even if catra’s response wasn’t surprising, the words still hit her like a punch to the gut. it was clear by adora’s stricken face how the words had affected her. their breakup was horrible, she knew that, but she thought they could overcome it considering they were good friends before they had gotten together. a memory that had resurfaced the previous night had prompted adora to reach out to catra in the first place. she didn’t fully understand it, she was asking catra to come with her and catra refused. but it was the look in catra’s eyes that wrecked her, the hatred and the promise of a threat. she never wanted her to look at her like that again.
“catra,” her voice was a plea. her hands reached out to catra’s, to grab them into hers, but thought better of it, pulling away when they were mere inches apart. she stood tall with her arms to her side and her hands now balled into fists, her nails pressed so hard into her palms they drew blood. her stare was unyielding as she looked down at her. “why are you always so stubborn,” adora didn’t even try to hide her frustration. “do you really want nothing to do with me just because our relationship didn’t work out?” she paused to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. “you were my best friend, catra.”
“ can’t say that i am a regular face around here. i tend to prefer to drink at home or at a friend’s place, “ which really meant a wine or two at steve’s place. the woman really needed to expand her circle of friends, “ adora is a beautiful name, “ peggy complimented with a soft smile and a nod of her head, “nothing too worrisome. just more work than i expected and i feel like i didn’t even make a dent in it but there is always tomorrow, “
“thank you and thank you for not using the ‘adora-ble’ pun i get all the time.” she nodded her head, understanding somewhat because of how she was raised. it’s why she picked bartending as her job, not a lot of work. “is it an office job? i have a group of office people who come in on the regular complaining about all the paperwork they have to do.” with her head she gestures to a full table across the room, “there they are. it sounds miserable, honestly. being stuck at a cubicle all day doing work. it seems more like a job someone chooses because they have to, not because they actually enjoy it. at least here i’m allowed to drink on the job.”
it was late afternoon and adora would have to start getting ready for her shift at the bar soon. trying to get some relaxation time in she was soaking in the bath with salts and bubbles. her peace was short lived however when a loud persistent knocking echoed through the house. she attempted to ignore it, hoping whoever it was would get the hint and leave. when the knocking continued she gave out a huff and begrudgingly stepped out of her tub and put on a robe. as she passed down the hallway she muttered to herself, cursing whoever interrupted her time.
as she neared the front door she spotted swift-wind walking towards it, “swift-wind,” she whispered yelled. “get away from the door, it’s not a good idea for people to see you!” she nudged the alicorn into a room nearby. she was starting to lose her patience when the knocking continued. “if you’re selling something i’m not buying,” she shouted as she left the room and continued to the door. with annoyance she swung open the door, “what?!” // @dualitynews
being familiar with catra’s schedule she purposely planned her appointment for her tattoo on what was supposed to be her day off. however, when she walked through the door and saw her ex sitting at a chair she came to the realization that her schedule must’ve changed. her feet remained frozen in place at the entrance, standing there awkwardly as she had a mini debate in her mind whether to stay or go. maybe she could just reschedule on a different day with someone else. bracing herself for the interaction that was about to come, adora took a deep breath and marched to the desk. not bothering with formalities she got straight to the point, “i had an appointment, i didn’t think it was going to be with you. i’d rather reschedule with a different artist.”
the raven haired woman raised an eyebrow as she listened to the other before nodding her head gently, “ that would definitely be considered a good thing especially if you are on bad terms with your ex, “ peggy offered with a slight smile before a laugh left her lips, “ i don’t think many people have called me pretty lady outright but thanks, “ accepting the offer for a free drink before ordering them both a drink from another bartender, “ peggy, “
an eyebrow raised up in question, “that’s surprising do you not come to bars often? i have to practically fight off men telling women how gorgeous they are. it always leads to them being creepy.” the bartender skillfully slid their drinks over to them, adora picked up hers and raised it, “adora.” she sipped on her drink and leaned her elbow on the counter, “i take it you haven’t been having such a good day? you can tell me about it if you want, one of the qualifications to be a bartender is to be a good listener.”
