1360/Korma Conversation

Korma Conversation
Date of Scene:	28 March 2024
Location:	Korma Chameleon
Synopsis:	Following her last incident with Adora, Catra goes to the Korma for comfort food... and gets a side of conversation to chew on for a long, long time.
Cast of Characters:	Rashmi Terios, Bow, Catra
Tinyplot:	How the Adora Crumbles

---

Rashmi Terios has posed:
-- EVENING, at the KORMA CHAMELEON --

With both the new school year *and* the prom coming up, and mahou life being mahou life, Rashmi is feeling... scattered. Luckily, as the daughter of restauranteurs in the business for love of food, the redhead is *extremely* familiar with the concept of comfort food, and her parents equally familiar with stress eating. Which is probably a good part of why the samosas at her table, still half-eaten, are vegetarian; chickpea, carrot, and -- only in a fusion join like the Korma -- mushroom, deep-fried in sesame oil with a dipping chutney.

With the close of the school year, she's not been doing homework tonight, but instead simply reading, and snacking, and reading some more, tucked in an out of the way booth just in case. After all, with as many people as she's known well enough to call friend, someone might drop by for conversation, and this is the best booth to avoid chatter upsetting the customers.

Bow has posed:
Coming over to the table with a fresh plate of naan, Bow grins as he comes over to set it down in front of Rashmi. "Your father doesn't think you are eating enough." he teases lighty, glancing at the book she's looking over.

"Also, I forgot to mention that I'm going to need Fridays off - band practice. Sayaka convinced me to try out for the string section and somehow made it with violin..." a pause and a nervous rub at the back of his head. "My lute apparently needs work and people kept thinking it was a guitar." A shrug of his shoulders. "If you need anything, I'll be cleaning up in the back!" he comments as he prepares to breeze off, dressed in the kitchen uniform with a hair net covering the bundle of curls on the top of his head.

Catra has posed:
And indeed someone does drop in. One feline, hidden behind her guise as the eternally obnoxious Rachel Miller, manages to make it past whoever is watching the door tonight. She's dressed in a ragged grey hoodie and equally damaged jeans, and has her earbuds jammed into her ears busy pounding out some kind of overly loud dirge, drawing looks from those seated at tables as she walks past.

Catra walks with her hands in her pockets, and her hoodie drawn low enough over her head that it looks like she's trying to impersonate some kind of fantasy priesthood with it. And, she knows exctly where Rashmi is, and almost approaches; but then Bow makes his appearance and she halts, watching the exchange. And then she just kind of stands there, trying not to look awkward and generally failing miserably at it.

The rather obvious signs of severe bruising around her neck haven't faded yet, either, and they're showing through even in the illusion. Certaily, it looks unfortunate, and she can't quite hide it, not entirely.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Papi almost *always* thinks I'm not eating enough," Rashmi chuckles, setting down her book. The cover reads 'Rune Sky Rhapsody: Princess of the Sea of Stars, Volume 24,' and by how worn it is it either has followed Rashmi through most of her life, or was picked up for cheap at a secondhand shop. Either could honestly be the case. "It's a good thing I haven't settled on a prom dress yet, or I wouldn't fit in it by then!"

Chuckling, she shakes her head... And spots Rachel Miller, agonizing over whether or not to sit. Without hesitation, the redhead beckons the awkward girl over, slipping her notepad out of the bookbag next to her, and scribbling down. "Luke-san, could you take this order to the back please? I'm covering it." she says, tearing off the sheet of paper and handing it to Bow.

    Fish Korma, Garlic Naan, Mango Lassi





    -- Tear this bit off, Bow, that's Catra, but call her Rachel.

Once the order and the message are passed off, she beckons Rachel over again.

Bow has posed:
Accepting the slip of paper, Bow smirks slightly. "Look, I just got around to getting a date, we - you and I - still need to discuss the curry pops, and I just have so much organizing left to do... seriously, I see why Princesses have chamberlains now!" he bemoans softly.

But as he glances at the paper and reads it - there's a terse nod, a glance towards 'Rachel', and instead of a look of suspicion or anything related to anger? It's sympathetic, not at all pitying. "You got it." he comments, a lift of his hand in a small mockery of a bow before he's heading off to the kitchen. "Hey, pappi! Your daughter wants more food!" he calls out as he heads into the fires.

Catra has posed:
"Hey."

Catra accepts the invitation, and slips into the seat opposite Rashmi once Bow's left. Or Luke, if that's what he's calling himself these days. Whatever. Doesn't matter. She dials the volume of her music down to tollerable levels; it's not turned off, just, it's no longer irritating to anyone outside of about eighteen inches.

