Scene #2146: Cat-Girl and Arrow-Boy

Owner	Pose
Bow	Sitting on a park bench near the Koi pond, Bow if breaking off little pieces of bread to toss to the fish to watch them eagerly race to the surface and splash around in a frenzy to get to the small morsels of wheat. He's dressed in the school uniform, with the addition of a coat as he tears off another piece to prepare to throw. Next to him on the bench is his phone, currently unlocked. A message had been started to Glimmer. The only words on it at the moment were 'I'm sorry'. Which is the crux of his problem. Is he sorry that he captured Glimmer last night? Is he apologizing for her getting into trouble and losing her powers over his plan? Is he sorry that she ended up on Earth in the first place? Or is he sorry that he now remembers what happened in those last days that he was on Etheria. That he doesn't know the future like she seems to. His hand scrubs over his face and he blows out a breath. "Sometimes, little fishies." he says to the koi as they jump around. "I wish I could be as mindless as you are."
Catra	Catra. Catra has a lot on her mind, at the moment. She's currently on foot, having parked her bike a ways back, and is walking through the gardens with a certain air of disdain for her surroundings. Seriously, who the hell cares about plants? This place reminds her off the forest around Brightmoon, a place she singularly hated, almost as much as she hated the ocean. Water? Ugh. And this planet is almost entirely covered with it. Look at it from space on the Pacific side and what do you see? Water. Letting her mind wander onto tangents about things that irritate her is briefly helpful, but her mind snaps right back to more relevant problems soon enough. Like, time running out on her assignment, and more work to be done, and the Inhumans department won't give her another Youma today. Like, why the hell not?! Do they want energy or don't they!? Eventually, her wanderings carry her near to the Koi pond. it's the one part of the gardens that interests her; there's fish, and she's thought about using them to practice her reflexes on more than one occasion. But for now, she just plops down on a bench, and positions elbow on knee, face on knuckles as she watches the fish. Sometimes, thinking about one's problems is a monumental task, and this is one of those times. Also, as she realizes, she's not alone. Bow is here. Oh great, he'll be thrilled. "Hey, Bow," she greats just the same, adopting her usual tone of poisoned honey. Just to make sure nobody thinks anyone can get the drop on her.
Bow	The fish were better company, not gonna lie. Bow feels the tingle up his spine as Catra speaks up, and he tears off another chunk of the bread to toss to the fish. "Hello, Catra." he offers in response to her flippant greeting, and she can hear him start to say something. But instead? He just shuts it down. He doesn't have the drive for it tonight. Instead, a chunk of bread is torn off and sat on the bench next to her. "You recover from the other night?" he asks. He knows she did. He was there, he brought Endyimon to her and Glimmer to take care of them both. There's no further push on that front, instead, he looks back towards the water. "You know how you keep saying you felt like everyone was lying to you and that you didn't trust their memories? So get it now." he admits to her. "Some butterfly thing futzed with me last night and next thing I know, I'm throwing people in cages and promising to keep Glimmer safe. And then some girl in a bride's dress and Yellow Pearl Voice hit me with a double purification... and I remember now." "I remember what my last moments on Etheria were."
Catra	Well that was unexpected. Bow opening up to Catra, and telling her he's had a rough night. Usually when they meet it's just claws and arrows, or at least, that's how she remembers it. Or, y'know, kidnapping or something, one way or another. Nor does Catra interupt. Does that mean she's listening? It's hard to tell at first. She looks at the bread, and then back to the fish. ...What is the bread fo-- oh. Bow's crumbling it up and throwing it in the water. Wait, he's... feeding the fish? Fish are food, shouldn't this relationship be the other way around? Well, whatever, she takes the bread and mimics what Bow is doing, even though she visibly fails to get the point of it. "Yeah well it doesn't matter," she grumbles. "About, people's memories, I mean. Even if they're all correct and I didn't blow up Etheria, I still opened the portal which still means..." she trails off, and turns her gaze to glare at the pond. "You know what forget it, I don't wanna talk about it." Some more breadcrumbs get hurled into the water; it almost seems like Catra is treating it like target practice, like she's trying to hit the fish. "So, you are a bad butterfly and did stuff I'd usually consider. So now you're Bad Bow. Or at least you were, for a little bit. And then you got purified and now you feel terrible, and I'm guessing you don't like what you remembered. I get that right?"
