Scorpia and Perfuma (part 1)
Hordak mumbled and groaned. There were people talking too much and too loud for him to sleep properly, yet he wouldn't get up just yet. He stuck out his hand in search for the warmth of Entrapta, but became confused when he didn't feel her close by. He popped his head up from the pile of blankets and pillows, squinting at the light of the barely rising sun to see Entrapta and Kadroh who were listening in to ex-force captain Scorpia and Princess Perfuma who were both too energetic for the early morning.
Scopria noticed Hordak squinting at them and waved happily and cheerfully said, "Good morning Lor- I mean Hordak!" Hordak glared before putting the blanket over his head and tried to force himself to fall asleep. It was about to work and he was slowly tuning out to the four talking, but was startled when he was bundled up in his blanket like a child and was picked up from the bed. Hordak hissed as the blanket was pulled from his face for him to see Scorpia holding him like a baby. "Sorry sir! But you seem to tired to walk out right now and Entrapta asked me to do this!", Scorpia hurriedly tried to explained.
He stopped his movements to look where Entrapta was and saw her grinning before coming towards him and kissing his forehead. Entrapta backed up and said, "Will you be calm until we reach the gardens?" Hordak grumbled as his face heated up and sighed, 'Do what you want" Hordak then took his blanket and covered his face with it to try to get a little bit more sleep. Scorpia was a bit surprised, but had heard from the other princesses of the things he had done with the them and just carried him and had a quiet conversation with Entrapta and Kadroh.
"Is there a reason why we are going to castle gardens so early in the morning?", Kadroh asked and let out a small yawn. "For a good day, people have different ways to wake themselves up to lift up their mood and greet the day with a smile. The method I use is the morning meditation with tea that helps my heart feel warm and calming and I hope to use this method for clones to feel like every day can be a good day, though we have to skip tea today as the enviornment should be good enough", Perfuma smiled at Kadroh. "Oh there are studies for that! Waking early lessen stress because you have more time than say you sleep in!", Entrapta began to ramble.
For Perfuma, she listened because she wants to help the clones learn more things about Etheria and its nature and the positive outlook on it and having positives of what she does seem like it will help clones understand why she does these things. Scorpia just listened because she wants to hear what her friend wants to ramble on about, but at the same time she was so lost on what Entrapta is saying.
Soon enough, they arrived at the castle gardens, but now it was looking like a field of flowers due to Perfuma growing them the night before."Wow~! You really out done yourself Perfuma!", Scorpia complimented causing Perfuma to blush slightly and give a small thanks. Entrapta turned to Scorpia and pulled down the blanket a bit for Hordak to adjust his eyes to the bright light. She grinned when he opened his eyes and pushed herself in the bundle and gave a small kiss on the lips before saying, "We're here!"
Hordak groaned as he popped his head out and looked at Scorpia who understood to put him down. Hordak wrapped himself in his blanket like a cape and squinted at the sun and said, "The sun hates me" Entrapta giggled, "I don't think the sun can feel anything, Hordak" Hordak hummed and yawned which caused him to wiggle his ears when closing his eyes. Scorpia and Perfuma let out a small aw, making Hordak blush from embarrassment. Hordak cleared his throat, "We were to do a mediation, correct?"
"Oh yes! Let us start!", Pefuma clapped and soon the field of flowers surrounded the group and sat down. Perfuma motioned for the rest to sit down and copy the way she sat down. "Now close your eyes and follow my instructions', Perfuma began. Entrapta knew immediately she would not be able to sit down for long, but didn't want to be rude to her friends so she improvised when the others closed their eyes. She took out her tablet silently and tapped out a message and hopes that her plan would work.
"Now take a deep breath, notice the different scents of the flowers. Listen to how they move with the wind. The little bugs that live within the field and just relax", Perfuma instructed. Hordak took those instructions and felt himself lose tension in his shoulders and let he smell of the flowers and the sounds of bees buzzing calmed him. Hordak never took notice of plants unless it was for medical purposes or for food, but now when he was listening them move against the wind and smelling the daisy that was close to him, he felt something warm in his chest. The sun as well was making him feel strange as its warmth finally engulf his full body and he felt like nothing in world was actually happening.
That was until he heard the beeps and rolling of a loud Emily. "AH! Emily! Don't do that to the flowers!", Entrapta yelled and she started running towards her robot companion. "Emily! We told you that you should stay in our room!", Scorpia screeched, running behind Entrapta and trying to capture Emily. Perfuma forced a smile and with a soft angry tone said, "Well I guess we have to cut meditation early..." Then her smile turned genuine when she seemed to get an idea. "How about we make some flower crows?"
Kadroh and Hordak cocked their heads at the same time and asked, "Flower crowns?" Perfuma giggled and nodded, "Yes, I usually can make them immediately, but doing them by hand can be therapeutic! As well as a good hobby to pick up" Perfuma turned to flower garden and barely took notice of Entrapta and Scorpia running after Emily because she knew she would get tired just looking them for a few seconds. She took a quick glance at Kadroh and picked out lilac flowers and a few marigolds and turned back to the two. She slowly showed how she weaved the flowers together and eyeballed the length and soon enough made a flower crown.
Hordak and Kadroh just marveled at the small crown and when Perfuma handed it over to Kadroh he was overjoyed and quickly put it on. "I tried following the color scheme of your hair, I hope you like it", Perfuma smiled as Kadroh squealed in delight. He turned to Hordak and asked,"Does it look good on me brother?" Hordak gave a small smile and said, "Of course brother, it looks... nice on you" Kadrohs smile seem to grow even more and turned to Perfuma and asked," Can I try with different flowers?" Perfuma nodded, "I have many flowers here so take your time and pick the ones you like out" Kadroh squealed in delight and got up and started to look at the different flowers.
