Catra set down her coffee on the park bench as she began her day filling out tedious paperwork. It was one of the responsibilities of command she hated the most, but somehow learned to be good at in her time serving as Hordak's number two officer. She appreciated how much quieter the Brightmoon Gardens were compared to the Fright Zone canteen and barracks. The birds were just as annoying here as anywhere else in the kingdom, but, for the most part, they learned to keep their distance after the last time one of them flew too close to her. Catra was shaken from her thoughts by a beige saddlebag landing on her bench.
"Hello, Kitten," greeted Double Trouble, holding a thermos of coffee, "Mind if I joined you?"
Catra shrugged her shoulders.
"It's a free kingdom," Catra scoffed, "Despite everything Adora's been whining about..."
"Excellent," said Double Trouble, slickly sliding next to her and wrapping their arm over the bench behind Catra's back, "So... how have things been going?"
"Right now having to write a report for Horde Prime regarding what happened at the Frosta's birthday party," Catra explained as she looked over her own notes, "Not looking forward to explaining the major security breach that almost cost him his planet killer. If I don't find a head for the Horde to put up on a pike soon, they'll probably just settle for mine."
"Yikes," hissed Double Trouble, "Well, good luck with that."
"Yeah, thanks," groaned Catra, "But don't you have your own job to worry about right now?"
"Oh, yes. My client cancelled at the last minute," Double Trouble explained, "So I thought I'd take this free time to find you and try to catch up. Speaking of which, I noticed you've been cancelling quite a few of my sessions for the last little while."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Catra said, barely paying attention as she filled out her forms, "I don't know if you've noticed, but things have gotten kind of hectic around here."
"Sounds like all the more reason to continue our sessions," Double Trouble replied, "I know things can't have been easy since your injury."
"What are you talking abou-" Catra began, before remembering she's supposed to be deaf in one ear, "Oh, right. Yeah, things have been bad, but you get used to it."
"Well, you're certainly no stranger to adaptation," Double Trouble complimented, "As I hear, it wasn't too long ago you were riding in a tank trying to blow this whole castle to kingdom come."
"The Great Conquest of Etheria..." Catra chuckled, gesturing to the beautiful garden in front of them, "So why doesn't it feel like we won?"
"I don't know," Double Trouble answered, "Do you feel unsatisfied with your current situation?"
"I mean, I have everything I ever wanted," Catra said, "Even the stuff I didn't think I'd ever get in a million years. I'm literally ruling Etheria with Adora at my side. I'm in the one in charge for a change. I can order Hordak and the Princesses to do whatever I want and they just have to stand there and take it. But if I don't get this stupid superweapon to work like I promised, Horde Prime is going to destroy the entire planet and take all that away from me. Back when I was a cadet, I didn't even have a soldier at my command, but it felt like I could do whatever I wanted. Now I have all the power in Etheria, and no choice at all..."
"That sounds like a lot of pressure to put on one person," Double Trouble said, "How have you been delegating these responsibilities?"
"Well, Hordak and Entrapta are in She-Ra's crystal castle trying to figure out how the whole thing works," Catra listed, "But I can't make heads or tails of the reports they've been sending back. And I can never just get a straight answer out of either of them when I ask them directly to explain what they're doing there. Mermista and Scorpia want to figure out who tried to poison us all last night, so I'm letting them play detective, but I don't expect much. Our lovely Queen Sparkles hasn't told me anything about how she plans to fight the bandits that have been attacking our trade caravans. She tells me it's because it's all 'need to know' to prevent security leaks but I'm guessing the real reason is because she's been sleeping with the person who matches the description of the guy leading the attackings."
"Oh, my," Double Trouble gasped, "Have you told anyone else about this?"
"Adora told me not to..." Catra sighed, "And I'm really finding it hard to say no to her after everything that's happened between us. She really doesn't like the idea of destroying another planet to save our own, but she doesn't know what else to do, so she takes it out on me. She cares so much for people she will never even meet and who for all intents and purposes didn't even exist to us before Horde Prime showed up. It ticks me off, but the more we argue about it, the more I can't deny she has a point. That, even if we do everything the Horde tells us to, they're just going to kill us all anyway. I can't shake this feeling that she's starting to rub off on me and that scares me right now."
"Because of that whole fleet of spaceships above us?" Double Trouble guessed.
"Part of me wants to just get this done because I want what I have right now to last as long as possible," Catra explained, "But another part thinks this is going to all come crashing down before too long anyway, so I might as well just enjoy myself as much as I can before we all die horribly."
