Scene #2665:

Owner	Pose
Catra	It's the middle of the afternoon, and at Radiant Heart Academy, classes are in full swing, which means that classrooms are full of students who are busy learning all kinds of things, some of which are more interesting than others. There are, of course, some students who are on campus but not in class, for various reasons; some are in their dormrooms feeling ill, some just don't have a class right in this time slot, and of course there's Catra who is technically not even a student of the academy and doesn't have any classes at all -- something she has been told she needs to remedy but as of this moment has not yet done so -- who is just sort of... floating around. Right now she's on the roof, where Rashmi showed her students come to get some peace and quiet, and right now she's entirely alone up there, getting both peace and quiet and some time spent not in her illusion disguise, with the sun shining directly on her actual face. She's up on top of the bit of roof over the stairwell, above the area fenced off for students to sit in. She's wearing a Radiant Heart Academy school uniform, too, which she keeps picking at as if it's entirely irritating her that it exists. And it has a skirt. Which is the worst thing ever.
Veronica Perenna	Veronica suddenly came down with have-to-go-talk-with-Catra-itis, a rare and little known illness that makes it perfectly justifiable to make up an excuse to your teacher so you can then be sent to the infirmary and then sneak out of there to, you guessed it, go talk with Catra. Not that she particularly enjoyed doing that, but she really had to talk with the resident alien catgirl. Said sneaking out was done with the use of her powers, walking through the walls out of sight, and then she reentered the physical world, using the power of super jumps to look for her around the school until she finds the other catgirl on the rooftop. And she finds her picking at her uniform. Was it being itchy? Or maybe they gave her the wrong size? Both things she could fix, and a good icebreaker as well. "Hey, Catra!", the cat thief speaks up with a confident grin, hopping over to her. "Are you having trouble with your clothes? I could fix them, if you want", she smiles.
Catra	And then Catra is on her feet with Powersend in hand, just like that. How did she go from sitting to ready to fight? It's as if this was a video game and a few frames got dropped, the part where Catra stands up just doesn't get played, she just goes directly from sitting and relaxed (if annoyed with her outfit) to on her feet and ready to throw down. But then Veronica's words make their way from ears to brain, and the brain thinks about them, and ultimately comes to the realization that Veronica is not an agent of the Joker and she isn't hostile so she can, in fact, put her sword away. So she does. "...Didn't hear you coming," she offers, by way of explaination. "...The... 'uniform' is fine, I'm just not used to wearing it. And I hate skirts," she grumbles, ears flattening out and her eyes narrowing. "But like, whatever. I guess I gotta do what I gotta do. ...Just... don't sneak up on me like that." She sucks in a breath, and lets it out. "What's up? I'm sure you didn't appear next to me to offer your services as a tailor."
Veronica Perenna	Veronica blinks away again when she finds the sword at her throat, being both invisible and intangible by instinct. She takes a step to the side, and let the magic hiding her fade. "I wasn't really trying to", the blonde mahou takes her comment about her disguise directly, and she looks at herself again. Yep, she didn't accidentally create or disturb through the creations of one of her look, she checks a second time her guess. "I wasn't being particularly stealthy. If I were you wouldn't have noticed me, at all", she notes, but otherwise keeping her surprise to herself. If she has gotten better at skulking around, better not to get others' attention and keep this on the down low, so she can get a drop on her enemies. "I guess you don't really need a tailor's help to fix that, and you are right, that's not why I was looking for you. Do you remember that time on the moon, before the fight? I was asking you questions, I would still like to know what you think about that, from catgirl to catgirl", she sits down just next to Catra, tapping the ground to invite her to sit again.
