1354/Sleeping on Moonlight

Sleeping on Moonlight
Date of Scene:	26 March 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Board Room
Synopsis:	Glimmer and Double Trouble have a talk, discussing what this world is like... then set off together to set. A ship. ON FIRE! Or at least rent one.
Cast of Characters:	Glimmer Brightmoon, Double Trouble

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Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon had... not been here long. A week or so. She uhhhh... was... what some might call a liiiiiiittle stressful. Someone had given her a gameboy(probably Takashi) and so she spent a lot of time on that...

In a hammock.

In his office. Lounging on it while it, very slowly, just rocked her back... and forth... "I will crush you, Koga... fear my jolteon..." she mumbled to herself as she played.

She'd eaten a lot during her recovery, of course. But now? Now she was kind of borrrrred.

Melog was there, sleeping on her stomach.

She refused to leave the rock out of her sight, unless Melog was on it. And the two seemed to almost... talk? Whenever she came back.

She still had the annoying habit of teleporting everywhere, rather than doing the MUNDANE thing... of *walking*. GASP!

Double Trouble has posed:
It's been a really tumultuous time for Double Trouble. First their girlfriend is nearly killed, only to be saved as she is dying in their arms. Then they helped rescue Glimmer from the Dusk Zone, and into Obsidian's clutches of course. Then their girlfriend got statued by Queen Beryl, and when they were reunited, showed them the portal to her homeworld.

The homeworld they planned to eventually go on to live in with her, when she ascended to power. If she ascended to power.

Thinking about leaving Earth, and abandoning Etheria, had been on their mind for some time. It was a sort of background thread of thought that they were always considering. Glimmer showing up brought that train of thought into the foreground. They knew she was stuck with Obsidian just like they were, at least for now, and they got on alright before. They felt hopeful to connect with somebody from home.

Besides, Glimmer was going to need a lot of catching up before she ever left Takashi's office. They just giggled thinking of Glimmer trying to get along out in Tokyo.

They stand outside Takashi's office door for a moment and listen. It sounds like it's just Glimmer, so they don't even bother knocking. They just enter. "Sorry it's taken me so long to come visit, sparkles," they say, as they let the door shut behind them and casually meander over toward her hammock. "Life's been such chaos lately."

The way they said that last sentence. They sound so happy.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon glanced over when the door opened and... Double Trouble. Glimmer teleported across the room, leaving the gameboy to drop harmlessly onto the hammock.

"Honestly, I'm surprised you came to me," Glimmer said before teleporting onto the other side of Double Trouble, her back to the reptile as she picked up a small bauble from the table. "I figured I'd have to come to you once I was cleared to leave."

Teleporting, leaving the bauble to drop to the table.

"They don't even really want me to leaving the building yet, you know? While they get everything sorted. Apparently they think I might cause an 'incident'," she said, making air quotes when she said that. "Me! Can you believe it?"

Then teleported again, onto her Moonstone. "I'm so borrrrred. It's almost as bad as being held captive, but none of my friends are in danger, yet, so that's nice."

Teleporting! Behind Double Trouble. "And how about you?" she asked, leaning in to their ear. "What have YOU been up to? Catra said Adora tried to strangle her and, while I'm sure she deserved it, since when does Adora give Catra what she deserves? You also said she... stabbed your girlfriend?"

Double Trouble has posed:
"It took a couple of weeks for all of my paperwork to go through, too," Double Trouble says, sympathetically. "Obsidian Tower is a dreary place to be stuck. But the world out there is very different than Etheria, sparkles." They turn around and smile at her. "That's why I'm here. I figured you'd be bored, and we've got plenty of things to catch up on."

They dart over and into the hammock, leaving it swaying just a little as they lay on their side looking at Glimmer. How are they not rolling over? "Sunbreaker is absolutely brilliant when it comes to magic, but she makes poor choices. This time it was mixing cookies laced with dark energy in with the cookies she was sharing with Adora. You know how Adora gets whenever she gets tainted with anything. It sounds like she really told of Catra, and now Catra thinks she knows how Adora really feels. And she came after Sunbreaker. I knew she was going to, and frankly I thought Sunbreaker needed a lesson like only She-Ra can teach."

They pause and take a deep breath. "I didn't expect she'd try to kill her, though." They gesture toward Takashi's new desk. "Takashi pulled the dark energy out of Adora, and I was able to get Sunbreaker to someone who could heal her, so it all worked out."

