175/Hey Adora

Hey Adora
Date of Scene:	29 July 2023
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	Adora and Catra, both hurting and alone, encounter each other in an abandoned amusement park. But something is wrong... and they aren't on the same side anymore.
Cast of Characters:	Catra, Adora Rainbowfist

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Catra has posed:
Catra is hanging out in the abandoned themepark. Why? It's quiet. There aren't throngs of people here, there's no noise, no constant threat of discovery just for existing. Basically, it's peaceful, which is something the walking ball of pain, anger, and lousy attitude could use right now.

She's presently seated on the roof of one of the merchant buildings, using the illusion device that was given to her when she arrived to make her look like an American girl in baggy pants and a hoodie. She's presently enjoying a package full of cheap sushi -- very cheap, actually, considering that she stole it -- and listening to some almost excessively loud, obnoxious music from her earbuds.

The disguised feline's expression is a sullen one. Ever since throwing that switch and opening the portal, the one Adora begged her not to open, the one Entrapta warned her about, the one she had to open so she could finally win, so she could finally feel--

She's been stuck here on this grabage heap of a planet, full of people who all look the same, sound the same, smell the same, and from whom she must hide at all times because, apparently, there aren't any cats here. At least not like her.

Catra sits, munching on the sushi without tasting it, dwelling on the situation she's stuck in, all while trying not to acknowledge it being of her own making.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Meanwhile, Adora has been welcomed at the Academy. Sure, there was a bit of time where she was crashing at an abandoned gym, but all of that is behind her now. She needed some fresh air, though, so the girl had snuck out from ther Academy late into the evening, seeking something she couldn't describe. She felt homesick. She missed her love.

The tall, athletic blonde weaved through the abandoned displays and rides, her hands stuffed into the pockets of the baggy grey athletuic sweats she was wearing. That went with her sneakers, and her school PE shirt she was wearing. She'd proven to be good at sports, surprise surprised, and the weird 'foreign' girl was becoming quite the jock.

HER Catra was back at home, pining for her girlfriend. Adora's heart hurt, thinking about it. She sighs to herself as she stares up at the starless sky. Sure, it was due to the lights of the city, but at least THAT felt like home.

Catra has posed:
Catra finishes the sushi -- when it came to the Nigiri she just peeled the fish off the rice and ate that portion -- and tosses the packaging and leftover rice balls unceremoniously on the ground in front of her. She pulls her legs up and sits cross-legged, turning her music up the point of it being inadvisable. Korn, her latest obsession, because it seems to help her drown out her feelings.

For a little while, at least.

But someone else is here. Why on Etheria would someone else be here? This is the crappiest most abandondest place in the entirity of Tokyo, why would anyone be here. Is it really that hard to get peace and quiet?

"I miss the Fright Zone," she grumbles, as she does a backwards sumersault to roll across the roof of the merchant stall and drop down behind it.

As she lands, she silences the iPod and pulls the earbuds out, stuffing the whole works into a pocket. Two eyes, mismatched albeit human looking -- blue and green -- peer out from the shade, as she observes the other person wandering into the space.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora is hard to not recognize. Hell, she even has that dumn hair poof still! She kicks a rock aside on the cracked asphalt and grunts softly to herself, the pretty blonde completely lost in thought.

She pauses beside one of the empty carnival game booths, peering into the darkness. She wonders to herself what this place was like when it was alive. There was nothing like it back home, but then again, so much of this place was new. New and scary.

Catra has posed:
Catra watches Adora walk into the scene, and her muscles tense up reflexively. Her ears lay flat, and she sucks in her breath.

Would this be the absolutely most perfect time to reconcile differences? Trapped on an alien planet, no idea how to get home, everything gone as sideways as it could ever have? All she'd have to do is walk out and start with the words 'Adora, I'm sorry'.

But Catra can't do that.

Instead, she drops her disguise; blue and green eyes turn to yellow and turquiose, and reflect the light in the darkness as she moves along behind the stalls, following Adora's movements until she pauses by one of the defunct game booths.

Catra doesn't come out, not quite prepared to reveal herself yet, but it's time for everyone to know where they stand. She sucks in her breath, pausing herself for a moment.

"Hey, Adora." She calls out the greeting, staying in the shadows; and it might not have quite the emotions attached to it that the blonde girl might've been hoping for. It's low, overly smooth and dripping with menace.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
The girl stiffens when she hears it, and she feels a shiver run down her spine. That tone is so different then what she was hearing before being teleported here. There's none of the love and need from before. Just...just all that Catra.

