2178/A promise by any other name

A promise by any other name
Date of Scene:	21 December 2024
Location:	Fairy Drop Fashion
Synopsis:	Glimmer has a date! A date with Bow! She's going to see Bow and it's a date! Which means she needs an outfit and as Catra is about to learn, she has zero fashion sense. Also there's some real talk about Horde Prime but good lord the pants she tries to get Catra to try on.
Cast of Characters:	Catra, Glimmer Brightmoon

---

Catra has posed:
Soon, Glimmer will be going. On. A. DATE.

With Bow.

And she needs something to wear, naturally, which somehow Catra has agreed to help with; which feels to the feline like an extremely strange thing to have agreed to, but at the time she was busy running herself ragged trying to make sure Joker didn't do anything horrid to Rashmi, and she may have agreed to and/or suggested things without giving them a great deal of thought.

Long story short, they're just arriving in Fairy Drop Fashion. And, they're unable to use either girl's prefered method of transport; Glimmer is without powers and can't teleport, and Catra's motorcycle is an abandoned wreck in a back alley.

So they had to just duskport as close as possible and walk.

But, now they're here, and Catra -- disguised as Rachel Miller, this time -- shuffles around with her hands shoved in her pockets. "So like... Okay. how do you want to dress for this? Formal? Semi-Formal?" She keeps her eyes off Glimmer for the moment, just looking through the window before going in, and trying to keep the fact that she herself has never been on a date and has no idea what to suggest from getting blurted out.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk came out of her duskport, wheezing like she just did a ten mile jog. "H-holy... is THAT what it's like?!" she asked. "Is that what it feels like to people when I TELEPORT them?" she asked, her eyes wide. "T-that's *awful*. Ugh. I feel... I *really* hope that gets *better* because *by Etheria.*"

After a few minutes to get over THAT terrible feeling, Gloria had hauled herself up and was following along besides Rachel.

And... well... "Uhhhhh... I... don't actually know. I've never really... been on a date? I mean, like... Bow and I were... we almost... you know? Before... this. But, like, then the war was over, and there were peace talks, and I had a whole bunch of stuff to get done, then we were going through space, dismantling Horde Prime's empire, then we were here. It wasn't like we ever actually, you know?! How... how formal are dates supposed to be?"

"... It... it needs to be nice. He said he wanted nice. I can do nice, right? Is nice formal? Or is it semi-formal? What if it's not nice enough?!"

She uhhh. She had anxiety. She had noticeable Anxiety. And it was becoming quite apparent because midway through that she had grabbed Rachel's arm and was clinging onto her like she was a lifeboat in the middle of a storm.

Catra has posed:
Catra, or 'Rachel', has learned from repeated childhood experiences that when someone grabs your arm, it's because they're about to throw you as hard as they can against the nearest wall. Naturally, when Gloria grabs her, she immediately tenses up and her claws come out; she can feel them under her illusion, but of course the disguise prevents them from doing any real damage even were she to use them. Her breath catches, and she makes the effort to restrain herself from taking a swipe.

Slowly, carefully, she focuses on taking a breath, and making her muscles relax, as they walk towards the store.

"...No, it's... different," she replies. When you teleport, I mean, I always feel like I'm going to lose my lunch. Duskporting is worse but it's... different."

As they get to the entrance, Catra pulls the door open and holds it, just in operating one is something that Glimmer might be less than familiar with, or she's forgotten that she can't just teleport to the other side or... something.

"Uhm. I hope you get your powers back soon," she mumbles, and scratches the back of her head awkwardly. "I've never been on a date. But I think people usually just... try to look good, right? I dunno, like... probably sorta formal but not too formal?"

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk let the other girl steer her inside, nodding along as they went. Well, at least that wasn't how she made others feel. That was good. She didn't want to make ANYONE feel like, well... how that... weirdness had felt. Ugh.