if the raven haired woman was being completely honest with herself, the entire week had seemed like it was dragging on slowly. it seemed that no matter how much work she had attempted to get done, it just wasn’t enough. this is why peggy found herself at the local bar after work; searching for a spare seat. as her dark eyes located a vacant spot, she made her way towards the bar before taking a seat, ordering a beer from the bartender, “ i hope your day is going a lot better than mine, “ attempting to be friendly to the person near her; offering a tired smile. “ what are you drinking ? my shout, “
it was adora’s break, normally she would go to the backroom and take a small nap before having to work again. after a while she learned all it did was make her more tired so she settled for sitting at the bar and conversing with her co-workers. while they were busy with customers a woman had started talking to her. “well let’s see, i haven’t ran into my ex today and i have yet to break up a bar fight so i think it’s been going pretty good. i did fall going up the stairs this afternoon though. i imagine worse has happened to you today?” a grin made its way to her face, “i’ll never turn down a pretty lady offering me a drink. whiskey sour will do. you don’t need to worry about buying though, i can get our drinks free.”
he’s been staring at the same email for almost a full hour now – eyes glazed over as he remained lost in thought. not a single word he read had even been processed. was it important? probably, considering it was his work email. however, he his mind was currently occupied with one thing only.
kira.
the word came to him in a dream several nights prior. now, L has never been one to analyze his dreams – and with the amount of sugar he consumes before bed, he has had plenty of bizarre ones. but something about this particular dream stuck out to him. the dream itself was hazy and he couldn’t quite remember the details. just that word. he has no clue who or what kira is and quite frankly, it was starting to irritate him.
finally pulling himself out of his own head, L leaned away from his laptop screen to stretch out his back before returning to the same hunched over position. it was only then that he finally acknowledged the other’s presence. “ if you’re going to hover, you could at least make yourself useful and get me a coffee. ”
it was strange for a person to come to the bar and not order something, it was even stranger for someone to sit at one of the small tables with their laptop. the man stuck out like a sore thumb and after some time of not seeing him move ( adora wasn’t even sure if he was blinking ) she went over to see what his deal was. she was just about to poke him to make sure he was even alive when he finally moved to stretch, but quickly went back to his same position. “i’m not hovering, i’m making sure you’re still alive.” she rolled her eyes, “we don’t sell coffee unless you want a shot of tequila in it. if you’re not going to order a proper drink, you’re going to have to leave and maybe find a cafe instead. ..or a chiropractor with that posture of yours.”
“ sometimes in the morning i am petrified & can't move awake, but cannot open my eyes & the weight is crushing down on my lungs, i know i can't breathe & hope someone will save me this time. “
adora she-ra | 23 | lesbian | bartender | just wants to be loved
─ the mirrors surrounding you did as they were meant to, reflecting back a spitting image of FLORENCE PUGH - but it’s clear something is wrong from the moment that a vision of PLANNING A BEST FRIENDS ROADTRIP TO RESTORE MAGIC TO THE UNIVERSE strikes you. perhaps it was a passing daydream in the frenzy of the funhouse. you reassure yourself - you’re ADORA, a TWENTY THREE YEAR OLD BARTENDER whose virtue lies in your + STRENGTH & + FEARLESSNESS, although you’ve been told that you tend to be quite - BLUNT & - SELF SACRFICING, and you’re associated with THE SOUND OF A SWORD BEING DRAWN, THE SUN REFLECTING OFF WATER, AN ENDLESS STAR FILLED SKY by those around you. suddenly, however, you’ve found THE SWORD OF PROTECTION on your person - was that always there? from the moment you leave the funhouse, memories from your life in SHE-RA & THE PRINCESSES OF POWER have begun to return - leaving whoever you had been before in the mirror’s reflection behind you. you can almost hear BETTER SON/DAUGHTER by RILO KILEY following in your wake.
canon ( full of spoilers so if you’d like to watch the show i wouldn’t read this part. i’m sorry it’s long, this is mostly for me to go back to if i forget something so really i won’t be offended if no one reads this part lmao )
grew up in the horde since an infant with catra, the two of them were raised by shadow weaver and were best friends.
it wasn’t a great childhood
was told how horrible the princesses were and they were the bad guys, they were always told they were a dangerous threat to etheria.
when she is older adora got promoted to force captain which she was extremely happy about.
the two of them sneak out and adora gets lost in the whispering woods. there she comes across the sword of protection and starts having visions when she touches it and it knocks her out.