With the terse greeting given, the hidden feline spends a long moment staring out the window, watching as the world just kind of happens outside. She leans back in the booth -- sitting right in the middle, of course, to take up all the space as much as a girl with her frame is able to -- and eventually looks back to Rashmi.

"So you're going to a prom?" she asks. "I went to one of those once. On Etheria. Got properly dressed up for it. Danced with a few people. Kidnapped Bow and Glimmer." She shrugs her shoulders dismissively. "It was kinda fun I guess. Didn't know you had them on this planet too."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Funny coincidence," Rashmi says, picking up her book long enough to look at the page number, close it, and stow it away. "He seemed to like them so much, he volunteered to head the planning committee for this one, at the school. 'Prince & Princess' themed, there's gonna be a heck of a spread."

She seems about to go on in that vein, but her eyes drop to Rachel's neck for half a heartbeat, and she pivots. "Yo-- no you're not doing okay. Are you doing *better* now?"

With Catra, Rashmi has learned, it's best if one doesn't beat around the bush. The whole mess was awful, Rashmi wasn't present for most of it but she can *guess* how awful, and she would like to hold out hope that at least it hurts a little less, with the passage of time. But be careful not to act like you pity her, because what would normally be at least a little insulting to most is *very* much so to Catra.

So Rashmi decides to just be honest about Catra's status mattering, without justifying.

Bow has posed:
Once the order is put in the kitchen. Bow doesn't return to the table. No. He took the hint from Rashmi that he was supposed to stay away.

But that table near her needs to be bussed? Bow volunteered.

Oh look, that table over there needs a refill on the salt and pepper shakers. Bow is there too!

Oh, that fake palm tree needs dusting? There's Bow with a spray bottle. Spritz, spritz, wipe.

Peeking out from the kitchen doorframe? Yep, Bow knows spying. Master spy.

Finally, it's Rashmi's father that's grumbling from behind the tall Etherian. "Ya know she has a boyfriend, right?"

Bow about jumps out of his skin. "Of course I do!" he protests, "It's not that!"

Noticing the other girl at the table. "Ooooh. Her. Ah see. Yer interested in her?"

"Yes!" Bow agrees. And then pauses in horror. "No, I mean, not like that!" His voice is totally breaking.

"Uh huh, Tokubei," comes the response, using the Japanese version of Romeo and Juliet. "Heah. Take this platter over to them. Try not to fall on yer face." Tray handed, a hard pat on the shoulder and Bow is sent on his way.

"The a-ah order you requested!" Another voice break. Color in his cheeks.

Catra has posed:
"Everything's fine," Catra replies, quickly. Too quickly. And it's obvious that it's not fine. But then, it's not like she was going to hide that anyway, with the bruising around her neck, so she might as well just elaborate.

"Adora almost killed Sunbreaker and tried to rip my head off before we got the dark energy out of her. But we had a good talk first." No they absolutely did not. "So whatever. It's done now. I'll just be bruised for a while. I patched myself up well enough after the first time when she tried to take my arms off with her sword. ...You'll note that I still have my arms, because I'm still faster than her and I always will be."

Catra might've been about to elaborate further, but then... Bow's back. With a platter. Which makes perfect sense, of course food was ordered. And, Catra *did* name this precise restaurant as a place to meet up, but maybe she hadn't been anticipating that Bow would be working here, or that he'd be here today, in particular.

"Uhm, great," she mumbles, apparently as close to 'thank you' as is likely to happen. "Whats a Tokubei?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Though her note wasn't *really* an indicator to stay away, Rashmi cannot help but chuckle at Bow's antics. This turns into a full snicker when the plates are ferried to the table, the redhead nodding to Catra, to indicate where dinner ought to be set. "I'm covering dinner tonight, Rachel-san, enjoy."

No elaboration or platitudes. Dinner is yours.

"Is it okay if B-- um. Luke-kun joins us?" Glance up at Bow. "Did you *want* to join us? It's slow enough, if Papi's calling you 'Tokubei' then he's probably half-expecting you to take a break." Back to Catra with the explanation. "Character from an old, old love story here; tragedy, nobody who deserved to be happy ended happy, you get it. Papi either thinks Luke-kun's got a thing for you, or he's just amusing himself by insinuating it. Either way."

Listening carefully to Catra's terse account of the events leading to the bruising, Rashmi looks... sad, by the end of it, and not a little worried. "...Okay so you're *healing* okay, that's something. But no you're not doing okay. All right."

