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n7punk · 2 months

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“Embrace the Blame (Love the Fall”) Fic Notes

EtB(LtF) is done! For what feels like the first time in a while, a fic managed not to get away from me lol, it just got a little epilogue continuation but otherwise was all good.

Epilogue Life:

I have so many thoughts it’s hard cutting them off.

Adora’s trip home is hard, but it is good overall, and she realizes during it that the reason Hope hasn’t mentioned church when talking is because she doesn’t go a lot anymore (more details lower down). Adora certainly wasn’t going to go with her — Shadow is guaranteed to be there, and Adora can’t be held liable for what she does the next time they meet — but church is pretty much never brought up during her visit. Hope still isn’t perfect, but she’s trying her best, and though Adora discovers bad memories around town along with the good, it turns out to be a lot easier to process now that Catra is back in her life. She kind of tells Hope that she’d like to see her again at Christmas, but in a noncommittal way since she really doesn’t know what that will hold for them.

The rest of the summer is just good. Catra’s internship is hard but valuable, as is Adora’s job assisting Netossa, and they both still have more time than they would during the school year to just be together and have fun with their friends. It’s great for bonding and falling deeper in love, and for integrating their friend groups properly in a way they just didn’t really have time for before.

Catra isn’t ready to go home that Christmas — isn’t sure she ever wants to — and when Adora regretfully informs Hope she doesn’t want to leave Catra alone for Christmas, they take another big step and Hope comes to visit them for the first time. It’s a little weird, but Catra is more comfortable seeing Hope again on their turf, and it turns out to be a good Christmas even around the bittersweet parts. Hope expresses approval for Catra to the best of her ability and that kind of takes Catra out for the afternoon. She doesn’t cry, but that doesn’t mean she’s not emotional enough to.

When they do finally visit home again, it’s a year later, after they have both graduated, Catra a few months established in a role at the company she interned with and Adora freshly moved to a job at a pottery studio, which isn’t exactly where she wants to be, but hey, it’s in her sector. They aren’t visiting because of work, though — they’re engaged and planning their wedding, which absolutely isn’t going to be back home, or be traditional, but they come back for the visit to celebrate and to get some of Adora’s old things from Hope. It’s just a few days, but Catra doesn’t have a bad experience like she feared and she’s more willing to come back for occasional visits to Hope after that, even if their hometown is never going to be her favorite place.

(Like I said, I can keep going, so I’ll just put Shadow’s reaction to that news lower down because I need to at least break this up)

Also I fully planned for Glimmer and Bow to get together in this but then they needed to not be together up until chapter seven and there just wasn’t room to fit it in at that point BUT know that they get together over the summer and everybody ends up laughing about how dumb they were lmao.

Chapter 1:

⦁ Title is from “There’s People Watching” by Jade LeMac.

⦁ I had to edit the fic disclaimer because uhhhh a lot of things happened in this fic I didn’t initially plan. I went into this fic pantsing everything past like, chapter one, so I didn’t know the flashbacks were coming up or any of the partying stuff. Some of this stuff is things I generally avoid, but ideas adjacent to them have come up before, so I decided to just go all in on All The Stuff for this fic.

⦁ Originally this fic opened with a (very brief) flashback scene of the night Catra left, and then I moved it to the opening of chapter 2, but that just wasn’t right so I included Adora remembering that line and that was it.

⦁ The food/dining halls/library/dorms in this fic are just straight up the ones from my own college.

⦁ For non-Americans, Title IX is basically our diversity/inclusion act so like if someone is discriminating against you based on gender or whatever (in a school setting) it protects you.

Chapter 2:

⦁ Title is from “So What Now” By Renee Rapp.

⦁ There was a while there would I would spin the wheels of my little Lego tuk tuk whenever I was in a virtual appointment and that’s where the car thing came from.

⦁ Shoutout to my freshmen year neighbor who would shout “papi” while having makeup sex.

⦁ “Catra flashes her a smile, the innocent one that has always pulled on something inside Adora she never understood but somehow makes her very aware of her tongue in her mouth.” Gee it’s almost like you want to stick your tongue down her throat or something.

⦁ Adora talking about how Catra didn’t change here was explicitly to set up the slow realization that she did. The theme of this fic is change and growth, really — both when it happens and when it doesn’t. No matter how they change, they still were those little girls and that’s so important to how they are now and they can’t let that love they had go. They can’t change in a way that makes them not love each other and even when Adora didn’t change and it was hurting Catra, Catra loved her then, too.

⦁ I mentioned it in my notes here, but I’ve written some of these story beats out of a lot of fics. Tip of her tongue was initially a hiding sexuality story, with Catra running after kissing Adora because the girl who interrupted them called her a dyke and she didn’t want Adora to have to deal with that. Catra cut her hair and everything to put the “blame” on her, it was a whole thing. I had a high school AU dealing with Adora pretending to be straight for a while that never went anywhere too. I finally “got” to do my comphet story here, by which I mean I could have done it at any time but I both didn’t and just got in my head about not wanting to when I kind of did, so I’m glad to have finally gotten it out of my head.

Chapter 3:

⦁ Title is from “There’s People Watching” by Jade LeMac again.

⦁ “Send me something cute” with a wink means “send me a selfie” but Catra’s too resigned for that.

⦁ Catra did NOT buy her sweater, it was her Castaspella Assigned Sweater her first Christmas with Glimmer’s family.

⦁ By complete accident a video about video game elevators came up and played while I was in the middle of writing the elevator scene. As Adora was trying to awkwardly say she didn’t look the narrator went “You can use elevators to force characters into awkward conversation” with a shot of an anime that I swear looked like RGU but I’ve never seen that show and don’t know if elevators exist in it, it was just a hell of a coincidence.

Chapter 4:

⦁ Uhhhh this wasn’t supposed to be here. There was a single paragraph in the last chapter talking about times they had kissed before, and then I went to do a fic note expanding on it, and I… just couldn’t stop. So this happened.

⦁ Here’s an abbreviated version of what that note looked like: Times Catra and Adora kissed: - 1 We definitely need to know how to kiss for this party - 2 I’ll show you how to kiss for your boyfriend (please like it better with me) - 3 Weaver was being homophobic and Catra kissed Adora out of nowhere when she was comforting her, which Adora interpreted as Catra coming out to her. For two days afterwards Catra thought there was a slim chance, despite Adora’s clueless responses on the night of, that they might be dating before a Very Straight comment from Adora brought Catra down to earth. - 4 Actual spin the bottle in the hallway during a school dance. - 5 :) Wouldn’t you like to know (This is the drunk makeout scene, which I didn’t actually write because I wasn’t comfortable doing it for consent reasons. Drunk makeouts can be agreed on and fine (see Glimmer and Catra) but with all the shame Adora felt from it and with her being shitfaced, it didn’t feel good to actually outline, so I skipped to the aftermath instead, which I think better showed Adora’s internalized shame and how it caused her to reject Catra anyway.)

⦁ Whenever I need a random background NPC I just pull up the He-Man wiki and look at the characters list for something that fits enough from the original She-ra. Yes, it’s not a reliable source of information, but I’d hope it’s base character names are at least correct. Aliases I’m less confident in lol.

⦁ “He’ll want to impress you. That’s what I’d do.” That’s what you’d do? Something you want to share with the class, Catra? It seems like you’ve thought about this a lot.

⦁ Catra’s insistence on teenage boys sucking is partially the gender norms Shadow perpetuates, partially her own repulsion to the entire idea of heterosexuality she doesn’t quite have a handle on yet, and part of her trying to convince Adora of all those ideas so Adora will just ignore all those boys and only be her friends for tooooootally normal reasons <3 Definitely.

⦁ Catra was not invited to Caleb’s party, btw, it was just a (pretty obvious) condition of Adora’s attendance that Catra would be there too. Because besties don’t let besties miss out on parties or leave the other alone for their first “real” kiss. Obviously.

⦁ I just find these freshmen being sure high school is like on TV and all sophomores must have done ton of kissing hilarious, but it’s a very Kid thing to believe.

⦁ When I was a kid the game Trace Memory taught me the word crud because the protagonist Ashley said it whenever, you know, you would normally say a swear word. This led to me saying it a lot because it was something I could “get away with” before my mom informed me I could not, actually, get away with it. To this day my mom (who isn’t religious, by the way) insists that crap, damn, and hell are all Swear Words, which I disagree with. I mean those last two, sure, I just don’t ascribe to Christianity. “Crap” though? What the fuck? That is not a “swear word”. It might not be an innocent word, but it is not a fucking swear by any means. You do not have to bleep it out or limit the number of them that appear in a movie to maintain a PG-13 rating or whatever (rumor is you get one “fuck” btw).

⦁ My dark elf lore comes from Knifepoint, with Shadow Weaver’s appearance generally matching her Mystacor look and “dark elves” dubbed so because they are a race of elves with a high degree of photosensitivity that must either cover up or avoid the sunlight to avoid burns and a greatly increased risk of cancer. More info in my “Races” fic extra if you’re interested.

⦁ Shadow’s “reminders” for Adora to bring Catra are both because she thinks Catra is more likely to listen to Adora, and to reinforce for them both what a model daughter should look like. She makes Catra see Adora following expectations every time they see each other, later telling Catra that is what she should be like and slowly driving an uncomfortable wedge between them, reinforcing that Catra will never be Adora and never be good enough for her.

⦁ If I remember the puritan crime severity ranking right, it goes like Blasphemy > Adultery > Murder, which is why Adora brings it up in reference to Shadow’s own sin ranking list. That, and the rumor is that the reason Shadow’s life is how it is is because her husband left her (true) for committing adultery (ehhh it was mostly just because she was a terrible person) so she has dedicated the rest of her life to making herself appear “upstanding” by society’s standards after she “failed in her duties as a wife” (the way the church sees it — she doesn’t feel she has duties to anyone but herself, but she wants them to perceive her as capable), which is actually why she ended up fostering Catra, to appear as close as she could to the vision of a woman put together. She also… has the whole fucked up thing where she “relates” to Catra and wants to make things as hard for her as possible because she thinks she sees herself in her and life was never fair to her (she says in her $800,000 house).

⦁ The coming out scene takes place following one of the incidents Catra alludes to later at the party.

⦁ Adora vision: Oh, she’s kissing me so that I know she’s gay and for no other reason. I will not examine this further.

⦁ I’m convinced spin the bottle isn’t real tbqh, but this fic is me finally doing all the high school &college tropes I haven’t done or have only brushed against over the years, so yeah, it gets thrown in there.

⦁ Alright the spin the bottle scene I wrote in the car so the names just got pulled out of my ass.

Chapter 5:

⦁ Chapter title is from She’s Pretty by Beth McCarthy

⦁ Scorpia is watching “She Loves To Eat”, a lesbian manga/TV show that my friends have loved. It’s actually about all kinds of food but “cooking” just felt weird in that sentence (like it implies some kind of Top Chef thing) so I went with baking.

⦁ Lesbians will literally hide under the bed and call it romantic instead of admitting their feelings.

⦁ It was honestly hard to type Christmas in a fic instead of Winterfest lmao. Making Christianity exist is really antithetical to my usual views. Winterfest is a stand-in for a number of holidays, including New Years traditions, but new years is secular so I usually still leave mention of it as the name for the final day of Winterfest.

⦁ The Dean’s Spotlight is like, another version of a thing we did have at my school, shifted to the left. For this fic the spotlight is basically the faculty nominating the student they think is the best showcase of their school (academics, extracurriculars, and standards wise). Fall highlights one senior and spring nominates one junior, so you only ever have two chances of being picked, but it’s a great networking opportunity.

⦁ Hope doesn’t mention church here because she stopped going every week. She still does it a lot, but while she could go and punish herself with guilt for the rest of her life, there came a point where she just couldn’t keep doing it to Adora once it started to cost her their relationship. Adora brought a little of Mara’s glow back into her life and she couldn’t lose that joy again She did go to church the next Sunday after their phone call though, and made a point of sitting next to Shadow, who of course noticed and struck up “polite conversation” (digging for information as to why she’s approaching her since she usually doesn’t). Hope wasn’t fooled and told her she was just thinking of her because she spoke with Adora that week and she was thinking how much more they used to see each other when they were coordinating their daughters’ playdates. Shadow’s response was “Yes, that will change when your daughter goes off to college and stops speaking to you in favor of a life of sin”. No matter how coolly it was spoken it was the exact opening Hope needed. “Yes, I suppose she has been busy”. This immediately piqued Shadow’s interest because while it wasn’t the first thing Hope ever said about Catra post Catra cutting Shadow off, it was the first in a long time (she said it was not her business to meddle in family at first and barely said anything even before the fallout. She might not have hated Shadow — at the time — but she also didn’t wholly agree with what she saw of her parenting philosophies). Shadow’s response was something to the effect of “What has she gotten herself into now?” to which Hope responded “Nothing bad, making Dean’s Spotlight just takes a lot of work. It’s not an honor lightly earned. Adora could use learning some of her discipline”. Hope wasn’t actually trying to shit on Adora, just make the conversation seem more natural. It’s something she might have said back when Adora was in high school, which was the last time she and Shadow really spoke frequently. Shadow said some stuff about Adora having discipline in other important areas (unaware she came out) and tried to lightly pry for more but Hope got a lot more reluctant to speak after that.

Chapter 6:

⦁ Chapter title from Not My Fault by Renee Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion

⦁ Adora’s whole thing about Bow wanting in a different way than she does is just from how the idea that sometimes it feels like everyone else must be fine on the inside or feeling some pure ideal of emotion instead of everyone just being fucking messy like you, but when you assume everyone else is feeling the Pure™️ kind of sadness with just yearning and no Problematic Jealousy™️ you’re just setting yourself up for disaster because everyone’s emotions are messy.

⦁ Man I miss the art studio I did my freshmen year art project in. Sure, working in it was fucking miserable when it was hot out, but all the light was so great and despite the noise having a fume and particulate hood was really handy. I’ve been doing a lot more crafts project recently and I just do them in my “office” which is a tiny bedroom with a single window that’s on the side of the house that never gets any light it’s sad.

⦁ Lonnie picked up everything Catra was putting down and found it hilarious considering she and Adora were just friends. She wasn’t surprised when Adora started gushing about her girlfriend not long after.

Chapter 7:

⦁ Title from “Friendship Bracelet” by Beth McCarthy

⦁ Adora started freaking out as soon as she got on the phone with Catra for obvious reasons, but she was also internally worried that Catra had attached to someone else there who might not have her best interests.