"Same," glimmer said, before shuddering. "I can't tell you the number of doors I've walked into, and then there's the chairs that keep getting in my way, and I've fallen over *so many* things that I *know* I tossed in the trash."

"Also, there's a weird demon butterfly in a jar, now, and I'm really not sure what to do with it. Apparently it's Hawkmoths? But I don't know if I just let it go, or throw it at his head or into his office. I don't have time right now to like, get in a feud with him, too, while Horde Prime is around. But that whole thing with Bow is just... UGH! I can't believe I've had to turn to dark energy. It feels so... ugh."

"It's times like this I really wish I'd practiced the magic dad or Sha... or my other teacher had taught me. I've been using dark energy to fuel it, but it's not as... easy as what I got from the Moonstone."

"... And I don't know. I always had people who tried to make me look presentable. I've never really looked 'good'. Though, apparently Riventon thought I looked 'hot' in my 'Dark Queen' getup. Pfft. Oh wow I think I may actually be having a bit of a panic attack..."

Gloria stopped in place and took a long, slow, deep breath.

".... What colors do you think I'd look good in? What do you think Bow would like? What kind of outfit says like... 'I look good and I'm confident and when all of this is over we'll be fine but for now we're going to have to be enemies and stuff and you just have to be cool with it'? What would you wear if you were going on a date with Adora tomorrow?"

Catra has posed:
Catra turns Glimmer loose once they're inside the store, and thrusts her hands into her pockets. She wanders off for a moment -- not that she can't hear Glimmer talking anyway, mind yhou -- and just... stares at things for a moment. it's not like the super high-end place they went to before with the black card that now resides in Catra's pocket, but it's pretty decent stuff. (She still thinks they should've gone back to that high-end store, but kept her opinions to herself for... reasons.)

"You shouldn't use dark energy," she mutters. "You're supposed to be the good guy." She mumbles it quietly, but still out loud, before she turns to return to Glimmer's more immediate vicinity.

"Riventon... would think a refridgerator would look hot if it could use enough dark energy, his opinion is not the one you should be caring about." she states more directly. "What does Bow think looks..." She pauses, rolling the word around in her mouth, 'hot'?"

Catra looks around again, and purses her lips; and then that question catches her off-guard. Her shoulders hunch, and she can feel her ears wanting to go flat, but unable to do so in this illusion. Seriously; how do humans deal with their ears being this un-expressive?! All they do is sit there like a couple of skin-colored flaps that don't move! It's awful!

"I mean, I wouldn't... be going on a date with Adora," she mumbles, "But if I was I'd... probably wear a tux? I like tuxedos. I really don't do dresses. Never worn one." She turns to look over Glimmer more criticially, "You'd look great in something that'd match your hair," she muses. "Uhm... pink is too obvious. Purple is great. Black would work. Some white is fine." She shrugs, "Maybe some shades of blue? Stay away from orange and definitely don't touch yellow. ...Pants or skirt?"

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk blinked a few times before sighing. "You really think that, don't you? It... might have been true. Once. But... trust me. Catra? I... tried really hard to be the 'good' guy. To be... the kind, generous, wonderful ruler my mother was..."

"... But I was never good at it. The final thing I managed to do before... well.... let's not get back into that. I'm... really not the good one. I'm the one who will do *whatever is necessary* to fix things. And with Horde Prime out and about? That... just means... I have to do whatever I can to keep him away from Adora until she breaks her sword and Bow so he can help her and you so he doesn't get any ideas about trying to make you his 'little sister' again. Ugh. He is jsut so *creepy*, too!"

She was.... so avoiding the question about what Bow thoguht was hot. But, finally... she answered. "I don't... know. I never... saw him think anything was hot. Anyone. I mean... he thought... Seahawk was cool. And... he went to the dance with Perfuma that one time. Maybe... he thinks she was hot?"