Bow	"You did open up the portal. And things got crappy, and it's why Angella's stuck in the moonstone now. That's my best guess as to why when you interferred with the attempt to move it... she showed up. For a moment. There and gone." Bow considers his words, and adds, "For what it's worth? While it was a crappy thing to do... on both counts? I get why you did. And I forgive you for it." the archer offeres, as he tears off the last bit of his bread to feed to the fish. "Yeah. Something like that. See. Where I'm from? Glimmer did something similar to you. She nearly destroyed the universe. All because she felt like she was the only one that could destroy a threat that was approaching Etheria. Adora and I? We thought different. But instead of talking to Glimmer?" "We took off to Beast Island to rescue Entrapta, and found King Micha as well. We were on our way back when Glimmer made Scorpia reactivate the Black Garnet - which in turn activated the Heart of Etheria. Which was apparently a superweapon built into the planet that used the runestones as power." He sighs. "She's from some point beyond that. I'm coming to terms with it. Which means... figuring out if I should be asking her for forgiveness or if she should be asking me, or... it was pretty bad at the end. My last memory was Hordak nearly killing her... and me being too late to keep her from being kidnapped."
Catra	"I'm not asking for forgiveness," Catra snaps almost immediately. "You think I need to be forgiven or something? Well I don't. I didn't do it because I cared about your opinion and I didn't feel bad about it later for that reason either." Catra grinds up the rest of the bread in a hurry, and basically just hurls a cloud of the stuff into the water, before clapping her hands together to get rid of any tenacious little crumbs. And she makes a point of staring at the water, and not looking up at Bow. "And if you're looking for forgiveness, you're looking in the wrong place. I'm your enemy, anything you did to me is just... It's just whatever. I'll beat you next time we fight if you give me the chance, don't insult me by not trying to do the same." Catra rests her elbow back on her knee, and returns her chin to her knuckles, once more just staring at the fish. "You're being dumb though," she announces. "Like, seriously. Dumb. You and Adora and Sparkles. You're so totally focused on memories of what happened or is gonna happen or whatever from Etheria, like it's some kind of script that has to be followed, but we're not ON Etheria, are we? We're on Earth. And it's a stinky nasty loud planet that's overflowing with humans. And I seem to be the ''only'' beast person here. And I ''hate it here''. But we're hwere. So stop trying to force things into some being 'the way they're supposed to be' and start dealing with the way things ''are''." She gestures towards Bow's phone, "Like, finish that text and send it for starters."
Bow	"I'm not looking for forgiveness or to offer you absolutuion. You're still a pain in the ass and I have the feeling that no matter what you do, you always be. Even if you found your way over to the good guys. You'd just be a bit cuter." Bow offers up with a smirk at Catra as he leans back against the bench and considers the night sky. "And you would. Because that's in your nature. Maybe someday? I'll see in you what Adora does." he points out, before he shakes his head. "No, you have that much right. It's not like Etheria. I was enthralled with it all when I first got here. But the humans here? They don't live in harmony with this world. The enlightened? Those that use magic? The mahou? They grasp it. They know what it means. But most humans? Yeah. Not heading for a good ending here. "I don't know if we're from different points on one Etheria's timeline or if we're from different Etheria's that have ended different ways. The similarities in our stroies tell me it's more the former than the latter. I'm trying to find a way for us to get home." And then there's the matter of the phone. He glances at the text for a moment and chuckles. "It's been like that for two hours. I don't what to say. I don't know what I want to say. She's the Queen of Brightmoon. She's also my best friend. And I was a lousy best friend back those last few days before she activated the Heart of Etheria."
