his head instead of the white that was there now. His face was still young looking, not having been hardened from age and war. No scar to mark what he had been through. And an arm that was actually his and connected to his body. He was so full of life back then. Young and ignorant to the world. He thought he could do anything, be anything, and nothing could ever hurt him. It was a miracle that Adam, so organized and focused, ever even considered him an option.

-

He wasn’t sure exactly how he ended up here, in front of the mirror, messing with his hair over and over again as if it actually mattered how it looked for what he was about to do.

He was just so nervous.

Adam wouldn’t care what he looked like. Adam didn’t even know what was going on. Shiro didn’t even know exactly what was going on.

Somewhere over the past year and a half his weird stranger roommate became his best friend. And then his best friend ended up becoming extremely attractive- well he had always been attractive, but he was just very odd at first and that kind of made it hard to notice for the first few months. And then one night, the night before all the cadets would be coming back on base, when all of the new teachers and instructors got together, something really changed.

Adam and him had left the party to go sit on the roof. Adam had felt too crowded in the room where everyone had been and Shiro wasn’t having much fun anyway. So they left and made their way to the place that they knew well.

They hadn’t really talked much, rather they were just sitting on the edge of the roof listening to the silence of the desert and looking at the stars.

“I can’t wait until the day they finally let me go on a mission,” Shiro commented as he stared up at the sky.

“I can,” Adam replied. Shiro looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean?”

Adam just turned his head and smiled at him. “Who am I supposed to worry over when you are up in space for months?” He sounded halfway joking, halfway serious. He turned his head back out towards the desert. “You’ll get to go up there someday. And when you do, you’ll amazing things and become a Garrison legend. You were always meant for greatness, Takashi. And I’ll be left here doing what I was meant to do, studying languages and communication.”

Shiro didn’t know how to reply to that. Adam had a way of saying things that always just left Shiro speechless. And Shiro knew he was completely serious in what he said to, he always used Shiro’s real name when he was being serious. So instead of saying anything in reply, he just continued to stare at his friend as his friend stared out into the night.

That was the moment when everything changed. Or at least when Shiro realized that it had been different for a long time.

That he was in love with Adam.

Which led him to this moment right now, still in the bathroom of their small apartment, feeling as if he is going to throw up because from nerves.

He heard the front door open and shut as Adam came inside, home from work. Shiro looked in the mirror one last time and took a breath in.

“It’s just Adam. You can do this,” he said in an attempt to hype himself up before walking out of the bathroom. Adam was sitting on one of the stools at their counter looking over a book. “Hey.”

Adam barely turned his head to look at him over his shoulder before turning back to his book. “Why does your hair look different?”

Of course he would notice that. Shiro just raised his hand up to his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “I was just trying something different.”

“Don’t. I like the way you style it now,” he replied without even a glance up from whatever book he was reading at the moment.

Shiro didn’t know where to go from there. How does someone just transition from ‘I was trying something different with my hair’ to ‘I think I’ve been in love with you- my best friend- for like 3 months now, so do you want to go out on a date with me?’

“Is everything alright, Takashi?” Adam said, actually turning around in his chair completely to look at him this time. Sometimes Shiro hated how much Adam could read people. Like just now, it was almost like he read his mind and knew something was up. He didn’t even have to hardly look at him.

“No… I mean yeah, everything is fine,” he said nervously. “Yeah, I just wanted to ask you something,” he said, taking a seat on the couches’ armrest. He took a deep breath in. This is way harder than I thought it would be. “ I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and I don’t want it to make things awkward between us, so I understand if you don’t want to and we can just forget this ever happened… Adam, would you like… will you… go on a date with me?”

It was rare, the moments when Adam was left speechless, but right now was one of them. And all Shiro could do was wish he would just say something, anything. A smile crept onto his face as he continued to look at Shiro.

“I’ve been wondering if you were ever going to ask.”

~Honerva~

The room was empty again. She had found herself in here, alone, as the quintants passed, searching the universe for her son.

The door behind her opened up, she heard the shuffling of the druid as it came up behind her.

“Have you located Emperor Lotor?” She already knew the answer. She would’ve been able to see him in her search if they had.

“We still have not been able to ascertain any information regarding Emperor Lotor, Commander Mar or Voltron. Pheobs have passed in the Emperor’s disappearance. The empire is in chaos and the Blade of Marmora challenges it. We need a strong leader and the druids are looking to you, High Priestess.”

How dare anyone suggest I take the throne from my son. From the rightful heir.

“Tell them to look elsewhere. The druids are but ash in the winds of infinity. Let them be led by someone of equal esteem. Now, depart my presence.”

She hadn’t moved through that entire conversation. Her head just hurt more than it had before. Everytime she searches, it drains her power and she aches from exhaustion. But everytime one of those druids walks in it drains her even more.

What do they think they know about the Galra Empire.

She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Quick and fleeting, but still there. Her head turned up to look at the source.

The cat. Kova.

-

They hadn’t left their room for a while now. These were always her favorite moments. The ones where she wasn’t working to harvest quintessence or where her husband wasn’t worried about the empire. Where it was just the two of them alone in their room. Talking about anything and everything as if nothing else in the universe mattered in that moment.

But right now, their topic of conversation was everything. It was what their universe spun around now. Their son.

She sat at the end of the bed and Zarkon was kneeling in front of her with his hand on her stomach.

“He will be coming soon. What shall we name him?”

“I was thinking a name that has deep Altean history,” she said looking up and smiling at him. “Lotarious. After one of the ancient Alteans believed to have established much of the foundation of the engineering that build our world.”

She felt a nudge under her arm and looked down at Kova trying to make her way into Honerva’s space. Honerva lifted her hand and began to pet her. Zarkon didn’t even acknowledge that Kova had come up to them. He would never admit it, but she could tell that Kova freaked him out, even if it just a little.

“Interesting. I was considering a name from mythology. Kaltor, the one who conquered worlds rather than build them.”

“Well our son is the best of both of our people… Perhaps we can honor both traditions. We can name him Lotor.”

“Lotor. It’s perfect.”

~Shiro~

He wasn’t really sure of where he had wandered to at this point. He wasn’t sure if it was just because he was tired or because the hallways were dark or if it was a combination of both. But at this point it really didn’t matter all that much. He’d be able to find his way back eventually.

He turned around a corner and found himself faced with a door that had light coming out from underneath it. He wasn’t the only person awake.

Who else would be awake at this time?

He walked up to the door and it opened up to reveal the kitchen.

So that’s where he was.

He held his hand up over his eyes as they adjusted to the bright illuminescents of the room. He slowly brought his hand down as he walked inside to find Lance over by the fridge, one of the doors open and a jug of milk in one of his hands. He was staring at Shiro as if he had just been caught committing a crime.

“Oh, hey Shiro…” he said. “What brings you to the kitchen so late?”

He was wearing his blue robe and lion slippers, and his face was green from something he had put on it. He looked absolutely ridiculous.

“I could ask you that same question,” he said walking over to a table and sitting in one of its chairs. Lance closed the refrigerator door and found where the cups were, pulling out two of them before walking over to where Shiro was sitting.

He sat down handing Shiro a cup before pouring milk into his own glass and then passing it on. “Just had a lot on my mind I guess. Couldn’t sleep, so I made my way over here to get a snack.”

“I guess you could say the same thing for me, except I wasn’t really looking for the kitchen, I just kind of found it.”

“Is it something you want to talk about?” he asked curiously.

“It’s just the mission. It’s bringing up a lot of memories and things that I haven’t thought about in a pretty long time. I’ll be fine though, it’s just something I’ve got to work through.”

“I understand. I’ve been the same way since my date with Allura. Before the date I had a feeling that everything about it was just wrong. And it was so relieving when we decided we were better off as friends. But now I have this new feeling and it’s eating me alive. Do you ever feel like you are missing something? Like a part of you is just gone?”

Shiro just laughed and looked at his arm.

“Oh, no Shiro that’s not what I…” he started to back track quickly, his face getting redder by the second.

“No, I know it’s not. But yeah, I do. I get what you mean. But whatever it is that you are missing will come soon enough, like I say…”

“Yeah yeah, I know. Patience yields focus. I’m not Keith, I already know that,” he said jokingly, but Shiro noticed a change in his expression when he mentioned Keith’s name. Interesting. “Thanks, Shiro. I know we don’t get to talk a lot, but this was nice. I think it helped me a little,” he said before taking a huge swing of his glass. He finished it soon after, standing up from his seat, “I think I’m going to head back and get some sleep. You gonna be alright?” He asked, Shiro just nodded. Lance smiled before putting his cup in the sink and turning to walk out of the doors, leaving Shiro alone in the kitchen.

-

He was sitting at the kitchen stool, leg shaking anxiously, as he waiting for Adam to finish getting ready.

If Adam was in the room right now he would tell him ‘calm down, Takashi, we are just going out to dinner.’ But it was more than just dinner, it was a date. Their first date. The one that would determine everything . What if it was bad? Or awkward? They still have to see each other everyday after that. They live with each other.

The bathroom door opened and Shiro turned around to look at Adam as he stepped out. He was wearing a green shirt with a gray jacket over it, black jeans and boots. Simple, but it looked very good on him.

“Are you ready?” he asked, stepping more into the living room. Shiro got up from the stool and looked over his outfit one more time. He didn’t look near as good as Adam did. He was just wearing a gray button up shirt under his leather jacket and his nice jeans, but it would have to do. He looked back up at Adam, and smiled.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

They walked out of their apartment together in silence. Shiro couldn’t tell what Adam was thinking, but Adam probably knew every single thought and emotion that was going through Shiro’s head right now.

Shiro didn’t even know what he was thinking. All he knew was that he really did not want to mess tonight up.

“So what have you planned for tonight?” Adam asked, breaking their silence.

“Well considering you have never been on a proper date before, and that it’s you, I figured we should just keep it classic. So we are going to dinner and then maybe a movie? There isn’t really anything that sounds all that interesting out at the theater right now though, so I figured we might just go back to the apartment and you can pick what we watch.”

“Shiro that just sounds like a normal night for us.”

“Yeah, but it’s not a normal night. It’s our first date. I’d say that’s pretty not normal for us,” he said smirking, turning his head slightly to look at Adam. They continued to walk outside towards his hoverbike. Shiro opened up the seat and pulled out helmets for them to wear, holding one out to Adam.

“Are we not taking your car?”

“Does this look like my car?” Adam had never ridden on the hoverbike with him before. He had probably never ridden on any sort of bike before. Shiro extended the helmet out a little further, encouraging Adam to take it. “Come on, it’s fun. And I’m a great driver. Do you trust me?” Adam just looked at him before he took the helmet in his hands and placed it on top of his head. Shiro straddle the bike and patted the space behind him. Adam took his seat there, wrapping his arms around Shiro’s waist.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Adam squeezed even closer to him so his chest was pressed against Shiro’s back.

“Is this okay?” Adam asked sounding unsure. Shiro just nodded before turning on the bike. Shiro felt stiff, like he couldn’t move or else he would lose contact with Adam which he really did not want. But as soon as he turned out of their lot and onto the street, he felt free again. As he sped up, Adam’s arms only got tighter around his waist, but Shiro tried not to focus on that too much. He just took in the feeling of the air as it rushed past them. The high that he got from going fast on the open desert streets that connected the garrison to the city. This was a good idea. Everything felt perfect as all of the nerves he had built up before got taken away by the wind.

-

Dinner went well.

Dinner had gone great actually.

When they had arrived, Adam was in shock from the ride. He hadn’t ever realized how much fun he would actually have on one of those things.

The restaurant wasn’t anything too fancy. It was somewhere that they had never been to before, but it also wasn’t over the top. The food was good, the atmosphere was great. And once they had gotten inside and sat down, any awkwardness that Shiro had been afraid of before, never even showed signs of appearing.

Shiro didn’t think he had ever seen Adam smile so much in a night.

It really couldn’t have been better.

They were on desert now, having decided to share a slice of the cake that their waitress had recommended. Their conversation had sort of naturally stopped by now, and they found themselves in a comfortable silence. Shiro stared at Adam across the table as Adam looked out at the other people in the restaurant.

“Why do you watch people all of the time?”

Adam turned his attention back to Shiro, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve always meant to ask you but never have. Ever since the day I met you, everytime we are in a room with other people, you just sit and watch people. Why?”

“Well humans are fascinating,” he said as he looked back out onto the rest of the restaurant. “Just look at all of them. Everyone here has their own lives. Their own hopes, dreams, habits, pet peeves. Things that make them their own. It’s just so interesting to observe those little things about people. It’s like getting to know someone without ever having to talk to them just through the things they do and say at a distance. Like for instance, that guy over there, he has been wiping his hands on his napkin in between every bite. That’s the complete opposite of the woman across from him who I am assuming is his wife or at least in some sort of relationship with by the way they are sitting, leaned in closer to one another, and from their looks. She will go several bites, and if anything gets on her hands, she puts her fingers in her mouth and then wipes it off onto the napkin. From a distance it seems as if they are complete opposites, but they appear to be really happy in each others presence. It’s like trying to solve a puzzle but with strangers lives.”

Shiro just looked at the couple Adam had been talking about, confused. “You got all of that just by watching them?”

“Yeah you should try. It’s fun. Like that guy right there, watch him for a bit.”

So Shiro did. He payed attention to the small details, kind of forgetting that he was just staring down a complete stranger. He noticed the shift in his composure when he talked to the waitress. The way he ate his food. How he picked up his drink and set it back down on the table with a little too much force for a glass cup. Shiro watched as the waitress came back by to pick up their empty plates and the guys face as she walked away.

“Five bucks says that that guy leaves a shitty tip,” he said gesturing to the man he they have been staring at for the past who knows how long.

“How bad exactly?” Adam asked.

“Eh, my guess would be no more than $2.”

“No, you’re wrong. He paid in with a $20 and there are 2 of them at the table, so my guess is he leaves her with just the change that she gives back to him, which based on what we got, would be about 80¢, maybe slightly over $1.”

“Oh, you’re on.”

-

Shiro lost. That, and the other three bets that they had made over the course of the hour they stayed at the table until the waitress came over and politely asked them ‘do you need anything else?’ as their que to leave. Adam told Shiro just to give all the money he owed Adam now to the waitress as her tip for them having stayed so long at the table (so hopefully the $20 that they left would make up for the shittiness of the other customers).

When they got back to the apartment and off of the bike, Shiro felt Adam’s cold hand slip into his on their way back up to the room. The feeling was weird at first, but Shiro laced their fingers together so that the fit was more natural. They stayed like that until they got to their door and Shiro had to take his keys out to unlock it.

“Too bad we live together,” Adam said quietly. Shiro looked at him slightly panicked. Had he done something wrong? “Wha… what do you mean?”

“Well you said this was supposed to be a classic date, right? And I know I’ve never been on one before, but I’ve seen enough movies to know that at the end of the ‘classic date’ when the guy drops the girl off at her door, that’s when they kiss for the first time,” Adam said not looking up at him.

Shiro just stood shocked, key still in the door not even having been turned yet. He felt a small smile go to his face. “Adam, did you just use a heteronormative movie trope as a way of telling me to kiss you already?”

“Maybe… is that a problem?” he said, finally turning his head up to look at Shiro. Shiro didn’t respond, instead he put his hand on Adams cheek, and leaned forward into the very moment he’s been wanting for months.

~Honerva~

She hadn’t even gotten the chance to start yet when the doors opened up behind her. She was on the ground with her eyes closed, preparing for the hurt and disappointment that was expected to find before her search ever even began.

“High Priestess, apologies,” it was a sentry this time rather than the usual druid. Maybe they found something. “I was ordered to notify you when Commander Mar returned,” he said before immediately walking back out the door.

She lifted her head up and opened her eyes.

