#i. adora etheria / answered.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Last Night

A Glimmadora Fanfiction

It was midnight. Glimmer was not sure how she knew that it was, considering how most of Etheria's lights had been snuffed out for a while now. But she knew it was midnight. And she couldn't sleep.

From where she lay, Glimmer could see the faint glow of the Failsafe on Adora's chest. A mark of approaching end. Based on how still Adora was, Glimmer reckoned she was probably awake too. She whispered to Adora, careful not to wake the others.

“Adora?”

There was a pause. Then Adora's voice reached her. “Yes?”

In that one syllable, Glimmer could pick apart at least three emotions. Uncertainty, fear, sorrow. Adora was already mourning herself. Her inevitable death.

Glimmer quietly got up from her sleeping bag and walked across to Adora's, sitting next to her.

“Why are you still awake?”

Glimmer could now see Adora's face in the Failsafe's glow. Adora always looked somewhat tired, Glimmer had noticed it a long time ago. She acted peppy and energetic, she always tried to cheer up and inspire her friends. But there was always that look of fatigue and some faraway sorrow that you could catch when she wasn't completely aware of herself.

And now, what with dealing with Catra and the threat of world destruction looming over them, Adora looked more exhausted than ever. She shrugged in reply to Glimmer's question.

“I don't know. I just couldn't sleep.” Adora glanced at Glimmer and sat up quickly. “Are you okay?”

Oh, Adora. Even when it was her life that was on the line, she still always cared so much about everyone else. Too much, maybe.

“I'm fine, don't worry,” Glimmer reassured her quickly. “What about you? How are you feeling?”

Adora sighed. “Does it matter?”

Glimmer took Adora's hand in hers. “It does. It matters to me. And Bow. And everyone out there who loves you and wants you to return safely.”

“I just—” Adora gave a slight ironic chuckle that was somehow even more chilling than her previous depressed tone. “I don't want to get your hopes up. Whatever happens happens for a good reason. Etheria will be safe again.”

Everything was silent for a while, except for the soft chirp of the cicadas. Glimmer tried not to think about the implications of that sentence. She squeezed Adora's hand as she willed herself not to break down into tears.

It took her some restraint and a deep breath to get her next words out, even though her voice was giving up on her.

“Does it always have to be you, Adora?”

She saw a shift in Adora's expression in the Failsafe's glow. “Doesn't it? Isn't that what She-ra is for?”

“Maybe.. but what is Adora for?” Glimmer met Adora's steady gaze. “What do you want, Adora?”

“I—” Adora's voice faltered as she failed to come up with an answer. She looked away. “It doesn't matter. I have to do this.”

A sudden thought struck Glimmer as she grabbed Adora's other hand and looked at the girl earnestly.

“I'm a lot more powerful than I used to be. I- I'm in total control of my powers now. Maybe I can handle the Failsafe, I could take it to the Heart of Etheria instead!”

“No!”

Adora covered her mouth, surprised at her own ferocity. Lowering her voice, she continued. “No. You're not the one who needs to do it. You have a kingdom to rule. You have people who care about you.”

“So do you, Adora,” Glimmer's voice caught in her throat, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

Adora smiled sadly and touched Glimmer's forehead with her own, tears trickling down her cheeks. “Don't worry about me, okay?”

Glimmer didn't reply. She pulled Adora into a tight embrace instead.

Glimmer doesn't know how long they stayed that way or when they finally dropped off to sleep in each other's arms, comforted by the thought of spending their last few hours together.

[birindale]

Adventure of the Blue Diamond

Frosta learns about stranger danger, Catra blots out the 'daystar', and She-Ra smashes a priceless gem for no discernible reason.

Transcript/Image ID below the cut

[Image Description: A cover and 14 comic pages from the She-Ra mini-comic, “Adventure of the Blue Diamond”.

Cover: She-Ra stands in a snowy field, staring at something. Double Trouble, Frosta, and Bow stand behind her, none of them dressed for cold weather. Bow has an arrow nocked, and his embedded ‘heart’ is situated low on his torso, more where a belly button would be. All parties look vaguely concerned. The ‘Princess of Power’ logo stands in sharp contrast to the indigo sky, while the title ‘Adventure of the Blue Diamond’ is a washed out azure with insufficient lining to read well against the lighter purple background and blue of Bow’s pants.

Page 1: A yellow text box reads, “The duties of the day behind her. PRINCESS ADORA indulges in a rare moment of quiet reflection. But her sweet peace is to be short lived… For all is not well in Etheria… ”

Adora is looking into a mirror, brushing her hair despite still wearing her crown and high-collared cape. She’s smiling peacefully.

Adora notices something in her reflection, pausing in her brushing. 

What appears to be a window glows gold in the reflection of the mirror, and she stares at it with a concerned frown. 

Kowl bursts into the room, frantic, calling, “Oh, fair princess, woe is me! DANGER! DANGER… all I see! QUICKLY! You must follow me! HOOT! HOOT!” Adora whips around to face him. 

“Good heavens, Kowl! What IS the matter?” she asks. The words ‘Adventure of the Blue Diamond’ appear on a title scroll at the bottom of the page. ‘Blue Diamond’ is rendered as though made of cut gems.

End Page 1.

Page 2: “Just look and listen!” says Kowl, leading her to the open window of the Crystal Castle. A strong and ominous wind hisses outside.

“CATRA! Up to her old tricks! I’d recognize that voice anywhere!” says Adora, looking out into a gathering storm. 

“She’s gone too far I fear! Etheria’s DOOM is all too near!” says Kowl. 

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” says Adora, with a confident smile. 

“BY THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL… I AM SHE-RA!” she yells, holding the Sword of Protection aloft. Magic swirls around her, and the word ‘BOOM!’ is printed in big red letters. Her crown inverts, but does not cover her eyes as a mask. 

“I must find the source of this dark trouble at once! Kowl, summon BOW and DOUBLE TROUBLE… quickly… I’ll need their HELP!” She-Ra says to Kowl.

End Page 2. 

Page 3: A yellow caption box reads, “Moments later…” and we see that it’s begun to snow. A large vehicle with lepidopteran wings, somewhere between the Butterflyer and the Flutter Plane in design but colored to match Double Trouble’s outfit, is parked in front of the Crystal Castle, where She-Ra meets with her allies. 

“Brave Bow, far greater is the force of Catra’s folly this day than I have ever seen it! I know not the SOURCE of her dark powers, but we must NOT let her EVIL TREACHERY SUCCEED!” says She-Ra. 

“Never have I seen Etheria look more DESOLATE and DREARY! Whatever Catra’s up to… It must be a vile TRICK indeed!” says Bow. 

“She-Ra, surely you must have some sort of PLAN!” says Double Trouble. 

“Indeed I do and much of it depends on you, Double Trouble., with your SPY DISGUISE you can make it into Catra’s camp UNDETECTED! GO NOW and discover for me just what wretched scheme that fiendish feline has up her sleeve!” says She-Ra. 

Double Trouble stands with her hands on her hips, wind buffeting Bow behind her. “And when I have your answer?” she asks. 

“Then send a SIGNAL skyward. The FLUTTER PLANE will bring Bow and me to your side in a but a moment!” says She-Ra, so apparently that is in fact the Flutter Plane, just riffing on the earlier two-seater concept art that Filmation discarded and Mattel never produced. Cool.

A yellow caption box reads, “A clever scout, Double Trouble soon finds herself on the evil Catra’s trail…” and we see Double Trouble slogging through the snow, following a very neat and precise course. 

“FOOT PRINTS! Catra has been here all right!” she says, following them as it continues to snow. The ground is now completely covered.

End Page 3. 

Page 4: “... and up ahead… a CAVE!” says Double Trouble, trudging through even deeper snow, approaching, you guessed it, a cave. “If I don’t miss my guess, the SINISTER FELINE seeks shelter from the storm inside!” 

“Just as I suspected! BUT WAIT… What’s this? The fiendish feline holds a PRISONER!” Double Trouble thinks to herself, peering into the cave to see an exultant Catra, wearing a silver fur cloak, gloating over a woman with long blue hair tied to a stalagmite. 

“AT LAST! The treasured SNOW CAPE and its powerful SECRETS are mine… ALL MINE!” says Catra.

End Page 4.

Page 5: “HELP! Somebody HELP ME!” yells the prisoner. Catra smiles dismissively and pulls out her mask and says, “FROSTA, my dear, you are a FOOL! There is no one to hear your cries, nor anyone to interfere with thissss…

“My most diabolical plot to SEIZE CONTROL of all Etheria!” she declares, putting on her mask. 

The space between panels reads, “Unleashed by Catra’s evil threats, Double Trouble CHANGES into her SPY DISGUISE - a face that Catra recognizes as a FRIEND!” followed by a four-panel sequence of Double Trouble shifting into evil mode. 

“CATRA! What have we here?” she asks. 

“WHA…? Oh it’s you, Double Trouble!” says Catra. “This foolish girl has given me her precious SNOW CAPE, and with its secrets, Etheria will soon be MINE!”

End Page 5.

Page 6:

“HOW? What secrets? Tell me your plan!” says Double Trouble. 

“I took Frosta’s powerful WAND and FROZE ETHERIA!” says Catra. “But its freezing effect is only temporary! Fear not, friend—I’ve discovered a MAP in her cape that will lead me to the BLUE ICE DIAMOND! And I will have the power to freeze Etheria FOREVER!” 

“Double Trouble, guard Frosta until I return!” says Catra, running from the cave.

A yellow caption box reads, “Above Etheria’s moonlit horizon, Bow and She-Ra watch… and wait…” and we see the Flutter Plane flying over a snow-covered landscape.

“LOOK THERE! It’s Double Trouble’s SIGNAL!” says Bow, pointing at a flare of magic from the pilot’s seat. 

“GOOD! Let’s take ‘er down…” says She-Ra. 

End Page 6. 

Page 7: “She-Ra, Etheris is in the greatest PERIL! Frosta, QUICKLY, you must tell She-Ra everything you know!” says Double Trouble, as she emerges from the cave, supporting Frosta. Bow and She-Ra run towards her.

“So LONELY have I been here, in the frozen north, for Catra’s TRICKERY I was an easy mark! A day ago, she befriended me… but it has COST me DEARLY!” says Frosta, beginning to cry. Double Trouble holds her closer in support.

“Go on, tell her about the SNOW CAPE!” she urges. 

“Foolishly, I GAVE my snow cape to Catra in exchange for her company! Inside the cape, there is a map that will lead her to the Blue Ice Diamond!” says Frosta, dripping tears. 

“THE BLUE ICE DIAMOND! Catra will use the gemstone’s powerful magic to turn Etheria into a frozen wasteland FOREVER! We must STOP her!” says She-Ra, evidently horrified.

A yellow caption box reads, “With Frosta in the lead, She-Ra and her stalwart cohorts race across the Dreaming Mountain! But can they reach the Blue Ice Diamond in time?” 

The Flutter Plane flies overhead while Double Trouble and Frosta (who has been mistakenly colored to look like She-Ra) ride in another vessel. It’s a sailing sledge (an iceboat meant for dry land) with an unstayed mast & single lateen sail, long and narrow in the style of a stereotypical viking ship, complete with an ornate figurehead of a bird of prey. The entire ship is a similar shade of green to Double Trouble, including the sail, which is feather-patterned. There are struts visible in later panels which confirm this is a sleigh and not a magical land-ship of some kind. The whole thing is reminiscent of the Sea Harp in shape, but that hasn't been designed yet.

End Page 7. 

Page 8: A yellow caption box reads, “... or does Catra ALREADY hold Etheria’s fate in her grasp?” as Catra gloats over a gem, which glows a vivid green. 

“CATRA!” shouts Frosta, now colored correctly, “HALT! Or I shall FREEZE you where you stand!” She climbs from the sailing sledge and brandishes her Snowflake Wand (which is really more of a staff). 

