82/A total CATastrophe

A total CATastrophe
Date of Scene:	14 July 2023
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Panicking over what to do with the museum item that Wuwu stole, Cho runs into an unlikely savior... Catra. Fortunately, this super trustworthy and incredibly generous soul agrees to help! And... Cho... believes her.
Cast of Characters:	Cho Konishi, Catra

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Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi was... stressed. To put it lightly. She had been feeling pretty good, it had been a bit since her visit at the museum, everything was nice. At least... until she got home today. And took out her homework, to double check some of her answers.

And realized that, at the bottom of her bag was a fancy makeup applicator.

She'd been confused. Until she pulled it out and realized it wasn't just fancy. *It was ancient.* "What the HELL were you thinking?" Cho asked Wuwu, pacing back and forth.

The monkey, Wuwu, was floating overhead and lightly tossing the makeup kit in the air. "Whaaaaaat? You're always complaining about not having makeup and stuff, I thought it'd make you happy."

"It's not about NOT having it. It's about NOT knowing what stuff to USE," she snapped, shaking her head. Oh, she was going to jail! Getting expelled! "You can't just, just TAKE things out of the museum!"

"Why not? We saved it," Wuwu said. "You worry too much."

"WORRY too much?!" Cho asked, shaking her head. "I'm dead if they find out you took it!"

"Deeeep breaths, kido. Relax. Try meditating and--"

"I'm THIS close to MEDITATING you right into a PIT!"

"Geez, relax. If it bothers you that much, let's just toss it on the front porch and--"

"You don't TOSS something like that! It's hundreds of years old! It's a relic! If we just return it people are going to ask questions!"

"Okay, fine, then let's destroy it," Wuwu said, balancing it on the tip of his tail. "No muss, no fuss."

"We're NOT destroying a priceless artifact!"

"You're taking this WAY too seriously," Wuwu said with a laugh. "It's not the jade seal. It's an old makeup kit. Here, catch!" And then he just TOSSED it!

Cho, meanwhile, shrieked and ran after it, doing a full on diving slide to try and catch it before it could hit the ground, hands out, white and horrified!

Catra has posed:
The sight of an American in Tokyo isn't really anything remarkable. There's one nearby, right now, walking along with her hands thrust into her pockets, shoulders hunched, hoodie pulled down over her head, and earbuds stuck in her ears. She's busy listening to something loud and abrasive -- Korn or something -- and seems most determined to ignore the world, which is odd for a tourist.

But then, maybe she's not a tourist.

Beneath the illusion, Catra is really just trying to get used to walking around in this state; not just her appearance hidden, but all her strength sapped away. It's like she's contracted a serious disease and she somehow still has to function; not to mention learn how to get around in this place, so different from everything she's known.

Eventually the music grows to irritate her more than it helps to quiet the noise in her mind, so she yanks the earbuds from her ears and stuffs them in her pocket, walking in silence. Her scoul deepens as she shoulders someone while walking past them, earning a look of shock as she passes without offering an apology, not even looking back to see it.

Banishing the music means one thing: Catra can now hear the argument, even with only... ordinary hearing. She changes course, angling towards where Cho is busy having a commotion with a monkey, because hey, commotion usually means that someone else is having a bad day, and Catra really needs for someone else to be having a worse day than her at the moment. So the hidden feline finds herself directly on course to stand, right where Cho is doing the slide to catch the whatever-it-is that's flying through the air.

Doing things in her weakened state is too much of a stretch at the moment, though, so Catra decides to just risk it and sheds the illusion, dashing forwards to reach out and catch the important, ancient relic before it hits the ground.

And so, Cho would find herself looking at a fairly obvious non-human; tan skin, stripes, tail, feline ears, mismatched eyes, and a lopsided grin.

"Finders keepers," she taunts, tossing the relic up and catching it again.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi laid there on her stomach for a few moments, staring up at the girl. The cat girl. That... that was a cat girl, right? Nevermind the fact that Cho's stomach kind of hurt right now and she was covered in dust from the slide. She was *looking up* at a cat girl. Just... staring at her. Slowly her eyes went up... then down... then up. Yup. Claws. Tail. Ears. Heck, she even had heterochromia. Cho's cheeks slowly began to get rosy red and she just gave a light squeak. Because this meant one thing, and one thing only.

This girl was from some kind of anime maid/weeby diner place. "W-w-w-what a-a-a-are... are you... a-a-a-a... c-c-c-cosplay maid?" she asked.

Hovering overhead, Wuwu just... face palmed. The little flying monkey giving a soft sigh. "Oh come on, kid..." he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Then, FINALLY, it clicked. "W-wait, HEY! Give... give that back!" she squeaked. "It's... well, it's... not mine, but, I mean, it's not... it needs to go back to who it belongs to and, ummm... please?" she asked before finally trying to get up... Trying, because the first time she got up she managed to fall back onto her butt with an undignified squeak. And Wuwu just face palmed. She was making them BOTH look bad.

