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n7punk · 11 months

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"Superzero" Fic Notes

Superzero, my secret superhero AU, is finally done! As usual, it went way longer than predicted, but I had a lot of fun with it so thanks for being along for the ride. The fic notes are… long.

Epilogue Life:

Scorpia takes longer learning her powers than is “typical” as a result of the crack in the garnet, but it does slowly heal over in her care. Her powers are also just a particularly dangerous set, but she learns to aim them at the technology and weapons of those coming at her rather than the heart. It takes a bit of training, but eventually she joins them in the field. The entire Alliance considers her the most likely to compromise them, but she’s one of the fold, so they take her in.

Catra continues to train alongside her and eventually the papers pick up on a secret member of the Alliance between some odd occurences and the name Ghost being thrown around. It’s still just speculation that’s never confirmed, but Catra is a part of the plan.

With the Horde dissolved, they do still see the odd supervillain or group attempting to rise up in their place (the Crimson Waste, for once) so they still have superheroing to do, not to mention natural disasters to help out in, but they aren’t as busy as they were before. They have more time for each other. And also studying. Catra of course finishes law school and passes the bar, eventually becoming a lawyer. Adora is stupidly proud of her. She works in a clinic for a while before becoming a full vet herself, but she gets there too and they do end up with that bayview apartment she wants eventually.

Chapter 1: Chance Encounter

⦁ Adora was Going Through It™️ when she fought Shadow Weaver, as the breakup was still fresh and she needed an outlet, which ended up being Shadow Weaver’s face. The Alliance had been fighting her for years, and she was personally responsible for the incident that caused Adora to miss their date, so the next time Adora fought her, she was pretty much screwed. Years of terrorizing the Fright Zone and one interrupted date gave She-ra all the motivation she needed to take her down.

Chapter 2:

⦁ Melog’s capture was originally the button on this chapter, but I didn’t want them to be captured for that long so I decided to imply the library attack’s purpose earlier

Chapter 3: Overworked

⦁ “Catra can’t tell she’s looking at her cleavage” Well she couldn’t until Adora’s eyes snapped to meet her and then she felt the change. She didn’t know where she was looking but like, come on. She’s so lucky Catra was so tired.

Chapter 4: Movie Night/Return

⦁ The mentions of the kitchen light are a reference. Even if you have good taste you probably won’t draw the connection though lmao.

⦁ Originally, Adora was always supposed to use the window. In fact, in the first draft of chapter one (which ended up almost entirely rewritten), Catra’s backpack got left at the library so Adora had to bring her in through the window and that’s what established the pattern, but then I tried to write that and realized how logistically dumb that was. I still intended for her to switch to using the window pretty quickly, but I was basically just waiting for a good time for them to have the talk about her neighbors possibly seeing and by then I realized that my early idea for roof meetups just made more sense.

Chapter 5: Rooftop

⦁ Initially the fic was supposed to start here. I really wanted to write this fic for The Scene™️ (more on that later) so it kind of made sense to start the fic with Catra already friends with She-ra and then I’d get a chapter or two of these secret meetings and flirting, and then I would get into the kiss. When I went to write the fic, though, I decided I should show the initial rescue in a prologue kind of thing and then do some skipping forward through their friendship. I started writing chapter 2 though and it just kept continuing “in real time” and I absolutely couldn’t skip that angst because it was fun, so I ended up just writing the whole thing and having chapter 5 be more like what I thought 1 & 2 would be initially.

⦁ Catra assumed She-ra was stopping by when she had Alliance business in the area, and that is partially true, but Adora was also swinging by when she could disappear for a few hours without her roommate noticing/questioning it, which was easier said than done.

⦁ There was a line all the way back in chapter one that I cut for being awkwardly phrased, not realizing it was the establishing line for the fact that She-ra has been missing for a few hundred years. It was only when it came up again in chapter five that I noticed, and by then I had already posted almost everything leading up to it and there wasn’t anywhere to put it back in early. This is one of those things were, if this was a book, I would fix that on the second draft but you don’t really get a chance for that with fanfic. I had already posted chapter three by the time I realized so the earliest I could have added it was chapter four, and by then I decided to just wait until chapter five, since the part where that would actually become relevant wouldn’t be for a few chapters anyway, it just should have been set up sooner.

⦁ Adora immediately assumed Catra was talking about her when she mentioned a breakup, but she was also kind of worried she wasn’t and there had been another relationship in the interim that she didn’t know about. The whole conversation was rough for her. She was trying to comfort Catra while subtly encouraging her to think more about what could have actually happened, and she completely meant it when she said Catra deserved better (…than she had treated her).

⦁ While “breakup haircut” isn’t a phrase I’ve heard exactly, the concept of cutting all your hair off when you go through a big change — often a breakup — is definitely one I’ve seen around a lot. There’s entire songs about coming back into an ex’s life as a blonde. I mean, how many of us shaved our heads during the pandemic. Of course there was the added factor of not being able to get a haircut, but trauma haircuts — or hair dyes — are a definite thing.

Chapter 6: Mistake

⦁ As implied in the fic, the spell-storm was a side effect of Shadow Weaver trying to drain Melog’s magic. She couldn’t control it and it manifested physically in the environment.

⦁ Writing this fic was a really interesting challenge because of the unusual dynamic between Catra and She-ra. It was so weird to write Catra falling for someone who wasn’t Adora, but also was; not to mention She-ra backing off at weird times because she thought she might out herself to Catra, etc. Catra was wary of She-ra and she would have been way more so if she wasn’t a) a literal superhero and be) reminded her of Adora. The whole dynamic was really complicated, but it’s part of what made me want to write this in the first place, so even if it was really hard and I had to rewrite a lot, it was a good challenge

⦁ … That was part of what made me want to write this fic. The rest of was The Scene™️, which was the kiss and fall out in chapter 6. Pretty quickly Catra finding Melog and then the smug introduction with the Alliance became the “secondary” Ccenes that I also pushed towards when the rewrites were getting to me.

⦁ I had so many different ideas for how the reveal conversation could go I couldn’t possibly hope to fit them all into one and not have it be like twenty minutes of extended arguing, so after trying a couple variants, I settled on the lines that worked the best.

Chapter 7: Hindsight

⦁ This fic is interesting because, while I never really mention it or make it too explicit, it is partially nonlinear. The scenes with Melog, especially, were never intended to be signposted as taking place right where the other scenes were in the story. Another example is the kiss scene partially playing out twice from each perspective, and the start of chapter 6. Catra’s spiraling lasts well into the night whereas Adora’s following scene with Glimmer takes place earlier, right after Chapter 6 cut off.

⦁ Initially there was supposed to be an extended beat in this chapter where Adora thought she was being quietly kicked out of the Alliance (not completely, but that they were going to stop trusting her with anything other than punching). It didn’t end up fitting with the timeline, so it got dropped to like one line of speculation on her part in the Netossa scene, but the idea was going to be that the team gets called to another emergency like four days later and they don’t invite Adora. Now, that was actually because she was just recovering from being sick and walking around like a zombie, but she thought it was proof they were done with her and thus she went down to the Alliance sanctum to punch it out. A relic of this plan that I ended up keeping is when Adora says “I don’t care. I’m not doing this,” in the scene with Glimmer. The second half of the plot beat was, at the same time as Adora thought she was kicked out, the Alliance thought she might be quitting. They were giving her space both to recover and calm down, but with how badly she broke then, it seemed like she might have decided that she wanted to be done with the thing that had totally ruined her life. No one thought she would actually stay away, but they were giving her room to cool off.

⦁ Speaking of the punch-out scene, that was initially written all the way back in chapter 2. Basically I wrote the very beginning (Netossa tells her to talk and offering her the easy way, ending with the “drop the goddess act” part) with the idea being Adora was angsting over Catra, but pretty quickly I was looking at the set up and going oh this would be so much better later when she’s really angsting so I cut it out from there, tossed it in my Scrivener doc, and then reused the structure of it for this scene.

⦁ April 26th is the day season 2 of SPOP dropped. November 13th is when the show premiered. The other dates are made up bullshit.

Chapter 8: I Like the Idea of You

⦁ Which name Catra is using for Adora (Adora vs. She-ra) is important in this scene. She is considering how she knew them as separate entities and using each name depending on that at first, and then she’s trying to just sink into the She-ra fantasy, and then she starts losing herself. She uses She-ra when Adora is especially confident, flexes her strength/powers, or Catra can’t see her face to contradict it — basically whenever Adora plays into her initial She-ra fantasies — and she uses Adora when she is being soft/gentle/meek, when Catra has an emotional connection to what’s happening, or sometimes just because she’s seeing her face and that’s Adora’s face, not the mask she pictured for She-ra. A weird example of this is the, uh, you know, spit string moment, where Catra is actually having an internal reaction to seeing Adora debauched/debauching her like she used to fantasize about. She’s also looking at Adora’s face again for the first time after looking away. I know there’s a lot of name-changing in this scene, but it all has a purpose, and part of my editing was making sure the right ones were being used for each moment. By the time Catra was really getting into it, though, the scene/Catra were getting away from me and taking control, and thus using Adora for every name, and I had to fix that in a few small places.

⦁ At this point I’m writing things in smut just based off the if I haven’t done it before. I’ve always written a range of stuff , but when writing this I found myself just doing things because they were new without much other reason as long as it still served the purpose I wanted for the scene.

Chapter 9: Ripples

⦁ The glamor is actually lowkey a reference to an earlier version of the fic idea where the Alliance just straight up didn’t wear masks and it was a Superman situation. The idea was there would be a glamor (similar to the Mist in the Percy Jackson series) that would make it really hard to recognize someone for who they are, but could still be fought through. It was one of the contender ideas but I quickly settled on just having them wear masks. The way the glamor actually works in-universe is that it makes it hard to notice similarities. So before meeting She-ra, Catra straight up couldn’t notice “hey, the Alliance is led by a trio that matches the description of Adora and her friends,” but once she saw She-ra’s face she had enough to be like “that’s Adora.” Conversely, if She-ra had been someone she didn’t actually know well like just one of her classmates she didn’t actually talk to, she still might not have been able to recognize her without the mask on. The glamor is not inherent to the runestones, but is a manifestation of their power that has come over the last four hundred years of the princesses living in secret. If a princess chose to be open with her identity, the glamor would ease as the runestone learned it didn’t have to help her hide. Basically, it’s a learned behavior of the runestones, not innate.

⦁ Usually in canon fics I have Adora tend to refer to She-ra as if she’s a third person (because Adora has a lot of issues feeling like she’s not living up to what She-ra should be, or putting She-ra and her duties above herself) and Catra reacts like she finds that weird. The truth is Catra partially does, but she’s also training Adora to recognize she is She-ra, she doesn’t have to do anything more to be worthy of being herself, and she is the only one who gets to decide what She-ra’s duties are. This only really comes up in post-canon fics, where they both have had some Realizations™️. In this fic, Catra starts off trying to distance She-ra from Adora, so she reacts completely opposite to how she usually does and refers to She-ra as a third separate person for herself. Adora does this too, just like she always does. Catra only starts coming around slowly and changes her mind later.

⦁ Micah had his suspicions and he probably would have come even if he had known just because he would have been worried and felt like he could handle himself. The other princesses trying to comfort Angella with that at the time is part of why Angella turned to Castaspella. She also felt like she deserved to know the truth about how her brother died, even though that context really had nothing to do with it. At the end of the day, Micah made the decision.

⦁ When the comms are turned on, they’re constantly broadcasting to each other, but the microphones are set to be partially muted so they (hopefully) mainly just pick up the person who is wearing them talking. When the button is pressed, it turns up sensitivity and also bumps the broadcaster’s volume up so their orders can come through clearly. Catra could just barely be heard over the comms, but of course Adora caught something, and then she saw Entrapta when Bow fired his arrow, who she recognized in conjunction with Catra’s voice (her hair is kind of distinctive). She asked Bow “What’s going on? Is Catra here?” and that’s when he said not now. After the robots were dispatched, she immediately landed beside him and gave him her Firm Commander look and he explained the brief interaction. Once the scene was completely cleared and they had teleported back to the sanctum, Adora agonized over Catra before ultimately deciding to text her. If Catra hadn’t responded, she would have had Glimmer bring her over to her apartment (which Glimmer would have done with minimal complaint, because there was a real chance Catra had gotten injured trying to leave the scene) but Catra texted back fairly quickly. She didn’t respond to Adora’s second message, which she would have liked just to know what was really going on, but she took what she could get.

⦁ Guesses for who Melog actually was were really interesting. I thought that either people were going to be onto me immediately due to the pronouns or be completely unsure due to assuming I was using they/them pronouns to obfuscate it. I saw a mix, though I don’t think anyone really guessed Melog by name in the first chapter. For the first couple chapters, guesses seemed evenly split between Melog and being unsure. Other guesses were DT, Shadow Weaver/shadow spies, Micah, and the First Ones worm (or maybe elemental?) from Glimmer’s coronation trial. Sorry to everyone’s Melog comments I ignored, but I wanted to maintain the mystery.

⦁ On a similar note of future guesses, no one commented a correct guess on Catra finding out the exact way that she did. There were some interesting theories that I enjoyed, and a few more along the lines of how she would potentially join the Alliance that were exciting to see so early on.

⦁ Catra started to say “Good boy” and then realized that was wrong for several reasons and probably demeaning, so she just pivoted.

⦁ Catra finding Melog under the dumpster was the second Scene™️ for this fic. It was one of the first things I outlined for it. Actually it might have been the first because I never wrote out an outline for the kiss scene, I just pictured it in my head a dozen times starting back when I was still writing AMLAIT. The Melog scene was, in the very initial idea, taking place after a chance attack Catra happened to get caught up in, but as soon as I started writing the fic and used that plot device in the opening I didn’t want to use it again, so the Entrapta thing formed because I already had the technopath subplot set up for later. Very little changed about the scene except how Catra got there and a little dialog tweaking, but originally Catra was supposed to hide Melog in a backpack she was carrying. I didn’t want to write one into the brief “chase scene”, so I gave her a gay flannel instead and had her wrap up them in that.

Chapter 10: Cause and Effect

⦁ Normally I uppercase krytian, but for this fic it was a species name like “human” so I (un)capitalized it as such.

⦁ Melog doesn’t know a lot about krytians due to a mix of their age when they were orphaned and the language gap. Melog’s parent never said to them “We are krytians, we were victims of a genocide by a human religious sect” they said “We are us, but others are dangerous. They hunted us, and now we must live in secret.” Krytians think of themselves as we and everyone else as them. They don’t have pronouns because they are I, you, or us. It’s combination of their culture and their communication method that makes it that way. Melog had no idea what the world would know them as until Catra told them. Shadow Weaver called them it a few times, but again, Melog didn’t know what that meant. It wasn’t until Catra found them and helped with their memories that they understood their jailer was named Shadow Weaver.

⦁ Okay this is something I had to cut from Chapter 10 because the whole thing it was included in dragged on, but I’m really SAD I had to cut it because it is, well, sad, so here it is, to hurt you with for posterity: “Krytians forms are so reliant on magic, they don’t even leave bodies behind when they die. They dissipate back into the area when they die. When Melog lost their parent, their tombstone was a slowly fading well of power. Melog was the only one to ever know that they lived or died.”

⦁ For this fic, I considered having Shadow Weaver just be a supervillain and Catradora grew up in some Anonymously Rough group home together to set up the right experience for their current insecurities and mental issues — I even went back and forth on some edits early on to leave more possibilities open — but once I had the whole Melog plot getting Catra into the Alliance, it only made sense for her to have someone to fight with them, and setting up Shadow Weaver as a ghost from their past worked perfectly for that. Plus, I couldn’t resist the “I was raised by a supervillain” line.

⦁ A big part of Catra’s struggle with Adora in this fic, after she finds out the truth about what happened, is neglect. She knows that Adora didn’t drop her and she had reason to be busy, but it was still a pretty shitty way to treat someone even before you get to the ‘lying about it’ part. Catra (as she later demonstrates) is capable of understanding and even sharing Adora’s commitment, but it wouldn’t be fair for Adora to continue to put absolutely everything first aside from Catra, and the fear that she would do that again was a big thing keeping Catra away. Adora loves her and she makes that rather clear, assuaging one of Catra’s fears, but loving someone and actually treating them well — especially the way they consider treating them well — are two different things. I brush up on this a lot in my Catradora fics (BFM comes to mind) but I feel like it’s especially important for this one.

Chapter 11: Peace Talks

⦁ The Swift Wind thing came from a comment exchange on Chapter 4 where I said that I wasn’t planning on it, but the way I would work Swift Wind in would be for Adora to “deputize” a police horse in battle and for him to then work on freeing all the animals used by the police. It would kind of be a random thing to include in the fic, but I really liked the idea, so it was kind of in the back of my mind and I formed the idea of it being a story the Alliance tells rather than a scene on its own. I was really happy to be able to work it in. I think sometimes I go “that’s a distraction/irrelevant to the fic” but like… it’s fic. “Regular” media can have one off jokes and this is fic where I can do whatever I want so communist horse it is.

⦁ As is… just expected at this point for my fics, half of the contents of chapter 11 were supposed to also be covered in chapter 10, but that thing hit 8k before they even explained anything, so it had to be broken up.

⦁ Chapter 11 is basically the end of my main planning for the fic. After that point, it was all new stuff I came up with to serve the ending of the story that had been written so far. My big outline point for everything after chapter eleven was basically just “take down the horde. Be superheroes. Kiss & make up.”

Chapter 12: Movie Night?

⦁ Given that I just said 11 was the end of my planning, it feels weird to say “12 wasn’t supposed to exist,” but it really wasn’t. My planning by then was for the story to shift into Catra and Adora cautiously taking up texting while she set Entrapta on the Horde’s scent — basically, Chapter 13. The first scene of Chapter 12 started as an ending button scene for Chapter 11, but then I got the idea for the movie night (which actually originated back in Chapter 10, where the initial draft of the chapter included them explicitly planning the horse movie thing) and — more temptingly — the secret kisses during it, so then I had to write it. The scene with Glimmer was also unplanned (when I first tried to write it, the idea was that Catra actually stayed the night because it was “too late” to go all the way back home, but then the gap between the movie and the morning was too big for conversations to not have taken place), but showing Catra open up a little to more members of the Alliance was important for when she joined them later, so I wrote it.

⦁ Catra says the new place “wouldn’t work with Melog” for two reasons: 1) it was another studio, and she needed more options for privacy, especially with Adora around, and 2) it didn’t allow pets. Now, she had no intention of paying the pet fee or ever revealing Melog’s existence, but if a neighbor was to hear Melog meowing or pawing at the door, they would just assume Catra had a cat and had paid for it, instead of possibly snitching about her sneaking one in.

⦁ “Princess isn’t a thing for her” *proceeds to immediately outline why it’s a thing for her when Catra says that*

⦁ Obviously Catra was worried about She-ra finding out Entrapta was a technopath before because her entire apartment looks suspicious as hell, but knowing it’s Adora, she knows she’ll listen to her if she says Entrapta isn’t with the Horde. Otherwise, there’s a very real chance of somebody thinking she’s the one building their bots.

⦁ If you’re capable of not crying during the train scene in Spirit then you’re heartless.

Chapter 13:

⦁ The line “[Trust] can be lost in [a year], too” is in reference to Catra and Adora, not the Alliance.

Chapter 14:

⦁ Glimmer stalled telling her mom because she wanted school to be busy so Angella couldn’t say or do much because it would distract me from finals, mom.

⦁ Shadow Weaver ran the home for every reason Catra listed and more. Maintaining a secret identity (as long as absences didn’t become conspicuous) helped her fly under the radar. It also made her not entirely reliant on the Horde (she didn’t trust Hordak, though if anything he shouldn’t have trusted her). When the kids hit their late teen years and were about to age out into the world, she knew exactly who, when, and where to target them (as Shadow Weaver, or via proxy with another member of the Horde) for a recruitment pitch. She was especially looking for magic children who might have a future in the Horde — or who might be capable of becoming princesses and inheriting/fixing her runestone, or using another one if they ever managed to track down She-ra and Spirit Ember (both runestones clearly lost, but Shadow Weaver didn’t know if that was permanent or a situation like how she acquired the Black Garnet and thus she hoped to find more). She saw that opportunity in Adora, which is a reason why she targeted her and Catra in particular. Finally, Catra is kind of right that she did it for her own “enjoyment”, but it was in a very different way — at least to her. Shadow Weaver legitimately saw herself as helping the kids who crossed her doorstep and thought the world needed her and people like her to prepare these poor, unloved, unruly children for the future. She thought she was a hero and any sliver of remorse she had for the Horde’s more extreme actions she could dismiss with “well look what good I’m doing with this home, it balances out.”

⦁ “It’s a nice dream” Yeah Horde Prime’s line like that still fucks me up and I had to slip it in.

⦁ There’s a dampening spell centered on the door so other people in the archive don’t hear it opening and closing (all the secret tomfoolery would be pretty ruined if people heard a bookshelf being dragged around in the next room all the time) but it also lets me surprise Catra, which is a rare opportunity.

⦁ The alarm at the computer goes off at the same time as a mid-level priority message to all their phones so someone will check the news/hub to see if it’s something they need to deal with, but since they were in the room with the alarm, no one heard/cared about their phones buzzing.

⦁ Melog’s ability to warp the world around them as they travel the paths is inspired by Little Nightmares 2 and that’s all I’ll say on that because it’s not a game that should be spoiled. I thought it fit well with their illusion magic, though. I think the official power is called something like object distance manipulation but relativity manipulation sounded like a better fit to me.

⦁ I was kinda surprised people asked about Netossa and Spinnerella’s codenames (which is a fair question) but no one asked for Bow since they’re all in the same spot as not having a runestone in canon. For Bow, I came up with the Cupid thing Catra mentions early on in the fic as a joke, and while I do think it’s a plausible thing for Bow to consider given his very “I love love” attitude, I don’t think he would actually pick it and it felt a little diminutive. Apollo was a late contender thank to the historical connection with his dads and his association with archery, but I thought about other bow/arrow symbolism and remembered one of the Zodiac had a bow and arrow and thus went with Sagittarius once I realized it was Glimmer’s zodiac. This meant I had to spell Sagittarius. So I fucked up there. For Spinnerella, I never ended up saying it in the fic so I kind of got away lucky, but her runestone is an amethyst. I had been calling her just “Cyclone” in my head, which of course didn’t match with a runestone so I had to add some kind of gem/mineral thing in there, but there’s a big range from the simple “Moonstone” to the slightly more descriptive “Sea Pearl” to “Fractal Flake” which is… nothing. I tried for a while to make some kind of alliteration with “Cyclone,” but there aren’t a lot of gems that fit that, so in the end I went with just Amethyst despite being a little unimaginative because I couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t cumbersome to shout in battle. I really tried to work some kind of “Air Amethyst” type alliteration in there but it just didn’t happen. For Netossa, I thought about making her sapphire early on because blue, but that’s a Steven Universe character so I wanted to either find something else or add a modifier onto it. Coming up with modifiers related to nets is… hard. Star Sapphire and Cerulean Sapphire (bit of an oxymoron, but it felt like it fit with the naming conventions lol) were in contention. It was just hard to relate anything to nets of all things so I followed the simple route a la Moonstone and just went with Star Sapphire (the star pattern of which could represent the intersections of the ropes in her nets? Maybe? Listen that’s the best I’ve got). For Catra things were… more complex. Catra very well could have picked anything she wanted, similar to Bow, which made it a lot harder. I considered Wildcat immediately (especially with Scorpia suggesting it later and then Catra ends up stuck with it after the others pick up on it) but I didn’t want a name that reveals she’s a magicat, so I tested out a lot of things until I just settled on Ghost for the invisibility. Tiger’s Eye was my other immediate instinct for the runestone theme, because, well, obviously, but while that felt exactly like what SPOP would call the magicat runestone, I wasn’t naming “Catra’s runestone,” I was coming up with a superhero name for Catra while runestones also exist. Her name only had to match as much as she wanted it too, and it didn’t feel like she would want that. As soon as I decided on Ghost I looked up to see if there were any “Ghost something” crystals, which is when I found Phantom quartz and added it into the conversation. When I was looking at gems/minerals/elements for inspo, I saw Mercury and I thought that fit really well with Melog’s shifting powers, and as something related both to geology (okay, listen, it’s an element and that’s close enough) and astrology. Other contenders were things like Silver, Bismuth, and a red theme for/with Catra (I literally looked up a list of red shade names. Naming things is hard). Then I had to come up with joke names that were still something the character might come up with (for themselves and others), so I just made things worse for myself. I got to acknowledge that initial Tiger’s Eye instinct though, so that was good to fit in.

Chapter 15:

⦁ Sideloading an app is basically downloading it on your phone without using the system’s app store.

⦁ After Perfuma suggested Phantom, I thought “you know what, that sounds cool” so I went back and forth on using that instead, but there’s no way Catra would pick it knowing the context, so I played with it a bit more in the scene where they decide her official codename — as well as giving her perspective on that bit, and introducing the beginning of Netossa kind of being Catra’s superhero mentor, which is a relationship that develops after the fic ends — but ultimately let Catra decide. It also let me introduce how the system was coded around their aliases, keeping Entrapta from instantly realizing their identities when she hacked them, though it’s obvious once you start sifting through the general channel and see them talking.

⦁ Bow lives with his dads still since they’re close enough to campus for it and that way he doesn’t really need a job on top of school and (secret) heroing. That means he spends a lot of time in Glimmer’s dorm, though, because it’s the only private place he has to go on campus. He can go to George’s office, too, but students come and go from that so it’s not really any better than a student lounge.

⦁ Adora’s voice is strained after saying she loves Catra because she’s convincing herself that Catra just isn’t ready to say it back yet. She’s in total denial that hearing it is important to her.

⦁ Kadroh is, of course, Wrong Hordak, and the guy who runs the front counter.

⦁ Entrapta was basically shouting for the entire conversation with Scorpia, but since Scorpia also tends to talk loudly, she didn’t really notice it.

⦁ The scene with Scorpia is actually the first I conceived for the fic from a different perspective, which would eventually influence my decision to switch perspective around however I saw fit.

Chapter 16:

⦁ Adora mentions her academics a lot in this fic because I was playing with the idea of her dropping out and just becoming a vet tech to reduce her stress and wanted to leave that option open, but she was so close it didn’t end up feeling right, especially after the Horde became less of a threat with their scrambling following the arrest.

⦁ Someone on crew (pretty sure it was ND) joked that Catra’s “real name” was Elizabeth, so I pulled that as the bullshit name Scorpia said. I went back and forth on her actually saying Catra’s name in hopes of being able to tell if the Horde recognized it (and thus had at least seen her) but that would have been a whole thing to Shadow Weaver as soon as she heard it and there was too much going on in the scene already to throw that in. Plus, it risked endangering Catra’s secret identity even more than Scorpia’s mere presence already did.

⦁ Okay, so obviously my instinct when giving Scorpia an alias was to use… her fucking alias, lmao, but Linda is her mom and D’Ream is her last name already, so Lynda wasn’t going to work. Lynda D’Ream was originally a reference to Scorpia’s voice actress in the 80s (Linda Gary), so I used her SPOP voice actress’s name, Lauren Ash, and threw a fucking y in there because that’s how they did it lmao

⦁ Every runestone calls out a little differently to its holder (in the circumstance where it’s not immediately passed to them). Adora saw lights in the edge of her vision, just ephemeral enough to now be there, that led her towards the stone and then it pulled her in with a mental call. Scorpia couldn’t feel the mental call with the stone cracked, but it sparked to beckon her.

⦁ Scorpia’s mask looking kind of like Shadow Weaver’s was temporary. I don’t know if I ever squeezed the joke in because I’ve been writing this fic for like two months and have forgotten, but the first time Adora transformed, it was into her season one outfit. Both she and the runestone kind of freaked out and it was only on subsequent transformations, when she knew what was happening and could exercise some control over it, that the season five/current She-ra costume appeared. Scorpia is in a similar situation where her mask will eventually take a vaguely scorpion-like theme, with the hooks down her cheeks mimicking stingers and similar ones hooking up her forehead and back over her ears.

⦁ Scorpia didn’t notice any of Catra’s attempts to touch her. Catra kept them light because she was worried about startling Scorpia and giving away their best shot at getting out of this, but that just made them easier for Scorpia to miss them.

⦁ Melog was reliving some trauma and hiding out under the table made them feel better, so when Catra was okay they were busy taking care of themselves by hiding to recuperate.

Chapter 17:

⦁ Shadow Weaver genuinely isn’t entirely certain what happened that day. She remembers Lauryn showing up, but details are fuzzy. When Black Garnet debuts, she remembers that Lauryn was the new Black Garnet since it was Kind Of A Big Deal to her, but she doesn’t remember many details about what she looks like that aren’t already public, and she doesn’t remember her transforming because it all happened so fast and then she was electrocuted and unconscious. That electrocution caused her some issues beyond her memories of that day, and between that and having no magic herself, she isn’t much of a threat when it comes to breaking out of jail or something. With the overwhelming evidence of her involvement in the Horde and no evidence she was blackmailed as she claimed, she goes away for a long time. Everybody arrested turns on Hordak trying to get a plea deal, and between the testimony and physical evidence he was the only one who could have built the robots, he gets convicted of a lot of things, especially as an accessory because that’s easier to prove.

⦁ The rooftop scene was actually initially planned to go earlier in the fic, before the big confrontation, but even though I had been planting the seeds for it, I wanted a bit more hinting and I felt like Catra running off on her own would make Adora worry even more about it, so I pushed it back.

⦁ I ended up using gender neutral pronouns for Horde members a couple times because they often wear helmets or masks that make it hard, but sometimes I chose to use gendered pronouns because I tend to default to they-them pronouns and a nebulous appearance for rando NPCs and I didn’t want it to seem like I was doing that rather than it being a part of the plot that they were disguised and ambiguous. And of course physical appearance isn’t always and indicator of pronouns etc (it certainly isn’t for me lol) but it is usually the assumed default without indicators otherwise. Also sometimes it was just easier to have a random NPC gendered, which is why I had rando Horde members be male a couple times because it just made it easier to distinguish who was who during the fight scenes LOL.

⦁ The “I’ll stroke your ego if it shuts you up” “Wow that didn’t take much convincing” exchange was in my notes before I even started writing the fic. I didn’t have a place for it planned and it only ended up coming up here at the end, but I’m glad I got to use it finally.

Misc Fic Thoughts:

⦁ I’d written a little here and there, but I really got my fanfiction start (both reading and writing) in the comics fandom. I never had a superhero AU “planned” but it always felt like an inevitable thing I would do one day when an idea occurred to me. Superheros befriending(/rescuing/romancing) people they know in their real lives but who don’t know about their secret identity is something I’m a SUCKER for, so when that idea occurred to me in early March it was like of course. I absolutely have to do this right away. I had another thing I was excited for but this jumped the line as soon as AMLAIT was done. I was actually writing this simultaneously with editing that ending.

⦁ I’ve referenced the playlist a couple times and it’s linked below, but I wanna actually talk about it for a second. If you weren’t around for it, 8tracks was a website that was basically the Tumblr version of spotify playlists. It wasn’t affiliated with Tumblr or anything, there were just a lot of Tumblr people populating it and it had a tagging system, so you could hunt down all the playlists associated with your fandom. There were some licensing/copyright issues, and they had a profitability problem anyway, I think, so after a few years it closed down and no website has ever been able to capture the kind of playlists 8tracks hosted and the quality there. With it gone, I can’t go back and find the playlist that this AU is named after. However, it was a Young Avengers playlist (it was called something like “superzeroes — a young avengers fanmix”) that I still vividly remember the cover art for. I believe it was around 11 songs long (a pretty normal length for an 8tracks playlist), and the only two songs I’m pretty sure were on it were Superlove by Charlie XCX and Kick Ass by Mika. I think there might have been a song by FUN on the playlist too? But that — like both of the other songs, really — could have come from one of my other comics-related playlists too. I did my DAMNEDEST to find a tumblr post linking to this playlist again (and in doing so, dug up some nostalgia holy shit) but in the end turned up nothing. Shockingly for how long I’ve gone on about it, I wasn’t particularly attached to this playlist. I mean, I listened to it, but it just came up as a memory when I first got the idea to do a superhero AU, so when I created a file for it I named it “Superzero AU” just intending for it to be a play on superhero, and then that Became the AU’s name in my head and I couldn’t change it after this. I need to stop doing that to myself. The name does, however, have meaning, which is kind of two-fold. First, superzero is an insult aimed at Adora. I considered having Catra say it to her face when they were fighting, showing that she can try to be a superhero to everyone else but she is still a failure, because she failed Catra (they didn’t end up fighting a lot so that didn’t make it into the fic, but the idea of superzero being a term Catra snidely thinks about Adora when they were fighting is still there). Second, Catra is the superzero, specifically a superhero with zero powers. She’s using Melog’s, yes, but she has none of her own and yet she eventually joins the Alliance in throwing herself into danger.

⦁ POV for this fic is interesting because when I was originally coming up with the concept, most of the scenes where from Catra’s perspective, but I knew I wanted the kiss scene specifically to be from Adora’s perspective. I also knew, by the time I started writing it in earnest, that this was going to a long fic so sticking to one POV was going to be impractical. I then thought about switching POV by chapter and just having the Catra chapters be longer, but there were too many scenes I wanted both their takes on. I then considered something weird which was alternating Catra POV chapters with my usual back-and-forth POV chapters, but by then I knew I wanted a scene from Melog’s perspective and maybe even one from Scorpia’s, so I decided f**k it, free POV whenever and wherever I want. This is the first time I’ve really used a POV like this in a long fic, though I did it here and there in one-shots like the soulmarks AU and ‘dawn after the long dark’ in OotW.

⦁ I had fun with this fic, but it was also Struggle Bus to write (for various reasons, from plot-related, to meta, to my own indecision, to life). All my fics (at least long ones, and it can still happen in one-shots) include rewrites somewhere, but I feel like it’s something invisible to both readers and other writers. You only see the final result, not the six tries + editing it took to get there, but this one took a lot of rewriting. I think the final result is fun though so I’m really happy with it.

Original Outline:

The original idea for this fic was very brief. She-ra would have already saved Catra in the past and they were in the weird friendship phase, there was some will-they-won’t-they and attempted friendship tension, then the kiss and the reveal, then the booty call which would start turning Catra around and they would repair their relationship from there.

Then I thought “hey this is a magical realism au, I could have Melog in here” and immediately had the idea for the scene where Catra found Melog. Everything spiraled from there. Below is the entire outline for the fic by the time I finished drafting the first chapter (during which I had ideas about Shadow Weaver’s place in this AU and such).

- meet - friendship (adora learns theres a chance of rebuilding next semester) - return (health insurance, kiss it better) - “just checking in again” (law student) - rooftop - kiss/fall out - booty call - in limbo, find melog - bring melog to BMU - priorities conversation - some fight with the horde, taking down shadow weaver

In the end, the fic followed the outline, though not always the way I thought, mostly at the end where it was more ambiguous. I don't have much to say about it (beyond what I said in earlier notes) since it mostly turned out how I planned, but I thought sharing what one of my overarching outlines looks like might be fun.

Meta:

Superzero playlist

Upcoming:

Okay so I have like, four fics I’m weighing at the moment and I’m not sure with one is going to win, so it’s hard to say which will be upcoming. If I had to guess, though? City of Angels.

#superzero #ficmeta #fic notes #i can finally read those superhero au fics i drafted ages ago because i knew i would want to write my own eventually lmao #if i know im doing an au i avoid reading others of that au to avoid being influenced or whatever #also ive been low spoons for a while and lost control of replying to comments but i will try to catch up on the last week or two if i can #ive just been prioritizing actually writing over that

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etheriadearie · 2 years

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Read your big Entrapta post. It was very interesting, and over 6000 words long, LMAO. You should use plain text more though, the heavily reformatted bold/italicised/etc text made it difficult to read.

So, a few things:

1. I absolutely agree that the characters are continuing the historical trauma of the first ones. Entrapta is a truth seeker trying to get to the heart of the issue and basically discovers the Heart of Etheria with the minimal amount of investigation in season 1, with nobody else questioning what the First Ones did because it would mean they have to question their entire power structure.

2. However, Entrapta is still a villain that the Princesses need to stop. Especially as the Black Garnet Experiment was hurting so many people, and she didn't even know what sort of dangerous weapon was lurking under the surface yet! Unfortunately I think the lack of communication with her in s1 is attributed to time - she only got a single episode to deal with them and just when they were warming up to each other they were separated. I like to think if this separation never happened, the other characters would've started to understand Entrapta better and let her do her thing. On the other hand, they probably wouldn't have let her mess with a runestone. A full Rebellion! Entrapta would face prejudice against tampering with tech, as you said. Only the Horde would be willing to fully embrace it, which is why Bow's tech is nowhere close to Entrapta's - hell, people tease him for it rather than ask him about it!

(This presumably changes after s5 where suddenly tech is a vital part of society and Entrapta carried the Rebellion through the transition.)

3. I do think you're right when you say, all the other characters are caught up in their anger and hurt, but Entrapta lets it pass through, and she can see most clearly the value in other people, and treats them better than she gets treated. She does carry and push down some hurt especially around getting rejected so many times no matter how hard she tries, and sometimes she questions her own philosophies of "imperfections are beautiful" because how can she believe that when her own imperfections keep leading to her pushing people away? But she has a strong heart, and pushes through that doubt and becomes a powerful force for individuality across the show. She is unabashedly herself, and transfers that positive energy onto other characters when de-chipping them, breaking up tension for other characters on the space ship, and helping Hordak figure out who he is.

Hi! Sounds like we agree on a lot, let me see if I can respond to a few things...

Thanks! My Promise discussion is over 17,000 hah 💜😜💜✌️. And I think you're right about the text, thx for saying. I've been thinking about switching to all bold, an example of that here.

Okay to this, I think we need to deal with the outdated and blasé boring 80s villain concept..

::metadiscuss She-ra and ND Stevenson's take on villains 🦹‍♀️

To be clear, my writing is never done to condone anyone's actions. What's happening is that they're all bad (until s5). SPOP is a waking disaster for pretty much every character, good guys and bad, they are all being hurtful and those decisions are bouncing off each other in a disastrous chaotic echo chamber. And Entrapta’s story, while messy, shows the truest line of good intentions towards others and to finding the truth.

Which is why I think judging Entrapta (or Catra and Hordak) as 'villains who need to be stopped’ isn't what ND wants us to do.

Catra and Hordak are absolutely being total assholes, but, there's only a couple really evil people in SPOP, who cause so much hurt and destruction in the story, and to which we can trace back all the other characters' actions to. What makes Catra and Hordak different from these evil people is that they aren't sociopaths. For example, one such sociopath villain- Shadow Weaver- gets away with the most terrible bullshit for the longest time. She abused Catra and Adora from an early age- and Adora and Catra only manage to stop her at the very end. This is a much more realistic storyline, as irl abusers fly under the radar, some never even face consequences for their actions.

But, this complexity is how ND Stevenson set out to give us a better story than the old 80s boring blasé “villains are evil and only exist to be stopped by the heroes”. Those stories lack any creativity, making 1 dimensional badguys to be knocked over by the heroes shooting gallery style.

The biggest clue that SPOP rejects such a blasé villain take is the plot itself- do the Princesses EVER even really stop them? Anything they try to do backfires- they didn't stop the portal from opening, they never regained control of the Black Garnet- and yet did the Horde ever use it again?

They could have, right? So, the Princesses struggle to even do the most basic thing of stopping the Horde. Stopping the villains isn't something we see them do until the end. The Princesses don't work together, before Adora showed up they all hid in their kingdoms and abandoned Etheria’s populace (and often their own people) to war. (see Bow’s dad George in s2ep7). But, by making unbalanced emotional decisions that are out of control they do make things worse for themselves, and for everyone on Etheria. This is because while the Horde is wrong, their own decisions add to the trauma of the other side, particularly Catra, perpetuating and increasing the violence.

For example, about one of the most villainous moments- Catra pulling the switch- we can see how Glimmer’s own actions of empowering Shadow Weaver in s3ep4 sends things out of control.

That's the moment Catra's actions are solidified, before then she's not angry enough to do what she does. And from then on Glimmer continues to give Shadow Weaver even more power in s4, she falls for her deceptions, which contributes to Glimmer’s mistake of linking Scorpia to the Heart, looking to win by any option. The world almost ends; it's chaos.

To elaborate about the portal incident: I say confidently that what we're suppose to understand within the plot that the portal wouldn't have happened without Glimmer bringing Shadow Weaver to the Fight Zone.

Entrapta actually had that under control, she had convinced Hordak to wait to try the portal, so they could perfect it (more really, for romance). And Adora did a good job warning Entrapta about the dangers, changing her mind. So, even though Catra wanted to do it, it wouldn't have happened. She wasn't the uncontrollably enraged person we see when she shocks Entrapta and then lies to Hordak.

That all comes down to Catra being brought within an inch of her life by her abuser yet again. Catra has been powerless to stop her abuser all of her life. Seeing the Princesses enable her abuser is a bridge too far. She has to win, even if there's a chance the world will end.

Imho what Catra did to Entrapta is what she hates herself for the most. It wasn't supposed to happen, we see that on her face afterwards. Catra is (predictably) driven by fear, that no matter what she does her abuser will be enabled by others.

Even at that point in the story, Adora is an enabler of their abuser in Catra's eyes. She's wrong, Adora has no control- and feels as unsafe as she does.

This is the kind of evidence that's there if you look for it, and Glimmer's decision to enable their abuser leaves both Adora and Catra unnerved and they begin to spiral during s4. What's also true is that Glimmer is partially responsible for her own pain in s4 and the loss of her mother. (I can talk in more detail about this cascade of events, lmk.)

In fact, Shadow Weaver switching sides is nothing- she's not trying to help the Princesses win, there's nothing left for her at the Horde and she uses it as a new opportunity to manipulate for power. In s4 she drives Glimmer towards releasing the power, for her own gain. It doesn't end like she intends when the Heart is set off instead.

But, as usual Shadow Weaver is getting away with it. She only faces consequences in s5 when Catra (‘a villain who needs to be stopped') helps Adora past all the manipulations with her love confession. Why is it Catra that has to bring the knowledge of love, why is she the wise one? It's literally the story of the series, her saving Adora with The Kiss.

So the story of the series isn't that Catra is a redeeming villain- it's why she has this special knowledge. Nor is Adora some miraculous hero- she can't be a real hero until she learns to accept that love.

So Catra can't really be called a villain, she does act the part but it's more complicated than that. Hordak isn't one either- he is a trauma machine, but he helps them win in the end, too. And Entrapta is one of the least villainous people in her intentions- lead than the Princesses who try to use a horrific super weapon to win (obvious similarities to choosing the nuclear option). Instead, we should focus on the real villains- sociopathic manipulators who like to hurt others- Shadow Weaver, Horde Prime, and somewhat Light Hope.

They lack the ability to feel love or empathy, they want to hurt others, like many of the worst abusers in our societies (looking at you, capitalism). That emotional difference is where the root of evil actually lies, because it lets them hurt people indefinitely. And just like Shadow Weaver, Horde Prime got away with it for the longest time, he hurt Hordak and murdered many innocent worlds before being stopped. And what did it take to stop him? An act of love. Gay love. 🏳️‍🌈 That's a pretty great rejection of the blasé troupes if you ask me.

So, I don't agree with the 80s villain view of Entrapta and most other characters. Is Scorpia a villain? How about Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie? They're treated as such. It's so much better that we're shown both sides, to understand how their choices are affected by the Princesses own actions. So that way we can think about why they make the decisions that they do. It's chaos until they all agree to stop and understand each other. Meanwhile the sociopaths were getting away with manipulating them all.

Oh an Entrapta? She doesn't stop to placate anyone's fragile feelings, such as with the Princesses, because ignorance is worse than not knowing what's really going on and the deeper plot that threatens the entire universe.

Anyways... I am not worthy to speak for ND but I suspect that he'd say calling Entrapta a villain wasn't what he wanted us to see. Or with many of the other characters. Entrapta is always doing her best, she's also kind to others. Calling her villain is so surface, it's meh.

Hope that makes sense.

p.s I know my posts are long, but its because I'm trying to answer all of the questions and misconstrued comebacks I've seen all at once, every question all at once. I do wish my writings could be shorter, but then I'd leave too many things open to confusion. Also, many questions are answered in my hyperlinks- more good meta to read with a hot cuppa somethin'☕️☺️ (all hyperlinks are on tumblr)

In a show where Catra and Adora struggle so much with becoming their true selves, Entrapta is always in touch with her most authentic self. She gives me all of the happy feelings 🥰

I know, it hurts to see her suffer. 😥 She shouldn't be made to doubt. Then again, what's being alive more than doubting? Each major character in SPOP does it. Her story has so much humanity 😌

Well said!! This is what I'm really saying when I talk about how the Princesses are privileged. Like, many privileged people accept the current economic order and that's wrong- it's destroying our environment and makes 3rd world counties impoverished. I see a real similarity in how the Princesses just accept their world order. Like irl, just because they don't know it's wrong doesn't make it any less wrong.

Thanks to anybody who hung out through this long post. If you like it, let me know. But reblogg if you can, because reblogs make the tumblr world go round ☺️💫🌍✨. Thanks for writing in op, I'm glad we agree on many things (some which I didn't have time to cover).

Happy Pride everybody!! ✨✨🏳️‍🌈✨✨!!!!

p.s if you have an ama pending I have received it and will respond just as soon as it's ready. Feel free to keep sending me asks my peoples!!

-Etheriadearie

#entrapta #she ra meta #spop meta #she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #spop #villain #80s villain #nd stevenson #she ra spoilers #catradora

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darthkvznblogs · 2 years

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Wow, that one scene in the latest Owl House, am I right? What did you think about it as a whole? I meant to say this earlier, but I think that part of why season 2 is so great is BECAUSE the show was cut short. It’s not like the first season was bad, far from it, but the loss of twenty episodes means that they have to squeeze in everything that they can into season 2, forcing them to step up their game so that the fans can get everything. And they did so VERY well, IMHO.

It was beautiful! - a little understated, I think, on purpose, to match the rest of their (despite the magical circumstances) very sweet and dorky relationship. It didn't have the fanfare of Ruby and Sapphire's, or the end of the world stakes of Catra and Adora, and I'm happy it was that simple. Now I'm just worried out of my mind for how next week's episode will go...feels like we're very much in Empire Strikes Back, about to open a door and find out we're having dinner with a goddamn Sith Lord (and the disaster that follows).

I think I actually have to disagree with you on this one; while I absolutely agree with you that Season has been incredible (personally, every episode has been "great" to "incredible" for me, how do they keep doing it) I don't know that this story is better for everything we've lost as a result of the shortened runtime. Think about it: the story would've been the same, as great as it has been, but we'd have a lot more time to get those in-between scenes - let every new revelation have its time to breathe, really feel their impact. Think about how people are lamenting the fact that they didn't see Hunter and Darius reuniting, how the show itself called out the fact that it didn't have any more time for chill adventures that could let us explore the world and meet new people, or give a greater background and focus to our existing characters - especially everyone outside of the handful of dedicated focus characters.

That being said, yes, they have done an admirable job - like I've said, it's something of an achievement in storytelling that they've managed to tell this beautiful and tragic story despite all the studio meddling. @the-literary-lord

#ask box #the owl house #the owl house spoilers

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sometipsygnostalgic · 2 years

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Hordak being friends with the princesses: yay or nay?

hmmmmm

if the setting is treated realistically, absolutely not

on the other hand the show has lots of "power of friendship" stuff, because it's for kids, and also because it's more fun and 2000s nostalgic that way (like teen titans, witch, etc)

which is why everyone forgives the other horde characters pretty easily

and the Best Friend Squad is thoroughly emphasized at the end, as Catra finally joins the main squad. I mean, there has to be one for her to join it, even if it seems redundant with the sheer number of characters they have good chemistry with who are Not in that group.

(in my opinion Best Friend Squad are fine in isolation and i love all their 1/1 relationships, but they're insufferable as a friend group, especially when theyre directly compared to the Horde group dynamics, which alternate between the Super Pal Misfits and the Disaster Horde Leaders depending on the season, and all get way more interesting plotlines/conflicts. I would've killed for a SPT reunion in season 5 even for 2 seconds. Love what we got but it needed more. Especially Scorpia, who only got 1 and a half episodes vs Entrapta at least being in the A-squad with Catra, as well as her own arc with Hordak. Scorpia deserves all the love and should be in every friend group. Anyway BFS are normie in comparison and I can't click with them as a full set, not after season 1 which is when Adora was new to her environment and they were at their best.)

So yeah I think the idea of Hordak having a tense but existing friendship with the princesses is quite entertaining. Mermista in particular is a funny one because they're both grumpy, and everyone expects her to hate him and Catra because 1. they burned down her country, 2. Mermista has ALREADY been shown to hold a grudge, but Mermista has ALSO been shown to get over both things remarkably quickly and return to her sassy self, mostly with help from ice cream. So I think they would get along excellently. Especially with their chaotic life partners setting things on fire together. I mean, they'd bond just through standing on the side with a fire extinguisher and looking at each other like, "you too, huh?"

Hordak and Catra is an interesting one because on one hand he is on her list of abusers, and she did some very awful shit to him and someone he cares about too, so Hordak will probably hold a massive grudge, and Catra will have a whole bag of complicated feelings.

But they also have this level of solidarity that permeated their relationship up until their final interactions before Hordak stepped in the pool. They've been through a lot of shared experiences. In part because of what Catra did to Hordak, and in part because she was put through the same torture by Prime, she understands him very well. Whether they would become friends would probably depend on whether Hordak can forgive her. But it's hard not to, when Catra understands what it was like to be under Prime, when Entrapta likes her so much, and when Hordak seems to have an understanding with Adora.

#she ra #spop #hordak #long post

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cruelfeline · 3 years

Text

Some time last week, some of us were chatting about Hordak's character development, and how much of it is less apparent than, say, Catra's. Or Adora's. Given that he's not a main character (is he even a secondary? I wonder...), this isn't necessarily surprising: the show simply doesn't focus enough on him to give him front-and-center scenes. He doesn't get the moments of clear introspection we see with our mains.

That doesn't, however, mean that there's no development at all. Rather, it means that a lot of Hordak's motivations and thought processes end up conveyed in more subtle ways, often requiring a bit of dedicated assessment from the viewer. Essentially: very rarely does the show clearly state what Hordak is feeling, but with some attention to detail, one can, I think, fairly accurately deduce it.

There are plenty of scenes one can assess in this fashion, but I'm going to focus on a specific one because it's a great example of how much detail can be packed into some scenery and a couple of lines.

That scene is the one involving him and Catra at the beginning of season four.

We open with a pan through Hordak's sanctum, with special attention being drawn to the fact that everything is an absolute mess. Cables are torn and sparking. Heavy machinery lays strewn about in various states of disrepair.

Vitrines that were shattered during the portal incident haven't even been drained, let alone repaired. The scene uses Catra to highlight the abnormality of this: she clearly sees the destruction around her and appears confused, unsettled, by it. Her expression and general demeanor inform us that something is wrong.

Furthermore, she is able to enter the sanctum without any sort of invitation, preamble, or indeed, without even announcing herself. Which is odd, isn't it? It's certainly not the sort of behavior we've seen from her before, and it's not the sort of thing that we've seen Hordak allow before. Previously, Catra has always been nervous when entering Hordak's territory. Or she's been summoned. This time, she appears to be neither.

Furthermore, she calls him "Hordak." Rather than Lord.

We now move to Hordak himself. Whereas we've always seen Hordak doing something in his sanctum - be it technical work or interacting with Entrapta or what-have-you - we come upon him doing all of nothing. Actually, we come upon him sitting, which is also... odd, isn't it? We've seen him sit on his throne, sure, but there's always been a sort of performative aspect to that. He sits on his throne, commanding respect, being "Lord Hordak." He doesn't really look like "Lord Hordak" here, does he?

We've also seen him sit after his syncopal episode, but that's not what's happening here, either.

Rather, Hordak is just... idle. Seated almost casually. Or, rather, seated without seeming to care what he looks like, or what is going on around him. He's not actively working on anything. He's not tending to the ungodly mess around him. He's just doing nothing. Which, if one thinks about it, we've never actually seen before.

Now we commence dialogue. Catra immediately focuses on aspects of the situation that are pertinent to the Horde's supposed goal: conquering Etheria. She points out the absence of Angella, which is an important thing! Strategically crucial, in fact. She focuses on the advantage the Horde now has, pointing out that the Rebellion is in disarray without its leader, and Hordak...

Hordak entirely ignores this all-important advantage (and indulges in an outburst of rage at "Entrapta") and focuses instead on one solitary thing: keeping Princesses out of the Fright Zone.

Which. That's important, sure, but it's also ignoring an incredible strategic opportunity: a bizarre error for someone whose chief goal is, supposedly, taking over Etheria. It's especially bizarre when one takes into account the fact that, having just lost their leader and thus being in disarray, it's fairly unlikely that any Princesses are going to attempt to breach the Fright Zone anytime soon. So... what gives?

The show doesn't specifically say it. It doesn't give Hordak a private monologuing scene, or even have any other character verbally point it out, but by noting all of the components of this scene, one can recognize that Hordak is, to put it plainly, depressed.

Hordak, a normally ordered, fastidious character, has been ignoring the utter wreckage of his home for the better part of a few months. He does not appear to care about the usual hierarchy he once so emphatically insisted upon, not reacting to Catra's informal way of meeting with and speaking to him.

Even though he is supposed to be hell-bent on conquering Etheria, he is completely idle. Furthermore, he totally disregards a glaring strategic opportunity and instead gives us an indicator of what is actually important to him: another Princess breaching the Fright Zone.

Another Princess entering his life, getting close to him, and hurting him. As Entrapta supposedly did.

This is the sort of scene that gives us indicators of what is going on in Hordak's inner world without necessitating that the show dedicate specific time to directly addressing it. Instead, we get alterations in background and behavior that, when assessed and compared to what we already know about Hordak, indicate a shift in his mental and emotional states.

But that's the thing: one has to pay attention. One has to notice that the sanctum is still a disaster, and one has to realize that this is abnormal. One has to note that Catra is no longer behaving the way she used to while approaching Hordak. One has to recognize that Hordak himself is idle in a way we have never seen. And one has to take care to not only see that Hordak doesn't respond to war-related strategic openings, but also identify what he does respond to.

One has to see these things and ask: Why is the sanctum still a mess? Why isn't Hordak working? Why isn't he attacking when the Rebellion is in disarray? Why?

By doing all of that, one can assess that there is not just anger at a territory breach and supposed betrayal here; if that was the case, then I doubt that moping among broken machinery would be the result. Rather, there is distress and pain bad enough that Hordak has fallen out of normal behavior and... well, essentially broken down.

Now, if one doesn't take the time to assess this scene and appreciate the interplay of environment and character behavior, then the fact that Hordak is depressed might not be apparent. Rather, one might see only the most obvious, loud thing - his angry outburst - and judge him an angry jerk; no more, no less.

Take a closer look, however, and one can see the confused, hurt individual that he actually is after the portal incident.

But: one has to look.

#hordak #catra #entrapdak

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catrasredemption-moved · 3 years

Note

any good catradora fanfics you could recommend?

mmmm, let’s see...

anachronism by @catra-adoras (complete). Time travel shenanigans (mayhaps?), portal shenanigans, angst, it’s all the good stuff lol.**

The Lighthouse by @ecrooked24 (in-progress). Tragic backstories, Adora is kind of a lonely hermit in a lighthouse, Catra is a mess. (trigger warnings for violence, past child abuse, past drug use, addiction.)

and I'm furious (that I still have your back while you're staggering away from me) by riptheh (in-progress.) AU about what would have happened if Catra didn’t go back to the Heart of Etheria. Angst. Just. Angst. Season Five AU ending, obvs.

You Came Back (For Me?) by genVicron (in-progress.) Catra goes with Adora to Bright Moon in season one acting as a spy for the Horde. Obviously that gets complicated fast.

Marriage of Convenience by top_me_daenerys (in-progress.) Princess Catra! Arranged marriage! Adora is a disaster!

Somehow I’ll still Love You More by @princessofgayskull (complete.) The pregnant Catra fic that made me yearn for more.

The Long Road Home by Natsora (Series, In-Progress, Standalone Oneshots.) Post-war, hurt/comfort, whump, sickfics. The things I like lol.

Hail Mary by @johannas-motivational-insults (in-progress.) Sportsball AU. I know very little about sports, but the yearning between Catra and Adora. My god they’re dumb**

Taking Back a Little Control by Reilith (one-shot.) Post Save the Cat, which I am an absolute SUCKER for.

Glowing in the Dark by themoonsneverseenmebefore (complete.) The friends in high school who stopped being friends for Reasons and reunite in college AU. Featuring Feelings and Mara as Adora’s loving mother.

Nesting by project_azrael (complete.) Pregnant Catra fic. Listen I am SOFT for pregnant Catra, I can’t help it**

**Includes smut or sexual comments, which aren’t generally my thing, but hey, who am I to pass up a good story

This isn’t necessarily a comprehensive list of good things I’ve read, but they’re definitely ones I revisit every now and again when I need a certain fix lol

#fic recs #catradora #motheriduna #Sam Answers

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1-800-gaygentsofshield · 3 years

Text

(Female) Characters on Valentines Day

(multiple characters) x fem!reader

Agents of SHIELD

Jemma Simmons (neutral good)

would literally plan a month in advance

or forget if she's too wrapped up in work (but apoligizes profusely once she's reminded)

theres no inbetween

give you a very heartfelt gift or something that you've wanted for a while (like a watch you talked about a year ago)

if she could get time off of work, she would take the both of you out for a nice dinner, nothing over the top..just sweet and romantic

the cutest person ever when it comes to the two of you

kisses on the cheek

taking you on a walk through the park

holding your hand

just pure perfection

i love her so much oml

Daisy Johnson (disaster bisexual)

biggest softie

i can just imagine her being all embarrased about pda but absolutely melting when her girlfriend kisses her on the cheek and tells her how much she loves her

chocolate, roses, and stuffed animals

lets be honest, Daisy would do all that really cliche romantic things but pretend like she doesn't care when other people are looking

acts like a badass inhuman but once you pull her in close..mm she's just a big ole teddy bear

a sucker for cuddles and kisses

disaster bisexual (my headcanon is that daisy is bi and no one can tell me otherwise, i mean even chloe said that shes definately had a girlfriend before)

Would most likely leave mission early to spend more time with you (unless she gets injured, then you spend valentines day taking care of her and scolding her on not beig more careful)

Bobbi Morse (sexy glare)

would probably get into an argument abt it ngl

"you spent how much money on me?!"

would have cut lip from misson her and daisy were on (you thought it was hot though so you dont mind)

passionate, steamy, angry/hate sex

would still train/spar with daisy

you would have to pull her away into a janitor closet because damn, she looked good

very sweet afterwards, cuddles for days

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger (attractive google)

very heartfelt gifts

sitting by the black lake with your head in her lap

she's reading a book to you

you're melting because she's playing with your hair at the same time

and that voice

merlin that voice

would make out with you in the restricted section of the library

would send you a valentines by folding the piece of paper to look like a bunny and charming it to hop onto your desk

would give you fresh baked tarts and pumpkin pasties because she knows its your favorite

cuddles for days

forehead, cheek, and shoulder kisses

such a softie

bad at receiving gifts so when you would compliment her, or say a cheesy pick up line, or touch her gently, her face would flush crimson and she would sutter out a thank you

"o- uhm- this is lovely-"

the more steamy part of your gift would come later on that night ;)

Ginny Weasley (badass ginger)

quidditch practice :(

but you wouldnt mind cause she looks hot in her jersey

wouldn't really know what to do cause she grew up with a whole bunch of brothers

"I- erm..got you this"

awkward cutie

but is very confident afterwards

isn't really into the sappy valentines day things but when she is..she goes all out

flowers, chocolates, rose petals, large displays of affection, the works

signature Ginny smile

dom.

Luna Lovegood (on of the only other characters besides ginny that the majority of the fandom agrees is lgbt)

gives you a hand picked boquet of flowers she found in the forest

crystal/wire jewlery

walks in the forest

soft kisses

blushes once you give her the gift you brought

holds your hand/links your pinkies together

tucks a strand of hair behind your ear while smiling

She-Ra

Adora (dumb lesbian/chaotic good)

big ole oblivious softie

"i got you this stuffed animal, scorpia thought you'd like it so i hope she's right"

is a sucker for gentle face caresses and kisses

almost cries when you give her a gift

such a cutie

didn't know what valentines day was until glimmer and bow gave eachother gifts

"why are you guys doing that? is today special?"

"adora, it's valentines day"

"what's that?"

glimmer wants to punch shadow weaver for depriving adora of these experiences

Catra (dumb lesbain x2/lawful evil or lawful neutral later on)

absolutely despises valentines day (once bow and glimmer explained it)

was a softie tho when you gave her a gift

"i got you a gift..or whatever"

"it's not even a big deal"

"this is not because i like you"

but she does like you

alot

acts like she hates the sappy gift you give her but immediately grabs it once you leave

#she ra #catra #adora #harry potter #hermione granger #ginny weasley #luna lovegood #bobbi morse #jemma simmons #daisy johnson #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#valentines #valentines day #character x reader #character x fem!reader #blurb

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lesbianbooradleypsued · 4 years

Text

The Etherian Party Bus: Point Zero

Fandom: She-ra and the Princesses of Power Pairing: Adora/Catra Word Count: 6,898

Summary: As Darla approaches the point of no contact with Etheria, Adora thinks about how they got to this point. Just 7 months ago they'd won the war, and now she doesn't know if her little crew will ever return. Or After the defeat of Hoard Prime, Catra and Hordak were exiled for four years. Adora and Entrapta refused to accept being separated from them for that long, and loaded the two of them on Darla and then set out for parts unknown in space. Adora is currently considering everything that has happened to get them to this point as they are about to leave contact range with Etheria. Catra joins her on the bridge.

Notes: So this is just one part of a series. They'll be posted out of order with the time stamps at the beginning. Haven't written in a long while so have mercy on me. X-posted to AO3 as well.

Tags: Smut, Porn With Plot, Rough Sex, Biting, Scratching, light bdsm aspects, Top Adora, Bottom Catra, Blow Jobs, Adora Has a Penis, Recreational Drug Use, if i forgot a tag tell me, Fluff, Not Beta Read

Seven Months Out

The rhythmic thump of heavy bass from two floors down on Darla thrummed through Adora's relaxed body like a second heartbeat.

She was shamelessly lounging on the bridge in her Captain's chair in a pair of baggy grey sweatpants, a white tank top, and the comfortable black slip on shoes she wore day to day around Darla. Her right leg was draped over the plush arm of her chair and her left leg was cocked out, resting comfortably on the floor. Her right arm was folded behind her head and her left was lazily holding onto a glass filled with shimmery dark purple liquid that rippled in sync with the bass.

The bridge was dark save for the few ever present blinking red lights on the various dash boards and panels surrounding the six strategically placed seats that now comprised the ship's bridge. All Entrapta and Hordak's designs. It was just those lights and of course the large windows filled with the brilliant kaleidoscope of stars that were reflected in Adora's peaceful hazed over blue eyes.

She was lost in reflection.

In front of her were countless galaxies filled with countless lifeforms and Adora wanted to meet and learn about them all. And hopefully quell that insatiable drive in her that'd been building steadily for the last four months of the exile to just keep going.

Adora finally knew what a passion was now, something not born out of circumstantial upbringing or a sense of duty, but something you do because you want to. She wants to explore further every day just to find out something new, chart new stars, learn about a different species cultures. She wants to see what Catra feels like in her arms there with her through every new experience, so far removed from their prior life. Untethered. She knows very little about the First Ones, most of it not great, but she does know they were explorers. She figures that's where this passion must come from.

Behind her, falling further and further away every second is Etheria. It's so far away now it's no longer visible even at their highest scanning capacity.

After seven months in space, the last four of them spent finally finding out what kind of person she was outside of child soldier/She-ra, Adora's feelings about their abrupt, messy departure from their home planet had managed to settle down between resignation and dull betrayal.

It's still a very tender spot. Her logical brain understands that Catra and Hordak couldn't just escape any type of punishment for their literal war crimes. It wouldn't be fair to the countless lives forever changed by them. She also will begrudgingly concede that it would have been a slap in the face to every citizen of Etheria if Glimmer had just gone against the public demand and pardoned them. She is also begrudgingly grateful that Glimmer had ordered the most minimal punishment she had within her power as Queen.

But four years exile still seemed so long. Too long. Even longer now that she knew what her and Catra actually had. She thought she had loved Catra at seventeen, but that feeling was hardly a single star in the quadrant compared to the way she felt about her now. And she knew that with every day that passed, the feelings were just getting more and more intense. She couldn't imagine going four days without the magicat, four years was absurd.

Less than an hour after the sentencing they had left Etheria in a messy, absolutely traumatic scene on the front lawn of Brightmoon. Two of them were convicted criminals who had just been exiled from Etheria and two of them were Princesses who refused to just accept being parted for four years, the need to rebuild Etheria be damned. And as an extra spicy surprise they found out a couple of months in, that Double Trouble had stole'd away on Darla for reasons Adora was still unclear on. Something about drama and possibly being wanted.

The first few months in space had been a disaster Adora acknowledged, taking a sip of her drink and savoring the smooth herbal flavor. They had been blindly chasing the idea of restoring magic to the universe like it was their assigned mission, and not just a distraction from their current situation.

The immediate space around Etheria, it turned out, was not nice to begin with.

In the month since Prime's demise a power vacuum had opened up in the area. Entire planets were without the resources to rebuild themselves and were more than willing to fight for them, and there were opportunistic ships filled with bandits everywhere. It was chaos.

And they had flown into the middle of all that and loudly pronounced they had killed Prime and were magic.

Que a three month long shit storm.

They all just suffered.

Entrapta retreated into herself, barely coming out of the engine room unless they were under attack or broke down. She had been shaken to the core by her sudden loss of confidence in the friendships she had tentatively built over the last three years. Friendships she thought were built on mutual respect for their unique abilities and qualities. Entrapta knew she was the smart one. But only Adora, Scorpia, Wrong Hordak, and Catra had spoken on Hordak's behalf even though Entrapta provided sufficient evidence that by killing Prime in the way She-ra had, it had changed Hordak in fundamental ways. Yes he was responsible for what he had done, took responsibility for it, but he was also literally a new being.

When She-ra knocked Prime's ass out of Hordak's body and vanquished him, it was like being baptised, exorcised, and reborn simultaneously. All the clones had experienced it. Hoard Prime could not control them even again, could never take control of them again. An order coded into their very DNA that demanded them to conquer all for Prime was obliterated. That drive, an instinct really, had been as deeply ingrained into them as breathing was.

Hordak was not really washed anew like the other clones though. He didn't go from a mindless drone in a hive mind like the others, no, he'd spent thirty years waging war in Prime's name on Etheria. He was now without purpose. He was overwhelmed with emotions he did not know he was capable of that lurched violently from happiness to guilt and more often than not ended up at rage. He spoke very rarely to anyone but Entrapta unless it was to loudly argue with Adora or Catra or both of them.

Adora had spent those first few months just absolutely drenched in anger and bitterness. Her mind circled around all of the hurt that had been caused during the last three years. So much of it was Adora and Catra's. They were hit with traumatic event after traumatic event for three years, after a traumatic as fuck childhood. And against all odds they had escalated and pushed that stalemate of a war to an end where everyone won. And now because apparently they couldn't have nice things, and Adora was not smart, they found themselves in a big galaxy filled with unexpected dangers. And what were they doing? Chasing and dodging said dangers because they were just barreling ahead under her command asking every being they met if they needed their magic topped off. She was being absolutely reckless and every near catastrophe circled back to two thoughts. I'm not good enough and how could Catra love me?

Catra had felt horrible that Adora had just given up her life on Etheria so she could stay with Catra. But she felt downright evil that she had selfishly agreed to it with very little argument. Adora had pointedly told Catra that this was what she wanted. How could she deserve this? After everything that had happened Adora had chosen her? Wanted her by her side to explore this precious thing they'd started? How could she say no? It was hard for anyone but them to understand how much it meant for Adora to say those words aloud. She wanted Catra. She could not actually believe it still. Fought herself against the notion in fact. She spiraled in self hatred and guilt. Which of course meant she lashed out at Adora because that's what she did.

Adora and Catra got stuck in a vicious cycle of fight, avoid, apologize, rinse, and repeat that went on for two months. And then finally after a truly shitty day, even by those early standards, it came to a head. Catra gathered all three of the brain cells aboard Darla and had a big "aha moment". They actually had their first real mostly calm and open discussion about their feelings and baggage in their lives. They also had sex for the first time. It was a really big aha moment.

