purrrnicious | Heart Game: Run #3

"You wouldn't harm an unarmed old woman, a prisoner, would you?"

I know what you're capable of, Shadow Weaver, and if you think I'm going to give you a chance to mindfuck me into next week, then you're wrong.

[ she pulls the rocket launcher from over her shoulder and aims it at her, mechanical pupils turning to slits and glowing. ]

It's a shame though, that I'm only going to be able to get to do this once, because there's only so much satisfaction I'll be able to get from blowing YOU TO SMITHEREENS FOR HURTING MY CATRA!

[She folds her hands, still apparently unruffled, though more serious now.]

"You're not thinking this through. You wish to protect those beneath you, then you must advance in the ranks. Your current course of action will only result in your execution, but you're clearly bold, resourceful –– you could put that to use. Think of how far you could go, what you could do for her then.

I can help you."

[ her lips quirk and she moves her tail, acting like she's interested. she'll humor her. ] ...uhuh, and someone's an ass kiss. But, go ahead, and tell me, Shadow Weaver, how- how can you help me?

"Why, I'm Lord Hordak's second in command, of course. There would only be one other in the Horde with more power than me."

And look where you are.

"And the traitor responsible will be punished accordingly."

[She emphasizes the "traitor" in the singular.]

[ selling her friend out is not a point in her favor. ]

Why did you prefer Adora to Catra?

[The problem there is that this is a representation of Shadow Weaver in Kohime's heart, not Shadow Weaver herself, and Kohime doesn't know the answer to that.]

"I was harder on Catra, I admit. But she is one who was born without power, and she will have to face the world at a disadvantage. I only wanted to prepare her for that."

[ PITY, that. ]

[ she snorts, and starts to chuckle, but then it bubbles into an outright laugh. ]

...wrong.

[ she saw a bunch of memories and she knows there's some fucken favoritism going on, and there's only so much of it she can stand to watch. ]

I'm sorry, Shadow Weaver, but I'm not interested in your "deal". I'd rather face execution, because at least I'll die knowing I could rid Catra's life of a cancerous witch like you.

[ and, hey, guess what, she's pulling the trigger. ]

[You fire a rocket into a small, narrow cell at an old woman.]

[It goes about how you'd expect. The confined space erupts into an inferno with a concussive blast, and if you were standing to close, well –– that might not work out so well for you.]

[ as soon as she fires it she screams at her bot to dodge to the side, but that probably goes about as well as expected. the blast is, no doubt, huge, and she's going to be getting caught in it one way or anything. ]

[The floor is open to the rest of the prison in the centre, so if she's not careful, she could tumble right off.

The blast triggers an alarm throughout the complex, flashing red lights and a low tone klaxon.]

[ her head feels like it's splitting and it feels like she's got some broken bones. where? she's not sure. it feels like it might be everywhere. she coughs up a bit of blood and slowly gets to her feet, staggering. ]

[ oops. need to be careful. don't want to fall off. ]

[ well. no need to take the lift down to floor 5, yeah? ]

[Please don't get blood on the console.

The lift options are:

Main Floor
Floor 2 - Childhood
Floor 3 - Cadet

Floor 5 - (Whatever label was here has been scratched out.)]

[ ...oops. ]

[ and there's no med kits because the horde is afraid of them. ]

[ hits 5. ]

[When you enter this floor, there are only three doors. The air is unnaturally calm and stale. Every door is closed, but when you approach, you can’t see inside at all. Unlike the cells on the other floors, they’re solid metal.]

[ she's just going to drag herself to the end. she'll ignore all the doors for now. ]

[There doors are all there is up here, there is no other exit.]

[ so then she just turns around and checks out the third door. ]

[Eeyyyyy it's another memory. Maybe if you hit enough of these, one of them won't be bad? Maybe? (cw for a lil asphyxiation torture)

This memory starts with Catra entering Hordak's ~inner sanctum~ -- one huge research lab with a big throne sitting up a dias at the back. She comes in and calls for Lord Hordak, not seeing him immediately -- instead, his creepy little flying imp creature is clinging to a pipe staring at her. He calls out to her, telling her to state her purpose, and she approaches to tell him she thought they should touch base and work on planning their next moves against the rebellion. She doesn't really know what she's doing, she's just trying really hard -- she wants to impress Hordak, wants him to value her.

So maybe unsurprisingly, it doesn't really go the way she'd hoped. He cuts her off, asking if wasting their advantage while the Whispering Woods regrew or letting herself get captured was part of her plan. He pulls a lever, activating a device that generates some sort of field. She doesn't recognize what it is.

Hordak: Etheria's atmosphere has proved to be a complicating variable in my experiments.

Catra: I–– [She starts coughing.]

Hordak: I just removed that variable. Tell me, Force Captain. How is your breathing?

