goneawayworld | 🟆005🟆

Entry tags:

#rig logs,
tenten

🟆005🟆

Who: TENTEN and some other losers
What: Fooling Around!
Where: Collections, the dumbest place to fool around!
When: Post Babadon't!
Warnings/Notes: I'll warn if necessary.

Collections was... weird. There were, like, five mirrors, weapons just sitting there (she'd claim them all except she couldn't even lift the dumb hammer and the sword was better left unmentioned), a fan that followed her around, wafting a fresh breeze over her (honestly a godsend, considering the heat)... Oh. And the horn.

The horn blew bubbles.

No, it didn't make any sense to her either, but she'd seen two people give it a toot and half-fill the room with bubbles, much to their delight.

There were other things, of course. She could think of uses for those Shen gong whatever doodads. That puzzle box was interesting, but someone was already working on it. There were a set of figures that turned into animals when hurled onto the ground, but they never did anything. The theory was that there was some kind of command word that no one knew.

Right now, though, she could be found in front of the Mirror of Erised, scowling at it. "So, what's the big deal? There's all these warnings about how dangerous and addictive this thing is, and all it shows you is stuff you can't have. What kind of person gets sucked into not eating because of that?"

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Catra finds herself prowling the Rig in search of distraction. It's not that she wants to be away from Adora, but she needs the space. There doesn't seem to be a way to get through to her and the grimness of the realization weighs down on her. So of course, she's here in Collections to look at the weird stuff and try to distract herself. After taking a moment to pump some change into the weird vending machine, she takes what's been dispensed (a frigid bottle of 'Cucumber Cola' that has a surprisingly refreshing and cooling sweet cucumber flavor with some hints of citrus and watermelon) and wanders a bit further. She pauses when she spots Tenten, an ear tilting a little as she considers the mirror. With a few quiet steps Catra makes her way up to stand next to Tenten, takes a swig of the drink.

"What's this?" She peers at the mirror, trying to spot whatever it might be showing Tenten.

Edited 2021-02-01 02:50 (UTC)

Tenten had come for a distraction, but not from that. She's getting a bit of cabin fever, she's desperate for something new, and the Collections is just weird enough to offer her a bit of that.

And, honestly, the place is usually so full of Jorgmund-types that she didn't expect anyone else from the crew to pop up, let alone Catra. She blinks in surprise at seeing the other girl there, and flushes a little. "A-ah. Well. It's the Mirror of Erised, like I can't spell 'desire' backwards. It, um."

In her reflection, Tenten's got a small diamond mark on her forehead and a green robe on over her usual clothes, the ones that Catra was gifted. She just radiates a quiet confidence and sense of responsibility that's only marred a bit by the mirror image of Catra smirking at the real Tenten as she holds the ninja from behind. The image of Catra winks at the real one, then turns to her Tenten and nibbles her ear, forcing a giggle and a playful little shove.

"...That. It's, well." She pushes on, deciding not to even address Catra's doppelganger. "Lady Tsunade's a legend. I became a ninja to be like her but realized that I just couldn't. I thought I'd forge my own path, but I guess a part of me just..." Never grew up. She shrugs with one shoulder. "Sakura's her apprentice. I didn't measure up."

She lets out a little frustrated sigh and waves her hand at the mirror itself. "It focuses on whoever's centered in front of it, I think. She's been here the entire time, poking fun at both of... me."

Catra swigs from her soft drink again, glances away from Tenten. She notices the blush and blushes a little in turn. There's a faint sigh before her eyes slide back over to the mirror. She watches as her fantastical self nibbles on Tenten, then lets her eyes roam over Tenten's new outfit (at least in the mirror). There's a faint snort and she offers over the drink to Tenten with a casual motion.

"Want some?" Her cheeks are still a little red, but she's doing her best not to draw attention to the fact that she's part of Tenten's deepest desires at the moment.

"I know that feeling. Not measuring up." Of course, she had never measured up because she hadn't been allowed to measure up.

"And don't be down on yourself. You're... worth more than just what you can do for other people or your fancy abilities. Don't tell me I have to get that through your head, too."

