1456/What are your rules

What are your rules
Date of Scene:	26 April 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Board Room
Synopsis:	Catra has finally come up with her rules... and now there's only one more thing for Sunbreaker to do. Teach her dark magic. Surely this will all go perfectly well in the end. After all, Catra with someone actually teaching her how to make more bad choices is certainly a recipe for success.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Catra

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker was... tense. To say the least. She was busy. She was overworked. She had commandeered an office and had maps of tokyo posted all over it, with lines and doodles and weird calculations posted all over it. One of the maps had a weird doodle of Mirage Corporation's logo over one of the big circles.

Papers were spread over the desk, which she was going over...

And on top of it, right now? What she was doing?

Was reviewing her tests. School work. Because who else? To say the girl was focused on defeating Ami was... an understatement.

But for now, she was doing some equations, trying to get the math juuuuuust right...

Catra has posed:
"Hey."

Catra wanders in without knocking. It's hardly unexpected, she rarely (if ever) asks permission for anything. But, at least she doesn't disturb anything that Sunbreaker has arrayed across the desk. It would appear that cats raelly do only knock things off high places when they want to.

This time, the feline comes bearing gifts; two cardboard boxes, that smell rather strongly of food, one of which she places carefully on the least cluttered corner of the desk and tops with one of those little, paper-clad sets of disposable chopsticks.

"Yours is vegeterian," she adds, as she pops hers open and eats a first bite of noodles with chicken, with a spicy aroma attached to it. "Figured you probably hadn't eaten."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a small nod, but didn't look over. She just mumbled softly, something that sounded like 'something something division'.

However, the smell got her to glance over and chuckle. "I've eaten. It..." Then trailed off. Looked thoughtful, glanced at the clock and sighed. "What I mean to say is 'thank you'," Sunbreaker said before picking the plastic up. Ahhhhh, korma, how she loved it.

"Just taking a break from carrying the entirety of Obsidian on my back to put the rest of the my grade to shame in the upcoming exams." Pause. "Well... *most* of them..." Ami. That girl...

"You're right, though. I'm a vegetarian. Meat still makes me gag and all. Thanks for remembering." She took a bite out of it and gave a wistful sigh...

However, after the first bite, she glanced over to Catra and a new, different smile formed on her lips. "Come here for magic lessons? Figure out your rules?"

Catra has posed:
"Actually, I don't think you've ever told me you were vegetarian," Catra replies, "It just seemed likely since, y'know, one of your rules is to not kill anyone." Catra shrugs lightly, "Figured if I was wrong, I could just get you meat next time. ...I'm an obligate carnivore though, so, I can't not have it."

It's entirely possible that Catra learned that term recently.

"I dunno how the Horde managed to keep me fed with... with what they were feeding me," she mumbles, "'Cause it most definitely was not meat. But whatever, I don't have to eat that ever again."

And then, there's that question. Rules. It's not like Catra hasn't been thinking about it, vigorously massaging the brainmeats into cranking out an answer. Or, like, three answers. Three would be good. She read somewhere that three is a good number for magic. She just hasn't come up with anything she didn't think sounded stupid. And she doesn't want to sound stupid in front of Sunbreaker -- or, more to the point, she doesn't want to *feel* stupid. In front of other people or otherwise.

"I... think I've got them," she replies, unable to entirely hide her uncertainty.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a small nod. "Really? Huh. And... nah. I don't kill anything sentient. It doesn't extend to like... animals. Killing a human would be one thing, but if I had to kill a gorilla it wouldn't bother me much. Doesn't extend to monsters, either. Like kyubey. That rat bastard I could kill all day. The meat thing is actually for the texture. Every time I touch it, it just... guh..." She gave a light shudder. "Makes me feel all skeevy."

