Chapter Text
It was a well known fact that Catra was very … catlike.
Even before she had joined up with the coveted “Best Friends Squad” and became subject to Bow’s constant cooing and fawning, it was rather obvious. She purred, she hissed, and as much as she tried to suppress it, she sometimes let out soft little trills when snapped awake or to attention. Adora’s personal favorite trait was her ears. Sure, Catra was much better about expressing herself in ways other than anger, but only Adora could know almost exactly what she was feeling by reading the subtle flicks and twitches.
It wasn’t something that most people (exception: Bow) acknowledged, since it was just … her. Now that Etheria was healing and more information on Magikats was becoming available with each day, her little habits had faded into the background. Sometimes they came out more than usual, typically in the face of excess excitement or stress, but nobody really noticed.
This day in particular, however, people definitely noticed.
There were no disasters, no fights, and no magic mishaps to speak of. The Best Friends Squad were merely on a visit to the reformed Fright Zone, arriving by invitation to Perfuma’s flower crown workshop. Ever since her and Scorpia had become rather taken with each other, Perfuma had taken an integral role in transforming the Fright Zone into a kingdom rather than a compound of bitter reminders of the past.
This particular workshop was aimed to cater to reformed Prime clones and Horde soldiers, an attempt to give the former pawns of war a bit of an outlet to help them adjust to peace. Catra, whether it be due to some residual guilt from how she treated Scorpia or an actual interest in the creation of floral accessories, had volunteered to assist in the setup. While Scorpia fretted over making sure there were enough cushions for people to sit on, Catra was helping Perfuma sort the flowers by color in various baskets.
“Does this seem more red or purple to you?” Perfuma suddenly thrust a bundle of flowers in Catra’s field of vision, eyebrows furrowed in distress over not being able to discern the particular color. Catra merely stared at it for a few moments before sighing.
“I don’t know. I can’t see either.”
“You can’t tell either?” Perfuma’s head cocked in confusion.
“No, I can’t see red or purple. They just look grey.” Catra said dryly, gesturing to the baskets she had been organizing. It was then that Perfuma noticed Catra had only taken an interest in sorting the blue and green colored flowers.
“But … you always wore red! You still wear red, like, all the time.” Perfuma pointed out, gesturing to Catra’s signature red tank top and maroon leggings.
“Yeah, well, the Horde wasn’t too keen on fashion and you’re not about to catch me wearing blue. Even I know that would look awful with my fur.” Catra said with a huff of a laugh. She began sorting through a bundle of light blue flowers, finding the more wilted ones and setting them aside. She could feel a subtle warmth curling in her chest, chalking it up to Perfuma’s rapt attention. “Besides, Adora says it brings out my eyes.”
A sudden and drawled out “ awwwwh! ” came from across the room, both Catra and Perfuma’s heads whipping around to discover Scorpia not-so-subtly listening in on their conversation. Catra merely squinted at her, vision surprisingly unfocused. Maybe she was more tired from the journey than she thought.
“Sorry, that was just a super cute thing to say.” Scorpia said awkwardly, waving her claws at them dismissively. “Ignore me, just keep doing your flower thingy while I do the cushion thingy.”
Catra shook her head, trying to ignore how dizzying it felt to do so. She turned back to the bundles of flowers, staring at them in an almost trance-like state for a minute. The edges of her vision got fuzzier the longer she stared, the little sprigs looking like they were beginning to squirm in her hands. The subtle warmth had spread throughout her entire body, a flush blossoming on her cheeks.
“Uh, wildcat?” Catra sluggishly turned to see Scorpia right behind her, staring down at her with concern. A lazy and questioning trill crawled out of her throat, Catra struggling to focus on the taller princess. “You doing okay there? Your eyes are like, super blown out.”
“‘M good.” Catra reassured, the words coming out a bit slurred. The room was really swaying now. It made Catra want to sprawl out on the ground so she could feel a little more steady. Scorpia gently took the bundle of flowers out of Catra’s near limp hands.
“Hey, Perfuma? What kind of flowers are these?” Perfuma looked at the bundle in her pincers in thought, perking up quickly.
“Oh, those are nepeta cataria ! Also known as - “ Perfuma stopped abruptly, paling a bit. Catra’s brain decided that moment was as great a time as any to stop working properly, her body sagging towards Scorpia and hands clumsily pawing at the flowers in question. The soft roar of a purr was already puttering away in her throat, the vibrations traveling all the way to her toes.
