Disclaimer: I do not own She-Ra or its related characters. All is the property of Noelle Stevenson, Dream Works Animation, Netflix, NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Filmation, Larry DiTillo, and J. Michael Straczynski.
Inconvenient Arrangements
Chapter Twenty-Six: Long Overdue Talk
"Entrapta?"
She was welding and almost didn't hear over the sounds of heat cutting though metal. The speaker was so low, sounding almost dejected. It took a moment for her mind to register the sound she heard was her own name.
Turning off the torch and lifting her goggles, Entrapta looked behind her.
Hec-Tor was standing in the doorway to her lab. Wearing Eternian clothes that showed off his legs and bare shoulders. She had seen him without his armor before but it took her a moment to realize why he wasn't wearing it now.
Because the dented and mangled metal torso he held in on hand was his armor.
"Wah! What happened to it!?"
Entrapta was across the room in moments, rolling on the wheels of her chair, using her hair to propel herself. She gathered up the armor, wrapping tendrils of hair around it and practically yanking it out of Hec-Tor's hand.
She turned it over, and over again. Examining the damage. The back plating was almost completely caved in, the joints snapped open at the shoulders, the protective insulation around the spinal line ruptured, exposing the interior of the line to the elements. If Hec-Tor had been wearing the armor when the damage occurred, she should have been paralyzed from the neck down, or worse, dead!
Entrapta looked back up at him.
Hec-Tor looked fine.
A little uncomfortable. But otherwise his normal semi-healthy self.
"I…" He began, then trailed off. As if unsure of what it was he even wanted to say. "My armor was damaged." He finally announced. "You have made several offers to construct new adaptations for me. I- I was wondering- if it would not interfere with your other work, would you still be willing to make new armor for me?"
It was near impossible for Entrapta to contain her enthusiasm.
"Would I!" She spun around the room in her chair, chalking almost manically. Her hair twirling around her.
She made a full circuit and a half of the room before coming to a stop in front of her main computer array. Tendrils of hair dancing wildly over the keyboards, she pulled up rough designs and fully rendered blueprints of a variety of armor designs for him. Heavy armors with thick plating with a built-in arm canon for combat. Light weight armors for quick movement and increased agility. Insulated armors for environmental extremes. Armors with storage vials and delivery systems for his medications so that he did not always have to remember to take his medications. Medium armors for average, everyday wear.
Turning back around, Entrapta beamed across the room at him. "What do you think? Do you like any of them? I got a lot of ideas from the mutant parts you let me take from Nordor."
It was all Hec-Tor could do to stare at the screens.
He was imagining her just helping him rebuild his old armor just with a few of the modifications she mentioned to him before. She was not expecting her to present him with a- with a catalogue of armors to choose from. It was so much more than he was even hoping for, all Hec-Tor could do was stand there and stare for a good minute.
"I-" he began to say, "I like them all."
If possible, her smile only widened more. He liked all of her designs. That was so validating. "We can make them all!" She announced happily. "Eventually. We'll get you into one tonight and work on the others in our spare time. I'm thinking the medium model for everyday use would be the most practical. Most of your activity appears to be document work at your desk, so we can augment my base design to support your lower back and lumbar region."
"That-" he didn't know what to say, "-is more than ideal."
"Great!" Entrapta cartwheeled away from the computer array and over to a work table strewn with machine parts. "Stand over here!"
That was the only warning Hec-Tor got before Entrapta's hair wrapped itself around him and whisked him off his feet. She plunked him back down in an upright standing position exactly where she wanted him to be. Hair under his wrists pushed his arms up, while more hair grabbed his ears making sure his neck was facing forward.
"I already made up a couple of the components I told you about before." She explained as automated machines danced around him, piecing together components before fitting them to his body. "Less bulky cabling. Smaller tubing, but more of it layered over your body. All of it covered in plating to protect it and you, but lighter for better mobility and less muscle fatigue. The interior is a little more concave than your old armor, the shape will give the plating more strength since I made it thinner to be lighter."
Hec-Tor felt like he was being enveloped by the automated machinery. He hissed at the feel of new and unfamiliar connectors being plugged into his ports. There was a tingling running up his spine, and the taste of pineapple in his mouth. His ears rang with a distinctly artificial sound that he was sure only he could hear.
When the automated machines were done, they pulled out of the way. Folding up into the darkness of the ceiling from which they had come and Hec-Tor saw Entrapta. Smiling at him on the same eye-level. Held up by her hair and laying on her belly, her face resting in her hands propped up by her elbows.
