WHO: Adora & Solaire WHAT: Getting her frustrations out WHERE: Training Grounds WHEN: Waaaaay backdated to April 30th WARNINGS: Talk of unpleasant things/trauma STATUS: Complete
Adora didnât do space well.
It hadnât been much of a problem since coming to Vallo. She and Catra had very little sense of personal space, especially now that they were not only okay but together, an actual couple. There was no way she could stay home with Catra brooding outside and not touch her or go to her. They were always touching, always close to each other, and the only way Adora knew to give her the space sheâd requested was to create it.
So she left. She trudged out into the forest, down the now-familiar path to the training grounds. She needed something to keep her brain occupied, something to hit. She was so frustrated and confused and caught up in those feelings and â well, she was definitely better at punching than talking things out.
Solaire was a new acquaintance, having successfully defeated and dethroned her at this monthâs Fight Club, but she liked him. He was a good guy with an upbeat attitude who equaled her in strength and she needed that right now. Reaching out to him was an impulsive move, but she was happy heâd agreed because the stationary dummies at the training grounds just werenât working for her. She needed a challenge, and Solaire fit that bill perfectly.
Sheâd taken a seat on the bench to wait for him to arrive and managed to let some of her feelings out messaging Richie. Aside from Bow, Richie was the closest thing sheâd ever had to a brother, and despite his surface silliness, there was some wisdom in him. She knew giving Catra the space and time she asked for was good for them in the end, no matter how much she hated it. She knew she couldnât always be The Fixer, no matter how much she may want to be. Tomorrow, they could set all of this right again.
But none of that made the frustration fully ebb.
She was on her feet, wrapping her hands and wrists in cloth with two sets of grappling gloves on the bench beside her, when she saw Solaire coming. She grinned and waved at him as he approached. âHey! Thank you for doing this so last-minute.â
âThereâs no better surprise than discovering youâve an opportunity to spar among friends!â Solaire answered with his usual chirpiness, perhaps requiring an array of better surprises in his life before he could raise his standards. He took a seat on the end of Adoraâs bench, already wrapping his hands as he chatted. Solaire still wasnât entirely used to waltzing around Vallo without his armor on; it had been months since heâd left Lordran but some habits died harder than a hollow with a death wish. He doubted heâd ever get used to not having to clock all the exits every time he entered a room.
Still - no need for armor today, not with the hand-to-hand sparring they had on the docket. Solaire knew from Fight Club that Adora was no pushover, which suited him just fine. Subtlety and dialing it down were not things that came naturally to Solaire, who had a tendency to fight like a battering ram and worry about caution later. âBesides,â he added kindly, âsometimes you just need to hit things.â
It was an opening, if she wanted to take it, but it was also an acknowledgment that yes, he was capable of reading between the lines here and had sensed her unhappiness. Solaire wasnât particularly nosy, but he was a talker, and while he had a tendency to come off as daft due to his obscene degree of optimism, he wasnât. As he double-checked his hands and found them satisfactory, he indicated the practice ring with a jut of his chin. âAfter you.â
Adora didnât really do subtlety, so it really wasnât much of a surprise that Solaire had picked up on her unhappy vibe. âSometimes you do,â she agreed, flashing him a small smile to communicate that she got it and appreciated it. She wasnât ready to talk about it just yet. She probably would, as they went on, but now she wanted to get some hits in and get hit back. She tended to have a self-flagellation habit. Years of having the highest of expectations on her shoulders meant she took anything she saw as failure badly.
She pulled the gloves over her cloth-covered hands, flexed her fingers to check dexterity, and led them both out into the sparring ring. âSquare up,â she challenged him, grinning at him with playfully narrowed blue eyes. She slipped into the stance herself, raising her arms and bouncing on the balls of her feet. âYou first, champ.â
Solaire squared up in response, his stance loose but practised. Despite his earlier modest protests, he had been working a great deal on his hand-to-hand. Working his way from the corner of the ring, he did as requested, letting loose a hit that might have been powerful if it werenât so broadly telegraphed (heâd suspected as much).
