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One of the things that Catra hated in life was silence.
Sometimes, she craved it. Other times, she loathed it. When she was a kit, she'd crave it, thanks to her growing ears and connected enhanced hearing problems. The noises of Halfmoon eased her pain when she was a fresh kitten, and as she grew, the noises of the Fright Zone replaced the soft sounds of nearby purring and hissing. The little blonde girl who insisted on being her best friend helped to fill the silence too. Catra latched onto her equally as tightly - needing a warm source who didn't make her fear for her life.
The little blonde girl was a hot child, often referred to as the "heater" of the group. In the harsh winter months, all the bunkmates would curl around her until she turned seven, and a green reptile arrived. Then everyone flocked to him because he was bigger, which left her all to Catra. The little blonde girl breathed in a different way to everyone as well: soft and nearly silent. Of course, thanks to her hearing, Catra could still hear the snores from the angry braided girl next to her, but when she concentrated, she'd hear the little blonde girl the loudest - even if she were the quietest.
In her teenage years, her hearing changed again, and she craved the silence again. The blonde spotty girl, now changing as well and struggling to coordinate her limbs, would wrap her red jacket around Catra's head at night to help muffle the sounds, even as she shivered in the December winds. When they turned thirteen exactly, their group was sliced in half. So was the sound of the room. To help ease her plight, the spotty blonde girl would whisper beneath her breath until Catra fell asleep, knowing she'd hear and settle into a slumber.
Then they grew up more, and Catra grew into her hearing. Too much noise would make her angry, but too little would make her wary. That's not her fault: that's just how they grew up. But the mature blonde girl would help her manage this in every way she could.
Until she left, and the silence was the loudest quiet Catra had ever heard.
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Another thing that Catra hated in life was crowds.
Kinda ironic that she led an army for a year, but eh. In a crowd, she could get lost. Crowds were great in the war: she could fuck around with Adora and then fade into the sea of people, never to be seen unless she wanted to be found. But on the same side, she could lose somebody in the crowd. After the war had finished, the rebellion had been so swamped by civilians, that Catra lost sight of everyone except Scorpia - and that was only because of her height. Consequently, it took her forty-five minutes to escape the crowd, and a further fifteen to find her girlfriend wayward blonde best friend. At the edge of the mountain, having been lucky enough to have avoided the crowd, lay an unconscious Adora - thoroughly drained from the day's events. Catra wiggled her limbs around until they were more comfortable, and promptly passed out next to her.
The next time she was in a crowd was the day the Queen's daughter held her Royal Blessings - and the day Adora went into labour with their son. Nobody expected the two warriors to fall pregnant at similar times, but it was easier for Sparkles to have her child - all she had to do was take dick. Catra and Adora spent months going through various hoops and complications trying to have their baby. Royal custom was to announce the birth of the new heir, or further offspring, forty-eight hours after birth, show the child seven days afterwards, and hold Royal Blessings when they were twelve weeks old. With the Royal Blessings, came a huge celebration. All the Kingdoms celebrated the birth - and so did every citizen of the kingdom to which the child was born.
But Adora wasn't due to have their baby until Sparkles' baby was nearly four months old. But she went into labour a month early - smack bang in the middle of the Royal Blessings. As Royal Advisor, both her and Adora, but Catra had taken on Adora's duties until she was able to again (partially thanks to her morning sickness, but in other hand to her riskiness of being pregnant - too many miscarriages had done that for them), and Catra was physically unable to get pregnant thanks to something the Horde did to her when she was young.
But as Royal Advisor, on two accounts, Catra had to be there for the initial Royal Blessing - done by the council of Brightmoon and the leaders of the other Kingdoms, then she could stay for the other blessings, or leave for other matters. Adora had begged her to stay, as godmother to baby Angella, so Catra promised.
But then the panicked phone call from Scorpia, keeping an eye on Adora while Perfuma attended on her behalf (seeing as they'd merged Plumeria and the Scorpioni kingdom in political affairs after their marriage) came in, saying Adora had begun to bleed and contract... right in the middle of the celebrations, leaving Catra to try and battle through the crowd to be by her side. Consequently, she very nearly missed the birth of her son, but made it there, quite literally, by the skin of her teeth, barely sitting down before he was put in her arms, screaming and bloody as they attempted to stop the bleeding from her partner.
Thanks to Adora's part-time status as Princess of Etheria, she was asked to follow the Royal Protocol of their son too - which she was fine to do, but Catra didn't want to, because it meant a large crowd.
And she hated crowds.
-----
She also hated minor things: like shoes left in the way.
That was a big killer for her. Shortly after Finn was born, Catra sat at Adora's bedside, watching as she breastfed him, fully enamoured, helping rub in some anti-inflammatory gel onto her stomach scar from the haemorrhage. "Marry me," She blurted. Adora snorted, brushing some of Finn's golden tufts out of the way. "Sure," Catra shook her head, grabbing her free hand. "Seriously," She said, locking eyes. Adora frowned for a moment, taking back her hand to burp Finn over her shoulder. "I mean it. I love you, and I love that you're the mother to our son, and will be to any other future children, and I love that you're my best friend, so-" She paused. "Marry me," Adora sobbed, hugging her with Finn sandwiched in the middle, much to his displeasure, whispering "yes" over again.
