#horde ration bars

[the-entire-cast-needs-therapy]

The gray ration bars are Catra and Adora's favourites. According both the books and the show.

Lonnie likes the brown-green ones.

Kyle prefers the beige ones.

I wonder what each is made of.

Every single one of those colors makes me suspicious. I'm not entirely sure I even WANT to know what's in them. For what it's worth, @ericamzdm thinks it's literally food paste- like, they took normal food and managed to torment it into becoming this bizarre rectangular slop. My disrespect for ration bars is infinite in case you can't tell.

[soranis-sunshadow]

Very random thought after diving deep into your blog: the ration bars. What are they exactly? My personal thought is that Hordak had them on his ship as he crashed on Etheria, then found a way to make them from local plants and stuff. A lil something that reminded him of home and shared with his lil army

Hmmm... He wouldn't have had them on the ship because :

clones were not allowed to eat food - only Horde Prime was worthy of it. All clones ever ate was the amniotic fluid.

As far as what the ration bars were - if I were to guess - it's rations engineered to contain everything a life form needs to function (all of the diverse life forms found in The Etherian Horde).

He might have come up with them out of utility, to simplify feeding an army.

What they are made up of is honestly up to everyone's headcanons, could be plant matter, could bugs, could be completely synthesized from vat grown matter.... who knows? Whatever answer you come up with is just as true as whatever I might come up with.

As far as "reminding him of home" - you are onto something. I think that's why his laboratory is called a "sanctum".

It's his refuge from this alien world, a piece of home he managed to make here -sacred- , even if he's all alone. It's where all the high tech stuff, the cloning vats are, it's swathed in green... aaaand Etherians intruding upon it breaks the illusion (besides it would have been very dangerous for him if one of them *cough* Shadow Weaver *cough* would have walked in and found him fallen on the floor... that would have been disastrous.)

What he did share with his army, from his "home", was his notion that everyone is interchangeable (because he as a clone was infinitely replaceable).

and that 'all parts of the whole' must be useful or else be discarded as failures...

...

[catrasredemption-moved]

idk if your still taking prompts but could we see some pregnant catra with weird pregnancy cravings

"Adora?"

Adora wrinkled her nose, rolling over to look at Catra, whose eyes were glowing in the moonlight flooding the room. "Hmph?" Adora mumbled, trying to focus. Catra wouldn't wake her up for nothing. Especially not now, when her pregnancy was so far along and anything could happen-

"I want a gray ration bar."

The words drew Adora up short. Her brain actually stopped for a moment. "What?" she said blankly.

"I really, really want a gray ration bar."

What? Adora blinked a few times, still staring at her, waiting for her to laugh at her joke. But Catra just stared back. She was serious.

"You... want a...?"

"Don't judge me! I can't help it, I just woke up and really wanted one."

Adora knew weird pregnancy cravings were a thing. But really? A Horde ration bar? They'd stopped keeping those years ago, when Catra had finally fully adjusted to Bright Moon food and felt safe.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Catra nodded solemnly. Adora blew out a long breath, leaned over to kiss her wife's forehead, then rolled out of bed.

"I love you."

"I love you too," Adora said with a yawn as she grabbed the trackerpad and went out to the living room.

Bow did not love the three a.m. wakeup call. "Adora?" He yawned, blinkly rapidly. Glimmer stirred in bed next to him, half sitting up to look at the screen. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I just... need a big favor."

"Yeah, anything. What's up?"

"I um... I need to go to the Scorpion Kingdom."

Bow blinked a couple times, then looked at his wife, then back at Adora. "What?"

"I'll owe you guys forever. Please?"

Glimmer sighed and disappeared, then reappeared beside Adora. Bow flopped back in bed and ended the call.

"What's going on?" Glimmer asked, yawning.

"Catra wants a ration bar." That got her a long, blank stare. "I know, I know. Please?"

"You owe me for this," Glimmer mumbled, taking Adora's arm and teleporting them to the hallway outside of Scorpia's and Perfuma's shared bedroom. Adora hesitated before knocking on the door.

It took nearly a full minute for it to finally open, revealing a tired and (rightly) slightly irritated Perfuma. "What-" She broke off, smothering a yawn. "What's going on?"

"Do... Do you know if Scorpia still has any of the Horde ration bars?"

Perfuma didn't know, which required waking up Scorpia. She was, thankfully, more than happy to help when she heard it was for Catra.

"Unbelievable," Glimmer said as she watched Catra open the box they'd dug up and immediately rip open the wrapper of the gray ration bar.

"Shut up, Sparkles. It's the baby's fault."

Three more months.

[umbrum77]

Hello again, are you willing to do a kinda part two of glimmer being pregnant but this time mood swings and how catra deals with her crazy pregnant wife lmao

Catra bursts in the room slamming the door behind her. Her chest heaves as she trys to catch her breath.

"can we help you?"

Catra looks up at Adora who is braiding scorpias hair. Oh yeah she did run into there room, of course they would be here.

"sorry sorry! I just needed to lay low for a while." Catra eyes the prize and goes over to the couch in the large room. She falls into it with a groan.

"sooo" scorpia calls out as adora gets back to work. "How's the pregnancy going"

Catra screams into the pillows.

"that well huh?"

Catra flips over. " Ok no. Well. Right. The mood swings the cravings. The waking me in the middle of the night it's just so ughhhh!"

Adora smiled, "how do you think glimmer feels?"

Catra glared at her. "This isn't about her!" She flips back down. "Ok well it's mostly about her. And oh yeah she complains. Alot. At me. But I can't complain cus I'm not the one carrying! So just give a few minutes to hide here ok?"

Adora smiles as she finishes braiding scorpias hair. Moving to sit in the bigger women lap. Scorpia puts hers arms around adora "thank you!" Kissing Adoras cheek.

"of course you can hide here we haven't hung out in so long!" Scorpia is excited making adora laugh.

Catra groans. "Sorry not feeling it today I just...I just want to lay here."

"but I had such a fun game to play! It's called let's imagine catra as a mom!"

"no..." Catra sighed.

"oh I like this!" Adora ignored the whine. "Well the kids definitely going to learn to fight!"

Catra let a small smile out. "Stop it"

"oh and climb things!" Scorpia added in. "The kids going to climb all over the place."

"oh definitely" adora nodded. "And it's glimmer and catras kid so definitely not going to listen when they tell them to get down"

Catra smiled.

"oh what else um?"

Adora brought her hand up to hold the side of scorpias cheek. "I bet catra will make sure the child never sees a grey ration bar."

"or a cold bed." Catra added on. "Or think they aren't safe. Or ever feel like they are alone or unwanted."

Silence filled the room as scorpia held adora tighter and harsh memories tore through the group of former hord soldiers.

Catra looked down at her chest and imagined a little thing with purple hair and cat eyes. It was asleep on her. Asleep and safe. Asleep and safe and never for a moment thinking it's not loved. Catra moved to put a hand to touch the image but it went away.

She sat up and swung her legs over to sit on the couch. "I'm going to be a mom."

"you are going to be a great mom." Catra looked up to adora smiling at her.

"yeah..."

They enjoyed the silence until there was knocking on the door. Opening glimmer pokes her head in.

"hey have you guys seen Catra I got news!"

"right here sparkles."

"oh!" Glimmer teleports next to her wife. And with a quick wave to the other couple teleports them both out of the room.

Catra blinks and they are next to the moon stone. Glimmer has been spending most days here. The doctors saying that's what her mother did so the stone may pass it's energy to the child.