Mar.

This will have to wait.

Not Lotor.

He will have to do.

She stood up and walked towards the door. Before she left she lifted her power up and changed into the High Priestess Haggar.

As the doors opened to the medical room where they were keeping Mar, she could hear the beeping of the monitors indicating his condition.

“What happened to him?” She asked, walking up to his unconscious body.

“I found him like this. He was nearly dead,” the other Commander- Drick she believed- responded.

“What does he know?”

“His vitals are weak and he has yet to regain consciousness. We may never find out what he knows.”

“There may be a way,” there is a way. But no one can see. “ Leave,” she ordered. The doors hissed as they opened and closed as Commander Drick left the room.

Honerva lifted up her hand and held it over her chest. The purple ball of her magic formed beneath her palm and the commanders eyes opened. She had control of his life, his quintessence.

“Do you have news of the Emperor?”

“Yes. I located Lotor’s generals.”

“Where are they?”

“They attacked me. And they took over my ship, leaving me stranded.”

This wasn’t enough.

“And what of the emperor.” Her patience was wearing fast. She needed answers. And this was already wasting more of her power than she would have liked. Power that she could be using to actually find her son. She squeezed her hand tighter, drawing him into her control even more. The commanders body shook and the beeping of the monitors connected to him rose rapidly. “And what of the Emperor?”

“The generals said that Emperor Lotor accessed the Quintessence Field.” He pierced the veil. “ But then Voltron attacked. The fight ended in an explosion. Both Lotor and Voltron perished!”

She squeezed her hand tighter causing a scream to come from the commanders throat. He body arched up as she pulled more quintessence out of anger and then she let go. His body going limp on the table and the monitors beeping having slowed to a constant noise.

“No. I… I must find him.”

She turned, leaving Mar’s lifeless body behind her, and walked towards the doors. They opened as she neared them. Drick and two sentries were waiting on the other side, but she didn’t allow them to ask questions.

“Call forth the Kral Zera.”

-

There was a noise from behind her. She woke up in a bed, a blanket pulled up over her face. She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know who she was. She didn’t know anything. Except the room was cold, even under the blanket, and that she was scared. So she climbed down from the bed and hid on the other side.

Footsteps made their way towards her and a large man with glowing yellow eyes kneeled down in front of her. Still shaking from the cold, she cowered away, hiding her face under the hood and refusing to look up.

“Who… who are you?”

“You do not recognize your emperor?”

“Who… am I?”

The man- the Emperor- just stood up and walked towards the exit. She still didn’t look up from where she was but she could hear his voice.

“Where am I?” He asked to someone that she couldn’t see.

“A-aboard your ship sir.”

“Take us home,” the Emperor commanded.

“I can’t, sir… Daibazaal has been destroyed.”

Daibazaal. The word echoed in her head. Daibazaal.

“Get a doctor to this room immediately,” was the last thing that the Emperor said before walking off, his footsteps fading out in the distance.

Not much time had passed before another person came running into the room towards her. She had moved to another corner now. Much further away from the bed she had been hiding behind before.

The woman kneeled in front of her.

“Excuse me, my empress. I just need to…” The lady began to hold a glowing device up to her, and she quickly grabbed onto her wrist to stop her. “What are you doing? I need you to let go of me.”

All she had to do was squeeze and she felt a surge of energy rise over her body. The shivering stopped and suddenly the room got very warm. She felt power as she pulled with her mind, causing purple light to wrap around her hand, causing a static to take over the lady’s body.

“Please! Let go!” the lady begged, grunting in pain. She could let go. But this power… it took over. Led her mind somewhere where she was no longer afraid.

The purple glow began to wrap around the lady’s entire body, static still coming off of her. Her body began to seize rapidly and a scream was ripped from her as her body started to shrivel up. As if she was being sucked dry of the very thing that made her alive.

Quintessence. The word rang in her head as the word daibazzal had. She continued to pull until the body fell to the floor in front of her and all of the power reigned itself back in.

Another person came running into the room to find the source of the shrieking. A man this time. Unfamiliar.

“Haggar! Haggar, can you hear me? Haggar, answer me!” He got down next to her body and shook it a little. “Oh no,” the man whispered to himself. “Help! Send help now!” He began to yell, still ignoring her sitting in the corner of the room.

Haggar.  

“Haggar,” she whispered to herself.

~Shiro~

Shiro hadn’t been back in his room for more than two hours- which he managed to finally get some sleep during- before the Atlas came alive around him. There was already noise coming from the hallway, signaling that people were up and ready for another day of work.

His eyes squinted at the bright light that now engulfed his room, signaling it was time for him to also get up and go join the rest of his crew in today’s activities. He wondered what they would be today- more flying through empty space, or a monster attack on the ship. Maybe a stop at a nearby planet. Or maybe… Well, he tried to not get his hopes up too much about finding the location of the prisoners. They had been going at it for so long now that it seemed like they would never find them at this rate.

The blankets were soft in his hand as he pulled them back, feeling a rush of cold hit his exposed legs. He tried not to focus on it for too long though, forcing himself to get up and start his morning routine.

A brief workout. Shower. Brush teeth. Dress for the day. And go to work. Just how he had done it for years, ever since he had met Adam. The same routine everyday- minus the year he spent as a prisoner on a galran ship- over and over again. He didn’t think he could ever break it at this point.

He situated his uniform in place before heading out of his bathroom and down the hallway to the meeting room.

This meeting happened everyday at least once, and always at the same time in the morning- an hour and a half after the lights turned on. All important members of the crew were required to attend. If he was being honest, Shiro thought they were kind of pointless. A bunch of people sitting in a room telling what the goals for the day were, how the systems are functioning, explaining what the paladins would be doing that day. But it was apart of his routine now. And he needed his routine like he needed air.

And just as this meeting had become apart of his daily activity, apparently him losing focus during it also embedded its way in as well. Everyday, when someone was listing off the things that were working, Shiro found himself drifting off, thinking about how during just one of these meetings he would like to finally hear the words “We’ve located the prisoners, sir”. But he doesn’t. So instead he wanders off to the corners of his mind.

Lately he has been finding himself staring at Keith. He couldn’t believe that the child who stole his car had become the leader that he is today. How much he had grown over the years. Shiro never regrets taking him in. The kid needed someone to look after him, a role model, but not a father. He needed a brother- and that's what Shiro gave him for years. He can’t even imagine what happened after Shiro had gone missing. He never asked Keith, but he knows it wasn’t good. Obviously he got kicked out of the garrison- which makes sense knowing Keith, but that wouldn’t have gotten him kicked out of their apartment. But when they found Shiro, they didn’t go back to the apartment, they went to the shed that was still standing behind where Keith’s old house was. Adam wasn’t with him and Shiro doesn’t know if he actually wants to find out the answer as to why. To why Keith stopped living with Adam after he disappeared.

-

“This isn’t just a decision you can make without me Takashi! We are talking about a kid here. A thirteen year old child. We are only twenty-one, and not even married. How are we supposed to take care of a troubled, orphaned kid?”

“I think you are thinking about this too much, Adam,” Adam just looked at him wide eyed. Shiro knew he would be opposed to this idea. If he was being honest with himself, he was a little skeptical about it also, but he had really connected with this kid.

“He stole your car the first day you met him!”

“I know, I know he did. But he hasn’t done it since. And he is showing major improvements in his classes. This kid is a genius, the top of his class. If he keeps this up, I think he will be well on his way to becoming a fighter pilot. And he really needs someone to look up to. You know I’ve been taking him out on the weekends and stuff, we’ve really bonded during that. I don’t want him to have to end up back in a random home with people who don’t care about him again. That can’t be good for him.”

“Is this even legal?”

“Well I have already talked to Iverson about it, and since he technically would be living on the school grounds, yeah it would. Especially if he takes summer classes, which he can do.”

“You’ve already talked to Iverson!?” Adam stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen exasperated, probably for no reason other than to separate himself from Shiro. “I can’t believe you already talked to Iverson about this without me.”

“Adam, please. I know it’ll be hard, but I really think this will be good for him. Plus we have an extra room that we don’t even use anymore so it’s not like he wouldn’t have a place to sleep,” he stood up and walked into the kitchen where Adam was resting his palms on the counter over the sink, his head facing down. Shiro wrapped his arms around his waist and put his head on Adam’s shoulder. “I know it will be difficult, Adam. I already have thought about that. But please, I at least think you need to meet the kid before you go off and judge him completely. I really think you will like him, he reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age, just with less guidance- which we are able to give him. And if you meet him and still don’t think it’s a good idea then we don’t have to take him in. But please just consider it, for me. We still have a couple of months until summer comes around anyway, so we don’t even have to have a decision right this minute.”

Adam just sighed, lifting his arms up off the counter and straightening out. He turned to face Shiro, worry and skepticism written all over his face. “Fine. I’ll meet Keith and we can all spend some time together. And I’ll consider letting him stay here during the summers, but I will not make any promises.”

“Good, that’s all I ask. Thank you,” he said as he leaned in to kiss his boyfriend. He felt the frown melt from Adams face as he leaned into him. He had a good feeling about this.

-

“Shiro, do I really have to meet your boyfriend today? He isn’t going to like me after what I just did. Griffin is one of the best students in the school and I took him down, I’m never going to get him to like me,” he said as they walked out of the doors of the garrison and out to Shiro’s car.

“Adam will like you Keith. He might be a little weird at first and stare at you a lot, but that’s just what he does. Look, what did I just tell you. I’m not giving up on you. And…”

“Yeah, I know. I can’t give up on myself and sometimes I just need a hand.”

“Exactly. So just try not to lose your temper- even though I don’t know why you would- and just act like you do around me. Everything will be fine, and I’ll be right there the whole time.”

Shiro would be lying to himself if he wasn’t scared what Adam would think of Keith after today. Keith was right, there was no way that Adam hadn’t heard about the cadet that fell out of line and punched one of his classmates to the ground. But he tried to not think about it as they drove over to the place they were meeting Adam at. It was a small ice cream place that was in town. Adam got off work earlier than Shiro and Shiro had to stay later anyway to handle the Keith/Griffin situation so they were just meeting him there.

Adam already had a cup of his regular mint chocolate chip ice cream and was waiting for them at a table while they ordered. Shiro sat down on the side next to Adam and Keith sat facing them, not looking up from the cone that was in his hand.

“Adam, this is Keith. Keith, this is my boyfriend Adam.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Keith. It’s… uh nice to meet you,” Adam said politely. Shiro watched as he stared at Keith, picking up on his actions and movements, trying to read him carefully as he did with everyone else in the room.

“Yeah, Shiro talks about you a lot. It’s good to meet you too,” he said finally looking up. He put the come up to his mouth and took a bite- yes a bite- out of the ice cream in front of him. Shiro could tell he didn’t know what to say. That he was over compensating, trying too hard to fit in and be polite. Which meant that Adam could definitely tell that’s what he was doing.

“So, you are the top pilot in your class. That must feel pretty great. Shiro was also the top fighter pilot throughout his years at the garrison,” Adam said awkwardly trying to make any sort of conversation. Shiro was really starting to get nervous about this interaction. He needed it to go well.

“I guess. I mean all of the teachers and students hate me, so being the best in class doesn’t really get you much if you aren’t a kiss up like Griffin.”

Shiro did not see this conversation ending well.

“Ah, yes. James. I heard about him…”

“I already know what you are going to say. Probably something about how it’s not nice to punch your fellow classmates and all that. I’ve heard it once today already.”

“I was actually going to say the opposite. He is taking one of my classes right now and I don’t know if Shiro has told you or not but I read people pretty well. And maybe it’s wrong of me to judge my students, but I’ve heard some of the things that he has said about people- about me. He doesn’t know what it’s like to me an outcast,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keith said, raising his voice a little as he sat up straighter and turned his face down in anger. Shiro just gave him a look and he slumped down in his seat, taking a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down.

Adam glanced over at Shiro and gave him the ‘I can handle this’ look. “It means is that he might be good in class, but he doesn’t know what it’s like to be not fit in with everyone else. He only knows what is handed to him in life and doesn't know what it’s like to work for everything or have things taken away. However, the good thing about being an outcast like us, is that Shiro always manages to find the best in us.”

“What do you know about having things taken away from you?” Keith said quietly, his anger having mostly dissipated. Shiro was surprised at how well Adam was handling Keith.

“Not a lot, and I won’t act like I do,” Adam said. Shiro felt as Adam pushed his hand into his own and squeezed. “Shiro says you are a good kid, Keith. That you have a lot of potential. And from what I can tell just right now, he’s right. I think you will do great things one day, just like Shiro is doing now.”

Shiro didn’t know what to say. Adam had carried on that entire conversation on his own, which was shocking. Adam usually hated talking to strangers, but that must mean that he actually likes Keith. That Shiro’s plan might actually get to happen and he really won’t have to send Keith back to the home. Shiro just looked back towards Keith who had a faint smile hidden behind the cone as he took another bite of his ice cream.

-

“Welcome to your new apartment,” Shiro said as he opened the door with his free hand, letting Keith inside. “Well apartment for the summer at least. Iverson said you still have to live in the dorms during the school year.” Keith walked into the living room, his arms wrapped around a box- one of the few that he had brought with him- and didn’t say a word. Adam walked in behind them with the only other two small boxes that Keith had and Shiro closed the door behind them. “Here, let me show you your room,” he said as he took a better hold on the handle of the small suitcase he had taken and walked towards Adam’s old room.

Keith walked in behind him and set the box he was holding down on the already made bed, sitting down next to it.

“Well what do you think?” Shiro asked. He felt Adam come up behind him and wrap an arm around his waist.

They had decided soon after Adam met Keith that Keith living here during the summers with them would be a good decision. Adam really liked Keith. And from what Shiro could tell Keith was just as comfortable around Adam now as he was around Shiro.

“It’s great guys,” he said looking up at them smiling. Shiro could swear there were tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. “Really, this is amazing. I haven’t had my own room in a long time. I really appreciate all of this.”

“Let us know if you need help unpacking or anything. Once you’re done we can come up with your schedule,” Adam said softly from behind Shiro.

Yeah. This was a good idea.

~Honerva~

She had been moved to a new room. They didn’t let her leave. So she stared up at the ceiling in a bed that she didn’t recognize, confused. Some things were starting to come back. Small words.

Emperor Zarkon. Daibazzal. Galra. Haggar. Things like that. They were starting to piece themselves together, slowly.

She was laying in the bed one day, staring at the ceiling when pain ran up her spine. She screamed out and people she was starting to recognize ran into her room.

“The baby is coming! Someone go inform Emperor Zarkon!” One of them yelled out into the hallway.

Baby.

Her memories of whatever happened next disappeared when she woke up. When her eyes opened, the room was bright but the ceiling was still the same. She heard the door open and a crying noise coming from the other side of the room.

“Sire, the birth was difficult but it was successful. Your son is healthy and in good shape, though we seem to be getting some strange readings coming directly from him. Similar to those that, well… similar to those of the empress and yourself.”

Empress?

Another person came towards her holding the source of the crying. A small… baby was wrapped up in a blanket. She didn’t look towards it, but rather in the other direction. There was a creature she hadn’t noticed before sitting next to her on the bed. She didn't want to look at it either so she just stared back up at the ceiling. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the person walk away from her and present the baby to the Emperor.

“Your son, sire.” The crying continued to echo through the room.

“Take him away.”

“But…”

“I said take him away!” the Emperor’s voice rose this time when he gave the command. “And what of her?”

“I’m sorry, sire. We have her under constant watch, but she remains in this state. She only seems to become aware when we administer her quintessence.” Quintessence. The word rang around in her head again as if it was the very thing keeping her alive. “I’m hopeful her condition will improve with time, but… Sire, we’re gonna have to face the fact that our quintessence supplies are finite. The empire cannot continue to run on what we have. And you and the Empress, without it, you’ll…”

“Give me the room,” the emperor demanded and the other man complied leaving the room.

