As soon as Kat reaches her destination, Nami poses a question immediately; "What was that about?" All she could see was that Law was both mad and… well, confused, while trying his darnest to be civil. Which in itself is a point of interest, just like the fact that her new friend here also seems kind of lost.
Kat sighs. "I've been too," Honestly, how should she summarize this? Uh... "well... nice?"
"Too… nice." On second thought… the navigator feels she shouldn't be surprised that the Heart captain would find that unwelcome. He's not exactly the buddy-buddy type, hell, probably even paranoid.
"Like... I felt kind of guilty for skipping all that practice and being a general nuisance," among other things she cannot talk about... "... so I brought down some rice crackers and tea after breakfast and washed his dusty mug that must have been lying around for months for him," she looks up, slowing down a bit to get her thoughts in order; "We had, like, a tea party. Which was still okay, I guess. After having managed to sit out the new training shit proper, probably looking like a maniac during it all… I definitely overdid it by buying a teddy at the fair for his suspiciously big bear themed collection." It really seems excessive and random in hindsight. "Man, can you imagine I even considered to buy a gigantic one? I couldn't bring myself to pay up the twelve grand, but… pfff." she mumbles mostly to herself, putting on a faint smile over the mental image of chucking that monstrosity at him again, then places a hand on her cheek while contemplating the general idea over in vague confusion. She settled for the small one, but... sheesh. On the other hand, she likes being charitable, and it's been too damn long since she had both the financial background and an excuse to buy a gift for someone apart from the obligatory job stuff. Thinking about this makes her want to give a little 'thank you' gift of sorts to both crews… except, well, she ain't got jack as far as ideas are concerned. They already have everything they could need, too.
Nami rolls her eyes upon hearing that. "Geez… it's like you're wishing him a belated happy birthday and he's complaining over the attention. Which… is not all that surprising, I guess," she concludes then with a shrug. "He did the same when we threw him a party before arriving in the country," His main complaint was that he had his private party with his crew a few days back… none can do for Luffy if he wants to party, however. "On the other hand… you do realize that you sound like an overly apologetic boyfriend, right?" Nami muses while returning her attention to her, finding sudden enjoyment over the image of Knight Kat and her grumpy liege.
"Well… he is a princess as far as I'm concerned," Kat nods in agreement. "While I'm not sure his highness would agree, I can see where you're coming from, though," she adds, scratching the sideburns in embarrassment. "I'm… not really good at taking care of anyone or anything in general, no lie. The moons must have aligned, or something."
"You must be underestimating yourself," the other woman states, leading her towards the table with the still steaming drink on it. Sanji must have been here a mere minute ago. "People who have no sense of nurture would never be able to do your job, you know?"
"Work is different," she protests, crossing her forearms in an X, and squints at the back of Nami's head where some small creature seems to be very, very lost in the orange sea; "Because… I know I have to do that stuff, and I must pay attention at least some of the time, you know? If I didn't, I'd get fired. When just home, or hanging out… I get way too comfortable, and next thing I notice after spacing out is that the day is already over. Flowers unwatered and still full of lice or whatever, dog unwalked and unpooped, cat unfed and has knocked everything off the table, and then there's me, also hungry and dirty... Can't just do all of that quick before going to bed, can you?" She sighs. "I'm happy I've gotten far enough to be able to take care of myself, you know." Sometimes she still forgets to eat, or keeps going just one or two more days without the designated bath. It's so… it's beyond embarrassing. And infuriating. Occasionally… even humiliating.
She picks up her cup and stirs the beverage, then downs half of it immediately. A sugar chunk in her mouth and the barely comfortable temperature remind her that she probably should slow the fuck down. Oh well… if she already has half the cube, might as well lick it away.
"... I still think you are selling yourself short, but… can't say I haven't met the problem." Getting started after Bellemere was… overwhelming. Although they helped out a lot since they were little, and there wasn't a lot more extra work to do, neither her nor Nojiko had an idea where to start with the household, even though the villagers cleaned up the mess in the house that Hachi had left behind. The laundry seemed to be more when it was less, the cooking more challenging... even the tangerine grove felt bigger and more intimidating than before. Everything appeared to be more than what it was in reality. When she noticed some work waiting to be done, she handled it on autopilot, but there really was a lot of spacing out while doing stuff. From what she just said, Kat seems to be in a similar state of mind, albeit near permanently. "Either way, that already is something. You talk as if you were worse about it, so there's nothing to be worried about. That forestside cottage won't tend itself once you get there."
Kat lets a smile creep on her face, being reminded of her silly life goals. Nami was listening in on her and Robin's conversation, huh? "I guess… but I'm still eons away from even attempting that." Finishing the sentence, she also finishes her coffee and puts the cup down. Now, let's address that minor annoyance that's been bugging her quite literally for a minute… "By the way, turn around a bit?"
"Turn…? Why should I?" the redhead asks, complying with the request regardless.
