no one is going to stop me.

“why the fuck did you think that?” she snaps, glaring at him as even when her words and annoyance in her tone didn’t seem to fully reach him. despite the obvious leave me the fuck alone attitude naveen still took it upon himself to sit down beside her. claws extending on instinct as catra tried to hold in her anger and not just lash out so obviously in public. “don’t you have actual friends?” @naveenmaldonia

Adora was taken aback, the hurt in Catra dawning over her drunken mind. Of course she had thought about it before but never…..she should have thought of it more. Adora only thought that because she saw how wrong their way of life was, Catra would see it that way too. And when she didn’t Adora just…ran. But that wasn’t just it. There wasn’t a magical solution to either problem. It hurt her head to think about it. “You were always enough,” Adora said, quieter than before. “Just because I was changing…Just because I was growing into someone new…didn’t mean I wasn’t still me. I am still me. And I wanted you to grow with me because our old life was wrong….how we were treated was wrong.” She sighed. “Was it really so wrong of me to want us to have a better life? To want a better future?” She turned around, back facing Catra because she knew if she kept looking she would probably cry and that was all the alcohol’s fault and not her own. “I didn’t think about what you wanted. But I hoped you want more for yourself. I wanted the world for you too, Catra. And even here…..never for a second….has there been anyone who could replace you. Even when I want them too.”

Ready to snap back at Adora’s half-assed attempt to try to justify her actions, something Catra doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to accept, she stops just before the words come out - focusing on the second half of what the blonde was saying. Maybe... maybe they didn’t deserve to be treated the way they had been. It had never really occurred to her before and if she were sober she wouldn’t even be considering this right right now, but in her drunken state the words stick with her far more than they should. Memories of Ms. Weaver’s treatment flashing as she closes her eyes and tries to shake it all off. Adora turns away and continues talking, but Catra barely even notices, too busy stuck in the past. “Whatever, Adora,” is all she says, suddenly needing to just get the fuck out of there. Pushing past the blonde, she moves as quickly as she dared out of the casino - not wanting to seem as if she were fleeing, despite that being exactly what she was doing. 

Rancis knew it was risky to offer a stranger a drink, but he didn’t really care. Anyone who refused a drink was missing out, or so he thought. He smirked, and like clockwork, someone was walking by with a tray of champagne glasses. Taking two, he handed one to her and kept one for himself. “Why’s that? You not havin’ a good time or what?”

Now champagne wasn’t Catra’s drink of choice by any means, but when the stranger hands it over to her, she still takes it. Because it’s free and right here in front of her. Taking a sip of the drink, she considers the question before lifting a shoulder in a shrug. “Not really my scene - but I was expected to make an appearance.” Or well, not really, but she wasn’t going to spend the night sitting at home alone while Adora went out and lived it up.

Adora looked at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?” she slurred, her voice growing louder to match Catra’s. “Why is this all my fault? I asked you to come with me. I wanted you to be with me! We could have figured this all out together……Maybe I should have fought more….I dunno…But don’t act like you couldn’t have said yes! You could have gone with me instead of after me. I know you like it here too.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “But you would rather start fights and hate me than admit that to yourself. Or to me. Or anyone. I dunno. I just know we could have had a great thing and you just…won’t let it happen.”

Everything Adora was saying was true - objectively there was no denying that. But Catra refused to believe it. She refused to let go of all the anger and hate that she had become so accustomed to carrying over the past few years - refused to see through it all to acknowledge the own role she had played in the fallout that had happened between the two of them. Instead she continued to stew in her rage as the only thing she could focus on ever was the way she had been so easily left behind. “I didn’t want to go. Did you ever think about that? Did you ever stop for just one minute and think about what I actually wanted?” she shouts back, hands flying out as she asks each question. “We had everything, Adora. We were doing fine. And none of that was good enough for you. I wasn’t good enough for you. So why the fuck would I run away from everything just to watch myself be replaced by fucking Sparkles and Arrow?” Stepping back, Catra shakes her head and lets out a hollow laugh at Adora’s next words. “Yeah. We could have had a great thing. We did have a great thing. And then you fucking left.”

catra didn’t want to talk to her. didn’t want to spend any second longer near adora than she absolutely had to. but no one else understood the feeling of complete confusion that came along with learning about all of these new holidays that people have apparently been celebrating all this time. not even scorpia got it - having lived the first part of her life outside of the fright zone. “they all sound like someone on crack made them up,” she admits, for once talking to her former best friend without any heat in her words. “what the fuck do you mean you tell kids an old magical man breaks into your house to give you presents at night? and he has flying reindeer?”

It was going so good and then it wasn’t. Adora was confused by the harshness in Catra’s tone but once the words settled in she was just angry all over again. She knew she wasn’t a victim completely, but she knew Catra wasn’t 100% either. “Are you really going to do this now?” she said, a little louder than she meant to because everything around them felt so loud. “You really want to have this fight now? Now? We can’t just…just…exist around each other? We really can’t just have a good time and live in the present?” She was drunk and she was angry and she didn’t know how to stop herself from talking. “Why do you always have to do this?” 

