in trade today for tomorrow does catra ever get adopted by mara/light hope or are they also immortals
awww you know i never thought about it but that would be really cute. hmmm ok. ok ok. ok
so if they're mortal: cute! one of catra's lives gets to be with marahope and it would be one of her better lives, even reminding her of her first (second) one with felina and leona. they're parents she'd think about for a long time throughout and after that life, which she can't say for all of them.
if they're immortal... that changes everything. that gives her a potential pair of consistent parents (or grantparent like figures) any time her birth family isn't accomodating to her... condition ig lmao. it gives her a pair of parents she doesnt lose. it gives her moments breaking down crying because they're so much like her first parents and she lost those but she knows they would be happy to know marahope are taking over their role and giving her support whenever adora isn't the best person to be there for her. it completely changes how her cycles go because even the ones shes with her birth family for, she does still have her "grandparents" to go to so she always has a familiar, friendly face
after reading @n7punk's newest one shot and i had the funniest idea that eventually catra will meet and befriend entrapta (whos also immortal) and in a future reincarnation catra is orphaned again and entrapta finds out and adopts her
entrapta sends this postcard to adora in the mail to let her know she has catra and adora has a heart attack
catra considers this reincarnation to be one of her most chaotic but most enjoyable lives
Day 3: Favorite Couple(s) - Tutor/Fighter (Why R U), Tharn/Type (Tharntype)
Tutor/Fighter - I love these two, both individually and as a couple. Individually, they are complex characters both with their own set of problems (Tutor with his financial struggles, Fighter with his parental issues). As a couple, they complement each other. Fighter takes care of Tutor like no one has ever done before, and Tutor gives Fighter the affection he has always craved. They had some issues at the end that I think were glossed over, maybe due to COVID impacting the filming schedule, but overall their relationship was a beautiful thing to watch. Also their chemistry is OFF THE CHARTS.
Tharn/Type - These two also have my heart, which I am surprised to say as it took me a few tries to really get into this series. Their chemistry, as well, is undeniable and their intimate scenes are beautifully done. But what I love most about this couple is how realistic they are. Their relationship is messy and imperfect, but they make an effort to learn and grow. And how they grow indeed. From the first episode to the finale and then the special episode, you can tell how much work they have put into their relationship. I really hope their growth is depicted in the second season as well.
Lingering TTFT question that got kicked into overdrive by your latest fic extra (which says a lot because this AU of yours is living rent-free in my head): do you imagine scenarios where Catra has siblings in any of her reincarnations? Having a mortal twin/litter mates might be a bit weird/tragic, but I can imagine some fun scenarios between Catra and her younger or "older" siblings :)
Yes, in fact on her fourth life or fifth life (can't remember the different lives I thought out rn) she's a "little" sister. How it goes really depends on how she gets along with her family. When it's not your "one and only" (family, option, life, etc) it's a lot easier to break attachment with your birth family. If her sibling is an asshole, then that might as well be her asshole coworker. If she leaves early because she doesn't like her parents, then she probably didn't have time to get attached to them either way*.
More often, of course, she stays with her family and gets on with them, so then it can be sad when they eventually pass, but there's also the fact that she is immortal. You get used to the transient nature of life around you and you have a lot more perspective.
Siblings are always going to be way younger than her and difficult to relate to because it's just difficult to relate to children at that age, so usually she views them more like nieces and nephews than siblings (ESPECIALLY if they're younger than her), but that's fun and rewarding in its own way. Her lives when she doesn't have siblings are definitely easier, but that doesn't mean she would trade away the ones where she does.
*Now, if she left early just because her parents aren't great about her personal situation, this applies. If she left because they really sucked, she could get defensive and protective of that sibling, even barely knowing them, because they're a kid who doesn't deserve to have to deal with that either. There's a lot of possible scenarios with this.
"Trade Today For Tomorrow" Fic Extra #1: Reincarnation & Legality
This is a little fic extra on legal decision making for child reincarnators/shed immortals in TTFT since I’ve gotten some questions semi-related to it.
