#but when i do it sure as hell is gonna include them butting heads. intensely.

[seafleece]

Hey, random question, but what do you think are the M9's love languages?

oh, anon, you absolutely did not sign up for this and i am so sorry, but here we are. i had to look up the five types and keep them in the google doc to remind myself what they were, but uhh here’s almost 4000 words of character analysis and discussion of debatable quality

jester: 

my initial thought was quality time— an obvious and painful one, as it’s the one her mother wasn’t able to provide. i think the sleeper, though, for jester, is acts of service. 

with beau, this especially shows up in reference to healing— jester having a more healing-focused cleric around is a big relief, especially for someone so close to warlock status that she almost was one, but very notably, she very much wants to heal beau. she specifically apologizes for not doing so in the chantry, and attributes that to beau’s absence rather than anything else; more generally, there’s a huge amount of distress on jester’s part when beau is hurt, and that she wants to be the one to heal beau (notably, with the gorgon, she RAN to beau, was immediately upset both times beau started getting petrified, and even dissuaded caduceus or caleb from using their turn to heal beau so she could instead, making sure to be Right There even while nott was applying the oil). she also seems to really value the instances when beau does things for her, especially since there are specific acts that beau reserves for jester (engaging with religion in any capacity, wearing a dress for jester and more broadly allowing jester to pick her clothes, a concept which beau probably has an explicitly negative association with from her mother).

it’s also muddled jester up the worst when it comes to relationships she understands less— the “kiss” with fjord in the temple that was a vehicle for giving jester air, most specifically, comes to mind— and she’s really come to terms with this by realizing that romantic feelings weren’t really what he was expressing, and that it wasn’t necessarily what she was feeling, either. it’s noticeable in how she describes her relationship with the traveler— she feels like her service to him is doing little things for him, and asks, when she’s unsure, when the traveler failed to act on her behalf when they were kidnapped, if she did something wrong to make him angry, and literally desecrates a temple to make up for it as soon as they’re back in town.

and the thing is, quality time isn’t really what was lacking in her relationship with marion— marion probably did have time to spend with jester for at least a little while every day. the problem is that marion simply couldn’t provide jester with things that she needed: access to the outside world and companionship. she had to learn from near-scratch how to navigate relationships of varying intensities, and it shows with her initial zeroing in on fjord as an iteration of the dashing sailor her momma told her about, as well as her more slow-burn come to trust and really invest in and love beau, because she’s never had a relationship like that with a girl, and maybe didn’t even know it was something she could have, or something she could want.

jester’s her proudest when she’s doing things for other people, even if they maybe wouldn’t love her doing it if they knew— threatening beau’s dad because she hates that he hurt her, hearing that beau was thinking about leaving and marching in to modify memory a hag, writing astrid a letter because caleb seems like he liked her, asking essek if he likes caleb because caleb seems to like essek, painting yasha’s room in the xhorhaus, finding outfits for everyone. she struggles with how to rein in showing it and thinking first about the potential consequences, and is unsure how to navigate what it means when she’s shown it in return, but it’s messy and heartfelt and sincere. with her mom, she really clearly appreciates when her mom does do things for her— providing a home for her friend’s family, allowing the m9 to stay in the chateau, coming to the party with them despite her agoraphobia. i’m sort of banking on a scene where jester talks to her about it, apologizes for leaving, and reaffirms that it means a lot to her that marion is stepping out of her comfort zone for her.

beau: 

words of affirmation. this is NO DOUBT something her parents didn’t give her, maybe ever. this is baked into her relationship with them— she knew that her father wanted a boy, he probably Told her this, and she wasn’t one. it’s something she could literally never be, an aspect she would be forever resented for, that would tinge everything her father ever said to her. her mother also probably didn’t give her much if any affirmation, as she was trying to police and fix beau’s behavior to avoid thoreau’s anger for both of them, and never properly elaborated to beau that her intention was to keep beau from being punished (not that it would have made it okay, for the record). it’s also why her conversation with her parents in 92 immediately threw her off, because for once they actually told her she’d impressed them, that she’d done good, and it’s rough as hell to see that. 

unfortunately, it’s also the thing she’s least likely to get from everyone else unless she’s at her worst, because almost everyone else, including fanon, seems to have profoundly absorbed this idea that beau is rude and abrasive and sarcastic and she’s just. not. she might have been at the start, but she’s always been especially soft with jester, she and caleb are very mutually assured about the sort of affection they show each other, she’s always been either openly flirting with or just sort of tenderly awkward with and trying around yasha, she and caduceus have a fun and pretty peaceful dynamic i always love to see, and we know caduceus, for at least a while, considered beau his favorite. 

then, there’s the characters she’s known for butting heads with the most: fjord, with whom she’s developing a sibling dynamic to rival hers with caleb and really obviously is ride or die for; nott, who used to openly insult beau and just about everyone else, and who is now 1/3 of the chaos crew beau is also in; and molly, whose death was a HUGE turning point for beau in terms of a) taking stock of her morals and how she intended to act on them and b) expressing love for someone so you know they know it, before it’s too late. 