A large part of Catra wants to do exactly what Adora’s asking - wants to just… exist with her. To pretend for a minute or two longer that things before them were okay again. To forget about all the pain and hurt she’s felt at Adora’s hand. To forget the anger. But like always it’s too strong to just ignore. Even in her drunken state, especially in her drunken state actually, Catra’s anger managed to overshadow any and all other feelings she may have. Like it always does. “You did this, Adora. Not me,” she snaps, her own voice raising. It’s not entirely true, but it’s not entirely false either. At least not in Catra’s eyes. “You lost the right to just exist together the day you fucking left me.”

“Unfortunately, people find singing carols and cheerful songs get people into the spirit of the holiday. With or without a microphone and stage.” She couldn’t remember which years there had been karaoke but there had always been singing. “It gets worse as the night goes on and they get more inebriated. Classic drunk mistake to think you can sing when you most certainly cannot.” Sipping on her margarita, she glanced over at Catra and had to wonder if this was all new to her, she got the impression all holidays across the board had not been celebrated wherever she’d come from. “Personally, I much prefer the decorating aspect of the holiday, the carolers can choke for all I care.” 

Scrunching her nose in distaste at the thought of it getting worse than it already was right now, Catra made a mental note to be out of here long before that could happen. And to avoid this area of the festival for the rest of the day once she parted ways from her boss. “Who cares if everyone’s in the spirit of the holiday or not? They shouldn’t subject everyone to this just to cheer themselves up,” she comments with a shake of her head. Taking a sip of her own drink, she glances over at Genevieve and holds back the snort that wants to escape her. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. It looks good though, Wonderland and Heart of Hearts.” Not that Catra would actually know what Christmas decorations were supposed to look like in the first place.

Adora froze, eyes opening up in shock. If Catra just said what she just said, Adora didn’t want to forget it. She wanted to screenshot it, keep it in her memories forever so every time she saw Catra she knew her friend was still there and that she was here for a new beginning in her own way and here was a chance for a future with her in it. She wasn’t sure what to do She wanted to say so much and try to drink a few gallons of water to keep her mind sharp but she knew she couldn’t do any of those things right now. She wanted to cry. But she couldn’t do that either. So she clung tighter even though she could hardly figure out her feelings. She just needed a little more time. “I miss you too,” she breathed out. “There isn’t a second where I don’t think about you and what happened.”

As Adora holds her tighter, for a moment Catra’s alcohol fogged brain forgets everything that happened over the past few years and it’s like she’s transported back to the Fright Zone. Back to her teenage years when all she had or ever needed in the entire world was Adora. To when she had a best friend that she loved more than anything by her side no matter what. But that bubble is burst the moment the blonde opens her mouth. The simple words what happened bringing everything back - the memories of when Adora left, the desperate pleas to get her to stay or return home, and the way she had been so easily replaced with a new set of friends as if she had meant nothing. Ripping herself out of her former best friend’s arms, Catra stumbled a bit in her rush to put distance between them. “Fuck you,” she snaps, glaring at the other girl. “Don’t act like you’re the fucking victim here.”

everything in her wants to snap fuck you and raise the bat higher in response to genevieve’s direction. never one to take well to authority, the only thing that stops catra is the fact that she, surprisingly, actually likes and somewhat respects her current boss. so very reluctantly, she slowly lowers the bat, staring at the older woman as she does so. “and what now?” she questions, unable to keep the bit annoyance out of her tone.

Staying at Nightmares after the fight club night ended had been a mistake. Something Catra should have known better than to have let happen. But when Adora didn’t leave right away, she felt inclined to stay. Was it to keep an eye on her? To potentially pick a fight? Simply because she fucking missed the blonde and was too amped up from the rush of the fight earlier to act logically and leave well enough alone? She wasn’t sure what the reason was - but whatever it had been, she knew come tomorrow she’d regret it. If she even remembered all of this. Which a large part of her truly prayed she wouldn’t - already knowing the regret and embarrassment she’d have to deal with for letting her guard down so easily. But when Adora came to her and wrapped her arms around her, it was like all the anger that had made a home for itself inside of her so long ago melted away. For a moment, it was like things were back to how they used to be when Adora was the only person she had or ever needed in the world. So, like a fucking idiot, she let herself slip back in time. Just for one night. Slowly but surely her arms lift to return the hug, holding the other girl tight as her hands grab at the back of Adora’s shirt, twisting the fabric as if that could anchor her into place and keep her in this moment forever. “I miss you,” she lets out her own confession in a small whisper. It’s something Catra would rather die than admit, but her mouth works before her brain and it takes a second for her to even realize what she’d just said. @lastshera​