Her arms went around herself, nervously self-hugging, her face a mask of anxiety. "Y-yeah. You did look pretty good in that tuxedo. And... yeah. Purple. I like purple. Purple and black and white sound good. Let's do that. So like... skirt. Let's try skirts. Skirts are easy. You just like. Put them on. And then done. Should I try leggings? Do you think Perfuma would wear leggings?"

... She was a mess. This was the girl that Catra fought for... so long.

Catra has posed:
Ordinarily, this is where Catra would spot weakness and drive a mean-spirited comment in like a wedge to split Glimmer apart and destroy her -- even if just emotionally. And the urge is right there, at the forefront of her brain. It'd be pretty easy. 'How did you guys not fold immediately with someone this scattered leading the charge?' 'if Bow thinks Perfuma is hot you don't have a chance.' Both comments bubble up to the front of her brain, but she just grits her teeth and grinds them until the urge to just blurt out her observations gradually recedes.

"Forget about Perfuma," she mutters instead. "You don't look like her. You're more like, I dunno, a plum or something, and she's a spring onion on a diet. You're never going to look like Perfuma and if Bow wants to go on a date with you and not hold out for another one with her then it means he doesn't like toothpicks with hair anyway." She turns back to face Glimmer, and plants her hands on her hips. "You know what he does like?"

The feline turns and stalks off, and starts rifling through clothes in a manner that would almost but not quite draw the ire of the store employees. "Find a skirt!" she shouts as she's looking.

Eventually, the disguised cat comes back, with a few different tops in hand. All of which are, well, short.
"Bow likes bare abs." She holds up the variety of tops in one hand, which totally makes it easy to check them all out at once. "You couldn't pay him not to have bare abs. Clearly that's the way to go."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk nodded, looking down at herself. Yeah, she really didn't. She looked like she could break Perfuma in one punch. But... Perfuma was a pacifist. She didn't WANT to fight. Glimmer liked fighting, even when she wasn't at war she'd likely want to fight in some way.

She still very much snorted at the comments about Perfuma. Surely it was the dark energy in her. "Yeah, she is really thin, isn't she? But I think it's because of all her meditation. She really hated to fight."

At the direction, she started looking around. Blue skirt, purple skirt, ohhhh, this really cool one with black and little purple lightning bolts, went down to its knees. She liked that one.

And slowly, her cheeks began to get more red. "W-wait, walk around... with my... belly... oh. R-right. I guess... he does like... abs, doesn't he? Oh wow... I never even thought of that." She then moved a hand over her belly. Well... she had a warrior's physique. A bit of muscle there, but just a bit. She eyed them for a moment before... finally snagging a blue tank top blue, with a white line down the side. "Okay. This... with the black and purple skirt? What do you think? Should I try it? Think I'd look... good? I'm going to try it!" before she chickened out. And practically raced into the changing rooms.

After a minute.... "Okay, I look ridiculous."

Catra has posed:
Catra opens her mouth to say something, but then doesn't, partly because Glimmer disappears into a changing room with a speed that would make the average felinge almost jealous. (Alomst. Not quite. Sorry human, still slow.) She waits, tapping one foot and standing there with the rest of the tops she picked out clutched in one hand and the other one planted on her hip. Waiting, until Glimmer makes her pronouncement about how she looks.

"Of course you do," Catra answers. "You picked the blue top with white stripes to go with a black skirt with purple lightning bolts. Nothing matches. You're like... One of those villages in your wodos where nobody could agree on what color a door or a roof should be. ...Wait right there."

Catra wanders off, and Glimmer might eventually wonder if she's coming back when a different top gets tossed over the top of the changing room, hanger and all. It's black, with a cute purple skull with a pink bow in the middle, and cropped... pretty high. It's followed by a black bolero jacket, also still on the hanger, and then after that a white knapsack that looks like a stuffed bunny with a shoulderstrap attached to it comes flying over.