Hec-Tor stared at her. That was… that was it. It was over?
"How does it feel?" She asked.
He looked down at himself and saw that his torso was, indeed, covered in new armor. Constructed over his clothes, so there still might have to be some modifications for it to lay flat over his skin. But, otherwise, it felt like it was already a part of him. Like a second skin. Hec-Tor flexed his arms, feeling how the new armor moved with him.
"It feels good." He announced. "It feels like…" what he always imagined having a healthy body might feel like "…it feels like me. But, more me."
"I made to it be more of an exoskeleton." Entrapta explained. "So that it would function as a part of your body instead of clothing with benefits."
Wanting to test the new armor, Hec-Tor walked to the largest item in the lab that was closest to him. The worktable all the exoskeleton pieces were just on. He lifted it with ease. It was a metal table, probably aluminum, designed to be lightweight. He turned, looking for something heavier. A free-standing robots arm with a large pillar support and wide base. That looked heavy. Heavier than the table. Hec-Tor crossed the space to it and picked that up instead.
It was heavier. Hec-Tor could feel the weight in his hands. There was discomfort in his arms, the discomfort of muscles having to do the work for which they were made, but no actual strain. No pain. It wasn't the armor doing all the work, and it wasn't his muscles shouldering the burden while the armor just prevented injury. It was both of them working together. How own body combined with the adaptation of the exoskeleton. A perfect, symbiotic meeting of flesh and machine.
Hec-Tor set the equipment back down and straightened. Looking at his hand and forearm, admiring the craftsmanship. Keldor's magic never offered him such a perfect compromise of his body's defects.
Keldor…
Hec-Tor lowered his arm.
He looked back at Entrapta.
And sighed.
"I have been unfair to you." He announced.
Entrapta blinked at him, confused. She let herself down from her hair, and looked up at him with both feet on the ground. "What do you mean?"
"I told you I was going to Eternia on 'personal business'." Hec-Tor reminded her. "I did not tell you what that personal business was."
"Oh." She did not seem the least bit bothered. "I just assumed it had to do with Randor. I know he was your brother-in-law and you two seem to still be close. He just went through a thing with his daughter and you're a parent too and can empathize. You didn't say you were going to see Randor, but all the data was there, so I just drew a conclusion based on the information I already had." She smiled at him.
Hec-Tor suddenly felt like such a scoundrel. True he had not actually told her any lies. But he had withheld information which allowed her to believe something that was untrue. He felt like a liar.
"I did not see Randor at all during my time on Eternia." Hec-Tor confessed. "I did not even pass close to Eternos."
"Oh." Entrapta said again, offering a nod to indicate that she was taking in the information. Then she frowned. Her nose crinkling with confusion as her mind processed this new information. "Huh."
"The reason I went to Eternia was to-" He cut himself off, unsure of what to say exactly. How was he going to phrase this. How did you tell your current spouse that you were so hung-up on your past spouse that you lied to them and left them to go and search for your old flame? "I was looking for Keldor. My husband from before you. I was trying to find him."
"Oh." Entrapta said again, taking in the information. "I didn't know he was still alive." A pause. "Did you find him?"
"No." Hec-Tor confessed.
"Okay." Entrapta nodded. Then slid her welding mask down over her face. Then turned her back to him and began fiddling with the various machine parts around the lab. Not actually putting anything together. Just moving stuff around and generally looking busy.
Hec-Tor watched her back for several moments. Her hair extending in almost every direction. Picking pieces up, bringing them closer to her, examining them, then putting them back down not in the same place she picked them up from. She was looking for a distraction, not a project. There was a tension in her shoulders and a stiffness in her back. Her posture betraying the feelings she was hoping the welding mask would hide.
"I've upset you." Hec-Tor concluded.
"I'm just remembering data you told me before our wedding." She informed him without turning about. "You told me very early on that you did not want me and were only fulfilling our contract. I misinterpreted some of our later interactions and chose to disregard your earlier statement. I know I'm not good at understanding people. I should have been more cautious with my assumptions. Especially considering the conflicting data."
"Entrapta-" He tried to begin a statement but realized he didn't actually know what to say.
