1685/Mer-Mystery: Salt-er Ego

Mer-Mystery: Salt-er Ego
Date of Scene:	20 June 2024
Location:	Korma Chameleon
Synopsis:	Glimmer suggested Ryoko take Catra to meet Scorpia, but Ryoko wasn't about out either of them to each other. Scorpia guesses wrong and Catra lies about it. Not a villain when it comes to her girlfriend's feelings, Ryoko calls out the lie, and then chases a hurt Scorpia out of the restaurant, leaving Catra to wallow in her sadness.
Cast of Characters:	Ryoko Gushiken, Catra, Scorpia

---

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Glimmer had grabbed Ryoko at the office, said they needed to go save her friend Bow. And when they all got there, henshined and ready to fight, it turned out he was already saved. Nothing to see here. Go take Catra out for food. Have her meet Scorpia.

    Ryoko didn't know much about Catra, but she knew she came from Glimmer's world, and so did Scorpia. It stank of a setup. The two probably knew each other. So after they'd left Penguin Park, and she'd dehenshined, Ryoko suggested they get some curry since they were so close to Korma. "And I'll text my girlfriend. Glimmer seems to think you should meet her."

    <<TXT to Sarah Point>>: Babe, you want Korma? Got a coworker for you to meet.
    <<TXT to Sarah Point>>: We're walking over from the park. Meet us there.

Catra has posed:
What an absolute waste of time.

Catra got dragged all the way out to save Bow, of all people, and then it turns out he didn't even need it. Catra has been silent ever since, busy being sour about the interuption of her efforts to master Dark Magic -- but hey, being at Obsidian means she's got coworkers, and it's not quite like being in the Horde, and sometimes she's just gotta do things. Like, a certain... thing... coming up right away that she doesn't want to think about.

Much better to be internally angry about something minor.

So, disguised as Rachel Miller the ever obnoxious American tourist, the feline walks alongside Ryoko, hoodie up, hands shoved in her pockets, and even with company she's got her headphones in an the music turned up, at least while they're outside.

"Uhm... sure," she responds, with a shrug of her shoulders. "Curry's good, and the Korma's really good." She pauses. "...Didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Scorpia has posed:
    Sarah was doing push-ups in the dorm room when her phone dinged. It was new, which was very exciting for the princess. Scrambling up, she fumbles with the buttons until she manages to unlock it and get her messages open. Fist bumping the air in her excitement, she texts back immediately... in all reality, it takes her about 10 minutes to get it all out onto the screen.

    <<TXT to Ryoko Gushiken>>:I'LL B RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!
    <<TXT to Ryoko Gushiken>>I WANT TO SIT BY U!!!!

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko glances aside at Catra as they walk up the street toward Korma. "We're still pretty new," she explains. Her phone buzzes and she pulls it out, unable to keep from smiling. All caps. So many exclamation points. And it did not capture even a fraction of that girl's energy.

    Slipping her phone back into her pocket she looks back to Catra. "She's not from around here. Just enrolled at the school right after Prom," she continues as they get closer. "She's my roommate," she finishes, with an awkward laugh. They're such a meme.

    They arrive first because they were practically there already. Ryoko takes up a spot just outside the doors and pulls her phone out of her pocket, and taps out a quick message.

    <<TXT to Sara Point>>: We're here!
    <<TXT to Sara Point>>: And duh, of course.

Catra has posed:
Oh good, another person who goes to that school. Same one as Adora.

Is she ever going to be able to get past that?

"Cool," she replies, blandly. Her hands remain shoved into her pockets, and she takes up a spot beside Ryoko, leaning against the wall behind her back. She lets the music isolate her from the world (as much as it can) for a few minutes longer, before finally turning it down. They are going to be going inside in a moment, afterall. Well, whenever the girlfriend shows up. Whoever she is.

"Seems to be lots of people who aren't... 'from around here'," she observes. "So like. Not from Japan? Or not from Earth?"

Scorpia has posed:
    Sarah basically sprinted to the food place. She stopped just long enough to pull her phone out and look at the messages from Ryoko, grinning happily. The tall blonde spotted her beautiful girlfriend a block away. That didn't stop her from greeting her, "RYOKO! BABY!" Her feet slowed but just barely, and she swept the dark-haired girl up in her arms and swung her around, "I missed you today!"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko's watching down the street toward campus. Knowing her girlfriend, she was probably running from the dorm. She didn't really go out much except for classes, or to do things with Ryoko. She needed to meet more people. Maybe meeting someone from home would help.

