1. the supposed ability to discover facts about an event or person by touching inanimate objects associated with them.
Good? Ok, here we go.
-
The first time Keith realized he was psychometric, he was probably about 7. He had been pushed to the ground by kids running past him. When his hands hit the sidewalk at the opening of an alley he froze as his mind went for a joyride, swamping the poor kid with images of a man who had been violently assaulted there. From the cut of his clothes, it could have been decades ago. Shaking and with tears streaming down his face, Keith sat there staring at his hands in shock for a long while after. He was late for school.
Over the years, he found that he could somewhat control the impressions by using gloves. Usually he was only overtaken when his entire bare hands made contact with the surface of the object.
The clearest images he got were from places or things where an extremely emotional event had occured. The more powerful the emotion, the less he was able to guard aginst it. Sadly, this meant that if he had the misfortune to brush up against the walls of a location where a murder had taken place, then he would be sucked into the memory, gloves or no. Keith fixed this by walking with his hands tucked securely into his pockets or with his arms crossed.
They called him a loner and touch-repulsed.
Keith embraced the assumption. It by far lessened his chances of having another temporary foster sibling grab his hand and having their ring give him a front row ticket to their last proper birthday before their home situation went to shit. Gloves became a mandatory accessory.
He was able to hone this weird ass ability so that he could break out relatively quickly rather than stand there staring into the air for several minutes until the visionimpressionmemory had run its course. It was basically like getting the spark notes version and left him frozen for only a few seconds at a time. That wasn't to say that he didn't get the full monty on the rare occasion he hadn't been guarding himself quite so closely and touched something steeped in emotion.
In any case, he was able to keep it to himself and under wraps through the Garrison and into space.
Naturally everything came crashing down. In spectacular fashion. It was basically all Lance's fault.
Keith came to and found himself kneeling on the ground in the middle of the castle entryway. His bare hand was flat to the floor and surrounded by drops of liquid. ...what? He drew a shaking hand up to his face and was slightly surprised to feel tears soaking his cheeks.
He slowly became aware of his surroundings. Looking up he met Lance's panicked blue eyes, using them to anchor himself and push the memories of invasionblooddeath from his head. Lances hands hovered anxiously around him.
Sound returned in a rush.
"-eith? ? Holy crow, please don't tell me I broke you!"
Keith sighed and dragged his hands across his face. "No, it's fine. It happens sometimes."
"What? What happens? What the fuck was that? You just blanked out and started crying!"
"More like I was brainjacked and mugged."
"What the fuck?!"
Ugh. How exactly does one go about explaining psychometry to someone who acts like an idiot 90% of the time?
So I have these thoughts on Galra biology and the sexual dimorphism between them. Because they're not technically people I don't really imagine them having the terms men and women per se. Because that's a human concept and let's be honest these are giant, fluffy cat aliens. I think they would be more along the lines of calling themselves males and females because, not people.
I also Imagine that their genders don't necessarily ALWAYS line up with their biological sex. I know that's a huge controversial topic right now but this is just something I'm thinking of. So what I imagine is that sometimes things are linear like a male gender will line up with siring children, and a female gender will line up with bearing children. This leads to the thought that in terms of actual procreation there would be terms like bearers and seeders.
Okay so picture this. I imagine that the galra has both sets of sex characteristics. Although one would take precedence over the other. And after their maturation or whatever it is they have, the non-dominant one would become vestigial at best. Does that make sense? Like, if a galra was male but could bear children, then they would probably have external female characteristics like small breasts and a vaginal opening, but would also have a phallus that's probably smaller when compared to humans? Or maybe it would be something along the lines of crumbcakes three kids klance series where the vaginal opening is on the inside and the external opening is only accessible a month or so before actual birthing and then I don't know, a month or so after birth? Thinking about this is making my head spin.
On the opposite side of things a seeding female would also have both sex characteristics but would have a vaginal opening that's closed? Or inaccessible? But it's still there. I also imagine that she would have a phallus that's more like an oversized clitoris than anything else? I haven't put as much thought into this one because body parts are weird.
Basically, a seeding female would see themselves as her/she but would also have the necessary equipment to sire a child. Likewise, a bearing male would see themselves as he/him but would have the internal organs to carry a child to term.
Linear males and females would be like human men/women for the most part. I.e, males would have a penis proportional to their body size and female would have breasts proportionate to their size. I say proportion because galra are HUGE. Seeding males would have tiny breasts, think female bodybuilders and what happens with their crazy awesome pecs, and a nonaccessable vagina. Bearing females would have a vestigial penis and a functional vagina. I reiterate: body parts are weird.
Also, I imagine that the galra mate for life. Because I am a sucker for a happy ending and I just want everyone to be happy dammit.
Lance could barely restrain himself from smushing his face against the glass of the observation deck like a kid when he caught sight of the newest planet to join the coalition.
It was covered in water and various sized islands. The water was a soft pink and glowing, but it was WATER.
