1113/Cats love (ice) cream, right

Cats love (ice) cream, right
Date of Scene:	13 February 2024
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	Sunbreaker goes to meet with Catra after her recent... spat... with Adora. And the two have a long, long talk about their pasts. Their pain. Their losses... and what it takes to be seen. Song parody: Promiseland.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Catra

---

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
<PHONE> Sunbreaker texts Catra: Hey. Its been a bit and your ex tried to skewer a civilian a bit ago. I can't help but notice she was still standing and I haven't heard from you in a while. You still alive?

<PHONE> Catra texts Sunbreaker: (The reply is a long time coming, at least twenty minutes.) I'm alive.

<PHONE> Sunbreaker texts Catra: ... You okay?

<PHONE> Catra texts Sunbreaker: (This reply only takes ten minutes.) I'm fine.

<PHONE> Sunbreaker texts Catra: So no, then. I've been 'fine' pretty often myself... Wanna talk about it?

<PHONE> Catra texts Sunbreaker: (The reply time ticks up again, hitting a good fifteen minutes this time.) No.

<PHONE> Catra texts Sunbreaker: ...Yes. But not by text.

<PHONE> Sunbreaker texts Catra: Okay. Give me twenty minutes. Where do you want to meet?

<PHONE> Sunbreaker texts Catra: ... Wanna get some ice cream? Ice cream can help take the edge off.

<PHONE> Catra texts Sunbreaker: I... what's Ice Cream? I've never had it before.

<PHONE> Sunbreaker texts Catra: ... YOU'VE NEVER HAD ICE CREAM?! THE FUCK!

<PHONE> Sunbreaker texts Catra: Okay, see you in ten minutes. We're getting ice cream. Right. Forgot. You're from the planet of SHITTY FOOD.

After those recent texts, Sunbreaker had well... she'd been a while. After all, she'd gotten cut up, and now? She had to go help her colleague. Ughhhhhh. She said NOT to do that. But... She supposed she should have known better. Catra really... was just Adora's reflection. It was a shame. She could be so much more...

Eventually, she appeared on a nearby roof, glancing around and... trying to find where in the world the other girl was. "Catra?" she called down to the empty street. "You here?"

Catra has posed:
Catra is indeed, down in the otherwise empty street. She's just standing in the shadows, concealed under both a hoodie and an illusion device. She's got her hands in her pockets and her earbuds blaring something identifiable only as unpleasant; but when Hinoiri calls to her she steps out from and alcove, and shuts her music off, stuffing the earbuds in a pocket before she looks up, dropping the illusion as she does so.

And she looks a mess. She's missing a chunk of hair; not too big a deal with her usual hairstyle, but it's definitely missing. There's a deep cut to her forehead near the hairline, that just has a folded up piece of (by now blood-soaked) gauze taped to it, the other side of her face is noticeably puffy and definitely going to turn all sorts of purple as a bruise develops, and the way she moves her arms gives away further injury. Well, that and the motorcycle that she usually leaves Obsidian Tower on is nowhere in sight.

"Hey," she answers, her nonchallant, nothing's wrong tone of voice not... quite able to conceal the turmoil of emotions lurking beneath it. "So uh. Where to?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker leaped off the roof, controlling her magic to reduce her speed when she fell and then hit the ground with a grun. Oof. Well, either way, she was here now. She walked towards her and, possibly to Catra's surprise, she reached out. Gripping her cheeks. "Holy... she really did a number on you, didn't she?" Sunbreaker asked, looking... genuinely concerned. "Sigh... I'm sorry. Remember what I said about... 'Before tampering with dark energy, have rules'? This is what I meant. Adora just... is NOT herself right now. She's close. But it's way too easy to just... slip, right now. Until this wears off. Everything becomes so, so much easier to just... explain away. To make excuses for. This is why the rules are so important. If you don't have them... you'll do things that just *aren't you*. And you'll come down later... and have nobody to blame but yourself."

She then paused. "... I'm going to show you my civilian identity, okay? Just... don't tell *anybody* this. I can count the number of people who know on one hand. That includes those in Obsidian. So this? Stays between us. Promise?"

Once she had that confirmation... she'd end the henshin. She looked like her normal self. With... stitches. Bandaid on her cheek. No jacket. "Yeah. I ran into Adora earlier. You fucked her up good. She thinks I'm a civilian and she came at me with that sword of hers. Luckily, some sparkles were there to... stop her," Hinoiri said, before shuddering and starting to walk. She pulled out her phone and... "There's a yogurt shop a few blocks away. We'll get it from there. Close enough."

Catra has posed:
"I won't tell anyone."

