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natsfirecat · 3 years

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Stay

summary: r gets hurt saving nat (who she’s in love with) and natasha wants nothing more than to get her back

based on these two requests:

1: If you still need Hurt and Comfort prompts, would you accept a scenario where Reader fell in a coma after a mission gone wrong, and the whole time she’s unconscious, Natasha doesn’t want to leave her side. She doesn’t sleep, barely eats, and constantly talking to reader thinking she can hear. Reader then wakes up after 3 months, and Natasha confesses her feelings for Reader.❤️‍🩹🥺

2: How bout Natasha x fem!Reader where Reader takes a bullet after saving her crush, Natasha, on a mission. Reader survives and brushes it off as “it’s my job” but Natasha doesn’t take the whole situation well, especially since she has feelings for reader too!I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER! 😘😫❤️*have some tea 🍵 *

word count: 2.8k

genre: fluff and angst but fluff ending

warnings: swearing, gunshot, comatose, blood, medical knowledge that only comes from grey’s anatomy, catradora quote because i have no self control, lmk if i need to add any more!

A/N i combined these requests since they were kinda similar, i hope you don’t mind kind anons!

“She’s tachycardic! Push one of epi, STAT!”

“No, no,”

“Hang on, Y/N, I’m going to do everything in my power to help you. Just keep holding on, okay?”

“You’re gonna be okay, alright? You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna pull through this,”

“Why would you do that? How could you be so stupid? Why did you do that?” She yelled.

“Just doing… my job…” You managed to get out.

Eventually the voices around you began to fade out as you succumbed to unconsciousness.

As you felt yourself slipping away, the only thing on your mind was the woman you loved; Natasha Romanoff.

~12 hours earlier~

“Are you ready to go home soon?” You asked.

“Kinda,” she replied honestly. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the team and all, but it is nice to get away sometimes,”

You shrugged,

“Yeah, I guess,”

She smiled, then walked closer to you, putting an arm around your shoulder.

“It is nice getting away with you, though,”

You grinned, feeling your cheeks heat up.

“I like getting away with you too, Nat,”

She smirked, squeezing your shoulder,

“Then it’s a good thing we still have a day left,”

You could feel your heart-rate increasing as your cheeks got even redder.

Her smirk turned into a soft smile before she pulled away and went to the bathroom to change.

You sighed, thinking about your hopeless crush on her. You had been an Avenger for three years, friends with Natasha for two, and in love with her for one.

You never imagined that you would fall for the Black Widow, but now you couldn’t imagine your life without her.

“So… there’s a mission Fury assigned me to,” she said, leaning back against the couch. “It’s in France, and he said it could last anywhere from a year or two,”

“What?” You sat straight up. “No! That’s too long!”

“I know. It’s a no-contact mission too,”

“That’s such bullshit. You can’t accept that mission, Natty,”

“He assigned me, Y/N, there’s nothing I can do unless someone else volunteers to take the mission instead,”

You stared at her, suddenly feeling very defeated.

“No…” you whispered as your eyes began to pool with tears.

You looked at Natasha, who held her tongue at the roof of her mouth so she wouldn’t cry. You leaned in and wrapped your arms around her tightly, letting out quiet sobs into her neck.

As she held you in her arms, the only thing running through her mind was that she had no idea how the hell she would survive being away from you for that long.

After two days of crying, and resisting the urge to scream at Fury, you heard a knock on your door.

“Come in!” You called. The door opened to reveal none other than your favorite redhead, who had the biggest smile on her face.

“Hey,” she said, sitting on your bed.

“Hi,”

“Guess what?”

You shrugged, not really in the mood for guessing games. You just wanted to cherish your last few moments with her before she left.

“So I got a call from Fury this morning…” she told you, her smile growing bigger. “And he said that someone else took the mission,”

You couldn’t believe it. Your best friend didn’t have to leave.

You opened your mouth to say something, but you couldn’t speak. So instead, you threw yourself into her arms.

As they had done several times in the past two days, your eyes began to fill with tears. But this time however, they were tears of joy.

She was holding onto you just as tight as you were holding onto her.

When you finally backed away, she smiled, then reached her thumb up to your face to wipe away your tears.

“Hey,” she said softly. “You don’t need to cry, I’m staying,”

“They’re happy tears, Natty,”

She brought her other hand to your face to wipe away tears on the other cheek, then just held your face in her hands for a few moments.

Oh fuck you thought to yourself. Those tears weren’t platonic.

After that night, you had tried to deny your feelings for her for a bit. After all, you had gotten romantic and platonic attraction mixed up in the past, who’s to say that this wasn’t one of those times?

But as time went on, the butterflies would happen even more often around her. Your heartbeat began to race if her hand brushed up against yours. Your face would flush when your arms wrapped around her in a hug. You wanted nothing more than to be with her, to feel her lips against yours, and to be able to tell her you loved her and have her say it back.

The only person who knew about your crush on Natasha was Wanda. She had asked if anyone caught your eye, and you refused to tell her anything. However, she decided to read your mind to find out.

You were a little frustrated that she did that, but you weren’t too mad, knowing you would’ve done the same thing to your best friend.

So since then, Wanda would always try to convince you to tell her, and you would always say no.

As much as it hurt to have these feelings and not tell her, you knew it would be nothing compared to telling her and having the feelings not reciprocated and losing your friendship. You’d rather stay just her friend forever than to lose her.

So here you were now, in love with one of your best friends.

“Ready to go?” She asked as she finished putting her suit on.

“Yep!”

She smiled, then gestured for you to follow her. Today was the last day of your mission, and you just needed to erase all files from some druglord’s computer.

For the past week, the two of you had done several stakeouts, gotten information, and identified people. The last step was destroying their information.

So, Natasha was currently driving the two of you to the location. She had the radio playing, and the two of you were softly singing the lyrics to the songs.

You turned to face her, feeling yourself smile at the sight of her being so carefree around you.

Not that you knew this, but you were the only person she would ever allow to see her like this.

She kept her eyes on the road, but saw you looking at her through her peripheral vision. You were simply mouthing the lyrics now, not really paying attention to them. Instead, your attention was purely on Natasha.

She kept singing the words though, but she was also smiling at the sight of you.

As she began to turn her head to fully face you, your cheeks grew red.

“Eyes on the road, Nat!” You told her, laughing.

“Okay, mom,” She retorted, earning a playful eye roll from you.

“Oh don’t be like that,” she said, beginning to as well. “C’mon, we’re here anyway,”

You nodded, opening the door as soon as she stopped the car.

Once she locked the car, the two of you made your way into the building.

She had her gun ready, holding it out at every corner you turned.

“We’ve been here like four times already, Nat,” you told her, scoffing. “We’re fine”

She grumbled in response, but kept her gun out.

You shook your head, letting out a sigh, then continued on.

Once you made your way to the necessary room, each of you sat down in front of a computer.

“Delete, erase, goodbye,” you muttered as you typed.

Natasha didn’t say anything as she typed away, just wanting to get out of this building as soon as possible.

You glanced over at her every once in a while.

You smiled, watching her type with the clacking on the keyboard. The tip of her tongue was poking out the corner of her mouth. Her eyes began to squint as she focused on the screen.

Unfortunately, while you were staring, you failed to notice someone else come in the room behind you.

“Avengers,” A voice from behind you said.

You whipped around, your eyes widening to see someone wearing a combat suit holding a gun out.

Natasha stood up, raising her gun immediately.

Before you could even process what was happening, you heard the sound of a gunshot.

Without even thinking about it, you threw yourself at Natasha, knocking her to the ground.

Turns out, she was the one who shot first, considering that the other guy was currently laying in a pool of his own blood that was spilling out fast.

But as you jumped, he aimed his gun at Natasha, pulling the trigger.

You let out a groan of pain, feeling a pain growing in your shoulder.

“Y/N no! What did you do?”

She cried your name a few more times, but you couldn’t respond. You only let out a few shaky breaths and sobs as the pain in your shoulder began to grow.

She pulled her phone out, calling for help as fast as she could.

Everything hurt, but you wouldn’t have changed a thing you did. All that mattered to you, was that the woman you loved was safe.

All that mattered was that Natasha Romanoff was safe.

~two days later~

“How’s she doing?”

“Same as before.”

Natasha sighed as she reached onto your bed, placing her hand over yours.

As soon as you were brought back, everyone began working on you right away. Dr. Cho saved your life, and managed to get the bullet out.

However, because of how long it had taken to get you into surgery, you had a lot of internal bleeding.

So, here you were now, in a coma. No one knew when, or even if, you would ever wake up.

Natasha stayed by your side the entire time.

“Nat, you can’t stay in here forever,” Wanda said, gently placing her hand on her shoulder.

“It was my fault, Wanda,” she replied, her voice hoarse from crying. “It should’ve been me,”

“Don’t say that. You’re both alive. She wouldn’t want you to say that, or to sulk in here all day,”

Natasha said something, but kept her gaze on your unconscious body as her red eyes began to fill with tears once again.

“I can’t lose her.”

After the first week, Natasha finally left your room at night. She would usually come in around 7:00 AM, and stay until midnight.

Clint would come by, and bring her food. He was genuinely worried that she wouldn’t eat if he didn’t.

Wanda came by often too.

“Do you think she can hear us?” Natasha asked her.

“I can try and find out, if you’d like,” Wanda offered.

Natasha nodded, removing her hand from you.

Wanda stood up, then placed one hand on your forehead, closing her eyes.

After a few moments of silence, she gave Natasha a soft smile.

“She’s dreaming,”

“Is she aware of things going on outside?”

“Not right now. I don’t think she’s constantly dreaming while unconscious. Hearing our voices right now, she’s either drowning them out or they’ll be in her dream. She might become more aware later,”

Natasha let out a shaky breath, then connected her hand to yours again.

“Hi, Y/N,” she breathed out. “We did it. We destroyed the files, and the building ended up being destroyed after we left. We did the mission, you can wake up now. You can come back now,”

She could feel herself about to cry, so she turned to Wanda.

“What’s she dreaming about?”

Wanda closed her eyes again, looking into your mind.

“She’s at this house, and there’s comforting energy coming from it. I think it might be her childhood home.” Wanda explained. “Something’s happening in slow motion. There’s like, cracks of electricity and… oh my god there’s a lightning strike right in front of her,”

“She’s dreaming about lightning?”

“I can hear her inner voice. Part of her is afraid, but the bigger part of her is thinking the lightning strike will give her superpowers… and she’s floating in the air right now,”

Natasha laughed for the first time since getting back. Of course superpowers would be on your mind while getting struck by lightning.

“Thank you, Wanda,” she told her, gently squeezing your hand.

“Of course,” she replied. “You should get some rest. I know Y/N would want you to,”

Natasha sighed, then nodded. She was feeling better for the first time since you took the bullet for her.

“Hey,” she said, getting a laptop out and setting it on the side of your bed. “It’s been three weeks now, and uh, I thought it might be a good idea to bring this down and watch your favorite movie. Y’know, maybe hearing it will help you,”

A lump began to form in her throat as she stared at you. However, she said nothing else as she pulled up your favorite movie, then placing it close enough so you could hear, and see it if you were to open your eyes.

Once she pressed play, she sat on the edge of your bed. She wasn’t looking at the laptop screen, she was looking down at you.

She brushed a strand of hair out of your face, and ran her thumb across your cheekbone.

Natasha didn’t even realize she was crying until she had to wipe her own tears off your forehead.

“Sorry,” she muttered, pulling away so she wouldn’t cry on you anymore. “I just… really miss you, Y/N.”

She opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped when she noticed your eyebrow twitch.

It felt like everything in her body stopped working for a moment as she replayed it in her mind; you moved.

Before she knew it, she was sprinting out of your room at full speed to get Dr. Cho.

“She moved! I think she’s waking up! Her eyebrow moved!” She yelled as she barged into her office.

Dr. Cho tilted her head to the side, but followed her back to your room.

She walked over to you, then examined the monitors. She looked at you, then back at your vitals.

“Miss Romanoff, I’m so sorry, but there’s nothing in her brain activity that indicates her moving or waking up. Sometimes, when we want to see something so bad, our mind tricks us into thinking we saw it. It’s a cruel thing, but it’s not uncommon for situations like this,”

Natasha’s heart dropped as the doctor left the room to give her space. She thought she had you back.

She wasn’t going to give up on you. She pulled the laptop away, then sat next to you again.

She then layed down, and wrapped her arms around you, sobbing into your neck.

“Wake up, please,” she begged between sobs. “Come back to me.”

Natasha pulled back, placing one hand on your cheek. She leaned down, pulling you close again.

“Don’t you get it?” She said at almost a whisper. “I love you. I always have. So please, just this once. Stay.” She pulled back again, then placed a gentle kiss to your cheek. “Stay.”

It was like everything in her froze again.

Your eyebrows were definitely twitching now. A groan escaped your mouth, as you blinked your eyes open.

“Natty,” you said, wrapping your arms around her neck. “You love me?”

“Of course I do,”

You smiled at her, despite the pain running through your body.

“Good, ‘cause I’ve been in love with you for like the past year,”

She let out a mix between a laugh and a sob as she leaned close to you once again.

You leaned forward too, and before you knew it, the distance between the two of you was closed as you were kissing.

It was gentle, considering the fact that you were still hurt, but you both savored every second of it.

“I love you so much,” you told her, keeping your arms around her.

At this point, you both had tears streaming down your cheeks. Neither of you cared as you leaned in for another kiss.

“Never do that again, okay?” She told you.

“Do what? Kiss you? I plan on doing that a lot more, thank you very much,”

She rolled her eyes, letting out a small laugh.

“Don’t ever put yourself in danger like that for me again, alright? I don’t care if you say it’s your job. Don’t do it again,”

“I did it because I love you, Natty,”

She sighed, wiping away one of your tears.

“I’m never leaving you though,”

“Good, I don’t want you to leave,”

Of course, the two of you would end up arguing about putting yourselves in danger to save each other, but it would all work out in the end.

You loved her, and she loved you. You wouldn’t have it any other way.

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff angst #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x yn #natasha romanoff x fem reader #natasha romanoff x fem!reader #black widow #black widow x reader #black widow x fem reader #natalia alianovna romanova

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sometipsygnostalgic · 3 years

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I watched that 4 hr She Ra BLM stream by Noelle, very nice.

Takeaways:

The crew of this show wrote most of it before any of it came out so they created silly in-jokes and headcanons and favourite ships. It was so strange watching a creator talk about their own show this freely, like they were a fan of someone else’s work. The AT crew implied this was how they thought of the show but they were never so open about it like this, barring some of the late joiners like Sam Alden who had a pure love for Adventure Time.

I can’t imagine having been a member of the fandom as this was airing, because people would take crew comments so seriously. I know they did by my second hand exposure, which is why I was so scared of the fanbase.

Anyway, now that I have confirmed first-hand She Ra fandom no longer exists, I’m free to go digging wherever I want. So, the video!!!

Shipping wise:

Noelle and Molly lowkey ship Glimmer and Catra (of course), though obviously they have their endgame OTP in Catra and Adora. They joked about lovechildren, drawing Scorpia with a bunch of literal scorpions, and creating a half-jokey CatraDora lovechild and naming them Finn, saying they would be “the most protagonist-looking character ever” (probably why they chose Finn) and also Double Trouble would neg them into being a cool kid. That was very funny.

There was a bit of other stuff, at the very end they suggested Entrapta has had/would have a lot of (mostly robot) boyfriends and girlfriends with Hordak among them lol, and theyd do community service on Beast Island and maybe adopt some horrifying beasts into her weird family because of course they would. Poly Entrapta canon?

Oh, and apparently Wrong Hordak was a joke in the writer’s room that they found so funny they found a way to squeeze it in the show. There’s probably something else that was cut for time for Wrong Hordak. And yet, I would not have it any other way.

Character wise:

What I liked about the video is how gushy Noelle got when talking about something they thought strongly over. The topic of Redemption came up and Noelle went into season 4/5, the whole situation with the portal and the characters that were forgiven. I can tell that they had been reading up on a lot of discourse and fan takes, so Noelle went on the defensive for Catra. However, this was a well-thought and non-aggressive rebuttal, so I’m not too bothered by that.

Basically they used Entrapta and Glimmer (the other two best characters) as reference points for how Catra redeemed herself. Entrapta was not an angry ball of rage trying to destroy a universe, but at the end of the day, was responsible for the portal being built because she wanted to see what would happen. When the other characters save her life and she realises she fucked up, she has the question of how to make up for being a villain, and decides that if she uses her skills to help the good guys then maybe they’ll start wanting her around. She learns that you have to put work in to keep friends. When she sees Catra in the ship, she’s already past the bulk of that, so knows that because she was able to make up for it with a lot of effort, Catra can too, and Catra’s on her way but just not at that part yet. So, while not forgetting everything, she forgives Catra, who was in the same position she was a few eps ago. She can kind of understand it.

Glimmer, meanwhile, was in Catra’s position exactly - she’d taken a huge risk that endangered all her friends and regretted it and got sent up with Prime. Catra’s deathportal gave Prime the signal while Glimmer sending Etheria into the original universe gave him the keys to the castle. So when they start bonding on the ship, Glimmer finds it easy to forgive Catra because she too has fucked up all of her friendships on the road to revenge and is all by herself. When rescued, Glimmer is the most determined to save Catra, demonstrating her growth after season 4 where she nearly killed Catra and stopped everyone from saving Entrapta. And when Catra’s on the ship finding it hard to apologise, Glimmer understands her well, asking Adora to give her some time.

Noelle says it was really good to have those characters interact with Catra because they are all in the same position, and I do agree that it made things much smoother for Catra to have 3 of the 4 people she hurt most in one place to make up to.

(I think Catra and Scorpia should have talked more in s4 but Scorpia was out of commission until the very end :( i did like how Perfuma called Catra out and showed that not everyone was going to immediately forgive her for hurting others, very Katara of her)

Anyway yeah I watched the whole thing and even started falling asleep at the end, though I was in work hours, so that was not good. I think I got like 20 to 30 minutes of light sleep. Nice to see they raised so much money for BLM! I love that some cartoon creators have done that. Using your fame to support something better. ....Provided the charity they donate to is good and not corrupted??? But I don’t know.

#she ra #spop #shera

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johannas-motivational-insults · 3 years

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@ericamzdm I’ve read all three parts of your 5x06 pick apart and I think you made some interesting points. I’m going to respond to all of the posts at once (really just the first two, though) for the sake of clarity, and because a lot of the themes carry over and my remarks on them are more general. I’m doing this in a seperate post to avoid highjacking yours and so I’m not sending a huge ass post onto my followers’ timelines. (But interested readers should check out the original posts here: part 1, part 2, part 3.)

First of all, while I disagree with a number of your conclusions, I want to say thank you for putting into words why this episode (and in particular the fandom’s reaction to it) makes me really uncomfortable. I’m not actually sure how much of the problem is in the episode itself vs. the way people talk about it, but I agree said framing issue is there and the writers could have made it better with a few small changes.

I wouldn’t call Adora’s behavior in this episode abusive, with the possible exceptions of the mattress flip and backing Catra into the corner and pinning her arm. And even with those, you gotta remember that these two have been friends since they were little kids, and scrapping and physical aggression is just part of their relationship (remember Catra scratching Adora in 5x03?). Of course, it used to be playful/childish and now the context is different, so there’s room for disagreement there. Even if it is abusive it’s clearly unintentionally so, but Adora does have a very bad habit (we saw it in Promise too) of getting up in Catra’s face and using her superior size to intimidate, which is super uncomfortable to watch given how many times we have seen Shadow Weaver do the same thing to Catra.

Really, I think the crux of this matter is that neither Catra nor Adora is abusive towards the other, but they were raised in an abusive environment and picked up a lot of their tools for handling conflict from that environment. Further, I disagree with your assertion that Adora was abusing Catra back in the Horde. However, you are right that she picked up bad habits there and I think in a way Catra feels like Adora abused her because she was part of the system that abused her - while she tried to protect her from Shadow Weaver we know she also did some victim blaming. Adora wasn’t in a position of much influence and was trying to help, but I can understand the resentment there and why Catra felt the need to cut ties earlier in the show.

One thing you’re very right about, though, is that in this episode Adora did loom quite a bit and used intimidating body language that made me (and Catra) uncomfortable as an abuse survivor. I disagree Adora’s holding Catra prisoner but I think to Catra it might feel that way anyway, which is really the issue. As you noted there is a huge power imbalance here with Catra recovering from basically dying and being in her PJs and with no allies. And Adora definitely violates Catra’s boundaries again and again, so set on smoothing things over that she fails to realize her insistence on fixing things is making them worse. As is often the case with her, her intentions are good but she completely misreads what the other person needs from her and barges on with her way instead of listening to them. Adora’s complaint that nothing has changed is her fault as much as Catra’s imo.

I also agree the part where she is stomping around huffing and kicking things and complaining that Catra is a brat is a sign of her emotional dysregulation and Not Great behavior. Someone asked once if I found that behavior abusive and no I don’t because it’s not directed at Catra, but it is still hard to watch. I agree Adora’s categorization of Catra as a brat while lashing out physically feels a little Shadow Weaver (intentionally or not) and that specific word choice does imply that she looks down on Catra and doesn’t respect her agency/isn’t putting in the effort to understand why she is not being ‘convenient’. It’s not a good look, and it’s not clear enough that she’s in the wrong here. (Catra is in the wrong too, the issue is that Adora’s behavior is also problematic but is not sufficiently framed that way.)

This could have been such a pivotal scene if Glimmer had taken a bit of a different tack with Adora. In fact, I think that was what made the episode just not quite work the way it’s supposed to. Glimmer is a lot like Catra, and she has had a lot of similar conflicts with Adora. If Glimmer had done more to discourage Adora’s overbearing behavior and told her she needs to give Catra space and respect it could have done a lot for Glimmer’s character arc as well as the arc of this episode. Without that, you’re right, the moment when Adora backs off and gives Catra the space to choose lands more like bitterness and giving up as opposed to making a choice to respect Catra’s agency in the way she needs to if she wants Catra to feel safe to open up.

(Of course she does agree later on to trust Catra’s judgement and let her connect to the hivemind and that also shows development, but as you said it felt a little unearned.)

So yeah I disagree with your assertions that Adora is an abuser and that she’s holding Catra prisoner, but I agree with a number of your observations about the episode itself. I also agree that the framing of the episode made it seem more like it was Catra being the problem rather than Catradora having a hard time renegotiating their relationship and its boundaries. Adora is absolutely being overbearing in this episode and I don’t think it was properly addressed, i.e. it wasn’t clear enough that those problems they were both having were problems on Adora’s end too. And I think a different conversation with Glimmer could have fixed that, just a few lines. The episode showed both of them struggling but I think it does come across like more of the onus is on Catra, like she’s being unreasonable as opposed to being defensive for understandable reasons.

But like I said, some of this is actually more about the fandom’s reaction to the episode. Maybe the writers were hoping to get across that they both needed to work on their bullshit but the fandom has excused Adora because she’s the hero. To be fair, Adora’s mistakes in this episode are very in character for her, in line with her faults/insecurities in general, so maybe they expected us to understand she’s not handling the situation properly.