Catra	"...I mean..." Catra's ears remain exactly like they are, while the gears in her brain grind to life. Solitude, valuable solitude, has been interupted, by someone who could probably follow her without much difficulty even if she decided to just take off, which is annoying but whatever, there's people with all sorts of powers around here. Particularly ''here''. Then again sitting and talking to each other seems to be something the goody-bunch seem to do rather a lot, and if Catra is going to make a full transition from bad guy to good guy, then there are probably some habits she needs to pick up. Even if she doesn't like them. Like talking to, like, people. All this takes precisely four seconds to run through her brain, and exactly seven seconds after Veronica taps the ground, she plops back down, sitting more or less exactly how she was moments before. "Uhm, yeah okay," she mumbles, entirely unaware of how to not be awkward. "But you'll have to remind me what you were asking, 'casue with the battle that happened after I kinda forgot."
Veronica Perenna	"Wonderful", the Princess of Sarek smiles, retreating her hand just in time for Catra taking her up on her offer. Her tail swishes pleased: this is significant progress considering that the last time they accidentally found themselves in a similar situation, she had run away. A lot ''had'' happened between then and now, the fights, Usagi having stayed hidden under their nose, and more importantly, the wedding they had all literally fought for. "Reminding you is good with me", the blonde thief winks at Catra. "It's just you have been acting. lot different recently, and for the better, but that seems to have annoyed you somehow. Do you hate compliments on the subject?", she asks directly.
Catra	And that was a really good question. Catra, at first, really doesn't know how to answer it. Her mismatched eyes follow Veronica's tail; something that seems so out of place to her eyes, somhow. Isn't she a human?! Catra thought she was one of only very very few cat people on this planet. But then there's Luna. And that... one guy she met on her first day in Obsidian and then never saw again. Maybe he got eaten by Joker or something, who knows. "I just..." Catra stumbles through possible responses. Catra makes a note to avoid responses that are mean or angry, because she's trying -- honestly trying -- to get out of that habit. "I just... don't like being the subject of conversation very much," she mutters. "It's because... I just don't like it."
Veronica Perenna	Even if she likes compliments on the subject, she doesn't seem all that averse to discussing them, and that's rather important considering she had a blade at her throat. She stares back at Catra's eyes curiously, intrigued by the direction of her gaze. Following it, she smirks with interest when it lands on her own tail, though she assumes it has to do with the ribbon on it, and she would be interested in at least trying it on. "Enjoying its looks?", she asks with confidence and a smirk. "My tailor services are still on the table even if you want them for something else, you know?", she directs her towards what she thinks is rather feasible. "I could gift you a ribbon, if you wanted to try it on your tail." She nods slowly at Catra's reply. "I understand. And probably I didn't pick the best place for it, with all the other people there, including one of your own old colleagues. I think you have been doing really well, you know? You should be proud of the new you." "But if you don't want to talk about that, there is a few things I want to clarifying. Just things we have learnt from what happened to Hinoiri back then", she considers. That's probably the thing she cares most about, especially after being met with such a startled behaviour.
Catra	Catra hunhs? "No, just... Actually I don't know how you can stand it, if anything touches my tail I basically hate it and might respond with claws." Which, seems perfectly reasonable afterall, cats on both Etheria and Earth respond with claws when sufficiently startled, she clearly sees no reason for that to be unexpected. "I uhh... Actually I'm pretty well set up for clothes at the moment, I... might've been ripping Obsidian off since I left. I feel like it's fair, they've been sending someone really horrible after me, so I deserve compensation. And they're Obsidian. When I was with them it's not like I would've thought twice about stealing from you or one of your friends, so..." she shrugs, "Taste of th eir own medicine I guess, or however they say it here." Catra swings her legs over the edge of the roof, and dangles them in the air as she leans back, propping herself up on her palms. "..." Just how do you talk about stuff like clothing, anyway? "..." Why is this so difficult? "I'm not very good at talking," she mumbles. "The ribbon is cool, but I have no idea where I'd wear one or... how I'd wear it." is she doing better? Adora seemed... not-hostile last time they met. So that's good? Maybe that's a good sign? "I don't feel like anything has changed, except that I don't work for Obsidian anymore. I'm still ''me''. I still did the things that I did."