Catra has posed:
Catra just looks exasperated as Cho stammers out her first question, actually tapping her foot as she waits for her to spit it all out. At first, she really just doesn't know how to answer that; it's like, for a moment, she just kinda stares at the other girl.

"What... what's cosplay...?" she mumbles, staring down in utter disbelief that that's the first thing raised.

Until the flying monkey talks, and helps bring some focus to what's important. She looks down at the object in her hand, then back to Cho, and just shrugs. "Well, if it's not yours, why should I give it back to you?" she holds both hands up in the air, in a kind of 'whaddaya-gonna-do' type gesture. "Hey, look on the bright side, it's not like you're gonna miss it, are you? And you almost broke it, look how clumsy you were. I'd better hang on to it to make sure you don't break it."

As she speaks, Catra takes a half step backwards. It's not a retreat; it's more a move to give herself more space.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times at that question. "What's... cosplay? Err, I mean, it's where you... dress up as... as a... ummmm..." Slowly she glanced back at Wuwu. Then back at the girl. "Wait, are you... oh... oh great..." she said before sighing. "Wuwu, is she...?"

"Nope," Wuwu said. "I mean... nope. Definitely not. I never tussled with a kitty like her."

"Oh... ummmm... Right then. You should give it... back... uhhhh..." She got to her feet and tried dusting herself off. "Because... errr... Because... actually... I hate that you make a good point. But I was NOT going to break it. He was going to break it! He was the one who stole it, I was just trying to return it! In a way that... didn't... hold me accountable for it and errrrrr... are... are you... ummmm..." She glanced between her and Wuwu again. "Wait, are... you the cat who had the little prince so upset? The one who..." Then she trailed off and looked the girl up and down again. Before... "Actually, wait. Could you return it?" she asked, her eyes lighting up. "Oh my gosh! That's PERFECT! You're a life saver!"

Wuwu opened his mouth to say something. Paused. Shrugged. Welp, it wasn't like he was that upset.

"Just, errr, don't... open it. Okay? I mean, the makeup in it is older than my great grandparents. If there's anything still in there it's probably nasty or straight dust at this point. Errrr..."

She looked her up and down again before asking. "So ummmm... you're... not... attacking me or the park. Does... that mean you're one of the good guys?"

Catra has posed:
On the one hand, this is easy, and that's pretty nice on a day like today. On the other hand, it's absolutely just too easy, which isn't what Catra is used to. She stands there for a moment, poised and waiting for everything to go wrong, like it always does, except that for some reason it basically just doesn't. Is this person just gonna straight up let her swipe the ancient relic?

Well it does appear that way.

Catra pauses, mouth slack for a moment as she's processing this situation, before she shrugs her shoulders. "Sure, I can take it back for you." To the museum, yes definitely. "I know someone who can help me with that. It won't get broken and I probably won't open it."

Catra looks up at the flying monkey, one eyebrow quirked upwards, clearly waiting to see if the airborne part of this duo is going to see through her nonsense. "Oh, hunh? One of the good guys? Yeah, sure. You could say that."

Because who the good and bad guys are, is entirely a matter of perspective. It has nothing to do with who's working towards world domination and who isn't.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times and then... EEEEE'D! She couldn't believe it! It was actually going to work out! "Oh my gosh! YES! Thank you so much! Ohhhh! You're the coolest!" she said, doing a happy little jump in place. Then just... Jumped forward, and HUGGED HER! It was just for a moment before she pulled back. "O-oh, right, sorry! I was supposed to ask first, huh? Oh! I'm Cho! Nice to meet you! Welcome to the city! EEEEE! You have NO idea how anxious I've been about that thing." At least after the quick hug she was nice enough to hold out her hand.

She then points a finger at Wuwu. "Can you BELIEVE the antics he gets into? Just because he's all 'I'm a king, I can do what I want', then bam, he just dumps it on me."

Wuwu, meanwhile, was just chuckling and gave a shrug. "Eh, it'll be a learning experience for her."

"Oh! I know how to thank... you... is what I'd say but I'm actually out of them right now. But next time I see you I'm definitely going to have some snacks as a thank you! Oh, I love your like. Magical girl form, by the way. It's cute! I haven't seen a cat-girl themed magical girl yet, but I can't say I'm surprised. Oh, oh, what's your magical girl name?"

Catra has posed:
It's that easy? It's that easy. Catra shoots a glance up at the monkey, and while she's evaluating the odds of him either working out that she's being utterly duplicitous, or saying something if he actually does work it out. But, hey, he hasn't said anything yet, so she might just be in the clear here.

