A Tender Tail
Author's note: Huge special thanks to my patron Xandra S who is the reason why this story was written! Please check out my tumblr for more info and updates! hopefulbadgerjunara
"So? How is it coming along?" Catra traced her claws along Entrapta long hair. Her talons threateningly tracing along the princess's scalp.
"I! Er! Well! Um yes!" Her shrill voice rose another octave in the threatening fear combined with the surprise of someone actually touching her flesh, and not just her hair.
"Yes?" Catra pulled at a knot she had made in Entrapta's locks. "So that means the ancient one's tech has paid off? And you have another weapon? One strong enough to put an end to those princesses?"
"I… don't think you let her finish Catra." Scorpia sighed holding her tail.
"Well! I am certainly making progress!" Entrapta allowed her hair to pull her down and out, away from Catra's cloying claws.
"Did I ask if you were making progress?! Or did I ask if you have another weapon for me? We just suffered another loss to those damn princesses!" Catra snarled.
"Well technically Cat, you did ask both." Even Scorpia had begun to grow tired of Catra's intensifying anger after seemingly innumerable losses following the battle at bright moon.
"Uugh!" Catra roared, taking a shard of crystal from Entrapta's workbench and tossing it angrily across the room. The centimeter squared shard somehow shattered, spraying sand sized shrapnel stinging straight across the three faces in the results of a shocking explosion.
"Catra?!" Entrapta snapped from behind her hair hiding her face.
"Woah! What was that?" Scorpia questioned, still processing the shock.
"That? That was progress." Catra smiled devious. "Can you make more? And can you make them bigger?"
"I! Well I don't quite know. F… first one's tech is!"
"It's what!" Catra lept at Entrapta, nearly giving her a haircut. Luckily Entrapta hair moved out of the way just in time as Catra's claws landed, two at her cheek, two at her throat. It was ever so slight but Catra's nails nicked at Entrapta's skin, causing three singular drops of blood to drift down her cheek.
"It's tricky! First one's tech is foreign at best, completely alien at worst. I will do my best, But, I'm not necessarily one hundred percent certain that I can replicate those results, and even less so that I can replicate them on a larger scale in the way you want."
"Well get it done!" Catra caressed the pads of her fingertips along the open wounds only to cut her face again as she turned away in anger. "Hordac demands results, and I will not allow myself to falter from the failures of my subordinates!"
Entrapta shivered, her hair simultaneously stepping her away from the threatening woman and knocking down her welding face mask to protect her, and hide her face. The touch was far too much. She was beyond unaccustomed to the touch of anyone else, even before she had arrived at the horde. And now? Ever since she had arrived, the only one who would get so close to her was Catra. But those seldom touches still held no comfort; far from it. Maybe one or two of their first interactions just after she had been discovered and 'captured' were soft or kind in the slightest, however, ever since those touches which had initiated as a soft seductive courting to her the horde had turned to something much more heinous. Gentle attracting touches intended to, and successful at wooing Entrapta to the horde's side were now terror instilling threats. She shook, her hair holding her up and covering her defensive as she thanked grayskull that she had her mask to hide behind. The salt stinging her wounds as warm wet streaks ran down her face. It was one thing, one very hard to stomach thing that Catra had cut her, struck out at her in anger, and drew blood. But the follow up was what had brought the tears. The soft tracing of the feline finger pads over the wound. It was an evil taunt, and it made her skin crawl. "Yes Catra, you will not falter from my failures."
"Much better." Catra snarled storming out of the room in a huff of irritated anger and desperation.
Entrapta covered her face, hiding behind her hair even though she still had her mask. It simply wasn't enough. She felt painfully exposed. Like she needed to wrap herself in several whole beds, forget just a blanket or two, to finally feel safe.
The first outside entity Entrapta could feel was Emily. The bot empathetically stepped closer to her and rubbed its side against her. "Thank you." Entrapta patted her bot gently and wiped away tears from under the mask.
She was too distracted within herself, attempting to clean up her face, the bot giving her soft and slow nudges of support. The timid and slow steps approaching her. "This outta help." A claw lifted Entrapta mask to reveal Scorpia standing in front of her with a shameful look.
