dadofmarmora | Empatheias Inbox

[ Shiro doesn't make it all the way up to the bonfire on the top of the mountain tonight. He doesn't even make it close. He makes it as far as having the crystal mirror rooms explained to him before he abandons the idea entirely. He relives his memories often enough unwillingly; he's not about to do it on purpose.

But at least he doesn't have to make it to the bonfire to get a lantern to send up--two lanterns, actually. He takes them a little ways off the path, close enough that he can see and be seen from the path, but far enough that it's clear this is as far as he's going to go. He settles down, dark shawl around his shoulders and torch propped up nearby, and he gets to work.

The first lantern is easy enough for him to put together, essentially a repeat of the one he sent up last year. A simply stated apology to those he killed in the gladiator arena, followed by an oath that he won't give up until the universe is free of the Galra Empire. He's probably already done with this one by the time Kolivan comes across him.

The second lantern seems simpler on the surface, and yet it takes Shiro a lot more time. Ulaz's name is first and immediate; that was a loss he experienced only a couple of weeks after the last Selenium, the first tangible casualty of the war for Team Voltron, and a death that's weighed particularly heavily on him ever since. Thace's name comes soon thereafter; Shiro will never have the opportunity to meet the man back home, and in the end, he wasn't in Verens very long, but his patience and understanding with the Paladins' initial hostility was much appreciated, and learning of his ultimate fate had stung especially hard coming so close on the heels of Ulaz's sacrifice.

There's a much longer pause before he adds Keith's name. Possibly it's in bad taste to write down the name of someone who's still actively here on his lantern, but... Shiro needs to do this. He needs to accept that it happened and it's out of his hands before he can move on. ]

[Kolivan is intending to go up the mountain and reach the bonfire. However, he also has no intention of setting foot in the mirror rooms, and for his own reasons, he crafts his lantern before he starts off on the path. He doesn't make it far before the light from Shiro's torch catches his attention, however, and the Galra pauses to consider him.

Shiro has been distinctly frosty since Kolivan arrived. It isn't something he's worrying about, per se. Allura was warm and welcoming, it turns out Keith is strangely perky outside of war, and Matt Holt made a very good first impression; only Hunk has been openly hostile. To that end, since Kolivan clearly hasn't offended the entire team somehow, he's judged Hunk's issues at least to be personal problems that aren't truly his concern.

However, he isn't certain about Shiro. Kolivan watched Keith's trial. He knows how important Shiro is to the boy, and there is no reason to assume that Shiro's affections don't run just as deep, despite the bickering he's witnessed on some of his more recent calls. It's only respectful to give him space to grieve, under the circumstances, but -- well. Kolivan is aware that Keith had felt split between the Blades and Voltron for quite some time, and that it was a relief when Shiro resumed his former position. Chances are high that things are far deeper on Shiro's end than Keith ever understood, and so, Kolivan isn't sure how to proceed at all if Shiro isn't going to loosen up on his own.

After some moments of contemplation, Kolivan moves toward him, stopping halfway between Shiro's chosen outpost and the path up the mountain.]

Shiro. Good evening.

Oh. Kolivan. Hi.

[ Shiro still hasn't really decided how he feels about the leader of the Blades or his presence here. His only encounter with him back home so far left a sour taste in his mouth, to say the least, but.... He knows that's not the end of the story. The Blades are going to continue to be their allies in their war. He's going to be working with Kolivan a lot. He's going to entrust Keith to him. He's going to... get over it, basically. He's going to have to, he guesses.

But he doesn't have to here, and some petty part of him doesn't really want to. (Kevin's influence on him, maybe?) But that's not fair of him and he knows it. Maybe Kolivan is a perfectly tolerable person when he's not dealing with unwanted visitors. He doesn't know. At the very least, it's probably a good sign that Kolivan is making the effort to approach him here? It's a show of good faith, at least, and the least Shiro can do is return the gesture. ]

Are you headed up the mountain?

I am.

