[ It might be many moons ago for Catra, but the bad memories from the last time she was at Red Wings still linger in her mind as fresh as if they were yesterday.
Still, she rolls off her bed and yanks on her boots before quietly slipping out the door.
She's outside Red Wings some ten minutes later, a little away from the entrance, leaning on a pole with her arms crossed and looking cranky. This is... obviously not the same Catra that Ren last saw. The differences are enough to be startling. Her hair is longer-- much longer-- and she's dressed from head to toe in some kind of red and black get-up with a pointy-looking headpiece around her face. But it's not just the hair and the clothes, really. It's more... the entire way she holds herself is... wrong, somehow.
Catra has always been a bit cranky and aggressive, but there was always a sense of a trouble-making munchkin about her lurking under the surface. Her posture was usually languid and easy, her hair scruffy and sticking out at odd angles like a lion, her clothes deliberately ripped to give off a scruffy devil-may-care attitude.
There's none of that here. This looks like... a version of Catra with all the rough edges sanded down and smoothed out. Smooth hair. Nice clothes. Her body language tense and closed-off, her tail as still as she can make it. There's a sense that she's hyper-aware of every movement her body makes, controlling herself, coiled tightly like a wound spring. ]
[ it's a lot of prep work, but he comes out when he's finished, apron removed and heading toward her when he sees her. it's been a little bit—given the state of everything the last few weeks, the focus has been more on supporting everyone's survival.
the subtle differences are noted. ]
Catra.
[ he says quietly to get her attention. ]
We don't have to eat if you don't want. There's a few nice skyparks close to here, too.
[ that's new from her. debt isn't something that's beyond him—he's used to striking up deals. one thing for another thing. they had made that sort of deal, but it seems like she's not satisfied.
I want to know what exactly it is you want from me.
I said I didn't want to eat. But you're still here anyway, asking me to-- I don't even know. Hang out. [ She says the word aggressively, like it's dirty. ]
So what's your angle? What are you hoping to get out of this?
[ people can really make anything sound bad if they want to. there's a tilt of his head as she spits out the words, and he feels like he's in the middle of an interrogation. ]
Any answer I give you isn't going to be satisfying. What happened?
[ he knows this song and dance. she's trying to push him away. ]
[ if it means helping someone, or changing something? he's absolutely willing to be an issue for someone. especially Catra. her heart was teetering when they last spoke, about to fall over the edge and into the shadows. he can almost hear that shadow talking now as she speaks, reasoning a way to remove him from the equation. ]
[ trying to antagonize him one way to get a reaction that she wants. ]
You've already convinced yourself that you know what I'll do.
[ he mulls over on that one for a moment, his voice still deep and steady. this isn't necessarily about what Catra wants—it's become about what her distorted heart desires. it sounds like ]
[ while he would have if she didn't eventually oblige, he just might still. ]
There wouldn't have been a difference.
[ this is something that he's used to: people assuming who and what he is, what he stands for and what he can accomplish. it doesn't seem to bother him, he got enough for both other people and Shadows during his time chasing hearts in Mementos. ]
It's easier to try and stop it before it happens, though.
I don't need friends. I don't need hangers-on. I only need people who will do what I say, when I say it. So if you can't do that, then piss off. Got it?
[ hasn't he seen this before? over and over again, people with the seed of contempt in their hearts that turned it into a blaze of disruption. ]
Really? It just looks like you're reacting to something and thinking you have control over what you're becoming.
[ like a neatly timed kneejerk. she's just refined the process. ]
The answer isn't being alone.
[ even if Akechi thought it was at that time. it was better to push away people and act on his own, but in the end it had been his downfall. at that time, no matter how far Ren tried to reach, he couldn't catch Akechi.
he might be able to catch Catra, even if she hates him for a while. ]
[ Ren's answer only infuriates her even more. She looks-- downright feral.
As if she wants to be alone!
She doesn't. She desperately doesn't. She wants-- she wants Adora, and Scorpia, and everyone, all by her side. But she can't have that, because they all leave her. One by one. When they find out what Catra's really like, eventually, one way or another-- they all leave. ]
Oh yeah? What, you're gonna be friends with me when I've finished my take over of Etheria? You're really gonna sit down to dinner with a war criminal? Huh?
[ Akechi had lifted a gun and put it to his head and pulled the trigger. well, it wasn't him, but Akechi certainly thought it was him. at that time, he had been caught up in something so deep that he couldn't see a way out. he had to see it through. ]
Is that what you're going to do after you take over? Dinner?
It's not the first thing that comes to mind for world-conquering ambitions.
[ Shido had something specific: he would drown out all else and turn the world into nothing to appease his own selfishness. while Catra certainly talked big, she was no Shido. ]
Yeah, I'll meet you for dinner.
[ perhaps try to work out a way to steal her heart, but certainly not turn that down. ]
[ between both Shido and Yaldabaoth, Catra's been beat. it's too late for her to try to rearrange her former intentions into something more vile, because he already knew that it was a lie. ]
I spent a year stealing hearts. [ he keeps his dark eyes fixed on her, tilting down his glasses. ] Seeking out distorted desires and making people confess their crimes.
[ Catra blinks for a minute, and then she laughs-- meanly. But she leans into his space then, up close and personal. ]
Oh. Haha. You want to know my crimes? You don't have to do anything special. I'll admit them all freely. Go on. It's not a secret or anything. Why don't you just ask?
[ It's telling, perhaps, that she seems herself in that statement as the rotten adult, and not the person being used. ]
[ yeah, it is. strange—it isn't something that he expected. did she even know that she was being used? taken advantage of? Adora seemed to place it. Catra wasn't the only person who mentioned Shadow Weaver. ]
Sure, I'll listen. Did you want to do it here, or did you want to get food first?
