She spent the next few days alone, except for Equius. He would visit her a few times during the day to make sure she ate, and to generally check up on his moirail. Each time he would ask if she was okay, she would insist she was, even though anyone could see she wasn't. Her eyes had begun to lose their playful sparkle, and she spent her days starring off into space. By the third day, the other trolls began to take notice of her absence. A few tried to message her on Trollian, but she never answered.
One morning, Nepeta woke up and found a present on the floor by her shipping wall. Curious, she tore the colorful paper and opened the box. Inside were a new set of chalk and some new paint bottles. At the bottom was a note.
Nepeta,
We've noticed you've been gone. We hope you're alright. Equius says you're upset over something. Don't let it get you down; we've missed you. Take these and keep filling the walls with your pictures. Hope you feel better soon!
The note wasn't signed. She wondered who could've cared enough to send it, besides Equius of course. The handwriting was too feminine and clean. Perhaps Kanaya? Well, it didn't really matter. She looked at the paint. Maybe it was time to update her shipping wall a bit.
When Equius came in later that day, she was painting. A stack of crates had been pushed in front of her OTP painting; the picture of her and Karkat could just be made out from the gaps. This puzzled him a bit, but maybe she was just trying to move on. She had finished several new pictures already, some that included blackrom romances as well, rather than just the usual redrom. There were also humans included in the ships.
Currently, she was sitting in front of another stretch of wall, one of the only spots that wasn't already occupied. She was putting the finishing touches on a picture of Feferi, standing next to an unfinished picture of Sollux. There was a red heart between them. When he approached her, she turned.
"Hi Equius!" she said cheerfully.
He was slightly taken aback by her sudden change of mood. Could painting really change her mood that easily? He didn't question it. As long as is moirail was back to normal, all was well. "Hello Nepeta, I take it you're feeling better today?"
She nodded. "Yup, I forgot how much fun painting is! Someone gave me some new chalk and paint, and I couldn't just let it go to waste! But I'm running out of room on the walls now."
"That could be a problem," Equius said. He thought for a second before continuing, "I suppose I could allow you to use the empty rooms in our hallway as well. As long as you promise to be extra careful."
Her face lit up. "Really Equius? I can? Then, I purromise to be extra, extra careful!" She got up and hugged him before dashing off to get her supplies.
Once she had gathered everything she needed, she headed out to the hallway. She paused at the first door and tried opening it. Locked. She sighed in relief. Little did Equius know, she had already begun to paint the empty rooms. She had found them one day when she was exploring inside the air vents. This first room was why she had been less upset that morning. Inside, she had begun to paint more pictures of her and Karkat. Even if he was with Terezi, she could still ship him with herself, because maybe one day they would break up, and she would have her chance. That realization had broken her spell of depression. But she still didn't want anyone to know, so she had locked the door.
The second room was open and unpainted. After setting up her supplies, she began to work. Over the next few days, she painted some more ships and once she was satisfied that she had covered every aspect of every relationship, she began to paint scenes from the trolls' and the humans' adventures.
Painting relaxed her and let her express her feelings in a safe way, almost like how her moirail built and destroyed his robots, but less violent. She put her heart into every artwork, and was proud of herself as she got better and better. Soon, some of the other trolls began stopping by to admire her works, as Equius spread the word of her new paintings. There were a lot of oohs and ahhs, as well as tears and laughter at the scenes of their adventures. Even Karkat and Terezi showed up once, though they left soon after when Terezi started licking the walls. Though that visit was painful, Nepeta kept up her cheerful appearance until everyone had left, and then promptly retreated into the air vents to visit her other room.
Once in the privacy of her room, she collapsed onto the floor and shut her eyes, trying to block out the memories of Karkat and Terezi's visit. After taking some deep breaths to calm herself down a bit, she grabbed her container of chalk and set to work. When she was finished, she looked down. A few tears escaped her eyes. Sometimes it seemed as though there really was no hope for this ship.
Suddenly, there was a sound from the door. Someone was trying to get in. And from the sound of it, they had a key to the door. Nepeta jumped up, knocking over the container of chalk, and leaped into the air vent, closing it quickly behind her. She fled to the safety of her room, where she lay on the ground, breathing heavily, wondering who would have wanted to get in.
