518/Drama At The Playground

Drama At The Playground
Date of Scene:	28 September 2023
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Several Academy students meet a very damaged catgirl. Chrono almost has a heart attack. Discussion of a future 'prom' is made, and a deal is struck. For better or worse.
Cast of Characters:	Adora Rainbowfist, Chrono Harlaown, Catra, Rashmi Terios

---

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
*CRACK*

The baseball bat collides with the ball, sending it rocketing about twenty feet, before it hits the cement wall at the playground, and bounces away. She huffs and tosses another ball into the air, swinging the bag to knock that one, too. The blonde is relaxing at the park after school, trying to learn about this baseball thing. Cute shorts and athletic shoes, along with a SAN DIEGO PADRES shirt she found at a kitschy store in town. She's leaning into this sports thing! Even her hair is covered with a baseball cap! She doesn't have anyone to pitch to her, so she's picking a ball up from a pile on the floor and tossing it up before stepping back to hit it. She's built, of course, the athletic blonde standing out to locals wandering by or enjoying the park this early evening.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown would be leading Rashmi along... and he was.... actually NOT in his enforcer outfit. But, a quick scan DID reveal he was not, in fact, a clone. He was, as he put it... 'chilling'.

And then he heard a thunder clap in the distance, glanced to the sky, drew his card-device. There wasn't any clouds, so why was there...

Of course, it took a moment for him to find the source of said thunder. He blinked a few times before... "And that, Terios-san, is Adora Rainbowfist," he said.

Thereby continuing the tradition in his life of all the women in his life being powerful and terrifying. He lifted up a hand when he approached. "Adora! Hello! I brought a colleague of mine," he said as he approached. "Allow me to introduce Rashmi Terios, TSAB acting-mage." Ohhhhh. Right. He'd promoted her. Now she had official... power.... if the TSAB had any authority here. Which it didn't. BUT HE WOULD MAKE A NEW TSAB! AND IT'D BE BETTER! AND HAVE RASHMI IN IT! AND KHORMA!

Catra has posed:
Out and about in the park today also is Catra; though you wouldn't know at a glance even if you'd met her before. She's currently hidden by her illusion device, so all anyone sees is a pissy looking American walking around; the guise of Rachel Miller, the brunette with a hoodie, earbuds, and a bad attitude. She's listening to music turned up obnoxiously high in the earbuds, having just recently discovered Marilyn Manson and enjoying it thorougly.

Slung over one shoulder is a large, reasonably stiff bag, the kind that you might carry something long and relatively narrow; like a scroll of architectural blueprints for example.

Or a gun.

Either way, Catra hasn't wandered across anyone she wants to mess with so far today, so she's just meandering aimlessly at this point.

Oh, except, there's Adora. ...With... *friends*.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Adora... Rainbowfist," Rashmi answers blankly, the English throwing her off juuuuuust a little. But hey, it's still not the most tongue-twisting name she's run across, and Chrono's deadpan delivery means he probably met her in a magical situation, so... parameters set! No dancing around magical nonsense, and it's probably going to be startling!

And the sheer size of Adora is startling. "Holy wow," Rashmi murmurs under her breath, eyes wide... But then Chrono calls out, so she does her best to put on her friendliest smile, and even gives a cheerful wave when the other girl turns. "Hi! It's good to meet you, Adora-san! I-- wait."

Turning to look down at Chrono, Rashmi tilts her head to one side. "...When did I get a promotion...?"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
    As Chrono calls out to her she takes another swing at a tossed-up ball. It connects and the ball flies to the wall. This one, however, bounces RIGHT back at her. She lets out a whoop and swings again. This time the ball rockets up into the sky, and she winces as it vanishes...coming down somewhere else in the park.

"Well, one ball down..."

The girl turns to the other two and smiles, laying the bat back over one of her shoulders. "Hey, Chrono-san! I did that right, right? Just...I keep messing those up is all." The blue-eyed jock turns her attention to Rashmi, then. "A Mage, huh? Cool. Plenty of magic where I come from. Don't think it's the same as around here, though. It's cool to meet you, Rashmi-san."