Entrapta wanted to snap at the princess for invading her space and to run off; delve into her works once more and hopefully evade any further harassment or cruel tactile taunts. She was only dissuaded from the initial urge to lash back out at Scorpia in return by the sight of bandages and ointment. "I…" Entrapta was still too caught up in her own frustrated, flustered busy mind.
"Sorry about her." Scorpia tried to play it off with a simple shrug, but her frustration and disappointment slipped through in the form of an exasperated sigh. "Being force captain… seems to come with a lot of extra pressures. Ones she isn't quite ready to handle."
"Isn't quite ready?"
"Isn't ready." Scorpia corrected herself, her head dropping towards the floor.
"You can say that again."
"Hordak isn't quite the nicest, and he is less than a fan of failure and the defeats that we have been suffering as of late."
"Sure." Entrapta averted her eyes, feeling exposed and weak as she realized Scorpia could probably see the remaining trails of her tears.
"May I?" Scorpia rose her claw holding the bandages.
"May you?! May you what?"
"No need to be so scared. I'm just offering to help patch up those scratches she left on your face."
"Oh." Entrapta inhaled, feeling on edge, the pressure mounting on her to get back to work before Catra came storming back in and invade her space once more.
"So-" Scorpia was cut off.
"So what?"
"So, may I?" The princess pulled out a damp washcloth, offering to clean the cut before applying the bandaids. "I just don't want to touch you if you don't want"
"I! Oh! Yes! Yes, you may!" She burned a reddening pink at the kindhearted consideration.
"Cool!" Scorpia gave a wide enough smile that Entrapta completely missed the following warning that the washcloth soaked in alcohol might sting.
"Oww! Oww! Ouch!" Entrapta's hair retreated for her, slamming her mask back down in a protective measure.
"I told you that it might sting!" She gave that giant smile all over again as if the tenderness of her attempts to care for Entrapta hadn't been enough to fluster her beyond any even vaguely comfortable level.
"Sorry." She forced herself to lift the mask once more.
"I'll try to be more gentle… If you still want me to help?"
Mysteriously Entrapta's mask slipped back down. Certainly not the cause of her hair subtle nudging it back down.
"Gotcha." Scorpia sighed. "Well uugh, I'll leave this stuff here for you. Wouldn't want you getting Catra scratch fever." She gave off an embarrassed and shameful chuckle at her own joke.
"No, No." Entrapta's desperation came out muffled until she lifted the mask once more. "Please, I don't have a mirror down here. If I do it myself I'll end up with band-aids every which way, completely missing the cuts."
"Of course." Scorpia took the washcloth and draped it over the tip of her tail before stepping back towards the purple princess and moving her tail closer to Entrapta's cheek.
"I… Your tail?"
"I have a little more control with it than the claws." She clicked her hands to denote her point. "But I just don't use it as often because its… more personal?" Scorpia tried to put a word to the part of her anatomy which her whole life had often drawn less than welcoming glares at best.
"I'm sorry." The cloth stung, but Entrapta found herself leaning into the touch, wanting more of the other princesses care and comfort.
"What for?" Scorpia gently cleaned the cuts, offering a stabilizing arm as she noticed that Entrapta seemed to be leaning forward in a loss of balance.
"I'm sorry for touching your tail when we first met."
"Oh! That? It's fine!" Scorpia lied through her teeth.
"It wasn't, and I'm sorry. Thank you for being considerate of personal boundaries… even when I wasn't."
"It's ok." This time the words held much more truth.
Entrapta nodded into the cloth, losing just enough of her balance that she fell into Scorpia's arm.
"Watch out there." She caught Entrapta in an almost accidental hug.
"AAck!" Entrapta's reaction was only several moments too slow to be believable that she didn't enjoy the warm embrace.
Scorpia wasn't sure what to say or how to say it as the other woman's hair carried her out and away from her arms.
"I! Sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"No, no! It's ok. And I… I think it's all clean now. I can put on the bandages for you now if you want?"
"I! Yes please." Entrapta nodded quickly.
"Here." Scorpia carefully peeled off the backing to the band-aids, pressing them over the cuts, and then smoothing them gently over with her tail, caressing Entrapta's cheek in the exact soft kind and supportive manner that the purple princess had been craving. It wasn't much, but the soft touch was enough to calm her anxious racing mind and sore heart.
"There, you are gonna be ok!"
The End