O-oh. An indirect kiss. Or... Given how casually Catra offers it, she probably doesn't know. So it's best not to make a big deal about it. "Thanks." Still a bit pink, she gives it a light sip, then blinks. "Oh! This is pretty good! Where'd you even get it?"

While she waits for an answer, she gives Catra a light bump with her shoulder about their shared inability to measure up, then offers a reassuring smile. "No, don't worry about that. I can't follow her path, as much as I wanted to. That doesn't mean I don't have my own, right?"

The images are silently talking to one another. Tenten, reading their lips, lets out a little sigh and steps away, letting the mirror collapse into confused cloudiness while it waited for someone else to claim center spot. It was just a little awkward having Catra there while her dreams of the two of them flirting and cuddling played out.

Catra reaches out to take back the soda and holds it lightly between her fingers. She shrugs a little, then gestures back over her shoulder.

"The vending machine back there. It like, spits out different stuff every time though so... no clue if you can get another one." She takes another sip and glances over at the mirror as the images fade away into mist. After hesitating for a moment, Catra steps after Tenten. She's not sure she wants her deepest desires unfolded there for anyone to see.

"...Something wrong?"

She peers over her shoulder at the machine and makes a mental note. "Well, if it gave up that, the other stuff can't be too bad." Boy, isn't that tempting fate?

She blinks at the question, then jerks a little in realization. "Oh! No, I uh. I can read lips, you know? And it felt really weird to watch them flirt while you were right here. That's all." She flashes a reassuring smile and waves her hand in front of her face, dismissing the possibility of a problem.

Part of her's a little disappointed she doesn't get to see Catra's deepest desires. But, honestly? It's the older girl's choice, and Catra is nothing if not protective of her privacy. And Tenten can respect that.

"I mean, probably not. But they don't let more than ten things get dispensed a day because apparently after ten they start getting really weird," Catra says with a laugh. As Tenten explains, realization dawns on Catra's face. She nods firmly.

"Right, yeah. That'd be weird." She bites down on the desire to tease Tenten by making a smart remark about flirting. Especially because the latest developments with Adora are so frustrating and even heart-rending. She wants to shake the other young woman right now, but knows it won't help.

"...Not used to featuring in other people's ideal futures, honestly," she says after a moment. "Still getting used to that part."

"Oh, ew. Maybe I'll have to try in the morning, then." No sense in getting something like a curry soda, after all.

She notices the lack of teasing, but honestly isn't sure whether it's embarrassment or... The whole Adora situation. How was it that the simplest of people could create the messiest of problems? Not that Tenten didn't understand how she felt. She's probably one of the few people on the Rig who does get it. But she also doesn't beat herself up on that level, and doesn't understand how Adora can.

"Haven't you had a year to get used to it with Adora back home?" She flashes a little grin, to let Catra know that it's not meant harshly. "Unless you two had to confess all over again, I'd practically expect you to be planning a wedding by now. If you did..." She sighs, looking up to the ceiling. "Getting two dramatic first kisses with the love of your life. I'd be jealous."

"It wasn't that simple," Catra admits. It took her a long moment to say that, her expression pensive and maybe a little unhappy.

"I... We had to fight Horde Prime a lot. He..." She wraps an arm around herself. She doesn't know how to say what he did or how to put it into words. "He got inside my head for a while. And then we had to save Etheria and she didn't get it until basically the end." There's a pause again, then a little smile.

"The dramatic first kiss was nice, though. Kissing your girlfriend so much she saves the world? Pretty cool. But yeah. We were just settling in to rebuild Etheria and all of a sudden I'm back here. And no one has noticed me gone. It's freaking me out a bit."

Edited 2021-02-01 04:10 (UTC)

Adora being too dense to get that someone loves her? That sounds on brand for the hero. "Like I said, jealous!" She laughs, then tries to slip a comforting arm around Catra's shoulder.

"Well, if you went back once, you can go back again. Don't worry. And now we know something important, thanks to you." A meaningful grin. "Time doesn't pass. If we left our friends in a tight spot back home, then we'll come back right as we are, ready to help them again." She'd been a little worried about the war. But-well. Now she had more reason to be. But at the same time, she doesn't have to worry about forcably abandoning everyone to the horrors that were awaiting them.

