2085/A Hot Mess At The Korma Chameleon

A Hot Mess At The Korma Chameleon
Date of Scene:	20 November 2024
Location:	Korma Chameleon
Synopsis:	Catra visits the Korma Chameleon for food and a talk... And suddenly, Joker shows up to make everything so, so much worse. An ultimatum is delivered; Catra will make her energy-stealing quota in thirteen days, or something horrible happens to Rashmi. Horrible how? Who knows! Joker is creepy! The countdown begins!
Cast of Characters:	Rashmi Terios, Catra, 21

---

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Ostensibly, Rashmi had come to the restaurant to deliver Mamoru's heartfelt thanks to her parents, regarding his housewarming present. But of course, one does not *visit* the Korma without *eating* at the Korma, and thus did the redhead find herself tucked away in her favorite booth by the stairs to the residence, cheerfully managing to eat *and* read a light novel without missing a single drop of sauce.

'Rune Sky Rhapsody: Princess of the Sea of Stars Vol. XVIII' and murghir jhol with bhajjis and cardamom lassi. Truly this is the best day.

Catra has posed:
Finding Rashmi in the Korma is much less of a sure thing these days, but it's still something Catra checks in on periodically. Sometimes she needs to talk. Sometimes she just needs non-threatening company. Sometimes... she doesn't know what she needs and probably neither does anyone else. Maybe just a friend. NOt that she'd admit it.

Today, she wanders in, and promptly sees who she's looking for; and Rashmi will find Catra plopping down in the seat opposite her. She's got her headphones in, and is listening to something at a non-obnoxious level. She doesn't say anything; she just sits, and watches Rashmi do her thing, while waiting for a server to come her way.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The moment movement registers at the edge of Rashmi's vision, she looks up from her book, beaming at Catra. "Hi!" she says, marking her place in her book and closing it. Until Catra can get an order in, Rashmi simply pushes the bhajjis and their attendant dipping sauces toward the Etherian, as silent offer. "What's up, Catra-san?" While the conversations can occasionally be fraught or frustrating, whenever Catra sits down Rashmi is *genuinely* pleased. It's nice to know, after all, that after everything the trust so carefully built, yet remains.

Catra has posed:
Catra has never had a bhaji before, but seeing them pushed her way along with dipping sauce, it's not difficult to work out what to do. She picks one up, dips it, and pops it in her mouth whole. And, after some chewing, while it doesn't have meat in it, it's still... pretty tastey, and even though she doesn't comment on it her assessment of it is by no means hidden.

Definitely better than the brown kind and the grey kind both. Not that that's a particularly high bar, everything here has cleared that one so far. Even those revolting things called 'bananas'.

"Nothing," she replies at last, "I just--"

She stops, as server stops to get her order, overlooking the ragged state of dress that the Rachel Miller illusion presents. She asks for a Fish Pakora and a Shrimp Tika Masala, and then sits back in her seat, looking back in Rashmi's direction.

"Everything's weird," she blurts out. "I went shopping the other day. With Glimmer. GLIMMER. Who's supposed to be my enemy, like, you've no idea how hard we fought. And Scorpia, even though she's with the academy so we actually *are* enemies now. And I've no idea where Adora or Arrow-Boy are, they're usuall stuck to Glimmer like glue. And I'm having really weird dreams about burning."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi tilts her head, plucking a piece of potato out of her soup as Catra unloads a pretty impressive backlog of 'stuff she just can't fathom.' And, from the perspective of the catgirl, it really does seem like A Lot To Be Dealing With.

"...Sounds like things've changed a lot pretty quickly," she says after a moment. "I know Bow-kun's been having a pretty hard time, and Adora-chan is... still settling. But I don't think I've met this Scorpia-san? Who's she?"

