[if Catra were not injured she would totally be hanging upside down from somewhere or surreptitiously stalking Kon or trying to pounce him. ISN'T IT HIS LUCKY DAY THAT SHE CANNOT DO ANY OF THESE THINGS B(]
[she does wait until he returns the common room and greets him from her spot seated not-so-surreptitiously on the nearest. . . chair. . . or whatever seating implements are in Winter dorm]
[ there are chairs and couches... she can perch safely anywhere, like the gremlin she is.
kon looks - tired, pissed off still but less so than when he stormed out, and his left hand's a little red, presumably from hitting something. his bum arm is hanging at his side since he can't really wear anything that would support it like usual right now, rip. but he does look her way, squinting for a second. ]
I mean, I'm planning my dream coup of the school that wouldn't work since we're pretty much nerfed to useless, but I wouldn't call that busy. [ some dry levity to alleviate some of his tension. ] What's up?
[ oh, that. he isn't surprised she noticed, since she has fucking cat ears and could probably hear the tapping enough to realize it wasn't mindless after kon started doing it. ]
Morse code. It's a means of communication that translates a signal duration into dots and dashes, which translates into letters. Without the thing that can transmit the signals, though, the duration becomes taps. A sort tap or duration is a dot, and a long one is a dash.
At first, I think he was doing it just as a nervous tick. It was basically the tapping equivalent of going "bad bad bad" repeatedly. I agreed with very vehement "shit's fucked," and he asked what we should do.
Didn't get to respond to him. Shit was a little too fucked.
[ merrily continues to teach the she-ra's about profanity ]
I wish we did, Catra. [ he gets it - he knows where that disappointment is directed, because he's feeling it, too. even throwing a few punches and yelling it out hasn't gotten it out of his system. ] Wish I knew a damn thing about all of this, but we were really chasing our asses out there at the end.
And some murderer - or two - took an easy out for killing someone for some stupid reason by voting for an innocent woman who put herself on the chopping block for the rest of us.
... yeah. Yeah, she was. Today, and Thursday both.
[ they went through it together, but manwol didn't have to keep fighting. didn't have to be brave. but she stood up and she was, anyways, especially when she offered herself up for expulsion.
... but that said. ]
Right. So that's why I think we need to put our heads together on figuring out what the hell is going on in this place, even outside of the trials we're going to get stuck in.
[ unfortunately kon is fond of manwol but was fond of lila, too, so he is also EMOTIONS ]
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.
[ he reaches and gives a small, harmless pull on one of her ears. ]
Everything is always easier said than done, but we don't benefit from inaction. Not when our lives are on the line in more ways than we originally anticipated.
Good, then show it off. [ he's good at egging people on in whatever way they need to be pushed. ] We're going to get to the bottom of this, whether I have to keep giving you cheesy inspirational quotes or we have to go tear the construction zones down.
week one, saturday
[she does wait until he returns the common room and greets him from her spot seated not-so-surreptitiously on the nearest. . . chair. . . or whatever seating implements are in Winter dorm]
Hey there, Kon.
You busy?
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kon looks - tired, pissed off still but less so than when he stormed out, and his left hand's a little red, presumably from hitting something. his bum arm is hanging at his side since he can't really wear anything that would support it like usual right now, rip. but he does look her way, squinting for a second. ]
I mean, I'm planning my dream coup of the school that wouldn't work since we're pretty much nerfed to useless, but I wouldn't call that busy. [ some dry levity to alleviate some of his tension. ] What's up?
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[her confident smile does flicker at that, because she is sympathetic, but she is here for a reason]
Just wondering what was up with you and Leo at the end of trial. [raises a brow] Some kind of tap-tap-tapping language?
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Morse code. It's a means of communication that translates a signal duration into dots and dashes, which translates into letters. Without the thing that can transmit the signals, though, the duration becomes taps. A sort tap or duration is a dot, and a long one is a dash.
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Oh.
[hmmmm]
Sounds like something super secretive. Why were you guys talking in "morse code?"
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Didn't get to respond to him. Shit was a little too fucked.
[ merrily continues to teach the she-ra's about profanity ]
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[her ears droop a bit, but whatever disappointment she feels is less directed at him than the situation as a whole]
And here I was hoping you two might know something the rest of us didn't.
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I wish we did, Catra. [ he gets it - he knows where that disappointment is directed, because he's feeling it, too. even throwing a few punches and yelling it out hasn't gotten it out of his system. ] Wish I knew a damn thing about all of this, but we were really chasing our asses out there at the end.
And some murderer - or two - took an easy out for killing someone for some stupid reason by voting for an innocent woman who put herself on the chopping block for the rest of us.
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[her tail stills at her back, ears flattening again, gaze flickering away]
. . . she was a lot braver than most of us. That's for sure.
[but, that said. . .?]
But she asked us to do better. So that just means we have to the next time this happens, right?
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[ they went through it together, but manwol didn't have to keep fighting. didn't have to be brave. but she stood up and she was, anyways, especially when she offered herself up for expulsion.
... but that said. ]
Right. So that's why I think we need to put our heads together on figuring out what the hell is going on in this place, even outside of the trials we're going to get stuck in.
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[her ears flatten a bit]
Yeah, well.
Easier said than done. Even after what we went through.
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Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.
[ he reaches and gives a small, harmless pull on one of her ears. ]
Everything is always easier said than done, but we don't benefit from inaction. Not when our lives are on the line in more ways than we originally anticipated.
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[she hisses in surprise when he tugs one of her ears, instinctively flicking them away]
. . .
Who taught you that cheesy phrase?
[Catra. . .]
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there's a snort at the hiss, but it at least got her out of the funk a bit. ]
A historical world leader and war hero in the world I come from. He went through a lot of shit, but he came out of it in the end, even with the odds.
And he's right. I'm too stubborn to give up on something, even if that field trip was fucked up. Even if this place is.
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[she snorts a little at that, lifting her chin almost defiantly]
What, and you think I'm not stubborn enough? I'm not afraid of anything that this place could throw at us.
[FALSE BRAVADO: SHE STILL GOT IT]
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I don't need a reminder. From you, or anyone else.
[tail flick!]
I'm not an inspirational quote kind of person.