Bright Idea
Catra storms back and forth inside of Entrapta's lab, her tail full of static and movement as rubber oversized gloves and prehensile hair tap away at a wide-set keyboard. Scorpia watches Catra's agitated pacing, wondering what she could say to bring her back to where she was twenty minutes before her meeting with Hordak.
"Entrapta! Anything on those new bots?"
Entrapta pushes up her goggles, and takes a sip of her fizzy drink. "Oh--It's fascinating! With this concentration of power we can create nanoscale machine, its small motors running and rebuilding for days, maybe even weeks--"
"I'm not talking about your stupid side projects!" Scorpia cringes. She's sure Catra doesn't want to sound as mean as she does. "The bigger bots!"
Entrapta freezes, then smiles. "Oh. They're done! I just need to run a few more tests before they're fully deployable!" She spins back around, lowering her goggles and eyeing the giant screen.
Catra groans. Scorpia raises her pincers as if to reach her shoulder, but holds herself back. "Everything alright, Catra? You seem a little tense. Did someone say something to you?"
She stops pacing, plants her hands firmly on her hips and lets her head loll to one side. "Well, what do you think, Scorpia? Adora is still out there with Arrow Boy and Sparkle princess, this one," she says, pointing at Entrapta, "needs a baby sitter otherwise she'll run off on one of her tech side quests, and Hordak--" Catra breathes, and Scorpia can feel the cold settling in around them before Catra says, "I'm not even going to talk about Hordak."
Her voice is quiet. Catra turns away from her and Scorpia is left staring at the way her tail wraps around her own leg, how Catra makes herself smaller when she crosses her arms over her chest like that. Scorpia fights the urge to reach out and touch her again.
"Hey princess, you have anymore fizzy drinks?" Catra asks.
"Emily! Bring out more fizzy drinks!"
Emily chirps from somewhere behind all of Entrapta's belongings. There is a lot of movement, sounds of computer parts hitting the walls and the ground before Emily brings herself forward with an unopened bottle. Catra takes it from her with a small thanks, her eyes harsh and uncertain as Emily chirps back and quickly skitters away.
When Catra unscrews the top and takes a sip, Scorpia knows exactly what she needs.
"You know, Catra, I think I know exactly what you need."
The drink is harsh on her throat. Catra holds up the bottle and inspects it. "Oh yeah, and what's that?"
"Just hold on, right here. It's a surprise! You're gonna love it."
Catra doesn't look away from her bottle. If anything, she looks more annoyed at it. Of course, Scorpia thinks. Catra--
"I hate surprises."
"You'll like this one." Scorpia starts to leave. "Just wait right here!"
Scorpia leaves Catra taking another unsure sip of Entrapta's favorite drink. In the dark, cold hallways of The Fright Zone, she lets out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Her mind fills itself with thoughts of the Catra from princess prom, the one who sat with her in her room and laughed and smiled while Scorpia tried on all of her different dresses. The Catra whose eyes went a little wide when she saw her in her last dress, the black one, and who held out her hand for Scorpia to take and all the while, Scorpia had the only blush on her face, one Catra couldn't help but bring up at least once on their way to the Kingdom of Snows. She thinks of that girl, her big hair and exaggerated laugh, of the girl whose eyes almost cross when she can't hide how funny she thinks something is.
Scorpia finds her room at the end of a hallway and shuts the door behind her. She walks past the picture of both of her mothers, looks over her drawings which she's taped onto the walls, and kneels down to look below her bed.
She doesn't know if Catra would actually like it. She might actually think it's gross. When Scorpia finds what she's looking for, she doubts herself even more. What if Catra didn't like it? There's no possible way Catra would even be into it, at least not for sure.
If she knew anything, she knew Catra would enjoy doing something that she shouldn't, and maybe that's reward enough.
Scorpia carries a narrow, closed box to Entrapta's lab, where Catra has sunk herself in a small nook between boxes, her nails tapping lightly on the tablet she holds in her hands, knees pulled up close to her chest. Scorpia walks towards her, and Catra lowers her knees and the tablet, and looks at Scorpia's smiling face and the box she holds.
"What's that?"
"Open it, wildcat! I stole from the Kingdom of Snows. Actually, I got it, well, you know, that night of Princess Prom when we--"
"You stole something?"
Catra rips through the box and pulls out a dark glass bottle, looks at it, and throws her head back in laughter. Scorpia's heart anchors itself into the pit of her stomach. She's not sure which laugh this one is yet. "You stole a bottle of their fermented ciders! And it's one of their better ones, by the looks of it."