Then they sigh. "But now Adora knows I'm here."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
"That, at least, we agree on. I saw a wolfman earlier and, apparently, it's uncommon here. Or, well. He's from out of the system. JUST humans. They ONLY have humans here. Like, I can pass at least? But wow. Humans. Everywhere. Ugggggh," Glimmer groaned, teleporting around and picking up another small trinket.

"Sunbreaker, huh? Aren't suns like... stars? She wants to break one? Or she did break one? Does she come FROM a star? That'd be cool."

Teleporting, dropping the item behind. She really just kept moving things around his office. "Cookies sound good. And yeah... If Catra is from *that* time she's just going to keeeeep making the saaaaame mistakes and Adora, ohhhh Adora is going to be all 'Oh noooo, my cat! I need to save her from herself! Ahhhhh! Why won't she understaaaaaand?'"

Glimmer paused, nudging a small glowing object around on the desk. "I was... there. When Catra... when she stopped. When she finally realized... it wasn't what she wanted. When she finally realized what she wanted. 'A long time ago I promised I'd take care of her. It's time I make good on that promise'. If she... remembers nothing? That she did?"

"... I think you and I both know what Catra is capable of, during this time."

'There's not a single person in the whole universe who cares about me anymore.' Catra's words flared through her mind...

Ironic, in a way. Adora hadn't been the one there when Catra had turned the most...

It had always been Glimmer.

Melog, meanwhile, lifted its head and glanced up at Double Trouble, chirping a little.

Glimmer then teleported, standing over Double Trouble and leaning forward, hands on the hammock. "Soooooo. Just how nasty IS this Obsidian? You're here, so I figure they're at least not boring. And-- Wait. Since when do you DATE?"

Double Trouble has posed:
"She wants to depose the alicorn that rules her world. That alicorn is responsible for raising and lowering the sun. So, Sunbreaker," Double Trouble explains. They've been there. They've seen her world. They look thoughtful and then shake their head. "So no, I don't think the sun there is actually a star." They have a thought and then they giggle. "You should have seen her face the first time she saw Swift Wind."

They continue to lounge as they watch Glimmer teleport around the office. And then BAM she's right there in their face. Conversations with her are never dull, they've got to hand her that. They just remain calm and lounge like the lizard they are. "Nasty. Beryl, who is Takashi's boss presently, just held Sunbreaker in this suspended animation for several days where she could see and hear everything, but couldn't move or do anything." They look thoughtful for a moment. "Pretty sure a couple of the divisions are trying to destroy the world. There was a project a while ago to pull Tokyo into the dusk zone, which thankfully didn't work out. That would have been awful."

They scrunch their lips to the side. "I'm stuck here because I'm stuck using dark energy for my magic. That aligns my interests with Obsidians. You're stuck here because your Moonstone is here. The difference is you don't belong here, sparkles. You belong out there with Adora and Bow."

Then she asks about them dating and they let out an awkward laugh. "Since I met that stupid unicorn."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
"Ohhhhh. Depose an alicorn." Pause. "What's an alicorn? It sounds... complex. And oh, yeah. I think EVERYONE makes that face the first time they meet Swiftwind. He's a horse. And he TALKS!" Glimmer, obviously, didn't get it.

Glimmer gave a light hiss of her own at what Beryl did. "So... like Shadowweaver, then? Kind of cruel... vicious... a bitch? I uhhh... I've been there. Once. Before you... popped up. Shadowweaver.... did that. To me. Trapped me. I... broke out, but... it wasn't easy and did a lot of damage to me. Until Adora kind of... fixed it," she mumbled.

"... You know... you're conniving, manipulative, lying, a con artist and kind of a jerk. But... you aren't a world destroyer. You make it sound like they're pretty bad, even by your standards. Maybe you don't belong here either."

She gave a sigh and then turned, sitting on the hammock by her, jostling but not knocking the reptile out. "Do you think they'll win? Or hoping you find another way to use dark energy... which, frankly, I need to know more about. Is it like Scorpia's magic? Or Shadowweavers?"

As she sat, she kind of rocked back and forth, rocking poor Double Trouble a bit.

"... Wait, you're dating a *unicorn*?" Her eyes lit up and she whispered in an excited, hushed tone. "Unicorns are real here?"

