1493/Long Time, No See

Long Time, No See
Date of Scene:	05 May 2024
Location:	Plot Room 4
Synopsis:	Adora gets an alert from Swiftwind about Dark Energy, and decides to check it out after a several weeks out of action. She doesn't expect to find Catra there, but she does, and the two of them just talk, for just a short time.
Cast of Characters:	Catra, Adora Rainbowfist

---

Catra has posed:
It's been several days since Catra met with Sunbreaker, and got her first lesson is using dark energy to make magic. It's been even longer than that since she last saw Adora, and that encounter was... violent, to say the least. THe bruises around Catra's neck have faded, and you'd be hard pressed to see any evidence if you didn't know what to look for at this point.

Catra isn't thinking about that right now. She's got other things on her mind; mainly, the afore-mentioned magic lesson, and her desire -- no, need -- to put it into practice. It's not like there's a half dozen and change worth of princesses on this planet, the place seems to be basically crawling with them, and they all like sticking their noses in as often as possible. (Well, except maybe Rashmi, she seems like she's more or less harmless. So far. Maybe.)

So, now, Catra is sitting in the middle of the floor, of the abandoned dojo that Adora had been sleeping in while she was infected. The walls are still damaged from Catra's last visit here, but she's otherwise cleaned up the mess in a rare bout of productiveness, and is arranged cross-legged, holding her hands out in front of her, repeateing the exercises that Sunbreaker put her through. So far, she's really good at making little sparks and puffs of smoke between her hands, and is growing increasingly frustrated by the moment. Here earbuds are in, playing something loud by Kidney Thieves; her sword is beside her, with the blade manifested and stuck vertically into the floor.

She might not be having a lot of success, but her efforts aren't undetectible, either. She's not exactly shining like a beacon, but anyone nearby who knows what to look for would probably notice something. For her part, the feline is either unaware or unconcerned about getting noticed. What's anyone gonna do? Report a beastgirl from another planet to the authorities?

Whatever.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora has had a rough go of things since the Incident. The long, horrible incident. After she returned to the school and healed up, she pretty much hid herself away in her dorm for weeks on end. She avoided the Princess Prom entirely, and saw her friends very, very little. She worked on her coursework in her room, and basically did what she could to ignore the rest of the world.

Swiftwind was not happy. He was worried about the girl, and for obvious reasons. Adora was Not Okay during the incident, but she was still not okay. It just wasn't with capital letters, anymore. She had guilt and nausea stemming from the things she saw herself doing...or that she remembered doing herself in the beginning. The brutal fight with Catra and the things she said to her were on repeat like some bad movie in her head.

Over the last week, however, she'd begun venturing from her room. First to the lunch area, then to the gym, then finally, to classrooms. She still avoided interactions with her friends, though. Well, all except for Swiftiwind, that is, who couldn't really be avoided. He'd come to her this evening to tell her he'd sensed dark magic coming from the location of her previous hidey hole, and in a currently rare fit of bravado, she'd agreed to go check it out.

She slips through the door of the dojo and glances about, surprised at how much it's been cleaned up. But then she spots Catra in her seated position, clearly trying to do something with magic. She freezes.

Catra has posed:
Ordinarily, Catra would most certainly have noticed by now. She's never been easy to sneak up on; a combination of keen hearing and hypervigilance will do that. Right now though, Catra seems to be in a very rare state of being so plugged into her music and so focused on what she's doing, she hasn't noticed that someone else is present in the dojo.

A few inches apart, she holds her hands; and with a look of deep concentration, with her fingers quivering as if straining to lift something heavy and with her teeth clenched, she tried again. In her mind's eye it's a furious lightning bolt that levels half the dojo.

In reality, it's a couple of sparks.

The feline gasps, pithing forwards as she releases all the tension she had built up from the attempt; and almost immediately her face contorts with anger.

"Typical," she snarls, before dropping her face into her hands. "An entire planet full of magic users and I'm the *one* person who can't do it. I can hear Shadow Weaver laughing already."

And about that moment, the song she was listening to ends; there's a moment of silence before the next track, and Catra's ear twitches. Mis-matched eyes narrow, and she switches off the music.