The fandom reaction to Adora flipping Catra’s mattress and backing her into the corner reminds me of the reactions to DT obliterating Catra with that speech in 4x13. I think on some level we like seeing these drastic actions because watching Catra spiral is frustrating and we want to see something get through to her. It’s satisfying in a way. But on the other hand, both those situations left her with this kind of body language:

And idk, I’m not sure that’s something we as a fandom should be celebrating. Especially considering that DT’s speech left Catra wanting to die and that this bullish behavior by Adora wasn’t really what flipped the switch. It’s pretty significant that the moment Catra asks Adora to stay is once she backs off and says she won’t force her to give her a place in her life. And I think we the fandom tend to overlook that.

So op, I wish you hadn’t come to some of the conclusions you did with your analysis, but I am grateful to you for starting this conversation. I was having a hard time putting it into words other than “it sets off tons of alarm bells in my head and does no one else hear that??”

#replies #ericamzdm #spop #5x06 taking control #catradora #adora #catra #shadow weaver #glimmer #abuse #anger management

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literaphobe · 4 years

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season three of she-ra rated by catradora content

the price of power: adora talks about how she thinks the others at the horde can change too and when u think about it in the “at this point in the story, she still hoped catra would change” way it’s like wow :’) we knew that but wow :’) it sucks tho that in this scenario she’s actually wondering specifically if shadow weaver can change, which :/ hm :/ bc shadow weaver sucks. adora really fucking called her out on her abuse tho which is so sexy, and yes that has nothing to do with catradora i just felt like i really wanted to mention it at least <3 shadow weaver is a loserrrr <3 but.... she does mention “catra betrayed me” which makes adora do her “oh, catra?👀” eyebrow raise. i swear she cannot keep a straight fucking face whenever someone mentions catra. it’s like. are you lgbt or something? :/ 2/10

huntara: no catra this episode, but adora’s reaction to huntara will forever go down as one of her stupidest gay moments. u think catra knew super huge buff ladies were adora’s type? how fucking funny would it be if catra thought she never stood a chance with adora not because of the internalized homophobia shadow weaver instilled in them but simply because she thought she was not tall and buff enough for adora’s taste. “adora doesn’t want me!!!!! not like i want her..... because i’m not swole😔” 0/10

once upon a time in the waste: very funny and sexy of catra 2 be like. hm. i was sent here to die. i have completely given up on my hopes and dreams. oh wait what did you say? she-ra?😏 and she was blonde?👀 she’s got a sword?😩 she was angry?😽 her name is adora?👅 and all of a sudden catra is like nope existential crisis over. i’m gay again. and also evil again. that mix culminates in her giving a sexy monologue. did you know that if you’re gay and evil you will give very sexy monologues? and also sword lesbians will fall in love with you despite your questionable morals? anyway, catra takes over the whole of the crimson waste. i won’t discuss how since technically it doesn’t involve catradora but it was really hot okay😔 also adora was being really hot and powerful and fearless (she did not even flinch as bats flew in her face. hello?) and Angery this ep but i will also not get into it😩 i will however remark upon how both catra and adora low key had meltdown monologues this ep, and it is :( but also hot and cool of them. now, i will move onto when they meet <3 catra starts slow clapping as her goons creep onto mara’s ship and poison dart the best friend squad. they only send three darts flying and the last one is blocked by huntara. we have to assume that catra only ordered her team to send three darts for huntara, bow, and glimmer, leaving adora for last because catra has to greet her with, and let’s say it all together—“hey, adora😼”. adora tries to make a run for her sword but catra uses her new sexy cool whip to take it away. “i think this might be the quickest i ever won a fight. always so dramatic with you, isn’t it, adora?” adora tells huntara to save bow and glimmer first, leaving adora as catra’s only prisoner. 👀👀👀👀 soon after, everyone is celebrating, and catra sits in the big chair on mara’s ship like it’s a throne, casually draped over with adora’s sword in her hand, the long blade just resting between her legs. and. hooooooooooooooo boooooooooooooiiiiii. let me just. let me just have a second over here okay folks? this is all very hard for my sexuality to take. i don’t think u all realize how hard it is to make these evaluations. every day i have a breakdown over how hot one of them is. it’s one thing to just watch the show but every time something gay happens (so like, every five seconds) i gotta pause it and take notes (by take notes i really mean start ranting about it like this) and then i gotta like rewind it and shit to double check and i have to force myself to just be repeatedly subjected to the gayness. starting to get a little homophobic tbh! okay back to the show. catra is so fucking sweet and makes everyone cheer scorpia on too. she breaks out into this beautiful giggle. oh my god her laugh. bitches falling for this catgirl left and right smh. catra grabs scorpia’s claw and drags her away from the party. we also find out this is when catra learns about what a party is. remember how adora didn’t know what a party was either? :( damn. they deserve to have absolute ragers ok. catra starts talking about how valued and cool she will be when they go back and show hordak the sword, etc, and scorpia is like. but what if we didn’t do that. what if we just stayed here and had a gay life. a good honest gay life filled with sick parties and gang leading. and catra is like oh right.... u have a point..... i do hate the horde...... wonder why that is.... and then scorpia makes a fatal mistake. she says “forget adora!” which is about the dumbest thing you can tell a self destructive catgirl who’s been in love with adora her whole life but also kinda resents her atm. and catra is like perhaps i don’t want to forget adora. did u consider that scorpia? did you not think about how i crave her lips upon my mouth every night? fuck u im gonna go uh... find adora n maybe tie her up even more idk >:( catra goes to “check on the prisoner”, according to her own words. what does that mean, catra. like what. ur gonna go see if adora wants some tea? something 2 eat?👅 someone to kiss? Fkskdjdjdj adora is obviously struggling against her restraints and trying to break free, and the second she sees her she goes “catra, you can’t do this! >:(“ and catra is like “well, hello to you, too.” because MANNERS, adora, like god damn it catra always puts in the tender loving care and effort to greet you and you can’t even say hello? :( catra dismisses the goon who was previously guarding adora, because when you.... talk to your..... best friend turned enemy who’s now your prisoner. ur gonna want some privacy ya know😌😩👀😔 anyway catra is like ok.... once again.... y can’t i do this. and adora is like more horde army might come in!!! which. adora baby i love you but maybe don’t make that the thesis statement of your sales pitch? to the person who was second in command at the horde?? not to nitpick but if i were u i would’ve just said “noooooo don’t open a portal that might destroy reality ur so sexy ahaha” OR “if u give me back my sword and decide NOT to rip apart the fabric of this dimension i’ll kiss you on the mouth❤️” i know that u think ur feelings are one sided and that catra isn’t in love with you and that you can’t seduce her to the bright side💔 but u actually could have 💔 fkdkdjdjdj moving on.... catra says “never a dull moment with you❤️” which is weirdly so romantic. like yeah they’re enemies but catra gets bored when adora isn’t around. life is always exciting when adora is there, in catra’s eyes :’( like damn bitch if you like her so much why don’t you just marry her haha. please? <3 adora continues to explain that we will ALL lose if hordak opens a portal, light hope and mara said that opening a portal will endanger everyone!! and catra says the funniest thing. “you’ll listen to anything weird old holograms tell you, won’t you? you should really try to get over that. :/“ LFKDKFKDKFKFKFJ GIRL YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING THIS FUNNY. but then adora says the wrong thing :( she brought up you know who and said “shadow weaver told me” and catra.... :( she’s like. how did. she tell you. and adora’s voice goes soft and it’s like “you didn’t know?” because from what she knows catra is allegedly the one who betrayed shadow weaver, not the other way around. and catra grabs adora by the collar and pulls her in and adora gets this gasp and. let me just scream for five minutes. okay. i’m back. so. catra pulls her in and she’s like HOW. and adora just very slowly and cautiously tells her the truth. that shadow weaver is in bright moon. and :( catra :( she lets go of adora and comes to this. very destructive realization that shadow weaver “left her” for adora and that all the pain she’s felt is all Because Of Adora. that, just by being adora, everything, all the happiness that catra could have had, has been taken away. which she is wrong about but that’s what she thinks :( and adora realizes that this is. not good. and she gently goes “catra?” because the look on her face must be worrying to adora, and catra starts to walk away and adora desperately calls out to her. “catra, please, you have to listen!” but...... it’s too late :( and catra is enveloped by the darkness. 9/10 for the collar grabbing shit and just the inherent gayness of their connection and interactions but also this is all so sad bros :( my bros are all devastated

moment of truth: catra walks back into the horde with her arm around adora’s shoulder. hm! Hm! HM! really doesn’t feel like she needs to do that! but she’s doing it anyway! later on, entrapta and adora are alone and talking. “catra would say anything to get whatever she wants.” true, but also not true, adora. she wants to be your gf, but has she said anything about it? no :/ that’s in like 2 seasons. and you were literally about to die so she low key had nothing to gain. so :/ think carefully next time. fjsjfjsjdjdjd entrapta pulls out the funniest cutest bar graphs of data, and there’s like four categories and for some reason catra has low scores for the first three but a really high score for the last one? i desperately want to know what that is. adora says “look, i understand. catra was my friend, too.” and she casts her eyes to the side when she says this. as if.... that statement is a lot more loaded than it seems. because yes catra was adora’s friend. but also wasn’t she, at the same time, so much more than that? yes <3 it was because they were best friends <3 gal pals <3 “but she makes bad decisions. this is one of them.” :( yeah i mean what am i supposed to do. disagree with that? it’s so wild to think about how even through all of this adora never hated catra. arguably, she never stopped loving her either. which. sigh😔 pour one out boys we are yearning tonight! entrapta leaves the room, asking adora if she’ll try to escape. and adora is like “no?👀” which is irrelevant but also really funny. another irrelevant thing i want to bring up is catra when she’s losing in a fight against shadow weaver. “so, what? you’re on the side of good now? you made me this way, and you get to be the good guy?” bro. fucking.... bro. catra’s lines istg.... also her being able to take on gang leaders and princesses and take those people down easily but to lose so quickly to shadow weaver... y’all know what that is right :( sigh. wait. i’m not done let’s sit very sadly on this next line for a bit. “do you know what happened to me after you escaped? do you even care?” i’m gonna cry okay. right. back to catradora. catra is. really unhinged and devastated and destructive right now :( and so she marches into entrapta’s lab and demands that they fire up the portal machine. entrapta says they can’t, because “adora was right” and immediately that sets catra off. she gives this barely restrained chuckle and is like “adora is right.....” and she’s just. having a full on breakdown. she’s just filled with so much anger and resentment.... i can’t even joke and call it a hate boner man, and that sucks because i would love to call it a hate boner :( “adora gets EVERYTHING she wants” no catra, you are wrong. she wants you. she does not have you. case closed. adora has literally only truly wanted one thing in her life, and she does not have it because you won’t give it to her 😔 in conclusion, adora p much never gets what she wants :( why don’t you go over and hug her and then maybe you’ll calm down. i know it’s more complicated than that but still😔 anyway, catra is very determined to not let adora win, so in order to beat adora, she decides they have to open the portal no matter what, because that’s the one thing adora seems to not want right now. some very not chill stuff happens, and catra runs into hordak’s lab and demands that he opens the portal. she lies to hordak and says “oh you can’t trust anyone, especially a PRINCESS” and she turns over to glare pointedly at adora. which is. SUCH a bitter ex thing to do. “they’ll just use you to get what they want” CATRA SHE LOVES YOU :( SHES IN LOVE WITH YOU SHE ONLY EVER WANTED TO BE WITH YOU :( and also she was raised to think she only had worth if she did what others expected of her and that everyone’s happiness and safety was somehow her responsibility. and that it would be better for her to die than for others to get hurt. she was never trying to use you :( you were the only thing that ever made her selfish :( bow, glimmer, and shadow weaver run in and fight with hordak and catra, and catra realizes she has to pull the lever now or it’ll be too late. adora desperately yells “catra, please, don’t!” and catra looks at her for a last time, evil smirking before she does it. roll credits. 8.5/10