Allura cleared her throat to gain their attention. “The Salarin people are peaceful, but we will need to gain their respect before they will sign to our cause.”
“How exactly are we supposed to do that? Isn’t being Voltron ‘wow’ enough?”. Pidge was slightly less then pleased to be interrupted from their efforts decrypting their newest chunk of galra tech. The fact that they were elbow deep in a sentrys chest cavity was probably best overlooked…
Coran waved at the planet statistics he had in front of him. “You’ll be participating in their cultural events! This is going to be more fun than a crepnik during Plaxicon!”
Lance and Hunk shared a sidelong glance of apprehension as they left to get ready for departure.
-
The Salarin people kinda looked like the stretched out noodley people from an old anime Lance watched when he was a kid. Something about a wish granting shop…? Whatever. But these people were a variety of soft colors.
Hunk seemed to share the idea. “They remind me of Easter eggs!”
Keith snorted softly on Hunk’s other side. Shiro, standing at Allura’s shoulder, cast a censuring glance at them. The three shifted guiltily and settled.
Lance tuned out the usual “thank you for joining” speech that Allura was delivering with all her majestic grace and poise and cast his gaze about the beach they were standing on.
The sand was a lovely peach, the water was pink, and the long grass farther up the slope ways for the water actually looked the turquoise of the grass he always got in his Easter baskets. The entire planet really did look like the Easter bunny barfed all over it.
Focusing back on the water-wait. What? WHAT??? He grabbed at Hunk’s arm and the big man turned to see what had caught his attention. His eyes widened. “Is that.. are those…?”
“Hunk! They’re SURFING!” He whispered back fiercely. “I know exactly how we can gain their trust! Cover me!”
Hunk tried to snatch his friends arm, but the blue paladin dodged easily and slipped behind him.
“Lance! No- aw quiznak. I hope you know what you’re doing…” he positioned his large body to block the princess and black paladins view.
Lance was too busy shucking the outer plates of his paladin armor to pay attention. Clad in just his black undersuit, he slid up to one of the board carrying natives at the waters edge. Hunk couldn’t hear their exchange, but he saw the tall yellow male grin and pass his may-or-may-not-be-a-surfboard over.
Allura and the rest of the paladins turned at the sudden commotion of cheering behind them to see Lance several dozen yards into the water and paddling fast.
Allura felt her ears heat with anger. She was just about to raise her voice to roar the blue paladin back in when Shiro put a hand on her shoulder.
Lance was turning his board while the water surged beneath him, surrounded by several other natives. Together, they all hopped to their feet as the wave crested and then they were off!
Hunk and Pidge were heard clearly over the other excited screams.
The Salarin people were cheering and Allura was slightly winded from switching indignant rage to surprise so quickly.
Shiro laughed. “Well ok. I guess that works.”
...
This started out as just a thought blurb, but turned into a minific! Whatever. I’ll take it.
Allura watched with a faint smile on her face as her friend paced back and forth in the briefing room of the Coalition headquarters like a caged animal. “I think you might be over thinking this.” She leaned one hip against the large map covered table dominating the center of the room. So far, the hybrid had managed over a dozen laps along the long edge of the room in a futile effort to bank frayed nerves.
Violet eyes flashed. “How? Think about it, ‘Llura. Not a damn one of them is going to look at me the same way again after this.” Another lap.
Coran stilled his furious pacing with a calming hand on his shoulder. “Chin up, my boy! It isn’t quite so bad as all that. We have known the others for ages! I hardly think their character and opinion of you would take such a drastic dive in just a few decaphoebes.”
Antok placed one large hand onto the communications holoscreen hovering in front of him. “You will have to table this breakdown, kit. Kolivan is bringing the Paladins in now.”
Keith hissed quietly, pointed ears drooping slightly. He dragged his hands down his lavender splotched face. The Blade lieutenant was right. Meeting now, freak out later.
Through sheer force of will, Keith managed to stuff his mounting anxiety back under a mask of indifference. The same one he used when making his mission reports to Kolivan, or dealing with the occasional ambassador on behalf of the Altean princess. Said princess stepped behind him to neaten the knot of his thick black braid. Keith let his shoulders slump minutely as his friend scratched lightly behind his ears. Damn, those endorphins were good shit. He almost felt ready to face his friends after over 5 years apart.
“You can do this. Coran and I, we are here for you. Always. You are part of the Blade of Marmora high command, you have got this.”
Keith flashed a fanged grin at her before facing the doorway at the back of the room. The keypad flashed green and the huge Galra-friendly door (it better be, they sized it with Antok in mind) whooshed open.
Kolivan walked in first, rounding the huge table and standing on the far side of it with Keith, Antok, and the Alteans. The four human Paladins of Voltron filtered in after him to stand on the other side, resplendent in their color coordinated Voltron armor. This solemn gathering lasted all of 5 seconds before humans and Alteans were colliding with tears and hugs, happy to be reunited.