Catra can never stop thinking about when she nearly destroyed it.

"you had news sparkles? That apparently couldn't wait?"

Glimmer smiled and sat down and the bed that had been moved up there. She patted the spot next to her and Catra sat down. Glimmer to took her wife's hand and placed it on her stomach.

"don't worry glimmer you are not fat just pregnant."

"bitch. No just wait."

They sat there.

"adora and scorpia are still disgustingly wholesome as a couple." Catra noted

Glimmer laughed. "I'm shocked. I hope spending time with them helped."

"yeah it did its been to long since we hung out. They taught me a new game. Its-"

She felt it. Just the slightest bump on her hand. She leaned in close as glimmer smiled.

"what is -"

"the baby has started to kick. Hard to little punk."

"of course our kid would be strong."

Catra laid her had on glimmers stomach listening to her wife's heart and waiting to feel the kick again.

"look catra I know I haven't been the easiest to live with these past few months -"

"It's fine"catra cut her off as she felt the tiny push again. "It doesn't matter. We are going to have a kid soon."

Glimmer ran her hand through catras hair and the former hord soldier started to purr.

"yeah we are."

[foolforshera]

We didn't really see other First Ones in the show but I was just thinking, what if they're just like really tall? Like Adora as She-Ra is really tall. What if it's not not because of She-Ra but because that's just what a regular First One looks like and Adora is actually short because you know, Horde ration bars through her formative years.

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

So what's your own headcanon for how much territory the Horde controls at the start of the series

A lot

Not that much?

I mean obviosuly "The Rebellion" isn't much of a rebellion since they have their Kingdom but the Horde probably is still a big enough threat I would imagine.

Okay, so I don't know why tumblr ate my words, but... A map from my old coloring book from the 1980s. I know that it's not current SPOP, but I tend to think in terms of it - a nice, sizeable chunk of the planet. In my own fanfic, I included Talon Mountain, too (since in the original series, the Harpies there seemed to have an alliance with or be under the jurisdiction of the Horde). I've seen people call Etheria "A planet about the size of Delaware," for how poor the scale is portrayed. But yeah, I'd say "by no means all of the planet, but a big enough territory to cause the Alliance." The Fright Zone proper, in my headcanon, isn't all of the Horde-territory. There are many annexed lands. Compare Washington D.C. to Texas - Both are The United States of America, but the District of Columbia is a special territory / city - the Capitol, while Texas is far away from it, but under sway with all lands in between. And then, there's like...Guam. That's kind of the Horde in my eyes. Fright Zone-proper over here, built atop the remains of Scorpion Hill, several annexed kingdoms and various micronations that are under Horde-rule and must provide farming-tribute. (Can't make the ration bars from thin air, you know). Takes a lot to feed an army soldiers aren't farmers. There's gotta be this whole...system.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Entrapta remembering why she had cooking staff

I love how it is implied that the only people she has actually hired in her castle are specifically tiny food chefs, because she either cannot or will not cook and can't figure out how to get the robots to do it 😂

I love that she and Scorpia try to make appetizing-looking food out of ration bars in the Horde and are just happy with that

[baggebythesea]

Hey I say your post about a monarchist faction in the Horde & it really struck me as an interesting idea.

What other types of factions do you imagine were in the Horde.

Honestly, I haven't a coherent idea about the early days of the horde, but just pulling some possible plot threads from a hat (a lot of it brainstormed with @jidblogger) I would think...

The 'rebel monarchist' faction consisting of Scorpia's moms and their followers rebelling against Scorpia's grandfather

Turncoats from Scorpia's grandfather who aren't particularly loyal to Scorpia's mothers, but like the idea of being on the winning side.

The bandit faction, consisting of the kind of people we met in the Crimson Waste and Seaworthy who're happy to follow anyone who promises plunder (Octavia would fit well in here)

The 'fuck the monarchy' faction who really likes the idea of a non-princess power-holder (I personally don't buy into the idea of Etheria pre-horde being ruled exclusively by princesses, but the Horde propaganda sure seem to suggest someone would be susceptible to that idea). May or may not consist to a higher degree of lizard people and other 'non-human looking Etherian's' than the general population (again, taking inspiration from the propaganda).

The (small) 'aliens are cool' faction consisting by a handful of kindred spirits to Entrapta. Makers and magicians who really want to learn more about the world outside Etheria and/or robots.

Related: Maybe even one or two confused religious people who actually wanted to know about that whole Prime thing, or who confused Hordak with the first ones (who I headcanon have at least some religious significance on Etheria) due to him coming from Somewhere Else.

The 'at least the train leaves on time' faction who don't care who runs the place as long as there is a ration bar in it for them (a possible explanation for all the orphans is that years of war in the Scorpion kingdom had led to a large homeless population, and Hordak was simply the first one hitting on the novel idea of giving them food and shelter (due to religious reasons - everyone is welcome under Prime, after all)

The "fuck those other guys" faction(s) (closely related to the bandits). Ties in to my idea of Etheria mostly consisting of independent city-states. Then people from Elberon could join up when it looked like the Horde would attack Thaymore, who they had a trade conflict with (only to be dismayed when the Horde went on to attack Elberon).

Shadow Weaver

and of course, after a remarkably short time a place like the Horde which runs on pecking order and office intrigues will have amassed plenty of factions that are not defined by ideology, but simply are different gangs within the organisation. We saw that play out during the show with different (overlapping) factions forming around Catra, Entrapta, Lonnie and (in a manner of speaking) Scorpia, with Double Trouble running around like a kid in a candy store and making things worse.

[haro-ra]

@spop-palentines day 12: expectations

Read on AO3

No one expected Horde cadets to like each other. The orphans stolen or salvaged as a result of the Horde’s actions were expected to act sharp and bring glory and honor to their empire; that was all.

No one expected their little group of five to grow close. Make a patchwork family with ten year olds’ taunting and late night chatter in their bunks. Trading ration bars over lost bets and whittling secrets into metal so their initials lasted forever.

And Rogelio hadn’t expected, ten years later, to be down two members, one a traitor, the other just as lost.

[the-entire-cast-needs-therapy]

I’d like to talk to whoever is in charge of deciding which orphans are trained to do what in the Horde, because whoever it is, they’re an idiot. Why, you ask? One word: Kyle.

Kyle is not suited to be a soldier. That’s not an insult, it’s a statement of fact. He fails spectacularly in almost any fight he enters. The reasons for this aren’t entirely clear, but I’m pretty sure he’s just uncoordinated and panicking half the time. The thing is, even if Kyle is an absolutely garbage fighter, that doesn’t mean he can’t contribute to the cause. There have to be people in the Horde whose job it is to do things like make the armor and process and distribute the ration bars, and those people probably aren’t also soldiers. In a society that was actually devoted to being as productive as possible in its goal of conquering Etheria, somebody would have recognized that this kid was uncoordinated as hell and transferred him to some Horde Career Path that he was actually suited for.

Instead, Kyle is expected to actually Be A Soldier even though it is common knowledge how bad he is at it, so instead of a functional literally-anything-else, you get a mess who somehow hasn’t managed to get himself or anybody else killed yet.

And everyone in the Horde blames Kyle for this, instead of whoever looked at this clumsy anxious disaster child and went “yeah, we can give him a stun baton. What could go wrong?”

