#━ catra‚ rel: adora. › don’t you get it? i love you. i always have. so please just this once. stay!

[akari-hope]

Not sure why you think that wlw are more shunned, viewed as predatory, and otherwise demonized than mlm relationships, particularly enemies to lovers dynamics? Sapphics are by and large wayyyyy more well-received than mlm. Sapphics are seen as soft and harmless and lovely even when they’re fighting, while mlm are seen as dirty and emasculated and generally viewed with complete disgust.

i said that mlm are FETISHIZED more in enemies to lovers dynamics than wlw. wlw are more DEMONIZED than mlm in enemies to lovers dynamics. and i gave clear examples of dynamics that reflect this in that post, so i'm not pulling this out of my ass. neither is good. both are bad. they're just different kinds of bad. i'm pretty sure i made that clear but if i didn't, i'm restating it now - NEITHER MLM NOR WLW ARE TREATED WELL IN MEDIA REGARDLESS OF DYNAMIC. THIS IS NOT OPPRESSION OLYMPICS. DIFFERENT PROBLEMS DOES NOT EQUAL BETTER PROBLEMS.

i am, however, a lesbian, and i'm going to be able to speak more coherently and authentically to the sapphic representation and general treatment of women in media than anything else. it's my firsthand experience and it's always going to be easier and more accurate than my musings on the experiences of other groups of people. and given that i have a particular fondness for enemies to lovers dynamics, of course i'm bound to contemplate sapphic enemies to lovers dynamics specifically.

but if we must dance this dance bc you decided to take a bad faith interpretation of my words, women have to do more to be loved in media, and they have to do far less to be hated. this is a fact plain and simple, and if you can't acknowledge that we are not even remotely on the same page. You can look at ANY piece of media and see this is true. the supernatural fandom's treatment of basically any women vs. the kingdom hearts fandom's treatment of kairi vs. the naruto fandom's treatment of sakura. etc. etc. etc. i could name examples all day. these are women who, yes, have shoddy writing, but instead of getting the same treatment of a male character with shoddy writing - immediately getting fleshed out by fans - they get set aside as annoying, bitchy, mary sues, etc. even female characters with GOOD writing will get this treatment, a la lightning farron from final fantasy xiii. male characters with the SAME EXACT TRAITS are often beloved by fans. easy example, see cloud strife from final fantasy vii, who shares a hysterically huge amount of personality traits with lightning farron.

and this is BEFORE we even get into the discussion of being sapphic, or god forbid any other type of minority. traditionally beautiful white cishet women who are feminine and kind are the only women to ever pass for general audiences, and even then it's not consistent. women must be "palatable". versus white men, who are allowed to be dark, messy, gritty, murderers, even genocidal dictators and still be beloved by fans. and yes, the qualifier of white is necessary here - men of color, especially black men, do not get this same generosity from fans, and you bet your fucking ass it goes triple for women of color.

and again, this is BEFORE WE EVEN FACTOR IN BEING GAY OR MENTALLY ILL OR ANY OTHER FACTORS. THIS IS ASSUMING ALL CHARACTERS ARE CISHET AND NEUROTYPICAL.

women are "soft and harmless and lovely" as you put it when they fight...if they're fucking tifa lockhart. if they're feminine and sweet and cute normally, or at least perceived that way. if they look like they're out of madoka magica (and oops not even then, bc you bet your ASS there's insane demonization of miss homura akemi). and also, friendly reminder, that "soft and harmless and lovely" thing isn't a compliment. it's fucking infantilizing at best.

for sheer simplicity's sake, to compare two ships that are on a relatively equal playing field in terms of representation, i'm going to take a look at the general reception of goro akechi/ren amamiya from persona 5 (i'm using ren as his name for simplicity's sake) and madoka kaname/homura akemi from madoka magica.

some brief context for both: both are heavily queercoded, homura is initially introduced as an antagonistic character but it is later revealed to not be the case, akechi is initially introduced as a friendly character but it is later revealed to not be the case, and both homura and akechi have clear and intense struggles with trauma and other mental health issues.

judging by what i've said, from your own logic, surely homura is a widely beloved and not at all vilified character. after all, she's feminine, she's not REALLY a villain, and she's got sympathetic motivations. right? wrong. homura is widely beloved... by sapphics. but even people who LIKE THE SHOW DO NOT ALWAYS LIKE HER. homura was WIDELY hated and discoursed back when the show first aired. you still get people who hate her. and even more frustrating, despite the blatant, you-absolutely-cannot-miss-it queercoding, sapphic fans of the show still have to argue that it's not just "girls being friends". it's not even a true enemies to lovers setup, and you still cannot escape homura being called toxic and predatory.

now let's take a brief look at akechi and ren. like previously stated, akechi is revealed to be an antagonist later in the story. and when he is, he tries to shoot ren in the head and frame it as a suicide. this is, quite obviously, a lot different from homura and madoka, where homura never even directly fights madoka. surely by your logic, akechi would be widely seen as a villain, unforgivable, horrendously terrible? well he most certainly isn't. he's one of if not the most beloved characters by fans. his relationship with ren is more often than not read as romantic, and it's practically treated as canon by a large majority.

and like i previously stated, i am not saying the mlm example i've given is without issues - akechi/ren is highly sexualized and fetishized. it's just a very DIFFERENT problem from the vilification that wlw characters often receive. and i am not saying that mlm are NEVER vilified. i am simply saying the large, overarching trend in fandom is to be forgiving of men, and unforgiving of women.

i simply do NOT see mlm ships get the same treatment in this regard to wlw ships. sora/riku from kingdom hearts and catra/adora from she-ra have...practically the same narrative in many ways. childhood friends separated by a worldwide conflict, becoming enemies, fighting each other multiple times, arguably with intent to kill, eventually saving each other and finding a way to reconcile in order to emerge victorious against the true villain. riku and catra are strikingly alike, as are sora and adora. but riku is once again a fan favorite character. and catra has received backlash after backlash after backlash. i hardly even post about she-ra anymore and i STILL get people in my inbox talking about catra discourse!!

again, i'm NOT saying the script is never reversed. there's not really anything to be won by making absolute statements like that. i'm just saying that i have never seen it, and even on the odd chance that i do it's never as severe.

once again - yes mlm characters face backlash. no one is saying they do not. but it is different backlash. i am specifically discussing the fan reception of wlw characters and ships bc that is my personal experience. different problems do not equal better problems.

i'm tired of bad faith interpretations of my posts. unless you want to have a respectful and thoughtful conversation (which i AM open to), don't come at me with boldfaced accusations.

[floxalopex]

Why, to me, Adora didn't solve her trauma. Or at least, it was supposed to be only about that. Spoiler: anti Catradora and anti Glimbow. Please, this are just my opinions. Don't wish my death. These ships are canon anyways so yhhhh you won, ok? Everything is fine 🌈

Yh, I'm doing this very depressing, very akward and inappropriate post at last. With of course, a lot of self-centered story nobody wants to hear because I need examples to explain emotions. Hi.

So. I don't hate Catra. I vibe with her a lot. But I can't stand when people erase Adora's trauma saying Catra's was worse. Everyone has the right to experience their own sorrow. Pain is a subjective feeling.

I was always the Catra while my sister was the Adora. I was the nd who needed to go to the psychotherapist causing my family to spend money, not to mention other healt problems. My sister doesn't even wear glasses. I took three attempts to get a stupid car license and still have panic attacks when I need to drive. My sister is a talented pilot. I was more good at school than her, but she was always better at living. And you can't change that with anything.

Still, I never hated her. Nor was I jelous. I awlays loved her and will always do. We are very different but we balance eachother. You may think that she got it easy. She didn't.

My parents are amazing. And I love them, they never raised a hand on me. But it was hard. It's hard to love a kid everyone depicts as "creepy", "not normal". But they did.

I watched the episode with Catra and Adora's childhood flashback with my sister. We had goosebumps. Before that I believed I was the only one suffering, while in reality I wasn't. It's not easy being the "golden child", "the normal one" either. My sister was so used to being referred as "the non weird one" that she developed a very closed personalty. She is a ray of sunshine, always smiling, but she won't tell anyone if she is feeling bad. She has to be perfect. She has to be all right all the time. I tell her to open up, at least with me, but it's not easy.

Trauma can have many faces. And honestely I blame myself I lot for having caused this to her. If only my parents weren't so focused on me and my so many problems that started since the day I was born (so far I risked to die at least 4 times) they wouldn't have had so much stress. They would have focused more on my sister. We talked about this and she says it's not my fault and honestely after so many years I want to believe her.

Adora has a post traumatic response. She has a martyr syndrome so strong she even feels that sacrifing herself is the normal course of actions. "You deserve love too" means that you also deserve to be heard. Your feelings matter.

Now. *Sighs*. I don't hate Catra, but I don't like Catradora at all.

Another sad story.

I never liked in my life the troupe of the "best friends" who grow up togheter and are supposed to be soulmates. I don't believe in destiny. There's no superior order in life.

I know there are many cute and real stories of couples who start and end togheter. Honestely some years ago I would have felt envious of them, now I fell like the freest of birds.

I had a childhood friend. He was born exately 20 days before me and, since our mothers were best friends, those were the only days in our first 10 years of life we were apart. We grow up togheter like brothers. Of course (of course, because eh you know, hormons, not destiny or whatever) we ended up having a relationship when little.

I didn't have so many friends and he made sure of that. He isolated me from everyone. He was possessive and mean. He was aggressive and now that he is old he is even a racist, sovranist, fascist, sexist and lots of other amazing qualities.

He was my first good diagnosis. Cushing syndrome. So yh, even if I'm super short he is shorter than me due to the therapy he has to endure. (By the gods, I generally don't mind physical appereance, I've even recentely found out I'm panromantic so yh, I don't care about gender either... but dam, can I have a partner taller than me? It's not even difficult.) Honestely, sickness apart...he is not so very good looking. Neither was I when little, I was very chubby. With the difference that I still saw beauty in him, but he never did. He mocked me with his friends. He said things like "If I don't love you who ever would? I've known you for so long, that's the reason why I tolerate you". I always stood by his side when people bullied him for his frail body structure or because he couldn't swim (which in Sicily it's almost a disability). He never did the same for me.

We broke up badly. I wasn't the one who left him but anyways. We don't even say hello to eachother.

I know by some relatives of his (who adored me) that is he depressed and lonely now.

It's... hard. Not to care for him. I know I shouldn't, I don't even want to. But the sentiment is there. I was never enough for him while he was everything for me. I don't love him, I would say I even hate him (and to make me hate someone you really must work very hard). But...hate is an emotion too right?...the point is that he will forever be a part of me. Even if I wish we never met in the first place.

Anyways.

I don't have positive opinions on Glimbow either. I love Glimmer but dam she is possessive. I like Bow but he should have been more true with his feelings and not end up with her only to please her. Choose Sea Hawk or Perfuma.