"Try that. Top and skirt match, more or less, jacket... does jackety things and bunny bag adds interest." She pauses, and adds more quietly, "I think."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Sad princess noises could come out when the judgement of 'nothing matches' was given. This is why she wasn't allowed to determine what color to paint he doors. She struggled to choose what kind of CAKE to have at her corronation, let alone COLORATIONS!

There was the sound of clothes shuffling before, eventually... the door opened. And Gloria stood there. She even had the toothpick in her mouth. And hey, the black boots that 'Gloria' wore fit the asthetic. She leaned against the side, one foot on the ground, the other pulled up, laying against the wall. Toothpick hanging precariously from her lips. And her abs WERE exposed. She wasn't as toned there, but there was muscle, as well as a bit of padding. But well, the girl fought a lot, she had a warrior's body. "So... how do I look?" she asked, giving a small smirk. Exuding confidence.

3.

2.

1.

Aaaaaand confidence gone. "I look terrible, don't I? Ugh, I can't pull this off, can I? Gahhhh, it's going to be a disaster! He's going to keep hating me, isn't he? I can feel it!"

Catra has posed:
Halfway through Glimmer's 'It's terrible' tantrum, Catra stalks in, looks Glimmer up and down, and then leans in real close. Like uncomfortably close, looking her over from real close, and then meeting her gaze with bichromatic eyes, narrowed halfway to slits.

She plucks the toothpick from Glimmer's lips and flicks it away into the racks of clothing... somewhere.

"You did look ridiculous, but now that you've gotten rid of that toothpick, you no longer look ridiculous." Catra steps back, and folds her arms, giving Glimmer a once over for a second time.

"Okay scratch that. You look a little bit ridiculous, but the problem isn't the clothes, or your body, it's the fact that you think you look ridiculous. You're thinking it, so your body is taking the cueues from your brain and going 'okay then, ridiculous mode engaged' and that's the body language you're giving off." She gestures towards the general population of the shop, "You're a good enough fighter that even without magic you could break all these people over your knee one after hte other. Stop thinking every mirror is going to judge you."

"Understand instead that you look extremely cool, get that into your mind, and stop. Doubting. Your appearance."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk blinked a few times as... oh. Wow. You know what? When Catra took the tooth pick? Glimmer... kind of got it. Adora's fascination, at least. "Wait, the toothpick isn't cool? I thought the toothpick was cool," Gloria said softly.

"... And... really? I... yeah. I guess... it's just. I can't punch this away. He..." She trailed off, before sighing and lowering her eyes. "... I think he remembers... everything now. And... this? Was... the worst time. For us." A hand moved up, rubbing her arm.

"... I drove them away. I was... I was scared. The Horde was winning. And... I lashed out. I was trying to fight and it felt like everything was falling apart. Like I was failing... everything. Everyone. And... Bow and Adora... they left me behind. After I gave them strict orders not to. When I needed them to be there the most..."

"... They left me behind to rescue Entrapta. And so... I went to Light Hope... and I activated the Heart of Etheria. And I almost destroyed the world and drew Horde Prime right to us."

"... And that's all Bow remembers. He remembers our fight. He remembers me yelling at them. Remembers me saying the most... terrible, hurtful things... but he doesn't remember everything that came after. He doesn't remember us making up. He doesn't remember you saving me, he doesn't remember us making up... He doesn't remember our fight."

"And I'm scared," Glimmer said softly, her eyes lowering. "Everything is all messed up. A part of me wants to just... grab you and drag you back to them. But then Horde Prime wins. Then he'll find a way to use my Moonstone, because of course he will. Then he'll find people he can chip and... I'm scared, Catra. I-I don't know how to do this. We worked so hard to get our happy ending. To stop Horde Prime and... and we only barely managed it. Now I'm the only one who understands what's coming and I have no spark, Adora has the wrong sword, Bow possibly hates me and your memories haven't recovered at all..."

"... How can someone who feels like that believe they look 'cool'?"

And now? Now she looked like she was going to start crying.

