992/Cats In The Curry Episode 2: Secrets, Gifts, and Secret Gifts

Cats In The Curry Episode 2: Secrets, Gifts, and Secret Gifts
Date of Scene:	10 January 2024
Location:	Korma Chameleon
Synopsis:	Rashmi finds herself host to Catra in the Korma Chameleon once again; the two have a variably awkward conversation (at least on Catra's end of it), and Rashmi ends up with a mission to make an important delivery -- in secret.
Cast of Characters:	Catra, Rashmi Terios

---

Catra has posed:
It's getting late in the evening, which means guests are filtering out of the Korma Chameleon. Well, most guests are, which is probably nice for the people who run it when it slows down. There's always those people who take forever to depart of course, usually American tourists of course.

Right now, one girl sits alone at a table in the corner, hoodie pulled up over her head and her earbuds claring loudly enough that it's irritating to the people around her, if not outright obnoxious. She's on her second bowl of a very spicy fish curry; the first bowl went down like she was starving, and she's two third of the way through the second but has slowed to the point of just picking at it, periodically eyeing the small parcel beside her, rather poorly wrapped in brown paper as it is and entirely unaddressed.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
With the holidays done, business has come back with a vengeance; Rashmi had been volunteering to do front-of-house at the beginning of it, then dishes at the back end, but when she spotted Catra coming in the door? The Etherian was greeted like an old friend, or perhaps longtime regular, and shown to the booth in the far back. Not because she was disruptive, but because Rashmi knows Catra values her solitude, and a corner booth means a minimum of people will be upset by Catra's music.

The last thing a lonely self-proclaimed villain from a whole 'nother world needs, is people complaining about her.

When the crush begins to die down, and the dishes have been sorted enough that only the paid washer can deal with them, Rashmi trots out, toweling the sweat from her forehead with one hand, and carrying a tray with a couple of steaming mugs, and a plate of special sandesh cookies -- pressed into Japanese cookie molds, these in the shape of fish -- dusted in crushed pistachios.

"Whooo, it's like customers make up for lost time!" she says, setting the tray on the table, and setting a mug of warm, milky chai in front of Catra, then sliding into the other side of the booth and taking her own mug. The cookies, left in the center of the table as an offering. "It's been a bit, Catra-san, how are you?"

Catra has posed:
"Hey." is the only reply given at first, though the feline (disguised as Rachel Miller of course) does promptly turn down her music -- even if she doesn't turn it off entirely. But then, she's a cat, she can hear just fine over the music now anyway. She keeps picking at the curry for a minute, without really looking up.

"Is this seriously all these people do?" she blurts out, gesturing with a chopstick (she's refused knives and forks anywhere that offers them, decrying them as stupid) at the various people in the restaurant. "Just... stumble around from one restaurant to another, then going home and going to sleep so they can go push buttons in a factory or push paper at a desk all day long? What a waste of existence."

She pauses, exhaling a breath, and then just shrugs. "Yeah, been a while, but..." she stops, and the gears turn, "...Honestly the food here is still the best and it's nice to know I can get some peace. And, I'm fine, everything's going smoothly." It's not, Catra has never known 'things going smoothly' in her life. "How's school?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Honestly? Some of them," Rashmi says with a half-shrug. "Some people have to work three times as hard to get by, and places like this are the only way they can do something that makes them feel good. Otherwise it'd be our version of the brown bars and *then* sleep, y'know?"

Yes, Rashmi *did* pay attention to their previous talk!

"It's good to see you back though, Catra-san! School's... y'know, school. I do my best, try to learn everything I can, cram twice as hard for math and try to get enough sleep with everything that happens here after dark."

'I'm fine,' words usually only spoken by those who are not at all fine, but Rashmi lets it pass.

Catra has posed:
"...Why?" Catra asks, just as she renews shoveling the last of the curry into her mouth. Apparently the feline isn't one to waste food, wether she's full or not -- and she's still good room. "I mean, why bother with school? You're not like all these people. Learning, what, geometry or reading plays written by some guy in a toga a thousand years ago? That's not going to help you out there in a fight with..."

With me, she almost says.