Kat reaches into her hair and picks out one tiny black dot after short looking around the neck area. "You had one of these really small spiders in your hair," she says, lifting the little goober for her to see. The wind carries these all over the place.
"Eeeh," Nami gets shivers turning back to her while holding her locks, zeroing in on the barely visible animal. "Oh, god, get it away….!"
A mischievous smile appears on Kat's face; Nami knows her just enough to step back and eye her with suspicion.
"Away?"
"Don't…"
"Don't what?"
Another step back is followed by a step forward by Kat, and they start waltzing faster and faster, until Nami starts sprinting and runs into Sanji, who is bringing out drinks for her and probably Carrot, as Robin should be having her coffee now.
"Shield!" she shouts, flinging him in between. The man keeps enough balance for the layered cocktails to barely sway; quite impressive. He's also visibly pleased with the development.
"Oh, Nami, dear~ you are so passionate today. What brings you to me~?"
"An itsy bitsy spider," says Kat, bringing it up to his nose, almost.
"Oh, a spi-" the smile freezes onto Sanji's face upon turning towards her, then he emits a sound alike a deflating balloon before arching back all of a sudden over Nami in panic. The utensils in his hand can't compete with the sudden movement, and are wobbling precariously, until the tray itself starts to tilt; noticing that, Kat snaps her hand towards said objects to stop them from falling, and the spider, having had enough of these shenanigans, uses the momentum to make an exit with a jump into the greenery.
The drinks, along with every layer, practically stop in time; Sanji looks over to them, still in shock.
"Sweet catch," says a bubbly Carrot who has likely seen everything as she's sliding down the mast.
"... thanks…" Kat squeaks. Something about this feels… weird, though. "And, uh, sorry," she adds, looking over to the cook. "Didn't know you felt this strongly about creepy crawlies." She almost ruined those drinks and potentially could have broken the glasses, too...
"I-it's fine," he croaks with the frozen smile still on his face, shaking a little both from the position and scare.
"That was mean, Kat," Nami grumbles, pushing the man back onto his feet, checking the grass for the small stowaway. "Don't bring bugs near me… or Sanji, -sorry, Sanji,- they are gross!"
"After this, I really won't," she mumbles, slowly setting the glasses back into position on the tray now that Sanji's calming down and is not shaking things all over the place. The contents, however… need extra care? They are levitating by themselves, so she needs to move them along with the glass. What is she doing differently, here?
"Thank you," the man mumbles with the last item returning to its place and having recollected himself.
"No need to, I was the one brewing trouble in the first place." Being done with the extra task, she feels relieved. "The falling things save is an aspect that I'll definitely miss, no lie," she breathes then. Still, the odd feeling from before has not left her. There's a notion that she can pinpoint every last detail around the ship, to the last strand of hair… she can even feel the little tiptoes of that tiny arachnid under them; taking a look to the side, she can spot a dot exactly where she thinks it is, too. And two butterflies flapping around the garden, flies all over the place, and just in general a lot of small creatures all over. Even the positions of people moving around on board, whom she can kind of identify by size, position, what they might be doing or the way they walk… as well as the different layers in the drinks, which appear to be the most detailed 'feeling' thing. There's just a lot of stuff not belonging to places, and it's a little overwhelming.
Her perception being off is apparently noticeable, as Nami picks up on it as well. "You alright?" Kat has a tendency to space out or look out of it, so she's always a little worried that there's something like a pulled neck muscle going on. Most of the time, though, she's just daydreaming.
"Uh, yes, I'm okay, it's…" Suddenly, she feels enlightened. "Oh, I think I know what this is…"
"What would that something be?" Nami asks, blinking in confusion.
"I think I just activated this scanning stuff by accident," she informs her, looking down at her hands. The trigger must have been reaching for the glasses, but… how does one turn it off?
"Scanning…?" the woman mumbles. This must be something Ope Ope related.
"Like… I just know where a lot of stuff is, all of a sudden…" Thinking about it, she knows specifically where living things are, and the overall shapes of objects. And… possibly the density of things plays into that, because, those drinks...
Sanji notes her sudden interest in said beverages. "Would the resident changeling fairy like a glass of her own?"
Oh god, he's already back to cheesy descriptions level… ANYWAY.
"No, thanks, I don't drink... I do like looking at pretty cocktails, though." Honestly, sometimes they smell really nice, so it's hard to resist... like these. There's some chocolate and raspberries in there… but all she has to think of is the bitter aftertaste and the temptation is no more.
"Actually," she continues as Nami gets her cocktail to sip on and Carrot walks up to them, asking whether she can have the other one, to which Sanji informs the mink that it was meant to be hers anyway; "mind if I try something with one of these…?"
"Oh, are you going to do some cool tricks?" Carrot asks with excitement; "I've been wanting to see the stuff Bropper has been talking about, too!"
"Ah, right! I wanted to show you some stuff, anyway!" she says while sucking up some of the radiating fuzz buzz up, too.