Catra can't actually answer –– she's been gasping for air, whatever the device did rendered it completely unbreathable, and she's starting to panic as she can't properly breathe, her vision starting to blur. Hordak heads back to the lever after watching her struggle for a moment and deactivates the field, allowing her to gasp in a desperate and badly needed breath.

Hordak: Pathetic, just like everything on this backwards planet. Do you know what the definition of failure is, Force Captain? Failure is when something ceases to serve a purpose. When that happens, it becomes worthless to me. Thus far, your performance has been lacking. [He again rests his hand on the lever, a threat.]

Catra: I. . . I haven't failed yet. No one knows how to take the princesses down better than me. Trust me and let me do that.

There's a tense moment where Hordak is just staring at her, measuring, while she tries to look resolutely back –– but she can't help but keep flicking her gaze nervously to the lever Hordak still rests his hand on. Finally, he releases it.

Hordak: You say you can defeat the rebellion. Prove it. You are dismissed.

You experience the memory as if it were your own, including the sensation that you can't breathe, the panic that you might die here, and the realization that you're still not safe and this person will probably kill you if you don't perform.]

[ this is not a good combination for someone who is already on their last legs. as soon as the memory finishes she drops to her knees and grabs her chest, breathing as heavily as humanly possible - though that’s pretty difficult at the moment. tears prick the ends of her eyes as she inevitably is thrown into a coughing fit. didn’t see that coming, fuck. ]

[ this guy, fuck him too. ]

[ she doesn’t move for a few minutes, but eventually she’s back on her feet and leaning on the wall of cells to walk, moving toward the second. ]

[ what’s next. ]

[Another memory, these three seem to be part of an arc, though this one's A Lot.

[The memory starts in the prison. Catra stands before Shadow Weaver in her cell, a tray of food in her hands. Hidden in the tray is a small four-point badge, something Shadow Weaver had earlier asked her for. She’s still not sure why she brought it. She’s not sure yet she’s going to leave it, either.

“So, have you come up with anything to save your skin?” she asks, and the answer is, “You know I haven’t.”

Catra approaches and drops the tray in front of the older woman, letting its really unappetizing contents splatter all over the floor.

“Why do you insist on delivering my meals yourself? Surely you have more important things to do,” the sorceress asks from where she’s seated on the floor.

Catra crosses to the wall and leans up against it casually with a faint smile, her arms crossed, and replies, “I guess I just like seeing you in shackles.”

“We both know that’s not the only reason. What do you want from me, Catra?”

Catra almost immediately drops her act, looking somber, unsure. She asks ‘Why’ before faltering, gathers a breath and sighs, then tries again, “Why did you treat me the way you did? Why was I never good enough for you? Really. I want to know.”

Shadow Weaver narrows her eyes briefly before looking aside.

“Because you remind me of myself. You always have. Nothing was ever easy for me, either. I wasn’t born to power like Adora and others. I had to earn my power, fight for it. Why should it be any different for you?”

“I was a child when you took me in! What could I possibly have done to deserve the way you treated me?! You are old, and bitter, and weak!” Catra shakes her head, wraps her arms around herself defensively and drops to the floor to kneel before Shadow Weaver, very clearly upset.

“Ah, but you are like me. And just like me you’re losing your position with Hordak. I can see that even from my cell,” the sorceress responds smoothly, unaffected by the outburst.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Catra answers quickly, but it’s too quick, and that makes it obvious that it’s a lie.

“You’re being pushed out,” Shadow Weaver states firmly, and it’s clear who’s in control of the conversation at this point (despite the older woman being imprisoned, in shackles, a reduced version of someone who once wielded great power — it’s sure not Catra driving here.)

“I am not! It’s just Entrapta understands all that tech stuff,” she mutters –– then gives a sharp intake of breath, glancing up at Shadow Weaver. She’s made a mistake, revealing even that much, and the sorceress’s eyes narrow. “Come here,” she directs, holding out a hand.

There’s a moment of hesitation, then Catra shuffles closer — slides one leg across the floor before shifting her weight to it and sliding the other, staying in her cat-like crouch. Her expression is anxious, alarmed, and she tenses up as Shadow Weaver reaches for her despite choosing to put herself in reach in the first place. But instead of an anticipated blow, the older woman reaches to caress her, running her fingers through one of the little tufts of hair by her ear, tender and affectionate in a way she’s literally never been towards Catra (Adora, on the other hand. . .)

“She’s earned his trust. How did you let this happen, don’t you see? I want you to go further than I did. But you need to be smarter than me, stronger than me.”

“Then help me! Come up with something so you can stay!” Catra cries, and in response, Shadow Weaver shifts to cup her cheek instead. Catra leans into it, closing her eyes.

“I will try. But I’m tired now. Come back later, please,” Shadow Weaver answers. Catra stands, everything about her screams vulnerability, and she leaves the cell without another word but with a small, hopeful smile as she brushes back the same little tuft of hair that Shadow Weaver had stroked. She leaves the badge.

