victory_road | The World Has Got a Smile Today, the World Has Got a Glow (Voltron Holiday Party Log)

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The World Has Got a Smile Today, the World Has Got a Glow (Voltron Holiday Party Log)

Who: The Attack on Voltron House and YOU! Seriously, if you have Voltron CR, you're invited!
Where: Attack on Voltron House, Four Island
When: Around December 11
Summary: The Voltrons have a human/Altean holiday party at their house, come on by!
Rating: PG to PG-13, will warn as necessary

When Shiro proposed celebrating Grogory Day back at the harvest festival, Allura had honestly been touched by the suggestion, even more so when the rest of the household agreed. (Especially coming from Keith and Pidge, who liked their peace and quiet.) So after sitting down with a calendar and making a graphing calculator earn its keep, Allura determined that Grogory Day would be about December 8th. Of course, that was a weekday, so the invitations she sends out a few weeks beforehand (to give people time for travel) say it’s that Saturday evening instead. (And given the number of high-level trainers in the house, guests are more than welcome to request a ride.) And since it seems to be the main Earth holiday, why not make it an early Christmas party, too?

When people arrive, the spacious beach house is decked out with lights, mostly in shades of blue, and the interior beckons people to come out of the brisk and damp sub-tropic air, warm and bright and spacious (which it needs to be with the possible crowds), soft and cheery Poké-holiday music winding through the rooms, with interludes from Jaskier and his Wigglytuff throughout the evening.

As for refreshments, while Hunk might not be here, the non-Shiro members of the household are able to set out a decent spread from all their cultures. Lance contributes a host of Cuban recipes from golden brown tostones and empanadas, to roasted pernil with juicy meat draped in crispy skin, served with rice and black beans. A wintery gratin filled with mushrooms and kabocha squash, baked Brie topped with a rosehip jam in lieu of juniberries and wrapped in puff pastry, an assortment of Christmas cookies (including but certainly not limited to gingerbread and peanut butter blossoms), and an island of drinks featuring mugs of warm coffee, glasses of sweet coquito, slow cookers of mulled berry wine and apple juice, and a bowl with an extremely blue punch. And treats for the Pokémon as well, naturally. Of course, if guests want to contribute to the feast, they’re more than welcome!

(Also, at some point in the evening, Lance might have stolen Shiro's Gallade to help plant mistletoe here and there. Do with this information what you will.)

So come, eat, drink, mingle with old friends and make some new ones! And enjoy the night, no matter which holiday you’ve come to celebrate!

[[OOC: This is a mingle log, so feel free to make your own top-levels and such, and have fun!]]

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"Good, I'm glad." Her smile warmed even more. "It means a lot that you came, especially given with how busy you've been traveling. It's nice, being able to spend time with you outside battles or strategy meetings."

All of them, really, and all their new friends, but she's really glad that she and Keith can catch up after everything that's happened in their home reality.

"Heh..." Keith looked a little amused, but almost in a sad way. "Yeah, we haven't done that much, have we?" Everything they'd talked about had been mostly just about everything going on around them. He honestly regretted that a bit. Even at his point in time, that hadn't changed much. "It's... yeah. It is nice."

Granted, for her, it might be a little more intense at the moment, considering her last memory of him from back home.

A soft nod.

"I--"

Whatever cup of sap Allura was about to pour out is cut off as her vision flicks up for a second and... stays there.

"Is... that a plant on a string...?"

Or a camouflaged Pokémon somehow got in the house...? But sure enough, there is a small plant affixed to the ceiling with a bit of string. A sprig of some kind, with thin, oval-shaped leaves, and small white berries. A sprig that might look very familiar to Keith, depending on how many oak trees he's seen in the winter.

"A what?" Keith gave a surprised blink at the sudden change in topic before following her line of sight to what was above them. He stared at it, wondering for just a tic why someone would hang those up there. They weren't holly. Holly berries were red, right? And then it clicked.

It had been a while since he'd been around a situation where someone might have hung mistletoe for the season.

And-... oh. Oh, dear.

"Ah, yeah... it, uh... it is." He cleared his throat, lowering his gaze again, but managing to look anywhere but at Allura, hoping she didn't notice the slight shade of pink that was starting to fade into his cheeks. "It's a thing that some cultures on Earth do during Christmas." Vague... very vague...

"Really? Interesting. Is it some sort of protective charm or...?"

Every culture has its own little good luck charms, after all.

Keith could have made this easy and just said yes, but he didn't want to lie to Allura. Plus, if she went and started repeating it to others, that might just make her look foolish to those who knew, and Keith didn't want to leave her with that, either.

Flustered, he finally sighed a little, trying desperately not to look uncomfortable.

"Ah, not exactly," he said. "There's a thing that some people do. You're supposed to kiss when you're under it with someone." He laced the fingers of his hands together for a moment... a nervous gesture.

. . .

"O-oh! Oh, I see!"

Geez, thermostat's working really well, isn't it? And never mind how her voice jumped an octave or two on that "see."

"I..." TOTALLY NORMAL THROAT CLEARING. "Is that...? Did you...? Should we...?"

"Uh... I mean... we could?" Keith shrugged a little. "If you want... Not that we have to. It's not like... a requirement or... or something."

HE WAS NOT NERVOUS. HE WAS NOT NERVOUS.

Oh... who the heck was he kidding? He tried to remember how she'd been feeling towards people back then, and he didn't think she'd been interested in Lance. And Lance was married to Pidge here, anyway. So that wouldn't matter, right?