So far, at least, Catra has never demonstrated herself to be a liar, or untrustworthy with secrets. She's trying to be a villain, sure; and she certainly has never once backed down from a fight or fought any less than her best (even when winning would've been to her detriment in the long run), but if she says her lips are sealed, they're sealed.

"She..." The feline trails off, thrusting her hands in her pockets. "She did a lot to me as well. I wasn't even trying to hurt her, not *that* badly, it just..." She shrugs her shoulders. "Things got out of hand."

It would appear that that's as close to a 'you were right and I should have listened' that's going to be said. Catra taps falls into step alongside Hinoiri, and restores her illusion, once more adopting the guise of Rachel Miller, the obnoxious American tourist, with her hoodie drawn up over her head.

"Is that what you look like all the time?" she asks, as they walk along. "Apparently there's no beastkin here. I might be the only one. So I have to hide everywhere I go. And I hate it."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Yeah. I was a unicorn back home. Uhhhh... think Swiftwind, without the wings. Also, more pony than horse. There were dragons, griffons, all kinds back home. The moment I came through the portal, though? I was... this. Human. It's..." She struggled to think of the right word. Finally... "Rough. I don't... like it. I miss my own magic, a lot. I don't... know which would be worse. Being in my own form, but having everyone freak out and treating me like a monster, or this. Let's just say both suck, for tonight."

"... Though, I think it wouldn't be so bad if I could just... pop a thing on and off to have myself. The closest I can get is when I'm Sunbreaker. Even that's nowhere near my real form. I keep wanting to get down on all fours and gallop, but my body just... doesn't do that anymore."

She was quiet, for a little bit. Then she spoke up again. "A lot of people in Obsidian are going to try and use you, Catra. For one reason or another. You're in Takashi's group... and he's better than some. But in the end, every one of us are looking out for ourselves, first. What happened to Adora *will* happen to you, if you don't figure out your rules *before* you start soaking yourself in dark energy. You can try to tell yourself it won't, but you might as well tell yourself you'll be just as fast running on one leg as two. It's not a 'weak enough' or 'strong enough' or 'smart enough' or any 'enough' kind of thing. It's just fact. It alters you. It alters you. Like any other poison. It hurts. It damages you."

"... But it also gives you power. So figure out your rules so you don't do something in its sway that you regret, then figure out how much you're willing to endure for that power. Here we are," Hinoiri said before grabbing her wrist and dragging her into a... frozen yogurt shop. Before Catra could object too much, "I'd like a sample, please, of the chocolate? And a few others."

Then she just... stuffed it into Catra's mouth before the girl could make too much of a hissy fit. "And that, Catra, is frozen yogurt. Now. Want to try some samples?"

Catra has posed:
"Not having your real form sucks," Catra agrees, "Whatever the reason. Wether it's because the world changed you, or you just have to hide." She pauses, and quirks an eyebrow upwards. "You can't just... use magic to transform yourself?" She pauses, "I dunno if that's a dumb question or not, I've never had magic. Adora just up and found a magic sword one day, becuase of course she did, but it doesn't work for me -- I've tried -- and the one person who might've taught me magic, didn't." The feline ahems, and scratches the back of her head, wincing as she lifts her arm. "I'm not complaining, just... that's facts."

The feline thrusts her hands in her pockets, and picks up her pace a little to keep up with Hinoiri. "I've avoided picking up any dark energy, aside from the sword Takashi gave me which... does things. But he also had me out testing his Pureheart Rifle, which... I haven't told anyone this, at all, so please keep it to yourself like I am your identity, okay? I did test it, and got someone's crystal, but I think they were gonna, y'know, die without it." She shrugs. "So I gave it to Adora when I saw her and she took it and gave it back to them. ...I'm okay with a fight, just... murdering someone in a back alley? That's not what I signed up for."

Or did she? She pulled the lever, afterall. And she's so deep in thought about that, she entirely isn't paying attention, until suddenly she's eating chocolate flavored frozen yogurt.

"...I... Yes," she declares. "Yes I *Do*."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara snickered upon seeing that reaction. Oh, there were going to be a lot of samples. Soooo many samples. The person behind the register looked annoyed...

Until she slipped a 5,000 yen note. "She's going to try a sample of everything and then a large of whichever she likes. I'll take a strawberry banana, with nuts. Keep the change."

Tip well and it was amazing how quickly the small tasks became happy little parts of the job.

She then took a seat, and waited. Once Catra joined her...

"I can't, by the way. Transform like that. Honestly? My magic isn't... the same here. I never learned shapeshifting magic like that to begin with. And a lot of the magic I actually use is more... beating dark energy into doing it. It's like my magic, with extra steps. My true... form... is locked off to me here," Hinoiri said, lightly picking at her ice cream before taking a bite.