âWhatâs the biggest thing youâve ever fought?â he asked conversationally, dodging a blow in return with a side lunge. âAs in size, not-- philosophical improbability. I once fought an army of dragons.â
It had been a long time ago. Long enough that now most of the dragons were extinct back home - not all, just most. All the more impressive, clever ones, anyhow. âDragons in Lordran - theyâre smart, you know. Smart as humans, just--- massive. And then thereâs the chompy teeth too.â
âAn army of dragons?â Adora repeated incredulously, shifting her stance and reaching out to jab at his shoulder. âI can see how that would be, uh, massive. And a problem, with so many different sets of chompy teeth.â To say the least. Dragons were intimidating even without having human-like intelligence.
Her biggest enemy, size-wise, had been the first monster sheâd encountered. âMine was this big kind of bug-like creature? But I didnât do a lot of beast-slaying. My planet was at war, so it was mostly Horde robots I was going up against. And Catra. She was the enemy leader for a long time.â Thankfully, they were beyond that now. Adora would much rather be having these kinds of relationship troubles with her than the literal battle they had fought against each other for the past three years.
âDid the dragons talk?â she asked curiously. Smart as humans did make her wonder. Sheâd learned there was very little she should believe was impossible throughout the multitude of worlds Vallo brought together.
âRobots are the metal contraptions with intelligence, yes?â Solaire didnât have robots back home, but youâd have to be completely unobservant not to notice them around Vallo. He wasnât entirely clear what the fine line between science and magic was, but that hardly mattered now - Adora was talking about Catra, and he had a feeling he wasnât imagining the slight catch in her voice.
âOh yes,â he answered, and dodged one of her hits only just. âDragons talked as well as you and I. They can bargain, they can reason. They can betray. But my father wasnât keen on their taking over of things - he vastly preferred taking over himself.â His voice was wry; Solaire didnât feel much of a need to hide his perpetual conflict with his father. The man was, to put it simply, a total dick. âI fought under his banner until I no longer believed in his cause. When you diverge with your loved ones⊠it makes for some interesting times.â A pause. âI didnât realize that you and Catra had been on different sides of things. That must have been incredibly stressful to parse.â
There was a quick nod to confirm Solaireâs question about robots. That was really the easiest way to explain them, though they came in all different kinds of shapes and sizes. Too bad she hadnât actually brought the trouble-causing journal with her â she had a couple of pictures of the Horde bots taped in on the pages. They were pretty unique, especially the later ones Entrapta had worked to improve.
She took another shot, letting everything he was saying sink in as he spoke. They had only recently come to know each other, and she didnât know much about his background. Hearing the similarities to what sheâd gone through with the Rebellion and the Horde â it was strange but kind of nice. He may not have been exactly in her shoes, but she felt more confident now he would get it.
âIt was stressful,â she admitted with a sigh. âWe grew up together asâŠchild soldiers. Our leader was kind of similar to your father. He wanted to take over and make Etheria what he wanted it to be. He fed us lies about what it was really like outside the Horde. And I was in it. We both were. We thought we were gonna rule the world together. And then I left and it was - bad. Really bad.â
She went in a little more aggressively this time. She knew Solaire could take it, and talking about these things was never easy for her. Thus the need to punch things â or friends.
Solaire made a little âoophâ noise as the blow struck home, but Adora had been right - he bounced back easily. He was built for tanking, not for agility, after all. âChild soldiers,â he muttered under his breath, a polite disgust plain in his voice. A necessity, sometimes, but so often not. âThatâs one way to skate every closer to ensuring a loyalty thatâs final.â
He rolled to the right, quickly - Solaire was good at rolling - and struck at her side. It had been the move that had gotten him the Fight Club title last month. âYouâre both still quite young,â he observed, and it was kind of an odd comment given his own seeming youth (âseemingâ doing a lot of heavy lifting there). âSo unless you age differently than some, you must have defected quite early. That kind of thing leaves more than ripples in its wake.â Heâd known that Catra and Adora had had-- baggage - that much apparent from their various public entries - but this was more serious than that. War always was. âIâd be shocked if those waves arenât felt for a while, over seemingly minor issues. Do either of you have someone skilled in the arts of post-war mentalities?â Therapists werenât quite a thing in Lordran, but they werenât unknown, either. And Solaire knew there were quite a few groups here in Vallo dedicated to helping people like that.