She snickered at the obligate carnivore thing. "Yeah. There were a lot of those back home. Abyssians, obviously. Those were the cat-like people. I think griffons were... closer. In the end, all things are made of different chemicals and nutrients. What likely happened is that the horde bars held were all the nutrients you needed in meat... but none of the taste or texture. Alternatively, you may have been suffering through malnutrition for the majority of your time in the Horde."

She took another bite of her own food, her eyes locked on Catra. She was silent for a long while, before sighing. She put the container down and jammed the chopsticks into them. "Catra... back home. Did anybody care about you? If you got hurt, if you fell? If you cried out in pain? More importantly, if you looked like you were going to do something dangerous, was there anybody who would reach out to pull you back from harm?"

Catra has posed:
For Catra, that is a difficult question. That much is clear; not in how her expression changes (it doesn't), but in how her eyes harden, and her grip on the chopsticks tightens. It's almost as if the air grows palpable more... tense, around her.

"I was raised by Shadow Weaver," she states at last. "Hordak didn't have much if anything to do with it. He was just waiting for us to grow up enough to become soldiers to fight his war for him. Shadow Weaver did all the... teaching." She shrugs her shoulders lightly. "Shadow Weaver did not treat me like anything other than an inconvenience and threatened me all the time, and punished me for... for stuff other people did, and she definitely did not care if I got hurt or would ever stop me from *getting* hurt."

The feline pauses, and for a moment looks like she's going to burry herself in her meal. But, she doesn't, and eventually sucks in a deep breath and lets it out in a long sigh.

"Adora promised me she'd look out for me. But she never *did*. Not in any way that mattered. Not in any way that'd ever get her on Shadow Weaver's bad side. And then she just up and left the Horde one day -- left *me* -- and went to join the Rebellion, leaving me behind to take the punishment, again, for her. So... I don't know. Maybe I did for a while. But no, not really."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker nodded, listening intently. "I was raised by Sora. She was kind, compassionate. Gentle. She had nothing but sweet, wonderful things to say to everyone. Well... everyone else, I guess. She guided me. Gave me access to the best schooling. The best tools. Gave me all the reagents I could ever need. I spent every day studying. I practiced. I learned to not just ace every test, but to go beyond. While people in my class could barely make a daisy blossom, I could create a plant fifty stories tall that glowed in the dark. And I did all of it for her."

Her eyes narrowed. "I worked. I trained. I sometimes worked so hard and so late my head felt like it was going to explode from the headaches. I was so tired I thought I might actually hibernate. And then, in the end, when I had done everything she asked? She told me none of it mattered. She tossed me aside like I was garbage. Like something she wiped off her shoe. She gave me a home... just so she could take it away and rule over me like she was some kind of god."

"... I say this... because things here are different. We're different. You and I. Sora. Shadowweaver. They aren't here. They can't look out for us... though I doubt either of them ever did... Now? There's just us."

She picked up the food... and then shook her head. "And with that in mind? If you understand me? Please accept that I say this because I do genuinely not want to see you get hurt. I don't think you should tamper with dark energy unless you are absolutely CERTAIN about your rules.. I think you should find another way to get power and magic. The number of people I would have killed, the number of *things* I would have done that I never would have been able to forgive myself for, had I not had my rules? Are countless. She-ra almost killed me and while I don't doubt it's a dark desire of hers to do it, I know that a large chunk of that likely was the dark energy. I have been absorbing more of it than likely anyone in this organization and... experimented more than anyone else with it on myself..."

She then picked up the food and started eating again. "So. What are your rules going to be?"

Catra has posed:
Catra pulls up a chair, and takes a seat. It's not like she can't juggle her food while standing; coordination and dexterity have never been difficult for her, naturally. But sometimes, when you need to have a good, hard think, you really just need to do it planted.

She sits, not answering for a solid stretch, eating half the contents of her noodle-box while she's at it. (And, the noodles are really good. Catra has been learning all the good places within four blocks of Obsidian Tower. Well, maybe even six.)