remember: oh, we’re really in it now huh :( we hear the last lines from catra and adora from the last episode, and i think this is a part of adora’s dream. she is woken up by catra gently saying her name <3 then by catra a little bit angrily saying her name fjsjdjdjd adora wakes up with a shock and catra is sitting on top of her. HHHHHH. okay. adora shoves catra off and catra is like ???? damn what usually u pull me closer and hug me when i wake u up😔😔 wtf. but catra grabs adora’s wrists to calm her down anyway and gives her this pretty reassuring look, and she jokes “heh, since when do you sleep in? u usually wake up early to flirt with me!” as we all know adora gets nightmares even from her days in the horde so catra just treats this as normal and tries to make adora feel better as usual. ground her and say lighthearted things to make adora remember that she is safe. i mean technically the universe is collapsing in on itself rn so making adora feel safe isn’t the Best thing to do but catra also thinks the fake reality IS reality atm so that’s not her fault <3 adora is confused about how she got “here” and catra finds this strange because adora is in her room! she has her own room now, because she’s force captain! which makes u wonder whether catra and adora would sleep in the same bed if adora was force captain. would catra creep in and sleep in her bed still? would they lock the door and cuddle? oh well! guess we’ll never know! they... are so soft here, just smiling at each other, catra worried about adora, adora smiling back and deciding to just dismiss what happened as a weird dream. “there was something i needed to fix...” “of course you dream about work. there’s nothing to fix adora. everything’s perfect.” hhhh i know everyone in the fake reality thinks Everything’s Perfect too but can we just be gay for a second and think about how a perfect life for catra is just... to be with adora. can we just chomp down on that meaty thought for a sec? :( ok anyway, catra puts her hand on adora’s shoulder and adora smiles and is like wow ur right :) this does feel pretty perfect i mean catra and i are in bed together what could be so wrong💞😜😘👅😎😩 catra pulls adora up to her feet and says “come on, get up” and adora is perfectly happy to just chase after catra. it’s so fucking unfortunate tho that she decides at the last second to pick her ugly ass jacket up. like baby, no. u look perfectly hot as is in that white top. but she needs the jacket to see her force captain badge so she can get Visions or whatever. like goddamn i know the world was collapsing in on itself but imagine if shadow weaver had never been like abusive and the horde was just some chill ass ugly hangout spot instead of a fascist regime. catra and adora really could’ve just been happy huh? :( anyway catra gets kinda annoyed that her gf is not chasing after her any more and instead putting on her ugly ass jacket and looking at it in the mirror. so she’s like “adora! :(“ and adora goes running. she always comes when catra calls for her😌😌😌😌 and then the opening credits play, giving me whiplash. wow that was such a gay fucking cold open. adora walks side by side with catra and is a little weirded out by all the people saluting her and shit. and she’s like lmao wtf what are they all looking at and catra is like u u beautiful idiot. ur hot, and also the invasion of thaymor that u led went perfectly❤️ ur the hero of the hour i’m so proud of you babe❤️ catra is just a proud happy gf who smiles so beautifully and adora is getting more Visions and Flashbacks. but catra is so hot when she’s proud of her that adora decides that she’s gonna be like YEAH OMG I DID THAT WAR CRIME RIGHTS <3 and salutes people like a fucking idiot. and catra does the whole flirty “oh please, you couldn’t have done it without me ;)” bit and wraps her gay arm around gay adora who looks like she’s in heaven, hilariously pushing adora down a bit because catra is SHORT FJSJDJDJD and adora is like “rightttt ;) what would i ever do without you ;)” and man to be a horde soldier witnessing their flirting. i would start yelling slurs at them immediately. adora elbows catra with her arm and they both laugh, but the force causes catra to bump into a horde soldier. and the soldier makes the fatal mistake of reacting normally and being like HEY WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING TWERP and catra is not amused. adora puts her hands on her hips, glaring at the soldier, and he immediately gets so fucking scared. and the soldier is like UHUHUH FORCE CAPTAIN I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE— I’M SO SORRY. didn’t know she was what? DIDN’T KNOW SHE WAS WHAT???? gay????? banging this angry catgirl????? in the middle of flirting with her??????? WHAT DOES IT MEAN. what does it ALL mean?????? and adora is just like YEAH U BETTER BE >:( disMISSED >:( like fucking WHAT?????? yeah how dare u get mad at my gf for bumping into you. it is YOUR fault for existing while we were roughhousing as part of a very intricate ritual. u ruined the FLOW of our flirting u jackass. u fucking bitch. now we gotta start all over again :( and then like the soldier leaves while v terrified and keeps bowing at them and catra and adora just bursts out laughing at each other. they’re that lesbian couple who will bully u in school and feel zero remorse for it. that is so fucking sexy. i wish that were me. catra proceeds to make fun of the soldier she bumped into and didn’t even apologize to all “oh, force captain, don’t hurt me! UHAHASHUAH” and adora plays along with the re-enactment by posing and acting tough. catra really do be flexing her privilege as gf of everyone’s boss huh. she’s that secretary who WILL spit in your coffee and kick you in the shin all because the CEO is in love with her and they’re like slamming ass. catra is like. just straight up rubbing it in everyone’s faces that she’s untouchable because adora is in love with her. that’s just. that’s just greaaat. they both start laughing again at their own jokes. and yeah they’re both pretty funny people but like ok lesbians. have fun being happy or whatever. catra is like “too good” and adora is like hehehe baby!!!! where are we going again and catra is like to the locker room!! there’s something i wanna show you😘😘😘 because you know they’re in love. them just walking down a corridor together feels like a straight up date. adora thinks they’re taking The Long Way instead of this shortcut she knows with a side door but that door is gone and suddenly this throws Doubt again. and i guess that door got swallowed up by the reality-collapsing portal but damn adora :/ what’s wrong with taking the long way? :/ too good to spend some quality time w ur gf? :/ JFJSJDJ anyway catra is like what? no this way is the right way :) the scene can be read as cute gfs who argue about directions even tho it’s just a walk to the locker room ❤️ i wouldn’t say it’s the right way to read the scene bc the point is that parts of reality as adora knows it is disappearing but shhh. i am gay <3 catra immediately starts worrying about adora again and she’s like DO U HAVE A CONCUSSION :( and like grabs adora’s face which is so cute. she also accidentally shoves adora towards her chest so adora has No Choice but to stare :) good for you adora “i know you get hit on the head a lot” JFKSKDKSJDJD man but catra gf goals tho :( get u a girl who will check if u have a concussion because you get hit on the head a lot, most of it accidents 😩😩😩 “but i figured your dumb little hair poof would cushion the blow” HDHJSSHAHSHSHSH GET YOU A GIRLFRIEND WHO WILL LOVE YOU EVEN THO UR HAIR POOF IS DUMB😳😳😳 adora is a tiny bit >:( about being roasted for her hair choices and also a bit >:) because catra touched her and she’s like LMAOOO IM ALL CHILL M8 😩👌🏻💅🏻😎 “don’t make me kick your butt” as she shoves catra. wow adora! watch where you’re putting your hands! jk i know i know :) you simply have no choice because the only place to shove someone is to push their tiddies :) i understand and approve :) catra responds to adora’s threats with “pft ;) as if you could” which is just yet another invitation for them to “fight” :). u know how i feel about catradora and their roughhousing? it’s like. u know how people talk about men fighting each other as an excuse to touch? i feel like catradora said yeah that’s ours now. and they’re right. it’s theirs. they literally. they fucking giggle and shit as they start shoving and hitting each other all the way to the locker room. and lonnie is like SURPRISE and adora’s reaction is so funny she legit looks like she got mad p*ssy blocked and she’s like the FUCK. and catra isn’t as mad bc she kind of like planned this cute like i love you adora❤️ surprise party. because it’s a surprise party! for adora! adora is like damn whats this?? grey ration bar cake w my face drawn on it? also from the looks of the drawing i feel like catra definitely drew it. isn’t that so fucking cute. adora hugs lonnie (yay) and kyle (what the fuck gross???) and she’s like u guys 😩😩😩u got the gray kind.... that’s way better than the brown kind.... lonnie is like “hey, it was catra’s idea!” implying that catra definitely specifically told them to make the cake out of the gray ration bars, not the brown ones. and adora. let’s all take a deep breath. she goes. “oh yeah? ;)” in the most. insufferably flirty way ever. like in that Wow This Was All You Huh ;) way, with her stupid hands on her stupid hips giving catra this 😏😏😏😏😏😏 look. and catra is like ;) casually leaning against the wall, her arms all crossed. it is interesting to note that adora keeps putting her hands on her hips and catra keeps crossing her arms. i think that’s really cute. catra says “eh, whatever, don’t make a big deal about it” but it is a big deal catra. u don’t just plan cute surprise parties for anyone. and the fact that this is YOU we’re talking about? for catra planning a thoughtful surprise party catered to adora’s tastes all because she’s proud of her accomplishments..... is on par with proposing marriage. adora won’t let catra live this down tho. “wow, i can’t believe you like me ;) that is so embarrassing for you!” and she grabs catra for head scratches. catra giggles and pushes against adora saying “stop it😳😳(no don’t stop bro don’t stop😩😩) get off 🙄🙄 (wait actually don’t get off😩😩) this is not 😡 because i like you😳😳(it’s because i love you💞)” and she shoves adora off only to IMMEDIATELY pounce on adora, making adora laugh so fucking happily. kyle is secretly a lesbophobe tho so when he sees this gay display he’s like WUUUUOHOH I DROP CAKE :( and we get this VERY quick frame of catra and adora with their fingers interlocked before they pull apart at the crash and look at kyle. that is so fucking rude of u kyle. we could’ve gotten a few more seconds of catra and adora interlacing their fingers but NO. fuck u. thankfully, the euphoria of being gay is still burning strong for catra and adora, so they laugh happily instead of beating the shit out of kyle. how sweet <3 adora sees the word MARA in one of the cake pieces, and she’s very thrown off right before catra holds her shoulder and is like “hang on, you got something right... THERE!” and she like throws grey bar sludge into adora’s face ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 u know? how you pal around with your gals? adora rubs the grey cake stuff off her face, and then.... ugh i don’t even wanna say her name. we were all having such a good gay time :( [redacted] walks in and tells adora to get off the floor, and tells catra to get herself cleaned up. and [redacted] tells adora to come with her. adora gazes gayly upon catra’s face who gives her a reassuring smile that tells adora she’s okay, so adora runs along. catra looks lovingly at adora while she walks away. shadow weaver praises adora’s successful war crime and adora is like i couldn’t have done it without the others aka catra <3 and in this fake reality she succeeded in persuading shadow weaver to let catra come with her! adora goes to the force captain briefing and gets roasted by scorpia because scorpia is still like. jealous of adora because you know..... you know how you hate the person your crush is in love with? yeah <3 adora freaks out because the universe is falling apart and she keeps getting visions from her real life. and then catra appears, and all the weirdness stops for a moment. i think it is so interesting how the world starts falling apart faster when catra isn’t there, but when catra is there things in the fake reality start to look and feel a little more normal. it’s like.... catra and adora’s connection is so strong that when they’re together... they can stabilize the collapse of a reality. just for a little while. just to have a little more time together. their gay levels are THAT strong. they’re like level 5000 lesbians. and they just keep leveling up as the show goes on which is why by s5 they can defeat an intergalactic conquerer just by making out LMAOOOOO anyway. catra is very worried about her wife. she’s all “adora, what is wrong?” yeah she’s so worried she doesn’t even use a contraction. adora takes out the slip of paper and shows it to catra. “did you write this?????” and catra looks at it and is like “did i write a blank piece of paper? i’m gonna go with no.” which. KFKDKFKDKFKDKFFJ BROOOO WHY IS THAT SO FUNNY. it’s like not supposed to be funny because adora is having a meltdown but it’s so fucking funny i—moving on. adora starts properly freaking out and catra is like hey :( u ok omg :( calm down :( and she puts her hand on adora’s shoulder but adora swats it away like I CAN’T CALM DOWN :( and she starts rambling and referencing stuff that happened and this vision of catra betraying adora in promise shows up (i think it’s catra’s memory?????) and catra slaps adora. which. HEY :( but also it’s like very funny. and adora is like ow :( what was that? :( and catra is like sowwy!!!! :( u were freaking out!!!! and it was freaking me out!!!!! :( and adora is like well u didn’t have to Slap Me :(((((( and is like why would my evil catgirl gf do this. have i not loved her enough :( is this the thanks i get for loving her with my entire heart :( and catra grabs her arm and is like come on!!!! let’s get you outside!!!! you need some air :) and oh. oh man. oh to have my hand/arm lovingly held by a girl as she giggles and excitedly drags me somewhere. the fucking dream. adora protests against getting air which (??????) u don’t want air? but u need air? to breathe? i know adora is just trying to say she doesn’t need to like go to her and catra’s secret place at the highest edge of the horde but then oh guess what? she’s there with catra. and adora is like how did we get here.... and catra looks depressed because her gf is losing it and that’s so sad 😔 she’s like how did we get here? we climbed up :( like we always do :( or am i the only one who remembers that :( and adora is like idk what’s happening to me :( it’s like i’m losing my mind..... and catra is like you just need to relax <3 by hanging out with me <3 and adora is like ur probs right :( am fine :( everything fine :( and she gets this glimpse of catra and catra smiling evilly at her but catra gets up and is like huh! ofc im right! Everything’s Perfect! soon, the two of us are gonna be ruling etheria together, just like we always planned 😺😸😹😻😼😽😾🙀 and quietly, adora goes “is that what you really want? to rule the world?” and catra gets this UHHHHH look akin to when someone asks u “hey, do you like apples? or are you just gay for me?” and you gotta awkwardly answer “what.... nooooo..... i’m not gay i fucking love apples” and so catra gets the exact face that expresses this sentiment and she’s like “i mean, yeah, obviously. isn’t that what you want too?” and it’s like UGHHHH because clearly neither of them want to rule the world! ruling the world was just an excuse for catra to be with adora, and when adora inevitably says “hey maybe we shouldn’t rule the world” catra will take it to mean “i don’t want to be with you” instead of “ruling the world is bad” and it’s just. it really tears me the fuck up bros! when catra says don’t you want to rule the world too? she really means don’t you want to be with me? and it’s just. HHHHHHHHH. i can NOT. i have had it up to HERE. adora says “i don’t know (re ruling the world lmao i went on a tangent earlier)” and catra is like “don’t flake out on me now!” like ruling the world is meeting up for lunch and suddenly adora texted at 11:30 am that she’s not really feeling up to it today :/ “this is what we always wanted”, catra continues to say, and we all know that “this” is..... the freedom to be with each other, without everything else getting in the way. “everything will be perfect as long as we stay together”. and she is right about that. but also catra’s current definition of them “staying together” isn’t right. adora and catra were always supposed to meet halfway. they will both have to grow to do that. but let’s not get 2 deep😩 i am here to have meltdowns and make gay jokes only😌 and then adora says “what if we don’t stay together? what if it all goes wrong?” which is like. damn that’s the show right there KFKSJDJSJDJ and adora sees lightning again and she gets upset because why can’t catra see the reality-cracking lightning too!!!! why can’t catra see the light!!!!! why can’t she see that she should be doing good things and not evil things!!!!! why can’t she see that she should be coming with me, running away with me, being with me in a place that’s safe!!!!! and catra grabs her hand and is like “adora!!! stay with me, okay? :( you’re just seeing things. it’s all in your head” and it is all so terribly tragic and sad. ah, the age old argument. come with me, stay with me. i will be whispering this in decades’ time, spreading gay tales to my loved ones. after this, lonnie is calling for adora and catra. “thought we’d find you up there” FJSJDJSJDJD the way it’s just like an open secret that catra and adora are gay and have a gay hangout spot where they do gay things. incredible. adora finds out an entire week has passed all of a sudden and she grips her head in frustration and catra is like adora? :( and holds her in concern. and adora is like ranting about how there’s something wrong with space and time!! and catra is just freaked out and begging her to stop because adora please! please stop finding the destruction of reality weird and hold my hand! i haven’t been happy since the day you left! and.... hoo okay sadness. catra’s holding her arm and adora’s like we’re not supposed to be here!!! catra holds her upper arms and goes “adora, everything’s okay!” and adora snaps and tells her to stop saying that! because this isn’t right! because she will lose everything, including catra, if she does not fix this. “everyone keeps telling me everything is perfect but it’s not! everyone except... scorpia” so she runs away to find her and catra is like adora!!! adora, where are you going? please don’t go. don’t go where i can’t follow😔😔 but adora is gone. we get this whole thing with scorpia and adora and adora is straight up just so petty. about scorpia hating her. which mood because i want everyone to like me. all the time. but also adora in scorpia’s defense she has a crush on a certain catgirl who will Not Shut Up about you :/ adora gets flashbacks about catra and realizes that the girl she’s been inappropriately touching for the past.... day? is the one who did the thing that is destroying reality❤️ LMAOOOOO this would be like... hm actually not many situations available to describe this. except. have you been flirting with the thing that’s been trying to kill us? have you been in love with the thing that’s been trying to kill us? yeah stuff like that <3 “catra did this. she captured me, she took... the sword. she activated the portal!” LFKSKDKSKDKDK you know what? this would be 58384848484 times funnier if they had canonically banged during the fake reality before adora realized the world as they all knew it was about to end <3 and you know what? they did bone. but it was cut for time <3 KFKDKDKDK JKJK god i need to like shut up for once in my life. but if i did that, these evaluations which no one asked for would not exist❤️ adora loses scorpia and razz (temporarily) and lonnie and she finds catra again! even tho she now remembers that catra kidnapped her and took her sword and used it for the portal and activated her portal.... she immediately grabs catra and pulls her along with her. despite knowing all that..... for the moment she is acting on instinct and doesn’t care. she just wants to keep catra with her and keep catra safe because the portal is swallowing up so many people and she cannot lose catra. adora drags her to this weapons closet that closes behind them and catra, instead of kissing her in this enclosed space (WIMP), shakes her and is like hey! you’ve officially lost it, haven’t you? and adora is like listen, we have to go. now! scorpia, lonnie, kyle, rogelio, they’re all gone! but catra is like what are you talking about? who’s gone? and adora’s all they’re gone. there’s nothing left. and we’ll be next if we don’t get out of here right now. and she’s so firm about it putting her entire foot down because No. not catra. she Cannot lose her. but catra is so stuck in wanting some part of all this to be real that she’s arguing with adora that she’s not making sense and Everything Is Fine. and adora goes “don’t say it’s Perfect. i know it’s not perfect and so do you!” because... she just knows catra that well. and she knows catra is smart enough to see what’s going on if scorpia did that too. catra’s choosing to repress it all, but adora’s words snap catra into memory for a moment, and she remembers it, maybe even remembers it all, and i think.... it all just hurts too much and she’d rather not be in that reality so she acts like she doesn’t know a thing and tells adora she’s not going anywhere. frustrated because she can’t convince catra, adora picks up one of the stun barons and... tases catra KFKSKDKDKDKSKDK and i can’t help but think of when catra tased adora back in sword part 2 (1x02) and man that is not good but also so funny that they’ve both tased each other. there’s this desperation there in both instances that we should definitely not romanticize at all but they just. deep down they will just do close to anything to keep the other with them. and it is messed up! and i’m glad that a little ways down the road they unlearn this but also.... wow. adora catches catra tenderly in her arms as she slumps against her, literally fucking BRIDAL CARRYING catra out and running away from the crumbling horde. literally IMAGINE IF LIKE. catra did not wake up and fight with adora. imagine if catra had stayed passed out longer and adora had fixed the portal without anyone getting left behind. and catra was still unconscious and she like walks out of the portal back into where they all were with catra in her arms like that. just like hey i fixed the portal :) all of us nearly died and it was kind of partially this catgirl’s fault but i’m like low key desperately in love with her so can we keep her? lmao :-) anyway. adora steals a skiff again (lmao first ep throw back! remember their date) and flies her and catra out of the crumbling world. catra wakes up, watching adora’s determined face as she flies them out and catra’s like WAIT WTF DIDN’T U TASE ME and is like hypocritically fighting adora trying to grab the stun baton. bad idea! adora’s DRIVING you don’t attack the driver!! but catra does not often make good decisions </3 the skiff crashes and they both fall off. they get up, look at each other angrily and run after the stun baton. catra grabs it first but adora hits it out of her hand and grapples catra who continues to keep reaching for the weapon. ��catra, you can’t. we need to get as far from the fright zone as possible or we’ll be completely erased along with everything else.” “you think you can convince me by kidnapping me?” well no but goddamn the world is COLLAPSING catra PLEASE :( also is the power of love not enough? catra she loves you she’s in love with you she would pull you from the depths of hell even if you threw everyone in there in the first place!!!!!! that’s how deep this runs because that’s not even a metaphor adora has identified you as the main party who brought upon this reality ripping portal and still!!! she wants you saved. is that not fucking hot? :/ is that not sexy enough for you? :/ KFKSKDKSKDK jkjk okay catra continues with “what is wrong with you?!” and throws adora over her shoulder. not to like. ruin a very heated and serious moment in the show. but catra throwing adora like it’s nothing is like... very strong..... and when you remember how adora likes strong girls........ KFKDKDKDKDKDKDJ adora b like ow that hurts 😔 u free next friday? 😳 catra goes up to the stun baton again and adora kicks it away. “i won’t leave you behind again.” “why can’t you just stay? we have everything we ever wanted.” BITCH THE WORLD IS COLLAPSING IN ON ITSELF. THERE’S A PORTAL EATING UP REALITY. STAY WHERE? “it’s not real, catra.” YES. save the world first, and then after this you can play rock paper scissors and the loser will go with the winner❤️ wouldn’t it be so funny if they did that. if they decided to leave it up to chance. if adora was like well the horde is evil but if you beat me in rock paper scissors i guess i will follow you wherever you go. and then they like fix the portal and everyone is like yay hey adora lets go back to bright moon! and she’s like yeah uh i gotta hash out this situation with my gf real quick uh just a little heads up i might be bringing the horde’s best strategist and leader over to our side OR i might be fighting for the bad people again :/ so wish me luck and everyone just had to stand there and watch as adora and catra held their hands out and went ROCK PAPER SCISSORS SHOOT anyway. “as much as i wish that things could be simple the way they used to be, there’s no going back.” and she holds catra gently and in many ways i think she’s sort of acknowledging that she really, really just wants that light hearted playful dynamic with catra back. they both just experienced it again. they both just threw themselves back into it again. and adora really wants to be happy with catra, she would stay with catra if she could, but she has overwhelming responsibilities and an overwhelming sense of responsibility that was instilled in her from a young age. and she thinks she shouldn’t get to choose her happiness, to put herself first. also like. THE HORDE IS EVIL DJSJDJSNDNSJS like. that’s a really important part too. it’s kind of hard for catra to distinguish that though because she’s had very. evil things done to her all her life. and she held on for so long because she thought adora would always be there with her but then adora walks away and makes it seem like. it could have been that easy. but it can’t have been that easy because if it was so easy why did catra have to suffer so much for? also adora didn’t run away to save catra. she had this destiny thrust upon her, and she chose to leave the horde before inviting catra along, which is not wrong of her at all, but it inevitably made catra feel like an afterthought. and now... things are kind of damaged. and catra just wants to run if adora won’t stay, so she shoves adora and takes off and adora lunges after her, tackling her, and adora decides to confront catra about the big elephant in the room, the thing she’s not said a thing about to catra until now when they’re fighting because she was so desperate to save catra before. “why did you do it?” “i don’t know what you’re talking about!” which is a lie but now that she really gets to see the consequences of her rage and anguish filled actions, i don’t think catra can properly explain it either. she was just so angry and she had built this narrative in her head that it was adora’s fault, and so she just wanted to do everything that adora didn’t want her to do. except u failed catra😔 adora wants you to love her and you do, you do love her😔 oopsie😔 you just don’t show it in healthy ways most of the time because your relationship is fraught with tragedy and abusive upbringings💔 adora gives up questioning catra for the moment because “there’s no time. we have to go.” catra grunts as adora’s childhood promise plays in her mind and it is overlaid with the adora of the present telling her “i promise, everything will be okay if we just stay together.” and goddamn adora really means it. she’s literally willing to patch everything up together even after everything if catra will just Decide right here, right now, to go with her. right then, the memory of adora first asking catra to come with her plays and adora is asking her, “help me fix this, please, this can’t be what you wanted” because adora knows! she knows how caught up catra was, in her pain and anger and desperation to win, to overcome all the times she lost growing up. she believed that catra, with her loving heart that saved adora everyday they knew each other growing up, could not have wanted to erase all of reality. to erase what they had. but just because adora knows that doesn’t mean catra does. all the rage and pain and resentment that led to her opening the portal, it is still there, and it is still affecting her judgement in a bad way, and by reminding her that she cannot just repress it all, that she cannot just play pretend with adora until their time is up,,,, this leads her to lash out again :( :( :( “don’t you get it? i am never going to go with you.” i wanna be like sad but also this bitch straight up LYING remember that other time she said “don’t you get it?” remember what came after that? so maybe catra in this moment is too angry and consumed by self hatred, too proud to admit she wants adora when she thinks adora doesn’t want her the way she wants her.... but “never”? lmaooooo ok :/ catra evil gay laughs and goes “you always have to go and ruin it, don’t you?” ruin what???? the illusion????? the pretenses you work so hard to keep to cover up how deep the feelings you both have run??? catra lunges for adora and fights with her, scratching and missing because adora is dodging and catra’s heart is too.... sigh..... she’s too fucking gay to really bring it ok? no matter how angry she is she still loves adora too much to give it her best. adora doesn’t fight back, mostly defending and pushing catra away. “catra, look what’s happening. you’re going to destroy everything!” catra stomped on her heart and she still wants to Convince her, which is really sad, for now, for both of them. and catra goes feral and is like “i don’t care! i won’t let you win. i’d rather see the whole world end than let that happen.” :( bro? this song is so sad. can we change it? sigh. catra is too far gone at the moment. everything, even the slightest concession to adora, even at the expense of existence, is like admitting defeat to catra. and when catra says she’d rather see the whole world end than let adora win, she’s also saying she’d let herself... die. and that is just so sad. bro who gave season three the right. like... i am so exhausted. i am just trying to call some bitches out for being gay, i did not sign up for all this pain. i am so exhausted. this episode is twenty odd minutes or so. you know how many hours i’ve spent writing this? it’s not anyone’s fault but mine for being extra, but man i am so tired. i love seeing catradora interact, but god, at what cost? the portal rips up the ground between them, and catra grabs at adora, clutching onto her badge. i cannot tell if she was just trying to take it off or she wanted to grab adora and pull her close too. “catra, no!” adora grabs catra’s wrist but the badge falls off and catra falls too. “catra!” catra is on some rock in the falling heap, and adora reaches for her but she’s too far away. still, she keeps her hand outstretched. but catra, who’s hanging on by a rock at this point, gives her this look of... almost helplessness. that then hardens into resentment and anger and she just. lets go. and adora, who has tears in her eyes, is just. she absolutely crumbles here. and she runs a good distance away and falls to her knees and just starts SOBBING. she is just crying so hard over losing catra AGAIN and it’s just. That’s Too Much, Man! thankfully, razz shows up and is like stop crying bitch u can still save her ❤️ so adora decides to stop crying for all time and gets to work❤️ 10/10 but also did i ask? :/ yes i did and i am in so much pain right now. my god what an episode

the portal: it’s so fucking refreshing not seeing catradora for a bit <3 i spent hours watching remember ok. here i am now starting the last ep at least a full week later because of how much it was. sometimes this show is too gay <3 i love it tho! i do <3 it’s just hard having to pause and replay every five seconds and write an essay about the tiniest thing <3 and i know what you’re thinking <3 no one asked me to do this <3 no one asked me to be so extra <3 and yet <3 anyway, more than half of the ep passes with adora losing bow and glimmer in the end, but as she’s crying on her knees again she lifts her head up and corrupted!catra touches her forehead with one finger. oh <3 that’s gay <3 anyway, catra’s here because she died but she’s got like nine lives so she’s back now and infected by the collapsing portal. oh great! we get what is probably the most cursed ḩ̵͕̺̯͚̞͈̰̤͎̥̗̳͂̽̃̄͌̎̅̈́̏̎͘͝͝ẻ̷͇͚͈̤̪̖̜̥̥̱̼̅̒͌͗͝y̴̥̺̓͌͊͌̊͒͌̏̔̕͝ ̶̧̟̤̠̯̱̳͕̙̯̔ͅá̶̤͉͕̱̰̮̺̮̝̗̱̲͓̺̯̒͐͐d̵̨̟̖̦̈̑̄̌̍̆̀̾̊̑̽͗͝͠ȏ̷̧̢̨̞̮͇̟̘̘̠̼̊͆̐̉̉̀̌̿̚ͅŗ̴̢̬͚͉̦̘̪̜̥̑̔̈́̀̒͂͗͜͠ͅą̸̡̡͕͈͚͕̼͔̳͔̖̙̯̱̓͗̊́. the look on adora’s face when she’s greeted with this is very interesting. she gives catra this little once over. on one hand, catra isn’t gone like adora thought when she had lost her into the collapsing portal, but also something about this catra definitely doesn’t look right. catra then proceeds to slam adora into another dimension. flat against the bar table in the crimson waste... and ngl it looks like. catra slammed her on the table for :/ stuff :/ that’s like :/ you know :/ banging :/ and adora even looks around for a moment because catra isn’t there and adora’s thinking damn where u at catra? :/ so you didn’t slam me against this table for... no? :( we aren’t gonna slam ass? :( but then surprise surprise! catra straddles her at the last moment! adora gasps and catra is like oh... where are your friends? in that unsettling corrupted tone. notice how adora has been silent this entire time. so horny you couldn’t speak bitch? :/ sadly, catra lunges for adora and adora realizes that catra is still evil and that she isn’t going to kiss her gently on the lips after all 😔 adora grabs catra by the arm and pulls her close. she puts her other hand on catra’s shoulder. adora baby.... you don’t need to touch her with both hands. are you that gay? yes. why am i even asking that question. “catra, stop. you have to–“ catra pushes her face aside. “it’s always the same with you, adora. i have to do this, oh we have to do that!” and then they’re like gay struggling against each other? and catra pulls adora up and holds her tight against her, adora’s arm bent over catra’s shoulder to keep her there. then with her other arm she wraps her elbow around adora’s other arm to further restrain her? and then she puts her face right against adora’s cheek. i don’t know how to explain this. it’s just. homoerotic. damn the gays fight like this? catra then tosses adora aside and they land somewhere else. catra says like things to adora that are about her insecurities and stuff. but i’m not gonna get into those <3 isn’t that so sexy of me? instead i will say this. catra kind of like fights one sidedly with adora a lot in this segment where they go through various locations we’ve seen in the show, and she like talks a lot of shit. but let’s focus on how adora’s feeling <3 she goes through it like this. 1) not horny anymore! i’m scared/insecure/angry with catra now 2) catra throws adora into the big chair on mara’s ship and catra slams her hand against it next to adora’s face like how someone might do before you kiss them in movies 3) horny again 4) catra doesn’t say sorry for the mean things corrupted her said and she didn’t kiss her gently on the lips so adora gets her shit together and realizes all the things evil corrupted catra is saying is not her fault! she pushes catra away and is like “i didn’t make you pull the switch. 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!” and in between all that she fights back against catra and at the end she does you know that punch we all know about. but after the punch she calms down from that emotional breakthrough high and gets this :( face. at the end of the day... no matter how far gone catra went, no matter how right she was in setting those boundaries and making it clear catra has to be responsible for her actions, adora cares. adora loves her, it’s the one thing she can’t help. and to see catra sink so deep into the darkness... it hurts her. adora watches catra disintegrate when they fall into the wormhole thing that the portal caused, and she has this like. >:( :( look because adora’s planning to fix everything anyway, the upsetting thing here for her is that she failed to make catra see sense. catra’s likely going back to the horde when all of this is over and there’s nothing adora can do about it. and at the moment i don’t think adora wants to try anymore after failing so many times... which is good for her! but also they are both going to be so sad after this </3 after the whole angella scene (miss that milf) adora gets the sword back and becomes she ra again. we go back to the scene in the horde and catra clutches the side of her face, so we know that was her but it also wasn’t Her, you know? like part of her face got corrupted by the portal and she just had to make sure she was real and whole again. adora comes back as she-ra and destroys the portal, prompting catra to escape. but she looks back at the last moment, looks back angrily, and adora gives her an equally hard stare. she’s done with catra, for the moment, and catra realizes this, and it kind of hits her that this adora is different now. and for a moment she is sad and afraid, but she pulls it together to make a mean face again, before running away. 9/10

#text #she ra #catradora #spop #this is so long i hate myself #please like this and find it funny #also feel free to discuss any of the concepts or scenarios or things or whatever i brought up in here #we are on catradora s3 evaluation lockdown!#also yes i started using emojis here which i did not use for s1 and s2 #have fun reading!#please rb this

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tht-lesbian-fangirl · 4 years

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Do you ever 100% have those days when you believe supercorp is in fact canon in all the ways compared to the het tropes? But there’s the thorn on your side that’s “waiting” on everybody behind the show to “confirm” what we’ve been saying and preaching for years now? And if it highkey comes down to the show pulling a catradora on us with supercorp I’ll be totally fine with it because I’ll just take that as a big fat “I told you so” to the haters. Analysis GO OFF 😚

Dude, you have no idea how many little break downs I have every once in a while because I just feel so confident that Supercorp will happen! Everything in the Supercorp-specific writing, music, cinematic tropes, actress choices, etc. has shown that Kara and Lena will and should be canon. Look, I’m in graduate school for psychology and I haven’t taken a film class in my life. I’ve never even been a big “shipping” person. But I watched Supergirl live all throughout undergrad, often with my straight friends (who were less into the show) and even they noticed all the things that we "delusional" fans discuss.

Iconic Superhero/Love interest tropes

The Hero having to choose between saving their LI or kids/city/world, but miraculously save both. May I present Exhibit A:

The LI standing between the Hero and their one weakness: literally every time Lena has built anti-kryptonite suits, protected Kara before she knew her identity, and specifically Exhibit B:

Dramatic saves of the LI: I present the longing looks mid-rescue for Exhibit C:

The Hero running flying toward certain death to save their LI: Kara disregards a kryptonite bomb in Exhibit D:

The LI being the last to know the hero's identity, but Hero will still risk their identity to save the LI: Everyone say hello to Exhibit E:

The Hero finding strength from their LI: the CW sure loves using El Mayarah in Supercorp posts! And social media aside, we've seen how confident and strong Lena makes Kara, both in dialogue and visually. (And it's a bonus that Kara makes Lena stronger too!)