"It's not dumb. Ignorant, but not dumb. If they never taught you magic, that was their loss. Did they teach Adora magic?" she asked.

She then glanced over to Catra, smiling to her. "And good. If you were the kind of person who would just murder without a second guess? I wouldn't care about you. You can't fix a taken life, unlike most things. You can repair so much... but not a person. Once they're gone... they're gone. It's a line that if you cross, you can't turn back from it. As for Takashi, well..." She gave a shrug. "He probably didn't know if it'd kill or not. He's smart. But he lacks the... ahhhh... full breadth of knowledge base that I have. I come from a world with magic. He has been rummaging around in this world, without magic. If he had access to the same knowledgebase I had? He'd likely be pretty incredible."

"... As it is? He's probably a bit reckless at times. He doesn't know, entirely, what will happen until it's done. For what it's worth? I doubt he'd want you to have blood on your hands without at least telling you it would kill them. Not sure he'd ever admit to it, though. Hmmmm..." She took another bite of her ice cream, eying Catra.

"Does Obsidian remind you of the Horde?"

Catra has posed:
"I'm not saying I'd never kill someone." Catra's returned to the table with a large bowl of salted caramel frozen yogurt, which much as she's loathe to ever outwardly admit to any positive emotion, is palpably bringing her a lot of joy. "Self-defense or something, sure... Just... Not... like that. Gunning some helpless person down like that, I mean... yes, I'm the villain, or I'm supposed to be, but there's being the bad girl and then there's just plain psychotic murder."

Catra keeps tucking in, and for a few moments just enjoys the flavor of the desert. "Etheria needed this," she pronounces after a moment. "And yeah, Obsidian reminds me of the Horde, in some ways I guess. The whole world domination thing is pretty on brand. Most of it's pretty different though, like, the Horde didn't ever hide its intentions, or have some twerp named Ted that you could boss around. It wasn't divided up into departments either, really, there was just a chain of command and that was that." She shrugs. "And I wasn't at the bottom of it."

That last part seems to rather grate on Catra, but even she has to admit; what're you gonna do?

"Adora could never learn magic even if she tried. Shadow Weaver never taught her any. She just found herself a magic sword and suddenly poof, she's the Princess of Power. I guess sometimes that's just how it goes."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light chuckle. "That's it, though. You're not opposed to killing... but are opposed to murder. I can see the difference. Not all people can, mind. And... no. There's definitely a difference. A lot of people would call me a monster. I hurt people. A lot of people. And I don't really feel bad. It's selfish, but... it's not like I'm going to achieve my destiny any other way. But murdering someone... that's... something I'm not comfortable with. It's why I have the rules."

"... Four times now, I can think of. If not for my rules, I would have murdered someone. At least. But it was always those that made me pull back and stop."

She took another bite of her yogurt, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. "And yeah. It's... interesting. The way things work here. You're not at the bottom, though. That'd be the youma. Things like that. Ted. The people who don't know about magic. Come on," she said, getting to her feet and walking outside.

"It's not just the magic sword though, you have to know that," Hinoiri said. "Like it or not, the sword chose her. Something about her... made her worthy. Or made her, at least, passable. Made it possible. I couldn't say what that is, though. Did that happen often with the two of you?"

"... She was chosen, while you were not?"

Catra has posed:
Catra picks up her yogurt and follows Hinoiri outside, still very clearly enjoying the treat. She turns her head to look over her shoulder and memorize the shopfront, apparently planning on coming back here again.

"The sword was just a one time thing," she replies. "I think it's because of where she's from, originally. Hordak just kinda found her when he showed up on Etheria and passed her off to Shadow Weaver to look after her." She stops for a moment, enjoying a bit more of the yogurt.

"Shadow Weaver was basically a monster. She got her magic off this funky rock called the Black Garnet, and she treated Adora like she could do no wrong, and me like I could never get anything right. I was always being warned that she'd disintigrate me or something if I ever interfered with Adora's 'destiny'. And then Adora gets made Force Captain, then immediately finds a magic sword and runs off to join the Rebellion 'cause of course she does, and Shadow Weaver wants me to bring her back. Like, make up your mind woman! Do you want me to interfere or just let her do her thing?"

"So yeah, then Hordak makes *me* Force Captain and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Until it wasn't, really. But it's over now." She stabs her spoon into her yogurt, and reaches up to grab something off her chest; her Force Captain badge, invisible under the illusion but in plain view now that she's holding it.