“You’re TOO LATE Frosta… TOO LATE!” Catra calls back, lifting a faceted gem to her face as she smiles in evil glee.

End Page 8. 

Page 9: “LOOK! Etheria’s bright daystar DIMS even as I speak, and a CLOAK OF DARKNESS SWEEPS THE LAND!” she yells, gesturing at what I think it’s safe to assume is a sun and not the planet Venus because it’s flipping huge, “Soon I shall rule FOREVER!” 

“WHISSSSHHHH,” goes the Snowflake Wand, which now more resembles a scepter, then “ZZZAAA,” in a spidery, electric sort of style. Sparkles emerge from the wand and Frosta looks pretty pissed.

“--KRAKK!” finish the onomatopoeia, as we return to Catra, who’s surrounded by sparkles as the sun darkens behind her. 

We zoom in closer to reveal she’s frozen solid, still cackling. 

The focus shifts to the sun, now completely dark. 

End Page 9. 

Page 10:  Frosta falls to her knees in despair, burying her face in her hands as Double Trouble tries to comfort her. In the background, the Flutter Plane lands and She-Ra leaps from within. 

“Oh She-Ra, I have FAILED! There is NOTHING we can do to save Etheria from darkness… it’s all MY FAULT!” sobs Frosta as She-Ra lays a supportive hand on her shoulder. 

She-Ra doesn’t respond immediately, trudging over to Catra as Bow reaches the sledge. 

“Perhaps there is MORE to this blue ice diamond than meets the eye!” She-Ra says, plucking the gem from the frozen Catra’s grasp. 

“BOW! Stand fast and make ready an arrow! I have an idea!” she calls back over her shoulder. Bow moves forward obediently. Frosta is still kneeling in the snow and Double Trouble’s still in the sledge. 

End Page 10.

Page 11: “The SECRET of this gemstone’s POWER may lie WITHIN…” says She-Ra, setting the blue ice diamond atop a rock. 

She lifts her sword. In this panel and the next, she’s shown with her inverted crown functioning as a mask. “... so, if we CRACK it…” 

She brings the Sword of Protection down with a huge “SMASH!” 

“... we can set its magic FREE!” she finishes, revealing that there was a second, smaller diamond inside the first diamond, matryoshka doll style. For some reason. 

“Now, let your arrow FLY!” she says to Bow, as he ties this smaller diamond to an arrow. It glows a soft yellow. She-Ra’s crown is no longer a mask. 

End page 11. 

Page 12: Bow aims directly at the darkened sun. 

We get a close-up of his face, deep in concentration, as he releases the arrow with a loud “SPUNGG!”

The arrow sails towards the sun. 

Double Trouble, Frosta, and Bow look on. Bow lowers his bow. 

The arrow disappears from sight, leaving only the darkness and the blotted daystar. 

Double Trouble, Frosta, Bow, and She-Ra watch in silence. 

The sun remains dark 

End page 12. 

Page 13: “BULL’SEYE!” hollers Bow, lifting his bow to the sky in jubilation as the sun goes “BUH WHOOM!” and begins emitting light once more. He slings a celebratory arm around Frosta’s waist, like he means to hug her but is just too excited about archery to bother. 

Catra begins to defrost beneath the heat of the sun. 

She comes to staring at her now-empty hand, startled and soaking wet from the melted ice, the snow cape falling from her shoulders. We see that beneath the snow, this was some kind of arid plain, which contradicts its earlier description as being the “Dreaming Mountain”, as the Dreaming Mountains are the home of Castle Chill (and thus, chilly) from Filmation. 

“CURSES! FOILED AGAIN!” shouts Catra, sprinting into the distance. 

End Page 13. 

Page 14: “YOU’VE DONE IT! The daystar glows brighter than ever!” says Frosta, clapping her hands together in delight. 

“Etheria is SAFE once more and I am FREE at last of Catra’s EVIL MAGIC!” she says, holding her snow cape over one shoulder like a jock with a letterman jacket. 

“Yes—Etheria is SAFE and BEAUTIFUL once more!” says She-Ra, walking over to her. 

“Bow, Double Trouble, time to go! The CRYSTAL CASTLE and NEW ADVENTURES await!” says She-Ra, looking over her shoulder to her friends. 

“But WAIT! How can I ever REPAY your kindness? Perhaps my coat…?” says Frosta, holding the snow cape out to She-Ra as Double Trouble and Bow climb into the Flutter Plane. 

“Fair Frosta—haven’t you learned a moral after all that’s happened? REMEMBER THIS!” says She-Ra:

“FRIENDSHIP can’t be bought or sold… it must come from the HEART! And from OUR hearts to YOURS—a friendship that’s EVERLASTING!” says She-Ra, in the traditional red text they use for morals. Everybody smiles at each other. 

The End.

End of Page 14.

Back Cover: The “Princess of Power” logo, with the text “Collect Princess of Power (trademarked) Dolls & Accessories! Each Sold Separately.

Cardback illustrations for She-Ra the “most powerful woman in the universe”, Bow the “special friend”, Double Trouble the “glamorous double-agent”, Frosta the “Ice Empress of Etheria”, Catra the “Jealous Beauty”, Castaspella the “Enchantress who hypnotizes”, Kowl “The Know-It-Owl”, Angella the “Angelic winged guide”, and Glimmer the “Guide who lights the way”. 

Illustrations copyright Mattel Inc., 1984. Hawthorne, CA 90250 U.S.A.

PRINTED IN TAIWAN. All Rights Reserved. 

0007-5220

End of ID]

[spopsalt]

Spop fans:

Me: correction. I think you wanted to say " two whole years since I and the C//A shippers love incest and abuser x victim ships who don't care that it's actually disrespectfull in history ", idk why you guys wanted two sisters kissing that's literally disgusting!!

spop fans:

Me: etheria's heart is pink because it means that she's close to the thing that Horde Prime has so Adora can kill it. Also not everything is about C*tr*, you guys include her like if she joins the bfs wasn't enough you wan't her include her at your friendship group or your relationship like ?! I understand being obssesed being a fictional character because i'm obssesed with some but we are talking about a horrible person who kill and hurt innocent people and abused her sister for years and didn't apologize

friend, i recently check twitter just for find this digusting C//A shippers trying to romantize two adopting sisters and being obssesed with including C*tr* at everything, sometime i think that C*tr* and C//A stans don't deserve Adora because they treat her as shit like C*tr* and don't appreciatte her for her actions and how hard she tries no matter what they always like " c*tr/ this " or c*tr* that " there is never an " how is Adora ? " " Adora is the best character ever " " i love her so much " it's always about her abusive sister and not about Adora and she's the protagonist of her series. WHat do you think about how C*tr* and C//A treat Adora ? do you agree with me about my answer to this tweets ? also are you tired too that people love C*tr* more than Adora ?

For the first post, the owl house is much better with it's representation, also the main two love interests aren't sisters, and they actually have a healthy cute relationship, the secret one isn't even true, I do not understand what they mean.

[slobby-shera]

When the Best Friend Squad departed Bright Moon, none of them were looking forward to their trip to visit Entrapta. Adora, Bow, Glimmer, and Catra were all dreading what would come about of the inventor’s poorly-thought-out experiment to explore other worlds. They had yet to see what results she got but not even Bow was feeling optimistic.

The four landed on the outskirts of Dryl far from the princess’ mountain castle/lab. What they found was worse than they thought. A green portal stood in the clearing roughly the size of a house. Robots were constructed a metallic arch around it with a platform at the base being built. Overseeing it was Entrapta and Hordak, with Emily carrying over some tiny food on a platter.

Hordak turned when he heard their footsteps draw near. “I was wondering when you’d show up.” His tone as disapproving as ever.

Catra scoffed. “Sorry to disappoint, FORMER Lord Hordak.”

He growled but his irritation was snuffed shortly after. “My…apologies. I have much to work on.”

“No kidding,” said Adora. They went through a lot of trouble to keep his true identity a secret. With Horde Prime defeated, peace had arrived to Etheria. However, many wanted Hordak’s head of a stick. Entrapta convinced the princesses to let Hordak stay with her as her prisoner/lab partner and tell everyone he was one of the many liberated clones. Adora was reluctant but willing to give Entrapta a chance. Just one.

“Isn’t it riveting?” Smiled Entrapta. “By my calculations, I should be able to establish a connection to another universe by the end of the year.”

“That’s part of the reason we’re here,” said Glimmer. “Before you try reaching out to anyone, we want you to ensure that nothing can come through until we are ready.”

“Why would I do that?” Entrapta seemed oblivious to the very obvious risk glowing in front of her.

“So that whatever comes through doesn’t try and KILL US!” Catra grunted.

“Highly unlikely. I’ve been monitoring the communications of the other Entrapta’s and they’ve yet to mention anything that dangerous coming through.” She grabbed the tiny cupcakes from Emily’s platter and stuffed them in her mouth while her hair calibrated the console. “I doubt the alternate me’s would overlook something like that.”

“Unless the threat is another you.”

Entrapta paused and thought this over. “Possibly but that’s just one of infinite possibilities.”

Catra was ready to tear her hair out again and leaned against Adora. “Someone else talk her out of this before I have an aneurysm.” It took all of Adora’s strength to keep her oversized girlfriend from toppling her.

Bow stepped forward and asked, “Is there anyway these other universes could find us?”

“Theoretically, yes,” answered Entrapta. “But if they had such a method, I wouldn’t know how to conceal ourselves from it. Hopefully, that won’t be the case.”

This did nothing to assuage the visitors. “We should probably warn the other princesses about this,” suggested Bow.

“I will inform you of any developments,” said Hordak.

“And keep her from destroying reality,” added Catra.

“I will do my best.”

[thestargayzingetherian]

TheStaryGayzingEtherian Fic Masterpost

Hello everyone and if you are reading this, you have probably found my Tumblr blog. I present to you a big long post of all my multichapter stories that I have posted. This will be updated with every new fic I post/complete.

My AO3

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SHE-RA: BEYOND THE HEART

My ongoing She-Ra extended universe stories featuring the rest of the MOTU cast as well as featuring the continuing adventures of all the She-Ra characters we know and love.

We Have The Power - Rated T - Canon - 4/? - 26k words so far

It has been six months since the defeat of Horde Prime and Etheria has mostly rebuilt following the end of the war. Adora has been spending much of her time finally getting a chance to rest... yet, strange dreams plague her, dreams of horrible events yet to come. Meanwhile, on their travels through space, Catra, Glimmer and Bow meet a man named Adam and his friends. Adam is soon revealed to be He-Man, a magical warrior similar to She-Ra and as such, the best friend squad invite Adam to visit Etheria to meet Adora. However, this little visit sparks off quite the adventure, as He-Man's arch enemy Skeletor sets his sights upon Etheria... and Adora discovers the family she never knew she had. All the secrets of the universe shall be finally revealed! (Catradora, Canon, Part of She-Ra: Beyond The Heart)

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SHE-RA: NO MATTER THE UNIVERSE

My collection of She-Ra AU stories, These stories will be ordered from most to least fantasy/sci-fi. Stories in a modern setting will be in the middle, full Sci-fi at the bottom and fantasy/historical at the top.