Deep inside Catra's mind, below the surface of what she's really even conscious of herself, there's a fierce argument going on. She wants to learn magic; she's always wanted to be as strong as possible, both because of Shadow Weaver's treatment and to spite her over it. And magic would certainly do that. And she's a villain, and she knows it, and she doesn't want to choose any rules that would limit her ability to be the big, bad villain.

Except, her heart has never been in it.

Not really. Not that she's ever figured that out, consciously. It's so unfair that Adora gets to be the good-- no, it's unfair that SHADOW WEAVER got to go and be the good guy. She ran off to Brightmoon? And left Catra to take the fall for her leaving, just like she herself punished Catra when Adora left? That is the height of--

Irrelevance, right now. Catra sucks in a deep breath, and wills her grip to not crush the noodle box.

"Don't kill any..." She pauses. "Rule one, don't kill people, unless there's no other choice for self defense." She purses her lips into a thin line as she considers. "Rule two, never break a promise. Rule three, never give in to manipulation."

She sits there, thinking about that short list. It's not like it has to be a cripplingly large list of rules. Or at least, she figures it doesn't. But, she leans forwards, setting down her noodles on a not-cluttered bit of desk and scratching the back of her head.

"Rule four, don't use magic when I'm enraged," she adds. So, maybe she can't stop herself getting angry. She needs to get angry. But she can refrain from doing anything catastrophic while she's in that state, at least.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker watched Catra... Amused, a little. However, as the rules came out, she nodded. "Those are good ones. The first is the same one I have..." Sunbreaker then gave a sigh. "Page Mage, Molly, Sailor Moon, Naru, this nice old man who had done nothing but tried to help me with my flowers, Usagi's cat who, while it would have been an accident, still wouldn't have been right. This business man on fifth." There was an uncomfortable look on her face. "Those are the people I would have killed, if I hadn't had my rules. If I'd allowed myself to give in. Dark energy is painful. It burns at you. It gives you so much strength but it's like holding a vicious, raging beast back. It wants to destroy. It wants to *hurt you*. And it will make you want to hurt others. That's why these rules are so important."

She tapped her chopsticks on her bowl. "You thought I was vegetarian. Getting me food was easy. You wanted something from me, so you buttered me up. But the vegetarian part? That's different. If I never told you? You extrapolated from the information you had. That was clever. But, more than that? It shows you *care*. You want to know about other people."

"... That'll make it better and worse. But I also think you're strong. While I doubt you'll ever be as good as I? I think you can bend dark energy to your whims. Keep to the rules, and you should be fine. Never break a promise, that's a good one as well. I... admittedly, never had that. But I still try. Breaking a promise... well. When you break a promise, you better know you're getting something good for it. Because when that vow is broken, it can't be turned back and that bridge gets burned."

"... Your third... I don't know if it can work, but do try. Manipulation is rarely known until after. When you realize you were tricked. But the fourth one, THAT one will be difficult. Dark energy is fueled by emotions. Anger is a very powerful one. Pride as well. I often have to let myself get angrier when I'm fighting to ensure I can use all of my power. There are others, of course. Hate is likely a good one. But, if you must be angry, may I suggest... don't allow yourself to make decisions when you are angry? Don't change your targets, certainly don't let yourself 'bend' the rules. That should be good to help you both tap into your power and avoid a disaster."

She took another bite of her food then, only about a third of the way done with hers. She then tapped a hand on the desk and a small, black jewel appeared under her hand...

Catra has posed:
Catra chews over the criticisms, and for a moment she can feel the irritation rising in the back of her head, but she quashes it just as quickly. Sunbreaker is about to teach her magic; so what if her rules weren't perfect. NOw she can improve them. At least, a little bit.

"Alright, we'll take number three more as advice," she admits," But if I *know* someone is manipulating me, I won't let them. Or if I do what they want me to, at least, it'll be because *I* want to more than they want me to. Otherwise someone reverse-manipulating me just becomes a thing I have to watch out for just as much."

