2100/News Flash: Catra Does Her Job!

News Flash: Catra Does Her Job!
Date of Scene:	24 November 2024
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Catra's on the clock, and she's got a deadline to get dark energy collection finished by. So she's hard at work, until Rashmi, Amy, and Hinoiri show up -- and then it turns into an absolute cluster. But hey, that kind of thing makes the best news and gets all the clicks.
Cast of Characters:	Catra, Hinoiri Kirara, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust

---

Catra has posed:
In the middle of downtown Tokyo, where the city absolutely never sleeps... people are falling asleep. All up and down the street, people are basically just passing out where they are, wether they're walking, sitting, riding the bus, driving, working in stores or office buildings... there's a bunch of car horns going off with a few people who're going to wake up resting their face on a deployed airbag, too.

All of this falling asleep means that nobody is seeing the thing that's either really cool or really scary, depending on your preferences. Hovering in the middle of the straight and casually making its way between the skyscrapers is what used to be a news helicopter. Now, it's a hulking, mostly humanoir contraption; where it's head should be are the rotors, still thrumming loudly as they spin. The metal contraption's right hand ends with the tail rotors, also still spinning loudly, and the whole thing says 'NHK News' in the middle of its chest. Dark energy is flowing into it, drawn from the people passed out around it.

Walking along beneath it is Catra. The ex-Horde soldier keeps pace with the Youma, holding Powersend in her hand with the tip dragging on the ground, and the thundercloud hovering over her head is so palpable, it's almost manifesting in reality. Almost.

Trundling along behind her, a strange contraption that looks like a crystal... jar, big enough for a person (a Catra sized person) to fit in it, walking along on a set of robotic spider legs. It's mostly empty, but with a small amount of a faintly glowing, purplish liquid sloshing about in the bottom as it walks.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Another day, another youma. It was always that way, wasn't it? At least, for Hinoiri, it was easy enough. Find the youma, beat its butt into the ground. Easy, peasy. She smirked as she leaped off a roof, kicking the rotors of the youma, launching herself into the air to spin away and--

And lock up the moment she saw Catra. "C-catra?!" she asked.

And then she just ate cement, missing the landing, instead hitting the ground awkwardly, rolling a few feet before groaning. Yeah, she was going to... need a moment. Ending up on her back, aching all over and... yeah.

Slowly, she tried to sit up. "C-Catra? What... are you doing? What is that thing?" she asked.

Was... was she supposed to try and stop her? Supposed to... help... her?

And.... and she didn't know. She was unsure. She was, admittedly... torn...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi only understood that there was a large, active Dark Energy signature in Mitakihara. Something of that size could be a real danger to a lot of people, and there's just no way she wouldn't fly in to stop it, no matter how late she'd have to stay up to finish her history essay.

So when she soars around the corner to see -- a *converted news helicopter?!* -- she had a big concern. When her eyes lit on the jar, and the sullen figure accompanying it, Rashmi's eyes grow wide as dinner plates. "Catra-san?!"

She looks from her, to the youma, and back... and gets it.

"Oh, n--"

Which is about when Equivalence makes her grand entrance by absolutely biffing it all over the street.

"...Welp." Sighing, Rashmi soard down to ground level, crouching down and extending a hand to help the mahou up. "You okay? First time seeing a really big one?"

Catra has posed:
Catra had been expecting Mahou to show up eventually. They always do. Not that she's bothered doing this in a while, but she knows the drill well enough. Grab as much energy as you can, until eventually the good guys outnumber her and she just has to escape with whatever she got. She looks over her shoulder at the big spider-contraption; it's like she's only barely started. Well, she has only barely started. How many times is she going to have to do this, for the next... twelve days?

Best not to think about it. Best to--

Oh here they are. And it's...

"R-Rashmi?! Hi--" she stops, "Equivalence? You too?"

