GODLY AUDIENCES: CATRA

[divus]

Comments

[divus]

I was wondering why the change of heart. [But the floor it is! She'll just settle down, legs tucked beneath her and giving Catra space to sit down nearby. She doesn't expect her to get close anyway.]

...he didn't tell you while he was under Devil's Advocate, did he?

[catraclysm]

[ she follows suit as she sits down, but makes a face at Love's question ]

Why would I be here if he asked while he was like that? [ obviously? ] No, he asked about it early last week. I was... mulling it over.

[ read: pretending like she didn't want to do it just as a favor to yu because she does like him and it's terrible ]

[divus]

["Because you're friends?" She's not dumb, she can see who Yu's spoken to and who he's close to, but maybe it's not smart to tell Catra that.]

After everything that's happened in this game, I don't want to assume why anyone does anything anymore. But that doesn't surprise me either. He's just like that.

[catraclysm]

[ catra yelled it publicly it's fine. she's living with that life now. she is accepting it. ]

Yeah, I'm guessing I haven't helped with your feelings about that. [ hey? she knows herself. but when Love says yu is "just like that", she can't help it: ] Pushy?

[ it's a joke. he really isn't pushy enough ]

[divus]

Truthfully, no. Which is sort of why I'm glad you finally came to see me. [But she settles for laughing a little instead.] He's totally pushy and demanding. I'm surprised you could resist for so long.

[Yu is too easygoing sometimes and it's how Love gets away with a lot, too. Still, she watches Catra from behind her mask.] You've been playing kind of a different game than everybody else, Catra-san. I'm a little surprised at the lengths you'll go, but maybe I shouldn't be considering who your patron is.

[catraclysm]

[ she tilts her head back at that, ears pinned down. ]

From what I've seen, I'm not the only one who's been cutting people down. [ if it sounds a bit defensive-- well, it is. ]

[divus]

I never said you were. [But hm. Interesting.] It's just...can I ask you why?

[catraclysm]

Which one?

[ :T ]

[divus]

Is it too much to ask for both?

[Bitch you killed her favorite person in the game. But she's curious.]

[catraclysm]

[ she shrugs a bit, picking at one of the holes in her pants ]

Fortune wasn't ever going to win. It seemed better to just eliminate her from the competition. [ she'd say take off some dead weight, but, like, too soon? ] And Ray was the smartest person in this place. On top of that, everyone trusted him, and I'm pretty sure he was onto me. It wasn't anything personal.

[divus]

You realize that's kind of the equivalent of kicking somebody while they're down, right? [i.e. so not fair?] Why didn't you go after Ruin then if that's the case?

[...] It's a little personal, given what else Ray was working on in this game. If you don't want to risk getting caught, don't do things that're going to cause trouble. [Somehow she still doesn't sound too judgmental, just tired.]

But you're right. Everyone trusted him.

[catraclysm]

[ because I, the player, was busy that week, ]

Are you seriously trying to guilt trip me when you guys are the ones who made that possible in the first place? And what, two other people trying to go after Ruin wasn't enough for you? [ the sarcasm aside-- ] There was the whole weird message going on that week, so I decided to wait and see what that was about instead. I was wrong about why Newt did it, but I was right that Ruin wound up dead anyway.

[ yikes! ]

"What he was working on"? What, a big happy ending for everyone involved?

[divus]

I'm not guilt-tripping anybody, jeez! I'm just asking because I like to know where people are coming from! [Huff.] There's a difference between people killing with the thought they're doing it for a good reason and people doing it just because they're bored. Is there a problem with wanting to know where people fall on that scale?

[She frowns.] He was working on a way to balance the game to maximize the prize pool, yeah.

[catraclysm]

If I was killing people out of boredom, I wouldn't keep sedating them so they don't feel it.

[ but she doesn't disagree that love is allowed to want to know. still, the ray thing... ]

Wow. It's too bad you guys couldn't think of how to do it yourselves and had to rely on the twelve year old you invited over to deal with it in your own competition. [ catra don't be an asshole for two seconds challenge failed ]

[divus]

[You know what? She's just going to sit in silence and stare at her for a moment.

With the blank expression of her mask.

Boring into her soul.

Etc.]

[catraclysm]

[ jokes on you love that's just describing her entire childhood because her mom wore a freaky mask too!!!! So she's staring back!!!

I'm sorry she's like this ]

[divus]

[Are. They just having a staring contest now? Sure.

They're both stupid it's fine.]

[catraclysm]

[ this is incredibly stupid, and it could last forever because catra is a cat, so let's just skip ahead: ]

Is this the part where you curse me now? Or are you just going to keep staring.

[divus]

Oh, no. I was just giving you as much time and space to be as big of a jerk as you needed to be before we continued.

[:|]

Can we have an actual conversation now?

[catraclysm]

[ this is just how she talks, rude. ]

What do you want me to say? I'm not sorry about either of them.

[divus]

I got that impression. [...there's a sigh.] I don't know, really. I guess I just wanted to understand and you explained yourself. I had a very similar conversation with someone else.

[That Zia also played. Zia stop having your characters frustrate Love by killing people.]

...Catra-san. What's your wish anyway? Has it changed since you got here? I guess I mean...why do you want to win so badly?

[catraclysm]

[ just wait until love finds out Itachi half did it as a gamble to get Sasuke some friends. The cat meanwhile just. stares. Her wish isn't anything big, like she knows some people have. And she doesn't care. She likes winning. More than that-- ]

What I want hasn't changed. But does it even matter what it is? Everyone here wants something badly enough that they're willing to go along with whatever happens here. Isn't that the whole reason everyone was chosen?

[ a beat ]

I guess I could ask why you want to win so badly you're willing to go along with this whole competition too.

[divus]

More or less. We put out a call, you guys answered, we presented ourselves to you, you all agreed. That's sort of just how everything went.

[But that's not a question she's surprised by either.]

...did you know that if we didn't play this game, we couldn't be a part of the pantheon at all? Like not really. We wouldn't have a chance to have any say-so in the new world if we didn't participate. That's why all of us are here even if we don't agree with the methods.

I really want to win because I believe in my vision for the world. I want to make it a place that's better than the worlds a lot of us left behind. For everyone. Not just myself, or the people who are strong enough or whatever. [A pause.] Did he tell you what my plan is?

[He, of course, being Yu.]

[catraclysm]

[ she's literally from a dictatorship that's trying to take over the entire world and that still sounds dumb to her ]

No. He probably wanted me to hear it directly from you or something dumb like that.

[ also catra didn't ask, but. y'know. little bit of column a, little bit of column b ]

[divus]

That sounds about right, too. Let me guess. He was like "she's very special to me and you should talk to her because you'll understand her better"? [She still sounds fond, but also Yu...]

...let me ask you something. Does it bother you to have to keep secrets? Not just here. But in general.