1075/A Long Time Coming

A Long Time Coming
Date of Scene:	02 February 2024
Location:	The Forgotten District
Synopsis:	Corrupted Adora finds Catra waiting for her in an abandoned part of town. Words and blows are exchanged, and Adora says and does some things she might never be able to take back.
Cast of Characters:	Catra, Adora Rainbowfist

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Catra has posed:
Catra and Adora haven't seen each other in a while. Not since Adora found her at some pretty decent food place in the crappy end of town, and there was somoene there with... presents, of all things. Might've inspired Catra to do something nice, just... just once.

It's not like she *likes* Adora or anything. Just so we're clear.

It's been a while, but it still hasn't dulled the pain of betrayal, and the longer passes without a meeting the more Catra starts to itch for a dust-up. Even if she technically loses, the fact that they fight at all these days seems to cause enough hurt to Adora that it's worth it. Since finding out from Hinoiri that Adora is afflicted with Dark Energy, well... that's much too good an opportunity to pass up. (Hinoiri's warnings go entirely unheeded, when has she ever listened to advice?)

So now Catra waits in a more or less abandoned neighborhood, full of boarded up houses, overgrown yards, and trash. Of course, she sent a series of taunting texts to Adora (with her own number still hidden, naturally) so she could be sure the predictable chosen one would appear. She's not even troubling herself to hide; she's standing around in the middle of the street, not far from where she concealed her motorcycle, wearing a leahter jacket reminiscent of the one she took from the Crimson Waste and some old blue jeans with hole in the knees, with Powersend held openly and the curved blade resting on her shoulder.

And as she waits, she can't help but smirk. This is gonna be fun.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
This will not be fun.

Adora is not herself right now. Or, is she more herself then she's ever allowed herself to be before? Either way, the girl is changed, and the second she left her dorm room after her encounter with Sunbreaker she began looking for Catra. She checked the docks and the ramen stands and the dingy music shops and back alleyways. She was beginning to get angry, and that annoyance seemed to settle into her nerves like it never had before.

And then the taunting texts began, and that anger began to metamorphose into something dangerous. Eventually the blonde puts the clues in the taunts together, and she finds herself in the old, overgrown neighborhood that the beastgirl is waiting openly in. As she stalks into view, Catra can notice a few things immediatly. They are small things, but for someone who knows Adora as well as Catra does, they seem to speak volumes.

For one, her hair is down. She's been letting it grow out a bit more since arriving on Earth, but in ninety five percent of situations its been pulled back. Now it hangs toi the middle of her back, framing a face that's hard to read. Also, her usual simple Converse, always with bright laces, are missing. Instead the girl is wearing a pair of steel-toed boots. Her knee-torn jeans are tucked into them. Her Nirvana shirt is cut-off halfway, turning it into a surprisingly revealing crop-top (Certainly nothing scandalous, but just casually showing tummy like that is rare for the girl) is worn under a black and grey flannel with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

Also, the Sword is out. She drags it along the side of building, the supernatural sharpness cutting straight through the stone and steel and leaving a deep, dragging cut. She stops about fifteen feet away and rests her blade across her shoulder, mirroring Catra. This is when the girl might notice that Adora is standing all wrong. The confidence she normally has is there but...it's different. Her back is straight, her shoulders back and her chest out in a cocky stance. She doesn't say anything immediatly, though. Instead she begins walking again, stalking towards Catra with her blade tucked to the side in a fashion that would be difficult to swing. It shows she's rapidly approaching, but isn't about to attack.

As soon as she gets as close as she can manage (She's attempting to get REALLY close), she leans forward over the girl. "Hey, Catra. I've been looking all over town for you. Long time no see." There's an unusual growl to her voice now, mingled with an almost...purr?

Catra has posed:
Alright so this is different. Hinoiri did warn her that she'd been poisoned with Dark Energy, and that she was... different, afterall. But hey, how bad could it really be? Deep down this is still Adora we're talking about here, and it's not like she's in a wild berzerker rage like when she corrupted the sword.

Right?

The feline holds her ground, standing with one hand holding her sword and the other half in her pants pocket, with just her thumb sticking out. She looks Adora up and down as she approaches; dragging the sword tip along the building is... new, that's for sure.

"Taking your cues from me now?" she inquires, adopting her tone of poisoned honey, and smirking s she holds her ground in the face of Adora closing in on her. "I used to be easy to find, y'know. I was in the Fright Zone, you could've come back any time. Now we're in TOKYO, and you're complaining I'm hard to find? What, am I supposed to just pick a spot and sit still?"

Catra locks gaze with Adora, and then just shrugs and rolls her eyes, ultimately staring at a space just over Adora's left shoulder. Never show weakness; that's what the Horde taught her. Don't look down. Don't back down. Never, ever give an inch.

"Heard you almost killed your donkey," she purrs. Her ears are trained on Adora, even if her eyes aren't; no earbuds in sight either, and no need for them here either. It's quiet here, afterall. She shfits Powersend off her shoulder and holds the blade behind her back, with the handle at about the height of the base of her tale and the blade pointed upwards behind her left shoulder. "But you didn't, so I suppose I'll have to hear his singing again eventually. Sunbreaker's wooing him with apples and sugar basically as we speak, so you might be out one pony soon anyway."

Catra grins, a smile that stretches ear to ear without conveying anything positive; just cruelty and teeth, really. She spins on her heel, and starts slow-walking away from Adora. It's not a position of weakness, as Adora would well know, her hearing more than compensates for vision, at least in anticipating an attack. "I thought we should have some highly competitive sparring tonight, but honestly, you don't look like your head's in it. Maybe you should go, I dunno, do some pushups, feed the birds, maybe go betray another friend or something. Come back tomorrow."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"As usual, your idiot buddies in Obsidian are telling you the lies. I yelled at him, because he was being annoying. And good. Mabye having him around will shut her up for five f**king minutes," Adore grunts. She keeps looking down at the shorter girl, her lip twitching into a smirk as Catra avoids eye-contact.

She watches the other girl start to turn to walk away, and Adora laughs. "The Fright Zone was filled with idiots losing to a bunch of untrained rebels. Sorry, who LOST to a bunch of untrained rebels. You were the only thing of any worth back there. But I was too busy kicking your butt left, right and center to visit. All you had to do was get it through your thick skull that life didn't have to SUCK, and you could have left at any time. But you refuse to learn, don't you, kitten? HEY! Don't walk away from me. I have things I need to say to you.

She lunges forward and reaches out to...grab Catra's tail and yank her back towards her.

"I'm tired of you taking the cowardly way out of this, Catra! I've tried being SO nice and being so GOOD and it's gotten me nowhere with you. Stop being a brat and TALK to me. Or do I need to kick the s**t out of you so you'll sit down and listen for once?," the blonde snarls.

Catra has posed:
Adora lunging forwards is something Catra had been waiting for, and the feline dashes fowards and whirls around, bring her sword up to block... Adora... going for her tail? Since when does she do *that*?

"Okay what the hell?!" she growls, gripping Powersend with both hands and holding it in a much more combat-ready stance. "Even when I corrupted your sword -- which was awesome, by the way -- you never went for the *tail*. Are you asking to get scratched up worse than the ugly side of a washboard?" Come to think of it, the swearing is pretty off-brand for Adora, but it's the tail grabbing that's really got her attention. She backs off another step, still holding the sword up in front of her as she waits for ADora to get on with it and attack. "You have things you need to say? Like, what, I'm so sorry I left you all alone in the Fright Zone when I went off to play princess? I love you but not enough to come back to you, you've gotta come to me? Maybe I was happy in the Fright Zone once you left, did you ever consider that?"

Catra's eyes narrow, and the honey tone leaves her voice -- now it's just poison. "Stop being a brat? Are you actually that ridiculous? What else am I supposed to be? Shadow Weaver practically molded me into one from the start and you never did anything to stop it, that might've risked you losing your spot as the *perfect girl*. So go on, say what you've gotta say, or swing your sword, or stop wasting my time."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora isn't at all surprised Catra dodged the grab. This is Catra, after all. And when she whirls about to face her, Adora is smirking. She smirks through the girl's entire dialogue, in fact. She whirls her blade at her side, spinning it a bit with her hand as she keeps the other hand poised on a cocked hip.

"Oh, please."

Suddenly her sword comes down, slicing into the broken cocnrete of the old sidewalk, and sending a large rock flying at Catra. She doesn't follow that up with an attack, though. "Do you ever stop to listen to yourself? Shadow Weaver this and Shadow Weaver that! She is a horrible crone who put us both through hell! You act so strong but she has SUCH A HOLD ON YOU! It's insane! You're stronger then that, so start acting like it!"

She takes a few steps back, but there's no fear or retreat in her stance or eyes. She is simply ready if Catra launches an attack.

"I was there for you EVERY TIME she went after you instead of me. I was ALWAYS there to pick up the pieces. And yet, when I found something BETTER for us, you tucked your tail and hid! We could have had something GREAT, but deep down you're a f**king coward! WAKE UP!"

Adora snarls at this point, glaring at the other girl. "That's what it all comes down to. FEAR. You're afraid to see that things can be better. You're afraid to accept love. You're afraid to see that you're better then some slinking villain. Catra, you're a coward, and it pisses me off."

Catra has posed:
"Why do you keep chasing me around, then?" Catra asks sweetly. She ducks, sidestepping the flying rock, though it still grazes her shoulder; she pretends not to notice, but the momentary flatting of her ears gives it away. "What do you care? I'm a coward? I piss you off? THEN JUST LEAVE!"

The words ring in the air, as Catra plants the tip of her sword on the pavement by her left foot, and uses it to draw a semi-circle in front of where she's standing, finishing up holding the sword with one hand by her right hip.

"You think Shadow Weaver has a hold on me? I *beat* Shadow Weaver. I had her dead to rights but she escaped and who's she go running to? You. *YOU*. And what'd you do? Throw her out for what she did to me? No, you took her in and let her play Mommy for you again. Is *that* sticking up for me? Picking up the pieces?"

She straightens her back and squares her shoulders. "I don't think you understand. I *am* a horrible person, I opened a portal knowing full well it could destroy Etheria. How'm I supposed to be redeemed after that? I dunno where you think this good in me is supposed to be, but chasing after it is wearing thin on you and it shows, Adora. And you know what? If the same thing happened here, and there was another lever to pull, and you were watching?" She flashes a grin, shifting her stance to present her left shoulder to Adora and looking at her over it with that toothy grin.

"I *would*."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Do you really think I just LET her in like that? I argued against it. I wanted to KILL her for all the things she did to you. But I didn't. Because it takes STRENGTH to do something like that. NOT weakness."

She laughs, the tone bitter and angry and sad all at once. "Really? Why do I keep chasing you? Sure, you're a coward, but you're my coward. I love you. But that doesn't mean you get to keep getting away with this crap." She glances down as the line is drawn, and she raises her blade above her head.

"I don't believe that for a f**king second, and it's sad if you do. You pulled that lever because you wanted to die, Catra. That's the real reason. Because you were afraid. Again. For the Honor of Greyskull."

There's no proud shot this time. Just an angry mutter. There is a clap of thunder and light whirls about her...but the golden light crackles instead of flowing smoothly...and the light casts dark, dark shadows. The entire tranformation is different. Even to someone like Catra it probably feels just -wrong-.

The instant She-Ra is standing there, she launches forward with a blur of movement. She reaches out to grab for Catra's hair. She's fast normally, but this time she's faster. So much faster. She isn't holding back like she always, always does with the girl. With everyone.