Defender Of Dragons - Rated E - Medieval Fantasy AU - 7/? - 35.8k words so far

When brave young knight Adora and her mentor Mara receive a mysterious message telling them to come to the Whispering Woods, they find themselves reunited with an old friend, Catra, Princess of the Magicats. Catra has sought out their aid on an important quest to save the last of her people. However, this will not be an easy quest, as vicious enemies seek to destroy Catra and her people. Taking up the quest, Adora will have to brave great hardship if she is to succeed... and maybe, she and Catra will find some love along the way. (Catradora, Medieval Fantasy AU)

A Wolf In The Fold - Rated E - Modern Werewolf AU - 9/9 - 41k words

After a painful tragedy, Catra has found herself retreating from the world, isolating herself in a cabin owned by her friend Glimmer. One day, however, Catra hears a loud howling from the nearby woods, rushing out to find a rather large wolf caught in a trap. However, this is no ordinary wolf… and this beautiful creature's secrets will change Catra’s world forever. (Catradora, Modern/Werewolf AU)

Darkness Among The Stars - Rated E - Sci-Fi Space Opera Bounty Hunter AU - 3/? - 17k words so far

Adora Darkstar is one of the most renowned bounty hunters in the galaxy, for her noble nature and wanting to see justice in a lawless part of the cosmos... and also because she's a living killing machine hell-bent on finding the monster who ruined her life. After receiving a tip that her worst enemy is on the space station Despondos, Adora finds more questions than answers about her past... and a strange alien catgirl who crosses her path. Little do either of them realise that what lies ahead of them could very well change the galaxy forever. (Catradora, Sci-Fi Space Opera AU)

[swearyshera]

Given your Melog is intelligible to the audience, I wonder if you're going to carry on canon's choice of not giving us one straight answer what the hell Melog actually is. That's not a criticism, I actually like that basically everything about Melog is a mystery. Is it a construct or just some weird familiar-species? Was it's humanoid form a "holding pattern" until it bonded with a new "master", or was that it's form from it's last master? Did it ever have one? Was it controlling the illusions because it saw the team as intruders, if so why did it bond to Catra after she interferes? How autonomous is it with a master vs without one? Does it really have a mind of it's own and can make it's own judgements about what's best for their master, or does it just push them towards their true desire (a healthier relationship with Adora in both cases)

Best guess I have is it takes the form their master needs and became a therapy pet for Catra. Maybe it saw guarding it's home as it's purpose but saw Catra was so profoundly screwed up it decided this was a bigger issue and reprogrammed itself on the spot. Tells you something Catra had to learn how to communicate better from something that literally can't speak.

I'd assume Catra's own species created Melog, since I always assumed Catra wasn't "native" to Etheria just like Adora, but HP absolutely would've bragged about wiping out her civilization at some point, even if he left out it being a pyrrhic victory.

Also if I had a nickel for every time one of my fave pieces of media had some sort of shapeshifting, psychically resonant pseudo-automaton that is sole survivor of it's culture and attaches itself to (one of) the lead character via psychic link that bypasses verbal speech I'd have two nickels. (The first being Torment: Tides of Numenera's Oom)

I really would love to know, but I think part of the charm is in not knowing.

My personal thought is that Melog is the remnants of the magic left behind after Horde Prime slaughtered the inhabitants of Krytis. As such, it's not really a 'species', but a concentration of intense magic that can take a corporeal form and communicate mentally with Catra.

But I don't know if that's really the case here. I'm probably not going to give any answer as to what Melog is because I just don't know.

[robinreflects]

Okay, I NEED to hear your thoughts on a few issues I have with SPOP (I also mention TOH a bit towards the end but mainly trying to focus this ask on SPOP). Also, it's long as hell, so if you want to answer it in multiple parts that's totally fair.

I know the writing of the show just generally speaking isn't the best, however the one thing I thought was executed best was the villains of the show.

Shadow Weaver was a cruel maternal figure in Catra and Adora's lives, even so to Glimmer in Season 4 when she had felt isolated from her friends (her father too, in the past). With a grand sacrifice in the names of who she practically considered her daughters, she had atoned for her actions throughout the series, but regardless, she left serious impacts on the characters' mentalities. Whether she was forgiven by the characters was left vague, as if they weren't too sure how they felt themselves.  I really liked that aspect, as the experience of mixed feelings when an abusive parental and/or authority figure dies can be very impactful for viewers. She was someone lustful for power and control, but I do genuinely think she had a soft spot for Adora at the very least, which is why she had tried isolating her from the others in her squadron so often. I think it was in an effort to harden her resolve so her potential wouldn't be wasted, though of course, this was not done in a positive or healthy manner.

Hordak attempted to conquer Etheria in an effort to be recognized by Horde Prime. But then he meets Entrapta, who helped him with repairing his disability aid (that being the First Ones tech to keep his body stable, the very thing Hordak was shunned and abandoned for by Prime) and receiving validation for the "imperfection" he referred to his disability as ("Imperfection is beautiful! At least, to me."). That was the inciting moment where his motivation and goals shifted, but due to Catra's actions — her attacking Entrapta, then fabricating a lie that he had once again been abandoned, and later on being unapologetically ableist and apathetic by removing his aid, the aforementioned tech, and having him literally crawl on the floor in pain before her to address her power over him — he returned to prior goals until Double Trouble spilled the tea and sent him on a rampage after Catra. (And yes, I haven't forgotten the scene where he cuts off her oxygen, but she's not shown to be an asthmatic or having any respiratory issues, so that's shitty yes, but not ableist. And that was in either S1 or early S2, before he had really encountered Entrapta, so that's another thing to keep in mind.) Skip through the Horde Prime mess, and he ends the series being sent to Beast Island to clean up according to Stevenson, whereas characters like Catra (who quite literally fucked more shit up than him somehow with the portal, nearly destroying the world) get off scot-free because...She got the heaping dose of writer's favoritism, I guess. Also his atonement for his actions was stated as Word Of God by Stevenson on Twitter, not explicitly in the show, so it's completely fair to take it with a grain of salt and/or have it be up to viewers' interpretation.

I'll also put Entrapta and Scorpia here real quick, but I'll keep it brief cause this is already so long. I think Entrapta is by definition chaotic neutral, where she will go to lengths and extremes in the name of science and personal interest, but doesn't care about the war or which side she appears to be on. Yes, she absolutely appears to be on the side of the horde by the end of S1, but exclusively because they offer the most tech for her to work with (that and the other princesses never appeared to be fond of her…); she never seems to pay the war any mind. I thought Scorpia was a decent enough character, I could tell from the get-go she would be eventually redeemed and while I don't think she's perfect, her redemption was leagues better than the other arc I'm thinking of…

I decided to put Catra as her own bullet point cause WHEW there's a lot. Catra as a character was objectively best when she was a villain. And considering how she crossed the threshold of "in too deep," beyond the lengths even HORDAK was willing to go (again, literally almost ending the world out of nothing but pure spite and hatred for Adora """abandoning""" her), all because she couldn't abuse Adora and blame her for everything bad that happened to her anymore, it was strong antagonist characterization. One that the writers poorly chose to just throw out the window at the last second for some Starco-esque endgame for fanservice/the creator's favoritism that DID NOT feel deserved. Yeah, Starco. I said it.

While having a relationship between two lesbians (if memory serves me right, feel free to correct me if one of them's sapphic) is very important for representation in media, Catradora had to have been one of the worst examples of good lesbian/WLW representation I've seen to date. It's toxic, it's abusive, and Adora's got some serious Stockholm syndrome with Catra being her abuser. It is genuinely unsettling how many people act like it's healthy and normal or will excuse it because "Catra has [Insert disorder/disability here] so the abusive behavior is justified" when explanations for behaviors =/= valid excuses. Adora for sure had PTSD but she never acted as irrational and cruel despite her upbringing.

And also, that is extremely ableist shit to say, too. Just because someone has a mental disorder or disability of some kind doesn't excuse them to just be a disgustingly horrible person to the people they claim they care about. If Catra REALLY loved and cared for Adora, we would've seen an effort on her end to change the shitty fucking behaviors she exhibited. But when Adora goes through hell and back to save her sorry ass, she goes right back to the abusive, manipulative, bitchy person she's always been. Hell, her "adorable confession scene" IS JUST HER MANIPULATING ADORA BY SAYING ADORA HAD CONSTANTLY ABANDONED HER WHEN SHE NEVER DID THAT. ONCE. Hearing the "just this once, stay" part at the end sounds like it came from an abusive ex begging Adora to get back together, not a heartfelt romantic gesture from a soon-to-be lover.

Not to mention the odd implications of Shadow Weaver being akin to a mother figure to BOTH of them (didn't she call them her children???) throughout their lives, as well as Kyle believing they, Lonnie and Rogelio to be his siblings, family, before Lonnie yells at him…Like, the fact even ONE of the squadron members saw the others as siblings ALONGSIDE S.W.'s maternal shtick, it's a huge weird ass red flag. I'm not gonna claim it's incest because I don't believe that was the intention by the writers, but they also heavily imply such with the aforementioned information the show provides...They should've just had Catra and Adora be friends from separate squadrons if they didn't wanna make it feel so icky (as if the abusive shit doesn't make the relationship gross enough). Lonnie yelling at Kyle saying "we were never a family" or whatever feels like the writers speaking through the character to justify Catradora being canon, especially with how the characters act around each other in S1 and in flashbacks. I have siblings, that's shit siblings do. Don't even get me started with Kyle and Rogelio dating in the end, either...Idc what ANYONE says, he literally stated explicitly that he viewed Rogelio as a brother for most of their lives, that makes me ill. I have gripes with both Steven Universe and The Owl House as well, don't get me wrong, but I feel Garnet/Rupphire and Lumity were both objectively better written lesbian/sapphic pairings (my personal favorite of the two being Garnet), as well as the positive and healthy representation lesbians and sapphics heavily deserve. The SPOP writers completely dropped the ball with the enemies-to-lovers bit, like, horribly. Catra post-S4 is just a horribly written """redeemed""" character who should've stayed bad to the bitter end ala S.W.

I feel like both SPOP and TOH's writing integrity is severely diminished when it comes to the Tumblr-humor thing you had mentioned in a previous post. I think if not for Eda, I genuinely wouldn't have continued TOH past the first couple of episodes because of it, and it only got worse over time, especially in the last couple of S3 episodes. Which one was worse, or if both were the same as far as the humor goes, I wanna know your thoughts. I haven't seen SPOP all the way through since about a year ago, but I feel like it wasn't as bad as TOH — at the very least, to my memory of the show, SPOP knew not to crack dumbass one liners in the midst of a genuinely serious moment.

I'll put this here as well, but if you can think of anything else to discuss PLEASE do so, I want to hear all the tea.

Oh my god Hi! So sorry for the late response!

I'll separate this into bullet points so it's easier to navigate

She-Ra's writing

Shadow Weaver

Hordak (+ Entrapta and Scorpia)

Catra(dora)

She-Ra and Representation (Double Trouble)

Ok so let’s get this out of the way first: I am not a fan of She-Ra, even on my first watch I heavily disliked it. I was one of the people that watched it in its original run, I tuned in right after season 2 was released, circa a week or so later. And even THEN, in 2019, as a wee little 15-year-old, who has JUST realized that I wanted to pursue writing as a career, I noticed just how inconsistent the writing is.

So, She-Ra’s writing, just overall writing, is something I’ve always had an issue with. A lot of the characters felt inconsistent. Frosta is the first example that comes to mind. She is a child, however, in season 1 she is presented as a mature, strict, amazing leader of an entire kingdom, however, later on, she’s just dumbed down to a “haha annoying child” for attempts at some incorrect-quote-esque dynamic and dialogue. You've mentioned it too with The Owl House and She-ra has the exact same problem, however, I'd say on a much more jarring and apparent level. With the Owl House, as annoying and out of pocket as these incorrect-quote-esque jokes are, they're still kids, they're children and I'd say The Owl House has a much more slice of life/comedy approach to its writing than what She-Ra intended to have. As I've said, with She-Ra it's more jarring, since it's more of a fantasy/adventure/action/drama type of show, at least that's what it was going for, the jokes stand out a lot more, and feel as though they're just haphazardly thrown in there for the sake of fan service. Which, in turn, makes the characters feel as though they lack dimension. Adora is my prime example of this, there have been so many instances where, for the sake of fan service, she has been dumbed down to the very popular "stupid strong golden retriever" type of character in a sapphic dynamic.