Not being spared, Keith was swept up into Shiro’s arms and hugged to within an inch of his life. The breath was squeezed out of his lungs as Pidge collided with them, followed quickly by Lance, Allura, and Coran. Hunk came last with tears streaming down his face to grab them all up and almost managed to lift the lot of them off the floor.
Tears and laughter came freely. All worries, history, anxiety, everything was washed away for this moment of joy shared between people who had shared and survived through the worst of the hardships of war. While some of them saw each other on a more or less daily basis, for others it had been considerably longer.
When everyone had calmed down, they all took a look at each other, still laughing breathlessly. Shiro had probably changed the least of the humans. He still had the undercut, though his hair was entirely white now, as it had been when they rescued his spirit from the Black lion. The scar stretched over the bridge of his nose, turning pale from the force of his smile. He was the second in command at the Garrison now, under Samuel Holt.
Pidge had grown a few inches. About damn time, in their opinion. The gremlin had shaved either side of their head and had green streaks added to the rest of the still untamable honey-auburn mohawkmop. A small scar from the war split the skin on the side of their lip, adding to the impish look on their face. The glasses once taken from Matt had long since been retired in favor of a pair of green lense goggles that sat jauntily on top of Pidge’s head. No doubt they had some sort of technical wizardry powers programmed in. Pidge also worked at the Garrison, but only part of the time. The rest was spent divided between the labs of the Olkari and rebuilding the Coalition headquarters.
Hunk was bigger than ever. After returning to Earth and fighting off the Galra invasion, the Samoan man had thrown himself into the rebuilding efforts. He was now built like a tank, and had surpassed Shiro as the physically strongest of the human Paladins. His hair was pulled back into a messy topknot, offset by a well kept beard and mustache. Coran smoothed his own in appreciation and mentally made a note to compare care tips with the Yellow Paladin. Most of Hunk’s time was spent still trying to combat and heal the destruction left on Earth from the final Galra attack. Warm brown eyes shown under the well loved orange of his headband.
Lance was still tall and slender, although he too had managed to pack on muscle. Built like a swimmer, his shoulders were broadened and his limbs were long, lean and sinewy. His hair was changed from the style of his youth, now far shorter at the back and sides and left longer on top. His sunstreaked bangs swept backwards away from his forehead, likely from his hands running through it, and still secured there with the products he so loved. His skin glowed a healthy brown, his natural tan refreshed and darkened by being back in the sun of Earth. The freckles across his nose and cheekbones were denser than ever as a result. His jawline had become more defined, and in recent years he had started to experiment with growing out his facial hair having come to favor maintaining a nice even stubble. A thin scar ran diagonally between his eyes, giving him a roguish look he was quite proud of. Employed by Shiro and the Garrison he worked based from the Garrison and maintained a course for training snipers, frequently traveling back to Cuba to see his family.
Allura and Coran had also changed. Allura had cut her hair some years ago, the masses of white curls had become too much of a hassle to stuff into a flight helmet. It now brushed her shoulders in a curling bob. Her black battle suit held Altean influence in the cut, but with large pink Voltron chevrons on the chest and shoulders. She was still tall and strong, in peak condition for being over 10,000 years old. She was the head of the Coalition, and spent quite a bit of time on Earth working with the Garrison.
Coran had also hardly changed at all. Still wearing the Altean suits he always favored, his hair had a little more white streaking it than before and his laugh lines were deeper. His mustache was more majestic than ever.
Keith had probably changed the most, physically at least, though still lean and muscled. Years before, he had been doused in pure quintessence in order to save his life from a Blade mission gone horribly wrong and that had jump started his Galra genes. His ears were pointed at the tops and bottoms just like his mother, Krolia’s. The tips of them were lavender, as well as his fingers spreading up his hands and his feet. The darker purple of his familial markings were bold on his cheeks and spread down his neck, only emphasizing his already sharp features. There were more just like them hidden under his black Blade battlesuit striped down his shoulders and spine, and on his hips and thighs. Lavender skin splotched over his cheeks and nose, though most of his body retained the pale porcelain of human skin.
His eyes had kept their violet iris, but now the sclera glowed a warm yellow. Most surprisingly, a long slender tail flicked behind him, purple tinged skin and tipped in a puff of curling purpleblack fur. Small fangs and claws completed his more Galra attributes. Keith had also picked up his share of scars. The one on his cheek was the most obvious, but now he had a jagged slash running down the left side of his face, bisecting an eyebrow. That particular wound had almost taken his eye. After the war, he had joined the Blades on a more permanent basis, working alongside his mother to seek out the last vestiges of the Galra Empire. Occasionally filling in as a Paladin, the care of the Red lion was primarily Lance’s responsibility, though he shared about equal custody of Blue with Allura.
All of the Paladins had accumulated scars from their time fighting the Empire, and maintaining that hard won peace. Some were visible as a network on skin, and more were hidden, wounds of the heart and mind.