Catra has posed:
Catra eats another one of the... whatever those were called again, the things with no fish or meat that are still pretty good somehow. "Scorpia..." She sighs heavily. "She's from Etheria as well. Used to be a Force Captain with the horde, like me, she's... a complete... like, her brain is everywhere, I swear. But she's... Even though she was *really good* at screwing things up, she was always just... there. Even if sometimes she was too much there, like seriously she has no idea what 'personal space' means."

The Cat presses one hand to the side of her head; and scratches at where her ear actually is, instead of where the illusion pretends it to be. "Anyway, she's... she was always on *my* side before, but now she's on *your* side and I..." She sighs once again, a deep sound of frustration that comes all the way from the belly.

"I don't know what I expected, she's just... She's Scorpia."

Macaron (21) has posed:
A hand reached past Catra's head suddenly, grabbing one of the bhaji... and the hand pulls back, she'd see a very, very familiar face if she turned back. With jingling bells and all on. His teeth... very, very sharp when he bites into it. "Oh, these truly are marvelous. My compliments to the chef, why, they'd be worth *dying* over," he said, before smiling towards Rashmi.

The man wore a mask... but behind that mask... well. The eyes were empty. A black void. And the way the eyes moved they HAD to be an actual part of the face. But there was nothing there.

"This really is *so* touching!" Joker said, moving to stand at the edge of their table. "The cat, lost, alone. Her friends having *abandoned* her, her memories betrayed her, who would have thought? After destroying her world and killing countless innocents, she finds friendship, kindness, in the plates of a chameleon..."

"Un-for-tune-at-ly, SOMEONE hasn't been doing their job." His fingers did a little spin, pointing at Catra. "It's *you!* And it's been starting to get around. Such terrible, awful things they say about you..." He held up two sock puppets, one of Riventon, one of Glimmer.

"Oh, that cat, why is she even a part of this division? When is the last time she actually brought energy?" The Riventon puppet.

"Ugh, I am so much more useful than her, why don't we just kick her out. I need more space for more rocks," the glimmer puppet said.

"... Wait, why do we even pay her and supply her with food?" That was the Fuyuko puppet. It had no hand.

"Even a stray cat will catch the odd mouse, now and again. All for the privilage of staying in a nice, warm barn when the tide comes in."

And now he was sitting on the table, juggling... "So, tell me Catra. How many mice have you caught lately?" Worst of all? His tone was so friendly, so nice, so kind. Playful, even. It was just a game, that was all.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The sudden hand makes Rashmi jump. As her eyes follow the stolen bhajji up to Joker's mouth, her dark-skinned face goes ashen. That mask, those bells, the dead eyes above the shark's smile...

Youma were once terrifying, and are now either annoying or upsetting, depending on the level of their viciousness. Forces of nature like Beryl or Walpurgisnacht were soul-searingly horrifying, for the sheer scale of havoc and callous destruction they represented. But this... jester?

He was really, *really* creepy.

For a bare moment, her eyes flick past him, to the rest of the restaurant. Is the Veil at work? Is anyone else seeing this? Is the host going to *warn her parents* about the creep at their daughter's table?

What was once a good day has turned so, so awful... and at the moment, all she can do is look up, try not to meet those blank eyes, and wait to be addressed directly.

Catra has posed:
The sound of wood cracking marks the table's complaint, as Catra's claws dig into it and the laminated layers start coming apart. All of the feline's muscles have tensed up; and slowly, like an over-ripened fruit sagging on the branch and eventually falling off, her illusory disguise fails, revealing the real Catra in her horde jumpsuit, with her hackles raised, fur standing on end, and her ears flat against the sides of her head. Her lips are curled back in a silent snarl, her eyes have narrowed to slits, and she's all hunched over with taut muscles, as her claws continue to pierce deeper into the table.

No. No no no no no no no no no no. Not now. Not now, not HERE.

