revivalproject | He didn't like the dead bird

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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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.

"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.

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.

"How about... once a week you meet me at the diner and we'll test things?" She seemed young to Cobb but it was hard to tell because she didn't look like any alien species he was familiar with. An evening where he didn't work but cooked instead and was just a friend to her was a good thing.

And it would keep him from spending every night in Cayde's bar.

It wasn't nothing but Cobb was smart enough to know better than to say it. That would make her defensive. "Alright then, I'm gonna eat this last bite of nothing and not share," he teased.

"Yeah?" She looked excited, and then deliberately attempted to dial that back, giving a casual sort of nod. "...That could be all right." Her age was a hard thing to pinpoint, and Catra wasn't really sure of it herself, though she was probably approaching the age of young adult by now, if not all ready there.

"Go ahead, I all ready ate a whole bunch and didn't share any of them."

Yeah, she was a girl not used to kindness. Cobb had seen that sort of banked hope before. He had lived that life where hope was a dangerous, terrible thing and kindness could quickly turn to cruelty.

"Well, I guess I will." He toasted her with the remaining bun thing and finished it off. He wiped his hands on his pants as he licked his lips. "Mmm, real good. How've you been? Don't think we crossed paths while in that other world. Hope it was kind to you."

Very unused to it, and half time what kindness she was shown she mocked, but for now she was tentatively enjoying herself. Not that she'd admit it.

She frowned at the mention of that other world, and shrugged a shoulder bitterly. "...I guess? What'd it do to you?"

"I was blind." Cobb shook his head when he remembered it. "Had a pretty normal life besides that. Occasionally, went out and punched bad guys for fun."

What a thing to do when blind. Cobb couldn't believe he'd been that athletic. He felt a lot older now and a lot heavier with all those emotional burdens back.

"Glad I can see again though."

"...I stole stuff," she supplied with an unimpressed look for what her other life had been. "For some weird version of the Horde."

She squinted a little at Cobb, wondering if he was any of the costumed heroes who had tried to stop her.

"Well, I don't remember crossing paths with you. I do remember stopping a bank robbery." Cobb hadn't done a lot of crime fighting. He'd done a lot of writing and investigating but not that much fighting.

It had been... peaceful.

"Did you get to keep any of the stuff?" He wasn't that against stealing stuff from folks that had too much. Sometimes, you had to steal to survive.

"You didn't wear a dumb cat costume, did you?" Catra confirmed.

"A few things," she shrugged. A couple shiny trinkets. She didn't see much value in them now, but that part had been all right.

"No. I think I wore mostly normal clothes and a blindfold." He still didn't understand that part. He was already blind. What was the point of a blindfold? "I didn't do much heroing."

It had been real nice not to have a whole city to look after. Just himself, his daughter, and the people who mattered to him.

"Glad to see you're doing okay though."

She scoffed a little and shrugged and shoulder with an overly confident smirk. "'Course I'm okay," she dismissed, "I should I go. I just...wanted to give you that." Definitely not a big deal or anything.

"I'll see you around, Catra. Don't stand me up for that food or I'll eat it all myself," he said with a pointed look.

He would still experiment with these bun things even if she didn't show up. And he would eat it all himself. She had better come help him.

He didn't like the dead bird

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject