74/A Tale of Two Tails

A Tale of Two Tails
Date of Scene:	13 July 2023
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Ikuto meets with Catra to show her around Obsidian Tower at the request of Majorina.
Cast of Characters:	Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Catra

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Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto walked into the lobby of Obsidian Tower and looked around for the person he was supposed to meet, already feeling uncomfortable. He hated coming here. Doing so was necessary at times because of the nature of his work for the Easter Company, but he never felt good about this tower.

This time at least he wasn't going to have to meet up with any of the big boss types. He'd been given a simple enough task; meet a new colleague code-named "Cheshire" and show them around the building. He didn't have the heart to tell Majorina that he wasn't particularly well-versed in the layout of Obsidian Tower himself, but this was a good enough chance to show that he was a team player, and it's not like anyone else had volunteered. So here he was, standing in the lobby looking around.

"Who am I even looking for...she didn't say what Cheshire looks like." he muttered as Yoru hopped up on his shoulder and pretended to help look, though the little Chara didn't have a clue either.

Catra has posed:
Catra has been standing in the lobby for about ten minutes, but with the scowl on her face you'd think she'd been kept waiting at customer service in a second-rate department store for a couple of hours. She's leaning against a pillar, arms folded, and generally looking irate with... basically everything.

In her defense, it's been a lousy couple of days. Y'know, getting torn through time and space away from everything she knows and all. She's not really dealing with it well, and the only way she knows to hide her vulnerabilities is to be angry.

She's probably not all that difficult to pick out; her skin isn't a natural color for humans, she has stripes, ears, a tail, mismatched eyes, and of course claws, which may or may not have been used on the pillar she's standing against. Maybe. Who could say.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Yoru would poke Ikuto's cheek and shout. "Hey, I bet that's them nya!" Ikuto turned to look at who Yoru was now wildly gesturing a paw at from his shoulder. Of course. Majorina certainly had a sense of humor. He approached the girl and cleared his throat. "You must be Cheshire. My name is Ikuto Tsukiyomi. My apologies for the delay; I had to ditch class to come over."

She looked pretty annoyed, and very much like a cat. Was she even human? That would be a pretty rude thing to ask, so he didn't. "Heyyyyy you look kinda like me! Are you a really big Chara?" Yoru however, was not so good about reading the room.

Catra has posed:
Catra's ear flicks when Ikuto approaches, but she doesn't look his way until Yoru speaks. "No, I'm a cat," she replies flatly, without turning to look. "And what's a Chara? Something else weird in this place I guess."

After that, the feline person finally turns to face in Ikuto's direction, arms still folded and maintaining her air of deep irritation. The correction 'My name is Catra' almost leaves her lips, but she remembers what Majorina said about keeping her name a secret for now. Is that what she said? She wasn't entirely paying attentiont at the time, but might as well play along for now.

"Sure," She replies, with a shrug of her shoulders. "That'd be me. You're... Ikoro, she said your name was? Something like that, right?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto bristles at having his name forgotten just seconds after having given it, but nods. "Close enough. I suppose we're going to be co-workers, though I mostly operate under a subsidiary of Obsidian known as the Easter Company. This is Obsidian Tower, the...heart, of the organization. The first three floors here are just a big department store. Lots of regular people come here so it's pretty normal.
Yoru chimes in "There are some really neat cat toys on the second floor! Ikuto bought one of-" before Ikuto gently pinches the Chara's mouth shut with his fingers. "This is Yoru. He's a Chara, a magical being that represents the heart and emotions of the person it hangs around. He likes to talk too much," Ikuto says. "If you'd like I can show you around the store area of the Tower, or we can just go up to the business levels and skip the aisles upon aisles of products."

Catra has posed:
Either Catra doesn't notice the bristling, or she just doesn't react to it. She still looks like she's maintaining a pretty solid foundation of being unhappy about being here, but generally without any choice in the matter, which... is accurate to her situation, actually.

"What's a department store supposed to be," she asks, before shaking her head. "You know what, forget that part for now, I apparently can't go out in public until I can hide what I look like, so I don't even wanna know right now." She pushes off from the wall, and gestures towards the offices behind her. "Sure, Ikuto," she finally gets his name right, "I guess you and Yoru might as well show me around the rest of the tower."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto leads the way up to the offices, waving a hand dismissively while going right past, even further up the building. "The next few floors of this place after the store are all business. Buying, selling, trading. Accountant stuff. Not anything we were hired to do. At least I don't think Majorina would have hired you to be an accountant or a broker." His tail flicks and curls in a very feline gesture of curiousity.