A character that stood out to me as one of the better-written ones is Shadow Weaver. Her dark and brooding nature was always interesting to me, not to mention Lorraine Toussaint did a fantastic job. Something I admire about her character writing is that they never made her abuse over the top, they never made her too loud or too abusive to the point you can point a finger and say "Well that's just a stereotypical abuser in media!", which, again, I really appreciate about the show. I won't say they made her realistic, but out of all the characters, I'd say she came closest to being such.

Hordak I didn't and still don't have much opinion on, his overall villain characterization and motivation are pretty standard, especially for, what's marketing itself as, a kid's cartoon. What did stand out to me, however, was his covert disability. Now what do I mean by covert? It's pretty clear he's disabled. Covert in terms of symbolism, I have not been able to find what actual disability his disability is supposed to represent, I've seen people interpret it as diabetes, I've seen people interpret it as an autoimmune disease, while I myself have interpreted it as a heart transplant/ heart disease and his disability aid as a pacemaker. As my grandfather was one of the first and longest-living people with a heart transplant + pacemaker in Croatia, I've seen many side effects of it and it aligns quite well with Hordak's disability. Though it didn't feel like blatant sympathy points (unlike some other character that I will talk about later), it gave him more characterization outside of being "a big bad villain guy". His and Entrapta's story is one that I found quite endearing and it felt like it flowed naturally, no pushing them together, no forcing it, it felt genuine and nicely paced. Scorpia is also a very sweet character, nothing much to say about her except I really enjoyed it whenever she was on screen. Her character design is one of my favorite's in the show and don't even get me started on Lauren Ash because she did a FANTASTIC job!

Catra though is an entirely different story. I never liked her. On any level. Her as a villain also didn't sit right with me, she never felt like a true villain and in the end never felt like a true "hero" or good guy, hell I can't even label her as an anti-hero. I can just label her as... Catra; a weak attempt to write a morally gray antagonist. Or rather, a lot of cliche dialogues and plot points jumbled into one of the antagonists. I think her weak characterization ties in with the fanfiction-esque style of writing I talked about earlier. I also can't sympathize with her character at all, not for a lack of trying or my prejudice, but because the writer's favoritism and the writer's sympathy are ALWAYS pushed onto Catra so much. The consequences of her actions are practically non-existent and when they are, they are framed as though it's the other character's fault (ie. Catra being alone after Adora left.).

What I mean by that is, most of the bad things that happen to Catra, do not happen to her because of something she did, but rather her circumstances, she just keeps doing bad things and gets away with it. There are no consequences for anything that she does. This might be a stupid analogy, but let's say I slap one of my friends and they do not react, however, when I get home my mother slaps me. These are two separate occurrences that, while they do evoke empathy for me (or rather the lyrical I in this hypothetical) since I am being abused, have nothing to do with each other in terms of consequence for what I have done to my friend. Now, if I slap my friend and they either slap me back or perhaps yell at me for doing so, that is a consequence of the action I have done. We rarely see the latter with Catra, in most of the abuse scenes, most of her breakdowns, and most of the scenes that are framed in a way that we as the viewer as supposed to feel bad for Catra in, are just sympathy points. They are FRAMED (writing, voice acting, editing, pacing of the scene) so we feel bad for her and almost as to excuse everything she has done as some kind of defense mechanism almost. This is getting a bit long and I still have 2 points I want to talk about, so I will stop the Catra portion here. Feel free to ask for other specifics or a better explanation if you want!

And now we go onto, Catradora. From my previous section, you might have guessed I am not a fan of the relationship. As much as I'd love to go into detail about how abusive Catra is throughout all of the seasons, their relationship was written as a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, so I'll disregard the portion of the time they were enemies in. Nevertheless, even if you do cut out that portion of their relationship, they are still quite a toxic and abusive couple. When they were growing up, Catra didn't let Adora hang out with the other kids, going as far as scratching her across the face when Adora suggested Catra, Adora, and Lonnie all be friends. Throwing her, jumping on her stomach with the intent of hurting her. Not to mention the manipulative nature of the love confession. And this is something I haven't seen people talk about, but... Adora does not and cannot make Catra feel safe and loved. And that, I believe, is one of the core problems of their relationship we see this, especially in the last season. No matter what Adora does or says, Catra simply does not believe her. I am sorry to cut this short here, with such a strong and in many ways controversial statement, but, as I said, always shoot me an ask for a more in-depth explanation!

The last portion I want to talk about is Double Trouble...and the fact that they're the only non-binary character within the show. I won't talk about their role in the story, an LGBTQ character can be evil or neutral, they don't always have to be good, as long as their villainous behavior is not a damaging stereotype for the community (such as a lesbian character praying on another woman) or their behavior isn't romanticized (ie. Catra). Double Trouble is I believe one of the more damaging representations of the show. They are a non-binary, shape-shifting lizard who imitates anyone they want to gain and manipulate and sees it as performance... Which is one of the MOST COMMON THINGS I've seen non-binary people being labelled as. As well as the only non-binary character within the show not being human, when most, if not all, other characters are human or human-adjacent. When I say Double Trouble is not only a bad but harmful representation of the non-binary community, I really mean it.

Thank you so much for the ask, I hope I was able to articulate my points well! And sorry for this post being incredibly long!

[foolforshera]

Finn has been living with Catra and Adora for a few years now and the two have decided they need to learn to defend themselves.

*****

For Catra and Adora, it had started as a routine job for Mermista to go to Seaworthy to see if they could find a smuggler. Nothing out of the ordinary for them but it had changed the course of their life. They found a little kid living on the streets, they’d taken them in, and they’d committed to finding their family and raising them in the meantime. That kid’s name was Finn.

After two years of searching, they’d given up on finding the family. They’d looked all over Etheria and finally decided if they didn’t want to be found, that was their loss. Catra and Adora had never intended to be parents but they committed to it with all their hearts and Finn began to flourish in their new family full of people who loved them.

So it was that one morning, sitting in the kitchen before Finn had got up, Adora came to the table to sit down next to Catra. Her eyes were barely open, she was wearing the same robe she’d had since right after the war with Prime,a bit ratty but she didn’t care, and she had a giant mug full of something she called coffee and others called brown, hot, and caffeinated if they were feeling kind. Catra leaned over and gave her a kiss as she sat down.

“Morning.”

Adora just kind of grunted as she took a long drink before answering.

“Morning. What’s on your plate today?”

Catra looked back towards Finn’s room as she said, “Well, I figure that I’d start showing Finn how to defend themselves, like we talked about.”

[theowritesfiction]

So, I haven’t been able to stop re-watching the spop finale for several days in a row, and it brings me to tears every time, and I’m trying to understand why it hits so hard.

They really built the characters up so well, though, so perhaps it’s not a surprise. I often find it harder to empathize with the protagonist of a show, I need them to have some serious flaws for me to do so. I think with Adora, it boils down to the same reasons why I love Katara. They’re both the quintessential good girls, but they both have some serious flaws as well.

Adora has a massive martyr complex, which I think ties into her confusion and inability to separate her own identity from that of She-Ra. She believes that she has no worth to other people and even to her friends if she can’t be She-Ra. She is genuinely surprised and can’t answer when Catra asks what does she, Adora and not She-Ra, wants. She believes that everything they’re facing is her own personal cross to bear, but it’s not because of hubris, it’s because she genuinely believes that if She-Ra can’t protect Etheria and her friends, then what good really is she? It’s an interesting similarity of Adora and Catra, that even though their motivations are completely different, the outcome is often the same in that they both end up pushing people closest to them away. And I think a lot of this goes back to Adora’s upbringing in the Horde, and her inability to shake off the mindset that she will only be wanted for as long as she remains useful.

The moment where we see Adora understanding that she’s not coming back from the Heart is one of those that gets me every time. It’s especially painful because at the same time as she realizes that she won’t survive this, we finally see the true hopes and dreams of Adora, not She-Ra – she dreams of herself and Catra, and their life together. And I think it’s the combination of both these things, Adora finally admitting to herself what she wants, and hearing Catra’s confession, that gives her the strength to save herself in the end. Together with the amazing voice acting of those scenes, it’s truly a work of art.

Now, as for Catra, it’s way easier to understand why I became so invested in her. Her redemption arc was something I wanted Azula to have, and something very similar would have worked perfectly for Azula. Catra does a lot of reprehensible stuff throughout the show, however, each and every one of her terrible decisions is set up perfectly, usually through some tragic mistake of her own making – but not always, same as with Azula, there’s a lot of blame to go around.

With Catra, the hardest hitting moment for me might actually be in Failsafe. It’s so incredibly telling that Catra is the first who immediately realizes what Adora is prepared to do, way before Bow or Glimmer realize it, because Catra truly is that one person who knows Adora best. And this time, she’s not going to stick around to see Adora abandon her again, she’s not going to get her heart broken one last time. This time, she’ll be the one doing the leaving. That, together with admitting her feelings for Adora to Melog is probably the most emotional Catra scene for me.

I have also been thinking a lot about the final scene when Catra pleads with Adora not to give up and begs her to stay. And for some reason, I thought that this was the first time when Catra has actually done anything or pleaded with someone not to leave her, but of course, that’s not quite true. It made me remember that scene on the ship, where Catra overcame her pride and begged Adora to stay with her while her chip was removed. And that got me thinking about the importance of that scene in the context of the ending. Was that always supposed to be that important first step of rebuilding their trust without which perhaps Catra wouldn’t have dared to bare her heart the way she did at the Heart of Etheria? It’s an interesting question.

Anyway, I have rambled on far enough. In short, I guess I will never stop getting emotional about Adora, Catra and their ending. <3

[antispopausandstuff]

my SPOP universe pt. 2 - character bios ( still very long )

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disclaimer // note - it'll be SPOP-focused, but i do take a 'few' things from the original show and implement them here.

preferred style(s) - ATLA // LOK, ROTTMNT, LMK ( s1-s4 ), Spiderverse, or Kill la Kill

( part of the reason for these styles is the VFX, battle coordination, and creature // environmental design, esp with vibrant media like Spiderverse, ROTTMNT, and LMK )

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theme song - something akin to "The Call" by League of Legends or "The World That Ends in Three Days" by Koji Kondo, ROZEN, & Celica Soldream.

rating - PG-15 ( i'm not a writer for young children and don't handle things in a very kid-friendly way )

note - here's some gender // sexuality hcs of the characters, though it isn't all of them.

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established changes:

the runestones don't exist

the cast is 18+ unless stated otherwise

roles will be changed for plot relevance or sense ( for ex, neither perfuma, entrapta, scorpia, spinerella, or netossa are royals )

the first ones are not evil

mara and adora are the only she-ras

most ships will remain noncanon

there's no white people here, sorry

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cast ( pt. 2 ) . . .