She gestures once more with her chopstick. "You've got your magic, however it works. You can do all sorts of stuff they'll never even dream of. You're better than all of them. Why try to be like them?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Two reasons," Rashmi says, sipping her chai. "One... I still *live* in this world. It's my home, and I can help protect it better if I'm *part* of it. Two?"

She reaches to the cookie plate, picking one off of Catra's 'side' and turning it over in her hands. "I will be like them when I grow up. Turns out on this world -- and *only* on this world, as far as I've been able to learn -- having powers isn't permanent. When we grow up... we forget it all. No more powers, no more remembering *what* magic is... if you're an adult, the *concept* of magic just slides off, becomes a dream."

Looking up, she shrugs, and takes a bite of the cookie. "So if I'm gonna forget the thing that's changed my entire life? I wanna build as much of a life as I can that doesn't need magic, if I'm gonna help people without it."

Catra has posed:
Catra blinks slowly. She stares at Rashmi.

"You... *forget*...?"

The feline leans back in her seat, and stops working on her curry for the moment -- not much of it left now anyway, just a bit of rice and sauce -- and just processes that for a moment.

"That is absolutely the worst thing I've ever heard of," she declares. "You get to have everything you have now, but then just lose it all? And *forget?* Who on Etheria decided on that? Glimmer's Mom was the biggest coward I've ever heard of back home but she *had her powers*, even if she was too scared to ever do anything with them to make a difference for her side of the war. And nobody forgets."

"This world *sucks*," she pronounces.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I have *no idea* where it started and why," Rashmi says, spreading her hands. "And believe me if there's a way to stop than then I'll be all for it. But magic's been part of this world *way* before me, and if this is how it works? Then I'd be silly not to prepare for losing it. I don't *need* powers to be happy, after all."

And if Catra's expecting the 'you don't either' spiel, she may be surprised when it doesn't happen. Just, the plate of cookies nudged slightly toward Catra, and a quiet sigh. "Believe me, I don't much like it either. Chrono -- uh, the little guy you met, my boyfriend -- he was the only adult on his *entire ship,* and where they come from is was a whole bunch of *planets,* and entire societies based around magic. The ones we've found are doing okay, but... well none of them are naval officers anymore, here."

Catra has posed:
"You probably shouldn't tell me too much about your boyfriend," Catra mumbles. "I'm still the enemy, remember? We agreed to a truce here, but nowhere else." She shrugs her shoulders lightly. "Don't give away anything I can use. You're not careful enough." She pauses, eyeing the cookies, before her eyes flick back up. "Adora and her friends were never careful enough either, and that led to me getting Adora's sword and using it to open a portal, against Entrapta's protests that it would destroy the whole planet, and that's the last I ever saw of Etheria so guess what. ...Adora says it's still there but she probably hit her head."

Catra eyes up the cookies once again, and the little ball of eternally smoldering rage with the deeply wounded interior finally decides that maybe, just maybe, it'd be okay to enjoy one. So, she does, popping it in her mouth and letting the flavor cover her tongue, just for a moment.

"These are really good, by the way," she mumbles. "Your family runs a great place."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"You'd need a lot more than that to be able to use it," Rashmi points out, smiling a bit. "Less than a dozen people in a city of fourteen million... *way* more trouble than it's worth to narrow that down. But... I get what you mean. And you're right, except for one thing."

Leaning back in her seat, Rashmi raises her eyebrows. "I don't see you as an enemy, Catra-san. An opponent, sure, and if there's a fight then there's a fight, but like... There's opponents and there's enemies, y'know?"

When Catra finally takes a cookie, and remarks on it, the redhead grins. "Yeah, they do. And they never had a speck of magic, so... I like my chances, when it's time."

Catra has posed:
"True." Catra shrugs, and turns her gaze out the window while Rashmi speaks. Under the disguise, of course, one of her ears is swiveled in the right direction, but of course Rashmi can't see that.

"Enemy and Opponent just mean the same thing," she points out. "Or as close enough as matters. And you sound all gentle and sweet now, but just wait until I've done something horrible to you. Or your boyfriend. You won't feel so charitable towards me then." She says it with an air of certainy, like it's a prophecy more than idle musings, before she picks up another cookie and eats it, though it seems her thoughts are on her mind a lot more than the flavor.

