Tenten (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
71lines) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
goneawayworld2020-05-06 08:14 pm
71lines) wrote in goneawayworld2020-05-06 08:14 pm
Entry tags:
🟆002🟆
Who: Catra, Dave, and Tenten
What: Late night kitchen shenanigans!
Where: The Rig's cafeteria
When: Weh
Warnings/Notes: I mean, Dave's involved, so there oughta be something here.
Tenten had meant to do a bit of recon. She really had. But her free time had been eaten up by extra chores, a result of an unfortunate incident where she'd managed to throw a rather swollen Stuff-body into a group of middle-managers having a smoke break. They didn't appreciate the splatter zone, so she'd been stuck out there for the past two days, doing more grunt work than anything else. Really, she just wants to sleep.
But she'd told Catra "One or two nights" and there they were.
She'd mentioned to Catra to be ready beforehand, she didn't want to wake up Setsuna by accident, and now they were wandering the dark halls at night. Tenten couldn't see, the light levels were just too low even if she used chakra, but she'd already memorized the way there. Just about two more turns and then they could worry about finding a way from the cafeteria into the kitchen.
...Wait, was that the glow of the mess lights on 'low' there?
What: Late night kitchen shenanigans!
Where: The Rig's cafeteria
When: Weh
Warnings/Notes: I mean, Dave's involved, so there oughta be something here.
Tenten had meant to do a bit of recon. She really had. But her free time had been eaten up by extra chores, a result of an unfortunate incident where she'd managed to throw a rather swollen Stuff-body into a group of middle-managers having a smoke break. They didn't appreciate the splatter zone, so she'd been stuck out there for the past two days, doing more grunt work than anything else. Really, she just wants to sleep.
But she'd told Catra "One or two nights" and there they were.
She'd mentioned to Catra to be ready beforehand, she didn't want to wake up Setsuna by accident, and now they were wandering the dark halls at night. Tenten couldn't see, the light levels were just too low even if she used chakra, but she'd already memorized the way there. Just about two more turns and then they could worry about finding a way from the cafeteria into the kitchen.
...Wait, was that the glow of the mess lights on 'low' there?
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"Oh shit," Dave deadpans instead. "Rejected. It's cool, though. Better you hear it now than later. Plenty of fish in the sea and all that, even considering the sea in this case is a post-apocalyptic forced labor caravan."
Nabbing an abandoned spoon, Dave clearly doesn't seem to mind the lumpy eggs as he steals a mouthful from the pot. It still absorbed the soup flavor and all that. Still more effort than he's ever put into a meal before.
"But yeah. Probably better off saving the five star meals for special occasions. Stifle that urge to just go full Food Network in here and settle for little shit that'll last if you wanna stock it away for later." Another slurping spoonful, and he adds pointedly, "Y'know. Like chips."
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She drains her bowl, letting the mom conversation slide around her. Sounded like none of them had a whole lot of experience in that area, so why underline it? It wasn't like it would change anything, after all. Instead, she'll move on to the chicken stir fry.
Dave's comment, though, gets a blank little stare. "Why would it go bad?" She forks a bit of tomato and mushroom into her mouth and chews, swallowing quickly. "I'm a ninja." Why did people not get what that entailed? She waves at the remaining food with her fork. "If I store it somewhere, it'll stay fresh until I need it. It's not like I'd be just hiding a head of cabbage in a closet or something."
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"I should probably pinch some stuff to hide in my room. Even if I can get here to make food I, uh..." She pauses. Admitting that she had a weakness seemed dangerous, usually. But not knowing how to cook wasn't that big a deal and it would probably make these two underestimate her.
"I'm not sure about cooking alone yet," she finally says as she slurps down a spoonful of soup (which is actually really good? Damn!).
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The way he rambles after a while starts to seem less directed at actual people are more like he's just talking to himself, volume petering off a bit into mumbling. It's weird. No one could be blamed for just tuning him out, but he nudges Catra's led under the table with his foot and, oh, maybe he's still talking to them after all.
"See? This is what junk food is for. Don't listen to Planet Fitness here, when push comes to the end of the goddamn world, Doritos are gonna last a lot longer than a head of cabbage. Thinking long term is the key to hoarding snacks for those of us without innate refrigerator powers."
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She shakes herself back to the here and now. "I'm happy to just store stuff for us. Or running some more night lessons. It's just that I don't want to get anyone caught." Who knew if Jorgmund was going through their stuff during the day? Besides, too much missing food would catch attention, too.
Tenten pops a smidge of tomato into her mouth and glances over to the other girl. "Did you want to take some of this back for Setsuna, Catra?"
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"Oh. Yeah, I could do that. I bet she'd appreciate it."
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As much food as he's snagging here, he'd probably be better off just getting a plate. But no, he will continue leaning across the table to steal forkfuls from the serving dishes, casual as one can be while literally chatting about spacetime.
"What's the difference between an alternate dimension and an alternate universe anyway?" he asks after a moment, frowning thoughtfully. "Like, how exactly is that different from our current situation?"
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"We can set aside a small bowl or something for her and-" She pauses at Dave's question, running over Catra's comment in her head. What did she know about alternate dimensions? Not much. "I guess an alternate universe is bigger?" She's not really certain, so she turns to Catra with a curious look.