Light Hope - First Ones' Artificial Intelligence, Mentor of Adora, Old Friend of Mara's. Age is unknown, 7'0, was created by the First Ones to aid in She-Ra's journey of heroism. however, due to an incident, she has lost a few memory files relating to the past.

having suffered the loss of Mara, the incident she doesn't recall, and being forced to dormancy, Light Hope became repressed in her emotions and thought process, only focusing on She-Ra and her destiny. but there are moments where her original programming takes over and she is warmer with Adora. it is very sporadic and can come off as off-putting.

despite her orders, she is much like the heroine herself, craving connection more than anything else, but her coding doesn't fully understand this. as a result, Light Hope is unintentionally self-destructive or sabotaging, overriding her desires with the objective of her creation.

the sorest point of hers is it frustrates her most that she can't even remember the name of who created her.

design would be inspired by Spark by sleeepybacon, Vahagn by ollyc_herb, and Heidi by boots.ocs. instead of a hologram, i decided to make her a robot ( partially for personal design reasons ), and she'd have at least minor rusting on the metal plating.

theme song - Oath to Order by Koji Kondo & Aaron Grubb

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Mara - First She-Ra, Protector of Eternia, The Last Star. Late 20s to Early 30s, 5'9, was a Princess turned General at a young age and had been involved with the First Ones her entire life. history of her is limited and scattered over Etheria, but it's evident that her end was devastating.

before her time as She-Ra, Mara was a kind, genuine soul with a passion for nature and magic. the First Ones always had trouble with her from childhood to early teenhood, where she had a tendency to wander around and run away from home at any hour to explore.

but, due to her training, amongst other things, she did not have any peers. at least, not ones that wanted to spend time with her. so, when Light Hope was created, this adventurous side of her was only emphasized and she desperately wanted to show her new friend the world around them and continue learning.

after becoming She-Ra, she slowly changed. hardly having time for her interests, constantly training and needing to improve, answering distress signals, Mara became worn and a shell of her former self. long gone were the days of adventure, of her talking to Light Hope endlessly, of showing all the exciting things she found. she didn't have the spark in her eyes anymore.

until she made a choice.

and that choice involved a baby.

design would be inspired by Momoka by kienan_lafferty, Kiraya by kleahvii, and Asteria by dewfroq. a young, starry-eyed child to an older, war-torn woman, doomed by fate until the very end. even when she was at her happiest.

theme song - Terrible Fate ( Remixed ) by Theophany

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Madame Razz ( Regina ) - The Witch of the Whispering Woods, Friend of Bow, Unofficial Guardian of Mara and Adora. 60s-70s ( by appearance ), 6'2, is a mysterious, but very spritely witch that resides in the Whispering Woods, which is why the Rebellion has it as their security. because of her nature and age, Razz is often underestimated.

her memories are affected by her age, which makes her use a journal to write spells and important information she'll otherwise forget. usually, though, Broom writes it down for her.

Razz tends to confuse Adora for Mara, due to their shared features and having a similar name ( 'ra' ), but she wouldn't treat the young woman any differently regardless. she loves them both very much.

but where has her Mara gone?

design would be inspired by Grandma Aldreda by canarywitch, Gnomus by pen.lilixeesketche, and The Outcast Comic by xeonsoda. i looked up Twiggets and, while there's not a lot of information about them, the i do wanna learn more into the nature and obscuring the face aspect of the original.

theme song - Tatl & Tael by Aaron Grubb

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Mermista ( Elaysia ) - Princess of Salineas, Daughter of King Mercia, The Pearl of the Seas, Best Friend of Seahawk's. 21 yrs old, 5'5, lost her mother in the war at a young age and has a strained relationship with her father, due to his grief leading him to making less than optimal decisions.

taking after her mother, Mermista is ambitious, bold, composed, and a bit of a bookworm. disregarding her father's beliefs of leaving the Horde be, she often isn't home and is instead rescuing prisoners // slaves from Hordak's rule alongside Seahawk, an ex-pirate and old friend of hers.

in her downtime, she's much more laidback and sassy, finding fun in banter, wisecracks, and conversation about literature or history. but she's definitely not against having a few adventures of her own.

design would be inspired by Storyteller by sleeepybacon, Indy by nahusnab, and Silence of Dawn Illustration by elentori. due to her real name and its origin, there might be Greek inspiration in her design and the environments of Salineas mixed in. absolutely want to make her merfolk side more present.

theme song - Zora's Domain by Music Legends

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Seahawk ( Jeoff ) - The Captain of Solar Sailor, Ex-Pirate of the Seas, Best Friend of Mermista's. 20 yrs old, 6'1, raised by his father, Falcon, until he suddenly disappeared without a trace. for nearly a decade after that, he became a pirate that eventually aided the Horde for some time, until Mermista came along. though the history is unclear, it is obvious the two have a bond that can't be broken.

he's always held regret for his actions and continues to atone for them to this day, showing he is a hardworking and compassionate person underneath. before the Rebellion grew, he and Mermista worked together and apart to mess with the Horde's plans.

during the Rebellion's growth, the two joined after Adora, Glimmer, and Bow aided them in their personal mission. Seahawk grows to have a particular fondness for Bow.

in his downtime, he's usually either sculpting, writing, or darting.

design would be inspired by Marcus and Iulius by distyx and aliceperazzolo, Monroe by reddsmess, and Benny by linxy_animations_official. yeah, he's basically the 1980s' version with some rewritten details, what of it? oh, and he's bulky. good for hugs.

theme song - Gerudo Valley by Video Game Players

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Frosta ( Min // Mackenzie ) - Queen of the Kingdom of Snows, Ice Empress of Etheria, The Ice Witch. 18 yrs old, 5'2, became an orphan at the age of 13 and has been Queen ever since, assisted by their royal advisor and guards.

to the people, they are compassionate, understanding, and talkative. but to complete strangers, Frosta is frigid and has a tendency to come off as condescending or hostile, but it sprouts from the protectiveness over their Kingdom and not wanting further pain after the loss of their fathers.

in spite of this, though, they are the warmest with Mermista and Seahawk out of everyone else involved with the Royals. Seahawk even makes them laugh.

design would be inspired by Ria by pearljeli, Ning Suzhen by artzy_paw, Takashi Naoki by meijinn, and Arya by lapstle. i've had thoughts on them being a Magicat as well, for a couple of reasons. unfortunately, i'll have to reinvent the species from the ground up, since Nate didn't do anything with them.

theme song - Midna's Lament by Video Game Players

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Perfuma ( Tara ) - The Wandering Flower, The Flower Maiden, Nature's Caretaker. 22 yrs old, 6'3, a lone nomad who travels across Etheria, making her very difficult to find if you're not paying attention. she was kidnapped by the Horde, due to her indifference and pacifism towards them. because she didn't make fuss, no one knew she was captured to begin with.

she's very bubbly and energetic, often seeing the best of a situation, even if it's unlikely to happen. having a strong belief in friendship, love, and self-care, Perfuma is always willing to help when she can, physically or emotionally, and thrives on bonding with others, even with her enemies.

because of her outgoing nature and complete indifference to anyone attacking her, there have been multiple stories about her around Etheria, with many people thinking she's either an unstoppable force or a magnet for trouble.

design would be inspired by Bonnie by ayegyolk, Unnamed OC by kleahvii, Sorrel by idolomantises, and Lottie by sleeepybacon. her species would be of an orchid moth ( or moth orchid? ), which i think are very cute and fit her well.

theme song - Faron Woods by Arcade Player

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deadass kinda imagining ships already.

this doesn't count when i said "most ships will be uncanon", i meant ships from the show-

and platonic // familial relations, too.

[enchantingjacarandas]

Love is a risk, but what's the alternative?

Paring: Catra / Adora

Tags: Red String of Fate, Soulmate AU, Hurt/Comfort

Other Sites to Read on: Ao3 or Wattpad

Words: 1,610

Creaking metal surrounded Catra as she made her way to her cot. She was alone in the dormitory, again. Solitude was something Catra had grown used to once Adora left her. Even so, Catra was heading to bed earlier than normal to prepare for the big day tomorrow. She would be turning twenty tomorrow, meaning the red strings of fate would show up on her wrist. 

Every Horde soldier got their 20th birthday off in order to kill their nemesis. Catra knew she would have to follow the red string of fate from her right hand in order to find her enemy’s identity, but part of her also wondered where her left hand would lead her. The left hand string would show her who her true love was, her soulmate. Catra wasn’t really sure if a string would show up on the left wrist tomorrow, but part of her had a tad bit of hope.

It didn’t matter much anyways. She had the whole day to find out who her soulmate was because whatever idiot was her destined foe would be brought to a swift end by her. After the day was over the strings would disappear for her and she wouldn’t have to think about either one again. 

Catra stared at her blank wrist uncertain if a red string would appear on both of them tomorrow. It felt like sin for her to want love, to think that there could be someone made to love her. She knew she didn’t deserve love, but deep down she hoped there was someone out there that would make her cot less lonely. 

If she really did have a soulmate they would gladly join her in the horde and fight by her side. They would rule Etheria together someday. She would have someone to laugh with as the nights got dark. Her bed would feel warm once again. The thought made sleep come easy to her. She looked at her wrists one last time before closing her eyes.

When Catra awoke the first thing she saw in front of her were her wrists. She blinked slowly, registering the sight in front of her. She had a string on both wrists. She jumped out of bed hastily following the strings to find where they led to. Running out the room Catra was met with a giant mass as she ran into someone.

“Watch where you're going, Horde Soldier!” Catra spat out the words as she attempted to collect herself.

“Oh Sorry.” Scorpia stated while rubbing the back of her neck with her claw. 

“Of course it’s you.” Catra rolled her eyes at the sight in front of her. She continued walking towards the weapon room as Scorpia followed closely behind her. 

“Well, I was just wondering…” Scorpia trailed off. Catra couldn’t deal with her antics right now, she was on a mission. Why was Scorpia even bothering her today in the first place? The question floated around Catra’s mind for a bit before she landed on an answer, letting out a laugh at the thought.

“Wait, do you think we’re soul mates?” The laughter boomed off the walls now that Catra had spoken the thought out loud. She attempted to steady her breathing to calm down, but the idea was too much for Catra. What ended up settling her down was the idea that someone as naive as Scoripa managed to become a Force Captain before her. “Well sorry to disappoint, but you're not. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to wipe out the stupid person that is my revered enemy so I can go find my soulmate.”

“Hold on, do you want to find your soulmate?” Catra felt herself go stiff as she almost spoiled her perfect place though plan due to her own carelessness. 

Finally reaching the weapon’s closet a solution came to her. “Of course I want to know who they are, that way I can kill them myself. Don’t you remember what the Horde taught us? Having a soulmate makes you weak and vulnerable.”

“I guess I should be lucky I’m not yours then.” Scorpia mostly spoke to herself. 

Catra finally finding the weapon she was looking for let a smirk form on her lips. “Yes, you should.”

The trees went by in a blur as Catra swiftly piloted the skiff past them. So far the red strings seemed to be heading in the same direction, meaning Catra wouldn’t have to travel too far after getting rid of her destined opponent. The quickest way would be a surprise attack. While it wasn’t hornerable, she didn’t really care about honor, just wanted to get it over with. Hopefully then she’d have a chance at finding her soulmates before the strings fade.

The skiff was going at top speed. She loved going fast the way the world blurred around her made her feel in control. Catra always felt like the ground held her back, she was happy to be off it. There was a chance the skiff could go down or even crash. Every vehicle she could get into could crash though. It was worth it to feel alive for Catra. Would her soulmate think the same way?

Catra knows she shouldn’t, but she can’t help it as her mind wonders who the left string of love would lead her to. She hoped it was someone with a fighting spirit. Someone she could race around the Horde with. Maybe she wouldn’t mind losing the competition to them if she could watch their flowing blonde hair whirl around in the wind. When their eyes meet she’d see someone determined with strong beliefs looking back at her. Someone that made her feel strong in return.

Catra shook away the thoughts, there was no point in getting soft when she was about to enter battle. The fun would happen after, with all of Etheria being their playground. Their love would know no bounds, but for now she was on a mission. She looked straight ahead as she followed her strings through the forest. The wind whipped against her face as she pushed the skiff to go even faster.

Catra hid her skiff under some branches near the forest’s edge. Peeking out from the woods she got a better look at the kingdom that stood in front of her. She gave a dramatic sigh as she looked up at the giant waterfall and the castle that laid in front of it. It was Bright Moon. She tapped her foot impatiently, as she thought of a plan to get in. Nothing was ever easy in life for Catra. 

She looked through a compartment on the skiff searching for something to cover herself. It might raise some suspicions, but it was better than getting captured immediately from walking through the front gates. It gave her a chance and that was all she needed for now. She tilted her head as she held the cloak up to the wall of rocks that the castle sat on. It was perfect. She was virtually undetectable with her cloak blending into the wall as she started scaling it.