She shrugs lightly, and picks up her noodles to finish them off, rapidly, like someone who's forgotten in that moment that she doesn't have to be worried about someone else taking her food. "I didn't really mean when I was baseline angry, I more meant... when I'm so absolutely furious that I can't think straight. But... Okay. Don't make decisions while angry." She bobs her head, "We'll go with it like that."

And then, she just dedicates herself to finishing off her food; and the empty box getes lobbed towards the trashbin, and she stretches, leaning back in her seat.

And, naturally, she can't hide her instant curiosity about the black jewel.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a small nod. "Yeah, that one isn't bad. All in all, a pretty good choice of rules. They'll serve you well if you can make sure to keep to them. And the absolutely furious... yeah. That's a good one," Sunbreaker grudgingly admitted. "I said quite a few things over the years when I was furious that... I wish I could have taken back." She took another bite of her food, before sighing. She flicked the rock across the desk to her. "Dark energy. Just hold it, feel the energy. It'll burn a bit. Once I finish with my food, I'll teach you some basic kirakirafantastica beginning spells. From there, we should be able to figure out how magic will function for you and expand from that. A lot of things are different from person to person, but there's enough connecting bits that we can usually puzzle it out. That and I've been helping Double Trouble, so it's likely not that much different from theirs."

She glanced back up to Catra again. And a thought flashed in her mind. She picked at the food, before speaking up again. "Though, Catra.. I... want to talk with you about something else. While you fiddle with the stone. One day... I'll ascend. I'll become the alicorn I was meant to be. When that day comes... I'll have to go home to face Sora. When that time comes... welll...."

"I don't, admittedly, even know if I'll survive. The mirror only showed that my destiny was to become an alicorn. But as much as I'm certain I can face and defeat Sora, I don't... I can't say that it's guaranteed. Especially not now. I've nearly died... three times since coming to this world. If I do... well... if I win? I don't know how often I'll be able to come back. I intend to... but let's just say that there are likely going to be... elements... of Obsidian that... wouldn't want me to be *able* to leave again... so I likely won't be returning to Obsidian even when I visit this world."

"... I don't know how far or close that time is, yet. And I'll try to teach you as much as I can when that happens. But... I'm telling you that because I don't want you to be blindsided by it. You're welcome to come to my world in that case, or I can try to find a way to get you back to your home. But... I guess what I'm saying is..."

"... I know what it feels like when you're abandoned by someone you thought cared about you in some way. I don't want you to ever feel like I did that to you."

"... And be careful of Beryl, too. She's dangerous."

Catra has posed:
Catra takes hold of the jewel, and grips it tightly between both her palms; one above, one below. She focus on the feel of it, ears swivelled downwards at it in concentration.

It does burn, in fact.

Still, she keeps her grip on it. What's a little pain? It's not entirely foreign; in some ways it's reminiscent of Shadow Weaver's magics being turned against her. A memory still fresh, from that night when she opened the portal.

"I can't go home, Etheria's gone," she murmurs. "And even if it's not, I... why would I want to go there, there's nothing for me there."

Catra feels a wash of ice across her, as Sunbreaker's words finally penetrate.

Sunbreaker is leaving.

Maybe not right now, but soon. Another person is leaving her. Of course she is, sooner or later everyone leaves. They always leave. Silently, Catra once again acknowledges rule zero. The ultimate rule. The most important rule.

Never, ever make a friend.

"Yeah, okay, fine. I won't be blindsided. Just... make sure you come back, I don't care if you come to Obsidian, just don't like, vanish completely, okay?" Play it cool, of course. Not a hint of the turmoil raging beneath the surface bleeds into Catra's voice, and she keeps staring down at her hands, like she's expecting the jewel to do something.

