The Elders have followers. Every skykid has a patron Elder. Each skykid will call on their patron in times of unease or insecurity or even fear. There’s not much the Elders can do in this plane of existence but they do make sure to let their skykids know they are listening. Each Elder’s realm specializes in aspects to a skykid. Different capes from each realm allows for skykids from different Patrons to acquire these unique skills. Moth cape is universal and therefore all who wear it are always welcomed by an Elder.
Elders don’t fight, but their skykids hold competitions
Valley Skykids do not partake but do host these competitions
That’s just because they are very competitive and tend to be awful no matter who wins or loses. Valley Twins enjoy the extra flair their skykids will add
Extremely rarely will there be a skykid with no patron, at which it is up to the Skykid themselves to choose who they may call to.
It was once believed that these were the King’s skykids but seeing as he is no longer around, they tend to drift. Skykids can and will change patrons. There’s no bad blood between Elders for this but skykids may take personal offense. It’s not common practice, but it has happened before. In which case the skykid will change their cape, but keep a part of their old one to symbolize their past patron as a show of respect
Ancestor Spirits -
The spirits are the closest thing the Skykids have to actual adults, so they tend to crowd around them a bit. Much like with Patrons, Skykids rely on them as a means of both knowledge and understanding of the world they’ve never known.
Unlike the Elders, the spirits are very much capable of being present and at times physical.
Spirits can move about freely should they choose to, but they prefer to stick close to their Patron’s realms. Vault Spirits are the only exceptions to this as they still are working with the Vault
Their beings are what power the Vault, and their connection to the vast knowledge within keeps them rather busy, though far more relaxed than it ever was in their living days.
Spirits though only have a limited amount of memory.
Hence why they require the Skykids to come with them to reclaim and relive some of it. Other Spirits come and go, but the ones with tombstones and graves are there to stay.
Skykids and Aging/ Realm magic -
Skykids do not age. Or rather not in the usual sense. A skykid can change shape, depending on how old they may feel, but they do not “grow” beyond that. A skykid who is 100 years old but feels and acts like a 10 year old will portray themselves as such. Due to some eternal magic none of the realms ever change.
However they are the embodiment growing.
Each realm is a phase of life as TGC has told us. [Isle = birth, Prairie = childhood, etc]
Being “born” is different than you’d think. Though you already would have a body and limbs, you would be completely alone and often found by others. A brown cape already drawn around the shoulders indicates the Isle Elder has asked others to look out for you.
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All Sky kids that are "born" are created by the Elder of Isle.
He sculpts them, places a brown cape around their shoulders then will leave them to be found, either by another patron or by the skykids themselves. Why is unknown, but it's thought that the Elder of Isle holds a special connection to the world of Orbit and as such takes great care with the crafting of every sky child.
It takes magic and sunlight and thankfully his realm has plenty to offer. Only the most tenacious and stubborn of skykids will return and demand him to be their patron.
The Elder of Isle knows good and well those with his brown cape will surely change their colors and so he bids them safety with his peers, who always agree to watch over them. But if they return and surprise him, he'll try his best to shoo them away to find better patrons, but can't hold out for long. He's too old. You may even see him shed a tear of starlight.
In his temple, you may hear him reading to the sky children who stay or when he appears there may be one clinging to his back of his head.
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And while they may not “grow” the Skykids do advance. Depending on how long they spend in any realm.
Eden is a tricky realm.
It is the embodiment of death, however Eden also works as a means to trap Sky children and steal their light. The magic that thrums through Eden is deadly and poisonous but requires light to keep itself “alive” without a patron to fuel it.
Patrons too need light, but never in the same manner. They use light to repair and care for the realm they inhabit
And oftentimes a Skykid will collect and give the light willingly.
This helps the patron grow stronger to aid that realm. Eden however is lawless and bound to no patron, the magic that surrounds it wild and uncared for. It is possible for Skykids to move from realm to realm and still honor their patron. Basically if you live in Isle but are from Vault, the Isle Elder will protect you under the guidance of the Vault Elder.