In a childhood relationship platonic love, habit, hormons, friendship meld togheter in a ...peculiar way. But let's be honest, we change with aging. We are not mature, we are not sensitive enough. Polite enough when little. We are not aware enough.

I'm monogamus yes, but at least sexually speaking. In reality you should have experiences. Know other people to know yourself better.

It, again, may be my bad and traumatic relationship speaking. But said relationship never gave me positive personal growth. It was rather toxic.

Adora, dear. Humanity is not lost. But you can't save everyone. Not by risking your own happiness. Caring for somebody deeply and having sexual attraction for them...isn't enough. And you too Catra. Let it go, there are people out there (cough cough Scorpia) who can and will give you the world if only you let them. Give others a chance. Maybe you are not in love with a person, but with the memory and the idea you had of them. People change, it's not theirs or your fault.

People leave and you don't own them.

Lastly yes, I will put the Entrapdak tag. Really not for visibility, I have more feet than followers (no, I'm not an octopus monster) and honestely I don't give a fuck. (Yhh mean Floxy). I'm just here to say emberassing things and be a stupid fucking nerd.

*inhales*.

Entrapdak=the love of my life. The relationship between two adults. Two people who didn't know eachother and passed puberty (...Hordak baby, you there?) a LONG time ago.

Two people who reason with their minds and not entirely with their hormons. I'm clapping while typing.

No drama, no doubts. I could talk for hours but honestely this no sense is already a pain in the gut of everyone who reads so far.

[baggebythesea]

Pie day buddies

This is my little drabble for the twenty-fifth day prompt of the SPOP Palentine's month - Best friends and Brotps - organized by the good people at @spop-palentienes​. Enjoy!

"Pie day?"

"Pie day!"

Bow and Adora grabbed each other's hands and happily danced in circle. Then the walked towards the market with springs in their steps.

Because today was the day when the farmer had farmed and the butcher had butchered and the miller milled and the baker put it all together and made the best pies in all of Etheria.

And Bow and Adora would be right there, first in line, when the best pies in all of Etheria were served.

"Pie day buddies!"

"Pie day buddies!"

"Glimmer's not coming, then?"

"She doesn't really do 'mornings'."

Adora nodded, seeing the truth in that statement.

"Catra's not coming?"

"She doesn't really do 'rain'."

Bow looked up in surprise. Wet drops of wetness fell from the sky and landed on his face.

"Hey, it's raining," he pointed out. Adora laughed.

"I know, right. Imagine missing pie day just because of a little wetness!"

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

"Pie, pie, pie!"

And thus chanting, they happily skipped down the street

Today was going to be best friends, a beautiful day (rain is beautiful too) and pie, and nothing was going to stop them.

"RAZZLE DAZZLE!"

"Oh, hey madam Razz, Adora said to the old woman who ran up to them with an agitated expression.

"You are messing up again dearie," the old woman chided her. Adora gave her a surprised look.

"I am?"

"Yes, dearie? You are supposed to stand over there." Razz pointed at a part of the street in no way dissimilar from the one she stood on.

"I... am?"

"YES, dearie. Now hurry up." With her broom, Madam Razz shooed Bow and Adora until they stepped over to the indicated spot. She nodded a content nod.

"There you go, dearie. Now you will be right as rain. What would you ever do without madam Razz looking out for you?"

Tutting and muttering for herself, madam Razz wandered off. Bow and Adora looked after her. They gave each other a confused look.

"So... do we stay here or do we...?"

"LOOK OUT!"

A wagon, out of control, came crashing down the street, missing them by inches (and running straight through the spot Madam Razz had shooed them away from.

They looked at it in shock for a moment before they both reacted at the same time. Adora drew her sword, Bow his Bow. Adora transformed into She-Ra, Bow hit the cart with a rope-arrow, and a few moments later She-Ra had grabbed the rope and stopped the cart.

It took some time to find the cart's owner and sort out the broken breaks. Fortunately no one had been hurt, and soon the best friends could continue their quest for pie.

"Pie, pie, pie!"

Happily running down the street, not to miss their spot in the line, they chanted their happy pie-chant.

Nothing was going to stop them.

In an alley a little girl stood crying.

They both stopped.

"Are you OK, dear?" Bow asked and bent down with a friendly smile. "Can we help you."

"I lost my cat," the girl sobbed.

"She lost her cat?" Adora whispered with large eyes.

"It ran away and I don't know where it went."

"She doesn't know where it went?" Adora echoed in horror

"I tried to catch it but it scratched me."

"...scratched her..."

Adora bent down and gave the girl a tight hug.

"We will find your cat," she sobbed. "whatever it takes. however far it has run. And if it's scared or angry or confused and tries to scratch you again or tries to destroy all of reality we will gently and patiently nurture it and help it see the error of its ways, and if its kidnapped by some kind of space-jerk we will destroy his evil empire and blow up his space station and whatever ever it takes" - she took a deep breath - "You. Will. Have. Your. Cat. Back."

"Um... thank you?" The girl said. Bow gently pried Adora loose.

"She lost her cat!" Adora cried to Bow. He hugged her.

"She will get her cat back," he said with a compassionate voice and steered her a few steps away from the girl.

"But what if the cat hates her?" Adora wailed.

"It doesn't hate her," Bow gently said. "It's just angry and confused, and as soon as they get the chance to talk about their love they will find each other again and then they will never have to be apart."

"Promise?" Adora cried.

"Promise." Bow said.

They hugged some more - with the rather confused little girl watching - and then they went looking for the cat.

They found it pretty much immediately behind an old crate. It gave them a look that said 'what are <i>you</i> doing here?', jumped up in the arms of the girl and started to purr. With Bow and Adora watching with starry eyes, the girl thanked them and walked away with the cat.

"She got her cat back," Adora whispered.

"She got her cat back," Bow confirmed.

"The cat doesn't hate her?"

"The cat doesn't hate her."

"They can always be together?"

"They can always be together."

Then they hugged a bit more as Adora cried in relief.

After that, they went to get pie.

"Pie, pie, pie!"

Nothing was going to stop them.

"Bow!"

No less than three of his siblings waved to him from the other side of the street.

"We're so glad we found you, little brother. Listen, we have this complicated situation involving multiple relatives and scanzy scemes we need help with..."

It was a lot of shenanigans later when they finally found themselves by the pie counter.

There were no pie.

"There is no pie?"

"There is no pie!"

"We are out of pie. Sorry."

"They are out of pie?"

"They are out of pie!"

"You are too late, sorry."

"We are too late?"

"We are too late..."

Bow and Adora fell into each others arms and started to cry loudly.

"We are too laaaaaaaate."

"No pie..."

"No pie..."

"RAZZLE DAZZLE!"

"There is no pie, Madam Razz."

"Don't you ever stop speaking nonsense, dearie? And why are you always at the wrong place? You are supposed to be over there!"

"I don't think I would be happy anywhere today, Madam Razz," Adora said with head hanging low. Madam Razz shook her head in annoyance and started to swat Adora and Bow with her broom again.

"Why young people these days have to be so confusing I will never understand for the life of me. Now, off you go, dearie. Go! Go!"

Adora and Bow gave in under the onslaught and hurried over to the table Razz had indicated. There were two chairs and the entire surface of the table was covered in plates, bowls and trays completely overloaded with pies. Small pies, large pies, brown pies, pies with crust, pies with fruit, pies for food and pie for dessert. Bow and Adora stared at it with large eyes.

"There is pie?"

"There is pie?"

"Of course there is pie, Madam Razz said. Today is pie day. Now eat as much as you want. Bring the rest with you."

Adora gave madam Razz a heartfelt look.

"Thank you so much, Razz."

Razz chuckled.

"What are pie day buddies for."

"Pie day buddies!" Bow cried with his mouth full of pie.

"Pie day buddies!" Adora cried and joined him.

For my other fanfics, please take a gander at https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bagge

[missbliss12]

you're SO white you put the child soldiers next to the one who MADE them child soldiers..

I’ve been getting a few comments like this on my recent "Scorpia in the Fright Zone" comic. Thus, as a teacher, I think I better bring up some important themes in She Ra.

First, I appreciate getting the chance to talk to people about my art, even if the start of these conversations are rather brusque anonymous messages. If people have issues with what I create - and people sometimes do, since I tackle "villainous" characters with perspective-taking and empathy - feel free to message me. However, I would prefer it if asks were phrased as respectful questions rather than insults. 

I should also clarify that I am not white - I am a multi-racial mix of Indian, Chinese, and a little white. However, that’s not quite the point. This message, which makes assumptions about race and uses blanket statements to make a personal attack, undercuts its actual valid point about a perceived insensitive depiction of imperialism, abuse of child soldiers, and trauma. If you want to offer a thoughtful critique of an artwork you find harmful, you may do so, but try to resist embarrassing yourself with assumptions about race (and stereotypes about racial groups and sensitivity).

Now, on to the important content of this ask - Hordak, Scorpia, and wounds caused by the Horde. The comic referred to takes place a few years after the finale of She Ra. At the end of SPOP, we see Hordak overthrowing Horde Prime, being saved from the latter’s control by Shera, and happily reuniting with Entrapta. Hordak, while shown to be sometimes cruel and power-hungry, is also portrayed in a sympathetic light throughout SPOP. Parallels are drawn between him, several princesses, and Catra as they all feel imperfect, without many friends, and abandoned by a loved mentor/guardian figure. Hordak’s actions are not justified, but they are complexified, as we see that he is capable of harmful actions, but also helpful actions (saving Entrapta).

Scorpia is presented as a a very forgiving figure throughout SPOP. While some of her friendliness and guilelessness is used for comedic effect, her ability to easily forgive past wrongs and move on is presented as a sincere strength. This is precisely why she is one of my favorite characters. 

Knowing all these things, is it impossible that Hordak, probably with Entrapta’s encouragement, would try to repair what he has damaged and support Scorpia in rebuilding the Fright Zone? Is it impossible that Scorpia, with her optimistic personality and love of people, would forgive him? (If she ever blamed him in the first place?) I don’t think so.

SPOP isn’t a series about "bad guys" getting punished by "good guys" because they are inherently, irrevocably, unlovably evil - SPOP is about how people can be influenced in good and bad ways, and how those influences, compounded by old hurts and loneliness, can lead people to act in hurtful ways. There’s always a possibility for people to change and forge new, healing relationships; Adora changes, Catra changes, Hordak changes, many people change. 

I would rather explore how complicated characters make mistakes, pick themselves back up, and engage in processes of communal and individual healing. I see it as a more empathetic hopeful approach to storytelling. We are all somebody’s bad guy and somebody’s heroes - morality is relative. Stories that recognize this and explore how people can go beyond their own perspectives to make fulfilling human relationships are more valuable to me than simple punitive tales of "good" punishing "evil."