"These upper levels are where the real Obsidian is. Don't go getting lost. This place can be like a maze, and some of the rooms definitely don't have treasure in them. Oh, and...stay away from the top floor. Nobody goes there."

Catra has posed:
Catra has absolutely no idea what an accountant or a broker even is, but she's not about to let on to being that stupid, especially not after voicing that she doesn't know what a department store is, either. "Majorina didn't hire me," she answers, almost sullenly. "I fell through a portal from Etheria and ended up here. It appears I will not be going back." She slinks along behind Ikuto, watching his explaination of the tower and the various.. things in it. So some of the rooms don't have treasure in them? That means that some do. Duely noted.

"Why, what's on the top floor?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"The owner. Some of the higher-ups get really mad if you even mention the top floor. Some things even I know better than to poke into, you know?" Ikuto thinks for a moment, and considers what Cheshire just said in his head before gesturing with his tail to a storage room along one of the hallways, slipping inside. "In here. Tell me that again. About not being hired."

Catra has posed:
Catra follows Ikuto into the storage room, and quirks an eyebrow upwards, like this is all a bit ridiculous.

"I wasn't hired," she repeats. "I was, I dunno, rescued I guess. I came through a portal to this place from my world, by accident, and until Majorina helped me out a little I couldn't even understand the language." She bristles, drawing herself up to her full height (which isn't a lot but she manages to make it seem like a lot more than it is somehow).

"Does it matter? I'm here and I'm gonna work with these people until the guy on the top floor notices me, that's what I'm gonna do."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"It matters because I'm not exactly doing this for a love of darkness," Ikuto admits. "Ears and tail aside, I think we may be more alike in circumstance than I thought." He thinks for a moment and sighs. "Don't trust anyone in charge here to do anything but use you for their own ends. They didn't get into power by helping others and they haven't kept their power for so long by being charitable."

Ikuto gestures towards the door to the storage room and says "I'll keep my ears open for anything about portals or a place called...Etheria, you said? If I hear anything you'll be the first to know. Come on, if anyone was watching it's gonna look...weird, if I was showing you a storage room for more than a minute or so."

Catra has posed:
"Sounds like the Horde," Catra replies. "I was Force Captain in the Horde." She pauses, about to follow Ikuto out. "That's second in command, if you're wondering. Of course they use people, you think anyone else is any different? Only smart thing to do is climb on top by using them right back."

Catra stalks out into the hallway, after having been very interested in the contents of the storage room. If she ever needs stacks upon stacks of printer paper for a project, she sure knows where to get it now.

Also, the comment about being watched was... not unexpected, but good to know.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"Oh, and uh. There's food here too if you find yourself hungry and don't have money or whatever. If you give the cafeteria staff the sad cat eyes they'll set you up with something decent. If all else fails, plenty of people here aren't so attentive while having dinner." Ikuto shrugs.

"There's not a whole lot more to this place. There are labs, some board rooms. Lots of computers. If you see a sign on a door that mentions dark energy try not to go in there. That stuff isn't really for anyone who likes having their soul intact."

Catra has posed:
"I don't need Dark Energy anyway," Catra mutters. "I beat She-Ra just fine without it and I'm sure I'll do just fine against the girls running around here that Majorina told me about. And if She-Ra's here too, then I'll just beat her again and that'll be a lot of fun."

Almost on cue, as Catra is walking past someone's desk she just goes ahead and plucks his donut off a plate, right in the moment when he's on the phone and not looking at it. Casually, she cat takes a bite out of it, and ends up looking at the food item suspiciously. She turns it over a couple of times, before she shrugs and keeps eating it.

"This world is... weird."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto smirks. "He should have paid better attention to his donut if he didn't want a cat to have it. What are you going to do for now, though? I usually keep to the rooftops and avoid people. I could point out a few places where nobody really goes around the city, if you need somewhere to stay that's out of sight. Or I suppose you could see if Majorina has somewhere for you to stay."

Catra has posed:
Catra munches the donut, and nods to Ikuto. "That'd be great," she replies. "But I do have a room. And Majorina showed me how to use the doors to get around, so I don't entirely have to rely on rooftops. Still, I'll take any advantage I can get, I'm not stupid."

Catra polishes off the donut in short order, and takes a look out the window; maybe that might've been a mistake, since she just looks out on a foreign world. A place where she's wholly out of place, and completely unfamiliar; and that just makes her sullen all over again.

"I'm going back to my room," she mutters. "Thanks for showing me around." She lifts a hand to wave as she stalks off, without looking back. "Don't get killed, Ikuto."