Capes and their abilities -
Capes are the way that Skykids can distinguish where they are from. The fabric is something the Elders or their ancestors had to have woven from the magic of the sky and is often speculated as such despite there being no indications. Not even the Elders will deny or confirm this. But to each realm, a cape is crafted.
If one is native to the realm or of that patron, they will wear a Native cape.
If they are merely civilian and simply passing through, they may wear a Simple Cape. Native Capes are uncommon. Simple Capes are very common.
Each cape has its own brand of special abilities native to that particular realm. These are especially helpful for newcomers or moths who are exploring a realm for the first time. Until they can get the hang of things themselves, the most common of all the capes is the Brown Cape.
Universally it is accepted to be a newcomers cape, or the cape of a newly born moth opening their eyes for the first time.
Cape List/Abilities -
Isle
Brown/Moth Cape - Standard flying abilities; Universal cape. Elders will welcome any who wear it.
Prairie
Yellow Cape - Healing charm/butterfly attraction.
Forest
Teal Cape - Rain cover/ repels rain water
Purple Cape - Wax burner/collects double wax
Valley
Red Cape - Speed boost/ Allows for fast movement but hiders steering
Pink Cape - Right-Way Tracker/ Allows for excellent control in flight but may result in poorer speed.
Wasteland
Green Cape - Echo/ Finds fellow Skykids who are in trouble or low on lights
Black Cape - Shadow Walk/ Allows for one to sneak past without being seen, but only for a few moments. Needs to recharge after use.
Vault
Blue Cape - Third’s Eye/ Allows for one to see moments ahead for only a few seconds
White Cape - Soft Light/ Gives wearer a chance to speak with an Elder or light creature at any given time, but requires a recharge immediately after use
Seasonal Capes
Special capes have better abilities however they are rare
some of yall only like and support polyamory relationships when you can’t decide on a ship to like or don’t wanna pick between two ships and it really shows
the idea of She-Ra being magic is not uncommon and neither is the idea of Adora and Catra sneaking out to meet/be together
But like I saw this trope where it was Catra who got pregnant but what if instead it was Adora who'd gotten pregnant from She-Ra's magic or whatever possinly due to needing an "heir" I guess and it prevented her from being in battle and keeping her away from her meetings with Catra.
and the Rebellion realizing this actually ups their evasion game further and further away from Brightmoon because Adora is vulnerable right now and really doesn't need to get hurt/kidnapped with a baby. So like they lead the fight away from Brightmoon
but then in fighting Adora she notices how winded and tired she is and she tries to make a joke about it to rile her up but Adora's dead ass tired and just like "well having a baby does that to you"
and Catra just nearly dies on the spot.
"She's yours."
And at first the battle like drifts away ad the two stare at each other, Catra in shock and Adora is just exhausted.
But then Catra's about to cuss Adora out because SHE GOT PREGNANT?! And while she doesn't have a lot of experience beyond the sex ed course that was strictly explained in the Horde she does know she damn well doesn't have the equipment. But before she can really lose it Adora, who's been tired, learning how to take care of a baby and run the rebellion without barely any rest (some of which is her own fault), tells her point blank the baby's hers. And Catra's about to laugh her off but the grim seriousness of Adora's face makes her pause.
"What do you mean it's mine?"
"She's yours." There's a warning in that tone, a fire that makes Catra's ears flick back at it being directed at her.
"So she's a girl?"
"Yeah. She's yours."
And for a minute Catra is dumbfounded by that and even moreso that Adora is looking at her strangely, caught between relief and determined. As if she's knows something she's not gonna like but she's gonna say it anyway.
"She's our daughter."
But before Catra can even try to deny it, because her? Having a daughter? Who does Adora think she's fooling?, Glimmer shows up and Adora grimaces because Glimmers giving her that look that means she's gonna have a talk with her later and teleports them out of there, leaving Catra alone with this new information. Despite how much she tries to deny it, her curiosity is quipped. Adora stopped visiting her for months and now that she has an answer she's not quite sure how to handle it.