The strings were still going the same direction. Maybe that meant her soulmate was also in Bright Moon? Catra got a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. How could her soulmate live in a place like this? At the same time she knew better than to take the teensy amount of gifts she got in life for granted, it was better to not question it. The more likely option was that her soulmate had been kidnapped by someone in Bright Moon.

For the moment she was optimistic about finally seeing her soulmate. Would everything finally make sense once their eyes met? Steel blue eyes, flashed in Catra’s mind. It made her grip falter causing the rock she was holding to become unsettled and leave its place on the wall. It added new pressure to her feet causing them to lose their place as well. She dangled from the wall with only one hand still attached. Rocks cascaded down the wall where she once attached. Catra watched as the rocks exploded into smithereens once meeting the ground. Could that be her fate as well?

With the one hand still attached to the wall, she dug her claws deeper into the rock holding on tighter. All the muscles in her arm started pulsing as she willed them to hold on. Blood ran from her nails as she dug her claws deeper into the rock. She hoped even if her arm gave out she’d still be attached to the wall through her bloody claws. The adrenaline in her body made the blood go unnoticed for Catra. She took a deep breath regaining her composure. It was important for her not to lose focus so she could recover.

Her feet. That was the most important next step. Once she found places for them to go the weight was immediately taken off her arm. She was relieved, but didn’t celebrate. Placing her non-bloody hand on the next spot she gritted her teeth as she got ready to move her other hand. She couldn’t wait to finally have a purpose other than suffering.

Catra bared her teeth, heaving her arm back up gripping the rock once more as blood flowed. She was so close she wasn’t going to lose it all now. She had to take it. Everything would feel lighter once she had arms to catch her. She must survive. Murdering her fool of a soul nemesis would be a simple task in order for her to move forward. She needed to make it till then.

➤ Masterlist ❀ Ao3 ❀ Wattpad ❀ Ko-fi

A/N: This is my first published F/F ship I'm so hyped to share it with the word. The results from the poll were nothing super overwhelming so I settled on referring to Adora's eye as steel blue. I think that is the best color that captures everything. Should I update the word count on this post as I add more chapters?

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I remember seeing a C//A fan comic a while back. Catra was being super defensive and possessive of Adora after the war ended. And everyone (civilians) got mad at Catra. So Adora stands up for her saying “Why are you all hanging up on Catra?!” And they all answer ‘Because she did a bunch of shitty things.’ Only for Adora to throw it back in their faces with “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a bunch of Horde clones around here who were just as bad as she was. And you’re not mad at them!”

And here’s where the comic REALLY lost me. Yeah, the clones fucked up. And yes, they have to work hard to have people trust and respect them and help Etheria as well. But Jfc, at least the clones didn’t KNOW ANY BETTER. I mean they were kinda, I dunno, BRAINWASHED AND IN A CULT. Catra, on the other hand literally committed atrocity after atrocity, KNOWING FULL WELL she was doing something evil.

that's so fucked up?? see, this is exactly what kind of mindset this show fosters. "the show says catra didn't do anything wrong, so she didn't do anything wrong!" not to mention, real-life abuse victims do tend to be defensive over their partner and it's not a good thing. adora had actually realized how toxic catra was, so to have her not only forgive catra but also protect her from the consequences of her own actions is.. depressing, to say the least.

[aprillikesthings]

YOOOOO IT'S MY WEEKEND and I have eaten dinner and it is time for MORE SHE-RA

yayyyy

OH GOD we're getting into the really good shit btw

if I manage not to do a marathon of these it'll be a gd miracle

Usual reminder: this is a REwatch and there's spoilers ahoy, I make a lot of bad jokes, I reference other cartoons

s4 ep10 fractures

okay before we get started

ahahah

I've given in. I'm gonna cosplay Catra. >_< wish me luck, I'm aiming for some kinda loosely post-canon thing, in part because there's no hiding my age at this point, except via like, photoshop pfft

side note the place I was looking at that makes custom fangs based on dental impressions is usually a month and change out, and the con I want to wear this to is in mid-April. *GROAN*

I have tried the cheap ones they don't stay on D:

OKAY

Dialogue is Double Trouble. Why are you even in the room??

oh it's a truth-telling spell lol

(it didn't work)

LOLOL the disbelief in Double Trouble's voice. "Can she do that?"

oh my GOD (yes it's Double Trouble)

but their Adora looks like Johnny Bravo aaahaha

Double Trouble does blow a raspberry at Shadow Weaver, tho, so they're forgiven

Adora explains the Heart of Etheria Project

Shadow Weaver: oooh we can use this to our advantage Me: okay Boromir but NO

nO

Adora's about to blow a fuse, but I would be, too! Like what part of "the planet could explode" is fucking difficult

Meanwhile, Catra is watching porn video feeds of places the Horde has taken

and thinks she spots someone!!!

(she hasn't, and she makes a sad little face when she realizes)

yeah she's being a bitch but also her deranged little face is great

OR EVERYONE COULD DIE. THERE'S ALSO THAT.

YAYYYY

does anyone else remember the old video "what your fave she-ra ship says about you"? this was made just after s4 actually. anyway I'm remembering it because it includes the line "you just want good things for Scorpia. and really, who wouldn't?"

Daci and I, for a while, couldn't stop quoting the ContraPoints clip used early on to reference "The inherent eroticism of the sea."

"MMmmm yeah. Don't you wanna just...get in there?"

It's a really funny video (I am called out SEVERAL TIMES) and the channel did a bunch of similar videos for other shows.

(also looking at the home page of the channel, she's a she now!!!! HELL YEAH)

Anyway everyone is surprised to see Scorpia :D

And their initial reaction is Not Good D:

the poor thing accidentally stuns Perfuma (...oh god that'S HILARIOUS knowing later stuff)

well that stops Adora in her tracks

back in the Fright Zone, Catra thinks she hears Scorpia's laugh and again is visibly relieved before realizing she's wrong

babygirl you need some rest (and so do your soldiers), you are getting paranoid and hearing things

so what, you're going to torture the rest of the soldiers who haven't left????

(I understand why she does the things she does but I still want to shake some sense into her)

JUST GET SOME GD SLEEP

she tries to call Double Trouble, but they don't answer

I want to give her a hug. But also shake some sense into her.

Another one to add to my "cartoon bondage" collection, as one does. But Perfuma is clearly a little smitten, though: she smiles as she walks away and makes a flower grow in the vines, awwwww

okay oh my GOD okay Scorpia's dialogue is KILLING ME i am CACKLING

"Wow...Yeah, but just-- Shadow Weaver. And at Bright Moon. Everything is making so much sense about why Catra's been acting the way she has."

Adora goes wide-eyed at Catra's name, Shadow Weaver looks at her, and then Adora looks away, pissed off.

like I was saying: SMITTEN

Anyway Scorpia explains why she wants to go find/save Entrapta, who's on Beast Island, and:

bahaha

they relate various stories about the horrors of Beast Island and Shadow Weaver insists they're nicer than the actual place, it's starting to sound like some bad joke about Etheria's version of Australia

I mean also you should go get her because she shouldn't be stuck there but okay

They all decide to go to Beast Island to rescue Entrapta but Glimmer is having NONE of it

Glimmer: "Adora, have you ever heard of anyone coming back from Beast Island? Do you even know where it is?"

I mean, good points, but

aaaugh

Bow: "There's an unstable mass of magic in the middle of the planet. Everyone's at risk unless we can get Entrapta to shut it down."

OKay I'm not typing up the whole damn episode you can read the transcript if you really want to, lol they argue about this for a bit longer, Glimmer even recommends they ask Light Hope how to use it even though that's a terrible idea, Glimmer tries to appeal to Bow but Bow is on Adora's side on this one

oh honey, no

She tries to order Bow and Adora to stay in the castle and not leave

Scorpia's "prison cell" is a very nice spare room. Perfuma brings her a salad and Scorpia doesn't recognize it as food immediately, the poor thing has only ever had ration bars.

Frosta: "It's not a sleepover!!! Perfuma: ":D I'll get pillows, brb!"

But then Frosta asks about her pincers with genuine interest and makes ones for herself out of ice...and Scorpia starts to cry

;_;

;_;

GO. TO. BED. oh my god

I RAN OUT OF IMAGES fhghgh okay gonna reblog

[spopsalt]

Okay. Weird thing to get bothered by, I know. But between the Brightmoon guardian, the Heart of Etheria guardian, those snow worm things, that pig thing, that sea monster, and everything on beast island, I think it’s stupid Adora had to fight them. Like I get sometimes violence is the answer. But OG She-Ra had this thing, we’re she didn’t kill anyone or anything. I know it was the 80s and all, but still. Instead, she used her powers of sensing animals’ emotions and helping them, even making friends with terrifying monsters who were about to eat her and stuff. Meanwhile, ND’s Adora… I’m pretty sure Horde Prime wasn’t the only life she took. I’m just saying, I can’t remember the rest, but she DEFINITELY killed that sea creature that attacked because they were in its territory. And the rest I’m pretty sure she intended to kill. And that kind of messes me up a little…

Yeahhhh, I mean I understand that she kinda had to, but if 80s Adora didn't have to, why did reboot Adora have to? Maybe they wanted her to not be pure good in a way that wasn't victim blaming? I don't know.

[baggebythesea]

Princess Glimmer and the Day of Many Choices: What are the rest of the princesses doing anyway? (24/?)

"Aaaaaah," Glimmer said, stepping up from the Mystacor hot spring with a content expression. "I'm so relaxed."

"Fine," Catra agreed, her schampoed and conditioned fur fluffier than she had ever know it. "There is SOME merit to all this princess nonsense."

"That and the sexy shenanigans the three of us have engaged in this whole month, eh?" Glimmer teased.

"If you had led with that, I'd have defected a long time ago," Catra blushed.

"Told you I had good reasons," Despara grinned at her, causing Glimmer to blush crimson red.

"Anyway;" Glimmer said, quickly fishing for another subject, "we should probably do something else than chilling in Mystacor."

"Yeah?" Catra frowned. "Like what? Isn't everything under control? You've got your boytoy and the water princess keeping the rest of the Horde busy when they play pirates."

"And George and Lance work with the clones and the free cities to reform Etheria's civil structure and form of government," Despara filled in.

"Right," Glimmer said, counting on her fingers. "And Scorpia and Perfuma are doing sexy shenanigans in Plumeria, and Hordak and Entrapta are doing some kind of shenanigans (probably sexy) in Dryl. Frosta was dragged back to school by Netossa and Spinnerella and daddy is catching up with his sis here in Mystacor.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN '20 YEARS WORTH OF PAPERWORK!' they heard Micah yell all the way from Castaspella's office. "I WAS STUCK ON A MURDER ISLAND."

"Right," Castaspella answered. "So you had plenty of time to relax."

"I don't trust it," Despara said. "Things never stay OK without us keeping an eye on it."

"You might be right," Glimmer sighed.

Part 23 is here: https://www.tumblr.com/baggebythesea/723442234799898624/puh-finally-i-was-running-out-of-funny-ways-of

Oh, I use Adora screenshots for Despara. Just imagine her in a bitchin' haircut.

[andhereisthetea]

FACING FEARS - A She-Ra fanfic by LadyKadilion

Fandoms: She-Ra, Princess of Power (1985), He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1985), She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018).

Rating: Mature (+18)

Relationship: Entrapta/Hordak (Slow Burn), Adora & Entrapta.

Summary: Adora is expected to leave her childhood life behind to become Force Captain; A rite of passage when raised in the Etherian Horde, and she wants to become the best at the eyes of her everyone around her, specially her father. But a mysterious figure will plague both dreams and real life alike, making her question the life she has been raised into, and with it, bringing the chaos and fears of an uncertain future. Adora's path is just starting, but for Princess Entrapta, life has been ruthless enough.