[Kolivan's the sort of person who can be difficult to get a read on, even with his mask down. The frown has several different flavors to it, yes, but the frown itself is pretty eternal, and as with all military, Kolivan almost never relaxes so much as he stands at rest rather than at attention sometimes. His voice, however, is much more expressive than his face, and the sarcastic, irritated edge it carried when they first met is absent tonight.]

I imagine that those I would honor tonight would appreciate being carried the entire way up.

[He's referring to the names on the lantern he holds gently in his claws. Although they're permitted to take two this year, he only has one, and he's filled it up entirely with neatly written Galra script.]

[ Shiro's eyes narrow, because even if Kolivan's tone isn't malicious, that sure feels like a dig at him for settling down here. ]

Well, good luck with that. Did you need something?

[Hmmmmm, this is going poorly already. Hm.]

No. Given what I have seen of Voltron, I simply find it prudent to investigate upon seeing a Paladin all alone, on a night when many would prefer to have support.

[ Shiro stares silently at Kolivan for another moment or two, and then finally he lets out a frustrated huff. ]

You know you don't have to pretend to care here, right?

[Kolivan seems taken aback by this. Enough so that he stares right back for a time before responding.]

...do you truly believe that I don't?

[ Shiro isn't taken aback, but the extent to which Kolivan was is surprising. What kind of impression did he think Shiro had? ]

You didn't exactly welcome us with open arms when we met.

Of course not. For Ulaz to reveal the location of our base without authorization was a dire breach of protocol. As his feelings were obviously...very strong, we consented to a meeting all the same, only for Keith to fail the very first test of trust we gave by disobeying orders to come unarmed.

[Blunt and to the point, Kolivan says all this as though it is the most reasonable thing in the world. Secrecy and trust, Shiro.]

You can't blame Keith when you clearly never wanted us there in the first place. Don't act like you didn't call Ulaz an idiot for telling us where to find your base.

He was an idiot for telling you where to find our base. That he was right does not make him less of a fool.

[The card delivered to Kolivan’s apartment contains a certificate for 50 sylvs’ worth of store credit from one of Allura’s favorite adventurers’ outfitters.]

Dear Kolivan,

Today is Valentine’s Day, which is a human celebration of love (and, yes, this also includes platonic appreciation). I’m sure your blade and armor will be all you need, but this store also deals in weapon and armor maintenance gear as well as supplies one might find useful on missions or expeditions. Thank you for being a steadfast ally and good friend, both here and in our world.

Happy Valentine’s Day,
Princess Allura of Altea

A certain fat, golden scaled wyvern is out on a special mission.

Gordon has come bearing a personal invitation to you!

Hunk and Keith are hosting an open house at the Golden Afternoon Bakery to celebrate summer!
There will be free food, drinks, and live music!

No reservations are required, but they do hope you'll attend!

There's an additional note attached to the flyer - 'I hope you'll be able to come. I know Keith would appreciate it. And I would too. - Hunk

Edited 2018-06-06 02:08 (UTC)

[Hey Kolivan... remember when you first met Keith and he showed up with Krolia's blade and turned out to be a half-Galra, half-Human hybrid who could use said blade because, well, you know...

HE WAS HER SON AND YOU DIDN'T SAY SHIT TO NO ONE?

Gordon has left a basket of various baked goods for you on your doorstep as a special gift just for you! Consider it a thank you for all your silence on such an important matter!!

It is filled with extra salty sea salt caramel ripple cookies, hand made, salt encrusted rosemary garlic crackers, and a loaf of sodium infused focaccia bread.

Bon appetit!]

Edited 2018-08-28 15:51 (UTC)

[...hm! Kolivan is pretty sure he knows what this is about, given the timing. This diplomacy is petty.

He decides to leave the crackers and bread outside so that the deer can lick them. He shall watch them while he drinks his coffee.]