Catra's shoulders sag, just for a moment. But she's got a job to do. And it's... entirely mandatory. "Look," she starts; and her usual snark and fire is gone, for once, replaced with if anything, tired resignation. "Just... for once, I'm really not looking for a fight, okay? Just... I have to do this. Rashmi, you KNOW I have to do this, so please don't... Just... Please don't get in my way, okay?" As she speaks, she keeps pace with her Youma, walking along underneath it; it wobbled and lost altitude when Equivalence kicked its rotors, but it's still up.

The Youma of course, has its own ideas. "Tonight! on the NHK News," it declares with an overly deep, masculine voice booming out of it, "Not one but TWO magical girls take on ONE cat with a sword and her trusty helicopter! Who will win?! Tune in to find out! << ARMING WEAPONS >>"

Some of the helicopter's plates open up; and... it's not like it starts sprouting machine guns or anything, it just looks like a bunch of news camera and speakers and things sticking out. But, hey, you never know.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy can't fly -- at least not without expending magic she kind of doesn't want to right now -- so it takes her a bit longer to catch up to Rashmi. She sees the helicopter first: "Oh COME ON, not again!" Honestly, it's a little worrying to face an aircraft-turned-youma again after the last one was so much trouble.

    And... it's shouting about arming weapons. She can't have that! Amy hops up on top of a crashed car and takes aim with a missile launcher. "HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! Hey, guess what the natural enemy of aircraft is? NEWSFLASH! IT'S HOMING MISSILES!"

    A gout of flame shoots out the back of the launcher and then trails after the missile as it streaks towards the helicopter.

    "Rashmi!" the redhead screams. "Barrier! Before it crashes!"

    All that out of the way, she can finally notice: "Oh hey, it's you again! Adora's ex! ...Honestly? This looks like a pretty good choice of youma and environs, you just ran into exactly the wrong heroes! ...Oh, Hi Equivalence!" Amy waves. "Good to see you again!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence glanced to Rashmi. Oh. Of course. SHE'D be here, wouldn't she? "I-I've seen bigger," she said, grumbling out of the side of her mouth. Totally not some rookie, newbie, she was tough. Strong. She didn't eat it because the size overwhelmed her or anything. That's be silly.

"I... what?" she asked softly. "Why do you have to do this? Why would... you... need to..." And then... Then Amy was here.

and said 'Adora's ex'. Oh for buck's sake. She wondered if this was going to be the moment where Catra utterly snapped. She then glanced towards Rashmi. "So... you know what this is about, then?" Then glanced towards the helicopter... "Arm all the cameras you want, I don't *have* a bad side for you to catch, heh," she said, even doing a hair flip. Please, as if she's going to worry about a little thing like being recorded bother her. "And hey, ummmmm... Red... rocket launcher girl." ... Did... Did Amy have a magical girl name? Ugh. She needed a bucking flow chart...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD >>

The *moment* those cameras came up, Rashmi had a shield out, because a youma does not just point cameras at people. So whatever is coming, she hopes to at least hold it off until Equivalence can get situated.

"Catra-san, I'm not going to tell you not to try. But I *am* gonna tell you that I'm pretty sure trying is enough! Have you *seen* the number of people who throw youmas around, get stopped, and come back to do it again?"

The redhead openly cringes at Amy's characterization of Catra, and spends a moment to mutter something reassuring to herself under her breath. "Amy please do not anger the cornered cat lady? We don't want to make this worse than it needs to b-- WELP OKAY THEN."

Amy launches her opening salvo, and Rashmi responds with the only real thing she can do; exactly what Amy asks.

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

The green-black static of Rashmi's Barrier vastly outpaces Amy's rockets, and by the time any of them strike home, the Page Mage has shunted everything structural and magical within a two-block radius, half a dimension over.