"Is someone there?" she accuses. "'Cause if you are I should warn you I am a bad person and I hurt people for making me mad."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
She watches all of this from her corner near the door, a worried look on her face. Catra learning this magic is not a good thing. That stuff is all about Dark Energy, and Adora happens to have a pretty big issue with that stuff now...and for a decently good reason. She sucks in a breath at the spark. Even though it's no explosion, knowing the girl can do even THAT is a bit alarming to her.

She takes a few more steps in, frowning when she hears what Catra says to herself. But then she'd noticed, even though she isn't spotted, and she sighs.

"Don't compare yourself to Shadow Weaver. She gave up her personality for magic. Or, it seemed that way, anyways. Kitten, you shouldn't..." Adora trails off, her voice immediatly recognizable. "...No. I'm not gonna scold you for trying to learn magic. You aren't a child. I won't talk down to you. But...as...as -Adora-...don't. Don't do this."

She walks fully into view.

Catra has posed:
The moment it becomes apparent just who it is who's found her, Catra springs to her feet and yanks her sword out of the floor where she'd lodged it. Her phone tumbles off to the side, and she yanks her earbuds out, tossing them after it as she drops into a defensive stance, with the blade helf up in front of her, ready to ward off an attack.

An attack that doesn't come. Just an aborted scolding that turns into pleading. At first, the feline is silent, her eyes narroed to slits, shining in the dim light; her ears lay flat and her breathing is fast, her fingers grip the sword tightly as she watches Adora. At first, her tail is down around her ankles, but as soon as she accepts that Adora isn't about to attack her, it starts lashing the air behind her.

"So that's it?" she demands. "It's been *weeks* with no sign of you, and after the last time you faced each other your opening gambit is oh, please Catra, *don't* make yourself strong enough to defend yourself here, please stay weak so I can throttle you again? Is that it?"

As she speaks, she backs away a step; she glances down, and kicks her phone into a corner behind her, where she can retrieve it later, but otherwise her eyes stay locked on Adora. "What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be off saving little brats or something?"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
She starts to look hurt at the words, but she forces the expression away. She furrows her brow instead and glances down at her feet. She sees the girl take the defensive stance and she doesn't move from where she is standing. Her own posture is in no way aggressive, though her bracelet that becomes the Sword is visible. She usually always wears it, afterall.

"No. No, that's -not- it. I just know what that stuff does to people. Sure, it effected me differently then most but...I...still. It still tears you up and warps your thoughts and...and your decisions become...all...it causes -this-!" She gestures vaguely, as if signifying the situation between them.

"I didn't come here to fight you. I didn't even know it WAS you here. Swiftwind sensed dark energy in the dojo I used as a homebase and...and I needed something to get my feet moving. But I'm glad it's you."

Catra has posed:
"Why, because you know you can beat me?" Catra spits back. "Maybe not for much longer, Adora, so enjoy it while it lasts."

Still, it seems like there isn't any immediate threat of getting a thrashing, so slowly, gradually, Catra relaxes her stance. She still holds the sword, but she straightens, shifting to just hold the weapon with one hand and the blade hanging horizontal behind her back, as her mismatched eyes look up and down over her former friend.

"It's not the same for everybody," she replies. "Sunbreaker does just fine with it. So does Riventon. And yeah it hurts and burns to use it, but not everyone's like *you*, Adora. Not everyone gets to be the Chosen One. Not everyone gets to just... find a sword in the woods and turn into She-Ra. Some of us actually have to do things the hard way."

She retreats a few more steps, backin up to where she can pick up her phone and stuff it jealously into a pocket of her jacket, all without taking her eyes off Adora. For a moment, she just breathes, watching the blonde girl suspiciously.

"What the hell've you been up to these last few weeks, anyway? I was beginning to think you'd tried to go back to Etheria, or whatever's left of it."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"You always say it like that," Adora sighs. "Like things working out for me like that is -my- fault. I didn't choose to be kidnapped from another world. Or to be She-Ra, initially. But when I had the opportunity to do something good and help people, I took it. Once I really saw the horrible things we were doing. That they were doing." She adjusts her ponytail, watching Catra. She moves closer, but not close enough, hopefully, to put the girl back on the defensive.

