coranic! at the disco

Walking down one of the many halls of the castle, it’s a bit of a surprise to spot Coran stepping out of a room ahead of him. Shiro’s pretty sure he’s never actually just run into the Altean in the hallway before–most of the time they meet up in one of the rooms, and typically all as a group. This just… feels a bit out of the ordinary. And that in itself is a surprise. After this amount of time, shouldn’t it feel normal to see anyone out and about like this?

Of all the people on this ship though, Coran is the one he knows the least about. The one he’s spoken to the least. It’s not been intentional, they’ve just… not crossed paths a whole lot. Certainly not as much as he has with the other Paladins or Allura. Feels like something he should work on a little while things are as quiet as they are.

“Hey, Coran,” Shiro calls ahead, hoping to bring the Altean to a pause just for a moment or two. Quickening his pace just a bit in order to close the distance between them, he offers a quick but friendly smile. “No one’s been slacking on their cleaning duties, have they?”

Maybe it’s not the most interesting start to a conversation, but it’s the first thing that comes to mind. …Especially considering last night he’d had to give a certain Paladin or two a talking to about pulling their weight around the castle while they’re travelling. Team wrangling is a job he and Coran share, sort of, so it seems like decent common ground to start with.

He turned his head, spotting Shiro coming down the hall. “Oh, Shiro,” Coran double-tapped the corner of the screen, shutting the tablet’s screen off. “Thankfully not, but then again we are due for a cleanup in the next few days,” he shrugged, squinting one eye while looking up into nothing in thought for a second. “Or it could be tomorrow, I’ll have to check the schedule.”

There hadn’t been many incidents to speak of, aside from the odd occasion of Lance spending far too long on the same spot of the cryostasis chamber. Surprisingly though, Coran had caught Pidge trying to pawn off duties to robots, the crafty little genius. “All clear, really. Nothing but Lance and Pidge on occasion. You know how those two can be.”

Because the idea of one planet being a conglamerate of the others they’d been to didn’t sound as appealing as the Alteans always made it sound. …But maybe that was just because Keith was picky. He could appreciate the beauty of the planets their work took them to, but none have truly stolen his breath. Even Earth fell into that category of ‘just another planet to protectt’. It was his home, sure, but now the Castle of Lions was his home, and he felt just as much attachment to the spaceship as he did anywhere on Earth.

No, his favorite part of space was the universe itself. The limitless expanse spread before him, void of restrictions and his to explore.

—But most people were attached to their home planets. Hell, Keith seemed to be the only one on board who WASN’T.

So, casting a sympathic glance to the Altean, he thought to offer condolences over the loss of his home. …Which was new to him, as Keith didn’t spare sympathies often. He acted rather than spared words.

‘Sorry’ was swallowed down, and in it’s place Keith responded with:

His smile remained as he recounted days from long ago, back when he was a young man of a mere 300 years. Back when Alfor offered him a position as a Paladin. Back when he’d refused such an honour. He wondered how different the universe may have been if he’d accepted. 

Would Zarkon have betrayed Altea? Would there even be a war? Would the current Paladins still have become Paladins? Best not to think about such things, really. The reality they had was enough for him.

Heading back from the hangers, and a quick chat with Blue to make sure she was doing alright after their last bout with the Galra, Lance is a more than a little distracted. Humming to himself and drumming his fingers along the walls of the ship to act as a one man band, he’s more surprised than he’d like to admit when he hears Coran call out to him from down the hall that pulls him from his reverie. 

Quiznak, had he been found out for skipping? 

Coran continues his approach with toolbox outstretched towards him, and apparently his cover was safe for the time being. Engine? Brows knitting into a frown as he takes the tools before following after Coran, long legs hurrying to keep pace with his power walk.

It wasn’t long until they reached the engine room and Coran began internally praying that the propulsion systems weren’t shot, or on fire, or had collapsed, or had been ejected from the back of the ship somehow. He always had these worries, really, but most of the time they were wrong. Hopefully this wouldn’t be the exception. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t. As the door slid open, Coran noted that the room was almost just as he’d left it, aside from the slightly louder whirring from certain manifolds. “Alright, you can start by moving that panel and telling me if any of the indicators are the wrong colour.” He pointed to a sliding panel at the far side of the room, before knealing down to take a pair of goggles and a laser torch from his toolbox. 

Back on Earth, their solar system alone was enormous to him. To look down at ones own hands, recognize they’re only a small being in a room, in a home, a town—to keep expanding, going so far as to looking at the planet from Space. Then multiply that, then multiply it AGAIN by infinity ( because who really knows if there’s even an end to the universe? ).

It’s almost unfathomable how much they’re now defenders of. There’s SO MUCH he doesn’t even know, which makes it a little difficult to feel any sort of concern over it all. How can he dedicate himself to protecting what he doesn’t even know exists?

If he could just know a little more of what was out there…

“Coran,” he starts, pulling his gaze away from the window;                                 “What was Altea like?”

"Well, Keith, it’s hard to explain. You’d have to be there to really get it. But I’ll try my best,” Coran swiveled his body, giving his moustache a short tweak in thought. “Really, it was just like any other planet. But that being said, it was a beautiful place, not flawless by any means, but beautiful none the less. Cities on Altea were enormous, and almost everyone would greet you with a smile. Course, you’d get the odd stranger who’d take a dislike to you almost immediately, but for the most part people were friendly.” 

Quiznak, what could he say? There was so much to Altea to remember, so much to experience, a varitable star in itself. If stars were made of rock and assorted metals thrown in, that is. It was hard to get across everything there was in such a short time. “Before the Galra attacked it, there were meadows stretching as far as the eye could see. I remember my grandfather telling me about how sweet the air smelled back in his day. Must’ve been a millenia ago, maybe more than that.” 

just look at them,,