Finally, when all had had a chance to catch up, promising a more in-depth reunion later, the meeting was forced to return to more serious topics. Everyone took their places on either side of the table. Kolivan, Antok, Keith, and Coran on one side, and the Paladins plus Allura on the other. Kolivan activated the holoscreen embedded in the tabletop and projected a glowing map of the universe into the air.
Allura straightened her shoulders. “I deeply wish we could have all met under better circumstances, but this cannot wait any longer. As you know, Haggar was never located or destroyed during the final days of the Empire. She has managed to evade our every effort to apprehend her, and has succeeded in launching multiple small strikes on the forces of the Blades and Coalition. One... One of these attacks had a more drastic impact on us than others. We feel it is necessary to share this information. It was probably unwise to keep it from everyone for this long, but... ah. It is a rather delicate matter. Keith?” She turned to her friend. Keith read the message in her bluepink eyes. If he wished it, he wouldn’t have to divulge anything. Allura would back him in this. He could feel the unwavering support emanating from the Galra on either side of him.
Keith sighed. Crossing his arms over his chest, he schooled his features and decided just to power through. He survived an intergalactic war; he could make it through this.
“6 months after you all left for Earth, the Blades received information on the whereabouts of Haggar. We had been tracking her for some time and this was the first substantial lead we had.” Keith’s jaw tensed as he grit his teeth. “It was a trap. We had a mole and she knew we were coming. She was working on this… experiment. Trying to create paladins.”
Pidge blinked. “How exactly would that work? You can’t just engineer a person with a connection to one of the lions. If that were the case, that Shiro clone would have had no trouble taking over Black.”
Shiro’s body tensed at the mention of his ill-fated clone. “Pidge is right. Haggar can make all the people she wants, but it wouldn’t do much.”
Kolivan stepped forward to take up the narrative. “Of the six Blades we sent, four were killed outright. I feel it is necessary to interject that Haggar was creating a breeding experiment of her own devising.”
“B-breeding??” Lance practically choked out the word, slapping his hands onto the briefing table. “Like.. babies?”
Keith felt the tips of his pointed ears flush. “Yes, Lance. That’s usually what that means.”
Kolivan cleared his throat and continued. “The Galra have multiple genders. However, only two of them are capable of carrying children to full term for almost 100% of viable pregnancies, regardless of how they present as externally male or female. Under the reign of Zarkon, the Galra Empire held these Galra as commodities, to be gifted to the highest in command so that they might continue their bloodlines unsullied.”
“A barbaric practice.” Allura huffed, running a hand agitatedly through her shining white bob cut.
Kolivan flicked his ears in agreement and continued. “Throughout Zarkon’s rule the natural birth rate of all Galra dropped dramatically. You would be hard pressed to find a purebred Galra anywhere.”
Antok scoffed under his mask. “For all they preached blood purity, hardly any Galra today are the full blooded lines of old.”
Hunk raised a tentative hand. “Sooooo how exactly does that work? The Galra aren’t as long lived as the Alteans, and Zarkon was hopped up on quintessence so he’s not exactly the breed standard for lifespan. How exactly did the Galran people survive if the birth rate was so low?”
“The Galra can procreate with most species. Even though hardly anyone is more than half Galra by blood, if the Galra genes were stronger than the other species and the child looked Galra, the other side of their bloodline was disregarded.” Disdain practically dripped from Kolivan’s voice.
Keith rolled his eyes, tail lashing in annoyance. “Appearance is everything. If I had been born into the Empire, I probably would have been killed outright or tossed into the servant class as a second class citizen. Even after my body changed.” He glared down at his hands with their claw-tipped purple fingers. It was ironic to him that where normal people had freckles, he had splashes of lavender tinged skin interspersed with striped markings. Pair that with the pale human skin still covering most of his body, he felt he didn’t really fit into either world. Neither human nor Galra.
Antok rumbled an agreement. “Amongst the more prestigious Galra, having a tail is a sign of an inferior bloodline. Most infant kits that show signs of having a tail have them docked at birth. I believe this was the case with Keith’s sirah.”
Keith lightly shook himself out of his black thoughts to nod his head. “That’s what she told me. I was born looking human so she never thought it would be an issue for me. It helped being born outside of the Empire.”
Lance cleared his throat. “So while this diversion into history lesson is fun and all, why exactly are we here? You said this meeting couldn’t be held over coms or any link.”
Rapid fire knocks at the door interrupted the conversation. Hunk was the closest and walked to place his hand on the keypad to answer. He jumped in surprise as a small figure ducked between his legs and sprinted through the room, crashing into Lance.
The blue paladin was knocked back a step into the table edge and let out a quiet “oof” of surprise at the impact. He looked down to see a wild cloud of brown curls and the biggest pair of watering purple eyes he had ever seen set in a tan face with the round cheeks of a child barely out of toddlerhood. The child and Lance stared at each other in stunned surprise.