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no subject
Date: 2020-08-17 12:49 pm (UTC)[ It might be many moons ago for Catra, but the bad memories from the last time she was at Red Wings still linger in her mind as fresh as if they were yesterday.
Still, she rolls off her bed and yanks on her boots before quietly slipping out the door.
She's outside Red Wings some ten minutes later, a little away from the entrance, leaning on a pole with her arms crossed and looking cranky. This is... obviously not the same Catra that Ren last saw. The differences are enough to be startling. Her hair is longer-- much longer-- and she's dressed from head to toe in some kind of red and black get-up with a pointy-looking headpiece around her face. But it's not just the hair and the clothes, really. It's more... the entire way she holds herself is... wrong, somehow.
Catra has always been a bit cranky and aggressive, but there was always a sense of a trouble-making munchkin about her lurking under the surface. Her posture was usually languid and easy, her hair scruffy and sticking out at odd angles like a lion, her clothes deliberately ripped to give off a scruffy devil-may-care attitude.
There's none of that here. This looks like... a version of Catra with all the rough edges sanded down and smoothed out. Smooth hair. Nice clothes. Her body language tense and closed-off, her tail as still as she can make it. There's a sense that she's hyper-aware of every movement her body makes, controlling herself, coiled tightly like a wound spring. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 02:51 pm (UTC)the subtle differences are noted. ]
Catra.
[ he says quietly to get her attention. ]
We don't have to eat if you don't want. There's a few nice skyparks close to here, too.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 03:12 pm (UTC)What are you after? You'll save us both a lot of time if you just spit it out already.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 03:27 pm (UTC)her bluntness doesn't seem to jar him. ]
You want to update our deal?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 03:44 pm (UTC)I said I didn't want to eat. But you're still here anyway, asking me to-- I don't even know. Hang out. [ She says the word aggressively, like it's dirty. ]
So what's your angle? What are you hoping to get out of this?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 03:57 pm (UTC)Any answer I give you isn't going to be satisfying. What happened?
[ he knows this song and dance. she's trying to push him away. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 04:27 pm (UTC)Nothing. I just remembered what the real world is like. People like you just get in my way.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 04:39 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm usually a problem.
[ if it means helping someone, or changing something? he's absolutely willing to be an issue for someone. especially Catra. her heart was teetering when they last spoke, about to fall over the edge and into the shadows. he can almost hear that shadow talking now as she speaks, reasoning a way to remove him from the equation. ]
Did you want to chase me off?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 04:57 pm (UTC)[ Catra's voice is incredulous, and then she laughs, long and hard, but it sounds so bitter. ]
That's the beauty of it! I don't even have to do it! You'll leave of your own volition!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 05:07 pm (UTC)You've already convinced yourself that you know what I'll do.
[ he mulls over on that one for a moment, his voice still deep and steady. this isn't necessarily about what Catra wants—it's become about what her distorted heart desires. it sounds like ]
Yet you came here anyway. Why?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 05:13 pm (UTC)I came because if I hadn't, you only would have chased me up at home anyway. Don't flatter yourself.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 05:28 pm (UTC)There wouldn't have been a difference.
[ this is something that he's used to: people assuming who and what he is, what he stands for and what he can accomplish. it doesn't seem to bother him, he got enough for both other people and Shadows during his time chasing hearts in Mementos. ]
It's easier to try and stop it before it happens, though.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 05:38 pm (UTC)I don't need friends. I don't need hangers-on. I only need people who will do what I say, when I say it. So if you can't do that, then piss off. Got it?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 05:40 pm (UTC)That's not what I mean. I meant it's easier to let something else other than yourself define you.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-18 05:44 pm (UTC)I don't let anybody define me other than me.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-22 02:40 pm (UTC)Really? It just looks like you're reacting to something and thinking you have control over what you're becoming.
[ like a neatly timed kneejerk. she's just refined the process. ]
The answer isn't being alone.
[ even if Akechi thought it was at that time. it was better to push away people and act on his own, but in the end it had been his downfall. at that time, no matter how far Ren tried to reach, he couldn't catch Akechi.
he might be able to catch Catra, even if she hates him for a while. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-22 04:52 pm (UTC)As if she wants to be alone!
She doesn't. She desperately doesn't. She wants-- she wants Adora, and Scorpia, and everyone, all by her side. But she can't have that, because they all leave her. One by one. When they find out what Catra's really like, eventually, one way or another-- they all leave. ]
Oh yeah? What, you're gonna be friends with me when I've finished my take over of Etheria? You're really gonna sit down to dinner with a war criminal? Huh?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-23 03:59 pm (UTC)Is that what you're going to do after you take over? Dinner?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-23 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 05:01 pm (UTC)[ Shido had something specific: he would drown out all else and turn the world into nothing to appease his own selfishness. while Catra certainly talked big, she was no Shido. ]
Yeah, I'll meet you for dinner.
[ perhaps try to work out a way to steal her heart, but certainly not turn that down. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-25 10:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-25 02:07 pm (UTC)I spent a year stealing hearts. [ he keeps his dark eyes fixed on her, tilting down his glasses. ] Seeking out distorted desires and making people confess their crimes.
...
Especially rotten adults who used people.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-25 04:12 pm (UTC)Oh. Haha. You want to know my crimes? You don't have to do anything special. I'll admit them all freely. Go on. It's not a secret or anything. Why don't you just ask?
[ It's telling, perhaps, that she seems herself in that statement as the rotten adult, and not the person being used. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-25 07:39 pm (UTC)Sure, I'll listen. Did you want to do it here, or did you want to get food first?
[ just call him impossible. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-26 03:29 pm (UTC)[ Catra seems taken aback. This isn't-- the reaction she's used to. ]
What is wrong with you. What part of all that did you not get?
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