Double Trouble has posed:
So many questions. She always asked so many questions. "Horses are horses. Unicorns have horns. Pegasi have wings. Alicorns have both. Swift Wind is an alicorn," they say, taking a somewhat instructional tone. They've certainly had it explained to them several times. "And Sunbreaker's a unicorn back on her homeworld, but she's a girl here. This world is weird. It's magic changes us sometimes. I'm sixteen, for example."

"Beryl's worse news than Shadow Weaver, but yeah, you got the idea. She's so bad she drove her whole staff to defect to the good side," they say. Then they laugh, thinking of their recent conversation with Mamoru. "Not that any of them actually belonged here either." They sure do seem to have opinions about who does and does not belong at Obsidian, and they do not comment on Glimmer's suggestion that maybe they don't either.

"Honestly? My end game is to get off this magic-forsaken rock. Sunbreaker's going to take me with her to Kirakirafantastica. I don't need dark energy there, because there's actual magic. You should stay away from it, though, sparkles. It corrupts, and not just by giving you power. It makes you make worse choices. It makes you think worse of people. It draws out all your rage and cruelty and malice. And that's how you get Adora trying to murder someone."

They let their tail unwind and then idly wind just once around her waist, like an arm but their arms are up behind their head. Sort of a friendly sort of hug there in the hammock. "No, I don't think they'll win. Adora's not alone out there. There's so many magical teens in this city, Glimmer, and some of them are even more powerful than Adora."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon says, "... Wait, you're sixteen? But you're like.... a shapeshifter. How can you tell? Wait, how old WERE you before? On Etheria? And... wait. Isn't that just a pegasus? Is there pegasi with wings and no horns? I thought like... pegasi were just unicorns but better?"

Sunbreaker would NOT like this girl. AT ALL!

Glimmer couldn't help but laugh at what Beryl had done. "Really? All of them? HA! She sounds like Catra! Err, no offense to..." Pause. "Actually, no, she's not here. Entirely offense to Catra."

Upon hearing the name of KKF... she gave a light snort. "It sounds.... like an interesting place? But... oh... oh... That's... what it is? Dark energy? It's... like a poison? Like when Adora was corrupted by... no... different, huh" I'll... try. But..." She glanced back towards the Moonstone. "I might not have a choice."

"... The magic here is different. Even I can tell. Sure, right here? Next to the Moonstone? I could teleport all day. Nothing new."

"But even leaving the room, I can feel myself getting... weaker. Like there's something... tugging at me. Draining me. Trying to stop me from 'going', as it were. It's like there's a big leak in my power and it's constantly being drained away. I'm admittedly... kind of scared to leave. What if I leave the building and I can't use any of my power at all?""

Double Trouble has posed:
So many questions that it makes it easy for Double Trouble to pick and choose which ones they answer. Glimmer can't blame them for not keeping up. "Yeah. That's actually why Takashi reports to her now. His team got moved from a different division. There's so much bureaucracy here."

They sway in the hammock for a moment while they ponder Glimmer's predicament. They feel almost prescient knowing that she is, in fact, facing almost exactly the situation they had used as an explanation for why they were affiliated with Obsidian when they first met Adora wearing Glimmer's face.

"Most everybody here has some sort of magical device that turns them from non-magical to magical. Mine lock me into a particular shape and keep it stable without me having to expend magical energy like I normally do. Maybe if you figured out some way to have a henshin like that, your magic would be more stable away from the Moonstone," they theorize. They're no Sunbreaker, but they're also no slouch in the sorcery department.

Then they shift in the hammock so they're leaning up against Glimmer with their arm around her shoulder. "Did you really mean all those adjectives you called me earlier?" The way they say it, it's clear they hope she did mean them. "And do you want to mess with Adora?"

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon nodded along. "Huh. So he's kind of like... what was Catra... a force captain? I figured he was like the Hordak here. Or maybe he is and they're just going to betray him in the end, too. That's what they did to Hordak. The moment he was with Horde Prime... he was going to wipe his mind, erase it. Then wipe out our planet for having experienced the 'Horde' that wasn't his. Horde Prime was a monster."

"... And this place compares..." she muttered, rocking back and forth.

And so Double Trouble gave them the means by which they could, possibly... transform. A way 'out'. Well. At least the information. She sighed, teleporting away and causing the hammock to shift wildly again and leave Double Trouble nobody to lean against. Picking up a pencil and then teleporting away, dropping it on the ground as she picked up another babule.