“Nida?” a rough voice broke the tense silence. The child loosed a tiny sob and bolted around Lance to scramble under the table to the other side. Lance spun to see Keith hoisting the kid, a girl?, onto one hip in a practiced motion.
“What are you doing here? I told you to stay with yaya. And where are your shoes?” This last bit seemed to be more of an observation to himself rather than the distressed child. He used his free hand to brush curls from the girls face as she wrapped small arms around his neck and sobbed into his armored shoulder, tiny fingers tangling into the obsidian locks that had escaped his thick braid. The tan of her skin contrasted notably with the lavender-pale of Keith’s.
The paladins stared at the sight, frozen in shock. The Alteans and Galra present seemed rather used to the spectacle. Kolivan and Antok actually stepped closer so they flanked Keith on either side, craning their necks to get a better look at the girlchild.
Antok raised one massive hand to gently rest of the girl’s heaving back. “Why the tears, young one? What has happened?”
Keith cradled her closer and cooed soothing noises into her hair in an effort to calm her enough to speak.
Pulling her face from Keith’s neck, she mopped at her eyes with the sleeve of her purple dress and tried to speak through hiccups, “Visi said, he said.. He said that sirah was in here with paldins of Voltron. A-and they fight Galra. But we’re Galra! He said they could be hurting sirah and I would never know!”
Keith’s eyes flashed dangerously as he wiped the girl’s eyes with a tenderness that surprised the humans present. “Shh kizi. Voltron is full of good people. None of them would hurt me.”
Antok leaned close. “Young one, if anyone wanted to hurt your sirah they would have to get through me and Kolivan. And no one gets through me.” Kolivan released a small growl in indignation.
The girl managed a watery grin and lifted her arms to the giant Galra. Antok took her with extreme delicacy and hugged her gently. She looked like a tiny doll in comparison to his massive size. He rubbed his chin over her head in a comforting gesture before passing her back to her sirah.
Keith resettled her on his hip and bounced her lightly, earning a soft giggle. “Would you like to meet my friends?”
When she nodded, he pointed to the paladins scattered around the briefing table. “These are the Paladins of Voltron. Shiro is the Black Paladin; he is the closest thing I had to a family for a long time.”
Shiro grinned at her and reached out to shake her tiny hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Keith rotated a bit. “Next to Shiro is Pidge. They pilot the Green lion. Pidge is one of the smartest people I know. (the gremlin preened at the praise) Then there’s Hunk, he pilots the Yellow lion. What’s the Yellow lion like?”
Nida’s eyes lit up. “The Yellow lion is the safest! It can’t get hurt!”
Hunk’s chest swelled with pride. “Yep! My boy can take a beating!”
Keith directed the girl’s attention directly across the table. “That’s Lance. Hey Nida, what’s your favorite color?”
Violet eyes stared into Keith’s own matching ones in confusion at the abrupt subject change. The girl absently played with a lock of black hair that she had earlier pulled out of its messy braided knot behind Keith’s head. “Umm..Purple?”
Keith chuckled to himself. “I should have seen that coming. Ok, what was your favorite color yesterday?”
“Blue!”
“And Lance is the pilot of the Blue lion.”
Lance’s grin about split his face as he shot her his finger guns. “The Blue lion of water is the best lion. Everyone knows it.” Nida giggled.
Keith adjusted his grip on the child, settling her in a more secure hold. “Everyone, this is Zenida. Though mostly we just call her ‘Nida’. She’s my daughter.”
The eyes of all humans present seemed to magnify tenfold at that statement. Hunk was the first to react.
“Whoa! Keith! That is awesome! When did this happen?”
Shiro just shook his head. This would be the sort of bombshell his brother would drop without context.
Pidge… Pidge’s reaction was a little more alarming. Always the quickest to pick up on things, it didn’t take more than a few seconds for Pidge to connect the dots between the sudden introduction of surprise progeny and the brief touching of delicate subject matter from when they first started. Golden hazel eyes about bugged out and remained fixed on the Galra hybrid, viewing this child in a new light.
Lance was sputtering like a fish, it was actually quite amusing.
Allura and Coran just smiled, having known the girl her entire life.
The borderline awkward moment was broken as someone thumped harshly on the door twice before it swished open. Krolia blew in, purple gaze sweeping the room rapidly. “Keith! I seem to have-Ah! Nevermind! I see you found her!” A wide grin split her face as she returned Nida’s happy wave.
Keith’s eyebrow quirked as his mother’s gaze fell onto the happily squealing toddler on his hip. “What happened to ‘I’ve got this’, huh yaya?”
Propping her hands on her hips, Krolia sniffed in disdain. “Have you ever tried to run after your spawn? That kit is fast. Get’s it from her yaya.” For all her posturing, Krolia’s voice was dripping in pride for her grandchild.