    She can see Sarah sprinting in the distance, still a couple blocks away, and she smirks. It's always a good feeling to be right. Looking toward Rachel she smirks. "Sharp as ever," she says. "She's from Etheria same as you. I assume you know her, or why else would Glimmer suggest this?" She doesn't say a name though. She doesn't have time.

    Before she can get out another word there's Sarah shouting her name and barreling toward her to pick her up and twirl her around with her trademark disregard for personal space. It's okay now, though. Now it's romantic. Ryoko blushes and laughs awkwardly. "I missed you too," she says.

    Then she breaks away from the hug just enough to turn and gesture toward Rachel standing right here. "This is my coworker Rachel Miller," she says. "Rachel, this is my girlfriend Sarah Point."

Catra has posed:
Catra freezes. She's from Etheria, same as her. Probably know her.

Catra immediately knows exactly who it is who's coming to meet her. Well, sure, she can't say with absolute certainty. Who knows. Could be Entrapta, or Mermista, or Frosta, or, or, or whatever who knows could even be Lonnie. Not that she'd be happy to see any of those people. But it's not going to be any of those people. She'd already heard that someone'd made it here, and that she was going to the school, which means it's got to be her.

Wonder if anyone told her that she's here?

And then, there she is, and introductions are being made. Maybe she won't figure it out right away. Maybe it'll give her some time to feel things out, see if... she really is on a different side. Maybe. At least she's wearing the disguise (which she will hates) and hey, she remembers her not being entirely the brightest bulb on the control panel.

"Hey," she greets, providing a distinct lack of emotion to counter Sarah's excitement. It's a marvel that nobody's told her about the goth subculture yet. She lifts one hand to wave, and finally kills the music from her earbuds, which provokes a very immediate, "It's loud out here, let's go inside."

Scorpia has posed:
    She forgot that there was going to be someone else! Sarah releases her girlfriend, giving her a quick kiss on her lips, and turns to this 'Rachel Miller'. The girl asks no questions, doesn't even stop to think, really, and scoops the small girl up into a huge bear hug, "I am SO excited to meet you, Rachel! I haven't met anyone from Ryoko's work yet! This is so cool! Are you best friends? That would be so cool if you were best friends. Can we be friends?"

    Chattering away, Sarah simply carries Rachel into the shop with her and sets her down in one of the booth seats, "Nothing personal, but I'm going to sit with my girlfriend!" And she proceeds to move around the table to sit across from Ryoko's co-worker, grinning.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko smirks, and says absolutely nothing when Sarah turns to give Rachel the same hug she'd just received. She says nothing and just follows behind, sliding into the booth next to Sarah once they're there. Leaning into the bigger girl's shoulder she says, her voice rather firm, "Sarah, darling, do you remember the conversations we've had about boundaries and personal space?"

    She leans her head on Sarah's shoulder for a moment and then sits up. There is absolutely no way Catra can't know who Sarah is, even with the Veil. Or, well, for Catra's sake, Ryoko hopes there weren't more behemoth huggers with boundary issues running around Etheria. "She get so excited to meet people," she says. Then she looks aside to Scorpia, "Pretty sure you know Rachel from back home. Glimmer suggested you meet. Why don't you both tell me what you want, and I'll go up and order. My treat for both of you."

    She gets up from her seat, and then waits long enough for both of them to tell her, and is off up to the counter to order curry for all three of them. For her? Lamb vindaloo, extra spicy.

Catra has posed:
Catra knows full well exactly who is giving her a bearhug, but since her usual reaction to something like that would either involve snarling, snapping, claws, or all three, she manages to not do something that would give her away immediately. So with her muscles all extremely tense and an expression like she's about to go for an option involving teeth, she allows herself to be carried precisely as far as the table and exactly no furth--

"Okay that's enough put me down," she declares, putting her hands up and pushing herself off from Sarah at about the same moment as she's being deployed next to a chair.

She almost falls over the chair, and makes it look more or less like she meant to do that, and slides into it so she can look at the menu, for all of about eight seconds while Ryoko is busy giving the game away basically immediately. Yeah, Sarah definitely knows, is the thought on top of her churning brain.

"...Machher Jhol," she mumbles, in response to Ryoko asking what they'd like. As she makes the request, she watches Sarah, waiting to see if she knows that Machher Jhol is fish, and if she puts two and two together from that.

Scorpia has posed:
    Cheeks coloring pink, Sarah runs her hand through her hair and looks sheepish, "Yeah, sorry about that Rachel. I just get really excited about stuff. I'll try to be better about your space!" She tilts her head in thought, humming as she examines the girl across the table, "I dunno, baby. She doesn't look familiar to me. I'll have our regular, extra spicy please!"

