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[oohforeshadowing]

Let me get back to you, darling.

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[oh_no_matopoeia]

"I had to do what I thought was right, and that pissed off the guy uncle Aaron was working for- so the guy told him to kill me. Uncle Aaron was wearing a mask to do his job, and then I was whenever I was doing more-"

Spider-personing? What is even the verb?

"-more work, so it was awhile of him chasing me, trying to hurt me, before I realized- and then by the time I figured out how to tell him... his boss shot him for what he wouldn't do to me."

A lot of the fun has suddenly gone out of this obstacle course.

"So here I am."

[oohforeshadowing]

"So here you are. Teaching someone to behave themselves doesn't feel like much in exchange for all that, does it, darling?"

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Except I'm not at all here to teach you how to behave yourself."

Answers Miles, glancing up from his shoes- seldom one to be down for long.

[oohforeshadowing]

"No?"

They tilt their head as they move closer, positively towering over Miles.

"Then enlighten me. Tell me what to expect from this partnership of ours."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"I'm here to help."

He explains, with a shrug.

"However you end up needing. I don't think you need to be controlled, but I do think you need someone around."

[oohforeshadowing]

"That has absolutely never been the case up to this point, but I'll indulge you. What would I need someone around...for?"

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"We're gonna find out."

Says Miles, gamely.

"Company. Emotional support. Sober second thought. Comedic relief."

[oohforeshadowing]

Trouble just stares at him for several moments.

"Ugh. You're so....earnest. They would have loved you in the Princess Alliance."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Well, that sounds really cool. Princesses are generally great and I would love to help their alliance."

Says Miles, returning this stare, somewhat less dubiously.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Of course you would. I'm sure you would have had plenty to add about their rousing speeches regarding the power of friendship," Trouble sighs. "Unfortunately for them, they're now subject to an invasion from an alien force that will crush their kingdoms like so much floral, glittery garbage."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Are you... actually attacking an alliance premised on the power of friendship?"

Says Miles, who can't help but feel;

"You've gotta know that's not a good look."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Are you assuming I'm an alien from their perspective? Rude," Trouble tuts. "Anyway, when I said 'the power of friendship' I meant 'the power of friendship, and also an ancient superweapon they've found buried in the heart of the planet'. So as long as they stop squabbling long enough to actually use it, they'll be fine."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Then maybe they aren't going to shatter after all?"

He asks, a tiny bit slyly. Miles is on the princesses' side at this point.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Maybe," Trouble says, with a vague hand gesture. "I'm afraid I was dropped from the cast before I could watch the final scene, darling."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"How would you have liked it to turn out?"

Miles wonders, in that case.

"You must have had something you were going for?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"Not particularly," they say lightly. "I was working for the Alliance when it seemed like they had the edge, but it's all a little academic now."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Until you graduate and go home."

He points out, looking up at them curiously.

[oohforeshadowing]

Trouble sets one hand on their hip.

"Until I graduate and go somewhere. I'm not in love with the idea of going back to a probable war zone. Would you be?"

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Depends on how much I believed in the war."

Says Miles, thinking it through.

"But if I wasn't fighting it, yeah, I'd probably go somewhere else."

[oohforeshadowing]

"And I have no investment in this war at all. Who runs the show has made very little difference in the day-to-day business of my life," Trouble concludes. "Etheria simply isn't somewhere I'll be getting homesick for."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Oh cool- then where are you going to go?"

Shoot- more droids incoming, buying trouble a chance to think. They're close enough to the woods that he throws a line at a tree and leaps into a swing, crashing into one feet first.

[oohforeshadowing]

Trouble watches this with interest, then takes advantage of the trees in their own way, lightly slithering up onto a low branch and ascending from there.

They were, after all, perfectly capable of emulating Catra to the extent that her former best friend couldn't tell the difference. 'Light on their feet' is an understatement.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

Miles swings back, and stays close in a tight back and forth of webwork, crashing into and downing several of the little things. They spin and skitter into the forest floor, and he lands on a treebrach- scrabbles, and then sticks.

"Okay!"

They're getting there.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Does okay mean we can stop?" Trouble wonders, sounding infinitely more tired by all this than they actually are.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Nope."

Says Miles, brightly, landing deftly on the moss next to them and striding onwards.

"There's a thing at the end- probably in the heart of the woods, if this place makes any sense."