The next time she sees Adora, she goes looking for her in Brightmoon on her own. It's easy enough to make up a lie, a mission, something only she can accomplish alone despite Scorpia's insistence to go but as it turns out from where she'd lie hidden in the Whispering Woods, Brightmoon's security has possibly tripled since the last time she's even set foot on Adora's windowsil and even then almost nothing prepares her for the sword that's pressed to her neck the second she's inside after an almost impossible scale along the side of the castle. Adora is there more serious than ever, grim even when she levels Catra with a stare she's never seen on her before. There's no She-Ra holding this sword. No 8 foot tall warrior with flowing golden hair and magic powers. No before her the sight is much worse, a fierce woman with steel in her eyes and for a long moment Catra thinks she might kill her if her beauty doesn't do it first. Her heart thumps loudly in her chest but twists painfully under that look. There's a stillness to her now, as though she were prepared for this and it makes Catra's stomach flip in horrible ways. This was a bad idea.
Instead, in the even breaths she counts between them to keep herself calm she holds up her palms. Open gesture. Those eyes narrow, hawk-like and Catra stares back evenly despite the sword pressing closer. It takes everything to stay still as the blue-grey eyes sweep over her. She can almost hear Adora's thoughts until they eyes land back on her eyes, an emotion she doesn't quite recognize that melts the steel. It's only when Adora relaxes minutely that the sword slowly falls away and she breathes a bit more easily, but the eyes don't. They track Catra's every move and the brunette wonders at the change of Adora's demeanor. The silence is oppressive and long as Adora watches her. The ball's in her court for once? Huh.
"Hey Adora."
"Catra." She frowns at the tone. Levelled. Even. As though she were expecting her and it makes Catra want to be difficult just for the assumption. Because well of course she'd be here! And Adora knows that! She can't just disappear and leave her again! She grits her teeth and glares at the blonde. The intensity of Adora's stare shifts away as her expression turns to that of disinterest as she moves back to the bedside. It's then that Catra sees the room and realizes with a shock that there's a cradle by the bed.
Adora is sitting down next to it. Waiting.
Catra's coming up now, her body betraying her as she comes to the bed. She feels Adora tense but she doesn't move away. There's a lot unspoken. A lot changed again, just when things were coming back together. The bitterness must show on her because Adora speaks next.
"She's in Glimmer's room tonight."
Ooof idek where this came from but uh yeah pfft -jazz hands-
What if Adora never let anyone touch her back like it triggers her fight or flight response when someone is even looking at her back. Like how messed up would that be?
When on the battlefield now she never lets Catra get behind her, always has her where she can see her, unless either Catra’s defeated or she’s been defeated in the fight and even then she makes sure to be as difficult as possible until her back is covered. If Catra tried to expose this Adora loses it and reacts on basic instinct.
Because she can’t trust Catra. Her back is scarred by Catra. And she doesn’t want her behind her anymore because she can’t, won’t trust her again. She won’t let Catra near her back and fights 5x harder to keep her away. She’ll bite, kick and snap until Catra’s no longer near.
If she’s been rescued she’ll cry about it later in the privacy of her own room. If not she won’t react to Catra’s taunts either that or she reacts differently than the “old” Adora. She’s sharper, colder. She shuts down Catra’s attempts to taunt. She gathers so far into herself it’s like she’s not even present. Because the old Adora is tired. She’s exhausted. She cares but it’s never enough. She’s never been enough as herself and it makes her bitter on the inside. Makes her angrier. The Rebellion just want She-Ra. The Horde just wants a soldier.
Catra’s the only one who ever wanted her to be Adora. But Catra’s trying to kill her. She’s hurting her and something snapped inside. Because she never dropped Catra off a cliff. She never tore into Catra the way Catra tears into her all claws and blood and rage.
Enough is enough when she’s infected. Because she can feel everything. She remembers exactly how it felt. The singing power and rage in She-Ra’s form. An eye for an eye. Retribution paid in full. For every slash of those claws, for every word.
An eye for an eye, She-Ra’s spirit tempts in her mind. Doesn’t Adora want to just let it all go? Just this once? And in that moment of rage she feels nothing but. Boiling, bubbling over. She wants Catra to be just as afraid as she’s made her. For every twist and pull of the knife Catra deems as her fault. Every piece that Catra denies she’s had a hand in. For all the stress and pain and anger. She wants it to hurt the way she does.
She gives in one time to She-Ra’s words. She gives up.
But afterward she’s come to, her head heavy and her body a minefield of pain and aches, and she searches Catra’s gaze. But what she finds makes her cold, makes her frozen. And that ice doesn’t leave. She’ll never let Catra behind her again. She’ll never trust her again.
She learns about choices. It's strange not having a mandated schedule, not having the drills and the training exercises every day scheduled and packed away in neat little pixelated boxes, times displayed and adhered to promptly. The words "pick what you want" are foreign to her even now, because even as Shadow Weaver's former successor, there were no choices, only rewards, already packaged and delegated never mind how she felt or thought of them.
The closest thing to making her own choices that Adora remembers well were with Catra. The decision to sneak out after curfew had long since past. The decision to fight by Catra's side should an older cadet decide to bully her. The decision to, despite Shadpw Weaver's thinly veiled threats within sweetened praises, hold Catra's company above all else. These decisions she felt were the closest thing to choice she'd ever had.
But when she made her own decision, split fast and unthinking, at Thaymor.
She spends hours imagining how it could've been had she been more convincing, more protective. If she had done more to keep up her end of their promise to one another even when Shadow Weaver's threats grew more and more common with age, barb riddled praises aimed with a direct precision at Adora's vulnerability to protecting Catra. If she had done more then maybe they would be here together.
Together.
The word burns in Adora's mind, sears into her brain with painful clarity. It bring tears unbidden to her tired eyes and makes her shoulders ache with the weight of it all.
She made her choice to leave. She made her own decision for the first time in her life. But she can't regret making it. Not after this. Not after realizing nothing she could have done for Shadow Weaver would have changed anything. Not when she is learning about what it means to be her own person, to be someone else. Someone better.
She doesn't regret leaving the Horde, but she does regret the aftermath. She does regret the hurt she's caused unknowingly. She regrets the hours she's forced herself to push, the excellence she's strived for out of every day only to blink and realize none of it mattered.
It would never have mattered. Indecision is her new best friend and she breathes it in and chokes it out with anxiety she's never felt.
Because her choices suddenly matter. And it is terrfying to think that the decisions in her heart don't match the decisions in her head.
While I'm not against polyamory in ships, I don't often just flock to them. And the reason being is kinda like because I used to do research on polyamorous relationships because I was wild about the notion of being able to love two or more people just so much that you all just get in a relationship together. That shit blew my mind and I was very curious about it.
And it made me realize that
a) that's a lot of love to give
b) I'm honest enough to be real and say while I'd love the idea of it I doubt I could do it myself
c) I don't want to just indulge myself of pushing all these characters together so I won't have to just choose between two ships. Because that is how it be sometimes. Like I'll have these two great ships that have one person in both of them, and I'll be like "ohhohoho I'll just push em all together" and the thing is is that while it feels cool temporarily, the reality is it's not a story
Like I want a goddamn good story, complete with how the hell is gonna work. Now granted I will indulge a little bit here and there but not all people are just gonna be up for "well lets put all of them together". Like that kinda relationship requires clear communication between everyone who's involved and I always respected that. So like I won't often go for polyamory ships without a good story or even chemistry between them. Because everyone in the relationship has different needs and wants and I always liked stories where they were acknowledged and talked about or worked through. Now I've never been in a polyamory relationship period but I've always been curious of it. So like seeing some good OTP3 fics that do this make me happy
But yeah no that's my weird thought proceas on this I guess.