Bow has posed:
Noticing Rachel's injuries, knowing how they got there - it doesn't matter if it wasn't meant or not. It's something Bow feels bad about and now that Adora's better, when he gets a chance, he's going to give her an earful.

For now, all it takes is Rashmi's insinuation to make him violently shake his head. "No. He's mistaking checking on someone for //that//?" a groan of frustration after he sets down the tray.

"I'm going back to the kitchen. And I'm going to peel enough tubers to make sure WcDonald's could have fries for a month. Maybe two!" He throws the serving rag around his neck.

"Talk to you later. Glad you're out and about." And off Bow goes in full retreat.

Catra has posed:
Potatoes? Potatoes. "Uhm, have fun," Catra mumbles, looking up in Bow's direction as he makes he makes, by her standards, an exceptionally clumsy exit. (As if you're any better, Catra.) She watches him all the way into the kitchen, before turning her attentions back to Rashmi and the table in front of her.

Food first. She hadn't eaten at all today, and for a brief time her stomach takes over captaining of the ship, at least until a few mouthfuls have gone down the hatch.

"Didn't realize he worked here now," she observes. "That's... I'm sure he told you. Don't ever have him on your team in any kind of game where keeping a secret matteres and you're playing for money. He's one of Adora's friends." She pauses, and grits her teeth. "And another one showed up the other day. So the entire 'best friend squad' is here now. I'm sure you'll meet the other one eventually. You're better off waiting, I promise."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"He's got a gift for improvisation though," Rashmi answers, tilting her head. "Someone who can think on their feet's always good to have around. And anyway... Best Friend Squad, so... that'd be Glimmer, right? Huh..."

Mulling on this for a bit, she cronches into a fried samosa, thinking. "But yeah, Bow-kun needed to make some spending money, so I set him up with an interview. Papi's happy with the prep help, so, seems like the right call." Glancing back up, she lifts her eyebrows. "Did you ever find those movies I told you about?"

Catra has posed:
Catra nods, "Yeah. Glimmer. Except I call her Sparkles." For largely the same reason she calls Bow 'Arrow Boy', because she thinks it's irritating and rude, and she does it basically for the sake of being condescending, but she doesn't offer up that part. "Be nice if someone who was on *my* side might appear at some point," she grumbles.

Movies, though. "Oh, the one... Delinquent Girl Boss?" She nods, "Yeah, I found it, and I was ten minutes in before I got called away 'cause there was a fight brewing. Never actually happened though." She shrugs. "I'll watch the rest, I just... haven't felt like watching anything lately." For, y'know, reasons.

"I told Bow we could talk here," she adds. "Did you tell him about the truce? It's good as long as nobody else breaks it, as far as I'm concerned. I haven't told Riventon yet though."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Haven't gotten the chance to," Rashmi says, "but I'll make sure he knows. ...And yeah, I guess it ought to hold for Riventon-san too," she says with a sigh. "For all I don't like him, that's not enough reason to make him not welcome."

It is, perhaps, an upsetting truth, but not a hard one, apparently.

"Well when you get the chance to finish it, let me know how it is? That kind of movie's never really been my thing, but, now I'm kinda interested to hear what you think."

Catra has posed:
The nominally ravenous Catra nods her head absently, as she pushes food around on her plate. Food that it's already been demonstrated in the past that she will gobble up without remorse.

There certainly are thoughts boiling just below the surface. Why does Adora get to have all her friends back, when Catra didn't get any of hers? Not like she really has friends, but would it have been too much trouble for the universe to spit Scorpia out alongside Bow or Glimmer? What about Hordak? Maybe even Shadow Weaver? Maybe she'd accept her at least as a familiar face who used to be on Catra's side.

Even if she did leave her for Adora.

Why does everyone always do that?

"What're you studying?" she asks, instead, before shovelling something into her mouth. "Food's great, by the way," she adds.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Nothing at the moment," Rashmi answers. "School's almost over, new term next week. Passed my tests, thankfully, so I'm just back to reading for fun. Might not be here as much next year unless I'm helping out, though... I'm moving into the dorms, pretty excited about that. But if you want, I can give you my number and you can text me? It's not the same, but... It's good to see you again, Catra. Believe it or not, I was worried about you."

It's strange, this thing that Rashmi seems to be able to do; once she's pretty sure she's got a read on someone's personality, she finds a way to be kind, in what she's pretty sure is that person's language. For Catra it's clearly difficult to pull off, but... It's effort worth making.