"I did. Judging by what I heard from Catra? You did your job. Perfectly. Sent all of the Horde right into our traps. You believed we'd win, so you turned on them. I'd like to believe that you did it out of the goodness of your heart... but I find that unlikely."

"I learned a lot from you... and from Shadowweaver. Not just magic. But how to lie. How to deceive. Betray... I learned a lot..."

"... So who's side are you on? And... more importantly..."

She teleported across the room, again, leaning against the wall.

"Are you for hire? Because, frankly? ... Yeah, I'll probably have to mess with Adora. But I *definitely* want to mess with Catra. I'm also going to need a cover. I can't just like... tell Adora 'Oh, I'm evil now, mwa ha ha ha ha!' or anything. And if she knows the Moonstone is here? She'll come running in, sword swinging, and get herself killed. I love her buuuuut... she's... not the sharpest sword in the armory."

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble shifts in the hammock but Glimmer's sudden departure makes the physics all wrong and they end up spinning over and spilling out onto the floor with a thunk. They're graceful most of the time. And then sometimes they get dumped on the floor.

Instead of just getting up, though, they shift. Their body becoming an inky black cloud of possibility and reforming as their version of Glimmer. "Well, about that," she says. "Adora already thinks you're here. Though right now she probably suspects it was me. But I've been pretending to be you for a little while now."

Then they shift back into themselves and find a nearby chair to drape themselves over. "The story I gave her at first was that my magic didn't work here because I didn't have the Moonstone, and so I was forced to use dark energy. That's not too far off from your truth." They don't mention how Glimmer's face is the one they wore when they pushed Adora toward Catra. It's better if she finds that out later. "So all I'm saying is, maybe you don't even need to explain anything to Adora. You could just carry on being the slightly evil Glimmer I've been playing the last few months."

"As far as whose side I'm on?" They laugh. "You've known me long enough to know I'm on my side."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon couldn't help but giggle when Double Trouble took a fall. She'd be lying if she said seeing it wasn't INCREDIBLY satisfying. And deserved. Not that she'd rub it in. She didn't have a lot of friends here, why risk shoving away the one who was offering.

"Huh. And here I was planning to just pretend that one of Horde Prime's clones or something had chipped me. But it would be a lot easier if I could just say at the end it was you pretending to be me or something," she said with a sigh.

"... I mean, the obvious answer would be to just tell her the truth. They have my rock, I need her help. But then she'd try and do that self sacrificing thing and.... yeah. I'd rather... not."

"... But, there's a huge difference depending on which side you consider really on 'your' side. You really did teach me a lot, Double Trouble. Primarily... how to watch. Learn. Study. Understand my enemy..." she mumbled, a thoughtful look on her face. "So... how bad IS Catra right now? Cause.... I mean. I hired your troupe for the engagement festival. Adora must be losing her *mind* if Catra's gone back to being full-jerk full-time. So, what. Last time Catra didn't join us until..." Pause. "Until she lost... everything... Oh... oh no... is she... still so self destructive?" Pause. "Is Adora?"

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble leans back in their chair, tipping it back onto two feet, but stabilizing it with their tail. "I'm here because Obsidian found me when I was living like a beast in the woods halfway around the world from here. They gave me a rice ball and a device and helped me find housing and food. They've taken care of me. They've given me free reign to sow whatever chaos I want to and the tools I need to sow it."

Their chair tips forward and they rise up out of it, zipping across the room to lean against the wall next to Glimmer. "I could even pretend to be you still. Just think of the potential drama if we're both going around taking suspicion from each other." Their hands motion in front of them like they're framing a scene.

They push off the wall and start to meander around Takashi's office, just looking at things, but not picking them up. "She was certainly self-destructive when she had all that dark energy in her. That's what it does. But she's usually just her normal meathead self. So, as you can imagine, thing shave gone swimmingly with Catra."

They end up in the middle of the room and put a hand on the Moonstone. "I'll help you mess with Catra, but really, if I were you, my number one priority would be figuring out how to get this rock out of here. But, you know, on the down low."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon watched Double Trouble's movements, the way the traversed the room... Measuring each word.

There it was. That bit of the queen that Double Trouble had known. It had been a long, difficult journey there. They'd seen the girl get crushed by her duties as a queen... and eventually rise up to them. She was a stubborn thing, that girl. Maybe not always the smartest. But not weak. Not easily beaten.

"I'll think about it. They don't... seem so bad. Obsidian. But lots of people don't until they betray you."

