Catra didn't like to take pride in making people uncomfortable, but sometimes, she did. People were usually put off by her eyes and wild hair. To be fair, at certain times of the day, she did look like a druggie. She was a rare blessed person, according to her therapist at least, because she had heterochromia. Her left eye was hazel but looked more golden, and her right was a bright blue. At night they were brighter. Coupled with the curly hair that worsened if she attempted to brush it, she looked like the full ticket.

There were only three people who didn't freak out immediately. Her therapist, Ella (but she went by Spinnerella for some reason Catra couldn't be bothered to remember), Scarlet (who went by Scorpia) and Adora.

Yet, the second Adora's blue/grey eyes met Catra's, she flinched backwards and away from her. Despite the urge to be hurt by the action, Catra allowed it. They hadn't exactly left on the best of terms when Adora enlisted three years ago, and Catra had refused to speak to her in those long years. Raising an eyebrow, Catra allowed her eyes to rake over Adora's body as the blonde stuttered some shitty story, not that Catra was really listening.

Adora looked... different, but at the same time, she didn't. She was still taller than Catra, she still wore her hair in its signature ponytail with the stupid poof, and her eyes were still blue. She was skinnier as well, but more muscular in her arms. Not that Catra was looking at her biceps. Her ribs seemed to poke through her white compression shirt (another signature of hers), but that could've just been shadowing to be fair. Her eyes, while bright and blue still, were sunken along with her cheeks.

Catra didn't really know how to feel.

Instead, she cocked her hip with a disinterested sigh. "What do you want, Adora? Why are you here?" Adora's stuttering stopped as she shifted slightly, breath catching in her throat. Adora was usually pretty composed, so Catra was somewhat taken off guard. "Um, I-I think I have a class here?" Catra narrowed her eyes. "Well, you either do or don't. What is it?" She held her hands up. "Wait, rewind. Why are you here? Aren't you still in service?" She paused. "I thought contracts lasted a minimum of eight years," Adora shifted again, moving more of her weight onto her left side. "Yeah, technically I am," She said. She tugged the strap of her rucksack, tightening it against her back. Catra shrugged. "Then why are you here? Have you deserted or some shit?" She idly pulled out her phone and texted both Lonnie and Scorpia back.

Nvmd, already seen the news in person. Talk later.

"-dishonourable discharge or medical discharge," Catra blinked. "So... what are you?" She asked. Adora shifted uneasily, different from the first two times. "Um... I was medically discharged from active service... but I still have five years of my contract, so I'll probably get a desk job or some shit," Catra rolled her eyes, only slightly worried that Adora (possibly the MOST robust person she knew) was medically discharged. "Wow, I knew you never lasted long, but three years outta eight? That's not even half,"

Sure, the first part of the sentence was a jibe, but the second half was a bit too far - even Catra knew that. Adora knew it too, judging by the sour twist on her face. "Look, I'm not here to fight, Catra. I can only afford college because of the army. So, give me a break, ok?" She snapped. Catra bit back her scathing remark about loans and sex, one that would've made more sense in time. "Look, do you know where these places are?" Adora showed her a notepad. "What's this? Don't you have a phone?" Catra turned her nose up. Adora sucked her teeth. "Obviously not,"

Catra looked at the two rooms listed. "That's reception, the big blue craphouse over there," She pointed vaguely. "And this is Etherian Towers. I'm there, so I can show you," Adora nodded and took back the pad. "Thanks," She said.

Catra learned, granted a week later, that Adora's dorm was in Etherian Towers. On the same floor as hers. In the same hallway as hers. In the same dorm as hers.

Sharing a wall with HER.

At least Catra was on the end of the block, so it was just outside to her other wall. In that week, she'd grown to know an awful lot about her former best friend. Catra didn't have the best sleep schedule to be fair. She'd always been a night owl, so more often than not, she'd be in the shared common room for her dorm and eat cereal while watching trash TV. Her dorm was one of the higher rent ones, so it was only a few of them who lived on the top floor. Catra, Scorpia, a guy called Archer (or Bow) (and more often than not, his girlfriend Glenda (Glimmer) as she insisted) and now, Adora. Previously, it was Catra's friend Toby, who went by Double Trouble. But they moved away to some luxurious college somewhere out near the Crimson Waste with their boyfriend.

Scorpia was in bed by ten, lights off by eleven and awake by nine. Bow was a little like Catra and just kinda slept when he needed to, usually by eleven thirty. Adora? Fucking weirdo. She'd be in bed by eight on the dot, lights off by nine, and awake by six. On one occasion, Catra had fallen asleep in the common area but was woken up just after six when somebody shuffled into the kitchen. As she twisted on the couch, she caught sight of blonde hair in a ponytail.

She feigned sleep, watching curiously through slitted lids. Adora shuffled slowly, leaning on the countertops as she moved, wincing when she raised her left hand above her shoulder, and using a... crutch? Nah. Catra rubbed her eyes. Only people who'd broken bones used crutches. Catra rolled her eyes to herself and twisted back into the couch, shutting her eyes.

A few other times made Catra question just how much she really knew about the blonde vet.

Like.

On the evenings when Catra was chilling in her room while the others did various assignments, or fucked in the bathroom if you were Bow and Glimmer, she'd hear strange noises from the paper-thin wall separating her from Adora. Not pain-filled noises either. Catra would pause in whatever she was doing and press her ear close. From the other side, she could guess, that Adora was hooking up with someone.

Multiple someones as well. At least one person a day. Maybe she was experimenting? Catra was lesbian, so she totally ogled the frazzled women leaving her roommate's room. Sometimes it'd be so quiet, Catra would crack open the door to make sure Adora hadn't orgasmed to death or orgasmed some poor woman to death, but no. They'd be asleep, stark bollock naked, on the ground usually.

Not that Catra could comment. She'd had her fair share of various women in her first year of college. And both Scorpia and Bow were in committed relationships, so it'd make sense for the two girls to experiment with their own love lives too.

Another thing she'd noticed, and probably half the fucking house as well, was the nightmares. Ok, they weren't that loud, but they were loud enough to wake Catra from her sleep. Usually, it'd be Adora shouting one word: Mara, Hope, No(which were common as fuck) or some rando's name that Catra could never make out. Then something would scramble against the wall, probably the bed as she got up, followed by uneven movement. Like she was skipping a step and hopping instead.

Weird coping mechanism, but whatever. As long as Catra got the majority of her sleep, she'd make do. She hated Adora for leaving and joining the army as if it hadn't taken her parents and twin brother, but she wasn't cruel enough to make her feel shitty about her nightmares that woke Catra up every night around 11 am, then 4 am, and sometimes at 6, sometimes not. Sometimes, Catra would be up in the common room from as early as 3 am, having been partly woken by Adora's nightmares and Glimmer's walk of shame out and her own nightmares.

Around two weeks after Adora had moved in, Catra began to dig a little. On one of those 3 am getups, she was nursing a cup of coffee and watching some shitty horror film playing when Adora surfaced from her room. Instead of her hair being neatly in a ponytail, it was splayed out like a lion's mane. Catra couldn't tell for certain, but she would've bet her precious cup of coffee that Adora was using a crutch.

And that her pyjama pants looked suspiciously thin on her right leg.

Yet, the following day, both pant legs were full with legs again.