Should she catch that thick hair she brings her knee up and Catra's face down, slamming the two together.

Catra has posed:
Catra is fast, and she was expecting Adora to come at her once the transformation was complete, but then... then it was wrong. Even when she corrupted Adora's sword, that never happened. Between that momentary distraction and She-Ra being so much faster than she usually is, she abruptly finds herself grabbed, yanked, and kneed, in an impact that would render most people unconscious, if not just straight up dead.

Catra, is not most people, however. She grunts at the impact, and thrashes about for a moment before swinging her sword up over her head; not to attack Adora, but to cut her own hair where Adora's grabbed it, leaving her look a little... lop-sided, but she can fix it later. The feline bounces back, rubbing the side of her face where it's already getting puffy, but both her eyes are still open.

"Oh, did I make you mad?" The poisoned honey returns, as Catra grips her sword with both hands. "So this is what it's like when I actually push *all* your buttons, and I think I like it."

The feline dashes forwards, fainting to one side before whirling around, swinging Powersend in a wide arc with angry looking purple energy crackling in the air behind it, aiming a strike for She-Ra's stomach, before bouncing back again. "Maybe I did want to die," she snarls, her demeanor pivoting, "And I gave you enough opportunities, but you were never strong enough to do it! How many people wouldn't have had to suffer if you'd just done what you should've? Even the *Horde* taught us to kill monsters, they were just confused about who the monsters were!"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"You're not a monster!," She-Ra roars in a way she never has before. "You're a frightened child!"

She glances down at the hair balled in her hand once it's cut loose, and she lets it go, leaping back to avoid another slash from that wicked blade. She brings her blade up, deflecting the swing at her stomach with an eruption of the dark energy around Catra's, and the horrifying mixed energy nwo flowing around her own.

"You have to be SO tired of being so bitter all the time! I know I was tired of faking a damn smile! SO tired of it!" She launches herself at the girl, her blade coming down in wide arcs, tearing at the ground with each one. The missed blows show exactly how hard Adora is swinging. It's like rage-fueled Adora back on Etheria...but actually calculating. But even now, she doesn't go for a killing blow. However, unlike normal Adora...she doesn't flinch away from serious injury.

"You don't need Obsidian, and mabye -I- don't need the school! Screw all of them! Let's leave together! Just the two of us! Or are you too afraid of hope, too, you STUPID CAT!"

Catra has posed:
Catra parries the first of those big, powerful swings; and she's strong, but she's not She-Ra strong. Not even close. She deflects the blade but it still catches her in the left shoulder; and the next one on her right forearm, both leaving trails of blood. The third she tries to duck and back-pedal out of, getting cut along her scalp just above the hairline for her trouble.

By the time the fourth blow comes around she's skittering back, using her sword entirely defensively. She takes a second to look at her injuries, at least the ones she can see, before her gaze returns to She-Ra, eyes wider than she's ever looked at Adora before. "Sunbreaker was right, you *are* messed up," she breathes.

"I'm not afraid of hope. It's just so *stupid*. People don't change. Things don't get better. There's no happy ending. Why do you keep trying? Aren't you tired?"

Catra should run. She should run, and she knows it, and every fibre of sense and tactical know-how is screaming at her to run, she can't win this fight. Catra has never been weak, but Adora was always just... better. THe only times she ever won was when she fought dirty in ways Adora was unwilling to, and she knows it. Silently, Catra acknowledges that fact, and it just upsets her even more.

"I'm not bitter, and I'm not frightened! Do I *look* like I'm frightened? AM I THE ONE WHO RAN AWAY?"