⦁ They are having two entirely different conversations while Adora is trying to get Catra home. The second Catra says she wants something and Adora stops, her drunk mind assumes Adora knows what she wanted (her) and when she says she can have it when they get home, Catra just goes yayyy make out time! Meanwhile Adora is just like work with me here and you can get as bitey as you want okay. They are living in two different worlds as usual.

⦁ So the original outline of this scene was uh. A little darker. I’ll be honest, I find the final version of the drunk Catra scenes very funny because I love sloppy Catra, but the original outline of the scene called for her getting further in trying to kiss Adora and then crying more than she did and kind of rambling all her insecurities and outright asking Adora why she was toying with her. The final version is the right version.

Chapter 8:

⦁ If I have to tell you this chapter’s title is from “Curious” by Hayley Kiyoko I really don’t know why you’re here.

⦁ Adora does eventually convince Catra to visit the student counseling center, but it isn’t until the next semester, and Catra doesn’t make it a long term habit, just going in for a few sessions to work through some stuff and moving on. There’s processing to do, but she is also one of those people where talking about it only helps so much until it hurts instead.

⦁ Adora got that hopeful smile because Catra’s eyes blew out when she stepped into her view, just like she did the night before, and then she slow-blinked at her immediately after not denying she wanted the things she asked her for last night, but Catra as freaking out a little too much to be that self-aware.

⦁ Not to be NSFW for a teen fic but I do think this Catradora take a little longer than normal to get intimate, but once Adora is comfortable and ready she’s all in.

⦁ The kiss motivation method is an actual thing me and my girlfriend did freshmen year and yes it helps the ADHD but it also makes it worse because you’re thinking about getting the next kiss instead of the dumb textbook lmao.

Chapter 9:

⦁ Title is from “I Think I’m Growing?” by Fletcher.

⦁ This was supposed to be the end of chapter eight, but it felt more right to split it off and make it its own thing, even if it makes for a very short epilogue. It keeps chapter eight the same length as all the rest of the normal chapters (minus the 5 + 1 shoved in the middle of this fic) too, so I decided to split it off even though I was hoping not to increase the chapter count on this one. I have a really terrible habit but my policy is always what’s best for the story and not what’s best for a number so splitting off these “looking forward” scenes was right.

⦁ Entrapta’s relationship with her parents is largely transactional and they just aren’t close at all, so she has to consider the scenario where they deem the transaction “isn’t worth it” anymore. It’s not actually something that would happen, but they just have a weird relationship overall. They aren’t bad people (I mean, they aren’t Shadow), just busy and kind of neglectful, so Entrapta finds a lot more support in her friends, and wanting to be with those friends and have community she didn’t experience growing up is why she likes to share an apartment.

⦁ The waterpark is based on an actual park I used to visit that could hold (and usually did hold) thousands of people at once. The pools would just be seas of bodies, it was insane. I haven't been in years and probably won't ever again because swimming and masking don't exactly mix. It was often manned by college students in the summer rushes, though.

⦁ Okay continuing from the epilogue section: Shadow’s reaction to them getting engaged. True to the protocol of the first few years, Hope doesn’t really tell Shadow anything that’s going on in their lives after that time Adora drops hints for her to, and she sees her a lot more rarely as Hope starts to fade in her faith, so she goes back to just brushing her prying off for years. The engagement is big enough to break that form, especially because Catra drops hints again when they visit that maybe Shadow should know about it. Hope goes back to church the weekend after they leave (her first time in a month — listen, going a few weeks between visits is “falling off” for her. She visits once every month or two at this point, but she is still involved in certain initiatives she deems important, like the annual toy drive). When standing around with a bunch of the older ladies afterwards talking — Shadow included — they’re talking about their “joys” that week and Hope says that hers is that her daughter just got engaged. Shadow is immediately alert as the church ladies offer Hope congratulations and Hope is just quiet and gracious about it. When asked about Adora’s suitor, Hope just says they visited together that week and it’s good to see her so in love. She’s lucky to be marrying her best friend. The ladies just aww and talk about how it’s a shame they had to leave before Sunday so they couldn’t meet them, but Shadow know what that means, and she’s quietly seething. Honestly it’s mostly impressive that she waits until she can catch Hope in semi-private out in the parking lot that she asks if she’s allowing that, which like, wicked not her choice dude, but it’s more like is she enabling it and acting like it’s okay. The answer is just “yes” and Hope ignores her protests otherwise, continuing on to her car. Shadow definitely considers outing them to hopefully have the rest of their congregation exert pressure on Hope for Hope to exert pressure on Adora and Catra to “correct”, but ultimately it would expose her own “failure as a parent” when it came to raising Catra “right”, so it just becomes a “painful secret” for her to bare.

Original Outline:

Since I was wicked winging this one, there really wasn’t an original outline to deviate from. Basically I had the entire first chapter outlined and then… nothing else. Sometimes it’s fun to do a fanfic off the cuff like that.

The one “big change” was my original idea had Catra living in an apartment with the BFS, but I wanted one of them to live on campus.

I also had this vague idea (inspired by “I only smoke to feel bad” by KiNG MALA) where Catra would have another friend group and they would kind of be stoners. She would have someone in that group who she sometimes kind of hooked up with (I went with Glitra instead) and after reconnecting with Adora, Catra goes to one of their hangouts, gets high with them, and then freaks out when that girl gets flirty with her because she’s in a weird frame of mind and suddenly all she wants is Adora again and this just feels very wrong. Because she’s anxious-high she doesn’t do the logical thing of “hey I’m not feeling this” and instead leaves to call Adora to come pick her up. She doesn’t explain much other than “I’m high and I want to go home” at which point Adora is immediately out the door and not leaving her to navigate the bus system. It was supposed to help push them a little more towards being vulnerable with each other as Adora takes her home and tries to take care of her, because I was envisioning their relationship as still being kind of antagonistic at that point.

You can see how that idea became the party scene. There were some things with that I just didn’t want to write, and I think the party version is way more fun, more logical with the set up of the world and characters (which didn’t exist when I had that first idea), and more fitting for where they were in the story.

Aside from that and stuff previously mentioned, it was all off the cuff.

Meta:

Playlist

Upcoming:

To be 100% honest next I’m going to work on my SPOP Big Bang fic which y’all aren’t going to see for months, but then I’m probably going to do the ******** AU. Not saying exactly what that is because a certain subset of people are going to be feral for it and I know it’s at least going to be a bit before I’m ready for it, but since there’s a whole fic between here and there my whims could change too. We’ll see! Updates on my Tumblr as always.

#etbltf #ficmeta #fic notes

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 months

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Don’t get me wrong, I fucking LOVE Hordak. But even I’ll admit, his redemption kinda sucked. He didn’t really help anyone. All he did was stand up to his abuser and save Entrapta. Did he help contribute to saving the world? Yes, but it wasn’t intentional. That being said, I think his Season 5 story arc was better than Catra’s, because it was much more obvious that his redemption wasn’t complete if it’s even begun. And the end of the series, Hordak is free, and with someone he cares about. He’s not alone, but he’s not forgiven by everyone. Catra however gets everything she ever wanted by doing the bare minimum. Multiple friends, a girlfriend, freedom, forgiveness from everyone. The story portrays Catra’s redemption as complete. And I know a lot of stans say ‘bUt HeR rEdEmTiOn iSn’T oVEr.’ Yes, it is. By all means, that’s what the narrative is telling us. I know it’s not over, but the story and writing doesn’t. And that’s the issue. Hordak has a lot of work ahead of him for what he did, and that much is clear. But for Catra? It would be so easy to just assume her and Adora go off and kiss immediately after the show ends. It’s all about framing.

yeah, to be honest, i wouldn't even call it a redemption arc. hordak could still have been evil, because he wasn't doing anything for the greater good. he was doing it for entrapta. i still see him as an anti-villain of sorts, rather than a redeemed villain.

and yeah, that's why catra's redemption is so much worse in comparison because it was supposed to be an actual redemption and it failed. just having you character mumble an apology and do one good thing isn't enough to redeem them.

it's even worse when you remember that catra didn't save glimmer because she cared about her, she did it for adora. which follows the idea of catra "redeeming" herself solely to get on adora's good side, so she could continue abusing her. and that's exactly what happens. it's so strange how the writers clearly tried to replicate the success with zuko's redemption (the motivation, the whole good eye-bad eye theory, etc) but didn't actually include the elements that made it so great.

#spop critical #spop #spop salt #spop discourse #spop criticism #she ra #anti catradora #anti catra #anti c//a #antic//a #anticatra #anticatradora

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inflammatoryfandomblog · 10 months

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okay. so voltron’s second season (”seasons” 3-6) were. well.

i have to say that i sort of vastly preferred the first production block. i definitely think the show was more in its element with the episodic “defeat zarcon” stuff than with... to be honest, i have no idea what’s happening.

i mean it started off pretty good. could have gone in a lot of directions. i was interested in the idea of lotor, whose ideology seemed to be a very good contrast to zarcon’s but still seemed to be a good villain. a darker side to the alteans, the fact that the lions can bond to multiple paladins, etc etc etc.

like idk, i know there are people that would take issue with it but it would have been kinda cool if various characters could bond to the different lions sometimes, and the relationship with each one could reveal something about the character. like maybe it would have been a contrast to zarcon, who was hyperfixated on the black lion and thought that because it was the leader, it was the Important One or whatever.

anyways this is called “inflammatoryfandomblog” and it’s time for the griping.

-> the plot is about quintessence, which... the galra empire depends on for some reason, even though it was really the druids we’ve seen use it before, and they were destroying whole planets for the stuff and using it to power zarcon’s little ego “i’m going to get the lions trip.” it’s kind of unclear what else uses it. and i think that’s like my main issue with this season/production block? aside from the S1-like episodes, it feels very muddled and hard to really get into.

i just. am trying to make sense of lotor’s plan. or haggar’s plan. or what they each wanted. or what even what quintessence does. quintessence seems to be like, a... theme-thing... for being too entrenched in the past and what you’ve lost, and so being poisoned by it is losing sight of the present by trying to recreate it. at least that’s what makes the most sense. it’s not, uh, subtle--but it’s not used well enough to relieve it of the Magical Bullshit feeling.

(this is something she-ra has over voltron; whatever plot magic BS happens is generally woven in better, thematically, with adora and glimmer and catra--but this just might be because there’s a lot less characters and she-ra very early on drops the pretense of being political in any way; it’s the type of series that’s very transparent with that--it says “yeah lmao our world doesn’t matter this is basically a basic family story with princess/scifantasy icing”, while voltron is very different in this regard, and so this approach does it no favors, because how it developed its world was a very good selling point for me in the first production block)

like “oh we just offer them more quintessence and they’ll listen to me” seems like a really bad justification for......... anything......... and idk if they even needed that plotline, i feel like lotor wanting to create an “inclusive/fair empire” is a pretty interesting oxymoron without the weird altean magic stuff. that haggar also unlocked. somehow. i wasn’t very invested in it i suppose; it failed to sort of convince me at any point of being true to the setting, which was a real strength of the first season.

-> i remember being miffed at the lack of shiro/lotor interactions (i mean, the lack of interactions sort of gave it away that this shiro was not worth investing into, especially since it was so telegraphed that druidlady was controlling him, but i was annoyed at the time) because i dunno, real!shiro and lotor could have built up an understanding re: being forced by zarcon to do bad stuff. generally the shiro clone plot is very meh, i feel it would have been better if a) the “real” shiro was actually taken to be some sort of trojan or he’s dead and the clone has to reckon with what it means and be an actual character or b) shiro’s spirit guided them and he was a mentor figure the entire way through, only getting back into a body at some point or another.

generally the entire clone plotline was just kind of worse than most possible alternatives to it, including having both shiros be alive and kicking. as it is now shiro is basically the same as the one from the first production block and can’t have changed.

-> for a second, since most of my predictions panned out in some way, that shiro *was* actually going to be zarcon all along. that would have been wild. similarly a very funny alternate universe is one where the gang splits the comet, gives half of it to the evil alteans and half of it to the galra and simply lets them fight.

-> i liked that the characters went off and had lives/missions outside of voltron (or at least, pidge/keith) and had a few episodes dedicated to those. those, aside from the early “season 3″ episodes and the fun one-shot ones were very enjoyable breaks from the mostly incoherent main plot. i had fun watching them instead of being like “hmm. so this is a Thing now” in the Main Story

i really feel that ultra-dramatic storytelling is not these writers’ strong suit. which, fair, i mean, i’m not a writer, but i don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they’re a lot better with episodes with some implications as opposed to long, serialized, dramatic structures as a group. i think it might just be a matter of experience; most cartoons until the 2010s were very episodic, and longer stories just have more production/meddling complications which are non-trivial, whereas with episodes, if something doesn’t work... you can just dump it. but episode-episodes also don’t play well with streaming. just kind of an unfortunate media-landscape conundrum there.

(note that japanese animation for example, while it’s very serialized, most of the time has the benefit of having source material already laid out for it. really the equivalent of something like that are like, comic book shows i guess.)

-> animation is really stellar and action is very good. studio mir is great. they always stick the landing.

-> i guess i like that they tried to do something with the idea of “the evil emperor is dead/gone, now what?” which is kind of a difficult plot to write honestly, especially when the main cast are transformer-power-rangers, it’s not obvious how to make them relevant enough to have the focus on them. (and in classic fashion, i don’t really like making suggestions.)

-> lance is going to get with allura nooooooo. i was really invested in the idea that he defects because of a hot girl. instead he just gets jealous of lotor. the sad thing is i really think they could have been at least good friends (lance/allura). the scene where allura replicates trying to flirt with the blue lion is really funny, and lance bringing out everyone’s goofballness would have been a good variant on his general archetype. instead lance is mostly Annoying and gets a few disconnected Scenes. i can’t even really think of a good lance episode this season.

-> pidge baby though. she’s obviously flawed (esp with the prisoner exchange stuff like wth lady) and like. the main plot is dead to me at this point. but i really liked her side episodes. same with keith etc etc.