That move got Adora. She stumbled back and sucked in a surprised breath. She held up both hands in surrender, indicating her need for a break and stepped over to the bench to scoop up her water bottle while Solaire talked. She unscrewed her bottleâs cap and waved her other hand, inviting him to join her. She was trying to do better at pacing herself and that meant knowing when she needed a breather. Now was one of those times.
âI was eighteen when I left,â she told him. She had opened herself up to this and she felt he could be trusted â might as well go for the details and get it all out there. âIt was hard for Catra. We had this mentor, Shadow Weaver, who was kind of like a mother figure. She preferred me. A lot. She thought Catra was holding me back and she wasâŠviolent about it.â A lump formed in her throat and she stared down at her hands, ashamed. âAnd I left knowing she would take it out on her. I tried to get her to leave with me, but -â
She shook her head. Catra, her stubborn girl, wouldnât leave. Adora still struggled to move past a lot of what had happened during her years with the Horde, then the years of war that followed. That, leaving Catra behind instead of finding some way to drag her along, was one of her biggest regrets.
âUm, no. We havenât seen any therapists.â She assumed thatâs what he meant by someone skilled in the arts of post-war mentalities. She had considered it, but she didnât even know where to begin. If such a thing existed in Bright Moon, sheâd never been privy to it.
Solaire made a face as she disclosed her age. Eighteen was nothing in mortal years. Heâd been well older - by several hundred years - when heâd started defying his father (although admittedly time passed differently for the immortal denizens of Anor Londo; still - eighteen).
He pounded his own water, not bothering with good manners when he wiped off his mouth with the bandages on the back of his hands. âIt sounds as if you were in a no-win situation,â he said, knowing regardless it would be difficult not to bear the weight of Catraâs abuse once Adora had left. âIâve learned over the years that one will only accept the truth that one is prepared to defend. Catra is with you now - thereâs a lot of time to make up for lost moments.â
It probably meant little in the here and now, with her clearly upset over something related to the other woman, but Solaire managed a smile, anyhow. âYouâll likely roll your eyes, but isnât it a pleasant change - getting to fight and squabble and get oneâs feelings hurt by comparatively smaller slights, rather than large, world-bending, world-ending turmoils? Here, at least, thereâs the assurance that tomorrow you may forgive one another. Learning to exist in a quieter universe - thatâs not going to be easy when oneâs used to the highs and lows of constant struggle.â
Adora didnât roll her eyes; actually, she smiled right back at him. âYouâre right,â she agreed. She still didnât like having hurt Catraâs feelings or feeling a little hurt now, but compared to what theyâd been through, it was nothing. Even before sheâd defected, their lives had never been as calm as they were now. Not to say Vallo was calm and summon havoc to rain down on them â it was not a challenge â but compared to Etheria and the galaxy at large sheâd been traveling before arriving here, it was paradise. If this world did come to an end, at least they had each other and they werenât directly responsible for it.
With a sigh, she raked a hand through her hair and met Solaireâs eyes. She wasnât sure what it was about him, why she felt so instantly at ease around him. He was just a good guy with a good nature, and she was drawn to that. The way he spoke hit some sort of chord inside her, too; he was wise and comforting, and she needed that.
âI kept this journal at home,â she began quietly. âWhen I defected. I was trying to get up to speed, kind of, on the Rebellion since Iâd been raised on the other side of it all. And I wrote some things about Catra that - well, it was a little bit how I felt at the time and a little bit trying to let her go when things got really bad. It popped up here today, and she read it all, and I know it hurt her. But she wouldnât even let me try to explain. She just wanted time to herself, and I guess I just got frustrated. So I left, too.â
âAh.â Solaire winced in sympathy at the thought of such an artifact appearing, ready to toss both women back into the antagonism they had felt for one another. Because it was an artifact - something that was both outdated as well as filled with minor bruises and bumps that he was certain were no less painful for the time that had passed. Catra and Adoraâs foundation was solid enough, but not perfectly balanced. Few relationships were.