her and catra return back to the fright zone but adora leaves again that night to go back to the sword.
there she meets bow and glimmer and they fight for the sword. neither of them trust her bc she’s a horde solider and adora ends up getting captured by them.
she learns from bow and glimmer how truly awful the horde is and how they destroy cities, lands, and hurt innocent people.
with the sword she transforms into she-ra ( and is v much horrified about it and the fact she’s a princess) that night when trying to fight off some robot bug.
she also discovers light hope that night too
bow and glimmer take adora to a village that later gets destroyed by the horde and catra appears driving one of the tanks that wrecked the village
adora tries explaining how horrible the horde actually is to catra, how they’ve been manipulated by shadow weaver and hordak their whole lives and tries convincing her to go with her and leave the horde together. catra says no and that begins the first heartbreak adora ever experienced. ( rip that really broke her heart )
the two of them then become enemies ( cue the ‘hey adora’ )
adora as she-ra also accidentally transformed a horse into a unicorn, he’s able to talk, fly, and they’re now linked and he is her steed. his name is swift wind.
adora is now part of the rebellion, lives in bright moon, and the best friend squad gets the princess alliance back together
for a while whenever her and catra would go against each other she would try to convince her to come with her
the fighting between the horde and the rebellion goes on for like two years i believe
still v upset and hurt about catra not being with her but tries not to show it
shadow weaver ends up joining the rebellion
catra captures adora and wants to use her sword as the key to open the portal and she almost destroys etheria completely.
adora wakes up back at the horde with catra and with her memory completely wiped
something doesn’t feel right to her and she’s losing track of time and her memories start coming back to her.
reality starts falling apart and adora is trying to reach the portal to close it and save everyone and etheria ( also she has to fight corrupted catra rip )
once she finds the portal she learns she has to sacrifice herself in order to close it and save everyone, but glimmer’s mom does it instead because the world needs she-ra. the portal closes, but adora blames herself for angella’s death
because of what catra did adora completely cuts off catra and stops trying to convince her to join her, not believing things can be the way they used to.
adora learns about the heart of etheria project.
adora tries to stop the heart of etheria activation but glimmer want to activate it thinking it will help them defeat the horde she helps scorpia activate her runsestone. adora goes to light hope to confront her about it around the same time and light hope uses she-ra to begin activating it.
adora learns she’s not from etheria, but instead from eternia, she’s a first one and was sent through a portal as a baby by light hope to become she-ra and complete the heart of etheria project
once the planet is balanced light hope portals etheria out of despondos and back into the wider universe. this also means horde prime and his army can arrive.
adora as she-ra is able to fight the activation process and deactivates it, but in the process breaks the sword of power and believes she isn’t able to transform into she-ra anymore.
adora now has to relearn how to fight without she-ra like back when she was in the horde but it’s extremely difficult and she didn’t realize jsut how much she has come to rely on her power.
horde prime’s army begins attacking etheria, they also have captured glimmer and catra.
adora, bow, and entrapta go in the ship to rescue glimmer from horde prime’s ship.
while in space they receive a message from catra telling them she’s going to send glimmer to them and warns her not to come to horde prime’s ship that it’s a trap for her. catra apologizes to adora before sending glimmer her way.
adora becomes intensely worried for catra and doesn’t want to lose her and realizes just how deeply she’s in love with her.
their ship runs out of fuel and they stop at a planet that has the crystals they need for fuel. once there adora uses her inhuman strength as she used to when she was able to turn into she-ra to stop a rock from crashing down and realizes she still has power within her.
they go to horde prime to save catra.
once in horde prime’s ship that’s when she discovers her under horde prime’s mind control.
after being surrounded by horde prime’s clones adora is desperate to save catra and get them both out of there. she ends up being able to transform into she-ra and manifest a new sword.
she fights off the clones with catra unconscious in her arms and they return back to the ship.
once she instructs the ship to go home she goes over to catra and lifts her in her arms and heals her and she can’t stop worrying and checking up on catra the whole way home.
the two of them are back to being close and flirting with each other and it’s so obvious to the ppl around them how much they love each other.
once home they realize just how long they’ve been gone bc most of etheria is under horde prime’s mind control ( including some of the princesses ) and is being taken over with his clones.