-> predictions for next season (if i get around to watching it):

-> 1. sendak (zendak?) invades earth. “YOU EARTHLINGS DEFEATED ME LIKE A CHUMP... LOOK WHO’S THE CHUMP NOW???” -> 2. allura and coran start a cow extermination policy -> 3. everyone gets sent to a mental institution and they have to break out -> 4. haggar does some quintessence bullshit and tries to revive lotor or whatever. zombie lotor is horribly mangled and rips a hole through reality again! -> 5. shiro binge-watches all the series he’s missed in the time he’s been dead. he likes kdramas or wuxia. not anime though. -> 6. ?????? lance becomes embroiled in cuban politics. just randomly. (he’s the one who likes anime.)

#vld #reactions #me.txt #begone thought #maybe #i feel like it's really not THAT bad.#i don't really understand the fans' hate for it. to me i sort of got more or less what i expected.#i mean there are worse series out there that promise more upfront #i didn't particularly expect this show to be very Deep and the plot is blockbuster movie basically. maybe b-movie.#i like the action. i like the ideas. the main plot kinda bad though #which is like. honestly. most action shows.

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blonde-and-cat-suc · 1 year

Text

27. it’s the least you could do

rating: m

wc: 1k

cw/tw: manipulation, mild dehumanization *

desc: Catra is having a hard time settling into life in Bright Moon after the war. It doesn’t help that Adora does not want to stay in with her.

(Post-Canon)

///

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Adora was once doe-eyed and scrappy, something like a loyal puppy, following wherever the highest powers would go... Eventually, that power, the glamour, the promise of victory—that was what had pulled Adora into the Rebellion.

Sometimes, Adora was redeemable. She was only doing what she thought was best at the time. She was only sucked into the illusion of becoming a true hero. There was no happy ending when Prime was defeated. Not really. When all was said and done and the weeks have passed, Etheria's moons are still rotating, the villages that have been destroyed are still destroyed, the scars where the Chipped had been inflicted are still soft and pink, unable to forget the damage for good.

Catra spent a lot of the new free time doing nothing more but relaxing in the dip of their bedroom's window sills, one of her legs and the tip of her tail hung on the side of the outer wall. Spring had come to Bright Moon all at once, the air thick and heady with fresh dew, tangy-sweet flora pouring onto Catra's face, on the tips of her whiskers... It was a really good day to stay in and not have to worry about getting ticks buried in her fur. Maybe sleep on the floor and try not to think about anything else but the heat simmering through the window. Catra spent so many days just like this until they all blended in together. Long, dull, meaningless days in Bright Moon.

Adora didn't like staying in all day like that, though. She was always moving. Too jumpy, her heart beat rabbiting when Catra pressed her ear against her ribs, trying to forget her own bad dreams in favor of Adora's reality.... They've always been like that. They were always bound to be together, feeding off of each other. Sometimes Catra was flustered at that thought. Sometimes she was pissed. She was not sure what to think of that. Not ready to unpack it.

They fought each other for years. She hated Adora. Sometimes it was like her body forgot that Adora was an ally now, and it would shudder and tighten and go madly hot with everything she swallowed away for Adora during the war. Before the war, even.

That was miserable.

And this was... confusing.

The war was won, but Catra's head wasn't even clear enough to actually enjoy it.

"So... You're leaving?" she finally asked Adora, who stood akimbo at the door, pointedly.

"Just for a few hours."

Catra fought to keep the venom out of her tone. "And...you're going to hang out with Glimmer again, right?"

"Catra, why do you always—"

"It's okay if you are. Just go. I'm just going to stay here all day, and not cause any trouble, okay? ...That's what you want, isn't it?"

"Why don't you just come with us?" Adora was slightly flushed, never one to make Catra angry and leave her like that. Yeah. Adora was sweet. She even gave Catra those I'm really trying right now eyes, and Catra could almost believe her. "You guys can't have this fight forever. Honestly, you two just have different opinions, it's not enough to end an entire friendship—"

"Yes, it is", she snapped. "You don't get to tell me who to be friends with, Adora!"

"No, that's not what I mean! I just—"

"You just want everyone to get along because it'll make you comfortable! And that's always it, isn't it!? 'What's going to make this comfortable for me? What do I want Catra to do to make her better to meet my standards!?' God, Adora, you—you don't ever actually listen to me when I talk, do you?"

Adora was wide-eyed, her teeth working down on her bottom lip, trying not to speak too soon. That was so annoying, when Adora would hold out on Catra like this, still. She had always been the most frustrating person to argue with, because she had always been the person that Catra would forgive, eventually. If anything, the end of the war and the start of their romantic relationship together was as good a sign as any that Catra and Adora really couldn't be without each other. They really were just two halves of a whole, and maybe that's why Catra had hope that Adora would come around eventually. She would be that good, loyal puppy that followed orders again, like she used to. Catra had to figure out how to get that from Adora, like she once had. Then, she would really sink her claws in. Never let this relationship go, ever again.

Finally, it seemed that Adora had collected her bearings and the gears behind her eyes started working. But then, she only uttered, "Look. I'm sorry. I didn't know that you feel that I don't listen to you."

"You don't listen to me."

"I'll stay with you a little longer", Adora said hurriedly. "If that's what you want."

Catra rolled her eyes, "What do you think?"

That was all she had to do and say for Adora to come crawling back, shrugging off her jacket, the bright blue of her eyes looking at Catra for some other kind of approval. She patted the side of her leg, tail flickering wildly at her hip. Here, here girl... come back over here.

Adora was almost too easy, now. The war being over made her soft, so quickly. She wouldn't even kick off her boots before she met Catra at the window, frowning, shoulders squared, attention placed here and only here. Adora was no longer young, and no longer blind to the worlds around her—but she was ever loyal and obedient, still.

For a moment, it was almost like they were kids again... Catra looking down at the only person she had ever loved, and Adora looking up right at her. For a moment, it was almost like they were back on opposite sides of a war again, and Catra wanted to kick Adora's face in again, just to get her to stop looking like that. So wide and blue and trusting. Adora was not that totally innocent, loyal girl that she used to be, all of those years ago, in the Horde, in the war. Now she was only a stark reminder of the worse parts of Catra's life... and sometimes the best.

"Good", was all Catra could bring herself to say, swallowing back her love for Adora. Her rage. "Staying with me... Finally. Thank you, Adora. Thank you."

///

#mariposa fics #*the puppy/dog motif #tw: manipulation #anti c//a fics #anti c//a

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cosplayinamerica · 2 years

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Adora from She-Ra : colleen_cosplay

Something I really love about She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as a show is that the characters are all strong and powerful in their own ways, but you also get to see their weaknesses. Adora has great leadership skills, she sees the best in those around her, and she is She-Ra, a super strong warrior!

What really made me love Adora though, was seeing her weakness. Adora really struggles with self-worth. She wonders if she is good enough to be a leader, or good enough to be She-Ra, or good enough to save Catra. She has a huge burden of responsibility to shoulder in a world that is largely unfamiliar to her after she left the horde. Did she choose to be strong? Or was it that she was put in a situation where she had no choice but to get stronger?

I resonate a lot with Adora’s weaknesses. I struggled for a long time with self worth even though a lot of people on the outside see me as very strong! I’ve taken on more responsibilities and leadership roles as I’ve grown as a cosplayer, and as a person, and sometimes I don’t feel good enough to be worthy of that responsibility. Sometimes, I don’t know if I really am strong or if I was just put in a position where I had no other choice.

I went to my first con when I was 15 and once I knew what cosplay was, I knew it was something I wanted to do! That wasn’t the start of Colleen Cosplay though, that came later.

When I first discovered cosplay I was still able-bodied and my free time was largely taken up by athletics. I was a cross-country athlete, horse owner, and martial artist. I did cosplay very casually, maybe one cosplay a year for Halloween or a convention I wanted to go to.

By the time I was 21, my athletics days were over. It was very hard for me to sell my horse and quit athletics entirely. So I looked at what I could still do and I could still do cosplay. From there I really became obsessed with the hobby. With no other interests to compete with cosplay, I went all-in as a cosplayer. I learned to sew and craft and I started my cosplay YouTube channel! Cosplay has had a huge impact on my life since then. I spend so much time doing cosplay now and it has become a passion of mine. I made cosplay friends and I found the cosplay community and I can’t imagine quitting for anything now!

”Ableism in the Cosplay Community. Let's Talk.“ (Dec 2021) Link

When I first started cosplaying seriously, I was concerned about how my disability would be perceived. I hadn’t recalled seeing many disabled cosplayers, and with my disability being progressive, I knew it was only a matter of time before I would need to use mobility aids with my cosplay. I thought that surely there must be disabled cosplayers out there since there are a lot of cosplayers in the world and also a lot of disabled people in the world. I gave it a search on YouTube and ….nothing. I was surprised to find there was very little content on YouTube or even the Google search about cosplaying with a disability.

For a while I tried to hide my mobility aids and pass as able-bodied when in cosplay. All the cosplay I saw around me was able-bodied so I just conformed to that. Eventually, I could hide it no longer and I started using my knee braces with my cosplays and I was surprised that I was, in some cases, treated differently because of it! People started to point out the inaccuracies of my knee braces and I started to get comments of “But this character doesn’t use a knee brace” or “is that part of the costume?”. I was immediately self conscious of my aids, but at that point I really couldn’t go without them. It took time, but I found other disabled cosplayers. There were other people who echoed my story and there were also other people who were just as lost.

I decided that I never wanted anyone else to feel the way that I felt when I was starting out. I already had my YouTube channel, so I decided to use it to share my story and create a guide that my younger self could have benefitted from. I make videos covering everything from decorating mobility aids, to bringing awareness to ableism in the cosplay community.

YouTube has helped me a lot! At first, it was just a distraction from what I was going through at the time, then it became a hobby, and now I see it more as a passion.

YouTube has given me a way to communicate with other people and share my journey with them. I’ve met so many people through my YouTube and it has opened up a lot of opportunities for me. My channel also provided a way for other disabled people to find me and reach out and that’s how I’ve met so many people and made a lot of friends. I really feel like we have created a welcoming community on this little corner of the internet and I think it has helped a lot of people.

I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from it! I didn’t expect my content to resonate with so many people. I’ve gotten many messages from disabled cosplayers that have found confidence in watching my videos. I’ve gotten comments from able-bodied people showing understanding and empathy. I’ve gotten comments where people have decorated their mobility aids by following my tutorials! I’ve heard stories that were very similar to mine and found a whole community of disabled cosplayers from it.

#adora #adora cosplay #she-ra #she-ra cosplay #disabled cosplayer

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blueikeproductions · 1 month

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I can't say anything about the toys because I wasn't aware of their existence, but as someone who watched a good portion of the show, all of the points you listed as to why people didn't like it are either highly exaggerated or blatantly untrue. And I agree with you about Adora and Catra, but I'm not going to pretend that they aren't the most popular ship in the show, so I don't know where you got it being "heavily criticized" from.

I’ve seen nothing but criticisms or sexy fan art when people remember Netflix She-Ra exists, and most of the criticisms are from people I know who watched it top to bottom to analyze it and critique it. And none of it sounds encouraging. I’ve seen industry vets watch it and go yikes. One guy who even worked on Filmation stuff in particular. I’m horrible with names so his name escapes me atm, but he’s nice in what interactions I’ve had with him. He always shows off his portfolio from 80’s/90’s shows he’s worked on. He worked on Transformers too, though he didn’t like drawing them, and I can’t say I blame him, lol.

The concept pitch bible that leaked was decidedly much better, and curiously included more direct ties to He-Man, which sticks out because there’s a big copy right kerfluffle that prevents He-Man and She-Ra interacting in cartoons. It’s very confusing…

Still I know it has a fan base, but that fan base wasn’t enough to ensure any continuations like the fabled movie. Not helped was the staff and fan base being insufferable, and my heart’s out to staff and fans who weren’t trying to be insufferable pricks, and just wanted to enjoy the thing. It doesn’t change the ongoing problem that anything MOTU has struggled to remain relevant. She-Ra didn’t help, and neither did MOTU: R. CGI He-Man was the bright spot, but sadly it didn’t catch on either. Funny enough, I did see official Mattel social media Reblogging fan art of Nu-Ra and CGI He-Man, perhaps implying this Adam and this Adora were connected but nothing came of it. What little we got of the Horde arc plans makes it clear Hordak was unrelated to the Nu-Ra version though, so. -shrugs-

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babyspacebatclone · 3 months

Text

I made a comment yesterday about Catra from SPoP having a lot of the same traumas as my brother.

It reminded me of something.

I babble, so the story is below the cut.

But it exactly describes why I, personally, am unsatisfied with the “closure” shown in canon in regards to Catra having a healthy relationship with Adora - any kind of relationship - with the state of self-awareness she ends the series on.

TL;DR:

If my brother interprets something innocent I say as an “attack” on him, there is no winning for me to try and change his mind.

Having a third party attempt to change his mind is most likely to just add to his trauma of me being the “golden child” growing up, which I’ll discuss at the end of the post below.

And my brother interpreting statements from other people, not just me, as a personal attack is not an unexpected occurrence.

Link to a different example that expands on the kinds of things he’ll get into this state over….

I’ll start that my younger brother’s and my history of emotional abuse from a parent figure (our biodad) is many order of magnitudes below Catra’s and Adora’s. And this is not an “obvious” statement if you don’t know me, because sadly there are examples of child abuse out there to be found that surpass Shadow Weaver….

Nevertheless, we very much developed very similar trauma responses and issues: I was the “golden child,” someone who tends to be submissive and helpful as a temperament, lucky enough to find things like school easy; my brother struggled more with his anger, school, and in general just about everything I seemed to be good at.

Even as a teenager (around 16), I could clearly see a dynamic of “I get more positive attention, he gets more attention.”

I don’t know if it’s personality or trauma based on his part, but I also used to have a “joke” about our belongings: “What’s mine is ours and what’s his I don’t touch.”

Both sides of that were dictated by him.

Nevertheless, I always viewed my responsibility as both the oldest child and “one who had it easier” (like, 10 out of 100 is higher than 5 out of 100….) to take care of and protect him, and it wasn’t until we were about 14 and 16 respectively I started to resent that.

I’d resent how he treated me, sure, but I’d always recognized a lot of his behavior problems were my father’s fault.

Speaking of my father, there’s definitely cycles of abuse here; I never wanted nor could have handled the details, but him being raised by first generation German immigrants and then entering the Canadian Air Force gives me things to suspect.

I also cut ties with him at 24; my brother when he was kicked out of the house by him at 17.

(very very long story; we were living with him after the divorce until Mom could get on her feet)

Anyway…..