The blonde whirls about and stares into the darkness around her, trying to locate she source. Eventually the light shifts, and she catches a hint of that reflection in the catgirl's narrowed gaze.

"...Catra?," she calls out, her tone troubled. "Is...is that you? I am ...I can't believe it's you! I've been...been hoping you'd end up here, somehow! I missed you. Come...come out!" Her heart races, hoiping she moisunderstood that tone.

Catra has posed:
Catra just about spits, as she remains there in the darkness. Adora can see her, not that she'd thought it would take her long to find her. She gave up stealth the moment she called out her name.

"Don't you mean you wish Sparkles and Arrow Boy were here?" she asks, leaning against the wall of the merchant booth and looking out at Adora. "'Cause I'm guessing they're not. I haven't heard anything about anyone coming through other than just you and me, after I threw that lever. Which means..."

Catra finally steps out of the shadows, slinking out into view. She's still wearing her body suit, along with the jacket she got from the Crimson Wastes. Along with her Force-Captain badge.

"...That you're finally as alone as I've always been."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
",...Lever?," she asks in confusion. "What lever? Do...Catra, when did you come here? Because the whole...tearing a whole in reality thing happened a long time ago..." She trails off, her bright blue eyes widening a bit.

Her jaw drops a bit as she catches sight of the other girl. That hair. The outfit. This isn't the short-haired kitten she rescued from Hordak Prime. This isn't the one who confessed her love to her while she was on the verge of death. This Catra is dangerous. This Catra is damaged.

"Oh. Oh...Catra,,,:"

Catra has posed:
"...Yeah, like a week ago," Catra replies, tilting her head and squinting at Adora. "Are you sure you're not brain-damaged? 'Cause I pulled the level to open the portal a week ago and ended up here. No Horde, no Hordak, no Princesses... well except *you*, I guess."

Catra slinks closer, but stops just outside of, well, sword-length. "But it's okay." It's not okay. "I'm with Obsidian now, and they've got my back." They're using her and she knows it. "We're going to rule the world." Probably something much worse, but maybe if she can ingratiate herself to the inner circle, she'll be well insulated from the bad stuff.

"So the real question is... why haven't you gone all big strong hero princess yet? is it because you won't..." Her eyes narrow, "Or because you *can't*?"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"No, like a -year- ago," she replies, aghast. "The lever started tearing the world apart, and it turned you into this...this thing. I stopped you with the help of the Rebellion! But that was before Horde Prime and...Scorpia joining the Rebellion and...and all of it! Before you went off-world and were brain washed and...and...told me..."

She trails off, frowning. "Obsidian?," she asks, confused.

The tall blonde hesitates at the next question. "Catra, I don't want to fight you..."

Catra has posed:
"Now I *know* you're brain-damaged," Catra sneers. "Horde Prime?! What's that supposed to be? And Scorpia, joining the Rebellion, that's--"

She stops, and for a moment the gears are clearly turning. Unthinkable, she was going to say.

Adora joining the Rebellion was unthinkable. Shadow Weaver joining the Rebellion was unthinkable. But both of them had left. Left *her*.

Why would it be so inconceivable that they'd steal Scorpia from her, too?

For a moment, Catra's eyes absolutely blaze. Her teeth grind, and she balls her hands up into fists.

"Yeah you do," she growls. "You and the other Princesses took away everything from me, a good fight is all that's left. Come on. Show me She-Ra. You know you can't take me without her."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"I don't WANT to take you! Catra, I don't want to fight you, anymore! Please!" The blonde is pleading with the girl now, her heart aching. Her fists ball and unball at her sides as she searches for the words she needs. She cannot find them.

"Just...just come with me to the school I'm staying at. They'll accept you! We can...we can be together!"

Catra has posed:
"No we CAN'T!" Catra's hands find Adora's shoulders and shove hard; regardless of the outcome, the feline stands with her tail lashing behind her, ears flat against her head and her brow knotted above her eyes. Scorpia left her? Scorpia left her. Of course she did. Was anyone ever a good friend? Did anyone ever stick with her?

No. She'd just have to go it alone.

"You forget who you are, Adora." Catra straightens, adopting a lopsided smile. "But I know you. You can't relax even in your sleep. You don't want to fight? Fine." She holds up one hand, and extends her claws. "I'll just go find someone else to fight. This city's full of people." She turns, making to walk away. "I'll just leave the first person I find with a face that a hacksaw might be jealous of."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
The girl stumbles from the shove before catching herself and planting her feet.