shadow weaver comes up with a plan for adora to save the planet, despite it being incredibly dangerous and having to sacrifice herself adora agrees to it much to catra’s dislike. but adora will do anything to save people even if it means getting hurt or dying.
adora accepts the heart’s fail safe and bonds it to her soul to carry it to the heart to etheria
catra ends up leaving in the middle of the night not wanting to watch adora sacrifice herself, but adora catches her and begs her to stay that she needs her. catra leaves and adora cries out for her ( my girl is heartbroken again )
adora heads to the heart of etheria to use the fail safe once there she’s bombarded with visions of her past self along with horde prime getting into her head and sending a monster for her to fight.
adora is wounded by the monster and cannot fight and can barely walk. catra appears and helps adora by trying to take out the monster. shadow weaver appears as well to help adora get to the heart.
they make it to the heart but adora hears catra scream and goes back to try to save her.
shadow weaver steps in to fight the monster herself and seals the opening for catra and adora to not come through. they have to stand back and watch as she sacrifices herself for them.
they go to the heart together
she is unable to transform into she-ra bc of horde prime’s virus and tries to convince catra to leave so she can do this on her own, not wanting catra to watch her die. catra ends up staying with her while she uses the fail safe.
adora become unconscious and is on the verge of dying. during this she has a vision of her wish it’s her’s and catra’s future where they’re married. the vision is then interrupted by horde prime.
she’s dying and while unconscious she hears and sees catra and tries fighting to stay alive, it isn’t until catra tells her she loves her that she’s able to succeed in staying alive.
she wakes up in catra’s arms and tells her she loves her too AND THEY KISS
the failsafe works and saves the planet right before her friends and etheria is about to be destroyed
adora as she-ra appears where horde prime is and destroys his ship and heals the planet, as well as gets rid of horde prime for good.
the best friend squad ( which now includes catra ) agree on going on another mission to bring back magic to the universe
in alucard
growing up in alucard wasn’t easy for adora, she was in the foster care system since she was a baby and knows nothing about her parents or why they gave her up. she remained in a group home with other kids in the system, watching as some of the kids she became friends with got adopted into families while she remained in the home. the home was strict and adora is a stickler for rules so she always did what was told of her, she became a ‘favorite’ to the house parents. because of that she never got in trouble/punished when she occasionally broke a rule or two with the other kids. instead she would get numerous lectures about how much better she was than the others, how she shouldn’t follow them, and what great things she could do if she keeps listening to the house parents. adora didn’t understand it at them time, what they meant or why she was the favorite, but she did like attention and the feeling of a ‘parent’ looking out for her. she didn’t realize until she was older that the house parents were grooming her to be exactly who they wanted her to be. adora herself never knew what she wanted to be or who she truly was because she always followed what the house parents told her to be, always did what was told of her. all she wanted was to be loved.
after her eighteenth birthday she was out of the system, her house parents urged her to join the military. they told her it would be perfect for her because of how strong and how immaculate of a fighter she is. the more adora thought about it the more she realized she didn’t want that for herself, she didn’t want to hurt people. that was when adora made her first choice for herself, she decided to leave the home and begin her life without the influence of her house parents. she jumped from job to job for a few years, trying to make any money she could to be able to afford a place to live. she finally settled on being a bartender, even though it’s not the job she had dreamed for herself she gets paid well and it’s enough until she figures out what she’s good for.
powers/abilites
transformation - is able to transform into she-ra and is able to transform the sword into various objects
superhuman strength
superhuman agility
healing powers
animal transformation
energy blast
aura generation
animal magic
sword summoning
space survival
expert at hand to hand combat
weaknesses
the data disk - a first one’s tech that is able to corrupt and control any other first ones tech that comes into contact with it or whatever it controls. when the sword is infected with it while adora is she-ra she enters a violent, berserk rage. she incapable to telling who is a friend or an enemy and goes after anyone/anything in sight. take the sword away from her and destroying the disk is the only way to stop the corruption. once the sword is taken adora falls into an inebriated state and she doesn’t remember what happened.
unclear mind - when her mind is unfocused or full of doubt she can’t transform into she-ra
traits/personality
brave
loyal
indomitable will
a leader
stubborn
competitive
rule follower
needs a plan for everything
connections
catra: ex-girlfriend, ended on bad terms, but still loves her