We’re now both 40+. In many ways, our relationship has improved - we’re the only ones we’re comfortable with discussing we’re Queer within the family, for example - and he definitely wishes we were closer friends.

In the past few years, I’m slowly losing the guilt over me not feeling the same way.

This is the perfect example why.

It was 2019, my brother was early into a new romantic relationship , and Episode 9 of Star Wars was coming out.

My brother was really excited that me and his then-girlfriend were bonding over both being geeks, and he excitedly invited me to go to an advanced showing of The Rise of Starwalker that was happening in a nearby town.

I had very little interest in actually seeing the movie, and am an Autistic Introvert to his Autistic Extrovert, so none of this really sounded like “fun” to me.

But he was excited, and as sibling outings go didn’t sound painful.

So I put on my big-girl big-sister pants on and agreed.

Something with my family is that the person in charge of an outing drives - which is 100% a control thing, and functionally means if you can’t justify driving yourself my mom or my brother (depending on if she’s involved) is picking you up.

(despite not meeting him until I was 22, my step-father and I are exceptionally similar and neither of us rock the boat there)

Once I finally got a driver’s license at 35, I started to hate this system, but again it’s rarely actually painful and thus not worth making a deal over.

Anyway, on the day my brother comes to pick me up. I technically knew he was picking me up first and then we were going to his girlfriend’s new place, but I hadn’t quite processed that this was a short visit and not just her jumping into the car.

So I got into the back seat so she could ride shotgun when we got to her.

My brother found this hilarious (or maybe was pretending to? idk with him…) and teased me for not getting up front with him.

I work as a daycare teacher, and at that time it probably had been only a month since a lead teacher hd come back from maternity leave, and trying to cover her duties for several months had almost - and I am serious here - broken me.

I remember it taking almost 30 seconds for me to understand what the problem was, and when I did I did not want to have to deal with him laughing at me over something so stupid.

So I said something along the lines of “Opps, sorry, braindead, tired from work.”

I need to emphasize:

All I said was that I was tired and blamed my work.

In response, my brother gave me a cptsd flashback.

I was being shouted at, being told I don’t appreciate how tired he is after his - and he’s right here - physically intensive job, do I appreciate anything….

When confronted with something that reminds me of one of my biological father’s outbursts, I immediately drop into “freeze” out of “fight, flight, freeze, fawn.”

I did not understand why he had taken my statement as a direct attack on him, but he had, this was happening, and there was nothing I would be able to do to stop it.

I sat there, silently crying, waiting to be ordered out of his car because I physically could not move until I was given that.

To my complete shock he got silent…

And started the car.

I felt like I was in a parallel universe.

The raw rage was still radiating off my brother, but somehow he had chosen to drive to his then-girlfriend’s place as planned.

I don’t think I was able to give her the full story, but once I basically said I’d upset him she ripped into him for making me cry.

Kinda wish she hadn’t been such a flake in just about every other regard; a girl needs a strong backbone to survive my brother.

After he’d been calmed down, we were back in his car and driving to the movie theatre half an hour away.

By the time we got there my brother was back to his happy excited persona, very very proud that he had thought of such a cool thing for his two geeky girls to do, and the fact it ended up with us seeing Rise of Starwalker didn’t dampen it.

(I shall say I was not impressed with directions taken in the movie, and my overall impressions are shared by specific segments of Star Wars fans)

However…

I never stopped being upset by the entire thing - specifically, that while my brother had apologized for shouting at me, he never apologized for why he had shouted at me.

And as I said at the top of this post, there is no winning if I were the one to try and bring up how hurtful that had been.

I’d either set him off on the entire “you don’t appreciate me!” thing and, ya know?

No, I didn’t appreciate much about this entire endeavor, I was doing it entirely as a favor to you so you could have a fun night out with me on your terms.

Just because you spend a lot of energy doing something you think someone else is going to enjoy, doesn’t automatically force them into actually liking what you are doing.

Sometimes, you have to do a bit of calculus, and figure out mental energy put in versus mental drain during activity versus outcome, and pick things that have a low net loss in order to be a nice decent human being.

Doesn’t mean it’s still not a net loss.

Having a third party explain to my brother he completely flipped over nothing and not every statement about my life being hard means his suffering is invalidated is thin ice too.

Because that’s exactly what had happened.

The only way my brother can feel secure that his needs will be met is if his suffering is acknowledged as the worse, and therefore will be prioritized.

Just like my biological father’s suffering always had to be prioritized.

Just like I learned somewhere early in elementary school that I had to hide my suffering, because entering into the arena of “who needs attention more?” would only end with more trauma for me.

Just like I learned I had to be satisfied with the positive attention people gave me for doing things they thought were worthy, but also not being a “show off” and actually seek out attention because that made me a bad person.

Because I got the most positive attention.

And my brother got the most attention.

And I understand my brother’s traumas.

And the fact he tried to fix things for me by not canceling our event, does show that he does try and improve things, he does know he’s hurting me.

But I can’t think of how explaining “punishing your sister for you mistaking neutral statements for personal attacks” to him is going to be helpful

unless it’s done by a professional.

And I can’t be involved in it in any way, or else it just quite naturally is going to just add to the existing resentment that neither of us could prevent happening when we were children.

Because, yeah, it’s shitty to realize you’re hurting someone you love because of your mistakes.

It’s not something people want to have to admit.

But both our work schedules got super packed due to COVID.

And I haven’t had a “brother led” activity since.

And I don’t fucking ever want to again.

And I still feel guilty about that.

But a fuck ton less than I did in 2021.

#family dynamics #family dysfunction #sibling trauma #sibling rivalry #sibling relationship #tw emotional abuse

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catrasredemption-moved · 2 years

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I've gotten quite a few comments on my current fic (and a past fic) about the way I write Glimmer, and I feel like my full intentions don't come through with her, but there's a lot behind the way I write her.

Let's start with the first one, I have faced it, a life wasted, and her choice to tell Catra that Adora didn't want to see her, and vice-versa. There are a couple of very important things to remember here-

She's 17-18. No one makes the best choices at that age

She's terrified her best friend almost died, and furious at Catra

She didn't think Catra would actually leave

Does that justify her lying? No, of course not. She lashed out at Catra in the heat of the moment (after years of mutual animosity between them), and assumed Catra would just keep coming back until someone let her see Adora. But she left, and at that point Glimmer had two choices: keep up the lie, or swallow her pride and reach out to Catra. She's young, she's stupid, and she's stubborn. She keeps up the lie. She only tells Adora that Catra doesn’t want to see her after Catra leaves the hospital.

(There’s also a mention somewhere in the story about Catra unfriending Adora and Facebook, and I never clarified, but that was something Catra did. Glimmer didn’t go onto Adora’s Facebook and unfriend her. Catra did it because she wanted a clean break.)

And she knows she was wrong. She says as much to Adora and to Catra-

“She never apologized for anything she did,” Glimmer continued quietly. “I know that’s not the same as not regretting it, but it was so frustrating at the time. Like she just couldn’t admit she was wrong. After the accident I thought maybe she’d feel something. But she was the same, miserable person she always was, and I got so mad… I just wanted her to apologize. I didn’t expect her to run away.”

Adora blinked a few times, putting the pieces together. “You told her I didn’t want to see her to make her apologize?”

“At least to you! She’d hurt you, and I… I knew you would just forgive her no matter what she said, because that’s how you always were with her. I wanted her to be sorry. I wanted her to be scared, just for a minute. But she left, and I… I couldn’t tell you the truth. And then I thought maybe it was just better. If she wanted to be selfish like this, then maybe she didn’t deserve to have you. And I know it wasn’t my choice to make. And I should have told you. I just… thought it would be better.

and

“I am. Sorry, I mean. I…” Glimmer rubbed the back of her head, taking a deep breath. “I made a decision when I was angry. And you’re right. I wanted you to hurt. And I was scared for Adora, and I did something terrible. And I thought maybe… I don’t know. Maybe if you never came back, it would just be better. I kind of convinced myself that it was just better. That you hadn’t changed at all. That you were still the same, selfish person. But…”

She sighed, shoulders falling. “But you’re not. Part of me is still angry about the car accident, but it’s between you and Adora. And I’m… I’m sorry I took that away from you.”

Actions have consequences is a lesson Glimmer always needs to learn. She’s a good, caring person, she just doesn’t always think things through, and tends to barrel ahead and do what she believes is best. Whether she’s right or not is always questionable.

And now the very recent confrontation in It’s dangerous to go alone (so spoilers if you haven’t already read that!) between Glimmer and Catra at the convention. Actually, there are a few things I want to address here, one of the biggest being the idea that the Best Friend Squad didn’t do enough to help Catra when people were harassing her - they did absolutely everything within their power (working with Reddit mods, screening YouTube comments before they posted, multiple “this isn’t okay, stop it” posts on every platform, Glimmer literally told people to fuck off), but it went out of their control way too fast. Y’all know how the Internet is, the tiniest thing can get blown up, and people are, frankly, fucking insane.

The confrontation at the con was, again, a matter of barreling ahead without thinking. It didn’t start as yelling, but Glimmer has a temper, and Catra knows how to match her. She was angry not only for Adora, but for herself, and for Bow. She knows the whole thing was a mess, and people are talking about accountability in the reviews - there’s still two more chapters and five more con days, y’all!

I love Glimmer. She is an amazing, brilliant, fascinating character. She and Catra are too alike (like they’re foils!). They’re either best friends, or they’ll kill each other. Glimmer making questionable choices, especially about Catra, doesn’t necessarily feel out of character to me, and I don’t think it makes her a bad person. It just makes her human. But she knows when to admit she’s wrong, and she’s more than capable of it. Sometimes she just needs a little push.

#fic meta #idk I feel like people get the wrong idea about the way I write Glimmer #she's not evil or a villain or a bad person #but she's not perfect either #lowkey I'm pretty sure she also has some kind of emotional disorder #She's not as extreme as Catra #But the signs are all there

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wafflesinthe504 · 2 years

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Flufftober Day 1

Wearing Each Other's Clothes

@flufftober

The first time Catra and Adora ended up wearing each other’s clothes was the morning after laundry day. They had a meeting with the Princess Alliance and were throwing on clothes as quickly as possible before rushing out to the council meeting room.

“Sorry, we’re late everyone. We had a late night and our alarm clock didn’t go off and well, uh sorry, what did we miss?” Adora says as she takes a seat next to Glimmer.

Adora catches Mermista and Frosta giving her weird looks but brushes it off as Glimmer catches her and Catra up.

Throughout the meeting, which Adora now knew was about planning the finishing touches on the last few of the villages that needed major helping rebuilding after the war and discussing a possible expedition into space, she noticed some of the other princesses casting glances at her. Adora did her best to focus on the meeting at hand instead of the looks.

It wasn’t until the meeting finally came to an end that Adora finally said something.

“Do have something on my face or something because I couldn’t help but feel like everyone was looking at me weird.”

Perfuma is the first to speak up. “Oh, well we didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable its just that well, um-“

“You and Catra are wearing each other’s clothes.” Mermista says interrupting Perfuma.

Adora takes a look at her top and sure enough its one of Catra’s favorite tops. She blushes at the realization. Across the table Catra is checking out her own outfit only to hide her face in her hands when she comes to the same conclusion.

“If it helps you both look great.” Scorpia says smiling brightly doing her best impression of a thumbs up with her pincers.

“Thanks Scorpia.” Catra says bringing her hands down from her face and returning a small smile.

“You really didn’t notice until now?” Glimmer asks.

Catra shakes her head. “No, like Adora said we were in a rush. I mean I had voted to just sleep in, but Adora was the one who said we should come.”

“Don’t feel bad. Me and Spinny have done the same thing on multiple occasions. No need to feel embarrassed.” Netossa says looking over at Adora who’s still as red as a tomato.

“Yeah, even me and Bow have done it from time to time. I mean usually its just me stealing one of his shirts to sleep in, but there’s been a few times that Bow has somehow managed to fit into my clothes.”

After a few more minutes the meeting comes to an official close and everyone is dismissed. Adora is still trying to shake off the embarrassment from the wardrobe mishap as she and Catra make their way to their room.

Adora is pulled out of her thoughts when Catra nudges her shoulder. She watches as Catra moves in front of her walking backwards.

“You know I can’t say I’m to mad at this clothing mishap.” Catra says with hint of mirth.

“Why not?” Adora cocks her head to the side, furrowing her brow.

“I found out something really important this morning?”

“And what’s that?”

“I really like how you look in my clothes. If I’m being honest I don’t know whether to be impressed or jealous.”

Adora stops in her tracks surprised by Catra’s words. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Catra takes hold of Adora’s hands “I mean I always think that you look beautiful, but seeing you wearing my clothes well I don’t even have words to describe how good I think you look right now.”

“Thanks Catra. I like seeing you wearing my clothes too. Like a lot. I still can’t believe that it took Mermista pointing it out for us to notice.”

“Yeah, but well let’s just blame that on our mutual sleep deprivation.”

“Great idea.” Adora leans down and gently catches Catra’s lips. “Come on lets go eat.”

“I thought you wanted to get changed first.”

“Not anymore. You’re right we look great in each other’s clothes and everyone else got the chance to enjoy the view. We might as well take a chance to do the same thing for ourselves.”

As Adora and Catra walked to the kitchen Adora caught a glimpse of her and her girlfriend side by side. Scorpia was right they do look great.

#flufftober2022 #catradora #day 1 #she ra and the princesses of power #adora x catra #flufftober

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parts-of-spop · 2 years

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Can you write about catra and adora getting a baby (not finn)?

“Could we do it?”

Catra blinks slowly awake at the sound of the whisper and tilts her head upwards towards Adora. She’s currently tucked against her warm shoulder and thus very reluctant to move much further.

“Do what?” She mumbles.

Then she sleepily processes Adora’s stricken face and she’s suddenly much more awake.

“Adora?” She adds nervously and after a moment, Adora looks down at her, eyes flickering across her face like she’s searching for something.

“Sorry… thinking aloud,” She says gently, hand raising to stroke a lock of wayward hair out of Catra’s face, her touch lingering against her cheek.

“Tell me what you were thinking,” Catra presses, voice soft enough to not be demanding and Adora holds her gaze. She hesitates for a moment; uncertain and yet wanting.

She swallows hard then looks away, her brow furrowing.

“Could we…” She starts and Catra waits patiently, rubbing her cheek against her in silent encouragement and Adora sighs softly, “… Could we have kids of our own?”

