Glitra Week Day Six: Underprepared Camping Trip
Written for Glitra Week on Tumblr even though it is well past a week! Adora convinces the Best Friend Squad to go camping. They haven't even reached the campsite when the canoe tips over.
Glimmer whipped sweat from her face, muscles aching. The afternoon sun bearing down on her back. She squirmed, trying to find a comfortable position to paddle.
Add this to the list of things Adora has dragged me into.
She reminisced with a mixture of irritation and begrudging fondness.
“We’re almost there guys!” Said friend shouted from the front of the canoe.
“Just keep paddling!”
“I think my arms are going to fall off,” Bow complained, though Glimmer could hardly see him over the large bags of tents, cooking supplies and sleeping bags.
“We’d get there faster if we had everyone paddling!” Glimmer quipped, driving her paddle into the water with more force than necessary. Their third paddler answered with a non-committal groan, curling herself into a ball between the camping stove and the food cooler.
“Catra! We need three people to paddle! Get your oar, let’s go!” Glimmer shoved her with the corner of her foot irritably. Catra snarled, baring pointed teeth, ears pinned to the back of her head but she made no move to do anything.
“We’re almost there!” Adora encouraged, “it’s just around that bend! I think I can see it!”
“Mmmmghhh that’s what you said about the last three bends,” Catra whined, trying to twist herself tighter in the low slinking belly of the canoe.
She does have a point... Glimmer had to concede, tightening her grip around the paddle and shoving forward. The waters lapped, sparkling with each thrust of Bow and Glimmer’s rowing.
“Hssss!!” Catra bolted upright, a splash of water sprinkling over her. The boat teetered.
“Aaaah! Catra! Sit down!” Glimmer shrieked, bags began to fall, out and every which way. Bow and Adora scrambled to get them, even as the canoe teetered. It jostled too and throw, water coming in over the sides.
Teleport! Teleport N…
Glimmer shrieked, toppling over with a dozen bags into the frigid water. She kicked, waving her arms in an attempt to get to the surface. Something grabbed at her, tight and sharp. Claws wracked into her arms. She kicked harder, striving for the surface.
“B...Bow! A...Adora! Are you O..”
Catra’s weight threatened to shove her down once more but Glimmer tilted her head upward, desperate to keep nose and mouth above the choppy water. Catra’s arms were around her shoulders, their legs tangled. Glimmer tossed and turned, fumbling for any sort of purchase.
“We’re good! We’re here!” Adora’s breathy shouts sounded over Catra’s incessant snarling. Glimmer tried to turn her head towards the shore line where Adora and Bow had managed to push the canoe.
“Get off’a me!” Glimmer attempted to free herself from the frenzied feline but Catra’s claws were unrelenting. She winced at the sight of blood in the water.
“Catra you’re hurting me! Can’t you swim!” Glimmer tried to teleport, but between the treading water and trying to keep herself from drowning she couldn’t focus.
“Glimmer! Catra! Hold on!” Glimmer turned to see Bow fire an arrow towards them, Glimmer struggled to grab it, hoping it wouldn’t snap.
“Ahhh!!” Catra continued to scream, her entire body shaking as she tried to push herself up, away from the water.
“Stop it! You’re going to drown us!”
“N...No!” Catra coughed out water, as Bow and Adora tugged them to shore. “No! P...p...please...don’t..”
“Catra?” Glimmer tried to crane her neck to the side to see the feline girl. Her miss-matched eyes were wide, glossed over. Almost unseeing...a shiver ran up Glimmer's spine.
“Ju...just hand on a sec...if you stop moving I can teleport us the rest of the way.” Glimmer closed her eyes, keeping her grip on the rope even as Bow and Adora tugged them in. Sparkles surrounded her, the feeling of being lifted out of the water, and then…
“Are you two okay?” Adora hovered over as Glimmer opened her eyes, now on solid ground.
“Y...yeah,” she answered, looking over at Catra who had, at long last, detached herself from Glimmer’s shoulders.
“Well, we got to our campsite!” Adora announced triumphantly.
“Tsch, I can’t believe people do this for fun,” Catra growled, shaking out her hair. It was still growing out somewhat, near the length of her shoulders now.
“It WILL be fun! We just have to get set up!”
---
Much to Glimmer’s chagrin “just setting up,” turned out to be three hours of salvaging any supplies that weren’t soaking wet and scrambling together to get the tents set up. Well, one tent. They had only packed one.
“I thought we were going to bring two tents! Two people per tent!”
