April 21, 2019:
Spoiler enters the Titans Tower and catches Katsumi watching the news recapping the riots in Mutant Town earlier that day…
Habitation Level - Titans Tower
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
It had been on various news outlets. Riots in Mutant Town. A building nearly caught on fire. Luckily, no one seemed to have gotten injured.
Still, the news had concerned Spoiler, for more than one reason, but there wasn't much that could be done about it. She slipped into Titans Tower to check on things before she went on her nightly patrol. Stealing silently through the tower, she spotted Katsumi and the TV flickering to the dark of the sitting room.
"…I used to be told that it was bad for the eyes… watching TV in the dark…" she offers as an opening gambit. Arms folded over her chest, she's leaning a shoulder to the doorframe as if she had been there for an hour.
*
Katsumi Oshiro is sitting in the floor, legs crossed before her with the news rolling. The calico feline is settled on her lap, her fingers idly moving through his excessively woolly fur. There's a haunted look on her face as the media 'explains' what happened: peaceful demonstrators were attacked by a mutant extremist, and in their self-defense, property was damaged.
It takes a few extra seconds before Katsumi looks back over her shoulder to the increasingly-familiar form of Spoiler. "I dunno if the t.v. can actually hurt my eyes anymore," she says. Something about her tone might suggest she's also unsure whether or not she's comfortable with the idea. But she looks ahead again. "I was there," she nods tot he television, "when that happened."
*
"I noticed," says the batling of Kat having been in that, uncurling her arms and moving over to lean her weight into her hands on the back of the sofa. She's not going to comment about the eye strain. After all, Katsumi is now a meta. It's entirely possible that the light doesn't strain her eyes the way it would strain Stephanie's. Besides, the flat dull of Kat's voice was as concerning as the few frames of street camera footage Spoiler had which confirmed Katsumi was in the area.
"And you didn't cause it," is commented, added, as if in hopes that it would soothe wha the violet-eyed girl might be feeling.
*
Katsumi Oshiro suddenly leans back to look upside-down at Spoiler, having easily tracked her position in the room by sound. The fact that she was speaking made it pretty easy; not that she's trying to show off. And despite the perhaps goofy angle, the flat tone of voice prevails. "I should've stopped her. She could've died in there. The second I knew what she was about to do, I should've grabbed'er and dragged her away." She straightens her posture again to stare at the screen. "She might be dead now. That kind of feels like it's on me."
*
Being tracked by sound, when the batling is talking and not trying to move silently, sits well enough with Spoiler. It helped her get a sense of Katsumi's abilities, after all. Standing att he back of the sofa, Spoiler looks down at the meta, head tilted.
"And the civilians in the building that might have been hurt when she called their attention to her and fled into an inhabited apartment? Is that on you as well?" asks the blonde, seemingly curious as to how far the enchanted human will take this guilt trip.
*
Katsumi Oshiro's head sags a bit. "I didn't even think of that. S@#&." She exhales a soft sigh and looks down at the feline on her lap, mulling it over. If she stopped the girl from drawing attention to herself, then she wouldn't have ran into a building. And they wouldn't have set the building on fire. So in a way, yes. It seems to be her fault. She doesn't vocalize it, but someone used to reading body language might be able to pick up on it.
*
Pick up on it Spoiler does. Body language is sometimes all she has to go by when dealing with what the other bats aren't saying. Silent now, she moves around the sofa, making noise again when she draps onto the cushions at Katsumi's side, the sofa dippin under her slight weight.
"What would you have done, to stop her?" Spoiler asks, her voice soft and almost thoughtful, like she is little more than a cartoon cricket sitting upon the meta's shoulder.
*
"Grabbed'er," says Katsumi immediately, not flinching from the proximity. "Then dragged her into a building. Not let her do it. If she wanted to fight me, fine. But I could restrain'er without killing her. Without putting her in a hospital. Without those other people getting hurt, or losing their home."
She shakes her head finally, her silky bangs falling further over her eyes. "I made a bad call. Maybe the mutants started it, I dunno, but she was a kid."
*
"Kids makes stypid mistakes, think they know everything, think they'll live forever and can't get hurt. Kids don't think about consequences ot tomorrow or the people they migh tjust or leave behind," Spoiler points out. Only some of it is personal experience.
*
"But I was there," Katsumi protests as her head turns to Spoiler. "Stupid kids are stupid. But I try to do right by them. I try to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward. So they make good choices. So they don't screw up their futures. So they don't…" She pauses and her gaze falters self-consciously. Translation? So they don't end up like her. "…but when it came down to it, when I could've done the most good for one, I didn't."
*
The translation sounds loud and clear. Spoiler is no stranger to that weight, though she refuses to say that it's from the other side; trying too hard to not be like someoen else.
"So… why didn't you?" Spoiler pokes, tone soft. The silence has stretched for over a minute before she spoke again.
*
Katsumi Oshiro takes that silence to look down at the cat on her lap. She busies herself scritching at Herukage's ears, who simply rolls over onto his side. When Spoiler speaks, she pauses and considers.
Why didn't she?
"I was confused. I was surprised. I panicked. Knew if they saw me, too, I would've been running from a mob. Or hunted. I couldn't fight'em off, it was during the day."
*
"You're a nomral human during the day," Spoiler supplies. Her head cants town to openly regard the meta sitting on the floor. Her tone isn't accusitory, not purposefully so anyway. Spoiler hadn't considered that Kat's abilities would be linked to a noctural cucle of some kind. The gurl panicked because she wouldn't have been able to fight her way out of a mob, fight this hot headed mutant girl that attacked a mob of protestors.
*
Katsumi Oshiro nods weakly. "That's.. the gist, I guess. Or the excuse. S@#$, I don't know." She scritches again at the feline. He rolls over onto his back. "I mean, it's true. During the day? Normal ol' Katsumi. Badass girl, straight up fighter, seasoned in the ring, athletic. I'm nobody's b#^@$. But at night, I'm… Hell, I'm still trying to get used to the mechanics. To knowing how much to hold back to not kill someone if I hit'em. How far to pull in a submission hold to not paralyze'em. How fast to move to not yank things out of socket. Or off." She hasn't yet pulled any simulated limbs off training opponents, but she suspects she'd be able to.
"Regular Katsumi couldn't take on that many people. Especially if they thought I was one of them. Might've killed me AND her. But it feels so f#&@ing cowardly.."
*
"Maybe the answer wasn't on the other end of a physical confrontation," Spoiler offers, pushing up to her feet with a whisper of cape on sofa cushion. She rolls a shoulder in a shrug.
"Which is fine, and you stepping away from that isn't cowardly. It's knowing your own limits, thereby putting the honis on that girl and whomever is he rmentor; not you," adds teh batling as she steps from the sofa.
*
"The answers I wanted didn't involve it. And trying to fight that group - right then and there - without knowing what's up? Not the right play. Not the smart move."
Hearing the movement and the brush of the cape, she suddenly looks back. "You leaving already..?"
*
"Then you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about," Spoiler notes, pausing as Jat looks up at her, having reacted to the movement.
"There are things I have to check up on," says the batling, hinting at her mighttime activities without coming right out and saying it.
*
Katsumi Oshiro stares at her in silence for a few seconds, then nods. "Thanks. I guess." She appreciates the support, and she wants that to be a satisfying answer. But it isn't. It isn't, because she didn't do anything. She has to do better in the future. The alternative is a sickening feeling.
Spoiler's response gets a disappointed look from Katsumi, but she nods. "Okay. See you around, then.."