jester seems to see this the most, no surprise there, and dairon also sees a lot of potential in beau not because she’s strong or fast (she’s from a martially focused monastery), but because she’s smart. dairon talks about and to beau very affectionately compared to other mentor/guardian figures she’s had, and i think it means a lot to her coming from both jester and dairon. she certainly returns the favor for both of them.

fjord: 

this one isn’t immediately apparent, so i’m gonna start by talking about the nature of his relationship with caduceus (and see where it gets me). 

okay, i lied, i’m starting with molly.

fjord and molly had a thing. it’s clear in retrospect, and i’ve talked about it, but i think it has to do with where fjord was in his quest to reinvent himself. molly was someone who, for all intents and purposes, had flawlessly become a new person— not necessarily because of a concerted effort to change who lucien was, but a different person nonetheless. fjord wanted desperately to believe that that was attainable for him, and thus saw a lot in investing in molly. molly was a silent affirmation that fjord could really pull this off, could really reinvent himself and be fine.

also, molly was hot. enough said.

caduceus, on the other hand, offered something different. caduceus came along right before fjord’s willingness to help uk’otoa was first tested— fjord rose to the occasion, but the whole time there was someone new along, someone whose faith in his deity seemed assured. assured, that’s something fjord never had.

afterward, he got to see what it meant to believe in a god like that, and he started to want in. caduceus seems like a very honest person— though really, it’s just because m9 doesn’t know the right questions to ask him— and his god is the god of the sea, too, right? fjord really lost a rock in molly the way i don’t think a lot of people realize, and it’s why his swallowing the summer’s dance felt so meaningful. he was keeping a part of molly with him, and i wonder if he misses that part of his falchion. after he lost his inspiration for recreation, he started to put stock into authenticity as the answer, and caduceus as the vehicle. and the wildmother was very accepting, too, took him in like a lost sheep.

where fjord is now, i think he values the covenant (which i realize i actually define later, so if i forget to reorganize these before i post, then oops) in a similar way to caleb. more specifically, though, he decidedly the word owe in talking to beau about the group’s relationship, which, among other things, speaks to acts of service. fjord has work to do to earn his place as a paladin of the wildmother (and a good amount of work to do indeed, if getting trounced by darrow was any indication), and he feels the need to repay caduceus for his help, companionship, and guidance. fjord also gets hurt and KO’d. a lot. i think he takes it on the chin as his role in the group— that’s his job, and he has faith in caduceus and jester to keep him up. they’re not done yet, they haven’t finished serving one another, so beau leaving is of considerable offense (near-mutinous, to be specific).

caleb: 

words MEAN SHIT to caleb, you can tell in the way he talks. everyone remembers the times he’s told nott he loves her, he responds best to beau because i think he really loves the way she talks, he shows his feelings in really passionate speeches to nott, to beauregard, and most recently to essek. there’s absolutely a reason why so many goddamn quotes from campaign 2 are attributed to this dude, and it’s because he monologues like a fucking champ. their group is named after his accent. 

as for receiving love, though, i think it’s a little different. we know from talks that he’s placed a lot of value on the things jester has done for him, and moreover to be herself as someone who gives recklessly, but as far as we know he doesn’t intend to do anything with it. with nott, i’m tempted to create a new category that’s something like a covenant? he and nott agreed to travel together and help each other under the worst conditions, and they’ve stuck to this fastidiously. this covenant, this commitment to the group, is something he extends to everyone— he is not willing to walk away from this, and hasn’t been for a long time, he believes in all of them, truly, what they can do— and cherishes the fact that everyone has kept this, except for two very specific moments. beau, when she introduced the threat of her leaving the party, and yasha, when she was taken over by obann. for beau, he actually seemed fairly quiet compared to fjord, and i’m not sure yet on why this is, other that i think he trusted fjord and jester to talk her down. as for yasha, he seems to be really invested in commiserating with yasha as two haunted ones (literally), and sees her as someone who also really values the group but sees her ability to belong as tarnished by what she’s done. 

for the purposes of this, i’m gonna refer to it as that, as a covenant (yes i’m a failed church kid, what of it) and as separate from acts of service, because it’s more akin to the promise of one major, permanent act of service to each other. i wonder if it’s this steadfastness in that idea that partially led caduceus to continue and develop the idea of his role, because caleb and the rest of team cockroach, as i call them, were gonna keep that covenant if it killed them, and caduceus could keep them from getting killed, at the very least, if he entered into it.

but anyway, that covenant now extends to essek, if he decides to take it. and if he does, that will mean something infinite to caleb, i think. 

caduceus: acts of service.

okay. i wanna talk about caduceus and danger.

caduceus doesn’t heal himself. we know this. he heals everyone else, and not himself. 

i’ve been checking critrole stats on this, and if i’m reading correctly, he has taken the most damage (157) in one episode than anyone else. and it’s not a small margin. the closest is yasha (129) and i’m almost certain that’s from the episode where she decided to literally get attacked until she passed out. i was trying to guess which episode this was from, and then it hit me: probably the episode where he fucking died, right? because it really just never came up again.

caduceus has: started to drown at least 3 times in his first month on the job, been killed by nott, been beaten near to death when yasha was charmed, and been very quietly and very badly stabbed in the back by a disappearing assassin. he��s also died at home, as a family tradition.