Anyway, I hope that was illuminating. If you want to read more of my thoughts about healing and complex antagonists, take a look at my Ben Solo and Palpatine SW comics! (Yep, I’m also a Bendemptionist)              

[parts-of-spop]

AU where Catra lets Adora fall in the First Ones Temple and she doesn’t come out... until she does.

Part 2 in which Catra, having retired from her position as Force Captain in her grief, is tasked to scope out the Temple then return to Force Captain Lonnie. It should be quick and simple because the Temple opens for no one.

But the doors are open and she can’t resist.

The door is open.

Just… open. Like a waiting invitation.

“What?” She murmurs in bewilderment and it’s the most emotion she’s felt in months.

Beneath the dim light of the moons, her tail lashes and her claws flex restlessly into the branch beneath her.

She knows, sensibly, she should report back to Lonnie, her Force Captain, and let her know of this development but then Catra’s never been sensible has she? Smart but not sensible.

She climbs down the tree and inches towards the open door.

Adora died in there.

What if she comes across her body?

She couldn’t handle that.

She’d rather claw her own eyes out than see that.

But she inches inward and deeper into the darkness, careful not to touch anything or activate any of those spider things she remembers because she’s just… she’s not willing to fight nowadays unless she must.

She pads down a hallway, following dim blue lights, scanning around herself warily and waiting for it to all go red and turn against her.

It doesn’t.

She still thinks she should have returned to her squad but it doesn’t stop her pressing forward, slightly crouched with claws retracted just in case.

There’s another door in front of her and she raises her claws to slash it open when it suddenly opens with a soft whoosh and her breath stalls.

She hears beeping and clicks, her ears twitching towards them.

But her eyes are locked onto the form across the room.

The figure is painfully familiar…

But also, completely not.

It can’t be…

Long blonde hair flows free down her back with a white and gold uniform hugging her body.

She’s tapping away on some sort of keyboard, swift and effortless like she was born to, apparently unaware of Catra’s presence behind her.

But it just… it kind of looks like her and she can’t help hoping so-

“… Adora?” Catra croaks and the hands still in their motions.

Broad shoulders- broader than before- go tense for a moment. It’s easy to see the reams of hard-earned muscle.

Then she slowly turns and the first thing Catra notices is the amount of scars dotting her face, some pink but most of them pale and there’s a noticeably larger one cutting through her lips, little dents left behind.

Then it’s her eyes. They’re the same blue but they glow nearly as brightly as She-ra’s.

Catra finds herself creeping slowly nearer despite it all, trying to determine whether this is real or a very vivid hallucination or real.

If it is real, she isn’t sure how Adora looks… older. Like years have passed instead of months.

Adora still hasn’t spoken and her face is unnervingly unreadable.

Catra could always read her but she can’t now.

“Adora… How are you…?” She trails off and Adora blinks at her.

“Alive?” She finishes.

Oh, her voice. It still haunts all her dreams but she can’t get enough of it.

“… Yeah…” Catra rasps and Adora has the gall to shrug at her.

“After you left me for dead-“ Catra winces but Adora either doesn’t care or doesn’t notice- “-Light Hope encouraged me to stay and… work on some things.”

She’s being vague and stiff and not like Adora.

If this is a hallucination it’s a poor one.

“You’ve been here for 9 months?” Catra confirms and Adora pauses briefly.

“To you, it’s 9 months. Time is relative in the temple though so I’ve actually been here for nearly four years,” She replies smoothly and Catra feels like she’s been sucker-punched.

“But why didn’t you leave?” She splutters. Why did you not tell anybody you were okay?

“I needed to focus and train. It turns out my attachments tend to make me vulnerable,” Adora replies, eyes filled with meaning and Catra feels sick with disgust at herself.

“What… What’ve you been training at?” She says shakily. That’s safe. A safe easy question.

Until it’s not.

“And why would I tell a member of the Horde something like that?”

Another blow. This one harder because Adora looks cool and almost lazy in her detachment as she looks at her… like she just doesn’t care anymore.

Catra knows she’s earned that look but it doesn’t make it hurt less.

“A-Adora…” She croaks weakly, ears pinning back and for just a brief moment, her expression softens.

Then it’s gone and she’s back to being unwavering.

“Do you know why I felt I had to leave when I found the Sword?” She asks and Catra can only shake her head mutely, still winded. “It wasn’t just about saving the world, Catra… It was about saving a world… that had you in it.”

Oh…

Oh fuck…

“But I don’t have that problem any more… because I’m letting go, Catra, do you understand?” Adora continues and Catra wants to run, to hide but she can’t move. Adora’s approaching.

She looks so strong and almost regal in her new clothes.

She stands close, toe to toe with Catra.

They haven’t been this close without hurting each other in nearly two years.

Adora eyes burn hot into her own as her hands raise and cup her face between her hands, the touch gentle and bordering cautious.

She could probably snap Catra’s neck right now and be done with it.

Catra can’t say she’d mind much.

But then Adora does something far worse.

She guides her in and brushes a whisper of a kiss over her lips.

It makes her whimper and shake, her lips left tingling at the too brief touch.

Oh…

“I have loved you since I met you…” What? “But I’m letting you go now… I’m not doing this for you anymore… do you understand?” Adora presses and Catra feels Adora’s forehead rest against hers gently as she tries to process everything with limited success.

Then it clicks.

“… You’re giving up on me,” Catra murmurs in a quiet and gut-wrenching moment of realisation and Adora gazes back into her steadily.

“I don’t want to… but I will because I must… I can’t save this planet and keep defending you. It just doesn’t work that way… It’ll get me killed,” She reasons and her thumbs are stroking her cheeks, wetness dampening her fur.

Catra’s crying. She hadn’t noticed.

“Do you hate me?” She asks shakily and Adora’s eyes trail over her face for a moment.

“No… I don’t hate you…”

“… Why did you just kiss me, Adora? Why would you do that?” Catra presses, voice cracking with desperation to just understand.

Adora gazes into her for another moment.

“Because this is the only chance I’ll ever have,” She says, voice dropping to a whisper and Catra feels her chest tighten with fresh pain, more tears spilling free. Then anger curls in her stomach and she’s grabbing at Adora’s shirt roughly, claws catching in the fabric.

“Then do it properly!”

Adora barely hesitates, eyes widening for half a second before she’s lunging forward and pulling Catra into a frantic, bruising kiss.

Catra knows this is going to kill her later.

This kiss that she’s wanted since they turned thirteen and learned what kissing was is going to kill her.

It’s going to be the death of her.

It doesn’t matter... because if this is all she gets of Adora then she’ll take it in both hands and dig her claws deep enough that Hordak himself will have to tear it from her.

If this is the only part of Adora she gets to have, she’ll die defending it.

She presses closer and ignores the tears staining her own face.

She doesn’t notice how Adora trembles, just as broken and aching and wanting as herself.

[i-just-love-spop]

Another blood-stained shirt

@skyfireflight requested “Take your shirt off.” “...what?” “You heard me the first time.” for catradora, where Adora is injured, and Catra takes care of her injuries, so that’s what we’re doing today.

Summary: Catra hadn’t seen Adora this out of it since her sword had been infected in the Northern Reach. This definitely wasn’t good. That had to be a pretty bad concussion.

Now, if only Catra could actually focus on patching her girlfriend up with the shirtless blonde all over her...

In which Adora got hurt fighting some of the remaining Prime-bots and gets way too flirty when her girlfriend tries to take care of her injuries.

Takes place a bit after the series-finale.

[Once again, there’s some cursing – and there’s also shirtlessness and a bit of blood, in case you couldn’t tell from the summary 😂]

—

Adora took her red jacket off.

Catra gulped when she looked at her.

“That... can’t be good.”

—

All of them had been off fighting the remaining drones and robots that were still active on Etheria after everything for the last couple of days. While the clones were mainly confused since they were no longer connected to the hive-mind, having to adjust being their own person now instead of serving someone else’s will constantly – Wrong Hordak was doing a great job helping them –, the robots had decided that now that they weren’t controlled by a central computer anymore, they should just wreak havoc everywhere they came.

All in all, the princesses and their friends were doing a pretty good job taking care of them, but today hadn’t gone so well.

Catra hadn’t even realized what was happening until her girlfriend had suddenly pushed her, and when she’d turned around again, Adora was being pinned to the ground by a fallen tree that had been cut down by one of the robots’ lasers.

She had been trying to protect her girlfriend so much that she’d gotten hurt, and since She-Ra had signed off the moment the girl’s head hit the ground, she couldn’t even get the stupid tree off of her again.

And Catra was many things, but definitely not strong enough to lift a tree, so she’d contacted the others for help.

Eventually, Glimmer had teleported her friend out from under the tree, and of course, Adora being Adora, she had insisted that although her head hurt a little, she could walk back just fine.

Which she really, really couldn’t.

She’d leaned on Catra the entire way back, rambling and giggling about pretty much everything they came across.

Glimmer had tried to insist on taking her to see a healer, but Adora had insisted that she wasn’t hurt that badly and just wanted to go to her room to get to bed.

—

Now, they were sitting on said bed, and Adora had taken off her jacket to sleep and put it onto the bed next to her. The white shirt underneath was soaked with blood.

Catra couldn’t stop staring at her.

This was bad. This was really, really bad – a lot worse than the brunette had expected it to be.

“Wow, we’re doing a really great job ruining all of your white shirts with blood lately, aren’t we?”

The joke didn’t make her feel better or less stressed or worried like she’d hoped it would.

She felt awful because Adora had gotten hurt protecting her. If she’d just been more careful and watched out for her environment more, this wouldn’t have happened.

Adora did seem to find it funny, though. ...but that might be because of the concussion.

“It’s fiiine. I have like twenty more of these.”

Catra shook her head and gave her girlfriend a worried glance. The guilt was slowly consuming her.

“Why are you like this? You shouldn’t have done that. I don’t want you to get hurt. If I’m the one that isn’t paying attention, I should also be the one that gets hurt. Not you. After everything you’ve already been through, you of all people deserve to be happy and healthy forever. I’m sorry. I should have protected you better.”

Adora put a hand on her cheek.

“Don’t be upset, Kitty. I don’t like it when you’re upset.”

Catra smiled a little at her girlfriend’s words, but sighed at the nickname.

“You’ll never stop calling me that again, will you?”

“No, I won’t. Because you are a kitty. A cute kitty.“ Adora giggled, in a way that made it pretty clear she was kind of out of it. “My cute kitty.”

The brunette choked on whatever word she’d wanted to say before.

‘Holy- wow.’

Adora was really something, huh?

...and Catra was doing an awful job at being a good girlfriend and treating her wounds because the blonde was so freaking distracting.

‘Damn it, I need to focus,’ she thought to herself, closing her eyes for a moment to take a deep breath, so she could think clearly again.

First things first... she needed to actually see the wounds to be able to tell how grave they were and to tend to them.

“Take your shirt off.”

The sentence came out of her mouth very straightforward, and it took her a moment to realize how different that sentence sounded, especially in such a demanding voice, without knowing the intentions behind it.