“Do you know who I am?”

She turned her head to face the Emperor. “You are Emperor.”

“And you?”

“H… Haggar?”

“Do you know of quintessence?”

“Quintessence,” she breathed out quietly. She knew.

“Can you find me quintessence?”

“Yes, my emperor.”

He turned sharply and left the room after that.

There was no more words said. He turned sharply and left the room after that. The only thing that remained in the room was her now and the crying somewhere off in the distance, and even that faded quickly out of range.

~Shiro~

“... do you think, Sir… Sir… Captain?”

He shook his head looking up at the room of people staring back at him concerned. “I’m Sorry, what was the question again?”

“We are approaching a planet formerly occupied by Galra. We sent out a signal to them, but have yet to get one back. It was suggested that the paladins go investigate to see if there is any life left. What is your opinion on the matter, Sir?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s fine… Kolivan, has there been any word on the possible whereabouts of the missing pilots?”

“Not yet. Out teams are currently out and we are waiting to receive their word. I will update you on their progress once they put in their updates.”

“Sam, is there any other business for today?” Shiro asked, realizing that he had missed half of what was said already but not really finding it in him to care now.

Sam looked back at him concerned still “No, that should be all.”

“Everyone report to your stations then and lets get started on those missions.”

He just remained there at the head of the room as he watched his crew file out. He rested his hands on the table and bowed his head down, closing his eyes. Pain was shooting through his skull and his eyes felt as if they would never open again due to exhaustion.

His eyes opened as a slight pressure was put on his shoulder. His head turned to the side to see Keith, arm extended resting his hand on his shoulder. His eyes were drawn together, face clouded in worry.

“Hey Shiro… you okay? You were acting strange through the whole meeting, and you looked like you weren’t even listening to anything that was being said.”

“Yeah, I’m fine Keith. I just didn’t get much sleep last night, that’s all.”

“Yeah, Lance told me you came into the kitchen last night and looked like a dead man walking. Are you sure you’re okay?”

No. He wasn’t.

“Oh, I was just…”

“I think you should sit today out. Try and get some rest and all. Voltron can handle this mission today and if we need the Atlas then Iverson, Sam or Veronica or any of the rest of the crew can help us out. But you really just look like you need some rest,” he said. Shiro took his hands off the table, standing up straighter. Pain shot through his head with the movement and his palm came up to rest on his temple as he closed his eyes.

“But…”

“Shiro, please just get some rest. You are obviously in pain and there is something wrong. If we need you, then we will let you know but I think we can handle one day on our own,” Keith said, persistence in his voice. He wasn’t going to give up until Shiro went to his room so Shiro gave up.

“Fine, I’ll try and get some rest,” he said as he began to walk towards the door with Keith following behind him. When they arrived there, Shiro stopped before Keith and him turned to walk in separate directions. “Thank you, Keith. But please let me know if you guys need me… or if there is any updates on the prisoners.”

Keith just gave him a sad, but knowing look. They hadn’t talked about Adam, every time Keith tried to bring it up Shiro just avoided it. But even though Shiro had actually acknowledged that by missing pilots he mainly meant Adam, everything about Keith’s expression told that he knew exactly why Shiro was so adamant on it.

“Okay, Shiro. I will.”

-

None of this would’ve happened if… well he actually couldn’t think of a scenario where he didn’t end up back here. Sitting on an exam table in a cold, white room at a doctors office, Adam pacing back and forth nervously with his hand on his chin.

“Adam can you please just sit down?”

Adam stopped walking and turned to face him, his face drawn into a tight line full of worry. “Are you not nervous? What if they tell us something really serious? I mean it’s like this came out of nowhere, Takashi! One day you are training fine and the next day your legs give out on a run. The shakiness when you get out of bed. That box that you lifted the other day should’ve been easy for you, Takashi, I’ve seen you carry things three times that weight and you’re arms looked like they were about to give out! I know you say you are fine, but something is wrong whether you admit it or not. You can’t hide it from me. They’ve been running tests on you for weeks and we are finally going to find out, and you are telling me that you aren’t nervous?”

Shiro just shrugged back as Adam began to pace again. He was right, all of those things were off. They just started appearing out of nowhere. And it was stupid of him to even try to hide it from Adam, it didn’t last very long before he noticed and made him go see a doctor about it. But despite that, we wasn’t really worried per say. He was just ready for an answer. There was no point in being worried about something that he couldn’t help.

“I just don’t see the point in being so worried about it. You’re telling me all of the time ‘patience yields focus’ so just calm down and be patient.”

“That saying doesn’t really apply to these kinds of situations. The only thing there is to focus on is what may or may not be wrong with you and I don’t want to be patient for that,” he said as he continued pacing back and forth.

There was a soft knock at the door and Adam finally stopped in his tracks, walking back over to the guest chair as the doctor opened the door and walked in.

Dr. Herrera was a tall, dark haired lady who they had been referred to by the medic at the garrison. He had been seeing her for about four weeks now, in and out as they ran several different tests on his body in an attempt to find out what was wrong with him. She sat down in the chair across from the table and crossed her legs, setting the tablet she was holding in her hands down on the counter next to her.

“How are you today Mr. Shirogane?”

“I’m fine. Just ready to figure all of this out finally.”

“Well your condition was a rather hard one to figure out,” she said looking back at the tablet she had set down. Condition. “ After the first few tests, we had narrowed it down to a type of muscular dystrophy. Now, conditions like these can often be misdiagnosed since there are several types and they are all relatively similar, but this final test showed us that you most likely have Becker muscular dystrophy. Are you aware of what Becker is, Mr. Shirogane?”

Shiro looked over at Adam who’s face had drained completely of color. No, he didn’t, but apparently Adam did.

“No,” he said looking back at the doctor. “I’m not.”

“Well it is a mutation in the dystrophin gene, which causes muscles to contract. I will spare you all of the medical details, but it is common in males and usually starts in adolescence, however, in rare cases such as yours it can also appear in early adulthood. Over time, the dystrophin in the muscles becomes less and less functional eventually causing muscle weakness which would explain your falling and fatigue when straining your muscles too much. The complications generally start in the legs and hips and move up to the arms and shoulders. Eventually it will begin to affect certain organs such as your heart and lungs.”

“What do you mean by affect them?”

“Well, both of those organs rely on muscle to help you breathe and move blood through your body, and as your muscular ability begins to decline so will the abilities of those organs. There is no cure to Becker, but there are treatments that can be given to help extend your life expectancy into mid-adulthood, maybe even late-adulthood considering how late your case started…”

He didn’t hear the rest of what she said there. Adam was right- as he normally was- there really was something to worry about.

Mid-adulthood.

What even qualified as mid-adulthood. He was already twenty-two. So what, he had another ten or twenty years left of his life? And there was no cure. He had so many things he needed to do still. Records that needed to be broken, a universe that needed to be explored. A relationship that he didn’t want to give up for anything.

Would he even be able to continue being a pilot for the garrison? He’d probably get demoted to being just an instructor. In what? All he cared about was flying and exploring. He didn’t want to teach some subject in a classroom. He was never meant for that- not long term at least.

The rest of the appointment was just a blur. Dr. Herrera referred him to another specialist, someone who could fit him for braces that he would be needing to stimulate his muscles. She also referred him to a physical therapist to help him slow down the weakening of his muscles.

She said they would help.

He hoped they would help.

-

Adam was always on his case after their appointment with Dr Herrera.

“Where are your braces?”

“How is physical therapy going? Are you doing your exercises?”

“Do you need help with that? You don’t want to strain yourself too much.”

If Shiro didn’t know Adam, he would’ve have lost his mind by now. And even then, he felt like he was going insane on occasion.

He hadn’t told anyone else about his condition except Iverson and Sanda. The only two people who actually needed to know other than himself and Adam. He felt bad for not telling Keith, but Keith needed to focus on his classes and flying right now. He didn’t need to know that there was something terminally wrong with Shiro. The kid didn’t need to feel like he might just lose someone else in his life.

Shiro didn’t want to be treated differently, even though he knew it was a given. How could he expect to not be treated like there was something wrong with him? The physical therapy was helping him, and so were the stimulators that we wore on his wrists. They were allowing him to lift things with ease and have more control over his movements. Some Days he even felt like he had before, when nothing was wrong. Those days were always the best, it was days like today that were the worst.

He had been sitting on the couch of their apartment tying his shoes as he was preparing to go meet Keith for their flying session that he had been promising for weeks. Shiro kept having to postpone it because of therapy or because he was in too much pain. But he woke up this morning feeling fine, like he was ready to go out and do something with his life. So he messaged Keith, telling them that they were still able to go flying today, did his normal morning routine and exercises and got ready for the events of today. Adam had gone out that morning to run some errands and he was gone before Shiro had even gotten out of bed.

Shiro had just lifted his foot up to the coffee table in front of him to tie his other shoe when the door opened from behind him.

“Hey, babe. How were the errands?”

“Fine. I went to the store also on the way home and got us the groceries for the week so we wouldn’t have to go back out later and get them?”

Shiro finished up with his shoe and stood up, following Adam into the kitchen where he had began to put away the food he had bought. Shiro opened up one of the bags and started unloading it as well.

“Are you going somewhere?” Adam asked curiously as he put cans into their spot in the cabinet, not even bothering to look back at Shiro. “Uh, yeah. I had promised Keith a few weeks ago that we would go out on the hoverbikes and have had to cancel every weekend, but I feel good today and I don’t have anything going on, so I figured why not go out today? Who knows when we might get the chance next.”

Silence filled the kitchen as Adam stopped putting cans up where they belonged and turned to actually look at Shiro. “You’re going out on the hoverbikes? Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“Well yeah, I don’t see why not.”

“What happens if you lose control of your arm muscles while flying and crash?”

“Adam, you are acting like I haven’t continued to fly and function over the last few weeks at work. What is the difference between that and going out for a few hours with Keith?” Shiro said turning around to escape Adam’s persistent stare.

“The difference, Takashi, is that at work you are surrounded by professionals who would know how to take over the situation. Keith doesn’t even know about what is wrong with you yet. Speaking of, when are you planning on telling him?”

Shiro let out a sigh as he put the last bit of food away and walked out of the kitchen away from the conversation. He was going to be late to pick up Keith and really didn’t want to have an argument about this at the moment.

“Well?” Adam continued as he followed Shiro out of the kitchen and into their room where Shiro was putting on his leather jacket. “Where are your braces?” He asked looking at Shiro’s bare wrists.

“I’m not wearing them today.”

“Like hell you aren’t. It’s bad enough that you are already going out flying without any supervision, but you were planning on going out without the thing that might actually prevent an accident from happening?” he said raising his voice slightly.

“I’m not a child, Adam! I don’t need supervision constantly. I’m a pilot and I know what I’m doing. I already have to live the rest of my life with this stupid condition, so please just let me do this one thing so I can live my life like a normal person again.”

“Fine. But you have to wear your braces.”

“If I wear my braces, Keith is going to notice.”

“Why is it so bad if Keith finds out Shiro? He is going to notice eventually. And even if he doesn’t, you can’t avoid telling him forever.”

“He just doesn’t need to know yet, Adam. Now can I please just go?” Shiro asked even though he meant it more of a statement that just happened to be phrased as a question.

“Please, Takashi. Just wear your braces. They will be mostly covered up by your jacket anyway,” he said, lowering his voice slightly as he began to calm down. Shiro just closed his eyes and took a breath in. Fine. He picked up the braces that were sitting on top of their dresser and began to put them on his wrists as he walked past Adam and out of their bedroom.

“I’ll be back later,” he said as he put the second brace on his other wrist and then opened the door leaving Adam alone in their apartment without even a goodbye.

Some days were good.

Some were bad.

But only a handful were absolutely awful, and that day was absolutely one of them.

~Honerva~

The Kral Zera was just as she remembered it last time she was here. Full of power hungry Galrans, none of which were near being worthy of her son’s crown. Only he could ever follow in her husbands footsteps. Only he will achieve greatness among his people.

But these are not his people any longer.

They all betrayed him. Turned their back on her son, their leader, the moment they had the opportunity. That was the Galra way. It wasn’t always that way though. The Galra have always been strong headed, determined people. Conquerors of whatever challenge faced them. They never gave up without a fight. But now that which was once a strength of their kind has turned into weakness. Now they are power hungry. Driven towards their own selfish desire to rise to power with no reason other than to fuel their own greed and pride.

They don’t deserve it. Lotor is the best of both of his people. He will make everything right.

The Galra were too far gone. They didn’t deserve a ruler like Lotor. Their disrespect for the heir to the throne was all the proof she needed. They needed to be rid of. And Lotor would build his empire up from the ground, with people who respected him, they way it should have always been.

She could hear the different factions of Galra fighting below.

“My fleet would crush yours in an instant, raining fire and death upon you and your clansmen,” she heard one of them announce. “What makes you think I would ever bow to you?”

You won’t be bowing down to anyone.

“Because I have the witch’s favor,” said another. Someone who dared accuse her of aiding another in obtaining the throne. Gasps rang out among the other side “I expect you to challenge me once the ceremony has begun. A display of the witch’s magic will bolster my claim that you cannot come out victorious as nothing else could.”

It’s time for this to end.

Honerva transported herself behind the Archivist has he appeared at the top of the Kral Zera. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, she lifted her hand and pulled. Magic flowed through her and the palm of her hand began to glow, emitting purple light from behind him as the quintessence of the Archivist was sucked into her control. His body stiffened as the last bit of life flowed out of him, and when she let go of her hold, the body collapsed at her feet and down the stairs.

“The Archivist!” Someone from below shouted, having noticed what happened. All heads turned to look at her as she stood tall at the top of the stairs. Some remained frozen in shock, others reached for  their weapons as they prepared to fight the unknown person who disrupted their sacred ceremony.

Little did they know how much history was behind this ceremony. Why it started. And why it was ending here.

And little did they know that their very own empress was the one they were prepared to attack.

She was no longer the witch Haggar.

She was Honerva.

“This flame represents Lotor, son of Zarkon. Prince turned emperor. The emperor that pierced the veil. And my Altean blood courses through his veins. But the Galra empire failed him, newly boiled in traditions of evil, that tainted him. Your ways weakened a god.”

“That treacherous witch!” yelled the one who had formally claimed that Haggar herself would come to her aid as she pulled a large axe from her back.

They couldn’t hurt her. They wouldn’t ever even reach her.

Yelling erupted from all the galrans down below as they all unfroze from their shocked state and grabbed their weapons ready to charge.

“The empire is weak,” she said raising her hand. “And now, I will end it.”

She drew her power up once more, letting the purple ball of her magic grow in her palm. She opened up her power more so that the purple light engulfed all of the people down below. She pulled on their lives as she had done so many other times before, until their quintessence was completely drawn out, becoming hers. Until all that was left was a crowd of purple lying lifeless on at the bottom of the stairs, sucked dry of everything that made them alive only moments before.  

-

“Dayak, update me on the prince’s progress,” Emperor Zarkon said from his throne.

“Yes, sire. Prince Lotor completed the Agotian Trials as you requested. He was successful even though they were advanced for his age.”

“What else?”

“His physical stature is below expectation for the blood lineage of the Galra royalty, but his tactical scores are the highest we’ve ever measured.”

“All I do, I do in the name of Galra,” said the boy as he looked up at his father. He was very small, and despite his skin being the same purple as every other galrans, his features didn’t match up. They never had. His nose and ears were too small. The ears alone pointed out differently than most galrans. They too were smaller and stayed close to his head as the ends of them came to a point. Even in how he spoke, it was softer, as if he was thinking about every single word he said before it came out of his mouth. Always planned out and never rushed as many other galra children's words were. “Father, there’s a question I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

She just continued to stare down at the boy, waiting for the wrath that was about to come from the Emperor onto his son for stepping out of line.