Catra has posed:
"I just-- I HAVE to do this, okay?! I have to!" Catra throws her arms out to either side of herself, pointing the sword at nothing in particular. Dark energy is gathering up around her, too; the feline is obviously a swirling mess of hurt and fear and despair, and it's fueling her own magic, not just the Youma. "I--"

She stops, whatever she was about to say dieing on her tongue as Amy enters the scene. "Hey, I am *NOT* Adora's Ex, we--"

And then the rocket hits the Youma, making Catra flinch as an explosion goes off right above her. It dents the Youma, making it crackle with purplish electricity. "A challenger appears!" it declares with an air of excitement, echoing Amy's words. "Will this annoying girl with her puny rockets be enough to tip the scales?! Tune in to find out! Remember, at 8:30 tonight we'll be announcing the winner of our yearly sweepstakes! The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to << THE INESCAPABLE DEPTHS OF HELL >>

The Youma whines, increasing in pitch until the speaks pull inwards and then release an ear-splitting boom, shattering windows up and down the streets, just as Rashmi's barrier goes up. The cameras all point in different directions, like independant eyes, and searing beams of light flash out from them, aimed... well mostly at Amy.

Catra's eyes widen. "No," she whispers, "No no no no! Rashmi you MORON I'm trying to-- DAMNIT!" The feline splits into three, each Catra holding a sword, and each holding a ball of wispy shadow energy in her free hand. "Stop... Stop it! Just STOP!" She and her doubles hurl the energy forwards, all three orbs landing on the ground in front of the heroes; but instead of exploding or blasting, they just... release big billowing clouds of smoke, obscuring vision but nothing more.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence groaned. There it was. That was the reaction she expected from hearing 'Adora's Ex'. Dang it, Amy. Did you not realize that was a touchy subject?

And now there was a barrier. She glanced back towards Rashmi. "You seem to know what's going on, right? So... what is it? I've never seen her this worked up unless it involved.... you know who," Equivalence asked. She wasn't going to say THAT name unless it was required. You know. Cause angry cat. "You seem t ohave the information, right? What's going on with--"

And then there was SMOKE! Equivalence took a few quick steps back, before cocking an eye. And then... It dawned on her. Oh...

That jar thing. Why was she... was she being watched? Of course. IT was just like when Catra was attacking her. Well, if Catra needed a show... "I get it, Catra. Heh. You should have just said so." And then she kicked! Sending out a furious swarm of little gray bolts of magic...

Aiming them at the *walking jar behind Catra!*

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Hey um... rocket launcher girl. "It's Magical Rocket Girl Red!" Amy shouts, and poses with a grin and one fist against her hip.

    "PUNY?!" Amy's rockets are impugned! "You don't--" but her brain gets ahead of her mouth and she doesn't say a dumb line, but does find searing beams of light aimed her way! "Easy, Spamton!" She finds herself having to focus on dodging, diving out of the way from car to car, trying to stay ahead of the sweeping lights, getting her cloak singed a bit, until Catra's smoke bomb blocks the light. "Phew, thanks!"

    She looks in the car windows... briefly staring at her reflection for a second as this reminds her something... and then finds the helicopter's reflection to target another homing missile at! She fires it upwards, and it arcs through the air towards the heli-youma from above!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Catra-san I *know* what you're trying to do, I *get it!*" Rashmi yells, coughing and trying her best to wave away the smoke, before launching up and simply out of the smoke's blinding effects. "But I can't just-- EQUIVALENCE NO!"

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

DO NOT TARGET THE JAR. Joker's forcing Catra do do youma work and if she doesn't he's going to do something horrible to me! Just... *bring down the stupid helicopter! >>

Oh man there is a whole *raft* of questions brought bubbling to the surface on how all that happened, but Rashmi is determined to make them wait for later.

    << *BONG!* >> << BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

A single, fixfire-like wisp of energy resolves in front of Rashmi, then streaks out to Amy, empowering her next attack.

