#not quite glitra... yet

[nny11writes]

“So you understand why morally we can’t let her do this to herself?”

Glimmer did her level best to keep her face neutral. “She wants to, it’s the right thing to do.”

Catra huffed, pushing the papers away as she mocked, “Oh it’s the right thing to do! Funny how it’s always the “right” thing when it’s helping someone else but never the right thing when Adora needs the help.”

“Thanks not true!” She winced. It was part of the angel side of the shtick, protecting others and being good and kind to them. The idea was that the rewards of having helped would help the human. It didn’t always work out, Glimmer sometimes wondered if that even flew half of the time. But if she went off script she’d get pulled from the case and it would be another hundred year wait before she could even think of re-applying. And she wanted to help, not be trapped on the sidelines!

Catra stared at her long and hard, and Glimmer realized with a sense of dread and frustration that she was now wearing her war mask, never a good sign, before shoving away from the table to walk.

[turtletotem]

AU where everything is the same except that it's traditional that Bright Moon royalty have a harem

aka why have ship wars when you can ship poly!

In season 1 Glimmer is too young to get married, of course. But she and Bow are definitely engaged already, because relationships tend to speed up a bit when you know you don't have to commit to only one spouse your whole life.

When Adora shows up in Bright Moon, she faces a lot of judgment and intolerance and even threats because she's from the Horde, right? But Glimmer has the perfect solution. A solution that will (a) give Adora official royal protection, (b) give Adora status in Bright Moon and the Rebellion, (c) be quite the political triumph in terms of binding She-Ra to the royal house of Bright Moon (this last one is the main reason Angella goes for it).

Glimmer adds Adora to her engagement harem.

Of course she's not going to force anything romantic on Adora that she doesn't want. She swears they won't even have to really get married, when the time comes, if Adora doesn't want to. But let's be real, Glimmer is definitely crushing on Adora, and in this situation? Where Glimmer feels free to act on that, and none of it's going to hurt Bow's feelings (he never expected to be Glimmer's only spouse, and he likes Adora), and Adora is lonely and everything about her situation is encouraging her to return Glimmer's feelings? Yeah, Adora starts reciprocating pretty quickly. I figure their first kiss is in the hot springsat Mystacor.

Of course Catra finds out; She-Ra's engagement to Princess Glimmer is big news. Her jealousy and hatred toward Glimmer and the Rebellion is gonna be dialed up to eleven. Princess Prom is even more intense than in canon. (For Glimmer and Bow, too—Glimmer has much better reason to be jealous of Bow's attentions to Perfuma, but since they're not married yet, she can't technically stop him.)

For what it's worth, I see Adora and Bow as having a relationship that is… romantic in some aspects, but not sexual? Adora's just not attracted to men, and Bow is too monogamous at heart—Glimmer's it for him, he's not interested in being with anyone else. But they still see themselves as romantic partners, because that's expected from harem-mates (at least nominally). They do love each other, and they enjoy things like holding hands, cuddling, and the occasional kiss.

Glimmer's not supposed to actually have sex with any of her harem until they're married, but just sleeping together is fine and even encouraged, so the three of them share a bed. It helps Adora's loneliness a lot, eases the pain of waking up without Catra.

(If, more than once, she sleepily calls one of them Catra, they're not about to bring it up.)

Very possibly, Adora advocates for adding Huntara to the harem. Glimmer is not in favor of this, however, and in the end the idea is dropped when Huntara goes back to the Crimson Waste.

The three of them get married when Glimmer becomes queen. Glimmer offers to release Adora from the engagement, just like she promised she would, but Adora won't hear of it. She loves Glimmer, and she loves Bow, and she wants this marriage. If a part of her is heartbroken over the final death of any hopes she had about Catra, well, that's all the more reason to marry Glimmer.

When we get to season 5, the Glitra subtext gets to be more than subtext. After all, it's totally acceptable for Glimmer to have three spouses, no one would even raise an eyebrow until she hit twice that many. But she feels weird telling Bow or Adora that she might have feelings for Catra, so she doesn't realize how much Adora is torturing herself with guilt about her own feelings for Catra. In addition to all the war-related reasons to feel guilty, Adora feels like she's being unfaithful to Glimmer.

Things might get very complicated after Catra is rescued. Glimmer, of course, proposes to Catra; marrying her will give Catra protection from anti-Horde sentiment just like it did with Adora, as well as helping establish peace between the two factions. Catra resists the idea, but Adora feels obligated to swallow her own feelings and talk Catra into it. Which, of course, devastates Catra, because now she thinks Adora doesn't love her. Poor Bow is the only one who sees what everyone isn't saying and tries, mostly without success, to mediate.

Events at the Heart go just as in canon, so Catra and Adora do face up to their feelings. But they're unsure how Glimmer's going to react. They're relieved and surprised when she's thrilled.

When all is said and done, Catra does marry into the harem. Like Adora, she has a romantic relationship with Glimmer and a close platonic relationship with Bow (even more platonic than Adora's; I'm thinking Adora and Bow eventually have a child, just because Adora wants one). (He and Glimmer probably have several.) Catra and Adora dig up an old tradition of handfasting, wherein members of the same harem can unofficially marry each other (or even marry outside the harem, with royal permission). It's not a legal thing, but it has meaning within the bounds of the harem itself. In their case, it's widely known and respected in the court of Bright Moon.

(Side note: What about Angella's harem? you might ask. Well, Angella's been around for a very long time. She outlived her entire first harem, and was too heartbroken by her losses to try again—until Micah. He got away with being her only spouse because she'd already fulfilled the harem tradition, and because he was able to finally give her an heir, and because the people were just happy to see her married again at all.)

[teaandsmut]

It's an oldie(!!), but what do you think of Sade's "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" as a Glitra song?

I can see that as a Glitra song! Especially: 

I won't pretend I'm good at forgiving  But I can't hate you Although I have tried 

Plus the lyrics from the title, of course, very Glitra!

The verses about sitting around waiting for the other person being a waste of time seem less Glitra-y, those sound like the singer was wronged (cheated on?) by a partner they’re no longer with and whose potential behaviour change they don’t want to wait for. But shipping glasses are a powerful thing so I can quite happily imagine those lyrics as a lament that it’s pointless to wish for the other to accept her (Catra about Glimmer) or open up to her (Glimmer about Catra) and yet they hold on to a bit of hope anyway. *sob*

One of my criteria for putting songs on a Glitra playlist is that it isn’t actually more of a Catradora song. I can see that the lyric “love is stronger than pride” on its own could sort of be Catra about Adora by the end, maybe, and the “I love you but I’m not waiting around for you to be better” thing could be Adora about Catra. But as a whole it doesn’t work for either them (Adora wasn’t particularly prideful and the idea of Catra waiting for Adora to correct the error of her ways is misguided), so I’ll allow it!

It’s way more chilled out than the songs I tend to think of as Glitra ones, even soft Glitra, but that’s probably because I myself have no chill at all and rarely listen to anything even remotely calm!

Thanks for the ask :)

[horde-princess]

An Analysis of 4 Key Relationships in Season 2

Now that we’ve had some time to digest season 2, I wanna take an in-depth look at some of the new relationships and group dynamics that have popped up in the show. Specifically, seeing Catra interact with Bow and Glimmer was something I’ve been excited about for a really long time, and then of course there’s Scorpia, and wow do i have THOUGHTS alright here we go

Catra and Bow

i know, weird right. there’s a reason i’m writing about these two first and it’s because i have a lot of feelings lajksdfd just hear me out okay

Idk about you guys, but when I was watching Catra attack Bow in 2x02 it just felt so weird, like in a bad way. Catra’s anger towards him for stealing Adora away is obviously valid, but Bow is just so pure and righteous and good, you know? He doesn’t have a bitter bone in his body (unlike Glimmer, who can give as good as she gets). Bow doesn’t know how to respond to Catra’s anger... and I think the reason that it was so hard for me to watch is because Catra and Bow actually have the potential to be good friends.