there’s a million better meta posts about caduceus’s relationship with death, or even about him not healing himself, but I just want to set it as potential precedent for the idea that caduceus, to some degree, sees value in himself as someone who doesn’t mind dying in a fight. for one thing, it’s been a temporary thing almost from day one with m9, as jester immediately invested in diamonds when they got back to town. it’s not his first rodeo, either, and his family has normalized death to an, and i say this more because of how it’s affected him rather than because i dislike the idea of normalizing death, an upsetting degree.

giving healing, that’s his job, but eliminating himself as someone who needs help or healing, well, that’s healing in a way, too, right? if he doesn’t get healed, it’s more for everyone else. worst comes to worst, jester can heal him if need be. or, y’know. not heal him.

caduceus’s relationship with m9 has noticeable transaction rhetoric, and i wonder where that really fits in with his family. obviously, his role in the family was implied as the one who stayed behind, and his parents definitely imparted a need for him to be stable, a role he’s continued to fill for m9 to his quiet detriment but i think he’s also jumped on the opportunity to finally be the older one, the wiser one, of the group. there’s a power caduceus has over the group that’s really understated— they just sort of listen to him, even if what he’s saying doesn’t actually make sense, because he started with nott, beau, and caleb as a wise savior, a protector, and upon finding the others, it’s not like jester, fjord, or yasha were filling that role. molly certainly wasn’t either— it’s funny, how in retrospect caduceus seems inevitable to the group because they really didn’t have anyone like him. the closest thing to a voice of reason they had was fjord and caleb, and early on, caleb was not in great standing because of his and nott’s perceived standoffishness, and fjord threw up ocean water, so like, what’s up with that, right?

at the very least, he definitely believes he owes the mighty nein something, a role to fill, a job to perform. a service to act out, if you will. his job is to heal, and he does less healing if he heals himself. he seems to view him taking a hit as a win, in a way— it’s a hit that someone else doesn’t take.

i have a lot of hope that reconnecting with his family and seeing how he’s grown while they haven’t allows him to revisit his notions of what he needs to be, and i have a lot of hope that moving forward, he’ll be able to invest more in the other motif he’s developed, which is gift-giving: fjord, with the star razor; his sisters, with the hat (which seems small but like. boy’s had it for a while) and the flute; and, most recently, in helping jester pick out everyone’s outfits. it allows him to feel like he’s giving something to the people he cares about without it hurting him.

yasha: 

truly everything. it’s hard to get a read because yasha really just soaks in all the love m9 wants to give her. if i had to guess further, i’d say we should look at her and molly’s relationship, because molly’s the only character we’ve seen her unabashedly love, and the thing that stood out most to me was physical touch. that echoes really depressingly with her “fight” in 89— she got something out of being that close to someone, even if it felt like reparation or atonement, and i think the only person in m9 who’s been really unafraid to touch yasha is jester.

i’ll admit i have a soft spot for yashter, but, like, it’s there, right? the obvious trust, the faith jester has in yasha and the fear and turmoil when that was tested? i remember really clearly jester giving yasha a piggyback ride in zadash in an early ep, and like— when’s the last time someone was strong enough to do that? when’s the last time someone wanted to do that for yasha? everyone’s mistrusted yasha to some degree for the entire run of the campaign, and, like, how much did her hopes to get close to everyone else just evaporate after the king’s cage? does she really even believe she can have it again? she was so close— jester trusted her fully, she and beau were in a comfortable mutual place with flirting, she’d talked to caduceus and jester about zuala, she even felt comfortable picking up nott and throwing her around (which, by the way, i love their dynamic).

she seems to have leaned more into the protective, threatening stance since they got her back, which, if she’s comfortable with it, is just fine— maybe she’s shifting more towards acts of service, but i just hope it isn’t her just accepting the idea that everyone will always be afraid of her, that she won’t be close like that again. because molly wasn’t afraid of her. jester wasn’t, and i don’t think she is, now— but fjord showed a lot of distrust, and i think yasha’s scared of the degree to which she hurt beau and how to even broach that discussion, and she attacked them, how could they ever forgive her or trust she wouldn’t do it again? 

(i wish i had a happier end to this, so i’ll just say that she did seem comfortable last ep, and that she may or may not have interest in getting a tattoo from jester? interesting stuff.)

veth: 

on a person to person level, veth definitely feels she and caleb are acting on the promise they’ve made to help each other— now she’s reached it, things are a bit more nebulous, but it’s obvious she wants to stick around for him. i’ll admit, her words to everyone in 97 were a bit surprising to me— she hasn’t really been good at conveying emotion like that before unless she’s desperate or really upset, and i imagine it was something she started planning in her head to say to everyone as soon as the first ritual didn’t work. that might be, i think, what she felt as relief, just not being able to articulate what she wanted to say to everyone.

as for her family, veth believes she owes her best self to yeza and luc— she kept herself from them not because she couldn’t have gone back, but because she felt like someone else, like someone worse, and the exaggerated tendencies from her previous life only reinforced this— she didn’t believe she deserved to be around them, before now. before caleb, i don’t know if she had any hope for returning to them at all, and he changed that entirely.