Everything with food

Kara literally referred to food as a love language when talking to Nia. Only an episode or so away from bringing Lena food from 3 different countries. And let’s remember how Kara offered to fly to Italy for her first date with James...

Kara also always brought Lena food, even before season 5. That was their Thing.

We also have to talk about the absences of food: Kara dropping potstickers at Pulitzer ceremony when she sees Lena and not accepting Dansen’s invitation to get food after her falling out with Lena.

It was established all the way back in Season 1 (very much so in the fun Flash crossover) that Kara thinks food is more important than everything and will often use it as a coping mechanism when she’s sad (like in Season 2/3 about Mon). Yet, she’s so devastated over Lena that she can’t even eat her favorite foods? Interesting.

Color schemes and certain shots

The red/blue color scheme consistently used with Supercorp, with exception to the purple tones used in Season 5 to represent their conflict.

No other love interest for Kara has consistently used that iconic Super/LL color palet. Not James, Mon, William, or the two episodes with Adam.

I'd like to specifically remind everyone how Kara chose to wear purple with William, against Alex's explicit advice.

There are always lighting choices made with Supercorp shots. No other duo (besides dramatic Danvers sisters shots) seem to have such artistic care.

Do I even need to mention the balcony scenes? Both at the Pulitzer Ceremony and in scenes from multiple seasons where Kara has hovered over Lena's balcony-- most notably in 5x03.

Like seriously, do I need to mention the scene from 5x08 where Kara and Lena are looking longingly at the same picture of the two of them?

Music

If I know anything as a musician, I know scores. And Blake Neely has created certain melodies just for Supercorp saves. There’s the typical “Supergirl hero” melody, but it’s rarely used for scenes with Lena (besides the one instance in 5x07 cliff scene, when Neely combines the Leviathan theme with the Supergirl theme).

If you want to listen to examples: the brief save in 2x15 and the plane save in 3x05. Both melodies are unique, unreleased scores that (to my musical knowledge) have not been repeated with other Kara rescues.

Also, can we talk about how Supercorp has their own heroic theme, composed specifically for the 100th episode? Played by a live orchestra? For the one AU where Kara and Lena were partners from the start?

Decisions made by Melissa and Katie

We know they've known about Supercorp since at least the end of Season 2. Melissa showed Katie and they've been aware for years.

Yet, they play into the Supercorp dynamic. Longing stares, giggly dialogue, tear filled eyes, etc.

Regarding Melissa specifically: for her directorial debut she made two significant decisions. 1. She chose to have a camera pan over the room during Lex's speech, showing only Lena noticing Kara leaving and upset. 2. She dressed Lena in two comics Lois Lane outfits, one of which in red to parallel Kara's blue.

Melissa also has played Kara's interractions with Lena very similarly to how she played the Kara/James dynamic in Season 1. Something she chose not to do with Mon or William. But let's get into my next point...

Direct parallels with heterosexual superhero couples most on the CW

This includes Westallen, multiple iterations of Clois, Olicity, WonderTrev, Karolsen, PeterMJ, Deckerstar, Brainia, SpiderGwen, Lanolsen...need I go on??

On my blog, I have them tagged as: supercorp and hetero hero parallels

Individual ships are tagged as: [couple]/supercorp (ex. clois/supercorp)

Apologies for just giving links, but damn if I wrote all of the parallels out then it would probably take days and this post would be absurdly long.

And let’s not forget all the parallels Supercorp has with canon w/w

This includes Korrasami, Catradora, Clexa, Dansen, Avalance, Harlivy, Sanvers, etc.

I have these examples tagged similarly to the het examples: supercorp and canon sapphic parallels (same with individual ones)

You’ll notice there are actually more posts and parallels between Supercorp and het couples (the couples that most non-LGBT fans think of as more valid lmao), so take that as you will🙃

Despite the mistreatment of Supercorp fans, and LGBT fans in general, by some actors and crew, and despite the tone deaf plot lines and usage of characters, Supercorp has consistently held up with all of my points stated above. That's why I still have days where I can just feel it in my bones that Supergirl is playing the slow burn game with Supercorp. It clearly won't be as well-done as Catradora, because of how much sh*t they've pulled over the seasons. But just like you, I have days where I get strong feelings that maybe it’s all part of their poorly thought out plan and we’ll get that validation and happiness.

#sorry for the delay anon!#i had to finish up something for school before i could jump into This #also plz forgive my horrendous gifs. they aren't my Thing #supercorp #supergirl analysis #asks

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spookyboogie3 · 3 years

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The trope Last Minute Hookup shouldn’t be used for LGBTQ+ relationships.

AND DEFENDING MY LAST POST ABOUT THIS.

I DO NOT hate any of these pairings. A good many of them could have been handled differently by the creators, writers, and networks. But this isnt me hating the relationships or characters or shows. Just going off about how they shouldnt have been tacked on at the end of their respective series.

As of writing this all of these shows have ended their original runs. Except for Supernatural which is on its last few episodes. And Supergirl, which announced its coming to end with season 6.

LGBTQ characters and relationships aren’t as common in the media as straight-cis characters and relationships. Sure things are improving but a lot of networks and writers still don’t fully understand why representation is important why they can’t keep using the same throwaway tropes they’ve been using for the straight-cis relationships.

You could name any piece of media and find and name one character that isn’t LGBTQ+, but you can’t do this with LGBTQ+ characters. We haven’t gotten to the point where they are as common as non-LGBTQ characters.

I have a whole paper I wrote on why asexual representation is important to have in the media and the same logic applies to any part of the LGBTQ+ or anything that falls under minority.

Back to the topic on hand. The trope of “Last Minute Hookup.”

Its exactly what it sounds like. Characters get to together at the very end of the story. These characters could have a on and off again relationship, lots of ship teasing, the classic “Will They or Wont They?” trope. What makes it different for non-LGBT characters in relationships to do this, we know what these relationships look like. Not to say the that both Non and LGBT relationship cant have similar struggles, however members of the LGBTQ+ community know how hard it is to feel like your identity and self matters and is normal.

I know that the whole “will they, wont they” thing is done for drama and networks and showrunners think if they give the fans what they want that they’ll start losing viewers and they have nothing to look forward to. Which is true to some degree. But most of this comes from the writers not knowing how to fucking write relationships.

Let’s just focus on whats it like to be in a non-straight relationship.

Heres an example: you have an action series, with 2 male leads and halfway through the show, they get together. Cool. Now you have a Battle Couple.

By making LGBTQ relationships happen at the end of a series that’s already had plenty of other non-LGBTQ relationships happen before it, it makes it look like the people in charge don’t care for it or were afraid of backlash. But it’s the end of the series so its not like they can get the show cancelled or anything. (The only people who are going to lash out at LGBT couple or characters are homophobic people, we don’t want them around any way so just make stuff super gay, so they’ll leave)

This is especially a problem when the writer and network have spent the whole series queerbaiting the audience with these characters.

Side note for anyone is doesn’t actually know what queerbaiting is:

It’s a marketing technique used in entertainment, which the writer or creators hint at but then don’t actually depict sex-same romance or LGBTQ representation. They do this to attract (bait) the LGBT/queer or straight ally audience into the show with the suggestion of representation but at the same time avoiding this as not alienate other audience members *cough* (homophobes) *cough*

Definition is from Wikipedia, not a reliable source says my highschool teachers and college professors but fuck em

The Legend of Korra is a great example of Last-Minute Hookup. Korra and Asami had VERY little ship teasing, and that was in the last 2 books/seasons. Any thing that was perceived as romantic came from the fans wearing shipping goggles. So to a lot of people just casually watching, yes this looked like it came out of nowhere. Nickelodeon had some serious balls to say how brave they were for putting 2 girls into a romantic relationship.

Theres a few problems with this.

A. It never actually aired on TV (to my knowledge). The last 2 seasons of Korra were put on Nicks website.

B. The confirmation that this Korrasami was canon had to come from the creators on twitter because of how unclear it was.

C. The show did the bare minimum when it came to hooking them up in the series. They walk off holding hands (very cute btw). They didn’t even get a kiss. Aang and Katara had a Last Minute Hookup at the end of ATLA after 3 seasons of ship tease and THEY GOT A KISS. Hell the original end of LoK*, has Korra and Mako kissing. *(the first season, they didn’t know they were getting more seasons at the time, no matter what you hear the writers say, they’re full of shit)

D. Anything continuation of Korra has come in the form of comics, which her and Asami are in a fairly well written relationship. Yes, they do kiss. Yes it would’ve been great to see this stuff happen in series.

A show that handles this a little bit better is Adventure Time. Not by much though. It implied several times that Princess Bubblegum and Marceline have history together and its shown more and more in its last few seasons that there is some ship tease happening. However its not until the finale where they kiss, and they are shown in the last minute of the show cuddling together in Marcy’s house. HBO has picked up Adventure Time and has a miniseries called Adventure Time: Distant Lands, where Bubblegum and Marceline’s past relationship is shown.

I had brought up in my original post about being upset with networks making LGBTQ+ relationships canon in the last season/episode. I originally had Catradora tagged. While Catra and Adora have history together, they did not become official couple until the end of the series.

Yes, I was wrong about the network making things canon in the last episode as they’ve always had ship tease with each other, and it probably was the writers’ intent to put them together by the end. They do technically fall under the Last-Minute Hookup, however.

I wanna talk about Once Upon a Time really quick. Fans of the show were hoping and wishing for an LGBTQ couple for the show as a lot of characters, especially Regina and Emma, have alot Ho Yay moments. The showrunners weren’t going to put those two together, for whatever reasons they may have for that (im indifferent on all the shipping going on with this show). The showrunners thought to put two characters together, and hoo boy did it not make people happy. The characters they put together are Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Ruby the red riding hood, which would be fine if they had properly been developed.

The entire episode they did this in was a mess. They stopped the current arc during the season 5 episode ‘Ruby Slippers,’ to go over the characters that haven’t been seen in years, Dorothy was introduced and last seen in season 3, and Ruby was introduced in season 1 and was last seen in season 5 before ‘Ruby Slippers’. The characters get together in the same episode the meet in and are never seen again. The characters barely interacted, barely got along, and showed little to no ship tease or interest in each other and BOOM they are in love and together aaaaaannnnndd they’re gone. Other than having One Million Moms, a Christian fundamentalist organization, protest against the show and want it taken off the air (yes this really happened). The fans weren’t please with this development of the characters either.

(also Mulan was right there and already knew Ruby from a previous episode, and Mulan already is established to like girls as shown by her being in love with Aurora. Don’t know why the writers didn’t just put these 2 together but whatever I guess)

So they tried again in season 7 with MadArcher. The characters of Alice, a version of Alice in Wonderland from another realm (its complicated) and Robin, the daughter of Robin Hood and the Wicked Witch (it’s also complicated). And the writers did a lot better here. Both characters were allowed to have time together and have a history together too and it was done over the whole season. Not just one episode.

Now even though the writers decided to do something different with the last season and it could be detached from the previous 6 seasons, MadArcher is not really a Last Minute Hookup per say but still falls under my thing about it being the last season so who gives a fuck if One Million Moms gets mad us and tries to get us cancelled again.

I would like to say I have never watched a single episode of Supernatural in my life. I may one day. But as of right now my knowledge of it is coming primary from what ive seen on tumblr. You know a great source for doing research and looking for reliable information among the piles of shitposting.

From what I know from fans, the writers of Supernatural have been queer baiting for years. I mean it’s the CW, I’m not that surprised. What also wouldn’t surprise me, that by the end of the series Castiel is back and he and Dean actually start and relationship or strongly hint at starting one. I actually fear for the writer lives if they threw out a confession scene after years of queerbaiting and potential ship tease (debatable) and they don’t put them together. Fans are going to be angrier than they probably ever have been with this show and the showrunners and writers really would be known for queer baiting.

From what I know about how previous shows have done and if anyone that has ever worked on this show wants to continue living, Castiel will be back from Super Hell (is that what yall are calling it?) and he will get together with Dean. And they will fall under the Last-Minute Hookup trope and my networks make LGBTQ relationships canon last season.

One last show I want to talk about is Supergirl, which in has been recently announced that the 6th season will be the last. The show started on CBS but moved to the CW after the end of season 1. So more CW bullshit. There is no confirmation about whether the CW or any of the Supergirl writers are planning to do this, its all speculation. Supergirl is more LGBTQ friendly than some other shows on the Network. One of the main characters came out a few years ago and had a girlfriend a season and has had plenty of hookups with other ladies around the Arrowverse. They even introduced a trans-woman superhero in the form of Dreamer.

Let’s talk SuperCorp. Lena Luthor was introduced in the 2nd season and has been a major character in Kara’s life ever since her introduction. Even if she isn’t involved in the plot, Kara always goes to her to talk and check in on her and worry about her. They are best friends. Since the 2 have met, there has been plenty of Les Yay going on. The writers seem to be aware of the fans wanting SuperCorp to be canon and they keep throwing in moments like Kara and Lena struggling together or Kara carrying Lena bridal style.

Why I bring this up after the announcement of Supergirl’s final season to start next year. We may get SuperCorp. Kara has a relationship with William in the show and not a single person likes this relationship. The writers may scrap it and get put Kara and Lena together for the final season. This is a big maybe though. The Supergirl writers and crew get called out a lot for queerbaiting.

Let me know if you guys have any other examples of last season/last episode LGBTQ+ hookup.

And please let me know if you see any mistakes. This was all done in one sitting so I may have some things wrong.

Also check out the video by @aretheygayvideos on this topic too.

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horde-princess · 4 years

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A Meta on Catra’s Relationships with DT, Scorpia, and Adora

I’m so excited to write this finally ljsdflkj okay so. I’ve been thinking about why the creators would choose to center a whole season around this new character Double Trouble. They drove the plot and played a major role in a really important part of the story, Catra’s redemption. So I wanna think more about the purpose of this character and go deeper into a couple of their scenes with Catra.

tbh Catra and DT’s very first interaction says it all: DT literally takes the form of Scorpia and tells Catra “I’m about to become your new best friend.” As the season goes on, Double Trouble replaces Scorpia as a sort of artificial confidant for Catra. But it blows up in her face and the purpose of the whole thing is to shed light on Catra’s main internal conflict: her desire for love vs. her fear of heartbreak/vulnerability.

In other words, I believe Double Trouble was introduced as a foil to Scorpia. But if we think about how Scorpia is also a foil to Adora, then that means DT is like... a foil to a foil. So they’re not directly associated with Adora but a lot of what they do relates back to her. Yeah there are a lot of layers here lmao but basically what I’m gonna analyze is how Catra’s relationships with these three characters intertwine and build off each other in season 4 to set the stage for Catra’s redemption (and catradora endgame hollaaa)

So in the beginning, Catra and DT both understand their relationship to be a business arrangement. When does that start to change for Catra, and why?

Catra’s History With Betrayal

Just think about Catra’s relationships at the start of s4.. After the portal, Adora had basically severed whatever was left of their relationship, and that was shown to be weighing on Catra all season. Scorpia and Entrapta were the only other people she cared about, but Entrapta betrayed her (first by monopolizing Hordak’s attention then by refusing to open the portal), then Scorpia dared to question her decision to send their friend to die and her presence became a constant reminder of Catra’s guilt. In fact, the mere mention of Entrapta’s name in 4x03 causes Catra to snap and yell at Scorpia “we are not friends!” ... which of course isn’t true. Catra may think Scorpia’s annoying but she confided in her, her loyalty made Catra feel like she could trust her.. and that’s exactly why Catra always tried so hard to push her away. All the betrayals in her life scarred her so deeply that she wanted to avoid emotional intimacy at all costs. I’m about to get Jungian up in this shit bc we see a deep disconnect between Catra’s outward actions (her conscious) and her inner desires (subconscious) this season and it’s this i believe that leads to her breakdown in 4x10. It’s an unsustainable way to live.

Why Catra Trusted Double Trouble

So by 4x04, Catra had sabotaged her only two relationships. She was utterly alone, and vulnerable, and Double Trouble was in the right place at the right time offering their loyalty to her.. so Catra did what any emotionally stable person would do and subconsciously used a hired mercenary to try and fill the growing void in her heart. I don’t think Catra actually cared about DT much at all, like sure they got along and that matters on some level, but I think it’s more that Catra was in a vulnerable place and DT was the only one around.

So why does Catra trust Double Trouble when she won’t let herself trust anyone else? I’ve seen some posts saying it’s because Catra is self-destructive--i.e. she only seeks love from people who won’t give it to her because she doesn’t believe she deserves love--which is super true.. but I think her motivations can be better explained by saying that Catra knew from the start that Double Trouble didn’t really care about her, and that’s why the partnership was attractive to her (at first). She thought it would be safe--no vulnerability, no risk of heartbreak. But the truth is Catra’s just not as disaffected as she wishes she was.

The moment Catra really let her guard down was when Double Trouble saved her from the collapsing building in 4x04.

can we just!! talk about this scene!!!! the way her voice shakes when she says “saving me” just, oh my god... like what a touchy subject for her, right? Shes spent her whole life resenting how Adora was always trying to “save” her from everything. I’m not sure but I think White Out (2x05) was the only other time Catra thanked someone for saving her life, and she just says “thanks for getting us out of there.” So her use of the word “save” here is special and it illustrates how deeply vulnerable Catra feels this season, and more importantly it’s a sign of character development! It’s no coincidence that the theme of saving is connected between DT, Scorpia, and Adora. It’s leading up to Catra learning to replace her resentment towards Adora with something closer to gratitude.

But while the scene connects these relationships, it also highlights their differences. After Catra displays an astounding amount of vulnerability with DT, they coolly reply “well, I live to serve... for a price, of course.”

This right here is the first step of Catra’s breakdown. Suppressed desires making themselves known, one half of her heart rebelling against the other. She was pushing away her real friends and finding hollow companionship with someone she thought she wouldn’t get attached to, but it happened anyway.

The difference between Double Trouble and Scorpia must have become glaringly obvious to Catra in that moment. Whereas Scorpia was loyal to Catra out of love, DT was mostly interested in getting paid. And she was surprised by how much that hurt. She fucking hated how much it hurt, you can see it written all over her face. It’s why she fails Scorpia’s little test in 4x06. Because of Double Trouble, Catra’s true desires were threatening to break free, so outwardly she fights against it and acts more resistant than ever to being friends with Scorpia. She castigates her, calls her annoying and incompetent, harsher than we’ve ever seen... but she didn’t expect Scorpia to hit back (we did, tho. Scorpia’s an icon).

In four words Scorpia teaches Catra a hard lesson about what it means to earn someone’s loyalty. She knew she must’ve really fucked up if she somehow managed to push away the most loyal person in all of Etheria. And again the fake nature of Catra’s relationship with Double Trouble provides a reference for her to see why Scorpia’s loyalty, based in love, was so valuable, and why she shouldn’t have taken it for granted. It also relates to Adora because, similar to Scorpia, Adora had been trying so hard these past 3 seasons to connect with Catra, but she refused to forgive her and her behavior eventually forced Adora to cut ties. So Scorpia calling her out pushes Catra towards accepting some personal responsibility for everything that happened with Adora, too. Man there are just.. a ton of implications here.

Then Catra gives Hordak a fun pep talk but really it’s just her self-projecting all over him:

At this point her hateful actions and her goal to conquer Etheria are extremely out of line with her true desires and we can see it’s really affecting her mental state. It wasn’t just one thing or person that caused her breakdown, it was a combination of Adora severing their relationship, and Scorpia’s disappointment in her, and Double Trouble’s indifference towards her. All three of these situations were playing off each other and chipping away at Catra’s carefully crafted armor, revealing a desire to be loved hidden underneath... which she continued to fight against for as long as she could. Adora and Scorpia were playing their roles in helping Catra learn to take responsibility for her life, but those relationships wouldn’t have been so effective had it not been for how they were contrasted with Double Trouble’s indifference. Anyway have I mentioned how amazing and complex this show is????

Catra Loses DT and Scorpia Around the Same Time

4x07 is the last time Catra talks to Double Trouble before they get captured by the rebels. Coincidentally, Catra realizes that Scorpia left her just one episode later, which once again points to a connection between these two characters. From 4x08 to 4x11 Catra is completely alone, feeling like she has lost everyone in her life. It sets the stage for her meltdown in 4x10. But my fave part about Scorpia leaving is how it changes the way Catra thinks about betrayal.

Even if Scorpia didn’t tell Catra where she was going in the note she left, Catra had to have assumed she was leaving to join the Rebellion because where else would she have gone right? So the two people Catra loves most have now BOTH abandoned her to join the rebellion. I don’t even wanna think about how triggering that betrayal must have been for Catra.. I don’t wanna think about how the next time Catra sees Scorpia she’s going to be a full blown princess with powers and everything, just like what happened with Adora.

But there’s a key difference between Adora and Scorpia. Catra knows at this point that Adora didn’t want to leave her behind, but she did anyway to pursue some destiny that Catra wasn’t a part of, which left her feeling betrayed. Scorpia, on the other hand--the very definition of ‘loyalty’--left her specifically because Catra pushed her away. Her fear of vulnerability manifested as anger towards someone she refused to admit that she cared about, and it pushed her away.

Once again I think Scorpia is teaching Catra a lesson about taking responsibility for some of the shit in her life. It’s a privilege that Adora lost after being careless with Catra’s trust, and thus Scorpia was the only one in a position to reach Catra and help her. But I think that the things Catra learned from Scorpia are going to play back into her relationship with Adora and allow them to reconcile (when Adora deals with her own issues too).

We can also say a little about how Double Trouble’s betrayal contrasts with Scorpia’s and Adora’s. I think their complete emotional detachment is the perfect frame of reference for Catra to be able to acknowledge that even though Scorpia and Adora left her, they DID love her, and they never stopped trying to reach out to her--at least, not until Catra crossed a line with both of them. At some point, Catra went from being justified in her feelings of betrayal to overdoing it, placing too much blame where it didn’t belong and closing the door to forgiveness. So I think that’s the role that Double Trouble played there, helping Catra see that difference. Like even if someone leaves you, hurts you, it doesn’t always mean they don’t love you. Relationships take work and understanding and forgiveness and you have to learn how to handle that or you’ll always be alone. Scorpia’s the pure embodiment of that lesson, and she’s lighting the way for Catra to navigate the much more nebulous waters of her grudge against Adora.

Double Trouble’s Betrayal

So now Catra is feeling abandoned by Scorpia and Double Trouble (her only friends) and we see the disconnect between what’s in her heart and the front she’s been putting on come to a head in 4x10 when she has that meltdown. She’s kind of losing it because her fear and heartbreak are driving her down a path that she doesn’t actually want. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. In 4x12 she continues to hold on desperately to the idea that beating Adora will make her happy, because at this point she doesn’t see any way to turn the car around.

There’s an absolutely fantastic scene early in 4x12 that sets up Double Trouble’s betrayal beautifully, like really it’s a masterpiece. Catra’s childhood friends walk in on her in the locker room and they’re laughing and joking around and for a second it’s like... Catra longs to be a part of that again.. To have friends, to be happy. But then Kyle accidentally kicks one of Scorpia’s old doodles (a painful reminder that she’s gone) and Catra freaks out and attacks them. Kyle’s like “we used to be friends, why are you treating us like this?” So she lets them leave, feeling alone and miserable, and THAT’S when Double Trouble waltzes in... having had just made a deal with Glimmer to double cross Catra.