[You can read this fic in AO3]

Chapter 1 - Fears as Dark as Night

She should have known that night, instead of forgetting for all those months. Adora questions herself even to this day why she just forgot, brushing the vision aside as a simple nightmare product of countless days of frustration and stress. She recalls the fear when waking up startled and disoriented, only darkness around her, and the silence only broken by the subtle snoores of her peers. Her clothes sticking to her skin due to the cold sweat, and her hands shaking under the covers.

It had been just a dream, a nightmare.

She should have known better.

Adora reviewed her notes from the day before, her datapad the only source of light in the large room that was the cadets' barracks.

Despite the fact that her eyelids felt heavy already at that time of night, and large dark marks were beginning to appear under her eyes, the teenager’s expression remained resilient before the onslaught of exhaustion. She had not only gone through every physical test in the last few months, to which her muscles still ache from exertion, she had also remained undefeated in the tests of logic and knowledge.

However, a doubt had seized her mind, and in the last days after the end of her training, it had grown into a burden whiting her brain that she had to resolve.

Princesses don't kill people-

This has to be a joke, right? Of course they do, everyone in the Horde knew that, but the girl hesitated.

Adora has taken a book from the library some weeks ago; an old book she knew to keep well hidden from Shadow Weaver and her father alike. Between the old yellow pages and signs of use by many unknown hands, with small and tight handwriting, this phrase was found.

She caressed it for a second, and now in the confines of her bed, Adora looked at it again, and the scratched words besides the unfinished sentences, as if someone had tried to erase half of it.

It was… true, in a sense. The princesses from the Council of Kings had never hurt anyone by their own hands. Adora herself had never faced any princess in her life, still, it couldn’t be said the same for others within the Horde.

Adora lit up the page a bit more, using her datapad.

Princesses of Etheria have a reputation of being sorceresses who secluded themselves within their four walls and castles of great majesty, leaving their servants and the people who serve them to their fate. Executions weren’t uncommon in the days before the Rebellion started. They are in possession of large armies and soldiers, mostly of them untrained citizens, that under their hands could act against what is rightful.

Note: Citizens and soldiers, in a desperate situation, commit desperate acts, such as slaughter, kidnapping, murder…

Bright Moon is the largest Kingdom in the continent, Bordering two more Kingdoms; Salineas and Mystacor. The last one is the source of religious ideology that every princess follows, based on dark sorcery and dogmatic magic, allowing them to control the population.

There was a tremor inside her chest, something was not right. The information was oversimplified? It's too easy of an answer…

“Can you turn off that thing? I need to sleep” A movement broke her concentration and the shadow of someone's head appeared between the sheets of the bed beside hers. Glowing eyes were the only thing that revealed their identity to her. “Really Adora, still? You know that you will pass as always.”

“Shut up, Catra”

Mystacor is one of the biggest centers of blasphemous ideologies in Etheria, their cult has several followers all over the planet…

“Honestly your father should have put you in the position of Force Captain from the beginning, it wouldn’t have made any difference.”

Finally she deigned to look up from the datapad, throwing a furious look at the girl who was still covered by her bed sheets.

“You know that isn’t true, I have the same chances of passing or failing as everyone else.” She continued reading when the girl didn’t answer back, then passed through more pages until the Geographical section came into view.

She yawned, she hated geography.

The Whispering woods are an inhospitable region even for the vast majority of the kingdoms, it is theorized that the princesses and sorcerers of Mystacor put curses and black magic in the surroundings…

“Well at least he will be there for it.” Catra turned her back to her, spiteful.

She swallowed, there was a lump left in her chest. Adora usually didn’t care about what her peers said, especially about the reason behind her success, she could pride herself on being able to pass on her own merits. It didn't matter where she came from, it was true.

“He will not be.” her voice was a mere whisper, knowing her friend wouldn’t listen.

In recent years, there have been concerns regarding sections of the mountains; it separates the Horde Empire from most Kingdoms to the east of the continent. It serves the Horde as a source of mining, but there are regions of too difficult access even for the Horde’s vehicles and smallest transport. Atmospheric conditions have also hindered exploration and reconnaissance campaigns inside the mountain range, attempts on foot have been carried out, without results. *see footnotes.

Adora frowned. As any cadet raised within the Horde, one of the greatest aspects of each training was the resilience and efficiency behind each operation. So how does this happen to one of the most powerful forces on Etheria?

Several sections of the mountain range, especially of highest altitude, have been abandoned by the Kingdoms due to lack in resources and geographical obstacles, together with apparent hostilities .

“Hmmm”

Adora rubbed her eyes. tired as she was, she knew she couldn't keep up with her learning. Around her, a dozen of her teammates slept peacefully, not even noticing the young insomniac, even with her datapad on her lap, the blue light illuminated her face in a ghostly way.

She couldn’t sleep.

Not this time.

She didn’t want to sleep again and see what she saw before, every night, for nearly a week.

She remembered the conversation she had had earlier that day, in the Horde infirmary.

“Do you need anything, cadet?”

“I can’t sleep, I have nightmares.” Adora said dryly. She averted her eyes from the nurse, embarrassed, but this one did not seem to be offended by the girl's show of weakness.

"Take these" The nurse handed her a bottle of sleeping pills "They relax the muscles too".

Adora wanted to protest immediately, but the Nurse was adamant.

“I am not going to give you anything else, I know you all are in times of testing and heavy training, nightmares are normal. Soldiers must face their fears, you are young, you will know.”

“Can this stay between us, right?” Could she have had the authority to ask for something like that? Adora thought to herself, now replaying what had happened during the day, and her father's frustration… could the nurse have mentioned something to him? maybe that had been the reason why he hadn't wanted to take her with him.

She rubbed her face one more time, that was bullshit. Her brain is talking nonsense to her.

Adora was still too young to go into the field, even into a combat zone, and she resented it, but could do nothing against that fact. She must pass her training and tests first to yearn to be in a higher rank.

And Force Captain was, in fact, the highest rank she could yearn for.

But everything comes with a sacrifice, she remembers. Shadow Weaver’s cold words washing over her, the same way they did years prior when she got her first period cycle and she sat her and told her coldly that she was about to become a woman now, and should stop being a child; she needed to welcome pain in her life as if it was her nature.

Shakra… she misses Shakra.

The old woman had been kind and sweet with her, it had hugged her goodbye when she packed her things from her old bedroom in Doom Tower, the place that has been her home for thirteen years of her life, and was escorted to the building for the recruits and young cadets starting the final stages of their training. She was expected to stay there for the duration of her training until adulthood now.

She couldn't come back.

Adora laid back, leaving her datapad aside, feeling exhaustion crawling through her body, and she knew there was nothing she could do against it. Looking at the bottle of sleeping pills, she opened it, accepting her fate.

She wasn't truly worried about the outcoming day. Any type of physical test that has been thrown over her shoulders, she has achieved it, not without difficulties and frustrations, but still passed them nonetheless. She was proud of her achievements, having a perfect score, so why was her heart so heavy? Why does her thoughts linger over and over again to her own failures and also disappointments?

An incident of the previous months jumped to her mind while the girl tried to close her eyes. Frustrated, she turned her back to the wall, looking at the darkness of the room. She felt unsafe, uncertain, while disappointment and even sadness plagued her.

She swallowed while her mind kept pushing her back to that frustrating day.

She remembered waiting in the main gates, while the mist gave way to shapeless figures, shadows in the morning gloom, hunched over in an attempt to keep out the cold and rain. Groups of individuals slowly seem to take shape in the gorge, walking wearily towards the main entrance.

The rain had turned to a downpour, and the soldiers rushed into the main building, but there was a silence between them, a horrible sense of unease and loss. From among the shadows and the mist, faces pale from exhaustion look without seeing the metallic structure that they call home; dazed eyes, wielding well-used weapons, and armors dirty and still with traces of defeat.

Suddenly, a commotion is heard from among them, and the mass of soldiers composed their stoic formation, despite the pain and weariness lingering in their beaten bodies.

A taller, burlier figure is pushing through them, and the soldiers seem to hesitate for a few seconds, unsure and intimidated, finally bowing rightfully to the new individual. But the man does not pay attention to them at all, he is focused on the giant monolith that rises in front of him, while the storm hits him with greater force than before.

But his shoulders are tense, and his pupilless eyes glow blood red under a permanent frown, cutting through the darkness of the place, contrasting with his ash-white face and almost bestial features, like no other creature on those lands.

He is Lord and Master, and his soldiers know it, getting out of his way in his presence. The rain and the cold doesn’t affect him, the storm is nothing compared to his own sense of utter failure.

But like the monolith in front of him, with walls of hard basalt rock mixed with metal and steel, just like himself, he does not bow before the relentless onslaught of the wind or the biting cold of the rain. Even if his battered body suffered in pain, he has to keep going.

He has to move on.

The monolith’s doors opened and the soldiers rushed in, Hordak snarling at the stupid display of weakness, but he let them be nonetheless. The Etherians were made up of extremely fragile creatures and even a being like him, raised within a regime that would kill any other, knows that they must not be pushed beyond their limits. Every soldier must eat and rest.

Ahead of him, he heard a commotion.

He growled, knowing what was coming as he saw the group of soldiers closest to the gate part abruptly, to let a figure much shorter than them pass through. A cadet, belonging to the recruit section already in training according to what he saw on her uniform, still too young to be among the soldiers returning from battle.

Under the distant roar of lurking thunder, the rain intensified its onslaught, and the Lord of the Horde quickened his pace, while the soldiers hurried out of his way, mute and fearful, and just as he expected, the walking firm and determined of the girl imitated his own.

Soldiers, Hordak thought, were nothing more than order-following creatures, he thought as he watched them recoil from the girl. But he knew that this fear was not for the girl but for himself, something that Adora had to recognize and cultivate on her own.

"You're back!" He arched a nonexistent brow at the frustration in the girl's voice. "Why didn't you say that you would go to Salineas!"

"Soldier" The girl's height was ridiculous compared to his, her head reaching the breastplate of his armor. "What is the meaning of this?"

“We lost, cadet” A deep voice from her right broke her focus on the tall man towering over her with furious crimson eyes. It came out of a huge humanoid creature, his height surpassing Hordak's. He was covered in thick brownish hair, and his face and eyes reminded the girl of a mix of a wolf and a lion. But contrary to his bestial appearance, he looked at her with a stoic expression, intelligent eyes looking her up and down.

“Force Captain Grizzlor, accompany Adora to my Sanctum immediately, I will go in a moment” Hordak nearly growled as the storm increased its slaughter, and she blinked for a moment, seeming to realize where she was, her hair and clothes were soaked. She wanted to protest against him, but Hordak passed her and went directly to the giant gates. She followed closely, while Grizzlor stalked behind her.

“You told me that Salineas was going to be my first battleground experience, you have been telling me this since one year ago!”

She was relentless, frustrated to no end. Hordak knew this, still had to maintain the appearance of a good ruthless leader, even to his own child.

“SILENCE!”

The soldiers around them that stupidly had stopped to see the scene regretted it immediately at the sound of Hordak’s voice, a thunder over the relentless storm.

Adora stopped to recoil at his furious tone, and he regretted it immediately. But stronger was his anger at her defiance, a characteristic of hers which has been growing with the years, now present every second he saw the blue eyes of the girl; a constant reminder to his fragile command every time she was involved.

“Don’t forget your place, soldier.”

Adora saw his furious eyes and she felt a rush of sadness and defeat washing over her body, suddenly the coldness of the wind and rain pierced her uniform and a shiver ran through her spine. She was not stupid, she knew when she had overstepped a boundary, specially when seeing the face of her father grimacing with anger.

Adora didn’t want to admit she was intimidated and afraid, but it hurt her now, and will hurt her the days to come, how Hordak, her father, has reacted to her questioning and subsequent disappointment at his broken promises.

“I want no protest from you about this anymore. Is that clear, soldier?”

Soldier, of course. Of course he would just turn his back to her as a daughter, of course he would just see her as a soldier, a mere young cadet.

Of course.

Adora wanted to cry. Maybe she would have, if she hadn't been as strong as she was, just like he expected her to be.