[just-here-for-the-moment]

The Innkeeper's Daughter

Thank you sooooo much to @fandom-blackhole who let me take inspiration from This Ask for the original Anon and This follow-up Ask from me, and let me run wild with the premise of Pero Tovar falling in love with an innkeeper.

This one is for @silverwolf319 who sent me a request for "Ummmm...how about soft, sweet filthiness lol like, filthy dirty talk, but with feelings? Does that make sense?"

Saaaammmmm, I hope this delivers on that! 💜💜💜

Update: Part 2 is here!

Word count: 3200+

Rating: mature, 18+ only

Outline: Pero Tovar x “You” (OC cis/het female reader, “blank canvas”/no physical description/no use of “Y/N”)

Warnings: mature language; euphemisms; one use of “whorehouse” and “whore”; slow-burn; yearning; one incident of bar violence; Pero Tovar unleashing his desires verbally; lots of dirty talk; kissing; one breast grope; one erection; everyone’s clothes stay on

The first time you saw the grumpy Spaniard smile was a busy Saturday evening. Your father’s inn was full, the barroom filled with groups of raucous and rowdy men singing traveling songs and reminiscing loudly about battles won and women lost. The contrast between the exuberant hordes and the quiet, scowling man was evident to everyone, but they left him alone to brood.

“The Spaniard” had arrived in the early hours of Thursday morning and disappeared into his room immediately, sleeping the day away until supper. He kept to himself in the barroom, taking over a small table in the corner, keeping his back to the wall and his eyes on the other guests. He graced you with eye contact exactly once during Thursday’s supper, nodding at you to indicate his thanks for the ale before tucking his head back down to eat.

You knew from your two decades behind the bar that the quiet ones could sometimes be dangerous. But your father was much more concerned with the inn’s revenue and suppliers, and brushed off your questions with a wave.

“The Spaniard is quiet and doesn’t seem interested in starting trouble. He’s paid for his room in advance for the week. If he wants to be left alone, leave off.”

The Spaniard did not appear on Friday for the midday meal, but he did come back for late supper, repeating Thursday’s pattern exactly; a seat at the small table with his back to the wall, scanning the room from under his brow, a flash of eye contact to you as wordless thanks when you set down his plate and and the ewer of ale. The rest of the customers were settled for the moment, and something made you bolder than you would normally be, choosing to linger and try to break into the hard shell he wore like a cloak.

“Care for anything else? I have honey cakes set aside from the baker if you would like one.”

He grunted, a noise that was neither a yes nor a no. You weren’t sure if you should take offense or be happy that he made noise at all.

“What’s your name?”

He stopped chewing at that, and raised his eyes to yours, holding your gaze with his own deep brown orbs. The scar that ran over one eye was almost delicate, tracing a line from eyebrow to cheek that told a story of pain and must have resulted in him nearly losing the organ. You had seen many men disfigured and maimed by war and by accidents; but his scar was almost beautiful, highlighting his features in a way that made him more handsome, not less.

He swallowed roughly and grunted again. “Tovar.”

“Tovar… is that all?” You smiled wryly, hoping to pull more secrets out of him.

“Pero.” He grunted again, but this time it nearly resembled full speech. “Pero Tovar.”

He tucked his head back down and shoved more food into his mouth. You took that as your cue to go back to the bar. If he was staying all week you could wait until Sunday when things quieted down, spend a few days slowly probing. You got the sense he wasn’t dangerous, at least not to whoever brought him food and ale. You let yourself be distracted serving everyone else, and when you looked for him at the end of the night he was gone. You tried to ignore the little pang of disappointment that bloomed in your chest.

Saturday dawned clear and sunny, and you rose early to do the marketing for the inn and for your little household of two. Your mother had passed many years before, and your father prided himself on running an honorable establishment. You may have spent your formative years behind the bar of the inn, but nobody in the village mistook you for anything save an honest innkeeper’s daughter. The whorehouse was at the other end of town.

You finished your marketing and returned home, planning how to combine fresh eggs with leftover bread and meat for the midday meal. Most guests of the inn came for the late supper, but a few showed up for the midday meal and some companionship. You hoped Tovar would be one of them, but given that he had skipped the midday dinner on both Thursday and Friday, you didn’t dare hope too much.

To your great surprise, Tovar was already in the barroom when you arrived. He was dressed casually in tunic and pants and was standing on a table under the main beam, helping your father reattach the lantern. The chain had been broken for a few weeks, leaving this part of the room dark. Neither you nor your father had made time to obtain a ladder and fix it yet, but apparently for Tovar no ladder was needed. His tall frame was stretched up, arms raised to reach for the chain dangling from the ceiling, and his tunic lifted just enough to show a band of bare skin over his hips. The sight of him nearly made you drop your baskets.

You recovered your senses and looked away, greeting your father as naturally as you could. When you lifted your eyes to greet Tovar, you swore you saw the ghost of a smirk cross his lips. You hurried to the kitchen to prepare the midday meal.

When you dared to return to the bar, your father had gone, and Tovar was seated at his usual table. He lifted his eyes quickly to your face and you found that you could barely speak. Your words emerged in a breathy rush. “Are you hungry? Would you like to eat now?” You cursed your nerves and tried to settle them. Where were the other guests? Why was nobody else coming down to the bar?

Tovar looked at you sternly from under his brows and you suddenly felt like a child, caught for doing something naughty. But his next words made something in your middle turn over, fluttering like a moth.

“No. Sit with me a while.”

You sat. You were not accustomed to taking orders from strange men in your father’s establishment, but you rationalized it by telling yourself that attending to guests was good for the inn’s reputation, and that you would spring up and take care of any other guests as soon as they entered. You ignored the little whisper of lust that was suddenly at the base of your spine, tickling up like a trail of smoke from an extinguished candle.

“Tell me your name, woman.”

His question shocked you, until you realized that you hadn’t yet given it to him, and apparently neither had your father during their repair work. You opened your lips and spoke your own name, and under Tovar’s intense gaze it felt strange and foreign. He repeated it back to you in his sonorous tone, turning the fluttering moths in your center into lightning bolts.

“Are you enjoying your stay with us? Is there anything you need for your room?”

That half-smirk graced his lips for another moment, then passed away so quickly you were almost sure you imagined it. He shook his head, “No.”

You let the silence hang. Why had he asked you to sit with him if he wasn’t going to converse? Your stubborn streak won out over your curiosity and you decided to hold his eyes with your own and wait him out. Seconds stretched into minutes, and the air between you became heated, suffused with something like the vapors that distorted the air above a fire. Your hands grew moist, and you rubbed them across your lap, hoping the apron would absorb both the sweat and your discomfort. Tovar continued to look at you with interest, and the longer he stared the more you felt your face burn.

You broke first, bending your head and taking in a great shuddering gulp of air. Just then a footstep fell on the threshold and you leapt out of your chair and swept into the kitchen. When you calmed yourself and finally emerged, Tovar was gone. You let yourself get entwined in the gossip and the rhythm of your normal serving of guests, listening to the friendly chatter. By the time the bar was clear again, you decided to take yourself up to your room and rest, to conserve your energy for the busy Saturday night crowd. Saturday late supper consisted of cold leftovers and mug after mug of ale. The crowds were usually boisterous but good-natured, and you were looking forward to seeing Tovar again.