‘Whoops.’

Her girlfriend gaped at her and blinked.

“...what?”

“You heard me the first time.”

Adora then gave her a smug grin and raised an eyebrow.

“Well someone is being especially bold today...”

Catra shook her head.

‘Oh stars.’

Not only had Adora interpreted it exactly the way Catra hadn’t intended for it to sound... she’d also developed the whole thing even further.

Great.

‘Is she always like this when she‘s out of it?’

Despite everything, Adora did try to listen and take her shirt off, but the bloody fabric was stuck to her wounds, so it didn’t quite work as she’d expected it to.

She laughed.

”I think it’s fighting back. What a mean shirt.”

“Yeah, right, what a mean shirt...” Catra shook her head. She was incredibly worried – she hadn’t seen Adora this out of it since her sword had been infected in the Northern Reach.

That had to be a pretty bad concussion...

Catra thought for a moment.

“Alright, medical training said if bandages are stuck to the wound, you’re supposed to use water or alcohol to dampen the dressing. This is a shirt and not a bandage, but I’m hoping it will work anyway.”

Adora beamed.

“Yay, let’s get drunk!”

Catra covered her eyes with one of her hands.

Oh stars.

“...let’s not.”

She was definitely trying water first.

—

To Catra’s relief, soaking the bloody pieces of clothing with a dampened washcloth worked relatively well, and they were able to take the shirt off of her without hurting Adora further or reopening her wounds.

Catra had to force herself not to stare because holy shit her girlfriend was so beautiful, but she was also hurt and needed medical attention and that was more important than the brunette’s own need to stare at Adora all day.

Her chest was covered in bruises and her rib cage looked a little dented. That definitely wasn’t good.

Catra leaned forward to touch it carefully.

The blonde winced when her she did.

That definitely wasn’t a good sign.

Catra moved around her to look at her back, which, judging from the blood on the shirt, had definitely taken the most visible damage.

It really didn’t look very good, that much was clear from the very first glance.

The brunette’s gaze wandered down her girlfriend’s back.

She flinched when her look fell on the scars again.

Adora had a lot of scars – some from Horde-training, some from dumb accidents and some from the war... and then there were the scars Catra had left on her, that made the brunette feel sick and disgusted at herself every time she looked at them.

She looked down at her now shortened claws as she once again vowed to be better, to never ever hurt her again and to not let anyone else ever hurt her again, then took a deep breath and once again looked at the fresh wounds.

This looked bad. Really, really bad. And painful.

Catra gulped.

“You look... oh stars, you look awful.”

Adora’s back was covered in scratches and bruises, and she had an especially bad gash on her back just under her shoulder.

“Interesting statement from someone who was practically drooling all over me a few seconds ago,” her girlfriend replied with a smug grin on her face.

Catra blushed scarlet.

“I was not! ...but yeah, you’re very beautiful and I’m lucky to be dating you. I didn’t mean you look awful as in ‘I don’t find you attractive’, because I do, so much, I just meant your wounds look really bad.”

Adora just grinned.

“Awww, you called me beautiful. That’s pretty gay.”

She apparently hadn’t heard much else, or at least didn’t she seem to care about the rest.

The brunette shook her head.

“We‘re dating, you idiot.”

“Riiiight. That’s also pretty gay.” Adora beamed and kissed her, hands still wrapped around her when they separated. And damn, the way she looked at her... Catra would never ever get used to this – and she didn’t want to, because she wanted that nice, tingling feeling in her stomach that she got when her girlfriend looked at her like she was her entire world to never go away. “You’re pretty. And gay. And pretty.”

The blonde was all over her lap now.

Catra was losing her mind. It was great, but it also wasn’t, because she really, really needed to focus on patching Adora up right now.

“Yeah, and you’re a dumbass, and injured, and stars it’s really hard to focus on treating you medically when you’re half naked and all over me!” She kissed her forehead, then took a deep breath. “Princess, listen, you’re amazing and I could spend all day looking at you and hugging you and kissing you for all eternity and I would be happy! ...but you’re also hurt. Really, really hurt. And I’m worried about you. Please let me take you to see a healer, and if you don’t want that, at least let me take care of your wounds.”

Her ears flattened. She hated seeing the love of her life this hurt.

“I don’t need healers, and there’s no need for you to patch me up!” Adora replied and laughed. The laughing made her ribs hurt, and she winced a bit. “I don’t get hurt! And even if I do, She-Ra fixes me up again immediately! Let me show you!” She reached up into the air. “For the-”

Catra caught her hand and intertwined it with her own before the girl could touch the sword.

The hand-holding was enough to make her girlfriend blush and shut up because she was so amazed at it for some reason.

It was kind of cute.

“No, we’re not doing that.” It might have worked, but if it didn’t, the last thing she needed right now was for the girl with the bad concussion to have a sword and magic that she could accidentally destroy the palace with. “...but you’re kind of right. Shouldn’t She-Ra have healed these wounds already? She usually does that, doesn’t she?”

From the very little things she knew and remembered about the events on Prime’s ship – not that she wanted to remember more, because thinking of anything related to him still made her blood run cold –, she was pretty sure she’d overheard Adora saying something to Glimmer about how she might have broken both her legs but that they’d healed when she turned into She-Ra. So why hadn’t her wounds just healed now? That was strange, and worrying.

“I think She-Ra is a little woozy.” Adora laughed. “That’s me! I’m She-Ra!”

Catra groaned.

“...no kidding.”

Adora was completely out of it.

That was definitely a severe concussion, on top of what Catra guessed from the looks of it was at least two broken ribs – although the fact that she had the concussion and that she was so out of it maybe did explain why her wounds hadn’t healed yet.

“How are you feeling?”

She was really worried, but Adora didn’t seem to be feeling much pain at the moment.

The blonde just snuggled against her and yawned.

“Tired. But you’re warm and fluffy and that’s nice. You’re amazing, did you know that? Everyone come look at my girlfriend, she’s amazing!” Catra blushed again. Stars, why was Adora this cute when she was woozy? “I don’t wanna go see a healer right now. Can we just cuddle and go to sleep here? Please?”

The brunette sighed. Common sense told her that this wasn’t a good idea, but common sense signed off pretty quickly when she was with Adora, and especially when her girlfriend looked at her like that.

“Alright, but only if you promise me to let me take you to see a healer first thing in the morning.”

Adora nodded and snuggled against her.

“...m’kay.”

Catra kissed her forehead.

“Now let me at least bandage you up a little, and then we can go to sleep.”

The last thing the girl felt was Catra’s warm hands on her skin as she dozed off.

—

When Adora woke up the next morning, her head was spinning and everything hurt.

“Ugh, what happened...?”

“You fought a tree. The tree won,” Catra commented immediately.

Adora groaned, the memories slowly returning to her.

“I regret everything.”

Catra rubbed her arm and kissed her cheek.

...okay, maybe she didn’t really everything. There wasn’t a single instance she had ever – or would ever – regret protecting the good she loved more than everything else in the universe combined, no matter how hurt she got in the process.

“I had a feeling you would, you idiot. There’s a glass of water on the bedside table with some pain meds, take them, and we’ll take you to see a healer afterwards, okay?”

“Mhm...” Adora tried to sit up and flinched. “Ow.”

Catra caught her and lowered her back onto the mattress.

“Careful, princess, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“Awww, are you worried about me?” The blonde snuggled against her girlfriend. For the first time since she’d woken up, she was awake enough to actually realize how the room looked – or, more importantly, how dark it was in here and what that meant, considering the fact that the curtains were open. It was still dark outside. “Wait. It’s super early. You’re not usually up this early.”

Catra had never been a morning person. This was weird. Really, really weird.

“I’m... not, actually. I’m up late.”

Catra grinned sheepishly.

‘She hasn’t slept yet? But why would she...’

And then it dawned on Adora.

‘Oh. Oooh.’

She squeezed her girlfriend’s hand.

“You... stayed up all night watching over me?” The blonde teared up. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did. There is so much I have to make up for. And even if there wasn’t...” Catra’s ears flattened.Someone had had to check on Adora every now and again to make sure her condition wasn’t worsening while she slept. Which it hadn’t, thankfully. Catra didn’t regret staying up for that. “I need you to be okay more than I need sleep.”

Screw the pain. Screw everything. Adora needed to kiss her girlfriend, immediately.

Catra was worth it. Catra had always been worth it.

Adora put her arms around her girlfriend, and when their lips met, she knew she’d never been happier in her entire life, broken ribs or not.

Getting to kiss the most beautiful girl in the universe was more than worth some pain and another blood-stained shirt, after all.

[ericamzdm]

The thing that’s upsetting me about Catradora Discourse

...is that it’s all about Catra.

And, like, it’s not that I don’t have thoughts about Catra as an individual (little distressed by the number of people who are willing to condemn child raised in an institutional setting for having attachment disorders, honestly), but.

It feels like you could replace Adora with a lamppost (who transforms into a taller, shinier lamppost with ‘Lawful Good’ written on the side), and not change 95% of the discourse around the ship, from what little I’ve seen. And that’s -

Like, a story about how the unsustainable relationship between two young women with distinct sets of scars from their traumatic upbringing is shattered, turns septic, and is finally allowed to heal and be rebuilt with a greater level of mutual care and understanding is a solid romance/relationship plot, because it centers on the relationship.

Five seasons of The Bad One emoting at a lamppost until she finally picks up a redemption token may be a perfectly fine story, but it’s not a ship, because there’s no relationship there.

And this may just be flat out be a failure in how the show portrayed Adora, that her (active, messy, flawed) role in the relationship was not explained/displayed extensively enough. That when she was told ‘you deserve love too’ , significant chunks of the audience seems to have read it as ‘Ah, yes, Adora the Lawful Good Protagonist has accumulated enough Hero tokens sacrificing herself on the Altar of Other People that she gets to survive despite it! Good job, Adora! Now you’ve earned a gf with at least a 81% Goodness Score, so WTF are you doing with a 33% catgirl?‘ Annnnd Nope. No. Bad. Do Not Want.

The amount you have to bleed to be worthy of love and happiness is precisely zero.

Relationships are not prizes bestowed by the universe for racking up points on a moral scoreboard, they are connections that people build and nurture and value together. They have f-all to do with relative ‘goodness’.

Catradora happens because they both want this relationship, because the joy it brings them makes it worth the work of building and maintaining it.

tl;dr: For pity’s sake, please, if you’re going to object to Catradora (or, you know, any other ship), do it because you think they wouldn’t make each other happy, not because you feel one character hasn’t passed some arbitrary (it will always be arbitrary) penance threshold.

