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Curtain Call: During the Naxzela assault, the Red Lion abandons Voltron and races to save Keith from his own reckless decisions. In the chaos, no one realises Lance isn't in his Lion. Captured by the Galra, who claim to have no use for him beyond bait for the rest of the team, Lance is thrown into the arena, where he finds... Shiro? Also see, the fic tag.
Today's WIP Wednesday, from chapter 4 of Curtain Call. Lance, Umr and the existentail crisis the cloning plot should have induced. I can't wait to get to actual Shiro. Like, I do love Umr and the build up, but soon actual Shiro, and I can't wait to get to those scenes.
“Why aren’t you cold?”Â
Umr shrugs. “Fur. A layer of fat designed for life underwater. General evolutionary advantages from being a weird hybrid. Honestly, Humans seem maladapted to a lot of environments. You’re not very hardy at all.”
“Thanks.”
They approach the closest pod, climbing in through a hole in the side. After so long exposed to the elements, the ship is cold to the core, a layer of frost covering most of its interior. If Lance had to guess from the damage, he’d say it landed somewhere above, ripped its side open and then dived nose first into the chasm. As they make their way forward, towards the crumpled front end, a body emerges from the gloom, still strapped into the pilot’s chair and slumped back, covered in the same layer of frost as everything else. Lance really doesn’t want to see a frozen body, but if he wants to figure out if anything from the ship can be salvaged, he probably has to. He has to get to the control panels.
“Y’okay?” Umr says from behind him.
“Yeah. Yeah, fine,” Lance says with a nod. “Just, you know, not a fan of dead bodies.”
“Why?” he says quietly. Lance gazes back at him and Umr clicks thoughtfully, then approaches the body. He looks down at it curiously, then up at Lance. “He’s not even decayed. I’d understand if you were squeamish but-”
“Because it’s the end of life,” he replies. “He’s dead.”
Umr tilts his head, fin like mantles twitches curiously. “Is he? I guess Humans have different views on death.”
“A lot of different views,” Lance says. “It depends on the culture.”
“If it helps, to us, death is waking up,” Umr says. “Life is a dream, and death is waking up from that dream. It’s not something to fear. And, no one is truly gone from this world until the ripples they left behind are gone. Their ghost will linger in everything they’ve touched, so it’s our duty to acknowledge them and speak their names. And this guy’s still casting so many ripples.”
Lance steps forward slowly. He supposes he can understand that point of view. It seems so simple. He’s heard something similar back on Earth, of course. It pops up a lot. They have to remember their ancestors. They have to remember those who are gone.Â
But then he realises he recognises the metal, frost covered arm hanging, twisted from the seat. The same as Shiro’s Galran prosthetic. His stomach drops. He takes another step, then another. Frozen black hair with a streak of white, over a horrifyingly familiar face.
“Shiro.” He jerks around to face Umr. “What is this? How is he here? That’s Shiro! He’s with Voltron! He’s piloting the Black Lion! He came back!”
Umr just tilts his head. “Sorry, it’s hard to remember what I’ve told you since last time. He escaped a lot. Just like you did. I probably have too.”
“What?”
“That ship. This place. Operation Kuron. It’s a cloning facility. They’re not wiping our memories, they’re just waking up another clone when we die.”
You know, just loking at the size Kosmo gets by the end of canon, is anyone else kinda disappointed we never got Keith riding a giant wolf into battle? Like i know Kosmo teleports, but we can magical sci-fi bullshit a reason why he can't. Just let Keith charg into batle on the back of a giant murderous space wolf like an alien knight.
Sometimes I think about wandering witch Keith. Like did you guys ever watch Wandering Witch Elaina? The anime really suffered from now making it clear that the story is told non-chronologically, not helped by puting the start of the story at the start rather than in the middle, but the light novels are so good. Just lil witch Keith, idealsing the adventures of a pervious witch (Shiro) who wrote about their adventure in a load of books, and he just travels around having adventures but also like "nope that's not my problem" when there are giant dragon monsters who might also be the princess' curse dad, gets conned an then helps apprentice witches to pass their exams, and maybe gets in the middle of magical serial killer time travel chaos. He even fits the backstory of being a lil prodigy who no one can tolerate because of it but who actually just wants someone to be proud of him.
hi! I really love your fics, is there any reason for "a contract With Dappled Sunlight" being gone? :(
Thank you!!