He was so confused. Different points in time. Different feelings. Different everything. He was having a little trouble wrapping his brain around it all. He couldn't deny that it would have been nice if things had gone that way for them. But he'd been pretty much feeling like there wasn't even a shot between her initial reaction to his Galra heritage, then him leaving the team, then him noticing how close she and Lance had gotten while he was away... and he just... kind of gave up back home. He had terrible luck with that sort of thing, so it was just easier to push himself to move on.

Meanwhile, Allura is completely oblivious to Keith's inner turmoil and thinks he's just hemming and hawing out of sheer awkwardness. Like her. ... So she thinks.

"I mean... I trust you, of course... Does it... have to be somewhere specific or...?"

Awkwardness was definitely a huge part of the situation.

She trusted him. That got him to finally be able to really meet her gaze, but the blush was getting a bit darker now.

"Mm... no? I mean, we can kiss however we want, I guess." He looked momentarily disappointed. "I um... I haven't done this a lot," he admitted. "So, I don't know the exact rules if there are any. I'm just remembering the basics, really."

He decided to leave out the why behind his lack of mistletoe knowledge, since talking about not celebrating Christmas as much after his dad died tended to kill a mood.

A soft nod. That makes sense... even without the sad detail, Keith is the most reserved with his emotions, let alone physical affection. (And really, it's not like she's shared many kisses either, random shrubbery or otherwise.) Still, her own smile is steady, and her own blush as settled into something calmer but no less red. After all, the fact that Keith isn't scrambling to get out of this either is... nice.

"In that case..." A step towards him... and she presses a soft kiss to his cheek. "Merry Christmas, Keith."

Keith tensed up just the teeniest bit, though that's more on him than because it was Allura. He shifted his gaze to meet hers, and his smile got soft for a second.

"Thanks." On impulse, he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek in return. "Happy Grogery Day." Only fair, right? Sure. That was it. It was just to keep things even... ahem.

He was trying really hard not to overthink this.

Oh uh. She... Of course she half-expected a kiss back- not that Keith necessarily would- but... why... why is her heart suddenly racing?

"I... th-thank you, Keith."

She's just... gonna be stuck smiling like an idiot for a few seconds. She's just pleasantly surprised. That's all. Really. Totally.

That smile... Keith ducked his head a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. Goodness, his face felt warm. He couldn't be blushing, could he? Naaahhh... totally not that. He'd just maybe spent too much time in the sun? But, he didn't burn... he didn't get sick, either. Ahem. There were a lot of people in here! It was warm!

Either way, he was completely in denial of the fact that he was actually kind of blushing a bit.

"Uh, yeah... sure..."

Was that a dorky smile on his face in return?

Aaaaand NOW is when it hits her she probably looks like a doofus! QUICK, hasty throat clearing and looking away!

"S-so um... h-how have your travels been?"

"Uh..." Right! Moving on! He was good with that. "They've been good."

Smoooooooth.

"What about yours?"

"Oh um... I've mostly been settling in here, until I got a hang of things, and then so many holidays this month. But I have been keeping busy with the observatory and the Pokémon Daycare."

Honestly, even as awesome as traveling through space could be, it's nice to have a place she can stay and call home, at least for however long they're here.

"But I will admit... I'll likely get a bit restless before too long." This is the daughter of the original Red Paladin they're talking about. "And the Pokémon League has looked more and more intriguing. Especially since my team has been getting a lot of practice."

She's been making sure to set aside time each morning and evening for dedicated training, after all. Keith might have caught glimpses of her training on the beach, maybe even joined in a spar or two.

Keith nodded. He hadn't figured out anything as far as settling down, so 'on the road' it was. But he was honestly used to that kind of life. He'd done it for a while between getting expelled and finding the Blue Lion.

"Would you want to do the badge challenge?" he asked. "I mean... it's a lot on the road, but..." He hesitated. "I mean... it wouldn't be... you know... bad to have company..." Did he just ask her along? Seemed that way.

"Indeed." And she hopes this is what he means, pesky blush returning be damned. "Especially if it's company you know well?"

Is he offering?

Keith nodded.

"Knowing them certainly helps."

He shrugged a little sheepishly, almost shy.

"I mean, only if you'd want to... I understand if you maybe want to go out on your own."

"Perhaps. But... I think the company would be quite nice. If you want it as well."

From what he's said and she's seen of the distance between their points in time, though, it isn't so strange to her that he would ask for company. Actually... with what she's learned about him over the last couple months here- ever since they met, really- the only strange thing is him being the first to offer it, even the shyness being uncharacteristically bold of him when it comes to social matters.

"I don't mind," he said. After all, he'd gotten used to being around them. And, his time away, those two years in the Abyss, it had made him realize that the team was important to him. There was a part of him that didn't want to be lonely anymore. Being alone was one thing, being lonely was entirely different.

"Yeah."

"Then... it's settled?" A soft chuckle. "Obviously we don't have to plan everything tonight, but perhaps sometime after New Year's would be nice?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." He nodded. He almost asked why not plan everything tonight, but he remembered that it was still her party, and he was sure she wanted to get back to being hostess for everyone. Keith didn't want to monopolize her time and keep her away from something she'd worked so hard on putting together. "After New Year's."

A light nod, Keith being mostly on the nose- although really it would be more her rudeness for neglecting the others- but also not wanting to monopolize his time.

"It's a plan." (Probably to the chagrin of any and all eavesdroppers hoping for the word "date.") "I should probably greet some of the others, but this was nice." No she is NOT thinking of the kisses and trying (and failing) not to blush, SHUSH! "I'll see a bit later?"

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tempredmental - 2021-12-28 07:30 (UTC) - Expand

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