She has no idea her girlfriend (Yes, girlfriend! Deal with it, cat!) is watching her and likely plotting violence. Catra can see those scars running widthwise along her right forearm, though, deep and permanent from their last encounter. "Mmmhm. Well, it's actually Adora Happysmile Rainbowfist. Girlfriend and I named eachother when we were five, so...y'know." She clears her throat.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown glanced back to Rashmi and... "Once you proved you were more than capable of operating both alone, and as a mage of the TSAB," Chrono said in that confident, firm voice of his. "You are a talented, quick thinking and adaptable mage that any TSAB agent would be lucky to have by their side." And it was Chrono, so you knew he wasn't blowing smoke at least. "Besides, I felt... student didn't suit anymore, you've gotten a lot stronger now and mostly what we're practicing is repetition rather than actual tactics."

He then turned to Adora. "I... have no idea, to be honest. I think so? The idea for that game seems to be to knock the ball as far away as possible, but I admittedly haven't studied all of the rules of it."

He stood at attention, arms behind his back and folded. Looking to all the world like the world's littlest soldier man.

He didn't even smile or snicker at the name. THAT was his true power.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I think she meant the name thing," Rashmi says aside to Chrono, clearing her throat, then grinning up at Adora. "Yup, you did! -san is always a good default choice anyway, especially if you haven't been here very long. People'll appreciate that you're trying!"

The redhead pauses, winding the conversation back a little bit, eyebrows rising. "Your girlfriend and you... named each other? Huh! I haven't heard of that before, but that doesn't mean much anymore considering the whole magic thing. But baseball..."

The bookworm chews on the inside of her cheek, as she tries to put the game into terms someone with a military upbringing could grasp. "So think of baseball like... hm. Well the ball isn't really the *objective* of the game. It's a little bit like your training sessions; the batter's got to hit the ball far away, sure, but the *point* is to run around a circuit of the bases, and reach their starting point before someone can tag them with the ball. If you stop at a base, you're safe there."

Looking up at the sky, she shrugs a bit. "Think of it like an infiltration exercise? I'll find some videos and send them to you."

Her cheeks go absolutely pink at the compliments of her ability, but she tries not to let that distract her from the conversation. Fails immediately. "...And okay wow that's definitely the first time I've ever been promoted... Thank you, Chrono-kun!"

Catra has posed:
Yes. Yes, that is Adora. And those are people she's having a conversation with. Catra's eyes narrow, and she promptly opts for the first response that comes to mind; she scurries up the nearest tree, gaining the concealment offered by a bunch of foliage. Once she's up there, she unslings the bag off her shoulder and unzips it, pulling out the--

Yes, indeed, that is a gun. It's a big rifle, that ought to be unwieldy for someone her size, but she's got the upper body strength for it in spades. She lifts it up and gazes down the sights, though she's really only using it for the magnification so she can get a better look at Adora and the people she's hanging out with.

Nevermind the fact that they only just showed up. For all Catra knows they could be telling her that this is a private area and she should get lost. But what're the odds of that? Pretty high if it was her down there, but it's not, it's Adora, and pretty much everyone likes her.

Catra zeroes in her aim. It'd be a pretty easy shot, it's not like anyone's moving, they're all just standing there like cardboard cutouts.

Unfortunately, not only would it be easy to the point of being too easy, they'd also be outside the range of the rifle, and there's three of them and she only has one shot, so testing the thing will just have to wait a little bit longer.

Catra returns the rifle to the bag, zipping it up and leaving it stashed in the tree for the moment as she drops down, resuming her stroll towards the small gathering. She walks with her hand thrust in her pockets and the music still turned up; just an obnoxious American girl, out for a walk.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Oh, no no. I meant the names. I'm still getting confused on honorifics like san, and chan and...all that stuff. I don't want to insult anyone on accident." She grins ant nods to Rashmi. "Yeah, that!" She hesitates at the question about the naming, then, and hesitates a moment.

"Kinda girlfriend. It's...really complicated. But, yeah. Orphans. Only had our first names. We gave eachother our middle and last names." She reaches up to adjust her baseball cap. "Oh, interesting! Niji-san was starting to tell me about it, but she taught me a little biut about volleyball, instead. But baseball seems...so -me-. I mean, I read a bit and football seems more me, but they don't really have it here in Japan. So, baseball it is. That and my boxing club. I have another member now. Wait, which one is kun? Does that mean he's your boyfriend or something?"

