Excerpt from Voltron Fic Draft
that I think is absolutely awful and would love constructive feedback on, if "possible" (addition made by Anxiety)
Excerpt under the line
The next one was a liquid, slightly tinged, but still clear. He was given a cup this time, about a pint, he thought. The Galra glared at him, not saying a word as if that would do anything.
Lance shrugged at them, then decided to just drink the strange liquid.
Shot.
Not just the bullet for this weird version of Russian roulette, but also an actual shot. Because they gave him alcohol. Which he wasn’t supposed to have. Because he is very much a minor. And Shiro is very much a 21-drinking-age man.
It took a few seconds of holding the bitter taste in his mouth before he spat it out, aiming away from the Galra. It hit the floor… and hissed. Like acid, it started to make the metal smoke for a moment, before a sentry sprayed it with something and the effect died.
Lance stared at the place where the liquid had been, before turning back in confusion to the remaining fluids. Cautiously, he tipped the cup, trying to figure out if it really was alcohol or if he had just saved himself from something worse.
“Blue Paladin.” Lance glanced back up, barely registering the confusion before turning back to his investigation.
“Was that alco- sorry, ethanol? Because I’m not allowed to have ethanol.” He wafted the cup the best he could. It smelled like alcohol, if a bit different. But it could also be different because they’re in space. “Like, I can have it, but I’m not allowed to and I’m supposed to also be ‘shouldn’t having it’. Shiro will throw a tizzyfit if I come back drunk. Granted, I won’t be, but I’ll still need to be tested for poisoning because of Allura, and that means ethanol will pop up, so I can’t have any or he’ll get upset. Actually a pretty solid toxin, though.”
They didn’t respond. Lance sighed.
“All I’m saying is that Shiro doesn’t want me having ethanol, and so I can’t have any. I have to be tested for poisoning when I get back, and they’ll definitely figure out I drank alco- ethanol. Hence why I spit it out. Although I’m curious as to how you got it to burn the floor but not flesh.”
“Many species would die from contact. Plenty more would die from ingestion.”
He looked up at that, eyeing the Galra curiously.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
“The Black Paladin drank all of what you have before we could stop him.”
Lance snorted, devolving into a fit of laughter, however small. He couldn’t help it, as the mental image of Shiro fighting off some horrified Galra soldier as he drank a pint leapt into his mind. He decided he’d ask Pidge to see if there’s footage.
“What is amusing?” They seemed possibly more angry at his laughter over the past than when he had disobeyed their instructions - honestly, who could really have called ‘Just take one’ a command?
“Oh, just that you put a recreational drink in front of a man who had spent at least a few phoebs forced to be a gladiator and live in relative isolation and expected him to drink responsibly. He probably hoped chugging it would kill him. Or make him too drunk to function.”
The Galra dropped their anger for utter confusion. Lance sighed for what had to be the millionth time that day.
“Ethanol is used as a recreational drink. Back home, there used to be a time when water was almost always contaminated, and ethanol killed off a lot of the bacteria, so it was put in everything we drank. Even when we managed to have clean water, we still kept drinking ethanol because it breaks down mental inhibitions and eases emotional and mental stress. We’re very stressed in general, to the point of it being absolutely normal, and we seek out anything that helps with that. Ethanol is one. Given Shiro’s circumstances at the time, I don’t blame him for drinking a pint in one go, and I’m laughing that you lot didn’t expect it.”
“If it’s a recreational drink,” they almost seemed to shudder at that, “then why are you not allowed to have it?”
“Because I’m a kid. I have to be twenty-one to be allowed to drink, at least by Shiro’s standards. Although, full disclosure, if I was back with my family, I’d be drinking much more than a pint, and some stronger stuff than whatever the quiznack this is.” He tapped the cup with his fingers, resisting the urge to down it. He wasn’t back home, and therefore he knew he had to refrain from those instincts or get in trouble. “Different guardians, different standards.”
This time, he saw the effects his words had as if in slow motion. The initial shock, followed by a dawning horror, then by both confusion, fear, and some odd form of concern.
He was so caught up in the strange transition that he didn’t notice what else was happening until it was essentially too late to act. Reacting was a different story.
The second Galra’s presence was made known as they pulled the pint from his grip easily, handing it over to a sentry. Lance did a double-take of the robotic guards, at how they all seemed to be standing down despite the fact that they shouldn’t be, at least around him. His brief distracted pause allowed him to be pulled to his feet, and it took several moments before he managed to process he was being taken back out of the room and down the halls.
He recognized the route, thankfully. Headed back to the cell. There was only one sentry following. Unusual. The Galra wasn’t dragging him. Unusual. This whole thing was unusual and sending his mind spinning.
Pidge barely concealed her relief when Lance entered the cell, sparing only a second of attention to how even the sentries outside the door seemed to be in a resting position. The Galra left so fast it was almost as if they vanished into thin air, leaving the two completely alone besides the sentries.
“Are you okay?” are the first words out of Pidge’s mouth, all relief coming out now that their enemies aren’t looking.
“Yeah, yeah. Worst thing is a stomachache.”
“Stomachache?”
Lance started to tell her the experience, but only made it so far as the realization of being an experiment before the alarms on the ship began to blare. Both Paladins jumped to their feet, prepping themselves. They knew what the alarms meant. They’d heard them plenty of times.
Voltron had been spotted.
/ / /
Caring For Humans on Archive of Our Own