i’m also very interested in why veth is able to reconcile her marriage with yeza as veth with her loving caleb as nott, and if she sort of considers herself as two different people. we’ve seen so little of what she feels comfortable expecting from other people— for now, i’d say acts of service seems appropriate? but maybe something closer to just. fulfilling promises.

bonus: for the other two who are considered part of the mighty nein

kiri: 

words of affirmation. i’m a HUGE kenku stan, anyone who’s played d&d with me knows this, and i’m especially fascinated with the relationship with words when you can only speak the words you hear/remember. on the most basic level, if you speak to kiri, you are giving her a gift, you’re giving her the ability to speak, too. and if those words are affirming, then she can say them back! and you’re giving them to her, in a sense, to use as she pleases and repeat them to herself, even, and i just love that image— her, to herself, saying “i love you” in other people’s voices. i’m ride or die for kenkus, and kiri started it.

essek: 

okay, so almost everyone in the m9 could be read as needing words of affirmation, because it’s so clear that they need more love and knowledge of love than they’ve received, and have found it in each other. essek has quite literally found it in m9 for the first time. he absolutely needs all of these, like, ASAP, but i think it’s what everyone says to him that get him the most. caleb’s speech, obviously, but it’s also them casually referring to him as their friend, it’s jester’s messages, even if he’s busy. it’s important to say, though, that i think it’s a specific type of affirmation: things that have nothing to do with his magic ability (and moreover, any of these gifts that have nothing to do with it). essek’s built his entire life on the idea that he is someone incredibly powerful and smart for his age— m9 are probably the first people to make him feel like he was more than that, because they want to know about the rest of him, and in becoming friends with them, he’s confronting the fact that he doesn’t really believe there is a rest of him. they want to know a part of himself that he at best has neglected and has been neglected by others, and at worst that he believes does not exist. when they talk about him as a friend, it adds to who he can be. he’s seeing, for the first time, that he can exist as someone else than his abilities and his ambition.

i initially started off with words of affirmation and he clearly needs that, but i think he really just needs all of these in a very specific way: he needs to feel love that is not based in merit, that pertains to who he actually is in this life rather than what he can become in the next, that values the life he’s living right now, because he’s not getting that from the dynasty. it seems like a low bar, maybe, to people who only have the one life, as far as we know, but his arc this campaign shows that it really, really isn’t.

#my writing #cr meta #critical role #critical role meta #jester lavorre #beauregard lionett #fjord stone #caleb widogast #veth brenatto #nott the brave #yasha #kiri #kiri the kenku #essek thelyss #with hints of: #shadowgast #beaujester #yashter #beauyashter #bashter #fjolly #teahaw #fjorclay #the mighty nein #m9 #uff da #long post #stupidly long post

[eternalravendreamer]

The Holographic Space-Grass is Always Realer in the Other Reality (WIP)

Another dimension-rift had shown up, possibly the work of Lotor. The team had gone to investigate, only for a strange, slightly-beat up cargo ship to come through the portal. When they asked for the crew to identify themselves, a familiar voice answered.

“This is Lance McClain and Alrim Blaw, of the Interplanetary Coalition for Peace and Coexistence. Our ship is The Ocean of Stars, code OOS-83. We have refugees and injured aboard, and we come in peace. We are also aware that we are in an alternate reality. We request only assistance healing the injured and time to repair our ship for the journey back to our reality.”

Before anyone else could so much as blink, Lance was moving the Blue Lion closer to the ship, curiosity getting the better of him, “Whoa, is that really another me?!” A squeaky fit of giggles erupted through the comm line as a reply.

“Oh my Flowos, is that really what you used to sound like, Lancey?! He’s got a baby voice! I can practically hear the squishy cheeks!”

“Alri, please. I’m right next to you.”

“Yeah but I pinch your cheeks all the time. I’ve got four arms, I can pinch two faces at once!”

“Whatever you say, Al.”

They weren’t sure what they had expected this strange Alternate Lance to look like, but it certainly wasn’t this. He was somehow even taller than their Lance (though only about an inch or so), and broader, with more muscle. His hair was still the same, but his face was harder-set, with a cross-shaped scar on the left cheek and three small ones breaking up his right eyebrow. He wore a tight black bodysuit with a dark blue and white shirt that looked like a long-sleeved crop top, and long pants of the same dark blue. His boots were thick and mostly white, with black accents. The shirt also had an emblem on it, presumably for the Coalition he’d mentioned.

Most noticeable about him, however, was the strange set of guns and knives dangling from his belt, as well as the way he stood. Tall. Stiff. Serious. With Lance’s face it looked wrong, all wrong.

The alien who seemed to be his co-pilot was an odd one. They had smooth, light grey skin with orange, gem-like protrusions across their face and backs of their arms. They were about shoulder-height to the Other Lance, and had light blue hair tired back in multiple small ponytails, each with different-colored hair ties. Their eyes were wide and dark blue like a night sky. Sure enough, they did have four arms - or rather, they had two biceps, but four forearms, creating a Y-shape. They were dressed similarly to Other Lance, but had a high-collared, sleeveless top instead. They beamed at Lance (the regular one), but glared and showed shiny black fangs with bright-blue gums to the rest of the team.