When you woke from your nap the sun was kissing the horizon, and you freshened your dress, changing into one of your nicer ones and a fresh bodice, tying a clean apron around your middle. You scrubbed your face with a wet cloth and rearranged your hair. You felt like a maiden heading to the altar, but you weren’t sure why. Nothing that Tovar had said or done so far gave you any indication that he favored you that way. There really was no need to change into clean clothing or present yourself in any special garments. Still… there was that hope, that whisper of lust that had sprung up under his gaze this afternoon. Maybe he would notice your efforts and begin to take an interest.

You entered the bar and began getting ready to serve the Saturday night crowd, handing around ewers of ale and plates of cold buns and cheese. The inn not only had a dedicated stream of locals every Saturday, but it also tended to draw groups of visitors from some of the smaller towns, as well as travelers on the road who needed a room for the night. You tried to keep your eyes on your work, but they kept flitting to the doorway without your permission, seeking any trace of the grumpy Spaniard and flickering the hope in your gut when they didn’t see him. As the barroom filled, you wondered whether he would appear at all. You pushed all hope of seeing him down, stomping on it and trying to keep yourself focused.

You hurried to the kitchen for another round of buns, and when you emerged into the bar he was there, sitting at “his” table and scowling his usual scowl. You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding, and you felt your face heat with desire. When Tovar saw you his face opened, and the first genuine smile you had ever seen painted his lips. The rest of the raucous room fell away, and you zipped straight to his table, depositing the plate of buns that had been intended for someone else.

“Hello Pero.” You bit your lip, never having addressed him with his name before. Was it too forward?

“Hello, mi-” he stopped himself, then said your name, almost reluctantly. Had he forgotten it in the few hours since you had seen each other last?

You smiled tightly, a little less warmly than before. Icy flakes swept over your girlish crush and your ardor cooled. If he had already forgotten your name, he must not be interested. “Ale?”

He nodded. “Yes… if you please.”

Your thin layer of ice melted. A “please” from this man was like high praise from anyone else. You nodded and went to the bar, filling an ewer and a mug, and delivering both to his table. You wanted to linger, but calls from the other side of the room interrupted any notion of getting to spend more time with Tovar.

You nodded once at him and departed, taking care of the other guests and helping your father lug another barrel of ale from the back. Every time you dared glance at Tovar he was watching you, gentle interest and curiosity issuing from his eyes, instead of the menacing scowl he had sported when he first arrived. You tried to focus on your usual tasks, letting the rowdy laughter of the bar patrons wash over you, but you could feel Pero’s eyes on you, and you couldn’t stop yourself from glancing at him again and again, far too often. Your distraction was probably the reason that disaster struck.

Your eyes were again on Pero as you made your way across the room, and your toe caught the edge of someone’s foot, causing you to stumble and spill a mug of ale all over a large man. He bellowed in anger. You saw that he was a stranger, and as he unfolded himself from his chair and stood up, you could see that he was twice as broad as you and nearly two heads taller. The ale soaked his tunic and dripped onto the floor.

Before you could open your mouth to apologize, the man raised his hand to strike you. Suddenly his furious face crumpled into pain. He fell to his knees in front of you, the raised arm now twisted behind his back. As his knees hit the floor, Pero’s face materialized behind the man’s shoulder. Pero’s trademark scowl was directed at the back of the man’s head as he hissed instructions to the stranger.

“Apologize to the woman.”

The man spit out a curse and then refused. “She’s a whore!” Another wail of pain issued from his open mouth as Pero twisted his arm up and back.

He leaned down and spoke into the man’s ear, so low that you almost couldn’t hear it. “Apologize.”

The man dropped his head to his chest and whined out a stream of words that included several “sorrys” and “my mistakes”. You looked at him, eyes still wide with shock, mouth frozen into a grimace. Pero looked at you and then gave the man’s arm one final shove. A sickening crack met your ears and the man groaned as he fell forward onto his face.

“Now leave! And do not come back.” The man and his companions scrambled to the exit, and the rest of the customers murmured to themselves as they returned to their own drinks and gossip.

“Mi alma, are you alright?” Pero reached his hand out to you and you shook your head, tears springing to your eyes.

You spun on your heel and ran out of the bar, turning to flee to the back hallway, hands shaking. You pressed your back to the wall and then bent over at the waist, trying to catch your breath. You had seen bar fights before, and broken up a handful when they happened here and there, but you had never seen violence like that up close. You had never seen such hatred on a man’s face as the anger that had colored Pero’s features. You had the sense that Pero would have gladly killed the man and not had a second of remorse.

You heard a foot scrape the floor and you shot upright. Pero was at the end of the hall, eyes flickering in the light from the lone candle on the table. He put both hands out to you, palms facing you in a gesture of openness, approaching one slow step at a time.

“I am sorry. I am sorry.” His voice was low and calm. “Please forgive me.”

“No,” your own voice sounded high and panicked to your ears. “Stop. Don’t hurt me.”

Pero’s face crumpled and he halted his approach. “Hurt you? No, never. I would never hurt you. Please believe me.” He took another step toward you.

“But that man- You, you broke-”

Pero interrupted your awful cry. “Ssshhh, no. No, mi alma. That was not a man. He was a beast. I made him apologize and leave.”

Pero took another step, closing the distance between you to one stride. You were surprised to see tears in the corners of his eyes as well.

“I thought I was saving you, mi alma. Protecting you.”

“You did, you protected me, but- How were you so fast? And why do you keep calling me ‘mi alma’?”

Pero closed the final distance between you and reached his hands out to hold both of yours. He stepped close, and you had to tilt your head back to look into his eyes.

“I love you. You have enchanted me. ‘Mi alma’ means my soul. It means you have my love and my heart.” He looked deep into your eyes. “... and my body, if you so desire.”

He inclined his head and his lips met yours. You felt your head spin, heart pulsing through every vein, pounding in your ears as you let yourself be kissed, over and over again. You had kissed boys before, and even one young man in the village, but this was like being kissed for the first time anew. Pero kissed you with passion, with intent.

His hands gripped your waist and held you to him as your fingers entwined themselves up into his neck and the hair at the back of his neck. Pero broke the kiss and leaned toward your ear. His voice was low and gravelly, striking something in your core and sending sparks to your throat.

“I fell in love with you today. When I caught you looking at me as I changed the lantern. When you sat with me and met my eyes with your own and you didn’t shy away. When I saw that you had changed into a new dress, had made yourself pretty just for me.”

Your breath left your lungs in a huff, and the only sound you could make was a low hum.

Pero continued whispering words and warm breath across your ear, sending shivers down your neck, making your nipples harden with desire.

“I will take care of you, mi alma. Let me take you to bed and show you everything that you need to know. Let me show you how to make love to a man, to please him. How to take a husband and take your own pleasure, too.”

“Ohh…” You hardly recognized your voice as your own, and before you could say more, Pero kissed you again, opening your mouth and slipping his tongue inside. He pressed his hips against you, pinning you to the wall. You could feel his hardness against your hip; but instead of scaring you or making you feel ashamed, it stoked the fire in you from a flame to an explosion.

You kissed Pero back, as hard and as eager as he had kissed you. And then you did something you never would have imagined: you reached behind your waist and grabbed his wrist, bringing his hand up to cup around your breast. He squeezed and thrust his tongue into your mouth, swallowing your moans and squeaks.

He broke the kiss again to suck and nip at your cheek, your jaw, your neck. Every kiss inflamed you further, and you pressed your hips against his, rubbing from side to side to feel his hardness through the layers of your skirts.

“Let me take you to bed, mi alma. Let me make love with you.” Pero’s voice dropped to a low rumble. You could barely hear him above the thrum of your own heartbeat, but the words sent a new rush of something hot and wet to your private area.