"Get out," she snarls, as she carefully un-digs her claws from the tabletop. "You... can't be in here. We have a *truce*. Not *here*. So get out." Her eyes glance towards Rashmi, and dimly, she notes the terrified state the Hindi girl is in. Well, that tracks. She looks at her only for a moment, turning her gaze right back to Joker just as quickly. Somewhere along the line, the hilt for Powersend has found its way into her hand, though she hasn't conjured the blade, just yet.

The little finger-puppets steal her attention, and her hardened snarl visibly falters. She knows Joker is just manipulating her. She knows full well how manipulation works. But still, in her mind... is that... really what they think of her?

It can't be, can it? Her eyes narrow once more, as she glares up at Joker from her seat. "I. Said. GET. *OUT.*"

Macaron (21) has posed:
"A truce?!" Joker gasped, dropping the balls... and they popped into smoke. "Oh nooooo. I didn't know we had a truce!"

And then he was on the ground. Kneeling in front of Rashmi, gripping her hand in his. "Oh, a thousand pardons, Lady Rashmi Terios." Oh.

He knew her name.

He knew her FULL name.

He knew her EXACT. FULL. NAME.

"I never would have dreamed of breaking a *truce*," he said, his tone so genuine.

Those empty, hollow eyes that she could see up close, and there was NOTHING there? No shadows. No darkness. Just. Nothing.

And then... he didn't kiss the back of her hand. He *licked* it. In the most creepy, vile way one could imagine. His tongue going up the back of her hand and towards her wrist. And it wasn't vile or sick because it was a tongue.

If dark energy was a tongue? THAT would be what it was. It wasn't like getting her arm licked. It was like placing her hand into the dusk zone and having *something* touching it and not being sure if it was going to lose interest, bite, tear her arm off or turn her arm into a *second* her that was evil and malicious and vile.

It was wrong in every single way that would have almost made it just being a tongue seem almost delightful instead.

And then he let her hand go.

"But, as I have broken this most *solemn* of agreements, unwittingly riling up our little kitty cat so much? How about... a gift?" And then he held out his hand. A deck of cards...

"Take as *many* as you like~ Come along, don't be shy."

"After all, any friend of *Catras* is surely worth *taking an interest* in, no?"

And then his head turned to look at Catra.

It didn't turn right. It turned to the left. All the way around. Like an owl. As if the head was detached from the rest of the body.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Still no sign of recognition from the world beyond the table. Okay if she's lucky, if she's careful, if she makes every single word the right one, maybe no one will ever have known what happened her--

Somehow a groveling jester was creepier than a friendly one. Especially one that knows her *full name.*

AND THEN HE LICKED HER HAND.

Without moving a muscle, Rashmi's skin tries to jump in five different directions, all of them *away from that dusk tongue.*

But she can jump in none of those directions, and she has the sneaking suspicion that running away would make it worse on the people who don't know *to* run away.

This is the one thing she hoped to shortstop from the very beginning.

This is a threat, an attack, on *her home.*

And he has cards.

Wh--

"What... are they for...?"

Catra has posed:
"DON'T TOUCH THEM!" Catra growls. Her hands curls slowly into fists, still holding the hilt of her as-yet unmanifested sword; but she's falling back on her age old defense. Hurt, sadness, fear... especially fear. She hides them with one thing.

Rage.

And unlike when she lived on Etheria, here she can do magic. Rashmi can likely sense it; Joker certainly can. Dark energy gathers about her like a dark shadow, evaporating off her skin in thin wisps, as she keeps the Joker locked in her vision.

"Leave her out of this," she hisses. "You want to come after me then come after me. But she doesn't work for Obsidian. She's not fair game." The feline shifts in her seat, briefly laying visible the absolute puffed-up nature of her tail; her movements are slow and extremely deliberate, and she remains hunched over, like she's simultaneously coiling up to strike and trying to protect her vulnerabilities, like her throat and stomach.

"Leave her alone," she growls again, breathing with short, quick breaths. "She's nothing to di with anything in Obsidian. Leave. Her. Alone."