Catra has posed:
Broken glass is coming down like rain; the sonic blast travelled all the way up the sky scrapers, and the stuff from the top floors hasn't even made it all the way down yet. Catra is still positioned under her Youma, and its rotors are mostly keeping her and the jar-robot safe; still, she's breathing hard and fast, resisting the urge to drop to her knees and clutch her chest.

This is all going wrong, it's going so so wrong, she expected Mahou but NOT THESE MAHOU why are they here? Why Rashmi and Hinoiri? The annoying red one is what she'd been expecting, but not--

"NO! NOOOO!" she screams, as she sees the bolts of magic coming through the smoke. The first few of them hit the crystal jar, each making the robot lean a little further over to one side; one of them makes a crack appear in the crystal, before Catra jumps, throwing herself in front of the jar and taking the rest of the bolts herself. She grits her teeth and screams as they blast away at her, instead; and as she looks back around, her eyes are almost glowing purple with a sudden fury.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?!" she screams. She and her doubls all summon shadow orbs once more, and she screams, firing off three simultaneous, unaimed blasts of energy, all three very real and all scythed back and forth in the general direction of the people trying to stop her.

"We interupt this broadcast with an important announcement!" declares the Youma above her, this time with an exagerated female voice. "The little kitty has entirely lost her sanity and is a danger to herself and others! Do not approach if spotted. Call the police! << OR SHE'LL RIP YOUR SPLEEN OUT AND COOK IT IN AN HERB SAUCE >>

"Also, the previous news anchor has been executed for inaccurate announcements. Sorry about that! << REARMING CANNONS. FIRE COUNTERMEASURES >>

The Youma's plates peel back in different places around its body, and a bunch of little tubes stick out; they glow, and fire, setting off a brilliantly colorful fireworks display in all directions. Some of them end up in the surrounding buildings, some up in the air, and some of them are going to be exploding near the heroes.

Meanwhile, Amy's rocket streaks up and out of the fireworks, and then comes down and smashes into the Youma's rotors; they spark and crackle, and then one by one they break and fly off, blasting through the buildings around the Youma in all directions. Catra just barely has time to roll out of the way and behind the Youma as it comes crashing down, landing in a crouch.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    <<"Who the heck is Joker?!">> Amy wonders, but GLASS AND FIREWORKS RAIN FROM THE HEAVENS! Also, shadow energy! Amy dives away from the blast and under a car until she hears the glass hit around her. Ugh. And the helicopter is hitting the ground.

    "Hey! What kind of monster are you, insulting your creator like-- okay yeah I guess that's how these things go." Then she tries to roll out from under it but there's really not a lot of room under there to move. She's kinda stuck. "NEWSFLASH! I'm still full of anti-vehicle weapons!" She summons her usual launcher -- technically recoiless rifle, not missile -- and fires an anti-tank round at the youma's foot. "Extra extra, local youma gets a case of hotfoot!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence went still the moment that Rashmi said WHAT was going on. She turned to Rashmi with a look of horror. "Joker?! Why would he have any interest in *you*?" she asked, before looking back to Catra. "How did you..." And then she trailed off. She eyed Catra, why had she... she'd almost made things so, so much worse. Almost hurt...

Only for Catra to turn and unleash her own attacks on them! Equivalence held up her arms, the blast hitting her and sending her sliding back. Ugh. Right. she did have to teach her this stuff, didn't she?

How the fudge were Rashmi and Catra on THAT hit list? What in the world was going on? She looked to the youma, then to Amy, then to Catra... Rashmi was in danger... why was...

... No wonder Catra was panicked. So was she. And she'd bucked up, now. She'd put Catra in a worst spot. And there was a barrier, from Rashmi, so no way for her to just... keep absorbing it and... "I'm sorry," Equivalence finally said.