“Let me kiss you between your legs, to taste you. Let me show you everything I know. Let me have you, and you may have me… all of me. Let me love you, mi alma.”

Your mouth opened and you spoke the only true answer to his request.

“Yes, Pero. Please.” --- Just-here-for-the-moment’s masterlist

My “all fics” tag list:

@anaaaispunk @justanotherblonde23 @gracie7209 @nicolethered @honestly-shite @driedgreentomatoes @dihra-vesa @1800-fight-me @the-queen-of-fools @juletheghoul

@kesskirata @honeymandos @silverwolf319 @mourningbirds1 @greeneyedblondie44 @spacedilf @maxwell–lord @anxiousandboujee @cevvie @quica-quica-quica @sherala007 @writeforfandoms @libellule2001

[phantomlesbian]

the effin horde dynamics

(I am terrified of losing my drafts like last time, so I wrote everything in google docs and pasted it here, so I’m sorry if the formatting is off)

Okay, so the Horde right? The Fright Zone? In place of finishing the next chapter, I decided that I wanted to go on a brain rot and figure out just what I think would’ve happened to the Horde under Adora’s supervision in this AU. And I think it’s pretty cool so I’m going to share it. 

So we all know what the horde was like pre-Adora gaining control, it’s just what you’d imagine Horde life would be like throughout the show. No education of the outside world, very little exposure to the outside world, cruel punishments, those freaking ration bars, no birthdays (omg), and so on and so forth.

 Alright.

What in the heck happened after Adora became Lord?

Lots of good things actually!

I always perceived Adora as having innate good tendencies, so she naturally knew that some of the things in the Horde weren’t that great. Of course, she got special treatment from Shadow Weaver so her perception of things being bad in the Horde is especially diluted, but I believe it’s still there somewhat.

So basically after she kills Hordak, it was stated that the soldiers there elected her to be the new Lord in place of Shadow Weaver This doesn’t mean there was an actual election, they basically just walked into the room and started cheering, which then led to them to kneel in front of Adora and proclaim her the new Lord, which Shadow Weaver disputed.

Okay

Adora and Scorpia: so Scorpia became a Force Captain pre-canon, and since the fic follows the canon timeline, with Princess Prom being the beginning of the fic, Adora would have already been a Force Captain. Because Scorpia was always older than Adora, they met in orientation, and instead of disliking each other, they kinda hit it off. It wasn’t like best friends at first sight, since Lonnie was alive at this point, and I always saw Lonnie as her best friend if Catra weren’t there.

It’s kind of a confusing timeline that I’ve been trying to explain so I’ll try to break it down a little further.

Oh also, I would say that Adora became a Force Captain at around sixteen since there weren’t any “distractions” to steer her away from becoming Force Captain. Okay so at sixteen she becomes force captain, at seventeen is when Lonnie finds the sword and subsequently disappears, at eighteen is when Adora first becomes She-Ra and subsequently kills Hordak, and at nineteen is when the story begins. 

OKAY SO WHAT DID ADORA DO

Well, we know that a fight occurred between Shadow Weaver and Adora, so I'd say that this is when she began to strip away Weaver's power. But she just made her second in command without the title. Like she handles meetings, paperwork, and the basic busy work and housekeeping that Adora and Scorpia push out.

Adora and Scorpia have lunch together every day to discuss the progress they've made, and what they should do next. The first thing Adora did was order a bunch of books, and she also did research on Scorpia's family, the Alliance, and stuff like that. This would explain why she wasn't immediately hostile towards the Princesses or even the concept of Princesses in the first few cha[ters.

So she obviously learns about the Scorpioni Kingdom, and she's like oh wait we're on stolen land I need to do something about this. So she helps rebuild the palace or whatever was left in it and decided that she didn't want the younger generation of Horde brats to live in the same conditions that she did, so she asks Scorpia for permission to house the children there and rearrange the way that they learn. There was still some space left so she renovated that and basically opened it up for either more housing or office space/ "I'll deal with that later".

OH HEY

The next part of this post will contain spoilers for previous chapters, possible future plans for the next chapters, as well as a topic that you might want to research if you don't know what I'm talking about because it might take a while to explain.

OKAY

So growing up, I was in love with the divergent series. Lynn was my gay awakening, this is where I became obsessed with psychology and personality differentiations, and...yeah. To spare people from having to google everything, divergent is a book set in futuristic Chicago where society is divided into five different factions, and you take a test to determine which faction you belong to. There are abnegation, erudite, dauntless, candor, and amity. The one we're going to be focusing on is dauntless.

So the dauntless are the people that value bravery over anything else, and they kind of act as the protectors/police (???) of the city. So in my tiny pea-sized brain, I was like hey, Princess of Power, Guardian of Etheria, magical Protector...dauntless??? Okay yeah, that works.

I have no clue if this makes any sense.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I reposted that one post about the city that had plants growing inside of it and it turned into an urban jungle? And remember when Adora grew plants all over the Horde at the end of the show? That's kind of what I'm thinking of.

One of the main things that were mentioned in the Horde's new dynamics was the introduction of real food, real clothes, better jobs, actual wages, music, and the hydroponics and aquaponics system. While I was planning out the timeline for the show I wrote a little subsection about the Horde dynamics, and what I wrote is that the Horde is more like dauntless now but more corporate.

What does that even mean?

So we know that the Horde has money. Adora's also done with stealing land and killing people. She's like eh not my vibe I'd rather do it ethically (because she knows what ethics is (that was sarcasm)). So she purchases land and imports goods, and basically just strikes deals and wagers with other provinces.

How does this relate to the dauntless? WELL

So the dauntless were mainly stereotyped as being adrenaline junkies, with dyed hair and tattoos and rock music. It didn't matter what you looked like there, as long as you were a good fighter and a good listener, you had worth. Now there were mainly problems with the faction system that eventually led to its downfall, but the core concept is actually pretty cool.

Adora really did think the war ended when she killed Hordak. She didn't know about the treaties or the way the Alliance would've reacted, she just knew she was;t murdering innocent people or stealing land. So she thought she could create a place where instead of hurting the people of Etheria, she could protect them and protect her soldiers.

Now, if this actually works or not, you'll have to read the fic to find out, but this is her immediate goal. She wants to establish a solidified union in order to end the war and bring safety and peace to her people.

I know comparing the Horde to the Dauntless is an outlandish example, especially if you've never heard of them, but it was the first place my mind went that actually clicked for what I wanted the Horde to be under Adora's care so I'm so sorry if it's confusing.

I'm probably going to be doing a character study on Adora and Catra later on, but definitely before the fic ends.

[that-one-scorpia-kinnie]

The Former Horde Soldiers Discovering New Things part 2: Real food

So as we know, nice things and basic necessities were basically illegal in the Horde, so the Former Horde soldiers grew up only eating ration bars. So the concept of real food is completely strange to all of them at first.

I headcanon that after the war when the Horde disbanded, it took a while for them to get used to real food, and for the first few months, most of them (except for Adora who tried real food almost immediately after meeting Bow and Glimmer) ate bar shaped foods or foods that resembled ration bars as they were pretty nervous of trying new foods (even though ration bars probably taste like utter shit and they can't even be that good for you). But I think the first bit of real food they tried were those dumplings some of the characters ate in one of the season 5 episodes, and slowly the former Horde soldiers begin to get used to real foods.