"And yeah, I know that YOU knew it was all lies and we were being used, but I didn't. I'm DUMB, and we both know it. I can't put that stuff together really easily, and I usually take people at their word. But that used to be something you -liked- about me." She turns a bit to idly push at one of the old, hanging punching bags as she talks. "I know you've had it rougher then me. I've never said you didn't. But it wasn't easy leading a rebellion, either. We were underarmed, understaffed, and undertrained. Just desperate people trying not to be exterminated or enslaved. That isn't -easy-. That isn't a -vacation-."

She glances back over, returning her full attention to Catra. "I spent a few weeks in my room. Healing, at first." Those scars on her cheek and chin are permanent now, and the shift of light brings them suddenly into stark relief for the beast girl. "And then catching up on schoolwork. Okay, that's partially a lie. I was mostly just avoiding everything and everyone. I hurt people. I said and did bad things. Terrible things. And I know you're telling yourself they are things I always -wanted- to say...because it reinforces your anger and cynicism and hatred of me...but it isn't that simple. So I avoided people because I couldn't face them. This last week I started going out and...doing things again. And now this. So there. That's what I've been doing. What about you?"

Catra has posed:
"Maybe you didn't but you chose to leave *me*," Catra snaps back. And behind what she says, there is more boiling palpably beneath the surface, all of it focused on a broken promise. A promsie Adora made and broke when she became She-Ra. Or at least, that's the only narrative Catra's been able to accept.

She watches Adora move around the room, and doesn't forfeit her sword but doesn't raise it either. "Oh yes, you had it so hard, surrounded by people who loved you and worshipped you for everything you did," she adds, "Meanwhile Shadow Weaver and Hordak both tried to kill me and the Horde soldiers all hated me, even when I was Force Captain. Even though I *almost* destroyed Brightmoon, which was closer than anyone else ever got."

The beast girl sucks in her breath, and lets it out slowly. "Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. We're not *on* Etheria, what happened there doesn't matter." Yes it does. "The last few weeks? Me? Same things I've always done. Villain stuff." She cried a lot, actually. "Hurt people who didn't deserve it." She looked at her neck in the mirror every day while it healed and felt increasingly depressed as it got better. "Started learning dark magic so I can defend myself better, 'casue apparently I need that around here." She pauses, and shrugs her shoulders, as she backs away another step, but this time just so she can sit on a bench beyond the edge of the fighting ring. "Tried... learning some motorcycle tricks," she mumbles. "Motorcycles are pretty cool. One of the few things about this planet that doesn't totally suck."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"NO. YOU chose not to come WITH me. With everything you knew was going on in the Horde, and a clear way out -with- me, and you backed down. YOU chose. NOT me. YOU abandoned. NOT me."

The venom that was in her voice when corrupted is not there, but her tone is stern. She sighs softly as she listens to Catra, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "You know, you keep complaining about everything that happened to you there, and I get it. They were horrible and evil and cruel. But all it's doing is making your decision to stay with them even more of YOUR choice. Even with -all- of that, you stayed. When I had a way out for both of us, and I held my hand out to you, and you walked away from it."

She's quiet for a long moment after Catra finishes talking, and in the end she cracks a small, lopsided smile. The same smile she showed her all the time back home...before. "You do look really cool on a motorcycle. You were honestly born to ride one of those things."

Catra has posed:
"Yeah, like your rebellion friends would've wanted me around," Catra claps back, unable to help herself. "I couldn't just leave anyway! Do what, give up everything we've worked for, all on the say-so of some sparkly weirdo and her sidekick that you'd never met before and run off with them? You *chose* them over me after you'd known them for like five minutes!" And then she just sits there and bristles, almost as if she were willing herself to be a porcupine instead of a cat, so she could manifest spikes all over herself, to keep people away.

And then she just slumps fowards, and lets her breath out slowly. And in that instant, the signs of exhaustion are obvious. Keeping up the amount of vigilance and suspicion and rage that she strings together on a daily basis takes a toll, afterall.