She spots the other foreigner out of the corner of her eye, and she flashes her a friendly smile. She smiles at strangers!

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown turned a little red at his misunderstanding. "Oh... that... that makes more sense," he said. "My apologies, Adora-san. And... interesting. I can see she chose...." And trailed off. Nope. He wasn't gonna say a word.

Then he imagined what Amy would have named him.

Oh, it was amazing just how quickly he could get pale. Was... was he sick? "Ahem. I'll be honest, I figured she called you 'Adora' as well, since she thought you were 'adorable'. I figure the name 'Catra' came from her affection towards cats. And... applesauce. Her other names were Applesauce Meowmeow, correct?" Yup. Focus on that. Not the horrors of what amy would name him.

"I'll make sure to study the tutorials diligently." Likely during class. When he was the most bored. "Thank you for being such an excellent student. It's not every day we get such excellent ones. I never would have imagined this planet would be brimming with so much potential." He barely managed to avoid saying 'backwater planet'. Too much time around Hannah. Twice. He'd met her TWICE.

It was also, however, incredibly impressive how quickly he could go from 'pale' to 'red'. "I-I, what? No! Rashmi-san is my colleague, as for the difference, I... am... not entirely certain. I just know 'kun' and 'san' tend to be... neutral, so I prefer to use them. Err, for the more... finagaly bits of the uhhhh, dialect, you would need to speak with, err, Rashmi-san. Sorry."

He didn't even look at the foreigner, so thrown off his game by her comments he was!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...Yeah no -kun is for friends who're boys, not boyfriend. ...I mean you *can* use it for a boyfriend, but like... half the time couples'll come up with even cuter little pet names and stuff." ...If what she's read in light novels is true, anyway! Definitely more of an academic familiarity, there, and she just clears her throat to converse around the *second* person to openly ship them.

"Anyway! Anyway. I'm sorry to hear that about your girlfriend. But--" Hang on. 'Catra Applesauce Meowmeow?!' ...There is no entry in the Japanese Social Playbook that even *remotely* covers that, except. "....Oooohhhh, yeah, you were *five.* ...That makes sense actually, little kids around here come up with some funny names too. ...Probably doesn't help that almost everything has a mascot, here."

Catra has posed:
Catra keeps walking past, and it's probably a good thing that Chrono isn't looking becuase Catra is far too absorbed in being angry and upset that she wouldn't notice him acknowledging her anyway. She notices Adora, but doesn't respond. Which generally works just fine with her disguise, luckily, as she keeps making her way past. Her gait gains purpose with every step, as it carries her past the conversation and around the wall.

Catra walks a short ways before she doubles back; no need to make things completely obvious, afterall. Especially when she's about to do something that might be foolhardy in a public place, during the day, but she simply doesn't care about consequences.

The feline drops her disguise, letting her orange skin, stripes, tail, and other details -- like the Force Captain badge she refuses to stop wearing -- all become visible, though for the moment she's still pretty well concealed. She creeps up along the opposite side of the wall from Adora and her friends, keeping quiet and listening to their conversation.

Finally, she just can't keep it in any longer. She's still smarting from that punch Adora gave her when they last met -- and more importantly, the fact that Adora was gone when she woke up.

"Hey, Adora," she calls out, her tone laced with equal parts mischief and malice.

And hey, it's great how you can make sounds echo around here.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Oh, sorry!," she says, laughing softly at the mix-up. "Got it. I'll just...stick with -san for now. Save me some embarassment, since I find a ton of that, anyways."

"So, it's really nice to meet someone el-..." She hears it and her heart both races and drops at the same time. She lowers the bat from her shoulder and holds it ready in one hand while she takes a few steps away from the other two. The blonde turns slowly, eyeing the trees and possible hiding places.

"Catra! Catra, come out! We can still talk about this! I know that tone. Don't do anything we're both going to regret..."

She trails off, taking a few deep breaths. She grips the baseball bat with white knuckles, and sideglances at the other two. "Chrono. You two might want to get out of here. I...can't say for sure it's safe to be here right now..."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was flustered. Incredibly flustered. Off his--

And then suddenly 'Hey Adora'. A friend?