[catrasredemption-moved]

oooo okay okay dw abt "doing it justice" bro I love ur writing just do ur thing!!! n e way so, catradora + sleep paralysis for the prompt? 🥺🥺 everyone always talks abt them sleep fighting nd idk i think a worse nightmare for either of them would be like seeing SW just standing there watching them sleep while unable to move and even though they know it's not real it just.... oof u know? 🙂

Okay I couldn’t decide who to do it for, so.... have one for each of them XD

Adora

She didn’t usually let on about how much seeing Shadow Weaver hurt Catra had hurt her. It felt too much like encroaching on Catra’s trauma. And yeah, that was stupid. But Adora couldn’t help how her brain worked.

But she relived those horrifying moments in her dreams. The fear and pain in Catra’s expression. The pure hate in every word Shadow Weaver spoke. Her own, crushing helplessness as she watched her friend, being hurt right in front of her, unable to do anything.

Adora’s eyes snapped open as she sucked in a sharp, uneven breath of air. Just a nightmare. The same nightmare of Shadow Weaver and Catra, nothing new, nothing...

Shadows moved in the corner of her eye.

She tried to sit up, tried to make a noise of some kind, any kind, but she couldn’t even twitch. Her gaze snapped to the left, scanning the air above Catra. Nothing. She was seeing things. It was just a dream. Was... Was it darker in the room? Were the shadows longer? No, she was dreaming. She couldn’t move, she was dreaming, she had to wake up, she had to... to...

The shadows swirled above Catra. Adora tried to yell, to choke out some kind of warning, anything, she had to help Catra, she had to save Catra, but she couldn’t move, she couldn’t get to her, she was three feet away and useless, absolutely useless, she, she, she--

“Ah!”

It felt like a switch was flipped -- one minute Adora couldn’t move, the next she was rolling, almost out of control, on top of Catra. She moved fast, tucking her girlfriend under her chin, her legs wrapping around Catra’s and holding her tight, her arms winding around Catra’s body, one hand resting against the back of her head and the other bracing her neck, pulling her in.

“Ow! Adora, what--?”

Catra cut off abruptly, realizing Adora was tense. “You okay?” she ventured cautiously after a moment. Adora nodded once, silent. “Do you need anything from me?” Another nod. “Is it to stay right here and don’t move so you can protect me?” A third nod. “Okay.”

Catra reached the best she could to tug the blankets over them (with a little help from Melog) and they settled back in together. Adora fell back to sleep eventually, although her grip on Catra never loosened.

Catra

Horde Prime and Shadow Weaver competed for the honor of being the most horrific monster in Catra’s dreams. Horde Prime had the shock factor on his side -- a lot of trauma in a relatively short period of time -- versus Shadow Weaver’s endless knowledge of all the ways to hurt Catra without lifting a finger.

It was no surprise her brain would eventually team them up to get the most out of her nightmares.

Shadows were on the edge of her consciousness as she woke up, not quite shaken, but absolutely on guard. Just a nightmare. Nothing new, it was fine...

Insolent child.

Catra tried to jump, to pull away from the hateful voice. She couldn’t move. Oh little sister. Air turned icy in her lungs. Don’t drag this out. It’ll only bring you more pain.

NO.

Catra tried to move again, eyes flicking about, finally catching a hint of green at the edge of the shadows. Her heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest. No no no no no no nononononono--

Talon-like shadows brushed against her face. Don’t worry. We’ll have this all fixed in no time.

It was just like when Horde Prime had controlled her. Trapped inside her own body, unable to run, unable to warn Adora, unable to do anything while something else used her like a puppet...

Something gentle touched her cheek. A shriek built in her throat before she realized how familiar the sensation was. Like something warm and soft had pressed against her. Welcoming. Loving.

Melog.

She closed her eyes, trying to breathe, and after a moment her muscles began to unlock. She sat up as soon as she could, clinging to Melog as she looked around.

But the room was empty. No creeping shadows. No green light. Just her, Melog, and...

“Catra?”

Adora. Catra looked back at her, wide-eyed. Adora was yawning, half sitting up and watching her with worry in her gaze. “S’wrong?”

“Nothing,” Catra mumbled, lying back and down and curling into Adora’s side. Melog sandwiched her from the other side, and Adora immediately understood. She nodded to the alien cat, wrapped Catra in her arms, and hugged her close, making sure she was protected on all sides as she slipped back to sleep.

[yeetlinglaozus]

(1st anon) i also love wh and i have a bunch of actual incest ships and yeah i don't see chengxian as incestuous at all. "sometimes they see e/o as brothers" "they were raised together" so do/were steve and bucky, catra and adora and a other characters in popular ships, where's the outrage? truth is fandom has become addicted to branding as immoral/evil literally everything they don't like and some western fans are incapable of seeing past their own culture. anyways i love chengxian ❤️💜

“A bunch of actual incest ships” I love tumblr so much for the simple fact that you can say that and own it. ;

I don’t feel one way or another about incest ships. They’re not usually my cup of tea, but I’ve also written 10k smut about like the Hitachiin twins from OHSHC so I’m not ever one to stand in judgment about it. Plus a lot of mythos from a variety of cultures and ancient civilizations have mad romance stories between siblings or uncles and just relatives in general and I eat that up bc I’m a history ho. 

Then there’s the ever popular “childhood sweethearts” and “friends to lovers” tropes that run rampant in romance of every media form. 

In all honesty, making a big deal of chengxian being shipped is outright silly and hilarious bc there is always far worse and more fucked up things out there and on here. Plus it just brings attention to the ship and gets ppl reading discourse on it and making them go “huh, that actually makes sense” and sometimes is enough to convert them. I’ve done this with 3 friends of mine recently and am giddy about ruining them and sinking them into these waters with me. 

[fingerglow]

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, so here we go! Here’s the reasoning for some of the main characters in my She-Ra AU Fic (not all of them), including some that haven’t been shown yet. If you want to read it, it’s on my pinned post.

S5 and OTK spoiler free!

Part 1/?

Agatha: Adora. Both were raised in an environment where they were expected to work and excel on the villainous side, only to end up having a destiny as one of the biggest forces of Good in their world. It took them a while to feel like they belonged on the Good side, and both have self-worth issues where they believe they need to risk themselves and their happiness for everyone else to succeed. While I know a lot of people would’ve preferred Tedros to be Adora due to the blond, dumb jock character type, I can’t see him in this position.

Hester: Catra. Admittedly this was mostly because I’m a sucker for Agaster, and because I fangirled over @tedros-is-helpless ‘s SGE redraw of the prom scene, but I can’t think of a single character who matches her personality better than Hester. She’s incredibly attached to her friends but is also short-tempered and finds the respect she craves through power. While doing so, she starts to view the people helping her as “henchmen” and doesn’t realise the hurt she causes them until it’s pointed out, and from that point on she starts to reform. I mean, Hester got the whole year to try and kill Sophie in the first book just to get in the highest position of power she could. Not to mention her general lack of respect towards everyone except the people she loves, and around them, she’s vulnerable and teasing. She’s just so perfect for the role.

Tedros: Glimmer. Both are rather stubborn, headstrong heirs to the throne that are not fully trusted by the people running their kingdoms. While perfectly capable of being good leaders, they’re both slightly immature and quick to judge by appearances, while also very quick to be fooled by the enemy. Desperate to prove themselves, but end up messing up by doing so. Also, mommy issues. And daddy issues as well, actually.

Sophie: Bow. While there are very tenuous links between these two characters, the main protagonist trio wouldn’t be complete without Sophie, would it? Asides from that, both Bow and Sophie are kind of the third-wheel friend of the group. While everyone is focused on the relationship between the two others, they both go rather unnoticed while still trying to maintain close friendship with the ones they love. They’re both incredibly smart and cunning (Bow contributes to the plans more than anyone else does) and don’t always find it easy to forgive others.

Anadil: Entrapta. Both came from royal/regal families and backgrounds but weren’t viewed the same as the other people of their status and so found their companions in non-humans. They’re both very analytical and not necessarily led by their emotions or what is seen as “morally correct”, and find their place among the villainous side due to their close friends there.

Dot: Scorpia. Does this really need explanation? Underrated friend in a group of close-knit villains who is perceived as loving them unconditionally despite the constant abuse towards her. They’re both heirs to a powerful position in a kingdom that ended up being inhabited by Nevers/Horde Soldiers. Only there because her older relative bribed Hordak, has immense power, and stands up for herself when she knows her friends have gone too far. Absolute cinnamon roll, deserves the world and is my girlfriend.

I’ve got a match for every character in the show I think, so I’ll probably post more, but in the meantime y’all should go read the first chapter! Please! I need validation!

[johannas-motivational-insults]

For the DVD commentary ask, my first thought was the BDE/“no toasters” scene from Chapter 3 of Satisfaction, because the idea of a “making of” commentary over that is very funny to me for some reason. But since that probably falls quite a bit too far on the NSFW side, my fallback was the scene from Chapter 20 of Demons where Catra decides to leave the Horde. That one is probably my favorite of the story so far.

omfg, that would be hysterical but I don’t even know what I’d say about that. Your easy pick is an excellent choice though so I’ll do that! (Commentary is bolded.)

I was so excited to finally release this chapter after so much buildup of Catra becoming disillusioned with the Horde and her identity in it. It was clear to me that Catra would not leave just because something bad happened to her, that would only make her more determined to stay and prove herself, so she’d have to see people she cared about getting hurt to make that mental leap. And so, this scene was born.

Eyes scrunching shut, Catra covers her mouth in an attempt to suppress a yawn. It leaks out through her fingers all the same, high and squeaky and embarrassing. Blinking the focus back into her eyes, she flicks them around in search of witnesses. Seeing no cadets looking her way, she sighs in relief and folds her arms back together. She scowls into the sparring circle, watching but hardly paying attention. Is she really supposed to give a shit about any of this?

Don’t forget this happens the morning after Catra has her big breakdown when it hits her that she’ll never have another chance to earn Shadow Weaver’s love or approval. She’s finally at a tipping point.

A few more moves and Lonnie is victorious, slamming her opponent on his back before rolling and dragging his wrist into a devastating arm bar. He taps out and Lonnie gets a modest amount of applause as she stands. Grinning with a sweeping bow, she offers a hand to her opponent, who takes it grudgingly. Kyle and another boy take their places in the circle and Lonnie shares high fives with a few cadets on her way out. She’s nursing a sprained ankle from a couple days ago, but you wouldn’t know it by the way she struts.

When Lonnie’s eyes lock onto hers, Catra groans internally. Of course Lonnie can’t just ignore the folded ears, crossed arms and twitchy tail that very clearly say ‘leave me the fuck alone.’ No, that’s like a homing beacon for Lonnie. She’s always gotten a kick out of getting under Catra’s skin.

Well, Catra won’t give her the satisfaction. As Lonnie sidles up to her, she extends a congratulatory fist. “Nice armbar, dipshit.”

Lonnie grins, bumping it with pride. “Thanks, bitch.”

I love these two so much. Anyone who reads my fics can probably tell but I am Invested in Catralonnie. In my head this ship falls under the category ‘brotps who hate fuck.’

She turns to the circle and they stand silently side by side, watching as the next fight gets underway. In theory, anyway. Catra’s zoning out, her lips sinking into a frown as she settles back into the numb, dark, heavy place she’s been inhabiting today. Grief, she supposes, though not in the usual sense of the word. She’s not grieving that abusive witch who tormented her all those years, body and soul. No, what she’s grieving is the end of their relationship, how it’s encased in stone forever, how she’ll have no more chances to make things right. No more chances to make Shadow Weaver proud, to earn a gentle touch and kind words, to earn her pride and her trust. But that’s bullshit, and she knows it. Those things were never earned, never given fairly.

Oh, she’s starting to get it...

Catra grits her teeth, glaring straight ahead. Today’s numbness has been punctuated by occasional bursts of anger, rage so blinding it makes her wants to tear her own skin to shreds to purge the feeling from her body. (*thousand year stare into the camera*) She rides out this latest wave of fury in silence, clenching her fists but keeping her claws sheathed to avoid making a scene in public. She takes a few deep breaths, pushing them out until the sensation releases her and she sinks back into the depths.

Shadow Weaver is gone. Catra will never get what she needs. It’s over.

Girl, you need to get you some therapy.

“What’s eating you?”

Catra jumps slightly at the invasive words, turning to find Lonnie watching her with those infuriatingly smug green eyes. Licking her lips, Lonnie cracks, “I know it isn’t Adora.”

Me @ y’all:

Catra’s eyes narrow and she gives Lonnie a weak shove, prompting a laugh. “Nothing’s eating me,” she growls. “I’m fine.”

“Then why aren’t you sparring?” asks Lonnie. “Usually you love the chance to beat the shit out of some dumb human.”

“I don’t feel like it,” Catra answers flatly, mouth twitching only slightly. She doesn’t have the energy to be indignant. She doesn’t give a shit.

Damn that’s when you know Catra’s really got it bad.

Nodding with an exaggerated hum, Lonnie remarks, “You’ve been weird all day, dude. Broody, like more than normal.” (Have I mentioned how much I love Lonnie??) Catra summons the strength to shoot her a withering glare, but she’s undeterred. “You snuck into the barracks after midnight last night, then you woke me up again with your snivelling at four in the fucking morning,” she says with a glare of her own. “You owe me an explanation.”

“I don’t owe you anything, assface,” retorts Catra, jamming a threatening claw against her chest. “And I was only snivelling because I inhaled something weird up on the rooftops.”

Lonnie tips her head with a condescending smirk. “Sure, Catra.”

Yes, this is in fact a hat tip to ‘Sure, Jan.’

“I’m serious,” insists Catra. “There must’ve been some kind of spill in one of the factories.”

“Uh huh.”

Catra turns away with a glower, shaking her head. “Whatever, fuck you.”

“You wish,” snickers Lonnie.

“Ughhh!” Catra smacks her forehead with a huge sigh of exasperation. “Fine, I’ll fight you if it will get you to shut up. For fuck’s sakes, Lonnie.”

Lonnie’s preferred method of therapy is to piss people off enough that they’ll fight her and I think that’s very sexy of her.

Chuckling deeply beside her, Lonnie slings an arm around Catra’s shoulder and gives her a playful shake. “That’s my girl.”

Catra would usually shove Lonnie away in this situation, but she doesn’t this time. She’s too tired to fight the contact and needs to save her strength for the actual fight. Besides, it’s not the end of the world. Lonnie’s arm is beefy but not so heavy as to be uncomfortable. The pressure is actually kind of soothing in a way, clearing Catra’s mind and lulling her into a state of calm. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone, let alone Lonnie.

BROTPS WHO HATE FUCK Y’ALL. Okay but honestly I love that I have this relationship to work with because having someone who’s really good at getting under Catra’s skin is another way to open up her character. Lonnie is not only a loveable character she’s a very useful one for a writer who tells stories primarily through character work and relationships.

A loud thud and a howl of pain pierce the air, snapping Catra back to the moment. Her ears prick up at the familiar sound and she moves toward it on instinct, only to realize she’s half a step behind Lonnie. Humans like to say that cats aren’t pack animals, she’s heard that one many times as a reason she can’t be trusted. Catra is no more an animal than anyone else here, but she thinks Magicats must be different from their feline relatives in that way. The urge to protect her pack is overwhelming and immutable. One of her squadmates is hurt, and she needs to be there to help. Now.

Anyone who says Catra doesn’t care about other people can fucking fight me and that’s a fact.

She and Lonnie arrive at the edge of the circle to find Kyle sprawled on his stomach, moaning and writhing, pounding the floor as he tries to hold back wails of pain. It’s not immediately apparent what the problem is from Catra’s vantage point, but Rogelio is already kneeling on Kyle’s other side, telling him to breathe and that he’s going to be fine.

Okay so I fucking went 16 chapters never specifying whether the rest of the squad understood Rogelio’s language because it wasn’t clear in canon and I wanted to see if they would confirm it one way or the other, and of course as soon as I posted chapter 17 (where I specify that they can) season 4 came out and implied that they know him well enough to understand via his tone and gesturing but they don’t understand the language. So mark me down as annoyed over that. Anyway that wasn’t something I wanted to retcon so I kept it for the rest of the fic.

The instructor, some lower tier officer Catra doesn’t really know, steps into the ring. Pushing Kyle’s worried sparring partner aside, he shouts, “Enough theatrics! Get up and fight!”

Oh boy, Shadow Weaver likes to use that word on Adora too. I don’t remember if this mirrored that intentionally.

Catra feels Lonnie tense beside her, hears Rogelio snorting at Kyle that his leg is broken and he’d better stay the fuck down. Cringing in anticipation, Catra peeks over Kyle’s body and immediately wishes she hadn’t. The sight of his unnaturally bent shinbone sends a shudder of sympathy through her bones.

The instructor must not have any reptile friends (likely) or he understands and is a complete and utter asshole (also likely), because he keeps yelling at Kyle, “Come on, don’t be such a princess! I said get up, you coward!”

The boys’ wailing and snorting is getting them nowhere, so Lonnie intercedes. Gesturing down at the deformed limb, she shouts over the din. “His leg’s broken! You really think that’s a good idea?”

The instructor’s mouth falls open and he peers down at Kyle and then back up at Lonnie, his face turning red. “Don’t talk to me that way, Cadet!” he barks. “You’re running laps for the next half hour.”

Okay, Shadow Weaver Lite.

Lonnie blinks, purging her face of emotion. “I’m just trying to help. You needed a translator.”

“The next hour!” he shouts. “Wanna push it more?”

Scowling, Lonnie shakes her head tersely and begins to push her way out of the circle of cadets. Watching her go, the instructor puffs out his chest and waves a dismissive hand down at Kyle.

“Someone take this weakling to the infirmary,” he orders.

Rogelio glares up at the instructor, though to be fair the asshole probably can’t read reptilian expressions either. Lucky Hel. Rolling his whimpering boyfriend to lie on his back, which results in another howl of pain, he grunts out an apology. Then, supporting the injured leg with one massive arm and the rest of his body with the other, he scoops Kyle up and carries him away.

Okay but the bridal carry is *chef’s kiss*

As the crowd reforms around the sparring circle, the instructor claps Kyle’s partner on the shoulder and declares, “Alright, let’s get a real soldier in here to fight this guy!”

I feel really bad for this kid tbh.

The cadets erupt into cheers and several rush forward to take Kyle’s place, which results in a couple of impromptu fights as they try to push each other out of the circle. Catra is knocked back into the crowd in the process, but she doesn’t react with her usual bared teeth and claws, too busy staring slack-jawed at the chaos. Never in her life has she felt more disconnected from her surroundings, not even when she wanted to be.

At one point in her life (okay, many points), Catra would have been clamoring along with the rest of them. For a chance not just to prove herself, but to avenge her injured squadmate. But she feels no need to prove herself to this incompetent asshole of an instructor, and it’s not that kid’s fault they’re compelled to fight each other like this. He clearly felt terrible about Kyle, anyway.

As Catra watches the scene play out, watches the instructor continue to egg the cadets on, only one clear thought forms in her head.

What the fuck is wrong with these people?

Seriously. How is it weak and cowardly not to stand and fight on a broken leg? That’s not how the body works. Then again, they also like to say that deserters are weak and cowardly. Maybe they don’t know what those words even mean. Maybe weak and cowardly just means having a mind of your own.

Catra’s eyes track Lonnie as she hobbles around the room with a red face and clenched fists. Though she isn’t visibly fuming in the same way, a similar heat smolders deep in Catra’s belly, filling her mind with treasonous thoughts. The whole thing is so fucking unfair. But that’s hardly some grand revelation. Nothing that happens in the Fright Zone is fair.

So what is she even doing here?

That thought in particular makes Catra blink. Hard. She knows why she’s here, she’s been saying it over and over, clinging to these words, this need. She needs to show them they were wrong, she needs to achieve what everyone thought her incapable of. If she leaves, she’ll never do that, and everything that happened here would be for nothing. But if nothing is fair here, rising to the top says nothing about her qualifications, only her ability to work the system. A system that’s absolute bullshit.

And who does she need to prove it to, anyway? These mindless idiots submitting to an incompetant authority figure? Her temperamental former boss who put blind faith in her one day and took it away the next? Her deceased sorry excuse for a mother? Her ex-best friend who left her alone to suffer, but has since come to understand her wrongdoings? No… the only person Catra really needs to prove it to is herself. But if the system is bullshit, there’s nothing to prove, only a painful void to fill with… something.

Honestly this is a rough feeling to deal with but at least now that the illusion has been broken she can go about trying to find that thing to fill it. And no that’s not a sex joke lmao, though I suppose it could be.

Scorpia’s words from last night filter into Catra’s brain through the distant sounds of cheering and shouting. If it feels like everything is for nothing, she needs to find a way to make something of her suffering so she can be at peace. Her eyes fall on Lonnie again, her ears recalling Kyle’s sounds of agony. If she can stop other people from being hurt the way she was, would that make something of it? Would that be enough to satisfy the longing deep inside her, to heal the yawning, yearning chasm Shadow Weaver created with her rejection and cruelty, with her refusal to provide validation and affection? Catra doesn’t know.

All Catra knows is she’s done with this shit.

Catra I am so proud of you bb I love you and you deserve better.

Anyway sorry I had less coherent thoughts for this commentary but this scene makes me emotional so I got a little meme-happy. I have had many experiences like this where I was just holding, holding onto something that was unhealthy or a lost cause and then something happened and a switch flipped in my brain, releasing me from that mind trap. I really wanted to get the feeling of that experience across and I’m proud of how it turned out. It’s a great payoff scene for that whole ‘return to the Horde’ arc for Catra. I didn’t want her to leave for Adora but I also knew she wouldn’t leave for herself until she witnessed the brutality and inequality hurting someone else.

[wherestoriescomefrom]

Do you think that the writers could do more development and depth with the character of Adora or do you like how she is?