"I don't wanna talk about it anymore," she mutters. It takes a moment to register the compliment, that she looks cool on a motorcycle. Which... well, finally something she can't argue with. She does look cool on a motorcycle.

"You should try riding one sometime," she mumbles. "Maybe then you'll keep up with me. ...They're way faster than horses."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"No. Not on their say-so. On mine."

But she watches the beast girl slump forward, and a small look of worry crosses her face as she sees all that exhaustion just...flow off of her like an aura. She nods, then, and lets out a small sigh of her own. She lets her shoulders drop a bit into a less controlled and more comfortable stance. "I'm coming over. I don't wanna fight. I just wanna talk. So...don't bite me. Or claw me. Or stab me. Or zap me." She walks over slowly and ends up sitting down in front of Catra, crossing her legs and resting her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. It's the closest they've been without swinging in a long time. Longer for Catra than Adora, since Adora had Redeemed Catra to hold. But still. It's nice for the moment.

"You know how clumsy I am. I'd eat it right into a wall or something." She grins softly. "Mabye you could take me for a ride, sometime, instead. No fighting. No School versus Obsidian. Just a motorcycle ride. But...if not, I get it. Just...seems like it could be good for...for both of us."

Catra has posed:
Catra's muscles tense up as Adora approaches, like she's getting ready to launch. Her hand clenches tightly around the handle of her sword, and she sits up straight, eyes wide and ears flattened. But true to her word, Adora just approaches and sits down. So, just as slowly and gradually as before, the feline lets herself relax. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the thought that maybe Adora was actually telling the truth, and that everything she said and did before really was just the the dark energy infection talking, flashes past.

And really, she knows that it's true.

But it doesn't fit with her narrative that she's clung to for so long to keep herself safe, so she dismisses it anyway. And while this internal turmoil is going on, she dismisses the blade of her weapon, and tucks the handle into her jacket pocket, alongside her phone, and draws one knee up against her chest.

"I..." she mumbles, trailing off almost immediately. She blinks, looking down at Adora, before casting her gaze off to the side. "I... I dunno. I'll think about it."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"That's fine. I know better then to try to push you to do anything," she replies with a chuckle. "You know how to get ahold of me if you want to. I'll even skip class for it. Scandal, I know." She tucks an escaped locke of blonde behind her ear. Her heart is racing, with her being this close to Catra without violence, but she is trying her hardest to stay calm ant not spook the girl. This, as tiny as it is, is some kind of progress.

"So, I've been trying more sushi around town. Or, I was before everything happened. I can't settle on my favorite type. Kind of leaning into fatty tuna nigiri. It just melts in your mouth. What about you?," she asks, glancing up from her lap with this big blue eyes of hers.

Catra has posed:
The feline looks anywhere but at Adora. Her tail whips from side to side behind her, and she keeps her arms crossed to hide the fact that her claws are out. She sucks in a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. It's been weeks since a dark energy crazed She-Ra tried to decapitate her with her bare hands, and now here's Adora and she wants to talk about fish.

Fine, whatever.

"...Salmon," she mumbles. "Or red snapper." She bites her bottom lip, trying hard to look relaxed, while her heart is pounding and her muscles refuse to relinquish their tension.

"This planet sucks," she asserts, "It's loud and gross and full of idiots and just... I hate it." She shrugs, "But sushi's okay." She pauses, and glances off to the side. "Okay fine, sushi is pretty good. So's curry, as long as it's not vegetarian which is like eating a box."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
She knows Catra. She sees all those signs of the girl being uncomfortable and stressed. But she hopes that being here and not being aggressive will help. Somehow. Please, help.

"Oooh, I haven't tried red snapper. I'll have to check that out. Salmon is hit or miss for me. I don't dislike it, for sure, but I prefer yellowtail or...oooh. Uni." She chews her lip a bit and then nods as she listens to what the girl has to say, glancing down.