No. Judging by that reaction... it was anything but. His eyes narrowed when Adora called for them to get out of here. "I can't do that, Adora-san." He then pulled out his card-device, it glowed for a moment and then he was... active. Armor and rod and all.

"So that... is the infamous Catra of yours, I take it?" he asked. "I take it, should it come down to it, try to capture gently? Don't worry, Adora-san. Binding is my specialty."

He then held up his device... And it called out.

            <Proximity Scan!>

Ah, a device user. And rude. Here she is all trying to be all sneaky and he was going to scan for her?

But that meant he didn't know where she was, yet.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"It'll be *more* dangerous if we're not here," Rashmi says gently, plucking her starburst charm from around her neck. A flash of golden light later, and she too is kitted out in armored clothing, with a huge armored book floating at her shoulder. "There's too many people around."

    << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

The professorial tone of the voice coming from the book, is accompanied by a bubble of gray-green staticky energy that spreads out, out, out, to cover most of the park. Where children played and adults watched, people walked their dogs... when the energy field sweeps over them, they vanish as if never having existed.

"There," Rashmi says, keeping her eyes moving all around there position. "Now we should be able to talk to her without worrying about anything getting... unsafe."

Catra has posed:
"Oh but that's so *boring*," comes Catra's voice. "Adora, your friends are boring." Chrono has probably detected her on the other side of the wall; she has no idea how effective Chrono's 'proximity scan' is or how it works, but it sounds a lot like she's been pin-pointed by at least one of them.

But then, if she'd really wanted the element of surprise, then calling out 'Hey Adora' probably isn't how she'd have kicked things off.

"There's nothing to talk about." Her tone shifts to something like sandpaper, rough and menacing, as she jumps up and appears, crouching on top of the wall. "Don't do something *you'll* regret, you mean," she adds. "I'm not going to regret anything. Obsidian's got my back." They're using her and she knows it, and she's only as valuable as she can prove herself to be, but that's familiar territory and it feels safer than anything else to her.

"You two really ought to have listened to Adora. The one thing she's entirely reliable for is getting into fights on behalf of complete strangers." Catra finally gets around to thumbing her music player into silence; Marilyn Manson will have to wait, as she tucks away the earbuds. "Let me guess, she told you she's not from arund here, right? Did she mention Etheria? Say anything about the Horde, which we both used to be part of? I'm guessing not, you should probably ask her about that stuff before you get too attached."

Catra stays up on the wall, but stands up, stretching her arms above her head and behind her back. "Or just go ahead and stay right there. Adora's so much more fun to mess with when she's busy scrambling to protect people she's only just met but somehow cares about more than *anything*." Or anyone. Or *her*, floats through her mind, making her mismatched eyes blaze even as her voice drips with poisoned honey.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"I don't think she'd react to great to being a prisoner, but...I also don't wanna hurt her. She...just doesn't give me much of a choice, usually...," she replies to Chrono with a sigh. The blonde turns as the innocents and such fade, and she nods. "Good."

She turns to face Catra as she comes into view, and she takes a deep breath to try and keep herself under control. She grips her baseball bat tight, watching her carefully. "I did, actually. I've told people who've been willing to listen pretty much everything. About the Horde. The Rebellion. Us."

"Catra...don't do this. Please. You have...all of it -so- wrong. Just sit down with me and talk. Talk with me, like we used to. Remember? Up on the platforms above the drilling fields? We'd talk for hours. Just the two of us..."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown couldn't help but smile when his student made the barrier. Well. Ex-student. She really had grown quickly. Between her barrier, his scanning, the area was under control and--

And she appeared. And he cringed, taking half a step back. Red flooded his cheeks and he leveled his rod at her.

But oh, Rashmi could tell something was off. His face was a mask, but his eyes wwere shaking. And he didn't announce who he was, or why Catra should surrender.

"The past... is in the past. It cannot be changed," Chrono said. "But the present and the future is what we control and what we must fight for. So long as Adora continues to fight for good, then who she was is not what matters most. Rashmi, if it comes to it, boost Adora."