"I won't let Beryl manipulate me," she acknowledges. "I'll be careful around her. So.." She licks her lips, and opens her hands to look down at the black jewel without her hand in the way. "What do I do?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker nodded. And allllmost asked her... What's here for her? But she knew the answer to that.

Adora.

A shame, that. She... hoped one day Catra could move beyond. Wipe out that giant sword wielding maniac.

"Well, if I survive, you're welcome to come with me. But currently I intend to still make trips to this world from time to time. If for no other reason than to make sure it doesn't get itself blown up or worse. And sell the donuts. How this world has survived this long without the right materials for proper donuts I don't understand." Well, she had brought Catra a Pastry Patty's once. They were a league there own.

"But either way, even if I can't come back to Obsidian, I won't be out of reach. I won't go somewhere you can't go."

Then she froze and Catra might notice there was... some moisture in her eyes. She had to quickly lift her hands to wipe them, trying to hide that. What was wrong with her? Why was she even... getting upset about that?

... Why couldn't Sora have... said that? Why did she have to send her away?

She got to her feet and walked around the desk, moving behind Catra. She reached out and took her hands in hers, pushing them together. "We'll start here. Focus on the dark energy. Letting it flow inside you. It'll burn, it'll hurt, but I'll guide you. I'll protect you. We'll start small until you can do it yourself. Okay?"

Catra might notice her food was only half eaten. She'd decided to prioritize teaching Catra over finishing her meal. Sunbreaker couldn't say why. She couldn't say what that flood of emotions was...

Catra has posed:
If Catra notices the moistened eyes, she gives no indication of it. But, she did notice. It was noticed. Adora did that too. But Catra isn't here to think about Adora, so she thinks about her and then puts the blonde warrior out of her mind. Well, mostly out of her mind.

The feline turns her attention back to the dark jewel, holding it cupped in both hands in front of her. She bobs her head, silently giving her affirmative.

"Alright," she murmurs. "All of the Princesses on Etheria had rune stones. Like, the big huge one that Sparkles showed up with." She purses her lips, "Uhm, Glimmer, I mean. Sparkles is just what I call her. They're all pretty big -- the stone I mean -- you can't lug them around." She plays with the stone in her hands, dropping it from one palm to the other. "Everything might work differently here though. We're not on Etheria."

Her palms close around the stone once more, and she closes her eyes, sitting up straight and pressing her hands tightly around the stone, as if that would somehow help. Would it? Does it? She's not sure. It's probably more about her emotions, and the mental act of... opening herself.

Which is a very difficult thing for Catra to do, given how long she's spent making herself as closed and guarded as possible.

But she manages it; at least, in some small way.

"You're not kidding," she says at last, through gritted teeth. "That... does... burn."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker nodded. "Indeed. That's... the cost, I suppose. Sometimes... sometimes to do what needs to be done, you have to suffer for it. It's not fair. Some people get what they want just handed to them. Others have to work and fight and break themselves against an unforgiving wall to get what they deserve. But in the end? It'll just make it better. We learn to appreciate what we have."

She'd keep her hands over Catra's, helping the dark energy flow into her, through her. "It hurts, but it's also power. Learning to harness it, shape it, is what matters. Your emotions help to fuel it. Your mind and will help to shape and control it. The important, difficult step will be finding where your magic takes you. Most people have a style that suits their own. I'm lucky in I can use just about any kind of magic, but I prefer fire. Others use different styles. Finding yours will take time... but let's try this. Imagine the stone breaking in your hand. Really try focusing on it. Seeing it crumble to gravel, to dust..."

Catra has posed:
Casting your very first spell is certainly not... easy, by any stretch of hte imagination. Even if you are just trying to open yourself to the magic and do it on instinct. At first, absolutely nothing happens, Catra just sits there and looks like she's straining her mind against a brick wall, which might well be an accurate representation of what she's trying to do.

