Cat & Mouse

[heeeyadora]

WHO: Catra, Tony, OTA
WHERE: The Forge, Various Locations in Temba
WHAT: THE NOISE
WHEN: The start of the event
WARNINGS: Violence, Will update as needed.
Note:'First' is for Tony, 'And Then' is for anyone else. Respond it whichever tense/style you prefer and I will match.

FIRST

The noise at first made its way into Catra's dreams, distant, something she wasn't quite aware of as the world twisted around her, dreams becoming nightmares. The noise became more and more apparent, Catra tossing and turning before awaking in a foul mood.

She pressed her ears flat against her head with a sullen frown. What was that??? The source wasn't immediately apparent, but she had a good guess, stalking her way towards the forge. Tony was usually the one responsible for ungodly noises doing whatever it was he did in there.

"Turn it offfff," she growled, letting herself in, tail twitching and swaying in irritation behind her.


AND THEN

Catra ran, sometimes on two legs, sometimes on all fours, trying to escape the noise, trying to stop it. And in her irrational state she concluded anyone and anything in her way must be the source of it. She pounced out of the blue, eyes wild, and claws sharp. Hope you're ready for the chase, little mouse. Catra isn't going to listen to reason right now.

Comments

FIRST

[in_extremis]

There were plenty of things that Tony was feeling uncomfortably responsible for, but a noise irritating enough to wake Catra up from across the street and have her come bursting in to this new mess he was in the centre of did not make the list. She didn't quite startle him, but her arrival was followed by an erratic clattering and a whirring hum cutting through the air as Tony tried to conceal the evidently very broken lightsaber, sending components that had started vibrating and hovering scattered across the workbench or floor and the eerie light of the glowing metal all around him winking out.

Clearly, these effects were more far reaching than the forge, Tony thought. "I did! Sorry! I didn't know it would do that!" he insisted, tossing the hilt of the sword out of sight so Catra wouldn't know exactly what to blame and start wreaking havoc. That wasn't really Tony's to destroy.

[heeeyadora]

The added noise and light had Catra grimacing, but the end of them didn't snuff out the prime offender, making her wince in frustration.

"You did not, it's still- gah- what is it??" she demanded, holding her hands over her ears to try and shut it out, eyes searching desperately for the source.

And Then

[doubled_speed]

He hears the noise just before there's a body on him, and Tommy twists aside, confused over what's happening. He sees Catra, and frowns.

"Yo, Kitten, you okay? Or did you find the nip?"

[in_extremis]

"Uh," Tony provided helpfully, not sure what to make of this accusation now, and giving a glance around the workshop. It wasn't in a great state, but everything seemed stable enough, the only movement left some bolts still rolling sluggishly off into dark corners, and the flicker of the fire. He most certainly didn't hear anything out of the ordinary, like Catra holding her ears would suggest. "Maybe...you shouldn't be in here, until I figure this out," he said, hands up to help back Catra out of the potentially contaminated forge.

[heeeyadora]

"Just make it stop, it's- UGH-" With very little warning Catra dropped one hand from her ears to slap Tony away from her, claws extended and breathing heavily, hardly seeming to realize she'd been so rough before she smelled the blood in the air.

[heeeyadora]

She gives an agitated sort of growl, swiping at him with glinting claws.

"St- hhh- stop-" she hisses, as though Tommy's responsible for this damn noise. If she breaks him maybe it will finally stop.

[in_extremis]

For all of Catra's threats and grouching, she hadn't actually drawn blood before, shocking Tony into a moment of stillness as he clutched his forearm against his chest where he had tried to jerk it back, rocked back with his weight on his back foot, and red seeping with alarming speed from between his fingers. It stung, distantly, in a way that Tony knew would hurt a lot more the moment he let it go, but in the meantime he stared at Catra, not entirely sure what to make of this escalation. He had some idea of what she was capable of, but less so of what he had done to earn it.

"I'll take care of it, okay? I'll figure it out, I'm going to fix this," he tried to placate, spreading the fingers that weren't trying to staunch the bleeding to warn Catra way again. "Just, give me a minute, I'll let you know when you can come back, it's not going to take long."

AND THEN...?

[beholding_archivist]

Jon hasn't returned to the library after the Countess has attacked him and he was lucky enough for Cal to come and help him out with the irritated feline. But what has gotten into her, he still has no idea.

He is still pondering anxiously when he spots Catra a little in the distance, the sight putting a little smile to his face. He hasn't seen her in a while, has he. And so Jon raises a hand in greeting, calling out to her. "Hello, Catra! It's been a wh-oah!" Jon is cut off and barely manages to jump back when she pounces at him, leaving him wide-eyed and confused.

"Wh-wha...?"

[doubled_speed]

Woah. He dodges aside as she swipes. That's rude.

"Yeah, seems like if I stop I'll get cut up. So, you know, pass."

-AND ONE

[rage_on]

That sound is positively driving him out of his mind, as though whatever its source has discovered a way to burrow directly into his brain, an impossible itch that couldn't be scratched.