“Calm down, Alrim. They aren’t the same as our world’s Voltron. You can’t be mad at these people for something they didn’t do.”

“But--”

“No buts. If you’re worried about their Lance, check him over yourself. If they’ll allow it, that is.” There was a moment of tense hesitation from both sides, but when nobody moved to stop Alrim, they walked towards Lance, gait light-toed and yet decidedly grounded. Almost like how an ostrich moves, but less awkward.

“Uh, hey. The name’s Lance, but I guess you kinda already knew that.” Lance held his hand out for a handshake, but instead was pulled into a tight hug. Keith stiffened, hand drifting to his hip to summon his bayard if these strangers so much as dared to hurt Lance. Alrim stared the Red Paladin down, and smiled.

“Hm. Seems like the Voltron of this world is at least a little better than ours.”

“If I may ask, is there something wrong with the Voltron of your reality? Your reaction to us was...concerning.”

Alternate Lance flinched for a split-second, “It’s a long story--” Alrim’s hold on Regular Lance tightened and he could feel a sort of clacking growl rising in their chest and throat.

“They’re scum. Rotten scum who hurt Lance!”

“Whoa whoa whoa, we hurt him?!”

“Don’t worry, the fact that you care about him at all means you’re already a better team than mine was.”

“Wait, so you were still part of Voltron? Still the Blue Paladin?”

“...yeah. I miss ol’ Blue.” Other Lance paused, staring longingly at the hanger doors, “I know that you don’t trust me - I wouldn’t either. But could I...just once before we leave, could I just...talk to Blue?”

“Of course. C’mon, I wanted to talk to you in private anyway, have some Lance-Lance time.”

“You seem like this...this perfect version of me, the me I always pictured in my head that I had to become. Strong, brave, serious but still charming, loved by all, never making a mistake...but you seem so...lonely. Even with, uh...”

“Alrim. They’re my copilot, my partner. The best thing to ever happen to me.” Other Lance smiled fondly and blushed, but suddenly froze and blinked the emotion away, “Don’t tell them I said that. I’m not ready for them to know yet. I’m not...ready to be alone again.”

“Alone...again? What happened to you?”

“Listen, the Paladins of Voltron you know are...very different from their equals in my world. I used to be a lot more like you. Louder, softer, more emotional, more...” he took in a shaky breath, “...real. My team - Allura and Coran included - hated it. Hated me. So when they found out that Allura and just about anyone else could pilot the Blue Lion, they took the blue armor and bayard from me. They gave me some spare, generic space armor, a practice blaster, and all my belongings in a bag. Then they dropped me on the closest non-hostile planet and left, without so much as a goodbye. They...they left me to die.”

“WE WOULD NEVER!” Hunk stormed into the room, gripping both Lances in one of his signature hugs. Other Lance seemed stunned, especially as the rest of the crew ran up to them as well. Alrim didn’t look too happy about them being so close to him.

“Lance has been my best friend since we were kids! Why would some freaky not-me ever be mean to him...you...him-you?!”

“The Hunk Garret of my reality didn’t meet me until the Garrison. He was...definitely less huggy than you, that’s for sure. He pretty much wanted to fight anything that breathed, and held deep grudges. I was just a nuisance to him.”

“What about me?! Lance is like another big brother to me!”

“My world’s Pidge Gunderson was a living insult machine, and I was their favorite target, because I was always messing everything up. When I was being kicked out they even joked that I was probably never the Blue Paladin at all, that it was always Allura. I was just the delivery guy.”

“There’s no way I would’ve allowed that. What the hell was I doing?!”

“Our Captain Shirogane--”

“Whoa, whoa whoa. I made you call me Captain?! Who did that guy think he was, Iverson?!”

“Hey, whatever made you feel better, man. He had some issues. He’d been a Galra prisoner, and from the looks of it things you were too. But my world’s Shirogane got kind of...addicted to fighting. Winning made him feel powerful, in control. Whenever someone had to train one-on-one with him we pretty much had to have healing pods on standby. And I was the worst at hand-to-hand combat, so...he kicked my ass a lot. Probably not on purpose.”

“Oh god...”

“But point is, he wanted nothing more than to absolutely obliterate the Galra. And I was holding him back, trying to calm him down. Guess he, uh, wasn’t ready for amateur therapy hour.”

“I can’t imagine I could ever not care about Lance...was I different, too?”

“Oh, Coran...you’re so different from the Coran I know that I didn’t even realize who you were at first. My dimension’s Coran is a cold, cynical man. His son apparently died or betrayed Altea or something, I never found out for certain. He didn’t care about anyone besides the Princess, and avoided us as much as he could. I’m not even sure he ever learned my name.”

“In your world I am still a princess, and a princess cannot allow her team to behave so...cruelly!”

“To be fair, you spent most of your time grieving your father and Altea. If you weren’t mourning, you were plotting Zarkon’s downfall. With how much I messed up training and missions, I was just a liability. That’s why my world’s Princess Allura took over Blue. Not that Blue...seemed to mind.” The Blue Lion gave a growl of emotion above them. Frustration, anger, sadness, and shock, with a hint of desperation.