Hec-Tor stood there, staring at Entrapta's back. He thought about what Evil-Lyn told him at Snake Mountain. His feelings for Keldor might never go away, but Keldor was not here anymore and Entrapta was. Entrapta was real and right in front of him. Hec-Tor might never see Keldor again, but he couldn't let the memory of what they had together spoil the current relationship he had. Especially not when his current relationship was still new and fragile. They were married more than two months now, but he and Entrapta were still largely strangers to each other.
"I-" He tried to being again. "I didn't find Keldor. He's been gone five years and none of the searches have ever found him. I don't know why I thought this time would be different, but it was foolish of me. I was being foolish. My foolishness caused me to mislead you, my spouse and partner, go to another planet alone, where I had an accident that rendered my armor irreparable, and would have killed me were it not for the miraculous kindness of a complete stranger. Yes, I am still in love with Keldor. But, my feelings- my… obsession with finding him has caused me to lie to you, and place myself in physical danger. I- it's time I learn to let Keldor go, and- I feel I should do that with you."
Her shoulders sagged for a moment.
But she gave no other indication that she heard him.
"Entrapta?" He ventured. "I… would like to look at you as we talk. If- if that would be alright with you."
She did turn around. Mask still on her face. But at least she was looking at him.
Entrapta's hair reached up into the darkness of the ceiling, must have looped around something up there, then came back down. She raised herself up and sat in her hair as if it were a swing. Mask still on her face, she rested her chin in her hands.
"You know, we haven't talked about our exes yet." She finally announced. "I read on a datacard on Dating Etiquette that you shouldn't talk about your ex on a first date. But before our wedding, all of our 'dates' kinda blended together, I wasn't sure where the division was. So I didn't bring up Perfuma before Princess Prom where she would be there and you could just meet her yourself. But then after you met her you didn't ask about her at all, so I just assumed it wasn't time yet. And I know about Keldor. Or, well, I know what the dossier said about Keldor. That he was from Eternia originally, that he was half-Gar, a warrior-mage, that he fought with you when you would command the military in person, he's Imp's other father, and he disappeared without a trace five years ago. Then I thought maybe we didn't need to talk about our exes because all the information we would need was in the dossier."
"I would like to tell you about Keldor." Hec-Tor announced. "And if you would like to talk about Perfuma, I'd like to hear anything you want to share."
There was a pregnant pause.
His statement hung in the air between them.
All Hec-Tor could do was stare at the impassive metal face of her welding mask.
Finally, a tendril of her hair reached across the room to retrieve her wheelie chair and pull it over for him.
Taking the hint, Hec-Tor sat down.
"Perfuma was my first relationship with an organic being." Entrapta announced. "I wasn't with her very long, but I was really really nervous the whole time we were together. I'd only been with A.I. programs, or robots before, and they were easy because I understand robots, and A.I., and tech. It's all lines of data and code. I can please an A.I. Pleasing an organic person is a lot harder."
Hec-Tor nodded. "People are much harder to predict than an artificial being who's behaviors have been programmed."
"I tried really, really hard, though." Entrapta swore. "I'm not good at understanding people, but I try to understand them in ways that make sense to me. I do research, and I perform tests. I want to get things right! At first, Perfuma seemed pleased with the results of my research and tests, and I think she was happy. I was happy, at least."
Entrapta paused, her head turning and the glowing eye-lenses of the welding mask fixed on something on the far side of the room. Some other side project that was laid out over a work table and covered with a sheet. Hec-Tor didn't know what it was. He assumed it was one of her left-over experiments on how to please Perfuma.
"I really like research and data collection." She continued. "It's fun for me, and I feel like it allows me to understand the rest of the world. I wanted to show Perfuma. I thought that she would appreciate the science of it as much as I do, or if not the science, then at least the effort. So, I showed her my tests. She… did not react the way I predicted. She said my research was perverse and broke up with me, right here in my lab. And she- and she said that I'd never find anyone to be with because I was 'sick'."
For some reason, that last statement filled Hec-Tor with a righteous rage. It hit closer to home than he was expecting and he stood from the chair.
"That is absurd!" He roared, unnecessarily loud. "What an utterly repugnant thing to say! If Princess Perfuma believes you are sick, then what of me? I have been sick from the moment they pulled me from my mother's womb. How utterly- -unimaginative of her!"
Finally, Entrapta lifted her mask. She looked at him with caution. Her feelings guarded. "I didn't tell you what my experiments were."
"I do not care!" He was still shouting. "To think that someone is undeserving of companionship just because they are…" here he paused, searching for a word that could apply to both of them "…atypical."