I’m loving all these questions though, keep it coming!!

With Adora... idk, I do think Noelle realised her potential, especially with regards to Adora’s problem of not always being sure of how to love her friends beyond her usefulness. I like that it was Catra that asked her what she wanted, because you’d think Catra was too selfish a character to do that, wouldn’t you? Adora’s characterisation is very strong and developed, with a lot of depth - and the definitive arc is about Adora learning that she is loved, that she has to find her strength and energy through that love, and that it is important for her to know that. 

But I also feel like one thing that people don’t realise about her character is that she doesn’t actually know how to... apologise. Her bravery, her acts of self sacrifice, her ability to put the needs of others (and the planet’s!) first - they all come from the same impulse. She seems to be putting her life on the line again and again, because that is how she thinks she is going to be useful to her friends, to make up for her being... her. It breaks my heart a little, but that inadequacy that Adora feels - it’s not just from the fact that she feels like she has to be useful to be loved, it’s also because she doesn’t always know how to apologise for her mistakes. She abandoned Catra in the Horde? The whole of ‘Remember’ is Adora trying to fix that, putting her life increasingly at risk trying to get Catra out of the Horde before the portal collapses. She had ups and downs and ups and downs with Glimmer in season four? She’s going to go through an intergalactic journey to an empire that is vastly more powerful in a desperate bid to save her. She allowed Entrapta to be left behind in the Fright Zone, leading to Entrapta joining Catra? She’s going to travel to Beast Island to get her out, despite knowing just how dangerous it is. She’s the weapon that the First Ones created to destroy the Horde and possibly the universe? She’s going to sacrifice her life for Etheria. 

Adora doesn’t always know how to apologise for some of these mistakes - particularly the one about having left Catra behind. I actually watched ‘Remember’ again to make sure - but she doesn’t say sorry. A lot of this is because this show doesn’t focus on the art of apology as much - we don’t see a lot of characters apologising in general (notably, the one character that does is Catra, in ‘Corridors.’ Hmm maybe I should do a meta on that sometime, since I love that episode so much). In Adora’s case the inadequacy she feels over what she considers mistakes, moments when she wasn’t as useful, when she didn’t make the right call - seem to loom bigger and bigger. Until, even the decisions that weren’t in her hands are things she atones for: for instance, the fact that she was a universe destroying weapon. I feel like the show could have looked at this aspect more closely sometimes, but it’s also like - a war. You don’t have a lot of time to apologise, or learn how to apologise either. It’s not a skill I would underplay, either, I think it’s very necessary for a show about friendship to learn apologies. We only ever see Catra apologise meaningfully at multiple moments - but that doesn’t mean that the others shouldn’t. 

I should add a caveat: I haven’t rewatched the show in a while, but I cannot remember many memorable apologies. I think in general, even shows about friendship don’t really focus on that - we really just don’t value it as much. I do think it is necessary to look at it, because an apology is a very important step towards learning how to value yourself: you figure out just how you may have done wrong, admit to it, and promise to do better. It fundamentally involves two people - if you apologise, the other person is involved in the contract that will fix the mistake. It’s something shows really don’t focus on that much, or relegate it to reformed villain characters. I think we should reflect on that as a whole, too - it would have added more depth to Adora’s character and the show, for sure - but what does it say about us as a society that this is not something we think about as much? 

[jeserai]

burnt sugar (4/8)

And Catra has dealt with all kinds of people in her life, but she has never, never had anyone so simply listen to her, trust her, and believe in her. For a moment, Catra wonders if that’s what she’s missed out on all her life—if people just trust and believe without a moment’s thought—or if that’s just the way Adora works.

Catra figures the glass of wine she’d already had is the reason that she feels like she’s buzzing as she leads Adora through the bar and up the stairs. Adora’s hand is held tight in hers despite the lack of crowd around them, but Catra feels good like this, and Adora doesn’t pull away, so she doesn’t let go. Adora is silent until they get to the table, her eyes roaming the room in obvious shock and delight. For a moment, Catra is confused, and then she remembers: Adora comes from a completely different world from her, one where places like the Crimson Waste are seen as a luxury, not a standard.

Honestly, her wide-eyed amazement is...kind of cute. Catra laughs a little under her breath and brushes passed Adora to pull her chair out; when Adora looks at her, Catra bows and gives her a wry little grin. “Your chair,” she says, reveling in the way Adora’s cheeks pinken.

Before Adora sits, she glances down at herself, tugging at the shoulders of her shirt as if embarrassed by how low it dips. “Leave it, princess,” Catra says, and though Adora is looking at her, confused, Catra means it, just like she meant what she said earlier: Adora looks good like this. Her hair has been freed from its rigid ponytail and instead sits atop her head in an artfully messy bun, a few locks framing and softening her face, and Catra knows she’s going to be stealing Adora’s loosely tucked in button up and pants ensemble.

“You don’t think it looks weird?”

“It looks amazing,” Catra says, and she is just as surprised as Adora by how much she means it. But the soft smile she receives and the way Adora’s shoulders relax as her self-consciousness begins to fade is so, so worth it, and Catra has to bite the inside of her lip hard to keep from smiling back.

Because this is just business.

“Anyway, I figured you didn’t drink, but I ordered us wine anyway.” Catra says briskly as she sits. She takes another sip of the wine and tries not to choke on a laugh as Adora’s nose wrinkles—and god, how can even that be endearing? “Okay, so I’ll have wine. I’ve already ordered my usual for us both, but it’s fine if you don’t like it.”

“It should be fine, I can eat anything.” But Adora still picks up the menu to skim it, her eyes going almost comically wide as she sees the prices. Before she can begin to protest, Catra reaches out, tapping her finger against the top of the menu to get Adora’s attention.

“Hey. I’ve got it, okay? If you want something, just...pick something you think you’ll like, and don’t worry about anything else.”

Adora chews at her lower lip again, looking at Catra hard for a long few moments. Whatever she’s looking for, she must find, because she takes a deep breath and then nods, again tucking the wavy strands of hair framing her face behind her ears. “I guess I’m ready then?”

Obediently, Catra flags the nearest server down, propping her chin on one hand to watch Adora as she orders. Entrapta must seriously be rubbing off on her, because Catra finds herself noticing more and more little details about Adora in those moments: how often she bites and licks at her lip, the way she blinks too fast and too often when the server asks her a clarifying question, the dimple that winks out when she smiles in thanks. How she’s been sitting ramrod straight ever since they got to their table, the way her fingers flutter to the shoulders of her shirt before falling to her lap again, how when she glances at Catra now, her gaze rests just to the left of her.

And when the server leaves, Catra traces her finger against the rim of her wine glass, waiting for a moment for Adora to speak. She doesn’t, so Catra asks, “What happened?”

Adora jumps a little, again looking at that spot just to the left of Catra’s shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“You’re nervous. You’re doing that thing with your hair, and you keep biting your lip, and you won’t even look at me.” True to her observation, Adora’s gaze has fallen to the tabletop, and Catra sighs. “So what happened?”

“Why didn’t you tell me who you are?” Adora blurts out. She immediately looks guilty, brows furrowing further when Catra scoffs.

“Because I didn’t want this to happen. People always act differently when they find out.”

“Why?”

And that’s— “That’s not quite a first date question, princess.”

For the first time since they sat down, Adora looks at her—really looks at her. And then their eye contact breaks, and Adora nods, absently 9tucking her hair back again with one hand. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ll wait, as long as it takes—if you want to tell me, anyway.”

And Catra has dealt with all kinds of people in her life, but she has never, never had anyone so simply listen to her, trust her, and believe in her. For a moment, Catra wonders if that’s what she’s missed out on all her life—if people just trust and believe without a moment’s thought—or if that’s just the way Adora works.

“Okay, princess. Tell me something about you then.”

And Adora does. She tells Catra about her best friends, about her grandmother, about the classes she’s taking. She’s majoring in psychology, and wants to be a therapist so she can help kids in high school and college, because it’s such a vulnerable time for them—and here, her voice breaks and Catra knows there’s a deeper story than that, so she changes the subject. She asks about fencing, and finds out that Adora has been fencing since she was a kid, and that she loves it. She’s helpless to succumb to Adora’s smile, and all it takes is one pleading look for Catra to spill out all the dumb little bits and pieces of her childhood that she can stand to think about.

She tells Adora about her shithead foster brother (but she doesn’t say that, all she tells Adora about are the times when they used to tolerate each other) and about growing up with Entrapta, the two of them quite literally crawling around the inner workings of the Horde Headquarters. She tells Adora about all the times they’d get in trouble for finding their way into the vent ducts, and about how boring being homeschooled was, and about how she made a game of terrorizing all of the maids and teachers until they quit.

She’s definitely glossing over the gritty details, but Adora doesn’t deserve to have all of Catra’s shit dumped on her at once, and honestly, for what is probably the first time ever, Catra actually wants to tell someone all of the deepest, darkest things that have happened to her—and she’s not even drunk.

All conversation dies as the food comes; Adora ends up inhaling the penne alla moscato despite Catra’s teasing about the wine in it, and she hesitantly asks if they can get another serving for Lonnie. (And when Adora says that, Catra almost spits out her wine. But she agrees, because it’s Adora.) Catra knows that Adora wants to order dessert by the way her eyes keep flitting to the dessert menu, but before Adora can open her mouth to ask, Catra stands, comes around the side of the table, and offers Adora her hand. Adora takes it, confused, but she smiles bright and radiant when Catra explains, “The dessert here isn’t as good as the dinner, trust me. We can go somewhere else, your pick.”

And that is how they end up walking to a little diner on the corner of two relatively empty streets. Apparently, Adora is friends with the owners: she waves Catra towards a booth in the back and then stays up at the counter, talking to the one that had introduced herself as Netossa. When Adora comes back, she’s smiling, but the tips of her ears are bright red, and Catra very pointedly does not comment on what she’d managed to overhear of Adora’s conversation.

“So, what do they have here, princess?”

Adora rolls her eyes, but there is only fondness in her voice when she answers, “Spinerella and Netossa are like...you know those friends that are so close to your family that you call them family?” Catra doesn’t, but she nods anyway. “They’re like my cousins. Or, Glimmer’s, but—we’re all close enough that I call them my cousins. Anyway, they’re giving us milkshakes on the house, which is what I wanted you to try anyway. Everything here is great though, and handmade too. It takes longer, but I think it’s worth it. I...I hope you like it.”

The sudden quietness to Adora’s voice makes Catra freeze, look up. And as she watches Adora watch her, Catra realizes. This isn’t just dessert, this is Adora bringing Catra in close, showing her a hidden part of herself. She said it herself, that these are her cousins, her family. And that’s—

“I will,” she blurts out. And that doesn’t feel like enough, but Adora’s cheeks are as red as her ears now as she nods. She looks like she wants to say something else, but she stays silent, her smile soft and her gaze fixed on the tabletop.

