of cats and curses

i was physically compelled to write this crossover by unknown forces from above. it takes place after s5 of she ra and after the beach arc in fruits basket; there shouldn't be any spoilers if you're caught up in both shows. enjoy! :)

~*~

Catra had been more than willing to let Adora do most of the talking. She was normally more eager to learn about the new planets they were exploring, but that day... Ugh. She really wasn't sure what was making her mood so foul. Or she couldn't pinpoint a singular cause, anyways. It was probably some God-awful combination of the pittering drizzle of rain falling from the gray sky around her, the fact that the miserable planet 'Earth' she was on seemed to have no traces of magic whatsoever, and the immediate reality that Adora was no longer by her side. Which was the main downfall of Adora doing all of the talking - Catra was left behind. At her own request, of course, so she could only blame herself, but still. She wanted to stew in her misery for a bit.

This 'Earth' was their last stop before they'd be flying back to Bright Moon. Catra never thought she'd be relieved to be returning there, but times had changed, she supposed. During their numerous quests to restore magic to the universe, day-trips and monthly adventures alike, they'd come to learn that some planets had never had magic in the first place. Even rarer, select places did not want magic returned to their world. In other words, the Best Friend Squad - she still didn't know how she felt about that name - had taken to asking around amongst the locals to first determine the magic status of planets before they actually began the restoration process.

So now Adora was schmoozing with the locals - probably badly, because her acting skills left much to be desired - in some place called a pet store, while Catra sat on an uncomfortable metal bench outside while silently wishing she had an umbrella. She could raise her bag above her head, but she had a feeling it wouldn't do much. Also it had their communications pads in it, and she figured unduly exposing them to freezing rain was not a good thing.

Ugh. She should have sucked it up and gone inside with Adora.

Catra yelped as the bracelet projecting her holographic disguise suddenly shocked her, and she lifted her wrist to figure out why, exactly, it had done that. She couldn't see anything wrong with it... Uh oh. Maybe it wasn't waterproof. She probably should have asked Entrapta about that.

Oops. Too late?

Even more annoying than her bracelet that was now randomly spazzing out were the stupid cats in the pet store behind her that kept clamoring and scratching on the glass! Sure, she was grateful for that wall of glass because it stopped them from physically getting to her, but it was nowhere close to soundproof, meaning their yowls were barely dulled down. And most of the cats were just saying hello, but she didn't want to turn around and acknowledge that, because she was pretty sure most people on Earth could not understand animals. She didn't care that there was no else around - she wasn't taking any chances. Which just meant the cats would think she was rude, but she'd rather live with that than become Earth's resident crazy cat lady by striking up a conversation with the Siamese or the Persians in a pet store.

Huh. Could the cats see through Entrapta's disguise? Surely not. Catra tapped her bracelet to make sure the hologram was still active, wincing as another jolt of electricity shot through her arm. Definitely still active. So maybe the cats could just... feel that she was like them. A gut instinct. Or something.

Really, there was no use thinking about it. Where the hell was Adora?

"I've only seen these cats get so excited about someone sitting outside a pet store with one other person, in my entire life," a warm and almost suffocatingly kind voice said, snapping Catra out of her thoughts. "And he had that same disgruntled expression that you do. Poor kitties try to make friends with the very people who don't want to be made friends with."