#catsandra | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lefemmerougewriter · 11 months ago

Text

Rise of the Scarlet Wildcat

Catra tells Adora to break-up with Pearl and it goes badly. She gets thrown out. Adora tries to search for Catra, with the assistance of friends, and is unsuccessful. One day, everything changes for the wildcat when she meets someone, dressed in a red trench-coat and fedora, that... she never expected. They have a much deeper connection than either had originally anticipated.

Characters: Catra, Adora, Pearl (implied), Carmen Sandiego

Friendships: N/A (?)

Romantic pairings: Catra / Adora / Pearl [formerly], Adora / Pearl, Catra / Adora [formerly], Catra / Carmen Sandiego [presently], Carmen Sandiego / Julia Argent [formerly]

Words: 1970

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52999234

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1413710022-rise-of-the-scarlet-wildcat

Quotev: https://www.quotev.com/story/16296028/Rise-of-the-Scarlet-Wildcat

A/N: After writing my Red Moonstone fic ("A Red Moonstone Shines Brightly"), and my Catsandra fic ("Cassandra and the Catgirl from the Sky"), both of which are inspirations for this story, I decided to write this one. It is a spinoff from my "An Unlikely Alliance" series. For the full context, please read that series, with some of the chapters of that series also listed as story inspiration for this fic. This is one crack ship I thought would be interesting considering what happened in that series.

TEXT:

It had been over a year since Catra, with assistance from the geeky princess, Entrapta, had gone through a portal from Etheria to Earth. She confessed to Adora, a girl and childhood friend that she slowly realized she had feelings for. However, Adora already was in a relationship with another woman: Pearl! Over time, she came around to Pearl. At the same time, Adora started to realize that she loved Catra as well. All three of them had become a trouple and returned to Earth, just in time for a dance party in Beach City.

Good things don’t always last. Pearl began to get on Catra’s nerves more and more every day. While she ignored it at first, one day she blew up. She demanded that Adora break up with Pearl. She explained that even though she deeply loved Adora, she found Pearl to be annoying, bossy, and inconsiderate. Adora took offense at this, explaining that she would not have "such toxicity" in her life. She asked Catra to leave. Bawling her eyes out, she flew out of the apartment window, with glass smashing around her. She had nothing but the shirt on her back. She vowed to never return.

Adora realized she had handled this badly. She had made a big mistake. Catra was gone. Adora stood on her apartment's balcony, sobbing as raindrops streaked down her cheeks. As the days passed, her friends on Earth searched for Catra high and low, in every nook and cranny. This was to no avail. Pearl comforted her in these dark days.

She realized something: Catra didn’t want to be found. She wanted to disappear. Adora accepted this and went on with her life. One day, this all changed.

Yawning, Catra stretched. She opened one eye and got up with a start. She didn't know where she was. After moving her arms a bit more, she realized that her dirty and soot-laden clothes had disappeared. Instead, she had on gray sweatpants and a black t-shirt. The front was emblazoned with the words "Black Sheep Incorporated." On the back was the saying "A Charity for the Masses." As she began to take off her shirt, a beautiful woman, wearing a red v-neck t-shirt and gray sweatpants, with a white drawstring, approached her. "Oh, you are finally up! I thought you might like some warm tea."

Unsure of how to respond, Catra fumbled her words. "Uh…sure…that’s fine." Before she could say anything more, Carmen interrupted. She sighed. She wanted to make sure that this woman was ok. When she found her the previous night, she didn’t look too good. "I’m sorry I had to change your clothes last night…I couldn’t turn my back on someone in need." Catra nodded. Carmen then added, "you were drunk…and at one of the BSI shelters…so I thought I'd help." This sounded a little fishy to Catra. This woman took her in after she was drunk. How could she be sure that this woman didn’t do anything to her during the night?

Carmen tried to lay off any suspicion. "Nothing happened last night, if that's what you are thinking…I'm not that type of person anymore." Catra raised an eyebrow. What the heck did this woman mean by that? Had she done something in the past? Carmen interjected once more to clarify. "I mean that I’m not in a relationship anymore. We parted ways. She’s still living in Tokyo and working at the VILE Museum."

Catra understood a little more. She recognized this woman, although she hadn't at first. She blurted out, "you’re Carmen Sandiego, aren’t you? The one that Adora kissed on the date in that lagoon? She told me about that." This took her aback. How could this woman know that? Who was she, anyway? Then a thought came to her mind. She must be the other woman she had heard about from her friends. She never saw that woman in person since she and Jules had missed the dance party in Beach City. "Uh, yes," she answered. This couldn’t be a coincidence. "Are you…Catra by chance?"

This was a little awkward. She knew that Adora had a crush on her. Later, something she learned made Pearl jealous. She also remembered the time, after she and Jules crashed into a skyscraper, that Adora visited her in a Japanese hospital. She was unaware how much it was common knowledge, among her many friends. How many people knew about the date she had with Adora in the lagoon?

Catra answered without hesitation. "Yeah, that’s me." Then she added, "I don’t use my last name for…certain reasons." Carmen was fine with that. Wanting to get back at Adora since she refused to dump Pearl, Catra came up with a devious plan. There was one hitch: it required Carmen's consent. What she was about to do would be risky. She hoped it would be worth it in the end.

"So…Carmen…can I kiss you?" This caught her completely by surprise. At the same time, it made as her happy as when Adora asked her out on a date, all that time ago. After all, she was bisexual. Even so, she was romantically drawn more to women than men. She struggled with taking off Catra’s clothes the previous night. She almost collapsed since touching another woman's body made her various embarrassed. Breathing deeply, and coming back to reality, Carmen answered, with a hint of hesitancy. "Yes?" She then added, "I don’t know you that well…yet…so, maybe we should take it slow?"

Gritting her teeth, Catra grabbed the reddish phone from a nearby table. She started to apologize. "I'm sorry in advance for what I’m about to do…I have to make someone jealous." Carmen nervously looked at her. The phone rang, with a new video call. A blonde-haired woman picked up. She was not expecting a call. "Carmen, we haven’t talked in such a long time…is everything ok?" Catra then looked into the camera and snickered loudly. She pulled Carmen close and turned her head toward the camera. "Adora, this is what happens when you dump me!"

Her lips touched the soft, succulent lips of her counterpart. Staring into her gray-blue eyes, Catra was entranced. Carmen’s lush auburn hair touched her forehead. If she had seen the trademark red trench-coat, and hat, like Adora had, that day she first spotted her in Beach City, she would have felt the same way. They both continued kissing, leading to further shock, and almost horror, from Adora.

Catra stopped for a second, breaking out of their tender embrace. She exclaimed, "and I’m dating her!" She clicked off the screen. Carmen wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into. What was Catra’s deal? Why did she want to get back at Adora? Putting that all aside, a cat-like woman, with slender and athletic build, had kissed her. And she couldn’t get enough of it. She smooched Catra on the cheek and whispered, "so, can I keep kissing you?" Catra shrugged. She could see now why Adora was so drawn in by her. As the night wore on, they cuddled. Carmen jokingly played with Catra. She used toys that would excite a cat, like a fake mouse and a ball of yarn.

As they lay on the couch next to one other, Carmen asked her what this was all about. She wanted to know. "Why did you call Adora...to make her jealous?" Catra cleared her throat. She had to tell the truth, even if it embarrassed her, at least this time. "I wanted to make her feel like she was missing out...since you were kind of her ex and all." Carmen laughed. She had only met Catra the previous night. But now she felt she couldn’t live without her. As she petted Catra behind her catlike ears, causing her to purr, she said "I know I said we should go slow, but...I really want to be with you...and I won't leave you behind."