And while she's working it out, Cho goes ahead and throws her arms around her, if only briefly.

"...Ask first," she confirms, definitely a bit roughly, as she eases her claws back into her fingertips. Her tail has gone poofy and that'll take a moment to correct itself.

"...Uhm, Cheshire," she half-grumbles, providing the name Majorina told her to use for now, even though it's stupid. (At least, Catra thinks it's stupid, but she doesn't understand this world in the slightest so maybe it's best just to play along for the moment.)

"Uhm, yeah. Cat themed magical girl. Great stuff!" She pauses, clasping her hands behind her back, around the relic. "What's your, uhm, theme?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi gasped. "Oh my gosh. Your tail poofs TOO? That's so cute! It's so cool! I haven't actually seen any other animal themed magical girls yet. Well, okay, maybe one, kind of, but... I'm not sure she really counts? Lots of explosives, though."

However, the name makes her blink. "Magical... girl... Cheshire? Ohhhhh. Like the Alice in Wonderland cat?" Of course, she would catch that one. Nerrrrrrrd. "Wait, are you PRECURE Cheshire?" she asked. "Are you a team mate? Am I getting a team?" she asked, borderline SPARKLING at her.

"Uhhhh, no," Wukong said. "There isn't a Precure Cheshire, kid."

"... Awwww..." she whined. "Huh? Oh. Right. Ummm, immortal monkey king. So trust me, I get the whole... tail thing. Probably a lot more than I should. A-and I know I'm a girl but, but kings can be girls too, it's just the theme and all, you know? Cause... cause magic doesn't have to make sense, you know?" she said, her cheeks burning so bright she could have almost cooked on them.

Catra has posed:
Catra just kind of stares at the person who is literally letting her steal the thing that her own flying monkey previously stole, which is just kind of... precious, somehow, but somehow Catra is managing to keep it all under wraps instead of taunting them over it.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she answers, "I don't really do the teammate thing. I'm officer material y'know." She shrugs, taking a step backwards, partly just to get herself out of hug range just in case that winds up being on the table again.

"Uhm, yes, the tail poofs. Look, I'm sure you'll have a team in no time." And when you do I'll come rob them blind too, one way or another Catra is thinking, but doesn't vocalize.

"Look, I gotta be going, I've got, uhm, somewhere I gotta be -- and I'm not reeeaaally supposed to be out and about right now -- but hey, you know how it is. Nobody tells me what to do."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. "Oh, I know how that is," she said before sighing. "I've... never actually been any good at teams... either. I mean, I try? But well..." She motioned to Wuwu. "He's kind of my... closest I have to a mentor and he thinks he's the greatest ever and so apparently I'm supposed to be but... yeah. Team... mating is... hard," she said, nervously rubbing her arm.

"A-and I think... you probably make a great officer. Team leader? So, um, if you do end up in a team, or decide to make one, I'm sure you'll be great at it. You seem really nice, Cheshire. So, ummmm... if you ever need any help, well... I'm sure you'll find it. And... thanks. Really. For helping me with this. Like... I mean... I don't know how long you've been doing all this but... I'm... still kind of really new at all of it and just... I don't... really... have anyone I can turn to most the time. I'm... already... kind of difficult for most people to stand anyway so..." She was... smiling. But... was she going to start crying? "Just... it really means a lot to me. Thanks a lot for helping me with this and, ummm, if you ever need a hand? Just... let me know. T-thanks. And good luck!" she said before giving the girl a friendly wave, before happily turning to leave.

Wuwu just sighed and shook his head before floating after her. He WANTED to tell Cho 'You know, that girl was lying and is gonna pocket that thing, right?' But... even he didn't have the heart. Besides, it was just some old stupid makeup thing. Really not worth the freak out Cho was making. If it made her happy to think some nice cat lady helped her, why spit on her happiness?

Catra has posed:
Catra still cannot believe the direction that events have taken. She was expecting a fight. She was ready for a fight. She WANTED a fight. She really neded the simplicity of her against someone else; a struggle of strength and skill to see who comes out on top and who ends up with their face in the dirt (with a great personal expectation that the former would be her -- she's trained long enough, afterall. And she can go toe to toe with She-Ra, that's gotta count for something.)

But right now, it's just... this person is just letting her take this whatever it is.

"Oh, I will, don't worry," she replies smoothly. Perhaps just a little too smoothly. "So, uhm, see you around."

Around, in this weird town. Well, whatever.

Catra continues in the direction she was walking; she lifts a hand to wave without turning back, and at the earlist possible moment she angles around a corner and restores her illusion. She keeps going, but not after opening the relic for a little peak.