"This isn't really worth the metal it's made out of anymore, is it? I'm just clinging to my past like it matters."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara listened, and schemed, and then... finally... she sighed. "I think I see it..." she mumbled softly. She reached out and put a hand over the badge. "To this world? No. To you? ... Yes."

The was music in the background and she pulled her hand back. Leaving the hand, the badge, alone.

    "You were born on that world where the stars didn't shine
    You were given the role that made you feel set behind.
    Lived your life as the good girl you were told you should be
    Prayed every night to a horde that chose her over thee
    Sold your soul, broke your bones, tell me, what did you get?"

There was definitely music. Actual music, coming from somewhere, to go with her music. And even when they passed people on the street... none of the mundane people seemed to hear it, to notice it. As if this was just... a mundane thing happening.

Catra has posed:
Catra's immediate instinct is, of course, to flinch away; to pull back, clutch the badge prtectively, as if somehow losing it would diminish her. But she doesn't; she lets Hinoiri do as she likes, and then stuffs the badge back into a pocket, not replacing it on her chest for the time being, as she resumes eating the yogurt.

The music, though, has her palpably perplexed. By the end of the brief bit of song, she looks entirely confused about how to answer, or even if she should. But, after thinking it through,

"What did I get? Nothing," she answers at last. "I got hurt. I got lonely. I got to the point where I was desperate enough for something to be different that I pulled the lever that may've destroyed Etheria. I got to come here. I..."

She stops, and glances sideways. "I got to meet you. So I guess not nothing, just... none of the things I wanted."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
And there it was.

    "Did your time, toed the line, ain't seen anything yet?
    Strike you down to the ground, you know I've seen it before..."

Oh, she had seen it... with herself. Struck down. Ignored. Rebuffed. And that was why she cared. Why she was interested. Because she saw a bit of herself in Catra... She moved up behind Catra, held out her right hand, and a bit of black flame formed in her palm which she held in front of her. Dark energy...

    "Make it hurt, you'll eat the dirt, pretend you don't care anymore...
    How could she break your heart? Already played your part...
    You kept your promise and she broke your promiseland...
    She occupies a throne, took the crown you should own.
    Lived like they told you how, look at you now.
    You've got no horde in your pocket
    But the whole world can't bring you down..."

She pulled back, then, moving in front of Catra, walking in front of her, but backwards. Eyes narrowed. Scrutinizing her, a bit of the yogurt in her mouth. Odd, she was moving perfectly with the beat, but even if she didn't see them, she always seemed to know exactly where, how, to step to avoid people when she was singing...

    "One person's lie is just another one's truth."

She held up her right hand and for a moment there was an illusion. Adora. No. She-ra. Just for a moment.

    "You kept on running from the devil, but the devil was you.
    Every time you see the light, you're falling deeper in debt.
    If you've never seen the good, how can it come to an end?"

She hmmed, walking backwards, hmmmming softly while she walked, the music trailing off.

"In summarization... Catra? You're your own worst enemy. You've done it all. You've worked your flank off, busted it, done everything you can... and only two people in the universe care. You, and Adora. Uh uh, let me finish!" she said quickly, holding a finger up.

"She may not care in the way you want her to, you certainly don't care about her in the way she wants you to. But the only possible way for you to beat her? And this is going to suck. I know it hurts. Trust me..." She did... stop then. And that look in her eyes. "Sora it hurts so, so much... but... you need to do it..."

"... You need to stop trying... to beat her. I... recently had a really... really painful... realization. Sora... never loved me. Never... cared about me. Never... even... no matter how hard I worked, no matter what I did... no matter how hard I tried... I'd never, ever be enough for her. So... if I... want to beat her? If I want to... prove... that I'm.... good enough? To force her to see me? To force her to bow to me? I have to... remove... her from the equation. I have to become... I have to be myself. I have to start doing what I do... for me."

"... My... relationship... with Sora... isn't exactly the same as yours with Adora. But trust me... oh, trust me... I know *exactly* how much it can hurt... how it can feel... like your insides are being... torn apart."

"... How you feel like, just for a moment... you'd destroy yourself, the world... just... so they'd fucking... notice... for once... so they'd finally *see you*... as an equal... or a better... so you'd finally have value..."

"... Do you want to learn magic?"

Catra has posed:
Catra doesn't really know how to respond to the song; that much is plainly writ across her expression, and when Hinoiri gets to the end, it's only the request to let her finish that stays Catra from interjecting. And for a moment, it looks like Catra's rage might bubble up to the surface; but it doesn't. Perhaps amazingly. she keeps her emotions (or maybe armor would be a better term) in check, as she listens. As Hinoiri is finishing, she sucks in a deep breath, and lets it out again slowly.

