He didn't like the dead bird

[heeeyadora]

WHO: Catra, Tony, Jon, Cobb, Soldier
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Spreading the wealth
WHEN: Just after meeting with Kaz
WARNINGS: TBD



Tony

For once Tony was asleep when Catra found him, head cocked to the side as she observed him in that nest, and she kicked at an exposed foot with a frown.

"Hey- get up. I brought you something," she insisted. As though Tony got plenty of sleep and this wasn't a rare and delicate thing she was interrupting. How dare he sleep when she had a gift for him.

She grabbed at his blanket with one hand and tugged to rouse him. "Come on-"

Jon

"Go away," Catra muttered, trying to wave off the flood of the mothcats as she approached, finding it difficult to get more than two steps at a time before her way was blocked, and she huffed. How mad would Jon be if she got rid of one or two, really?

She hissed at them, and tried to scamper past them.

"Joooon. Call them off."

Cobb

Catra watched Cobb from a distance for a while. They'd mostly only spoken over the device, and she was antsy about approaching him in real life, just observing- stalking really- for quite a while before she finally made her approach.

"...Here," she said abruptly, no introduction, just thrusting a covered bao she'd saved from Kaz's bribe at him. Her tail twitched cautiously behind her, and she had a look on her face that said she totally didn't care if he even took it.

Soldier

Catra was used to a bit of a struggle when it came to tracking down the Soldier, but she almost always managed to find him. Whether it was because he let himself be found, or because she had the added advantage of trailing his scent neither of them ever discussed, though today she fixed him with a confused looked by the time she found him.

"Why's there some other guy here who smells like you, but he's not you?" she accused, as though it was his fault, before abruptly offering up a single wrapped bao bun she'd saved from Kaz's bribe. "Here. I brought you this."

Comments

I mean, who wouldn't want a dead bird??

[sinistral]

Neither of them bothered to examine too closely why she was able to find him; that she could, and that he allowed it, were all that mattered. They'd likely be formidable opponents if they chose, but the Soldier saw no sense in it.

Her confusion was plain, and she'd find it mirrored right back at her when she spoke. He didn't even think about the motion of reflexively taking the package from her, instead trying to piece out what she was playing at. "What do you mean, someone who smells like me?" Since their return he hadn't exactly spent a lot of time around anyone.

I'll bring you a whole flock

[heeeyadora]

"I dunno, there's some guy. Looks like you, smells like you, but he's not you. He's wrong." She hadn't experienced doubles in this place, and even if she had, she didn't much care. That was the wrong guy. He shouldn't have her the Soldier's smell.

Her tail twitched to show her annoyance, frowning pointedly. "I don't like it."

True friendship right there

[sinistral]

"Ah," he said, his expression passing through distaste to settle on resigned. He knew he shouldn't be surprised; it wasn't like it hadn't happened before.

"There was another me here before. One who had both his arms still." He'd disappeared though, not that the Soldier had liked interacting with him anyway. Their first meeting in the Fleet had not gone well, and it had set the tone for his feelings about the other man from then on.

[heeeyadora]

"..." Her tail stilled, "They can do that??" she asked, sound truly horrified at the idea. Her ears twisted low, hair rising with a low grumble in her throat. She did NOT want to be faced with herself.

[sinistral]

"They can." He thought everyone knew. But then again he'd come from the Fleet, where it was a little more prevalent.

And he'd been faced with a large amount of it in particular. "But they don't seem to do it often. So you're probably safe."

[heeeyadora]

Her nose wrinkled, and she glanced back over her shoulder like there might be a double of her standing there all ready.

"Hmmph." She belatedly seemed to think of the Soldier's feelings on the matter, "That must be weird...I can push him off a cliff if you want?" she offered with a possibly teasing smirk.

[sinistral]

"That would make everyone else mad you know," he said, waving a hand in the general direction of elsewhere. Everyone else. West-ish. Whatever. "They'll get all upset that you've hurt someone, and they'll make a big deal of it, and it's not worth it."

But still, when your defining skillset was murder, knowing someone would do one on your behalf meant something.

[beholding_archivist]

Jon has noticed Catra's approach before her actual arrival, but he only really steps out of one of the back rooms of the library by the time she calls out for him. The picture he finds himself greeted with makes him chuckle, but he doesn't linger too long in light of Catra's obvious distress.

"They seem to like you." He says, stepping closer and gathering up one of the winged felines only to set it down again at the nearest shelf, where the mothcat proceeds to scamper up the wall of the large piece. "To be honest, I would have expected them to have moved on by now." Jon apologizes while gently picking up further mothcats and sending each up either shelves or the wall. Of course not all of them get the gentle hint, but those that linger curiously at least keep a little more distance.

"Can I help you with something?"

[heeeyadora]

"Well I don't like them," she grumbles, grabbling her tail away from excited claws, and baring her teeth at them with a glare that did nothing to dissuade them.

"Why would they move on when they've got you waiting on them?" Catra points out as he tries to heard the kittens.

"Oh, uh- here-" she abruptly thrusts the covered bao at him. "I brought you this."

[beholding_archivist]

Catra may shift away from the mothcats, but the mothcats happily follow her and one or the next slowly rubs along her legs while trilling and purring loudly. Here are the siblings you never expected, Catra.

Meanwhile Jon picks up the offering and looks at the bao, once uncovered, with equal amounts of wonder and curiosity. "Oh. Where did you- I mean." He cuts himself off, feeling touched by such an unexpected gesture from the catgirl. "You came all the way to bring me this. Thank you, Catra!"

[heeeyadora]

"It's not a big deal," she mutters quickly, looking embarrassed and defensive. "Kaz gave me some and there was extra." Totally not a big thing. Don't look into it further. It is NOT because she likes you.