Catra freezes.

Against her, she feels Adora suck in a breath and hold it.

She lifts her head up, leaning on an elbow to look down at her.

“What?” She whispers coaxingly and Adora squirms, glancing away before giving a tiny shrug.

“I just-… I was just thinking about it,” She says hesitantly and Catra blinks down at her then turns her gaze to the side as she processes the question.

Kids… Kids of their own…

“How come?” She asks after a minute.

It’s a safe question; one safe enough to buy her a bit of time to process it.

She looks back to find Adora chewing on her bottom lip and Adora’s hand idly slides up into her hair and starts stroking, drawing reflexive purrs from her chest.

There’s a moment of quiet as Adora thinks, searching for the right words because these days she’s so much more cautious.

Usually in regards to battles but she extends it to the important things and where Adora has learned patience so has Catra.

So she waits.

Eventually, Adora meets her eyes again.

Something in her slackens like she was waiting for the worst sort of response and Catra can’t feel hurt by it because this isn’t something menial like Catra’s insistence that full fat milk is better than the 2 percent that Adora prefers in her tea.

This is important and Adora was nervous because it’s talk of kids.

“I saw you yesterday… at the orphanage…” She says quietly and Catra is thrown back to it.

Nobody more than herself was as surprised as she was that the kids loved her. She’d put it down to many things. The youngest there had enjoyed snuggling in her lap and stroking her fur, the older toddlers had fun chasing her around the room- the ones like herself had a time trying to catch her tail- and the older ones had found her retelling of stories enrapturing, gathering around her once the rest had conked out for a nap just to listen to her talk.

She even did some pretty bad voice impressions of all the characters of the history that she holds close to her heart, the display full of dramatic gestures that were enough to have them laughing.

And somehow, they’d all loved it.

She’d spent the entire afternoon entertaining over a dozen kids as Adora talked to the lady in charge of the orphanage about a possible expansion to the building for those who lost their parents in the war.

At first, Catra wasn’t sure what to do. She’s never had a good parental figure to model herself off but before long she realised that the kids weren’t looking at her like some monster that could hurt them and she could see bits of herself and Adora in each of them; the lizard-like girl who reminded of her of Rogelio was quiet and shy until they got to the more exciting parts of the story and she got up and pretended to be the Big Bad Prime, proudly parading the snootiest voice that she could manage that had made Catra laugh too. There was the small but rambunctious boy who practically flung himself onto Catra’s back as she pretended to stalk an enemy of all fours, cackling loudly as they wandered the room. And a little brunette was there too, tucked into the back of the group, hugging her knees and Catra was drawn to her… to the warm earth brown of her eyes. So she’d gently untangled herself from the rest and left them to play before going to her and sitting quietly beside her, watching the rest for a little while, carefully watching the tension in the little figure bleed away by the moment.

Then she leaned over and whispered, “Don’t you think Adora’s a big dork?”

Wide eyes had whipped to her and she’d grinned.

“That’s She-ra! You can’t say that!” Came the affronted whisper and she laughed before reaching out to carefully- ever so carefully and slowly- stroke a lock of hair back behind her ear.

“She’s my girlfriend. I can call her a dork if I want,” She replied and the girl had giggled, tucking her face into her knees to hide it.

Catra learned later that the girl, named Tally, had lost her parents only a few months previous… that it was the first time she’d laughed since.

It’d taken everything in Catra not to cry at the time.

And now Adora is there, laying with her in their shared bed having revealed that she saw it and it made her think of them… Them with kids.

“Yeah?” She says as she turns her gaze back to Adora.

“I mean… there’s no rush to-… or even to ever if you don’t want but I just-… I saw you with them and I was thinking about- eugh I’m so bad at this-”

“Adora,” Catra interrupts gently and Adora looks at her with soft, uncertain eyes. She smiles back at her.

Adora may never be good at asking for what she wants but Catra’s very good at reading between the lines these days, no longer suspecting the worst from a woman she knows loves and trusts her.

“Why are you scared of asking about us having kids?” She says carefully.

She knows her own insecurities about the idea.

They all begin with Shadow Weaver and them not knowing what a good mother is like.

“I just-… You’re so great with them and I… I want that with you. I want to give somebody or… or somebodies what we never had and… and I don’t know if I’d be any good at it because I know I’m kind of over-protective and neurotic and it can be annoying but despite… despite Shadow Weaver being the worst role model I think we turned out okay and maybe we can do better. I mean, we can do better. I know we can if we wanted to so that’s… that’s what I’m asking…” Adora pauses in her ramble, looking at Catra like she’s hung the stars. “Do you want to… maybe… adopt? Maybe?” She adds quietly.

And Catra spends a moment taking in the soft hopefulness in Adora’s eyes and she thinks of the hours spent in the orphanage and realising she is so much better than Shadow Weaver ever treated them.

A smile spread across her face and purr rumbles in her chest as she leans down to tuck her face into Adora’s neck, breathing in her familiar, soothing scent.

“If you think we can do it then I’m with you… There’s a little girl I’d like to see again,” She says softly and Adora sags beneath her with a contented sigh.

“The brown-haired one?” She quips knowingly and Catra nuzzles into her.

“She’s been hurt a lot… I think we could make her happy,” She says and Adora strokes her hand through short, unruly locks and Catra feels her grin against her cheek.

“Me too,” She agrees.

And so it happens.

It doesn’t take long thanks to She-ra’s influence and pure, unbridled Queen Glimmer power but within a few months the deed is done. They’d been fostering Tally the entire time and the quiet girl had steadily become more and more open as the days passed.

She was like a steadily blooming flower.

She has her own room in the cottage that Adora and Catra share but their door and hers is always open through the night and when she wakes in the dark of night, Catra’s sharp ears pick up her tears and quiet whimpers and she goes to her. She carries her back to her and Adora’s room and finds her wife waiting with open arms and Tally never hesitates to clamber into Adora’s lap and sink into her embrace, her ear pressed over her heart to hear the strong and steady thud within.

She-ra, for whatever reason, runs hot and so Tally always cuddles close into the warmth… then Adora will sing in soft whispers and rub soothing circles into her ear between her thumb and finger and Catra will tuck close to them both and let a gentle rumble of her own join Tally stuttering chorus.

And they will sleep like that; a pair of purrs and a set of soft snores.

And four months later, Tally starts to tentatively pad her way into their room by herself, clambering in between them like there’s no safer place in the world and they both curl around her and hold her gentle but secure.

Five months after her adoption, she whispers into the darkness…

“You won’t leave me too… right?” She says, her voice shaking and Adora and Catra share a teary-eyed look over her head.

Then Catra kisses her head.

“No… You’re stuck with us,” She replies and Tally sniffles.

“… You promise?” She croaks and their arms tighten around her.

“We promise…” Adora murmurs.

“Always…” Catra adds, soft but fierce.

And the little girl falls asleep, cradled between them both.

That night, nothing haunts her and she wakes in the morning with a smile on her face.

She could wake Adora and Catra she knows… but she doesn’t.

Instead she snuggles into Adora’s chest and holds Catra’s hand a little tighter.

She’s home again.

#sorry this took so long i had.. life #anyway the name is just one i love a lot #catradora #also love the idea of catra being mad good with kids #apologies again op but wow did everything kick me in the ass

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n7punk · 4 months

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“By the Sea (Drown Me Already)” Fic Notes

By the Sea is done! It took a longer than I was expecting with everything that happened in my life, but it’s also longer than I was originally intending so that's to be expected lol.

Playlist:

This AU was purely vibes for a while, and thus the playlist was mostly vibe-based at first, but a few of these are very good fits.

GOOD GIRL ERA (SIDE A) — UPSAHL. FBL (SIDE B) — UPSAHL. WEEKEND — Betty Who. Silk Chiffon — MUNA (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) Bed — Niko Rubio. Love Seasons — Nina Nesbitt. Yellow — XANA. bad idea right? — Olivia Rodrigo. Casual — Chappell Roan. HOT TO GO! — Chappell Roan. Shy — K.Flay. Naked In Manhatten — Chappell Roan. Borderline — Sigrid. Minute — Kim Petras.

Epilogue Life:

I did more of a traditional epilogue than I usually do, so there’s not too much to say here, but they date working through their issues for six months before Catra officially moves in with Adora and not long after Scorpia, Entrapta, and Perfuma move in together. Catra does stay at the marina for a lot longer than she ever thought she would before eventually getting too fed up with the waves and getting an opportunity to work for one of the resorts instead.

Chapter 1:

⦁ This AU is heavily based on an area I used to visit as a kid, which sucked so much you can bet there was not a single resort there, but it was the basis of my beach experiences, so it inspired certain parts of this set up. I wanted to do a resort-type AU, but there are also some moral issues when it comes to resorts so I focused on the general vacation town angle.

⦁ I made a lot of jokes about not knowing jackshit about what I was writing, which is partially true, but I actually have Some experience related to the water parts of this fic, it’s just rather removed, and I don’t know the first thing about diving. I haven’t even been to a beach in seven years, but I dated a girl with a boat once and I leaned heavily on that experience lmao.

⦁ “Hot surfer chicks coming to the marina might make it a bit more bearable.” Catra, honey, you have Got to stop jinxing yourself.

⦁ Entrapta was right about Perfuma being anxious. She has so much experience trying to decipher emotions that are easily evident to others and picked up on the body language.

⦁ My POV for fics is always somewhat reactionary. If I do a fic that is primarily from one perspective (Adora POV in Roses & Thorns) it’s almost inevitable that the next fic (Catra POV in By The Sea) will swing the other way to balance it out. That’s not planned at all, it just happens a lot. My brain misses whatever girl it got to spend less time with lol.

Chapter 2:

⦁ Mermista’s dad owned the marina for several decades before he sold it to Netossa when he retired because Mermista wasn’t interested in running it and also in middle school. They get a free boat spot for life.

⦁ I mentioned this in a comment but couldn’t expand on it at the time: Adora and Catra’s relationship is very inspired by the setting. It’s a surprise reunion in an unexpected place, which works well with the vacation town vibes, but they’re both also worried about losing it, which matches with the transience of such a place.

Chapter 3:

⦁ Adora’s small talk was actually really important stuff for diving, that just didn’t have any relevance to the rest of the office, nor did Frosta care, and to Catra it just sounded like weather small talk.

Chapter 4:

⦁ Catra kept up most of their photos from high school. There’s one or two she had said something too glowing about Adora in the caption and thus deleted in a fit of spitefulness, but for the most part she couldn’t stand to lose them. Except that one. That one hurt so much every time she read it because it just seemed like lies, and when she was feeling generous enough to not view it was that, it was the ramblings of a best friend who only felt friendly. It was either lies, a goodbye, or a consolation prize to being “friendzoned.” She wiped it from her account and then quickly regretted it.

⦁ On Adora’s part, you can guess, but she wiped her social media in a low fit after her shoulder. The last thing she had posted was a photo taken by the training pool, gushing about how excited she was for the scouting. It hurt too much. Every photo from college did, and every photo from high school had for a while, but those were at least good memories. Now everything from college was tinged with regret and failure. She saved a lot of the old photos — mostly from high school — and even screenshotted some captions or comments — Catra-related, or even left by Catra herself — and then stuck all of that on her harddrive and pretended none of it existed. After she found a life again, she found herself occasionally going back to look at those high school photos, but she rarely revisited the few she saved from college. It took her months to feel like she could post again. It wasn’t until the next summer, when she hoped enough of her college friends had moved on or forgotten either her or what happened, that she felt comfortable doing it, and when she did she went public on her account, trying to open back up her life. Being public also felt like it gave her a layer of separation from those old high school/college followers even if all it really did was add more strangers to the pool.

⦁ I went back and forth on how to describe the age of the account and the timing of the incident, because they’re kind of halfway. Adora’s shoulder got injured at the end of sophomore year, and her social media existence started many months later, after healing time, so her account got remade roughly two-two and a half years ago and she got injured around three.

⦁ The post of Adora getting fancy dinner after the surfboard post was because her friends saw her anxiety and her overworking herself to get the money to get it fixed and knew she would never let them just pay for the repairs, so they took her to dinner instead and didn’t let her pay for the check. She needed a good time with her friends, and the free meal couldn’t hurt.

⦁ The line about crutches in Adora’s caption is actually something I said to my friend once when they were feeling ashamed of their aid. When you need them, you need them, and something being a “crutch” doesn’t mean it’s bad or unnecessary.

⦁ Adora’s injury was her “breaking the sword” moment in this universe.

⦁ It got cut because it was awkwardly shoehorned in the dinner conversation, but Adora’s Serenia bio says she has four years of experience because she actually tried diving while at college, but it was basically just some fun lessons she did that she never expected to go beyond that. It’s part of why Mara took her under her wing so hard, though. She recognized Adora’s trauma with water, but also how it was so tied to her identity and left her feeling like a shell after “failing” at swimming, so she found new ways for Adora to use those talents and find fun in them. And honestly she needed another hand with the town’s growth.

⦁ I’ll be honest: my knowledge of torn ligaments comes not from sports, but from my dog tearing her knee. I remember the vet told us some wild statistic like half of all dogs will have torn their other leg within a year of the first injury but we made all the lifestyle changes recommended while healing from surgery to mitigate risk factors and she never had any more problems! That was like six years ago now and she’s still super peppy. You’d have no idea she’s a senior dog with a knee surgery under her belt. Oh anyway that’s why I mention the injury lingering because yeah it can affect dogs at least so bad they fuck up their other leg the same way from compensation within months.

⦁ Adora talking about being happy in Bright Moon making her realize how much she missed Catra actually was a pretty big revelation for her. College was just hard the whole way through and Adora was distracting herself from her pain (emotional and physical when she overworked herself) by… overworking herself more. Taking a full load, spending too much energy at practice, working a part-time job after school, she had absolutely no room to breathe and honestly the only surprising thing is that it took her that long to get injured. She never had room to look up and see what was missing because she was explicitly avoiding doing that and pretty much everything was a pain point. Once she was healed and happy, the loss of Catra reared its head again and refused to be pushed aside, even if she was more prepared to process it. It was a lot less painful, but still present.

Chapter 5:

⦁ I think Bow 100% is the kind of guy who would enjoy being made into a sand castle but sand is so unpleasant in a lot of places and to get it out of your binder you’d have to take it off and then put it back on, which is kind of difficult on the go.