"Besides, a kiss so good that it saves the world? That's something to write poems about."

Catra sighs and leans up against Tenten, her ears splayed unhappily.

"It's a long story. She was talking this magical failsafe for all the magical energy built up as a weapon in the Heart of Etheria to try and disable it and release the magic so Horde Prime couldn't activate the Heart and like, wipe out the universe and... I thought she was gone." She trails off. "I was holding her in my arms, begging her to stay with me. She... I thought she was going to die. I thought we were both going to die but I wasn't going to leave her, not again. But..."

Catra frowns.

"That's when I told her I loved her and you know what she said when she woke back up? She was like 'You love me?' as if she had no idea! Idiot. She's so dense, Ten." She reaches up to scrub at her eyes as the memory brings emotions bubbling back up.

Tenten gives her a comforting squeeze, closing her eyes. Why'd I have to fall in love with someone who has a love like that? Even on the edge of the destruction of the universe, a love powerful enough to pull everything from the brink? "That sounds like something that belongs in a song or in a play. Saving the whole universe..."

What a gap there is between them. But Tenten's fine. It's like Adora had told her, if Catra really wanted her, she'd have her. And, unless Catra decided she wanted her, Tenten was fine being a friend. "You'll get through to her. Besides, maybe if she goes back home the way you did-well. Hopefully she'd stay, rather than come back here, but if she did come back, maybe that would give her some perspective?"

"I hope so but even then..." Catra sighs. "She neeeds to get that it doesn't always have to be her. That it's not always her responsibility to make things better and carry everyone else's problems. I want her to slow down and focus on what she wants, not what everyone else wants. I don't know if she'll ever do that."

"No argument here. But this just... isn't an easy environment to teach anyone that." So much for trying to keep the conversation light. Tenten glances around the room, casting about for ideas. "I'd suggest putting her in front of that stupid mirror, but I think I've got my arm around the only person that'd show up there." She pats Catra's shoulder and sighs.

Listen to them. Trying to escape the realities of Adora for a moment and all they can do is talk about her.

That's always how it's been for Catra. Adora has been the center of her universe as surely as if she were some wandering comet and Adora were a star, tugging her ever inwards. She wonders if she can even have a life without Adora, sometimes.

"Probably," Catra says. "I don't really want to look at the thing. Feels... I dunno. Weird. How do we know if it's even really showing us what we really want?" She shrugs.

"...This whole place is weird."

Some people were like that. Come the Chunin Exams, Naruto was already the rising star of the village, pulling everyone into his orbit. Now, just over three years later, he's practically their center. The brat who used to scream about being Hokage... Not many people doubted it would happen some day. Not anymore.

Some people just had charisma.

"I know what I want," she murmurs, half to herself. Then she clears her throat. "Magic weapons, goofy instruments, mystic mirrors... It's like someone dumped a bunch of fables into a room and didn't care about categorization or anything." She considers for a moment. "I wonder where the really dangerous stuff is. They gotta have some, right?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if some of this stuff..." Catra waves a hand to encompass Collections.

"Is dangerous and they just don't know it or don't care enough to keep us away from it. I'm not exactly in a hurry to find out."

"You're the one drinking the soda," she points out. "I think K probably has a good idea of what's dangerous or not, but he's a librarian, so..." She shrugs. "I'm not really seeing how a bunch of mirrors can be dangerous, though."

Despite how 'addictive' they were. How dumb-no, that was where they'd just started up.

"You never know with magic," Catra points out. "Like... That other mirror gives me the creeps. I don't know what it is but looking at it makes my fur stand on end." She gestures towards the ornate mirror standing further away.

"Like it's looking back at me or something."

"That one." Tenten's flat tone makes it all too clear she knows exactly which one she means, without even bothering to look where Catra's pointing. "It wouldn't surprise me if there was some kind of camera or something behind it. It's creepy, yeah. I don't see why it's still up. How many magic mirrors does one place need, anyway?"

Edited 2021-02-02 04:38 (UTC)

"Too many. I don't like it." Catra opines. She takes another swig of soda, offers it over to Tenten again with a casual sort of gesture.

"Why do they have all this crap if they don't even know what half of it does?"