Catra has posed:
Just as Glimmer says the word 'cool' with that look like she's about to start crying, Catra swing sher hand up and smacks Glimmer across the side of the face. Not hard; just enough to make the sound of skin hitting skin, and maybe cause a bit of eye-watering.

"That's how," Catra answers, sharply. "'Cause now instead of worrying about being hated by Bow, you're mad at me 'cause I did something mean and hurtful like I always do. You're a warrior queen, remember? You fought the Horde. We were supposed to trounce all you dumb forest people easy, but we didn't, and that wasn't from anything anyone else did. You think you'd have won if Adora was in charge? Not a chance, I'd have flattened you all if she was calling the shots."

Catra folds her arms across her chest, and glares at Glimmer; but her expression softens after a moment, and she turns, gazing off into the distance. "Look, I get that things are awkward. But if Bow wasn't ready to see past all that he wouldn't have agreed to go on a date." She turns her gaze back, and reaches out to dust off Glimmer's shoulders. "He wants to see you. And... Rashmi told me things are different here. Just 'cause you and he are on opposite sides now apparently doesn't mean you can't still date each other."

Catra sighs, and turns away again, thrusting her hands into her pockets. "I'm gonna go look around a little bit, I'll be back in a moment. Look, you *look* great. So things went badly in some ways. You have a chance to fix them. Or just... see if they even need fixing, maybe they don't. But if you want Bow to be your boyfriend or whatever, you have to stop treating him like one of your troops. Same with Adora. You said you gave them orders -- donj't do that." She pauses, about to walk away, but faltering after a single step. "You're not dragging me anywhere without your magic," she points out. "Look. So everything's messed up. Stop wishing you had things you don't have and figure out a strategy with what you do have. How do you think I beat all of you and opened the portal? Just... don't end up like me in the process."

And with that, Catra turns and wanders off to browse through the clothes once again.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk was on the verge of tears... when *SMACK*. She blinked a few times, staring at Catra with big, dopey, princess-y eyes of shock. She slapped her.

And worse? Catra's words made sense... A lot of sense. So, so much sense. "Y-yeah... I guess... Adora leading things would have been terrible. She's... kind of... boomy." Blink blink. Blink.

Wait, was Catra giving her a pep talk? And... supporting her? Oh. Oh wow. She was. Why was it the more that she felt like everything was unraveling, the more it felt like Catra was... trying... to help keep her together?

... That... was it, wasn't it? Catra, she guessed, was whatever people needed her to be. And when they didn't need her... Well. Right now, it seemed Glimmer needed her. "Y-yeah. I guess... he wouldn't, would he? And... yeah. I mean, date is... yeah. Rashmi, huh? I... thanks. Thank you, Catra."

She gave a small grin before glancing in the mirror and running a finger over her abs. "I DO look pretty hot, don't I?" she asked.

Then... "You know, there are worse things I could be than you, Catra," Glimmer said. "After all, I have seen you at your best. And, well, worst, technically. But I'm hoping to avoid that. But... thanks. And... I'll keep in mind everything I do have, going forward..."

Pause.

"And when next I try to move the Moonstone? I'll make sure I've dragged you along for the ride. Who knows? Maybe I can see if you can snag another princess or something, you were always the best at that. One more runestone might be enough to get it out of there, at least. It won't get me out of Obsidian, but at least it'll get it away from Horde Prime so he can't try and get his filthy hands on it."

She side eyed Catra as she left... and then, after a moment, snuck off...

And when Catra came back, the changing room was... empty? Glimmer was gone?

"SNEAK HUG!"

Right. She couldn't teleport... so the sneak hug was *incredibly* loudly broadcast. As she called it out WAY too soon before trying to sneak hug Catra from behind. She missed being able to teleport.

Catra has posed:
Eventually, Catra comes back to the changerooms with some clothes of her own. She looks around; no Glimmer in immediate sight. And with the illusion up, even though her hearing isn't really affected, her sense of smell gets dulled down to human norms -- sometimes a blessing around here -- so she just shrugs and heads into one of the cubicles.

