🟆002🟆

[71lines]

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?

Comments

[heterochrocatic]

Catra tenses a little, a spike of annoyance and anger rising in her belly. Anxiety. Why are they asking these questions? She should have just kept her mouth shut. She doesn't know these things! She puts off having to answer by taking a mouthful of mushrooms and chicken and chewing slowly.

"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."

[turntex]

Dave nods sagely through a mouthful and – very gentlemanly – swallows before opening his mouth. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I mean, I'd call something like that an alternate timeline where I'm from, and those are just kind of doomed by nature. Like some kind of monkey's paw be careful what you wish for crap, sure, maybe everything would seem better in some idealized scenario but you're just gonna die horribly anyway so you're ultimately better off here in corporate hell."

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?"

[71lines]

Thanks for swallowing, Dave. That puts him above certain people Tenten could name. Like Guts.

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."

[heterochrocatic]

"I thought there was just like, one kind of magic?" Catra quirked an eyebrow as she slurped down some soup.

"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.

[turntex]

"Aw, what? Why do ninjas get magic where you come from? I feel so cheated now."

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."

[71lines]

Tenten waves her hand in front of her face, shaking her head. "Nah. Animals use different magic than people. Though some people can learn it, I think."

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.

[heterochrocatic]

"So wait, does that make ninja magic different than princess magic?" Catra scratches her head. This is getting complicated. "Like, I know princesses are connected to Etheria through their gems or whatever, but then are also people who can learn how to do magic who aren't princessess..." She's trying really hard ot wrap her head around this, hold on.

[turntex]

"Hold up." Dave frowned and set down his fork to give the girls his undivided attention for a moment. He needs his hands free to gesture in frustration. "Since when are ninjas and princesses magic? Is it just my world that's out of the loop on this? My dead world is apparently entirely separated from the loop. The loop has been staying in a shitty motel for a month and divorce proceedings are underway."

[71lines]

Tenten blinks. Gems as magic? Well, she guesses that could make sense, but she shakes her head. "No? Everyone's got energy inside of them, we call it chakra. We knead that and shape it into our ninja spells. Animals who use magic, and the Sages, can pull in energy from the nature around them."

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.

[heterochrocatic]

"We're all from different worlds, though, right? So the rules might be different," Catra says thoughtfully. She tries to suppress a grin at Dave's clear consternation, but it's hard not to be amused.

"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."

[turntex]

Between years spent living with aliens and one of his best friends now being part dog, Dave has no significant reaction to the catgirl being a goddamn catgirl. He just scoots himself over a bit to give her room as she hops up, still chewing a bite of tomato. Goddamn, this is probably the first vegetable/fruit/whatever a tomato is he's ever eaten that wasn't in the form of sauce on pizza. Amazing.

"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."

[71lines]

"I guess Catra's right, then." She shuffles a little, leaning against the counter opposite them, glancing up at the lights set into the ceiling. "The rules are probably a little different. That's weird, but no weirder than getting kidnapped and enslaved by some kingdom run by merchants I guess."

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."

[heterochrocatic]

"Calling this place a 'kingdom' is a bit generous," Catra grouses as she takes another sip of her soup. Mmm. Soup. Her tail flicks behind her for a moment as she considers Tenten's words.

"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?"