Catra rubbed up against her. Resting her chin on Carmen’s chest, her almond heterochromatic eyes stared at Carmen. She felt so comfortable that the claws, on her toes and hands, had retracted. Her tail even began to wrap around Carmen’s body. They both felt safe with one another. As Carmen began stroking the wild, and spiked, cedar brown hair below Catra’s ears, Catra said softly, "Pearl is annoying, you know." Carmen nodded. She did find Pearl a bit extra sometimes. She then said, "I’ve heard that she can be controlling, has an inferiority complex, is pessimistic about humanity, can be selfish, and betrayed the trust of a Gem Warrior." Catra continued to purr. She couldn’t agree more with what Carmen was saying. Adora and Pearl had some sort of special bond, apparently forged on Etheria. It was much more than what she and Adora had. At least, that’s how it felt to her.

"I know she has pale skin, blue eyes, and peach-colored hair, and that she can be devoted. That might be something Adora needs. But I'm not part of that...and that’s okay." Carmen pulled Catra closer. She quickly fell asleep, with Catra in her arms. Both slept on the couch that night, getting closer than either one had imagined at the beginning of the day.

The sun shone through the apartment window. Carmen stretched and opened her eyes. Catra wasn't there! In a gesture of goodwill, she walked in with two teacups on a tray. "Good morning! Here’s your tea." Carmen carefully grabbed it off the tray and drank it. As she did so, she began to burn her tongue. She appreciated this. But she had to put the cup down before she hurt herself.

"I’d drink it but…it's too hot." Catra cringed. She half-expected this would happen. She began muttering and bowing her head. "I'm sorry…I won't do it again...I'm sorry, I won't disappoint you." Carmen got up. She hugged Catra tightly. She didn’t know everything that her feline friend had been through. But she guessed, rightly so, that Catra had been traumatized, in one way or another. "It’s okay, wildcat," she began. She then added, "you can take it easy...no need to apologize...I'll show you how it's done later."

Carmen was more chill than in the past. Recently, she had retired, discarding her original desire to become a model. Her friends Zack and Ivy had finally been returned to normal, after they were turned into caramelized monsters in a candy colony gone wrong. She barely talked to them anymore. Even Player had gone on to do his own thing. He became a member of ACME, so he could continue fighting evildoers. Even so, he had his doubts about private intelligence services becoming the salvation of the masses. The pay was good, so he stayed there.

"You are the best cat-person I know," Carmen exclaimed. She snickered, adding, "and the cutest." This made Catra's face warm. She began to blush. How could she have known that a woman who saved her from the dumps would be so nice and caring? If Adora had treated her like this, instead of staying with Pearl, then it might have been different. Maybe in some other universe, she and Adora were together, having a grand-old time, and traveled the galaxy together. However, in this world, she was happy where she was, and wouldn’t do anything differently.

At one point, Catra remarked, "together, we are the scarlet wildcat…and that’s alright." Carmen wasn’t sure exactly what she meant and she didn’t care. She gave her a peck on the cheek and continued hugging her. Even with war, famine, disease, and oppression across the world, for them, everything would be fine, no matter what happened next.

End note: This fic is also meant to show struggles in polyamorous relationships, as Catra / Adora / Pearl were in such a relationship before it fell apart. I used the “Carmen Sandiego (2019 character)” page on the Carmen Sandiego Wiki and the “Catra” page on the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Wiki in this fic. I’m thinking of writing another fic which is like this one, but from Pearl’s perspective. I forgot how wild "An Unlikely Alliance" series was. After writing this fic, am inspired to rewrite it (on squidgeworld.org). A lot of this fic was written a while back (the file history on my computer says I started writing it in late December 2022). I'm in a different headspace nowadays and would probably write something differently. However, I wanted to get this story out there into the world. Where the story goes from here, I don't know! But I'm totally down to possibly continue this in the future.

#carulia #carmen sandiego #catra shera #catra she ra #catra #catra x adora #adora x pearl #catra x adora x pearl #crossover fan fiction #crossover #an unlikely alliance against evildoers #red moonstone #catsandra #spinoff

5 notes · View notes