Adora hadn't thought it was possible to fall more in love with the magicat but she did. After the incident, Catra began opening up in earnest to Adora. She whispered confessions of love and attraction into her ear, began to slowly become more physically affectionate towards her. Adora's focus started to shift from saving the universe to saving them. If Catra was safe, she was calm enough to be vulnerable for Adora, and it turns out Adora needed that vulnerability like fucking oxygen. It made her better, made her feel like she could do anything in the universe she wanted. It made Adora believe that Catra loved her for her, and not for what Adora could do.

So less running around space with her whole ass showing; ending them up in dangerous situations every other day, and more let's just go away from that situation and see what's over there.

But not enough because they all nearly died in a fiery blaze three months in.

Adora had snapped after healing Catra's broken ribs, pointed Darla in the general direction of far away, and gunned it. They'd cleared the small cluster of planets nearest Etheria that they had been nervously darting around for three months, getting their asses handed to them, and just kept going. She just put the whole magical quest on the back burner indefinitely. It wasn't working, was actively endangering them in fact. It was not conducive to a vulnerable safe Catra.

When they were a safe distance away she had hidden the ship in an asteroid field and Meelog cloaked them. And then Adora had turned to Catra and asked her what she thought they should do next. It had been a very wise decision.

Catra had taken control immediately. First she encouraged/ordered Entrapta and Hordak to use their combined intelligence and any means necessary to get Darla up to date and better suited to surviving four years in space. They absolutely ran with it. They'd practically completely redesigned the layout of the ship and had even managed to expand its size over the last four months. Darla was taking on the character of a jigsaw puzzle with all the different colored materials covering her hull now. Double Trouble called it Junker Chic, Adora said she had character.

After that, and another near death experience for Adora, the magicat had proposed becoming diplomats of sorts for Etheria. Space was dangerous Catra pointed out, and that danger would likely come for Etheria again eventually. Having strong ties to planets already established in the quadrant has leaders could only be helpful.

And as her last decision Catra had released Adora from any responsibility except for occasionally parading She-ra out when the situation called for it. Her girlfriend had poked and prodded at the new ember of passion in Adora's heart until it was a raging fire.

It had been an amazing change in their lives.

Still seven months in space and in her heart, Adora was still so raw from the sheer trauma of the entire trial, convictions, and absolutely cataclysmic immediate aftermath. She'd had to carry Catra aboard Darla because the magicat was crying so hard. She felt...betrayed? Somehow used in a way she couldn't express? She had nearly died over and over and over again for Etheria. She nearly lost Catra forever for Etheria. And all they got were two weeks before everything went to absolute shit and strangers who didn't know the full story started demanding Catra's permanent exile. Some had even called for execution despite Etheria not having a death sentence. "Make one" someone had said. Adora had nearly ran them through with her sword.

Adora knows if they are ever gonna return at the end of the exile she's gotta heal more. Has to get to a place where she wants to go back. They all do.

Two decks down, in Darla's expanded cargo bayn the wildest party this side of Etheria was raging on at, what her body believed to be, very very late at night. The beat changed suddenly, becoming more powerful, and it startled Adora out of her musings. The tempo sped up and the bass pounded harder and Adora released a throaty chuckle. Her groin tightened, partly from the vibrations and partly from the effects of the drink coursing through her blood. She took a long swill of her glass and moved to rest her right hand firmly on her lap, rubbing her hardening dick through her pants and sighing in contentment.

The thing Adora lovef most about this aimless explorer diplomatic lifestyle they'd gradually slipped into was the culture they'd shared with scores of different species. The drink in her hand was supplied by the fourteen Chix'eks currently onboard the ship at the moment, who were also supplying the music.

Of all of the species they'd met so far, the Chix'eks are by far Adora's favorite. Tall and willowy bipeds, their shimmery smooth bichromatic scales come in countless color combinations and their facial features remind Adora of a bird of prey. They were also the most sincere, friendly beings Adora has ever met, and their language was beautiful. When Adora had been downstairs with them earlier she had taken her translator earpiece out and just listened to them. It was like glass windchimes in a steady breeze. They also were absolute party animals. Like having a pretty good time was in their specie's nature.

They'd been traveling with this group for the last two weeks for no other reason than they were all going the same direction for a bit.

The Chix'eks were highly intelligent and eager to share their knowledge and learn from Hordak and Entrapta's own wealth of knowledge, Catra and Double Trouble practically fed off of their clever sharp wit and general "we're always at a rave" vibes, and Adora just loves listening to their intricate music and sampling the various mind altering substances they have crafted over several millions of years of inherited knowledge.

Medicine was a specialty craft amongst their species. Their medicine was arguably the furthest advanced in this quadrant of space. The fact that the plants that grew on their home planet could affect every species they had met so far seemed fantastically impossible to Adora. But she had experienced it first hand when she'd contracted some kind of alien plague virus from hell and almost died. It was not a great time. Catra had new nightmares for several weeks. But by chance a group of the scaled beings had happened upon them and saved Adora just cause they could. And then offered to make some introductions to other friendly worlds in that part of space. They'd sparked that explorative vibe.

Oh yeah, and their passion for making addictive free, highly specialized, mind altering substances was a huge bonus.

She was glad they were on board right now providing her strange crew with comrade and the drink in Adora's hand that has allowed her to sit and think in total peace for the last hour. It would probably be one of those nights otherwise. Outside of the moments she spent wrapped up in Catra's arms, where nothing else existed but them, Adora still couldn't ever just relax. It was a little easier these days, maybe because now her mind was usually racing about exciting things, but tense situations brought out her worst self destructive habits.

And they were in a tense situation, party aside.

They were almost at the point in space where they wouldl no longer be able to contact Etheria and Etheria will no longer be able to contact them. Entrapta officially called it Point Zero. As it was, the contact they did have with home had a two week delay. They'd hovered around this point for the last month. They'd even recorded a message telling Etheria they'd be leaving contact range for a while. It was an open-ended goodbye disguised as an update, just in case.

Adora knew the decision to venture out beyond this point was on her shoulders.

Entrapta and Hordak would have loved nothing more than to gain new scientific knowledge so they could continue their shared passion for turning Darla into a flying impenetrable fortress. As well as collecting new tech to bring back to Etheria to modernize the planet.

Double Trouble wad having the time of Their fucking life expanding Their repertoire of mimicry far beyond the limits of Etheria, and raising hell in Their wake for the drama of it all. Their gift for espionage had been especially useful on several occasions as well, either to get them all out of a tight spot, or just to gather information for Adora's research.

And Catra. God Catra had absolutely burst like a supernova away from Etheria. Gone was the self loathing, guilt ridden magicat who was immediately resigned to being torn away from Adora and tossed onto Beast Island because she thought she deserved it.

Catra is thriving in space, completely free of the demons that plagued her on Etheria. She's still as snarky and sharp tongued as ever but nowadays she smiled more often than not. Her eyes were brighter. She purred almost constantly. And they hadn't fought about anything more serious than what to eat for dinner in months.

Catra had slipped into the not exactly legit role of Etherian Ambassador like a second skin. Her skill for strategy and diplomacy were nearly fully responsible for Adora's continued ability to study other species without coming across as some insane space tourist. They'd made real diplomatic ties with other planets because Catra was a strategic genius. All she asked of Adora was to bring out She-ra when the need for "oohs and aware" occasionally arose. A smiling eight foot tall muscled goddess with a sword really topped off a presentation.

Adora had never in her life seen Catra so happy and carefree.

But still all that aside, Catra had made it very clear that where Adora wanted to go, she wanted to go. They were in sync now more than they'd ever been in their lives, more than Adora suspected they could have achieved on Etheria. Their bond seemed impenetrable after seven months of constant reliance on one another, cohabitation, and working through most of their shit. When they moved these days, they moved as one.

Just thinking about her lover made Adora's heart race in her chest and her dick jumped, going from a semi, to rock hard in seconds. She inhaled deeply at the sensation, and downed the last of her drink.

The drink wasn't usually this potent. Adora had been drinking a much lower dosage of it every morning at breakfast for a couple of months. It helped her to concentrate during the day, helped to keep her thoughts from spiraling when things were tense or she felt like she'd messed up. Entrapta had explained brain chemistry to Adora briefly, she got the gist of it. She didn't need to have an in-depth understanding of it to get that it really helped just manage everything.

Tonight's drink though was not about mental health management and all about that really good Chix'ekian time.

She set the empty glass on the small table at her side and shifted so she could pull her hardened cock out of her pants. The drink had a massive effect on her senses and her libido. Everything was so intense. It felt like she perceived time slower.

For example her sense of smell was so heightened now she could smell Catra, knew she was making her way down the hall to the bridge. Her heady earthy aroma was addictive. Adora had only been minutely aware of it growing up, when they were pressed up against each other in their bunk, or claws to sword in battle. She'd never stopped to examine the nature of it, why Catra had such a distinctive scent compared to everyone else. She hadn't understood pheromones. She didn't understand the magicat instinct to mark and claim. She understood now though that Catra was different on a very basic level from Adora. It made Adora love her more.

The door barely made a sound as it opened and closed. Adora stroked herself lazily as she listened to Catra pad softly across the carpeted floor, her eyes still drawn to the wild unexplored space in front of them.

She felt Catra move around her chair and her eyes turned away from the view to watch her girlfriend kneel in front of her lap, rest her head on Adora's thigh, and begin gently running a clawed hand over Adora's exposed stomach, inches away from where Adora was stroking her own dick.

Catra's eyes were wide, pupils blown, and her voice when she spoke was practically sinful. "Hey Adora," she rasped out looking up at Adora as she scent marked her inner thigh. Adora took a deep breath and her lips curled into an absolutely love drunk smile.

"Hey Catra," Adora replied, her free hand immediately going to Catra's cheek and scratching behind her ear.

Her gaze drifted down to Catra's neck, and the thick white collar affixed with a golden o-ring she was wearing. This was a rather recent addition to their relationship and Catra had only ever worn it in their cabin. But she smelt of the woodsy incense the Chix'eks liked to burn and the herbal blend they'd created for Catra to smoke. Which meant Catra was wearing it at the party. Her dick twitched in her hand.

Catra purred at the affection and movedn her hand from the blond's stomach to swat away Adora's hand from her straining dick and began softly stroking it herself. The fine furs on her palms felt amazing to Adora's overly sensitive cock and she groaned with pleasure, head lulling back as she buried her hand in Catra's wild shoulder length hair.

"Those Chix'eks really know their stuff," Catra hummed as she shuffled closer and higher on her knees so she could press a small kiss to the base of the blond's length.

"Feeling good?" Adora asked, chuckling. She tightened her grip on Catra's mane slightly and kept her in place against her dick. She moaned when the corner of Catra's lips pressed momentarily against her balls.

"Feeling great," Catra said before beginning to lick at the hot flesh in front of her face "I'll be bummed when they break off to go home."

"Oh my god same," Adora said laughing and breaking out into a wide smile. Gently she pushed Catra backwards and sat upright in her chair, kicking her shoes off and to the side.

"You know," Catra said as Adora pulled her back towards her lap, "we're about ten minutes till we're out of range."

She might have said it conversationally but Adora knew Carta was nervous about Adora's decision. But Adora was not. Just like she wasn't nervous when she leapt into the darkness in Prime's ship, just like when she chose to spend some well deserved time with the love of her life over "duty", and just like the time she gave Catra control of their situation.

Adora pushed Catra back, leant forwards, and cupped both of Catra's cheeks, fingers immediately curling around her ears. She kissed the magicat on the forehead and deeply inhaled her scent. "Kitten I sent the message and set the course for straight ahead when I came in here an hour ago. I want to see what else is out there." Her blue eyes flitted up hungrily to the stars and then back to Catra before she reclined back into her chair.

Catra didn't look up, but she did release a suspiciously watery chuckle before she shifted forwards and wrapped her perfect lips around the head of Adora's cock suddenly. She took it deep down her throat so fast it seemed effortless. Adora groaned obscenely and buried her hands in Catra's hair, her grip tight and immediately desperate.

Adora's cock wasn't exactly small. Fully erect as she was now it was eight inches long and thick as fuck. And Catra just kept sliding her lips further and further down her length until they were stretched taunt and her breath was coming out in hot, fast puffs against Adora's abdomen.

"Gods, fuck Catra," Adora groaned out as Catra's head began to bob up and down in her lap. The blond watched Catra's throat greedily as the muscles contracted to deep throat her over and over again. They were strained against her collar.

Adora felt a sudden sharp sting at the base of her dick and hissed loudly in pleasure. Occasional knicks on her dick were an unavoidable experience when the woman sucking it regularly had needle sharp fangs. Adora relished in the familiar sting, craved it actually.

Adora's fingers tightened roughly in Catra's hair and when the magicat made to bob up, Adora forced her back down until Catra's claws pressed into her thighs, easily piercing through her sweats and into her skin. The magicat sputtered around the cock firmly blocking her airway.

Catra let out a sound somewhere between a moan and a yowl as she struggled to breath for a second. And when Adora pulled her back up she sucked in a ragged breath before a deep growl rumbled in her chest. Her bi-colored eyes were completely blown and she pulled against Adora's hand, trying to take the blond down her throat again.

"Fuck you're so desperate to choke on my dick, aren't you Kitten?" Adora slurred out. She didn't even wait for a response, just shoved Catra back down as her hips jolted up.

She began fucking Catra's throat in a slow but firm pace. Push Catra down and hold her there for a few long moments and then yank her up. Catra was growling nearly non-stop as she fought to keep her lips firmly wrapped around Adora and the vibrations from it made Adora's toes curl into the carpet.

She could happily cum like this, just release herself into Catra's eager mouth like she'd done plenty of times before, but she was suddenly starving for more. Catra's body was practically writhing on the floor, her hips jerking forwards repeatedly, and her thighs pressed firmly together. The sight of her girlfriend so fucking turned on from sucking her dick made Adora feel godsdamn invincible.

"Up," Adora ordered, not waiting for Catra to respond before she was leaning over and practically ripping the magicat's leggings off. Catra was too far gone for words or to be much help, and Adora practically had to pick her up to get the pants and underwear off her feet. She made quick work of both of their shirts too. "Come on," she growled, pulling her writhing girlfriend into the chair with her.

Adora pulled Catra forwards at the hips, pressing her down until Catra's dripping pussy was pressed against her abs. Immediately Catra started rubbing wantonly against against her, spreading her slick up down Adora's stomach. Her mouth found Adora's neck and she began pressing possessive needy kisses against her.

"Fuck you're so sexy," Adora groaned as she held firmly onto Catra's hips and watched her grind against her. Adora didn't need heightened senses to know even after multiple showers, she was going to smell like Catra for days.

"Mine," Catra growled out territorially as she made new marks to Adora's already colorful neck.

"All yours Kitten," Adora agreed. She loved feeling Catra move against her like this, but her dick was begging for relief.

It was difficult to push the writhing Catra back enough to enter her. Her girlfriend was nearly completely gone, operating on her most base instincts and desires, but Adora managed to grab her hips in a bruising grasp and lower her further down her body.

Her own hips were jerking violently upwards on their own volition and it was a frantic moment as she tried to hold Catra still enough that she could stroke up into her. "Hold still," she ordered, her blunt nails digging into Catra's hips demandingly. Catra let out a frustrated growl but stopped fighting against Adora. Adora grunted as she shifted their bodies, lined up, and slammed her dick hilt deep into her girlfriend.

Catra let out a guttural sound from deep in her chest and her claws raked through Adora's hair, pulling their foreheads together. "S-so good f-fuck Adora," she stuttered through clenched teeth as Adora began slamming up into her roughly.

Their eyes were wild and locked onto one another's. The room was filled with the thumping bass, the lewd wet sounds of their thighs slapping together, Adora's harsh ragged breathing, and a constant rumbling growl from Catra.

Every time she bottomed out in her lover Adora's heart skipped a beat. Catra's pussy was clenching around her cock almost in sync to the music and Adora felt like she would die if she couldn't get further into Catra. She wanted to live inside the woman in her lap.

Catra's head fell to Adora's shoulder and she began rambling out adoration and praise for Adora as she sucked, licked, and bit at Adora's neck repeatedly. "Fuck s-soooo fucking good. You fuck! You're f-fucking me so g-good Adora Fuck." Her body was becoming pliant above Adora, allowing the blonde to drill up at her own pace and pull Catra down on her like a toy.

The praise combined with a bite hard enough to draw blood at the juncture of her neck and shoulders had Adora howling. Adora was like a woman possessed as she heaved both of their bodies up and then down onto the floor. Catra began to scramble up when Adora pulled out of her but frantically got into position when Adora started to forcefully roll her over into her hands and knees.

This was Catra's preferred position to get fucked and Adora wasted no time before slamming back into her girlfriend. She leaned over Catra until her front was flush against the magicats silky back and braced herself on her right arm. Her left hand shot up to Catra's neck and her fingers dug in between her collar and fur.

"Fuck!" Catra howled as Adora began violently rocking against her, pushing her further to the floor each time. Catra's claws were fully extended, digging grooves into the carpet and scraping at the metal beneath it. "I love you," she growled out, giving up any control she had left and just letting Adora pound into her.

"Y-you're my, my fucking whole world," Adora managed to gasp out as she lurched above Catra. "I w-want to be inside you forever."

Catra trilled below her and her pussy began to clench so hard around Adora's cock it felt nearly impossible to pull out. She felt like Catra was sucking her into her. They were almost completely down on the carpet now, with most of Adora's weight fully on Catra.

"Mine," Catra growled desperately, her eyes were clenched shut and her body had begun to violently tremble. Her claws were locked several inches down into the floor beneath them.

"Yours. All yours. Everything I am is for you," Adora gasped out. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she felt like it was about to explode and her focus had completely narrowed to the feeling of Catra's pussy gripping her cock like a vice.

She could feel a scream building up in Catra's chest below her and Adora latched onto her shoulder with her teeth. She bit down hard and Catra's head snapped back as she screamed Adora's name and tipped over into her orgasm.

Adora's balls and upper thighs were drenched as Catra's pussy spasmed and squirted below her. The feeling of Catra's white hot release was it for Adora. She slammed down once, twice, a third time, and then her body went rigid as her own orgasm ripped through her. The blond's back arched and her head snapped back, eyes open and wide, her vision filled with porta literal stars as she emptied her balls deep into her girlfriend.

Below her Catra writhed and rubbed up into Adora, her pussy was milking Adora's dick for every last drop of cum it could. Adora felt dizzy from her violent release and she pressed them both down against the floor, barely managing to not rest completely atop Catra's petite frame.

They laid there together like that for a long while. Taking greedy breaths and shaking against each other. Adora was still buried deep inside Catra as the woman's pussy contracted around her. Finally when Adora started to come back to herself she eased out of her lover, chuckling lightly at the disgruntled whine Catra let out.

"Ssh baby," Adora cooed. She kept a hand on the small of Catra's back and stroked her fingers through the thick fur as she straightened up on her knees. Her back gave a satisfying crack at the stretch and she sighed looking down at Carta whose fingers were starting to dig into the floor rhythmically. Her hips were raised trying to get as close as possible to Adora's gently scratching hand. "Come on baby," Adora murmured softly as she picked Catra up.

Catra was practically boneless in her arms but Adora managed to get her knees locked around her waist and her arms over her shoulders before she hoisted both of them up off of the floor. She took a moment to get her bearings and wrapped an arm more securely under Catra's ass.

Catra had almost immediately started purring after Adora picked her up and now it was turning into a loud rumble as she nuzzled her face in Adora's neck and started to scent her. "Bed," she grumbled out against Adora's skin as her claws started to kneed the blond's shoulder.

Adora chuckled and gently butted her head against Catra's. "Yes bed time now," she whispered softly as she spared one last glance to the star filled windows in front of her before focusing on the task at hand.

By Adora's estimate she had about five to ten minutes to get Catra to the privacy of their cabin before the magicat would be forcefully holding Adora down regardless of where they were. Catra's after sex hormone driven instincts were always pretty strong and were Adora's absolute favorite moments to witness. She knew they'd be intense tonight with how hard they'd fucked and Catra still riding the high of that Chix-ekian herbal blend she'd smoked.

"Okay," she murmured taking stock of the situation. This was not her first naked Catra on the bridge rodeo. She knew there was no way she was going to be able to put Catra down long enough to get their clothes back on, the possibility didn't even cross her mind. Still, in an attempt at civility she toed their discarded clothing into a pile and mostly kicked it under her chair.

Adora took a few steps to Catra's chair and grabbed the large fluffy blanket folded up in it. "Hold tight baby," she whispered, waiting a second for Catra to tighten around her body before shaking out the blanket and wrapping it around their bodies.

She grimaced a little at the ten rivets cut into the floor at her feet. Double Trouble would have a field day with that. She shrugged because what could she really do about it now? Quickly she checked Darla's readings before heading off of the bridge. Out in the dim hallways of Darla she could just slightly make out the sounds of music and laughter and it made her smile impossibly wider as she tightened her grip around her purring girlfriend.

She had just reached their door when Entrapta swung around the corner laughing. She just managed to stop herself from running into them and snapped back. Hey smile was sweet as she observed them. "Hi Adora," she managed to whisper out despite her obvious excitement.

"Hi Entrapta," Adora giggled lightly, shifting Catra's weight to her other arm.

"I've noticed we have continued on at our current trajectory Adora," Entrapta whispered, her hair expressing her obvious delight with the way it rolled around her body.

"Indeed," Adora whispered and then smiled widely when Entrapta had to cover her mouth with her hair to keep her excited shriek down.

"Goodnight Adora," Entrapta whispered, and then leant towards Catra and whispered even quieter "goodnight Catra."

Gently Entrapta patted the area between Catra's ears with her hair, and Adora had to push down a delighted gasp when Catra's tail came up and curled around the end of the hair. Adora honestly felt like she could cry at the way Catra's tail intimately held onto Entrapta, swirling around her hair for a few seconds before dropping back down to tuck under the blanket. That gesture from Catra held more meaning than any hug could and it was clear from the happy smile on Entrapta's face that she understood that. The princess waved before barreling back the way she'd come from.

A sharp, pointed nip at her shoulder made Adora chuckle and she turned and walked them into their cabin. She shrugged off the blanket wrapped around them and headed into their little bathroom, Catra still in her arms.

In a clearly practiced routine she ran a washcloth under warm water and brought it up between them to wipe at the sticky mess between Catra's legs. Catra was starting to purr like a skiff motor now and rub her face in earnest against Adora's neck and shoulders.

Satisfied that Catra's fur wouldn't mat Adora headed back into their bedroom and turned out the lights. A light glow from the baseboards was all the light Adora needed to walk the few feet to their bed. She turned around and carefully lowered their bodies down, her muscles tensed to keep them from tipping back. They had picked up the unique bed a few planets ago after Catra had fallen in love with the design. It's sides raised up gradually creating a deep pocketed area in the middle. It was a little tricky to get in and out of, but being nested down in the middle with Catra was absolutely worth it.

After some practiced maneuvering Adora laid down and stretched out her legs, a deep sigh releasing from her chest as Catra wrapped her body around Adora's. A big goofy smile split Adora's face in half as Catra started to rumble on top of her. A moment later her kneading started back up and she began to lick gently at Adora's bruised and scraped neck.