Although none of them can handle food with the SLIGHTEST bit of spice. They all think salt is spicy. Seeing people put salt or pepper on their food baffles all of the former Horde soldiers. For the first few months at least. I think over time they become more tolerant to spices and herbs.

However, none of them know how to cook. Scorpia tries to, but she mostly ends up burning everything. But she tries and that's all that matters.

They also all eat really quickly, as in the Horde they most likely had to eat their rations quickly before getting back to training or some shit, so for like the first month they're just inhaling the food they get in like a minute flat, and everyone else is like "Oh my ra, please slow down guys, ya food isn't gonna go anywhere-" and once they begin slowing down, they begin enjoying the food, albeit still getting used to food not tasting like nasty stuff.

As for favourite foods they've tried (feel free to give your own headcanons too):

Adora really likes ice cream and her favourite flavour is probably cookies n cream. No specific reason but she just strikes me as a cookies n cream girl.

Scorpia's fave is either stew or mac and cheese. But she HATES leafy greens (which is canon) and is a picky eater overall, as she gets nervous when trying new things. But when she discovers sweets/candy, she is BEDAZZLED. She especially likes cotton candy and the feeling of it melting in her mouth, so Perfuma always buys her lil buckets of cotton candy, but Scorpia has to be very careful when picking out the cotton candy with her big claws, and she needs to have it little by little, as her tastebuds aren't used to sweet things in large quantities. (I thank my friend @spam-t0n for this headcanon.)

Catra for some reason really likes cheese. Just cheese on its own, like she'll just eat from a bag of shredded/grated cheese like it's nobody's business. But she REFUSES to touch a carrot, let alone eat one.

"But Catra they're good for you-"

"Does it look like I give a shit? I survived a fucking WAR, I think I can live without those orange death sticks."

Kyle likes pineapple on pizza, the poor fuck. (No hate to pineapple on pizza or people who like it, I myself am pretty neutral on the debate on whether it should be a thing)

I feel like Lonnie would like tacos. I dunno I can just imagine her enjoying tacos but getting mildly annoyed when they fall apart.

Rogelio, being a lizard, would probably be okay with eating bugs, but I read a fanfic where he liked chocolate-covered crickets. Whatever floats your boat Rogelio.

Huntara (cause she used to be a Horde soldier too) has probably been living off of bugs and survival food due to living in the Crimson Waste, but I can imagine she likes the taste of honey cause I read a fanfic about it once.

.

Side note, because my OC Teddy is good at cooking and baking, I can imagine, when they eventually become comfortable around them, (as Teddy is a very shy person and it usually takes them a while to come around) Teddy begins making breakfast for the former Horde soldiers sometimes. Most likely homemade waffles and fresh fruit, and it becomes sort of a weekly thing.

[tloujm]

Part XXX: Bones Sinking like Stones

Author’s Notes: My posting schedule is still going to be abnormal because what else is new. Hope you like it though!

Genre: Angst

Summary: Takes place right after the previous chapter. Joel and his crew are still missing. The rescue team finds them. Tommy has a little fight with Jesse. Secrets are revealed. Again.

Ship: Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

“The boss said he needed all of the firewood moved. You know how much wood there is? That’s going to take me all day!” One of the cannibals complained.

“Get him to do it.” The other one replied. “He’s our servant until we cut him up, so let him serve us. ‘Sides, the more he works, the leaner the meat will turn out.”

“Doesn’t that mean it’ll be tougher to eat?” The first man countered.

“It all depends on how we cook it. If you tenderize it and make sure you don’t overcook it, It’ll practically fall apart before it hits your mouth.”

“He’s looking a little gaunt. If we’re going to work him more, we should give him a larger ration. If we kill him while he’s skinny, there won’t be much meat and he would have been a waste.”

“You’re not wrong. I’d hate to split my deer rations with him, but it’ll pay off in the end. The extra fat on his bones will make it taste better.” The second cannibal agreed.

Joel overheard the guards’ conversation as he sat on the floor of his cell. This wasn’t his first time coming in contact with cannibals, but he’d never been captured by them before. His eyes squeezed shut as memories of his partner getting chopped up involuntarily entered his mind. He wondered how much longer they were going to work him before they decided to kill him.

He contemplated a way to attract some infected to the campground through the small, barred window in his cell. Ironically, they may end up being his way out of this. As dangerous as it was to involve the infected, the enemy of his enemy was his friend. He had no weapons and could think of any other way out. Best case scenario, the infected would attack the cannibals while he stayed protected by the cell. Depending on how large the horde was, he could escape while they were distracted or pick them off one by one through the cell bars with something handy. If that didn’t work, he could stay put in the cell until rescue came. Worst case, he could lure one up to his widow, get bitten and exact his revenge by letting them eat him before he turns.

As he contemplated, he heard a commotion. The voices of the guards in the other room ceased. It was eerily silent outside of the sound of bones cracking. Joel sat up in his cell, anticipating the source to approach.

“Tommy! It’s Joel; he’s in here!” Joel recognized the voice before the face. It was Dean that called his brother’s name. “Man, what did they do to you, Joel?” He looked at Joel’s uncharacteristically frail frame. He wasn’t severely malnourished, but the state of his body was still worrisome. Tommy entered the room second followed by the rest of the rescue team.

“Oh my God.” Tommy whispered under his breath as he approached the cell door.

“Here.” Maggie said as she passed him a tool to help unlock it. They all watched as Tommy tried to finesse the cell door open. A look of disgust passed through each of their faces.

“Tommy?” Joel muttered.

“I’m here, big bro.” Tommy jiggled the tool inside the keyhole until he heard a click. He swung the door open and the brothers quickly embraced. Tommy held his brother's head close while Joel squeezed his arms around him.

“Joel, where’s the others? I need to find Glen.” Maggie spoke up.

“All we found were those hunters here. Where did they take my Marcus?” Aaron pleaded.

Joel couldn’t face the others. “Tommy, they’re gone.” His voice was low; only his brother could hear.

“What did he say? Where are they?” Maggie asked frantically.

“They...they killed them.” Joel said. The other three stood there, waiting for one of the Miller brothers to communicate with them. Tommy turned to face them, still holding his brother, and shook his head. He glanced at each and every one of them and watched as their faces fell. Expressions of horror, sadness and disappointment flashed across their faces.

“I need to hear him say it!” Maggie demanded.

“Maggie, he’s dead. They’re both dead.” Joel finally spoke up. She broke down in her brother’s arms while Aaron tried to stay strong. Tears streamed down his face as he tried to still his wavering chin.

“Where are they?” Dean asked with his sister’s head in the crook of his neck. “We need to take them home. Give ‘em a proper burial.” Again, Joel didn’t want to have to say it, but he knew he had to. All it took was one glance at his brother and Tommy’s suspicions were confirmed.

“They shot Glen at the checkpoint where they ambushed us. Marcus...he...they...they took us both back here after knocking us out. When I came to, he was already dead. I don’t know what they did to Glen’s body” Joel knew, but couldn’t bear to say it out loud.

“No, no!” Aaron shouted at Joel. He approached him with his weapon in hand. Tommy shielded Joel away from him, but he turned around instead and ran into another room. “Marcus!” He called out for his love. His name echoed through the cabin they were in.

Only after a few moments did the group hear the commotion stop. Tommy guided his older brother out of the cell and the group went off to find Aaron. Next to the kitchen was the room where they hung up the bodies. There were humans mixed in with whatever else they managed to hunt. The rescue group had to pass the room to find Joel and probably did not notice that they were the skinned torsos of human remains.