To be honest, the more I wrote the older fics, the more I felt like I'd sort of misse the characterisation I was going for. Which I'm not totally surprised by, even when I've been in a fandom for a while, the first few fics are always sort of hit or miss with characterisation and plot. It'd take some major rewrites to get them to where I'm happy with them, essentially a complete redo, so maybe I'll come back to them and do a rework later. And I don't really love leaving a bunch of abandoned fics on my accounts. It just bothers me, so if I've decided I'm probably not coming back to a fic, or need to completely rewrite it, I'll take it down or orphan it.
WIP Wednesday brings us another round of Curtain Call and today, oh no, world building with Lance and Umr.
“What do you think the Druids want from us?”Â
Umr hums. “I think Druids, in general, want knowledge. They’re not so different from Alchemists in that sense.”
“I don’t think I even understand what a Druid is,” Lance muses. “Just that Haggar is Altean too, right? Does that mean all Druids are Alteans? Are Coran and Princess Allura not the only ones?”
“I guess that depends on what you consider Altean,” Umr replies.Â
Lance tilts his head to him and Umr touches his cheek. A trio of topaz like jewels set beneath each of his eyes, two circles either side of an oval, mimicking the sickle like scales of the Alteans. Lance smiles bitterly. He gets it. Umr has Altean blood, but he doubts Princess Allura would consider him one of her people. She’d probably assume he was a Nalquodite descendant. Just like Lance had.
“But, you consider the Empire to still be Galran, don’t you?” Umr continues. “There are very few true Galrans left. Those pure Galra of Daibazaal hardly exist anymore. I’d go as far as to say Emperor Zarkon is probably the only one. You can sometimes tell how close someone’s bloodline is to the original Daibazaal linne by their ears.”Â
He gestures at his own ear, the long, butterfly shape that some of the Galra have. Lance nods. “Sendak looked nothing like Zarkon. He was big and fluffy and he had totally different ears.”
“Mmm, the Galran Empire was expansive, even back in the days of the Voltron Alliance,” Umr says. Lance tilts his head. He’d never really thought about that. What the universe was like before Voltron and the war that caused all of this. “They’ve colonised and taken over so many planets, interbred with the natives of those planets, there’s no pure Galra anymore. A half-breed is just that; someone with a parent who’s got no Galra blood. I’m Galra, by their standard. My people are just a sub-species of Galra, a colony of their Empire. Probably by your Princess’ standards too. So, I imagine there are Alteans out there. Other people with Altean blood. The Voltron Alliance saw a lot of intermixing. The Emperor married an Altean Alchemist. The Prince is a half-breed. The Alteans were explorers and travellers. I’m sure some were off planet, I’m sure some survived, but would your Princess consider them Altean?”
Honestly, Lance doesn’t know. He’s never really thought about it like that. Princess Allura and Coran are so far removed from their own time, would they even be able to rejoin any Alteans they found? Lance tries to imagine meeting someone from several thousand years ago. He doesn’t know how they’d fit in either.
“For the record, I don’t think the Druids are Altean,” Umr continues. “From what I understand, while alchemy is something that’s passed along by the Altean bloodline, druidry is a combination of bloodline and learning. You can learn to be a Druid, just some people have a better knack for it.”
“Everyone can be good at running,” Lance muses, “but some people have natural advantages.”
“Yeah. Although, I think Druidry is something to do with a belief system too. I dunno, it’s not like they talk about it very often.”
The biggest problem with writing across multiple fandoms is the amount of times I've written Keith instead of Katsuki. They're not even that similar my min just automatically goes K-eith
WIP Wednesday has come around again. From Keith's section of the next chapter of Curtain Call. Keith gets to do Lance's thing of being left out of the team (kinda) but while Lance gets sad and feels useless, Keith is like "welp, not supervision, time to do something stupid".
There’s not much for Keith to do with Voltron. Everyone else is busy, but Keith is antsy. At least with the Blades of Marmora, there was always something more for him to do. Another mission waiting. Another Galran ship to break into, escape from, fight his way out of. Keith’s only use is as a fighter and a pilot, but there’s only so often Voltron needs that right now.