“Greatest apologies, sire. This one should not be speaking out of place.”

“Proceed,” was the only thing the Emperor responded with.

“I would like to know about my mother,” the boy stated. He was determined for answers, Haggar could see it in his eyes. “Please, Father, what happened to her?”

“I would tell you this and no more. She was my only weakness. But now she is gone.”

Haggar felt something swell up inside of her. It happened every time the empress was mentioned. Every time the boy, Lotor, came into the room. The power that usually hummed through her veins got replaced by a feeling of empty. But despite the unpleasantness, she remained still, standing by the Emperor’s side as she watched the scene before her unfold.

“What was her name? What was she like? Please, Father, I must know who I come from. I just…”

“Enough!” The Emperor demanded. If the boy was really as wise as the Dayak claimed, he would stop this nonsense immediately or else he would face the anger of his own father. The boy turned his head back towards the ground with the command. “If you do not remove his impurities then I will find a Dayak that can.”

A brief fear washed over the Dayak’s face before it hardened once more. “He will be punished accordingly. We will sear him down to his inner fire so that he one day may burn the universe. Vrepit Sa!” She said before turning, taking herself and the boy out of the room. Leaving Haggar and the Emperor alone in silence once more.

~Shiro~

The ceiling of the room was as blank as it was at night. He didn’t know what he had expected, it's not like there would actually be a change from what it looked like at night other that it was lit up now. He had been in here for over an hour and had yet to get any sort of sleep like he was supposed to be getting. He would blame it on the lights being on though rather than the constant flow of thoughts that are running through his mind every hour of the day.

Just as he had finally closed his eyes to give his mind some sort of break, he heard the sound of his room door opening and closing again. He opened up one of his eyes and saw Keith standing in the doorway dressed in his red paladin armor and holding his helmet under his arm.

He never understood why Keith and Lance didn’t switch their armors out. Maybe they never thought it would be permanent. Sometimes Shiro wished it hadn’t been, that maybe things would’ve been easier that way, but he wouldn’t ever kick Allura out of her spot. He would gladly trade her being the captain of the Atlas for being a paladin again, but that didn’t seem like it would be likely by now.

“What do you want, Keith?” he said closing his eye again.

“Just wanted to check on you before we headed off for our mission,” he said as he made his way over to the bed and sat down on it next to Shiro.

“Well I’m doing great, you know, with sleeping and all that,” he said sarcastically, eyes still closed. He wished he could get some sleep. Keith didn’t respond to that. He just sat there in silence as if he didn’t know what to say next. Shiro opened his eyes and sat up to sit next to him.

“Shiro…” he said quietly as he looked down at the helmet that was resting in his hands. His voice sounded sad, as if he was carrying around a weight when he spoke. “I know this is about Adam,” he continued, not looking up at Shiro’s face. Shiro was the one who didn’t know what to say now so Keith just continued. “He was in that last group of pilots that the garrison sent out. It took me a little bit to figure out why you were so adamant of finding them but now I understand. He was this worried about you too after you went missing.”

What are you talking about, Keith. Adam and I had been broken up for a month before I even left. He probably won’t even want to see me if we ever find him”

“He will. He never even took off his ring. At least he hadn’t until…”

“Do I even want to know?” Shiro questioned. This was what he had been avoiding. What happened after…

“Well you’ve never asked before. And I didn’t want to bring it up because I was mad. I was so mad at him, but now I just realize that he was just as upset as I was after you went missing. But if you don’t want to know…”

“I don’t. But, I probably need to if I am ever going to want to fix things if we find him…”

~Honerva~

A soldier stood at the bottom of the throne steps, kneeling down in front of the Emperor. Emperor Zarkon wasn’t alone, Haggar was still by his side, but Lotor, having completed his training also joined his father's side by the throne.

“Sire, your audience is requested in the Kandar Wing.”

“Father, may I accompany you?” Lotor asked.

“You will stay here,” Zarkon said coldly. It was the same reply every time the question was asked. Lotor didn’t quit there though.

“But I wish to join you! I have learned much of…”

“You are a insolent boy! You may be the prince, but I am your emperor,” were the final words of the conversation. Lotor just looked to the ground and soluted his emperor as he was meant to do as Emperor Zarkon left the room.

Haggar just stayed in her place in silence. She watched as the soldier and the Emperor left, then her eyes followed to the creature, the cat, as it walked up to the prince. That animal seemed to be everywhere that she was. It followed her at her feet wherever she went, but she tolerated it because it was loyal. It always did as she asked.

The cat purred up at the prince and he kneeled down as if to pet her.

“Do not touch him,” Haggar warned. “It will hurt you.”

The prince looked back at her over her shoulder, annoyed, then proceeded to put his hand on the cats head and stroke it down her back. The cat purred in response as he continued to pet it.

“What is it’s name?”

“It has no name,” she replied coldly, continuing to stare at the boy as he pet the creature.

“Then I shall name it,” he said. “Your name will be…”

Kova. The name rang through her head.

“Kova. Her name is Kova.”

The cat jumped onto the princes shoulders and he laughed. That sound made that empty feeling swell up in side of her again.

“This creature pleases me. It will be mine.”

No, Kova. It was…

“ My Lord…”

“You may be the high priestess, but I am your prince,” he sounded cold like his father had. “And you will do as I say. Isn’t that right, Kova?” his face softened when he talked to the cat. Kova just purred in response.

Haggar felt her face turn down in disappointment, but didn’t argue. “Yes, my lord.”

-

She had been stupid not to see it before. The Kral Zera is where the most powerful Galra take their place in the ranks. The flame would guide her to her son. The flame and the cat. They were more connected to him then she was, but that would all change. Together, combined with her magic, they would lead her to him. She would finally find her son.

She held Kova in her arms for the last time. Petting her gently. She didn’t wish to see the cat go. Kova had been around since she was a child, growing with her through the years. Kova was loyal, doing whatever Honerva asked of her. She took care of her son when he needed someone who wouldn’t hurt him. And when he was older and found his place as Emperor, Kova allowed her to see him through the eyes of one of his generals- Narti- even though it was only for a brief period of time.

Honerva placed the cat on the ground in front of the flame from the Kral Zera. She held out her arms to her side and drew her power up, focusing it towards the flame and the cat. The whole room starting to take on a purple glow as the power spread out around her and began to rise up from the cold ground.

The air around her grew warm and her body went stiff as her mind was thrown into the search for her son. But this time it was different, she was following through the light to a specific place. She was being guided to him. Her mind traveled through the universe and ended in a place of light. The only thing there being a large, metal robot. Lotor. My son. Her mind continued to follow the pull, and then the scene changed. She was seeing him, his memories, his life.

A world engulfed in pink and purple light. Filled with so much magic and knowledge that one couldn’t even begin to imagine what they might learn there. Oriande.

Lotor, running his sword through a beast as it dissolved into dust in front of him.

Then him again, standing in front of a statue of himself, well deserved, two soldiers flanking his side. He was in the same land as before, but this time it wasn’t surround in pink light. It was bright, and the grass was green, as if it had awoken itself just for him. As if life itself grew for his presence. People, Alteans, stood at his feet, waiting to hear what he has to say. He was their savior.

Then Voltron. Fighting against him in the white light fog that her mind first found him in. There was lightning- no quintessence- surrounding them. It turned on Lotor and Voltron was no longer able to be seen. The power shocked the machine that he was inside of. He was hurt, it was shocking him too. His technology wasn’t designed for this much. It could pierce the veil, but it couldn’t contain what was inside. He screamed out in agony as his body was overridden with the power.

The scream was the last thing she heard before her mind was pulled away from the search. She stood in shock at what she now knew.

“My son,” she whispered to herself before looking down to see that the flame and Kova had disappeared, leaving only her once again in the cold room. The difference between now and every time before, however, was that she knew where her son was.

She had finally found him.

~Keith~

He looked so sad, or tired, or something, when Keith had walked into his room to ask him about Adam. There wasn’t actually a good word to describe all of the emotions that were painting themselves out in Shiro’s expressions.

Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

It was standing right in front of him and it had taken him this long to figure out why Shiro had been acting so odd ever since there was even a possibility of saving the missing pilots.

The way he realized it wasn’t even a good way. After his talk with Shiro, he went down to the kitchen to get some breakfast before Voltron went out on the mission. He had barely sat down and began to eat when he felt the bench shift as someone sat down beside him.

“So did you get to talk to Shiro at all?”

Lance.

Keith took his attention off of his food to look up at the boy beside him. He was still wearing his blue garrison uniform, his hair was done messily and his face was soft and calm yet his eyes were tired.

Beautiful.

“Yeah, I caught him after the meeting and told him to get some rest. He is just so worked up about finding these missing pilots. I’m starting to get worried about him,” Keith said, taking his gaze off of Lance. He wasn’t able to look at him for too long otherwise he would get distracted and think thoughts that he really shouldn’t be thinking. “Speaking of not getting any sleep, why were you up so late last night?”

“Oh… I was just… I was up thinking about my date with Allura,” he said shyly.

Oh. They hadn’t talked about it. Not since the night up on the Black lion. Keith knew something hadn’t gone right on it. Obviously, or else they would’ve been together. He figured Lance wouldn’t want to talk about it, not to him at least. He wasn’t Lance’s best friend- that was Hunk. Why would Lance want to talk to him about his bad date with the person he thought was his dream girl?

“Do you want to talk about it?” Keith asked. Good one. Real good job there Keith.

“There isn’t much really to talk about. The date went well… well not good as a normal date would be good, but it was good as in we both realized that that really wasn’t what we wanted with each other. But ever since then- this is going to sound weird- I just have this feeling like I’m missing something. Like there is a part of me that I should have and I feel like it's right in front of me but I am just completely missing it,” he rushed out, almost in one breath as if he had been holding it all in for a lifetime.

“So… what like a person? Like you are missing a person who is meant to complete you or something?”

“Yeah, something along those lines I guess.”

“Do you feel like Allura is that missing person? Like after your date with her you gave up the one person that was missing from you?” Keith asked hesitantly, part of him was hoping the answer was no- for his own sake- but he also hated seeing Lance upset.

“No, not at all. I mean I did at one point but after that date I realized that it was just completely wrong. And again, I just… I don’t know, man. Do you ever feel like that?” All of the time. “That night on the black lion you had said you had been in love… and that you were still trying to figure it out.” How did he even remember that? “ When you said you were trying to figure it out, what did you mean?” Lance asked turning to face him.

“I guess sort of something along the line of what you are feeling… like someone was right there but just out of my reach and whether or not it meant that I was able to love them or not. But unlike you, my person isn’t really missing…”

Missing. It was like everything in that moment had clicked in his head. The one he loved was missing… and the Atlas was trying to find him.

“Lance, I just realized something,” he said standing up from the bench quickly and moving to push his plate in the sink behind them.

“What… where are you going? Is everything alright?” He said, also having stood up from his place on the bench, worry making an appearance on his features.

“Yeah everything’s fine, Lance. I just have to go talk to Shiro again. Thanks for the talk, I’ll see you before the mission,” he said quickly, turning around and heading out the door before Lance could even say another word in reply.

Keith immediately went to his room to change into his paladin armor since he didn’t really think he would have time to do so after talking to Shiro and then headed over to find him.

Adam. Of course it’s Adam.

-

He had completely ignored his roommate- or former roommate he should say, Brenden, when he forcefully pushed open the door to their room. His roommate had seen him angry before- Keith was always angry over something- but probably never like this before. Keith was more than angry this time, he was fuming with rage. His entire body was shaking and he just felt like hitting every single thing that got mildly in his way.

Kicked out.

He was kicked out.

Without a word of what was going on, he pulled his small suitcase out from his closet and threw it onto his bed, forcefully shoving the few clothes he had in there haphazardly. He took out a pair of his black jeans and a t-shirt before going into their bathroom and slamming the door behind him to change out of the stupid orange uniform that he hated so much. Even more now than before. On his way out he grabbed the few toiletries he had in there and walked back out throwing them on the top of the suitcase. Before he closed it, he threw his knife on the top of the pile- the one he had since he was a baby, and the one he had just thrown at Iverson’s head.

Brenden’s face went from surprised to horrified when he saw the knife land in the suitcase. “Where in the world did you get that?” He asked, finally coming out of his state of complete shock.

“None of your business,” Keith said zipping up the suitcase and pulling it off of his bed.

“Where are you going? It’s a Wednesday- in the middle of the semester!”

“Oh my god, Brenden do you ever know when to just shut up!” He yelled. He had never liked Brenden anyway, besides it’s not like it mattered now. He wasn’t ever going to see him again. So what did he have to lose. Nothing. He had nothing to lose, not anymore . He picked up the uniform off of his bed and threw it towards Brenden who was sitting at his desk. “Go ask anyone in this hellhole. They will tell you what I’m doing,” he said before pulling his suitcase behind him and out of the room, making sure to pull the door shut extra loud behind him as he stormed away.

-

He went to the apartment first, just hoping Adam had come back here for lunch.

Of course he would be here. Adam never broke his routine- usually.

As he made his way up to the door, he stopped, trying to calm down a little bit before lifting his hand to knock.

It had been weeks since he had seen Adam. The last time being the day that Shiro left for his mission- a month ago. And they didn’t even talk that day- Adam and Shiro had been broken up for a month by that point and Keith and Adam never saw each other really other than when Shiro was around and during the sumers. That day, Adam just stood, watching from the crowd with everyone else from the garrison as the ship took off, never to be seen again.

Keith wondered sometimes if Adam regretted not saying goodbye to Shiro that day.

The door opened up in front of him, and as soon as Adam realized who was on the other side- his expression changed from shocked to anger. “What do you want, Keith,” he said as he pulled him inside and shut the door behind him.

“I got kicked out of the garrison.”

“I know. You threw a knife at Iverson’s head! Where did you even get a knife from?”

“That’s not the point, Adam.”

“Then what is the point, Keith. What are you even doing here? You aren’t supposed to be on school grounds anymore. You are going to get me fired.”

“I’m going to go look for Shiro,” he announced. Adam let his guard down for a second before his expression turned hard again.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. You’re insane if you think that you are going to find Shiro,” he said turning around and walking away from Keith.

“Well the garrison isn’t doing anything to look for him! He is still out there and someone has to find him! The garrison isn’t doing anything and I want to know why!” He began to yell as he followed Adam more into the center of the room.

“There is nothing to find, Keith!” he said as he turned around to face Keith. Keith had never heard Adam yelled before and was taken aback for a second. “The garrison isn’t behind this! They aren’t doing anything because they’re dead. Commander Holt, Matt and Shiro are gone- forever- so just give up already!”

Keith just squared his shoulders back, standing up straight to look at Adam completely. So that Adam could see just how fed up with all of this he was.

“If you really think that, then why are you still wearing the ring,” he said it as a statement. As if he was demanding an answer rather than asking. “You were the one who broke off the engagement, so if you really believe that they are dead, then why. Are you. Wearing. The. Ring.”

Adam looked down at his left hand and the gold band that was still resting on his ring finger. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in before looking back up at Keith, anger having taken over his entire face at this point.

Keith watched as Adam lifted up his hand without breaking his eye contact with Keith and removed the band from his finger.

“Fine. If you want to keep living your fantasy and believe that they are still alive then go right ahead,” he threw the engagement ring at Keith who caught it before it hit him. “I don’t need that anymore. Do what you want with it and get out of my apartment.”

Keith didn’t say anything else. He just clamped his fist around the ring and walked back over to the door, grabbing his suitcase and walking out.

There was only one place left for him now.

