Finally, finally, f i n a l l y life on Etheria can become something like 'normal'. No more wars to fight, bad guys to change or defeat, and no. more. drama.
Except... no.
There's a new threat coming, and it's much smarter and stealthier than Pr...
Hordak held out his hand for the blowtorch, which Imp provided. He mumbled a thanks and began welding the two pieces of metal together. He was working on the exterior of a new robot he and Entrapta were building- one that would alert them when Pookas were nearby. The horrid little beasts were a pain in the rear- and more often than not, in Kyle's arm as well when one tried to sever it. Lonnie and Rogelio had taken to switching nights that they stayed awake to look out for the awful things, which somehow always managed to sneak past all the other sleeping people and specifically harass Kyle. Entrapta had had the idea to make the bot after they were so tired they couldn't work very well, and were at greater risk of getting injured.
-x-
Entrapta pulled herself up the towering piece of tech to get a better vantage point. There had been several moments when a piece of tech fell from the heights and nearly crushed a worker, so one of them had asked her to look for any loose pieces that they'd need to be careful around.
"Look out for that light blue one!" She shouted. "No- not that one. The one that blinks on and off! And that dark purple one that pulses, too! That's all!" She swung back down to the ground, pausing when she noticed Rogelio tripping over air and repeatedly shaking his head. "The lizard-person appears to not be feeling well," she said to Hordak, watching as Lonnie and Kyle helped him back to his feet.
"The fool hasn't slept as much as he should," came the reply. Hordak picked up a large piece of degraded tech and put it in the back of a transport vehicle, nodding at the driver that they could go.
"Why?" Entrapta asked, picking up a scorpion-creature that was scuttling towards Hordak. She held it up with her hair, yelping and throwing it when it tried to sting her. "He is not one of the researchers, so he doesn't have any projects to work on outside of regular hours."
Hordak gestured towards Lonnie and Kyle, who were helping the lizard-person up with concerned looks on their faces. Lonnie had dark circles under her eyes, and Kyle kept looking back and forth like he was afraid of something. "The Pookas seem to have an odd fixation with the smallest one, frequently finding and raiding their tent at night. The other two have taken to staying awake in shifts, so neither of them have gotten the sleep they require."
Kyle jumped and yelped at a sound behind him, but it just turned out to be another scorpion bug. He sighed, and the three continued on. Entrapta watched them, thinking, and then said, "Aha!" She pulled out her recorder and notepad, and said, "I'll be back later! I had an idea!"
Hordak watched her go, confused, before continuing cleaning up.
Later~
Hordak paused at the outside of Entrapta's tent. "Entrapta?" He called, not wanting to startle her.
"You can come in!" She said, and he heard a zapping sound from inside.
He pushed aside the flap and stepped in, unsurprised by the steadily forming robot on the floor. "What are you doing?"
She reached across the room with her hair to grab a tool and started assembling some pieces. "I had an idea when you were talking about why the lizard person and his friends were acting odd. I thought it would be a good idea to make a bot that will detect and repel the Pookas for them, so they can sleep!" She frowned at whatever she was doing. "I probably won't be able to complete it until after I return from Bright Moon, though."
Something Hordak couldn't describe stirred inside him. He was... jealous, that she would be with the princesses and not... him. He didn't know why, though- but he did smile a bit when she talked about making the bot to help others. People sometimes had trouble understanding her, and thought that she only cared about science- but it wasn't true at all. She did feel compassion for others, she just had trouble showing it. Hordak understood her because he was the same way- after all, empathy or ANY emotions other than devotion to Horde Prime had been discouraged for the majority of his life so far.
"Would you like me to assist you?" He asked, stepping over a cast-aside part.
Entrapta smiled at him. "Yes, please."
The two looked at each other in silence for a moment, before the clatter and noise of work resumed.
-x-
Emily beeped loudly and jumped up and down, and Imp screeched and pointed at a clock. Hordak nearly swore when he saw that Entrapta was scheduled to arrive back in ten minutes, and he hurried to the dock.
He got there just as the ship was arriving- and just in time to see the green shapeshifter throw a guard over the rail. The boat stopped and someone threw a life ring down to the flailing guard, and the shapeshifter laughed hysterically. Two guards came to lead the shapeshifter away, and the boat pulled up to the dock once the guard was out of the way.
The passengers began to depart, and the two guards remained with the shapeshifter. Several people high-fived the green-skinned troublemaker or clapped them on the back, and they tossed their hair and waved like they were walking the red carpet. Hordak ignored them when they passed by him, and they chuckled. He continued watching for Entrapta, and got a surprise when she disembarked.
He had never seen her with her hair in anything but pigtails, and he blinked, speechless, when she came into view. She was looking down at her notepad and scribbling something as she walked- with her legs instead of hair, so that she could more easily catch herself if she tripped. Her bag bounced against her side, and she let her hair brush the ground instead of using it to hold things. Both the shorter strands around her face and her high ponytail blew slightly in the breeze, and the paper of her notepad kept flipping up and trying to blow away. She let out a small sound of annoyance, and tried changing the angle at which she was holding the notepad. When she did this she noticed Hordak, and ran the rest of the way down the plank and hugged him.
Though she didn't show it very much, the memory of before Horde Prime was defeated still bothered her, and ever then since she'd greeted her friends- particularly Hordak and Scorpia- with much more enthusiasm than before.
She pulled back and lifted herself up to sit on her hair. "Have you made progress?" She asked, and he knew she was talking about both the bot and the clean-up effort.
He nodded. "There's only a small portion of work left to be done."
The two set off to finish the bot, conversing back and forth. As they entered the campground a purple and navy blue bird person bumped into them and mumbled an apology. She continued on, pausing when Entrapta called out, "You dropped something!"
Hordak got a glimpse of a syringe filled with a cloudy white liquid before the avian flushed and snatched it up, mumbling something about a prescription. He frowned at her back as she retreated, then put it from his mind for the rest of the day.
A/N: I 'twas bored, so I made a fan art of Entrapta with a ponytail:
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