And there, another sign that something was wrong. 'Rashmi'. Not 'Terios-san'. And he didn't use his device to tell her subtly. No, he was off. Something... had thrown him.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...I mean I *just met her,* usually origin stories aren't until like the second lunch at least," Rashmi mumbles in answer to Catra's question. Murmurs, because it really wasn't an answer to anything important. But cat ears can probably pick it up, regardless.

Her eyes drop to Chrono, and now puzzlement joins the wariness in her expression. "Chrono-kun. Hey... you all right?" This, asked in the whispered tone of someone who will absolutely *never* believe a 'yes.'

Shaking her head, the redhead looks up to address Catra. "So um... It's pretty obvious you mean a lot to her, Catra-san. Maybe just... don't start a fight? We could go to dinner, my treat, I know a *great* place, have you ever heard of curry?"

Catra has posed:
Catra yawns, loudly and rudely, as she stalks along the wall in front of the heroes, while Rashmi is talking about Curry. Are they heroes? Well they're hanging out with Adora so odds are pretty good. Her tail lashes behind her, somehwat destroying the image of her being relaxed and cool by betraying a level of agitation, but she doesn't let that stop her.

"All you people ever want to do is talk," she complains. "Talk about this. Talk about that. Talk about our *feelings*. Well I don't want to talk about my feelings."

The feline hops down off the wall, sticking one hand out to slow her decent with her claws, leaving five deep runnels in the concrete. As she lands, she slinks forwards, making her way around Adora and casting a wink at the blonde, as she sidles up to Chrono.

"Besides," she comments, as she moves in close enough to quite literally rub up against him, "This one looks like he's well past talking. Look at him! He's quivering like a leaf. *Did* you tell them about me, Adora? Or is he just like Kyle?" She reaches up with one finger to boop Chrono on the nose, before she steps around behind him, just to reappear on the other side. "I mean... looks like it's really just two against one, not three. I could win this. Why wouldn't I fight?"

Is she ignoring the fact that Adora bested her one on one just the other day? Probably. But hey, Adora wasn't protecting anyone then. "What do you think, Adora? Think you can save both of them from a beating? 'Cause I don't think I have any of it wrong. You're on your side, and I'm on mine."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
She frowns and glances briefly back at the other two with her, but she doesn't want to keep her eyes off of Catra for long. So, primarily she is focused on her. She swallows as Catra circles her, and then she turns as the girl approaches Chrono and begins to torment him.

"Pretty much all of the bad stuff between us could have been over a long time ago if you'd been up for talking, Catra. But...I'll just need to wait for that, I guess..." Adora is confident that some aspects of their relationship will repeat themselves. Eventually. But that might be a long time from now. For now, Catra is a danger.

The tall blonde stalks forward, bat in one hand, to try and close the distance with Catra and make her back up from the other two.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a small nod to Rashmi. "It's okay. I just... didn't--" Annnnd now she was coming down the wall. Shi--

He held his rod up. He was NOT shaking. He was a soldier, he never shook, he-- Oh gosh. His cheeks were getting redder and his mask cracked slightly. He looked INCREDIBLY uncomofortable an-- He actually *yelped* when his nose was booped and he started to leap back, only for her to be *right* behind him?!

            <Stinger Blade!>

And suddenly swords were surrounding him. They flipped through the air once, before descending on Catra in a fury.

Okay, Rashmi knew him. He hadn't even setup any binds. He went straight to launching an assault. And yes, it was a powerful assault, but it was *him*. He always valued high efficiency, low destruction skills unless fighting an overwhelming, incredibly dangerous force. Like Precia.

Did he really see Catra as that big a threat?

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << ...Okay we need to talk soon, Chrono-kun, >> Rashmi sends to S2U. Something is Extremely Up, but this is also Not The Time.

"Look out, Adora-san!" she calls out loud, as golden dragonfly-like wings shimmer into existence at her ankles, and she reaches out to catch the scruff of Chrono's Barrier Jacket, then launches into the air. Unfortunately, with S2U being only a Storage Device, it can't anticipate its user's needs. So she'll have to wait until Chrono is at least enough back to himself that he can fly on his own.

"I got you, Chrono-kun," she says gently. "I need you to come back to us right now, okay?"