~Honerva~

She knew where it was now. She knew where her search could begin. How to finally get her son back.

She had seen the colony of her people, hidden away in the universe, but now she could find that too. The Galra were weak. If she really wanted to find her son, she needed loyal subjects. And who more loyal than her own people.

She could see the planet in the distance as the ship drew iself closer. Every moment passing was just another one closer to her son being back in her arms.

The planet itself was just as it had been in the visions. Bright, covered in green grass with mountains covering the grounds of the planet. Their were buildings scattered all over the ground. From the window, she saw a clear lake that reflected the sky above. And in the distance, the statue of her son stood tall, as if he was still protecting his people even though he wasn’t there.

He will be soon. He will be back where he belongs soon.

The ship landed far off from where the buildings were. She didn’t want them to notice it and be frightened of the Galra ship she had come here on.

She stood tall as she walked towards the area where the buildings were. As she grew closer, she started noticing people. Alteans, working away at the land. Oh what her power will bring them. Alteans will rise up once again with her son leading and him at his side.

She made her way into the villages, walking towards the statue. People’s heads turned up as she walked by, noticing the stranger who walked on their land as if it was their own. But it was hers. She belonged here just as much as they did.

As she climbed the steps of her sons statue, she heard whispers behind her.

“What are you doing here?” One of them yelled up at her. She ignored it and continued to climb the steps in silence. They would know soon enough. “Answer me!” The same Altean demanded. If they only knew who I was, she would be horrified in her manner of speaking to me.

Honerva turned to face the growing crowd at the bottom of the steps. “I am Honerva of the planet Altea,” she said calmly.

The same Altean who had questioned her before took another step forward towards the statue. She had bright red hair and purple markings. She was brave. She would be useful later. Her shocked expression quickly went away and was replaced by anger. “That is impossible! Altea was destroyed over 10,000 years ago!”

“A powerful portent that is shared with the birth of my son Lotor.”

The red headed Altean softened her features, “Lotor’s… mother?” More whispered rang out among the crowd.

“Lotor is gone,” they all gasped at her news.

“How did he die?”

“He is not dead. He is missing. But Voltron is the cause of all of this,” she said angrily. “To all of you who believed in my son so justly, your faith will be rewarded. I have come here today to continue to my son’s mission and to help all of you get your leader back. But for that, I need you all.”

“We are your humble servants,” another Altean spoke up from somewhere in the middle of the crowd. “As will be the members of our sister colony once we inform them of the news. Do you know of their whereabouts?”

“Unfortunately, they have also fallen to the evils of Voltron. Voltron and the Galra will pay for what they have done. With your help, we will get Lotor back and we shall resurrect his dream.”

The original Altean, the red haired one, kneeled down at the end of Honerva’s sentence. “We pledge our allegiance to you, Honerva, mother of Lotor.” The rest of the crowd knelt down after her.

This is it. This was all she needed. The missing piece in the puzzle.

She would finally get her son.  

-

It had been so long since she had even thought of Oriande. Even longer since she had been there. Oriande was hers at one time. All of Alteans alechemy and knowledge at her feet. And she hasn’t gotten to touch it since before her son was even born.

And now she finally got to return. Not by herself either, with her people. They all deserved to know the knowledge of this place. Alteans would become great once again.

The white light from Oriande's entrance was blinding as the ship made its way through.

This would be their new home. This is where she belonged.

The ship landed on the rocky ground and she stepped out into the very familiar area. It hadn’t changed almost at all since she last had her feet on this ground. It even looked the same as it had when she saw it through her son’s eyes. The same pink and purple glow that cast itself onto the mountains in the distance.

The red headed Altean, Merla, stepped out and stood beside her, looking over the scene as well.

“This ancient land was created through powerful magic. Alteans would travel here to learn the secrets of our race. We have a long and difficult road ahead of us, but our path is true.”

“We will do anything to bring Lotor back,” Merla said, determination settling in her voice.

She is going to be useful.

“I know.”

-

They weren’t in the throne room of their ship now. Lotor, grown now, had requested his father’s presence on the planet he had been assigned to harness the quintessence out of. Haggar, of course, had come along. She always was by the Emperor’s side. He trusted few, but he needed her magic for many things.

Lotor and the leader of this planet, Ven’tar, were kneeling in front of the Emperor.

“Update me on your progress,” the Emperor demanded.

“Our quintessence yields are some of the highest in the empire, and we’ve been more efficient than any other. By working alongside the denizens of this planet, like Ven’tar here, we’ve outsourced…”

“You dare work with this pitiful race as if they are your equals?” Zarkon said, turning quickly with anger to face his son.

“It is working, father,” Lotor said, standing up to face his father on his level rather than from the ground. “We have outpaced even the most generous projections.”

“The heir to the Galra throne should not sully our honor by working with his subjects.”

Lotor looked to the ground and curled his hands into fists. “It is the way my mother’s people would have done things,” he replied coldly. “You thought I couldn’t find out about my own mother? About her people?” He was enraged now. But he knew he had already lost this battle, mentioning his mother was just a way to take the Emperor down at least in some way. The Empress was still his weakness, though she was gone. “You thought you destroyed every remnant of Altea, but you cannot unless you destroy your own son as well!”

Altea. It was another one of those words that awoke something in her mind.

“Enough!” Zarkon yelled, moving another step closer to the prince. “You are to crush this planet beneath your heel!”

“Never!”

“Then I will,” Zarkon said before turning and walking towards the exit.

“No! You wouldn’t,” Lotor said, having calmed down realizing what he had just done. “You can’t! Father, wait! Please do not do this father. Do not make these people suffer for my actions,” he begged. He really was more than just Galra.

“It is already done,” the Emperor replied as he left the building completely.

Lotor began to follow after him. “Pease, I will do as you ask. The people will serve the Galra,” he said right before she held her hand out to stop him. She let her power flow out of her and onto the prince. He cried out in pain as her magic shocked him where he stood, seizing up his entire body in a purple glow. He feel to the ground as she let go. The Emperor would get what he wanted, and the prince wasn’t going to stop him.

-

They were already on the ship when the prince woke up. There was a red glow coming in from the windows as the planet they had just left was being destroyed.

She was standing by the Emperors side once again, on the other side of the room.

Lotor stood up quickly once he realized that he wasn’t on the planet any longer. “No,” he whispered. “No! No!” He began to say louder as he look in the sight in front of him.

“You are hereby banished from the empire,” the Emperor announced as Lotor continued to stare out at the dying planet. “Forced to live out the remainder of your days remembering your failure here,” he said finally before turning and leaving just Lotor and Haggar in the room.

Lotor turned his head to the floor in defeat. “Have you nothing to say, witch? Surely even you can see the folly of your master’s actions,” he said spitefully to her, not even turning his head to look at her when he spoke. She didn’t say anything, rather she turned and followed the Emperor’s footsteps out of the room.

~Shiro~

“Where are we even going?”

“You’ll see,” was all he said as he pulled Adam along down the hallways of the garrison.

It’s been four years. They haven’t come back up here in four years, which was surprising because it used to be their spot.

They had just finished dinner. Shiro sort of recreated their first date but instead of going home, he took him back to the halls of the garrison. Back to where everything began for them. He was taking him back to their spot. To the place where he realized he was in love with his best friend. Where he was in love with Adam.

Adam had no idea what was going on tonight. The only person who knew besides Shiro was Keith and that’s because Shiro had no idea what to do for tonight and for some reason he thought it would be a good idea to actually ask Keith for any sort of romantic advice. As if he would know.

After hours of them trying to come up with something the idea came to him. Keith thought it was stupidly romantic which is why he also thought it was disgusting because he was fifteen and never had been in love before. Shiro knew Keith would find someone for himself one day- despite what he says. Whoever it was would be stubborn and a fighter and would drive Keith absolutely up the wall but they would be like Adam is to Shiro- they would be Keith’s stability and his perfect balance. Keith wouldn’t accept anything less. But regardless, he still thought it was stupidly romantic how Shiro had decided to propose, which meant it was perfect.

And it had been so far.

Adam still did not suspect anything as far as Shiro knew which was amazing because Adam knew everything. T hey had gone to that restaurant plenty of times after their first date so nothing there would lead him to believe it was anything other than a regular date. The only reason he might suspect anything at all is that instead of going home, Shiro drove them to the main building of the garrison.

They were by the stairs now, the ones that lead up to the roof. Shiro was sure that Adam knew exactly where they were going now. There was no way that he didn’t.

“We haven’t been up here in years, why are we up here now?” Adam asked him quietly as he looked off onto the desert beyond the building. Shiro’s gaze followed Adam’s as he took his hand and led him to the edge where they sat down as they had that night before all of the students came back to garrison- exactly four years before this.

The sun was almost completely set by this point. They had made it in time to see the last of it peak over the desert mountains off in the distance. The sky was a bright mixture of reds and yellows and as the eyes moved up higher in the sky it faded into a deep blue where a few stars were already starting to peek their way into.

“What do you mean what are we doing up here? Am I not allowed to bring my boyfriend to our old spot to bask in the nostalgia of it all and watch the beautiful sunset?”

Adam just gave him a look of ‘that’s a load of crap’ but gave up and directed his gaze back out onto the desert.

“It really is beautiful isn’t it? Why did we ever stop coming up here in the first place?”

“I don’t know. We got caught up in the craziness of adulthood I guess. I mean look at us, full time jobs, living together, paying bills, and we basically have a kid now, or whatever you want to call Keith, but regardless he is still our responsibility. And all of that by the ripe old age of twenty-three” Shiro said. He heard a slight laugh come from Adam, but he didn’t say anything else in response. “Seriously though. You are my best friend Adam and I love you more than anything else in the world and we’ve been through a lot in the last few years but I couldn’t be more grateful that I got to spend them with you,” Shiro said looking over at his boyfriend. His hair and skin was beautiful in the glow coming from the sunset. He was radiating. He was perfection. More than anything Shiro could ever ask for- and he never wanted to let go.

Adam looked over at him and resting his hand on top of Shiro’s, smiling softly but not saying a word.

“You know, this is where I realized I was in love with you.”

“It was?”

“Yeah. The last time we were up here. You were staring out at the stars and I was looking at you and I just remember thinking that I never wanted to go another moment of my life without you by my side,” Shiro paused. He had rehearsed what he was going to say a thousand times over in his head but none of it was coming up in the moment. So instead he just pulled his hand away from Adam’s and reached into his jacket pocket.

“Takashi… are you…?”

“Yes,” he said as he finally pulled the small velvet box out and held it out, flat in his palm. “Honestly, I’m surprised it took you that long to figure it out. When Keith and I started planning this…”

“Wait. You asked Keith for help on how to propose to me?”

“Yeah, but hey, it worked out didn’t it? Or at least I guess I hope it will. I still haven’t gotten the chance to ask you… I meant everything I said, Adam. I love you more than I have ever loved anything else in my entire life. I have since we sat on this rooftop four years ago today and really, there is no part of my life that I see where you are not a part of it. I want you to be apart of it for however long I have left on this Earth… So Adam, will you marry me?”

His mouth was hanging open as words tried to leave his mouth but wouldn’t. But he was nodding his head up and down as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes.

“Here, let me see your hand,” Shiro said pulling the gold band out of the box and sliding it onto Adam’s finger. “There. It’s official. I want you to see this ring everyday and let it be a reminder that no matter what is going on, that I will always be here and that I will always love you. Even if I am out on a mission, I will always come back to you.”

“I love you, so much…” he said pausing. His mouth turned up in a small smile. “So this was supposed to be some sort of rendition of our first date right?” Shiro just nodded. “Well in that case, I know I’ve never been proposed to before…” Shiro laughed knowing exactly where he was taking this.

“Are you about to make another heteronormative classic romance movie reference to me?” Shiro asked, a smile having taken over his face now.

“No, this is me telling you to just kiss me already.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

He wished they could stay like this forever.

~ a little over a year later ~

Shiro opened the door to their apartment, setting his bag down on the ground next to the door and making his way over to where Adam was sitting straight up on the couch. The television was on, he had been watching the news apparently. Shiro leaned over the back and kissed his cheek. “How was work today?” He asked before standing all the way back up and going into the kitchen to start getting stuff out for dinner.

“When were you going to tell me?”

Shiro continued to look through the fridge to find ingredients for something that they could make- well that Adam could make, Shiro just kind of stood there and helped cut things up on occasion because he was bad as cooking and Adam didn’t want to ‘die of food poisoning’. “What did you say, babe?”

“I said, when were you going to tell me?” his voice was impatient and he was far from being happy. Shiro closed the refrigerator door and walked over to the counter, resting his palms on the cool countertop as he looked over as his fiance who was still sitting and staring at the television screen. He picked up the remote and rewound the channel to a story that had aired earlier.

The story announcing the team for the Kerberos mission.

Oh.

They had a fight about this a few weeks ago when Admiral Sanda and Commander Holt were deciding whether or not he should be put on the team. Eventually, after some convincing Sanda agreed, saying that as long as his health conditions stayed as they were now inetween then and the week before they left, then he would be cleared to go on the mission.

This mission was so important to him, but Adam couldn’t see it that way. So when Admiral Sanda had called him into her office to tell her that he would be able to go on the mission, he didn’t even hesitate to say yes.

And of course he had planned on telling Adam- certainly before he found out from someone else. In face, he was going to tell him tonight. He only had found out yesterday and hadn’t really had the chance to speak to him about it at all since he found out.

“Adam, I swear I was going to tell you tonight. I just…”

“Just what, Takashi? Just was hoping that one of our coworkers didn’t congratulate me on you being accepted onto the team before you got to tell me? Just was hoping that I wouldn’t see anything about it before tonight? How long have you known! And why didn’t you tell me?” he said, obviously very angry with him now.

“I only found out yesterday. And we were so busy last night, and yeah I was hoping that no one would tell you but I swear I was going to tell you tonight.”

“And what?”

“What do you mean ‘and what’?”

“And what about me? Did you just expect me to be okay with this?” He was standing now, facing the counter and staring Shiro down.

“Adam, we’ve talked about this before! You know how important this is to me!”

“And what did I say then, Takashi. How important am I to you? Because I told you that if you went on this mission, then I would not be here when you get back. And you went and accepted it anyway!”

Shiro paused, having the conversation really sink in for the first time. His face turned down into a frown as concern washed over him. “Wait… you… you’re serious?”

“No, I just say things like that all of the time for fun,” sarcasm was dripping from his voice. “Do you even know me, Takashi? Of course I was serious! I told you I’m not going through this again. And if this mission is more important to you than me, then I guess I don’t know what my place is here anymore.”

“Adam, are you…” He didn’t even want to say it. He didn’t know what to even say. How did he ever end up here. “Adam, I…” His words were stopped by Adam lifting his hand. He was apparently out of words as well because he just left it there as tears began to run down his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in before turning around and walking into their bedroom. Shiro remained frozen at the counter, not knowing what to do. Or say. Or think. He was stuck in time in a moment he never thought he would see.

A few minutes later, Adam walked back out and towards their door with a bag in one hand and his school bag in the other. In that moment, time caught up with Shiro as he quickly walked over to meet him at the doorway.

“Adam… where are you… what are you doing?” he whispered as he felt sticky wet lines fall down his cheeks. He was crying.

Why was this happening?

“ I’ll see you around, Takashi. Good luck on your mission, I’m sure you’ll be great,” he said before turning the handle and walking out the door, leaving Shiro alone in their apartment.

~Honerva~

They had been working for pheobs trying to accomplish something that would finally be able to take down Voltron. And now, that time had arrived.

Honerva walked into the room where their robeast was being worked on. No, where it was completed.

“The acolytes have worked tirelessly,” Merla said still standing behind her. “The prototype is ready.”

“Excellent work. Find me the most faithful amongst us.”