Before she dashed at Rashmi and tried to kick... HER BOOK?! Left foot, twist, pivot, right foot three kicks, each one unleashing a blast when it made contact... well. When it tried to make contact.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The thing about Rashmi is... she trusts people. When you show up to a fight and you fight the youma, she helps you. Because that's who she is; she helps people who need help, and tries to minimize all the harm possible. Which is why she's avoiding the *energy receptacle,* because any energy collected is proof of work. Bruises too, for that matter. No one ever said she has to fill the jar, after all; just spend thirteen days collecting energy.

So she trusts people. Which is why the *first* time Equivalence's blasts slammed into Nicomachea -- not Rashmi, *Nicomachea* -- all she could do is whip around and stare in horror. Then a *trio* of kicks, but by the third one she's snatched Nicomachea out of the air and is clutching him protectively, hunching over the damaged Device and staring in wounded, betrayed fear.

"....Equivalence, what...?"

And it's at that point that the shield between her and Catra collapses, and the third Dark ball slams brutally into the mage's body.

So now Rashmi is sad, confused, *in pain,* terrified, and betrayed.

GG, Equivalence.

Catra has posed:
"Stop!! Just... stop!! STOP!!"

Catra is hurt, confused, and down on one knee. Her rage has boiled away, and now she's just sitting behind her Youma, quivering as she looks not at the ongoing battle, but the jar robot, with the crack in the side. "I can fix this," she gasps. "I can fix this. I can still fix this." She stands, walking away from her Youma to protect the jar instead; just as Amy's anti-tank round blows half the heli-youma's leg off.

"Important news bulletin: Little red menace to society loose on city streets!" The Youma continues to shout out the 'news' as it collapses, propping itself up with its one hand, and swinging the arm ending in the still spinning tail-rotors in a wide arc, aiming first for Amy, then Rashmi, then Equivalence. "Known criminal guilty of attacking innocent news anchors has two accomplices, known as Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum! Work out for yourselves which is which but << MAKE SURE YOU TERMINATE THEM. >>

"Terminate?"

<< TERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE >>

The Youma's armor plates all abruptly fall away; it rocks backwards, sitting back up as it reveals... everything. Speakers, cameras, little tubes, the works; and it all opens fire, unleashing a dizzying assault of sound and firepower, aimed not so much at anyone in particular, but basically just everything in front of it.

Catra, meanwhile, is pressing both hands to the crystal of the jar, like she's trying to will it to not be cracked any more. Which, is not working. But, there's more of the purplish liquid sloshing about in the bottom than there was when she started; it's not even a quarter full, but some might call it a decent start. Some might. Catra is focused on the jar, entirely ignoring the fight behind her now.

Or maybe she just doesn't want to turn around because she doesn't want anyone to see her crying.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence gulped and... did she feel good about this? No. She felt like shit. And she hated doing it. But...

But she knew Rashmi. If ever there was a girl who just... would sacrifice herself... And if she could just get her to take down her barrier, then Catra could do her job, then--

And shit went in the worst possible way. "Just take down your--"

And then the shield goes down. And she has only a moment to realize what she's done. Her eyes went wide when she saw Rashmi get blasted. She took another step towards her, eyes wide. "Pagemage, I didn't mean to-- just... jsut take down the barrier. Just... let her take what she wants. It's better than... A little..." And now? She was afraid to attack again. To risk hurting the other girl. Her fists clenched and... "Will you stop being so bucking self sacrificing all the time?! Stop putting your neck out all the time! You're going to get yourself killed, and no, energy draining a bunch of people isn't ideal, but you should just turn and walk away. You're not a part of Obsidian's little games but if they're dragging you in can you just this once STOP trying to play little miss forgiveness and sparkles and watch out for your own skin just this ONE time?!"

And, you know what? She wasn't paying attention to the youma anymore. Instead focused on Rashmi. And... well... Soem of those stray shots hit her in the back, sending her flying forward before she whipped around, getting ready to attack... only to stop, not launching anything at the helicopter... Before sighing. "Pagemage, take down your barrier or I'll... attack you again. RED GIRL! Knock it off! Let her go!" Well... when you made the wrong choice... just do what she does. Double down.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Hey, I'm not a menace!" Amy objects, "Well okay, it depends on which society you me-- RASHMI!" she screams in alarm.