    The blonde turns her attention back to Rachel, laser focused, and leans over the table. After a few moments of just staring at her, Sarah shrugs, "Dunno! What did you order? That sounds fancy! Matcher joe?"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko puts in their orders: two lamb vindaloos, extra spicy, and a machher jhol. She pays and then slides down the counter to wait for a tray with all their food on it. The whole process takes a few minutes, but not too long. And after just enough time for them to have a few words, Ryoko arrives back at the table with their food. Rice and curry.

    "Hope you're hungry," she says as she starts to hand out the bowls. The fish curry is sat down in front of Rachel and then the other, identical bowls, in front of the pair across the table. Ryoko sets the tray aside for the moment. They can use it to bus their dishes later.

    "You know, I'm almost not mad about the false alarm. I haven't had Korma in a while," she muses. Then she scoops a big bite of saucy rice into her spoon and pops it in her mouth. "Mmmmm."

Catra has posed:
"It's curry," Rachel replies, supplying the most obvious and unhelpful answer she can so as not to give up what it actually is, just yet. Not that it's going to be hard to work out, once Ryoko returns with the food and it's patently obvious that it's fish. It looks like fish. It smells like fish. It's fish.

At least it'll be delicious.

The disguised feline starts dining right away, like she hasn't eaten since the previous day -- and given how she's been treating herself lately while working on her magic, she might well not have. Food goes in, and it's a good few bites before she manages to slow herself down.

She opens her mouth to respond to Ryoko's comment about the false alarm three times, but has to admit to herself that she just can't think of anything meaningful to say that wouldn't come off a sight more positive than she intends, so she just shrugs her shoulders instead. "Yeah," she says at last.

Her eyes wander back to Sarah, observing while she eats, and waiting to see if she works it out or not.

Scorpia has posed:
    Sarah also dives into her food. She'd been working out between her classes and needed to eat enough calories to fuel her large body. After eating about half of it, she looks back over to Rachel, "Is that fish in that? It looks really good? Can I have a bite? You can have a bite of mine!"

    As if it took a few minutes to sink in, Sarah's face pales and she looks to her girlfriend, "What was a false alarm? Did something bad happen at work? Are you ok??" Her voice slowly pitches higher as she turns her entire body to face Ryoko, worry etched into her facial features and her hand landing on her shoulder as if to confirm that she was there and breathing still.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko doesn't even try to stop Sarah's worry. It's so cute how the blonde is protective and concerned. She wants to take care of her girl. How could Ryoko not love her? She can't not. She laughs and leans in to place a kiss on Sarah's cheek. "Calm down. I'm fine. It was just Glimmer being Glimmer," Ryoko said, not even really fully understanding just how true that statement was. She'd known the Queen for just a little while, but the pinkette menace had made an impression. Then, just a little jokingly, "Stand down, soldier."

    She turns her attention back to her meal, eating several bites of the extra spicy curry before looking up toward Rachel. "How's the fish curry? I haven't tried it yet. It smelled really good when I was carrying it over."

Catra has posed:
Has she really not figured it out yet? She really hasn't figured it out yet. Either that or she's learned how to not bounce of the ceiling when she gets excited about something, which Catra finds unlikely. So she really just hasn't worked it out yet.

Well, she's not about to work it out for her. She glances back and forth between the two people across the table from her, and then directs her eyes back down, focusing closely on her food.

"It's great," she replies. "Fish curry is the best sort. ...Pretty much fish anything is the best. I hate most everything about this planet but fish is alright."

She's not about to admit her true feelings about basically anything, and fish is no exception. Unfortuately, she's still starving, and it's still disappearing more quickly than she'd like. Well, probably nothing stopping her from ordering a second one. Turns out she is really hungry.

As she eats, she glances upwards, still watching the two across the table; especially Sarah, who she knows darn well is under that disguise.

Why'd she have to end up at the SCHOOL?

Scorpia has posed:
    A bright grin of relief spreads across Sarah's face at her girlfriend's reassurance, and the kiss she gets afterwards. She nudges her shoulder against Ryoko's, "Hey now, I'm no soldier anymore. Just a student and a badass superhero!"

    Completely nonchalant, as if she didn't just verbally out herself to be who everyone else knows she is, she turns back to her food and shovels the rest of it in her mouth, finishing it off. Looking up, Sarah catches Rachel looking at her. Wide-eyed, she asks, "What? Do I have food on my face or something?" She turns to Ryoko, "Baby, do I have anything in my teeth?" And flashes her pearly whites.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko resumes eating her own meal, and quite efficiently too. By the time Sarah turns to ask her question, Ryoko's just finishing her last bite. They really are quite a pair. And then Sarah is just so completely oblivious and is so cute, Ryoko just cannot let it go on any longer.