There’s a fuzzy moment — a little time is passing, before the memory picks up again with Catra just outside the cell she’d left earlier. She says she knows it hasn’t been long, but she’s anxious for them to work together, come up with something, and as she lets herself in Shadow Weaver doesn’t respond, sitting with her back to the exit. Catra reaches out to grasp her and her hand passes right through –– it’s a projection. The cell is now empty.

It takes a moment for her to work through it, to come to grips with what’s happened here, until she says aloud, “You were just using me all along.” But that seems to finally click things into place, and she tears up, slashing through the projection with a snarl of anger and destroying it. She drops to the ground, where there’s a magic diagram created from faintly glowing sands (the shattered remains of the badge are nearby, apparently having held the magical substance. She swipes it aside angrily and starts crying.

This one’s one hell of a roller coast ride of emotion. From the start, where she wears a front so familiar it’s clear she’s been doing it for years, to the shaky way she keeps it together as she voices an old hurt at the start — and then actually interacting with the witch. She’s afraid the woman will hurt her but so desperate for her affection that she goes anyway — and when she’s spoken to gently, caressed like maybe this person might actually care for her (love her?) it’s everything she’s ever wanted, really, and she feels unbelievably happy and hopeful to finally get everything she’s jealously watched go to another for years.

And then, well. The betrayal. You know how that goes. She probably should have known better, right? What a stupid, useless girl — of course no one would ever love her, least of all the witch, but that’s fine because she doesn’t need it, anyway. She doesn’t need anyone, she’ll take on the world teeth bared and claws out, and she’ll win in the end and show everyone who ever doubted her just how much she’s worth.]

...

[ if she had any regret about what she had done to shadow weaver ( which she didn’t ) now there are absolutely zero. in fact she feels even better about it. she hates this woman even more now for having done all this. her anger starts to simmer again, and like she’d told the witch it’s a shame she can’t kill her more than once. ]

[ she punches the cell pathetically and moves on to the first and last cell. ]

[Do you remember Kohime telling you she was afraid of getting a memory that she'd died? Looks like she took it, and never said anything.

[This one opens in Hordak's creepy inner sanctem with all its concrete and pipes and machinery, most of which Kohime can't identify. She makes her way in, a little anxious, not sure why she's been summoned here -- but her mood in general is different, too. She's stressed and she's afraid, and her boss sure is part of it.]

Catra: You. . . wanted to speak with me? Lord Hordak?

[Hordak addresses her without facing her, working on some sort of tube with a tool that resembles a screwdriver.]

Hordak: Yes, Force Captain. I wish to –– "touch base", as you put it; see how my orders are being carried out.

Catra: Everything is running smoothly.

[It's a lie, and she doesn't sell it convincingly. Hordak drops the piping he's working on and turns partly to face her, now.]

Hordak: Does this mean Shadow Weaver has been transferred to Beast Island, per my orders?

Catra: ...Yes! I sent her yesterday, just like you ordered. Believe me, we're never going to see her again.

[That's the lie, and it's immediately revealed by a recording of Kohime's own voice, admitting to someone that she "lost" Shadow Weaver and had to find her before Hordak found out -- it echoes in the room, coming from Hordak's creepy little imp spy that swoops down over their heads and lands on Hordak's shoulder with a disturbing little giggle. Apparently, she'd told someone that she'd lost track of Shadow Weaver, and Hordak had sent the imp to spy on her which was overheard. Kohime in the memory is shocked at this turn, and then terrified.]

Hordak: You lied to me.

Catra: ––Wait!

[Hordak takes a couple steps forward to reach and pull a lever, one that Kohime recognizes in this memory, she already knows what's about to happen. It activates some machinery in the room that alters the atmosphere, having no noticeable affect on Hordak (then again, he's a pretty alien-looking creature, something between a bat, vampire, and parially robotic) but there's an immediate impact on Kohime. She starts taking panicked, gasping breaths, not properly able to breathe with the device active.

It's at this point that Hordak approaches, unaffected as she struggles to breathe and collapses to her knees.]

Hordak: I know your lax security allowed Shadow Weaver to escape. I know you've been covering it up, lying about her whereabouts. But worst of all, I gave you the chance to come clean, to prove your worth to me –– to the Horde. This was a test, and you failed.

[The last thing she remembers is staring up at Hordak, tears in her eyes, pained and scared but somehow also angry and frustrated because it was always, always this way. Not good enough, worthless, thrown out like trash, first Shadow Weaver, then Adora, now Hordak.

The memory ends when her vision fades.

But it's not just the panic and inability to breathe you feel in the memory. When it ends, you still can't breathe -- it's like trying to suck air through a straw, and it's not getting any better.]

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