    "Equivalence, what are you-- AAAGH!" the spinning rotor slices apart the car above Amy, and the Puella Magi, along with car chunks, is flung into the next car over, a deep red gash in her side.

    IT HURTS

    Amy shuts off pain in a hurry, but is still left mentally reeling. <<"Rashmi! Maybe we should retreat...">> She's afraid Nichomachea's no longer in condition to attack. <<"I don't know if I can drive them all off without Witching. The people here... this draining isn't killing them, right?">> She clutches her side, puts pressure on it. <<"Can you still fly away?">>

    Her other arm, she holds out and fires... a missile that splits into a bunch of little ones, landing around the youma and catra and spewing smoke rather than exploding, as Amy starts looking for the clearest path out and moving away between the cars, but isn't racing for the edge of the barrier just yet, in case Rashmi wants to stay and fight.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
At first, Equivalence's yelling is just so much noise, as she turns her focus inward to the damaged Device.

<< Nico-kun are you okay?! >>

    << AFFIRMATIVE. STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY 75%, CORE UNDAMAGED. SELF-REPAIR MODULE LACKS EFFICIENCY BUT WILL SUFFICE. SCHEMATICS UPDATED. >>

<< Oh good... Okay. D'you think you've got enough in you to finish this fight? >>

    << AFFIRMATIVE. >>

'--can't you stop trying to play miss sparkles and forgiveness--'

It was, perhaps, a bad time to return her focus to the real world. But in her defense, it was the sweeping rotors that did it, Rashmi just... had the poor timing to *hear* Equivalence's rant.

One hand leaves the protective clutch of Nicomachea to grab Equivalence by the arm and... perhaps a bit more roughly than would otherwise be normal ... hurled the both of them to the ground, the youma's rotors clipping off a fairly sizable chunk of Rashmi's skirt in the process. Once the immediate danger has passed, Rashmi *shoves* Equivalence away with fury in her eyes, climbs to her feet, and turns to face the youma.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

A dozen Barrets materialize around her, lock into place... then *burst into golden flame.* After which they stream out, one after the other, each flaming Barret resummoned as it's launched, all of them targeting the helicopter's center mass.

And while she is raining fiery death upon the youma, she turns to look over her shoulder, raking both Amy and Equivalence with her bespectacled gaze.

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS *FUN* FOR ME? DO YOU THINK IT'S A *GAME?!* DO YOU KNOW HOW *HARD* IT IS TO TRY AND FIND THE *EXACT* RIGHT MOVE TO MAKE SO MAYBE, *MAYBE,* EVERYONE CAN BE OKAY?!"

...Rashmi seems to be going through some things, just this moment. The cracks and chips in Nicomachea's armor probably aren't helping.

Catra has posed:
Behind Catra, everything is happening the way it is happening. She can't see it but she can hear it; and she's not ignoring it, as her swiveled ears would indicate, were anyone looking. Which, likely, they aren't, they're all a little busy. So's Catra, really, she's just... busy feeling the ice in her chest, looking at the cracked glass.

"We come to you now LIVE from somewhere street at whatever avenue!" the heli-youma keeps droning on. "In-fighting in the local criminal gangs is going to get them all killed!" As it carries on, Amy's missiles explode all around it, surrounding it in obscuring smoke; but not making it vanish entirely, just because it's so big. "Tune in tonight to witness their gruesome deaths LIVE on--"

The youma is interupted, as Rashmi's barrage of searing barrets slam into it, going straight for the internals with the armor plates having come out of the way already. In its vulnerable state the youma suffers obvious, significant damage.