Think about it like this. Catra and Glimmer are a lot alike--they’re fierce and intense and they each have someone who helps bring them back down to earth: their respective best friends, Adora and Bow! And we see how much Adora and Glimmer have grown to love one another, right? It’s because their different personalities complement each other so well.... So I think that, given the chance, Catra and Bow could have a similar dynamic :)

There was a sweet moment in 2x02 that offered a glimpse of this, when Bow was trying to show Catra some kindness. He’s such an earnest, straight forward character, he sees right through Catra’s bullshit and knows exactly what to say to get through to her (i mean look at her expression here, the way her ears are flattened--so different from her absurd behavior in the rest of the episode).

Lock these two in a room for an hour? Yeah, they’d come out best friends 😭💖 I hope we get more of them in future episodes!! 

Catra and Glimmer

Oh man...... Whew. YIKES. Where to even begin with this alsjdfsdjld. Catra and Glimmer’s rivalry is just. everything. 

To Glimmer, Catra is the girl who is trying to destroy her home, murder her and her loves ones... the girl who’s breaking the heart of someone she loves (Adora).

To Catra, Glimmer is the girl who stole Adora away from her. She tore her life apart. She represents what it means to be born into a position of privilege and (literal) power, which Catra resents with a burning passion.

Seeing these two go head to head, sparring physically and verbally, it’s so freaking delicious. Catra has the advantage over her in almost every way: she’s a better fighter, she lies and manipulates, she’s willing to do evil things to win battles that Glimmer, as a typical hero, refuses to do. But despite all that, Glimmer still wins every time... Because she has Adora.

It’s interesting, though. Even though Adora is on Glimmer’s team, Catra knows that she is the one who holds Adora’s attention, if not also her affections--and she knows this fact drives Glimmer crazy. I mean come on, Adora means everything to Glimmer! She loves her as a friend but more than that, She-Ra gives her hope that they can save the world. Yet Adora loves this feral half-cat demon over her?? what???? lmao. So I think part of what’s fueling Glimmer’s hatred, her desire to just beat the absolute shit out of Catra, is that she feels like she’s contending for Adora’s love.

There were four glitra moments this season that I wanna highlight.

First, when Catra tries to get in her head and make her doubt her relationship with Adora. I found this interesting because you almost see a glimpse of sincerity in Catra--as if she’s trying to warn Glimmer against repeating the mistake she herself made. Glimmer’s reaction to the words are just as telling. She gets angry, but I don’t think it’s because she believes Catra. I think she’s angry because Catra is slandering Adora’s character. Unlike Catra right now, Glimmer sees Adora for who she truly is. She knows that Adora isn’t the kind of person who abandons her friends in pursuit of power. So yeah this was a cool moment that illustrated Glimmer and Catra’s contrasting perspectives.

Second, I LOVED this line, when Catra makes fun of Glimmer and Adora’s relationship (but it just comes off as jealous lmaoo). The reason I love it is because it’s so true!!! Glimmer and Adora are perfect for each other. What this line proves is that she is absolutely threatened by Glimmer in a romantic context. She recognizes that Glimmer might actually be more compatible for Adora than she is, and that Glimmer is her foil (which I’ll explain more in a minute).

Next is the scene where Glimmer actually threatens to kill Catra in cold blood. If you’re like me and you missed that when you first watched it, yeah, that’s what happened--Catra gives Kyle the order to “take Entrapta out” and then Glimmer slams her against the tree and says “two can play at that game.” She gets this close to blasting her face off but Bow is able to talk her down from it. And the whole time, Catra is just fucking smirking at her, calling her bluff because she knows Glimmer won’t compromise her morals (parallel to catradora in 2x05 anyone??). But yeah this was crazy. Catra just wanted to see how far she could push her and it turns out... pretty damn far. 

One of my favorite lines in the whole season was Glimmer telling Catra “I’m not as naive as you think.” Catra thought she had her outsmarted, forced to deplete her magic, but in the end Catra had underestimated her as an adversary.

The more I think about it, the more I realize Glitra’s rivalry is a hundred times more intense than Catradora’s. Remember in the DnD ep when femme fatale Catra points at Glimmer and calls her her greatest enemy? That was veeery interesting... Their relationship really has a life of it’s own now, like, separate from Adora. They hate everything about what each other stand for. They’re both so strong and hot-headed, with opposite moral compasses--like two rockets on a collision course. But I also love that they have this sort of begrudging respect for one another. Look at what Glimmer says here in 2x03, the ghost episode:

How random, right, that Glimmer would be thinking about some offhand comment from Catra from the previous episode? AND! In context, it just sounded to me like Catra was saying Glimmer was terrible at taking people hostage lol. Glimmer extrapolates and applies her comment to her courage, her capability as a hero. That’s like.... whoa. It shows that Glimmer actually cares about Catra’s opinion of her.

So yeah Glitra’s dynamic is more amazing than i could’ve ever dreamed.. not to mention their weird flirtation and oh no looks like we’re out of time for this section kjdfljsdkaskjd

Adora and Scorpia

Ok seeing these two dorks together in 2x05 was so amazing 😂😂 As cute as it was though it was one of the most heartbreaking parts of the season. I can’t remember a time that Scorpia ever demonstrated such bitterness towards someone.

Not exaggerating when I say that last line brought me to tears like wtf.... 😭

I’ve mentioned this before but Scorpia genuinely loves Catra so much and she just can’t stand seeing her heart breaking over Adora when Scorpia feels like she could treat Catra better. She’d give her the whole world if she could (which is quite literally what she’s trying to achieve!)

Adora, on the other hand, she doesn’t really know who Scorpia is. To her, Scorpia is just someone who is enabling Catra’s descent into darkness, so there is a hostility there already. If I had to name one thing that I’m excited about for upcoming episodes, it would be Adora inevitably growing jealous of Catra and Scorpia’s relationship. We haven’t seen it yet but mark my words we WILL AND ITS GONNA FUCKING DESTROY US okay i could yell about adora and scorpia for hours but let’s just move on and get to my fave part of this meta laksjdfs

Catra vs. Glimmer, and Adora vs. Scorpia

So Catra and Glimmer rivalry’s is obviously really fun, same with Adora and Scorpia. But the real magic comes in when we look at the dynamic of this whole 4-person group. I didn’t take Scortra seriously in season 1 (blasphemy... i know) so it took me until season 2 to catch onto this pattern, but now that I have it makes so much sense and gives the show a new perspective for me. 

Glimmer and Scorpia’s relationship hasn’t really been explored in the show but there is one thing we know they have in common: they both love two girls who are obsessed with someone else. And they both act as foils for our two protagonists. 

Glimmer is Catra’s foil. The similarities between these two are obvious. They’re both passionate and angry and driven and traumatized. But Glimmer’s strong moral code contrasts sharply with Catra’s lack of one (and really that difference is just a result of their disparate upbringings). 

Glimmer is right in front of Adora. And she’s everything that Adora only wishes Catra could be... yet Glimmer will never be able to compete with Catra in the contest for Adora’s affection. Adora is stuck between loving someone that she can’t be with, or being with someone she can’t truly love... at least, not in the same soul-altering way that she loves Catra.

Scorpia is Adora’s foil. Scorpia and Adora are also alike in some ways, but there’s a key difference. The fandom has discussed before how, yeah, Scorpia is part of the Horde, but she doesn’t appear to have any kind of moral stake in the war that’s going on. What Scorpia really cares about, what she’ll fight to the death for is... her friendships. She’s loyal to a fault, and she would do absolutely anything for Catra. Catra is her number one priority. 