“Yes, my queen.”

-

She turned herself into Haggar for the very last time so she could speak to Sendek.

“The Lions of Voltron have arrived as your suspected. Shall I capture them for you, High Priestess?”

“No. Destroy them.”

“Vrepit Sa!” He replied before the screen went away. She changed over back to herself, to Honerva, and took off her hood of the cloak she no longer needed.

The door opened up behind her and Merla walked in, kneeling when Honerva turned to face her.

“Voltron has been found,” she announced. “It is time to test our first Altean acolyte. Gather up our people.” Merla nodded at her orders and walked out.

Honerva looked around the cold, dark room that she had spent countless quintants in looking for her son. Now she would have him, her people and the Lions of Voltron all right where she needed them to be. Everything was working out as they were supposed to.

She made her way out of the room and towards the balcony in the room where they kept their army of robots, ready to be sent out. Soon it started to fill with the Alteans, all eager to hear her announcement. Merla and Luca joined her on the balcony looking out among their people.

“Today, the light of the universe shines inside out most brave. The dream of life is realized through her actions. For Luca, the first acolyte, we shine in Lotor’s bright luminescence!”

She turned to face Luca, who did the same. She kneeled down in front of Honerva as she crossed her arm over her chest in a salute. “Voltron will pay for what they have done,” she said looking down at the ground. Honerva placed her hand on top of her head.

“May the light guide you. Rise and avenge my son.”

They made their way off of the balcony and to the first bot that was being sent out. Luca loaded herself inside to the control center, ready to serve her people. Honerva watched as the beast lit up with purple light, harnessing the power that Luca provided with it, before it took off towards the sky and off to Earth to end Voltron once and for all.

~Shiro~

“So I guess we both ended it with Adam on pretty bad terms…” Keith said, halfway joking but the statement was too real to be taken as with any sort of lightheartedness.

“I didn’t know… he really never took off the ring?”

“No. Well not that I know of. Not until that fight at least. I guess he was done waiting for you to come back…”

“I told him that I would always come back to him, Keith. I was going to come back to him…”

“Well now you finally will get to do just that. We’re going to find him. We just have…”

Shiro never got to hear the end of Keith’s sentence, however, because before he could finish it the door to his room opened revealing a frantic looking and slightly out of breath Lance dressed in his paladin armor. Keith stood up from the bed quickly.  

“Lance, is everything okay?” Keith said, his voice switching to something very serious and worried, but softer than what it was when he had been talking to Shiro just before.

“There has been a change in our mission plans,” he forced out quickly in between breaths. Shiro felt the room grow colder than it had ever been as time seemed to slow down and his own breath hitched up in the back of his throat as the next six words fell from Lance’s lips.

“The missing pilots have been located.”

#voltron #shadam #adashi #klance #shiro (voltron) #keith (voltron) #lance (voltron) #hunk (voltron) #pidge (voltron) #allura (voltron) #lotor (voltron) #honerva (voltron) #takashi shirogane #keith kogane #lance mcclain #hunk garrett #pidge gunderson #katie holt #princess allura #prince lotor #Coran (voltron) #adam (voltron) #fandom textposts #fanfiction #my writing #voltron season 8 rewrite

[deadromance619]

Time At Sea

Something happened, I don't know what to say.

I am a girl, and for the most part of my life I've acted like one, but I must say my perspective on sexuality has become a little masculine over the year. I've adopted certain methods of birth control since I've been back, some are a little extreme, some aren't, I've always thought that sexuality was something you choose, something about it that you liked. There are things some people like and there are things some people don't like, like food.

Lately though, I've been feeling like I'm being pressured into castration, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I've been kicked out of my guild. You see, The Silvermoon Senate the guild I was with, didn't like that I was attempting to scrape some bedmates from the guild, but I never was actually with any of them, I faced insults like, "Get away from me, you smelly pirate hooker." A few times since I've been back. My pirate sisters say that you're going to hear that term a lot when you get on shore, especially when you get to a city with a functioning church.

When the pirates found out I was a paladin, things got a little edgy. I mean at first when they saw what I could do with a blade, how I could pull my own weight, and even learn some tricks of the trade, they were on their best behavior. The crew started acting a little more aggressive and the captain would assign alone time to some of the mates, but there was a lot of them. I was what seemed at the time, was the epiphany of Chasity, I got a lot of attitude for reasons I didn't know at the time.

It was confusing and complicated, and I really just thought it was the normal, I'm a human, you're a blood elf, or some of an opposing faction politics that have been my life, but as it turns out no one was having sex because of me. Because I was a paladin.

There was a munity and they wanted me off the ship. I asked what I had done wrong, I had been doing things they wanted, and was even getting good at it, and they said, "It's not what you do, it's what you are."

Naïve at the time, I said, "But there are sin'dorei in this crew, and I've even mended a lot of your wounds."

He put his head down, lifted his hand and waved it, "We know, but we don't want to corrupt you, and the Burning Legion is here, any day could be our last, and we want to live like it is."

"I don't care if you guys drink and be merry." I stated.

The captain lightly took a hold of my arm and whispered in my ear, "He means sex."

"Sex?!" I said out loud, that was followed by a gasp.

Now there were half as many women as there were men, but the first mate, an orc female named Lane came up to me and said, "Yes lassie, sex, and these superstitious pirates hadn't knocked boots with anyone since you came on board." She looked over at the captain like she offended him, "Accept you of course, Captain Blackgrave." Blackgrave the captain, a tall sulky human, with dark skin, and wore a black sleeveless trench coat. She smiled and curtsied even though she was wearing pants, "But these men think your healing spells will stop working if they establish their cannons. Frankly it's got me hot and bothered too."

"Try not to use those words with Perfectia, please." Captain Blackgrave said as he put his hand over his face.

"I think I got the picture." I intervened.

First mate Lane the orc lady that has been talking, crossed her arms, and looked at the crew, "These men think you'll lose your Paladin power if someone dwarves your beard."

Captain Blackgrave let out a deep sigh, put his hand on his head, and shook it.

I looked at both of them questionably and shrugged my shoulders.

Lane took a step forward at me and smiled. "Shank your jewelry." She said, the crew laughed. "Loosen your Light." She continued, "Caddis your katie. If you tank the trout. Pudding your peach, dampen your druid, shock your shaman, float your frigate, groping your grinder." She looked at me questionably, shook her head, and shrugged, "Um, widen your Consecration?" She asked.

I side smiled, "Oh, that's just a spell that leaves aaaahhh… No!" I suddenly realized what she was saying, "I won't lose my powers if I have sex, jeeze."

"How do you know?" One of the crew asked.

"Because," I gritted through my teeth, "I've already… "I mumbled off and recalled the thought, putting my hand over my chest as I remembered the painful memory.

Lane looked at me with concern, "Nobody forced themselves on you, did they?" she asked.

I shook my head, "He died… not too long after." I explained.

Lane could tell I was upset, she padded me on the shoulder, and looked at Captain Blackgrave, "Yeah captain, she's gotta go. I mean look at her, she's still to pure."

"No," I yelled, "I won't be a bother to anyone I swear! Don't you see, this is what we wanted, to forget all the bloodshed we've been through our whole lives. On this ship, you have Horde and Alliance races working together." I explained. Looking out to the crew

Blackgrave crossed his arms, looked at me with rage in his eye, and shook his head, "Those racial tensions are beginning to resurface! We are running out of supplies and we haven't pillaged a single boat since you came on board."

"We've already missed the last blood hunt because of you." Lane added.

"What's a blood hunt?" I asked.

Lane looked over at the captain, he nodded his head, "The reason why there's not that many women on this ship, it's because we die on the blood hunt." She explained, "We are taken to an island with dangerous wildlife and pass our blood for a few days, during that time the animals, the fish, even birds are drawn to us. It is a fruitful hunt regardless of the situation, but a dangerous one nonetheless."

I looked at her questionably, "Do men ever join on a blood hunt."

The women in the crew laughed, "They have before, but there usually the first to die." Lane explained, "The smell of their piss kind of defeats the purpose of the hunt, also the rare one that do survive don't come back the same."

I looked at Captain Blackgrave in his eyes, he just nodded. "Have you?" I asked.

Blackgrave looked away as he recalled the thought, "There's something about the sounds of screams as you watch the women die, every single casually hits you like a battering ram, and it stays on you. Men will eventually do something reckless, try to be the hero, and die for it. I just kept fishing, facing the ocean, kept my ears closed, realize that I'm needed to take command of my ship when we got on board, and Lane had everything under control."

"These loins of mine have been aching just of late, Captain, do you have a course for an island we can set for?" Lane asked.

"I do, lots of big cats and a few monkeys, but we have to drop the paladin off first." The Captain explained.

"No, I wanna go in the blood hunt. I can fight." I argued.

"Nobody doubts that, but I need a roll in the hay before I go, and…" Lane paused.

I took off my red crown, and my heavy plated chest piece, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'll prove it to you." I said as I undid my greaves, took off my gloves.

I continued to disrobe removing my bra and underwear, but leaving my boots, I lifted both of my arms in the air and shot out a blast of light at the whole crew, "Chastity does not strengthen my resolve to the Light!" I yelled, "Only my will!" And put my arms down.

Everyone regained their eyesight and I saw someone step forward and I subconsciously looked away and covered myself with my hands. I heard Captain Blackgrave take off his coat and wrap it around me. He was still wearing a sleeveless white shirt, "Well you heard her men." He ordered. "Have at it."

"Will she?" one of the crew asked.

"When she's ready." The captain answered.

The sailors and pirates all gave a salute and ran down under deck, Lane smiled at me, gave a mocking salute to Blackgrave and headed down as well. I held the coat tightly as I felt the ocean air blow against my skin. I looked out to the ocean as the sun started to go down. I saw the captain put a small piece of wood in his mouth and look out to sea. He placed his hand on my shoulder, but I pushed it away with my hand. "Sorry." He said.

Captain Blackgrave leaned forward on the wooden railing and looked at me. "Why do you want to be a pirate so badly anyways, you haven't even seen what we really do." He looked outward, "We could drop you off near Light's Hope and you can take back the mantel of Highlord."

I looked down in self-pity like I usually did, but the ocean was so beautiful that it held my gaze keeping my eye's forward, "It's what he would have wanted." I hit the side of the wooden railing angrily, "I thought I was so close. Those order halls held Horde and Alliance members, but we still only stuck with our own people. So many of my blood elf people wished to join the order when they found out I was the Highlord, but I was still extremely suspicious of members of the Alliance. Then a dwarf took over the mantel, he thought it would be a good idea to start thinning our numbers."

Blackgrave put his back to the railing and crossed his arms and laughed, "Sounds like politics to me." He gestured at my whole body, "But aren't you the Ashbringer? The legendary 'Mograine Soul' Perfectia?" He asked.

I looked at him questionably.

"It's what the Dark Irons were calling you." He claimed and laughed, "I never thought she would strip down naked in front of my crew." He spit out the piece of wood into the ocean.

The sound of moaning was getting louder from under the deck and it was making me feel bothered and disturbed. Blackgrave touch me on my shoulder again, "Perfectia, would you join me in my chambers tonight?"

I shot him an angry glare and pulled his hand away again. I looked up at him and thought of how a fight with him and his crew might go, but they were busy. No one would have known if he died until the next morning, but it was a question, he was giving me a chance to say no. He looked at me strangely and shook his head, "Is that normal for a blood elf's eyes to do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" I asked still angry.

"There gold." He claimed.

I never seen the glow before but there were a few people that said it happened to me a few times. I put my hand over my eyes and checked the glow, they were glowing gold. I closed my eyes tightly, shook my head a few times, and blinked my eyes. I checked the glow again with my hand and they were green again. "Is that better?" I asked and looked up at him.

Blackgrave shook his head, "I liked the way they were before."

I rolled my eyes and half smiled.

Blackgrave shrugged, "Alright, at least I know what happens when you get pissed off." He claimed. He walked into his personal room on the upper deck, put his hand on the door, but looked back at me. "As a member of my crew Perfectia, I will give you this order: go under the deck and greet your crew members, right now."

I looked at him disgustedly and could still hear them moaning from below.

Blackgrave shook his head, "Don't worry, you can take your armor, no one is going to touch you unless you want them to." He explained, and he closed the door behind him.

I shuttered at the thought, but it was what I said I was going to do. I wouldn't bother them intentionally or make them feel guilty or uncomfortable about what they did. If I could show them that I could tolerate this sort of thing, maybe I wouldn't be met with so much aggression and guilt from the crew. I put on my armor and walked across the sexually repressed members of the crew and I didn't say anything. I just nodded and smiled and looked at the displays that made my heart beat fast and my stomach turn in knots. Some of them gave me a double take as they were in each other's embrace, but I thought it was that they were surprised to see me.

I walked outside when I had seen enough, as calmly as I could. When I got outside I thought I would puke over the deck. It wasn't just women with men. It was men on men, women on women, combinations of interracial species that I didn't even know could happen. By the time I pulled my head up because I couldn't really puke, the sun was completely down, and the glow in my eyes were the only things that lit up the deck. They were gold again. I closed my eyes in frustration and shook my head, and they turned green but then they were gold again. "Come on, stay green." I said to myself.

The moaning calmed down from under the ship, I laid on the hard wood floor and looked up at the stars, putting my hands over my eyes a few times to check the glow and most of the time it was green, but when the thoughts of what I saw from under the deck entered my mind they changed back to gold. I thought out loud, "Were my eye's that color the whole time I was down there? Is that why they were looking at me like that?"

I put my hands behind my head and closed my eyes, feeling the turn of the ocean and the sound of the waves.

I was awoken by a seagull that was pecking on my hair. It was morning, my back was hurting from the hard ground I chose to sleep on, and that morning chill went right through my armor. I checked the glow in my eyes and it was green and bright. Sails were up and tied and the sun wasn't completely up yet, but Blackgrave and one of his crew were talking by his room and I overheard him say, "Are you sure it wasn't her?" Blackgrave asked.

The other crew member explained, "I don't know, it didn't look like her."

I stormed over there, where they were, hands balled into fist.

"Oh yeah that's her." The crew member said.

"Uh oh." Blackgrave said, realizing he was in trouble.

"Yeah, 'uh oh' is right." I said and decked Blackgrave across the jaw making him fall over, catching himself on his hand.

The crew member drew his sword and pointed the tip at my face. "You will NOT strike the Captain like that again, do you understand?" he demanded.

Blackgrave put his hand on the crewmember's sword lightly and putting it down, "It's fine, it's fine, put your sword down." He stood up, "I take it you didn't enjoy the sites." He looked down on me as he stood up.

I put my hands on my head as I recalled the thought, just screamed for about five second, "You bastard!" I yelled, they were about to say more but, "Shut your festering hole you prick." I interrupted, "Your type makes me sick. You snotty nosed, hemp of bird droppings. You vacuous, coffee nosed, malodorous, pervert!" I just stood there breathing heavy.

"Are you done?" Blackgrave asked calmly.

They both looked at my face, "You people are savage sea peasants!" I continued.

Blackgrave rolled his eyes, leaned back on the ship railing, stuck a small piece of wood in his mouth, and crossed his arms, "Well I'm against people that vent against our eleganticity, by extraneous bombastic circumlocutions." He half smiled and tilted his head.

I gave him a look of shock, "I, um." I was afraid to ask him what that meant.

"Hey, her eyes turned green again." The crew member stated.

I pulled out a hair brush out and fling it downward, it made them flinch, but they laughed it off when nothing happened. I looked down and it was still a hair brush. I fling it down again and it was still a hair brush, "Come on!" I wined. I tried two hands and nothing, "Come on, I am so pissed right now, just come out!" I continued.

The crewmen whispered over to Blackgrave's ear, "You know I've never heard of a paladin losing their powers from just watching people have sex." He looked over at me, "Hey, her eyes are gold again."