"I don't know if I know how to do that," she admits. "Let go, I mean. I've been in her shadow for so long it'd be strange not to be there anymore." She pulls her Force Captain badge out of her pocket, and looks at it again. "So much of my life has been bound up in what she was doing, what Shadow Weaver wanted for her, Shadow Weaver punishing me just for being near Adora, Adora finding the sword, Adora this, Adora that, just... Adora. Always Adora. Everything was Adora."

Catra brushes her thumb over the badge as she stands there, looking off to the side, and thinking about Hinoiri's words, her relationship with Adora, her past, and her future. She purses her lips, looking down at the badge, before closing her fingers tightly around it. She turns, winding up with her arm and gritting her teeth as her sword-wounds give a searing complaint, before hurling the badge down a back alley as hard as she can. The small metal object bounces off a wall, strikes the side of a dumpster, and clatters off into the darkness.

"Yes," Catra responds at last. "Yes, I would like to learn magic."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded and watched. And once she through the badge, she... gently reached out, to put a hand on her should. "I know how it feels. I know... what it... means... how hard... it can be..."

"... Sora... gave me everything... then took it all away. And I still... struggle. To let her go. It... hurts, still."

"... But I'm better than her. I can... be better than her. I can be.... Hinoiri. And you... can be Catra... it won't be easy. But... you can do it. Without her. So here's what we can do."

"Figure out your rules. Learn them. Then we'll talk about them. We'll make them... your reality. What you *have* to do. No matter what. The lines you *refuse* to cross. No matter what. Then? We'll start making you everything you deserve to be. If Adora is a massive, nine foot tall amazonian bitch with a sword? Then fine..."

"Learn magic. Be smarter than her. Wield magic in a way she *can't*. Stop playing *her* game. Make her play Catra's game. I'll teach you some basics. Dusk porting. Things like that. I'd also suggest... mmmmm. Talk with Takashi and La Crima. They're both from this world. They're also smart. You and I can access dark energy. But they were born in it. Once we get the foundations... well... we'll go on from there. Shaping it to *your* capabilities. Figure out what kind of magic is truly yours."

"... And you may slip and fall. There may be times where... where you can't get her out of your head. And I get it... but... so long as you don't break your rules... so long as you are strong enough to keep them... so long as you never break those, even for Adora... then slipping, falling, stumbling... even... losing... isn't defeat. Or failure."

"It's just another lesson you learn. Does that sound good?" she asked, before putting the spoon of her frozen yogurt into her mouth, sucking on it. Strawberry banana was good.

Catra has posed:
Catra stares down the alleyway where she just threw the Force Captain Badge for a long moment; shoulders slumped, and a strangely stricken look on her face. But, she doesn't go rushing off after it to pick it back up, either. She threw it away. It's gone now. Probably some drifter will find it and pawn it for a few Yen or something.

Who cares.

She forces the words to echo forcefully through within her skull, as she turns away from the alleyway, and just as purposefully walks away. That's the past. Etheria is gone and she's not going back. Not ever. She lives here now, where she's the only beastkin on the planet so far as she can tell, and a used-to-be-a-unicorn has just offered to teach her how to do magic.

"I've never not picked myself up before," she replies, as she digs into what's left of her yogurt bowl. "And I always will. Adora hurt me this time, but she didn't kill me, so I'll be fine. And, I don't... I don't need her anymore."

But she does. The words cut all the way to her heart as she says them, but she responds as she always does; hide pain with anger. Even if you have to direct it at someone you love. Even if it's yourself. Her tail lashes behind her as she grinds her teeth; the now finished yogurt bowl gets lobbed towards a garbage can (she misses, but in her defense it's not overly aerodynamic), and she thrusts her hands in her pockets.

"Alright, rules. Let me think about that for a day or two?" She nods, "I'll talk to them, too. MIght as well get a good start."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Good. You'll be good, Catra. More importantly... you'll be better than her. Better than Adora. Better than her little image of you. And when that happens, nobody will be able to deny who you are."

She turned and tossed hers into... a closer trash can when they passed it.

She wasn't entirely wrong, though. The force captain badge was gone... And after a bit, she'd take her to another shop. Get herself something nice. Maybe something with tassels. A pin. Something else...

And Hinoiri would become Sunbreaker, just for a few minutes, before... she'd come back as Hinoiri.

And unknown to Catra, the Force Captain Badge would be cleaned off and put away in her pocket. Because one day? Catra might need it again. Or maybe it'd be a gift. A reminder of how far Catra had come. One day... when she didn't need it anymore... When it was no longer an anchor around her neck? It could be a gift to remind her of just how far she'd come.

Just like Hinoiri's necklace and book.