GUYS! This is the exact opposite of Adora!! Adora may love Catra, but she will always choose the greater good over her. She won’t betray her convictions for love. That’s just who she is. Thus, Scorpia is everything that Catra wishes Adora would have been for her. Someone who would have stayed by her side no matter what. Someone who wouldn’t have cared whether or not the Horde was evil, as long as she could be with Catra. But again--though I do think Scortra’s budding romance will continue to develop--in the end Scorpia simply cannot compete with Adora for Catra’s affection. She acknowledged it herself. 

I wanna mention one more thing here.. So Scorpia and Glimmer are playing similar roles for their respective love interests. From my point of view (feel free to disagree this is just the way I’m interpreting things) I don’t believe that those relationships are gonna be endgame. To me this show always has been and always will be about Catra and Adora. And while I can’t wait to see them reconcile with each other, Noelle has suddenly got me falling in love with these other characters, too, and I'm so afraid??? ESPECIALLY for Scorpia. While Glimmer at least has Bow and the Princess Alliance, Scorpia has absolutely no one. Catra is Scorpia’s whole world. What will she do when that falls apart? (god please i’m begging, just let scorpia find happiness 😭)

Catra and Scorpia

Honestly I don’t even think I can write this part without having a meltdown but its the last one so im gonna push through alksjdfls. I already talked a bit about how Scorpia is exactly the kind of person that Catra needs at this point in her life, and I think it’s best summed up in this quote from Noelle:

“We see Scorpia expressing this admiration for Catra, expressing desire to get close to Catra... Catra is just not at this point super open to Scorpia’s affection. So I think it’s kind of tragic at this point. And I think for Catra, although she’ll never admit it, what she really wants is love and acceptance. Suddenly she is getting that, no strings attached, from Scorpia, and she is not ready.”

-wiping away tears- okay so yeah, Scorpia is over here offering Catra unconditional love and Catra’s just.... she’s so traumatized and has such deep-seated abandonment issues that she just doesn’t know what to do with it. She doesn’t feel she deserves it. Also, up until 2x05, Catra didn’t respect Scorpia much at all and definitely did not see her in a romantic light. But I have a theory on why that changed. 

For much of her life, I think the Horde taught Catra to associate love with blind loyalty and submission. Now, she is starting to question this belief. She thought Adora loved her, but Adora ended up being disloyal. She thought she could earn Shadow Weaver’s love by submitting to her, but Shadow Weaver continues to prove her wrong. So what is love, exactly? What is an expression of love? Catra’s not sure anymore.

When Scorpia defies Catra’s orders in 2x05--she destroys the First Ones disc, lets Adora escape, fucks up Catra’s plan--Catra is completely thrown. In the animation alone, you can see they’re trying to convey that Catra is seeing Scorpia in a way she never has before.

It’s precisely because Scorpia defied her and chose not to blindly submit to her, that Catra is still alive. It’s the first time that Scorpia went against Catra’s wishes in a big way. And I think this moment shook Catra to her core because it made her question what love is truly about. Like maybe Scorpia understands something that she doesn’t.

We see this again in episode 2x07, where she’s stressed out about Shadow Weaver and yelling at Scorpia to just obey her orders but Scorpia isn’t having it. And in that we see a special trust developing between them. Even when Catra’s being a dick to her, denying that they’re friends, saying things like “get used to not getting what you want in life...” Scorpia stays by her side and refuses to be discouraged. and I think that really is something that’s going to leave a huge impact on Catra. Scorpia is no longer just a tool for Catra to manipulate--she has come to seriously rely on her without realizing it.

Still, Catra doesn’t seem quite capable of understanding what a beautiful friend she has in Scorpia. and I’m afraid (predicting) that she might take it too far one day, and figure out the hard way exactly how much she had to lose. But that tragedy may also turn out to be her saving grace ✨

congrats if u read this whole thing lmao id love to hear your thoughts/criticism on it!! i was gonna discuss catradora too but actually i think that should be a separate meta so..... yeet .

[shera-dnd]

I Think I Love You

About a day later than I was planing, but it is finally here

Here is my gift for @taramacgay for the @sherawintergiftexchange

Their prompt was "Glitra - shit I think I like you" and you nerds better be sure I had a lot of fun writing this

This is a bit of a long one so it will be all under de read more link. Hope you guys enjoy this

Maybe it was the fear of death that had Catra’s heart racing, maybe it was the adrenaline that made the world slow down around her, maybe it was a sudden fear of being separated from the one ally she had in this cursed ship that made her grip Glimmer’s hand like this.

Lasers flew around them as they raced towards Mara’s ship; On one end of this corridor was freedom, on the other death, yet all that ran through Catra’s mind was how beautiful Glimmer looked as the fires of the exploding ship illuminated her face.

A hole had been blown open at the end of that corridor. Catra was grateful she wasn’t here when Prime’s ship was still outside Etheria’s atmosphere as she did not feel like taking a stroll in the cold nothingness of space. Beyond that hole, Mara’s ship awaited and on its entry ramp was Adora, her hand extended to catch them both. Catra had never been this happy to see Adora in her life.

They leapt towards the ramp, landing safely in Adora’s arms. It was over, they finally escaped, they were free. Catra hardly had any time to celebrate when she noticed a green beam of light flying towards Glimmer’s back and before she could even process what was happening she jumped in the way, taking the blast straight to the chest and in a moment the world went dark.

~~~

“I’m fine” Catra insisted, trying to get up from her uncomfortably soft bed “I’ve had worse”

“No, you’re not fine” Glimmer argued back, gently pushing Catra back down. It wasn’t nearly enough force to actually stop Catra, but she couldn’t find it in herself to push back against Glimmer, so she simply laid back down again. “Just rest, Catra”

“Whatever, Sparkles” Catra yielded, not wanting to upset the princess so soon after their great escape. “Shouldn’t you be out there with your friends, celebrating your return or whatever?”

“I’m spending time with a friend right now, aren’t I?” Glimmer answered, with a smile that made Catra’s heart race. What was Catra’s problem?

Ever since yesterday she had been feeling all weird around Glimmer. No, now that she thought about it she felt like that for a while, but only recently did it start getting intrusive like this. Now she couldn’t even touch Glimmer without getting distracted by how warm and soft she was and how much she wanted Glimmer to just hold her and- oh, Glimmer asked something she didn’t quite catch.

“What?” Catra asked, returning to reality.

“I asked if you were okay” Glimmer repeated “You didn’t say anything back and I got worried”

“I told you I’m fine,” Catra answered, perhaps a little more aggressively than she would have liked. “I just need some rest”

“Alright” Glimmer agreed, holding Catra’s hand for a moment before letting go - oh Catra did not want her to let go, ever - “I’ll let you get your rest then” Catra wished she didn’t feel this bad watching Glimmer go.

~~~

“This is ridiculous!” Catra protested, as Glimmer and Bow dragged her through the castle.

“Come on, Catra,” Bow insisted “don’t you wanna befriend all the other princesses?”

“Not really” She shrugged “I’m fine with being barely tolerated. I’m used to it by now”

“That may be how it worked in the Horde,” Glimmer argued “but in Bright Moon we all try to be friends”

“Sounds like too much effort” Catra joked “Can I go back to trying to kill you guys?” Glimmer shot her an annoyed glare. “Fine, I’ll do what you want” Catra conceded. It looked like ‘annoyed glares’ also had to be added to the ever growing list of things Glimmer did that got a rise out of Catra.

Catra was dragged into their war room and seated next to Adora. She gave Catra a tired look that seemed to say ‘they got you too?’ All the other princesses on the other hand seemed a lot more interested in what was about to happen. Catra was still unsure what they all gathered here for, but whatever that ‘bonding experience’ was she was pretty sure she was gonna hate it.