Scorpia's throat dries up. "So you like it?" And that was a happy laugh, Scorpia decides, trying to remember how it went.
"Are you kidding? This is just what I need." Catra is on her knees, and her tail finds Scorpia's pincer and wraps around it. "Let's drink."
There's a quiet purr underneath her words. Scorpia's heart stops at the feeling of Catra's tail wrapped on her claw like that. "I, uh, yeah, okay! Let's drink!"
"What are we drinking? Does it fizz?"
Scorpia yelps, and Catra falls back into more laughter. Scorpia would feel embarrassed if Catra wasn't laughing like this was the funniest thing ever. Instead she feels warmth. Warmth at the acceptance of her gift, warmth at her laughter, at the way she holds her stomach and laughs with her entire body.
"It fizzes--" Catra starts, but Entrapta's curiosity reaches for the bottle before Catra can finish.
"Oooh--fermented cider! This one comes from the these small-rounded rough-skinned fruit called Lychees, only grown in the Kingdom of Snows. And based on the bottle I would say this contains 18% alcohol and has been unopened for at least 6 years!"
Catra snatches back the bottle, but she's smirking when she does it. "So why aren't we drinking yet?" Catra uses her claws to unplug the bottle. A strong, yeast-like smell wafts through them, and they all grimace.
"Well," Catra says. She holds up the bottle, meets Scorpia's eyes, and winks. "Cheers. Thanks, Scorpia. Who knew you had it in you?"
"Thank you, Scorpia!"
Scorpia shrugs. The flutter in her stomach turns her cheeks pink. "Aw, you guys, it's no problem. It's what best friends do! You know, just, drink responsibly and all that--oh."
Catra is already gulping down several chugs. The drink drips a little down her chin and the hairs on her arms and shoulders stand up and her tail fuzzes out. When she stops, she lets out a loud yell, as if she had just come first in a race. She plants the bottle firmly on the ground for Scorpia to take. "Oh my God that tastes disgusting!"
Entrapta reaches for Catra's forgotten fizzy drink, and hands it to her. Catra chases the taste away with it, and then ends up drinking the entire thing.
"I don't think you're supposed to drink it that fast."
Catra blinks up at her slowly. She sits with both hands planted firmly on the ground, her tail hanging high behind her. Her head falls to one side like it is too heavy to carry, and when she talks, her voice is low and touches a part of Scorpia she can never tell anyone else about. "Why's that?"
Scorpia tries not to look into Catra's eyes when she's looking like that. She has no business looking like that. She takes the bottle and smells the opening before she drinks from it, "'Cause you'll feel it faster."
Catra's laugh is sultry, like always. She wonders if Adora has ever heard this laugh, if Adora has ever seen this face, and then she takes another swig, a longer one. Catra's eyes are wide and she laughs and screams and snorts. When Scorpia finishes, she wipes at her face and laughs along with Catra, who has found herself at Scorpia's side, hanging onto her arm while she buckles over, tears in her eyes from all the laughter.
"Oh, Scorpia, you're being so bad. Who are you?"
"I'm Scorp--wait. Is it really working on you already?"
Catra snorts, "Yes, wait, I mean, shut up--you're just funny, you know." Catra shakes her head. "Ugh, I can't believe I just let myself say that."
"Oh, so you think I'm funny, huh?"
Catra takes the bottle and has another swig. She rolls her eyes but has a wide smile on her face. "Don't go around making your head bigger than it already is, dummy."
There's a moment of silence between them. Scorpia knows why she can't take her eyes off of Catra, but Catra--why won't she look away?
"There seems to be an increase in eye contact and body touching," Entrapta's clinical voice breaks through their soft bubble.
"Ugh, you, here--" Catra places the bottle right under Entrapta's nose. "Have a drink and talk to someone other than that little machine you whisper into all day."
Entrapta frowns, "But--"
"Ahh!" Scorpia cuts in, putting her claw over Entrapta's mouth. "Super Pal Trio is in session."
Entrapta smiles. Catra twists her hair into a large bun and secures it with one of Entrapta's precision screwdrivers. She pushes herself closer to Scorpia's side, and Scorpia, under the courage of the fermented cider, wraps her arm around Catra's shoulders and Catra doesn't try to move away.
Scorpia's heart drums and spins and stops. She pushes the thoughts of Adora and Catra out of her mind. She'll let herself have this. She'll have this while she can get it.