Because there's not a hint of condescension or guile in her voice. Sky is blue, water is wet, she was worried.

Catra has posed:
Catra doesn't know what to say to that.

That much is obvious. Even through the illusion, the instinctive urge to get angry over anything that she doesn't know how to deal with is obvious, but it's... incredibly difficult to get angry at Rashmi, in a way that just doesn't exist for anyone else. NOr can Catra identify how or why it seems that way. It's not like she's ever done anything nice for Rashmi, except for not shooting her with a Pureheart Rifle in the burn ward.

And since then she's used her to pass messages and a gift on to Adora and other people.

"Why?" she asks, at last, after shovelling in a few more mouthfuls. "We're not on the same side. I work for Obsidian. Would't it be better for you if Adora had actually succeeded in killing me? You'd have one less enemy."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Because it's not about sides, Catra-san," Rashmi says... carefully, choosing her words for maximum precision and minimum confusion. "Not here. Maybe if I was on your world, sure, it might be different because there's *really easy sides.* Horde or Rebellion. You're with one, or the other, or you're sitting on the sidelines. But like... here? There's an *entire world* out there beyond the people who're fighting. And unless something breaks *really hard,* they're never even gonna know there *is* a fight. They're not Obsidian, or sparklesquad or whatever Riventon calls us... They're just people. Some of 'em suck, some of 'em are great, and none of 'em are involved," she says, leaning back in her seat.

"...But it also means there's a world *we* can be in when we're not fighting. There's room for friends. There's even room for friends you gotta fight sometimes. After the better part of a year? I'm okay with that. I've got friends in Obsidian, and I'd never for a second think about using them to get ahead, because that's not the world we're friends in. That's not *here,*" she says, flicking a hand to encompass the entirety of the Korma.

"It's okay if that doesn't make sense to you, but... It means a lot to me. So, it's the rule I play by. I won't take it personal until you make it personal."

Catra has posed:
Catra doesn't get it.

The lack of understanding is fairly plain, much as she tries to keep her expression unreadable. Friends? Between the two sides of a war? That's not possible. Her relationship with Adora proved that. At least, it did in her mind.

"But that doesn't make any snese," she protests, practically echoing Rashmi's last statement. "We're fighting a war! A *war*. How can you possibly expect to win it unless you're all in?"

And then Catra looks around, at the room Rashmi gestured to. The Korma. Rashmi's family's restaurant, the very epitome of what should be enemy territory. And yet it isn't. Or maybe it is, but that just doesn't matter. There is a truce here, afterall, something which Catra has taken pains to conceal from her contacts at Obsidian.

The feline sighs softly, and directs her gaze out the window. "Maybe I do get it," she admits, "But I don't like it, it feels like you should be expecting to get stabbed in the back at the worst possible moment. How can you possibly feel safe?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I didn't," Rashmi states plainly. "For a *while,* a good few months at least, I was sure someone would try and hurt my parents, or blow the place up, even if I didn't have a good codename or something. And y'know what happened, while I was giving myself nightmares three days out of the week?"

The question proves rhetorical, as she spreads her hands and answers it with the next breath. "Nothing. People came in, people paid money, people just wanted good food and a place to feel warm and secure. Nobody ever started anything, and if I had to guess, nobody wanted to risk losing access to this food. Which, I mean... I get it, I grew up with this cooking."

Leaning over the table, she pitches her voice quiet, as if to share a secret... knowing that Catra wouldn't need to get close to hear it.

"Y'know what that tells me, Catra-san? Even people fighting a war... they're just people, once you take away the flags and the teams. And I *like* people, until they give me a reason not to."

Catra has posed:
"There's a difference between fighting a war and winning it," Catra mutters. "Adora never could understand that."

Catra keeps eating in silence for a time, shovelling in mouthfuls of the fish curry like she's starved. Or maybe, at least, starved for good food. (Pretty much everything still beats the Brown Kind, mind you.)

"I have someone who's offered to teach me magic," she admits, guardedly, once her plate is almost clean. "But I have to come up with rules, first. Or it'll be... bad, apparently." Because the dark energy takes over people who don't have rules. "One of their rules is not to kill anyone. I dunno if I'd commit to that entily, I mean, what if I had to?" She shrugs her shoulders lightly. She doesn't sound like she's entirely convincing herself. Or maybe she wants to be convinced. Or talked out of it.

"Do you have rules?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah but if you win a war, there has to be something worth doing after," Rashmi points out. "If there's not... Then there's no reason to *end* the war, because even fighting and killing and dying would be better than... ...nothing, y'know?"

