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The air was humid in a way that clung to Catra’s fur and made her feel just a little bit damp, and the crowd that thronged around them didn’t do anything to help the heat that seemed to press in on all sides. Despite the discomfort — and Catra would never admit this aloud to anyone — she was enjoying the Solstice Carnival. Glimmer had been excitedly telling them all about the upcoming carnival for the last month, and truth be told it had sparked a little excitement in her too.
The hand in hers squeezed gently, and Catra’s mismatched eyes rose to meet Adora’s. “Are you doing alright?” she asked, “We can go back to the castle if you want.”
As always, the blond was thinking of her and her comfort. Catra rolled her eyes, "It's just a little warm here. Maybe we could grab something to drink?”
Adora nodded, and with some difficulty the couple peeled off from the crush of people looking at attractions. It was still quite early for a typical mealtime, so finding a stall selling drinks that wasn’t as crowded was a fairly simple task. Already Catra felt cooler for having left the masses where she could swear she always felt eyes on her from every which way.
Adora dropped her hand to order drinks, and Catra allowed her attention to wander, eyes lazily drifting over the nearby stands. There were a few other food stalls, and a little further down what looked to be a game with stuffed toys for prizes. One of the prizes was gigantic, and Catra would have been able to make it out easily even if she didn’t have sharp feline senses. An over-sized Melog plush, nearly a whole size larger than the actual being itself with a cute expression embroidered on its face. Catra’s tail twitched as she watched a few passers by attempt to play the game this grand prize was attached to; a strength test where contestants used a mallet to hit a lever that would launch a puck up it’s tower in attempts to ring the bell at the top. Catra snickered as the current participant failed pretty spectacularly.
“Hey, hope melon is okay, the guy said it’s his stand’s best seller.” Adora had returned with two blended drinks topped with black orbs. She handed one over, glancing in the direction Catra had been staring.
“What is it?”
“He said it’s called bubble tea. The black stuff are tapioca pearls.” Adora explained, taking a sip of her own drink, “They’re kinda squishy for pearls.” Catra hmm’d and took a drink for herself. It was a pretty refreshing drink, if a little on the sweet side for a tea. “Whatcha lookin’ at?” Adora asked, her blinding grin coming into view as she stepped in front of Catra, who began to blush furiously. (Seriously, what was with that stupid goofy grin that made her blush so hard?)
“N-nothing, I’m just people watching.” she lied, badly. “What are you looking at, huh?”
Adora laughed, “I’m looking at you eyeing that Melog plush! Want me to win it for you?” She didn’t wait for an answer, and instead took Catra’s hand once again — gentle even in her excitement — and began to tug her towards the strength challenge.
“Pfft, please, you think I need something like that?” Catra’s words fell on deaf ears however, as Adora was already hailing the game runner, asking what she had to do to win the big prize ‘for her lady’. Catra wanted to turn to stone. No, she wanted to be invisible… Where was actual Melog when you needed them?
“Well, young miss, to get this finely crafted and limited edition Melog you’d need to ring the bell!” The game master almost crowed, “He’s a one of a kind plush, he is! I’m told he is to scale! But no one has yet been able to ring the bell of the Tower Strength Striker!”
“They’re not that large…” Catra grumbled under her breath, seeing it was too late to dissuade her girlfriend from this game. And, well, maybe it would be nice to have the Melog plush, if only to see how Actual Melog reacted to it.
Adora was getting fired up by the challenging cries of the game runner, Catra could tell, she kept trying to hit her open palm with a closed fist but realized she was still holding her bubble tea. Her grin became cocky as she stepped up to the tower, “I bet I can ring the measly bell,” the blonde puffed her chest out, “I’m pretty strong.”
“Well step right up then, dear, give it a whack and we’ll see how much strength you truly possess! I’ll even let you play for free if you can ring the bell!”
Adora looked over her shoulder, and Catra recognized the glint in her eyes as she mouthed, ‘Are you watching?’ . If it were possible, Catra’s face had gone even redder, and now there was a small crowd of onlookers. Adora, without so much as setting her drink down, raised her hand into the air, and took a deep breath. The game master looked puzzled, the crowd murmured questions, but Catra knew what was happening and she wanted to sink into the ground.
“FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!” Adora’s voice boomed, the faint outline of her sword appeared in her hand before light filled everyone’s vision. As it faded, there stood She-Ra the Princess of Power, wielding a golden mallet. The crowd’s murmurs intensified, and the cocky game runner seemed far less confident now that he was staring up at the Savior of Etheria.
She-Ra wasted no time, bringing the mallet down on the lever one handed — It would have looked almost casual if Catra hadn’t seen the ripple of muscle — the puck launched upwards at a speed perhaps it had never been meant to travel at, the bell made a resounding clang and then a crack as it was forcibly removed from the top of the tower by the speedy puck. The game master’s jaw dropped just as the bell hit the ground with another clang. The crowd around whooped and cheered.
“Whoooops!” She-Ra laughed, allowing her mallet/sword to dissipate as she too shrank back into Adora. “The way you were hyping this up, I figured it would be more of a challenge.” She shrugged sheepishly at the man, who seemed to be at a loss for words. Adora dug around in her pocket and pulled out a wad of bills, pressing them into the game master’s hand. “I’m gonna take this since I won, but I’m sorry for, you know–” She motioned again at the broken game, and then took down the giant Melog plush.
Catra felt the heat of embarrassment again as Adora returned to her side, holding out the plush. “Here you go!” She said with that blazing smile on her face, and Catra swore she was melting under it.
“You idiot, I told you I didn’t want it!” Catra chided, there was no bite to her words however as she snatched the plush away. She couldn’t resist giving it a little squeeze as she looked back up at Adora who was still smiling at her, and in that moment the crowd fell away, and it was only Catra and her girlfriend, grinning like dorks at each other.