Hunk isn't aware of the amulet's acting up just yet. If he was, he would definitely wait until seeing Keith in person to send the following mental message to him-

"Hey, babe, I was wondering... what should the colors for the wedding be? I mean, obviously I'll be going with yellow accents for my tux, 'cause you know, I'm the Yellow Paladin and all that, buuuuuut you've got, like, THREE colors to possibly choose from. Red would definitely work great, because primary colors always mix well, plus I still think you look AMAZING in red, but you're not really the Red Paladin anymore, right? You're the Black Paladin now. So I was thinking if you did black while I'm yellow we could have a super adorable honey bee motif! BUT OF COURSE there is also purple which is an important color for you with your Galra heritage, and their whole being big on purple everything, but the only Galra we have here besides you is Kolivan and I'm still not sure how the Galra feel about weddings. Do you think the Galra do weddings? Or maybe they just duel each other and whoever wins gets to wear the proverbial pants in the relationship."

Kolivan is doing battle with his coffee press -- the flavors have been off since his return, which is unsurprising but also insult to injury so at least he has a mission now -- when someone calls him "babe" over his amulet. He is vaguely aware that this is a term of endearment among the humans for some reason in addition to being a word referring to infants, and neither of these things makes this transmission make more sense than it does. And then whoever it is just keeps going and ah, that's definitely Hunk, but what's this about weddings? What's this about the Black Paladin? Somewhere around "Galra heritage" it occurs to Kolivan that this is a misfire and he should turn it off. So he tries, but can't.

Even Kolivan, whose social skills are dubious at best, realizes that this is going to be very awkward about fifteen seconds from now. But! Hunk is asking questions he can answer, so he sees no reason not to answer.

"Galra have weddings," he offers mildly, when Hunk lets him get a word in edgewise. "However, I am unaware of any traditions that assign particular significance to who is wearing pants."

There. He helped.

It takes Hunk all of two seconds of hearing Kolivan's voice to realize he messed up somehow. That his entire rambling discussion for Keith has ended up going to Keith's secret ninja boss guy. A feeling of embarrassed dread filters through the connection.

"Ko-Kolivan? Hey, uhmmm, hey there. Good to hear you're still kicking around in this, uh, this place. Ho-how much of that message did you hear? Exactly?"

"The message began with 'hey, babe," he answers. He is still being helpful. "I do not think I am the person you intended to send it to."

On the plus side, Kolivan's presence through the connection is mostly just gently baffled. You can imagine him tilting his head in confusion. It's a lot like having a dance party while wearing a towel after your daily shower and at some point you trip and faceplant, and the only person there to watch this happen is the dog. There is shame inherent in the situation, but fortunately, all the dog really understands is that you're on the floor having some sort of crisis now for some reason.

???? Okay.

The whole thing.

Kolivan heard the entire damn thing.

Hunk is very much the towel person, flailing on the floor, calling themselves an idiot for tripping and falling in the first place. A very loud groan escapes him verbally as he tries to think of a way out of this conversation. Except he remembers something Kolivan said.

"Wait a tic, did you say that Galra have weddings? What are Galra weddings like?"

It's okay, Hunk. Kolivan cares a lot more about making his coffee taste nice than he does about preserving your precious feefees.

"I have not attended many, and I imagine the specific traditions will have evolved since I was last a true participant in Galra society as a whole." He's been living apart and actively working against the "victory or death" thing for far longer than he hasn't, after all -- long enough that he's capable of forgetting about it in the middle of a battle, from time to time. "However, at its core, a Galra wedding is a celebration of the strongest partnership one can form. One's spouse is the first and foremost ally one has in life. It is a position of trust and loyalty, with each partner's skills supporting and complimenting the other's, and each partner's flaws eased."

A pause.

"Duels are a possibility, but weddings are considered a time of truce, and any spars that take place are thus an opportunity to display one's skills rather than battles to be won. As such they are rarely fought to a proper ending."

Keith can totally play with knives at his wedding if he wants, is what he's saying. It is his birthright.