"Honestly, I don't think I can argue with that," Double Trouble said, leaning back to look up, the bright blue sky and white clouds masking the hundreds of ships they knew were still in orbit.
As Catra got back to work on her report, a small yellow bird landed on Double Trouble's knee and tweeted cheerily to them.
"Awww, hello there," Double Trouble cooed, holding out a finger it to perch on, "Aren't you a little sweetie pie?"
"So..." Catra called out, pointing at the bird, "Are you going to eat that?"
"Eat what?" Double Trouble asked without really paying attention.
Taking their confusion to mean permission, Catra swiftly snatched the tiny creature with her sharp claws, killing it instantly. She shoved the bloody mess of beak and feathers into her mouth and could be heard chewing on the tiny hollow bones for a few seconds before swallowing. Catra then washed her meal down with a swig of coffee and took out a handkerchief to crudely wipe the blood and spilled hot liquid off her fur.
"Sorry," apologized Catra after burping out some yellow feathers, "I skipped breakfast today."
Double Trouble said nothing as they stared silently in shock at the vicious killing they just witnessed.
"What?" Catra exclaimed.
"Oh... nothing, Kitten," Double Trouble finally said, forcing a smile as they gathered their things, "I should get ready for my next appointment. It was nice talking to you again."
"So, when am I going to be seeing the bill for this little talk?" Catra inquired.
"Oh, no, this wasn't an official session," Double Trouble clarified, patting Catra on the lap, "I just wanted to catch up with an old friend."
"Is that what we are?" asked Catra, "Friends?"
"Of course," Double Trouble answered, "Why wouldn't we be?"
"It's just that..." Catra said, "Ever since we first met, it seemed like the only thing you cared about me was my money and my position."
"Just because I was ethical about being properly paid for my labor doesn't mean I didn't like working with you," explained Double Trouble, "I thought we got along quite well ever since I joined up with the Horde."
"I guess," Catra said, "But it felt cold, whenever we were together. Like you didn't really like me, but just tolerated being near me to get paid."
"Oh, Kitten, of course I like you," Double Trouble said, tenderly stroking the fur on Catra's cheek, "You were the Horde's best force captain when I met you. By the end of the war, you were running the Horde. You didn't need another sycophantic yes girl to sing your praises. You needed someone to call you out on your mistakes, to treat you like someone smart and strong enough to handle some heavy criticism. Because you didn't deserve to be treated like a child anymore."
Instinctively, Catra reached behind Double Trouble's head to pull them into a kiss. Double Trouble gagged on the taste of blood and coffee and immediately pushed her back forcefully against the bench. Both of them examined each other silently as they processed what just happened.
"What was that?!" shouted Double Trouble in humiliated anger.
"I'm sorry!" screamed Catra in a panic, "I thought you were giving me signals!"
"No, no, I was just trying to make you feel better about yourself," Double Trouble quickly stammered, eyes wide in shock, "I'm sorry... I... I have to go."
"Wait!" Catra ordered, grabbing Double Trouble's hand, "Whatever you do, please don't tell Adora about this!"
"I'm not stupid enough to get on the She-Ra's bad side for no reason," Double Trouble argued, "What happened was just a misunderstanding, nothing more."
"I mean it," Catra threatened, pointing her clawed finger at Double Trouble's chest, "You know how I feel about you. But if Adora finds out, she will figuratively kill me, but not before I literally kill you. Got it!"
"I got it!" Double Trouble growled in frustration, "Don't worry. No one else is going to know what happened."
"Good..." Catra said, folding her arms and looking away in embarrassment, "Because nothing happened."
"That's right!" agreed Double Trouble in an argumentative tone as they speed walked away, "Nothing happened!"
~*~
DT's Notes
Catra, Session 5
-Well, what do I do now? I really don't think I should be alone right now.
-I'll see if Catra is hanging around her usual spot, I haven't talked to her in ages.
-Talked about how she is handling her recovery, seems to have gotten used to it
-Feels unsatisfied with her current position, constrained and fearful of what she has to lose
-Claims Adora's compassion is starting to rub off on her, I'm going to take this as a good sign despite Catra's misgivings
-Feelings of hopelessness has Catra considering Nihilism, which I can definitely relate to right now
-We really need to talk to Catra about respecting other people's personal space
-And to top it all off, she is a really bad kisser