And she absolutely did, at first. All the princesses discussing their absolutely over the top and nonsensical ‘plans’ for defeating Horde Prime was extremely frustrating, but about half way through it all clicked. This was about the fantasy, about the perfect world where they could just magic Prime away, where they could all be great heroes in their own way.

Besides all that it was pretty fun to watch all the princesses different takes on her character. Some still saw her as some over the top villain begrudgingly helping them, some saw her as the hero she had the potential to be...and then there was Glimmer. Dresses were never Catra’s thing, but she would definitely consider wearing one if it got a reaction like that out of sparkles.

“Looks like it’s your turn, Catra” Adora said, handing Catra the weird paper screen thing they had been using.

“No no, I’m good just watching” Catra countered, getting ready to leave. She was not gonna take part in this

“Please” Adora asked, making puppy dog eyes.

“That is not gonna work on me, Adora” Catra declared

“Please!” Joined Glimmer and Bow

Catra sighed, grabbed that stupid screen and started narrating.

.

Tall dark buildings stretched in the horizon until they pierced the stormy clouds above, the only light that illuminated the world was the lightning above and the neon from the city bellow. Residing atop the tallest of these buildings was the tyrant that turned the world into this bleak dystopia, Horde Prime.

Sirens blared throughout the top floor of Prime’s spire, red warning lights illuminating every room and corridor as a battalion of clones mobilized, and at the heart of this chaos stood Catra, weaving and slashing through Prime’s defenses.

“Catra, retreat and wait for reinforcements” Bow called on her communicator “You can’t face Prime on your own”

“Please” Catra laughed as her augmented body effortlessly dodged around a hail of bullets “Prime should be the one running now”

“Catra, please-” He tried again

“Tell our friends to pick up the pace” She said, muting Bow “They wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun”

As soon as Catra opened the door to Prime’s office she was sent flying back into the corridor by a massive explosion. Prime had been waiting for her. She ran back towards him, leaping around to avoid the spray gunfire he unleashed upon her. She landed feet first on his chest and pushed him back into the office.

The battle that followed was long and bloody. Catra was fierce, fast, cunning, but Prime was stronger than she could’ve prepared for. Blow after blow he stayed standing and blow after blow Catra struggled to get back up. This was not a fight she could win alone and she had been a fool to believe so.

Prime approached her now that she couldn’t get up anymore, ready to get rid of her for good, but before he could do anything, a blast of colorful light sent him flying against the back wall. Reinforcements had arrived. Glimmer was here.

The princess confidently walked into the room and she was light and warmth and color, she was comfort and kindness and care, but she was fury, she was power and terror. She was beautiful and she was invincible.

.

“Is that how you see me?” Glimmer asked, blushing furiously

“What?” Shit, did Catra say all that outloud? She had to come up with something quick “No, I just thought you needed a little power trip after all that happened. Actually this whole game is just silly, let’s do something else” She hastily explained herself, getting up and dashing out of the room before anyone could stop her.

~~~

“Wildcat, can we talk?” Scorpia called, knocking on Catra’s door

“What do you want, Scorpia?” She asked, opening the door just a little

“It’s just that you’ve been such good friends with the queen lately and then you suddenly start avoiding her and acting weird around her and I just wanted to be sure you were doing okay” Scorpia explained. “Also I baked cookies” She continued, offering a plate of scorpion and cat shaped cookies. “Perfuma taught me!”

“I am not acting weird and I am not avoiding her. I am fine” Catra insisted, grabbing one of the cookies. She absolutely was avoiding Glimmer, but Scorpia didn’t have to know that. Catra took a bite of one of her cat shaped cookies. It was probably the best thing she had since they escaped Prime’s ship “You can stay here, but only until I’m done with the cookies.” Scorpia smiled at her, proud that Catra liked her cookies so much, and made her way into the room.

Catra’s room was modest, or at least as modest as a room in Bright Moon could ever be. She didn’t exactly have much in the way of decoration. In fact she even asked Glimmer to remove some excess, such as the overly soft bed that had now been replaced by a much more solid bunk. The waterfall had been removed as Catra complained that the constant sound was bound to drive her mad. What was left was a lot of open space for her to train and very few places for her and Scorpia to sit. Her bunk would have to do.

“So why were you avoiding the queen again?” Scorpia asked, completely ignoring Catra’s previous comment.

“I told you I’m not avoiding her” Catra repeated, grabbing another cookie.

“You know you can trust me, Catra” Scorpia insisted. “Just talk to me so I can help you through this” Catra groaned in response, flopping back onto the bed.Scorpia smiled at her, accepting this a sign of agreement.

“I’ve just been feeling weird around her, okay?” Catra admitted, grabbing the next cookie. “I kinda just rolled with it when we were stuck together. I mean, we only had each other back then and I couldn’t let something like that get in the way, but ever since we escaped I’ve just been feeling…” Catra trailed off, unsure of how to explain it.

“Anxious? Sweaty? Like your heart is gonna jump out of your throat? Like every second you spend away from her it’s a second you’ve wasted?” Scorpia eagerly offered, earning a suspicious look from Catra.

“How do you know?” Catra asked, wondering if the black garnet somehow made Scorpia a telepath.

“Aww, Catra, you’re in love!” Scorpia beamed

“Seriously? Me? In love with princess sparkles?” Catra couldn’t help but laugh

“I’m serious!” Scorpia defended “You should be more honest with yourself. Let yourself feel that stuff!”

“Alright, sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you,” Catra apologized “but I’m not in love with Glimmer. I promise” She assured her. “Now go spend some time with flower princess, I’m sure she already misses you”

She got Scorpia out of the room before she could continue that uncomfortable line of questioning,. letting out a sigh of relief as soon as her door closed. Love? Scorpia must be out of her mind if she seriously believed Catra was in love with Glimmer.

Catra returned to her bed just to find that she forgot the plate of cookies there and it still had a cookie left. It was one of the cat shaped ones and it was covered in pink and purple sprinkles. That was kinda cute, she thought to herself, did this little cat have a little sparkly princess just like her?

Just like her?

“Shit!”

~~~

The war would not wait for her silly little drama. Prime still lived and while he did Etheria was in danger. Fighting him and protecting the people of their world was priority one, confessing her crush to Glimmer could wait. Catra was definitely not looking forward to that conversation.

The battlefield suited Catra better than the halls of Bright Moon. It was chaotic, it was dangerous, and it was just like her. It was strange that in this mess, where a single misstep could cost her her life, she had more peace of mind than while resting next to the girl she apparently loved. She could think about things from a removed perspective.

She was considering the best moment to bring this up to Glimmer, as she absent mindedly tossed a clone against another with her new whip. It was a gift from Glimmer, a replacement for the one she destroyed. It was obviously just a way to make her more effective in combat again, but part of her dared hope it was a sign of friendship or maybe even- No! A removed perspective, Catra, she thought to herself. You can’t let this distract you.

She shook her head, trying to get herself to focus again. But before she could process what was happening, a bright pink light surrounded her and next thing she knew she landed ass first on the ground. Glimmer landed on top of her, and the sickening smell of charred flesh assaulted her nostrils.

“I guess we’re even now” Glimmer joked through the pain, her voice strained. Catra was in shock, unsure of what to do.

“Glimmer, please stay with me” Catra pleaded, her voice cracking

“Heh” Glimmer chuckled, not completely there anymore “I like how my name sounds when you say it...”

“Glimmer, you idiot” Catra laughed, but tears filled her eyes. She didn’t even see the enemy forces approaching until something else blew them all up.

“I’ll take her to safety” Bow called, taking Glimmer away from her “Cover our way out!”

