boxitup | fun shippy fluff don't hate us 'cause you ain't us

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fun shippy fluff don't hate us 'cause you ain't us

It's been a few months since the failsafe reached the Heart, and they're finally doing something they'd always thought they'd do together: they're exploring Etheria.

They started off in the vicinity of Bright Moon and wandered from there, following maps to find towns and stopping at unmarked settlements along the way. Teaching each-other tidbits they'd picked up, learning others together. Filling in gaps in their knowledge of the world.

They're at the edge of some small village now, replenishing supplies for their trip. Or, well. Adora is replenishing supplies. Catra had been left to set up their campsite, which she did, and one playful swipe led to another and then to some tackling and rolling around, and then to a small chase, and then Melog had proudly created an illusory duplicate of themselves to get her off their tail.

So now there are two Melogs, and Catra's on all fours, her tail trailing an eager 'S' in the air as her eyes dart between them. The Melogs are in much the same position, and they mewl at her in synchronization as both their and Catra's shoulders shimmy down, ready to pounce. The campfire she was supposed to light is well and truly forgotten some distance away, the branches and tree litter strewn messily about. She's got bits of it stuck in her hair and in her fur, and even Melog's picked up a leaf or three from their playing.

That doesn't matter. What matters is choosing the right one.

Her claws twitch against the soft ground, the vibrant green grass that Adora's magic had restored a pleasant cushion against them. She breathes deep, steadies herself; and with a cry, launches at the Melog on the left.

Either she's correct or both of them were corporeal, because she connects and rolls with them in a tumble, a laugh bubbling up from her chest as Melog's tongue licks messily up her cheek. Her objection - "Ugh!" - is lost under the smoosh of their muzzle against her face as they increase their size to pin her, and their exaggerated purr rumbles right through her bones.

"Okay, okay." Catra pushes at them, grinning and with laughter in her words despite her struggling efforts. "You won, I get it! Now let me up! We have to finish before Adora gets back."

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"Hey--!" Catra's indignant objection comes too late, and though she wraps her hand around Adora's wrist in a flash she's not quick enough to prevent the disappearance of the berries.

That's not going to stop her from grabbing Adora's jaw with a growl of disbelief, squeezing her cheeks to pry her mouth open. If Catra does not get to eat those berries, then Adora does not get to just go ahead and do it without a fight.

Adora's initial response is to simply chew faster. Though, as Catra's attempts to pry her mouth open grow more persistent, she decides she'll go ahead and indulge her, sticking out her tongue to reveal the smushed-up, purple-pink mass atop it with a 'nyehh'.

If Catra wants it so badly, she can come and get it.

"Ugh!" Catra's noise and recoil of disgust are a bit hypocritical, given that she's done almost exactly this same thing to Adora before (and will doubtless do it again), but she's still going to cover Adora's mouth with her hand to hide the mush, complaining all the while. "Why are you so gross?! Just eat them normally!"

Adora laughs -- as much as the situation allows, at least -- and finally swallows, letting Catra know it's safe to remove her hand by means of licking her palm.

"Geez, Catra, I was just trying to offer you some! Didn't know you were so sensitive."

Once again, Catra's groan, grimace, and pointed rubbing of her licked hand off on Adora's face are all entirely hypocritical actions. Like Catra has never been the one to slobber all over Adora.

"I am not 'sensitive'," she protests. Melog, the traitor, warbles loudly as they object. Catra bristles, but elects to ignore them, lowering herself closer to Adora instead. Adora cannot see her own lips, which means that Catra's free to wipe away an imaginary bit of berry with her thumb; free to tilt her head, glare softening, as if she's considering going in for a kiss despite her agitation.

"Still offering?" She murmurs, pressing the pad of her thumb against the lower of Adora's lips. Melog had seriously. Seriously better not be giving her away right now.

As if there's any other way Adora could reply to that, with Catra so close, pressing her lips apart. She runs the tip of her tongue out, swiping over the pad of Catra's thumb, and a faint flush dusts her cheek as she answers: "Uh-huh."