"That one creepy one sorta makes you wonder if there's any one-way mirrors in the bathrooms." Tenten grimaces, then takes the can and stares down at it. Just. Casual indirect kisses. Catra really must not know. If anything, it'd just make Tenten seem like the creepy one.

She takes a sip, then passes it back, burping a little. "Excuse me."

"Maybe they're using the workers as test subjects? 'We don't know what it does, but if people fool around with it enough, they might figure it out for us' or something like that." It seems pretty in character. And, if Tenten's honest, it's probably the brightest way to go about it, given how carelessly Jorgmund's off-duty workers goof around with some of these.

Across the room, there's a bit of a ruckus. Seems one of the items was some kind of cream that makes hair fall out, and someone just got slapped on the back of the head with it. A perfect handprint is missing and they're getting revenge by erasing their attacker's eyebrows while a group of friends cheers them on.

What a bunch of idiots.

Catra accepts her drink in return in with a casual smile. Indirect kisses just aren't a thing for her culture. Sorry to make you uncomfortable, Tenten. A faint snort follows Ten's suggestion. Catra nods, follows Tenten's gaze towards the roughhousing idiots.

"More proof that the people who run this thing are idiots. If they really wanted this place to run efficiently and do its job..." She trails off and shakes her head.

"Well. It needs a lot of work."

She sighs, slipping her arm off of Catra's shoulders so she can place both hands on her knees as she bends over, reading another plaque. "Honestly, if they'd just asked and offered a reasonable contract, I'd've accepted. They'd have violated it a few times by now, but..." She stands and rolls her shoulders in a shrug.

"They couldn't have gotten me here by asking nciely before. Well, maybe when I was at rock bottom I would have volunteered but now? No way. Fuck these guys." Catra says. She crouches down next to Tenten, casually invading her space a little so she can see the plaque. Sharing space is how you know Catra actually likes you.

"...I hope Melog is okay."

"At least I'd be getting paid," she huffs. "I've been here for, what, a whole year now? I'll have two birthdays on this mess soon and I won't see a single ryo out of this." Tenten puffs her cheeks out, sulking as she examines the object.

It's... Big. Magnificent, really. Looks like it might have been carved from mahogany. It's advertised by Jorgmund as the Armoire of Immobility, right next to the Armoire of Invincibility. Apparently, if the latch is closed in a specific way (and the plaque asks for a very specific sequence of steps not to be followed), it will become totally immovable by any force on the planet.

She's not really that interested, though. Not with Catra this close. "...Sorry to rant. Uh. Who's Melog? A friend from home?"

"Oh gods. That really shouldn't be here."

Hiccup and Toothless are back over by the apparently unliftable hammer, Hiccup looking at it extremely warily. Normally he'd be a bit more skeptical about this sort of thing, but given the collection of magic items already present and his current circumstances the hammer's got a higher than average chance of being what he thinks it is.

If it is Mjolnir? Hiccup definitely wants no part of it.

"Good news bud, we don't need to worry about them killing us by shocking us. They're gonna get us killed by accident way before that becomes an issue."

It had been hard not to notice the two of them. Neither were stealthy and, while Tenten wondered at how the dragon got the clearance to wander around the rig, neither seemed particularly dangerous. Turning her attention back to the mirror, she makes one last face at her reflection, then moves on to explore something else. Maybe that dart-looking thing.

She'd already tried, and failed, to budge that hammer, of course. Now she wants nothing to do with it. But she's also not going to pester some guy she doesn't know about it, either. It seemed like the dragon was all the company he needed at the moment.

Hiccup moves on with Toothless following behind. He cocks an eyebrow at some of the odder objects, starts taking note of anything he might want to investigate later, and stays away from anything that gives him the willies. He might not have what you'd call a well developed self-preservation instinct, but it's still there.

He stops to take a closer look at the dart before turning to her.

"So, is it just me or is this room pure unadulterated chaos waiting to happen?"

"This room and whatever they don't feel like putting out," she comments, picking up the dart and examining the odd crystalline bits poking out of it before setting it down exactly as it had been. Fine craftsmanship, utter garbage balance. Obviously meant for looks more than as an offensive weapon.