Her ears twitch a little with the trilling, much as she tries to appear like she's ignoring them, gaze creeping back down.

[beholding_archivist]

"Kaz? Kaz Brekker?" Jon inquires, wonder apparent in his voice and he looks back down at the treat. "That's not a gesture I would have expected from him." He admits, but then sets the thought aside for the time being, redirecting his attention to Catra.

"Do you want to come and sit down for some tea? I have started clearing up part of the area behind the library. The mothcats will follow us outside, but tend to be quickly distracted by everything else out there." Which has proven to be a viable tactic whenever Jon wants to just sit down and enjoy his tea for a little while.

[heeeyadora]

"Yeah, I guess," she agrees, not actually sure of his fully name, but how many Kazs could this place have.

"Tea's all right," she agrees, trying not to look too excited either way, "You um...you okay after...everything?"

[heypartner]

"What's this?" Cobb asked as he wiped his face with the bandana tied around his neck. It looked like some sort of gift which made one corner of his mouth curl up a little.

Catra was a prickly one. She reminded him of this old grump who complained about everything, always had to make a show of refusing help, but would play games with the kids and left Cobb bottles of home brew.

He unwrapped the gift and looked at the pastry, his head tilted. "Huh. This a sweet thing?" He had never seen anything like this before.

[heeeyadora]

"S'nothing, I just had extra," she muttered, ears turning sideways and shrugging like it wasn't a big deal or anything.

"Yeeeah-" she concludes, sniffing at the air to be sure. There had been both kinds, but that one was sweet. "I don't really know what it is, but it tastes good."

[heypartner]

Now, Cobb didn't usually like sweet things. He never had a lot of sweet things growing up so he didn't have a taste for them. But he wasn't going to say any of that to Catra. He wasn't an asshole.

"Mystery sweet. Sounds like fun." He considered the giant dumpling looking thing for a moment. "Guess I'm just supposed to take a big bite?"

And then he did just that. It was a thicker dough that he expected and filled with some sort of paste. It was sweet but not a bad sweet. Not the kind that made his teeth hurt. It also had a kind of earthy taste he liked. "This is good." He held it out to her. "You wanna bite?"

Folks shared food like this in Mos Pelgo all the time.

[heeeyadora]

Catra hadn't grown up on them either, or any flavors really, but she hadn't found many she didn't like since she'd been introduced to non ration bar food.

"Mm hmm," she encouraged, as though she were an expert in this food she didn't even know the name of.

She'd all ready had her own earlier, and seemed surprised that Cobb offered, a bit of a smile pulling at her lips as she accepted it to take a bite, before passing it back with a soft purr.

[heypartner]

"This is good." He pointed at the whatever it was and took another bite. "Should figure out how to make it myself. You wanna be the taste tester?"

He had no idea how to start figuring out this thing without knowing at least something of how it was made. The dough might not be hard but the filling he didn't even know where to start with that.

"Thank you, Catra. Means a lot to me." Cobb gave her a quick pat on the shoulder since he knew she was touchy about being touched. He didn't want to overstep any boundaries.

[heeeyadora]

She opened her mouth to say that Kaz would know, but immediately closed it again with an eager nod when offered the position of taste tester. "I could do that," she agreed, trying to sound casual after that hurried nod.

She shrugged the thanks off, flushing a little. "Yeah...whatever, it's nothing," she muttered, ears twisting back low.

[in_extremis]

If Tony was asleep, it was for a good reason and there was not a close enough cup of coffee to justify waking him. If there was, he would have been able to taste it already. He grumbled sourly at the kick, withdrawing into the tight cocoon of his protective blanket to leave his assailant with only the tangle of his hair to face and consider their actions, inviting whatever death they had brought with them to come swiftly if that meant he could go on blissfully unaware of the ache gnawing at his core. Sleep was his only escape, and it hadn't come easy, and when the small mercy of his blanket was ripped away Tony growled, "I hate you."

[heeeyadora]

"I hate you too. Here. I brought you this. Eat," she insisted, thrusting the treat out and ignoring that sour look. "Come on, get up."

Where she had gotten the thing was a mystery, but she was very insistent, like cat proudly showing off a dead mouse and wondering why no one was pleased..

[in_extremis]

"Oh, god, what is that?," Tony scowled at the smell of food, going green like it really was a corpse that she had brought into his bed. At Catra's insistence, he muttered, "Bite me," but he was already committed to the laborious process of dragging himself up to sit, accepting that he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep at least until he puked now. When he did manage to right himself, hunched and uncommitted to the concept, he blinked blearily at Catra then gingerly took her gift to hold contemplatively in his lap, like she had just handed him an egg or a bomb.

[heeeyadora]

"I dunno. Food." She hadn't bothered to ask what it was called.

"...You smell funny," she noted. Maybe that's why he seemed to be in such a particularly bad mood. Or maybe it was just because she'd woken him.

"Come on, try it."

[in_extremis]

Obviously it was food, Catra had already made that part clear, but Tony was quickly overwhelmed by three emotions when he was hardly functional enough for one; first, the last thing in the galaxy he wanted was anything to eat; second, that Catra had brought him anything at all was shockingly kind and he definitely did not deserve it; and third, clearly, Catra wanted something.

"You smell worse," Tony grumbled, going rapidly from a wide-eyed contemplation of the gift to a narrow suspicion on Catra, waiting for something truly atrocious if she was going to resort to bribery. Violence was the more expected tactic. "Listen, if you're here to argue I'd rather get it over with, I've got stuff to do. Lay it out, let's see what you got."

[heeeyadora]

"What- I'm not here to argue, I just wanted to give you this thing," she countered with an annoyed look. She was a lot closer to wanting to argue now.

"...Whatever, just- here-" she dropped it on his bed and made to bolt, climbing up into the rafters to sulk.