"Great," Catra purrs, trying to not let the pleasant tingle of Adora's tongue distract her. She takes her time, brushing her thumb across that lip, before leaning in close enough to kiss her. Except she keeps her thumb there, using it as a barrier between them.

"We'll finish setting up." Is what she breathes against her own nail. Smugness wins out over everything else, her tail curling to brush against Adora's leg before Catra pushes herself back up, radiating satisfaction. "Don't take too long getting more, or we'll eat all the fish without you."

Adora spends a moment just lying there, red-faced in the grass, as she watches Catra head towards the camp without her. Then she huffs out a laugh -- at herself more than anything, for falling for it. Is she ever not going to fall for Catra?

"Okay, first of all, you're mean," she says with a flustered grin as she pushes up onto her feet, snatching her bag back up before rushing to Catra's side.

"And secondly, I saved some for you, you big silly. Here," she plants the half-full pouch in her palm. "Don't put too many in your mouth in one go. It was really sour."

Edited 2020-06-26 15:11 (UTC)

There are fewer things more satisfying in the world than getting to Adora, and it makes it much easier for Catra to stroll back to the abandoned start of the campfire, brushing the accumulated leaf litter from her fur as she goes. She almost makes it all the way there when her ears prick back, Adora's voice easy to pick up across the short distance. She braces herself to be tackled, but instead it's her hand that's grabbed; and Adora places the pouch there, and suddenly it's very, very warm out here.

Stupid. It's stupid. Adora touches her hand all the time, gives her things all the time. And it still makes Catra feel...

...Special. Every time.

She scoffs, ears flicking with embarrassment as she fights the urge to yank herself away.

"I didn't want them anyway," she lies. But she takes the pouch with her other hand, so she can turn her wrist in Adora's grasp and shift to link their fingers together. Still embarrassed, but better at dealing with it now than she was a few months ago.

"Sure you didn't," Adora hums lightly, squeezing Catra's hand in her own. She likes how her ears give her away each time, but she'll refrain from commenting, this time.

It's only a brief walk back to the campsite, and once they stop, she steps in a brisk half-circle around Catra to stand in front of her. "Hey," she whines, her purple-tinted lower lip sticking out, "how come I got 'welcome back' kisses from Melog but not you?"

That's not what Catra was expecting, though she should have.

She could be mean, she could tease. But she's still feeling that soft warmth in her chest, so in the end she steps easily in to Adora, fitting against her the way she always has. Places a hand on her waist, like she's learned she loves to. And with lidded eyes, tilts her chin to look at Adora.

"Because, genius," she drawls, hefting the bag of berries. "You crammed a bunch of these in your mouth. Remember that?"

"Well, they're not in my mouth now," Adora retorts, and sticks out her chin in petulant demand. They're close enough that it'd be no effort at all to sneak a kiss herself, but it's the principle of the matter.

She plants a hand on Catra's shoulder, urging: "Gimme kiss."

The laugh leaves Catra's lips before she can stop it, and lingers in her smile even after she cuts it off. Her tail still swishes happily as she rises onto her toes the bit needed to cover the difference in height, using her hand on Adora's waist to keep balance.

It's a kiss Adora gets, though only through technicality. Catra's lips press against the lower of Adora's only; brushing against it gently as hers part to suck on that purple stain, her teeth holding Adora's lip carefully in place so her tongue can swipe across the sweet-tart taste in languid strokes, back and forth, and press against it with teasing flexes of her tongue.

Catra does not lower back to the flats of her feet as she pulls back, licking the taste from her own lips, glints of fang slipping through. If Adora doesn't make the next move, she probably will.

"That-- that wasn't even a real kiss," Adora huffs, even though the tingling on her lips and fluttering in her chest are very much real. Her hand moves from Catra's shoulder to her nape, pulls her in properly-- lips smothering lips in full, tongue seeking tongue.