“Oh...yeah...we were supposed to bring two, weren’t we?” Adora stared at the mess of poles. They cobbled it together well enough after three or four tries.
“We should probably make a fire right? Those clouds don’t look too friendly.” Bow pointed towards the tree-lined horizon. Glimmer grumbled, having just changed into dry clothes.
“First the canoe flips and now it’s going to rain?” Catra screeched, tail on end.
“It’s going to be fine!” Adora steadied her with a hand on her shoulder, “we will eat some warm food and then all head into the tent and snuggle up!”
The warm food turned out to be cold, as neither Bow nor Adora or even Glimmer herself could get a fire going before the rain set in. Catra, sensing it coming, ears flicking, dumped her cold chili on the ground and headed into the tent ahead of them.
What is up with her? I know this camping trip has been a disaster but even Catra isn’t usually this angry.
Glimmer finished her food, more for Adora’s sake than anyone else's, and headed into the tent as pelts of water began to bounce off the leaves above.
“Umm we got another problem,” Bow pointed out as they all scrunched together. The flimsy tent vibrated in the harsh wind.
“What now?!” Adora exclaimed from her place beside Glimmer her ever positive facade quickly slipping.
“We only have three sleeping bags.”
“I thought you were in charge of packing!
Bow bristled, even his patience was beginning to wear off, and honestly, Glimmer couldn’t blame him.
“I….!”
“It’s fine, I don’t need a sleeping bag,” Catra commented dryly. She’d hardly spoken since she and glimmer were pulled out of the water.
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t see any of you covered in fur.”
Too tired to argue the point, they slipped into their respective sleeping bags, with Catra sprawling over their feet. It would’ve been cute...if the tent wasn’t in fear of collapsing and the rain wasn’t coming down in sheets.
Glimmer twisted and turned, trying to get comfortable.
Too bad we’re in the middle of nowhere! I can’t teleport us to an inn or back to the castle! This is ridiculous, I thought Adora was the queen of planning! She…
“Mmmmm…….gmmmm…” Glimmer cracked an eye open as she felt something shift. Nudging at her feet and legs. Uncomfortable weight pressing against her ankles. Catra’s bony arm no doubt.
“Catra! Stop it!” Glimmer kicked roughly. “Catra! Stop fidgeting! I mean it, you…!”
Catra whimpered, Glimmer steeled herself, sitting upright, wincing as a torrent of rain crashed against the side of the tent nearest her. She watched the feline girl, flinch, her whole form trembling. Glimmer hesitantly reached out, touching her soft shoulder.
“Cata, psst, Catra do...do you want to sleep up here? Next to me?”
The only thing more unsettling than Catra being ruefully angry was her being frightened and Glimmer didn’t hate her after all, didn’t wish her ill. Not anymore. She was trying to do better after all, and so was Glimmer. Like it or not, and Glimmer spent a long time denying it, they both had dues to pay. They were both trying to be better.
Catra’s face contorted with discomfort. A booming clap of thunder made her snap awake, ears pointed forward and tail stick straight. She scrambled up through the array of sleeping bags and dug herself into Glimmer’s curling tight against the princess’s side. Glimmer bit her lip, unsure of what to do.
Is she really this frightened over a thunderstorm? Why didn’t she go to Adora? She’s lying right over there…. sure enough Bow and Adora were snoring nearly as loud as the rustling branches. Unsure what else to do, Glimmer wound her arms around Catra, one hand reaching up to tangle her fingers in the brunette hair.
“Shhh...it’s okay,” she murmured, recalling how her mother used to comfort her during the storms on Brightmoon. “You really don’t like water huh?” At this Catra’s head shot up from where it had been pressed against Glimmer’s chest. Her eyes were somehow scathed with sleep but panic as well. Glimmer gripped her tighter, swallowing her attempt at a joke.
“New flash princess, I was drowned.”
Horde Prime...I should’ve known…
“I...I never thanked you...for what you did for me,” Glimmer realized as she said it. Somewhere amid the sleeping bag, Catra’s tail curled around her leg with a grip of its own. The tent shuddered with another round of rain and thunder. Lightning flashed and Catra winced, eyes pinching shut.
“I told you I didn’t do it for you,” Catra managed between gritted teeth. “I did it for Adora.” Glimmer ran her fingers through Catra’s hair absentmindedly. It was softer than she would’ve guessed, despite being drenched earlier. The girl’s warmth and pressure against her chest as she curled up made Glimmer’s breath shudder with comfort. Who knew the prickly feline girl could be this...soft?
“Well...still….you saved my life. If you hadn’t sent me to the others I don’t know what would’ve…” she cut herself short. Of course she knew what would’ve happened.
As soon as Prime got what he wanted from her he would’ve done to her the exact same thing that he’d done to Catra. Glimmer tightened her grip on the girl beside her at the mere thought. Catra’s quickened breaths shuddered against the princess’s neck. She shivered pleasantly.
“As bad as it was….” Catra whispered into the hollow of Glimmer’s shoulder, “I’d do it again...if I had to. I’d do it again...for you.”
Glimmer shifted, turning on her side until Catra’s miss-matched eyes were glowing in the dark inches from her face. She reached her other hand up, gently touching one of the many freckles on her face.
Lightening cracked, illuminating the two of them for one instant. Catra’s hand reached out in panic and Glimmer took it, squeezing.
“You sure you got all that water out of your head earlier?” Glimmer attempted at some levity. “Who are you and what have you done with the real Catra?”
Luckily this provoked a smile from the feline girl. She leaned into Glimmer, pulling their entwined hands up under her chin. Glimmer’s heart softened,
We’re both screw ups aren't’ we? Just trying to remake ourselves.
The princess’s heart melted, watching Catra shiver against the damp, quaking fabric of the tent. She leaned forward tentatively, kissing her hand. Catra clumsily beant her head downward, nudging, nuzzling? Pushing Glimmer’s head upward until, in the dark, Glimmer could taste full lips against hers. Warm and inviting. She kissed her more, shifting her hands from Catra’s, down to her waist, fumbling with the clumsy sleeping bag. Catra let out a breathy noise, somewhere between pleasure and surprise as Glimmer pushed herself flush against hers, their hips locking in the narrow containment of the sleeping bag.
“How long have you wanted to do that?” Catra asked between kisses, her tone returning to its usual snark.
“About as long as I’ve wanted to kick your ass,” Glimmer answered. Catra smiled, giving the princess another kiss, this one with a hint of want and heat.
“Trust me, Sparkles, feelings mutual.”
THE END
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Day Three: I Can’t Believe You Killed My Mother or I Can’t Believe I Hated You
“Beast!”
“You’ll never be good at anything!”
“Disappointing!”
“Worthless!”
“No! No!”
Catra’s claws were futile against the slick green fluid, like oil sliding against her skin, matting the fur of her tail. She writhed, horde clones pressing down on every inch of her, their clawed fingers digging into her skin, so this is what it feels like…. ? The impossible weight of them baring down on her, despite all her fighting and thrashing. Every scream sent more of the vile substance gushing into her throat, choking and spluttering. Images swam in her head, voices echoed.
“I didn’t open the portal! You made your choice! Now live with it!”
Adora
“You’re a bad friend.”
Scorpia
“You’re a failure,”
Hordak
“No!” Catra screamed, back arching off the slab,
“Easy now Little Sister! All beings must suffer to become pure.”
“I will dispose of you myself.”
Shadow Weaver
Catra squeezed her eyes shut against the harsh blinding light, kicking and throwing her arms as the clones held her down. Out of the black toil of her racing mind another form emerged. This one shorter, fists ablaze with purple sparkling light. Eyes full of unconquerable rage.
“I can’t believe you killed my mother!”
Sparkles….?!
“No…” she coughed. “I did...I...didn’t know!”
Sparkles. She was safe now. Adora would be safe. This was how it was supposed to be. She knew this was going to happen. Knew it the moment she watched Hordak emerge from that pool. Worse than the evil ruler he’d been, he was nothing. A blank vessel for Horde Prime to inhabit and corrupt.
The hot taste of burning water seared across her mouth as she choked for air, ears ringing.
“Are you saving me?” Sparkles had exclaimed.
“Not you! Adora!”
But in doing so she had saved the princess, and maybe deep down part of her was glad. Not that it could ever make up for what she’d done…
“You killed my mother!”
The sparkly princess screamed into her face, her whole body alight with magic. Catra seized, trying to thwart the clones manhandling her.
“I didn’t know!”
She apologized to Adora, and she’d meant it. It was a cruel trick the stars played on her, that apologizing to Glimmer was somehow so much harder.
“S….sparkles! G...g...glim!” She vomited, coughing and gasped. “Glimmer!” Tears ran down her cheeks, mingling with the thick sloshing water.
“You must purge your pain Little Sister,” the clones changed. “Cast out the shadows, cast out the shadows, cast out the shadows.”