Catra has posed:
"You don't seriously thi--WAAEEEE" Catra lets out a high pitched, very surprised squeak as a bunch of swords materialize, flip around, and straight up go after her. She gets cut several times before she knows what's really happened; and then she launches, bouncing backwards from the swords and all the way up onto the top of the wall, which she retreats down to safety (hopefully?) on the other side.

"...JUST WANTED TO TALK?!" she snarls from the other side. "Is that how this works now? Sure I was being a brat but I didn't literally SUMMON SWORDS OUT OF THE AIR TO CHOP PEOPLE'S HEADS OFF WITH!"

Catra might be on the other side of a wall, but the rage no longer waiting beneath the surface and held in check by mischief is no palpably bubbling over, with the feline practically spitting as she verbally lashes out. "Your friends SUCK, Adora!" Would Catra have launched a surprise attack herself? Probably. Does that seem to be cooling her anger at having it happen to her? Not in the slightest. Though she is, just this moment, regretting having stashed the rifle way back thattaway. Still, that's probably for the best.

"Well it's good to know the score!" she continues. "Good to know that's what passes for TALKING around here! I'll keep that in mind next time I start up a conversation!"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora is watching it all unfold carefully. To be fair, she's more focused on the kitten then she is on Chrono's meltdown...until the blades appear. She yelps in surprise and watches the cat narrowly avoid being diced and sliced.

"CHRONO! WHAT THE HELL?"

She turns around, then, to focus on where Catra vanished to, hurrying to try and run around the side of the wall to approach her.

"Catra! No, I mean TALK. That...that wasn't cool, what just happened, and I'm sorry! Hey!"

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gah'd, what in the-- As Rashmi, in the most undignified manner, hauled him into the air. It took only a moment to start flying himself. But...

And his heart was pounding. He was off balance. He... he wasn't in a fit state to deal with this. Were there other's on this planet, other TSAB agents, he'd call them in. But he doesn't HAVE backup. Aside from Rashmi. The girl was just there and he'd... He'd over reacted. He hadn't... He'd...

"I..." Deep breath, then...

< Midchildian magic won't kill her. Aside from some scratches, it won't do any damage aside from, at worse, knock her out. At which point we have healing. She... Why didn't you warn us she was a cat familiar?! > And then he just said it. Outright. Broadcasting that to Adora... Rashmi... And, well. He was still off his game.

Catra.

"Ugh..." A hand moved up to his head. He couldn't... operate like this. He brought up his biometrics and, sure enough...

"Terios-san, take over. I'll follow your directives. I can't... operate like this." But he couldn't leave. He couldn't abandon them. But he wasn't fit to lead like this. He was off center and... and he knew it.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Take over?!" Brand-newly promoted and already it's *her* job to decide what happens?!

"Um... well... um... It's not like we can even arrest her, she hasn't done anything wrong and we don't have anyplace to *put* anyone who gets arrested? So like..."

Sighing, she raises her voice. "I'm sorry about my senpai, Catra-san! If you want to go peacefully, that's fine! If you want to stay and talk, like... I get that it probably won't mean much right now but I promise we won't pick a fight. But if you want to pick a fight... You *really don't want* to pick a fight, okay? I think Adora-san'd like Option 2 best!"

Catra has posed:
What Catra wants or doesn't want seems to be entirely inscrutable. The feline remains on her side of the wall, where she's most busy looking over herself, examining the extent of her wounds. Sliced shoulder. Sliced forearm. lacerations to her thigh and back, one across her chest, two on her belly and another on her hip. Glorious, just glorious.

At least they didn't damage her Force Captain badge, so that's something.

Still, she hasn't answered; but at least to Adora the emotion coming off the other side of the wall is probably easy to work out. Betrayal always hurts. Betrayal is never an accident. Didn't mean it? Who doesn't *mean* to summon a bunch of magic swords out of thin air and try to blender you? Catra has been betrayed yet again (in her mind, at least; and she won't even consider that she's being unfair about it). So she just boils, muscles shaking as she stalks back and forth, looking upwards at the flying pair.