They all watched in horror as Aaron stood in front of a swinging torso attached to a meat hook. His hand was clamped over his mouth. He muttered his husband’s name one more time. He recognized the rose tattoo on the right side of the chest of an unskinned one. That was the only thing there to identify him.

“Help me get him down.” He began to claw at the body. “Help me get him down!” He repeated louder. Joel and Tommy approached and the three of them gently unhooked him.

“I need to find Glen.” Maggie said to Dean. He nodded and the two of them raked through the hanging chunks of meat. “I can’t find him.” She said through tears. Tommy and Aaron left Joel inside with them as they carried Marcus’ now wrapped body to the truck they took. “You have to know where he is.”

“I told you, he died in the cabin. That was the last place I saw him before I blacked out.”

“We were at the cabin.” Dean began. “The place was ransacked and there was blood, but there was nobody there.”

Joel looked at him apologetically. “They must have taken his body when they took us as well. If you can’t find him, then…” He tried to explain. Dean understood the implication that he was already eaten. Whatever was left of him was discarded of. He held his sister as he thought about the fact that she had the worst outcome two times over. Aaron had the opportunity of closure, but she would never get that. Maybe she was better off though. Aaron saw the final state of his love. Maybe it was better that she didn’t get the opportunity to do the same. Maybe it was better to remember him as she last saw him. His heart broke for his sister.

Joel, Tommy and the rest of the group rode back to Jackson. It was a long journey and the sun had just about set by the time they made it. Once there, Tommy escorted his brother back to his house. He laid him on the couch and shouted for you. He gave it a second and called your name again. There was nothing in return. Even Joel called for you, though his voice was much weaker. Given that he left after Jesse, Tommy assumed that you had been brought back by now, or at least that’s what he hoped.

Not wanting to worry his brother, Tommy made an excuse and convinced Joel that you were probably at the daycare visiting Ellie. He threw a blanket over his brother and promised to bring her back so the two of them could reunite. As he walked down the front steps, he radioed for someone to go to his brother’s house and keep an eye on him. He beelined it to Jesse’s place a few blocks over. He banged on the young man’s door a few times. The house looked dark through the windows. Fear creeped inside his thoughts as he wondered if they actually made it home or not. He banged again, thinking that he may have to prepare a second rescue team.

“Tommy!” Jesse exclaimed when he finally opened the door. “You’re back!” The Miller brother noticed how comfortable his state was. He answered the door in a tank and pajama pants. Tommy walked into the house before he could even invite him in.

“Please tell me you were able to find (Y/N).”

“Yeah, I brought her back. Y’all found ‘em?” Jesse replied.

Tommy nodded. “We found Joel. The rest didn’t make it. I’ll talk to you later about it. Where is she?” Jesse looked to his feet then back at Tommy before guiding him to his bedroom. You were fast asleep in his bed, laying under the covers. You decided to sleep over at his place again. Whenever you did, Jesse insisted that you take the bed while he slept on the couch. Tommy looked between your sleeping form and the man standing next to him for a few moments before brushing off his thoughts.

He leaned down and nudged your shoulder. “Hey, (Y/N). (Y/N), c’mon, wake up.”

Your eyes fluttered open. “Tommy?”

“Yeah, it’s me. We’re back and we got Joel. He’s waitin’ for you.”

“Is he?” Your raspy voice asked with optimism. You were afraid it was all a dream, but even if it was, you were more than willing to play into it. You immediately got dressed and your brother in-law escorted you back to your house. Jesse decided to follow close behind. You walked through the front door ready to fling yourself onto him only to find him fast asleep on the couch with a blanket draped over him. You crouched down and gently ran the back of your fingers across his gaunt cheeks.

After making sure the two of you were alright, He led Jesse out onto the porch. “When did you guys get back?”

“Just a few days ago.” Jesse returned.

Tommy nodded. “How was she? Was she hurt?”

“No, she was fine. She, um, she was feeling a bit under the weather, but I’ve been keeping a close eye on her since we got back.”

“I’m sure you have.” Tommy replied with a certain tone.

Jesse shifted his weight from one leg to another. “I don’t know if you’re trying to imply something here---”

“I just hope I wasn’t wrong in trusting you to get her back here.”

“I am the only person, outside of Joel, that she would have come back with.” He retaliated firmly.

“Don’t think I don’t know that; it’s why I sent you. I just hope you didn’t take advantage of that fact.” Jesse wanted to defend himself further, but Tommy began walking off the porch. He turned around one last time. “I suggest you go back home too.”

“She’s my friend, first and foremost.” Jesse walked down to meet Tommy. “You sent me out to rescue her, but honestly, I was gonna help her find Joel. The only thing that stopped us from carrying on was when I found out she’s expecting. I know me and Joel haven’t always seen eye to eye, but if I had some master plan to take advantage of her, I wouldn't have had the intention to help find and bring him back.” He shook his head. “We were so close too.”

“Hold on there, son,” Tommy held up a finger. “ Expecting? As in with child?” His brows raised.

“Yeah, she told me while we were out there. I don’t think she wanted me to know because she wanted to press on; like I said, we must have been close. But the morning sickness drained her and I convinced her to head back.” Tommy thought about how this information shocked him. To learn about this secondhand from Jesse instead of his own brother. He’d never been a father, so he didn’t know how it felt to receive the news of fatherhood, but he assumed that the couple wanted to keep it under wraps and enjoy the news privately until you were further along and couldn’t hide it anymore. He doubted under any other circumstance you would have revealed that to Jesse before himself.

[foolforshera]

Some former Horde soldiers are sitting around trying to think of something they can do now that the war is over. One of them suddenly has an idea. They use the equipment in the Fright Zone to start making ration bars again but tweak the formula around a little to make them a bit more appetizing. People love them and thus, the first energy/snack bars are introduced to Etheria.

[gimme-tea-bitch]

Self abuse and cruel masks, or “How Shadow Weaver Weaponized Catra and Adora’s Kindness”

Oh boy, it’s been a whole like, week?? since i’ve made meta? My brain is no longer in Catradora brainrot!

Jk, this is another analysis that i’m writing late after work because my head is empty, 1 thot.

So, on my drive home I realized something, both Adora and Catra are extremely compassionate. Which look, i get it, you’re like “Tea, dipshit, how did you only just realize this?” and look, i get it! I know they are compassionate, we see that in the show, but, that’s not the point i’m making, so let me clarify.

Catra and Adora are EXTREMELY compassionate. I would go as far to say that they are possibly some of the most inherently compassionate characters in the show. And like, Adora is obvious, but the important part to remember here is that, Catra is also included here.

The realization I had is that, Catra and Adora both want to help people, they both care about others, care about the little guy, so how did we get Catra to becoming a villain, you may ask? Well... it’s the abuse, I feel like that’s clear and that we’re on the same page. Many of Catra’s negative traits are a result of or greatly worsened by the abuse she endures from the Horde, and Shadow Weaver especially. So, let’s begin.

At her youngest, at least that we get to see, we see Catra being pretty much exclusively good, barring 1 instance. We see her playing with Adora, and we see their fierce love for each other begin its bloom. She’s playful and happy, and so is Adora, they just work together beautifully from the get go, becoming fast friends. The one instance we see that is different is what we see in “Corridors” i think the episode is called? When she is having flashbacks on the ship. We see Adora coming to comfort Catra after she lashed out. And in her emotional state, we see that she’s hurt Adora.