Blackgrave laughed, "I don't think it has anything to do with that." He paused and looked at me aggressively swinging away a hair brush, screaming 'COME OUT YOU STUPID STUPID SWORD!' "I like her better like that." He said.

The crew member looked over at him, "With golden eyes or overly aggressive?"

Blackgrave laughed to himself, "Both."

Lane came upward on the top of the deck, "Hey, can we get Perfectia down here? We had a few accidents last night."

"I can't," I said on my knees, crying, with a hairbrush in my hand, "You smelly pirates took away my paladin powers, now I have to be a tavern wench." I cried into my hands.

Blackgrave stood up and yelled, "Perfectia, just go over there and heal them, your powers are fine!"

Lane picked me up, "Come on Perfectia, just head down stairs. Don't ask them what happen, just fix them." She asked.

"Okay." I said and leaned against her.

So, I started on the first crew member laying on his stomach, he looked up at me, "Perfectia, is that you?"

I wiped my face, "Yeah, I know, the eye's, I can change them back if I concentrate."

He reached over to me, "No, no, this is better, you look like an angel."

I smiled and looked him over, breathed, calmingly called to the Light, a ray of singing Light flowed through me and into the crew member, just like it always had. I smiled and looked at my hands, Lane slapped me on the back and said, "See your powers are fine. A few eyefuls aren't going to stop you."

I went by crewmember to crewmember all with suspicious injuries, none of them I asked about, and then I went to one lady and healed her with the Light, she looked down and touched herself and asked, "I thought you said you were going to stop the infection."

I looked at her and smiled, "I did." I explained, "But that kind of blood needs to flow."

"Shit." Lane said out loud. "Shit, shit, shit." She repeated. She stormed to the top of the deck and yelled for Blackgrave, "Captain we need to set a course to Keta Island!"

He got on the wheel and started giving orders to his men. The sails came down and flowed in the wind and the men came to work the sails as they set a course. Lane grabbed me by the arm, "Perfectia, are you sure you're ready to do this?"

I nodded.

"Because the men can still use you up here to heal wounds." Lane explained.

"What's more important?" I asked.

"The hunt, but it's dangerous." She answered.

I pulled my arm away from her. "Then I'll hunt with you."

Lane looked away.

I know I was supposed to write about what happen before I was kicked out of the guild, but I just went on this writing tangent thinking about my time at sea. I think it's more interesting that way. The sun starting to come up and I haven't gotten any sleep. I'll proofread it when I wake up and I'll talk about my former friend and guild leader Arwen, but there is a lot to talk about when it came to the first blood hunt. The point being she called me a whore and threaten to tell the Paladin Order if I kept acting like a whore in her guild. If I wasn't in her guild then she wouldn't say anything. Said, it was my choice to leave, and think of the children, but yeah, I describe it more in detail later, but I think this is better.

[risrielthron]

Risri Elthron

Tagged by @summysparklesprocket​

Character’s Full Name:  Risri Elthron (formerly Kal’serrar) Reason or Meaning of Name:  Risri was named after a place important to her parents. (OOCly, I got it from a name generator and have used it ever since) Character’s Nickname/Alias: Ris, Big Bear Reason for Nickname/Alias: shortened form of Risri, @skystoneseat​ give everyone she likes a nickname, she dubbed Risri Big Bear for the obvious reasons. :) Birth Date: April 1st

Physical appearance

Age:  406 How old does he/she appear: Upper 20′s Lower 30′s Weight:  average Height: little shorter than the normal Kaldorei Body build: athletic Shape of face: oval Eye color: Silver Glasses or contacts: Neither Skin tone: pale purple Distinguishing marks: claw mark tattoos on her face Predominant features: like most Kaldorei her ears and shining eyes, along with the tattoos on her face. Hair color: Violet Type of hair:  long and straight, soft to the touch Hairstyle:  She almost always is wearing it down straight Voice:  a soft accent Overall Attractiveness: Like most Kaldorei, she has a look that many have said is attractive. She thinks of herself as average. Physical Disabilities: None. Usual Fashion of Dress: She is most often in comfortable clothes. Dresses, skirts, or a comfortable pair of pants. Favorite Outfit: A blue, green, and gold dress. Jewelry or Accessories: She has a silver bracelet on her left wrist, a ruby necklace and a crystal that she wears frequently.

Personality

Good Personality Traits: She is a curious, intelligent, and kind Kaldorei. She has no trouble initiating conversation with people from all walks of life. Her natural curiosity made her an excellent interviewer. Bad Personality Traits: She can be overprotective and some have said she is overbearing in her concern for those she sees as under her protection.  Mood Character is Most Often In: She is most often happy and pleasant. Sense of Humor: She finds humor in those that are sassy or sarcastic. While she rarely lets that side show, she appreciates it.Character’s Greatest Joy In Life: Flying Character’s Greatest Fear: being mind controlled What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil? She has experienced some of this already, the death of those she loves is something that she has a hard time with. If anyone in her inner circle were to die she would be devastated. Character Is Most at Ease When: She’s with those she cares about or out in nature. Most Ill at Ease When: Underground or when someone is exceptionally rude. Enraged When: Someone threatens her loved ones. Depressed or Sad When: When she has failed to protect someone. Life Philosophy: Do what you can to be a good person at all costs. If Granted One Wish, It Would Be: All those she cares for were happy. Character’s Soft Spot:  children, gnomes, animals Is This Soft Spot Obvious to Others?  If you see her around any of those you might sense it. Greatest Strength: Her intellect/creativity, and her ability to talk and be friends with anyone. Greatest Vulnerability or Weakness: Risri believes that inherently people are good and want to do good. This can lead her to trusting in people she shouldn’t. Biggest Regret:  Not selling the paper sooner. Minor Regret:  Allowing the Warden to get under her skin and maker her angry. Biggest Accomplishment: Running the paper successfully. Minor Accomplishment: Opening the photography studio. Past failures he/she would be embarrassed to have people know about: Allowing her Sentinel unit to die. Character’s Darkest Secret:  She has beserker like tendenacies. Does Anyone Else Know? A small group of people.

Goals

Drives and Motivations: To share her curiosity with others, to be a good person. Immediate Goals: Keep the studio profitable. Long Term Goals: Find a more permanent cure for her fel corruption residual effects. How the character plans to accomplish these goals: The studio she is feeling is going well, she could market it more but at present she is enjoying the slower pace. Her longer term goals, Sky is helping with. How Other Characters Will Be Affected:  Hopefully people have some great pictures to share their memories with others. Her anger hasn’t gotten unmanageable yet so the pressure to find the cure has not become pressing but when it does others might be shocked or put off by her emotions.

Past

Hometown: Near Feathermoon, Feralas Type of Childhood: Well-loved, happy for the most part Pets: Flutter First Memory: Her father’s voice as he read to her. Most Important Childhood Memory: Finding Flutter’s egg. Childhood Hero: Tyrande, Shandris, her father. Dream Job: Right now, running the studio is pretty close. Perhaps someday to go back to teaching. Education: formal schooling, Sentinel training, Druid training Religion: Worships Elune and the Wild Gods. Finances: For a Kaldorei, she is well off. She is not frivolous with her spending, and selling the paper gave her a nest egg that she has invested in the studio.

Present

Current Location: Stormwind Currently Living With: She lives with Dragaur in his apartment in the Mage District. Occupation:  Business Owner of A Moment in Time Photography Studio Finances: Upper Middle Class

Family

Siblings: None Relationship With Them: n/a Spouse: None Relationship With Them: n/a Children: none. Relationship With Them: n/a Other Important Family Members:  Alistra, her mother; Tara, her aunt; a few cousins

Favorites

Color: Teal Least Favorite Color: chartreuse Music: Soft instrumental Food: pastry. Literature: Everything. Form of Entertainment: reading, writing, spending time with Dra, taking photographs. Expressions: soft chuckles Mode of Transportation: Flight Most Prized Possession: Her father’s staff.

Habits

Hobbies: Photography, alchemy. Plays a musical instrument? No Plays a sport? No How they would spend a rainy day? Either outside in it, or curled up with a good book. Spending Habits: Frugal and cautious. Smokes: never. Drinks: Rarely Other Drugs: Rarely What does he/she do too much of? overthink / over-analysis a situation. What does he/she do too little of? Sleep. Extremely Skilled At: Photography, alchemy, shifting to the forms she knows, being compassionate, cooking. Extremely Unskilled At: Mechanical or technical things Nervous Tics: will spin her bracelet Usual Body Posture: Standing straight. Mannerisms: Happy, smiling, genuine. Peculiarities: maintains a serene smile with only her eyebrows giving away any clue to her emotional state (especially with strangers)

Traits

Optimist or Pessimist? Optimist. Introvert or Extrovert? a mix Daredevil or Cautious? Cautious Logical or Emotional? a mix Disorderly and Messy or Methodical and Neat? Methodical and Neat Prefers Working or Relaxing? a mix of both Confident or Unsure of Himself?  confident most of the time. Animal lover? Yes

Self-perception

How She Feels About Herself: Outwardly appears confident, inwardly she may over worry. One Word Character Would Use To Describe Themselves: Kind Paragraph Description on How They’d Describe Themselves: “The world moves at such a fast pace, I want to capture it and share glimpses into those moments that pass by so quickly. I try to be sincere and kind to any and all I meet because you never know what is hiding behind the smile.” What does the character consider his/her best personality trait? Her ability to talk calmly with almost anyone. What does the character consider his/her worst personality trait? Her tendency to be overprotective. What does the character consider his/her best physical characteristic? Her smile. What does the character consider his/her worst physical characteristic? She’s happy with her appearance truthfully. How does the character think others perceive him/her? Standoffish or hard to approach, some because of her fame as the owner of the paper and some because she is a Kaldorei. What would the character most like to change about himself/herself? To be more discerning without giving up the trust or faith in people.

Relationships with others

Opinion of Other People in General: That most are just trying to live thier life and be good. Does the character hide his/her true opinions and emotions from others? Often. Person Character Most Hates: Elyza Morrowbranch @wardennerd Best friend(s): Sky Stoneseat @skystoneseat. Dragaur @silentasagrave, Selise Graves @selisegraves, Jazimina Stratford. Love interest(s): Dragaur Person Character (Would) Go to For Advice: Her mother or Sky or Selise Person Character Feels Responsible For: Sky Person Character Feels Awkward Around: noone Person Character Openly Admires: Selise and Sky Person Character Secretly Admires: Masnira @enigmatic-elegance

#risri #updated

[wlwhc]

Witches and Banshees Part 2

Requested by Anonymous.

Words:4.5k+

Warning: none?

Part I

(A/N): You guys requested this a lot so, I tried to write it while the idea was fresh. I didn’t have any plot so this is what my crazy mind thought it would be cool. Also, I haven’t watch Merlin in ages so I kind of create Morgana’s own history, it’s a bit Oc, sorry. Oh and I don’t know if it work but I tried to put the “read more” thingy but I’m on my phone so sorry if it didn’t work

——————————————————————————————————————————– “oh … that’s not good” Deaton’s smiled disappear after hearing you.

“what do you mean?” Scott asks, furrowing his eyebrow in concerned.

“Morgana is one of the most powerful witches that this earth had ever seen” Deaton explained. Lydia had to stop putting the cold piece of wet cloth on your forehead, the temperature of your body was coming back to normal. Stiles was still by your side and Scott was sitting at the end of the improvised bed.

This and a few others. You heard Morgana said with a proud tone

“great! so is mega super powerful, what’s up with that? now Y/N has that power, right? isn’t that good?” Stiles asks not understanding why it was a bad thing that you’re the most powerful witch now.

“well…she doesn’t have the best reputation…” Deaton said, her words were carefully measured, but his tone had a tiny bitter taste.

“again, what do you mean? can you explain better?” Stiles said, earning a glare from Lydia. But what can Stiles do? the boy is impatient to know the fate of his friend, who is going to watch star wars marathons with him?!, he already went through your funeral once, and he can’t take another one. Although he wasn’t the only one that got hit by your death.

“she’s evil, she tried to kill King’s Arthur and Merlin-” Deaton started explaining again, reading the big old book he had carried this whole time.

“wait, Merlin? like… Disney Merlin? the old men with the cone hat?” Stiles interrupts Deaton again, this time Lydia couldn’t help slap his head making you chuckled.

“he obviously talks about the real one you dumbass”

“she’s ruthless, any bad witch at this time can tell you how evil she was, and how hight they speak of her crimes against humanity-” Deaton said.

You could hear Morgana huffing at this.

“she is not like that” You said, making Deaton frown. Scott could smell the anger coming off you.

“how do you know?” Scott asks softly

“I just…she doesn’t seem like that, I’m a witch too, I can see when someone’s corrupted by dark magic, you know that, her light is pure light, brighter than anything I have ever seen, she’s the only one with a white soul in that shitty place…how can that be evil?”  You said, is if the words had always been stuck in your chest.

You had always been so protective of me . Morgana said, her tone bittersweet, you could feel her hand on your shoulder for a brief moment and if you close your eyes you could see her smiling sadly at you. But why?

“hmm…you seem very fond of her” Deaton said when he saw you frowning after you closed your eyes a bit.

“I’m alive thanks to her…it’s the least I can do” You said. Lydia had been watching you, your face was no longer pale, you were finally getting better, but her heart was still shaking with worry, this Morgana person doesn’t seem to be good news.

“I don’t think that’s the reason why you defend her”  You scoff at Deaton’s words, but signaled him to keep talking

“she gave you her power right? but in order to do that she had to combine her soul with yours, that’s how you got her powers” Deaton explained.

“they mixed up their souls?”

“that’s a way to put it stiles, yeah”

“so now, you can hear what she thinks, you know things she knows, you do hear her don’t you Y/N?” Deaton asks you sigh deeply, already tired of the whole situation.

Don’t worry, they’re just worried about you . You hear Morgana said.

“sometimes” You answered and Deaton nods.

“hmm…there’s still something I do not understand very well” He speaks after a little bit of silence, it seems like everyone was trapped in their own thoughts.

“yeah, why does she chose you? I don’t want to be mean but, in that place there’s a lot of witches right? maybe even a lot more powerful than you” Stiles said, earning a nod from Deaton.

“that’s true” Scott said

“well, she wants something from her or…maybe you were the only one that could hold such power” Deaton said, deep in thought.

“why is she different from the other witches? it’s like Stiles said, there’s a lot of powerful witches there, she couldn’t just pick the first one that knock at her door right?” Lydia said, squeezing your hand softly.

“The art of magic comes from even longer than humanity. The legend says that entities had teach us how to use and control magic. Magic is unpredictable , even for witches as powerful as Morgana. Magic as its own mind, a lot of covens had chosen magic to be their god-”

“okay so what?” Stiles interrupted Deaton once again, this time was Scott who punch his arm.

“shh let him explain!”

“why is everyone punching me!”  Stiles said, making you chuckled. Your nerd friend sends you a smile.

“Magic is unpredictable, so we could never know what could happen exactly or if a spell will do what we think will do, anything could happen. With this being said, not all the rituals of combining soul have been successful” Deaton said.

“what happened to the failed ones?” Lydia asks

“their souls would evaporate, no other life, no reincarnation, no heaven , hell or purgatory,  just …. the end. There’s only 2 successful rituals and are from a long time ago. Witches and Wizards had tried to learn more about this ritual but given the circumstances, they always end up dead, until a druid find out about the importance of lineage in this ritual” Deaton explained.

“so Y/N has to be related to this witch?” Scott asks.

“picture this, you guys know that in order to make a blood transfusion the donor has to have the same type of blood than the sick person, if not then your body will reject the blood. This is kind of the same, they have to have the same kind of magic and they have to be related in order for her to survive , or at least that’s the theorie on this book.” Deaton explained, making Stiles gasp.

