Scene #1305: Chicks Dig Scars, Right?

Owner	Pose
Adora Rainbowfist	Adora was gone for weeks. It was a worrisom time for everyone who cared about her, and a terrible, terrible time for Adora herself. Not to mention the poor people hurt by her in that time, like Catra. Of course, Catra. She's been back for a couple days now, and has spent most of that time either recovering in bed, or working on her mountains of catch-up classwork. She's dedicated to not being held back a year, plus it helps her not think about things. She was in rough shape when her friends brought her back to the Academy, and she slept for almost twenty six hours straight as soon as she hit her bed. She hasn't really had a chance to talk to Makoto since. Currently the girl is sitting in her bed, her back up against the wall. It's much the same as she left it, with the catgirl poster, hanging masquerade ball mask and stack of yuri manga. Swiftwind is snoozing at the foot of her bed. She's wearing her pajamas at the moment, and trying to focus on the manga in her lap, but she finds herself rereading the same page over and over again. Her blonde hair is down, and a bandage rests against her chin and slide of her cheek, where the claw marks are healing. A smaller scar splits one of her eyebrows from the same swipe, but it's already healed into a hair-parting little pink mark. She sighs and closes the manga, leaning her head back and staring up at the ceiling.
Makoto Kino	As for Makoto, she's been studying for finals - poorly. The dorm room had been cleaned within an inch of its life by the time Adora got back. Since then, meanwhile, Makoto has tread lightly. She hasn't avoided Adora; she's acted pretty much normally around her, but she's been careful not to interrupt the catch-up classwork or intrude on the much-needed rest. Periodically she's left snacks on Adora's desk, starting with the little bag of Chiyo's magical konpeito candies (no cookies, though). She's found a truly impressive number of excuses to avoid studying, or to suddenly stop after she's started. Just now she was out on some errand or other, and she slips into the room quietly, at least until she sees that Adora is sitting up. "Hey," she says. "How are you feeling?"
Adora Rainbowfist	She glances over as the girl arrive, and she offers a small smile. "Hey, Makoto-chan. I'm...better." She tucks some hair behind her ear and pats the edge of her bed, inviting her over to talk. "Sorry we haven't gotten to talk since...um...everything. But thanks for giving me my space. Bo-...Luke came by with his girlfriend. She's sweet, and it's good to have him here. We talked about everything. I've been wanting to talk to you, too, but, y'know. It's been difficult. Are you free now? It's okay if you're not." The brazen and loud girl Makoto had been living with for months isn't here right now. Instead there's this timid and nervous one, watching Makoto like she might bolt.
Makoto Kino	"Sure." There's no hesitation in it. Makoto sets her bag down on the foot of her own bed before she crosses the room to sit down carefully on the edge of Adora's - mindful of the snoozing Swiftwind - and angles herself toward her roommate. "I wasn't sure if it was quite the right thing or not, but... you definitely needed the rest. And it seemed like you had a lot of stuff to deal with. I'm glad you're back," she adds earnestly. "Really glad. I wasn't much help in... all of this... but I want you to know that, at least."
Adora Rainbowfist	"No, just...I wasn't looking for help at the time. Okay, that's not right. I wasn't -able- to look for help. It wouldn't let me." She doesn't know how to word it. "Catra told me that I'd just told her things I'd always felt and I was just acting like and saying things I'd always felt inside, but that wasn't it, like I told Luke. I mean, it started like that, yeah. In the very beginning it was like Dark Energy is supposed to be, from what they told me. It enhanced my negative emotions and wouldn't let me resist acting on them. So, at the very beginning it was...me. A shameful me, but me. But once that started it built. And grew. It should have burned out quickly, from what they said, but it didn't. It grew stronger and stronger until there wasn't any of me left in there. I was watching myself make these terrible decisions and...and hurt people. And I couldn't do anything." She grips the blankets in her lap. "I really hurt her," she says softly, not looking at Makoto. "Bad. I...she had these bruises on her neck. And I said these...these terrible things to her. I don't know if I can fix that. Why would she trust me after that?"