Catra can't hope to beat She-Ra like this; she holds Powersend out to the side, then rushes forwards, feinting and then jumping to the side, all in a mad rush forwards to body-check straight into her. It's not like she's knock her over, but she can go for Adora's ribs with her claws, and maybe negate the reach of her sword, just for a moment.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"That's the sad, scared child talking. Nobody else calls hope pointless. Nobody else believes people can't change." She isn't roaring, but her voice is firmer then ever before. "Messed up? I'M MESSED UP? Isn't this what you WANTED, Catra? Don't hold back, you said! Stop running away, you said! Come at me with all you've got, you said! WELL HERE I AM!"

The body-check catches her off-guard, and she snarls as those claws dig into her ribs. In reply she reaches down with her free hand to wrap it around Catra's throat, forcibly attempting to yank the girl off of her...and slam her back into a wall.

Assuming she manages that she leans over her and snarls. "Grow the f**k up so you can accept reality. And...surprise, kitten...nothing Obsidian or the Horde drilled into that pretty head of yours has ANYTHING to do with reality."

Catra has posed:
Catra does an absolute number on She-Ra's ribs, for as long as she's allowed to; and she was once again expecting a counter-attack, but just... wasn't expecting her to go for the throat of all things. Adora never goes for the throat. Not on anyone.

The intervening seconds between being grabbed and being slammed into the wall hard enough that the bricks crack doesn't really register.

Catra can't breath.

There's no come-back, no cruel comment, as she gags, struggling to get air past She-Ra's fingers. Her free hand clutches at her wrist, digging in with her claws as deep as she can; and then she drops Powersend, the blade skittering across the pavement as she digs in with both hands, all while bracing herself against the wall and pushing against She-Ra's stomach with one leg.

It's not enough, of course, she's not as strong as She-Ra by a wide margin, and her strength is draining, second by second, as she thrashes with increasing panic.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
If Adora was herself right now she'd never do this, Catra is right. She especially would never, ever do this to Catra. But she is so mad. So dissapointed. So DONE with everything. Her hand shakes as she holds her against the wall, those claws leaving bloody lines on her muscled arm and wrist. She stares down at the girl as she pins her there.

"You can't beat me, Catra. Every single time you did? I was going easy on you."

She releases her, then, and kicks the wicked blade away so it clatters to the asphalt a good twenty feet away. She stands over her for a moment, her own glowing blade gripped in one hand. It's about that time she begins to feel the pain from the claws in her riubs and the blood trailing down her arm, and she takes a few steps back.

"You've given me so many scars."

She leaves the statement at just that. She doesn't feel she needs to elaborate. She turns away, then, the corrupted girl stalking towards the main street.

Catra has posed:
Catra gulps air into her lungs as she's released, and lays there on the ground for a moment, trying to piece together what just happened. Something that's never happened before. Something that Catra didn't think was even possible. Is this the Dark Energy talking? Or is this how Adora really feels?

Somehow, Catra doesn't feel like talking it over anymore. She's never had the cruelty flipped on her like this before -- at least, not by Adora. Not even all through their battles on Etheria.

But it's the words She-Ra says in parting, as she's busy picking herself up off the ground and scrabbling back from the corrupted heroine. That she only ever won because Adora let her. That cuts deeper than any sword wound.

It simply reinforces how worthless Catra is.

So she gasps and coughs, normalizing her breathing as she watches She-Ra walk away from her. Her eyes note where her sword has gone, but she doesn't go for it; she just stays where she is, huddled on the ground and ready to run for it, tail really between her legs this time and ears tucked flat against her head.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
When all of this is done Adora is going to hate herself. She is going to hate herself so, so much. But this is far from over. So much damage is left to be done, thanks to one stupid cookie and the odd, unique energy signure she has as the only Eternian on this side of the galaxy.

She-Ra doesn't stop. She leaves Catra there, broken and hurting. She turns a corner, and then another one, before she lets the energy wrap about her and transform her back into Adora. Her shirt and flannel are pasted to her skin from her blood, and she suddenly feels light-heated. She glances down and sees the fresh wounds along her arm and chest, and she groans to herself.

"That...damn...cat..."

Hand against her rib wound, she stumbles off into the darkness.