"CATRA APPLESAUCE MEOWMEOW!," she calls out, using the name she gave her a child. The name only she used. Her real name.

"You will leave these people -alone-!" That tone is the warrior, not the pleading lover, as she straightens her back and squares her shoulders.

Catra has posed:
Catra pauses for a second; she stops where she was walking, and looks over her shoulder. Her eyes are still narrowed; her brow still knotted, muscles still coiled like a tense, rage-filled spring, ready to release everything she's got on the next person she finds.

"Make me," she taunts, balling her hands up once more.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora reaches a hand out to her side and concetrates as she talks.

"I will if I have to. I'm done begging you. But I KNOW there's redemption in you. I've SEEN it. You told me you loved me. I told you it back. We...we were -together-."

With a whooshing of air, the Sword soars through ythe air, the hilt landing in her outstretched hand.

Catra has posed:
All of that is true, of course; somewhere inside Catra is a good person, buried deep where she can't get hurt anymore, leaving the angry, mistrustful exterior to fight all her battles. But redemption? That's Adora's experience, and for Catra none of it has happened yet.

"Predictable," Catra taunts. "You actually thought I'd do that?" In fairness, she might well have. "Now I *know* everything you said was Fright Zone sewer wash, but I'm done being tricked."

As the sword enters Adora's hand, Catra turns and rushes, hands balled up into fists as she yells, ducking low to advance and lash out. She aims for the stomach; even for She-Ra the stomach is soft.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
She's about to respond when the catgirl rushes in. With a grunt she pulls back, angling her body to barely dodge the swat of dangerous claws. She whips the blade about in a wide arc, trying to draw blood along the girl's arm in a staggering, but non-lethal wound. She still hasn't shifted to She-Ra, as if hoping to hold back on the girl. Of course, Catra can hold her own against Adora. She-Ra...well, she's beaten her, too, but it tends to be a lot more one-sided. Adora is distracted with not wanting to hurt the girl she loves.

Catra has posed:
The blade cuts into the sleeve of Catra's jacket and comes away with a red line down one edge of the blade; Catra dives away before she can get hit again, pressing her other hand to her bicep and looking at it.

"You know that's not going to slow me down," she growls. She bares her teeth, bare feet rushing across the broken ground as she rushes forwards once more, claws extended, but this time she just tries to shoulder into Adora and make a grab for the sword.

She knows Adora can't allow that, of course. Or perhaps she's counting on it.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
The blonde pulls back on one leg to try and avoid the rush, likely putting her in a better vantage point for the catgirl to strike her with what she's really intending. She beuings the plade up and down, grunting as she takes a swipe at one of her ...the girl's legs!

Catra has posed:
Catra is a strong, skilled fighter, but she's really failed to learn the whole lesson about anger being a weapon only to one's opponent. She's put up this exterior of wanting to fight, but does she, really? Is her heart in it? Or is she just doing it because it's the only path she's ever been on, and hasn't clued in that she could step off that path at any time?

Regardless, right now she finds herself skidding across the ground on her back. Today most certainly isn't her do. She rolls onto her stomach and bounces back up to her feet, but doesn't rush Adora again. She stays warily outside of Adora's range, finally taking a moment to look at her shoulder, and then back to her (former) best friend.

"That's more like it," she breathes. "Knew you had it in you. And it's good to know you've still got the sword, too." She pauses, holding out her hand. "Why don't you come with me? Forget that dumb academy, join Obsidian. They're going to win. *We're* going to win, and take over the world." She quirks an eyebrow upwards. "I'll introduce you to Majorina. She reminds me of Shadow Weaver, except she doesn't treat me like your whipping girl."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora is trying hard not to get angry. This whole situation is so much for her. Too much for her? She'd been desperate to find her catgirl since getting her, almost certain she'd never see her again...and this is what she found. All of the trauma, all over again. Is she strong enough to do this all over again? To save her girl one more time?

Then Catra tells her to join Obsidian. She tells her they're going to take over the world. This seals Adora's decision. There's one path forward now, and it's the one this Catra doesn't even believe is an option. But first thing's first.

The girl takes a deep breath and hefts the Sword, angling it so her arms both grip the hilt, the blade pointed outward with her elbows bent. "The Academy is confusing and alien, I'm not gonna lie. I don't have any friends, and I'm the weird girl for once. I can't tell people who or what I am. But these people don't want to hurt people. It's clear from what you've just said that this Obsidian does. And you know I won't let them...or you...do that."