"Well aren't YOU just a << COMPLETE BUNDLE OF #$##462$$$& MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER >>

The youma pitches forwards, metal screaming as it collapses on the ground; there's a low whine that builds into a shriek, purplish energy arcing off of it onto the metal skyscrapers around it until it explodes in a blinding flash, leaving a boiling, purple cloud rising up in the nighttime air.

"Th-th-th-that's all tonight folks, tune... i-i-in tomorrow..........

As the smoke and flame clear, the spider legged robot-jar is nowhere to be seen; but Catra, is already running away. The feline flees down the middle of the street as fast as her legs can carry her, clutching a glass jar against her chest as she goes, its dark, liquidy contents sloshing around against the glass.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence doesn't... know if she's ever seen Rashmi actually mad. She can't remember it. No. Wait. Molly. Oh. Oh crap. Was this a MOLLY level fuckup? It felt like it. "I..." she tried. And that felt... so wrong. Not enough. What was she supposed to say?

There were no words.

So what did she do?

... There was nothing.

She'd fucked up. She'd fucked up to the worst level. She should have just... why did she default to ATTACKING Rashmi? What did that say about her? "No. I don't... I..."

Did she know how hard it was? Noooo. She didn't. She really didn't.

Because... she didn't know how to make the right one. She just... acted. She got panicked, acted in the worst way. Sora why did she think she could do this? It took so much for her to not reach up and dig out her Geode to hold for comfort.

Buck buck buck BUCK. There wasn't any fight to be had here. There was no battle to be won. Rashmi had defended her. And she had attacked her. And she had made every wrong choice. And so she did the only thing she thought, maybe, she could do right.

She ran. Ironically... the same way Catra did. Because why face your problems when you bucked up when... running from them and maybe trying later once... Rashmi has calmed down. Buck, how much do you have to fuck up to get RASHMI like that? RUN! RUUUUUUN!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Rashmi isn't responding. She must be really hurt. "STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Amy screams. "RASHMI, YOU'D BETTER DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR FUTURE! YOU DESERVE ONE MORE THAN ME!"

    She holds out her hand and prepares to conjure SO MANY MISSILES. To Equivalence and Catra, she warns: "I'm gonna blast you and I won't stop. If I do stop, then what's about to happen is going to be far, far worse."

    And at the last split-second, she has a better plan.

    A pillar of fire covers her in armor parts with thrusters, and she flies straight for Rashmi. "BETTER PLAN!"

    And then Nichomachea is casting spells again, and Amy stops just short of ramming into Rashmi and rocketing them both out of here, staring in open-mouthed shock as she's gone from self-sacrificing to running to ???? and her mind can't handle another gear change that dramatic so fast.

    The youma's defeated, and Amy lands so she can stop burning soul on flying -- well, she tries to land, doing it while degrading her soul-body connection so as not to feel pain lags her too much in the state her mind is in, she lands too hard and collapses to her hands and knees. Thank goodness her outfit has kneepad armor. She drops her outfit back down to normal henshin; the damage to the outfit is undone, but the side starts soaking through with blood immediately. She stands, feeling nothing of how much it hurts.

    Amanda's not sure how she could have done better with the information she had available, Rashmi looking terrified clutching Nichomachea like that, but from Rashmi's words and tone she fucked up, somehow, and red eyes look at Rashmi with... what is it... knowing-she-fucked-up, confusion-as-to-how, and resignation-it-won't-matter. "I'm sorry. I don't think it's a game. I thought..." Nichomachea was out of comission. You didn't look like you could still fight. ...But no one ever wants to hear excuses.

    Amy looks away, defeated, bracing herself for a talking-to and...

    She can't think of what there is for her to do after this. Only... "If you don't wanna hear me I understand," she doesn't, but it's what someone mad at her wants to hear, right? "but... please, have lots of other friends. I don't want you to go back to how you were."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The youma falls, and when the smoke clears Catra is running... And Equivalence is stammering something upsettingly familiar, then taking to her own heels and for just a moment Rashmi is *so furious.*

But then Amy speaks hesitantly, and it's that *tone.* That upset-afraid tone that breaks through the haze and warns Rashmi that she might be on the precipice of turning into someone she really doesn't want to be...