Chapter 6:

⦁ Okay so the “armor” from the title is Catra’s bravado combined with the emotional armor of making her wants and Adora’s lingering eyes all about desire instead of acknowledging the enormity of her feelings. Adora is doing a similar thing in her head, but she’s also trying to deny her desire too, so her head is a full on shitshow.

⦁ Originally the grocery store scene was going to be later in the fic when they were “Maybes” because I love the casual intimacy of grocery shopping together (romantically or platonically! It’s just fun), but I needed an Adora scene in this chapter to give a little more of a read on where she was at (denial) and the chapter was really short without it, so I decided to write it now.

⦁ I have actually seen a guy “rescue” a grocery store lobster and keep it as a pet for years on youtube. The transformation she went through under his care is insane.

⦁ Apparently cats and dogs aren’t really suppose to have nuts because it’s a big risk to them, but for the most part it has nothing to do with toxins and is just because they’re a choking hazard or at risk of being a blockage since cats and dogs don’t usually chew things up a lot. Anyway there are a few that are actual problems and that’s specifically raw cashews.

Chapter 7:

⦁ I actually wrote the scene with Mara talking about Adora surfing before chapter five, but it was too early in the fic for that and they needed to build more before something that important. The entire point of putting it early was Catra being surprised by how quickly Mara was willing to accept her and thus wondering what Adora had said about her in the past, but 1) it’s honestly still like that even being pushed back, and it’s more reasonable in that regard, 2) it was both too assuring and too insecure for the vibes I wanted.

⦁ Everything from chapter 8 was originally in chapter 7, but then all the swimming/hook up stuff got so long I had to separate them out, so CH7 ended up being mostly transition. I tell myself transitions are important when I just want to write angsty trash make outs lol.

Chapter 8:

⦁ The make out against the pool deck is like The Scene Lite™️ for this fic. It’s one of like two points I was building to early.

⦁ The original idea for the fic was that Adora would live in a house on Mara’s big property out of town, but when I went to write this scene Adora just said some stuff about living twenty-five minutes away and that got abandoned.

Chapter 9:

⦁ Honestly you can take your pick on whether Bow couldn’t arm wrestle Sea Hawk because it would make his arm too sore to drive or the losing penalty was taking shots. Both were ideas.

⦁ The closet scene is The Scene™️ for this fic. I think I wrote it before the first hookup scene in the first outline when things were more antagonistic (more on that later).

⦁ It’s so not relevant to the fic so I’m sticking it here, but Adora’s old swim coach was almost as bad as Weaver, but that actually worked out for her when it came to scouting. The swim coach wanted Adora to go pro for the glory to her team, and she knew Weaver wanted her to go to a local college, so when scouting started, the coach worked with Adora behind Weaver’s back to help her get seen and apply. This made it even easier to hide, and without it she probably would have needed Catra’s help to pull that off, thus assuring Catra actually knew about it and wasn’t totally blindsided. Adora’s coach actually helped her out and drove her to the airport for her flight out since Adora had a total blow-up with Weaver when she found out. It was something Adora needed, but it was still self-serving.

Chapter 10:

⦁ Their whole conversation here was supposed to be a quick joke and then it became the entire chapter somehow and that’s just the story of all my fics tbh. I really wanted it to be quick since I didn’t want people to think I was making light of IRL racial fetishes but I truly do think all of that would function very differently in any world with multiple species, especially the more diverse the species get and thus the less alike. It starts becoming increasingly harder for a human to be wired to find them attractive, and obviously the species in SPOP aren’t that different, but it’s a topic that always intrigued me in Mass Effect/sci-fi fic that there really is nothing like in our reality, so I was interested in at least brushing up against it and that’s how the joke happened. I’ve made some jokes about it before but they were always the quick jokes I meant for this one to be and obviously that didn’t end up happening here.

Chapter 11:

⦁ A lot of people clocked it but the musical song was Dead Girl Walking (not the reprise) from the Heathers musical (which is infinitely better than the movie, god, don’t watch that thing).

⦁ I went back and forth on if Catra would like the Ferris wheel, because on one hand, they have their secret place really high up and she doesn’t seem to be afraid of falling off the railing, but on the other hand, cats getting stuck in trees. Lol no but it is very different when you’re in something that feels as precarious as a dangling basket versus a solid building seemingly made from steel.

⦁ Okay so Bow’s whole thing here was actually written before I had the idea for Adora to ask Catra if she’s aromantic and I ended up turning this scene into that Seed Of Doubt instead of the single mention. It was another thing I meant to be a quick joke (well, Catra to be the joke where she managed to act unbothered so well — to Adora at least — that she screwed herself) but it ended up expanding into a full plot point. Also I should probably mention here I’m greyaro for the people who don’t follow me on Tumblr usually.

Chapter 12:

⦁ Let’s just say that Catra’s work day here is incredibly realistic.

⦁ I know I’ve mentioned this fic spiraling a few times, but the title “Surfboard at Midnight (I Just Might Swim)” was originally on… chapter 5. Okay, okay, it wasn’t that bad because I came up with the name before the chapter contents, but yeah, I was constantly kicking it back. The title belonged to chapter 5, and then 6, and then 8, and then like 10, and then 11, and 12, just constantly kicking it down the road as things leading up to the skinny dipping moment spiraled.

Chapter 13:

⦁ I originally said the POV for this fic was whoever because I wanted to leave the door open for having a scene from Scorfumtrapta’s perspective, but that was back when the fic didn’t have plot, and as the lesbians got increasingly dramatic, the focus on their relationship fell into the background. The main scene I was thinking of was what ended up being turned into the dinner scene. At the time, I just thought it was funny for Scorpia to realize months late that she was in a three-way relationship, but in the fic it turned into this thing about Catra feeling adrift and alone even with her friends, which wouldn’t have come through if I had used Scorpia’s perspective or something.

⦁ This chapter has a Secret Theme. So sometimes — quite often — I’ll write scenes in my head for a fic that I know have no place in it. Maybe it conflicts with the overall tone (in the fic, or just that portion of it) that I’m going for, sometimes it doesn’t super make sense, etc. Some of these things end up repurposed or I do find a way to integrate them, and that’s what this entire chapter is. When I was outlining Catra turning up at Adora’s in the middle of night for sleep cuddles, I wasn’t actually planning to put it in the fic, but then it was really sweet and I realized fit with the transition of their relationship, so it became an unofficial part of the outline before being promoted to part of the story.

⦁ I did say this entire chapter was from scenes that weren’t supposed to be used, though, so what about the boat scenes? Well, the boat scenes were originally outlined… for Roses & Thorns. Yes, okay, I know. Let me explain. That fic wasn’t supposed to be nearly as horny as this one, but when I was writing the very end of it I had this vision of a scene with the two of them messing around backstage (being vague to avoid spoilers if you haven’t read it). It included some of the dialogue that ended up in the make out scene on the boat, but I knew it wouldn’t fit with the rest of the fic to suddenly have them getting hot and heavy on screen, so I just kind of saved the dialogue with the plan to implement it somewhere else down the line. As I was outlining this fic I had the idea for them to hook up in the storage room at the docks at one point, but I ended up moving it to the boat because that would have necessitated luring Netossa away first if they wanted to get away with it, which was less likely after the summer rush faded.

⦁ So I don’t know how all phones work but on iPhone you can set certain people to break through Do Not Disturb and Adora put Catra on that list because sometimes they would text past when hers activated for the night.

Chapter 14:

⦁ Kinds of chocolate according to Catra: White Dark Super Dark Baking Semi-sweet Sweet Milk Orange (wildcard)

⦁ The “there’s other ways to get these endorphins” thing really goes to show how little Adora understands what Catra is doing. Those kisses are “I love you”s and bids for assurance that Adora just isn’t getting and thus isn’t giving back because she’s so focused on not taking advantage of Catra and the such.

⦁ I’ll be honest I tried to get them together here and it didn’t work. Catra reacted too strongly, too fast. When I first outlined this scene I was thinking about another possible get together (that didn’t end up happening) and wondered how I would even get out of this scene without them getting together and then when it came time and the plan had changed I couldn’t MAKE them talk.

Chapter 15:

⦁ Samantha is dressed like a butch prince and I think that’s great. Also I pulled the name Samantha out of my ass because I didn’t feel like coming up with a reference like a week ago- psyche nevermind the song it's from literally just came on shuffle as I was posting this so it's actually from a Leah Kate song and I just forgot why I picked it.

⦁ This chapter easily could/should be split into two, but I like the flow of it all being together.

Original Outline:

So, this AU didn’t have an outline. It was pure vibes when I started it, with plot just taking vague shape in the back of my mind as I wrote. Pretty quickly I had a few big scenes — the make out at the pool, the closet scene — but I was building the rails as I drove at first. As such, I kept having ideas that pushed the few ideas I started with further out in a spiral.

When this AU was extremely nebulous, there were some different ideas for the concept where maybe Catra worked for the resort so she and Adora were closer to being coworkers, and then others where they all worked totally unrelated jobs on the pier but were hooking up in the “offices” when others weren’t looking, which is closer to what the final thing became, but these were all fleeting ideas before I really started writing. Originally the AU featured more antagonism between them at first too, with Catra denying even being her friend at first, but again, things just happened as I wrote and that didn’t materialize at all.

There was a draft with a very different final chapter/get together, but I honestly might use it in another AU where it fits a lot better (there’s a reason it was kicked) so I don’t want to say what it was lmao. Aside from that, this AU was something I wrote as the ideas came to me, which is fun to do sometimes.

Upcoming:

I’ve got a couple of one shots in the works and then we’ll see what AU takes me, but for now I’m playing around in canon universe (mostly).

#btsdma #ficmeta #fic notes #new share link will go up later

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athetos · 2 years

Note

If you wished to elaborate, I'm quite curious about your controversial she-ra opinions 👀

I just wasn’t a huge fan of season 5 - I feel like it had potential but faltered for me. It seemed like all the characters they had chipped outside of Catra were done solely to avoid writing interactions between them all. We didn’t get a big Scorpia and catra talk, we didn’t get as much mermista + seahawk as I’d have wanted, and it’s an absolute shame we barely got any glimmer and Micah reunion. I’m mad we didn’t see more of Razz or Lonnie + Rogelio + Kyle, or Huntara. Didn’t like how Entrapta was treated, especially being put on a leash, it feels really ableist to me. Wish Catra got to cut her hair of her own accord, the fact it was forced hits very close to forced assimilation of indigenous people in America and takes away a lot of her agency - id have loved to see her actually upset over the loss of her hair too. I hated the bit where adora tells glimmer “I’m a puncher I’m not good with emotions” or something to that effect, because it’s so not true; I wish Adora was more hurt after reuniting and Bow maybe a little less.

Definitely the most controversial opinion I have though is I don’t ship Catra/adora, never vibed with me, I prefer them having a more platonic relationship instead. Reminds me a lot of a really bad past relationship I was in so i have to have it blacklisted to avoid being upset by it. It’s whatever, it is what it is, I’m glad people can enjoy the relationship because I can see what they were trying to tell with the pairing and the message would be really important, but it crossed a line for me in terms of my own personal trauma. It’s worse tho cuz the fanbase tends to romanticize the most upsetting parts of the relationship to me, like adora’s scars from Catra or even outright making art of them hurting each other that’s meant to be romantic or sexy. Fanbases always do this shit tho I guess. Anyways i like most ships outside of c/a and Entrapta/hordak but my fav pairing is glimadora which alone is enough to get me pelted with rocks due to the fact there’s some really annoying glimadora shippers (not saying a name but I’m sure you all know who) who definitely stirred the pot. I sure as hell don’t associate with them anymore because I went outside LMAO

Yeah that’s basically it , I wish other she ra fans would learn how to use the block button and leaving rude comments on every character interpretation they hate

#insert coins to continue #ash.spop

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prongsmydeer · 1 year

Text

Ayesha Liveblogs She-Ra S2-S3

“Wow, Flower Princesses can’t aim.” Mermista said we believe in power profiling LMAO also how many flower princesses could there possibly be

You know, I was expecting more emotional consequences from last season’s interactions for Catra and Adora

“Is the one you call Catra... not mean?” “No, she is.” Update from 1 minute later: The consequence is that Adora must work through her feelings through Codependent Romantically-Charged Unhealthy Friendship Simulation

“Can you teleport anything you want? Like a cannon? I can make ice cannonballs.” Hahahah awww Frosta wants to be friends

“When you grow up with someone, they just know how to push your buttons.” “I can relate. I also have buttons.” Light Hope really is deLightful lmaoooo

Catra’s emotional consequences are her becoming a peer mentor for Gaslighting Gatekeeping and Girlbossing

Also I can’t wait to see Kyle’s inevitable defection into the Rebellion

I love how often Bow says exactly what I’m thinking:

Why is Mermista bullying Perfuma LMAO is this her way of inviting her to become a throuple with her and Sea Hawk

“Maybe we should hold hands and think healing thoughts.” ARE they flirting? It really seems like they’re flirting

Frosta is readily demonstrating the problem of having 10-year-olds in your army with her inability to listen to a single order

“I thought I could help and be the Rebellion’s tech master.” Not to make everything about how much I love Bow but I love Bow

“Why can’t you be what I want you to be?” It’s a Miraculous Lucky Charm situation, Adora; your sword is telling you you need to be better hydrated and to use less brute force

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE FOREST REGROWING BECAUSE OF THEIR TEAMWORK. I KNOW IT’S ONE EPISODE INTO THE SEASON BUT I LOVE A MAGICAL GLOWING FRIENDS MOMENT:

“When they’re ready to roll out, I’ll be at the head, and you’ll be here, rotting. Thanks, I needed this.” You know those posts that are like ‘traumatize ur parents BACK’ that’s Catra and Shadow Weaver

“Entrapta’s alive. And we left her behind.” THE FACT THAT THIS IS BOW’S FIRST THOUGHT RATHER THAN THE RECOGNITION SHE IS HELPING THE HORDE. I LOOOOOVE BOW

The fact that Dryl has been forced to cede to the Horde just because Entrapta has no strength of character. Dissolve the monarchy!!!

