video;

[heterochrocatic]

[ Much like poor Tenten, Catra is broadcasting live from the infirmary. In fact, if you squint you'll probably be able to see which bed she's in to relation to Tenten. The poor woman has been bandaged to hell and back, her head wrapped in dressings, though there's enough visible for it to be clear that whatever happened to her, it was necessary for that big, poofy mane of hair to be shorn away in order for it to be treated.

At least she's not missing half her face. When she speaks, her voice is rough and croaky. She's still recovering from whatever it was that happened to her a few days back. ]

I guess I'm alive. Don't everyone celebrate at once.

[ The jab is accompanied by a weak smile. ]

What'd I miss?

Comments

[monkey_wrench]

[What was left of that casual smirk slowly dissolves as those words settle between them, expression shifting to something harder to read. Shock maybe? Suspicion? Fear? A bit of all three?

There's something far away about the look as he physically pulls back from the communicator, staring at the gadget like it might bite him. And for what's probably too long, he just stays like that, still enough and quiet enough that it's possible Jogmunds crappy connection froze on them.]

[heterochrocatic]

[ She has some idea of how he might be feeling. She knows the struggle, the desire to be seen as collected, powerful, in control. Safe. She waits for those long moments before she can finally make herself talk again. ]

I was winning. And all it did was make me feel even more miserable.

[ She has the horrible feeling of exposing even more of herself than she wants, but she feels the need to push on. ]

It wasn't actually what I wanted. So. Just think about it, okay?

[monkey_wrench]

[As the silence stretched on, Jack came close to snapping forward to shut the communicator off, had just started to reach for it when Catra spoke up and he froze again.

And at her words his expression softens some.]

I...

[There was a time where he would have scoffed at that, just rolled his eyes, and acted like that wouldn't be the case with him. Like he knew what he wanted and he was damn well going to get it and maybe her problem was that she just couldn't hack it.

But he had won. He did get everything he wanted. Lived that entier life. And it was gone now, or folded into itself, or however the timeline had figured best to fix itself. But he could still remember all of it. Spent a good chunk of his days actively trying not to think about it, while continuing to steer himself closer to that same end.

And he almost says it out loud. "I did win". It's right there on his tongue. There was a feeling that if ever there was going to be a time to talk about it, to get that heavy weight off his chest, it was now. But if he said it, he'd have to say everything else. Everything that came with it.

And he can't.

So he swallows it.]

...I'll think about it...

[He doesn't sound very convincing. Mostly because he has thought about it. And tried not to think about it. And always came to the same conclusion. There wasn't anything else for him. There wasn't anything else he wanted. Nothing that felt attainable.]

[heterochrocatic]

[ Catra gives a smile. It's weak and tired, almost a little sad. ]

Well. Um.

[ She takes a deep breath and does her best not to look as tired as she feels and doesn't really pull it off. ]

I'm not good at this, but you can talk to me whenever, okay?

[ She knew what it was to feel vulnerable and to feel that that vulnerability made her weak. A target. She was doing her best to unlearn that now. And maybe she could help Jack a little, too? ]

[monkey_wrench]

[Jack wasn't any better at saying "thanks" than Catra was at saying "sorry". Not when it counted. But he numbly nodes at the offer.]

I'll keep that in mind.

[Having someone not only reach out, but admit they’d been down the same road as him, gotten close to controlling the world and had only been worse off for it, it was...well he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about it.]

I should probably let you rest. [And get himself a bath...in a sink...with his roommate posted outside the door so he didn't have to die on his own or end up joining Catra in the infirmary. Isn't life on the Rig grand?]

I um...I'm glad you're not dead.

[heterochrocatic]

I'm glad I'm not dead, too.

[ Catra smirks a little, some of that old, smug energy radiating off of her. ]

Gonna sleep now I think. Talk to you later, Jack.