And, oof, that last sentence. That is a dagger *directly* into Rashmi's heart, because it sounds like something she'd've said not three years ago.

Among the flaming wreckage, Rashmi lets out a long breath, closes her eyes for a moment, then turns and slowly approaches Amy.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

"I understand," she says, as her rudimentary healing magic at least takes the worst of the pressure off of Amy's nerve-deadening. "And it's not you I'm mad at... I mean mostly Equivalence-san because she *tried to break Nicomachea* and that's like kicking *my kitten.* But like... This is a seriously high-pressure situation I've landed in. And I'm *trying* to help Catra-san. but I have to help her in a way that I can, like, *live* with myself after. Just letting people get drained? ...No. I just... No. Impossible."

Stepping closer, she puts her free hand on Amy's shoulder, squeezing compainionably. "I don't want to go back to that either, Amy-chan. But it won't happen because you got worried and didn't know what to do. Besides which you *saved my life yesterday.* Which d'you think means more to me?"

Leaning back and to the side, she checks the progress of her magic on Amy's wound. "...You sure you should be doing that?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy flinches slightly as Rashmi approaches. Brace for talking-to!

    But... after a moment she realizes the tone is kinder, and her brain's audio processing starts catching up, and she relaxes, relieved that her friend isn't mad at her.

    Quietly, she notes: "It wouldn't have been letting them. I thought Nichomachea was broken. I wasn't sure what it'd take to drive three, or four if that pot monster had tricks, of them off."

    She lifts her arm and looks at her soul gem -- about the same as where it was, though slightly less. Still not less than two-thirds full of that deep red, though. "Heh." she can't help chuckling at the irony. "I spent more energy preparing to rocket us out of there than on shooting the monster. ...Sorry." She leans against a car, and adjusts the costume, the midriff part sparkling pink and vanishing so she can look at her side. The rotor had cut into her, but Rashmi's magic is making it less bloody and gory. "Does solar heal act as disinfectant? If so I think I'm good until we can get to stronger healing or let it heal. Or I spend magic to regenerate it." if Rashmi confirms that, Amy does the part of regeneration that seems to cost her almost nothing, the surface of the wound closing over but still leaving a nasty bruise. She tries dropping the pain deadening, and winces as she moves to stand up again. "Oof. Maybe it'd be worth it to spend a little magic... this wouldn't be all that much more than I already spent today, I think. Waiting for wounds to heal properly, before I had plentiful grief seeds and knew how to regenerate, really kinda sucked."

    Amy blinks at a thought, and looks at Rashmi curiously. "Hey, you know, back then, I wondered: Do we heal faster on our own than everyone else because we're magic, or is this just how fast teenagers heal regularly?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I mean... Magic, Iunno if it actually disinfects-- oh god."

Turns out that Rashmi is *almost* as much of a weenie looking at an *actual* deep abdominal wound, as she is watching a slasher movie! That surely explains the way she turns green and averts her eyes, and breathes through her mouth as she addresses the rest. "Yeah no it's okay, Amy-chan. If anyone *deserves* to worry about that, it's you. I just... *what was Equivalence-san thinking?* ...Actually... no... no, it's not worth thinking about. We'll probably run into each other later, I can ask her then."

Releasing Nicomachea, now that he doesn't need protecting, Rashmi removes her glasses and just... spends awhile, massaging the bridge of her nose... then pauses at Amy's last question. "...Probably the magic actually," Rashmi says. "The burns Sunbreaker gave me? The doctors were losing their minds at how well I was healing even *before* Nicomachea got fixed and I could use that to help."

"...C'mon... I feel like I could murder some shioyaki, and there's a graveyard-shift stall a few blocks over, if you don't mind me carrying you?"