“Actually I do chase after her. Every day.” Keith blew a raspberry onto the girl’s freckled cheek, earning a wild shriek and giggles. “But now it’s time to go back where she came from, so the adults can finish talking. Say goodbye, kizi. And tell Visi’s sirah that I would like a word with her later.”
“Ok sirah! Bye grasparaanir! Will you come read to me before bedtime?” Antok rumbled and swept her up, hugging her fiercely before passing her to Kolivan for the same treatment. “Of course we will, kit.”
The girl nodded, satisfied with this response. Kolivan released her and she made her rounds of Coran and Allura, the only other ones on that side of the table. Coran scooped her up and kissed her cheek and Allura leaned in for the same.
Wiggling, she slid from Coran’s grasp. She hugged Keith once more around his legs with a rushed “Bye sirah!” before darting under the table to take Krolia’s outstretched hand. She turned around at the doorway to wave shyly at the human paladins present before the door whooshed shut behind them.
Hunk shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Well… that was unexpected. What were we talking about again?”
Lance furrowed his brow. “My translator must be malfunctioning, because I have no idea what half those words you said are.”
Coran smoothed his mustache and grinned. “Some things that don’t have an equivalent translation just don’t register, or if the meaning is too broad. It’s like saying a varbliernilt is close to your earthling ducks, but it’s truly a four legged animal commonly used for riding! Lovely plumage feathers.”
“Sirah is the word we use for the one to bear the kits. It does not translate to the strange ‘mother and father’ terms humans use. Parah would be the term for the other parent." Antok’s voice rumbled behind Lance, making him jump.
Kolivan nodded. “Because the gender of the Galra is so fluid-“
“Finally the crazy space cats did something right.” Pidge snorted.
“… Because there are so many genders amongst the Galra, it does not matter if one designates themselves as male or female. Outward presentation has nothing to do with biologic capabilities. That is a fairly new concept amongst many races. An adult Galra might decide to change their designation later in life, or not. All Galra are born with both sex characteristics, though one is usually predominate over the other, and some are present only after bearing kits.”
Hunk’s eyes were huge. “So Keith has both? How did that work out in the Garrison??”
Keith’s ears went red and he ran a palm over his face. “The Garrison doctors were a bunch of ignorant assholes. They labeled me as some sort of intersex freak and wrote it off.” he mumbled.
“Sooo like… do you have-“
“We’re done talking about me!” Keith’s face was a second away from catching fire, the red flush having almost entirely blotted out the lavender skin over his cheekbones. “Anyway! You asked why you all are here, well, Zenida is why.”
“Yeah, Mullet! What is up with that?? That kid is cute but totally came out of left field!”
Keith rubbed both hands across his face wearily, pushing his thick bangs out of his face. “Ugh whyme. Whatever. Remember the mission we were talking about before? Everything stems from that clusterfuck. When all of us were captured, there were only two of us that would work for Haggar. Unira and I were both urdaal, one of the two genders that have the easiest time carrying children. The others were considered expendable.. They were killed outright.” He growled in exhausted frustration. “We didn’t have a chance! They were waiting for us with numbers and neural inhibitors. Her druids got us as soon as we were inside the base.”
Keith’s shoulders slumped as he remembered back to those dark days stuck in a cell. “The experiment was pretty straight forward. The carrier would be implanted with seminal DNA samples, then there was a two week waiting period to see if it took. The Komar couldn’t do anything to us in that time or else the implantation would be destroyed and they would have to start again. Unira and I were separated early on, so I never knew what became of her until after I was rescued. Other than meals being dropped in once a day, the cell was kept dark and quiet. It was like I was in a sensory deprivation chamber.” Distantly, Keith noticed that his hands had started to shake.
He felt Antok’s tail curl gently around his own, silently offering support. Keith managed a pathetically weak smile in gratitude for the giant male. “After they had proof that it stuck, the Komar would start to pour their quintessence into the carrier. The idea was to alter the embryo on a genetic level in order to make a custom built paladin that would basically be Haggar’s mindless little puppet. Thankfully, the Komar are dumb as shit and never realized that pouring poison into someone wasn’t going to work. But that didn’t stop them from trying.”
Kolivan’s ever-present frown deepened. “None of the records we recovered showed any successes. Either the implantation never completed, the embryo was destroyed during alteration, or the carrier died. The closest Haggar ever got was when a carrier died shortly before reaching full term, but the child extricated showed no sign of brain activity.”
“Thank the Gods for that,” Keith sighed. “Haggar was really excited to use me because I could pilot the Black and Red lions. She probably figured that by crossing me with the samples she had from other paladins that had been captured; the kit would have an affinity for multiple lions.”
Hunk’s mouth dropped open. “H-how many times did we get captured?? How would we not notice that the Galra were taking… Taking that??”
Antok scoffed. “If you fought them when you were captured, and especially if you were knocked unconscious, would you really notice one more pain amongst many?”