Edited 2019-02-23 19:36 (UTC)

There is a noticable amount of relief in Hunk's mental voice at hearing the bit about dueling. Mainly because with Kolivan being the only Galra here, Hunk definitely doesn't want to have to go up against him in a duel. Not that he wouldn't for Keith, just, well... Hunk knows where his strengths are and hand to hand combat is not one of them!

"Then I don't think Keith and I will have any fighting with ours. Especially since that's all we deal with back home. A nice, peaceful event is all we really want."

Which in it's own way may be hard to come by, if you consider the way emotions work in this place. Hunk alone will probably be his own biggest threat in regards to messing up the ceremony.

"Truthfully, it would be a surprise to me to find Galra traditions in a Paladin wedding at all. It is true that Keith is half Galra, but his mother is as Marmoran as we come. Krolia would have renounced all of us to stay with him and his father had the Empire not continued to send scouts to Earth."

So, you know. Nobody involved in producing Keith cared very much about Galra culture by that point.

"...since when are you getting married?"

Kolivan's question has Hunk slapping a hand against his face. Right. They were still keeping it on the down low. At least until they felt more comfortable telling their respective best friends about it. Hunk was pretty sure Kevin knew by now at least. They could trust the quirky swordsman to keep a secret.

Hunk was sure Kolivan could do the same.

Aww quiznack... It, uhm, it happened when I first got back. Keith proposed to me after we reconnected. Look, we weren't really telling anyone just yet 'cause, well, we weren't sure how Shiro and Lance would take it. Lance has always been kinda weird about Keith and I dating, and it seems he's gone through some rough stuff while I was gone so... I'm trying to find a good way to tell him at the right time. For Keith, well... he had to tell Shiro about someone important to him being killed back home. While we know he would be happy for us, we don't want to bring up a subject that's still incredibly tender for him right now...

What I'm getting at is please, PLEASE don't mention anything about this to any of the others. Please?

Then this is classified intelligence. Understood.

Kolivan will have zero problems with this. He is a super duper ninja man and he excels at keeping secrets. Perhaps tellingly, though, there's a subtle undercurrent of something that feels warm under his response...happiness? Genuine happiness? Not the huge and overwhelming mass of sparkles Keith no doubt had to deal with when Kevin was told, not by a long shot, but it would seem that Kolivan is pleased to hear this news. Wonders never cease.

I trust you will let me know if I can be of assistance, especially before the rest of the Paladins are told. I have...very little to occupy my time.

And then the warmth is gone again.

Kolivan? And happy emotions? Is that what Hunk is actually getting a sense of? He pinches himself on the arm to make sure this isn't some weird ass dream. Owch! It's definitely real. However, as quickly as it's felt it's gone.

Are you... bored, Kolivan?

Kolivan's a lot of things lately. Grieving. Listless. Restless. But that is something that he has been for more of the time he has spent in this world than not, and nobody's ever actually asked him about it directly.

...yes. This is probably the closest Hunk has ever heard to Kolivan sounding actively annoyed, and his fiancé's big scary dour ninja boss man follows it up with a petulant: And it inevitably ruins my coffee.

B[

Hunk is thoroughly surprised to hear such a response, let alone with the fact that it's follow by the complain of his coffee woes. It's honestly such a Keith style answer that he wonders if his boyfriend is starting to rub off on Kolivan.

Just a tiny bit at least.

Well... I could use some help with sourcing a few of my rarer ingredients. They're located in not so safe areas and I don't have any of my armor with me here. Would you maybe, possibly, just ever so slightly be interested in being my bodyguard for a bit?

The sulking feeling ebbs away quickly, at least. It's rare that Kolivan gets into any kind of negative mood for very long, not when it's over something small and relatively harmless. It's replaced by a faint feeling of thoughtfulness, however -- not because he's debating the offer at all, but because he and Hunk have not exactly been on great terms in the past. The Galra's not holding a grudge by any means, but he is curious as to how salty Hunk may be, now that he's had a bit of time to get used to things in both worlds.

I would be willing regardless of my present state, he answers simply. We are allies.

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