Entrapta smiled at him. Not a very wide smile. Certainly nothing as big or enthusiastic as when he asked her to build him new armor. The smile she gave was small and slight, and a little fragile. But it was a smile none the less. She liked what he said, even if she didn't fully trust his sincerity. It was nice to hear.
"I take it Keldor held no shut narrow minded feelings." She made a hypothesis based of the data.
Hec-Tor sat back down in the wheelie chair. Flopped back down in it, actually. The chair rolling back a couple centimeters before he stopped himself.
"Keldor was a little rough around the edges at first. When we were young and our engagement was still new, he dragged me into some dangerous situations. He pushed me over walls, and took me to disreputable bars, and got us into fights with the locals. But he never treated me like I couldn't do things. Even when I really couldn't. He took me to the same dangerous places he went to, and offered me the same food or drink he ate. Even after we were married, he never tried to coddle me. He challenged me to be more physical and active. I actually managed to gain a significant amount of body weight when we were together because of it. Everyone on Eternia is a warrior, even their Princes and their sorcerers. They know how to train warriors on Eternia, even people who don't look like they would be warriors. Keldor devised a workout regimen for me that accounted for my defects and limitations. It took us more than a couple tries to get it right, and I passed out more than once. But I was gaining weight and muscle. My circulation was better and my heart was healthier. Keldor did that for me."
A tendril of hair slithered up to slide Enterapta's mask back over her face. "Jee, Keldor sounds pretty perfect."
"He wasn't." Hec-Tor was quick to add, not wanting her to feel inferior to a memory. "Keldor wasn't perfect. He was stubborn, and bossy, and half-wild. He would bully his way into coming on military strikes with me, and beam down to fight in battles even though I didn't want him to. When I gave strict orders to the energizer room staff not to allow him to teleport, he'd just draw a circle on the floor and use his magic to teleport himself. He was always coming back covered in blood and I never knew how much of it was his own and how much of it was the enemies'. On Horde World, when he finally figured out how to slip his bodyguards in the city, he would come home drunk, or covered in someone else's blood, or both. He worried me endlessly! Keldor was not perfect."
"Wow." Entrapta said from behind her mask. "He sounds like a hot mess."
"So hot…" Hec-Tor agreed without thinking. Then he clapped a hand over his mouth, mortified. "I mean- Keldor was a warrior, and he took good care of his body. He- he had a nice body. Very… very healthy." He cleared his throat, and added, "Your body is also healthy."
Entrapta's head pulled back a fraction of a centimeter. Her mask was still on, so he couldn't see her expression and Hec-Tor had no idea how to interpret the action. She looked at herself. Baggy clothing hiding most of her figure. "I'm out of shape."
"Shape does not concern me." He assured her. "I appreciate a healthy body."
"Thanks." She said, mask still hiding her face. "I like your body too. It's interesting."
Hec-Tor looked away. "Thank you. That is kind of you to say. But I have lost a significant amount of mass since his disappearance. I am aware that I am not longer as… healthy as I used to be."
"I said 'interesting'." Entrapta repeated. She lifted her mask again. "I like interesting things."
"Oh." His cheeks colored a modest shade of pink.
He had noticed that she liked interesting things, and the things she found interesting were not always conventional interests. On Horde World, she was more interested in seeing the inner workings of the shieldwall than she was the view from atop it. During their journey to Ehteria, she was fascinated by the mutants of Nordor's adaptations and looted their dead bodies for them. She thought his armor was so interesting that she designed an entire catalogue of armor for him on her own and without being asked. Maybe Entrapta wasn't just being nice when she said she found his body interesting, maybe she really did find it interesting …and she liked interesting things.
…Which mean she did like his body.
That modest pink deepened to a more vibrant rose and Hec-Tor found himself having to clear his throat which felt suddenly very tight.
He stood from the chair. "I am glad we had this talk. I should go now. There is a lot of work that I have been ignoring. I'll need to rest well if it's to be done. But I need a dust bath before I can go to sleep. And I came straight here when I got back, I have not checked in on Imp."
He fled the lab.
Entrpata watched him leave. Confused at first. She thought they were having a good talk. Until he suddenly got all nervous and left.
She lifted her mask, nose crinkling as she went over their conversation in her mind. Trying to analyze all the new data and try to understand.
Unfortunately, Entrapta was pretty bad at understanding other people.
…