"Or I'll kill you."

Macaron (21) has posed:
"A game," Joker said. "A fun little game for all of us to pl--"

And now Catra was yelling. And now? People were staring. But Joker didn't care. "Oh, my! That sounds almost heroic! The great, strong Catra... protecting her friends."

Then he disappeared, appearing on the counter across the room. And he had two new sock puppets.

Scorpia.

Entrapta.

"We all know exactly how you 'take care' of your friends though, don't we?"

"We have to stop, before we--," Entrapta puppet said, before shaking and electrocuted.

"B-but I don't want to send her to beast island! I--" Scorpia pupper said...

"Do it or I'll send you there, too!" Catra puppet said.

Catra puppet that was on Catra's hand.

And then they were all gone. And Joker had a book. And ink. He held it up... "But, if you want to fight so badly... Lets get this started, shall we? The worst possible ending in the world!" he said, opening the book in one hand. "Be covered in a bad end!" Crushing the ink in the other, he smeered it over it and... "Your white futures shall be painted black!"

And... nothing... happened. And he then began to laugh. "Oh dear! It looks like you've already created your *worst ending*, Catra! Oh my! Perhaps if you won't do your job and gather the cattle..."

And then he was *there*. Arm against the back of her chair. "You. Can. Join. Them."

"And before you use that sword..." he whispered. "You'll find it takes a lot more to kill me than just pulling a lever..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Catra-san," Rashmi says quietly, holding out a hand. "Please. Not here..." Her eyes never left Joker's face, because looking away for even an instant could bring the monster down upon her neck. But she didn't need to *see* Catra to hear the terror masked by rage.

"Not here."

Staring up at Joker, she gathers the last shreds of her composure. "You're telling Catra she needs to do more work for Obsidian. I get that. That she needs to drain more people. So... what's this game? How's it connected?"

For half a heartbeat, she risks a look in Catra's direction, the tiniest, wide-eyed shake of her head. If she could trust that Joker couldn't tell when she was using magic, she'd've had the telepathy spell off and be talking her down.

But in this moment... All she can do is plead with her eyes, for just a few seconds.

Catra has posed:
How does her know about that?

How does the Joker know about the horrendous way that she treated Entrapta and Scorpia? Right before she pulled that lever. Pulled it, and destroyed Etheria. Her friends were just trying to stop her from turning into an irredeemable monster. Well. They were too late, obviously.

'Not here'. The words register. Just barely.

Catra doesn't *want* to do this here. She doesn't want to deal with this at all, but least of all here, and of course, here he is. So she takes a deep breath, and all the while watching Joker with unblinking, bi-colored eyes. And unfortunately, people are starting to notice, and she has to acknowledge that.

She gulps in a deep breath, and tries counting to ten. She's heard that it helps to calm people down in stressful situations, so why not try it; this counts, afterall.

It doesn't work.

She looks at the book. And the ink. And then back up at Joker's dead, empty eyes. She realizes her teeth are grinding painfully against themselves, and forces herself to relax her jaw. Just a little; just enough that it stops hurting.

"You've made your point," she growls, taking obvious pains to lower the volume of her voice. "I'll harvest some energy."

Macaron (21) has posed:
"Mmmm. Have I though?" Joker asked. He then glanced to Rashmi and that smile grew again. Too big for his face. The deck appeared in his hands and he shuffled it, wildly, between them. Before placing it down on the table.

"What's a magic trick without a little audience participation, hmmm? We're going to do something special."

"We're going to see if we can make a Catra... give a damn~ So take as many cards as you like, Rashmi Terios..." he said. "And let's see if we can help Catra avoid a fate of... some... others... shall we?" He asked before flipping the top card of the deck. Hematite was on it. Eyes closed, like he was in a coffin.

The second was Hinoiri, on her knees, crying.

The third was Beryl, eyes wide, screaming silently as she was being destroyed...