"It's not home. It stinks like the Fright Zone and the manners are weird. There's too much technology and the people are too addicted to it. I miss the woods and the mountains and everything else. But sushi is good. And curry. Also manga. I have some I should lend to you." Just not the yuri ones that have catgirls in them, she reminds herself. That will make things too weird. "I don't think you're much of a reader, but the art is cool and the stories can be pretty amazing. I mostly stick with the romance stuff, but...I have with really cool action in them, too. And a few sports ones. There's this one about an all girls softball team that's totally amazing. Or the one about the farmer girl and the- no, not that one. Okay, well...I have a bunch I think you'd like." No catgirl stuff, remember, Adora!

Catra has posed:
"I wouldn't mind this planet so much if I didn't have to hide all the time," she grumbles. "It's like... nobody here's ever seen a cat before. Or at least not one like *me*. And apparently they couldn't take it or something so I just have to wear some dumb illusion all the time and I hate it. I don't see why other people's stupidity should be my problem." She sucks in a deep breath, "And all their tech is stinky, like, it's worse than the Fright Zone ever was, even around the smelters, and then it gets hot outside and they all start sweating and I have no idea how they don't notice."

Catra glances down at her knees. She rests her hands on her knees. She chooses not to notice that her hands are shaking.

It's probably exhaustion. She *is* tired. She's very tired.

"It's just..." she trails off.

It's another planet full of people who hate me without even knowing me, she wants to say. It's not fair that I have to hide to be safe. I should just be able to be *me* and be safe. I don't deserve to be treated this way. I don't deserve to have to act like I don't exist. I don't deserve to have to be second best all the time.

"I need to go," she mumbles in place of all the things she wants to cry about. But then, she can't let Adora see her crying anyway. Can't look weak in front of anyone. That's how you get hurt.

Without another word, Catra swings her legs around and stands up on the other side of the bench; and while she doesn't run for the door she doesn't dawdle either, but her posture is hunched over, almost hands in pockets on a rainy day kind of stature.

she looks tired.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
She doesn't make a comment about her manga offer being brushed off. She can see that Catra is exhausted, emotionally and mentally. She nods slowly and rises. "I don't have that sniffer of yours, but...even for me it's a lot, so I can't imagine." It's true that Catra can't show herself, but she doesn't know the girl is dealing with those specific issues. It was mentioned once before, but that feels like ages ago now, and it had slipped to the back of Adora's mind.

"The offer of the manga is on the table. And...don't forget to think about the motorcycle ride. Could be fun." She says it softly, though. She stuffs her hands back into the pockets of her jeans and watches the girl slowly make her way towards the exit. She lets her go first.

"Be safe, kitten. Please." She knows she won't listen, but it's a fear she won't be able to at least slightly assuage unless she puts it out there like that. Once the girl is gone her shoulders wilt a bit and she sighs, turning to glance about the dojo. Her journey on this world started in this room, and it keeps seeming to bring her back here. Oh well. She should go back to the school. Adora has some other friends she finally needs to catch up with.

Catra has posed:
Catra leaves the fighting ring, and makes her way outside, moving faster as she makes her egress; by the time she's outside she's ready to pounce on her motorcycle and fumbles twice with the key before the engine roars to life. She kicks it into high gear, squealing the tires and leaving behind both a black stripe on the pavement and the lingering smell of burnt rubber.

She isn't really thinking about the ride as she takes off into Tokyo's busy streets. Sure, she could just do the door trick, but that doesn't give her any time to think about things. Or to ride around on a motorcycle. And right now, her thoughts are in turmoil, like some of the storms this world is capable of.

Cars fly by on either side of her; or rather, she flies by, and they fall away on either side of her. At one point she hears sirens in the distance, not that far behind her. Are they for her? Whatever, who cares. What are they going to do, catch her?

She abruptly realizes she forgot her illusion, and she's just riding around for the world to see. Not that it would matter, at these speeds, but the momentary lapse of concentration is brought to an abrupt end by the sound of metal on metal, as she clips the side of a car with the back of her motorcycle, and just misses getting her leg caught in it in the process.

Her heart goes up in her throat but she speeds off, taking an exit and then jumping the motorcyle over a barrier and off the edge of a bridge. Sparks fly from the suspension as she lands and keeps going, until she can make it down a back alley where she can port back to Obsidian Headquarters.

The Headquarters. And her room.

Somewhere she can be alone, and nobody can see her crying.