In the feline's brain, underneath all the fire and barely contained hostility, something is being coldly calculated; wether it's attack or escape, is hard to say, but it certainly isn't friendly.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora finishes rounding the wall Catra is currently hiding behind, ending up about ten feet from her. She drops the baseball bat and kicks it away so Catra can see she isn't armed. That is probably a mistake. She holds her arms out, hands open in a 'relax' gesture. All it really does is put those white claw scars on her forearm on display for the girl who caused them.

"He's afraid of catgirls. It's...nothing personal. Catra, take a breath. How about this? Let's figure out a time to meet. Just you and me. We can talk and...even if nothing gets solved, it'll just be you and me, okay? Nobody from my Academy, nobody from...Obsidian? We can try to figure...something out. Anything..."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown nodded. Rashmi could handle it. At least, better than he could. Of course, he glanced off to the side. Right. Couldn't arrest her. Yet. Maybe. Possibly? Oh, they could find a place to hold her. She was a cat, how hard could it be? Setup a laser pointer and... nope. Nope.

He clenched his rod, trying to calm his heart rate. Any minute now Adora would, hopefully, come out and tell them it was okay. She had her... girl friend under control. She wasn't going to--

"I... I'm not scared of her..." Chrono muttered.

Except, rather than keeping that to himself, ignoring it, he actually muttered that. Perhaps another sign of the stress of his arrival getting to him. Or perhaps he really wasn't handling this well. Either way, they were flying, so surely they were safe. She couldn't get them from here, so neh.

But the idea of Adora going to meet her... alone? That... that worried him... a lot.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Chrono does not have this handled, and the idea that he might be *afraid* of catgirls? ...That kind of tracks, actually. It'd certainly explain all this... uncertainty. "Chrono," Rashmi says gently, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "We're just making sure nothing bad happens, okay? Let's give them space, and let Adora-san call us if she needs us. Okay?"

Leaning over a bit to keep Adora in view, she raises a hand to wave. "We'll just stay up here unless you need help, Adora-san! No more surprise attacks, and sorry again about that!"

Catra has posed:
Catra mosmatched eyes blaze as she backs away, crouching low to the ground like a threatened animal. As Adora first comes around the corner, she shows her teeth, just for a moment.

"...So because I'm a catgirl I'm a scary evil monster? Great, that makes everything loads better." The fact that Catra has openly chosen the path of the villain, she doesn't mention. She pauses, watching Adora for a moment; then she jumps, scrabbling up to be on top of the wall where she crouches, keeping out of reach for the moment.

"What makes you think I can trust you to meet me alone?" Catra pauses, and snorts. "Of course I can. You'd be just stupid enough to actually *do it*. Better question; what makes *you* think you can trust *me* to actually come alone? 'Cause I guarantee you that if Obsidian finds out I'm meeting up with you, just to talk, I'd better show them I've got a plan to take advantage of it." She stands up straight, still gazing down at Adora while her ears track the two people in the sky above her. "I am *not* risking my position for a chit-chat."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Adora hears Rashmi call out, but she's focused on the cat in front of her at the moment.

She frowns as she watches Catra scramble up to the top of the wall, and she gazes up at her with those big blue eyes of hers. "You're right. It's a lot to ask of you. I get it." She takes a step back, still watching her. "And yeah, I would go alone. Because I remember who you were before everything went wrong. I know that girl is still in there. But..." She shrugs her shoulders, looking helpless.

"You know I've never been especially smart, Applesauce. I'm out of my depth but...I don't want to be. I wanna figure this out with you. But if fighting is what you want, I can give it to you. It's just...not what I want."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown nodded. "I know. I... know," he muttered. It was one of those times he kind of wished he had an intelligent device. Perhaps it would help here. Or make things worse. He shouldn't react this bad. It was just... why was he so tense? Why was it hitting him so hard?

They were just his trainers. She wasn't...

Obviously all the stress was just getting to him. But now he'd interfered in Adora's... Oh, that was not going to go well. And he couldn't fix this. No matter how hard he tried. He might just make it worse. Damn it, negotiations weren't really his talent, anyway. He was more the... 'destroy everything with massive firepower' sort. Not the 'win by talking people down' type. He was an enforcer, not a diplomat.

