In the safety of her room, Catra slouched down against the door, wrapping her arms around herself. What the hell had that been? Double Trouble of all people acting that weird with her! She knew they could get . . . a little obsessive when they tried to get into their "role", but that was slowly going too far! And she couldn't help but imagine how far they could still go, pinning her like that . . .

What was going on in their reptilian brain? Was it another "drama" they had come up with? She started angrily pacing around her room. God, she hated those. Couldn't they just shut up and do their job as she told them to, like everyone else? Well, come to think of it, there were a lot of people that didn't care about her opinion and kept misbehaving, and thinking on their own, and getting way too close for comfort - Scorpia, Hordak, Lenny . . .

Entrapta . . .

She instinctively jolted up as the door hissed its angry lullaby. A note of impending doom, she had come to despise it, even now that Shadow Weaver was behind bars.

"Catra! Hi! I just got these folders from Elberon-"

"Leave them on the table, I'll deal with them later."

Scorpia. Great. The one she least needed now. All that useless compassion . . .

" . . . Catra?"

"What?!"

Scorpia inched back from her violent reaction. "I was . . . worried about you. Is everything all right?"

Oh, God damn it. Catra sighed. "I . . . yeah. Double Trouble got a bit weird in the corridor, and it confused me." Why was she telling her this? In a futile attempt to take it back, she turned away again. "That's all."

" . . . aww, you did like it . . . "

Almost tripping over her own feet, Catra spun back, catching the last bit of black morph as Double Trouble tossed the folders on her table.

"Hi, kitten."

"Double Trouble! You surprised me! What, what are you doing here?" Her consciousness caught up. "And why the hell are you acting so weird these last few days? I don't need your help!"

"I felt something else besides fury back there, and I thought I might . . . investigate . . ." They took a few steps, their heels clicking on the metal. Catra was still too shocked to move away. Captivation successful.

"As for why, well . . ." Gently, they took her clawed hands, spreading them apart, opening her up like they were eventually going to do with her heart, enjoying every moment. "Entertainment? You do need me, kitten. You need someone to help you, someone who knows how you feel without needing to bother with your angry facades, and out of all the fools here, I'm the only one who sees through them . . ."

"Stop . . . stop, let go, go away from me!"

Slowly urging her backward, almost dancing, Double Trouble pressed her against the cold metal wall. "I haven't shifted, kitten. You could easily push me back and scratch all over my handsome face if you wanted."

With another unhinged grin, the shapeshifter leaned closer, almost nuzzling her neck. Catra turned her head away, but didn't say anything. She was sad, Double Trouble knew. But she wouldn't cry. Not because she was too strong for that, or too angry. She just had . . . other things on her mind right now.

"Thought so." Without another warning, they took a step back, letting go of her hands and dropping her to the floor, where she crawled to a ball at their knees. "I know this is teh Evil Hordeh and all, but you might profit from being a bit more open to people. Who knows, maybe they're not all looking to stab a dagger in your back."

Clicking away, they headed back for the door, proud of a day's job well done. Now they had to meet her somewhere more public, pretend nothing happened a few times, casually hit a weak spot when she can't hit back properly . . . all going well, they'd have her cracked in a week.

They stopped, half turning back and twitching an ear. "What?"

Catra, blushing like a volcano, looked away - again. Gosh, learn to control your nervous ticks, girl. She was so easy to read. "S, stay. Just for a while. Don't . . . don't leave me like this. Please."

For the first time, they actually couldn't suppress their grin. This was going to be so much better than expected.