It only lasts a few moments before Melog's impatient yowl reminds them that their camp setup is still awfully lacking, and that dinner isn't going to prepare itself. Adora can't begrudge them for it-- her stomach's kinda grumbling, too. And she got her 'welcome back' kiss, finally, so she's pleased for now.

"Okay, okay. Let's get that fire going." And she plucks a stray leaf from behind Catra's ear before pulling back, lips quirked into a half-smile. "Pretty sure those berries just made me hungrier."

Melog's admonishment surprises Catra, her body going stiff for a short beat in Adora's arms before she parses the alien's message. Melog doesn't even need to eat, why are they complaining about food?

Then her stomach rumbles, Adora's mention of the berries setting it off, and okay. Maybe Melog's interruption was warranted. Catra does get rather lost in kissing Adora. Could easily spend an entire day just laying beside her, curled up in her arms and lazily enjoying the feel of her lips.

As it is, she doesn't want Adora to pull away; and Catra's arm slips around her waist to continue holding her close, a purr rumbling in her chest at Adora's smile.

"One more." Then they can do everything else.

Adora lets out a dopey, high-pitched giggle, unable to help herself. Catra's cute. She'll tease her by withholding kisses and then ask for more. While purring. How could Adora say no to that?

"One more," she agrees with an ear-to-ear grin, and cups Catra's chin to stroke underneath as she pulls her back in.

That dumb, endearing giggle and that stupid melting grin. How can Catra not purr? And how can she not tilt her chin to encourage that stroke, the vibrations in her chest growing louder as she softens into Adora's touch?

Melog warbles, loud and plaintive, and Catra pulls back from the sweet kiss with an annoyed sigh, the purr dying with it.

"We haven't forgotten the food," she complains, peering around Adora to meet Melog's unwavering gaze. They remain unconvinced, and Catra narrows her eyes at them but drops back to her heels anyway. Fine. After dinner and their walk, she's going to spend the whole night kissing Adora and Melog can just deal with sitting outside the tent and being ignored.

"Ugh, come on. They're not going to let it go." Retaking Adora's hand, she'll lead her the short distance to the would-be fire, setting the berries down to get to work. The sooner they eat, the sooner she can get Melog off her case.

Adora laughs as they break the kiss off-- it's hard to be mad at Melog when they're right, the two of them could easily go at this for ages. If they kiss too long now, they'll have dinner late, and be too tired to go on their walk, and Adora really wants to go on that walk.

So she'll be good, exercise self-control, and kiss Catra later.

Once the two of them have stopped distracting each other, setting up camp and prepping dinner is a cakewalk, and before long they're gathered around the fire, happily stuffing their faces. Or at least Adora is stuffing her face, because she's hungry, okay, and the delicate art of chewing all the way through before swallowing has eluded her since the first bite she took into non-Horde food.

"Mmf. So good." Swallowing before talking? Also eludes her. "You catch the best fish."

"It was easy." Smugness comes naturally, and though Catra still picks at the fish with the weird sort of refinement she'd learned, her tail swims with pride and her ears lift as she chews through another chunk. As long as Adora's keeping her gross eating habits to herself and not spraying food everywhere, they've got no problem here. "They were practically jumping out of the water. Even you could've grabbed some if you'd tried."

She's not going to mention that she'd spent a lot of time watching the fish with Melog, the two of them entranced by the quick movements. Or that once she'd finally given into the urge and snapped up one as it breached the surface, that she'd yelped in surprise at how slippery and strong it was, and promptly dropped it back into the river.

The second and third attempts had, obviously, gone a lot better.

"And they're all over the place, too." She's allowed to sound pleased about that, as she glances sidelong at Adora with a small smirk, shifting to bump their knees together. "It doesn't matter if we get too far away from the towns, now. We can go anywhere."

Catra's sense of accomplishment is plain to see, and it makes Adora's chest swell with affection. "Maybe we'll do a fishing contest next time," she teases lightly. "Is it bare hands only, or can I use my sword?"

Her odds aren't great there, either way. Adora might be the stronger one between the two of them, but Catra always had her beat in terms of agility. But it could be a fun use of an afternoon just the same; Adora likes Catra's competitive grin, the spark in her eyes when she's winning.