Most days, when they’re not going on another mission, Coran takes Hunk to rebuild after the liberation efforts of the galaxies around the Naxzela System, and shoring up the defenses of the borders. There’s a lot of need for engineers during their efforts. Pidge and Matt spend all of their time working on repairing the damaged ships of the rebellion fleet, while the Blade works on the zaiforge cannon ships, and Shiro and Allura are working on the diplomatic and planning side of things. And everything with Lotor.
Keith is grounded. There’s nothing for him to do, and Shiro won’t let him go off world without purpose. After days of wandering the caverns of Naxzela 3 in his search for Lance, sometimes even taking a pack and camping out in the old facilities, Shiro had banned him from leaving the castle without his permission too. Permission Shiro never gives.
Keith is sick of being held prisoner by his own team.
So, while Shiro and Allura have gone to see Lotor, saying something about maybe moving onto the next phase, whatever that is, Keith grabs a bag and heads to Red’s hangar. His only option these days is to escape while Shiro isn’t looking, and to get far enough away that it’s not worth Shiro’s effort to get Black to drag them back until they have a new mission and Allura opens a wormhole.
Sometimes, Hunk comes with him. Sometimes in Yellow, sometimes in Red, but Keith can’t rely on him. Not because Hunk is unreliable, or because he doesn’t want to be there for Keith and Lance, but because Shiro and Allura are right that the universe can’t wait just because they’ve lost Lance. The mission, the freedom of the universe, has to come first. Hunk is needed elsewhere.Â
Keith isn’t.Â
The hangar doors open automatically, not that it would stop Keith and Red if they didn’t, and alarms wail. Not that the alarms stop them either. He and Red rip out of the doors before Shiro’s face appears on the comms screen. He’s getting faster.
“Keith-”
“I’m going, Shiro,” Keith replies, already blasting into the outer atmosphere. “Unless you’ve got another job for me, there’s no reason I shouldn’t.”
Shiro doesn’t have any argument and they both know it. So Red shuts off the comms and Keith turns her in the direction the Galran battle cruiser took off in another the battle, then kicks her into FTL. They’re expanding their search as far as they can, but Keith knows that unless Red or Blue picks up some sign of Lance’s location, his best bet is the information he steals from the Galran Empire. Lance could be anywhere, and there’s only so far Keith and Red can go.Â
So, unbeknownst to the team, Keth is using Pidge and Matt’s Galra tracker to find targets to hit alone. The same way Pidge searched for her family. The same way Keith searched for Shiro. Except, he doesn't have the support of his team this time. They’ve all got other priorities.
So chapter 2 of Curtain Call came out last night (and right now, I'm trying for every other Saturday). And as of the end of chapter 2, here is some rough designs for Lance after over a month of Galra captivity, his sometimes cellmate Umr, and the Silver Druid(s)(because we are worldbuilding these Druids, they deserve different factions).
WIP Wednesday, more from Curtain Call. This stuff was kinda cut, and I'm not sure if t's getting back in in some way or not.
This time, when Lance wakes up, he’s instantly more aware. He’s getting sick of falling in and out of consciousness. The events of the past day- however long it’s been are painfully clear in his mind. Lance groans, sitting up slowly from the cold floor. At least the pain is mostly gone. There aren’t any dark spots in his vision or limbs refusing to work. Just the heavy ache that tells him his body went through hell. And he’s totally alone.
However long it’s been, he knows he’s been moved and transferred several times. He doesn’t know how well the team will be able to track him. But they’ll try won’t they? Of course they’ll keep trying. There’s no way the team – his friends – would give up on him. That witch Haggar is wrong!
Lance forces himself to his feet. He’s got to figure out the situation and find a way to escape or contact the team. He can’t just sit around and wait for rescue. Shiro managed to save himself. Both times! With only a bit of help from Ulaz the first time. And Princess Allura- actually, what did Princess Allura do while she was held captive by the Galra? He doesn’t think they ever talked about it. Or did they just not talk about it with him?Â
No, he’s not going to think about that. He’s not going down that thought process. There are more important things to think about. First thing’s first, he has to get the door open and get out of this cell. Pidge and Hunk would probably find that easier. They’d probably figure out how to get the door open with their tech knowhow. Lance doesn’t think he can do that. Shiro might have been able to do it using his Galra hand, but Lance can’t see a panel. Not that he could do that anyway.Â
He’s supposed to be the Red Paladin. What would Keith do? Well, Keith is half-Galra, the Galra ships respond to him. Lance can’t do that. So, what can he do? Princess Allura said that the Red Paladin was supposed to be more about instinct than skill. Well, he doesn’t have much in the way of skill anyway, so instinct it is.