Sanji raises a brow and puts on half a sulk. It takes a second to let the notion of food being tampered with slide, but if it's for the greater good and less frustrating body statuses… Indeed, the thought of everything in the universe being in its rightful place puts his head back in the clouds. "I'll be on my way, my lovelies, call if you need anything~" he swoons while disappearing back in the kitchen in a whirlwind.
Nami also gets going direction library and hum-waves goodbye while taking another sip of her drink, which the remaining two return.
"So, so," the mink starts again, lifting up the glass to Kat; "what do you want to do with this?"
"What I want to do with the drink specifically is probably not that interesting, but even if it's a total failure, I'll make it up to you right after," she notes. She has about one shot at this, anyway.
"Tee-hee~ Show me watcha got," the rabbit girl says with a smug face to challenge the cocktail's opponent.
"As you wish," Kat responds with a smile of the same smugness level; Carrot snorts at this.
"You legit sound and look like Bepo's captain for once," she giggles.
"Hey, hey, careful," Kat half-laughs while trying to keep the glass upright; "I need this thing as it is right now."
"Alright, even if you will suck at this, you've already redeemed yourself," the mink states as they waddle with combined efforts towards the table to settle at. "Purely on a basis of a spot-on impression that you ruined immediately after." She wasn't there for the first performance anyway. "Bonus points for not even trying, tho."
"Well, Carrot, to catch the prey…" she looks around with shifty eyes as the glass clinks on the polished surface; "you need to become the prey."
"Well, well, well, Kat… I literally am prey," she nods, releasing the object at last. "Also… are you saying you are out on a hunt? Hmm?" The smug smile returns, and this time it's accompanied by a knowing look and crossed arms.
The girl needs to consider this for a moment, and she also puts on a comically exaggerated thinking face. Is she trying to go for Law's jugular in any way or form? She's had worse company, but... "Not really. Or deliberately. Unless hunting for funny situations for either person counts as such." With that she also lets go of the poor liquid that still retains most of its form.
Carrot nods wisely after a few seconds, eyes entranced in the cloudy horizon. "... that's fair, can't blame you for that."
Kat needs to hold back a smile, then decides to put an end to this banter. "Okay, alright, I may have finished off my coffee in like three shots, but I'll have to hurry regardless," she waves her hands around. "Let's see this bad boy," she groans while dropping on a chair; Carrot follows her lead and watches intently.
Okay, so… she still has that feeling going, that's good; she also tried to keep the drink stable while holding it, which seems to have been a success. Now, how to do the thing she has in mind… She touches the glass again, which seems to power up the sensation somewhat; even if it's a placebo effect, being in contact seems to make things much easier. There is definitely a difference between the glass and its content... what she's really interested in, however, are the individual layers, which also seem different… they feel different. Especially the lightest and heaviest ones.
What if she just tried, took the lowest, dark layer, and...
"... Kat, what part of reality are you breaking again?" asks Usopp in a vaguely wary manner while passing with his tool box, his eyes catching the liquid blob pass a rather opaque layer following her finger before settling on top. Carrot breathes a 'cool' as she watches on with her head on the table.
"... density or gravity, I guess." If not both. Those are kinda correlated, aren't they...? Eh, fuck physics. She can break all the rules, anyway.
As the layer settles in, she takes a look at the one now below it; a motion of another finger lowers it to the middle, then she raises it up again through the static ones. After that, she puts the reddish, heavy goop back to its place, with the lightest layer over it. Releasing it all makes the whitish liquid phase through multiple other ones, stirring the entire cocktail up. Looks rather nifty, with all those vertical stripes in it. Last part notwithstanding... if souls or whatever feel just as different, and she can make them slide through another... after some refinement, this just might be the thing she needs.
As you can tell, I couldn't really figure a title for this one... this one fits, so it sits. Also, have even more unplanned Carrot time! \o/
Here's today's silly art: inexchangeforyoursoul tumblr com/post/174054776167/theyve-been-carrying-around-sound-dials-ever
On a sidenote, I started to write out a scene that comes a bit after some good, old stuff (by which I mean ancient, roughly two chapters worth of material from somewhere between Christmas and the end of January that I need to reread and patch up for continuity's sake) that I'm getting close to, and… I lowkey admit that I haven't looked up the possible lingering symptoms of lead poisoning up till a week ago. And yet, it's disturbing how legit my guesses were, even past the chronic pain lmao? Shit's wild, yo.
(Won't come up, but among other things, it can fuck up your cognitive abilities, that is to say, make you stupid(er)... our genius Law's IQ was probably so broken that it needed to be nerfed to hell, yet he's still one of the smartest jackasses in the series. somehow, this info delights me… what a force of nature.) (I'm definitely winging the shit as to why those things happen tho, this is just a shitty fic project, I don't need nor really want a PhD in neurosurgery and whatnot. … for now, at least. I'd be happy with a teacher's degree. And something to prove that I'm by no stretch bad at translating stuff.)