She moves slowly to the side, rotating across from Catra (Who likely keeps pace to keep the distance, the girl's circling one another. But who knows what she'll do?). "Applesauce...just...come with -me-. Help me -save- the world. Again. You've done it before, you just don't remember." Her voice is pleading, but the look in her bright blue eyes is more steel now.

Catra has posed:
Deep down, Catra wants to say yes. She wants to just drop everything and go with Adora and fall into the arms of the girl she has always, and will always, love. But that desire, that need, is right now burried so deeply that she has herself convinced that it's not there. Afterall, Adora left her. And then Shadow Weaver left her. Entrapta betrayed her.

"How could *I* possibly 'save the world'? Catra counters, her tone turning rueful and... strained. "I've never saved anyone or anything in my life. Now you're just patronizing me. I'm not an *idiot*, Adora, that's your job," she snaps at the end, as fire returns to her voice.

"I thought I'd be happy in the Crimson Wastes, but you and your new friends had to come along and ruin that too, and then Shadow Weaver? In *Brightmoon*? With all of *you*? Not one of you can just let me have anything to myself, can you? You all made me pull the switch! And now we're here, and suddenly you're alone? Well now you know how I've felt ever since you left me!"

Catra lets out a loud growl as she rushes forwards; it's a foolhardy attack, simply bullrushing straight at Adora and straight at her sword, dropping down to bullrush her shoulder right at Adora's stomach. And the blonde girl could easily just... skewer her with her sword if she'd like to.

But maybe Catra is betting that she won't.

Or maybe she just doens't care.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
The bullrush puts Catra in the perfect position for a killing blow. Adora has taken lives in the war they'd fought, it's true. But she could never take this one. No matter what.

The blonde struggles for words, trying to drag up some hopeful, wilful reply to the furious, lonely girl. But all she can manage is, "I...I'm sorry!" And that is almost certainly the wrong thing to say to the girl.

And then comes the fury of violence, and the girl pulls back and to the side, lifting the Sword out of the way, and instead trying to deliver a rough elbow to the back of the beastgirl's head. It allows two claws to run along her side in the process. Those razor sharp, killing claws make ribbons of a portion of her PE shirt, and cut a furrow of flesh from her rib. She grits her teeth, and pain stings her eye (And not just physical pein, either).

Whether the elbow lands or not, the blonde whirls, then, as Catra pushes past her, and she swings the sword widely twice, in two huge arcs, trying to force the girl back, back against the side of the abandoned HOUSE OF HORRORS attraction. A tall, flat wall with nowhere for the girl to leap but at her, she hopes.

Catra has posed:
Catra takes the elbow to the back of her head with an audible 'thock', and where a lesser fighter might've been out cold, she just staggers forwards a step and takes a second to shake the cobwebs back out. Still, it takes a second; and in a fight against Adora, that's a long time.

Is that blood on her claws? Tit for tat, then.

"You're sorry?" She takes a step back, and then another, finding herself pressed up against the HOUSE OF HORRORS wall. She presses her palms against it, feeling the surface behind her. "So what, you just pity me now? Oh Catra, I'm so sorry you're such a loser I had to run off and find better friends. Is that why you won't bring out She-Ra against me? Not worth her time?"

Catra spins around, showing her back to Adora, and opening herself up to be run through for a second time as she digs her claws into the wall and scurries up it. She scurries upwards and pushes off, doing a summersault in the air overtop of Adora -- and leaving herself wide open to be, well, chopped in half without the benefit of a stage magician's tricks -- and assuming that doesn't happen, she lands on the far side of her opponent.

Immediately upon landing she lashes out with a kick, aimed low for the stomach, just like her bullrush, before she scurries back on all fours and crouches, panting.

"You're sorry? You LEFT ME! You promised you'd protect me but then when I needed you, you left! And every time I've seen you since you've always been sticking up for other people, protecting people you didn't even know, but not ME! So stop patronizing me, stop lieing to me, stop treating me like a complete moron, and just FIGHT ME!"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
The jock goes for another swing, trying to catch Catra with a dash along the side to hurt her and slow her down, but not maim her. However, with Catra kicking scrambling up the wall she puts a foot deep, four foot wide slash in the plaster and brick of the wall, instead. That sword decimates armies. The wall of an abandoned theme park attraction doesn't stand a chance against it.

Adora tracks the brown-haired catgirl as she flips over her, not going for that killing blow yet again. But she doesn't let her guard down, either.

Her blade comes down and around, the girl using the two-foot flat of the blade to deflect the kick before she tries to give a hard shove in the brief instance the cat's foot is braced against it, trying to throw her off-balance.

"No! I'm tired of that, Catra! I never left you, damnit. I tried to get you to come with me! I wanted us BOTH to leave the Fright Zone! You have to realise how terrible that place was for us. The Rebellion would have accepted you just like they accepted me! We never had to be seperated! We don't need to be seperated -now-! Please, Catra, love, come to the Academy..."

Catra has posed:
Catra is extremely hard to off-balance; it's all part of being a cat, afterall, but she isn't too difficult for Adora to shove backwards. She tumbles back and comes to a stop on her haunches, still in that low crouch. She pants heavily, looking at skinned palms where she skidded across the ground, and looking up with her brow knotted with the only emotion she still truely knows; anger. The anger she's used to hide her pain for so long she's forgotten everything else, because nothing else is safe.

"What do you mean?" she asks, shifting to a more placid tone of voice; even though the rage still simmers beneath it. "There was nothing bad for *me* in the Fright Zone. Not once you left and Hordak made *me* Force Captain." Catra's narrative, that she's convinced at least herself of, is unfurled about her like a protective cloak. "I put Shadow Weaver in her place." And lost her, running her afoul of Hordak's ire. "I put Lonnie and Rogelio and Kyle in their place. I Put *Entrapta* in her place, and it wasn't going to be all that long before I took over from Hordak anyway." He banished her to the Crimson Wastes, to die. "*I* was running the place! And I'll be running Obsidian, sooner or later. I can do it again."

Catra brushes the back of her hand over her bottom lip, and looks at it to check and see if she was bleeding; she was, just a little bit.

"You don't get it, do you," she growls. "I *can't* follow you. And I *won't*. I'm not your lost kitten, desperate for treats and a pat on the head, Adora. And if that means that being the villain is the only thing open to me? Then That's what I'll DO!"

At the last word she shouts, rushing forwards and slashing the space in front of her with her claws; space that Adora is currently in, but once again she's all attack with not a thought to her own defense. She's left herself wide open as she makes a powerful, but telegraphed assault, screaming and thrashing.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora brings her arms up to block the strike. As She-Ra she'd have gauntlets to protect herself, but as a normal teenage girl she has only flesh, muscle and bone. She'll have scars. Red splashes the cracked asphalt, and she grunts, bracing her sneakers and holding her ground. In that brief moment of victory she's sure her cat feels after the blow, she takes brief advantage. She was trained as a Horde soldier, too, afterall. Her fist balls and strikes, attempting to catch Catra in the solar plexus to send her reeling and knock the wind out of her. She ignores the bleeding for now.

"I don't pity you! It's not pity! But fine. If we need to fight, and fight, and fight until you reach the same conclusion you eventually got to before...we will."

Assumoing the first blow hits, Adora swings her blade to the side, attempting to force Catra to dodge...right into a fist to the cheek. She's not as graceful as Catra, or as ruthless. But damn, she is strong.

"I'll stop you. Again. And again. And again. And bit by bit you'll realise all that anger is nothing but hot air you're holding onto. You're burning yourself. You were before and you are again. But..." She sets her jaw in that look of stubborn attitude Catra grew up knowing.

"...I'm still going to be here when it's over. I -didn't- abandon you. I won't again. But I -will- stop you and this Obsidian from making this world a worse place for innocent people."

Her voice is steel and her tone is set, but there's a sad steadiness in her eyes.

Catra has posed:
Catra does feel a brief moment of victory, even while she fails to recognize just how hollow it really is. All she did was leave claw marks on her best friend. But that's not what she sees through the haze of rage that she's pulled down over her own eyes.

"You really th-Ufffghk" she gasps, as Adora's fist hammers her straight to the solar plexus, and all her breath flees from her lungs; as she struggles to regain it, she throws herself with burning muscles out of the way of the sword, and suddenly it doesn't matter how fast she is; even if she wasn't winded, she'd never have dodged both blade and fist.

Catra gets clocked full force to the cheek. For a moment, Adora might wonder if she'd just broken the feline's jaw. But, no, Catra's taken worse and come out alright. Once she wakes up, that is.

Catra takes the blow with a surprised squeak, and spins around on one foot; for a moment she just stands there in front of Adora, facing away from her with her ears stuck straight out from her head in surprise, before all her limbs go loose. She crumples forwards to her knees and then pitches face down on the ground, landing with a loud whumph. A low sigh escapes her lips, betraying that she isn't entirely knocked unconscious, but is well and truely out of it at least for the moment, as she lays on the ground before Adora like a discarded toy.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
She watches with wide eyes as the girl crumples like a ragdoll. She should feel victory. She should feel a swelling of pride. But she just feels sick to her stomach.