"Some of this is too dangerous for the kind of people who'd like to see and touch the things."

“Probably depends on what it is they can’t have, and what their life is like” A voice chimes in from off in the stacks. The guy working on the puzzle box doesn’t look up from the object as he talks, turning the oddly familiar box over in his hands. Fingers sweep over it in a way that feels right for some reason, but it remains stubbornly unaffected.

“It’s like anything that’s addictive. And for someone who has a lot going for them, the mirror is probably more of a tease than a temptation, or maybe even just a fun lark. But for someone who has nothing, or who's in a miserable situation, even just the glimpse of a better life or an escape has the potential to be very addictive to some people."

"Then they ought to take steps for a better life." Yes, Tenten's kind of a 'bootstraps' gal. "Staring at a fantasy isn't gonna make anything happen. The only way your life improves is if you go out there and make it happen yourself. And even then, you might not get your fantasy." Boy, does that last one have some hard lessons from her childhood wrapped up in it.

She leans over, glancing in his general direction, then goes off to look at something else. "If the thing provided step by step instructions through some code you had to solve, then I could understand an addiction. But just the image... Take a photo and move on with your life."

Nodding idly to himself, he gives a noncommittal noise in response. There's something about the way she worded that last bit that struck of personal experience, and whatever opinion he may have had on the subject of picking oneself up by their bootstraps, they weren't worth voicing if they were going to potentially strike a nerve.

But the idea that the mirror would be improved, or at least more rational to get lost in, if it actually held the code to getting what it showed you, startles a sharp laugh out of him.

"Who knows? Maybe it does." Almost as soon as it's out of his mouth he seems to realize that might not have been the best thing to suggest out loud, and tries to walk it back with a shrug. "Or maybe that's what people tell themselves. That if they look at it long enough they can figure out the trick to getting what they want out of it."

"Personally, I'm less interested in why people would obsess over it and more in why anyone would want to make it in the first place. Sadism or masochism?" Seemingly giving up on working out the puzzle for the moment he turns to lightly tossing it back and forth between his hands as he talks.

She pauses, then turns back to squint at the mirror from a distance before shaking her head in disgust. The fact that she'd even been tempted was-no. Ugh. Still, she hadn't noticed a code earlier, and she'd given it a careful look. "You're probably right. About searching for the trick."

But there wasn't one. Sometimes dreams just didn't come true. So you made new ones.

She squats, looking down at a top that was spinning, spinning, spinning... She poked at it, and the thing still didn't fall. "I'd guess it was a trap. For defending someone's home or property. Catch the attackers by surprise and use that to either buy precious seconds or attack while they're off-guard."

If he noticed Tenten taking a look back at the mirror he didn't comment on it, instead, nodding at her guess, and with his interest in the puzzle box quickly fading, followed her lead in looking over the other objects the room had to offer.

"Huh, practical, strategic, and defensive...I like it. Much more constructive use than any of the ideas I came up with. I was assuming something along the lines of use for psychological torture or something specifically tailored to get people addicted to it." As he voices his own guesses it was with a kind of chipper tone that contrasted sharply with what he was saying, and it wasn't until he'd already said it that he realize how that might come off. Going quiet for a moment and nervously fidgeting with the box again he quickly added, "I like your idea better."

One could probably make a game out of getting people to try and theorize the purpose the mirror was created for, with everyone's answers telling a little something about them. The fact that he'd jumped to more sinister conclusions, maybe didn't say the best things about him.

He hadn't even dared to look at the mirror for himself. Partly because he was well aware of all the things he wanted but could no longer have and didn't need a reminder thank you very much, and partly because he had a healthy fear of his own addictive personality and took those warnings to heart. That alone colored his opinion of the thing.

“Did you check out the other one? That ‘Mirror of Enviable Image’? Seems a little redundant but it has fewer warnings attached to it.” Looking up at something draped on top of the ominous black vending machine, there staring right back at him was just about the creepiest ventriloquist doll he’d ever seen. A noodle arm draped down in front of him, and he only hesitated for a moment before giving its plush hand a cheeky shake and moving on to look over the machine's snack options.

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🟆005🟆

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doot. sorry for the wait.

lol, it's okay