Everything Sunbreaker had to say, about it being difficult, about things being unfair, about pain making you strong, all makes perfect sense to Catra. Shadow Weaver told her once that she was cruel to her to make her strong. Well, she's plenty strong now, and she doesn't need Shadow Weaver any more.

Adora always had it easy. Practically got handed the Force Captain promotion just for existing. Got treated like gold by Shadow Weaver. Then just wanders off into the woods one day and somehow manages to just trip over the Sword of Power and transforms into a massive sword lady right there on the spot, without every having to figure anything out, just yell something ridiculous and poof, she's in a tiara.

Catra's lips peel back from gritted teeth, and it's not entirely to do with the rising sense of pain throbbing its way up her arms and into her head and torso. She growls, ears flattening against her head.

And then something happens to the stone. It... shrinks, in on itself, and then just collapses, shattering into pieces with a loud pop and bursting outwards, shards flying in all directions and leaving a few minor cuts on Catra's fingers.

"...Like that?" she asks, quietly.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker grinned when she saw it and wasn't able to stop herself. She reached up and lightly scritched her ears. "Good job! That was a very good first spell, when I did mine I ended up losing my eyebrows. It--"

And then she realized what she was doing and she yelped, pulling her hand back. "S-sorry. That was a pony thing. Sora would sometimes pat my head or rub my chin when I did something she said was impressive for my age and I just kind of did it, sorry," she said, her face practically steaming.

She felt like such a dork, now. She couldn't believe she'd actually done that. Treated her like a pet or something. Ugh. She was such a dork. "Right. Let's move onto drawing dar energy to us. I find it helps to focus on what makes me angry, then try and make a like... spark. In between my hands. This time, try doing it without my guidance. It'll be less impressive than the stone, but it'll likely still be harder. And allow us to lay down the groundwork for what's to come. Namely, the... type of spark you make will tell us a lot."

Catra has posed:
Fortunately, perhaps fortunately for both Catra and Sunbreaker, Catra is so absorbed in what happened that she doesn't actually notice that someone is TOUCHING HER EARS until Subreaker fesses up to it, by which point she's already pulled back and the instinct to turn around and claw the offender to ribbons doesn't quite reach the top of Catra's brain. Not quite. But almost.

"...Cats tend to claw people up on instinct when you do that," she replies, "So uhh... I don't... reccomend doing it again. But it's fine. You're helping me learn magic, that's not something I thought I was ever going to do."

Well. Focus on what makes you angry. That should be easy; for Catra, that is an absolute abundance of things. Anything that would make her feel any other negative emotion usually defaults to anger instead, especially if it ought to make her feel sad... or guilty.

Thinking about Adora or Shadow Weaver or Entrapta usually does the trick.

Fhe feline's ears flatten against the side of her head, and she hold her hands up, hunching her shoulders and gritting her teeth once more. Her lips peel back, exposing her pronounced canines, while her claws extend from her fingertips.

And then in the air between her palms is a ltitle 'pop'. Almost like something tiny exploding, with a little burst of purplish flame. Or is it a spark of electricity? Hard to tell.

There is a small wisp of smoke, though.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a quick nod, trying to brush past the little social faux pas as quickly as possible. "No worry, it won't happen again."

And then back to the lessons and... huh. She blinked a few times, watching her work. Finally, she moved to sit at the desk. "Interesting. You're... actually pretty talented at this, Catra. Or maybe it's because you've been around it so long. But you're making pretty good progress."

"... Which brings me to my next warning. Dark energy is dangerous. It grows, it burns. These rules exist because they stop you from doing what can't be forgiven. What you can't ever forgive youself for doing. But there's something else. Dark energy... it feeds on negativity. This I learned from Riventon. Anger will fuel it, help make it stronger. But self loathing, depression, things like that? They can undermine it. Shame. Regret. Dark energy is a dangerous tool..." She held out her right hand, black flame forming in her palm.

"It *wants* to destroy you. It *wants* to hurt you. It is like a dangerous animal, barking at the bars. Looking for a way to stab you in the heart. It can be controlled. But it's still dangerous."