That she could do. She wiped away her tears, turned to face the approaching clones, and this time all she saw was red.

~~~

“Funny being on the other side of this” Glimmer joked, laying on her bed with Catra by her side.

“Funny? You nearly killed me” Catra complained, earning a giggle from Glimmer

“Last I checked I saved you” She argued, her smile constant even through the pain in her back “What even got you distracted like that?”

“It was nothing,” Catra deflected, looking away “it won’t happen again” It was her fault, if Catra hadn’t been so distracted none of this would happen. If Catra hadn’t opened the portal, if Catra fled with Adora, if Catra just- Glimmer hugged her, it felt warm and soft and Cata wished she could stay like that forever.

“It’s not your fault” Glimmer assured her “You just have a lot on your mind”

Glimmer was wrong, Catra only had one thing on her mind and it was her.

“Hey, I should be the one comforting you right now!” Catra argued, trying to sound confident. She failed.

“This is not my first time almost dying” Glimmer admitted, breaking the hug to look into Catra’s eyes “And I would do it again to save the people I… care for”

“When I pull that kind of shit it’s usually to make things worse for people” Catra confessed. Memories of the portal still haunted her nightmares.

“You’re better than that now” Glimmer reassured Catra, holding her hand “You saved me twice now”

“And I tried to kill you how many times before?” Catra argued. She did not deserve all this kindness.

“It doesn’t matter” Glimmer insisted “That is all in the past”

“Why are you so forgiving?” Catra asked weakly “After all I’ve done...”

“Because I messed it up too” Glimmer admitted “And if I can’t forgive you how can I hope for anyone to forgive me” Suddenly these last few weeks made so much sense to Catra. In a strange way they were each other’s roads to redemption, their path to happiness. Was this why she fell in love with Glimmer?

“Glimmer,” Catra called and the princess perked up, looking up at Catra’s eyes again. Was she looking at her lips before? That thought filled her with some more confidence for what she was about to do “Thank you for forgiving me” No, that was not what she wanted to say.

“Thank you for helping me forgive myself” Glimmer answered, showing a weaker side Catra hadn’t seen since their time in that cell. Glimmer leaned forward to hug her again, but Catra stopped her. She wanted to look her in the eyes when she said this.

“Glimmer, the reason why I’ve been so distracted lately and why I’ve been avoiding you,” Catra stopped to take a deep breath, she could do this “is because I’ve been having...feelings for you,” Catra mentally berated herself, how was she so bad at this? “and I’ve been afraid of those feelings. I’ve been afraid that you’d reject me and that rejection was all I deserved, but you’ve been so good to me and I just-”

“Catra.” Glimmer interrupted. That was it. Glimmer was gonna put an end to Catra’s bullshit, but at least she would have some closure. It was all she could ask for “May I kiss you?” The question caught Catra by surprise.

“What?” She asked, completely confused

“May I kiss you?” Glimmer repeated and only then Catra understood what just happened.

“Yes!” Catra wanted to play it cool, but her stupid heart no longer had any patience for that.

Glimmer leaned close again, their lips finally meeting and for the first time in months Catra finally relaxed, her fears and regrets melting away as she kissed Glimmer back and if she could do this for the rest of her life she would happily do so. When they finally broke apart Glimmer giggled.

“What?” Catra asked, with the brightest smile she had in ages.

“It’s nothing, I just,” She stopped, trying to calm down her laughter “I think I love you”

Catra kissed her again.

“I think I love you too”

[maychup]

I know the glitra prompts was a while ago but if you still feel like you wanna write for it I’d be hella interested in seeing how they react to the realisation that they like each other, what makes them realise? Do they tell anyone? If any drama occurs, irl if I’m picturing this in a modern au or canon so feel free to do either!

Imm a do,,,, modern au :)

=====

A fight you can’t win

Catrina Driluth had this way of just... driving Glimmer up the wall.

Figuratively and literally.

Here’s how it works — Catra is an annoying highschool bully, who shoves kids into lockers to take their lunch for the day. Her victims are quite select kids too. Usually it’s the spoiled brats. Sometimes, her flavor shifts to rich jocks. Glimmer’s luck ran out when she realized she’s both. Two days into the school year, she found herself phnned to a locker with Catra threatening her for money.

So Glimmer clocks her in the jaw. Catra looked stunned, but she then threw herself to a brawl.

They were both sent to the office. Catra’s already damaged record pretty much automatically sorted the blame to her; Glimmer got away without a slap on the wrist.

That’s when Catra told her she’ll “pay for that”.

Two months into the school year, she saw something interesting.

Here’s what she saw — two bullies slapping Kyle’s (a well known weeb) stack of binders. They all laughed and made fun of him. One of them even went through his backpack and emptied it out when he couldn’t find anything of value. Glimmer was about to fight off the bullies, but they had already scattered away by the time she stood up. Instead, she helped Kyle clean up.

That’s not the interesting part.

The interesting part happened when both of those bullies ended up in a fight with Catra, and Glimmer was a witness to it all.

Glimmer left to the back of the school. She saw the three of them, except she thought it was a murder scene.

Catra stood over the bodies with a bleeding nose, a cut on her lip, and her fists bruised to hell.

“Hey Princess,” she said as she brushed passed her.

Glimmer debated calling help for the two boys on the pavement, but then again...

“Here, let me help you.”

If Glimmer could pick a spot, it all started there. Everything. Started there. She started watching Catra’s behavior a little more.

And that’s when the patterns arise —

Catra stole money from the rich folk. Almost like a Robin Hood type kind of stealing. It’s not right, for sure, but Glimmer feels something ease in her mind at the realization of it. For some reason, learning that Catra had a heart made her own heart flutter.

And still at the same time.

Because where did all the money go?

That question was answered almost immediately. She spots Catra after school, stopping by a local asian place — the ones where tou could buy a meal that’ll last a week for only five bucks. Catra steps out and heads to the more sullen part of town. Immediately, everyone greets her.

And immediately, Glimmer couldn’t fight the smile on her face as she watches Catra hand out portions of food to the masses.

Immediately, she headed home.

She talks to her friends about it — Bow and Adora. She wonders if they have noticed anything about her.

Bow — who has had surprisingly gentle interactions with Catra — said that when a group of boys in archery bullied him for having two dads, those same boys ended up with missing teeth the following week. That same week, Catra told Bow that he’s ‘Good at archery’.

Adora has had more than one good interaction.

Then again, the two used to be best friends.

Adora saw the most gentle side of Catra. Adora claimed that Catra is very, very observant. That she’d pick up an off hand statement and make something out of it within the next month. Adora remembered this one time she mentioned liking a certain food place to Catra. A few days later, she finds a take out from that place by her doorstep while she was sick with the flu.

Another incident was when Catra heard about Adora’s bullies, making fun of her for being scared of a rat. Catra took the blame by acting like she was terrified of mice, and Adora was just trying to protect her.

The most recent one was when they weren’t friends anymore. Catra fixed her car by stealing the needed pieces from other rich folks’ cars.

“She’s good inside but... really crappy on the outside,” Adora says.

Everything was pretty much the same for next two months. During a football game, though, Glimmer finds herself in a predicament..

She had snuck out, lying to her mom that she was sleeping over at Adora’s place. Really, she went to the homecoming football game. It was for her boyfriend, Roosevelt, who is now her ex-boyfriend after she saw him smooch one of the cheerleaders. And the problem is that Roosevelt was her only ride.

The night was looming over her, and it was far too cold to just walk five miles back home. Still, Glimmer tried.

That’s when this happened — Catra drove up to her in a motorcycle that looks too new to actually be hers.

“Jesus, Brightmoon,” Catra said with urgency. She shedded her hoodie off and urged Glimmer to put it on. “It’s the middle of fucking November, what the hell are you doing just wearing that?”