    She looks closely, because she doesn't want to lie and then shakes her head. "No, you do not," she says, and then smirks, shaking her head, and glancing across the table toward Rachel. "Before you got here, I told her that you're both from Etheria, and I expect she's already figured out who it is you are, because you are surely quite singular even in that fairy tale world you're from," she says, finally turning back to smile at Sarah. "Glimmer suggested I should introduce you two."

Catra has posed:
Rachel lets the two of them talk. Sure, maybe shew as a lot more... explosive when she was with the Horde. But she was also second in command then. That's not so much the case here. Also this planet sucks and she hates it. But then, she wasn't any great fan of Etheria, either.

"Yeah, Glimmer's here," she mutters, "And that's a fact that's going to be out of the bag completely, now," she adds, glancing sideways at Ryoko. "She's not overly good at keeping secrets," she explains, though it's not an observation delivered with malice, just a fact stated. At least to her mind.

A string of bitey comments parade through the mind of Catra, but she just... doesn't want to go that way tonight. It's how she always does things. But it just doesn't feel like... it feels wrong, for once, so she just keeps focusing on her food.

"Mind you," she says at last, "Glimmer isn't exactly little miss subtlety either, she's about as quiet as her hair would suggest. If you're looking to get some sleep, make sure she isn't in the same building and doesn't know where you are, so she can't teleport in on you like *Poof* HERE I AM SURPRIIIIIISE" she finishes by making her voice go high-pitched, and waves her cutlery in the air. "Like, no Glimmer, we're not surprised, we're literally never surprised when you do that, just annoyed 'cause I was *asleep*."

Scorpia has posed:
    Sarah hums and glances between her girlfriend and Rachel, scooping up one last bite of her meal and chewing on it, eyes narrowed as she puzzles something out. She swallows and sets her chopsticks down and leans across the table, staring deep into the girl's soul, "Is Rachel a nickname? I don't know any Rachels from Etheria. And I know *a lot* of people, let me tell you! I have a lot of friends. I'd know if someone was named Rachel!"

The blonde slowly sits back again and looks to Ryoko, "Why would Glimmer want me to meet Rachel, when Rachel isn't even from Etheria?"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko's lips press into a tight smirk as she listens to Catra rant about Glimmer. She glances aside toward her girlfriend to see if the blonde puts anything together. Nope. Bless her dumb little himbo brain. She was going to need this absolutely spelled out for her. Ryoko was not going to actually say Catra's name. She was a villain, but she had ethics, and you didn't out people's identities. Dragging Sarah down the path of deduction? That was totally fine.

    "There isn't a Sarah in Etheria either, now is there, love," Ryoko says looking at her girlfriend with the most adoring smile. She reaches up to caress the side of Sarah's head from her temple back into her hair. "And you don't normally have hands," she says. Gesturing toward Rachel. "I expect you do know her, but you don't recognize her because of the Veil."

Catra has posed:
Rachel sighs autibly, and puts one hand to her forehead. She still doesn't get it. How can anyone be this slow to figure it out? Well, whatever, she's still not about to figure it out for her. If she hadn't landed with the SCHOOL then she might've been more eager to pounce on the connection, but as it is...

Especially with what's recently happened with Hinoiri...

"I guess I was a lot hungrier than I thought." She shovels the last couple bites of curry into her mouth, and drops the fork loudly onto the plate. With that eaten, she leans back in her seat, and rests one hand behind her back. "I guess I should've paced myself a little better. ...But hey, not like food is on limited supply. Beats..." she pauses, stopping herself before saying 'beats the grey kind'. That really would give things away pretty much immediately.

"Beats a lot of other restaurants," she finishes. As if it weren't obvious that she was going to say something else.

Scorpia has posed:
    Sarah nuzzles into her girl's hand as she's caressed, a soft smile curving her lips for a few moments. "Hmmm," she looks over to Rachel again as she finishes her food, "She reminds me a lot of Mermista. Are you Mermista??" Sitting up straight with eyes bright with hope, Sarah asks, "Did I guess right? I would love it if Mermista were here, she's so cool!" She was not going to get it. Not on her own. Oh, to be so blissfully unaware.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko doesn't say a word. She just turns to look to Catra to see how she answers that question. Ryoko has no idea who Mermista is, but based on the fact that Scorpia is literally a scorpion girl, and Catra is literally a cat girl, and Glimmer literally glimmers, she's going to guess that Mermista's a mergirl. She wonders what Catra's opinion of that person is, and just reaches for her glass of water, which has definitely always been there, to take a sip.