“I...” Keith glared at the floor, “Whatever Keith you know is probably nothing like me. I know Lance and I haven’t always gotten along, but he...I...we had a freakin’ bonding moment!”

“A what now?”

“Yeah, I don’t remember because I kind of had a concussion and was in a small coma before and after it happened, but uh apparently Hotshot McMullet, and I quote, ‘cradled me in his arms’.”

“Well shit, the Keith Kogane I knew was all business and order-taking, nothing else. Hell, he was the one who suggested getting rid of me in the first place!”

“I DID WHAT?!”

Slav paused his intense calculating and popped his head out from under the worktable, “I just detected a 78% increase in our reality’s Red Paladin getting into an altercation with the Red Paladin of another reality. That’s, eeeeeehhhhhh, a lot.”

“Yeah, because if I ever see him I’m gonna break his FACE!”

“Y’know, I change my mind. You guys are alright. You care about your Lancey and you even seem concerned about mine. You’re waaaaay better than the Voltron from our dimension!”

~Lance of the other realm...~

“B...Blue?! Holy--I didn’t think I’d be able to communicate with...wow, you sound the same as my--my world’s Blue Lion.”

~We Lions do not change much between the realities in which we exist. We can even communicate with our other selves, for advice or simply for the comfort. I have located and connected with my other from your world.~

“Did she say anything? I know I have a lot I wish I could’ve said to her.”

~She confirmed that you were mistreated. She tells me that you were the only part of that Voltron who hadn’t let their anger or pain consume them. Your world’s Voltron is unstable and unlikely to succeed - your Coalition is more likely to bring peace than they are.~

“Well nizquak, just when I thought our job was getting easier, now we’ve gotta pick up Voltron’s slack.”

~She also wants you to know that she does miss you. She allowed the Princess to pilot her hoping that it would help her to heal, but instead my Other was overwhelmed by the intensity of her emotions and had control torn away from herself. She watches over you always, and loves you dearly. You will always be her Paladin, no matter who pilots her.~

“I...I love her, too.”

“HALT!”

“Is that...the other Voltron?!”

“Good, looks like I’ll get my chance to kick my other self’s ass sooner than I thought.”

“We have no business with you. What we want are the Galrans aboard the ship you are escorting.”

“They’re not part of the Empire! They’re rebels from a group called--”

“We don’t care what they’re called. Do you honestly think we believe their word? Only you would be that stupid, McClain. All Galra must be treated with suspicion while the war is active! That means so supposed ‘rebel’ or ‘prisoner’ Galra go unchecked. None.”

“Are you even hearing yourselves?! Other Shiro, you of all people should see what’s wrong with that.”

“It’s different. They’re Galra. They deserve to know how it feels to be someone else’s prisoner, even if they’re innocent!”

“If any of you dare attack that ship, we will defend it. Voltron’s mission may be to defend our universe, but no matter what universe he’s from, Lance McClain is our friend! We cannot forgive the harm you have done him!”

“LANCE!”

They ran through the hall, skidding to a stop when Alrim came into view. They were crying, on their hand and knees and holding something in their arms. Something covered in red blood.

“I-Is that...Lance?”

“I...I think so. But which one?”

“Our Lance has his Paladin armor. The other Lance is in his Coalition gear.”

Nobody moved forward to look at the armor, and Alrim was too shaken and panicked to hear them. At that moment, it was Schrodinger’s Lance.

“Oh no...” Everyone looked up. Lance - the Lance who was still wearing the Blue Paladin armor (Hunk whispered a small “Thank god”) hesitantly approached his other self’s co-pilot.

“The...the other Altean, the older one, we didn’t think he’d leave the Castle control deck. He ambushed us and pulled a blaster, and then Lance...!”

“...he protected you. And the other Coran ran off somewhere, I guess.”

“He can’t die! Not to them, not to the people who already broke him once! He can’t...I can’t...”

“...I’m so sorry, Alrim. He...he really loved you. He didn’t tell you, and I think you already understand why, but he loved you. If he doesn’t pull through, you need to know that.”

“...Lance you dummy...you knew you could tell me anything...”

“Guess he forgot. How typical of him.”

“You monsters...you killed one of your own! A fellow Paladin! You’re no better than Zarkon!”

“Lance McClain is no Paladin.”

*BOOM*

A shockwave of energy pulsed through the ship. Powerful. Angry. Hurt. Betrayed.

“The Blue Lion...his Blue Lion!”

~YOU HAVE HARMED MY PALADIN FOR THE LAST TIME!~

“What?! No, I’m your Paladin now! Stop this immediately!”

The Red Lion appeared on Blue’s right, mouth brimming with flames.

~We TRUSTED you. We trusted that together, you would form a bond and work as a TEAM, PROTECT each other!~

The Black Lion drifted in on the left, movements eerily slower than normal.

~It appears that we were WRONG.~

“So he’s...he’s gonna be okay, right? My Lance?”

“There might be a new scar from the blast, and definitely psychological damage, but he’s going to pull through. I think finding out he has his Lion again will help, too.”

“Don’t you worry, Alrim! He’ll be out of the pod in just a few doboshes!”