Adora was absolutely blissed out with contentment as she buried her fingers into Catra's furr, one hand right above her tail, the other behind an ear, and started scratching. The rumbling and purring kicked up several notches and Catra began to lick at her skin in earnest.

She'd learned a lot in the last seven months, but the most important lesson had been figuring out all the ways Catra had been saying "I love you" since they were toddlers. She hadn't gotten it before the heart, hadn't thought it was possible because Catra had never said the words out loud. But every purr, nuzzle, and kneed Catra had let out just for Adora had said it for her. Adora was so fucking glad that circumstances aside, she'd finally gotten the chance to figure this out.

The room was absolutely silent but Adora could still feel the light soothing pulse of bass. They laid together for a long time as Catra's rough tongue laved over Adora's neck and upper torso. Adora kept up her diligent scratching, shifting whenever necessary to give Catra easy access to her body. The sounds coming out from Catra were honestly favorite sounds in the universe, a constant deep purr that was laid under a rumbling growl.

Catra was apparently satisfied with her grooming job because she started to settle against Adora, her purr has toned down into a lazy idle as she gently rubbed her scent glands against the splotchy skin of Adora's neck

"I love you so much," Catra murmured, shifting up to press gentle kisses against Adora's face. Her eyes blinked slowly.

"I love you too," Adorab breathed out before pulling Catra down to settle her head on Adora's chest. Adora kept gently stroking behind Catra's ears up until the moment sleep claimed her, warm and content, wrapped completely around her lover.

Darla cruised quietly through space for parts unknown.

#she-ra #adora/catra #catradora #catradora smut #Catradora fic #the etherian party bus

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nny11writes · 3 years

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ASKRDSEJEH You're the author of the ace Adora smut fics??? Holy shit I love them, and I go absolutely crazy over any -good- ace representation there is in fics. Istg I've read the green with jealousy one at least a dozen times by now and I love it more after each read. Are any more of the WIPs related to these series or other asexual headcanons??

(the fact that you're the same author legit just made my day though)

:DDDDDD Hello and yes!!! And I am so glad this made your day!

*touches all my fics with my aroace hands to mark them as mine* Absolutely I do friend! To be fair, several of the wips/headcanons are in star wars with Ahsoka Tano. That girl is aroace representation imo (C’mon, pretty girl says I could kiss you and you say “Uhm, well, thanks for that.”)

BUT

Let’s talk She Ra.

I’ve also been kicking around the idea (but again not writing) that the Super Pal Trio is all aro and/or ace of some variety and only find out after the war. Originally I’d thought I’d put this into It’s All Fun and Games Until, but then Catra got thirsty as fuck so I’m not sure where I’m gonna put this T-T

In another wip I did have in the list (Not Approved by the RMCSA) Catra is also asexual but is very flirty and leans into sexual humor as sort of a coping shield. This is the fic where Adora is moving cross country and gets somewhat scammed by the Super Pal Trio via their legitimate business Trio Moving.

Outside of catradora, I actually originally wrote HtQY as another asexual partnership and still somewhat see it that way. But I’ve decided to not make that canon since those two are such disasters and messes that they’d find a way to make me retcon it (I mean, Adora literally changed her name without me noticing sooooooo)

I actually haven’t started writing this one, hence not on the list, but I’ve been thinking about doing a Green with Jealousy wedding fic where Glimmer’s something blue is actually green and she’s getting heckled for it while trying to explain it. They are both getting fed up with all the insinuations around their first night together as a married couple and nearly come to blows with the hotel staff who keep making suggestive jokes. Adora begs them to not get arrested on their wedding night, she or Bow end up taking the fight on themself :p (Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Green is the working title in my brain pan)

I also started trying to write (and have had to delete so many frigging times) a Glimmadora fic that half the time starts wading into this same territory with Glimmer. But again that story has changed so much it’s a total crap shoot at this point on if it’ll happen or not.

Honestly 99% of my fics are written with me thinking of one or more main characters as aro or ace and then usually I go back and retcon a little bit to fit the story I was intending to write. :p

Headcanon wise, I think that Catra is asexual and Adora is aromantic which is part of why they had so many communications about being in love. They’re QPP your honor. Adora always knew that Catra meant more to her but never at that gushing lovey dovey romance level she’d heard about (mostly on leaving the rebellion but also rumors while in the Horde). Catra did manage to fluster Adora all the time though and never noticed because asexual, so she always attributed Adora’s reactions to something else.

I also think that Scorpia might be ace as well, maybe more on the demi side of things but need to sit down and think that out further before I can really claim it I think.

And while I see Entrapta as being allo (just touch averse in general), I do see Hordak as aroace. Which is something she noticed hence calling him her lab partner to be considerate of him not really being on his self discovery journey atm. I know that Entrapdak aroace head canons are apparently Problematic though so I tend to not do much with this one.

#she ra #spop #head canon #wips #asexual head canons #aromantic head canons #aroace fanfiction #wip game #wip #wip ask #thanks for asking! :D #Anonymous

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n7punk · 3 years

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Thank you for a very sweet, thoughtful, sensitive, generally amazing, and obviously completely platonic love scene between our two favorite idiots. God i cannot even with these disaster lesbians. Just Kidding, i totally can, and will, in fact it is my absolute favorite. You are awesome. That is all.

lmaoooo ty. the real problem between them is the arrangement: catra thought for ten years that adora didn’t want her, and then when she showed up in her life again, she asked to pay Catra to be her girlfriend. despite catra working on not being bitter over adora “leaving” her throughout the fic, that subconsciously confirmed for her the fact that adora “never loved her”, even if it’s totally wrong. it would take a lot for catra to realize otherwise on her own. adora tenderly makes love to her? oh, well, that’s just how adora is and she isn’t comfortable having sex with anyone else. ffs catra.

adora, meanwhile, is completely emotionally constipated due to the way she grew up and her time as a celebrity, going through intense pressure without her support system and the one person who always understood and helped her. adora couldn’t take her feelings for catra when they were apart, so she just... didn’t let herself have them, and it took until this breakthrough to let herself acknowledge them. now she has to deal with the arrangement that she proposed with the woman she loved and figure how to navigate that and her feelings.

#asgne #ficmeta #fic rambling #anon #ask

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etheriadearie · 3 years

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Hello! Absolutely love your analyses! I'd spend breaks during work reading through a piece and I appreciate all the evidence (data as Entrapta would state) you use. I see many people boil Catradora down to being abusive (aimed at Catra) and it's just so hard to argue since there's so much depth to their relationship. What are your thoughts? How would you respond to someone stating so?

:: ... Reflections on the emotional healthiness of Catradora, on Adora's arc, and on SPOP as a morally complex story-

Hi, and thank you so much for this question, I know that some SPOP fans have this kind of reaction, and while I get why they feel bad, I strongly believe such a reaction was not the intended outcome. Which is my first point:

To anyone who feels this way, Hey!!! Noelle wouldn't hurt us like that, and even though we see hurtful behaviors shown in SPOP, this isn't part of suggesting that we forgive our abusers- Noelle wouldn't do that!!

SPOP is unique in that it explores trauma as seriously as it does… this show is so many different things: it's beautiful, it's fun, it's kid friendly, and it's really meaningful. I really, really believe that both Catra and Adora’s stories are meant to be a comfort to people who grew up in situations like theirs… (I, for one, find Catra’s story very comforting).

My second point is that Adora is as much a product of hurtful abuse as Catra is, and this includes that she has some very hurtful behaviors towards Catra, especially as we see the two of them together starting well before her defection. For example-

We all know Adora is a sweetheart, and for her to even behave in hurtful ways is so against her own best nature that it's a sign that she's not really being herself. It's also very wrong in terms of her ability to be She-ra, as Etheria chose her for her ability to love- she is deep down an incredibly loving and generous person, and love is her power. Yet, when we see her with Catra in ep1, she's acting hurtful instead. This- is where their relationship becomes so complex- because Catra really isn't being hurtful, and Adora has a history...

...And, this is a much bigger problem than just her relationship with Catra, because Adora is also hurtful towards everyone in her past life, she vilifies them and fights them- never once does she make an honest attempt to help her former friends- Adora simply makes an assumption that fighting them is a necessary hurt of her 'destiny'.

Yet... this 'destiny' is a lie, and we cannot ignore how Adora's arc from s1-4 ends with her barely avoiding destroying all of Etheria... furthermore, with Horde Prime finding them all as a consequence. Despite Adora's attempts at being a hero through s1-4, it ends with her having betrayed all of her former friends for a 'destiny' which was evil all along- Light Hope never meant to make her a hero, only to use her and the rest of the princesses as a weapon. This is because Adora had followed her 'duty' and therefore failed to be her greatest good as a hero of love.

Her decision of duty and all that goes wrong results because of how Adora believes in duty before all else, including and especially love. This false belief system, where she simply fights rather than looks to help her former friends, and acts hurtfully to enact this false 'destiny', is because of how Adora was hurt by her abuser. And it makes her actions wrong- she isn't valuing love, and, she is being controlled by others, some which are evil, some which are unfair- through her false belief in duty.

This concept of duty, which is so wrong, is what Adora's entire struggles are about- this includes her hero's arc. Her perceived need to serve a false 'duty' is the reason she justifies her hurtful behavior and neglects to help her former friends, it's the reason her s1-4 arc ends in disaster with her destiny being revealed to have been false, (and that she's been manipulated for evil), and, it's the reason she's so hurtful to Catra- betraying all of their love, while failing to make any true effort to understand Catra's feelings

We might not like Catra's reaction, or how terribly wrong the war is (... one which began before either of them was even born-), but Adora wrongly believes in putting her duty so far ahead of all else that she's failing to look deeper. Adora does break promises, and she does hurt people- she hurts everyone in her old life, not just Catra, with her hurtful and blind prioritization of duty ahead of love and all else- her belief makes her vulnerable to further manipulations. Her entire concept of duty before love makes her miss how she's hurting them, and, how she's wrong to do this... ... it results in so much pain. (-in fact, Adora ends up hurting EVERYONE with her stubborn belief in enacting a false destiny, as we'll discuss.) .

So, for the purposes of this question, we need to look at Adora's behavior, and how she's wrong to be so hurtful. Catra ends up very much more wrong- that's well documented- and which we all know- but, Adora is She-ra, Catra is not, and all of Adora's actions matter so much because she is at the center of all that happens as She-ra. And, she's got to learn to value love, going against the hurtful beliefs of 'duty' that her abuser ingrained into her psyche to control her. Even though Adora is trying to do her best, she falls short of what that actually is, and it's all because of her false belief that duty must define her. She is a hero of love, not a hero of duty or destiny- because destiny cannot power her, nor guide her. Love is what must guide Adora, because love is her real power... and as a hero of love, she cannot "leave anyone behind" who needed her help...

Through s1-4, by acting hurtful, Adora is essentially creating a false equivalency by equating evil upon all of her former friends, in a hurtful way which all but ensures further division and misunderstanding. She-ra is supposed to be a uniter, a healer- yet Adora is making no effort to do so. Adora is such a extensive product of abuse that she doesn't even see that she's doing so, and she has to wake up to this in order to become a hero of love...

:readmore:

Also, in part: their division happens because when Adora leaves Catra and everyone else in her former life behind she does so having not once fought for them (see Lonnie in the portal reality, below) - very much like how she didn't fight for her and Catra's love against their abuser. As She-ra, Adora needs to be strong enough to fight for ALL of them, rebellion and the vulnerable people in the horde who are trapped in its abusive system alike- yet, Adora doesn't do so- instead she takes a simplified view of morality, and through it, justifies abandoning her and Catra's love and fighting against instead of helping everyone in her old life. That Adora doesn't try to do better is already hurtful on its own. Adora's choice of such a hurtful path happens out of multiple complex factors, some deal with her history as a abuse survivor- but in reality, it's mostly because everyone else around Adora also is not being their best, either... ...more later

As for Catra- her choices, while very very bad, come out a reaction to Adora's history of hurtful behaviors- her inability to trust Adora is a trauma reaction, just like Adora's, yet, that reaction comes in response to Adora's continued hurtful behaviors: Catra is trying to be apart from someone who has constantly hurt her by naively following duty while showing no effort to understand how she's hurtful or to fight for their love. Adora did this within the horde by playing favorite to Shadow Weaver, and Catra feels that Adora must be misguided, just like she was before, for leaving her- instead fighting against her so willingly and vilifying her... lumping her in with their abuser as evil.

Catra was constantly abused, and watched on as Adora played favorite to that abuser while ignoring how Catra was treated. So, Adora was betraying Catra all along, and had no awareness of it- it shows that Adora has a blind spot- something which she struggles with throughout her hero's arc: such as Light Hope using her for evil. Catra felt as though she had already lost the friend she thought she had years ago, and then Adora's continued hurtful behavior following her defection, while making no effort to save their love, is what causes Catra to feel she must part ways with Adora. By Catra's reasoning, Adora must not really love her- why else would Adora be so ready to hurt her, when she made a promise to love her? Catra doesn't think Adora is actually being a 'good' person by leaving like she does- and Adora's hurtful divisive actions confirm Catra is right- by choosing divisiveness and a false destiny while devaluing their love, Adora is indeed falling short of being the hero of love which Etheria chose her to be...

So, we can see Catra's distrust and Adora's being used by Light Hope as parallel, because Catra is right that Adora is letting people manipulate her, just like she did within the horde- even if Catra is only basing this belief off of her gut feelings in s1. Adora ends up betraying her promises, and being used as a weapon by Light Hope, (and the rebellion, too) for the same reason: her belief in duty which blinds her to all else.

:: 🛑 There's also the matter of whether Adora and Catra are 'in a relationship' during the war. That's dubious- morality of the war aside, Adora divides their friendship for it, not Catra- so they aren't together anymore... And, as we'll discuss, Adora is coming up short of making the best decision by doing so. But, in regards to our question: what happens during the war between Catra and Adora should be considered separately, as apart from this time in their history, Catra was quite loving with Adora: both before, and then after, the war... and so it's important to not falsely equivalate Catra actions in this way- they are not 'together' (...again, morality of the war aside..) ....more later

We'll come back to Catra's motivations later, but here's the quick reference for the meantime- Catra doesn't do what she does out of wanting to hurt Adora, her love confession in s5 precludes that. And she also doesn't do it out of any great allegiance to the Horde- it's just all she knows, and she stays there because she's trying to live free of Adora- who is a constantly inadvertently hurtful person, as Adora had actually been betraying their love for many years. But: most importantly, Catra does what she does as part of her fight against their real abuser, whom Catra sees as the real evil in their lives. This starts as Catra taking down Shadow Weaver herself, and stays true within the meaning of her other actions through the rest of her arc as well. ...more later

All in all, this is part of how Noelle gave us a morally complex story with SPOP- it's not black and white like most stories we've seen (such as ATLA). The war, while terrible, has multiple sides to it, and with it moral grayness: The horde is wrong, yet isn't really made up of evil people. The rebellion is right to defend Etheria, but has a corrupted view of the horde where they summarily judge all horde as evil. That's an amoral belief, as we'll discuss, and it plays into Adora’s confusion over who she really must be, because their hurtful views block Adora's ability to be the hero of love she's meant to be.

... And, of course- the princesses are part of an evil super weapon, as naive enablers of a generational trauma so dark that it threatens them all... ...more later

Finally, the MAJOR PSA REGARDING ABUSIVENESS.. (and therefore this question)

Since we wish to discuss abusive relationships, we must recognize that there is indeed such a relationship at the forefront of SPOP, but it's not Catradora.

All of their bad behaviors- Catra’s isolationism and hurtfulness for self protection, and Adora’s hurtfulness in the name of false duty and vulnerability to naively trusting in false ideals set out for her by others, is because of how Shadow Weaver hurt them.

SPOP as a series is all about believing in love, (even in other character arcs aside from Catradora-) and it really is about both of their struggles with how their abuser hurt them, which they have to get past to embrace love. Their story is one about the how and why we ourselves sometimes struggle to accept love- many people struggle due to having been hurt like they were- and through them, Noelle tells us a story of our own lives. 💢(minor trauma warn to readers, altho, I promise nothing too dark in this post). It's the real truth of Catra and Adora’s arcs: that they both act out hurtfully due to how their abuser has hurt them, and as such, they both contribute to their division, not just Catra. And, they both go through long arcs of self realization and healing to be better from how they've been hurt, to be their best selves and so they can be together again.

This journey of self realization is what allows Adora to start being a real hero in s5, and accepting Adora's flaws in her actions before then is an important part of understanding her arc, because, as She-ra, everything Adora does matters- no matter how unfair what's done to her is, she's got to be her best, and she has to trust in love in order to win in the end...

That concludes the "short" explanation, but, since abusiveness is such an important issue, we'll cover some specifics it in greater detail. This- is Adora's hero's arc- her and Catra's love IS her hero's journey, because she's not trusting in love in how she acts through s1-4.

So, apologies for how long this will be, but we'll be covering the following subjects as part of this discussion-

1- how and why Adora improperly continues hurtful behavior that started within the horde after she finds the sword, which Catra reacts to, and how Catra wasn't hurtful before then,

2- how Adora could have used She-ra as a liberator to help her former friends, and how the rebellion also being corrupt is why she misses seeing it,

3- Adora's self realization of her truth of love, and how it allows her to step past false destiny and manipulations,

4- how Adora was being a false hero during seasons 1-4 as told through Horde Prime forcing her to fight chipped Catra to save her during Save the Cat,

5- Catra’s wrongness and why she believes she's totally alone against her abusers evils,

6- how the love we see in s5 was always the truth.

Back to the topic of Adora’s hurtfulness, as we see it in ep1, that goes so deeply against her better, loving nature... (part 1)

From the moment we see Adora and Catra together in ep1, it's obvious that their relationship has already become very unhealthy-

This is almost entirely unhealthy on Adora’s side, not Catra’s, as every time Adora speaks to Catra, she does so with a tone- she's rude to her, she's hypercritical of Catra's actions, she's incredibly judgemental, and she acts as if superior to her.

Yet, Adora had become the puppet of their abuser- Shadow Weaver, making the mistake of trying to fulfill the false expectation of being perfect as she was told to do. And in doing so, her naive trust in fulfilling that duty made her an unintentional enabler of her own abuse, as well as Catra's.

So, all of Adora's judgments out of supposed superiority come out as false: she's devoted to a woman who means only to destroy them, it shows that she really didn't know what was going on with Shadow Weaver's abuse.

In contrast, when we look at Catra’s behavior, it's clear she thinks Shadow Weaver is evil. And, in terms of how she interacts with Adora, it's obvious that Catra is actually still being a very loving and supportive friend to Adora- we only see any of her negativity emerge in response to Adora’s own hurtfulness. As things stand in ep1, Catra isn't abusive, if anything, it's the opposite (although I wouldn't use that term).

So, we can start to see that Adora has an entire history of deeply hurtful behaviors towards Catra- starting well before the moment Catra refuses to follow her, or before her decision to forsake their love go to war against her following “Promise”. There was no good reason for Adora’s hurtfulness- it was done in respect to a false duty made for her by their abuser.

This false belief of superiority is another way in which we can see that Adora was failing to see the true evil that was happening as she was playing the favorite- she blindly believed that being good, as measured by an ideal set out for her by their abuser, was her only way of solving her problems.

Yet, Adora always had a choice- her assumption shows a failure of reasoning, because fulfilling that duty as she was told to never would have resulted in anyone being safe- much like her trying to fulfill Light Hope's ‘destiny’. Shadow Weaver only made Adora think that as part of her plan to use and then destroy her.

Likewise, Adora always had a choice to intrinsically value her and Catra’s love over the corrupt duty forced on her by Shadow Weaver- she could have kept the faith in their love, with Catra. Instead, Adora became hurtful towards Catra...

Adora was a bad friend- and her being as such in the name of false duties is the same reason she ends up being used as part of Light Hope’s corrupt 'destiny'. Also, being a bad friend is a canon part of Adora's hero’s struggle, (spoiler warn, LotFP) as being a bad friend can also be seen in how Adora acts towards Glimmer in s4: (as Bow says in s4ep8: "...it's hard being friends sometimes... So why am I the only one who's willing to work at it?". (In LotFP, Scorpia outright calls Adora a bad friend, and rightly so..)

In regards to Adora’s failure in choice- she and Catra weren't children anymore, and standing up to Shadow Weaver was always a possibility. She could have refused to play along in a system where Catra was made to suffer while she was given praise. And, the real kicker is: judging by how easily Catra takes down Shadow Weaver without Adora’s help, it wouldn't have even been that hard.

This shows Adora really was guilty of blind devotion to Shadow Weaver, because Catra had been prepared to step free of that abuse, probably for years. So, when Adora leaves Catra, devaluing their love and instead vilifying and falsely accusing Catra of being evil like Shadow Weaver (which is an immensely hurtful thing to do after the years of torture Catra suffered), Catra decides to step free of her abusers control, while also stepping free of Adora’s continued hurtfulness.

So, we see that Adora has a dangerous level of blindness to the deeper evils that people mean to use her for, which we can see in other places throughout her arc, such as with Light Hope’s plans for her. She can't even see how she's been corrupted.

Catra, in contrast, shows us she knew all along about their abusers' true evil: she shows her awareness by her little rebellions against a corrupt system where she was constantly being hurt. Catra refused to stay weak, and prepared to protect herself from her abuser all along. Yet, all Adora ever did was act out towards Catra for refusing to conform like she did...

Let's jump forward to when Adora finds the sword, and we can apply Adora’s naive belief in enacting duty, while being hurtful in the name of it, to that decision as well:

Adora accepts the sword, and her new ‘destiny’, with blindness and devotion- believing it to be her ‘destiny’, she willingly accepts that it comes at the price of hurting Catra as well as everyone in her old life as part of fulfilling it.

This ‘destiny’, or duty, is actually nothing but a lie made to confuse Adora by Light Hope and the First Ones- it's just a manipulation to use Adora for their evil. Believing in her 'destiny', Adora then makes no real effort to understand the darker truth behind what is really being asked of her, instead trusting in that 'destiny' and betraying everyone in her old life with her hurtfulness, instead of helping them, in service to this ‘destiny’. (...more later)

Adora in effect swaps Shadow Weaver for Light Hope, (the rebellion also uses Adora as a weapon in a hurtful way, which we'll discuss), and in doing so Adora acts hurtful to someone she loves, she agrees to hurt and therefore fail a whole group of people who deserve better from her. Adora has no right to vilify them like she does, after all, she was one of them herself. Also, her vilification shows no concept of her own hurtfulness and previous role as an enabler in that system.

Sure, Adora could complain that it wasn't her fault because she was being unfairly manipulated, yet Adora continually shows that she is vulnerable to those very same manipulations, again and again, throughout s1-4. It's all to do with her false assumption of fulfilling duty at any cost.

... and it brings Adora’s entire supposed ‘moral awakening’ into question, because while she's right to stick up for the citizens of Thaymore, her entire hurtful and superior attitude towards Catra while she does it is false: it's just like how Adora was hurtful towards Catra as part of playing her role as the favorite of their abuser within the horde. She was blind to the real evil that was occurring.

