J,GoB, Saturday Morning

[grayskollar]

Adora was not having a very good weekend, and after a brief and unsuccessful attempt to escape the island was trying to deal with her feelings the best way she knew.

Well, second best, but since there was no way she was going anywhere near the dorms right now, the punching bag in that gym was out. But as second best options went, a buttery, sugary pastry thing the size of her head was a very good second best.

[Open!]

Comments

[shadywinemom]

"The tea in this place is terrible."

If Adora actually wanted to avoid her hiding in a bakery on the same, small island certainly wasn't going to work, certainly not when becoming She-Ra and joining the Princesses had only proved a temporary refuge.

[grayskollar]

Did Shadow Weaver listen to her own narrative?

Adora, who was very bad at attempting to pointedly ignore Shadow Weaver and really wanted Catra about now, shrugged and picked up her own cup. "Seems alright to me."

She wasn't even trying to be passive-aggressive, it tasted perfectly fine.

After all, it wasn't her fault she didn't have discerning tastebuds.

[shadywinemom]

Shadow Weaver sighed and topped up her cup with a small flask from somewhere within her robes.

"Somewhere I failed you."

Did you even listen to yourself, Shadow Weaver?

[grayskollar]

For a long, long moment Adora just stared, then a hysterical giggle bubbled its way up her throat.

"You think?"

[shadywinemom]

Most people might have been concerned to get that response. Shadow Weaver just sipped her tea, grimaced under her mask, and added more from her flask.

"Really, Adora."

[grayskollar]

Still fighting to get the giggling under control, Adora slammed her hand on the table. "You think that's where you failed us?"

[shadywinemom]

When it came to mistakes she was prepared to own right that minute? Yes. "Adora, I realise you're upset." For some reason. "But is this the time to be hung up on the past?"

[grayskollar]

Adora had blown all the past upset.

"Why? Because you're dead? Because you died in front of us?" One of the many things she hadn't even begun to deal with yet.

[shadywinemom]

"Well, yes." Shadow Weaver. No. Stop. You weren't helping. "I mean it was quite an impressive sacrifice."

Why were you like this, Shadow Weaver?

[grayskollar]

Why was Adora even surprised at this point?

"And you think that makes everything okay?" Beat. "Of course you do. You really do think it works like that."

[shadywinemom]

That was exactly how it worked, Shadow Weaver sacrificed herself in a glorious blaze of booze, fire and magic and that fixed everything with Adora and Catra.

Right?

[grayskollar]

"That's not how it works! You don't sacrifice yourself to win an argument, or force people to forgive you, or because you think it's the only thing you're good for!"

One of those things was not like the others.

[shadywinemom]

Shadow Weaver needed to regain control of this conversation.

"Does it even matter why I did it? I'm still dead."

...that was not going to do it.

[grayskollar]

"And I'm allowed to be upset about that!" And angry, and so many other feelings she didn't know how to tease apart. Not least because of how Shadow Weaver had messed her up. "And apparently it wasn't even because it was the right thing to do, or because you cared about us."

[shadywinemom]

And there was the impending and no longer ignorable sense of guilt, bearing down her.

Shadow Weaver didn't even bother with the pretence of the teacup this time. "It's not that simple."

[grayskollar]

"Of course it's not!" That did not sound anything like agreement. "Of course doing one good thing as you died didn't fix everything. It couldn't even start to fix anything. Do you even realise just how badly you broke us?"

[shadywinemom]

Somehow, by some miracle, Shadow Weaver realised there was nothing she could say right now that wouldn't make this worse.

Somehow.

[grayskollar]

"We were children, Shadow Weaver." Adora was on a roll, now. "We loved you and you taught us that we weren't worthy of being loved in return, that we had to meet impossible expectations for even a scrap of affection. You made us afraid of you when we should have been able to count on you to protect us.

"We both almost died because of how you messed us up. I don't know that either of us is ever really going to be okay, and I'm scared we wont."

[shadywinemom]

"Adora..." Shadow Weaver looked away. "You're right."

[grayskollar]

"Yeah." Adora stood up and turned from the table. "I wish I weren't."