âYou did the right thing, though,â he said after a moment. âIf she needed time to process, thatâs what she needs. Avoiding the issue isnât healthy, but sometimes in the momentâŠâ he shrugged inelegantly, his massive shoulders dipping demonstratively. âNot every fight need be addressed immediately, particularly if itâs over something that can and will cause hurt feelings. Iâm sure she understands - on some level - that this isnât the writings reflecting your current situation.â
âI think she does,â Adora nodded. A lot of what Solaire was saying echoed what Richie had said, and hearing it again was good for her. âI just - I have a hard time not addressing things right away. I always want to fix things, especially for her. We were in the middle of a war, and I left her, and I just -â She cut herself off, pulling a hand through herself and forcing out a breath. She was starting to go to a bad place, overwhelmed with guilt she couldnât quite shake and maybe never would.
âI never want her thinking I donât love her,â she continued a few moments later, once sheâd gathered herself again. âEspecially after everything we went through during the war, being separated. I donât want anything like that happening again.â
Solaire reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder, the wrapping no doubt a little scratchy as he did so. He and Adora werenât close, but he couldnât help himself; physical comfort was just something he did. âIâm positive she would never think that,â he said evenly. âBecause the way you look at her? A daft git like me could tell how much you cared from a glance. But love is more than just a feeling, yeah?â He smiled, halfways, letting his hand drop in case she needed space (Solaire, while endorsing the joys of a group hug, did recognize that some people needed space).
âItâs action, too. And if sheâs telling you she needs to think - love is letting her have that time, just a little while.â He paused. âAnd then, love is barging in there with apology pastries and being like âhello, Iâm sorry, but we have to work through this nowâ.â
The hand on her shoulder was very much appreciated, along with the words of wisdom. Adora needed that more than she could express right now. Having a perspective other than her own got her out of her own head and out of spiral mode. And Solaire just had this inherently trustworthy vibe about him that she very much needed.
She chuckled at his advice and nodded her agreement. âIâm more of the pastry person, but I know she has a few favorites. Iâll give her the day, and if sheâs still being stubborn, Iâll do that.â She brushed a lock of stray, mildly sweaty hair back out of her eyes and took another swig of her water bottle.
âWhat about you?â she questioned. âI didnât mean to make this all about me. Do you have someone here?â She was genuinely curious, too. She really wanted to get to know him, and it was probably the least she could do after dumping her baggage on him.
Solaire blinked at her in muted surprise; he had been so into talking about her issues that the thought of his own hadnât occurred to him. Well, at least he wasnât having issues, for the most part. Alexei was sweet and the pair had similar attitudes of âletâs have fun and hope for the bestâ, which honestly was about as much as you could hope for when you were used to people losing their minds and trying to kill you due to the hollow curse. âIâm seeing one of the hockey players,â he answered cheerily, and mimed holding a stick and hitting a puck just in case she was like him and had never heard of the sport. âTall, smiles a lot, has a terrifying cat. His name is Alexei, but heâs known as Tater.â
He fidgeted with his wrappings, eyes slipping to the side as he thought of the man. Solaire wasnât prone to getting ahead of himself, romance-wise, but he was happy where he was currently at, if nothing else. âI donât wish to brag,â he stated, and stood, âbut itâs a grand relationship so far! No oneâs died.â
Working his shoulder to loosen it up, he gestured with his chin to the ring. âWhat do you say to another go at it?â
âOh! I know who you mean. Iâm glad itâs going so well.â She had spoken with Alexei a time or two. He seemed very sweet, as did the cat he was so fond of. Terrifying was pretty apt, though, at least at first sight. She hadnât seen many domestic cats with teeth like that, so she certainly stuck in Adoraâs memory. He seemed like a good match for Solaire, from the few conversations sheâd had with both of them. They were both very cheerful, and she could see it working. Personally, despite their many issues, Adora loved her grumpy little cat girl more than anything.
There had been death there, though. She couldnât deny that, and she hated thinking about it. She could, hopefully, prevent a recurrence, which was part of why she got so insanely worried and protective. But that was a story for another time.
Following Solaire to her feet, she adjusted the strap of her left glove and nodded. âIâm ready! Prepare to have your butt kicked.â