A moment of hesitation followed. Grizzlor watched the scene unfold, seeing both child and Lord stare at each other. For one part he understood his Master, there has to be a clear line between father and child in an army, especially if the child was still learning the differences between family and military status. He has seen the girl, and he knew she was ready for everything but this.

The storm seemed to evolve both figures in a crude embrace, but Grizzlor knew better; a drift was forming slowly between both.

“Yes, Lord Hordak”

Adora’s face was a clear mix of emotions, but she did well keeping it under check, meanwhile Lord Hordak just turned back at the gates, finally not able to look in the eyes of the girl any longer, slowly but steadily started walking past the Horde Soldiers.

“Force Captain Grizzlor, there is no need to bring Cadet Adora to my Sanctum any longer, accompany her to the Cadets barracks, I expect for her to stay there for the rest of the day.”

“Yes, my Lord”

Adora followed his movements shortly, walking past everyone without even looking back at Grizzlor, who walked behind her, she just stared at the ground, defeated. But Grizzlor kept looking back at his Master, his shoulders shivering, his posture as defeated as the teenager behind him, way more exhausted than he had seen him at the end of the battle, it was clear the mere discussion had taken away any type of strength he had left.

Meanwhile Adora keeps going, not listening to Grizzlor instruction, no listening to any type of reprimand from Shadow Weaver. She took her soaked clothes off her body, changed to her resting uniform, and tried to process everything, all of it, fell freely down her cheeks.

Now present Adora cleaned her face once again, sniffing with sudden anger.

It has been weeks since then, and no words from her father… Lord Hordak, has reached her ears. She knows the change was going to be impactful for her, she has been told this by every Force Captain, and the answer has been the same:

Is a rite of passage, to get away from every type of comfort and security from her childhood, her room, her toys, the security of Shakra’s embrace and care, even the familiar kindness from the ones she saw as her protectors, guardians, parents… all replaced with the hardness of training and cold water of the barracks communal showers, while getting used to new formalities and titles. And this also included the treatment by the man who she always has seen as her father, now her commander, Lord, and Master.

Has she also changed to his eyes?

Was she still his daughter? or just a mere soldier destined for battle, to disappear, and even to die?

Would he cry her death, as she cries right now the slow torturous death of the life she was leaving behind?

So Adora wondered, at her last minute of awakening, what could have been the feelings of those soldiers, disappearing or being killed by mountain beasts. Could their bodies be still there, in the highest of mountains? or scavengers spreaded it through the rocks and snow, and now their skeletons lay frozen in time, their Horde helmets the last remains of their existence on that unforgiving place?

Or worse, could have been taken captives by some Princess or Mystacor Sorcerer, as slaves of their regime and oppression.

But Princesses don't kill people.

She knew only the knowledge that was handed to her, and the mantra every soldier in the Horde crawled to, which she also remembered when feeling her consciousness slip from her.

A good soldier goes forward without fear, fear paralyzes the mind and body, it is the real enemy on the battlefield.

But this soldier, this soldier was afraid.

And she could sense it.

He could feel the ground under his feet as he ran down the slope, but his vision was limited to only one meter in front of him, the fog was dense and disoriented his senses, but he knew his companions were following him close. Blood pounded in his ears as he tried to turn on communications, to no avail.

"Battalion Two, I repeat, do you copy me!?"

Static could only be heard, while the soldiers regrouped with great difficulty, taking shelter on the slope of the mountain, which acted as a natural shield against the blows of the wind that rose, and the coursing snow that had no mercy on their bodies.

"I call all units, retreat, I repeat, retreat!" he could hear his own voice shake, not just from the cold. His body was beginning to feel numb with panic, counting down the minutes as the static cut off and voices could be heard on the comlink.

"We have been ambushed!"

And then nothing, nothing at all. The comlink has been cut.

Fear is the enemy that shall be purged in times of despair.

After all, Princesses are just muppets of a higher rank, they don’t go into battle, they control their own citizens, and their own population into fighting and killing for themselves.

"We need to go back" But with that fog they couldn't go back, right? They kept close as they ventured down a ravine between the rocks, which cut the wind and allowed a better view, as they entered a dry riverbed, the rocky walls towering above their heads.

"It's 18 miles downhill" Said a feminine voice behind him, the soldier was shaking just like himself, but the firmness with which she held her weapon revealed her resilience and fierceness, like every soldier. “If the rebellion planned an ambush, our forces have already been partially decimated, we have to find a way to get down from here.”

It seemed like good enough advice, but there was no sign of princesses or wizards, no sign of black magic or warning.

The task had been simple from the beginning, to conduct a reconnaissance mission in the northwestern part of the mountain range, looking for a path for the Horde and obtain access roads for mining and extractivism, however, all had been in vain. The soldier, commander of two squads, a dozen of men and women, was now weighing his options. they could not leave the ravine without being at risk from the elements, and to stay there was to die of exposure.

But how many had died already? and by what or who?

They crave adulation and luxury,

Desperation and anxiety began to sink into his stomach. The horrible feeling of being watched caressed his neck.

Suddenly, what caressed his nape seemed more real and material than what he had imagined.

Before the scream of one of his companions had been registered by his brain, he had already aimed upwards, shooting without thinking. The scream was cut short, and out of the corner of his eye he saw how the inert body fell to the ground, lifeless.

The helmet rolled, until it hit the stone wall.

“It's on us!! SHOOT!”

Like a predatory beast, a stealthy but brutal shadow fell upon them. The man only managed to throw himself to the ground, doing a somersault on his shoulder, feeling how something sharp grazed his cheek, his helmet being partially cut by a deadly edge.

Less was the luck of one of his companions, who the shadow seemed to eat, a guttural sound resounded between the two rocky walls, and the body of the soldier brutally hit the wall, moved by the ricochet, when a gunshot cut through the air.

The shadowy figure backed away as it was shot, and immediately he and his men reached forward. Obeyed only by his instincts, he went for its legs, from his position on the ground, meanwhile his female teammate shouted fiercely, throwing herself forward, with her electric baton drawn due to the lack of ammunition in her own gun.

The commander felt the sharp blow of a steel-toed boot against what was left of his helmet, breaking his nose and making his eyes weep.

But from his position, he still could see the moment when the figure feinted, avoiding his teammate's attack, turning with the momentum of its body, and grabbed the woman's arm, who stumbled forward.

And then, what looked like a tentacle reached out from within the figure's robes, and with a whipping motion that sliced through the air within the ravine, decapitated her.

Princesses don't kill people.

Adora stepped back, she could barely feel her bare feets against the cold rocks of the ravine, her whole body shaking with deep fear. The head of the now dead woman rolled through the ground to mere meters from her position, and Adora swallowed hard against the crude impulse to vomit, the eyes of the woman staring blankly at her. The shadowy figure still not noticing her presence.

The man, now alone, tried to escape while blood poured from his nose and mouth, leaving a trail there where he crawled on the ground.

Maybe it was an optical illusion, but the silhouette merged for a moment with the shadows that formed whiting the ravine, where the lights couldn’t reach, as if the tall person was a mere game of lights and shadows, an optical illusion playing with her mind.

Adora tried to hide herself against the hard rocks, covering her mouth with her trembling hand, while witnessing what came next.

More tentacles came out of the large clothes, like the roots of a very old tree, vines wrapping around everything it encountered, including the neck of a very unfortunate soldier, trying to escape his fate. Still trying to resist and fight.

“Don’t move”

The girl was taken aback by the voice that came from the hooded figure; deep but feminine in nature.

“No no no…”

“QUIET!”

The girl cringed when seeing the vine-like tentacle crawl to the man’s throat and this one choked in a state of pure shock and fear, his eyes panicking while staring at a face the girl couldn’t see.

“You have trespassed and attacked a local settlement, someone like you, commander, should know more than anyone what happens with those who partake in such heinous activities.”

The feminine voice seems almost monotonous, as if this was simple business for her instead of savage bloodlust.

“How dare you…”

It was a mere whisper, and this time, the hooded woman used her own hands rather than whatever the hell that was under that hood, grabbing the trembling man like he weighed nothing and tossed him against the rock wall.

Adora gulped, the hooded woman was strong.

“I don’t care about whatever orders or ruler who had given them to you, whoever sent you to this place knew what they were doing to you and your people.”

They knew?

Adora wondered why she was so afraid, wasn’t all this a dream? but the cold and the snow was very much real, piercing her thin sleeping clothes and her skin. Her body moved without her noticing, a curiosity creeping from whiting. Suddenly, the man stared at the woman in front of him, and with a last resource of strength, spit what blood he had on his mouth with vehement defiance.

“The Horde doesn’t obey your kind…”

Suddenly a fast movement made Adora jump in her place and a strong scream cut the words out of the man’s mouth, his face contouring on a horrible painful expression, while his breath seemed to catch as if he was drowning, and the girl felt her heart stop, knowing what had just happened.

And then Adora saw what had just punched the unfortunate man’s stomach; the sun bathed the polished surface of what seemed to be a metallic hand, and the blade that had pierced its way inside both armor and flesh with ease.

“You are no one to decide. The moment you set foot here, your life belonged to me.”

The man’s eyes stared at the ones of the woman in a desperate attempt to remain firm whiting his fear and panic of what had just occurred, and for a moment Adora thought that whatever the man was seeing has to be truly terrible, for she couldn’t see the woman’s face from her position, but she could see the man’s face, and then the white replaced the brown, and a last whimper left him when the blade withdrew from his body.

The body was limb whiting seconds, and fell to the ground lifeless when the woman took away her hold of it.

The wind had found its way through the ravine, and now Adora trembled uncontrollably due to both cold and fear. Fear for what she has just witnessed, and what could happen next. Should she run away? But why would she? Wasn’t this all just a dream after all?

The click of metal took her thoughts away, and then the shadowy figure moved, her weapon concealed again with help of her hood and mantle. From her position some meters away, Adora could see the woman taking a fast look at all the bodies around her, then just kneeling to check the commander’s weapons and armor.

“Are you one of them?”

What.

When the girl didn’t answer, the hooded woman turned to her with a fluid movement, her cloak following the movement of her body. Adora was frozen in place, still trying to process the question, was it to her? they were the only ones alive whiting the ravine at the moment.

She didn’t have time to answer, when the towering figure was just an arm length to her, Adora tried to escape but then an armored arm was fast enough to grab her own in an iron grip.

She wasn’t dreaming anymore, and the realization filled her with visceral fear, so she tried to escape by withdrawing herself, but the grip was firmer and the woman just stood there, looking up and down at the teenager in front of her, especially her very wet clothes and bare feet.

“Don’t be afraid” Her fight response should have kicked in, she was a trained soldier, but what she has just witnessed was still fresh in her mind, that woman has killed three Horde soldiers with such ease, fighting would be useless for a cadet like her.

“Fascinating.”

She could see the woman’s face now, partially, under the hood and also a thick purple scarf; a pair of eyes observing her every move, questioning the girl. But Adora also noticed a curiosity in them, a sharp mentality that seemed to meditate on what to do next.

“Please just…” Adora wasn’t an arrogant person, she knew when she was not in a position to fight or to argue against what was obviously a powerful opponent, and for someone like her, who has never been on the battlefield, it was crucial to understand her place. “I was dreaming… but this, this isn't a dream anymore right?”

“No” Snow has started to fall and the girl was feeling numb due to the freezing temperatures, her whole body shaking both with fear and cold. She took a glimpse of the hand grabbing her arm, seeing the same bright armor that had taken the man’s life out of him some minutes ago.

“But don’t worry about it” Adora raised her head and met eyes with the woman, this time her eyes were more bright, more human. Then a lightweight sensation took hold of her mind, and the cold and freezing wind became more wereable… “Go back to sleep”

And then Adora fell backward, her world turning around her, and the face of the woman distorting, while her mind was engulfed by the abyss.