She therefore has no business being so hurtful towards Catra throughout s1, even IF she didn't know about the continued tortuous abuse Catra suffered because of her. All that Adora’s supposed righteousness over her ‘destiny’ actually shows is that she’s blind to what is really happening- in the past, and then again when Light Hope uses her for evil.

Also, fun fact: Adora’s supposed 'holier than thou' newfound morality isn't even her own: we know she's vulnerable to accepting others' expectations- in this case she's accepting Glimmer’s hardline view that all people in the horde must be evil. Adora takes this closed minded viewpoint and uses it as she tries to enact her false destiny all the way through s1-4, never once making an effort to help her former friends.

All in all, Adora falls short of being a real hero by doing this. And, Adora really does take things too far in her stubborn pursuit of her destiny (LotFP spoiler warn). She's so willing to hurt Catra, and all of her former friends, and is so far removed from the hero of love we see in s5 by doing so. Catra is right that Adora isn't the friend she used to have- Shadow Weaver's abuse changed Adora into something hurtful instead. (In LotFP, Adora strait up attempts to terminate Catra’s life; ...in contrast, Catra only ever tries to capture Adora...)

Catra, meanwhile, has no reason to trust Adora when she tells her she's defecting because of Adora's past history as an enabler of her (their) abuse. If Adora could hurt her, while being devoted to her abuser, what reason does Adora give Catra to think that anything will be different with her sudden new devotion to the rebellion? The answer is none, and as Catra had to look out for herself to protect herself from abuse, she won't trust Adora. Meanwhile, Adora can't even make an effort to understand Catra's feelings of being hurt by her actions...

Also- at least Catra had a plan- which we know by how she takes down Shadow Weaver to be free of her continued abuse. Nor, also, does Catra just want to leave everyone in her old life, accepting the rebellions belief that people like her are only worthy of being vilified and condemned by the princesses- Adora's self righteous judgements just makes Catra think that Adora is being hurtful and naive. Adora, meanwhile, had no plan- and even after her 'destiny' is revealed, she's still playing into the hands of her abusers while trying to fulfill her 'destiny'. It doesn't matter if Adora doesn't mean to, she's still got to be better than letting corrupt people use her for evil. She needs to learn to not be so naive.

The best theory for the hurtful way Adora behaves- by being so hurtful while ignoring the deeper truths- is that Adora has a deeply engrained hurtful world-view due to how she was hurt by Shadow Weaver, towards her abusers purpose of using and sacrificing Adora. Because of how Adora was treated, she believes that duty always comes at a cost, and that it will be painful- it's a corrupted, painful way of seeing the world where she just assumes pain comes as part of her reality of being charged with duty.

This is false, it's just what her abusers (Light Hope, too) want her to believe, and waking up to how this corrupt concept of duty is used against her by her abusers is something that must happen for Adora to be able to move past it, so that she can start being a hero of love like she's meant to be. She cannot let naive concepts manipulate her into being hurtful, and cloud her from seeing her path of love. Adora in s1 sees none of this- she only sees her concept of duty which is wrong- she does get wiser throughout s1-4 which sets up for her heroic reveal in s5, when we her true She-ra form.

So, Adora's fighting Catra and all of her former friends, instead of looking to help or understand them, is a presumption that it is a necessary cost of her duty. Upholding her 'duty' was always painful for Adora, and so she thinks hurting her former friends is 'just how it has to be', because Shadow Weaver conditioned her to expect that duty would always feel painful. Her hurtful world view assumes evil on them all, while making no attempt to do better. That's not heroic- Adora is accepting enacting a lesser evil as part of 'duty', just like when Catra was allowed to suffer within the horde while she was given promotion. A real hero faces evil at it's source, by simply vilifying her former friends and breaking her promise to Catra, Adora is being no hero of love...

Which brings us to our next topic: why Adora fails everyone in her old life, and how she could have done better to help the people trapped within the horde’s abusive system. (Part 2)

Adora’s hurtful vilification of everyone in her old life, while never finding a way to help them, really is a failure to all of them. In particular, we can see how much Lonnie feels this way, much like Catra does-

Not finding any way to help them was always a failure of Adora as a hero, something which happens because of her trauma belief of 'duty' before all else, and how her new allies in the rebellion wrongly influence her to believe that all horde are evil. Their corrupted, hurtful views makes Adora miss an obvious possibility:

Adora could have used She-ra as a liberator, rather than as a conqueror.

I realize that may sound like hyperbole, but, there's plenty of evidence of how Adora fails her former friends, and even more about how the rebellion fails the people of the horde. ->see the following pics-

So, we need to talk about why Adora never tries to help her former friends, in order to open a path to freedom like she was offered because she was She-ra.

Even though the rebellion may have the moral high ground in this story, they still fall short of being their best with their derogatory views of the horde- it further divides themselves from what are essentially fellow native Etherians, it surrenders all further thought to what is essentially hate. One result of their flawed views is how we see its Glimmer that activates the super weapon: as she says “we’re the good guys, remember?”. Are they really being their best, though?

Glimmer and Angella have pain from the war, which gives them a corrupted view of the Horde where they summarily judge all Horde to be evil out of their pain. These are derogatory views which are based on their own personal feelings of injury, which leads to their views, as leaders, crossing over from needing to protect themselves, to enacting a unnecessarily hurtful exclusion of a group of vulnerable people who needed their help.

This isn't to say that their pain isn't real… it is, it just doesn't excuse an isolationist, closed minded view of their situation. Surrendering further thought out of emotional pain simply is never healthy, they take their feeling so far as up never show any understanding to any individuals within the horde, or to try to help them. As the leaders of free Etheria, this is a failure of their station as those leaders.

So enters our sweet Adora, who, while she does always mean well, is a lifelong product of abuse that makes her highly vulnerable to blindly going along with others' expectations of her. Afraid to fail her new allies, Adora accepts Glimmer and Angella’s ‘us versus them’ close minded view of the horde as evil as her own, she ignores her deeper knowledge of how this isn't true she has from her time as one of them. Because of it, Adora never considers how they deserve to be given the same chance to be better that she was granted because of her Princess powers.

In all of SPOP, Adora is the only person who is ever actually offered a chance to switch sides. This is a failure that happens because of the derogatory and closed minded views which predominate the rebellion's beliefs- it's no secret that they hate horde soldiers, and that no forgiveness is ever offered. It's prejudiced and amoral.

In SPOP, the Horde isn't evil in the black and white sense that most stories present their villains. They are a combination of bad, but also good: we can see that good in the stories of Catra, Scorpia, Lonnie, etc- even Hordak, the supposed leader of the evil Horde, shows he can be better and gets a redemption.

So, Adora’s intimate connections to people from her former life always demanded more understanding from her than just being crushed under She-ra’s golden boot. ... Not that anybody in the rebellion is actually interested in considering this possibility- and Adora is far too concerned at failing in her new duties as She-ra to stop and see it, and so challenge those views.

It was another missed chance to help people, rather than divide, that Adora misses seeing due to her traumas- her addition to their ranks should have been a chance to change the derogatory views of the rebellion for the better, to open a real path towards freedom for people within the horde who feel trapped by its abusive system, so they can find safety from it like she did when she switched sides.

It's a way in which she could have helped her former friends, and it might even have lead to resolving the war more peacefully- losing soldiers in such a way would have weakened the Horde, possibly even seen its collapse… also, Catra would have seen that Adora was no longer giving in to a blanket derogatory view of people like her... -> ->note, Adora's childhood best friend helms the Horde, and yet, Adora still cannot find common ground ? (This is because of Adora's own divisive and prejudiced behavior towards Catra. Also, Hordak is barely the leader of the Horde- as he hides in his lab and only emerges to makes snide comments.....)

Quick aside: yes, Adora does make a few weak offers of this in s1 to Catra, but always coming after Catra had been further abused because of Adora’s actions, and always with Adora acting in her superior way that shows no understanding of how she's hurtful. It makes Catra doubt Adora’s sincerity.

As it turns out, this derogatory view of the rebellion is a much larger failure: it fails the people of the horde, but very importantly, the way their hurtful views affects Adora equals a personal failure of them all to Adora.

What's really so terribly wrong with the rebellion's close minded views is that we never see any quarter offered to the horde: there's no opportunity for such people to be better- no choice given to them to step free of their abusive situation, and to prove they don't really stand for that. Not having that offer in place is an immoral act, and an abandonment of duty.

Glimmer and Angella’s presumption of evil upon all horde with no path to forgiveness in itself traps those very people in the system which forces them to act in evil ways. War is never an easy thing to solve- but presuming the enemy as evil shuts down all possible further understanding, and perpetuates the violence: as leaders of their world, Glimmer and Angella needed to do better.

And, their hurtful views are also a enormous personal failure to Adora, because it frightens Adora and leads to her continued self hurting-

Adora accepts the rebellion's close minded views that are forced on her, she throws herself into battle continuously trying to make up for her failure to be perfect. She's so afraid to fail them that she acts in compromised ways- such as looking to sacrifice herself, or hurtfully protecting her concept of 'destiny' at the cost of brutalizing her former friends in battle, never looking to help them.

It's a hurtful way to live, and Adora does it because she's so afraid to fail her new allies as a former child soldier from the Horde, and so, their views hurt her- Angella and Glimmer's views that being from the horde is synonymous with evil are a personal failure to Adora, particularly from Angella: as a mother, she could have helped Adora to understand her new role as She-ra, and to help Adora understand her trauma.

Instead, Angella judges Adora and treats her like she's evil unless she fights as she's told to... even though Adora, as an orphan, never had a choice in being from the horde. This is an emotionally hurtful failure to Adora as a friend, (Glimmer) and as a mother (Angella).

::This is also the beginning of a series of failures, one which ends with everyone being hurt, because of Adora’s betrayal of being a hero of love, in what could be considered a butterfly effect-

-> Adora takes the hurtful, close minded black and white view of morality of the rebellion, and applies it to her relationship with Catra- she ignores their intimate history and her promises, and implies that Catra must be evil like Shadow Weaver at multiple intervals following her defection. That is a failure of love, and of their lifetime of their intimate friendship with each other.

Catra had been hurt her whole life, she watched as Adora turned from her as a friend to be the enabler of their abuser. She's had enough of being hurt in this way, and Adora isn't even making an effort to understand why Catra feels so hurt by her actions. So, Catra wants to be free of Adora, who hurts her.

Catra fails Adora as a friend- ending the generosity of love we see her have in ep1-2, that she kept giving despite Adora being so hurtful towards her. Catra is done with Adora’s double standards, she agrees to fight the war against them all, since Adora so seemingly wants it as part of her new life and a 'destiny' which ends up being fake, anyways.

And so, the rebellion's close minded views creates Adora’s failure to Catra, Catra goes to war against them, and so, the one enemy they simply cannot defeat is created by their own close minded views that the forced on Adora...

The rebellion fails Adora -> Adora fails Catra (plus all of her former friends) -> and in reverse, Adora fails ALL of them -> rebellion alike, by failing to make the choice of love, of trying to make an effort to preserve her and Catra’s love, she turns Catra against them all with her lack of faith in their love, choosing to act hurtfully instead. It is a failure of being the hero of love that Etheria chose Adora to be...

A chain reaction that starts with Glimmer and Angella’s own hurtful views ends with EVERYONE being hurt- it amplifies the war, because, Adora is at the center of all that happens, and isn't being the hero she should be... you could ever say it causes a butterfly effect...

Still, Adora had a choice to be better.

Just like she had a choice to stand up to Shadow Weaver in the horde. Just like she had a choice to not turn on everyone in her old life, judging them in such hurtful ways, while never looking to help them. And, just like she had a choice to value her and Catra’s love, and through seeing how her actions hurt their love, seen that the duty she was so blindly devoting herself to was wrongly making her hurt people that deserved better from her.

Adora in s1 has so little emotional presence to be able to see her own hurtfulness- it's due to how she was hurt- that she places her concept of duty so far ahead of love that she can't even see the value of a lifelong relationship of love she had with Catra. Why would Catra think Adora cares about her, when she so casually betrays her, infers evil upon her, implies that Catra must be like their abuser ?

If, Adora was a more emotionally present person, she would have recognized that she needed to find a better way that didn't just brutalizing everyone from her previous life. And the rebellion itself doesn't help her, they just place their unfair expectations upon her. Her trauma makes it hard for her to see why love is important- she can hardly see the bond of love that she has with Catra... so, she doesn't choose love out of false belief in duty and fails to be the hero she's meant to be.. and everyone suffers for it.

In the end, Angella and Glimmer are not in themselves blameless for creating the situation they face with Catra’s determined war against them, because as leaders of the rebellion, they had been failing the vulnerable people in the horde all along.

As the saying goes, hurt people hurt other people. It's true in life and it's true in SPOP. Mostly people hurt each other because of trauma, and in SPOP everyone's trauma adds to the sadness of the war they fight for 4 seasons, horde and rebellion alike, not just Catra... or Adora. It's not the war they needed to fight, it never was, and as such they are all mostly caught unawares when their mistakes in this way results in Horde Prime finding them- ie- the true enemy they all should have been preparing to face...

... Which, it must be acknowledged, results from Glimmer's choice of trying to use a despicable super weapon to win a war- one in which her own bad attitude hurtfully influences Adora and therefore helped to amplify. Glimmer's act nearly destroys them all, while exposing their location to their true enemy all along...

Glimmer’s naive decision results in so much disaster that it really makes you wonder if the rebellion ever deserved to win the war with the way they conducted themselves...

I'd argue no…

Glimmer’s act, and how the princesses are caught so unaware of their true enemies- (ie, Horde Prime and the First Ones) shows them to be so naive that they likely would have inadvertently activated the Heart in time, and thus destroyed themselves, anyways.

They failed to be better, acting in way that added further trauma to the system. (..this is likely really a commentary on the chaos of war in general) And, the princesses really have NO excuse for being caught so unawares like they were- they don't know their own world's history- there's no real excuse for this. Especially when we see that it was indeed possible- Shadow Weaver uncovered much of it as part of her evil plans to attain more power. (Shoutout to Bow’s dads, who made a heroic effort to understand it, while starting from scratch- 🥰)

Add to this that Glimmer’s corrupted choice to activate the heart happens much as a consequence of her listening to, you guessed it, Shadow Weaver, and we have all the proof we need that the princesses don't understand their own “hubris”.

Long story short, everyone messes up the first 4 seasons, nobody is being their best- and so, Adora has to go to great lengths and great personal risk to herself to repair all of their previous mistakes during her s5 arc. She does this in a very beautiful way- she does it through the power of her love- *not* out of destiny, or duty, or even sacrifice. (Part 3)

Adora was always a hero of love, love IS her power, and she should have seen it sooner. Trauma is what blocked her.

A bit of sympathy for Adora:

Even though I'm talking about how she's wrong, Adora constantly found herself unfairly forced into bad situations by others' expectations put on her, some of which are evil, others are at the least unfair and corrupted by hurt. So, she ends up making some wrong choices… yet she's She-ra, she's still got to be better than that.

And Adora shows great courage in getting free of her trauma cycle to trust in the power of love instead of duty, like she was always supposed to do. How she gets past this trauma mentality is by simply learning to reconnect to her best self- and her deepest feelings of love and generosity that she was chosen to be a hero for by Etheria.

... Nevermind the First Ones-- Adora was still chosen by Etheria, as she was as a loving child, before Shadow Weaver ever managed to hurt her and make her into something else.

And, Adora finds this truth within herself with almost no help from anyone with her best interests at heart- Angella tries her best for ~3 minutes in the portal reality, to make up for her own hurtfulness towards Adora. (..Bow and Glimmer do help her some, but are very much involved in their own concerns..) Adora is a hero, but not by destiny… love is her truth.

Now... Adora’s burden as She-ra is indeed incredibly unfair on a personal level, yet as She-ra, she's still got to be able to make the right choices to be able fix the big problems she faces, and making those choices must be guided by love, not by destiny or duty.

So it doesn't matter that she's not responsible for the First Ones original evil, for which she was innocently born into- Adora simply won't quit trying to make it better, because that's who she is at heart. Trying to make things better is always a core motivation for Adora, even though she broke her promise of love to Catra. Love was always her guide, and her strength, that's why Etheria chose her, and in late s4 into s5, we see Adora begin listening to her truth of love.

So, Adora’s hurtfulness with Catra from s1-4 is just the most obvious symptom of how she's struggling with a trauma mindset that blocks her from being the true hero she's meant to be. This means that Adora and Catra's relationship issues and separation was always the real story of Adora's hero's arc, because Adora failed to look deeper and save their love because to her flawed concept of duty.

Being that hero requires not surrendering her reason to false judgements which require her to be hurtful to people who deserved her love and understanding, never mind if Catra makes everything worse with her own hurtful reactions. Adora always needed to be better than that, and being able to be so understanding of the moral complexity of their situation isn't easy, but, she learns to do it. Again, Catra isn't She-ra: Adora is.

::So, SPOP is one big story about people learning to not let their shitty attitudes control them, and of getting past them in order to become better people. Adora had a bad attitude in s1: it made everything worse, she turned on her former friends because of it. Catra’s attitude might be the worst of them all, but they all learn to be better- Glimmer, Angella, Mermista… the list goes on. Everyone needed to be better, and in s5 they are- it's what gives them the power to overcome Horde Prime together.

... Adora rescuing Catra is such an important part of her hero’s arc because of how she is a hero of love, but it's also important because she's making up for her previous mistakes of passing hurtful and false judgements unfairly upon her former friends... and against Catra. We also see Adora’s true powers emerge as she saves Catra, because she's trusting in love...

Speaking of Save the Cat… (part 4)

Still, if you're at all doubting that Adora struggles with being a false hero from s1-4, it's all well confirmed as Adora faces Horde Prime during Save the Cat in order to save Catra…

When Adora shows up to save Catra, and to save their love, Horde Prime pits chipped Catra against Adora, making her play out their entire history of hurting each other for false reasons in order for her to save Catra. This is meant to be a sly and forceful character assasination by Prime of Adora as a false hero, and as a bad friend. He wants Adora to feel weak, that her failures as a hero are so total, and her lack of love so hurtful, that it's much too late for her to fix her mistakes.

Because of his belief, he really isn't expecting Adora to succeed… yet, he doesn't know that Adora has found her truth of love…

He starts out by calling Adora a false hero, rubs it in that she's a First One, part of an evil empire that he easily defeated. And then, as she battles against chipped Catra, he tells her “you will destroy the ones you love in the process.”

This is supposed to be a scathing rebuke of Adora’s actions through s4. One where Adora, and the princesses at large, played into the hands of the First Ones manipulations, where she willingly hurt Catra in the name of her false destiny.

He reminds Adora of all of her failures, and how as a First One she's from an evil race of beings, she's totally at his mercy, just like the She-ra’s before her. He throws Catra at her, tauntingly, offering the chance for her to kill Catra, like she tried to do before in the service of Glimmer and Angella's corrupt expectations that she deliver them from the horde at any cost to herself.

Moments before Glimmer destroys the server, and Adora and Catra get their chance to talk, Prime rubs it in just how much Catra had to suffer for her sacrifice to protect Adora- “she was scared in the end, and she suffered”. A cruelty Catra shouldn't have had to suffer, but for Adora’s long standing history of betraying her for false duty.

Adora tells Catra she's not giving up on her, something she did through the first 4 seasons of SPOP with her blind righteousness towards Catra, never stopping to consider how she herself might have been wrong, instead stubbornly trying to enact her false destiny.

Prime compels Adora- it's too late, the damage is done, he's all but assured to win. She is behind enemy lines, and weak.. “then you are a fool, you cannot stop Horde Prime… he will reign triumphant… it is destiny”.

Her and Catra finally get to talk to each other when the server is destroyed, and as Catra reaches out, nearly taking Adora’s hand, wanting to go home again, he steals it away and taunts Adora one more time: “some creatures are destined only for destruction”- like it always was… Catra was meant to fail from the beginning, to die. And Adora was the tool of her abusers, she threw Catra aside as part of their evil plan to make her fail for their corrupt purposes. He sends Catra plummeting to her near death..

Clutching Catra’s dying body to her chest, Prime tells Adora “it did not have to be like this”. He's telling Adora that it never had to be like this, all of her betrayals of Catra, her struggles in vain against her false destiny, were done in a naive blindness that only ever made everything worse.

Everyone was made to suffer because of her naive belief in that 'destiny', she's failed, and if she's lucky, perhaps Prime might save Catra. By submitting to his will, maybe she can spare Catra her death... or if not... perhaps Adora can at least forget her mistakes like Catra has been made to do…

We all know what happens next. Adora is not the naive girl who played by the rules of her abusers, she's stronger within herself and knows she cannot abandon love. She's there for Catra- she's going to find a way to love her better, even if that's hard to do. As she says to Prime: "you miscalculated”.

And luckily for her, Catra, a true fighter for her own sacred life, surviving against a lifetime of death threats and near death experiences, is able to hang on just long for Adora to be able to save her from the brink of death..

None of this makes Catra’s actions during the war ok, but keep in mind that Catra shows great remorse for all of her mistakes. She's learned her lessons, too… and her remorse and then total confession of love hints that Catra never did what she did as part of wanting to hurt Adora..

Still… what really makes Catra fight against Adora like she does? After all… she had a choice, too, just like Adora did... (part 5)

Catra could have chosen to sympathize with Adora's views at the battle of Thaymore, after all, Adora was clearly right that what was happening to the civilians was wrong, yet Catra didn't.

As it so turns out, Catra isn't very impressed by some suffering of people who have lived their whole lives more privileged than she has, not when every day of her life had been a crime- surviving against abuse and torture with nowhere to run or anyone to turn to, Adora included.

Her life was that of an orphan, singled out for total destruction by their abuser, and as an orphan, the only way Catra knew for sure she could get free of that was through her own actions. She can't rely on anyone liking her or helping her because of innate magical powers like Adora does.

So, putting her life in the hands of the people who have only ever seen her as an enemy makes no sense, she's been hurt too many times before, including by Adora herself, to take Adora’s word for it.

But, she at least hoped that Adora would have chosen her out of love. Adora's willingness to abandon Catra so totally, and then continuing to behave so hurtfully in all of their further meetings, seems to tell another story.

All of Catra’s anger, and her worst actions through s4 can be summed up in one thing, of which never had to do with her wanting to hurt Adora:

Catra believes that she is totally alone in the world against her abuser, that nobody else properly sees Shadow Weaver's evil or will deal with it. And so it's up to her to do what must be done.

Everyone around her is an enabler in some way: Hordak didn't care to take a role in the Horde's everyday, only cared about results. Glimmer and the princesses become the worst kind of enablers of Shadow Weaver from s3 onward by taking her in, giving her total freedom in all but name. (And then there's the matter of Glimmer letting Shadow Weaver channel her power in s3ep4, which she uses to torture and nearly take Catra’s life yet again...)

But the saddest example is how she thinks Adora is a naive enabler who will never learn any better. Catra feels that way because of Adora's hurtful behaviors towards her, and how Adora couldn't even choose Catra out of love, instead vilifying her and hurting her as part of her false belief in duty.