Scorpia struggled to keep Catra upright while also keeping the flowers away from her, Catra practically climbing her like a tree to snag a few out of the grip of her claws. She immediately stuffed some in her mouth, purring even louder when she found out the taste was as intoxicating as the smell.
“No! Bad Catra!” Perfuma grabbed Catra’s face with both hands, shaking her to get her attention. “Drop it! Drop the catnip!”
Mismatched eyes took a moment to settle on Perfuma’s face. The command didn’t seem to register at all, the muscles in Catra’s throat flexing as she swallowed the chewed up plants. Perfuma let out a panicked wheeze, Scorpia wrenching open a trash chute and tossing the remaining catnip into it.
“What do we do?! We just drugged She-Ra’s girlfriend!” Scorpia exclaimed, finding herself with two clawfuls of purring, doped out Catra.
“Fiancée.” Catra drowsily corrected, rubbing her face against the grooves of Scorpia’s pincers. The scratching sensation felt like cooling ice water on the warm crawly feeling under her fur, causing her purring to sound like a rumbling engine.
“ Fiancée ? You and Adora got engaged and you didn’t - whatever, priorities. Dealing with you being high now and your forgetting to share life shattering news later.” Perfuma said, pinching the bridge of her nose. She took a few meditative breaths, trying to calm her panic. Letting out one slow and long exhale, she forced a smile on her face. “Okay, so catnip isn’t harmful, so you should be fine. We just have to … wait it out. This will all blow over and nobody will ever know we accidentally drugged She-Ra’s fiancee.”
“Yeah! The workshop doesn’t start for another hour. Everything will be fine!” Scorpia said, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself more than anything. She was completely carrying Catra now, the magikat content in the cradle of her claws as she furiously nuzzled against her shoulder spikes.
“Why wouldn’t everything be fine?”
Perfuma and Scorpia jolted with dual shrieks of surprise, spinning around to see the other three quarters of the Best Friend Squad behind them, the air around them still shimmering a bit from Glimmer’s presumed teleportation. Scorpia and Perfuma exchanged panicked glances, both of them trying to come up with an explanation of why Catra was slumped in Scorpia’s arms and purring like an engine. Catra registered their appearance a full ten seconds late, eyes drifting towards them and locking onto Adora. She began to writhe in Scorpia’s hold, reaching out to her and needily mewling. The furrow between Adora’s eyebrows melted, face softening.
“Oh, Catra. Did you get into some catnip again?” Adora cooed, carefully extracting Catra from Scorpia. Even without being She-Ra, Adora had plenty of strength to carry Catra bridal-style without any real effort. The others in the room watched the exchange with curious concern.
“Mhm. Feels tingly.” Catra murmured, voice warped with how hard she was purring and muffled as she tucked her head in Adora’s neck. Bow was barely containing his squeals of delight.
“That’s alright. We’ll get you tucked in somewhere and we can wait it out together, okay?” Catra made a noise of agreement, eyes drifting shut and somehow purring even harder. Adora regarded Scorpia apologetically. “I know we were only supposed to be here for the day, so you don’t exactly have a room set up, but is there anywhere I could take her to lay down for a bit? She’s gonna hit the feisty part of the high soon.”
“Uh, yeah.” Scorpia stuttered out. “The guest room next to mine. You remember where that is, right?” Adora nodded, adjusting Catra in her arms before exiting the room and leaving the four bystanders behind. A strangled squeal finally escaped Bow’s throat.
“Did you hear how loud she was purring! And those nuzzles!” he gushed, eyes sparkling in adoration. Scorpia let out an unsteady laugh, still taken aback by the sheer amount of affection catnip-high Catra gave her.
“We don’t really have any catnip in Brightmoon but apparently this has happened before. Was catnip a thing in the Horde?” Glimmer asked.
“Ah, no. Not that I knew of anyway.” Scorpia said, thinking for a moment. “Although, I didn’t actually know what catnip flowers looked like until today, so who knows?”
“Forget that! How could her and Adora have gotten engaged and none of you told us?” Perfuma cried out, her faux calmness completely out the window. “How long have they even been engaged? Who proposed? I need details!” She asked frantically, crowding up on Bow and Glimmer. The two looked confused for a moment before their eyebrows shot up, looking to each other in shock. Both of their voices rang out loud enough for half the Fright Zone to hear.
“They’re engaged?!”