God it hurts so much. The contrast between her pushing away Scorpia and her real friends, and then her childlike relief upon seeing the person who just sold her out.

This scene gives me fucking chills with the nightmare-ish music and everything.. It’s like, at this point DT is just fucking with her, they’ve already got Catra figured out. This face touch is so cruel and fits with the show’s motif of manipulative affection, too. For me it felt very disconcerting to see Catra like this... unaware that she’s been defeated yet she’s so emotionally vulnerable here, she’s like putty in Double Trouble’s hands. Scorpia leaving cracked her open and, as they’re the last person left standing with Catra’s trust, Double Trouble’s in the perfect position to come in and break her.

So the next episode 4x13 has that crazy scene where Double Trouble totally obliterates Catra and I’m not even gonna talk about it lmao because yall have already done a great job analyzing it. But I do wanna draw attention to the fact that this is the only thing she says in this whole scene:

Can you believe that’s what mattered the most to her in that moment? Not that literally everything she had been working for for the past 4 seasons had just turned to dust before her eyes, but the fact that this random mercenary she hired betrayed her. And there was no anger at all, just... heartbreak.

And then look at what she says to Glimmer afterwards (setting aside the fact that Catra is basically giving up on life...) she says nothing about the war, nothing about winning or revenge. The only thing she’s thinking about is how lonely she feels.

So by the end of Season 4, I think Catra did finally figure out what she truly wanted in life. She didn’t want to be on top just for power’s sake, she wanted people to respect her, to love her, so that no one could hurt her anymore. But she was so obsessed with winning that she ended up losing everyone’s respect. Wow haha if only she could get a second chance to earn it back the right way.... like say if, idk, she was trapped in space jail and forced to team up with her sworn enemy to survive and they came out best friends or something <:)

To sum up, Double Trouble’s role in Season 4 was to break Catra’s mask and force her to consider what she truly wants. I think their betrayal taught Catra to really appreciate what a terrible mistake she made in pushing Scorpia and Adora away. It taught her the difference between someone leaving her because they don’t care about her, and someone cutting ties with her even though they do care for her very deeply, they just couldn’t take Catra treating them like crap anymore. It showed her that what Adora did was nothing like what DT did. That’s what a betrayal feels like when the person doesn’t care about you. Someone who doesn’t care about you isn’t going to beg for your forgiveness for 3 seasons and risk being obliterated from existence just to get you back.

But the real beauty of season 4 was how Catra hitting rock bottom had almost nothing to do with Adora. With the help of other friends Catra has begun to find her own reasons to change, she’s acknowledging her guilt and heartbreak and discovering the person she wants to become. She’s learning to take responsibility instead of just blaming other people. And this character development had nothing to do with romance, just like how Adora breaking free of her destiny and learning to let go of control had little to do with Catra. I love the different perspectives on love that they give us with Catra, Adora, and Scorpia. I love how this show takes the “love conquers all” trope and subverts it, saying that sometimes.. love breaks you. Sometimes it’s not enough. Sometimes it’s used as a weapon. Sometimes you have to let go of people you love, but it opens up space for you to figure out who you are and what you want and to conquer your own demons. You’ll come out the other side with a better understanding of what real, healthy love is supposed to look like. And maybe in the end, the love you always sought will find you again, in its own time, in its own way. 💘

#OK THIS IS... A LOT. EVEN FOR ME LMAO #she ra #meta #season 4 is my fave so far i just had a lot of feelings to work through ok #would love to hear what yall think xoxo happy new year's!!

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takerfoxx · 4 years

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She Ra and the Power of Redemption!

A’ight, so, She-Ra’s coming back in a few days for their final season. Obviously I am SUPER excited about it, but before it drops, I need to get something I’m kind of worried about off my chest.

See, I’ve talked before about my big pet peeve in fiction, in which good or at least sympathetic characters do really bad things and don’t suffer appropriate consequences, sometimes because the writer just doesn’t understand the weight of what happened and wanted to rush a redemption arc or maybe get a little dirt on their heroes without really considering the implications or wanted to do something shocking and was clumsy and/or lazy about or even felt that they were justified even when they clearly weren’t. It’s even killed a few onetime favorite series of mine.

And I see the potential for She-Ra to make that same mistake here. And I think anyone who’s seen the show and has interacted with the fandom knows what I’m talking about.

I’m talking of course about Catra and Hordak’s potential redemption arcs.

Catra’s redemption is topic number one with the fans, because everyone wants to see it, but most people want to see it done right. The Catradora thing is the fuel on which the fandom runs, and I know quite a few people that would pop dem bottles if it were to become canon. And I totally get it: Catra is a magnificently written character, one who is super compelling, complex, and sympathetic, and her dynamic with Adora is just dripping with all sorts of tension. It’s the best friends to lovers AND enemies to lovers in the same package. Who wouldn’t want to see it?

Except, there is a problem...

See, one thing I have highly praised this show for is how, despite being a show targeted toward little girls, it paints a very realistic picture of abusive relationships and handles the subject with all the seriousness it deserves, from how they’re formed to how they continue to how the cycle goes from abuser to victim to next victim to so on. Horde Prime abused Hordak, Hordak abused Shadow Weaver, Shadow Weaver abused Catra and Adora, Adora broke free while Catra did not, Catra then abused Scorpia, Entrapta, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, you get the picture. And they show it so wonderfully, in all of its forms.

But that leads us to that problem, and that is despite definitely being a victim of abuse, and despite all of her sympathetic qualities, Catra is still a terrible person! She became as much an abuser as Shadow Weaver, with how awfully she treated Scorpia, with backstabbing Entrapta and manipulating Hordak, with bullying her subordinates, to everything she’s done to Adora and all the lives she ruined from her exploits as Hordak’s second in command. She masterminded the destruction of Salineas, sent Entrapta off to die, treated the only person who has given her unconditional love like shit. Her damage and insecurities have driven her to worse and worse behavior, up and to including almost destroying the fucking world just so Adora couldn’t win again! TWICE!

Basically, after handling the abuse themes so well, it would really, really suck for her to just be taken back and forgiven like nothing had happened or only minor consequences after she inevitably switched sides, because that carries the message, however unintentional, that abuse victims should forgive and take back their abusers, that it’s up to them to be the bigger person and invite those who hurt them back into their lives, which history has only shown will just restart the cycle all over again.

However, all of that does not mean I don’t think Catra is beyond hope, or that she shouldn’t be redeemed at all. She is absolutely a victim of all the terrible treatment Shadow Weaver and Hordak put her through since childhood, be it physical, mental, or emotional, and I am NOT about to hold an emotionally traumatized teenager to the same standards I would hold those more fortunate. Plus, we’ve seen how much her actions haunt her, from her nightmares about Entrapta to her psychological breakdowns to everything Double Trouble exposed about her. And I do truly want what’s best for her.

So how should the show go about it? Well, I think my half-joking wishlist from earlier just about covered it: after switching sides and helping the Alliance ward off the Horde, Catra should leave. Whether or not she makes amends with Adora, whether or not she’s forgiven, Catra needs to leave those she’s hurt and go somewhere else to start over, to separate herself from those she has so many insecurities about and work on bettering herself. Because after everything she’s done, she really does need to put in a lot of work in order to properly fix herself before she can even think of reforging relationships with Adora or Scorpia or Entrapta.

And honestly, I still think the Crimson Waste is perfect for her. She thrived while down there. And it does seem like it’s been set up specifically for her. And then...maybe a few years down the line, after she’s come to grips with herself...well, we’ll see.

Now, as for Hordak...

Look, I like the guy, I honestly do. His relationship with Entrapta gave me life, seeing how he was literally grown in a vat to be Space Hitler Jr., it’s no wonder that he turned out like he did.

Buuuuut...he’s still a murderous despot with buckets of blood on his hands. I’m sorry, but he can’t have a switch sides, now it’s all good happy ending. He just can’t.

Fortunately, even though he was far worse, his possible redemption has an easier solution. You know how Horde Prime restored him to factory settings, wiping his mind and sending him off to be processed or whatever?

What if he stays that way? What if he never gets his memories back? What if Hordak, the evil conquering dictator that ruined so many lives, just stays gone? But the newly wiped Hordak, upon encountering Entrapta, is able to recall just enough to know that he cares for her, prompting him to break free from Horde Prime’s control for her sake? Call it the Kubo and the Two Strings solution.

As for Shadow Weaver...no. Just no. She has no redeeming qualities at all. Everything bad that ever happened to her are a direct result of her own actions, she doesn’t have the brainwashed/designed that way excuse that Catra and Hordak have, she’s never done a single decent thing since becoming Shadow Weaver, and even after switching sides has continued to manipulate Glimmer and gaslight Adora. No redemption for her. And since Noelle has said that she hates killing off characters, I don’t see her getting killed either.

So just swap her for Angella. Send her to the other dimension and get our girl back.

And as for Entrapta and Double Trouble...dude, I don’t even know. Like, they also did bad things, but they’re kind of in their own weird moral worlds, and I don’t want to let them off the hook but also can’t fathom how that would even work...

You know what? They’re the weird exceptions that prove the rule, I guess.

(also note that even if they botch this, it probably won’t kill the show for me, as it’s still a kid’s show and it has built up a ton of good will, so my overall feelings will still be very positive, I’d just be bummed that they dropped the ball in this one, albeit very important, area)

#she ra and the princesses of power #she ra #spop #adora #catra #hordak #shadow weaver #entrapta #scorpia #double trouble #catradora #redemption #abuse tw

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rocketcowboyblu · 3 years

Text

Hi! Hello it’s me again (PArdon me lmao)

Since I posted about the Lion king idea of presenting finn, Thought why not give an idea of the entire movie if yall wanna idk write it? Cause I cant write at all. Ignore the spelling and grammar errors Im trying my best. ANYWAY uh have fun reading this mess of an R.D? (Rough Draft)

Alright, its like 10 years or so after the prime invasion. The BFF Squad finished restoring magic to the universe and found out where Adora and Catra hail from, (Magicat hidden kingdom on ethiera, and adora on eternia etc.) Catra finds out shes magically pregnant and tells adora, adora is like “Holy shit were gonna be moms” SO like the dummy she is goes to glimmer and asks her permission to present her when the kit’s born. (cause its presumably from magicat culture idk u decide) Glimmer agrees and puts it on her to do lists cause yknow queen shit.

Months later, Finns Born. Swift wind like the annoying loyal steed he is, goes to inform the other princesses of the presentation. (Insert the Circle of life Music)

The princesses show up along with a bunch of other people cause It’s She-ra’s Heir/Kid. Anyway magicat queen comes and takes Finn and goes to present them (the balcony idk what part of brightmoon looks safe!?) presume the thrusting of them over a balcony.

Scorpia and Bow are holding each other crying over how cute finn is, Catra and adora are looking at finn feeling so proud and shit, Glimmer is just holding her head staring at these idiots wondering why she even let them live there.

ALRIGHT HERE COMES THE INSANITY.

Behind the scenes, Catra had been helping glimmer with advising and taking over the actual royal advisors job. The R.A aint happy that her job is being taken by a war criminal and fraternizing with Etheria’s Hero. SO With some rogue clones they build a plan to get rid of finn and catra.

FLASH FORWARD 7 TO 9 YEARS LATER.

Finn’s growing up and needs to learn the difference between play and work, the advisor tells finn that and suggests adora help them out. so Adora takes Finn out to the whispering woods to teach them about self defense and magic bonding with the planet.

DT strolls up cause their now Brightmoons babysitter (Much to their Utter Delight) and tells adora that theres some trouble in the LightZone (Frightzone) about clones. Finn wants to come but adora says no cause its dangerous, So DT offers to take finn cause they were gonna round up the Runestone kiddos for a playdate.

DT and Finn pick up the kids and they get into trouble. Finn has a whole inner monologue about cant wait to be a Hero or something to make adora let them come with em. Cue the Ditching of DT and the Runestone Kids find themselves lost in the whispering woods.

Rogue Clones find them and give chase with laser blasters. Catra finds DT tied up and explains the kids tricked DT and they hear laser fire. So they go and save the kids.

NOW catra’s a lil pissed and impressed cause Finn manged to trick DT but also left their sights. Catra gives a speech about how much trouble finns in but also quite impressed with their work and tells them that, they’ll show them how to really trick somebody (aka pranks)

Later that night the advisor and the rogue clones finally finish the plan to get rid of catra and finn.

A WEEK LATER. Spoiler alert its finn Bday (Oh god here comes the angst)

The R.A suggests a Royal family picnic. Glimmer, Micah, Bow, Glimbow kid, catra, adora, and finn go to the whispering woods cause theres a nice clearing the advisor has “Suggested.”

a mile or so away rogue clones had been herding up the wild beasts of the woods. (Yknow those hog creatures)

Catra and adora actually have a gift for finn but want it to be a suprise so they ask the advisor what to do, Advisor tells them that theyll take finn to a spot near the picnic and they can give them the gift there.

Advisor puts finn in a spot and then signals the clones.

The ground shakes, the trees start moving, BAM OUT comes running thousands of magic hogs. RUN

Finns on all fours running for their life, their panting and see a spot which they presume will keep them safe. It’s not safe at all.

Finn bolts into a canyon, and sees a high top rock that SURE LOOKS STABLE. They climb up it.

Back at the picnic advisor runs back to the crew, and tells them what happened, Catra goes haywire and starts bolting towards the canyon, Adora tells bow and glimmer to get help and grab the advisor and head towards finn.

Catra reaches the canyon first, she spots finn on the rock, Jumping down she goes running along in the herd til grabbing finn, Adora and the advisor are watching from the top, Catra is carrying finn and puts them on a platform of the canyon. Catra gets impaled by a running hogs horn, She goes down into the herd.

“CATRAAA!” Adora cries and jumps down into the herd as She-ra to save catra. Finn looks on in horror trying to spot adora and catra. Boom out jumps adora going up the slide, struggling to carry catras limp body.

Finn goes to climb their way out of the canyon.

Adora is holding catra tightly and is still climbing til she sees the Advisor looking down on them. “Here! Grab onto catra!” The advisor smiles sinisterly. “I’m Afraid I can’t do that adora..” Adora looks at them in confusion. “Goodbye my oldest enemy” The advisors eyes flash green. Adora’s eyes go wide. BAM a burst of magic hits adora causing her to fall with catra.

Finn screams in the distant.

The herd leaves. Its quiet. dust is still kicked up.

Finn looks at their parents bodies on the ground. Limp.

“M-mom’s?” They called out. Knees buckling they go to catra shaking her “Please you gotta get up...”

“What have you done...” The advisor voice tells them.

Finn looks them at in fear “I didn-” “Insolent child! Look at what have you done! You’ve robbed etheria of their greatest heros!” Finns ears fold back, tears flooding their face.

“Get out of here. If you ever show your face here again I’ll have the palace guards kill you” a bright ball of magic formed in the advisors hand.

Finn bolts. the advisor chuckles darkly, for it was only the beginning of a new era.

Bow and glimmer teleport to area. they spot their friends.

Glimmer shakes catra “Horde scum DONT YOU DARE-” Catra bolts up gasping and then groans in pain “well.. there goes one of my 9 lives.” catra looks around and sees adora. And now shes screaming at glimmer to heal her.

The advisor looks ready to run. Glimmer heals adora and adora stirs going “W-what happened?” catra fills her in (catra doesnt know about the advisor she was unconsious.) And they cant find finn. so now its depresso expresso time cause adora cant remeber what happened and where finn is.

LOL IHATE WRITING THIS ALREADY.

Alrighty alrighty. So finn gets lost in the crimson and find Lonnie and the horde kids. (they dont know its catra or adoras kid cause they burnt that bridge) they adopt em for protection and help with digging in the crimson waste mines for gems and whatever else. And finn dyes their hair blond and shaves it to hide their idenity in fear of the advisor.

8 or so years past. Finns like 17 and the horde kids r old LOL

Scorfumas kid stumbles upon finn and they go into conversation about what the hell happened. Finn tells em about how they killed their parents and how they werent allowed near brightmoon cause the advisor would kill them. Scorfumas kid then has to explain that the advisor was now running brightmoon into the ground using their grief to an advantage. Btw kyles singing can u feel the love cause he do be misintruptioning shit. fuckin kyle XD (Lonnie is gonna kill this fool)

LATER FINN LOOKS AT THE WOODS AND OUT COMES YA GURL RAZZLE DAZZLE! Madam razz goes into her time loops and yknow the deal, she goes “Catra is that you dearie?” Finns like “YOU KNOW MY MOM?!” anyway razz leads them to the abandoned fort of grayskull yack yack yeack. Razz tells them that evil comes from power, not from heart, remember who you are type of shit.

Finn finally decides to go home.

Back at brightmoon everythings horrible. its the works yknow? DT got stuck in the “Prison” cause of how they were sus of the advisor.

Just gonna shorten it cause this is so LONG. Finn shows up, catradora are in shock. advisor turns out is the leftover of PRIME so then finn and him fight. Finn wins and here comes one of the newest heros to etheria. GG end of AU LOL

Sorry I dont know what I just wrote. but yeah theres the gist of the idea if yall wanna steal and try to write this shitpost? idk lol thanks for coming to this ted talk

#shera #catra #adora #catradora #lion king au #finn #glimmer problems #bow is in the back crying about how cute it is #rough draft #idk i cant write #she ra fandom #she ra season five #she ra fanfic idea

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yespleasefandomtrash · 4 years

Text

of cats and curses

“I’ve only seen these cats get so excited about someone sitting outside a pet store with one other person in my entire life,” a warm and almost suffocatingly kind voice said, snapping Catra out of her thoughts. “And he had that same disgruntled expression that you do. Poor kitties try to make friends with the very people who don’t want to be made friends with.”

(Catradora meets Kyoru. As you might expect, chaos ensues.)

~*~

Catra had been more than willing to let Adora do most of the talking. She was normally more eager to learn about the new planets they were exploring, but that day… Ugh. She really wasn’t sure what was making her mood so foul. Or she couldn’t pinpoint a singular cause, anyways. It was probably some God-awful combination of the pittering drizzle of rain falling from the gray sky around her, the fact that the miserable planet ‘Earth’ she was on seemed to have no traces of magic whatsoever, and the immediate reality that Adora was no longer by her side. Which was the main downfall of Adora doing all of the talking - Catra was left behind. At her own request, of course, so she could only blame herself, but still. She wanted to stew in her misery for a bit.

This ‘Earth’ was their last stop before they’d be flying back to Bright Moon. Catra never thought she’d be relieved to be returning there, but times had changed, she supposed. During their numerous quests to restore magic to the universe, day-trips and monthly adventures alike, they’d come to learn that some planets had never had magic in the first place. Even rarer, select places did not want magic returned to their world. In other words, the Best Friend Squad - she still didn’t know how she felt about that name - had taken to asking around amongst the locals to first determine the magic status of planets before they actually began the restoration process.

So now Adora was schmoozing with the locals - probably badly, because her acting skills left much to be desired - in some place called a pet store, while Catra sat on an uncomfortable metal bench outside while silently wishing she had an umbrella. She could raise her bag above her head, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t do much. Also it had their communications pads in it, and she figured unduly exposing them to freezing rain was not a good thing.

Ugh. She should have sucked it up and gone inside with Adora.

Catra yelped as the bracelet projecting her holographic disguise suddenly shocked her, and she lifted her wrist to figure out why, exactly, it had done that. She couldn’t see anything wrong with it… Uh oh. Maybe it wasn’t waterproof. She probably should have asked Entrapta about that.

Oops. Too late?

Even more annoying than her bracelet that was now randomly spazzing out were the stupid cats in the pet store behind her that kept clamoring and scratching on the glass! Sure, she was grateful for that wall of glass because it stopped them from physically getting to her, but it was nowhere close to soundproof, meaning their yowls were barely dulled down. And most of the cats were just saying hello, but she didn’t want to turn around and acknowledge that, because she was pretty sure most people on Earth could not understand animals. She didn’t care that there was no else around - she wasn’t taking any chances. Which just meant the cats would think she was rude, but she’d rather live with that than become Earth’s resident crazy cat lady by striking up a conversation with the Siamese or the Persians in a pet store.

Huh. Could the cats see through Entrapta’s disguise? Surely not. Catra tapped her bracelet to make sure the hologram was still active, wincing as another jolt of electricity shot through her arm. Definitely still active. So maybe the cats could just… feel that she was like them. A gut instinct. Or something.

Really, there was no use thinking about it. Where the hell was Adora?

“I’ve only seen these cats get so excited about someone sitting outside a pet store with one other person, in my entire life,” a warm and almost suffocatingly kind voice said, snapping Catra out of her thoughts. “And he had that same disgruntled expression that you do. Poor kitties try to make friends with the very people who don’t want to be made friends with.”

Catra looked up to see a brown-haired girl standing in front of her, a bright smile on her face and a navy blue umbrella in her hand. She appeared way too cheerful for someone walking outside in a minor rainstorm. Catra also vaguely recognized that the language the girl was speaking was not one she understood, but Entrapta’s translator appeared to be doing the trick. Now hopefully it would continue to work in reverse.

“Ah… yeah,” she finally managed to say. “Cats… like me. Too much.”

The girl laughed. “You sound so much like Kyo!” She offered Catra her hand. “My name is Tohru. It’s lovely to meet you, Miss…?”

Catra scrambled to remember her cover name that they’d hastily made up when they learned ‘Catra’ was not a normal name on Earth. “I - uh, I’m Catrina,” she said, shaking the girl’s hand, though she remained on the bench. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“So what has you sitting outside in the rain?” the girl - Tohru - asked curiously, giving her a look of concern. “Are you okay? Do you need a place to stay for the night?”

Catra fought to ignore the cats still meowing behind her. Their chant had shifted to a collective FEED ME, which she obviously couldn’t do because she was not inside, but apparently they hadn’t figured that out yet. “No, I’m - I’m fine,” she stammered, wincing halfway through her sentence as Entrapta’s disguise-bracelet suddenly shocked her again. Ouch. “Just waiting for someone.”

Tohru frowned. “In the rain? Without any cover?” She immediately thrust her umbrella in Catra’s direction. “Take this, Miss Catrina. I only live about five minutes away up the road, and I feel you are in far more need of it than I.”

And now the light on Entrapta’s bracelet was flickering on and off. Ugh, that couldn’t be good. Catra did not want to accidentally give this random and kind of annoyingly nice girl a heart attack by suddenly looking… er, not like a human. “No, I’m really fine,” she insisted, jumping to her feet. “But I appreciate the offer.”

Tohru’s frown deepened. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to get hypothermia, miss.”

Catra instinctively covered her bracelet with her free hand when she noticed sparks flying off of it in her peripheral vision. “I’m sure,” she said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. “In fact, I should probably -” She cut herself off with a yelp as lightning flashed and a loud crack of thunder boomed through the air, sudden enough to make the fur on her tail stand on end as she violently reached up to cover her ears, shoulders hunching over in the process.

Apparently the sudden motion was too much for the barely-functioning bracelet to take, the bracelet that was admittedly already worse for the wear after she’d had an encounter with some kind of slime monster on a planet called Tamaran, as it snapped off her wrist before falling to the ground, now broken in half. And with that, her disguise vanished.

