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- Adora
“Alright.” Entrapta gripped her wrench tightly, forcing it to turn the nut clockwise. One last twist was all it needed and her latest creation was ready for activation. Probably. There was always a degree of chance with being a scientist. “Turn it on.”
On the other side of Entrapta’s lab, Adora hesitated. Biting her lip, she looked at the door anxiously. “Are you sure Glimmer’s fine with this? Like, I know you said it’d be fine, but Glimmer sounded serious last time. I don’t think she liked that the power went out.”
“It’ll be fine!” Entrapta got up, twirling her wrench in her hands. “I just flipped a variable last time. Well, that and maybe I underestimated the power, but that won’t happen again.” Floating above the ground now, her hair started to walk her toward Adora.
“I feel like you say that every time…” Adora scrunched her face, uncertain. “No, I’m pretty sure you say those exact same words, ‘it won’t happen again’ every. Single. Time.”
“Well, that’s cause I’m certain, every single time.” Entrapta cocked her head, confused. Either the experiment worked or it didn’t. If she stopped because of a fear of failure, well, she wouldn’t be a scientist. “Now, flip it!”
Adora sighed, rubbing her forehead before turning to the lever once more. “I’m going to regret this. I just know it.” She jerked the switch down.
And instantly, it was dark. Pitch dark. A shriek echoed through the castle. Probably Glimmer. Entrapta scratched her chin with a lock of hair. Now that was odd. She thought she’d accounted for the power—oh, no, wait, she’d forgotten to do adjust the cables. A simple mistake. “That’s okay, I can fix this.”
“I hope so!” There was a creaking sound as Adora tried to flip the switch on and off a few times. “Because I can’t make the power come back.”
“Oh, I’ll fix that.” Entrapta’s hair took a step forward, only to tangle up in the wires. She tugged a ponytail, but her hair wouldn’t budge. “Whoops.”
“Whoops?” Adora asked, softly stepping forward. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I think so.” Entrapta tapped her chin, lowering herself as she squinted in the dark. Nope. She couldn’t see a thing. Maybe she should make a pair of night-vision goggles. “I’m just stuck.”
“Stuck?” A note of panic hit Adora’s voice and her slow, careful steps became hurried. “I’ll—”
There was a yelp and Entrapta looked up just in time for something hard to hit her. And then something soft that clanked at her teeth. Her head hurt as it knocked against Adora’s before they fell sprawling onto the ground.
The power flickered on as Adora rolled off her with a groan. Massaging her forehead, Adora sat up. “Owwww…”
“Ah, the back-up generators.” Entrapta felt a wave of satisfaction. It was a little slower than she liked, but her safety switch had worked at least.
“That’s good.” Adora sat on the ground next to her, rubbing her jaw. “I don’t think—” Cutting herself off, she stared at Entrapta. Her hands touched her lips and her skin flushed a bright red. “Wait, did I just…did we just…”
Entrapta cocked her head, not sure what to make of her suddenly stammering friend. Adora was many things, but speechless was not one of them. “Did we just what?”
“K…” Adora turned a brighter shade of red. Taking a deep breath, she averted her gaze, her hand touching her lips. “Kiss.”
Her voice was so low, so soft, Entrapta could barely hear her. Maybe she should make a hearing aid to go with those night vision goggles. “Kiss? Our mouths hit, if that’s what you mean.”
That probably wasn’t the right answer. Adora immediately slumped forward, her entire body as red as a warning light. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, that was…”
Watching as her friend turned into a quivering mass of apologies, Entrapta raised a brow. Interesting. Very interesting.
2. Glimmer
“Wait, let me get this straight.” Glimmer pointed at herself. “You want me.” She pointed at Entrapta. “To kiss you.”
“Yes.” Entrapta grinned, clapping her hands together. Her hair gently lowered her upside down from Glimmer’s raised bed. “I asked Adora but she turned red every time and ran away. Makes it hard to collect any data.”
“I want to run away,” Glimmer muttered, rubbing her forehead. She glowered at her. “And why’d you come into my room through a vent?”
“It’s the easiest way!” Her feet landed on the floor with a soft thud. “And also, your vents are really fun to explore.”
“…I don’t even know how to respond to that.” Glimmer closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly, she released it. “Why do you want to kiss again?”
“To know what a kiss is,” Entrapta explained matter-of-factly. It had to have been obvious, right? What other reason was there? “A proper kiss,” she clarified, her hair stroking her chin. “I already know what an accidental one is.”
“Accidental—” Glimmer’s eyes widened, her mouth parting softly. “Is that why Adora—?”
“Yep.” Entrapta frowned, crossing her arms. “But I couldn’t really get her to explain what the big deal was, or anything, really.”
“Oh god.” Burying her face in her hands, Glimmer groaned. “Poor Adora.”
“Anyways, I’ll count that as my trial one.” She grinned, holding up a finger. “I didn’t really get a lot of data for it since I wasn’t prepared, but it still counts.”
“A kiss isn’t supposed to be a science experiment.” Flabbergasted, Glimmer banged her forehead against a wall. “Why is it always like this when I talk to you?”
“I want to do it properly this time,” Entrapta continued, pulling out a notepad from her hair. “I even set up some parameters to check.”
“Parameters.” Glimmer kept her forehead pressed against the wall. “Seriously?”
“Of course. Is there any other way to conduct an experiment?” Entrapta stared at her. “I tried to get Adora to take the survey, but she just kinda ran out of the room before I could finish my questions.”