So, six months later, Catra was arguing with Adora in the hallway of their home. "I don't give a shit what you wear, just be you!" She snapped, tapping her foot and bouncing Finn. Adora growled. "I asked you because I don't know what to wear!" She hissed, jumping as she attempted to pull on her slightly heeled shoe. They were heading to their pre-vows dinner, a weird tradition, but whatever. Catra rolled her eyes. "Truthfully, it's gonna be on the floor after the dinner, so I don't care. Just wear what you wanna wear," She met her fiance's eyes, watching as a fierce blush bloomed onto her cheeks. "Even more a reason to help me choose!"
Previously, the night before, Sparkles had been round with Arrows - and had gotten incredibly drunk with Catra - but she stopped when she started to feel sick. Sparkles didn't, and at some point, she lost her shoes and cape.
Remember that. It's gonna be crucial.
Adora kept bitching about her dress and if it looked nice if she'd leaked because she was braless because you couldn't really wear a bra with the dress she was wearing, but she was still feeding and-
then she tripped and fell over Sparkles' left shoe. Catra heard the bone snap as Finn began laughing loudly, drowning out the sound of Adora's cries.
A hospital visit later determined a broken ankle and a postponed wedding - for another year. Adora wanted a winter wedding, and Catra wanted her happy - so they waited a year and wed on the highest cliff side on Etheria as it snowed from above - Adora and their upcoming baby in her white gown, Catra in her golden suit, Finn toddling along in a mix of both.
-----
She also hated little things like Adora's hair.
Not quite true, but also true. Adora decided that she loved her long hair, and loved being able to braid it long - like Perfuma. Catra kept hers short for a while, before also growing it out and ponytailing it, like Adora used to do. Finn grew up to be an annoyingly well-behaved ten-year-old, like Adora, while their daughter, Mara, was a bit more of a handful, like Catra. Finn decided at ten that he wasn't sure why he liked having long hair some months, then short hair other months, and why sometimes he felt like neither boy nor girl - so they came out as non-binary, which confused seven-year-old Mara to the point where she cried that Finn wasn't her brother anymore - and it took several months to explain that Finn was still her brother, but wasn't a he or she.
But that's beside the point. They wanted more children, but after Adora lost their third in a way that very nearly took her life, they decided to cap it at two: a non-binary son and a daughter. Their carbon copies in all ways - and a nice mix of both. Finn kept their hair short like Catra's, but Mara loved braiding Adora's, and vice versa.
Mara's hair was the same brown as Catra's, so it was easy to identify whose hair would block the hoover - too long to be Finn's, and way too blonde to be anyone else's - or block the drain in the shower. Catra knew hair loss was a normal part of human and magicat physiology, yet, Adora seemed to drop a whole ass hairball every time she showered - and it drove Catra insane.
-----
Finn's thirteenth and Mara's tenth birthday were... affairs. Both were born at similar periods, there were three weeks between them both. Shortly after their eleventh and eighths, respectively, came a sickness that slowly took hold of Brightmoon. Nobody thought too much of it, as most were ok, apart from Runestone users - such as the Princesses and Adora. It took hold slowly, but once it had its claws in, took over quickly. Adora fought and fought, and every third day, when she'd bathe, Catra would quietly dispose of the chunks of blonde hair into the toilet and flush it away - flush her golden locks away.
The sickness took Perfuma first - nearly killing Scorpia in the process. She was only held together by Entrapta. Then it nearly took Sparkles - but she managed to relinquish her connection to the stone and avoid the cold clutches of death. Just when they thought the sickness had gone, and their children had aged up again, it claimed her beautiful Dodo in sleep.
It took all of Catra's willpower to usher her children out of the house and to Scorpia's - who begged to have them nearby - as their godparents. She needed to have familiar company. Catra robotically had Sparkles and Arrows come back to their house and help her work out her next steps.
A month later, Adora was buried on the highest cliffside in Etheria - next to where she spoke to the She-Ra before her, where they declared their love for one another, where she announced the pregnancies of both their babies and where they married. Finn turned thirteen, and Mara, ten, twelve and fifteen weeks after Adora's burial. Mara refused to move her hairstyle from anything other than a braid or a poofed ponytail, just like Adora, and dyed her hair blonde for a year before she seemed to improve a little. Finn was lucky in that they had her hair colour and eye colour already - so that helped the grief. Mara also had Adora's grey eyes, but not her hair.
Catra often found herself wondering her home, long after the kids had gone out or to bed, cleaning. She'd move shoes out of the way, or hoover away some of Mara's part blonde part brown hair from the floor. Then she'd shower and pluck out the long brown hair of her daughter. She used to rib Dodo for leaving hair in the drain.
Now all she did was look for it, hoping she'd find that clump of blonde hair, blocking the drain again.