I already talked in the fic notes about how Catra can redeclare herself to "resume" her old life and reclaim her old possessions. Here’s my answer on carrying over a marriage between lives. TLDR; when Catra redeclares she can "re-affirm" her marriage to immediately legally resume it (they will not resume their relationship until later in life, but the marriage is important for legal reasons, as this post will outline. There's a reason we fought so hard for marriage equality).
Legally, when Catra redeclares she can choose 1) to be emancipated, 2) to “resume” her marriage. I simplified this down to just emancipation in the fic notes because marriage does, in some ways, free you from family influence, and merely redeclaring makes you a legal adult, but it’s more complicated than that. Catra obviously always resumes her marriage, and sometimes opts for emancipation as well.
In the case of emancipation, that puts her current parents at the bottom of the list of next-of-kin who can make decisions for her in a situation where she can’t (such as when in a medical coma). Family from her last life will be prioritized and her current parents will only be able to make decisions if absolutely no one else can be contacted. Only if all of her old family is dead and she’s legally unmarried could her current family make decisions for her. That is, of course, only if she wasn't emancipated from her last family, too. In that case the order is slightly flipped, with a spouse first in line, current family second, and old family third.
In the case of resuming a marriage, as in the real world, spouses are given decision-making priority (legally, this is because spouses are the only family you “choose” and presumed to be the person who you trust the most). Thus, if Catra is incapacitated and a decision needs to be made, then Adora would be contacted. If she can’t be reached, then it would go to next-of-kin.
All of that is for times when decision-making obviously falls on others, though. Catra is legally an adult as soon as she redeclares, but there are still times when legal adults are not considered capable of making decisions for themselves. I’m sure #FreeBritney has made people aware of conservatorships, and it could potentially be argued when Catra is younger that, since she has reduced mental capacity due to her brain still developing, she needs to be under a conservatorship because she can’t make decisions for herself. I brushed up against this in the fic notes.
As an example, Catra's family could decide when she's eight that hey, she should actually be in elementary school rather than private tutoring, and what's more, we're going to send her to an arts school. Catra says no, she's a mechanical engineer and 200, she doesn't want to do that. Legally they can't automatically make her since she's an adult, but they could potentially go to the courts and argue that Catra can't make decisions because her brain is still under development, so they should be allowed to send her to the school they see fit (and potentially, even further, take control of her holdings from her last life because she can't be trusted to manage them at this age. That obviously would never happen since Adora owns anything of Catra's and can manage it herself, but this is in a situation where Catra isn't married). This could happen to any reincarnator, and this is where being able to resume their marriages come in.
Because Catra is married, her biological family has no case, because if legal decisions do need to be made for Catra, that falls on Adora, and no court is going to grant the biological family right to force a legal decision on a reincarnator who has a wife capable of making those decisions when that wife says no, Catra is right and these are decisions we made for her future back when she was an adult. This is what she wants.
Basically, if Catra was on her own then her parents might have a case, but because Adora is there they aren't ever going to win (and this situation never arises, btw, it's just an example of how all this works). Her parents could of course refuse to pay for anything they disagree with or threaten to kick her out if she doesn't cooperate since they also aren't legally required to provide for her, but again, Catra has Adora to turn to and her shit from her last life to pay for what she needs.
Now, that example is in the case where Catra disagrees with her family's calls. Usually when she's a kid, she lets them parent her, she just has some things she draws a hard line on, like going through all of school again. Stuff like important medical decisions she will use her rights to make a personal decision on, or maybe lean on Adora if she thinks she can't reasonably (or, alternatively, her family might turn to Adora to convince/override Catra if they think she is being unreasonable. And if Adora agrees, Catra will reluctantly let her make that call. Very fussily).
The summary is that young reincarnated immortals are Presumed to have their legal rights in some cases, but could be treated like any adult in "need" of assistance with making decisions in others, especially when someone with a potential claim to making decisions for them challenges theirs. Things like this are why offering the option to resume a marriage is so important, as well emancipation.