Lance hesitates. Have his instincts ever been that good? He’s the one who keeps making mistakes. He’s not exactly known for making smart decisions on a whim. What’s he supposed to do?
I think the best piece of writing advice I ever got was that when you're in a corner, reverse out of the corner rather than ram into the walls trying to turn around or break through. Essentially, if it's not working, go back to the last point where it was working, and start again from there. Usually, if a piece isn't working or "the characters aren't doing what I want them to" it's your writer instinct telling your something is wrong, this isn't in character or the plot doesn't make sense or something similar. Listen to that instinct and go back.
Except this does end up in me deleting several thousand words or entire chapters of me trying to trust the process and make it work.
Sometimes, I have half formed thoughts on how for a supposedly found-family themed show, VLD sure is big on special bloodlines and lineage being the most important thing. It's particularly present in the Keith, Allura and Lotor angles, given all three of their stories turn out to be about how special they are and how their lineage is just so much more special that everyone elses. Lance, Hunk and Shiro are just these people. Pidge is a weird one, since she does also have that special connection, being that she's the kid of the most special guy in the Garrison who is the epitome of "fuck the rules, I'm special and you need me" (again, for all we're supposed to dislike Sanda, Sam Holt is also throwing his toys out of the pram constantly and risking a lot on the promise of "voltron will come" when Voltron hasn't come and they've been invaded. When is Voltron coming, Sam? When they're dead? They're already the last human stronghold left apparently). Like, I've talked before and a lot about Allura's monarchy and her (and the show's) obsession with being her father, and the issues of her being ruler by divine right. Like, at least the Galra fight for it, you're not born special. Except Lotor is, because apparently the Altean were such a peaceful, benevolent race, they were the chosen ones of some space deity and only special Alteans born of the bestest bloodlines and talent can get in and learn the secrets of the universe (or the Alteans created said guardian to gate keep, it's not entirely clear). And, oh, good job Keith's mom just happened to be one of the handful of good Galra and we can work with these rebel Galra who might not have worked with us otherwise. Because, its not just "Galra blood" that makes Keith's sword activate, it's Krolia's blood. So Kolivan knows Keith is the kid of a Blade, not just half Galra (and if he doesn't know it's Krolia, he's an idiot). They confirm this when they meet, Keith asking how she could use it, despite knowing she's a Blade, implying not just any Blade can use it, and not just any Galra, she can use it because it's hers. Keith can use it because he's hers. Implying (since the Space Mall ep tells us the Luxite mines are gone) that this is a family heirloom going back who knows how long, and Keith just happens to be a good Galra heritage. I love how Keith both tragic orphan, and nepotism baby everywhere he goes. Anyway, half form thoughts I have while world building. There's no point to this, just something I noticed and thought about while building for fics.
#yeah there’s way too much nepotism in this show#even Coran always talks about his great grandpa who built the ship#I dont think Keith becoming a blade had much to do with krolia though#if he hadn’t made those choices during the trial I do think they would’ve killed him#because knowledge or death and the security of their organization is most important#also I’m not sure exactly what makes the blade awaken but I don’t think it was krolias blood#it’s so crazy that they barely told us anything about hunks and Shiro’s families and they are main characters
So, I think this is another wonderful example of the writers implying things without realising because they put the "cool reveal" (the Krolia reveal was so lacking, even with the forced cliff hanger for a season) over cohesive world building. When Keith awakens the Blade, it's implied to be something about accepting himself, because of the whole "I know who I am" thing (glad Keith being happy wiith who he is regardless of his heritage lasted) and Kolivan says it's because he's got Galra blood. That's the confirmation. I'm not sure they would have outright killed him, because do they really want to fight Voltron over killing a member, but they certainly had no interest in an alliance until they realised Keith was a Galra, nevermind when they thought he'd stolen a blade.