Hordak just watched him go with a small smile and turned to the flowers that were close to him. Those flowers were magenta yarrow which he picked one up and took a close look at it. "I never had the chance to truly appreciate what the nature of Etheria could offer", Hordak commented as he took a sniff of the flower. Perfuma seemed surprised when Hordak started to talk, but took this as a chance to know the former war lord. She took a deep breath and asked, "You never walked out and look at the flowers?"
Hordak sighed as he gathered even more flowers before answering, "When I first landed on Etheria, everything scared me, including the flowers. Even if I wasn't scared, Horde Prime did not take much care for fauna of planets and usually burned them down so there was no use for me to care for them unless, like Prime, it was for medicine or for nutrients" Perfuma frowned, "But why?" Hordak shrugged and started weaving the flowers as he seen Perfuma has done, "He had an 'aesthetic' he liked and I guess these did not fit into it. I really have wished that I took notice of these. They truly are magnificent..."
Hordak frowned on himself as he took a small glance at Perfuma before continuing his talk,"I am... truly sorry for doing so much damage to your forests and gardens...only now do I truly appreciate its beauty" Perfuma smiled softly at him and looked at the garden and said, "Not always did I love nature" Hordak looked up to her in surprise and she quietly continued," My mother worked hard for nature... tending to them, growing them and even risking her life to protect them. Even when she was pregnant with me she continued to work with them no matter what else people said. When she gave birth to me, the stress of over working herself and then having me... her heart couldn't take it and died after I was only five minutes born"
Perfuma looked down at her hands and continued again, "My dad was the same, but now worked to care for me, nature and our kingdom... Stress killed him as well. I was so angry. I was so upset with the thing I had powers for. The night of my dads' funeral... I almost destroyed the whole forest of my kingdom in rage, scaring my subjects into hiding and when I retreated to my room I still went on a rage. When I woke up... I was surrounded by fauna, holding on to me like they were apologizing for everything they had caused. That's when I truly cried in my life and the flowers continued to hold on to me and even seem to dry my tears away"
Perfuma looked up to Hordak and smiled, "That's when I knew that nature was worth fighting for, but in my own way that doesn't cause me a lot of stress. So even though you are now appreciating nature now, you can still do a lot for it now. For me, I just hope I'm doing enough to make my mom and dad proud" Hordak just stared at Perfuma and back to his finished flower crown and got up. Perfuma tensed up as Hordak approached her, but got confused when he put ht eflower crown on her. Hordak took a few steps back and looked away from her, "I know it is not anything, but if I were your parents"Hordak motioned to the gardens where a happy Kadroh was," I would be extremely proud. For me as of now, I say how... envious I am of you of how much you changed for the better and how much you worked for to be where you are now"
Perfuma touched the flower crown on her head and remembered her smiling dad and became teary eyed. Hordak looked at her and became worried, "I-I apologize! I...Is it not to your liking?" Perfuma shook her head and wiped her tears away and said, "Thank you... I really appreciate you saying that. The flower crown is beautiful" Hordak smiled softly and said, "Thank you" Kadroh came bounding over with almost one of every flower yelling, "They're all too beautiful!" Causing Hordak and Perfuma to laugh.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scopria and Entrapta were finally able to calm down Emily and were sitting down after the long run. Entrapta laid her head on Emily who was next to her, content to help her creator. Scorpia laughed and laid down on the grass and said,"That was fun! Although I love meditating with Perfuma, this is what really gets me going" Entrapta grinned, "I, uh, didn't want to be rude so I asked Emily to come and cause a scene so I could chase after her. You know how I am, not being able to stay in one place for a long time. I didn't want to be rude to Perfuma and not do her exercise without an excuse"
Scorpia turned her head towards Entrapta and furrowed her eyebrows, "Perfuma wouldn't mind you not wanting to do that!" Entrapta pulled out her data pad and showed her some graphs, "From my research on her behavior she would be the very least be a bit sad that I wouldn't partake in it, besides I've already been a downer with her and the others at times so I didn't want to be in the way" Scorpia sat up and looked at Entrapta intently, "But they care about you Entrapta! I do too! They won't think of you that way anymore after what you have done for us!"
Entrapta smiled sadly, "Oh Scorpia that was only after I've done things for you guys, but I don't mind that now since they are being nice to me without needing something from me' Scorpia frowned and looked down to the ground, "I should have defended you back then... Yes, you weren't taking precaution, but that didn't mean that you had to be yelled at!" Scorpia turned to Entrapta and said, "You have done so much for us and we should do the same for you. Like back when catra attacked you. Even if you don't seem to do things for us, you always have someone in mind and you try to do good for those you care about. You're still our friend and always will be!"
Entrapta grinned and brought Scorpia in a hug who great-fully returned the gesture. When they pulled apart, Entrapta was tearing up which caused Scorpia to tear up, "Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" Entrapta shook her head as Emily beeped worriedly to her. She patted Emily and smiled at Scorpia, "These are happy tears! Thank you Scorpia, I really needed to hear that. I would do the same for you for the way you help me. Oh! Also sorry for making you cry too" Entrapta raised her hand and ruffled Scorpias' hair and using the other to wipe her tears, making her feel a memory of one of her mothers hands doing the same thing.
Scopria softly smiled at Entrapta, "Anytime Entrapta"