Hi, guys! Cal here. I'm sorry for the interruption- I just have been getting a lot of questions about this book (my inspiration, why I chose the plots I did, what the actual fuck impasto painting is, etc.) so I'm making a small directory thing to explain some details for you. If you want to skip this, go right ahead, I just thought it would be an okay idea.

inspo.

first off, the whole mermaid thing. I got my inspiration from a book series I used to love called Wings of Fire, actually. One of the types of dragons in it have markings that can light up:

So I thought, hey, Quintessence glows in Voltron, why don't I have mermaids have this glowy stuff that Zarkon wants that I can call Quintessence? And thus glowy lance was born

Also, if any of you have read my other fic, Beat Drop, I got my inspiration for having the characters live in California from that (those guys live in Washington, but close enough lol). I don't actually live in CA, I live on the other side of the country in New Hampshire (where are you guys from? is anyone close?) but I've always loved California and I might even want to go to college there haha

Also, California is conveniently close to 1. South America and 2. the coast where the sub-group of the Dark Kingdom is located which you heard about in Overwhelm, I believe.

speaking of which, I have a map for you guys!!:

basically, the red is the dark kingdom (roughly, it's not actually that big lol, I've never been good with proportions) and the arrow leading to the section west of chile is the subgroup. this is the group that plans on attacking, and also the group that's with zarkon and lotor. ulaz and thace, if you remember, are going down to meet with lotor in secret here. 

the orange dotted line is where the subgroup is planning on attacking, also where the BOM (blue, by Alaska) plans to intercept them. 

and that small grey dot is an exaggeratedly large version of the placement of Lance's village. I hope this helped a bit!

Moving on: the village!

I've been getting some questions about the homes, as well as Lance, Allura, and Hunk's hideout

I was envisioning the homes to be a bit like this (except underwater of course):

with multiple rooms and good furnishing lol

also! about the layout of the village, think of it as rows and columns of organized homes^^ your house number is your row and column location (i.e. 4B, 34T, etc). I'm pretty foggy myself on how many mers there actually are (I'm a terrible author, I know lol) but it's fairly small, generally about 600-700 people I think. 

next! I couldn't find any good pictures for the secret cove, but roughly imagine it like this:

small opening, very discrete, etc.

I also need to address: yes i know that it is highly unlikely that a village this close to the coast would be discovered immediately, but I tried to incorporate some variables for them that would allow this to be at least semi-plausible, as in the moving every few years, keeping guards everywhere, using organic materials in case of an emergency evacuation, etc.

I just really needed a way where Lance could have easy access to both land and the village, and it seemed like the best idea haha

anyways

details! 

I feel like I have to address lol:

THIS

is impasto painting :))

For couples!! Y'all know that Lance and Keith are gonna be a thing, and we know that Shiro and Allura are sneaking up too lol. However, I know that a lot of you are a fan of Shatt. So I'm proposing a poll.

If you want to see Shallura as the ultimate outcome, comment here.

If you want to see Shatt as the ultimate outcome, comment here.

I'll write it either way, I want to do whatever makes you guys happy, alright? So let me know :))

And of course, we've got Hunk and Shay

next on the agenda: 

The whole Klance predicament lol

I really want to have some time to really accentuate their relationship, grow on it just like the show has been doing for 5 seasons lol

It may be a slow romance, but I promise it'll be worth it 

If you've read my other fic you'll get this reference- There's a word for that. Soulmate.

And like, I know it's weird, but I really do think that Keith and Lance are meant to be together. If they aren't in the show, if the producers decide to make another ship canon, if the director decided that Klance isn't gonna happen, I'm not gonna be terribly upset because I know that I'll still be able to write and more and more fanart and fanfictions and whatnot will continue to bloom and be created, but I truly hope that these two amazing, developed characters will get their moment.

Anyways, I'm trying to mirror that in a way. We're all so excited and nervous for season 6 (12 DAYS!!!) I almost want the same thing to happen with this fic. The two characters have to be stable with themselves, and stable as a unit together, before they try to pursue a romantic relationship. I want to stay true to these characters as much as I can, so that means letting them grow together, learn from each other, have their moments and lean on each other. 

of course, since this is in fact a klance fic, klance is definitely gonna happen, and by then the tension between the two is gonna be so high, I hope it's gonna be like two magnets finally snapping together, two puzzle pieces fitting perfectly to finish the puzzle, but I hope you guys are okay with a little wait.

I promise, though, that they're gonna have cute angsty moments and fluffy smiles and really sweet moments, so don't give up on me yet <3

lastly, I want to give you guys the opportunities to ask me any questions you have! I'll answer everything in the comments in this chapter, and I'll make another intermission in a few more chapters to answer anything else that may come up

overall, i love you guys heart and soul. thank you thank you thank you for 9k, i can't believe how amazing and supportive you all are. i write for you guys :)) 

i hope you all have an excellent week and good luck on finals if you have them! i'll be doing my last finals and getting out of school on the day season 6 comes out haha

dm me if you need to rant, vent, have questions, want to say hi, or just need someone to listen to you :) 

-love you!