Glimmer shakes, and Catra looked more annoyed than she was worried.

Catra sat Glimmer down on the back of her motorcycle and they rode all the way back to Glimmer’s community. It’s a quiet home, so Catra’s loud motorcycle could be heard a block away. Glimmer’s grip on Catra’s waist felt incredibly warm. Like as if Catra radiated off some sort of unnatural warmth.

She tries to ignore it, but she can’t. Might as well savor it until it lasts.

When Catra pulls up to their house, her mother is already running out if the front door.

Catra doesn’t say a word as her mother started lecturing her about lying. She also started yelling at her about how worried she was when she called the Grey household because Glimmer wouldn’t pick up her calls. Glimmer tried to talk back, but what do you say when your mother catches you lying red handed?

“And you,” Catra visibly flinches when her mother started yelling at her. It... it’s a first. Glimmer doesn’t know what to make out of it.

So instead, she defends Catra.

In the end, her mother invites Catra back into the house for food and warmth. Her mother asks Catra questions upon questions, and for each of them Catra answered with full honesty.

It’s all revealed right in front of Glimmer — Catra is a bully who bullies bullies who bully those who don’t deserve bullying.

“What about me then?” Glimmer asks.

“I thought you were a snob too, but Kyle told me you helped him when those boys picked on him.”

After a few moments, Catra ends up sitting in Glimmer’s bedroom. She looked in awe of everything in the room. Every little trinket was picked up carefully before being placed back the way it was. She looks ethereal doing so.

Glimmer has watched Catra, but she hasn’t really seen her like this.

When Catra picks up a stuffed animal and teases her sbout it, Glimmer mentions how they’re old ones from her childhood.

“Mom never bought me these kinds of stuff,” Catra chuckles.

“Is it... because of money?”

Catra shrugged, finger still trailing a line to touch every item in the room. “No, she had the money,” there was something dark in her voice, “but she just wasn’t invested in me.”

This is when everythinf clicked together — Catra’s not the monster the world made her out to be.

“Is that why you hurt other kids?” Glimmer took a bold step towards her.

Catra stops and shrugs.

“That’s not good for you. You need to get help —“

“I know,” Catra sighs “but not yet. Not when my mother has the rights to know about my counseling sessions.” Step.

“I... take it you tried and it didn’t go very well?” Step.

“Something like that.” Step.

Glimmer takes Catra’s hand away from its roaming.

“Sparkles,” Catra whispers, “if this goes out to anyone at school, I’ll —“

“Beat me up?”

Catra’s smile carefully grows. The hand on hers grips hers. “If that’s what you’re into.”

Glimmer flusters. “I —“

“Oh, shit. That was supposed to be a joke but — ow!” Catra snickers when Glimmer shoves her back.

Catra retaliates by pushing her back. They rough around, and for once Glimmer feels some of the power in Catra’s body. No wonder she could take on groups of men. She was rippling with strength. Probably even more than Adora.

Definitely more than her.

Here’s what it was — Catra figuratively and literally pushes Glimmer up the wall.

Here’s what it is — Catra pushes Glimmer up the wall with their lips carefully dancing together. Glimmer can’t remember who made the first move, but it doesn’t matter. For someone so rough, Catra’s kisses were achingly gentle.

Glimmer did ‘pay’ alright.

Glimmer punched Catra in the face with her fist. And Catra struck her heart with everything she’s got.

And Glimmer hates to admit it, but it’s a fight she didn’t want to win.

[ladylucitor]

A She-ra AU

Okay so, I don't have any names for it yet but feel free to suggest.

It starts off as it started off in the original, but Catra brought Adora back in the Horde successfully the first time (when they let Catra drive a tank hurray).

When they arrived, Shadow Weaver immediately took Adora and wiped her memory. So at this point, she doesn't remember Catra being her closest friend at all. She ignores her everytime she'd try to remind Adora of their childhood.

This went on for weeks and Catra didn't want any of it. She ran away and bumped into Glimmer and Bow. They reacted the same way they did when they met Adora, but they were in quite a bit of trouble considering Catra is very quick on her feet.

Catra and the two rebels made a truce. She'll stick around just as long as she doesn't hurt anyone.

As weeks pass, Catra found out about the sword. Glimmer told her that Adora was the chosen one for it, and only her can save Etheria.

Catra fantasized both her and Adora ruling Etheria, no Horde, no wars. With She-ra on her side, everything would seem possible.

With the help of Bow and Glimmer, they try to save Adora from the Horde, and make her realize her true destiny.

Should I write a fanfic about it? Or if you have better ideas, go on and write a story about it with your heart's content ~

There are many ship opportunities here, like catradora, glitra etc.

Oh and one last thing, Catra likes to make fun of Bow and Glimmer but wants to rest alone. :)

[nny11writes]

WiP Wednesday - Come Get Y’alls Sad Cowpokes!

I will not apologize, also none of you are ready for this chapter and I am kind of delighted about that. :)

As much as she was grateful to have just had the chance to see her again, hear her again...Catra was hurt. Her heart ached at how callously Glimmer had treated her even if she knew it was earned. Her heart ached wondering why Deputy Moon had let her go. What could it mean? It could, it might, possibly, perhaps- And even if it did mean that, what did it matter now? The deed was done. Her last chance to make real amends finished, and it left her feeling cold.

God she was so fucking lonely it was pathetic.

[nny11writes]

Hey-ho! Scrolling through your blog and saw a fanfic prompt about a girl falling for guy because her cat really liked him, would you consider doing a one-shot for Glitra, with How to Quit You only 4 chapters away from finishing?

Let's be fair, at the rate I'm writing How to Quit You I'll be done in a short 2 years :p

But also, hell yeah I'll write a glitra meet cute one shot where Melog is the reason they get together!

Somehow this got longer than I expected, which really, I need to stop expecting I can write short things. Like, honestly.

Melog Likes Glimmer and Catra Goes Along for the Ride

Rating: Teen for the cursing factor

Catra glared down at Melog.

Melog stared innocently back up at her, slow blinking to prove a point.

“No.” She huffed. “You broke out of your playpen again and then you went to her house. We are not being lovey dovey mister. You are in trouble.”

Melog turned away to meow. She wasn’t sure why he didn’t seem to like it when she saw him meowing, but whatever. He was back talking and she wasn’t going to stand for it.

“Yes you are.”

Another mew.

“You were a naughty boy. A brat cat. A rebellious toddler.”

He gave the softest meow yet, then stretched before walking away.

“Excuse me? I’m talking to you! HEY!”

Catra scooped him up to hold like a baby, and Melog began purring instantly. “Stop being so damn cute for, like, five seconds. You broke out of your pod to spend time with Sparkles. You are on thin ice buddy.”

In six years, Melog had never once tried to escape his Outdoor Play Pod. She’d hook it up to the sliding door and Melog could make his way in and out of the house in a safe and controlled manner. Catra was used to stepping out the side door to watch him happily watching the various birds fly by, lounging on his side as he chuttered at the occasional pigeon on the telephone wires.

And then she moved in next door.

Glimmer was loud and obnoxious and clearly out to do Catra in. She hosted parties at least once a week that were loud and could go late into the night. …Late for working adults okay, if Catra could hear them laughing outside or their stupid music after 10:00 PM her chest would literally start to hurt from rage. And then, Glimmer had shown up one day with a platter of cookies to meet all her neighbors with after a month of madness..

Cookies.

First of all, who does that? Second of all, Catra’s celiac had been acting up because she’d thoughtlessly eaten a piece of freaking candy earlier and she’d somehow missed the glucose syrup.

So that conversation went something like:

“Hi! I’m Glimmer, your new neighbor!”

“I’m gluten free.”

“...Okay? Hello to you too. And come on, a little cheat won’t hurt, will it?”

“I’m literally allergic to gluten, so yeah, it will.”

“...uhm, my bad. So-”

“Bye.”

Admittedly, not Catra’s best work in the social sphere. But also, when she’d gone over to complain about a party a few days later (in a very calm and more normal human manner thank you very much) Glimmer’s response had been a very childish, “What? I can’t hear you over the sound of my music. Oh well, have a nice night!” So their rivalry was justified.