Rashmi listens to Catra talking of being taught magic, and though she harbors a private shortlist for who would do the teaching, she nods. "It's a good rule," she points out. "Because killing someone... you can return something you stole, you can rebuild or replace something you destroy, but a person... There's only ever one person, and there's no replacing them. That... can't be undone. It can be *forgiven,* *atoned for,* but... never undone. So yeah... I guess that's one of my rules, too. Don't take the fighting personally without cause, and don't kill."

Leaning back in her chair, she chews on her bottom lip for awhile, in thought. "I guess I have a third. If I ever have a choice between being tactical, or kind? Find a way to do both at the same time. Because there's ways to win that don't have the least thing to do with fighting."

Catra has posed:
"I'm not very good at that," Catra replies, immediately afterwards. "Not my thing. But the rest makes sense." She shrugs. 'And I'm still the villain, I'm not supposed to be nice', flashes through her brain without getting said.

"If we won? I've no idea what I'd do. I don't think I've ever thought about it." She pauses, and shakes her head after shovelling in the last mouthful of curry. "Actually, I know exactly what I'd do, find something else to fight over. Wether or not it was worth it. It appears to be the only thing I'm good at."

Wether or not that last bit was said proudly or ruefully, is entirely impossible to place. It could have been either, or both. "And I am very good at it," she adds, which one might question given how infrequently she seems to be on the winning side.

"Or try to find my way off this planet, I guess. Find someplace that's not... just... humans." She pauses. "No offense," she adds, quietly, almost as an afterthought.

"What about you? Would you miss it, if your side won?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"From everything I know, you only have a couple more years of dealing with me anyway," Rashmi says with a shrug. "But if we won before then? I mean... I don't see that happening, but I've got plans for after I forget anyway, so... I guess I'll just go along with those, honestly. Go to university, maybe law school, get into politics... That's the benefit of living in a world that has no idea there's any kind of fight going on; there's a world to go to after the fighting's done."

As Catra voices her wish to get off a planet of just humans, Rashmi lifts a shoulder. "I mean, I get it, and for what it's worth? I'm sorry my world makes you so lonely. I just wish I could do something about it."

Catra has posed:
"It's not even just that I'm the only cat here," Catra declares, "It's that I can't even be open about it. I have to go around hidden all the time and I can't even show my own face." She pauses, considering, "Well maybe I could," she concedes, "Just... tell anyone who asks I'm from some anime, they'd probably believe me, but that's not the point."

"Growing up and forgetting everything you did is such complete crap," she adds. "Why even bother? You spend all that time getting good at something, and then poof?" she snaps her fingers, "It's all gone? Why even bother? What if you forget all your friends? What if..."

The feline trails off, biting her bottom lip. Something clearly is hovering on the edge of her mind, getting considered, but she just... dismisses it, apparently.

"Thanks for the food," she mumbles. "I'll buy next time."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah," Rashmi says, nodding in understanding. "I really do get how that's worse."

She seems about to say more, but Catra asks The Question. Why even bother?

"I mean... Because it's worth doing, and it came to me," she says without a moment's hesitation. "Not even the fighting, just... I can *help* people. I have magic *specifically designed* to help people. Even if I got it by accident, like... anything I could do with it *except* that isn't something it's really in me to do."

Shaking her head, she finishes the last of her tea. "I'm scared of that too, honestly. All of my friends in my life I made, I made *after* I got magic. All I can do is hope that the way this life changes *me,* is something I can hold on to after. ...And with luck, Chrono and I won't forget how we feel about each other, but..."

Rashmi shrugs, and bobs her head. "You're welcome, Catra-san," she says sincerely. "And I really, honestly hope things work out well for you. *You* deserve to be content, too."

Catra has posed:
Catra gulps down half her drink in one go, and sets the glass back on the table. She listens to Rashmi's answer, and as she finishes, the feline starts to look distinctly uncomfortable, even through her illusion. It's as if somehow she doesn't fit with the world, or maybe just not with herself.

"No I don't," she mumbles.

There's a dessert sitting there waiting for her, and she glances at it out of the corner of her eye. Her gaze shifts back to Rashmi, whom she studies for a moment.

Maybe Rashmi will just think she forgot about it.

Catra abruptly rises from her seat, and pulls her hoodie down low around her face. She mumbles something about next time, and makes a show of not rushing for the door, even though she turns her music back up to levels that go beyond obnoxious and into the territory of being downright offensive, though the noise follows her out as she pushes through the door and departs at a quickened pace up the street.