Catra squirmed, contorting desperately in the vat of fluid, it burned, eclectic static stinging through her skin into her body, her mind swarming with the faces of everyone she’d ever hurt.
“Cast out the shadows! Cast out the shadows…”
“No!”
The green water rushed down her throat, flooding her insides with what felt like acid. She kicked, twisting, her head spinning. Fading in and out. In and out…
“Cast out the shadows!”
“You killed my mother, you monster! You’ll never be good at anything. You will never amount to anything. It's no wonder Adora left you. She doesn’t want you. She’ll never love you. You don’t deserve love.”
“Cast out the shadows! Cast out the shadows! Cast out the…”
Catra screamed and the bright green fluid enclosed around her.
Three Years Later
Catra shifted among the lilac sheets, silver moonlight pooling across the bed. She blinked slowly, breathing in the sweet scent of the girl beside her. Her tail curled absently around Glimmer’s calf.
“Hey you,” she mumbled, watching the princess stir awake.
“How long was I out? Is it still nighttime?”
Catra nodded, running her fingers through pink, purple hair. Her locks were soft and shimmering.
“You and Adora, neither one of you can relax enough to get a goodnight’s sleep.” Glimmer giggled, twisting her arms around Catra’s waist. She buried her face in the girl’s stomach and hummed content. Catra smiled, running her fingertips along Glimmer’s forearm, watching the little goosebumps prickle up. Her skin was warm and soft and gentle, everything Catra never thought she deserved. Everything she never allowed herself to feel. Until now. She held Glimmer tight, pressing her face to the top of the princesses head. A wave of inexorable guilt crashed over her.
“....I killed you mother,” Catra whispered, her voice breaking. Tears edged to her eyes. Glimmer adjusted herself, rolling on to her stomach, chin resting on Catra’s chest.
“My mother made her choice,” Glimmer answered, monotone. She reached her hands up, holding each side of Catra’s face.
“But...I...I opened the portal. Adora was right, that was my fault. I pulled the lever….I…”
“Can I ask you something?” Glimmer whispered against Catra’s lips. She nodded, returning the princess’s kiss with one of her own, though it was tinged with tears. “If you could go back in time...would you do it again? Open the portal?”
Catra’s stomach clenched with that familiar guilt. Guilt that ate at her everyday, though Perfuma’s sessions continuously reminded her that she should be looking forward now, focussing on the future instead of the past. She had tried...was trying to do just that. She’d made amends with Adora, the two of them now best friends somehow once more. She’d even fallen in love with Glimmer. But some things, some things were just too terrible.
“No, of course I wouldn’t!” She answered quickly, kissing Glimmer back with urgency. Wanting to feel her close, wanting to taste her and feel her breath and never ever leave their room. She would never do that ever again...wouldn’t she? Wouldn’t she?
“Are you sure?” Glimmer cocked a brow, fixing her with a look of reproach. Catra scooted up in their bed, pulling the sparkly princess into her lap. She stroked one finger across Glimmer’s jaw, looking into those dazzling eyes. Full of passion and ambition and nobility and no small amount of grit that she loved so much.
“No,” Catra breathed. “No….I’m not sure w..what I’d do...”
Glimmer nodded, sadly, biting her lip, one hand coming up and running through Catra’s hair. She leaned her head on the other girl’s shoulder.
“I love you,” Catra mumbled, reaching up and holding Glimmer to her.
“I can’t believe I hated you,” Glimmer breathed, burying her face in Catra’s neck.
“I’m so sorry,” tears fell down Catra’s cheeks, landing in droplets on her hair. Glimmer looked up, kissing her tears from her face.
“I...I don’t know what I’d do with the portal...b...but if I could...I...I’d take your mom’s place.”
“Shhh….shhhh now, Horde Scum” Glimmer soothed, peppering kisses across Catra’s face. “You don’t have to keep apologizing.”
“I...I don’t know what else to do.”
“You can keep going to see Perfuma, and helping me and Adora and Bow bring magic back to the galaxy. You can keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
Catra nodded, wiping at her face and hugged Glimmer to her.
“Oh, but there is one thing you could do,” she raised a brow in that familiar way Catra recognized.
“Oh really Sparkles?” Her charismatic grin returned.
“Yes,” Glimmer taunted, suddenly pushing Catra down onto the bed and straddling her.
“You can kiss me,” Glimmer laughed deliciously. Catra obliged.
“You still taste like glitter Sparkles!”
“You love it, Horde Scum!”
Catra grinned wickedly,
“I sure do.”
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