Catra had never bit her tongue so hard to avoid letting out a string of frustrated curses. She was pretty sure it was bleeding now.

The girl’s - no, Tohru’s, she had a name - eyes widened as she watched the series of unfortunate events unfold. “You’re… you have cat… ears? A tail?”

Dammit. Now she was going to have to hear an annoying lecture from Sparkles and probably Arrow Boy about jeopardizing the mission, though she really didn’t think this was her fault. “Uh…” Catra said, frantically trying to come up with an excuse, “would you believe me if I told you this was an elaborate costu-”

“Are you cursed, too?” Tohru interrupted, kneeling down to pick up the pieces of the bracelet from the ground. “I mean, your transformation is not quite like the Sohma’s, but I suppose it would be rash of me to presume the zodiac curse is the only one to exist in the world, wouldn’t it? Perhaps there is something else -”

Catra sneezed, accidentally cutting her off. Which she mildly regretted, because she had no freaking clue what the girl was going on about. A curse? So-ma? The hell was going on with this planet?

And most importantly, where on Earth was Adora?

“Oh my goodness, you’re freezing!” Tohru exclaimed, horrified, as she stood up. “I am so sorry, I was being incredibly inconsiderate! You poor thing, you’re not even dressed for rainy weather!”

Now that she mentioned it, Catra realized that she was shivering. Ugh. Stupid fur. It was so hard to warm up after it got wet.

“Let’s go to Shigure’s house,” Tohru said, taking Catra’s hand and pulling her away towards a dirt path, doing her best to hold her umbrella over the both of them. “We can warm you up, get you a towel and a change of clothes, and I’ll do my best to help you repair your bracelet, though it’s not similar to Kyo’s at all so I don’t know if I’ll be much use. While we do that you can explain the details of your curse to me! But only if you’re okay with talking about it, of course.” She shook her head, a mixture of shock and curiosity in her eyes. “I wonder if Kyo and Yuki were aware that other families could have a curse similar to the zodiac?”

Catra still had no idea what all this curse nonsense was, but she was both surprised and grateful that the girl hadn’t freaked out and run away upon seeing her… er, true form, as it were. However, the main problem was that she was currently being taken away from Adora, which was stressful because Catra needed Adora and also because Adora would undoubtedly freak out the moment she realized Catra was missing and cause havoc by turning into She-Ra or something. “Actually, I kind of have to stay here -”

“I promise, there’s no need to be nervous!” Tohru reassured her, and her voice was so gentle and sincere that Catra found herself struggling to not believe her. “If you stay here, someone might run into you who won’t understand what’s going on. They could even try to hurt you! I promise that I’m taking you to a safe place where there are people… where there are people struggling with a - a similar issue to what you have.”

Catra seriously doubted that. She was pretty sure that Earth had never had successful contact with other planets, meaning the chances of there being Etherians in this girl’s house were almost zero, much less Etherians like her. Still, the thought of going somewhere warm and dry with this pseudo-Perfuma who hadn’t lost her shit upon seeing that Catra was definitely not human was… well, rather appealing.

But Adora. Adora. She at least needed to let her know where she was going.

“When we… er, get to wherever you’re taking me, can I… send a message to the person I was waiting for?” Wow. She sounded so timid it was downright mortifying. “Just to let her know where I am.”

“Of course!” Tohru said as they turned a corner on the dirt pathway. “Your friend is absolutely welcome to join us. Is she cursed, too?”

Was She-Ra considered a curse? It sure felt that way sometimes. But Catra was still completely lost on what the whole ‘curse’ thing was, especially how it related to her being part cat. “Er, I don’t think so -” And she promptly cut herself off with another sneeze. Ugh. She was going to catch a cold.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there!” Tohru said, pulling her slightly faster. True to her word, Catra could see a warmly lit house at the end of the road. “I’m so sorry we have to walk through the rain like this. But I’m going to make you some hot tea and give you a fluffy blanket and turn up the heat and just whatever you need to warm up and get comfortable, okay?”

And the girl did exactly that. She gave Catra a towel to dry off with as well as a set of clean clothing to change into before she practically swaddled her with a blanket and placed a steaming mug of tea on the low table in front of her. Really, her personality was the absolute epitome of Scorpia and Perfuma combined. Catra had also made sure to send Adora a message about her location while Tohru had been preparing everything, or else she knew she’d forget to do it entirely.

“Is everything okay? Would you like something to eat? There’s not a lot in the fridge, but I’m sure I can whip something up pretty quickly -”

“No, no, everything is fine,” Catra interrupted, still feeling kind of awkward around Tohru but also still relieved that the girl hadn’t - hadn’t fainted or anything. “I’m almost back to normal, uh, body-warmth already.” Ugh, that was horrendously phrased. Oh well. C’est la vie, or whatever Sparkles had taken to saying after visiting Flance. Finance? She really didn’t know what the country was called. Regardless, the girl either hadn’t noticed or hadn’t cared.

Tohru nodded, kneeling down on the side of the table opposite Catra. She placed Entrapta’s bracelet - or the pieces of it - down in front of her. “I was hoping I could repair this for you, but it’s not the same… er, anti-curse material that I’ve seen before. It seems to be technologically-based, and unfortunately I’m terrible with tech. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be of more help!”

Right. The ‘curse’. “Don’t worry about it,” Catra said, waving her hand dismissively. “I have a friend who can fix it.”

Tohru didn’t appear satisfied by her reassurance. “Are you certain? I can ask the person I know who’s in - who’s kind of… like you, so to speak, if he’ll take a look at it and see if he -”

Catra held up a hand to silence the girl, ears twitching. She could have sworn she heard footsteps from above them. “Tohru…” Weird. She was pretty sure that was the first time she’d addressed the girl by name. “Are we the only ones here right now?”

Tohru frowned. “I - I believe so. Why?”

Catra’s ears craned to catch the sound. The footsteps - they’d moved. Moved towards… “Because someone is about to come down those stairs,” she growled, lowering her voice to a whisper as she untangled herself from the blanket and vaulted across the table to land in front of Tohru, claws bared. “Stay behind me.”

“Okay,” Tohru squeaked, and Catra wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of the thought of an intruder or of Catra herself. Hopefully not the latter.

A tall boy with carrot-orange hair arrived at the foot of the stairs. “Tohru, are you bac-”

Catra’s tail flicked, and she launched herself at the boy. Damn, she couldn’t believe only a few months at Bright Moon - and numerous sessions with Perfuma - had turned her into someone who’d defend a stranger at a moment’s notice. Though she supposed Tohru wasn’t quite a stranger at this point.

Catra easily tackled the guy to the floor, her forearm lying across his throat with hopefully just enough pressure to keep him pinned down without her having to get on top of him. Her other hand loomed in a threatening manner above his face, claws still out. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Miss Catrina, wait -” Tohru started to protest frantically, but she was soon cut off.

“What the hell?!” the guy snapped. “I could ask the same about you!” In the blink of an eye, he flipped Catra over his head with expertise she found begrudgingly impressive even as her back was slammed painfully onto the ground.

Shit. Now he had her in the same position she’d used on him. But damn, that was a good move on his part.

“So who the hell are you?” he growled, and Catra felt a chill run down her spine because she’d only heard that type of guttural noise twice before in her life - from Melog, and from… herself. “And why the fuck are you in our house?” She noticed the way his pupils had thinned in an… almost catlike manner. And - And it looked like he had fangs? Plus, now that her mind had set sail on that boat, she realized he smelled like a cat, too, in the way only another cat or, er, cat-person would know.

Oh, this was so weird. She never wanted to come back to this planet.

“Kyo, please stop!”

“Did she hurt you, Tohru?”

“No! She’s - She’s a friend! Sort of. She’s very nice, and she was just trying to protect me because I didn’t know you were home already, and - and I think she might be cursed, too!”

“What?” The boy - Kyo? - looked down at Catra, as if taking in her… well, unusual appearance - by this planet’s standards, at least - for the first time. The pressure against her neck lessened. “She’s… Wait.” He turned to look at Tohru, though he noticeably did not remove his arm from her neck entirely. “You’re telling me that the zodiacs aren’t the only -”

He was interrupted by the sliding door to the home being slammed open, with a familiar panicked voice filtering in. “Catra, are you -”

Crap. Adora, whom she loved with her entire being, always managed to have the worst timing.

Adora’s eyes widened as she took in the situation, then narrowed with a burning intensity Catra had only seen a few times before. Her girlfriend began to glow with a blue aura, her eyes shining with that same blinding light, though thankfully she stopped short of fully transforming into She-Ra. Glowing was easier to pass off as a trick of the light compared to suddenly growing three and a half feet taller, at least according to Glimmer. Catra was inclined to agree.

Adora’s protective nature was undeniably attractive, but Catra really didn’t want her girlfriend to have some poor guy’s murder on her conscience once everything got straightened out. “Adora, wait -”

“Get your hands off of her!” Adora snapped, grabbing the boy by the back of his shirt and slamming him against the wall.

The anxiety written all over Tohru’s face as she rushed over to the boy’s side indicated to Catra that there was clearly a massive misunderstanding going on. She pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Adora, stop -”

At the sound of Catra’s voice, Adora immediately dropped to her side, blue light fading as she pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, burying her face in her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Catra, don’t you dare run off on a strange planet ever again.”

The fear in Adora’s voice chillingly reminded her of their time on Horde Prime’s ship, and she had to blink back tears as she returned the hug. “Okay. I promise.”

Those words seemed to do the trick, as Adora relaxed before gently releasing her from the hug, pulling back to frantically look over her. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do I need to -”

“I’m fine,” Catra interrupted, grabbing her girlfriend’s hands and giving them a reassuring squeeze. “Honest.”

Her insistence didn’t stop Adora from standing up and turning around with a lethal look in her eyes, her gaze narrowing as she focused on the boy, who had just managed to sit up with the help of Tohru and was now grimacing as he rubbed the back of his head. “What the hell were you doing with your hands on my girlfriend?!”

The boy glared at her in response, similarly getting to his feet as he did so, though noticeably more unbalanced than Adora had been. “Your girlfriend attacked me! I was trying to defend myself and protect Tohru!”

“So your idea of self-defense is to have her in a position that could be fatal? Sorry, but I have my doubts.”

“I have self-restraint, you dumbass! What the hell would I have to gain from killing her?!”

“Oh, sure, you say that now -”

“Enough!” Tohru shouted, jumping in front of the boy with her arms out and startling Adora to the point where she actually took a step back. Catra noticed that the girl was trembling, but she stood her ground. “Please. Stop arguing. Don’t - Don’t hurt him.”

Oh.

The way her voice wavered. The way she’d immediately rushed to his side. The way she was clearly terrified but had still thrown herself in front of the boy to protect him. Hell, the way the boy had demanded to know if she had hurt Tohru before he’d even thought about himself.

There was something between them. Maybe they weren’t together, but Catra suspected it was only a matter of time.

Tohru took a deep breath, her body still visibly shaking. “I think there is a misunderstanding going on here, and that we all need to - to calm down for a moment. And talk.”

Catra nodded as she stood up, her hip slightly sore from the awkward angle that she’d been flipped onto the ground earlier. “Tohru’s right.” She slipped her hand back into Adora’s. “I did lash out first, because I thought Carrot Boy over there had broken into Tohru’s house, and even though we’d just met, Tohru had been really nice to me and I didn’t want her to get hurt. So I was just… trying to protect her.” Adora sent her a look that said I am so proud of you, which Catra pointedly ignored. “But that might have been a teeny bit of a hasty assumption for me.”

“Yeah, it was,” the guy snapped, though his expression softened slightly as Tohru placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a worried look. “Listen. I live here, too, okay?”

Catra winced. “Er… Sorry?”

The boy didn’t respond, simply crossing his arms over his chest. He still smelled like a cat to her. Were there pets in this house somewhere that Catra couldn’t see?

“And we of course accept your apology,” Tohru said kindly, clasping her hands together. “Now, why don’t we properly introduce ourselves before we try to figure out the nitty-gritty details of what’s going on? My name is - ahh!” As she was stepping forward to offer her hand to Adora, her foot caught in the blanket Catra had previously been bundled up in, and she seemed to fall towards the floor in slow motion. Both Catra and Adora instinctively jumped to catch her, but the guy beat them to it, looping an arm around Tohru’s waist and pulling her backwards into his chest.

He helped stabilize her, their faces noticeably both cherry red, before giving a resigned sigh. Seconds later, he disappeared in an orange cloud of smoke, leaving a pile of clothes on the floor in his wake as well as an annoyed-looking cat the same color as the cloud sitting on top of his t-shirt.

As much as that made no sense to Catra, at least she could now conclude that he smelled like a cat and looked like a cat and acted like a cat because he… was a cat? Kind of?

“You know,” Adora said after a long pause, moving her arm to wrap around her girlfriend’s waist, “I thought this planet didn’t have any magic, but now… I’m pretty sure I was wrong.”

Catra sighed. “Great observation, babe.”

Explanations were definitely needed. On all sides.

~*~

Tohru thought the strangest day of her life would always be the first time she accidentally transformed Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure into their zodiac forms.

That day had now quite possibly been bumped down to second place.

“So you’re… from another planet?” Tohru repeated, the thought almost dizzying. “And you came to Earth to see if we - if we needed magic brought back to our world?”

Catrina - no, Catra, she chastised herself - nodded. There was a certain sympathy to her eyes. “Yes. I’m sure this is pretty overwhelming for you.”

That was putting it lightly. But Tohru shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I think I’m understanding it all now.” Though it was definitely a lot to take in. A small frown creased her lips, and she tilted her head slightly in confusion. “So then… You aren’t cursed?”

Catra snickered. “Cursed to be with this idiot, maybe,” she said teasingly, giving the blonde girl beside her - Adora - a fond look, who lightly elbowed her in response. “But no, I’m not cursed. This is my… true form, I guess.”

Tohru could feel her face pale at the girl’s words, and she didn’t miss the way Kyo flinched, either. “I see.”

There was an awkward pause, and Tohru had no idea how to break it. Normally she’d offer food or something to drink, but the two girls had already refused. Or rather, Catra had refused, much to what had looked like Adora’s silent dismay. Oh, she felt like a terrible hostess.

“So… you can transform into a giant warrior princess?” Kyo asked slowly, gesturing to Adora. “Which is why you got all glowy earlier? Like some magical girl anime?”

“I have no clue what that means, but yes. I can transform into She-Ra.” Adora gave him an apologetic smile. “And again, I’m really sorry for throwing you into the wall. I just saw you on top of Catra and completely freaked out.” She pressed a kiss to Catra’s temple, who blushed furiously at the action but made no move to get away, instead not-very-subtly scooting even closer to her. They were very cute, in Tohru’s opinion.

She noticed Kyo’s face soften as he watched their interaction. She loved that rare, gentle expression on him. “No,” he said quietly, eyes flickering over to Tohru before immediately dropping to the table. “I understand.”

Tohru could feel her face reddening at his words, brief as his glance towards her had been. If Adora and Catra noticed, they didn’t comment, for which she was silently grateful.

“Anyways,” Adora continued, “after asking around and getting stared at like a crazy person many, many times, I’d come to the conclusion that this planet was magic-free and always had been.” She pointed at Kyo. “And then you turned into a cat. Which I’ve only seen happen, like, one other time.” She glanced at Catra. “But Melog’s technically a shapeshifter, right? So it’s not the same thing.” She shook her head when Catra shrugged. “Not my point. So how did you do that, sir?”

Kyo picked at his fingernail, still not making eye contact with them. “Trust me,” he said, his voice low. “There was nothing magical about that.”

Catra raised an eyebrow, and she locked her gaze with Tohru’s. “Right. You kept talking about a curse.”

Tohru flinched, and she glanced at Kyo. “Ah, am I allowed to…?” She felt bad for mentioning it so many times earlier, but Catra had looked like a normal human and then her bracelet fell off and she’d suddenly had a dozen catlike features… she’d gotten such a chilling sense of déjà vu that a curse had felt like the most logical conclusion at the time.

Kyo sighed. “I mean, they’re from another planet. It’s not like they’re going to run into Akito. So why not?”

Tohru nodded, smoothing her skirt as she returned her attention to their guests. “A long time ago, there was a banquet hosted by God.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. The ribbon that normally held it back had fallen out amidst all the earlier chaos. “God invited 13 animals to join them at this feast. 12 attended. Eventually, all 13 animals vowed to remain by God’s side. Forever. This… bond has been recreated every generation through - through the Sohma family. If they are hugged by someone of the opposite sex, they turn into their zodiac form.” She hoped she wasn’t leaving out too much. There were just some things she wasn’t sure she should reveal.

Adora nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I think I remember George and Lance talking about the zodiac when we were getting a crash course on Earth’s culture.” She frowned, seemingly puzzled. “But I don’t remember a family curse. Or a cat.”

“You wouldn’t.” Kyo’s gaze had hardened. “The curse is a secret. And the cat isn’t a part of the zodiac. Not in the same way.” He was fingering his bracelet, and Tohru desperately wished she could give him a comforting hug. Instead, she reached out and placed a hand on his knee. She could feel him relax at her touch - only slightly, but still a victory.

Tohru hadn’t missed the way Catra’s eyes had steadfastly remained on Kyo for much of the conversation. Maybe it was… a cat thing?

“So it seems like this zodiac curse might be an exception to Earth’s ‘no magic’ rule,” Catra finally said. “If it’s magic at all.”

“Is there a way to break this curse?” Adora asked. “I have - I have these sort of healing powers, as She-Ra, so maybe… I could help?”

Tohru couldn’t stop the hope bubbling in her chest at the thought. After learning that Kyo would be - would be… imprisoned after graduation, she was willing to do anything to prevent that from happening. “Kyo, do you think -”

“No.” His tone was flat, and Tohru flinched. He noticed her reaction, and grimaced apologetically. “Sorry. I just mean…” His fist clenched. “We’re… the Sohmas aren’t the kind of broken that your magic powers, or whatever, can heal. But thanks.” He managed a half-hearted smile. “I appreciate the offer.”

There was a pause. But for perhaps the first time since they’d all been in one room together, the silence had a certain tranquility to it, rather than an awkward tension. Which Tohru considered to be a sign of improvement.

“I guess we’ll need to get going soon,” Catra finally said. “Sparkles and Arrow Boy are going to wonder where we disappeared to.”

Adora chuckled. “You mean they’re going to smother us when we get back because they’ll have been stressed out of their minds.”

Wait, they had people waiting for them?! “I’m so sorry!” Tohru exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “Oh, your friends are going to be so worried about you!” She pushed her hair out of her face. “Would you like some - some food, or anything, for your trip back? I can pull something together in no time!”

Adora’s eyes lit up, but Catra beat her to it. “No, we’re fine,” she said with a small smile before shooting Adora a disapproving look. “You’ve already given us plenty of hospitality. We’ve overstayed our welcome.”

Adora appeared slightly disappointed but didn’t comment, instead standing up and pulling Catra to her feet beside her. Tohru noticed neither let go of the other’s hand. “Well, it was nice meeting you guys. And Kyo, again, I really am sorry I threw you into the wall. I hope we can move past that and be friends.”

A small smile formed on Kyo’s lips, and Tohru felt warmth blossom in her chest. “I’d say we’ve moved past it already. And for the record, your super-strength and glowy powers are pretty badass. Less so when I’m the one they’re directed at, but still cool.”

Adora laughed. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

“I am also sorry for attacking you because I thought you were some creep,” Catra added. “I promise not to do it again. Cats are usually pretty solitary creatures, but that doesn’t mean we have to be enemies, right?”

Kyo laughed as he stood up, and Tohru felt her own smile widen further. “Agreed. But that’s not even the first time that’s happened to me, you know. Tohru also attacked me early on when we met because she thought I was a creep. Tried to knock me out with her school bag. So don’t feel too bad. I think I just have bad luck.”

Tohru buried her face in her hands, aware she was blushing up to her ears. “Kyo!” That was one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. She still felt terrible about it.

Catra snickered. “Oh, I wish I had time to stay and hear that story.”

“It’s a good one.” Kyo then shook his head. “I’m still not sure if this day has been real or if it’s just a weird dream from Yuki decking me and giving me a concussion, but if it is real, it was… interesting to meet you guys. Weird, but in a good way.”

Catra laughed, too. “Yep, that pretty much sums it up.”

“Is there any way we can stay in contact with you guys?” Tohru blurted out. She wasn’t entirely sure what compelled her to ask, but she knew a part of her would soon need proof that she hadn’t imagined their entire encounter. Also… They were her friends now. And she liked keeping in touch with her friends.

Adora frowned, turning to look at Catra. “We have a spare communications pad, don’t we? We could give it to her and just tell Bow we lost it.”

“You mean I will tell Bow we lost it,” Catra corrected as she swung her backpack around to her front and began fishing through it. “Because you’re a terrible liar and he wouldn’t believe you for a second.”

“Exactly. You know me so well.”

Catra rolled her eyes, but Tohru didn’t miss the soft smile that formed on her lips. It was the same smile her mother used to wear when she spoke about her father.

“Aha!” Catra then exclaimed triumphantly, pulling a weirdly-shaped tablet out of her bag and handing it to Tohru. “You can use this to contact us whenever you want. Although we’ll probably have to figure out what the time difference is between Etheria and Earth.”

Tohru accepted the tablet, holding it close to her chest. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I hope your quest to restore magic to the universe continues to be successful!”

They exchanged simple goodbyes - making sure to first give Tohru a rundown on how to use the communications pad, for which she was infinitely grateful - and then they left, hand in hand.

Tohru quickly ran to stash the tablet in her bedroom before returning downstairs, walking into the kitchen to see Kyo looking through the fridge. “Would you like me to cook something?” she offered, moving next to him to see what ingredients she’d have to work with.

Kyo lightly knocked her head. “I’ll cook. You can go rest. You’ve had a stressful day.”

“You have, too!” she protested, tucking her hair behind her ears. She was not backing down on this, and she tried to show her determination by squaring her shoulders and staring him down.

She had a feeling it came off as more silly than anything else, at least based on the amused - if fond - smile Kyo gave her.

“Okay, fine. How about we cook together?” he suggested. “Is that an acceptable compromise?”

Tohru beamed at him. “That sounds wonderful!” She clasped her hands together, eyes practically sparkling in excitement. “Oh, we can make something for Yuki and Shigure! They’ll be back soon.” Yuki had been dealing with Student Council business all afternoon, and Shigure had been at the main Sohma estate the entire day. She was certain they’d appreciate coming home to a warm dinner on the table.

Kyo rolled his eyes. “You’re way too considerate of those bastards.”

“And you are too harsh on them,” Tohru chastised, shaking her head. The movement caused her hair to fall in her face again, and she promptly pushed it right back behind her ears. Hmm. Maybe she needed to consider getting it cut?

Apparently Kyo had noticed her struggle, as he left the kitchen for a moment before returning with her ribbon. She started to thank him and reach for it, but he shook his head. “Turn around.”

Tohru blinked, then did as instructed. At first she was rather stiff, but she soon found herself relaxing as Kyo’s hands gently moved through her hair, pulling it up into a ponytail.

“There,” he said after he finished. “Now it should stop getting in your way.”

Tohru instinctively reached up to touch her hair, almost surprised by how secure it felt. “That’s amazing, Kyo! I didn’t know you knew how to do hair.”