"Could you do me a favor?" she asks after a pause, and picks up the parcel, sliding it across the table to rest beside the cookies. "Give that to Adora? Don't tell her it's from me." She looks back up at Rashmi, and ahems. "Don't worry, there isn't like... a bomb or anything in it."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Maybe I won't," Rashmi answers, lifting a shoulder. "I've learned a *lot* about myself in the last six months... Enough to think that 'I would never' is more of a lie than I would have thought. But... that's not how it is now. Right now, we've got a truce here, and it's *actually* good to see you, when you come in. And I'm okay with that."

Reaching over, she picks up the box, turning it this way and that, eyebrows rising. "...Do I get to know what's in it? Because I *can* keep a secret, and I like happy schemes. If not that's okay... I'll make sure it gets to her."

Catra has posed:
The feline shrugs her shoulders lightly. "When Adora and I were in the Horde, all it ever was was just... combat training and sleep," she mumbles. "Well, maybe... a bit more than that, but not *much* more. But I know she was over the moon for that dumb horse with wings she rides around on everywhere, so I guess she likes horses. It's a toy one of those, just... something dumb that I'm sure she'll like. I think people call them plushies or... whatever. It's soft and squishie."

Catra has a swig from the chai, and looks out the window. "Just, don't tell her it's from me. She'll never figure it out anyway, she's stupid. And I'm sure it seems like a weird thing to do, but even if we're not friends anymore, maybe I don't want to be a total monster all the time."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...Y'know, she might surprise you," Rashmi chuckles. "She'll probaby figure it out, but *I* won't be the one to tell her. Not even in a 'don't say anything but' kind of way." The package gets set down next to her.

"So... you worked your-- um. Tail off every day, and barely had any time for yourself, back on your world? What about here? Sounds like you don't need to go 500% all day every day, so... Found anything you could do for fun?"

Picking up a cookie from her half of the plate, Rashmi smiles gently. "Also, nobody wants to be a total monster all the time, even some actual monsters. Which, reminding, you are not. So no, it's not that weird."

Catra has posed:
"I had time for myself. Of course, Adora was my only friend and everyone else hated me, and Shadow Weaver treated me like a bug smear on the windshield that won't clean off, but whatever." She glances at the package, almost as if she's making sure that she's decided it's a good idea.

Apparently, it's a good idea.

"I dunno. Everything seems just... lame. I tried watching movies, but they were just... so *stupid*. How do people go plug themselves into those for two hours and not feel like they want to just die a horrible death to get out of it?" She watched exactly two movies, but she doesn't mention that part.

"I like riding my motorcycle," she acknowledges at last. "I mean. I stole it. But the guy who owned it was in some gang or something so it's not like he's going to the police, so who cares."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Not everyone likes every movie," Rashmi chuckles. "And I mean, watching a movie is like listening someone read a story. If you don't like the story, and if the person doing the reading isn't that good, it's gonna be hard to stay interested. Same with any other story, really. You might want to check out bosozoku movies, if you don't mind the films being, like... older. More than fifty years old, in one case. Sec..."

And she's off with the bit in her teeth, tugging out her smartphone and tapping away for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah. The Stray Cat Rock movies, starting with 'The Delinquent Girl Boss' might be more your speed. Probably by now they're on WeTube, it's been long enough. They're about a biker gang led by a girl, the first movie was so popular it got four sequels within a year."

Catra has posed:
"I don't know why there's any reason I'd care about a movie being old," Catra replies. "So... I mean, yeah, I'll check them out." She picks up a cookie, and is about to eat it. "Thanks," she adds, the word awkward in her mouth, before she stuffs the cookie in. A few moments go by, spent munching and drinking chai, before she fishes out an uncounted stack of yen (it'll cover the food with plenty of tip) and puts it on the table beside the package.

"I gotta go," she mumbles, giving one last glance to the package. "Take care of that, but, like... no rush or anything. I dunno if Adora will even like it."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Take care, Catra-san," Rashmi answers, waving after the illusion-cloaked Etherian, in no hurry to finish her own chai. Once Catra has left, she waves over the server who actually handled the girl's order, because tips go to the server, not the dish girl!

Occasionally she glances at the package, privately amused by the labyrinthine route that Catra took to justify doing something nice for someone. She *is* curious how Adora will receive the present, though!