There is a flash of prismatic rainbow light, and the Sword transforms into a somewhat chunky bracelet dangling about her wrist. She kneels beside the girl for a moment.

"I'm sorry," she says, a brief, hard sob breaking her voice. One hand comes to the wound on her arm, ignoring, for now, the one on her side. That one will heal, but this one will leave a mark like the one on her back. The one this Catra wouldn't even remember giving her on Prime's ship during her last real day as a terrible person.

She begins to reach down to her, but she catches herself and pulls her hand away. She then rises to her feet and steps back. "I know I'll see you again, Catra. And I know this'll pass. And I know you love me. Just like I love you. But I won't stand by. You know that."

Another step back.

"Tell your new friends in Obsidian that your girlfriend is going to tear their plans down like all the plans of every wannabe bad guy I've ever bumped heads with."

She moves to go, then, hating herself for leaving Catra there. But she knows the girl isn't ready to come with her yet. She'd just see it as being captured. Not...being taken home. Not yet, anyways.

Catra has posed:
Catra growns softly; the lights haven't turned back on yet, at least not fully. She moves her hands, like she's trying to pick herself back up and keep fighting, but that's certainly not happening. Her brain is in a thousand different places, her eyes see nothing but stars, dancing about in front of her. She hears Adora's voice, but it's distant, like she's calling to her from outside of a bankvault that's underwater.

It's going to be some time before she picks herself up again. And Adora could, easily, take her away from here; or take her prisoner, were she so inclined. Instead Catra is only aware that she's still laying there on the ground, lacking the ability to do anything about it but what for the stars to stop, and for her consciousness to piece itself back together again.

And all while she's struggling to reassemble herself, Adora just... keeps talking. Because of course she does. Catra doesn't even realize that she's growling.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
The blonde with the hips, strong shoulders, hair-poof and hero complex stops at the edge of the lot, about twenty feet away. She turns to watch the girl again as she growls and tries to right herself. That was a hard hit to the face, and she knows it. Still, she's having to put pressure on her bleeding forearm, so Catra gave more then she got, for sure. But that's just Adora making excuses, and she reminds herself of that.

"I...," she starts. She doesn't continue, though. She can't find any more words. Instead she lowers her head and turns, moving off into the night. She's crying now, like she was briefly before, during the fight. But this is more. This is all of it, pouring out and not wanting to stop. Stupid Adora. You're stronger then this. Stop crying.

Is she stronger then this, though? For now, no. The following weeks will be filled with nightmares and wet pillows, evaded meals and listless stares. It will be awhile before she has that conversation in the Sports Plaza that finally lets her come to her conclusion and straighten her back once more.

The conclusion that she's going to fight Catra if she has to, sure. But more important, she's going to redeem -her- cat all over again, bit by bit, fight by fight, defeated plot by defeated plot, until that thick-headed, broken feline comes to the conclusion AGAIN that being a hero isn't an impossible path. That Catra is -worthy- of love.

And nothing is going to stop her from that.

Catra has posed:
By the time Catra pieces herself back together, Adora is long gone. Or... well, at least gone. The feline shakes her head, pressing her fingers to her forehead and then gingerly exploring her cheek and jaw. She rolls onto her side and sits up, continuing her trepiditious self-assessment; nothing seems to be broken, but a tooth feels... is it loose? Loose tooth? Yes? ...No? She'll just have to wait and see if it falls out or not. Maybe one of the medics at Obsidian can do something about it. If Obsidian has medics, she hasn't asked about that yet.

Catra stands up, groaning as she gets to her feet, and presses her hand back to her temple. She looks around, before she turns and jumps, biting back the wave of nausea that follows the burst of movement, as she scrambles up on top of the HOUSE OF HORRORS. From her vantage point, she scans around, looking over the ruined theme park to see if she can see any trace of Adora anywhere; red jacket, poofy hair, anything.

Of course, there's nothing.

"She left again," Catra mumbles to herself; and there's malice in her words, but it's purely on the surface. Slowly she lowers herself until she sits haphazard on the rough, and drops her face into her hands. A mouthful of air is gulped in, and released in a shuddering gasp as the tears start to flow. The feline's shoulders shake as she sobs, gasping for air with less and less control until she throws her head back, and releases a keening wail.

But of course, nobody hears it. Her face fills her hands once more, and she cries... alone.