Kyo flushed. “It’s nothing fancy. Kagura made me do her hair all the time when we were kids. I remember the basics.”

Tohru couldn’t help but smile softly at the thought of young Kyo brushing and braiding a young Kagura’s hair. “That’s so sweet.” She beamed at him. “And thank you. I love it.”

Kyo’s blush deepened, and he looked away. “Seriously. It’s no big deal.” He paused, as if something had occurred to him. “Oh. Also.” He pulled a small silver bracelet out of his pocket and handed it to her. “I found this on the table. I think one of the girls might have left it.”

Tohru’s eyes widened, recognizing the bracelet as the object that had generated Catra’s human disguise. “Oh, this is Catra’s!” she said frantically, accepting the bracelet from him. “We have to get it back to her! It’s not too late to catch up to them, is it?”

Kyo grabbed her wrist as she started to dash towards the door. “Slow down, dummy,” he said, pulling her back into the kitchen. “They’re long gone.”

He was right. She knew he was right, but - “I feel like we need to return it to her! Somehow.”

“Maybe. But surely she wouldn’t have left it if it was that important.”

Tohru hesitated, glancing down at the broken bracelet cradled in her palms. “Okay,” she finally agreed, relaxing slightly. “That does make sense.” She tucked the bracelet into the pocket of her skirt.

Maybe one day she’d be able to fix it. Maybe one day she could ask them how to fix it by contacting them through the tablet they’d given her. Maybe one day they’d even return in person to pick it up themselves.

No matter what… She would see them again. She was sure of it.

Tohru turned to Kyo, giving him a brilliant smile. “Let’s get cooking!”

~*~

“And you’re sure you’re not hurt -”

“Adora! I told you that I’m fine.” Catra rolled her eyes. “Seriously. You worry too much.”

“You’re my girlfriend. It’s my job to worry about you.” Adora sighed, her arms moving from being crossed over her chest to clutching her own shoulders as she hugged herself tightly. “That was terrifying, Catra. Walking in to see some random guy leaning angrily over you with his arm against your throat?” She shuddered. “Ugh. I’m going to have nightmares about that one.”

Catra could feel her expression softening, and she walked across their room on Mara’s ship to place her hands on Adora’s shoulders. “I’m sorry I scared you. But I promise that I’m okay. I honestly don’t think Kyo had any intention to hurt me, anyways.”

Adora’s arms fell to her sides, her hands coming to rest on Catra’s waist. “What makes you say that?”

“You mean besides the fact that he’s actually a nice person?” Catra shrugged. “I just had a feeling, I guess.” Something about the look in his eyes. Fear, panic, desperation. All overshadowed by concern. A willingness to do anything for that one person.

It had been like looking in a mirror.

She pulled Adora into a hug, burying her face into her girlfriend’s shoulder. “I love you.”

Adora didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around her in response. “I love you, too.”

They stayed like that for a while. Catra eventually lifted her head, turning to face a direction where she could see out the window, out into the infinite void of space. They’d long since flown away from Earth. But still…

Catra had a feeling they’d see them again. Tohru and Kyo.

She was sure of it.

(After all, they’d have to go pick up her bracelet one day.)

~*~

tagging the two people who said they’d be interested in reading lol: @akeera13 and @timefrozen-waterstreams

#catradora #kyoru #she ra #fruits basket #crossover #fanfiction #catra #adora #kyo sohma #tohru honda #furuba #spop #my writing #fanfic

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adorascake · 4 years

Text

hey, followers:D

okay so,,,ive gained a lot of followers recently (im actually concerned bc i was at 200 a few days ago and now im over 400...edit: im now over 600 which is insane thank u...another edit: i just got over 900 damn okay) and i figured i’d do a little introduction bc i feel weird just being a random blog on here (also bc i did it with my main blog so)

hi! im em:) that’s not my real name, but what i go by online

im 18

she/her

currently identify as bisexual, but she ra really has me questioning if im lesbian🌈👁👄👁🌈

my main blog is @novas-bitch , which used to be primarily a renegades series (marissa meyer) blog, but is now a general mess

also the renegades series s l a p s and really exposes how much i love enemies to friends to lovers (or any version of those three,,,holy trinity haha)

i write fanfic if anyone would like to check out my ao3 (nothing waters my crops more than getting comments👀👀👀). i have 9 she ra fics on there so far with plenty to come

fanfic is just something i don’t take all that seriously and write in my free time. i would like to make a career out of writing, preferably fantasy/sci-fi novels but i can see myself going into journalism. with these things said, i can’t really say my fanfic reflects my actual writing bc i approach the two very differently. also i just,,,don’t edit fanfic lmao

i joined the she ra fandom about a month ago and it’s taken over my life. i literally started watching it bc i kept seeing my mutuals rb canon catradora after s5 and was like ‘oh shit gay rep??? hell yeah’ and here we are, gayer than before

i love interacting with followers and mutuals!!! asks, dms, comments, etc

im super awkward but i promise im nice (i think,,,hmm)

some personal stuff: im going to be a freshmen in college this fall and am scared about a d u l t i n g so can’t wait for that nightmare; im a major band geek and play flute; for now im going to major in English and maybe minor in music; very much an introvert but i love making friends and hanging out with people (i just get tired bro and i like home)

other fandoms (that ive been recently active in) include renegades by marissa meyer, lore olympus, the clone wars (ahsoka. tano.),,,does percy jackson count bc i mean that’s just lifelong

im a dog person in love with a cat girl do you see my dilemma

uhh

if you know of any good fanfics lmk. also if anyone needs recs i have some bookmarked that i absolutely adore. i also have a ‘fic recs’ tag where i rb fics i come across and like

i also tag any art i find but that’s just self indulgent so i can go back and look at all the loveliness this fandom has created

my dms and ask are always open (and same goes for my main blog) for literally anything

yeah i think that about sums it up✌🏼

#personal #heckin yeah broskies #im really really awkward so im sorry #but anyway hi followers i love you!!!

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queenofthelanternfish · 4 years

Text

Disclaimer: I am once again posting my gf @anesther‘s lovely fics to my account in order for it to have some chance of showing up in the tags. Definitely read it, it’s steamy!!!

AN: A much longer chapter, and it probably wasn’t smart with my hands but here we go!

Title: Interfaces

Characters: Entrapta, Hordak, featuring quite a few characters

Pairing: Entrapdak, implied Catradora and future Scorpfuma

Rating: M (smut found its way in)

AO3 is for better times.

Party

“You are cordially invited to a party held at Bright Moon by Queen Glimmer,” Entrapta reads, holding up the invitation. She looks at her communicator, “Why would you send out an invitation if you’re going to call us directly?”

“I got excited!” Glimmer says. “It’s been a while since we had a proper celebration of any sort, and I feel this is a good way to bring everyone together for a little bit.”

“Did you not host an event a few months ago?” Hordak asks over Entrapta’s shoulder.

“No, that was a picnic. Which you two didn’t come to,” Glimmer pouts, crossing her arms.

“Sorry, but we really were too busy to go,” Entrapta says, scratching her cheek. “We will be able to go to your party though!”

“Really?!” Squealing, Glimmer points at the two of them, winking. “I’ll see you two at eight sharp. And you don’t need to dress too fancy, it’s semi-formal!”

With that, the communicator is turned off. Entrapta returns to her mechanics, welding a piece of metal together. She asks, not looking at him, “You don’t mind going, right?”

“I suppose it wouldn’t be a waste of an evening. Besides,” Hordak touches her shoulder. “You would encourage me to attend.”

Entrapta flips up her mask, “That I would!”

The dining hall, even for a semi-formal party, seems to be packed with people.

Hordak walks down the steps with Entrapta, staring straight ahead. Entrapta, meanwhile, has her gaze darting everywhere, paying attention to the decorations and individuals.

“Entrapta! Hordak!”

They turn, Glimmer teleporting right in front of them. Entrapta smiles, “Hi!”

“Hello,” Hordak nods.

Glimmer appraises the two of them, “You two are looking good. Love the pantsuit and dress combo.”

“Thanks!” Entrapta looks down at her outfit. “I’ve had this for a while, but I never needed to go out to a party before.”

“Well, be sure to mingle! Refreshments are at the table,” Glimmer tells them.

Hordak watches her walk away. Dusting off imaginary debris from his dress, he glances at the balloons and string occupying every corner of the vicinity.

Entrapta grins up at him, “Do you want to get a drink?”

“Why not,” Hordak replies. Entrapta shuffles on her hair, staying at his eye level. “I thought this was supposed to be semi-formal.”

“Truthfully, I don’t know if what we’re wearing counts, but Glimmer seemed to be pleased with our choices,” Entrapta says. Reaching the table, she leans down, hands folded together. “Ooh, tiny cupcakes!”

Taking a plateful of sweets, Entrapta and Hordak walk over to one of the standing tables.

“Entrapta! There you are!”

She turns, swallowing her sip of soda. She smiles, “Hey, Bow!”

He grins at her, “I thought that was you. Hordak, how’ve you been?”

“Well, thank you. And yourself?”

“I’ve been doing okay. I’ve been helping my dads with their library, for right now, in order to make sure that they have their records on Etherian wars and the First Ones updated.”

“Has it really been taking a long time?” Entrapta asks, holding up her plate.

Taking an offered treat, Bow bites into a cookie, “Amazingly, yes, since the majority of our contents are mislabeled.”

“Have you been making any new inventions?”

“I’m glad you asked, Hordak!” Bow says, ecstatic. “Look, I brought all these new types of arrows, and some technology Glimmer calls Spy Stuff.”

Entrapta lifts an arrow with a strand of hair, sipping her drink, “What’s in this one?”

“It’s one of my explosion arrows!”

“Don’t you have one of those?” Hordak asks. “I remember having that blow up in my face.”

Bow gives a sheepish grin, “I’m still sorry about that.” At Hordak’s offhanded wave, he continues. “And no, this one explodes but it releases smaller pods that also explode. It’s a kinda diversion arrow, I guess.”

“I say this because if you change around the compounds in your arrow, you will be able to produce a more effective explosion that spreads out a fire.”

“It’ll take down anyone!” Entrapta laughs.

Bow mulls over their answers, “Hmm, that would be useful if we needed it again.”

“You could use it for prescribed burning,” Hordak suggests. “Right,” Entrapta agrees, turning to Bow. “Isn’t there an area Perfuma needs to clear away in her kingdom?”

“That sounds like a good idea! I’ll begin tweaking after,” Bow says. “What about you two?”

Together, they begin to discuss the latest inventions they’ve been working on for the past several months. Entrapta and Bow add a layer of zeal to Hordak’s calm demeanor that is relaxing for the three of them. Hordak finds himself at ease, despite knowing that there are folks staring at them, or, more rather, himself. Despite the length of time gone by, Hordak isn’t oblivious to the wary gazes from some of the other guests.

“Hey, if it isn’t the best inventors on Etheria in their little clique!” Glimmer says, appearing in a dazzle of stardust. “How’s it going?”

Bow and Entrapta grin at her, “Going great!”

“Hordak?”

The three of them turn to him, expectant.

“Uh… I’m having a fun time?” Hordak says, intelligently.

“Really?” Glimmer asks, leaning forward to him. “You mean it?”

Hordak gives a thumbs-up.

“Yay!” Glimmer and Bow cheer, feeling accomplished.

“He wouldn’t lie,” Entrapta says to the pair, draining the last drops of her drink. “We are having loads of fun. This is quite the party you set up.”

“I got everyone here, and some of the other princesses showed up too,” Glimmer informs them. She glances behind the three. “Oh, Mom! Dad! Come here.”

Hordak’s ear twitches as he looks at her parents, former enemies and fairly tenuous allies. While Glimmer has taken to him well, Angella and Micah are staring at him with neutral interest. In truth, he feels the same about the previous king and queen.

“Everyone is enjoying themselves!” Glimmer announces, hands on her hips.

“I am glad to hear that this is going well,” Angella says, choosing her words carefully. She looks at Hordak, “Are you finding the festivities to your liking?”

“Yes, thank you,” Hordak says, standing upright. He gives a low, respectful bow, “I appreciate being invited to your home.”

Micah and Angella glance at each other, then their shoulders grow lax.

Micah gives a small smile, “That is good to hear.”

Glancing at Glimmer, Angella steps up to him. She extends her hand, “Thank you for coming. If I may ask, would you care to accompany me to the dance floor? I would enjoy the exercise.”

Keeping his surprise to himself, Hordak looks at Entrapta, who gives an encouraging motion.

Staring at them, Glimmer returns to her conversation with the rest of her friends.

Hands pressed together, Angella spins with Hordak in place. Wings tucked firmly behind her, she steps to the side, “I have heard from Glimmer that you have been helpful in restoring Etheria. Is the progress going well?”

“It has been,” Hordak answers, lacing their fingers together. He gently twirls her body, her footfalls light. He raises a brow, “I know you couldn’t have asked me to join you unless you wanted something from me.”

“What would that be?”

“To interrogate me.”

“I wouldn’t use the word interrogate,” Angella says to him, twisting on the ball of her foot. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she stares at him, “I would use the word ‘threaten,’ if needed.”

“A waste of time, Your Majesty,” Hordak replies, voice low. “I have no malicious intent toward your daughter or kingdom. She asked me to be here.”

“I know,” Angella tells him. “She has allowed bygones to be bygones. And while I have seen that you are not up to your old ways, I wanted to discuss things with you privately. We haven’t been able to talk alone in all this time.”

“I understand the concern, however, I don’t find it prudent or wise to insinuate that I’m biding my time to destroy your planet.”

“A person can never be too sure.”

“If I had ill will towards your people, I wouldn’t have joined the Rebellion in the final battle,” Hordak says, tone clipped.

Angella throws a delicate glare at his direction, “Be that as it may, I wanted to be certain that you aren’t going to harm us in the future. Can we trust you?” At one point in time, they couldn’t have. But he has changed, gone through a metamorphosis that he never expected to undergo. The time spent on Etheria, not as a warlord, but as an individual, showed him how many wasted years he had spent in the name of vengeance and bloodlust. His lack in valuing other lifeforms stemmed from believing that no one had value, least of all himself. He was born to destroy, and that was the end of it.

“I do not expect you to forgive me, or even trust me,” Hordak replies, slowly. “But I promised someone I care about that we would live differently, treat others better. I trust her above all else. And I trust myself to amend what damage I have done.”

Angella lifts an eyebrow, then her gaze softens, staring at nothing. She whispers, “When I lost my husband, I hated you. I hated you more than words could express. Then I felt… numb. So numb I couldn’t bring myself to fight you. As if all life in me had been leached out. I felt this ache in my chest every waking moment. That hatred of you became apathy. I wanted you gone, but at times it felt...” Angella’s voice fades for a moment.

“It felt as though I simply wanted it to be over. In the worst part of me, I wanted you to win, to win and end my suffering. I failed my husband, so what good was I to lead, if I couldn’t protect those close to me? I wanted to be with my beloved, and if it meant giving up my kingdom… I didn’t care. And now I feel as though I have to make up for that, by ensuring your loyalty has changed, because, in those moments of weakness, my loyalty to my people and daughter didn’t matter.”

“I…” Hordak glances at the ground. Then he directs his gaze at her, not breaking eye contact. “I’m sorry. I truly am sorry for the pain I caused you. And more so, knowing now what it means to lose someone you care for.”

Angella looks at Hordak, allowing herself to pirouette around him, “You do?”

“I never had a person I cherished before. I never thought someone would want to be with me. I had… formed these ideas in my mind, that maybe things could fall into place now, and she would be in them. When I believed she had betrayed me, I barely held my composure together. There was rage in me. And I became more determined to destroy all of you. As wrong as it was, it made sense at the time. It wasn’t simply about conquering another nation, but to hurt people because I wanted others to understand my anger. Then, when I thought she had died…” Hordak’s gaze flickers to the side, before turning back to Angella.

“I thought that was it. For a brief moment, I didn’t care if I won or lost. I wanted to die. But then, all that time I spent, it would be for nothing. So I pushed myself to go on, because then, the little I had left, perhaps it would ease the realization that I failed her.”

Angella pauses in her movements, eyeing her previous foe. He meets her gaze, quiet.

Neither of them are open people. They prefer to keep their insecurities and worries at bay, by either neglecting their emotions or engaging in destructive ones. They once led the opposing sides of a war, growing fractured as years came and went. She had been afraid of him for the harm he wrought, and he had been afraid of her for the victories she continued to gain.

He knows, and she does too, that there doesn’t have to be forgiveness to move forward. Perhaps not now, if ever. But resentment is breeding ground for corpses. So she will give him tolerance, and he will prove that that is enough for her to do.

They stand as the music peters out to silence. The applause doesn’t break their concentration.

Angella gives a curtsy, smiling gently, “Thank you. The dance was illuminating.”

Hordak bows, “Likewise, Your Majesty.”

She walks away to Micah, and he walks toward Entrapta, lost love reconciled.

Hordak finds that their little group has increased. Angella and Micah bid them goodbye after their dance, while Perfuma and Scorpia had joined up with them. The four of them slam their fists onto the table, “Chug! Chug! Chug!” Hordak raises a brow as Glimmer tosses her head back, gulping down her beverage. When she puts it on the table, she holds up her pointer finger. Waiting. Then lets out an enormous belch.

“Ooh, Glimmer wins,” Entrapta announces, clapping.

Bow snaps his fingers, “Aw, darn. I thought I had that one.”

Scorpia slaps his back, “I’m sure there are lots of other things you can beat her at.”

“Like what?”

Hordak stands beside them, “You keep your dignity. Is that not better than a… whatever that was?”

“It’s called a burping contest—” explains Glimmer.

“—Disgusting—”

“—And I won, so there.”

Perfuma giggles, leaning onto Scorpia, “Maybe we should see what else we can play.”

Bow hears a sound from behind. Seahawk stands flexing his muscles on a table, Mermista’s face in her palm.

“Glim, we should probably get him,” Bow informs her.

“Ugh, I thought he’d behave. Excuse us.”

Scorpia looks at Hordak, “We saw you dancing with Queen Angella. I didn’t know you could dance.”

Hordak shrugs, “It doesn’t seem overly difficult.”

“Man, it’s been a while since we hung out. Not that we ever did, but it’s kinda weird you’re not my boss anymore.”

“It’s still hard to believe we don’t have to fight anymore,” says Perfuma. “Which is wonderful, conflict always disturbs my energy flow.”

“Ooh, what kind of energy flow?” Entrapta queries, grabbing her recorder.

As they talk, Hordak allows himself to relax. The conversation with Angella, while not terrible, tired him a little.

“Hey, Hordak.”

He looks over his shoulder, “Hello, Catra.”

His once Force Captain sidles up to them, “What are you guys doing?”

“Perfuma is telling me about her energy flow!” Entrapta says.

Catra smirks, “That sounds interesting.”

“Very much!”

Catra looks up, “Hi, Scorpia.”

She nods, “Hi, Catra. You, uh, look good.”

“Thanks.”

Perfuma and Entrapta glance back and forth between them, with Hordak appearing disinterested.

“Whew, sorry, we’re late!” Adora yells, coming up to the group. She glances around, “Where are Bow and Glimmer?”

“They went to go stop the singing pirate from dancing on the table,” Hordak informs her.

“I should go help too. Catra, I’ll be back,” Adora bounds away, telling Seahawk to mind his manners.

Clearing her throat, Scorpia smiles at Catra, “How’s everything?”

“It’s been good. Adora and I have been great.”

“That’s nice, I’m glad you’re doing good.”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

“It is good, yeah.”

Entrapta and Hordak exchange glances.

Perfuma, sensing the odd tension, takes Scorpia’s claw, “Oh, I forgot I wanted to show you this dance move Mermista taught us. Can I?”

Scorpia nods, “Sure! Let’s boogie down!”

Catra sighs as they walk away. Scratching her chin, she says, “I didn’t know they were dating.”

“They’re not,” Entrapta interjects, swinging her legs in her seat. “I think you made it too awkward to be here.”

Catra frowns, “Thanks, Entrapta.”

“You’re welcome!”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Catra turns to Hordak, “You’re quiet as usual.”

“There is nothing to discuss, ergo, I am quiet.”

Dragging a chair over, she sits on it. Taking a cupcake off Entrapta’s plate, she wrinkles her nose, “I never understood the appeal of sugary desserts.”

Entrapta shakes her head, hand on her heart, That is so sad.” She perks up, “Do you want me to see if I can alter your tongue’s ability to perceive sweets?”

“Not today.”

Glimmer, Bow and Adora come up to them, having finally wrangled Seahawk off his ‘stage’ and onto the dance floor.

“I’m parched,” Glimmer says. “I’m going to get another soda.”

“Just don’t burp anymore,” Hordak teases.

“Har har,” Glimmer sticks her tongue out at him.

“What?” Adora asks.

“Entrapta, do you want a refill?”

“Yes, please!”

With a quick teleport, Glimmer takes off and comes back. Tired of being still, they all head to dance in the center of the room. Entrapta and Hordak watch from the sidelines, much better observers than participants.

“You okay?” Entrapta asks, touching his shoulder with a lock of hair.

“Yes, the evening is proving to be tiring, is all.” “When we get back to the lair, we’ll go right to bed.”

Hordak leans on his palm, finding the idea vastly more tempting than anything, “That sounds pleasant.”

Entrapta looks at the dance floor, then back to Hordak. She smiles, “You were really dancing out there.”

“It’s not difficult. It’s simple side motions much of the time.”

“Can I have the next dance?” she asks.

“Of course you can,” Hordak answers. Smirking at her, he leans toward her, murmuring, “I can do a lot more than dance too, you know.”

Slowly, a wide grin spreads across her face, “Do you want to find a room?”

Entrapta drags her mouth along the crook of his neck, breath hot on his pulse.

Hordak’s head tips back, gripping her thighs with his hands. Guiding her hips, she slides onto him. He breathes out when he feels familiar warmth, wet and soft.

Moaning, Entrapta begins to gyrate her hips. Her shirt is unbuttoned, revealing the curve of her breasts. Her fingers dig into his abdomen, gliding them along dark skin. Her hair wraps around his wrists, keeping them at her waist. His thumbs stroke her sides, laying still as she rocks her frame against him.

Breathing out, his eyes shut tight, relishing the feel of her body, strong and secure. Hordak allows his body to loosen, forgetting the world outside this room. Her moans drown out all other sound, the scent of her removing all thought.

All thought except getting caught.

Entrapta grins down at him, and she allows her binding to relax. His hands skim over to her breasts, massaging her nipples through the shirt. Groaning, her back arches, sinking further onto him.

Hordak hisses between gritted teeth, tempted to buck his hips. Her grip tightens, noticing his pelvis shift upward.

She bends low, brushing her mouth over his. His head inches forward, and she inches away. Teasing. Mocking.

Daring.

He thrusts up, causing her to cry out in pleasure.

They glance at the door, and they grin.

Quickening their pace, Entrapta pushes her hips down onto him, the two moving in an easy rhythm.

Panting, Hordak caresses the top of her thighs with his nails, sending shivers throughout her body. She releases one of his hands, and it glides along her frame to her clit. His thumb rubs it slow and gentle, even as she pumps her hips in fast motions on his cock.