Catra	"Look," Catra replies, quietly, "I know I'm a villain, and I think you're full of it when you talk about me coming over to your side -- I'm never gonna do that -- but... I awsn't always this way. Once I was a child and I didn't deserve any of the things people did to me." The feline glances at Bow's phone, then back out to the water. "I don't want to go back," she adds. "When I opened the portal, I didn't do it because I wanted to end the world, I just wanted it to be different. But it didn't change, did it? If I believe you and Sparkles and Adora then it was just... the same. Nothing changed. I didn't want to be there then, and if nothing's changed, why would I want to go back?" Catra glances back at the phone again, and impulsively, picked it up and types out a hurried message -- and it turns out the girl can ''text''. She's gotten off the full message in seconds; albeit she hasn't actually sent it, just typed it, and it's sitting there waiting, as she dumps the phone back beside Bow. ''Hey Glimmer. Moving your Runestone didn't work out like we planned. I know you're hurting. I am too. I know you don't want to be alone and I don't either. Can we meet up and talk?''
Bow	"No, you didn't. But you can't let your childhood dictate your present. If I did that? I'd never left the library tower." Bow points out. "I'm can empathize with you even if I didn't experience it, because it sounds so terrible!" And yes, he is genuninely feeling it, complete with tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Then she mentions she doesn't want to go back. "I figured you'd say that. Are you going to force Adora into that choice again? To choose between you and her place in the universe? Because, since we're butting in on each other's business, she hurts every day because of the decision she made. If you want her to hurt? You're doing a great job of it. But if this is some thing where you just want her attention? Then stop trying to bully her and fess up to your own feelings as well, Catra." There's a bit of panic as she snags the phone and starts typing on it. But when she's done. He glances at it, tilting his head and he chuffs a small laugh of amusememt. "What do you know? You ''are'' good at expressing feelings. Now do you want me to type a message on yours?" He smriks as he hits send.
Catra	Catra snorts. "I'm not good at expressin emotions," she replies, "I'm good at manipulating other people into doing what I want. How do you think I got Hordak to build the portal in the first place? How do you think I got him to take the Black Garnet away form Shadow Weaver and let Entrapta play with it? How do you think I got him to accept me sending Entrapta to Beast Island when she warned me that opening the portal was a bad idea? ...I only messed up the one time, when I let Shadow Weaver get under my skin and I swore I'd never let ''anyone'' do that to me again." Catra pull out her phone and looks at it; with the crack down the middle of the screen from that one time she threw it at Adora. Well, lobbed it over her shoulder at Adora, but close enough. It's not like she doens't have Adora's number, she could text her any time she wants; but then Bow would also see all the... stuff she's said to Adora, using that number. Unless she deletes her history, she could do tha-- A text pops up on her screen, and she looks sideways at Bow before typing out a reply and sending it. "Uhh, not... really looking to text Adora right now," she mumbles, putting her phone back in her pocket. "Look, I don't... How is it different?" she asks, fire creeping back into her tone. "If I don't want to go back and that makes it awkward for Adora, how is that different from her wanting to go back, and that being awkward for me? Is it my fault she's some chosen here and I'm just... me? It's not like I stood up one day and said you know what, I just wanna be Adora's dumb friend who's not worth anything."
Bow	"You have a skill that you're really good at. I can respect that, even if it's a terrible skill that I think you should use your time here to work on replacing." Bow points out diplomatically. "Glimmer still complains about the time that you licked her. And you can be insuffereable, completely a menance and do everything you can to ruin a moment... but there are people, myself included, that want to genuinely be your friends. Because they see a sparkle (yes, he used sparkle) in you and they hope that maybe... someday... you'd want to do good for yourself and others." And she was just about to show the phone when the message pops up and Catra yanks it away as quickly as she offered it. "Uh... okay." Weird, but he's willing to let it go. Catra's allowed to change her mind. "Have you two actually ''talked'' about that? Your goals? Your wants? That you want to stay here. That you want to be her friend. About what you are worth to her?" There's a little smile offered, as if he knows something. "And... to remind you. She was the Chosen of Etheria - to activate a Superweapon to destroy the Univrse. Who knows what it is that she wants to do now." "It'd be nice if someone that grew up with her reached out and asked."