“you’re her grand grand grand grand grand grand grand-” Lydia rolls her eyes at Stiles non-stopping words.

“Stiles we get it-” Scott said smiling.

“grand grand grand kid?!” Stiles stops to breathe

“those are not as much grand as it should be, Morgana comes from the dark age, when magic was forbidden a looooong time ago.” Deaton’s said.

The whole situation was pretty crazy, but you knew that she would have told you if you were her grandkid, well, that would explain why she’s so nice with you, but it’s also pretty weird because she doesn’t treat you as if you were her grandkid, more like a …friend.

“but she would have told me, like some star wars shit “I’m your very old grandmother” kind of shit” You said, making Stiles jump out of her seat with the stars wars reference.

“high five for Star Wars reference!” He said, raising his hand for you. After the high five Deaton’s speaks again.

“what did she said to you?” Deaton asks.

“well, I don’t remember much, but I would remember if she would have told me something like that” You said, this time sitting in the bed no matter how much Lydia and Stiles protests not to. Lydia’s hand was still holding yours and now that you were sit, her other hand was running up and down on your back in a soothing manner.

“hmm maybe she will try to talk to you through dreams, she is going to take the paper of mentor, she has to communicate with you, I can prepare some potions to make you remember your chats with her, and maybe a few for the pain on your attacks” Deaton said walking to the door, her precesence not being necessary anymore by seeing you okay.

“that would be useful, thank you ” Scott said, sighing at the end of his sentence. Her hand running down his face. First it was the problems with this new pack , and now this, being an alfa is hard work.

“now you have to rest” Lydia said, pushing you down to the bed so you can rest. You were not going to say no now that even Scott was sending you the “do what she says” look. After a few minutes of pure silence. They begin to discuss again.

“what we do now? she can’t go to school what if she has another episode?” Lydia said to Scott.

“yeah, it’s not safe plus is very hard to hide her dark eyes and dark…everything” Stiles says.

“the best is for you to stay at your house, I’ll stay with you” Lydia said with worry in her eyes,  grabbing your hand once again.

“I had been taking care of myself all this time, I can still do it-” You begin saying but they wasn’t listening to you anymore.

“we will take turns” Scott said, liking the idea.

“yeah! we will take turns, I’ll go after Lydia” Stiles said.

“then I’ll go after Stiles, and I’m pretty sure Malia will want to help-”

“Derek likes you he’s probably going to help too-” Stiles said now, adding another person to bother.

“oh and Liam said that he wanted to watch some movies with you so we also have his help-” Scott add another one, great.

“that’s too many people” You said, you already despite the idea of being treated like a baby, much worse bothering the whole pack.

“yeah, let’s just keep it with the tree of us and if you guys can’t do it I’ll take the turn” Lydia said once she saw your distress. You already were an introvert person that didn’t like much the idea of being surrounded by people, so the best for you was just having one person helping you, and that person had to be her.

“are you sure? Malia could also help-” Scott tried to say but Lyda stops him.

“we need someone that takes care of Y/N, not eat her or the delivery man-” Lydia said, remembering that time Malia almost bites the delivery boy after he had tried to flirt with her and refuse to give her the pizza.

“I already apologized for it!” Malia said standing at the door with a few pizza boxes on her hand.

“Hey Malia” You said smiling at her. She rushes to you and hugs you, earning a “be careful” from Lydia.

“you look like shit” She says after the hug, making you chuckled.

“Malia!” Stiles exclaims.

“what? she looks like shit but hey! you’re alive” She saids happy to see her friend okay.

“she’s always so sweet” You joked.

“I bought you a few pizzas so you can feel better!” She said opening one of the boxes, the smell of the food making you feel sick again.

“I don’t think I can eat anything right now Mal, you can eat it” You said. Lydia looks at you with concern, she knows that you don’t have the best eating habits and sometimes even forget to do it , so there’s was a probability that you haven’t been eating well or at all. She made a mental note to force you to eat later.

“oh okay I’ll eat for you!” Malia said already biting a piece of pizza.

“I want some!” Stiles says, but Malia didn’t let him, they started fighting for the box.

“oh god are you two going to fight for a slice of pizza!?” You said laughing when Mal growls at Stiles and he does it too but sounds like a dying cat.

Meanwhile, Lydia was talking with Scott about you.

“ugh, and you want them to take care of Y/N? they couldn’t even take care of Liam when he had the flu” Lydia says, watching Mal trying to eat all the boxes of pizza so Stiels can have any.

“yeah you’re right, I’ll call Derek-” Scott said but Lydia send him a glare.

“no no, I can take care of her” She says, trying to sound casual, but Scott could hear how fast her heart was beating, he had noticed for a long time now. He smiles at her.

“Lydia I know you care about her but-” He starts saying but Lydia stops him again.

“but what? you spend most of the time with Malia or the new pack, Stiles is always with you, I’m the only one that had actually care about her, I’ll keep her safe, if I need anything I’ll call you” She says with pleading eyes. She was right though, everyone seem to be busy, and she was the only one available…she also wanted to spend more time with you and make sure you don’t die again but you don’t know that.

“…okay, fine, but promise me you will call” Scott said putting his hand on her shoulder.

“don’t worry , I’ll make sure she’s okay” ——————————————————————————————————————————– After Lydia has shove 2 plates of food at your face, it was time for you to rest. She had been all the time by your side, making sure you were okay. After this you thought it was impossible for your crush on her to increase its level, but now, now everytime she looks at you or talks with you can see the hearts flying around you and those stupid butterflies having a party in your stomach. And now she’s here helping you with everything and being so sweet with you , you can help but melt.

“okay, everything is settled! all you have to do now is close those beautiful eyes of yours and sleep” She said once you had your pajamas on. She had currently made you sleep on her house so she can keep an eye on you, plus your house scares her a little bit at night, so here you are now, on her room with her pink pajamas on.

“thank you Lyds, even though this is completely unnecessary-” You said, you had fight against the idea of sleeping on her bed , but she insisted and also threatens you to try to sleep on the floor, and after she tried to scream you ran to the her bed.

“oh hush…I care about you, I’m just trying to help” She said laying down to the bed next to you. Her words making you blush, she cares about you. You could feel Morgana glaring at her.

“…I care about you too” You said, hiding your face with the blankets. Lydia smile softly at this. Thank god her bed is big so you can be as far away from her as posible, you’re sure than the close proximity would probably cause you a heart attack.

“..good” She said, still smiling softly at you.

“good” You repeat, both of you staring at each other not wanting to close your eyes yet. But after a few minutes of silence, Lydia’s voice could be heard.

“sweet dreams” Lydia said, turning around so you would be facing her back, you do the same so both of neither of you would be facing each other.

“night Lyds” You said. Determined to end the day you close your eyes, and right in the moment when you could feel yourself falling asleep, Lydia sneak her arms to your waist, holding you tight, making it impossible for you to stay awake much longer.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— You didn’t know how but you’re walking through a forest, trees and orange leave could be seen everywhere. A voice in your head was telling you to run , but you weren’t scared, you were kind of happy.

“how can you be so slow!” That voice, Morgana.

She appear behind a few trees running around, her hair was a mess but it somehow suit her perfectly, her eyes were brighter than ever, her dark clothes making her stand out a lot from the orange and brown colors. You ran to her, smiling like an idiot, moments like this could be count with a single hand. She has been busy doing gods know what, there was almost no time for you. She hated that, truth be told, her main goal is keep you safe. Sometimes you wouldn’t even bother for her absence, her heart is turning black with each day that passed, and you don’t seem to be of any help. Sometimes she won’t even allowed you to see her, she just doesn’t seem to love you anymore , and that…that’s destroying you. Morgana is slowly ditching your grave without even noticing it.

“Morgana for the love of-Stop running! have you gone mad!?” Her smile was starting to make you dizzy, the hope of her dark heart being all soft for you was always jumping around your mind, but it never seem to be true, you didn’t trust her anymore and still here you are, running around, forgetting about the battle that was happening a few miles away, in your mind not even death seems to be a problem if she’s besides you, she’s all you need..but are you all she needs? the answer is no, and it will always be.

Morgana stops running to look at your sad figure. She frowns, like if she could hear the thousands voices shouting your insecurities in your head. She walks to you, this time with a smirk on her face, her hands found their way to your waist, getting close to her.

“I’m mad in love~” She shouts, smiling at you at the end. That smile, god you missed that smile, a smile that didn’t hold venom behind it or a threat.

“oh hush! If any of your guards hears you-”  The guards weren’t a problem, they were scared of her after all, it was the pain in your chest that was bothering you, your bleeding heart was to tired of hearing lies coming out of her mouth. Morgana sighs at your words.

“they won’t do anything, because I’ll kill them” She says, not a single of importance on the gravity of her word, but you were used to this. You have to, otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to be with her at all.

“and that my dear, is far from being romantic” You joked, trying to at least enjoy this seconds with her, pushing away your dark thoughts. She smiles at you.

“oh I can be romantic but you have to me more polite love” she says playfully

“oh dear Morgana, Queen and Ruler of my heart…would you oh so kindly be a little” You said, getting a little bit closer to her, enough for her to feel your warmth

“tiny” You got a little more closer, this time Morgana’s hand fly to your face, her smirk growing with each word you say.

“bit..more romantic with me” You end up just a few centimetres away from her lips, her smile bigger than you have ever seen

“I don’t see why I should torture you any longer” She mumbles before kissing you. For your surprise, she does not crash your lips against yours with the normal ferocity she is used to use, this time her lips are caressing yours, slowly but surely devouring you, her tongue shyly asking for permission to steal the last straw of sanity you had left, it had passed just a few seconds but it felt like hours, your heart was jumping out of your chest, your hands shaking slightly with excitement. This whole time by her side and you’re still crumbling into her arms like the first time. You were in pure bliss, but like I said, moments like this could be count with a single hand, and they didn’t last long.

“Lady Morgana-Oh I-I apologies I-I-” One of her guards was standing a few meter away from you and Morgana, his eyes wide open like an owl, he didn’t seem to stop stammering, for a moment you had forgotten about how much fear your beloved could spread. She backs away from you , already rushing to the guard, eyes burning with that reddish gold that make your bones tremble.

“ugh why are they always ruining my moments with my beloved!” She says, her voice sending shiver down your spine.

“Lady Morgana-” The guard says, already fearing the worst.

“save it! I’m going to cut your head off!” Morgana take a step ahead, raising her hands, she is going to kill him, and even thought you knew your words will go with the wind, you had to try to stop her.

“Morgana” You said, hugging her from behind, holding her for dear life, well not your life, the guard’s life. “stop…please” You words seem to make her body stiff like an oak, she slowly walks away, with your arms still holding her tight. She sighs and looks at the guard.

“you’re going to forget what you just saw, or I’m going to rip your eyes out” She says grabbing your hands, interlocking her fingers with yours, her breathing becoming calm again.

“Y-yes my lady, I’ll go now” the guard ran away as fast as he could, leaving you and Morgana alone once again.

“I thought we would lose another guard today” You joked, not actually believing that she had stop. You weren’t sure if your pleads had made their way to her cold heart …or maybe she just wasn’t in the mood to kill somebody today.

“well…you did ask nicely my dear” She says, turning around, holding your arms around her figure , making sure that you keep them there. She looks at you with a unreadable gaze, anything could be happening inside her mind, but by the way her eyes were shining with ghostly tears, it couldn’t be good.

“what?” You asked, waiting for her to tell you what was wrong, but it seem to only aggravate the situation, the damn tears were trying to storm off her eyes but she remain strong, not letting them show you how much she was suffering.

“you already found someone else, it’s has been so long I know but…I always thought you would wait for me no matter what…I guess I deserve this, I didn’t treated you right my love…it’s all my fault” She said, her voice weak , breaking in a few words, making your heart cry out in pain. You didn’t understood what she meant but her words were dripping with sincerity.

“what are you talking about? You haven’t lost me I’m right here” You say, holding even tighter. Morgana chuckles, the tears in her eyes disappearing as if they were an hallucination of yours.

“ignore my nonsenses just…kiss me?…please?” She says, and with your heart wanting nothing more but giving her some comfort, you crawl again to her cold arms, not caring about anything else but her. But right when your lips were going to kiss her’s, a voice called your name in the distance.

“Y/N!”

“did you heard that?” You say, the voice sounding really familiar. Morgana sighs at this, a sad gaze taking over her face.

“Y/N please wake up!”

“seriously did you heard that?” You say again , this time looking around you, looking for the familiar voice, your head starting to feel fuzzy and your lungs losing control. Fear was starting  to take over you. You step back from Morgana , breathing uneven and hands sweating.

“it’s nothing Y/N, ignore it” Morgana said, herself becoming worried, her calm persona changing to an exasperated one. She tried to get a hold of your hands but you only back away further.

“Y/N please wake up!”

“no wait-ugh my head” You head felt like it was going to explode, the pain was too much for you to bear, you cry out in pain and Morgana rushes to aid you. She holds you in her arms, but she didn’t seem scared or worried anymore, she looks sad, the tears that she tried to hide before were now spilling non-stop.

“come here” She says, making you on her lap, her hands on your head making the pain ease a little, but not enough to help you. Then the words you weren’t expected for her to say could be heard.

“shh…you’ll wake up soon” She says, and with that everything went black. ——————————————————————————————————————————– It was already noon, Lydia had let you sleep more because she thought you need it. Right when she went to wake you up, she saw your trembling figure, sweat covering you skin and a thin trail of blood running down your nose. She panic, doing everything to wake you up but nothing seem to work.

“Y/N come on! wake up!” She was starting to considering calling Scott but right when she grabbed her phone, you jumped out of the bed.

“holy sh-” You grabbed your head, the pain had disappear…but so did Morgana. Lydia rushes to you, being careful to give you space but the urge of hugging you was winning.

“hey hey, it’s okay, it was just a dream-Y/N it’s okay you’re safe” She can’t help but tried to hold you in her arms, and you let her. She embraces you in a hug, caressing your hair, not caring how sweaty you were.

“oh god, Lydia” You mumbled, your breathing calming down a little bit. Lydia’s soft reassuring words had help you calm down.

“what’s wrong Y/N? what did you dream?” She asked you softly , she felt as if she was walking on broken glass, she didn’t want to distress you further.

“Lydia I don’t think I’m her granddaughter” You said, stepping out of her embrace, you walk away, searching for your clothes , Deatons needs to know this, more specifically, Deaton needs to answer some questions.

“what? what do you mean?” Lydia asks, watching worried as you search for your clothes.

“I think…I think I was with her” You said , not seeing your clothes anywhere.

“with her? as in the same place or like..?” Lydia stops you , putting her hands on your shoulder so you could look at her.

“I think I am her girlfriend” You said, looking at her with wide eyes. Lydia does not other thing but frown at this, she looks upset.

“okay even if that’s true, you were her girlfriend, okay? were… she’s dead remember?” She said, putting an emphasis in a few words. She’s right though, Morgana is dead, why does that make you feel so bad?

“…yeah…right” You said sighing deeply, returning to look for your clothes.

“you look sad, why do you look sad? isn’t she evil?” She said, her voice raising a few tones, okay now you’re sure she’s pissed, probably for the whole mess you’re making by searching for your clothes. Lydia walks away from the room and returns with your clothes.

“I wash them silly” She said throwing them at your face.

“I need to see Deaton” You said signing her for turn around. You quickly change your clothes.

“I’ll go with you” Lydia said once she saw you walk away from her room.

“okay, hurry let’s go”

Deaton has to know anything about Morgana having a beloved one. And as much as you wish this is not real, it is. Morgana hasn’t said a word since you woke up , but she probably already knows that…you miss her

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