Sweat forming on their skin, the two do all they can to make the other scream, all while attempting to be discreet. Entrapta thrusts her body down, Hordak bites his lower lip. Hordak rubs her clit harder, Entrapta covers her mouth with the back of her hand.

Her walls clench around his cock, the sound of their bodies slapping onto one another driving his mind wild. Remembering the talk he had earlier, and he’s all the more glad she’s alive. He reaches up to touch her cheek, throat tight.

Entrapta slows for a moment. She stares down at him, gaze loving. Pressing her hand against his, they don’t say anything. Glad they don’t have to miss each other anymore.

The movements pick up faster than before, trying to make up for lost time, the past mistakes made to stand in the way of what’s happening. Soon, they forget all that. Ministrations become more hurried, and they forget to be completely quiet, allowing their moans to deepen, gaining a little more volume.

Bodies hot, Entrapta and Hordak come together, muscles tensing, then easing. They glance at the door.

Entrapta and Hordak grin at each other, laughing quietly in the dark.

“Hope everyone had fun!” Glimmer shouts at guests disbanding. She turns to Hordak and Entrapta, “And it was nice of you to join us on the dance floor near the end.”

Entrapta beams at her host, “It was a lot of fun! And the food was delicious.”

Hordak bows his head, “It proved to be an entertaining night.”

“Well, don’t forget your party favors,” Bow tells them, handing each a small bag. “Don’t be strangers.”

“Seriously, you’re welcome at Bright Moon anytime,” Glimmer tells them.

Entrapta smiles, Hordak smirking beside her. Bidding farewell, the two wait until they’re well out of earshot before bursting into evil cackles.

“I wonder what they’re laughing about,” Adora says.

Glimmer shrugs, “I don’t know. I'm more wondering why I got a weird feeling again.”

#entrapdak #entrapta #hordak #spop #shera

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badgerthegnome · 4 years

Text

OKAY so I binged season 5 of She-Ra

and it was ~♡*SO GOOD*♡~

Here is my very spoilery review, from perspective of I, a Glimadora fan, but a Glimadora fan who grew up in the Queer Representation Drought of the 90′s.

OKAY, so, if you’ve kept reading firstly thank you. And may we all dance together and THANK NOELLE.

Admittedly I went into this season not hopeful anyway for Glimadora, after what happened with them last season (and the fact that Catra and Adora’s star signs match the star signs of the Showrunner and her Wife? .....Yeah).

I still love them, and think the spark of possibility of their romance is and was a gorgeous thing, and will remain one of my favorite parts of the show.

But.

WE GOT DECENT REPRESENTATION, SO very DECENT REPRESENTATION. BETTER THAN ANYTHING I’VE SEEN IN AN ALL-AGES SHOW IN MY LIFE SO FAR.

And I HAVE to be grateful for that.

The people behind Korrasami fought so that we could have canonical, actually represented Catradora. The entire Crewniverse, esp. Rebecca Sugar, fought SO HARD so we could have canonical, actually represented Catradora. Hell, Naoko Takeuchi made Uranus and Neptune lovers, and Be-Papas made Utena queer as the day is long, so we could have canonical, actually represented on-screen Catradora. So much has been done to get us here, so I can’t help but be grateful - baseline, gratitude, first and always - that we got this level of representation AT ALL.

And ALL THOSE Netossa and Spinnerella moments. MY GAY HEART. The fact that we got all those kisses, and the actual use of the word WIFE. Priceless.

AND Double Trouble. EXTRA priceless.

AND Kyle/Rogelio.

AND all the moments where everybody was queer with.....well, everybody.

This show has given us SO much, that even though I didn’t get exactly what I wanted..... I can’t be mad. I’m not. I’m just so touched and pleased.

And honestly - I didn’t know how they were going to get Catradora to where they ended up, after everything. Not having shipped it before, I didn’t have a lot of thought-energy invested there, and since I didn’t have high hopes for a Glimadora-romantic-reconciliation after their fall last season I didn’t really forsee anything Catradora going well. I thought, honestly, that if they were going to push for Catradora endgame after all, it was going to feel forced and we’d only get implications, not THE CONFESSION. AND THE KISS (both kisses!).

And everything that built up to that? SO WELL constructed. I am so impressed. Not only between Catra and Adora directly, but the fact that Catra fits so well into the Best Friend Squad that I can’t picture them without her now that it’s happened. And I never, ever thought that was gonna happen.

(And I’m not even going to start about the Utena parallels in Catra saving Adora from that last vision she was having. You know what I mean.)

NOELLE I WAS SO WRONG TO DOUBT YOU.

On that note, again, I REALLY REALLY REALLY also SO much appreciate the Spinnetossa storyline, that we got to see SO much of them, and SO many kisses, and the threat of Spinnerella having been compromised was taken SO SERIOUSLY. DAMN. I shipped it before (how could you not?) but I ship it so hard now, and HAPPILY take it as consolation about my aforementioned ship woes (which can’t even really be woes. See above).

Here, have some crappily-taken phone camera shots of me pausing and flailing over the kisses as I watched on my tablet:

And as usual, the world building for the whole show - the world itself, the plot, the historical impact of all the backstory, everything - was SO WELL DONE. I have been massively impressed on that level alone since day 1, and now, at the end, I’m still not disappointed.

Also Scorpia. Always, but especially in her friendship with Perfuma this season (love love loved the resolution between her and Catra, too. I may be on board with Catradora now but I may have still cheered a lot when she blasted her, even though she was mind-controlled, and definitely squealed at the hug).

And all the scenes between Shadow Weaver and Castaspella. The build up to her redemption was handled very, very well, too. Even though I still hate her face.

I do have to say, though, that as a Glimadora fan I’m not sure how to approach Glimbow. I did not see that coming (as much as it wasn’t explicitly shown, and as much as I appreciate that it was left open to interpretation, I do think that the timing of their “I love you” shortly before Catradora’s “I love you” was not an accident). What I DO appreciate about them together, though, is that both characters are still queer af - and in my opinion, their love pushes Bow’s sexuality in a more fluid way than I expected. When I first saw the character designs in season 1, and with how he reacted to Seahawk, I was pretty sure they were going to go ‘stereotypical gay man’ with him - and I don’t say that with any harshness on the need for gay male representation, or any doubts about Noelle or anyone else on the creative team. I say that from the background of someone having grown up in the 90′s, where the best queer representation I saw on any non adult-adult TV was Willow and Tara of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (which and who I LOVE). BUT even with their loveliness, Willow’s bisexuality/pansexuality was ERASED as soon as she became attracted to a woman (like she tripped and was like “Whoops, guess I’m homosexual now!”). So I wasn’t very optimistic about Bow being any of the LGBTQ’s except the G, BUT a) clearly I was wrong, from the start, and yay for that, and b) he reads so strongly as pansexual, in my opinion, and so does Glimmer (I know and respect that many may disagree with me on this, not trying to start any kind of wars here. Especially since we just wrapped one up ;D ). So them together actually only solidifies that representation, I think.

(And I also gotta note that I am SO PLEASED with my girl Glimmer’s character development this season, in general. I was very very glad with how they handled her, especially after how hard - though understandable - how hard her decisions in season 4 were to watch.)

Definitely definitely definitely need a rewatch, now, from the perspective of Catradora AND Glimbow. An open one, trying to see both developing from the beginning, and value and respect all that went into building them.

I wanna end by saying that one of the things I appreciate SO much about this fandom is that we all have SO much LOVE for the show itself, and the representation we’ve been given. So I hope no matter what we shipped, still shipped, whatever we wished for - we can be grateful for the gift that this show is. And hopeful, too, for a spinoff in whatever format they can give us.

(I personally want more comics, but I’m super biased.)

P.S. Shoutout also to Entrapdak, Wrong Hordak and to Keston John for all the amazing work he did with all the clones this season. Damn.

(And that moment with Prime-possessed Hordak and She-ra/Adora at the end was ALSO PERFECT.)

(Okay really shutting up now.)

#spop #spop spoilers #spoilers #review #catradora #glimadora #glimmadora #spinnetossa #glimbow

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haught-n-cold-gay · 4 years

Text

tell me how

My Catradora multi-chapter fic found on A03

Summary:

Adora's a hardcore workaholic defense attorney fighting to keep innocent people out of prison.

Catra's an angst-ridden private investigator trying to make ends meet.

Both of them are hell-bent on saving three rookies from prison and taking down the corrupt cops that arrested them.

The only problem?

Ten years ago Catra and Adora ended whatever they had and they are a little pissed about having to work together again. And for some reason, the attraction that was there ten years ago hasn't subsided. It's a complete mess. They're a mess.

Chapter 1: i can’t call you a stranger

Darkness usually beckoned people to sleep, but Adora was different. She always had been. She felt comforted by the fact that when she was awake, the rest of the world was asleep. She liked the silence; the way that no one could seem to bother her at such a late time. Yet somehow, she never felt lonely in the depths of night. The stars had kept her company ever since she was young. Even as an adult she relied on the stars, even when they were barely visible with all the city light.

Late into the night or morning (Adora couldn’t tell), her eyes burned as she stared at the screen. She wanted to fight against her bodily functions, hating her eyes for having the audacity to feel tired. She had work to do. She always had work to do.

But Glimmer texted her. Glimmer always texted her right when Adora was getting somewhere in her work.

Glimmer: Adora, it’s 1:00, please come home

Adora did what Adora did best. She ignored the text. Glimmer tended to worry about things that had nothing to do with her, especially when it came to her best friend. Most days, Adora loved that about her. Tonight, she was annoyed. She was so close, she felt it deep in her bones. She was going to find something that would prove the innocence of--

She got another text and groaned.

Bow: Glimmer is killing me, Adora! Don’t make me come pick you up!

Fuck. She would have liked to believe that Bow was just kidding, but knowing him, his threats (since he rarely gave threats) were never empty. Bow was the nicest guy in the world, but he was just as stubborn as Adora. If he believed he was doing the right thing, there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. It was what made him a ruthless (and empathetic) lawyer and good friend (albeit, a little frustrating sometimes).

Murmuring curses to herself, she gathered up all of her shit and texted her friends that she was on her way back to their apartment. She didn’t want to stop working when she was this close, but she also knew she had a habit of passing out when she doesn’t sleep for a few days. It didn’t happen often, but it happened often enough for everyone else besides her to consider it a ‘problem’.

Her eyes were betraying her as she drove home. It was a short five-minute drive, but the number of times she had to smack herself was frightening. Even with her music up all the way, she almost fell asleep. It wasn’t really a problem, though. She was fine.

“You look like--”

“Shit,” Adora answered as she entered the small apartment that she shared with her best friends and colleagues. “I know. I was so close with the Yates case, you know.”

Glimmer had her hands on her hips and her ‘mom’ face on. “I’m sure you were. Go to bed, Adora.”

Adora rolled her eyes and tried to remember how much she loved Glimmer on a good day. Glimmer was her first friend at the firm. Glimmer was the first person who gave her a chance. Glimmer was crafty and wicked and brilliant and Adora loved her. But dammit, Glimmer was the ‘mom’ friend and Adora did not appreciate being treated like a child. She didn’t want anyone to take care of her as if she wasn’t capable of taking care of herself.

“Is Bow sleeping in your--”

“Go to bed, Adora!” Glimmer (though almost a whole foot shorter) grabbed a hold of her and pushed her toward the direction of Adora’s incredibly tiny room. Usually, Adora was much stronger than her friend with pink tips in her hair, but she barely had any fight left in her.

She had enough energy to get into the bathroom, but was terrified to look at herself in the mirror. She didn’t have to see herself to know that she probably looked like a mess. She didn’t have to look at the mirror to know that her blue eyes were probably slightly red with dark circles underneath and that her blonde hair had random strands pulled out of her tight ponytail. She brushed her teeth and washed her face.

Her bed was calling her, practically chanting her name, but when she laid down (with all of her clothes on), she suddenly felt very awake again. She loved the night, but she hated her insomnia. She had always been a bad sleeper, but it had gotten worse over the past few years. She thought that when she got to a point when she was working 24/7 she would be able to fall asleep out of exhaustion, but that hadn’t been the case. She still stared at the ceiling and tried the tricks that Google had suggested. They never worked, but usually, they were enough of a distraction to the other kind of thoughts that usually fragmented her mind at night.

Adora took a deep breath and exhaled. Sometimes she really wished she would take the melatonin like Glimmer kept telling her to.

-+-+-

“Oh my, that’s disgusting.”

Catra almost completely flinched. She had forgotten that she had brought Scorpia along for the stake-out. Since Scorpia was a talker, the numbing silence must have made her feel like she was still alone. She was used to the woman chatting her ear off about things that Catra didn’t care about. Her not talking for a long amount of time was new for her.

“What?” Catra just took pictures of the couple in the car.

“He’s married. He should not be hooking up with someone else. I just don’t understand people. Marriage is a sacred oath.”

Catra snorted as she took more pictures knowing that she was going to get a big check for this case. This was the first stake-out she had taken her new partner with. She normally hated to do ‘cheating’ cases, but she was hurt for cash and, well, it was an easy cash maker. She had to do the shit so that she could do the work she really wanted to do.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, Scorp, the wife is going to get a huge chunk of change in the divorce. She could probably take everything from the dick.”

Scorpia harrumphed. “Still. She’ll hurt from seeing this.”

Catra didn’t mind Scorpia most of the time, but the tall woman had more emotions than anyone Catra had ever met before and it made her incredibly uncomfortable sometimes. She liked doing this job untethered to any emotions at all. It was easier.

“Look.” Catra turned to her new partner and scowled. “The people that pay me already know deep down that their partner’s cheating. I just take the pictures.”

Scorpia shivered. “I would never cheat. That’s just so cruel, you know?”

Catra shrugged. She had never been cheated on or cheated on someone, though she guessed that at one point she was probably the ‘other woman’, not that she really cared. Sex was sex. Sometimes she forgot that there were people out there like Scorpia who really believed in love.

“Good for you. Let’s head back. We have a meeting with the trio.”

Scorpia nodded, obviously still bothered by what she had just seen. Scorpia was a good investigator, Catra knew this (it’s why she hired her), but she still thought that the woman was naive. Scorpia was the kind of person who believed that good was in everyone. Catra knew that if anything, everyone was capable of bad, but some chose not to touch their own darkness.

“The trio. You mean…”

“Yeah.”

The trio. The three rookie officers who found out about illegal shit going on in the police. Things that Catra had already figured, but needed proof of. They were three idiot kids who were in fear of their life, but they were good at finding things out and snooping. Catra felt like she was so close to bringing down the corrupt cops for good.

“Insane. Really. Cops on the take from criminals. I mean, what is the world turning into?”

Catra frowned at her. “Are you joking or stupid? Cops have always been bad, Scorpia. They’re usually just better at hiding it.”

Her partner looked away out the other window and Catra knew that she had gone a little too far. Scorpia usually thought that Catra was the epitome of good, but sometimes she proved to Scorpia that she was a douche. Scorpia usually tried to not believe it.

“Do you think Entrapta has hacked into the police database yet?”

Catra smirked and answered, “There’s nothing Entrapta can’t hack into. At this point, she’s probably hacked the NSA so many times that it bores her.”

Scorpia nodded and Catra could see that Scorpia was still hurt. Part of Catra cared and thought about apologizing for being so harsh, but she knew by now to ignore that part of herself. She didn’t like that part of her. The vulnerable side of her.

“That’s good.”

“Yeah,” Catra agreed softly, not knowing what else to say. “It is.”

-+-+-

The alarm that woke Adora up was an old Paramore song that she was addicted to years ago. She never changed it (and she didn’t think she ever would). She rubbed her eyes that didn’t feel like got a minute of sleep. She didn’t know why she still woke up more tired than when she went to sleep. She shook the dark thought out of her head. It was a new day. A day to really make the change she wanted to see in the world. The lack of sleep made it feel worth it.

Steaming water from the shower covered her body and she enjoyed the sensation. After long nights, she usually woke up aching. The water always helped.

“Adora!”

Glimmer. Adora pulled the curtain back slightly to see her best friend in a cute dress in her bathroom. Glimmer really had no definition of ‘personal space’ and sometimes it really showed.

“What, Glimmer?” She thought that maybe the growl that came out of her mouth would scare her away, but it didn’t. Of course it didn’t. It never did.

“I was just thinking… are you going to go on another date with Huntara?”

Adora was about to hit something, or more specifically, someone. Glimmer had always been invasive about her love life (or lack of love life), but it got worse after Adora admitted that she didn’t do relationships. She regretted revealing that information and really regretted drunkenly admitting that she had sex with someone from the office.

“Glimmer, do we have to talk about this now?”

She shrugged dramatically and said, “I think she’s great, you know? But she flirts with everyone, Adora. And I know she’s hot and all but--”

“Glimmer.” Adora tried to hold herself back and remember that Glimmer wasn’t trying to offend her or anything like that. “Huntara and I aren’t dating. We slept together once after we had a lot to drink. It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? Adora, I thought you liked her?!”

Glimmer was a romantic. Adora knew this about her best friend (just like she knew Bow was the same way). She made up her mind a long time ago that she wasn’t made to be with anybody. That her focus was going to be on work, on making the world better, but Glimmer did not accept that. Adora appreciated that her friend thought she deserved more, but she knew better. She knew not to go down that road. Besides, she rarely had any sort of feelings for anybody. She just didn’t work that way.

“I do like Huntara. She’s amazing. Seriously. But I don’t have fee lings for her and I do not want to date her. Or date anyone. You know that.”

Glimmer just grumbled loudly. “Fine. I still think that you should let me try to set you up with somebody. You know, Perfuma thinks you’re great. And she’s single.”

Adora knew why she emphasized the last word. The last person she tried to set Adora up with was Mermista, who already was in a relationship with Sea Hawk, even though she pretended to hate him. Besides, as much as she liked the professional deadpan investigator of the firm, there wasn’t anything between them that resembled a spark. Not that Adora had much experience with that feeling anyway.

“No more set ups, Glim.” She turned the water off and pulled the towel off the hook before getting out. “I don’t want to be in a relationship with anyone.”

Glimmer pouted. “Okay, but what if there’s someone really hot and--”

“Glimmer.”

“Okay, you’re right. I’m done meddling. I’m going to see if Bow’s done with breakfast. And don’t worry, he’s made a pot of coffee. You’re addicted.”

Adora rolled her eyes and smiled at her best friend, who she knew always meant well. “So are you. Now get out of here.”

-+-+-

“Don’t get angry, Catra. I’m sure that there’s a perfect explanation for why--”

“They are little fuckers,” Catra seethed as she slammed her hands on the table, ignoring Scorpia’s looks of concern. “Of course they gave up. I can’t believe I put any faith in literal children.”

Scorpia was staring at her, her short bleached white/grey hair swooping along her forehead, and Catra knew what was coming. The optimistic speech about giving people a chance, yadda yadda yadda, people might surprise you, yadda yadda yadda. Catra didn’t know how the woman was still an optimist; she knew how much shit she had been through.

“Exactly, Wild Cat. They’re children. Give them some space. They’ll come back. They’re good kids.”

Catra knew what it was like. The police were really an indoctrinating boys club founded on morals they only took seriously when it fit their own ideology, but it was well cloaked by the idea of justice. Catra was once fooled, too, many years ago. But she never got to the point of being a rookie cop. She never even graduated from the police academy. She had seen the truth and never looked back.

She turned her attention away from Scorpia and the memories of her past back to Entrapta. With her hacker, she still felt like she could get things done without the idiot kids. Entrapta was in the corner of their cramped office space typing away on her several different screens.

Entrapta was weird. She was brilliant, but weird. Catra still didn’t understand why the woman with long purple hair in pigtails who occasionally wore a bug mask continued to work for her. Entrapta could do anything, but here she was.

“Yo, Entrapta. Please tell me you did not stay here all night.”

She looked up with wide eyes and declared, "I couldn't say that unless you want me to lie. Do you want me to lie?"

Catra rolled her eyes but felt the tug of a smile on her lips. “You need help, Entrapta. So, did you get in or what?”

Entrapta grinned at her like the cheshire cat. “Oh, I got in all right. I got in after ten minutes. Honestly, if they don’t want us to hack in, why make it so easy? It’s like they want us to hack in. I mean, I could delete every file if I wanted to. Or I could put out a BOLO for the captain, Catra. I could--”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, brainy. You could do a whole shit load of bad. As much as I appreciate that, do you think we could get the case records?”

Entrapta just blinked at her. “I could have done that in third grade. But to warn you, they just started to use digital records. I’m guessing most of the records are still in paper files somewhere. Imagine the chaos if someone were to burn--”

“You terrify me, Entrapta.” She said it in a joking tone, but there was something about the genius that was a little intense. She knew that if Entrapta wanted to destroy anyone she could. She did not want to get on her bad side.

The hacker just shrugged and continued to type rapidly, off doing her own thing. Catra didn’t even want to ask what she had been up to the entire night if it had taken her ten minutes to hack into the database.

-+-+-

Angella was walking toward the three of them and Adora felt the air knock out of her. Angella was not just the mother of her best friend, she was the managing partner of the Bright Moon law firm and Adora’s boss. She was beyond intimidating and all she wanted to do was prove herself. Adora wanted to become a partner before she turned thirty (just like all the other associates).

“I have a new case for the three of you. Follow me to my office. We have a lot to discuss.” She swiftly turned around and expected Adora, Glimmer, and Bow to follow her.

Adora shared a worried look between her best friends. They already had so much on their plate, they couldn’t imagine handling another case. But it wasn’t like they could tell the woman that. There was no way that she’d let them become partners if they couldn’t handle what they had already.

The three of them sat down in Angella’s large office with floor to ceiling windows that made Adora feel uncomfortable. The elegant woman just looked at them and sighed.

“I wouldn’t normally ask associates to work on a case like the one I’m giving you, but our partners have already too much on their hands. I want all three of you on this one. This case is important to me and I trust all three of you to handle it.”

“Mom--I mean--Angella, what’s going on?” Glimmer asked her, sounding a little bit concerned.

“Our firm has been investigating the PPD for a long time. You all know the corruption that happens there.” The three of them nodded, Adora more slowly than the others. “Three rookie police officers were just arrested for stealing evidence. Drugs.”

Adora was confused. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Angella shook her head. “I think the rookies are innocent, Adora. I got a call from a friend who’s representing them and they say that they were helping a PI agency get dirt on the corruption going on. She thinks that they’re trying to bury the rookies.”

“A PI agency?” Bow asked, voicing Adora’s exact thoughts.

Angella nodded. “It seems like a legitimate agency. I’ll give them a call after this meeting. I want you three to meet with the rookies right now if you can. The charges have already been filed so they have probably been booked. We need to make sure that they get bail.”

“Angella,” Adora whispered, her voice shaking more than she thought it would. “What PI agency is it?”

The managing partner looked through some papers and said, “Uh, Horde Investigations & Consulting.”

Adora gripped the arms of her chair and felt the sensation of her whole body getting dunked in a pool of ice water. For a second, she forgot how to breathe. She knew who was running the agency, she didn’t even have to ask. The name rose to her throat and stayed there. Lingering.

“Adora?”

Adora cleared her throat and smiled hard at Glimmer. She didn’t want anyone to know about the maelstrom in her mind that surrounded the person she tried to not think about.

“I’m fine. Let’s get to work.”

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