Catra	"I don't... really have goals," Catra admits, quietly. "I used to want to... I mean, you know. Crush the Rebellion, conquer Etheria... I beat Shadow Weaver, so that's one box ticked off, I was going to dethrone Hordak eventually, then I'd be the one in charge and nobody'd..." Nobody would ever be able to hurt me again. "Nobody'd ever get in my way," she mumbles. "Last time we talked, just... it was the day before you tried to move the Moon Stone, and it was okay I guess. We didn't fight, probably 'cause I had broken ribs and the Youma I was using was beyond pathetic. I let Adora destroy it while we were talking. Seriously, it was a gumball machine, but it spat out toys as well as gum and I think there's gonna be one inch tall plastic army men running around the lousy parts of town for like... forever." Catra shrugs her shoulders. "Everyone always comes down on ''me'' for what happened, like everything is my fault. But she's the one who left. I begged her to stay. It's not like I didn't want her to stay, but she just... ''had'' to leave, and I couldn't leave. So now we're on opposite sides." Because I wasn't worth staying for, are the words that rattle around the inside of her skull.
Bow	"Didn't you just tell me not to focus on Etheria anymore?" Bow asks. "Everything you just said was rooted in Etheria. If you want to stay here, you need to think about what you're going to do? Are you just going to be a lackey to Obsidian just like you were a lackey of the Horde? That's not career advancement. That's just doing the same thing in a worse situation. "Who are you going to dethrone here? Apparently, whatever this Horde Prime is - it's worse than Hordak was. And there's more worse than that, from what I've been told." "When you were having that thing with... Rashmi? I mean, I'm not really cool with you dragging my bosses' daughter in on your issues. Is that cleared up? I know others have offered you energy... but I'm on the short end of that spectrum." "Noone's here to come down on you now. The decisions you make are your own." he points out with a rolling shrug of his shoulders. "If you want to repeat the cycle, you certainetly can. If you want to break the cycle? Earth may be the place to do it."
Catra	Catra is busy sending out texts at a mile a minute, while Bow makes his observations, and Catra just abruptly AAAAAUGHS at the top of her lungs, "Look I'm a teenager with a troubled past, why does everyone expect me to have everyting figured out and my life planned down to the last detail? I made a potentially world-ending decision and got dumped on a weird planet where I'll get dissected if I show my true face to like almost a hundred percent of the population, I don't care what Usagi says she's a moron even if she's nice." Catra stuffs her phone back in her pocket, where it'll innevitably buzz in like two seconds. "I have ''no idea'' what I want. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I'm on this path and I don't know how to get off it even if I wanted to, and I don't know if I want to. Maybe I do! Maybe I don't. Maybe Joker is listening in right now and preparing to send the forces of Obsidian to give me my severance package right now, in which case you're also in for the fight of your life just for being right next to me. But right now, right this moment, I'm trying to collect enough dark energy to keep Joker off Rashmi's back and that's my focus, okay?! When I'm done with that, maybe then I can like... think about talking to Adora. Or something. I have ''no idea'' what comes next."
Bow	"None of us do. That includes Adora." Bow responds as he tosses the rest of the bread to the fish. "So whil you're busy aiming for maximum damage on yourself, just remember, we have all made grand fuckups and you're not special for them." With that, he's pushing to his feet. "Fight of my life wouldn't be so bad with someone to work off of, Catra." He tucks his phone into his pocket and dusts himself off. "Oh. And to make sure you know I'm not holding back? I have a new goop arrow. It's Pink and I am saving it ''just for you''." He casts a wink over his shoulder. "Get the energy you need. Protect Rashmi." "Figure out what you want to do with a new lease on life. Or not." "As you say, not my problem."
Catra	"I'm gonna look forward to you missing me with it," Catra answers, flatly. Well, mischievously, but still flat. "Hopefully you'll not only miss me, but manage to peg one of the Sparkles in the process. ...Not Glimmer, I mean, but... Yeah we call all your goody-bunch 'Sparkles'. Don't ask, I didn't come up with it." Catra lets ou a breath, and stands up herself. "Yeah well it's not like I'm still thinking about it on purpose," she mutters. "But I'm gonna do what I can for Rashmi. You're right about that. Anyway. Go meet up with Glimmer and have a good talk. I'm sure Arrow-Boy and Sparkles will be the inseperable, insufferable heroes I have to fight in short order." She stretches, yawns... And without another word, heads off in the opposite direction.