And the forth was Catra. Afraid. Eyes wide with horror, arms up as if to protect herself from soemthing that, judging by the look on the card... had her terrified. Then all four of those cards turned to ash. And the cards Rashmi drew? They'd be... normal cards. Just... normal cards. Ace through king, all four suits.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Catra-san," Rashmi says quietly... unable to take the waver out of her voice. "It's oka-- it's okay. If we have to play the game, then we play the game."

But, oh, the first cards of this deck spelled out horrors unimaginable -- or all too imaginable, it's hard to say which was worse -- and the hesitation as Rashmi reached out to the top of the deck was very real. "Games have rules, Catra-san. Maybe they'll be awful rules, but they'll be rules."

Rules bind the monster just as much as the victim, after all.

She drew the top card.

The 7 of Clubs

The next card... the 9 of Hearts.

The Ace of Diamonds.
The 5 of Clubs.
The Queen of Spades.

All in all, Rashmi draws thirteen cards, looking up at Joker after each, terrified that the game will end in a knife through the hand or something equally horrible. But at thirteen... that feels suitably unlucky a number to stop at, and she meekly folds her hands on the table, eyes wide as she stares up.

Catra has posed:
"Don't--" Catra twitches, about to swat Rashmi's hand away from the deck. Don't draw cards. Don't do it. Don't play his game, he hasn't told you the rules. He makes them up as he goes along, he doesn't follow the rules, he breaks the rules, he CHEATS.

But she can't say it out loud. Might give him ideas. So she sits there, tightly gripping the hilt of Powersend, gathering dark energy around herself like a cloak, and hoping against hope that stupid naive Rashmi might be right.

But she isn't, she knows she isn't, and now she's playing Joker's game, and this will only end badly for everyone. Especially Rashmi. Why did she let Catra in? What was she thinking? When a monster knocks on your door, never, ever let them in.

If you do you've only ever opened the door for bigger, meaner, scarier monsters.

"Look, I get it," she whispers; the scales have lost their balance. Terror is overtaking rage. Her eyes widen; the only real indication that anything has changed.

"I'll harvest energy tomorrow. There's Youmas waiting to be used, I'll use one. And another one the next day. Just... leave her out of this. She's not part of this. Just... Just leave her alone."

Macaron (21) has posed:
Joker blinked a few times, picking up the cards... and then began to laugh. And he *laughed* and it was the kind of laugh that made ones skin crawl. The kind of laugh that even the people in the restaurant stared. And he laughed. And he laughed. And then he leaned in, nose a few centimeters from Rashmi's. "I like you."

... Amazingly, that was... possibly a good thing. It likely didn't feel like a good thing.

He then shuffled the 13 cards, before placing them in front of Rashmi. "Thirteen days, one for every card, Catra~. 13 days... and then I'll give you my 'gift'," he said... to Rashmi.

Then, he dropped a small jar in front of Catra. "But, if before these thirteen days are over, you do your job? Then I'll take my gift back. You really should thank your new friend though, Cat-ra. She's clever. Here I was planning to add a wild card to the equation," he said, a joker card appearing inbetween his fingers. "But ohhhh, thirteen is such a *perfect* number, how could I ruin it?!" he asked, wiggling around in a... way that no human likely could. "... But no, I imagine asking you to thank someone would be a step too far, mmmmm?" he asked.

Then he turned, leaning in closer to Catra's face, eyes black and hollow... and, for the first time?

The smile was gone.

"You've used up your vacation time, kitty... it's time you get to work. Otherwise... we might just have to let you go. Believe me, the severance package really isn't something you should aim for. Boop." And then he tapped her nose... and he was gone.

Leaving only thirteen cards, a neat little pile, in front of Rashmi.

A small deck of cards that would follow her until the task was done. No matter what she did. Burn them. Cut them up. Throw them in the garbage. They'd always be there... on her desk... counting down.

One.

By.

One.