"This kind of magic... it isn't like the magic the sparkly girls get. It's not kind. It's not gentle. I've... been purified before. It felt nice, their magic. But people... people like us... we don't get chosen like that. So we get dark energy. We endure. But it makes us stronger. It makes us stronger than *them*. But never, ever trust it. If you let it, this magic will kill you. Because that's what it wants. Control it. Manipulate it. Shape it. But never. Ever. EVER. Trust it." She closed her fist, the flame snuffing out.

"Now, it's about this time that a lot of my old teachers would have given a whole bunch of breathing exercises and all of that, but frankly? That stuff is boring. Do you prefer to go full hands on approach, really dig your hooves, err, fingers into the magic? Or would you rather take a more cautious approach, dipping a little bit into the pool of dark magic at a time?"

Catra has posed:
"I don't care if it's hard, or if it hurts," Catra replies. "I don't need to be like Adora or her friends. I don't want their kind of magic and I don't want to do what they do."

Catra repeats the exercise of drawing magic into herself. She takes a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes and drawing in everything she can. Sunbreaker may've called her talented, but what she can do is still pretty small, and by most standards unimpressive; unless you happen to know that she only did it for the first time less than two minutes ago.

There's another little pop between her hands, accompanied by a very similar whisp of smoke. Catra opens her eyes and releases her held breath, and drops her hands back to her knees. "How safe is it for me to practice on my own?" she inquires. "Because... I want to dig my fingers in. I don't like waiting. Nobody is going to wait for you to be ready -- I wouldn't. If I had to fight someone and I knew they weren't ready, that's when I'd attack them, as hard as I could."

Catra rises slowly from the chair, and stretches. Her face twitches, just a little; a wince, from soreness that lingers from her first attempt to use dark energy to do some magic. "I like this," she decides, out loud. "Sure, it hurt, but it feels... good, afterwards. Like climbing a mountain and getting to the top."

The feline stretches her arms up over her head, and then out to her sides, before letting them back down to rest her hands on her waist. "Thank you for showing me this. What do I do next?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Good. And... I would. But, well... I want to become stronger. I want my opponents to be at their strongest, so when I beat them into the ground it shows just how powerful I truly was. That I was just that much better than them." She paused. "But... I can understand not everybody needs, or wants, to be that way. And most of the sparkle skirts haven't shown much willingness to hold back, so why should we?"

She gets to her feet. "Then we'll go to the dusk zone. Really immerse yourself into the dark energy, you know? Basically swim in it. We'll start with some dark energy blasts, some duskports, then see how much smoke we can get you to do with your magic. I wonder what it means. Maybe your specialty is air related. Or possibly it is smoke. Shadows, even. Any way you look at it, it'll be fun to try." She started gathering up her papers, closing her lunch and teleporting all of it away for later. Even pausing her work, it seemed. Then offered her hand to Catra...

"So, let's go."

Catra has posed:
"I imploded the jewel," Catra points out. "I'm fairly sure that's what happened, anyway. So maybe gravity has something to do with it?" She shrugs her shoulders. "I have no idea." She barks a laugh, and shakes her head, "We'll have to experiment and I guess I'll find out, sooner or later. ...Oh, I *wish* Shadow Weaver could see me now, except that then she'd have to *be* here and I promise you, neither one of us need that. ...I bet she'd be jealous that we're going to the Dusk Zone, though."

Catra looks down at the offered hand. In her mind, there's a brief... objection, to clasping hands with someone. But it's only brief; as she brings her hand up, and then down to slap her palm against Sunbreaker's and clasp hands with her.

"Alright." She grins, showing off her very predatory teeth. "I'm ready. Let's go."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
And, in a flash of flames, the two of them would disappear. Off to the dusk zone. Off to learn dark magic.

Off to give Catra something she had so, so long been denied... a teacher.