Veronica Perenna	... So that's what it was about, Veronica thinks. Talk about a different conclusion. "I am not going to try and force it on you, but if you get used to it being there, you should in theory stop minding it", she shrugs. "I enjoy how it looks, so I don't mind it. It actually took me more time getting used to my choker." Which she ''didn't'' ask for. The cat thief hums when she gets the answer to her question before she even asks it. Obsidian will be Obsidian, not much you can do there. But before she can address that, the ginger catgirl is asking about the subject of clothes. "Talking about clothes is simple, no? We are doing it, right now. If I tell you about my top hat" - she takes it off her head - "and the way its colours really suit me, that's also talking about clothes." She places her hat to the side, letting Catra pick it up if she wanted. "When you go anywhere, are there any colours you enjoy? A particular fit that catches your attention?", she tries to guide her if it actually can interest her. "It's not something you have to enjoy." "I have actually wanted to ask you if you were being attacked", she continues, looking down at the exercise Catra is doing. "I was aware they had done the same thing to Hinoiri, so mind the help?", she smiles at Catra. "It's good that you own up to what you did. It gives you cred, it doesn't take away from it."
Catra	Catra tries really hard not to be curious, but she picks up the hat and looks at it anyway, before putting it back down -- respectfully done, careful not to damage it in any way. And it ''is'' a pretty cool hat. "I dunno, depends I guess? I wore jumpsuits most of the time when I was in the Horde, same with Obsidian. ...And I don't plan to stop, I like them. But I like tuxedos, too, I wore one to the wedding and my..." she still feels silly saying these words all strung together, "My new henshin is a tuxedo as well." She pauses, "I can't show you any tuxes other than that last one right now though, obviously, I... don't exactly take them with me." She pauses again. "And some of my clothes are stashed around the city. From before I wound up here. Y'know, just... in case." Catra's brow furrows into a scowl, and she tilts her head to look away. "I mean I'm not ''sorry''," she grumbles, perhaps asserting it to herself as much as anyone else. "I had my reasons for fighting Adora and they were ''good'' reasons, I promsie you that. But they don't seem to matter here... anymore. And Hinoiri's alive because I warned Rashmi that Obsidian was sending me after her." The feline sighs, and shakes her head. "And yeah, they're sending someone after me, and... there's a plan to deal with it. Sort of. Gotta work out the specifics. But I don't want to put you in the middle of it." A yellow eye glances sideways at Veronica. "But... Maybe you can help," she concedes. "But I don't know how yet."
Veronica Perenna	... Ah, the feeling of curiosity. Veronica knows that all too well. She truly lives by it. You would just have to ask Endymion if you could go back to the future. Or Laisa, for someone more quickly available, and she knows Veronica the best. Veronica looks at Catra up and down with inquisitive eye. "Yeah, to be honest, I think tuxedos really suit you. You definitely made a good choice there. Maybe you could try to get your own top hat, aside from that. They are a good match. Optionally, a bowtie, but really, your look is complete as is", she comments after finishing her examinations. She scrunches her nose. "Tracksuits are only good if you want to relax though. My opinion is you should get some scuffed jeans, a turquoise shirt with a design you like, and a grey jacket. That would suit you." She nods at the comment on Adora. "I think the only ones who know each other best are the two of you, but I think you might wanna try rebuild those bridges based on what you say. You two are really important to each other, right?", she stares at Catra. The next assertion makes Veronica blink, then laugh. "''You'' were being sent after Hinoiri? Wow. Obsidian really knows how to pick them. Good thing you warned Rashmi, really", she comments joyfully, before switching to a pensive look, the implication starting to hit her. "Is that how you got Obsidian on your back? By saving Hinoiri? Who are they sending after you?" The Princess of Sarek shrugs. "If you don't let me help, I can always go to Rashmi and ask her. I am not too worried about the risk. Obsidian is risky. That's still the same thing, just a different form. As for how I can help. What if there were two of you, working independently? Suddenly your assassin's focus is split, and that makes them more vulnerable."