Things had only gotten more out of hand one awful morning when Glimmer had caught Catra shoveling Madam Razz’s drive, and then tried to be “nice” and “chat with her”. Disgusting. They’d gone back and forth, snide and coldly polite, just all over the place before a tense silence became the norm. They’d gone into a sort of cold war that winter and it had been whatever until the late spring.

Because now Melog was finding ways to escape his custom built playpen.

Sure, Entrapta was going to be thrilled to find out how Melog was doing it to perfect the design of her catio creation, but Catra was the one who had to deal with going outside, having a heart attack when Melog was missing, and then hearing that annoying voice cooing over her cat.

Hence the current punishment snuggle which was being highly ineffective.

“You,” Catra grumbled into his soft chest fluff, “are an ecological terror and therefore an indoor cat. So cut it out, will you?”

He did not, in fact, cut it out.

Within a few weeks while Catra had been reading, confident in the cameras and sensors Entrapta had rigged to alert her if Melog made another escape attempt, when there was a knock at her door. She ignored it, because if it wasn’t some package she’d forgotten she’d ordered then it wasn’t important. But they knocked again even louder before ringing her doorbell. Catra fumbled for her bookmark cursing as the doorbell began to ring nonstop, finally tearing the door open with a snarl only to find Glimmer standing there with Melog draped over her shoulders.

Catra stared at them dumbly before slowly looking at her computer screen where the sensors were all still green, before turning to glare at Melog’s contented little face. “You- son of a bitch!”

Glimmer did something that sounded like a half growl half huff before shouting back, “Will you piss off!? I’m just returning him!”

“Shut up, I wasn’t talking to you! YOU on the other hand, what the fuck dude? How did you get past the weight sensors?” To say Catra was livid was an understatement. She didn’t even bother to close the door, assuming that Glimmer would either follow her or stay there, as she stomped to pull the sliding door open. And there inside the pod, was a small pile of rocks. “WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET ROCKS!?”

Glimmer snorted as she looked over Catra’s shoulder. Breaking out into nervous giggles, “Oh shit, you’ve been busting out of jail to visit me? He’s not an outdoor cat?”

“NO!” Catra took a slow deep breath and then released it just as slowly. Blowing up at her rival neighbor was probably the same thing as losing a battle. “No. He’s an indoor only and somehow found the only rocks in a ten fucking mile radius while being an indoor only cat to trick the weight sensors I installed to alert me if he escaped again.”

Melog, still limp as a dish cloth over Glimmer’s shoulders, didn’t even feel enough guilt to be awake for this conversation.

“You installed sensors? That’s pretty cool! My best friend, Bow, is a real tech nerd. I bet you’d have a blast talking to him.”

Catra could feel her ears burning as she grumbled, “I mean, sort of. My friend Entrapta made them and I passed her screws. So I helped.”

Glimmer cackled so loudly that Melog finally woke with a yelp, then scrambled off his perch to sit inside the house like a good boy.

“Shut up!”

“Y-you passssssed the screws!” Glimmer wheezed.

“I was helping!”

This was the wrong thing to say as her neighbor snorted and continued to laugh so much that Catra really had no choice but to join in. She just really found a good laugh infectious, okay? She would give her frenemy that one.

Glimmer had left shortly thereafter, allowing Catra to berate Melog in private before realizing that she was more speculating about this strange new person in her life. She could feel her stubborn insistence that her newish neighbor was a menace leaking out of her as she side eyed her cat. “Why do you like her so much?” He twisted to begin his kitty yoga bath session and Catra sighed. Well, so much for that.

Melog escaping was just starting to be a Thing that she would have to live with alongside the fact that he’d apparently chosen himself a second human.

The next time Melog vanished the sensors at least alerted her, and when Catra ran out the backdoor she found Melog waiting for her at the fence. He stared at her until he was sure she was watching and then gracefully leaped over it into Glimmer’s backyard. She saw red. That bastard had waited until he knew she could see him break the law. On purpose.

“I WILL END YOU!”

Some people might say Catra was dramatic, but really she just treated things with the level headed emotional dysregulation they deserved. She kept this very rational rationale in mind as she also jumped onto her back patio railing, then took one great jump and did the cleanest kong vault of her life over the fence.

In the air her brain registered the following: Flowers by fence, grass past flowers, hard surface on right, soon to be dead cat straight ahead.

After rolling on the grass and springing out of it to easily close the distance to said cat did her brain register a few other important details like: What the fuck was she doing this is private property and Glimmer could bust her for this one, Melog could totally side step her and Catra would face plant into the earth, and Glimmer was sitting in a lounge chair in a tankini staring at her open mouthed because Melog was sitting in front of the chair.

ABORT, ABORT, ABORT!

Catra managed to bring her legs up under her for what was sure to be a painful and sudden stop at about the same time Glimmer fled her chair so fast she basically teleported out of the way. So Catra landed in a deep squat, grabbed her smug bastard child, jumped over the chair to lose some momentum somewhere besides “via faceplant”, and then froze as soon as she had him secured against her chest.

She slowly turned around to look at Glimmer who was staring at her still, but instead of with disdain while calling the cops Glimmer’s eyes were sparkling.

“I am so-”

“That was AWESOME!!!” Glimmer whooped, literally jumping as she punched at the air over her head like some sort of straight to home children’s movie protagonist.

What?

“What?” She asked.

“It was like, Melog no you know you can’t be here! And then- WHOOSH you were FLYING and then you just ROLL, HI-YAH, and holy shit you looked like a goddamn panther! And then, scoop,WHA-PAH! Ahhhhhh!! It was great!”

Catra just blinked rapidly as she panted from the exertion, watching as Glimmer (now panting from speaking so quickly nonstop while reenacting key parts of the last 2 horrific minutes of Catra’s life) beamed at her. And, this cannot and should not be understated, while looking delightfully tanned in her form-fitting tankini. This felt like high school her’s best sort of unimaginative wet dreams.

And that was the thought that somehow made her relax, because it was just stupid enough to break through the regular stupid she’d gotten her head into.

“You know what?” Catra grinned, cocking one hip out as she looked at the fence again, “It was pretty cool, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah it was! How did you even get that high up?”

Catra did her best not to roll her eyes and did not mention the railing.. “It’s only a five foot fence, we can literally see over the top of it.”

Glimmer had no such issue and rolled her eyes so hard she had to roll her head a little too. “So what? I still couldn’t jump it like you did. Climb it, sure! You work out or something?”

Oh no. Catra was all too aware of the way Glimmer looked her whole body up and down. SO much for escaping the stupid headspace. “Uh, yeah? Yes. I do work out.”

Great. She was officially turning into Adora. Just what she needed.

“Cool. Me too!” Glimmer flashed her a thumbs up before walking with purpose towards her side gate to let Catra out. “We should totally work out together sometime.”

Safely back inside with Melog now temporarily forbodden from his outdoor pod that it hit her, she’d just agreed to willingly spend more time with Glimmer every single week. Just because her dumb cat liked her! Who does that?

What was wrong with her for going along with this?

The answer was more than she’d like, but still less than most people would assume.

Catra sat outside with Melog for two weeks waiting to see how he did it, but Houdini 2.0 merely watched the birds even when she pretended to be asleep. Week three, she stepped away for a few minutes just to use the restroom and when she returned he was gone.

A casual glance over the fence (she swore to herself she was never jumping it again) revealed no Melog or Glimmer but her back door was opened a little so at least he was being consistent. She was already walking to her side gate when she heard a surprised shriek from Glimmer’s house before a loud bang, and despite her promise, Catra was jumping the fence.