Catra has posed:
One of the best parts of being a villain is that you're expressly not supposed to be good. That is, afterall, the point.

Rachel's innitial reaction is just complete, utter surprise. She... reminds Scorpia of... Mermista? That sodden princess with the emotional range of a puddle of spilled molasses? She looks around for something else to take her attention, but the only thing available is an empty plate (she doesn't seem to have a glass of water).

Her facial expressions go through their own version of the seven stages of grief; surprise, consternation, revulsion, anger, disgust, acceptance, mild bemusement.

"Yeah, sure. I'm Mermista. Hole in one. You *are* smart."

Scorpia has posed:
    A proud grin settles on Sarah's face as she sits back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest in a casual pose, "How long have you been here? What time are you from? My time was after Horde Prime got his ass kicked. I was working on restoring my kingdom, back to something less, Horde-y. I was on my way to a ball with Perfuma when I got poofed here. It was really confusing. It still is." A rare somber moment for the blonde has her looking to Ryoko, frowning slightly, "I miss Etheria, and everyone back there. But I have people here that I love and care for." A conflicted look settles on Sarah's face and she stares out into space.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    Ryoko really does appreciate what Catra's doing. She's a villain too. She'd love to mislead someone like that. If that person weren't her girlfriend. Her girlfriend who is simply too pure of heart to be from anywhere other than some magical planet like this Etheria place. Sarah would surely forgive her, but Ryoko can imagine the heartbroken face she'd make if she ever found out that Ryoko knows Catra us lying to her, even if she doesn't know just how important Catra had been to her in the past.

    She sighs and frowns, glaring at Rachel before turning toward Sarah. "She's lying to you babe," she says. "Whoever this Mermista is, I don't even think she's here. I haven't heard Glimmer say anything about her." Which means if she's there, Glimmer doesn't know, because it's already been established the girl has no operational security.

Catra has posed:
Inwardly, Rachel sighs. The disguised Catra just can't have ten seconds worth of fun at someone else's expense (and come on, this was cheap) without someone jumping in to be the good guy and clear things up, and if there are no heroes around to do the job then it seems a fellow villain will step up.

Whatever.

"Yep, totally full of it," she blandly agrees, and grabs the dessert menu to peruse, not so much because she wants dessert, but because it's something to occupy her attention. "Maybe you should try again? Give it some thought, I'm sure it'll come to you."

No she isn't.

"Mermista isn't here and honestly, this world is better for it. It's one of the few things I like about this world. No Mermista."

Scorpia has posed:
    Sarah frowns and looks at the girl across from her, "I-" she pauses and looks to Ryoko, at a loss for words, for once. She didn't like this game anymore. Not when her new friend wanted to lie to her. "I think I have something to do back at the dorm. Probably work out. Or maybe singing practice. Something." Clearing her throat, she nods resolutely and leans to give her girlfriend an affectionate kiss before standing, "Thanks for the food and the invite, baby, I'll see you later at home." And she walks away and out the door of the restaurant, ignoring this Rachel character.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
    There's a glance to Rachel and then back to Sarah and then Ryoko's being kissed. Sarah's sliding out of the booth and leaving. Ryoko presses her lips into a frown and sighs, exhaling sharply thru her nose.

    She looks at Rachel for a long moment. And just shakes her head. "I won't tell her. That's your business," she says, sliding out of the booth herself. "But I will let Glimmer know how things went. You know. The next time she randomly teleports into our dorm room." She said the next time.

    With that she's off to the door, pushing it open and shouting, "Sarah baby! Wait up!" Then dashing off.

Catra has posed:
Catra watches as Scorpia departs, and then up to Ryoko as she issues her admonishment. And she doesn't answer either.

How does she explain it? How much it hurts that Scorpia was so committed to backing her up in the Horde (too much so, sometimes) but now she's on the other side, and it's something she'd just rather not face to the point that she just... can't tell Scorpia that it's her? She just can't do it. She wants her to know, to reconnect, but she's afraid of it, and that fear gets burried beneath so many layers of pain and anger that she herself can't even acknowledge it.

So she just watches as they both leave, one after the other, without a word. Of course she'll tell Glimmer about it, and then she'll just end up looking like the bad guy. Not the bad guy in the villain sense, just a spiteful little snot who can't go five minutes without trying to hurt someone.

Well, that's accurate, anyway.

She picks the dessert menu back up, and when a server next wanders by, she orders something sweet. To go, of course.

She needs to get out of here too.