Now, it is key to remember context here. Catra is a child, her whole, short life, she has been raised in a culture where you become strong or you die. So joy and care are hard to come by. We also see early on, that Weaver’s abuse began very young, in earlier seasons where a Catra that barely looks any older than this season 5 flashback, is restrained by Weaver’s magic.

Knowing all this, it’s unsurprising that Catra would become scared that Adora would leave her for her “new friends” a child’s mind isn’t rational, and a child being abused is even less so. The key here, is that Catra expresses remorse. She is upset that she’s upset, but she’s more upset that she lashed out and hurt Adora.

As Catra grows up, we see her become more cruel, unsurprisingly. Because it’s the Horde. Every cadet either bullies, or gets bullied. But, Catra is not egregious in her cruelty. She doesn’t attack or bully anyone nearly as heavily as her peers. In fact, the person she bullies most is Kyle, and even that is limited to verbal jabs, something that it seems literally everyone does. This is in a culture where we see signs of cadets physically intimidating and shoving each other. The scene where Lonnie and two cadets corner Catra after Adora deserted comes to mind. And yet, up to this point, we don’t see Catra engage in that. So how does that happen? If Catra’s abuse is tied to Weaver’s abuse, why has she not become a villain already?

Enter, Adora. Adora is by no means innocent here, she’s part of the Horde, and just like Catra, engages in verbal jabs at other cadets, but just like Catra, she doesn’t seem to ever go further than that. And the common thread here is that unlike seemingly every other cadet here, Catra and Adora have something that no one else has. Love. See, they meet young, they become best friends early, and fast, and fiercely. Their whole lives, they have loved each other. And that love, I think at least, guards them against becoming the monsters the Horde wants to turn them into.

Now, I did say at the start that Weaver weaponized their kindness. So let’s explain that. We see that up until Adora leaves, Catra and Adora are possibly some of the nicest cadets the Horde has, baring Scorpia who doesn’t even insult people. So what happens? How does Catra become a villain seemingly instantly? Because Weaver takes the one thing that has helped Catra stay “good” Weaver takes her love.

Now I can hear you screaming  “Tea! Tea! Weaver doesn’t do that! Adora leaves her and betrays her!” And to that I say, does she? We’ve so far focused on Catra, let’s examine Adora a bit more. We know very early that Adora has a strong sense of morals justice, (side note- we also see that Catra has a sense of justice and morals in the fact that she treats others kindly when they are kind to her, and that even when given power, she doesn’t use it to abuse.)

Adora’s sense of right and wrong is a crucial trait in how everything goes pear shaped. See, Weaver has goals and to achieve them, she needs Adora who she senses is strong, but Adora is fiercely kind, and wants to help everyone, so why would she help Weaver and the Horde commit mass murder? Well, it’s easy, propaganda. That’s right! The horde’s propaganda machine of brainwashing children is reliant on the fact that they think the rebels are evil. So to do this, they make up stories about the horrors that the princesses do. historically speaking the Horde isn’t doing anything new. They’re doing the same thing any historical empire does to justify killing their enemies. Dehumanize and demonize them, until even the “good ones” don’t know any better.

And it works! Of course it does! This is particularly effective against Adora because of her strong morals. She’s so focused on saving others that she doesn’t even register that this is a trick. Now Adora has a target, and it all falls into place. Because Adora is inclined to help others, all Weaver had to do now is feed that fierce compassion, tie it to her self worth, and voila. You have a young girl who’s looking to die for a good cause. Adora still loves Catra, and Catra still loves Adora, but. Adora gets manipulated into a martyr. She is convinced that if she doesn’t save everyone that she’s worthless, that her only value is how much of herself she can give.

So did Adora really have any choice when it came to taking the sword? Of course not. She could’ve handled it better. If Catra and Adora communicated better they could’ve avoided a lot of that suffering, but we’ve been over why they didn’t and how their abuse made them hide their emotions from each other, so let’s move on.

Adora never had a real choice, Weaver made sure of this. Weaver;s entire ploy weaponizes Adora’s kindness and compassion, but instead of weaponizing it to hurt others like she intended, she weaponized it to hurt Adora. Because if Adora can’t help, doesn’t help, then, in her mind, she should just be dead. Being dead is the only thing that can excuse her not sacrificing herself. And this, this care for others, that turns into hatred for herself, is what weaponized Catra’s kindness.

When Adora inevitably leaves, Catra loses the one thing that helped her endure it all, Love. Without it, all the abuse and the manipulation and the trauma, they come crashing down on her. Because that bubble of love is no longer holding those things back. That defence against Weaver, the support of Adora is gone, and she’s alone with just herself to fight back. And that’s too much for anyone, much less for someone young and suffering for this long.

The thing is, it’s not instant. I’ve built it up like it flips a switch and bam, she’s a villain. But that’s not true. Because we see that Catra still cares about people. She becomes more aggressive and violent. But she relates to Entrapta, helps her feel better when she gets left behind. She does show kindness, even after becoming a villain. And look, yes, she does use this to manipulate, but, it works because the basis of it is true. Because underneath the manipulations, she sees someone suffering and wants to help, but the only way she can allow herself to do that, after all this, is by making it seem pragmatic.

Weaver’s abuse does a lot, it causes a lot of harm to both Adora and Catra, and the effects of it ripple through so much of their lives. This is just one of many facets of how these two have been hurt. And all this it’s undone eventually. As much as some people wanna paint Catradora as abusive, it’s not. It’s quite literally the opposite, it’s healing. It’s a return to form. Because we see in season 5 how they each dismantle the weapons that Weaver put into their hearts.

Catra’s villainous mask is stripped away and she is laid bare, her weapons dismantled. Her goal gone. And the thing that she comes back to, when all that is dust, is the love that carried her so far. “Corridors” is beautiful because it’s Catra coming to terms and accepting that all this, it was to cover the fact that she loves, she loves so much, so fiercely, so wholeheartedly, she loves. And it hurt to lose that. But she still loves anyway, despite the hurt, despite the loss, she’s still full of a love she can’t get rid of, a love she didn’t know what to do with anymore. And she chooses to give it again. She chooses to give that love again. And in turn she dismantles Adora’s weaponized kindness.

Adora, who’s kindness and caring was turned into a blade. A sword hanging over her head, waiting to drop at any moment. Catra chooses to love Adora again, and she chooses to love Adora in spite of this sword. Adora, who’s whole life, who’s whole sense of self is carried in the weight of this blade waiting to kill her is told that she’s loved. Regardless of if or when the blade will drop, regardless of if she sacrifices herself, she is loved because she is Adora, she is loved because she is enough on her own. And that, that love, it removes the sword. It unties it and sets it on the floor.

Idk, it just it makes me so emotional. And i’ve made myself cry again. I think, an important thing to take away from this is that, just because someone is kind, doesn’t mean they can’t be cruel. abuse can turn that kindness into cruelty. And sure, we’re not cadets in a war machine, but, there’s people out there who are abused, and that abuse can make them unkind or rude, just idk, it’s really nice to see that it’s possible for people who’ve done shitty things for the wrong reasons to remember that they can be kind. That you do not lose your capacity for love and compassion just because you’ve made the mistake of being cruel. I think that’s important. I think it’s important to tell people that fire can destroy everything around you if you let it, but it can also provide warmth and comfort, and that’s you can choose what kind of fire you want to grow into.