“He is apart of you. Your destines are intertwined.” I won’t lie, I wasn’t expecting Horsey to have such a significant role

“We’ve got to save her.” Glimmer my love... your friend sucks kjghkjgh

I really am trying to give Entrapta some grace mentally, cause I get it, she’s like 16, her friends abandoned her, she’s got a hyper-fixation on alien tech, these guys offered her new friendship and encouraged her technological growth... but it’s not a good enough reason to like. Colonize and oppress a planet. Like, okay, Entraptylo Ren. Have some perspective, my girl. LOL

Hahahaha Light Hope having to reboot for her software update

“But [the Watchtower] was destroyed by Mara when she lost control and attacked Etheria.” I am so interested in them explaining Mara’s story. I love a legend inside a narrative. Avatar Wan was by far the coolest part of LOK, I am not accepting constructive criticism at this time

This fight with Catra and Scorpia really suggests that Bow should work on his hand-to-hand. He’s a mid-range fighter compared to Glimmer and Adora’s close combat

Perhaps Adora, like me, just doesn’t really know what to do with a talking horse:

“We took a hostage! We’re supposed to be the good guys.” Bow did this show not literally start with you and Glimmer capturing Adora LOL

Not directly related to the content, but it does bother me that the captions don’t match the audio. Like they shorten Scorpia’s “Catra, you beautiful genius, I’m coming,” to “Catra, I’m coming.” Why! Shouldn’t it be accurate? Those aren’t filler words or stuttering that might take away from the readability, it’s literally the way Scorpia is addressing her

I too, like Swift Wind, appreciate the toppling of unjust hierarchies

Entrapta really has -1,000 empathy. Casually telling Bow and Glimmer about hacking the Black Garnet which almost killed Glimmer’s mother. With peace and love. Get some help.

“I saved a little magic, just for you.” [Blows raspberry] I think Glimmer should be a little spiteful, as a treat

I want to see the shady backstory between Mara and Light Hope!!

“Who needs Entrapta? You’ve got Bow, tech master and premier member of the Etherian Maker Community.” I love that Bow’s narrative arc is him being Rebellion tech whiz who is all empathy, all the time

“Thus far, your performance has been lacking.” Wow, so the emotionally-malnourished 10th grader you made your General HASN’T changed the tide of the war in two episodes? Who’d have thunk it, Hordak?

You know what’s genuinely a little funny. I think Catra came because she wanted parental attention (to be yelled at) and Hordak entertained her because he wanted someone to yell at. New fucked up father-daughter dynamic unlocked

“Nothing gets past us,” said Glimmer, which I’m sure isn’t foreshadowing

I’m sorry I’m so sassy about Entrapta but I cannot believe she has more moral quandary over whether to go into Hordak’s sanctum than about orchestrating the downfall of society lmao

“Portals aren’t theoretical, they’re real. And I’m going to open one.” I love how quickly Hordak has embraced Entrapta as his lab assistant hahahah. Finally something funny!!

“Etheria is the only planet I’ve encountered that does not seem to understand [that there are countless planets and galaxies].” Is Hordak’s story about how he wants to go home like E.T. I’d laugh so hard

“You are the one bothering me, Force Captain, with your unwanted intrusion. I am working. With Entrapta’s assistance.” Daddy Hordak’s got a new favourite daughter

Also. Why is Glimmer the only Princess with parents? Are the rest of these gals orphans? Like Frosta for sure bc she took the throne at age 8, but all of them??

“I need [Catra’s gift] to be something that says ‘Thank you,’ but also, ‘We are soulmates tied together by the beautiful threads of fate.” Scorpia’s adoration of Catra is very sweet

It kills me that in their DnD war simulation campaign, Bow imagines everyone in outfits accurate to their 80s design. I truly love him to pieces:

HAHAHAHAH PERMISSION FOR THE REST OF THE STORY TO BE TOLD ONLY FROM BOW’S PERSPECTIVE:

Bow: It looks like I’ve got you meow, evildoer.

Catra: I’d paws to reflect on your upcoming death if I were mew.

Bow: I don’t know, I’m feline pretty good right now.

“Adora, isn’t this all going a little overboard. We’ve faced the Horde before. What’s the worst that could happen?” said Bow, as if Glimmer’s father didn’t literally DIE in battle

Fjkfhkjhfkjfh apparently Glimmer is still team pro-improvising. RIP Daddy Glimmer

Hahahahaha @ them taking halfway through the second season to identify Rogelio the Lizard Guy

Love that there is no justification or explanation for why Perfuma can create sentient plants:

DID GLIMMER JUST MURDER ROGELIO THE LIZARD GUY. SHE THREW HIM OFF THE TOWER OMGGGG

Update from a minute later: Rogelio is fine. We did not witness a live casual murder by one of the protagonists just yet

“All in favour of blaming this on Kyle?” We continue the inevitable steps towards Kyle’s defection LOL

Legitimate question. If they glow every time their teamwork is good, would that become their main metric for how successful they’ve been? Like if you’re not glowing, the plan isn’t going well?

“Mermista cancelled our plans this week, and she’s hanging out with her other friends and didn’t invite me to join.” HKJHGKJGH Mermista told Seahawk you’re not invited to my weird flirt-bullying with Perfuma, actually

I’ve been wondering if Scorpia’s feelings for Catra were romantic or not (it seemed romantic, but like, could easily be read also as just loving her a lot as a friend) but this Arctic After-Hours Invite seems very clearly to be a date hahaha

Interesting that She-Ra is impervious to the cold! How exactly do these powers work lmao

“Maybe there’s scientific truth to the rumours about strange things happening in this region,” said the Magical Technology Princess to her two friends, who are half-scorpion and half-cat

1) Why have I never noticed Sea Hawk fighting with a lightsabre!!! Is that new? 2) I love him asking Scorpia if he’s cool mid-fight and her going, “Potentially.”

“Looks like you’re mine now, Adora.” Gay and rude. Catra’s only two personality traits

“Yay! It’s a girls’ night in.” It’s interesting that infecting her sword has effectively made Adora drunk LOL

I won’t lie, I paused to watch some other stuff, so I forgot about the terrifying snow monster hahahaha

It’s so funny that Sea Hawk just politely announces he’s come to rescue Adora instead of you know, attacking with his laser sword. I am wondering if he is the diversion:

“Whatever the Horde is giving you, it’s not worth the damage you’re doing to Etheria.” Bow brought logic to a magical science fight

“Does she even understand how much I do for her?” “Exactly, it seems like the only time anyone wants to hang is when they need me to give them a ride or do something for them.”

1) It is so funny that Sea Hawk is bonding with Scorpia but please don’t tell me he’s going to join the Horde. I will lose my mind

2) Isn’t the way you met Adora, Glimmer and Bow literally bc they needed a ride to Mermista’s place? Why are you surprised that continues to be your role?

3) You’re in the Rebellion! Of course people need things from you, Sea Hawk

4) However, I get that you need some good friends who want you around. Maybe u should expand your social circle beyond miscellaneous rebel princesses lmao

“I don’t need their opinions to validate me. I’m Sea Hawk.” “And me, I am brave, strong, and give great hugs, and I’m loyal.” YEAHHHHHH SEA HAWK AND SCORPIAAAA

“I’ve got control of Adora. I am not giving that up.” I wonder how many of Catra’s problems could be solved by getting some therapy

Sea Hawk telling Scorpia that caring is the greatest adventure of all. It is cheesy and I am WEAK and soft-hearted. I love them <3

“You can’t expect me to out-cast Light Spinner, the greatest sorcerer to ever walk the halls of Mystacor.” I can’t believe we’re getting Shadow Weaver backstory AND finding out that boys can do magic

I don’t remember if they’ve ever said his name, but based on him needing to a relevant character, and on his similar appearance to Castaspella, I’m gonna say that Micah must be Glimmer’s dad.

Are we to gather from the lines and circles on Hordak’s back that HE is First One’s tech? Is he Mara or Light Hope’s weird boyfriend? I don’t know how I’d handle that

Daddy Hordak has really found a way to recreate Catra’s exact Favourite and Scapegoat childhood trauma. He’s really embracing his place in the parent dynamic

[Light Spinner, but also me, voice]: I’ve only had Micah for one day but if anything happened to him I’d [redact] everyone in this room and then myself:

“You’ll make [the Guild] see [the threat of the Horde]. If anyone can do it, it’s you!” Awww so Shadow Weaver wasn’t ALWAYS a terrible influence on teen lives. It’s a fun spicy update that we get later on

“Why do you really want to keep her around?” Stockholm Syndrome and Mommy Issues

I can’t believe that Shadow Weaver’s origin story is that she got Alphonse Elric’d by trying to do dark magic with a twelve-year-old

“I had to earn my power. Fight for it. Why should it be any different for you?” “I was a child when you took me in. What could I have possibly done to deserve the way you treated me?” Yaddah Yaddah Generational Trauma: The Sequel

“Serenia. Portal. Mara.” I’m doubling down on Hordak as Mara’s Weird Boyfriend

Are we gonna find more about Bow’s family!! I LOVE BACKSTORIES. WHAT A FUN COUPLE OF EPISODES

“Adora! Glimmer! We’re so happy to finally meet Bow’s school friends!”

Bow having two dads is actually one of the few things I knew about this show going in, but I am SO happy that they are depicted on screen, and not just like, mentioned. <3 YEAHHHH SHE-RA!!!

KJHGKJHGKJHGJK I CANNOT BELIEVE BOW NEVER TOLD HIS PARENTS HE WAS IN THE REBELLION OH MY GOD

This scheme has really forced me to remember that Adora STILL only wears her Horde uniform as her everyday outfit. HOW DO BOWS DAD’S NOT NOTICE JGHKJGHKGJH

“Youngest of 13! All historians just like us.” THIRTEEN??? THAT’S SO MANY SIBLINGS. ALSO HOW ARE YOU HISTORIANS THAT DON’T KNOW WHAT A HORDE UNIFORM LOOKS LIKE OH MY GOD

“So I did the only thing I could. I secretly taught myself archery, ran away and pretended I was at a made-up boarding school.” “That seems really elaborate, Bow.” Honestly. Honestly! Life mood for wanting not to upset your parents but still to live your life in way that reflects your values and identity

Yaddah yaddah parallel journeys to queerness in youth while inverting the heteronormative structures in which they usually take place

From 5 min later: “I act like someone I’m not with my family because the truth would hurt them.” LIKE HELLO???? BOW!! I LOVE HOW CLEARLY THIS WAS WRITTEN BY A QUEER PERSON

And: “I’ve tried to tell them before but they don’t want to hear it. So, I pretend.” AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

HAHAAHAHA funny how they did not have a way to organically bring up Lance and George’s names so they made Bow first-name his own dads

“We’ll find Shadow Weaver, the two of us, and not a word of it will leave this room.” I KNEW THE iROBOT BABY RECORDER WOULD BE LISTENING

HKJFHKJGHKJGHKJHF Bow’s historian dad having a First Ones tattoo that says, “Lunch.” Poetic cinema. This is why u should never get a tattoo in a language you don’t understand

“Adora is a sixth major in She-Ra?” I love how quickly Bow’s lie has fallen apart

I’m losing my mind that the thing that signifies Bow returning to himself his him wearing a crop top. Also his dads SCREAMING as he rips his shirt

“You only listened to me if I said what you wanted to hear.” [...] “We love you the way you are, Bow. And we’re proud of you, no matter what path you take in life.” CRYIN’

“This was a test, and you failed.” I won’t lie to you, I took a long pause from this show purely because I knew whatever emotional trap Daddy Hordak laid out for Disgraced Daughter Catra was going to make my heart clench LOL. Delayed this two minute scene by weeks

Shadow Weaver said: I will not let Daddy Hordak take the terrible surrogate parent spotlight. Time to haunt Adora’s room like a sleep paralysis demon

“Technically it’s the spare room. But it is more than adequate as a holding cell.” You’re telling me with guards as attack-happy as in S1, you’ve NEVER imprisoned anyone in the castle? I CANNOT BELIEVE. AREN’T U IMMORTAL ANGELLA. SURELY U’VE BEEN RULING LONG ENOUGH TO CREATE SOME KIND OF JUSTICE/REHABILITATION SYSTEM ON BRIGHT MOON. DIDN’T YOU FIGHT A WAR!!!

“Shadow Weaver is dangerous. I will not let that woman near you.” Angella said: Maternal bond with Shadow Weaver ended, Adora. Now I am your best mom

“You will answer for the crimes you committed during your time as my brother’s teacher.” I’m glad that the Micah thing is coming into the main narrative because I keep forgetting if they confirmed it before bc I’ve stopped watching this episode for months at a time LOL

“I have to believe that others can change too, even Shadow Weaver.” Ohhhhh Adora <3

Adora referring to Shadow Weaver as the woman who raised her :’( I’m with Angella, Adora deserves to not be around these adults who only want to use her

Shocked that Shadow Weaver is being honest about Hordak’s plan. Shadow Weaver said manipulate, momtrauma, military defection

“You were bought through a portal from another world.” AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?????????????

“I was a baby! Babies don’t remember things.” “Interesting, I will make a note of this.” Light Hope’s not wrong about her assumption though, there are studies on trauma in infancy. This is truly the story of how your fucked up childhood can come back to haunt you later on LOL.

“Don’t I get a say in what happens to me? Don’t I get a choice?” “No, this is your destiny, you do not choose.” 1) The heartbreak in Adora’s voice as she’s finding out she’s a First One is killing me and 2) WRONG

KJGHGKJHGJH Catra dunking on Hordak in front of his entire army. She’s right, he is incapable of defeating teenagers

Bow tapping Adora on the head reassuringly with his Space iPad to let her know they’re there for her as much as they’re there for the Rebellion. I love himmmmmmmmmm

I have this series on 1.25x speed atm because it’s so hard to focus and let me tell you. It sounds normal. So I stand by the view that they just pace the dialogue too slowly LOL

Bizarrely, the more screentime they get, the more invested I am in the father-daughter relationship of Entrapta and Daddy Hordak. He really does seem to care for her. If it was just her value as a tech person, he wouldn’t have listened to her about changing his plans for Catra to go to the Crimson Waste instead of Beast Island:

THE STAR WARS BAR??????????? ARE WE ON TATTOINE???

Why is the proportion of furries in this bar so much higher than in any other place. Furry Exile Wasteland

I’m with Adora in terms of immediately admiring Huntara. I think it’s the voice and how she stepped in to protect the kids. Also maybe the ponytail

However. I believe her when she says no one should be trusted, including herself LOL

IFjkfjfkjfkjfh is that a smaller Hordak inside a test tube? Daddy Hordak making a new clone baby????????????? Saving an old baby???????

