Screw This (Catra)
| Screw This (Catra) | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 25 July 2024 |
| Location: | Obsidian Tower |
| Synopsis: | Catra eavesdrops on Takashi and Glimmer, and hears basically all the wrong things. |
| Cast of Characters: | Catra |
Catra is in a mood.
Everything feels like it is going wrong. Going from bad to worse. The walls are crumbling all around her. The walls that kept her safe; all of them, falling down, one by one, all at once.
Hinoiri's gone. And not only that, but she tried to kill Hinoiri. On false orders. Of course, she tipped off Rashmi beforehand so Hinoiri would be protected, but that damage is done regardless. Hinoiri hates her guts, she just about blew Rashmi's arms off, and now she gave mind control tech to Takashi. That'll go well, surely. Oh, and Adora's still out there somewhere. And for some reason who on Etheria knows why, Glimmer is still hanging around here. How has that girl not figured out how to move her Runestone and gotten herself lost already? Obsidian Tower is feeling less and less like it's safe for her on a daily basis. So now, Catra stalks the halls, holding the hilt for Powersend in hand (though without the blade manifested), turning it over and over in her grasp, almost like its a talisman to ward off evil.
Ironic, that.
Eventually, while wandering and dragging her claws along the walls, her path takes her past Takashi's office. She comes to a stop, and for a moment just stares at the open door. And it's not as if she has any particular reason to go in, she's already handed off the mind control chip and she's not in the mood for an assignment (even if Takashi's assignments usually involve doing things she likes, like fighting). Besides, the last time she was in there she saw Joker again. An experience she is in no hurry to repeat.
But she's been alone all day and in spite of how much she hates company, or at least how much she tells herself that she hates people, no matter how hard she tries to make herself believe it, sometimes she just wants someone to talk to. Even if all it is, is talking about assignments and what has to happen next and who needs to get beaten up and taught a lesson. And it's palpably obvious that Takashi doesn't understand her, but in fairness, when has anyone ever understood? Even Adora didn't understand. Not really. Not like she needed her to understand.
Catra slows, as she hears voices. Someone's already in there, talking to Takashi, and...
It's Glimmer. Because of course it's Glimmer. Now that her runestone is parked in Takashi's office it's as if she can't get two minutes to have a private conversation with him, and even if it appears like she might, Glimmer can teleport so privacy could end at any moment, quite literally. Catra stops, standing there in the middle of the hall, far enough away that nobody could possibly hear what was going on in that office. Well, unless they were Catra, and had rather significantly more sensitive hearing than humans do.
"...You're having a hard time making anything happen with Catra." Takashi's voice. "Yeah I remember." Catra's eyebrow perks upwards, and she pads a step closer. So they're talking about her. She slides along the wall, still holding the hilt for Powersend as she moves closer. Might as well hear what they're on about. It's not really eavesdropping when the people you're listening in on are literally talking about you, right? And even if it is, does she care? Has she ever cared?
"Yeah. It wasn't... easy. I wanted to kill her for so long, strangle her. But..." Glimmer's voice. Catra's ears lay flat against her head, and her eyes narrow. Is that so. And she can hear Glimmer saying something else, but just that moment some other employee of Obsidian walks past; some office worker who's name Catra doesn't know who thinks that since he's started harassing Ted that he must be in good with Catra, and he's greeting her, and she's forced to spend a moment responding and not paying attention to what Glimmer is saying in order to maintain the image of normalcy.
"...Never be able to forgive her." Glimmer is still talking. "I *hated* her. She took... so much from me. But... Catra..."
The employee is back. The one who's name Catra doesn't know, from literally a moment ago, it's got to be Yogi or Yogu or something. Are those even names? Who knows. Catra hurriedly answers his question about if she'd be available later -- the answer is an emphatic 'no' -- and shoos him away with a dismissive wave of the hand. So naturally, she misses more of what Glimmer is saying, but... she's still talking. Of course she is, she's Glimmer, when has she ever been anything but overly long-winded and blabbering away, using thirty words to say what an ordinary person could in five?
"...Seeing her like this? Now? It kind of hurts. And I want to hurt her."
Oh really.
"I want, so bad, to hurt her again for everything she did. The Catra she is right now? I HATE! She killed my mother... Or... she had..."
Catra's muscles tense, and she stands up a little straighter. Her tail puffs up in size, and her eyebrows rise sharply. "I... I did NOT!" she hisses to herself, vocalizing her thoughts without realizing it. Angella was dead? Well she's an enemy leader so Catra should feel pleased to hear that. Especially if she's being credited with taking her out. So why does she feel so sick to her stomach about it?
Glimmer and Takashi are still talking, but Catra isn't listening anymore. She turns and walks back down the way she came. She can feel her muscles quivering with adrenaline, and she breathes deeply, sucking air in audibly and letting it out of her lungs much the same. The world around her fades away, and her feet carry her without her really noticing where she's going. She's just walking, with her thoughts gathering about her head like thunderclouds, all swirling around and around in her skull like an endless, ever growing storm. Angella's dead? Glimmer thinks she killed her? How did this happen? Before she pulled the switch Angella was perfectly safe in Brightmoon, and Adora has been assuring her that she didn't destroy Etheria afterall, so how could she possibly have killed Angella? That's ridiculous. It makes no sense.
Glimmer must be trying to turn Takashi against her. That's what it is.
Somehow, she's found her way down a a couple flights of stairs, and is standing outside her quarters. Two rooms and a bathroom, set aside for her for Obsidian. Better accomadations than the Horde ever gave her, at least before she was Force Captain. She taps the security code into the keypad and walks in, into the place where she doesn't so much live, as just... sleep, and keep her stuff. Like the comic book she stole from Adora. And the Adora plushy. She just... looks around at all her stuff, in the relatively spare room.
Her foot comes up, and she kicks the small table beside the sofa, sending it into the far wall where it leaves a dent. She paces back and forth, picking up a lamp and ripping its cord out of the wall before hurling it after the table; a cheap picture hanging on the wall comes off and is hurled likewise after the furniture. And then she stalks back and forth, tail lashing behind her; she wrestles with the desire to destroy something, and the preference not to destroy her own stuff.
"Glimmer wants to kill me?" she growls out loud, as she drops the handle for Powersend onto the sofa and walks towards the window. She crosses her arms across her chest and her eyes narrow as she glares out at the skyline of Tokyo.
"Fine. She'll get her chance." Her eyes narrow even further, almost to slits. "You better be ready for this, Sparkles."