He glanced to Rashmi and smiled to her. "I think... I'm better now. We can discuss this later. Once the situation is cleared and I have time to clear my head."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Sounds like a plan," Rashmi says gently. "Just so you know, it's gonna start with 'I'm worried about you, Chrono-kun.' Just... y'know, so you're warned." With Catra leaping up on the wall, Rashmi purses her lips in thought as she watches the discussion play out below them. "...It doesn't look like it's going well... but I don't *think* she's gonna attack yet, if at all. If she runs, I'll drop the Barrier and let her go. There's *really* no sense starting a fight we don't need to."

Catra has posed:
"Maybe fighting IS what I want!" Catra snarls back. "Maybe it's the only thing I'm ever and will ever be good for. And your side doesn't have much use for that, does it?" She sucks in her breath. "But *my* side *does*. 'Cause that's what we do, isn't it?" She sucks in her breath; and most people might calm down when they do that, but for Catra it merely fans the flames.

"You want to meet and talk? Fine, we'll meet and I'll explain it to you using really small words why it's never going to work." She sucks in her breath and lets it out slowly. "But not alone, Adora. Next time that academy of yours has a dance, I'll show up. Remember Frosta's ball? Where I got Bow and Glimmer? Maybe it'll be like that, if you try anything." She pauses, "Or if anyone tries to surprise me with swords out of nowhere again."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Fine. Next...next time there's a social event like that. I don't know if they do dances like that here, but I can try and see if I can...get something to happen. And it's not about being useful, Catra. You're more then what you can be for someone else. You..." You need to understand that. She doesn't say it, though. She takes another step back, shoulders sagging a little.

"Deal," she finally states, as if it is with a sense of finality.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a small nod. "I know. And... trust me. I know. I understand and... I'd have to ask it too," he admitted. Though he hated doing it.

"I don't suspect it will. That.... Catra seems a stubborn type. No matter how many times Adora offers her a hand, she'll likely keep scratching at it until..." Then he trailed off. He didn't know them well, so it wasn't like he could, should, offer his thoughts. Especially not on this. But honestly?

He suspected Catra wouldn't listen until she had no choice but to listen. Either because she was beat down or... well... She was at her end.

But maybe he just... REALLY didn't like cats.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I believe in you, Chrono-kun," Rashmi says quietly. "But if Adora-san's right, then something went really, really wrong back where they come from. Maybe she'll get tired of being lonely, someday? It's... I mean as far as I know, it's not like she did anything unforgivable, the way Adora-san's talking. ...I think we could do worse than trusting her instincts."

Catra has posed:
Deal. Just like that. And somehow, instead of fighting, Catra has agreed to go and meet Adora in a social setting.

Already, she's wondering how she got here. But she made an agreement, and she and Adora used to be friends, so that agreement holds just enough weight that she'll do it.

Still can't promise that she isn't going to engage in a large amount of treachery, mind you.

"Fine," Catra mumbles, loudly enough for Adora to hear, even if it doesn't carry up any higher. "See you then. Don't worry about telling me, Obsidian has people. If there's an event I'll know about it."

With that, Catra drops down on the opposite side of the wall. No goodbyes, apparently. She stalks off, ignoring her bleeding wounds as she heads purposefully towards the tree where she stashed the rifle she's supposed to be testing.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Bye, kitten," she replies. But it's a whisper. A goodbye Catra might be able to hear with her enhanced hearing, but nobody else...and even then it's only when she drops over and vanishes. She stares down at the scarred forearm for a long, silent moment, thinking back to the Prom. She'd almost ruined the entire thing herself just from her distrust and personal issues. Catra kidnapping Bow and Glimmer and setting off bombs didn't help, but...Adora wasn't blameless there, and she knows that. Then again, for Catra that was only a few months ago, if even, but for Adora it was...over a year. Mabye even two. That seemed so distant to her. But this Catra is that Catra.

It's something she needs to remind herself of. Not that Catra is making it difficult.

She takes a deep breath and picks up the bat, heading back around the wall towards the others.

"We should get back to the Academy," she simply says. She walks by the other two, a determined look on her pretty face. To the other two it's possibly taken as determination involving the evil of the catgirl or something. But no. She's simply doubling down. She is going to save her love from herself. Period.