“We should say something.” “NO! We are supporting her.” LMAO @ GLIMMER AND BOW. When ur friend is making bad decisions but u don’t want to alienate them gkjhgkjhgjhg

“Paralyzing darts. But you probably figured that out, being a fast learner and all.” Best Friends Squad said: Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal, Huntara

Why is Hordak and Entrapta’s relationship so fucking endearing???? It’s killing me as he hisses while she tries to force-feed him soup:

Are they still morally bankrupt. Yes, I do think so. Are they very funny. Also yes!!!!

“I am not discussing this.” “Your armor, it’s holding you together.” “It’s none of your concern.” Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way about Hordak if I didn’t have Repressed Immigrant Father Syndrome kjhgjhgkjhgb

“I am a clone. A clone of the Emperor of the Known Universe.” HELLO???????? I THOUGHT HE WAS CLONING, NOT CLONED. IT DOESN’T EVEN SOUND LIKE A WORD ANYMORE

“And Horde Prime will see that he was wrong. I am not a defect. I am worth something.” WOW, IT REALLY IS THE STORY OF YADDAH YADDAH GENERATIONAL TRAUMA. EVEN HORDAK’S PROBLEMS ALL CIRCLE BACK TO DADDY ISSUES

HOWEVER. I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ALL OF THE DEATHS ATTRIBUTED TO THE HORDE. [Insert coolmotivestillmurder.jpg LOL]

LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE CHRONIC ILLNESSES AND DISABILITIES HORDAK, NOT ALL OF US COLONIZE SPACE

Side note: Adora and Hordak are really carrying the voice acting for this season so far. Like Adora’s yelling at Light Hope and Hordak’s “I am not a defect.” AHH!!!!!!

Also I really do love how they animated this cutaway sequence. Conveying the energy of Hordak’s past without necessarily revealing everything, and giving us a sense of how Hordak views himself and his history:

“I do not need your help.” “Everyone needs help sometimes.” Entrapta said: I’m here for you, Daddy Hordak!!! The generational trauma ends here, as I am impervious to criticism

You can tell that she really doesn’t absorb criticism by the fact she talks about her homies abandoning her like she had nothing to do with it LMAO. THEY THOUGHT U WERE DEAD, FOUND U LATER, GAVE U THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT AND U SAID ‘ACTUALLY I PREFER SPACE COLONIZATION INSTEAD XOXO’

“No matter what you say, you are not a failure. Any who discount you are utter fools.” Wow, Hordak’s using his words. Growth?

Awwwww I love that Adora’s comment from last episode about people can change is immediately coming to fruition with Huntara. Ex-Horde mentor!!!

“I’m looking at the Crimson Waste, the place Hordak sent me to die. I have no idea what you’re doing, as the last thing I told you was to leave me alone.” Scorpia’s just here to love you, Catra

Fhkjghkjghkj I feel like Catra and Scorpia fit in better at the Star Wars Bar because they are also Criminal Furries

“But me? I’ve already lost it all,” said Catra, as if her homie Scorpia who would go to the ends of the galaxy for her wasn’t standing right there

Same energy as Kakashi saying everyone he cares about is dead when he has at LEAST four friends

“Who’s the strongest in the Crimson Waste?” “LASHOR.” Tung Lashor said my love language is words of affirmation

Wild how so far Catra has been achieving victory over all these adults through no other skill than bullying jkhgjghkjgh. Although $10 says she wins this battle through the convenient paralytic darts she asked for earlier

Update from 1 minute later: Alright, I owe you $10. Bullying it is

“This is the one place they’ll never find us. I saw what they would do. The deaths that would follow.” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Assuming ‘they’ is the army of Horde Prime? But it would be interesting if it were someone else. I really, really want to see more of Mara’s backstory

You know. This past two and a half seasons I have been assuming that this would lead up to a Catra and Adora relationship because they are the main characters. But they have also made it clear that Scorpia likes Catra and based on this episode, it does seem like Catra is starting to respond to those feelings:

“So why would we go back? Let’s stay here. Forget Hordak. Forget Adora. Forget all of them. We could rule the Crimson Waste together, just the two of us. We could, you know, be happy.” Scorpia is shooting her shot

“We are going back. We are going to open a portal. And we are going to crush them all.” Wow. Didn’t take much to sway her in the other direction

Hordak 🤝 Catra 🤝 Entrapta

Pretending like your abandonment issues are a good reason to colonize space

Speaking of abandonment issues. LMAO @ BOTH HORDAK AND ENTRAPTA NOT WANTING THIS PORTAL TO DISRUPT THEIR FUCKED UP LITTLE FOUND FAMILY

“Before I started ‘rushing in,’ the Rebellion hadn’t made a move in years. You need me.” I feel like what I’ve learned is that Glimmer is usually not the best judge of what to do, unless she’s directly defying Angella, in which case it is the right call kjghkjghkgjhgkjh

“I could not have lied to you about who you are, because I have never known or cared about someone as inconsequential as you.” Daddy Hordak said Shadow Weaver got full-custody of Adora in the divorce

Glimmer hasn’t really learned much from her dad’s journey with having Shadow Weaver as a mentor. This is what happens when you keep secrets from your kids

Adora trying desperately to reason with Entrapta while Entrapta continues to facilitate the downfall of the planet. Just Quirky Girl things:

You know, thus far this seems to be amounting to a rough day for everyone involved

“If we open a portal, the anomalies will be catastrophic. It’ll unhinge time and space, creating a warped reality that will collapse in on itself, erasing us from existence.” OH, SO NOW WE CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PLANET. WHERE WAS THIS THE PAST TWO SEASONS, ENTRAPTA?

“Adora gets everything she wants.” LIKE ALL OF EXISTENCE NOT EXPLODING, CATRA? WHY ARE YOU ALL SO STUPID LMAO

[Insert Guardians of the Galaxy, “We’re the idiots who live in it.” LOL]

“Who do you think let the princesses in?” “She wouldn’t--” LOL @ CATRA TRYING TO RUIN ENTRAPTA AND HORDAK’S WEIRD FAMILY. Catra said: If I can’t maintain any meaningful relationships with the adults in my life, NEITHER CAN ANYONE ELSE

“Wow, I can’t believe you like me, that is so embarrassing for you.” [Laughing and playfighting] “Stop it, get off! This is not because I like you.” If Adora and Catra do end up together it will be a tough pill to swallow considering Catra has been so SO MEAN TO HER this whole time like she literally broke reality rather than listen to people side with Adora LOL

“I don’t know what it is, but I do not like you.” It’s because your crush is obsessed with her, Scorpia

“If you get us out of this, I promise I won’t hate you. I will just dislike you a reasonable amount.” I kind fo love that this has turned into a Buddy Adventure for Adora and Scorpia:

I like that Adora is connecting with people (Scorpia, Lonnie, Madame Razz) every step of the way <3

“Don’t you get it? I am never going to go with you.” I know I’ve called Catra Space Lesbian Furry Sasuke, but truly that is unkind to Sasuke bc it’s absolutely understandable why Sasuke does what he does, but Catra barely has a whisper of a motive for her actions. What? You miss Adora? She’s right there extending her hand every time. Shadow Weaver doesn’t love you? Tough. Glimmer and Bow are the only kids in this show who have parents. You got an inferiority complex? Surely the legions of followers and the putting down everyone you meet helps. You were raised by the Horde? So the hell was everyone else, you don’t see them collapsing reality. Get! Some! Help!

“That’s alright, dearie. You don’t need to understand. You just need to remember.” I love Madame Razz

MICAH <3 At least one good thing has come out of this!!!!

It is tragic though, that in order to preserve the world, Glimmer will have to give up her father

“You’re a great fighter, a genius inventor, and you shouldn’t worry about what your dads think. They’re proud of you, just like I am. And Glimmer, you never give up, and you never admit defeat. I know making friends is hard for you, yet you’re the one who pulled us all together. I’ve never met anyone like you.” ADORA TALKING ABOUT ALL THE REASONS SHE LOVES HER FRIENDS <3 SWEET GIRL

Ohhhhhhhhh Angella’s goodbye to Micah is killing me. They love each other so much

MICHAH CALLING OUT TO ANGELLA “I’M NOT” IS DADDY GLIMMER ALIVE??????????

“But whoever shuts the portal down can’t leave.” AHHHHH is Angella going to strand herself here? Poor Glimmer!!!!!!!!!!!! She’s going to lose both her parents at once

You know, I actually thought now was gonna be the time that Horsey’s fate and Adora’s intertwined

“You made me this.” SHUT UP CATRA, YOU MADE YOU THIS!!!!!!

“I didn’t make you do anything. I didn’t break the world, but I am gonna fix it. And you? You made your choice. Now live with it!” YEAHHHHHHHHHH ADORA

“And now I choose to be brave.” ANGELLA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Does this mean Shadow Weaver is the only adult figure for these princesses now? Oh how the turn tables

“So that’s where you’ve been, little brother.” Not only did Glimmer lose both of her parents, but also the plan didn’t really succeed? What a deeply sad ending to this season omg

#ayesha liveblogs she-ra #liveblogging #she-ra #television #long post #finally finished season 3!!!#2 more seasons 2 go #ayesha says things

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nny11writes · 2 years

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Com-mom-der and Clawdeen

So my little niece was born this last weekend, and apparently I decided to finish this scene from CaC because reasons???? L is adorable and (as long as she and my sister pass their tests today) I can’t wait until she’s finally home so I can go over and snuggle with her somewhere more comfortable. :p

Anyhow, enjoy the hurt/comfort lol

Catra did her level best not to cry, first and foremost because she hated crying. But Clawdeen had just finally calmed down and fallen asleep and Catra didn’t want to wake her.

After all, it was Catra’s fault Clawdeen had been upset in the first place.

She curled up tighter into a little ball of misery and shoved her face into the mattress to hide the few traitorous tears that leaked out. Entrapta’s hair ran soothingly over her arms so Catra tucked them in and under to get away from the touch. She didn’t want to be comforted. She wanted to just be miserable alone but neither Scorpia nor Entrapta had let her leave.

“It’s okay Catra.” Scorpia whispered, actually whispered as she curled around Catra’s body. “She’s okay.”

Yeah. And that was good, it was just…

“Catra, you need to breathe.” Entrapta instructed as gently as she could. “You need at least seven liters of air per minute.”

Her chest hurt as she held her breath but eventually she was forced to exhale, the hiss of air stuttering as she fought for some control.

“There we go,” Scorpia kissed her shoulder blade and that did it.

Catra sobbed, “I’m- I’m a ba-bad mom!”

“No!” Scorpia squeezed tighter at the same time Entrapta said, “Well THAT'S just factually incorrect.”

“Then, then why does she cry every time I hold her!? She just- she can tell! I shouldn’t b-be here, she hates me!” Catra shook violently as she wailed and gasped, desperately wishing she would just stop talking.

The baby hated her. She wasn’t even old enough to walk and she hated Catra just like everyone else. Why did she think she could do this? She should just go back to being a Commander and leave before she really fucked the kid up irrevocably.

“It’s okay that she only wants her mama.” Scorpia kissed the back of her neck before continuing. “That doesn’t make you a bad com-mom-der.”

The stupid name almost got a watery giggle from her, Catra’s insistence on Commander had been overruled by two enthusiastic dorks who then chose the dumbest thing. But at least it wasn’t mommy or cat mom.

Entrapta’s hair wiggled until she could wrap it around Catra’s arms again and Scorpia continued to nuzzle at the back of her neck. Disgusting. When had they gotten this domestic and ooey-gooey soft? Probably around month three, that was when the sleep deprivation had really started to kick their asses and created the poison rat pile situation.

She tried to sit with Scorpia’s reasoning. She did. But she had to voice her own traitorous fear. “But what if it does?”

“Catra, if we literally took this exact situation and then totally changed major contextual parts of it, we could make it mean anything we want it to. But that is literally changing the situation which we can’t do! …or maybe we could? It would be more portal work though to try and reach an alternate dimension where you weren’t a good mom. And while I would be THRILLED to work on the portal again, you said not to and the simulations were less than optimal, what with the everyone dying thing. Which is a lot of effort to go through to prove that you are a good mom compared to the bad mom alternate reality version of you. So, instead, I propose that you accept our word for it because your brain seems to like lying to you, like, a lot.” Entrapta topped this grand declaration off by essentially slapping Catra’s head in an imitation of a gentle pat.

Had her and Scorpia been talking? They had to have been talking and trading methods behind her back. It was very Scorpiaesque.

But it also did work a little. Catra almost unwillingly felt her body relaxing a little bit. “Okay. But what if-”

“Do you want me to tinker with Hordak’s portal machine?” Entrapta cut her off. “Because what I’m hearing is you want me to tinker with Hordak’s portal machine.”

“Please don’t!” Scorpia squeaked.

“Okay, but if Catra’s gonna be stupid about this, and the only way to prove it-”

Scorpia pleaded, “Sweetie bean, do not open a deadly portal!”

“We don’t know that it’s deadly!” There was a long pause before Entrapta deflated and collapsed over both of them. “I mean, we have a lot of evidence from the predictive trials. So it’s only probably deadly.”

“Yeah, that’s, uh, not good.” Catra finally managed to mutter, and after having her moping ball so disrespected she finally gave up and uncurled fully. Instantly she gained a large claw around her middle and Entrapta’s knee under her chin. It wasn’t comfortable but it was…it was nice. She guessed.

“So you believe us?” Entrapta asked excitedly.

“No. But I can try. I guess.”

“That’s all we’re asking, Clawdeen loves you! You’ll see!” Scorpia cheered, and then winced as she realized how loud she’d been.

They all held their breath but Clawdeen remained snoozing peacefully in her little infant pod.

“I’ll label it a tentative success.” Entrapta stage whispered as she began typing away on her pad.

#super poly trio #scorptra #scorptrapta #catrapta #catra #entrapta #scorpia #hilariously I had written this out before HANG ON I'VE GOT THIS #can you tell?#I saw a comic a little while back from a guy who's baby girl cried every time he held her #and how scared he was that it meant he was a bad dad somehow #😭😭😭😭😭#Entrapta doesn't actually want to open the portal #she wants an alternate reality version of herself to open a SAFE portal to other dimensions #so she can play with it safely!#darn her own death portal and darn those alternate reality versions of herself for not getting here yet/at all #and also she would love the ability to basically cold call any Catra to make a point to her Catra

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