She returns the bump to her knee before shuffling closer, shifting to rest against Catra's side. "... Yeah," she sighs around a mouthful of bread, then swallows. "Anywhere."

After a beat of pensive silence, a sudden, giddy giggle climbs up her throat. And, in an instinctive response to this new burst of energy, she playfully elbows Catra's side. "It's a pretty nice thought, huh? I'm kinda not over it. I mean, we can go all around Etheria! And then we can go to space," she stretches one arm towards the sky overhead, splattered with stars like an endless watercolor canvas. "We can do anything we want! Doesn't that make you just so-- so--"

She waves her hand around in a series of vigorous yet inarticulate gestures, still clutching the half-eaten fish on a stick between her fingers. At last, she simply slouches back against Catra, concluding with: "--You know?"

"Sure, use the sword. You'll need the help." Catra teases back confidently, that silly little flutter happening in her stomach again as Adora leans into her. She can feel the quiet beginnings of a purr, and out here, just the two of them (and Melog, keeping watch somewhere nearby), lets it happen. Lets herself just watch Adora, her tail brushing the grass in fond sweeps, as she becomes so excited about her freedom. Catra feels it too, that eager anticipation to just go places and do things, but she always has. And she used to think Adora did too, because they used to talk about it. But always in context of the Horde; of war. The places they'd take back from the rebels, the victories they'd secure, the world they'd run. Seeing Adora now, excited to do whatever she actually wants to do...

...it reaches a part of Catra, deeper than she'd known was possible. Makes her feel an unyielding and stubborn surge of defensiveness; the kind that makes her feel stronger, protective. Nobody's going to take this from them, nobody is going to take this from Adora. Catra won't let anyone trap her ever again.

"Of course I know, dummy." At this point, there's no hiding the softness or warmth of her tone. Or the quiet, loving rumble in her chest as she shifts, so there's more of her to lean against than just her arm. She kind of wants to nuzzle into her, but that's still a step too far for Catra; so she settles for bumping her head lightly against Adora's in affection instead, dinner forgotten for the moment. "I think about it all the time. Don't tell me you're only just getting to that now?"

"No, of course not! I mean, obviously I've been thinking it, we've been doing this for a while, it's just-- sometimes I stop and it just catches up with me, that we're really doing this. For real-for real."

Okay, she's babbling, and it's all pretty silly, and Adora can tell from the look on Catra's face that she's going to tease. So she sticks out her tongue and knocks their shoulders together, scolding in advance: "Don't make fun of me."

"Who, me?" Catra teases immediately. "I wasn't going to say anything. But now that you mention it--"

She makes a quick swipe for Adora's bread, yanking it as she stands up and leisurely pivots on her heel, tail risen and curved. Something about all these feelings is just making her feel looser, the giddiness of Adora's mood getting to her like some sort of infection. It happens rather a lot, these days. "--You are kind of slow on the uptake."

And she takes a pointedly large bite of Adora's bread, ignoring her own piece still near where she'd sat, fangs crunching down into the crust and spilling crumbs freely to the ground. Tastes better when it's stolen, anyway.

"-- Catra! You have your own!"

... Which is easily within reach, yes, but who would Adora be if she didn't rise to the challenge? She tears her remaining chunk of fish off its skewer, works on chewing as she rises to her feet-- and she's not quite through when she tackles Catra for her stolen bread, shouting out the demand with her mouth still full: "Gimme that!"

Good thing Catra's so good at biting things, or she might not have managed to chew and swallow down the mouthful of bread before Adora collides with her, knocking her to the ground. As it is, she yelps; scrabbling immediately out from under Adora's weight, kicking indiscriminately as she clutches the stolen bread tightly to her chest.

And all the while she's unable to disguise the laugh in her voice as she presses a hand against Adora's gross face, shoving her away to help Catra's escape efforts.

"No way! It's not even yours!"

Edited 2020-06-28 18:00 (UTC)

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