She's wrong about this- Adora sees Shadow Weaver’s evil, too, she just doesn't know what to do about it. Adora had hoped that leaving her old life behind would free her from Shadow Weaver's corrupt influence over her, and yet... we see Adora struggle with how she was hurt right up until the end. Still, if she had just had one decent talk with Catra, it could have cleared up so much hurt between them so much sooner. (but they never did...)

Adora, as we see her in ep1, is a person that is so incredibly naive that Catra doesn't even need to feel that Adora ever intentionally enabled- Adora's blind devotion to Shadow Weaver's plan, followed by total willingness to abandon their fight against their abuser, while instead assuming evil upon Catra while hurtfully lumping Catra in with said abuser, means, as far as Catra could tell, that Adora was never going to choose to help her at all.

Adora’s behavior in the horde was so atrociously bad, that her continued hurtfulness after leaving seems to confirm Catra’s worst fears: that Adora really didn't care about her, and only cared about her duty.

If true, Adora having had no plan to help her would have made Adora's continued naive enabling of Shadow Weaver a clear and present danger to Catra's life. Was playing the favorite to their abuser really Adora's only plan? Would she have just continued to enable Shadow Weaver right up until she pulled off whatever betrayal she had for the two of them, killing Catra, or them both? It sure would seem so.

Add to this the fact that Adora just ends up having enabled a different evil manipulator as part of her deserting her, and Catra is done expecting anyone to ever help her with the realities of her abuser. If the princesses want to call her evil, while sheltering her abuser and further enabling Shadow Weaver’s evil, she won't feel bad if they all get hurt along the way. And Adora is naive, something Catra makes abundantly clear during their fights.

Catra does a lot of dangerous and hurtful things in the name of this belief. But, this is a trauma state Catra learns to wake up from, because she's lost just like Adora is, and her trauma mentality is destructive to everyone around her.

It leaves her with nothing… no moment of happiness, nobody to call her a friend, a life of absolute loneliness with nothing to live for except her drive to punish her abuser at any cost, with little to no chance of forgiveness for her violence. She learns every lesson the hard way- that no matter how much your abusers continued existence hurts you, there's simply some things you just do not do… you're no good to anyone if you surrender your heart to that kind of anger.

Catra does show deep remorse for all of her worst actions. And, she's lucky that Adora saves her. (even if she's a bit pissed at Adora for risking herself like that… 🥺😥)

But, in regards to whether she's abusive… in s5 we don't see that. Catra does act out a little bit while coming to terms with why Adora saved her- she didn't think she would ever get a second chance. From that moment onward we only see love and devotion from Catra, she doesn't want to live in her hurtful ways anymore, even if she still has no idea how to feel safe with her abuser running wild (Adora does see and her best to protect Catra from Shadow Weaver in s5). Catra can't keep living like she was, so living to help Adora makes much more sense.

My final appeal to people who have a hard time accepting Catradora… (part 6)

:: We should all strive to not let our personal hurt block us from appreciating people's situations, and understanding them. I know it may seem like I'm targeting Adora harshly, but that's why I went to such lengths to show how her issues play out in the narrative. Adora struggles to be her best self, like Catra does, and accepting this about her doesn't mean we need to love her any less than we already do!

Adora is absolutely precious, as is Catra… they never should have been hurt like they were- Adora as the ‘hero’ and Catra as singled out for destruction because of how she loved Adora.

They were always sweet girls, like the innocent and loving children we see them as in their earliest memories, before that day when Shadow Weaver hurt them so badly.

The beautiful love we see between them in s5 is what they always deserved- they should have been allowed to grow up with innocence and then fallen in love, but instead they got hurt because of the corrupt intentions of others.

They both spend the arc of the series trying to get past how they've been hurt, to get back to each other. And how they do that is by remembering the way they loved each other before Shadow Weaver was ever able to hurt them so much and drove them apart.

That, was always their truth, their love is good and pure like it is in those childhood memories. They were always supposed to love each other, and their division was a mistake that happens out of how Shadow Weaver and others have hurt them.

Both of them show tremendous courage in working hard to be able to step past how trauma controls them to be better, it's not just Catra who has to do this.

Adora does, too, because she's got to trust in love, not duty or destiny or sacrifice to be incredibly strong in the ways she needs to be to do the really scary things she has to do- such as stopping the Heart, and of solving a millennia old war that was never her fault, plus more. Love was always what makes Adora strong enough to do the very hard things which she has to do.

When Catra is given a second chance in s5, she sees that Adora is being hurt, and how nobody really helps her… they just expect her to do whatever has to be done. And that's wrong, because it’s unfair and it hurts her. Catra knows Adora has been hurt all of her life, she just didn't realize how much...

Catra may have been made to suffer because of Adora, but she survived that, and so she heals herself to be free of it as best she can in s5. And, Catra realizes she can help Adora, really really help her, to do the very hard things that are expected of her… Catra puts everything she has into helping Adora in s5. It's what Catra always thought she'd do, as the wiser child that knew how evil the world really was. She just got all mixed up inside, fearing that Adora would never really love her… and that was wrong of her.

Catra isn't really expecting redemption.. or even for Adora to return her feelings of romantic love back to her in the same way that she feels. She's a bit a of a pessimist, and has been left waiting her whole life to see someone show care and real love to her... But, all she has left is her love for Adora, and so she gives everything she has to her.

I think that's really courageous of her, and when she sees Adora is failing in the Heart chamber, she makes a dazzling series of romantic moves during the dream and the kiss- to show Adora that she's loved, that she's wanted, and that she's not alone. Brave, romantic moves which Catra didn't know for certain that Adora would reciprocate, but... she was still willing to do it, she loves her too much to let Adora fail, and die, while feeling so scared and alone. So, Catra does everything she can think of to let Adora know that she's loved. Catra deserves some credit for that.

We see that it works, as Adora has always loved her, too. Adora was just too blocked from expressing her love by her trauma. And Adora’s final test, as a hero of love, is quite simply to accept that she can be loved, not as a hero, but for who she is...

... I don't know what else to say to anyone who can't accept their love, or at least I won't here. I think it is the most beautiful love story I have ever seen.

In large part this is because it's not simplified. Catra and Adora’s love isn't just assumed to be kismet, they have to work hard to be together. They are both really bad communicators, and had to learn to talk to each other. This is true with most relationships, and in doing so they become truly loving partners to each other.

... So, it might have been nice if there had been enough time for Noelle to give us even one more kiss between them... but, I think Noelle wanted to tell us a very mature, grown up story about overcoming adversity to embrace love. And I think that's really commendable of them.

Sorry that took so long… Anyways, Catradora is the best ship, I don't make the rules! 😅🚢 ✨ I realize I won't be able to convince everyone, but that kiss was beautiful, was it not?? So, I hope my words aren't a total loss, and that maybe I can convince just a few people to feel like I do.

Love is power. 💞🏳️‍🌈☺️

:: Hi!! - I will gladly answer anyone's questions, and feel free to let me know what you thought of this. Thank you.

Also, if you've read this far, thank you for that- if you enjoyed it please consider giving it a ✨reblogg✨ or a like!! *humble thanks 🙇*

Peace and Love,

~EtheriaDearie 🕊

Some final notes:

Yes, I do realize these are fictional characters, but it's easier to talk about them this way- they are the nuanced creations of very creative people, meant for us to enjoy… in that way they might as well be real, because they have so much to teach us-

Got time to read something short (yes I mean it!!) that's mostly pictures? Check out this cool theory about Adora's dream it's real quick!! 💞🏳️‍🌈

-all hyperlinks are on tumblr. Here's a list of my other analyses-

LotFP = Legend of the Fire Princess. It's canon, important, a whole lot of fun, and worth checking out!! 10/10 😉

-note: I will not use the term 'toxic' because of how I feel the word carries cultural connotations which detract from discussion. However, discuss as you wish! I have no issue with the word or the concept, I just seek to be very clear in my meanings -

Finally, here's a link to a YouTube video of Adora saying Catra's name (fast forward to 0:40). You can really hear how her tone changes through time, in particular in s3 right before Catra pulls the switch, as Adora is coming to terms with her mistakes as She-ra. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f_WRT3D3n_I

youtube

#she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #spop #she ra meta #catradora #she ra spoilers #adora #catra #my writing

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nonbinarychaoticstupid · 4 years

Note

someone had to. catra.

jhjjhhuyhuhjuihjuiujjijkjijk someone was going to do it eventually uwu

Why I like them

Why I don’t

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

Favorite season/movie

Favorite line

Favorite outfit

OTP

Brotp

Head Canon

Unpopular opinion

A wish

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

5 words to best describe them

My nickname for them

1. why i like them

angry catgirl lesbian in love with her best friend. what’s not to love? also... have you SEEN her hghghgb

2. why i don’t

hmm this is a hard one.... can i legally say she’s just PIXELS hhhh in all seriousness, i wish she treated scorpia better, but at the same time.... i have been there, or at least felt like i have, so.... FUCK she’s just too relatable

3. fav episode

another hard one hhhh.... either s5 e1 (hey hordak), s5 e3, s5 e4, or s1 e8 because,,, sUIT. alternatively,,,,, any catra ep is a good ep imo

4. fav season

s5,,, because,,, she happy,,, 🥺

5. fav line

“hey adora” >:3 or “DONT YU GET IT I LOVE YOU I ALWAYS HAVE SO PLEASE JUST THIS ONCE STAY STAY YOU LOVE ME YOURE SUCH AN IDIOT I LOVE YOU TOO”... iconic

6. fav outfit

it’s a tie between

and

7. OTP

c a t r a d o r a

8. BROTP

hmmm..... glimmer and catra i reckon

9. headcanon

trans catra trans catra trans catra,,,, hhhh queen,,,,

10. unpopular opinion

hmmmm..... i said this above that whilst catra’s treatment of scorpia was terrible and you absolutely shouldn’t do that... i understand it? like, i have trouble with keep relationships healthy irl because i can’t tell the difference between toxic and healthy ones and im worried that idk how to keep relationships positive and i have Been There.... hhh

like i just,,,, a lot of ppl use that argument to justify “catra being abusive” but as someone currently trapped in a toxic household,,,, i can understand how you might spiral into that behaviour easily

wow that got DEEP

11. a wish

i wish we got a little flashforward of her and adora being goofs in love hhhh i just,,, wanna see her happy again

12. An oh-g-d-please-dont-ever-happen

catra getting k worded... pls nu...

13. 5 words to best describe them

hopelessly chaotic disaster lesbian catgirl 😌

14. my nickname for them

gay furry

#sep texxt #ask #tw abuse mention #tw abuse #tw toxic relationship #blondhairedgoblin #catra #she ra #spop #^w^

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sometipsygnostalgic · 2 years

Note

What happens to Hordak and Entrapta after the show, people aren't going to just accept Hordak after all hes done, and what does Hordak want in life when he's not trying to imitate Prime

So, on the assumption that they go to space shortly after,

Three things could happen here

1. Entrapta agrees to go to space without Hordak. Not unlikely. She didn't ask anyone to help her locate Hordak and probably understands that people don't think too great of the guy, and would leave him with Wrong Hordak. Hordak is forced against his will to make new friends. He finds the idiot Sea Hawk surprisingly interesting. But she’d only agree to this if it’s a relatively short trip.

2. Entrapta gives puppy dog eyes at Bow until he caves. Which doesn't take as long as you'd think. They have both Hordak and Catra on the space ship now. Maybe Wrong Hordak too. Things are very awkward. But at least she's happy and the ship is in good order. Hordak turns out to help balance away the madness of the Space Squad.

3. She just decides to stay on Earth on the next trip. Everyone at Best Friend Squad goes "WHAAAAAT?" and shes like "Sorry guys, I got other priorities!" And then they have to beg her to go with them at least the first time because Bow and Adora have no idea what the fuck they're doing in space. I actually wrote this into a fanfic I was making ABOUT THESE CHARACTERS GOING ON TRIAL - it only makes sense that Adora learn to pilot her own ship, as much of a disaster as she is.

A bit of meta on that top ask below:

I'd say, Hordak and Catra are in the same boat at the end of the show. Both of them are familiar and well-recognised figures on Etheria, both of them led the violent showdowns that resulted in many deathys, and both of them were victims of a repressive higher authority. There are some things Hordak did that Catra didn't do, there are some things Catra did that Hordak didn't do.

Hell, to an extent, you'd have to worry about Entrapta too - the Horde wouldn't have been anywhere CLOSE to as successful as they were if she hadn't gotten involved. Even their successes in her absence are because she worked with Hordak and gave him the knowledge and tools he needed to tear apart places like Salineas. Even worse - she's a traitor! She wasn't raised into it like the others, she actively chose to hack into the Black Garnet and build the world-destroying portal, and I bet there are parts of Etheria that would resent her for it.

But..... you have 3 people who were absolutely fundamental in defeating prime. Entrapta's probably almost as well recognised as Adora at this stage with the work she put in, I can imagine people won't forget that emoji which flashed all over the planet. And Hordak THREW the fucker off a cliff! I'm sure people who look at him won't be able to... stay mad at him. Can you? He messed up big time, but was another victim of Prime. And will they want to lock up She-Ra's catgirl wife??? Look at her. She has anxiety!

Then you have Glimmer.... the little war criminal who opened the supermassive portal that let Prime access their front doorsteps! Can you really say those characters deserve to be locked up forever, but Glimmer gets off scot free? What on earth sort of message would that be, either among the Rebellion itself or to the people of Etheria?

I don't think there would be jail time for anyone though. They'd just all be asked to do community service. Entrapta's already doing this to the best of her abilities, and honestly, I don't think Catra or Hordak would complain about whatever they're asked to do. These three would gladly use their skillsets to repair all the shit they destroyed, as far as they could. And Glimmer's punishment for being a little shit will be acting as the most hardworking queen Etheria's ever seen. Provided she doesn't run off to space for a year.

I’d imagine that the entire cast has a consensus, rebellion and horde - Fix all the shit that broke, then decide who you want to be. Maybe go on some cool space adventures and see the universe! I think that’s who they want to be - Explorers!

#she ra #spop #entrapta #hordak #catra #glimmer

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cruelfeline · 4 years

Text

All right. So, this corner of the fandom has been in a bit of an uproar after Stevenson had her stream; and while I’m of the mind that anything said outside of the actual show, without any real canon backing, can be safely ignored, I do want to address one odd statement I’ve heard talked about.

Essentially: the idea that Hordak would have pulled the portal lever at the end of season three.

Now, I will confess that I haven’t actually watched the stream itself; I’m getting this from the ripples of discontent in the Entrapdak and Hordak tags. I also don’t really plan on viewing the stream... it’s like, what, four hours long? Mm. No, thank you.

But! My goal here isn’t to address or debunk or pick apart Stevenson’s words, specifically; my goal is to simply address the question: would Hordak have activated the portal? Because it’s an interesting question, no matter what was said on-stream! And because I’ve had a few people express interest in hearing a take. So: ask, and ye shall receive!

Now, we’re going to look at this in two different circumstances: Hordak pulling the lever while still believing Entrapta to have betrayed him, and him pulling the lever in an AU situation, where Entrapta returned to him and warned him of the danger. Ready? Onward!

We’ll tackle the “betrayal” scenario first. Would Hordak have pulled the lever in the situation as portrayed in canon, believing that Entrapta had betrayed and abandoned him? Assuming, of course, that Catra hadn’t pulled it first.

Mm... I think he probably would. But, in my opinion, not necessarily in that moment.

In this scenario, Hordak doesn’t have any reason not to pull the lever: no one has told him that it is dangerous. No one has warned him that it is going to unravel reality and kill them all unless a very specific sort of heroic sacrifice is made. He has no idea that disaster awaits, and furthermore, with Entrapta a “traitor,” he has no reason to doubt returning to Prime. He has every reason to pull the lever, but as we watch the scene play out, it is clear that he isn’t particularly keen to do so right that second.

Catra tries to push him to do it, then and there. He reaches for the lever, but as the princesses rush in, he hesitates, retreats a bit, tries to fight. He’s not nearly as focused on the lever as Catra is.

I think that the reason for this is twofold. First, Hordak is not spite-fueled enough to pull the lever right that second the way Catra is. He wants to open the portal, of course, but it doesn’t have to be right then and there so that Adora can bear witness and be emotionally defeated. He wants to open it, but he also recognizes that his sanctum is under attack. I have the sense that he perhaps thinks it best to take care of the intruders and let everything settle back down before doing something as monumental as opening a portal and potentially entering into communications with Horde Prime. To put it simply: I think he would rather open the portal during more controlled circumstances.

Second, princess attack aside: I just don’t think that Hordak is in the best mindset to open the portal in this moment. He’s... he’s in actual emotional shock, I think. Oh, he puts on an angry front, of course, as he always does when he is distressed or upset in some way, but there’s no missing his look of dejection when Catra informs him of Entrapta’s apparent betrayal.

This is the woman he has worked with for the better part of a year. The woman he grew close to and fond of and trusted with not only scientific work, but with himself. And now he’s being told that she has essentially been using him this whole time, that she’s lied to and deceived him, and that she is responsible for this terrible attack in the place he’d always assumed was safest.

He’s hurt and stunned to the point of Catra having to pull him away from an imminent explosion. I doubt that this is the emotional state he wishes to have when opening a portal and potentially speaking with his Brother.

So, while I think that, in this scenario, Hordak would choose to open the portal, I don’t think he’d want to do it at this point in time. Contacting Prime just isn’t his main focus in this scene. His main focus is defending himself against the princesses and dealing with this devastating emotional blow.

Now, might he possibly open the portal during the battle, under duress, perhaps feeling it is a now-or-never moment? Yes, potentially. But I don’t think he’d be too happy about it. I think it would be a sort of last resort, if he really felt he had no other choice. Again, while I think that he’d ultimately open the portal in an “Entrapta betrayal” scenario, he would much prefer to do it in a calm, controlled setting with his enemies neutralized and his emotional wounds soothed.

So. With that scenario out of the way, let’s move on to the arguably more interesting one: would Hordak have opened the portal had Entrapta returned and informed him of the danger?

Well, friends and neighbors, I am not an authority on this character. I am not a writer. I have no special knowledge or insight. I only have my feelings and my opinion.

That opinion, however? That opinion is: no. Absolutely not.

The reasons for this are both emotional and logical.

Emotionally speaking, at this point in the story, Hordak already loves Entrapta. He allows her into his sanctum, allows her to come and go as she pleases, to work closely with him, to work on him. He risks his own life to save her from a failed portal test. He opens up to her about fears and vulnerabilities that are clearly difficult for him to talk about. He trusts her to the point that he allows her to make new armor for him, an action that, should this trust be misplaced, could lead to severe injury and death. He hears her “imperfection is beautiful” speech and is moved by it.

Furthermore, he clearly exhibits doubt regarding going through with the portal solely because it would mean leaving her. This is strongly suggested in season three, when Entrapta and Hordak both grow visibly uncomfortable at the thought of Hordak leaving to rejoin the galactic Horde. It is essentially confirmed in season four, when Prime’s hand hovers over the LUVD crystal’s empty socket while he observes that there had been a time when Hordak wished he would not come for him.

Hordak has deep emotional attachments to Entrapta by the end of season three. He is at the same level of attachment at this point as he is at the end of season five, when his love for her helps him break free of and kill Prime. Remember: after Entrapta is sent to Beast Island, they do not see one another again until season five. Their relationship development essentially stalls... but it stalls at a high point because they are already a bonded pair, a couple, at season three’s end. With this level of attachment and affection, it is hard to rationalize Hordak disregarding Entrapta’s sincere advice, let alone pulling a portal lever that could result in both her death and his. It just doesn’t quite follow, does it?

Even if he has some sort of doubt about the danger... why risk it? Why risk the life of the person he loves? He doesn’t do so when facing Prime in season five, when the stakes are so much higher, the need to obey so much greater... but he’d do it over the portal? Rather than just postponing the project (as both he and Entrapta appeared to be considering anyway)?

Hm.

To this emotional reasoning, one can add plain logic: Hordak respects Entrapta’s intelligence. He takes her advice regarding sparing Catra. He accepts her help while working on his portal device. He values her opinion and her skills. Before learning of her “betrayal,” he clearly revels in the fact that her hard work has brought their plans to fruition. He consistently acknowledges her abilities and her worth, emotional attachment or not. Even when he barely knows her, he notes that her “tinkering” increases the power of everything she touches. He never expresses any doubt in her talents.

To this sense of respect, one can add Hordak’s willingness to listen to others, even his subordinates. Hordak is shown, time and again, to be very open to accepting counsel: from Shadow Weaver, from Catra, and certainly from Entrapta. Even early on, in season one, when Entrapta is simply an acquaintance, he accepts her claim that the defeat at Bright Moon isn’t a failure, that her experiment was successful. Even then, he is willing to listen to her, to give her leeway in her work. Now, knowing the extent of her brilliance, he would ignore her, reject her? Why?

Why would he? What reason could he have to doubt her, when she is nearly always right and has demonstrated no ulterior motives? He, on his end, has never been bull-headed or reckless about things, never been one to ignore reasonable advice... so why start now? Especially since it is doubtful that Entrapta would ever recommend abandoning portal technology altogether; I would expect that her advice would be to simply postpone and reassess, to “keep working on it until it’s perfect.” Which... well, that seemed an amenable enough option for the both of them, before Catra’s interruption.

So.

I have to admit that I just don’t see it. I don’t see how, between his demonstrable love for her and his valuing and respecting her ability, Hordak would have disregarded Entrapta should she have managed to make it back to him to warn him of the portal’s dangers. Especially when listening to her wouldn’t necessarily mean abandoning the portal project; simply postponing it doesn’t seem like an unreasonable decision in the face of such severe risk.

I mean, I suppose one could argue that he just wouldn’t believe her, that Catra would somehow lie and make him doubt her... but I don’t see how he would believe Catra (a known liar) over Entrapta (honest to a fault, also his wife) if the two were side by side. Hordak is insecure. He is not stupid.

And after all, isn’t that the whole reason that Catra shocked Entrapta? Because she knew that Hordak would believe her and stop the portal? If that wasn’t the case, if Hordak would have gone ahead with it anyway... well, then that makes Catra’s actions even worse, doesn’t it? Takes all the logic out of them. Makes her subduing Entrapta and threatening Scorpia all the more senseless and cruel, if Hordak wouldn’t have believed Entrapta anyway. Kind of messes with her whole arc, doesn’t it? Makes her even more morally bankrupt. Hm.

So while I do think that Hordak would have eventually pulled the portal lever in Entrapta’s absence (though he’d prefer to do it in a more controlled setting), I just can’t see how or why he would have pulled it if Entrapta had actually reached him with her warning. I mean, I’m not one of the writers, obviously; I have no unique knowledge or insight into these characters, but from what I’ve seen in terms of canonical behavior and relationships? It just makes it hard for me to rationalize and believe that Hordak would disregard Entrapta in favor of such a reckless act.

It just doesn’t seem like him.

And again: I could be misinterpreting his character. That’s always possible. But if that’s the case, then I would need a significant explanation to make such an act make sense to me, rather than seeming like a bit of nonsensical character derailment. Because as things are right now, I just don’t see him doing it. For all of the reasons listed above.