There's a dangerous lack of focus in the turtle's green-eyed gaze as he turns, teeth grating together as if in some effort to keep his head from splitting. Claws bite into his upraised arm as he brings it up out of reflex, the sharp pain doing nothing to sooth his spiking irritation, but it does grant in that moment a target to home in on. The force of Catra's pounce is already knocking him back, his shell thumping against the wall of a nearby ruined building, but he's pulling his other arm around, fist balled and set to punch as he lashes back in retaliation.

And Then

[hadthehighground]

Obi-Wan had been meditating when it started. Abruptly pulled out of his peaceful state by a noise that he could hear but could also feel. Something was very wrong here. There was a disturbance in the Force that seemed to be caused by whatever it was making that sound.

He could feel the discontent of nearby creatures. Everything just felt in edge and thus he remained alert. So when someone just launched herself at him he was ready. Whirling around and thrusting his hand forward. His command heeded in a directed force push at whoever his attacker happened to be.

[heeeyadora]

Breathing heavily, Catra looked guilty for at least a short moment before her features twisted, hardly able to hear his words over the damn sound. It was burrowing its way inside of her.

Her eyes narrowed, shifting abruptly pounce with a surprising amount of strength for someone her size, teeth bared like she might try to rip out his throat if he wasn't quick about remedying this.

[heeeyadora]

"Nnn-" She shakes her head. Not that. Stop the sound. Its driving her insane! She hisses, unable to explain herself, and attempts again, and again, panting with the effort of trying to catch him.

[heeeyadora]

He's greeted with a growl and a flash of sharp canines.

Luckily for Jon, Catra doesn't strike out with her claws. Unluckily, she aims a hard kick for the center of his chest, not holding back at all. There's no explanation given, no sense to any of this. It's almost like the boys behaved with the rage bug.

[heeeyadora]

She cries out in pain, growling and leaping up to scramble up what's left of the ruined building. She ought to play to her strengths, climb higher and attack when she has the upper hand, but the state this has her in, strategy is not top of the list.

She launches herself down at him again, trying to catch hold of that shell.

[in_extremis]

Something had gone very wrong, but if Tony was going to fix it, he was going to have to survive this first. His eyes widened as Catra shifted, but he didn't try to stop her leap or momentum, letting her crash into him with his hands flying up to grip under her arms as they went tumbling into the workbench. It sent a new shower of components and tools down on them and scattering across the hard floor while Tony shoved Catra up and away from his major arteries with one hand tight around her surprisingly strong shoulder, the other flailing out for the first tool he could use. It was, disappointingly, the hem of a leather apron that had been reliable enough to keep his skin from searing off, so he shoved it toward Catra's face, leather between his hand and her teeth to wrangle her back further as he barked sharply, "Catra! You're way off Broadway, sweetheart, pump the breaks!"

[heeeyadora]

Catra tumbled back head over heel, blinking in confusion for a moment. It only cut through the insistence of that noise for a brief moment before that anger seemed to click back into place, and she bared her teeth at the man, righting herself and shaking the dirt from her hair, making another run at him that seemed to defy logic. He'd stopped her once, naturally he could do it again.

[heeeyadora]

The crash was almost a blessing, momentarily deafening the noise, growling like some sort of animal as the apron was shoved against her face. She bit at it, but didn't seem to be able to tear through to get to Tony's flesh, trying to wrestle it away instead.

She barely heard his words, certainly didn't seem to respond to them, pushing against him blindly.

[rage_on]

Not that height would have really made much difference anyway. For a turtle, Raphael spends a whole lot of time in high places.

Strategy mostly boils down to 'hit things until they stop moving' even when he's in his right mind. At the moment he's functioning mainly on reaction now that he's found an outlet, which makes it easier for Catra to get a grip when she does. Hopefully she hangs on because Raphael swings himself bodily around the moment he feels the tug of her slight weight, snarling as he tries to grab at her.

[in_extremis]

The lack of focus in whatever this attack was clearly was working in Tony's favour, because it should not have been so easy to distract Catra with some protective equipment. He let her arm drop to wrap both hands around her head, tangling the apron over her hair as he hauled her to the side, bringing her head cracking down against the floor with a wince at the sound.

[heeeyadora]

She digs her claws in tight, kicking at his groping hands and stealing a moment to deliver a very unfair punch to the back of his head before her grip slips and she has to scramble to hold on.

[rage_on]

That only serves to make him angrier. He stops abruptly in his flailing, reaching up over his shoulders to grab a hold of her, maybe even just before she can lose her grasp. Unfortunately his intent isn't to save her so much as fling her over his head.

[heeeyadora]

The growling and panting stopped abruptly, Catra's body going limp. She seemed to be breathing, at least, but given how loud that crack had been (and the amount of blood dribbling down from under her mask), she wasn't going to be getting up any time soon.

[heeeyadora]

"Aaaah--!" Catra cries out, landing roughly, though she tries to roll out it. Her hair and tail are poofed up, and it takes her a moment to reorient, throwing a fistful of dirt and stones at Raph to try and distract him.

[rage_on]

It's a good tactic, especially when there's a practically rabid turtle throwing himself at her.

"Rrrgh..!" Raphael growls as he's pelted by debris in the face. He brings his arms up, stumbling and crashing to the ground well short of the cat-girl, but not about to be down for long.