Catra nudges one of Adora’s knees with her foot to get her attention; when Adora glances up, she says, “I wanted to take you out instead, so you could see how...formal this will be. Have you ever danced before—something proper, like a waltz?”

Adora shakes her head, and that wide-eyed look of shock comes back. “Something proper—formal? A waltz?”

“What a shame, I guess I’ll just have to teach you. When are you free?”

As if emboldened by Catra’s playful tone, Adora rests her chin on her hand, watching Catra with a raised brow and a wicked grin settled on her lips. “Why Catra,” she asks, “are you asking me on a date?”

Only now does Catra let a grin mirroring Adora’s split her lips, and she can already tell that Adora is beginning to regret her teasing. “Would you say yes If I were?”

Adora opens her mouth to answer, something like relief and disappointment flashing across her expression when she spots Netossa coming out with their milkshakes. She throws Adora a very obvious wink and as she sets their milkshakes down, says, “Adora, come back sooner next time—and feel free to bring your girlfriend too!”

Adora makes a very interesting, very high pitched sound in response, and Catra leans forward to rest her hand on top of Adora’s as she responds. “She will; you’ll definitely be seeing a lot of us.”

Again comes that strangled noise, and Catra gives first Adora, then Netossa her most saccharine smile. Adora turns her hand over as if on autopilot to lace their fingers together, then promptly hides her face in her free hand as Netossa laughs and walks away. It’s endearing, how easy Adora is, and Catra takes careful note of the resurgence of Adora’s blushing before schooling her expression into something more neutral.

“Girlfriend, huh?”

“So they asked who you were, and if you were my girlfriend, so I may have told them that we’re dating? I panicked, okay? Stop laughing!”

Catra covers her heart with her free hand, drawing back in mock surprise as she says, “I would never laugh at my girlfriend! I’m offended you even brought it up, you know how much I—care about you.” 

If Adora notices the way Catra trips up over her words, she doesn’t elaborate; she just smiles gently and drags her milkshake towards herself. It’s huge, a monster of a milkshake, topped with licorice, strawberries and even a doughnut.

“This is...interesting.”

“Ella is practically dessert psychic,” Adora agrees, very sagely, “I guarantee you’ll love it.”

She looks so serious that Catra has to cough to keep from laughing, but as she watches Adora carefully free the doughnut from her milkshake, she kind of...has to agree. Because Adora’s milkshake is bright and bold, full of so many sweet, sugary things, and that’s...very Adora. And Catra doesn’t even like chocolate that much, but when she takes a careful sip, she finds that her own milkshake is bitter beneath the sweetness.

And that’s...kind of fitting.

“Okay, I guess I’ll give her this one.”

“Right?”

“It’s alright,” Catra mutters. Adora rolls her eyes and waves for Catra to slide the milkshake over, her nose wrinkling as she takes a sip.

“It’s too bitter—but I guess you like it like that?”

“I’m not big on sweets,” Catra shrugs, “never really have been. And no, I won’t try yours, it looks too sweet.”

Adora looks as if Catra has just insulted her very sense of being, so Catra heaves a sigh and leans in to try it. And she’s right; the milkshake is far too sweet on her tongue, but so is Adora’s smile, and that’s—

“Anyway,” Catra shoves the thought away, forcing herself away from Adora to start, “the dinner is in a month, at Horde HQ. It’ll be pretty formal, but you don’t have to do much, just show up on my arm and look pretty. Since, you know, you are my girlfriend.”

“Ha ha, shut up,” Adora mutters, casting Catra a glare that is largely ineffective due to the soft smile on her lips.

“But really, you just have to...show up with me. We’ll eat some, dance a bit, socialize—small talk with the suits. My—Weaver said if I didn’t find someone respectable to go with this year, she’d pick someone for me. Since, y’know. I’m old enough to inherit the family business and all of that crap. But anyway—yeah. That’s pretty much it.”

“What about outfits? I don’t really…”

“We’ll go shopping whenever you’re free. But there’s time until then—I’m more concerned with you learning how to waltz, at least.”

Adora hums and nods. Catra watches her dip one of the plump strawberries in milkshake and lick it clean before speaking again. “That sounds good. I can send you my schedule later, but I can make time—”

“It’s okay, princess. Maybe I’ll just show up again, and you’ll just have to come with me.”

“You know,” Adora says slowly, “I don’t think I’d mind that.”

Catra returns to her milkshake to try to keep the flustered smile from her lips.

 Over the next two weeks, Adora inserts herself into Catra’s life almost effortlessly. If they’re not texting or on the phone with each other, Catra is wherever Adora is; waiting outside the gym after fencing practice, sitting in the booth furthest to the door with a coffee and her laptop while Adora bustles around Bright Moon, draped over the length of the couch with her head pillowed in Adora’s lap as she studies.

And despite the glares Adora’s roommate gives her, and the rather invasive questions Entrapta has begun to ask about her and Adora’s relationship, Catra really likes this. She likes how easily she and Adora read each other now, and she likes texting Adora during shitty board meetings, and she likes when Adora falls asleep while they’re on the phone, mostly because she gets to tease her about it once she wakes up.

She likes going out with Adora and treating her and her team to dinner after they win meets, and she likes the way Adora has her order memorized and ready when she gets to Bright Moon, and she loves that Adora always curls into her and lets her trace idle circles against her hip or thigh.

Eventually that word always comes up again—girlfriend—and they both ignore it except to tease each other, because they’re not dating. They’ve established an easy sort of cover story though, one that started with Adora saying, “I met Catra at Bright Moon a while ago, but I only just got the courage to talk to her, and here we are,” with an easy smile, and has now developed into a full-blown story about how Catra would flirt with Adora, who was too oblivious to notice until Catra point blank gave her her number. 

Adora’s even getting the hang of dancing; whenever Adora tries on a new gown, they’ll practice waltzing for a few passes, spinning until Catra has a giddy, blushing, laughing Adora in her arms.

And it’s...nice.

Until—

Adora (8:03pm): catra

Adora (8:03pm): [missed call]

Adora (8:03pm): [missed call]

Adora (8:04pm): [missed call]

Adora (8:04pm): plscome quick

(last | next)

[beevean]

So I’ve finally given up and I started watching She-Ra, I finished season 1 yesterday

I’ve always avoided it because the fandom... really did nothing to make it look appealing to me. And, I was half-right?

(disclaimer: I am not judging the entire show, I’m sure it will get better in future seasons)

The writing is so weird. It excels in interpersonal relationships, which is the most interesting part of a story to me. People have written essays on Catra and Adora’s relationship, and I have little to add. Glimmer and Angella is a great representation of a troubled but loving mother/daughter relationship! The friendship between Adora, Glimmer and Bow, while a bit rushed, is lovely and they bounce one off the other in an endearing way. The whole dynamic between Shadow Weaver, Adora and Catra is intriguing as well as painful, and I really want to see, what pushes SW to be so obsessed with Adora and so hateful towards Catra?

I also love the main villain trio. As sad (and unexpected, although I should have guessed it) as her face-heel turn was, I’m happy Entrapta became one of the bad guys, because I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and I’m glad she gets to be part of the Interesting People gang (and I’m going to be mean and say she’s a better writter Peridot don’t @me). Scorpia is adorable but quite creepy when she wants to be and I love the dissonance, and once again I don’t need to explain why Catra is such a great antagonist. I feel about her like I felt about Bojack, constantly torn between rooting for her and screaming “what the fuck are you doing you absolute idiot”.

I still don’t know how to feel about Shadow Weaver and Hordak, mostly because it’s obvious there’s more than meets the eye. The first one spent half of the season being so Obviously Evil that I found funny how Adora never questioned her (made worse by how quickly she deflected), but then she gradually revealed some weaknesses and by the end I almost felt sorry for her so... we’ll see? Apparently she becomes more sympathetic later. I haven’t seen enough of Hordak, but he seems far more reasonable than SW so he’s probably going to be a good villain.

And then everything else goes from average to mediocre. 

The plot itself made me realize how many tropes we moved away from - the Chosen One, the Magical Sword of Destiny, pastel princesses... It’s not the writers’ fault the story is so dated, but it needs something to shake it up, and so far there’s been little of it - the most interesting part of the lore is whatever happened to Mara, and the implications of the She-Ra identity. Some of the plots themselves have been a bit on the cliché side - the hero that doesn’t know how to live up to the village’s expectations, the protagonist making a fool of themselves because nobody believes them, the whole “normal people can be useful too!” moral that other cartoons did in a more subtle manner... the only cliché I forgave relatively soon was Entrapta’s Disney Death, because as the next episode showed, it wasn’t us that were supposed to believe she was dead, the protagonists were.

The heroes themselves are... okay? Glimmer got a scene where she revealed the depths of her angst, and I’m a simple person, I see a child feeling like they disappointed their parents, I immediately connect to them (hello Amethyst and Bojack). But so far, Adora and Bow are far less interesting. 

Adora is like a tamer version of Korra and Aang - as soon as I saw her and her ponytail I was like “she’s going to struggle with her new identity of savior of the universe because she doesn’t feel worthy”, and, well so far I’ve been right. I do find interesting how she keeps referring to She-Ra as her own separate identity while it’s clear it’s still Adora but in a fancy costume, but so far they haven’t explained why yet (there was a chance to create a disconnect between Adora and She-Ra in that episode with the robot virus, I was so sure they were going for a corrupted, evil She-Ra, but for some reason they ignored it in favor of “shitfaced Adora”... okay). 

I also wish they used the “raised by the Horde” part of her backstory more than for a couple of jokes - so far the clearest sign of her messed up upbringing is that she sometimes takes a military approach to things that don’t need it. I still can’t accept that she, SW’s golden child, took a few hours at best before accepting the fact that she was raised in an evil army and that is not her place. A protagonist raised by the “evil” faction is a really interesting trope, I was actually surprised it comes from the original She-Ra! I’d like to see more serious consequences of that.

Bow is... Bow. He’s a feminine Sokka. I like Sokka just fine so it’s not a problem, but I’ll wait for his moment to reveal his deep-seated angst. My money is on “I have no powers and I can’t compete with all these magical people”.

Anyone else is there. Perfuma’s “bloodthirsty hippie” personality was funny, but Mermista has a punchable voice that prevents me from liking her (she reminds me too much of Mai and I never liked Mai), Frosta... I don’t know, I found her irritating the first time I saw her but there are good reasons for her acerbic personality so I can’t be too mad at her, Netossa and Spinnerella apparently will become important in season 4, and Seahawk is just plain annoying - he has his funny moments, but unless the writers manage to write a character with an Awesome Ego, I can’t stand buffoons full of themselves like him. But again, this is just for now.

I must say, despite all the disappointing stuff, there is still something that pushes me to keep going. Maybe it’s really just Catra and Adora’s relationship. I really wish the writers ignored all the princesses lore and focused more on their messed up friendship, because that is easily the highlight of the show.