Shiro nodded with grim consideration. “When I was first taken by the Galra after Kerberos, they took samples of everything. Hair, skin cells, blood. I assumed it was just a science thing. Learning all you can about a new species and all that.” He paled. “Wait..They… They had me for a year.. How much could they have possibly gotten? How much did they get??”
Keith could see Shiro spiraling. He agilely leapt across the table and clamped his hands on Shiro’s biceps to ground him. “Shiro! Shiro, listen to me. When they had me, Haggar only had one sample left from their ‘Champion’. Only one!” Shiro focused his grey gaze onto Keith’s purple one. “O-one? Really? Are you sure?”
Keith nodded emphatically and carefully released his friend. He smiled sardonically. “Yes. Gods know she bitched about it enough. Apparently you can’t clone lion aptitude. She ruined most of her supply before she figured that one out.”
Shiro sighed in relief before paling again as another thought occurred to him. “Thank God for small miracles. But what about the one she had? Did she.. She didn’t! Please tell me she didn’t!”
Keith blanched and looked down. “The first time was with the last bit they had from you.”
Pidge squawked. “Wait-first time??”
Keith’s shoulders hunched and he folded his arms tightly to his chest. “It didn’t last. The Komar… Their quintessence is poison. To everyone who isn’t a druid, anyway. When they began dumping it into me, I started to die from it. Hardly anyone survives an implantation.”
The humans stared in shock. “But, what happened? I mean, I’m totally glad you didn’t die, but how?” Hunk looked like he was going to be sick.
“The embryo lasted maybe 6 weeks. I actually don’t know how often the Komar pushed their quintessence into me; I was tossed in the cell whenever I wasn’t being used. They weren’t happy when they found out it failed. But I wasn’t dead yet. Too stubborn, I guess. Surprise surprise.” Keith shook his head to clear it, the memories threatening to overwhelm him.
“They healed me enough to survive implantation and started again. That one lasted longer. Maybe 12 weeks? It’s hard to say because I was in and out of it the entire time. If it was longer, I had no way of knowing. I... I almost didn’t make it that last time. Haggar was angry that her experiment kept failing. She had the Komar use different methods of quintessence transference. Sometimes it was in a huge wave, sometimes just a trickle.
“I’m honestly not sure what was worse. When it was all at once I usually blacked out right away, but when it was smaller it just felt like I had fire dripping into my veins burning me from the inside out. I think I did die during that at least once, but they brought me back. Whatever healing they did wasn’t working as well the second time. I just knew if they did it again, that would be it. I would be used up. But the bitch managed it. She healed me herself enough to implant again. I got tossed back into my cell to wait out the two weeks.”
Kolivan rested a large hand on Keith’s shoulder. “As much as we can figure, it was within that first week that the Blades were finally able to mount a rescue and infiltrate the base. We recovered Keith first, and then we found Unira.”
“What was left of her…” Antok’s growl reverberated through the room. Silence fell like a heavy blanket.
Naturally, Lance was the first to break it. “If...If Shiro’s DNA was that first time, then who had the others?”
Finally after a long minute to muster his courage, Keith raised his head to lock gold and purple eyes with oceanic blue. “The others were from the only other paladin they had for any significant amount of time.”
In that moment, time seemed to slow down for Lance. He felt cold dread slip down his spine in a chilling torrent and lock his limbs. He became acutely aware of Keith. The way his shoulders curved inward, as if to subconsciously protect from a blow. His violet eyes, normally bursting with life and fire, were filled with trepidation and… was that fear? His tail was uncommonly motionless and all but tucked between his legs. Lance held his gaze, suddenly unsure if he really wanted to hear the answer to his question.
“They were yours, Lance. Zenida is biologically your daughter.”
End drabble. Maybe fill out with bits/pieces if interest is there?
Finally caved and bought the space hoodie I've been wanting forever. Really tempted to embroider a tiny Voltron chevron somewhere in there. Might actually do it on the hood. Sorry my phone camera is slightly terrible.
I had an entirely shit week, (my cat is super sick and we've been in the vet like a revolving door, goodtimes), and while I was making boozy cake my Pandora ran through a ton of Lindsey Stirling music. AND THUS THE NEW HEADCANON WAS BORN.
Ok, so imagine a random planet the paladins go to that requires a test of cultural exchange as a good will gesture. The paladins (namely Lance), start arguing and debating over what they can do.
Keith and Shiro are just kind of staying out of firing range and notice a bandstand type deal off to the side. On it they find the alien equivalent of a violin and guitar amongst other kinda similar instruments.
Queue Keith and Shiro just picking up and starting a back and forth battle with Keith playing violin and Shiro the guitar. And there was much shock and rejoicing from the paladins/natives.
Bonus points for Keith and Shiro dancing with eachother while playing. Keith spinning around and hooking a leg over Shiros hip before body rolling away, Shiro going back to back with Keith and sexy grinding. Or have it just be fun. Or martial art based. Whatever. Make em move.
Anyway, that's all I've got. I'm going to go get drunk off cake.