“I can’t believe we’re gonna have to find new Paladins...man, that’s gonna take forever! I just wanna go beat up Zarkon so Lance can go home and show me all the cool Earth stuff he always talks about!”

“I think I’m starting to get why the Red Lion chose you. You’re not very patient, are you?”

“Rude, but true.”

#WIP #langst #oc alien #the alt paladins are based on a mix of 80s voltron and current fanon character muder #alternate realities

[themadlostgirl]

Not Dead Yet (Part 19)

*I have no idea how long this productive wave is going to last but for now I’m not gonna question it! Have some mainly dialogue and these silly kids being dumb!*

Pairing: Reader x Peter Pan

Warning: language

Peter waited until he was sure Y/N was deeply asleep before letting out an aggravated groan. Sobriety was overtaking him and his actions from tonight were coming back to haunt him. The wedding reception, wasting his magic on dressing them up, the wine, the dancing, and the kiss.

They were both drunk, tipsy at the very least. That’s all it was. A boy and a girl that had a cup too many of wine and things got a little out of hand. There was nothing more to think about. Nothing at all.

He stole a glance at Y/N. If he was going to admit anything it was that Y/N, naive as she seemed, was a pretty spot on kisser. Everything about it was just intense, fueled even more so by their drunken state. What would have happened had that old fling not shown up and interrupted them? Would they have gone on kissing? Would he have pushed her away? Would she have pushed him away? Would things have gone farther? With the atmosphere going on it seemed like the sky was the limit.

It was a good thing Scarlet, or Giselle or whatever her name was, came by. Y/N was his Lost Girl. While she could be the most infuriatingly nosey, disrespectful and deceptive twit in all the realms Peter couldn’t bring himself to hate her. She was in her own strange way his friend. She was loyal yet deceitful, kind but also ruthless, and as naive as she was clever. It was like living with a walking contradiction. Hell, she even made him contradict himself if he was around her long enough. It was just this strange aura about her that made him want to keep her in the dark yet looked at her like a trusted confidant.

