[There's something about the way that people keep calling him a kid that gets under his skin. Jason's done it countless times, like Keith has failed to measure up to some invisible, incredible fallible test to appease him. His brow furrows, showing a hint of the poor temperament that lies beneath the surface.

Keith knows he can defend himself. If he were still in the group homes trying to be taken seriously so everyone would stay off his back? He would. But that was a decade ago now.

No, there's another angle to take.]

I've seen where that kind of thinking gets people. Having to feel like you have to use people. Having to hurt others just to get by, just to survive. [It's the Galra Empire in a nutshell. Needlessly violent—and if not that, needlessly manipulative, always trying to be in a competition with one another. The Blade of Marmora fought every day against those instincts, and Keith saw it constantly.

It was the same kind of thinking that made them so absolute. They may have sought something other than victory—but it was just the same.]

I'm not oblivious because I don't do that stuff. I've just seen where it leads people.