Makoto Kino	Makoto listens, her face softening with sympathy, not interrupting. When Adora is done, Mako draws in a deep breath and lets it out in a sigh. One hand comes up to rub at the back of her neck, and she's quiet for a little space longer, seeming to be considering her words carefully. "I don't know Catra or anything," she begins, "so I can't really say much about what you should or shouldn't do. But, you know... you've just been through a lot, yourself. I think maybe you hurt yourself as much as anybody. And maybe, right now, the best thing you can do is give both of you some space to heal." She pauses briefly, and makes a rueful face. "Which doesn't mean it isn't hard not to worry about it. But I know that constantly poking at an injury doesn't help it get better."
Adora Rainbowfist	She frowns softly, but ends up nodding. "You're right. Just...just some space for a little bit." She leans her head back against the wall again and lets out a deep sigh. "Thank you, by the way. For caring. And for worrying. It means a lot to know there were people...worried during all that. I know that sounds dumb and selfish but, it's true." She picks up her phone, which looks new. "Got a new phone. I need your info again. Bow texted me something I absolutely didn't wanna hear during it all and I broke my last one."
Makoto Kino	"It's not dumb," Makoto says, quiet but firm. "And it's not selfish. I know what it feels like, to be someone who nobody worries about. It's terrible, and it's lonely. Nobody wants to feel like that. Nobody should." She gets up, long enough to go over to her desk and retrieve her cell phone. With it in hand, she comes back across the room and sits back down to give Adora her contact details and update Adora's in her own phone if that's necessary. "He seems like a good, loyal friend," she observes gently, regarding Bow. "He's the one who actually managed to get us organized to find you and help you. I'm glad you have someone like that on your side."
Adora Rainbowfist	She quietly exchanges contact details again. "That's not surprising. Back home, during the War, he was the backbone a lot of the time. I mean, he's a total idiot, sometimes, but he's still a teenage boy." Adora chuckles and brushes her fingers back through her hair. "They said the bandage can come off today." she adds after a moment. "...Can you tell me how bad it is?" She waits for an answer, her fingers coming up to the bandage in question, touching it.
Makoto Kino	Makoto hesitates at that, but only for a moment. Then she nods. "If you want me to. Whenever you're ready." Just that, simple and plain. She'll wait, herself, for Adora to decide if she's ready to peel the bandage off or not.
Adora Rainbowfist	She takes a few deep breaths, and she slowly does so. It's just held on with the medical adhesive, and the white gauze pulls away. It's nothing graphic or gruesom, but those scars are permanent. Several long, thin clawmarks running along her chin almost hitting her cheek. It's obvious how the claws came up, hit the chin, missed the cheek and one caught her eyebrow. She's hardly disfigured, but they are quite notable.
Makoto Kino	Makoto leans in a little, studying Adora's face closely for several long moments. Her brows draw together slightly in thought as she considers the healing claw-marks. "...Well," she says eventually, sitting back again, "you're gonna have some scars for sure, but not bad ones. I don't think it's anything that'd make you stand out around here, more than you already do for being tall and blonde and 'European.'" She smiles, a little self-deprecatingly when she says the word 'tall'.
Adora Rainbowfist	She lets out a slow breath and nods. "It's so weird. My henshin heals almost every wound easily. But...when something is really...impactful...it scars." She pulls up her sleeves to show the clawmarks on her forearms. She turns and peels up the back of her shirt, showing the back of her sports bra, but more importantly, the claw marks running down her back. They look like someone hugged her, and then raked their claws down her back in an unfun way. She drops her shirt back down. "Magic is weird."
Makoto Kino	"Yeah..." Makoto's reply sounds momentarily distracted; she frowns faintly at the sight of the scars on Adora's back. Soon enough, though, she shakes it off, and by the time Adora turns back around she's nodding. "Yeah, it really is. Let's just hope you don't end up with any more like that, huh?" She reaches up to push her bangs back out of her eyes. "--change of subject, I guess, but have you had dinner yet? I can bring you up something, if you want. You shouldn't go without meals, especially not while you're still recovering."
Adora Rainbowfist	She shakes her head. "Nah. I went through the basket of treats Bow and Sayaka brought already." At that point, the blonde's tummy audibly snarls, and she blushes. "If you could bring me something that'd be pretty great," she admits with a laugh.
Makoto Kino	Mako's in the middle of giving Adora a ''look'' when she hears that growling noise, and she can't help it - as Adora blushes, Makoto breaks out laughing. "You got it," she says cheerfully, shaking her head as she gets to her feet. "I'll be back before you know it. See if you can keep your stomach from waking Swift-kun up 'til then, okay?" And with that playful teasing, she's on her way out the door.