She sighed and crossed her arms, teleporting to pick up another trinkets.

"... If you end up in this... place. Kirakirafantastica?" Oh, THAT name she gets right. "... When we get home to Etheria. Is there anything you want me to tell your troupe? So... they know? They understand why you left? You were kind of their star."

She teleported back to the hammock, landing with a bounce and making Melog give a light growl.

"... This Takashi. Catra works for him... I'm guessing you do too, somewhat. How bad is he?"

She, noteably, doesn't mention getting the Moonstone out of here.

But ohhhh, she was DEFINITELY trying to find a way to get it out. Even if Obsidian WASN'T evil... she'd try to find a way. Beside the idea of the Moonstone in the hands of ANYONE who isn't her? Especially NOW? That's terrifying to her. And she does not like it.

Double Trouble has posed:
"Most of the people aren't actually all that bad. Takashi is a jerk, but his heart is in the right place, even if his methods are misguided. Sunbreaker is driven by her trauma just like Catra is, but she sets limits to keep herself from going too far off the dark end. It's the upper management that's worrisome. It's the big picture. They're not playing small-time."

Double Trouble zips over to lean against a wall near the hammock, giving them a good line of sight on Glimmer and Melog. They smirk. "And I don't work for Takashi. I'm a freelancer. I help out here and there, when I want to. I'd say my number one job is bailing my girlfriend out of her own mistakes. And after that, I work for HR."

They zip over to the hammock, and this time it's their turn to loom over Glimmer. But instead they just pull a business card out of their pocket and hold it out for Glimmer to see. It lists their job title as "Actor - Thespian - Poet - Agent - Talent Scout".

"As far as my troupe? Tell them I fell in love with a non-stop disaster. They'll understand."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon gave a soft sigh. "So a whole bunch of not-Hordaks with a variety of Horde Prime's at the top? Sounds... Awful. Just awful. Then throw in old Catra to the mix and Adora with... ohhhhh. This is going to be suuuuuuch a headaaaaaache," she whiiiiiined, her voice going high like they'd heard so often.

"Wait, bailing someone OUT of trouble? Not INTO trouble?" Glimmer took the card, cocking an eye. "That doesn't sound like you. You make it sound almost like you're in--"

And then Double Trouble says it. "You... you fell in LOVE?! YOU? Oh! I have to tell Bow! Wait, I can't. Adora! AGH! Perfuma? NO! Dang it! Ugggggh! And Catra isn't TALKING TO ME! Melog, did you hear? Double Trouble fell in LOVE! With... a unicorn." Pause. Blink blink. "It would take a make believe creature of fantasy to do it, huh? And uhhhh... sorry about Adora almost killing them then, no hard feelings?"

"OH! Telling Sea Hawk about this would be PERFECT! He'd have a song."

She then kicked up-- and teleported across the room. "RIGHT! No more hanging out here. Double Trouble! You are going to take me out into the world. If I have supervision I can't break anything, right? And therefore I can finally LEAVE this tower! We're going to go celebrate! Lets get a boat!"

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble just stands there and looks awkward for a moment as Glimmer goes on about how remarkable it is that they fell in love. Then they finally say, "Nobody was more surprised than me, sparkles." Then they pause, their eyes glancing down toward their tail as it swishes around and they grab hold of it to fidget just a little. "Well, except her."

"She's so stupid sometimes," they say, their eyes turning up toward the ceiling instead. Oh they're in love bad.

Then they reach into a pocket and pull out a necklace. It's a pentacle hanging from a titanium chain. They drop it over their head, and shift into an unfamiliar face. A girl with long black hair, all black clothes, so many piercings, and a visible attitude.

"If we leave the room together, you've got to promise me you're going to walk everywhere. And if we rent a boat, you need to swear you will not pull a Sea Hawk," she says, and then she rests her hand on the handle. "Oh, and call me Shiori. Shiori Ishii."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon gave a firm nod. "Fine! I'll walk everywhere like a boring person. Ugggh. I guess if you can hold one form for a bit, I can at least not teleport for a while. Melog, keep an eye on the Moonstone, okay? Maul anybody who tries to touch it!"

Melog glanced over and gave a mrowl.

"Good kitty. And I won't pull a Sea Hawk! I promise! So long as YOU promise that if we HAVE to pull a Sea Hawk, I can throw at least one of the torches." Because why not burn a ship down TOGETHER?! If the option is there.