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"It was unstable anyway. It was just this version of my life where everything was... better." She sighs, rests her chin in one hand. "It wasn't actually real though."
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"Who says it's not real?" he says, focusing on the probably more important thing. "Like, not to sound like some kind of pretentious windbag saying a whole lot of nothing just to sound smart, but...I don't know. I don't think it's all as straightforward as just 'real' or 'fake', y'know?" He gestures vaguely with the hand holding his fork, like that clarifies anything.
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"Maybe if it was a genjutsu-an illusion I mean? But that's just an illusion, not an alternate reality. Unless you made an entire reality out of an illusion..." Tenten exhales slowly, trying to work it out in her head. Then she just shrugs, abandoning the effort. Too little information, too many questions. "Funny. When I was disguised as Planker, I heard about something like that on board the Rig. But apparently it's just a mirror or something. Not a whole new reality."
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"I don't know. I'm not a portal expert--that's Entrapta and she's not here," she finally says. "It was collapsing the whole time we were in there."
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There are a lot more words he could just vomit up on the subject – the inherent paradox of those doomed timelines still mattering even if they aren't the "right" ones, a version of him out there somewhere that is part bird and all depressed and possibly dead? – but fortunately for everyone involved, actual good food is distracting enough to cut himself off with another forkful of chicken. Thank god.
"But for real," he says after a moment, "How the fuck did you manage to pass yourself off as Planker?"
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She wants to talk about it some more, but Catra's irritation is practically palpable. And the night's going far too well to focus on a subject that makes her so uncomfortable, whatever part of it that was doing it. Maybe she'd wanted to stay there? It was probably too personal to talk about, so Tenten's happy to hop on to Dave's sudden swerve in subject.
"Ninja magic," she says smoothly, waving her fork and almost losing a chunk of chicken and mushroom to the gesture. How on Earth did Dave manage to become a ninja without that kind of knowledge? Was he like Lee? Questions to ask him later, when he won't be embarrassed by explaining in front of a third party. "I can transform myself into people or things if I want. Planker's way bigger than me, though, so it was pretty exhausting to do."
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"Oh, I know someone who could do that. They were good at it. Pretty sure they could turn into anyone, if they wanted," Ah Double Trouble. You bitch.
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He's almost pouting, but between the shades and his flat tone it's really hard to tell whether or not he's just playing at sincerity. Would he even have an interest in magic if it was available to him? Probably not, honestly. That's more Rose's thing. He's just the sword guy.
"Isn't that potentially crazy useful here, though?" Sobering for a moment – at least, as sober as he ever gets – Dave frowns thoughtfully. "Like, for the kinds of purposes I probably shouldn't mention out loud in public, I mean. Shit, we really gotta get everyone together and figure out what we're working with."
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She nods at their comments, though. "Yeah, I was able to do a little bit of exploring." That ought to be vague enough for any eaves being dropped. "Had to blow off Saturday, though. I think she figured out I wasn't who I said I was, but it would've been awkward dragging her along because, y'know. I can't do other people easily." It wipes her out. And she hadn't been getting enough food as it was. "And it'd bring up too many questions! But... Like, Dave, you really didn't know ninjas could do that? I thought everyone knew."
...Huh. Maybe he was right. They really should bring everyone together and get more specific.
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She snags a little bit more soup and settles in again.
"Nothing says that a princess couldn't learn spells. Especially if they had some kind of artifact that made them stronger or let them channel energy from somewhere else." She just... doesn't hear a lot about princesses doing those things.
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"On Etheria, the planet itself is full of magic. And while some people can learn to tap into that magic, most of it is channeled to the princesses through their runestones--like, gems but really big? The moon stone, the black garnet, all that stuff. They regulated and controlled magical energy so that the First Ones could build up the power for their weapon. If Entrapta was here she could probably explain it to you better, but..." She shifts her weight, hops up to sit on the counter, crouching like the giant oversized kitten she is.
"Essentially there's a huge bubble of magic on Etheria called the Heart of Etheria--the First Ones gathered it all in there so they could use it as a weapon. Before they came, magic was just kind of everywhere on Etheria, I guess? I'm not sure. Maybe Adora knows more--her sword channels the magic."
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"Is this the part where we're all sharing the magic lore from wherever we come from?" he says after swallowing. "'Cause unfortunately I'm not the guy to ask about that shit. You'd be better off talking to my sister. I'm just good at swords. And rap."
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Swords, huh? Adora-well. Maybe it'd be best not to bring all that up here. The conversation with Adora seemed like it was best not repeated, especially since they seemed to be just getting back onto good terms. Maybe they'd been fighting for a while, Tenten doesn't want to stick a wedge in any reparations being made. "Well, at least you're ninja enough to use a sword? Adora seems more the samurai type, but I don't think that people use them that much here. It's all guns or zappy sticks or whatever."
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"I don't know if I'm a ninja. I just... fight the way that fits me, I guess? I have claws and stuff you know?" She slurps at her bowl of soup again, her brow furrowing.
"Wait, so what are ninja and samurai?"