Ok, not gonna lie. I might have spent the day getting wine drunk and cleaning the house, something that I've been sorely neglecting. So, now that I am decidedly less drunk, still not sober, but I can write in complete sentences (yay me), here's the new vld headcanon. This has probably also already been thought of, but whatever herewego
Keith is a neat freak. Y'all have seen his room, there's nothing in it. I'm a firm believer in the thought that Keith has been in foster care since he was like 6? I'm going to go with 6, because that seems to be the popular opinion. I mean, his dad totally seems like the paragon of fatherly responsibility cough cough.
So here's my thought. Keith has been in the foster system damn near his entire life. Oh, I imagine he aged out of it at 18 instead of getting adopted or whatever. Also, because of his slight history of Anger Management problems, I imagine that he wasn't exactly an easy kid to take care of. That probably led to him being bounced back and forth between foster families quite a bit if not dropped off at the orphanage again and again.
This probably led to him not having any attachment on material items. Basically, literally just what he can carry in a backpack or something he can grab & go if he needs to. Right now, the same could be said for all of the paladins: every one of them has the sum total of all of their effects as the clothes they were wearing when they got abducted from Earth.
But like we've seen in Pidge's room, she's collected a whole bunch of stuff. She still has the caricatures that she made on that garbage planet from the wormhole episode, and if you don't think that Lance isn't the type to keep a souvenir from every damn planet you're a damn liar.
I'm also thinking that Keith isn't the type to just collect things for the sake of having them because he's not used to it. I think the only personal items in his room are his jacket and his knife. So this comes around full circle to me believing that he is a neat freak. What little he has has a place.
So naturally when he moves in with Lance (or viceversa) our poor emotionally stunted son is probably driven compeletyly batty by all of Lance's shit. I'm sure they get over it and compromise, but it's touch and go for a while.
I feel like this is already a thing. Is this already a thing? Eh, I'll think it out and finish this bottle. I'll come back to this when I'm not tipsy.
This new hc goes back to my ealier hc about a 5 year later time jump, paladins go back to Earth minus Keith, kidfic that will probably end up being Klance. So, I'm thinking that whenever the paladins meet back up with Keith he'll probably be with the blade of Marmora.
And, being that my headcanon about the galra is that they prize children above all else, they would have kept pictures or a scrapbook about this child throughout the entire process, so that whenever they met up with the sire then they would have a record of this child's life. So, I have ideas about snapshots that would be in this photo album. Bear with me, this headcanon might get extensive.
Antok poorly knitting something fuzzy and brightly colored, blepping in concentration.
Keith resting against his mother, hands on his still small bump as the look at a data pad together.
Allura with her hair in a pixie cut curling around her head in a white halo, proudly displaying a tiny onesie that looks like paladins armor.
Kolivan looking utterly shellshocked as Keith presses his huge hand against his belly to feel tiny kicks. He's going to be the best grand spacecat.
Several of Keith in various stages of pregnancy with different galra, Allura, and Coran.
The last picture of pregnant keith, dressed in loose scrub like garments, resting one hip against a counter. Black hair falling loose around his shoulders in soft curls as he stares down at his huge belly in awe. One hand resting on the swell as the other tucks hair behind his ear. (If anyone wanted to draw a scene if this became a fic, this would be it)
Keith after birth, holding the baby in the oddly lumpy, but made with love, blanket that Antok made.
Keith with a tiny baby girl laid against his chest as he points out stars to her on the observation deck of Marmora HQ.
A 2 shot of Keith in a black tank top and loose pants, teaching a 4 year old in the same outfit, only bright purple, battle stances,. The next is them rolling on the floor with Keith blowing a raspberry onto her belly as she squeals. (This would probably be the last photo as it's taken a week ro so before th paladins arrive)
Baby Zenida (I'm totally sticking with this name), holding Keiths braid tightly. She'll do this every time he holds her. It's a comfort thing. No one can tell me that Keith doesn't grow his hair out long. Fight me!
Coran holding the infant with a pacifier in her might that looks like a mustache. He's so proud.
Allura attempting to wrangle a cloud of brown curls into some semblance of order.
Kolivan holding the 2 year old and looking at battle plans while Keith is on a mission.
Nida tearfully kissing Keiths bandaged eye that he got when mission went sideways. He doesn't end up losing it, but gets 3 scars going diagonally down his face.
Nida carrying her lumpy rainbow monstrosity blanket everywhere. She can't sleep without it.
Baby's full name is Zenida 'Nida' Rosita Kogane. Zenida being Krolia's mothers name and Rosita being Lance's. Her last name is Kogane because Keith, the insecure muffin he is, was unsure if Lance would want to claim her as, technically, he had no input into the entire baby situation.
I picture Zenida with Lance's skintone, completely untamable curly brown hair, slightly pointed ears, tiny soft claws, and Keiths giant purple eyes. Later as an adult, she'll get the markings that Krolia and Keith have.