But, when Krolia appears, the writers then imply it's not just Galra blood, but Krolia's blood, meaning it's not just any Galra can use a blade, but that she can use it because it's hers, so Keith can use it because he's hers, basicaly. Keith literally asks her how she could use the blade, which shouldn't be a question. She's Galra, it reacts to Galra blood, right? Except no. She can use it because it was hers. This is obviously supposed to facilitate the reveal that she's his mom. But this implies that it's Krolia and Keith's shared blood, not just Galra blood. And given the Luxite mines are gone, that means it's a family heirloom passed down from who knows how long ago. And given all the blades we've seen are unique, yeah, and how few of their operatives have gone to Earth, and how much Keith looks like Krolia, Kolivan knew or he's stupid. How much that got him in the Blade is another matter, but it does shift the Blade from "just Galra rebels who want to fight" to "descendants of the original Blades who made those luxite blades". It shifts them from rebel Galra to secret nepotism cult (which could be cool worldingbuilding, if they did anything with it!)
Honestly, just kind thought I'd share these two versions of this WIP just to see how far it's come from the early sketch with colour thrown over it to the more detailed value blocking. Sometimes I remember I can do work that isn't just character design line ups.
WIP Wednesday and more from Curtain Call. Lance vs the boredom of being a Galra prisoner and waiting for the team to come.
Lance couldn’t say how many days have passed. The halls of the prison have an eerie green glow that seeps into the cells. Sentries stomp back and forth at regular intervals, making it impossible to sleep. Food in the form of ration bars and a water pouch. He hasn’t seen the twin Druids since they drowned him in a test tube of purple goo. Not even an attempt at interrogation!
Honestly, Lance expected way more torture han this. Maybe boredom is the torture.
It can’t be that much longer until Voltron finds him, right? They’ve got to be looking for him. When Princess Allura and Shiro were gone, they’d pulled out all the stops to find and rescue them. He’s been missing for days, if the number of meals is anything to go by, so they must be working on a rescue, right? And, Red could save Keith from across galaxies. Allura could sense the Lions wherever they were through the castle. The Blades are everywhere. How hard can it be to track him down? He just has to sit tight and wait.Â
But… Keith is back in the Red Lion. Red had broken Voltron and abandoned him, and that probably had something to do with Keith being in danger. Why would they come back to get him when they have Keith in Red? The superior pairing. Shiro’s proper right-hand. It’s not like Lance ever stood a chance. He knew from the start he was the one who was expendable on the team.
Lance shakes his head. No. Nope. No way. Voltron is coming. They’ll come for him.
Sometimes, I have half formed thoughts on how for a supposedly found-family themed show, VLD sure is big on special bloodlines and lineage being the most important thing. It's particularly present in the Keith, Allura and Lotor angles, given all three of their stories turn out to be about how special they are and how their lineage is just so much more special that everyone elses. Lance, Hunk and Shiro are just these people. Pidge is a weird one, since she does also have that special connection, being that she's the kid of the most special guy in the Garrison who is the epitome of "fuck the rules, I'm special and you need me" (again, for all we're supposed to dislike Sanda, Sam Holt is also throwing his toys out of the pram constantly and risking a lot on the promise of "voltron will come" when Voltron hasn't come and they've been invaded. When is Voltron coming, Sam? When they're dead? They're already the last human stronghold left apparently). Like, I've talked before and a lot about Allura's monarchy and her (and the show's) obsession with being her father, and the issues of her being ruler by divine right. Like, at least the Galra fight for it, you're not born special. Except Lotor is, because apparently the Altean were such a peaceful, benevolent race, they were the chosen ones of some space deity and only special Alteans born of the bestest bloodlines and talent can get in and learn the secrets of the universe (or the Alteans created said guardian to gate keep, it's not entirely clear). And, oh, good job Keith's mom just happened to be one of the handful of good Galra and we can work with these rebel Galra who might not have worked with us otherwise. Because, its not just "Galra blood" that makes Keith's sword activate, it's Krolia's blood. So Kolivan knows Keith is the kid of a Blade, not just half Galra (and if he doesn't know it's Krolia, he's an idiot). They confirm this when they meet, Keith asking how she could use it, despite knowing she's a Blade, implying not just any Blade can use it, and not just any Galra, she can use it because it's hers. Keith can use it because he's hers. Implying (since the Space Mall ep tells us the Luxite mines are gone) that this is a family heirloom going back who knows how long, and Keith just happens to be a good Galra heritage. I love how Keith both tragic orphan, and nepotism baby everywhere he goes. Anyway, half form thoughts I have while world building. There's no point to this, just something I noticed and thought about while building for fics.