It's not like Glimmer will have left. Catra still has the black card.

She's just trying on tops today; and when she emerges, she's wearing a cropped top as well, a bright teal color that's pretty close to the tuxedo she picked out the other day, worn under her Crimson Wastes jacket, also showing a bare midriff.

"Hey Sparkles, whaddaya thin--

And then suddenly she's tackled.

HUGGED.

from behind..!!!

once again, Catra feels the irritating sensation of her claws not being able to come out, and it's enough to break her reflex-process that she just stands there, tensed up like a stretched bungee cord.

"...PERSONAL SPACE!!"

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Gloria Moonhawk snickered and then, after a moment, let her go and pulled back. "You know... actually, I think that looks really good. Believe it or not? I've actually got a soft spot for abs, too. I used to be really self conscious about my stomach, when I was younger. Not for the reasons you'd think, though."

She didn't clarify any more past that, though.

"I like you in that color, though. It goes with your eye." she didn't poke any fun at he fact even like this, Catra should have been able to avoid it... She was fast. Hee hee. She liiiiked her. They were friiiiiiiends.

They were friends. Oh... oh wow. They... were, weren't they? Catra slapped her to cheer her up and... a hand moved up to grip her cheek.

She reached out, grabbing Catra's hand. "Catra... things... are likely going to get very intense for a while, now that Horde Prime's here. But I need you to listen to me here. No matter what happens. No matter what he says."

"... He is going to do everything he can to isolate and control you. So I need you to believe me when I say this. I will *not* leave you. Not in Obsidian. If... I'm gone, and the Moonstone is gone? Especially if he *tells you* I left? Don't believe him. Because that means he's done something to me and... maybe... maybe I lost." She let her hand slip away. "... And if that ever happens? Well... I might need you to save me from him again, you kind of have a track record for it. Back of the neck drops his clones really fast, you taught me that."

And then her eyes lit up. "Ohhhhh. I just got an idea. Stay in that, I'll be right back," she said before darting off, flickering through the aisles...

"Okay, try these with that!" she called out. And Catra would get a pair of pants tossed to her.

...Golden... yellow... pants.

... Okay, it was likely around this point that Catra would probably realize there was a reason Glimmer only had like... three outfits. Ever.

Catra has posed:
Catra is, briefly, frozen, as Glimmer lays it all out. Everything about Horde Prime and what he did, what he's going to do. Glimmer's promise. A promise not to leave her. She doesn't say the words 'I promise' but it doesn't matter, it's a promise nonetheless.

Last time someone made her that promise -- the only promise anyone had ever made to her -- they broke it.

The turmoil going on behind Catra's mismatched eyes is palpable. The tension in her muscles. The building up of a response; a nasty comment, the raising of a wall to isolate herself before something painful can happen. But, somehow, the feline chokes it all back. It's visible, what's happening inside her head, and after a moment she turns her gaze to look away.

"Yeah, like... I'll be careful," she mumbles.

And then Glimmer is gone. Even without the ability to teleport, she can still just... appear and vanish at will, apparently, so that will just never change. Even if she's just over there brosing through things. So Catra just stands there, chewing through everything going on in her mind, turning it all over and over and over, over and over and over again. Did Glimmer really just make her a promise? Will she break it? Like Adora broke hers? ...Did Adora break hers, really? Yes she did of course she did, she promised she wouldn't leave and she did, but was it really like that? Glimmer used different words too. Maybe that means this is different. Could it be different? Why would it be different?

Can she afford to take that risk?

"Wa-but, hunh? What? Try--" Catra looks down at the pair of pants that just bounced off her chest and landed on the floor at her feet.

"...Girl we have to have a talk about color coordination!" she snaps, scooping the pants up off the floor. "Lemme find something that actually goes with this! Stars help you if you ever have to hunt for food, how you see anything I don't know..."