And that, friends and neighbors, is the "would Hordak have pulled the lever" take. Hopefully some of y'all find it amusing!

#hordak #entrapta #entrapdak

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lefemmerougewriter · 3 years

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Elena’s Mounting Stress and the Looming Invasion of Avalor

This one took a while to write, partly because I wanted to write the one for my related series, “The Steamland Chronicles”, but once I got a grove down, it really worked! I’ll try to keep a better schedule for the next one. Slowly I’m moving forward in this series, “The Avaloran Chronicles”, and toward the battle, which will be in the next section of this series. Comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism are welcome.

Fandoms: Elena of Avalor, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Mysticons, Disenchantment

Romantic pairings: Elena/Naomi (Elenaomi), Adora/Catra (Catradora), Kitty/Zarya (Moonboon)

Friendships: Elena & Isabel, Elena & Gabe, Elena & Francisco, Elena & Luisa, Elena & Migs

Words: 4.1k

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31036007

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1254712033-the-avaloran-chronicles-elena%27s-mounting-stress

Characters: Elena, Naomi, Migs, Professor Diamante, Gabe, Arch-Druidess, Isabel, Adora, Catra, Kitty, Zarya, Mateo, Francisco, and Luisa

Summary: Elena is on edge. She is unsure whether her dictate to restrict movement into and out of Avalor City, disaster preparedness plans, and other measures are worth it. Stressed out, she doesn’t even know if the supposed incursion against her queendom will happen at all. After her wife, Naomi, comforts her, and they eat breakfast together, their tranquility is shattered when a massive armada of steam-powered machines arrives in the skies above. Will she, the Royal Guard, her newfound friends, soldiers from nearby kingdoms, and other allies be able to stop the onslaught? Or will they fall victim to the Arch-Druidess, the handmaiden of Alva Gunderson?

A month had passed since Elena had put Avalor City on a lockdown and restricted movement of its citizens. The city had become more militarized. Royal guards patrolled day and night, marching down the streets. They stood guard at checkpoints at major thoroughfares and roads that led out of the city. At the port, all ships coming in, and out, were checked for weapons or other contraband. All citizens were encouraged to contribute food and supplies to safe houses which would be used in an extreme emergency. These measures may have seemed extreme, but Elena felt they were necessary to prepare for the coming assault. Although she had absolute power as the sovereign, she still consulted the Grand Council. Its members, now consisting of Francisco, Luisa, Mateo, Isa, and Naomi, begrudgingly agreed with her methods. The latter two were new additions to the council. Although he would been an immense help, Mateo had left on a personal spiritual journey to visit wise mages in the mountains of a far-away kingdom. He had been nervous about leaving, but Elena told him that they had the situation under control, and he believed her. As for Adora, Catra, Zarya, and Kitty, they stayed inside the palace, but were growing tired with being cooped up inside.

Early in the morning, the sun shone through the open window and onto Naomi’s pale pink skin. She yawned, stretched, and touched Elena’s head. She softly whispered, “time to wake up, sleepyhead.” Elena smiled. Even after all these years, she still couldn’t believe she married such a nice, kind person, and that her grandparents had been ok with it. In fact, they had fully supported their marriage, as had Naomi’s parents. “Nomes, thanks. Let’s get some breakfast…then I have something I’d like to talk with you about.” Naomi nodded. She was growing concerned with Elena, who seemed more stressed out than ever. She rarely left the palace anymore, only on special occasions, delegating others to carry out her tasks. It seemed that the palace was as a prison of sorts for her. This worried Naomi. She held Elena’s hand tightly. Closing the door of their shared room, they walked down the stairs, together.

Sitting on the table in a room off the kitchen, were bottles of aqua frescas with a flavor of anoki berries and carefully prepared veggie burritos. Plantations outside the city grew anoki berries. Restrictions imposed by Elena meant that the only ones available were those picked by jaquins in Vallestrella. So, Naomi and Elena were lucky to have them at all. If Adora, Catra, Kitty, or Zarya had been there, it would have been different. All of them would have had a grand old time, munching on the food, and enjoying themselves. This time, they had some peace and quiet while those adorable rabblerousers slept soundly in another part of the palace. The same could be said about Elena’s grandparents. Francisco, and Luisa could be in a deep, comfortable slumber, no matter how much noise was outside the palace walls, or in the building itself.

Sitting down a wooden chair next to her wife, Elena groaned. Naomi began chewing on a burrito. She eagerly awaited her wife's explanation. She soon found out why Elena had been so stressed and worried. “Nomes, I feel like I am stretched thin. I don’t even know if what I'm doing to restrict movement in Avalor City is even worth it. Will Steamland ever attack at all?” Naomi hugged Elena and stroked her hair. The last thing she wanted was for her wife to feel like this. She tried to be understanding, comforting her the way she always had. “You are doing this for Avalor. You are strong, the strongest woman I know.” She proposed a solution of sorts which seemed a bit out there. “If those steam-powered jerks don’t come here soon, lift the restrictions, apologize, and leave Avalor for a bit…you know, for your mental health.” Elena pondered it over. She hadn’t thought of leaving a place she was born, grew up, and lived most of her life for a prolonged period. It would be a big decision for sure, as she would have to leave everyone she knew behind, at least for a while. Scratching her chin, she responded. “I’ll think about it, Nomes.” She had a qualifier, something her wife had expected. “I want to make sure Avalor is not in danger. One more week of this, then I’ll end it…I’ll do what you ask.” Naomi smiled. She was glad that Elena seemed in more of a chipper mood.

It was happy bliss. Naomi and Elena were enjoying eating burritos, drank their aqua frescas, and eating some scrumptious cookies. This did not last. A little groggy and still in her sleeping clothes, Elena walked toward the doors which opened to a courtyard with a lovely fountain. Migs appeared in front of her. He looked at her with terror. “Elena, we have a big problem…THEY are coming!!” Rubbing her eyes to see if Migs was there, she realized it was all real. She had woken up. “Migs, what is it? Who is they?” Migs bit his paw. He nervously uttered, “…a bunch of whirring machines…they sounded like the loudest thing I’ve ever heard…one even whooshed at me and I got a face-full of steam.” He began mouthing some of the sounds. Elena couldn’t believe her ears. Was this really an invasion? Were they from Steamland? Those were her first thoughts. While it was only a hunch, she knew they had to immediately respond. There was no time for an emergency meeting of the Grand Council, as much as she would use their advice. She spoke to Migs softly, ordering him to “execute Operation PREECF.” He nodded. He first told those inside the royal palace’s main building, then those outside the palace grounds, about the impending danger. This included Zarya and Kitty, who had been practicing combat training late into the night. Adora was bleary-eyed from partying with Catra, in popular underground club in Avalor City, the Meow’s Delight, the previous night. Although they shouldn’t have been partying before a battle, as it is always said, hindsight is 20-20. He decided to not wake Francisco and Luisa. He did not want them to be hurt. He was, also, unsure of what they could do to fight mechanical monstrosities, especially since they had no magical powers.

After informing those in the palace’s central building of the impending danger, he sauntered over to the Royal Avaloran Archives. He told them of the same, so they could prepare themselves for the inevitable. It was one of the most important places in Avalor. Information on people across the queendom was stored there. This included family genealogies, papers on myths and legends, government records, and other assorted records. All these chronicled the history of this beautiful land. During all the years the files had been stored there, citizens had never tampered with the archives, and they had been kept under lock and key. This was for good reason. During the 41-year-rule of the wicked Shuriki, who murdered King Raul and Queen Lucia, Elena's parents, the archives were ransacked by this evil queen and her minions.

Sitting at the information desk, the archivist yawned. He pulled a lever. It first activated a set of bells which rang across the building, informing the staff of the impending emergency. Then, he pushed a petal with his foot. It fired a ball at an extreme velocity. This triggered a secret elevator. This elevator slowly moved all the archival collections in the stacks two floors below to the sub-basement. After that, all the staff locked their hands, and did a little jig, humming the anthem of the archives, which they had composed themselves. The movement caused the final stage of the plan to execute. Metal sheets came down from the building’s dome and covered the whole building from top to bottom. This ensured the building wouldn’t be destroyed or severely damaged.

After this, Professor Diamante cleared her throat. She announced “now, please go the designated safe room. Thank you for your cooperation.” Knowing this was serious, everyone complied. No one wanted to be maimed by whatever flying machines were out there ready to ravage Avalor City. The safe room was stocked with necessary supplies, like food and water for one week. There were also methods of communicating with those outside the archives as well. As a result, the staff rested easy. Each of them had specific roles in the written plan, even though the staff working at the archives was small. The emergency plan had been executed perfectly. Isa and her team of assistants from the Avalor Science Academy had created the whole apparatus, connected to the levers, pedal, and pressure-sensitive areas. One question remained: Would these measures be enough to protect the archives? This was the first real test of these systems, although they had run through the process one time before as a practice run.

Meanwhile, the royal guards galloped through the streets, shouting “Please go to the designated shelters!” Bells rang across the city, alerting people to this fact, if they couldn’t hear the royal guards. Like those in the archives, the citizens complied, even with the impending danger. In an orderly fashion they moved to the underground bunkers, constructed for this very occasion. These bunkers had been filled with supplies of food, water, and forms of communication. Gabe flew back to the royal palace on the back of Migs. He found Elena standing in the courtyard pacing and wearing a guard’s uniform. Bits of a dazzling red dress were poking out below the bottom of the outfit. Dismounting, he saluted to Elena. “Your Royal Highness, Operation PREECF is almost complete,” he declared. While she was not used to anyone calling her that, she decided to go with it. Trifles over royal titles didn’t matter at time like this. “Lieutenant Núñez,” she began, “please assemble the Royal Guard. Pull them back from the city. They must defend the palace at all costs.” Gabe saluted her once more. “It will be done.” He walked away and gathered his fellow guards for this important mission. Rubbing their eyes, Adora, Catra, Zarya, and Kitty silently followed Elena, who wasn’t aware of their presence. Not knowing exactly what was going on, they hoped she would tell them.

Although Elena could usually count on the Royal Guard to defend the city, she knew the enemy force would be too big for the guards to handle. Since the royal palace was separate from the city, almost towering above it, trying to defend both would stretch their ranks too thin. In order to defend the city, she had called in favors from kingdoms which had been friendly to Avalor over the years. Assembled in the city were the Enchania Winged Horse Legion, the Paraíso Mounted Brigade, and the Cariza Cannoneers. A detachment of sailors from Norberg, commanded by Naomi, were also on standby in the Avalor Bay if needed. While soldiers from kingdoms like Cordoba, Hectoria, Satu, would have assisted, they were not available. Simple folk from the Avaloran countryside had to be used instead. Rico Villalobos of the Royal Guard trained them. Together they formed the Enchania-Paraíso-Cariza-Avalor Unified Front (EPCA UF). Some jaquins from Vallestrella were on hand to defend the royal palace, as they saw themselves as the guardians of Avalor. Elena was grateful for all support she could get.

Standing in front of this amalgamated force from Enchania, Paraíso, Cariza, and the countryside of Avalor, she cleared her throat. Then she began speaking. “I know that each of you may come from different walks of life, and places near and far. But we stand together today as the EPCA UF for a common goal: to defend Avalor. If we do not stop these mechanical menaces here, they will ravage the Ever Realm gleefully, kingdom by kingdom. We cannot give them that opportunity.” Raising her scepter, she shouted “FOR AVALOR!” Yelps and excitement could be heard from assembled soldiers. The cannoneers from Cariza rapidly moved to the cannons, taken from available ships in the harbor, throughout the city and on its edges. This would, hopefully, protect the whole area from assault. The Paraíso mounted unit went through the city streets, while the Enchania winged horses’ unit would be ready to strike the flying machines.

Zarya, Kitty, Adora, and Catra cheered. It caught Elena off guard. “I…didn’t expect to see you there,” she sheepishly told them. She thought that her guests would have stayed asleep after their late-night activities. She had predicted wrong. In any case, she hoped to enlist their assistance. “Would you…like to help me?...my scepter drains my energy…so I can’t use it for a long period of time.” Her newfound friends nodded. Adora blurted out “we will gladly fight alongside you…your wife…and uh, the rest of Avalor or whatever.” Catra shook her head at her girlfriend’s antics. She always ended up saying things before fully thinking them out. Catra was still adjusting to her girlfriend and the fact she had one in the first place, something she had never thought possible in years past. Zarya and Kitty told Elena that they would operate their nearby ship and use it to fire upon the menacing sky vehicles. All this good will from her friends inspired her more than anything else. She outstretched her arms and said one word: “hug?” Her friends nodded. She embraced them, and they all nudged their heads together. Elena smiled. “We can do this…I believe in you all.”

The whirring of the mechanical rotors grew louder. The fleet from Steamland came ever closer to Avalor City, minute by minute. Suddenly, the ships stopped and hovered in the air. One ship came closer and blared a message: “I, the Arch-Druidess, commander of the Grand Steamland Armada, wish to have an audience with Elena Castillo Flores, Queen of Avalor.” Unsure what to do, she ran down to the wharf so she could speak to Naomi. She believed her wife could give her the advice she needed. “Nomes, should I speak with her? I don’t want to get captured or anything.” Naomi mulled it over. She did not want to lose a person she loved so dearly. Even so, she thought there was an opportunity to avoid bloodshed and knew that avoiding a conflict would save Elena a lot of stress. She sighed. “Nena, you should at least hear what she has to say. I can come with you if you want.” Elena nodded. Although having Naomi by her side would have made her more comfortable, she feared that if they were both captured, Avalor would be in a weak position. “While it would be nice to have you there,” she began, “you should stay behind in case something happens to me.” While Naomi was sad to hear this, she understood Elena’s reasoning. She could guess her wife's reasoning: she was the chancellor of Avalor, the second-most important person in the queendom, after all.

She motioned to a soldier the Enchania Winged Horse Legion. Adora, Catra, Zarya, and Kitty stood nearby, puzzled. They could not understand why she didn’t ask them to give her a lift to this mysterious ship. Everyone, other than Adora, found the winged horses a little weird. The soldier bowed and offered her winged horse so Elena could fly to the nearby zeppelin, the biggest in the Grand Steamland Armada (GSA). Elena accepted this graciously and told her “you will be forever thanked for this sacrifice.” While she had never flown on such a horse, she believed that it wouldn’t be any different than riding a jacqin. Adora tried to encourage her and yelled “you can do it, girl, I believe in you!” Elena grinned back, forever grateful for such a supportive friend. Getting off the ground, the horse neighed as its wings flapped mightily. Bit by bit, it moved closer and closer to the deafening sound of whirring motors. Landing on a nearby platform, a woman dressed in a long purple gown with very exaggerated sleeves, greeted her. Although her expression was stern, and her heavy eyeliner, long nose, and purple lipstick seemed odd to Elena, the woman smiled. She bowed and introduced herself. She then asked “so…I presume you are Queen Elena Castillo Flores.” Nodding in agreement, she told Elena to come inside the zeppelin, and into a room where the outside sound was muffled.

Sitting at a chair at one end of the table, she instructed Elena to sit at the other end. Once Elena sat down, the Arch-Druidess cleared her throat. “So here are the terms, Ms. Flores,” she began. “We would like the diamond you took from the Steamland Archives and Museum.” Before Elena could say anything, she began to speak again. “If you cannot provide that, we would like you to submit yourself as tribute for your crimes against Steamland.” Shocked to hear these words, her facial expression turned to pure rage. She could not stand for such an absurd statement. While she had taken the diamond, it was an accident, something she thought the other woman would not understand. She got up and pushed aside her chair. “Miss, I cannot accept your ridiculous terms,” Elena shouted back. Composing herself, she made one simple request. “If you and your fleet promise to not assault Avalor, we will honor that and not attack you.” She then outstretched her arm and then, hand in a gesture of friendship. “Both our nations can sign a non-aggression pact, end this dispute, and have mutually-beneficial relations.”

While any rational person would have accepted this, the Arch-Druidess was anything but reasonable. Her mind had been poisoned by the evils of Alva and his never-ending propaganda about the “evils” of Avalor. The Arch-Druidess chuckled. “Peace? Non-aggression? Your nation is anything but peaceful! Alva was right…you ARE a tyrant.” While Elena would have blasted this woman from her ship and into the air, causing her to fall to her death, she did not even want to give her that satisfaction. She wanted to show her that Avalor could beat such a technologically advanced armada. This would make her a model for others to follow, even inspiring people to rise up across Ever Realm against their oppressors, even if that wasn’t her intention. Scoffing, she turned her back. She slightly turned her head and remarked “so be it, Arch-Druidess.” She calmly marched out of the room and to her awaiting winged horse. As Elena flew away, the Arch-Druidess snarled. She had half expected an immediate surrender. Even so, she saw Elena’s departure as a positive.

She hollered to the airship’s gunners. “Fire at her. Shoot her down!” Elena had almost reached the ground when bullets began whizzing by her. Due to her adapt flying skills, she dodged them all, and escaped without a scratch. She knew that using her scepter in a situation like this would be dangerous. It could open her to vulnerability. After waving to her wife, near the wharf at Avalor Bay, she landed softly in one of the city’s courtyards. As the horse trotted back to the winged unit, she walked toward Isa, who was hiding in the shadows. She had hidden cannons which would fire upon the enemy with unmatched ferocity, by flicking a switch. She could also adjust their trajectory. That made them secret weapons of sorts. She murmured to her sister a few simple words: “fire the cannons, NOW!” Isa did so without a second thought. Standing on the fountain’s edge, Elena declared to the nearby soldiers “this is the fight you have all be waiting for. Prepare yourselves!” While EPCA UF got ready for the incoming attack, so too did Zarya, Kitty, Catra, and Adora, mentally preparing for what was to come.

Kitty snickered. She put her arm around her girlfriend. She grumbled. “You know, I never thought we would be fighting so soon after leaving Drake City.” Zarya concurred. She did not want to battle anyone, but she respected Elena and Naomi enough that she felt it was their duty to defend Avalor. Were the Mysticons not bound to fight evil? That is what she believed. “I don’t mind combat…if it is for a noble cause,” she told Kitty. Then she said something which gave her girlfriend pause. “We owe Elena…and all Avalor…for letting us stay here at all!” While Kitty felt that she was giving their gracious hosts too much credit, she had to agree. The fact they could stay in the royal palace, even though neither of them were not invited guests or part of the royal family, had been a surprise to them both. Kitty had half-expected they would be told to live in a house in Avalor City, but that did not happen.

“Let’s get ‘em, Z-Star! We have to show that love can triumph over hate.” Zarya rolled her eyes. She never had been a fan of such empty, meaningless statements, that made people feel better about themselves. “Not sure what that philosophical bs means, but I’ll stand by you no matter what…you…cat!” Kitty didn’t care if Zarya had slipped up and had accidentally called her a furry, cuddly animal. She saw this as a chance to be even adorable than usual. She held up her hands like a cat, and roared. Zarya laughed. “You always know how to cheer me up.” She couldn’t help herself and blushed at her girlfriend’s cuteness, her pinkish cheeks turning as red as tomatoes. Kitty pulled her arm. Soon both were giggling, holding hands, and skipping toward the pirate ship of the Pink Skulls, which they had renamed the S.S. MoonBoon. Zarya shouted “Mysticon Ranger!” and transformed into her Mysticon form, complete with an energy bow, a blue shirt and pants, and a lighter blue cape. Other than her mask, the tips of her purple hair turned white. Kitty, at the wheel of the S.S. Moonboon, maneuvered the ship into position so they could fire a broadside of laser cannons at the enemy. Thanks to some new tweaks by her friend, a fellow Mysticon, Emerald Goldenbraid back in Drake City, this was all controllable from the ship’s helm. Zarya pulled her bow back and began to fire. She hoped that her arrows, which had an energy equal to lightning, would stun the pilots of these metal death machines. Then, the ship’s energy pulse cannons of the ship would finish them off.

Adora and Catra stood next to Elena in disbelief. Catra hissed and growled. “They have a ship with huge cannons…and her lover can transform? All I have is this body…I wish…” Adora cackled. She patted her girlfriend on the head. “That’s why you have me, silly!” Grunting, Catra accepted this sullenly. Adora tried to perk her up. “Don’t worry…you are catr-fic…one of the best fighters I know.” Her tan-skinned cheeks became warm. Breathing deeply, she linked arms with her girlfriend and snickered. “Thanks…you dummy.” She followed this up with: “Now let’s kick some butt!” Pointing her sword into the sky, Adora positioned herself on the ground in a battle pose. Although it had been a while since she had transformed into She-Ra, she convinced herself that it would be possible once again. Removing all distractions from her mind, she closed her eyes and hollered “For the honor of AVALOR!”

Elena was in awe, as was Catra every time her girlfriend turned into an attractive eight-foot-tall warrior. Usually she sported a long ponytail, long white pants, boots with golden wing decals, and a golden tiara. She also, usually, wore a blouse with a gold-outlined heart on the front, which was shorter in the front and longer in the back. This time, influenced by her time in Avalor, she wore something different. She had on reddish white pants, maroon boots, and a reddish-white blouse to contrast the color of her girlfriend’s clothes. There were intricate designs on her pants, boots, and even blouse. They were modeled after the ones she saw Elena and Naomi had on their clothes, since she had a bit of a crush on both of them. Catra was a bit astonished by this look, as she had come accustomed to the usual outfit, but decided to accept it anyway. Standing next to Elena, she turned to her. “Are you ready?” Grinning like a Cheshire cat, she declared “I’m born ready, baby.”

Each of them wielded their weapons, Adora with her magical sword, Elena with her royal scepter, and Catra with a sword for hand-to-hand combat. She also had a whip she had won in the Crimson Waste. She considered it one of her most prized possessions. Elena, her newfound friends, allied soldiers from nearby kingdoms, and royal guards had a challenge in fending off this huge armada. More than anyone, Elena was willing to go to the end of the line for Avalor and everyone inside the Queendom, including her sister and her wife.

*****

End note: I know the part about Mateo is a little bit of a cheap shot, but I promise you that Mateo WILL come back in a future story, there were just a lot of characters to deal with here. The part about the Royal Avaloran Archives in this story is loosely based on information about emergency preparation shared by the National Archives, Smithsonian Institution Archives, IFLA, Minnesota Historical Society and the article by David Alexander on the subject. Also see Elizabeth Shepard’s “Compiling A Disaster Plan for Archival Collections," Catherine Moeller’s “Disaster Management in Archives," the National Archives’ “Vital Records and Records Disaster Mitigation and Recovery” resource and the Society of American Archivists’ Annotated Resources. What I did kind of ended up like a Rube Goldberg machine, I suppose. The “Ever Realm” page on the Elena of Avalor wiki, the “Enchancia,” “Paraíso,” “Cariza,” “Norberg,” “Avalor Palace,” “Avalor Bay,” “Avaloran Royal Guard,” pages on the Sofia the First wiki, and the “Arch-Druidess” page on the Disenchantment Wiki, “Zarya Moonwolf” and “Ranger Bow and Arrows” pages on the Mysticons wiki, and “Adora” and “Catra” pages on the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power wiki. PREECF means Preparation Elena Castillo Flores or something. I probably thought more about that when coming up with the term at first than later. Oops.

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