“GLIMMER!?” There was a yelp and Catra quickly darted in through the backdoor. “Sparkles I swear to fuck! Are you-” and then she rounded the corner to find Glimmer’s hair barely peeking out from under a giant sheet and a tall wooden chair that was tipped over across her legs. Melog was happily loafed on roughly what looked like Glimmer’s chest. “-okay?”

The sheet sucked in, outlining Glimmer’s lips for a second, before ballooning out a little. “Yup.”

“Uh, you want some help?”

“Nope.”

Well, this was turning into a very lovingly made awkward sandwich with extra awkward sauce.

“Cool. So, what’s all this?”

Glimmer groaned pitifully as Catra began noticing a few extra details she’d missed at a glance. There were two more chairs with their backs towards the lump formerly known as Glimmer. A strand of fairy lights was slowly twinkling away under the sheet. And every area of the floor not covered in the sheet was covered in pillows or…cushions? Catra looked at the sad looking couch which was now missing it’s cushions for confirmation. There was really only one thing this could be.

“Did you- is this a blanket fort?” It was kinda funny. Catra was equally jealous because she’d never gotten to have a proper blanket fort in her life and also gleeful over having caught a full grown adult sitting in their blanket fort. There was an unintelligible grumble, so Catra lightly kicked at Glimmer’s exposed foot as she sing songed, “Didn’t catch that.”

“It’s not a fort, it’s a castle!” She huffed as she finally sat up properly, causing Melog to leap off her onto one of the chairs.

Catra burst into giggles and happily mocked, “Oooohhhh, excuse me princess! I meant no disrespect to your blanket castle!”

Glimmer leaned back on her hands with a glare, “You can just say, ‘Wow Glimmer I’m so jealous of your cool blanket castle that I could die’ and that would be enough.”

“I’m not jealous!” She tried to say it with firmness but considering the giggle fit that probably failed.

“Mmmmm, I think you’re lying.” Glimmer nodded seriously as she hauled herself up to fix the roof of her castle. “I think you’d love to curl up on these high quality cushions in the security of my castle walls. I even have candy and snacks in here!”

Catra had barely managed to open her mouth when Glimmer cut her off, “Gluten free! I did some looking so we have dove chocolate and beef jerky, as well as some puffed rice.”

“Glimmer,” she sounded way too fond. Catra needed to dial that back a little bit, but instead continued in the same voice, “I’m lactose intolerant and beef jerky seasonings can have gluten.”

“...well what the fuck sort of cursed half life are you living?”

Catra sighed dramatically as she toed off her shoes, ducking into the doorway to the castle as Glimmer held the sheet up for her. “I ask myself that everyday.”

It was fine, friends totally stayed over for an afternoon at one another’s houses in blanket forts. Probably. When she got home, Catra considered the fact that Melog was insistent already towards them spending time with Glimmer, for whatever reason. And that she was becoming more and more okay with it as they spent more and more time together (the work outs really were working out after all). Which is how she came up with a terrible idea and went digging through the closet.

Within a few weeks Catra knocked on Glimmer’s door, glaring down at Melog in his harness. “Don’t blow this for me.” Melog stared up innocently at her and slow blinked. “I’m serious dude.”

“Catra!” Glimmer smiled as she opened the door and then gasped. Her eyes watered up as she looked at Melog and asked in a strangled voice, “Is that a liddle vest? IS THAT A BOW TIE? Oh! What a handsome boy! What a handsome young man in his widdle vesty westy!”

Catra knew she was blushing horrifically. Okay, she’d planned for Glimmer to think this was all very cute but this was taking it too far. This was all Scorpia’s fault for buying them matching outfits to complete Catra’s stupid quasi-Jack Hetherington costume from hell. Oh god, what had she done? This was not mocking or jeering at all and Glimmer clearly hadn’t looked at her. Oh no.

“Ohhh, what a sweet boy! I love him! I wove you, yesh I do! Oh Catra this is-” Glimmer cut off and Catra could only feel more weirdly humiliated.

Because yes, Melog was wearing a yellow argyle patterned vest harness with a little bow tie in order to match Catra’s yellow argyle sweater vest and clip on bowtie. Why did she think this was a good idea again? This was stupid. She thought Glimmer would get a laugh out of it, not lose her fucking mind. Like, it was supposed to be an inside thought about how it was cute not an outside thought!

“Oh. My. God! Look at you! Look at you two!!!”

Catra shrugged roughly, “I mean, it’s whatever.”

“Aw,” and now there was the teasing tone she’d been expecting, damn it all, “don’t be like that, here, I’ll make it up to you!”

And with that Glimmer stood up and tugged at her vest and tie as she began to coo, “What a handsome boy! What a handsome young man in his smart little vest!”

Well, that certainly was an interesting tangle of emotions for her friends to suffer through her unpacking at a later date.

“We’re leaving. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. My lawyers will be in touch.” Catra all but fled to her house and once safely inside with a confused and meowing cat she slid down the door with a grin.

“She called me handsome,” She informed Melog, as if he had not been there to witness it, with a big goofy grin. Sure, she’d fled like the socially inept dumbass she was but still.

A few hours later Catra was lounging on the couch when her doorbell began going nuts and Melog immediately went to paw at the door, which was the sure fire cocktail to announce Glimmer as the person on the other side.

“You ever gonna knock like a normal…person…” Catra stared.

Glimmer smiled bashfully, wearing a cute charcoal gray skirt, a yellow argyle patterned sweater, and a wrap around fake bowtie. “Hey, I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I, uhm, didn’t mean to take it that far and make you uncomfortable. So. Yeah. AND, I thought, maybe I can join you and Melog on a walk? We can be the most fashion forward, fashion backwards, cat walkers?”

Oh wow, I love you. Was the only thought in her head as Catra began trying to process what was happening.

Oh shit.

Oh shit!

“Oh fuck you,” Catra stuttered as she tried to get her brain and mouth coordinated better than that, “SORRY!”

Glimmer at least seemed a little more put at ease, which really didn’t bode well for how Catra was treating her. “Wow, okay, just tell me you hate me.”

“Nope, no can do, sorry, can’t say that.” She at least finally had a sense in her head to step aside letting Glimmer in and therefore stopped Melog from clawing the back of her legs. She really needed to trim his claws, ow.

“Well why not? Seems rude if you ask me.” Glimmer smiled as Melog stretched as tall as he could on his back legs, his front paws almost brushing against her neck as she hunched a little to pet him.

Something quick, something witty, something pithy. “It’s the opposite problem really.”

They both froze as Catra considered every decision she’d made in her life that led to this moment. “Well this has been great, get out of my house.”

Glimmer threw her arms out wide, basically starfishing as if Catra was physically shoving her out the door. “Absolutely not! You don’t get to just drop something like that and then pretend you didn’t! You like me or you, like, like-like me?”

“Are we preteens, what the fuck Glitter.”

But Glimmer was only grinning wider now as she confidently strolled forward to get in Catra’s space. She tugged at the shoulder of her new sweater with a grin. “That’s not a denial! So, what I’m hearing is that this might be girlfriend material?”

“Fuck you, but this time I mean it.”

“That’s fair but doesn’t answer my question.”

Was she really going to do this while she was wearing a niche joke costume that Glimmer was emulating while Melog sharked around their ankles for attention?

“Do you want to go out with me some time? On a date?”

Yes, she absolutely was.

“I would love to.” Glimmer smiled softly at her before looking down at Melog. “Hey buddy. Thank you.”

“Are- are you thanking my cat because I asked you out!?”

“Well you’ve got to admit, without him jailbreaking you wouldn’t have done it.”

She opened her mouth to argue back, but it just flapped uselessly as she realized that just six months ago she’d been actively considering buying grasshoppers to release into Glimmer’s house just to be a jerk.

“In my defense, he is a very good judge of character and I’m an asshole.”

“I don’t think that would work as a defense in a court of law, but whatever you tell yourself to sleep at night.”

Melog chirped in agreement, and really, who was she to argue with that?