Licking Wounds (Cato)

"That doesn't sound much like him to me," Cato began, eyeing Russ for a moment. "But I suppose if you're not a fan of him, than your mileage might vary on that part. Even when we were friends, he was a little bit of a pain to deal with."

Cato eyed Russ further. He looked a little different than she remembered, even past the obvious damage he had suffered. It was probably his hair--something about it felt distinctly less Saiyan than she recalled. She supposed he had wanted to look more like an Earthling, though she couldn't say why.

"It has been a long time. A lot's changed since then..." she tried to smile, but her expression faltered quickly. She couldn't help but feel a twitch of suspicion towards her former acquaintance. "What are you even doing on Plant, anyways? I know you're part Saiyan, but you seemed to take your position on Earth far more seriously than you did anything here."

She glanced around the forest.

"You're not here planning to start a business to export Tuffle fruit, are you? I know Earthlings love their currency, but the Tuffles might not be too happy about that. I'd have to ask you to actually see them for a permit to do anything that extreme."

"I heard about all that, but not the details. I hadn't realized there was anyone from off-planet in the midst of the fighting, but it seems like the least destructive outcome was reached."

In truth, Cato wasn't sure what Taori's plans were for Lottus. She knew there was certainly some deeper wisdom to letting him live after a second attack like that, but she'd hardly even met the King, let alone got an impression of how he thought. If he thought like his friend Vocado, though--well, she might have a pretty good guess of what Lottus might end up doing.

"I don't think any of the fruit here approach anything close to magic Earth beans," she answered, glancing around. "There's a lot of rumoured miracle cures here, but I think it's more a case of... properties inside some of the plants that become useful once you process them right. Not just eat them outright."

She looked over Russ again.

"Who slashed you, anyways? Lottus doesn't like swords."

She had another question, and it wasn't a good time to ask it--but she might not see Russ or anyone of his particular strength level from Earth for months or longer, so it was probably now or never. She took a sharp breath, and dove into it.

"Speaking of..." she began, slowly. "You're a Saiyan from Earth. You're powerful enough that you escaped a fight with Lottus alive, and you were competing in some galactic tournament. I have to ask--"

She fixed her gaze on him.

"Why do you let Derry get away with laws like your vaunted Central City Accords? What benefit could there possibly be for Earth's greatest heroes and martial artists to allow their planet to be run like some sort of fringe world surveillance state?"

"I don't think I ever met her," Cato replied, mildly.

She didn't know anyone named Marrow. The name didn't sound Saiyan off of the top of her head, but she supposed neither did Cato to most people. She supposed if a Super Saiyan had really been lost in the skies over Hatchi, she would be hearing about it soon--and so there was no reason to press Russ on the topic.

"So," she replied, slowly. "Derry uses incidents to enact sweeping new laws to surveil the fraction of aliens in your population, and you're worried about being hauled off to prison?"

She regarded Russ rather coldly. The truth was, she liked him--even if she still harboured some suspicion as to his motives for coming to Plant to begin with. But, there was something she really didn't like about his answer.

"You can march up to his office and force him to get rid of the Accords with violence," she stated, simply. "I'm sure you've got some lofty ideal about respecting the will of the people, but when the will of the people is to spy on that segment of the population that's just a little different than average, then why should you respect that?"

She shook her head.

"It's okay to use violence to overthrow tyrants," she continued. "It's okay to use violence to protect those on the fringes of society who find themselves under the lens of a paranoid security law."

She did like Derry, in a way. She thought she had enough of a measure of him to know that the laws weren't really about aliens at all: they were about maintaining control. But either way, she felt her point stood.

"Not every alien can hide their power," she added. "It's all well and good for you to take the stance that you just can't do anything about it, but how do you think some alien with a meagre power of five hundred feels about having Earth treat them like they're a risk to blow up half of South City every day?"

She tilted her chin up.

"It seems to me you need to lean a little more into your Saiyan side."