“Oh my confusing Lost Girl…” he mumbled to himself, “You’ll be the death of me.”

~~~

“Rise and shine!” a loud voice shook me awake. I squinted against the light. Oh god, is this what death feels like?

“Ugh…” I covered her ears. “No talking.”

“Not happening.” I was pulled up against my will, “Not fun is it?” Peter shouted in my ear.

My hand wrapped around his throat, “I will strangle you.”

“And I’ll let you,” he pried my hand off him and stood up, “Once you stand up.”

“Bastard.” I glared hard at him as I shakily got to my feet. “See, I’m fine.”

“Sure you are.” he gave me a push and I collapsed back to the ground. He sat down across from me and pressed either hand to my head. “Normally I would love to milk your suffering but we do need to get a move on.”

My headache and soreness in my muscles started to ease. “Better?”

“Much.” I stretched my arms above my head now able to move without wanting to die. “Wait…did you keep watch the entire night?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged.

“Why? I could have--”

“No, you couldn’t have. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep anyways so it doesn’t make a difference. Let’s get moving.”

We got up and started walking. We would have to find a new town now. It wasn’t until we had been on the road for a while that the night before really started to come back. The wedding reception we crashed, all the wine we drank, there was spinning and dancing and even more spinning. Peter and I had been dancing and then we stopped. Why did we--

“Oh my god.” I tried to steady myself, “Last night, did we…?”

“Yes.”

“I thought that was a dream.” Everything from last night is all kinds of fuzzy and I was hoping that my little make-out with Peter had been just a creation of my drunken subconscious.

“A dream come true?” he joked.

“For you maybe.” I jabbed him in the ribs.

“That night was a little hazy but you seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“I was drunk. If I hadn’t been I wouldn’t have, trust me.”

“What about back on Neverland? You kissed me.” he reminded me and my face grew hot.

“To distract you. Remember?”

“Sure…”

“It was!”

“No, I believe you. I really do.”

“Pan!”

“Pan? Awe, are you upset with me?” he cooed in that way he knew sent my blood boiling.

“You’re such a prat!” I stomped on ahead of him.

“A prat you made out with!” he shouted and I picked up the pace, “It wasn’t like it was that great anyways. You are a pretty terrible kisser.”

I stopped dead and slowly turned around. “Excuse you?” I stormed back up to him, “If memory serves you were pretty into it.”

“Well I was drunk wasn’t I? I probably would have felt the same way if I had been locking lips with a discarded fish head. Then again, the fish would have been better than--”

I grabbed his collar and kissed him hard. As if on instinct his hands reached to cradle the back of my head as he kissed me back. I pushed him back with a smirk. “You’re right, a fish head would be better.”

I swaggered ahead leaving Peter standing dazed behind me. Good. Maybe I surprised him enough that he’ll shut up for a couple minutes. I need some peace and quiet while I mulled over the last twenty four hours. Within that time frame I had: woken up intertwined with my leader, gone through multiple greasy shops looking for a way back home, got drunk at a stranger’s wedding reception where I made out with Peter, got chased out of said party because he’s a whore, woke up with a hangover, got in a fight with Peter which ended with me kissing him. It is too early for me to deal with this crap.

Shortly a small town came into view just off the main road. Good, I’m starving. I reached for my coin pouch but found nothing. I’m still in the stolen dress from the last town. I checked myself over and was relieved to see I still had my dagger and there was the drawing Peter had given me in my pocket. My money though and my old clothes were long gone. Just perfect.

“What’s wrong now?” Peter had fallen into step next to me.

“My stuff was back at the inn you got us kicked out of. Including all the money I had pocketed.”

“So? Just steal some more, you didn’t have a problem with it before.” he shrugged.

“I don’t have the patience for pickpocketing today. Plus, I’m weak with hunger.” I leaned on him dramatically, “Please oh benevolent leader, steal some food for your humble Lost Girl before she dies of starvation!”

“Are you still drunk?” he pushed me off.

“Peter, please.” I groaned louder. I dropped my dead weight onto him so he was forced to drag me along. “Please get us some food!”

“Okay fine!” he snapped, “Whining little twit...”

“You know you love me.”

He went up to a stand and started loading a burlap sack full of food as he made small talk with the vendor. “Hey son,” the vendor stopped him, “You able to pay for all this?”

“Of course, just let me get my money from my friend over there.” He walked up to me.

“Peter, I just told you I don’t have--”

“Run.” he whispered.

“Wait--”

“Run!” he pulled on my arm. I tripped along behind him as we made a break for it. The vendor yelled after us and a few brave villagers tried to stop us. I knocked them out of the way easily and soon we were back on the trail far from the little village with a sack full of free food.

“Not how I pictured getting breakfast but effective nonetheless.” I pulled a carrot out of the bag. “Subtlety isn’t your strong suit is it?”

“I more than make up for it.”

“With what?”

“My rugged good looks.” he winked and I automatically felt inclined to stab my carrot in his eye.

“No, really. What?”

“Magic of course idiot.” he bonked a parsnip against my forehead.

“Y’know, for as long as I’ve known you I haven’t seen you use magic all that much. At least not anything that fantastic.”

“Excuse me?”

“What? Everything you’ve done is kind of lackluster compared to the kind of stuff I’ve heard witches and warlocks being able to do.”

“I changed your rags into a beautiful dress fit for a princess. That’s lackluster?”

“Kind of.”

“Lost Girl, you are inadvertently a mean person. Did you know that?”

“Not my fault you only use your powers so mundanely.”

“If you saw me in a battle then you would think differently.”

“Peter, I’ve battled you before...and won.”

“Hand to hand, you’ve never seen me in a magic duel though. If you had then you would think differently.”

“I’m sure I would.” All this talk about magic has me thinking of Neverland. I wonder how the boys are doing. Peter and I have been gone for a couple days now. They must be worried or at least wondering where we went. “Hey, how long do you think we’re going to be stuck here?”

“Can’t say. It could take weeks before we find a way back to Neverland.”

“Weeks! But what about everyone back home? Can they go that long with you missing?”

“They know that when I’m not around Felix is in charge. He is more than capable of keeping the troublemakers in line. Don’t stress about it so much.”

“Oh right, Felix.” I had almost forgotten about him. In fact being away from Neverland even for a short while I had forgotten about almost all the boys. Even my best friend, Devin.

I bit into my carrot sorrowfully. I just wanted to back home where things were warm and food was free and my friends were there to make me smile. Now I’m stuck in this cold realm with Peter who I’m not even sure forgives me for trapping us here. I don’t even know if he’s forgiven me for butting into his past like I did.

“Peter…”

“Hm?” he peered down at me.

“I know I said it before and I’m sorry to bring it up again but I do want you to know that I’m sorry for not respecting your privacy before. It was a terrible thing to do after all the crap I’ve put you through.”

“What’s brought this on?”

“I don’t expect you to forgive me but I wanted to say that I’m glad you told me in the end even if you didn’t want to. Things like this, what you’re going through, the burden you carry, it’s not healthy to keep it to yourself. I know, you helped me recognize that.”

“Y/N…”

“You are my friend, Peter. I want to help you even if there’s nothing for me to do.”

“Y/N.” he dropped the bag of food and grasped me by the shoulders. I was brought to silence by the steady gaze of his bright green eyes. “You have helped me.”

“I have?”

“As much trouble as you’ve caused me I don’t regret telling you about my problems. You were right when you said it was stifling keeping it to myself. I needed to confide in someone the whole truth and that was you. Strange as it may seem, you have proven in your own mystifying way that you are my friend and you’ll always be a friend.”

“Peter…” hearing him say that was more than I needed, certainly more than I had ever hoped to get out of him.

“Of course if you mention I said any of this when we get back to Neverland I will deny it and make you sleep in the cages for a month.” he returned to his threatening demeanor in an instant.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I picked up the bag and handed it back to him, “Also, although I know this is only for when we’re away from the safety of Neverland, but when we get home I’d like it if I could continue to call you Peter. After all of this I don’t think I could go back to calling you Pan and not be derogatory about it.”

“Seriously?”

“No need to be so defensive about it, it is your name after all.” I smirked and he returned the same sarcastic grin.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

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#LOTS OF DIALOGUE #peter pan ouat #ouat peter pan #ouat #neverland #peter pan imagine #peter pan x reader #slowburn