“Ugh. Fine.” Glimmer jerked away from the wall, turning around. Marching determinedly to Entrapta, she sighed in defeat. “We’ll do it. If only to shut you up.”
“Great, then—” Pulling out a pencil, she noted the time down on her paper. “We can—”
“Stop talking.” Glimmer grabbed Entrapta’s shoulders, tugging her down. Standing on her tippy toes, she firmly pressed her lips against Entrapta’s.
A spark of electricity ran through Entrapta’s spine. It was different than Adora’s kiss. More different than she’d expected. Their teeth didn’t clank together, for one thing. Glimmer’s lips were softer than Adora’s, for another. Her fingers dug into Entrapta’s shoulders, holding her still. Just as quickly as it started, it ended, and Entrapta stared as Glimmer pulled back.
“There, happy?” Glimmer’s cheeks were dusted a soft pink, her hands crossing as she looked away. “Now do you get what a kiss is?”
“Oh!” Overcome with excitement, Entrapta shook her hands. “That. Was. Amazing.” She bounced on her feet, not sure what to do with all this excess energy. Did kisses give energy? Or was it just Glimmer’s? She would have to set up a series of trials then, to compare. “Can we do it again?”
“WHAT?” Glimmer’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? You were supposed to stop, not want more!”
3. Bow
“Just a little more,” Bow muttered, squinting as he placed a glass cup on a scale. It was filled with a clear adhesive. Using an eye drop, he carefully added in drop after drop before hitting the right weight. “Okay, done.”
“Then if you add it to the rest of the mixture, we’ll have a very sticky liquid.” Entrapta held out a beaker full of a purple substance. She’d never really gotten to work with another scientist before and it was exhilarating. Bouncing ideas off one another. Spotting errors in the other’s work. Man, she’d have found a lab mate ages ago if she’d knew it’d be so fun.
“Finally, a sticky-mess arrow that’ll actually be sticky.” Bow’s eyes watered as he poured in the adhesive. He stuck in a wooden stick and mixed it all together. Within seconds, his stick was stuck. “It’s sticking!”
“It is!” Entrapta grinned, pulling the goggles off her face.
“I didn’t think it’d actually work, but it is!” Bow smiled at her brightly, his hands tightly gripping the beaker. Every part of him glowed, joy just radiating off him in waves.
There was something about that smile that made her want to lean in closer. So she did. Closer and closer until their lips touched, until a familiar spark of static electricity ran through her spine and curled her toes. His lips were even softer than Glimmer’s, more pliant. So this was what it was like to initiate. Entrapta pulled back, happy.
“Huh?” Bow blinked, staring at her. As he finally understood what happened, he dropped the beaker. “HUH?”
“Oh.” Entrapta’s hair quickly yanked her back but it was too late. A lock had gotten stuck in the messy substance. Yheir experiment was an even greater success than she thought and now she was stuck here. “Hmm. Do you think I can get that out?”
“Yeah—wait, that’s not important!” Bow touched his lips, his face a brighter shade of red than Adora’s. Somehow. She didn’t think that’d be possible. “What was that?”
“A kiss?” Entrapta cocked her head. “Glimmer said to only do it at the right time. That was the right time, right?”
4. Scorpia
“Entrapta?” Scorpia stared horrified into the messy lab. Robot pieces littered the ground, and there was a scorch mark on the walls. “You alive?”
“Yep.” Sticking out a hand from underneath a pile of scrap metal, she waved it back and forth. “Though I could use a little help here. Didn’t expect the explosion to be that big.”
“Big?” Scorpia repeated, incredulous. Running to Entrapta, she started pulling off the rubble with her claws and tail. “I make things explode. Daily. Trust me, that was more than just big. You made the whole castle shake!”
“Strange. Didn’t think I used that many explosives.” Enough metal had moved that Entrapta could wriggle her head free. A lock of her hair hovered in front of her eyes for her inspection. The ends were singed. “Not sure how that happened.”
“You and me both, buddy.” Gently, Scorpia grabbed Entrapta’s body with her claw. “Alright, one, two, three!” With a grunt, she pulled Entrapta out of the encasing wreckage. Scorpia fell backwards from the momentum, her back hitting the ground hard. “Oof.”
Entrapta’s hair, fully untangled now, grabbed a pipe overhead and pulled her up. Hovering above the ground, she studied her lab. Fortunately, it seemed that Emily had made it out okay. Her little robot was in a corner, tapping the ground nervously. Maybe a gear had gotten loose.
“Don’t mind me, I’ll be right up.” Good-naturedly, Scorpia bounced back onto her feet. Dusting off her shoulders with a claw, she glanced at the wreckage. “Oh wow, this is a mess. We’ll have to clean this up before Catra comes, she really hates it.”
“I wonder what it happened.” Entrapta tapped her chin as she lowered herself to the ground. She hadn’t even been working with explosives, so none of this made any sense.
“Me too. But before that.” Scorpia leaned forward, inspecting Entrapta. Her claws quickly dusted off her pants and sleeves, her eyes darting from her head to her chest to her hands. “No blood. No injuries. Everything’s working okay?”
“Yep, nothing’s out of place,” Entrapta confirmed, flexing her ponytails’. “Even my hair’s fine.”
“That’s a relief.” Scorpia hugged her tight, briefly kissing her before resting her chin on her shoulder. “Man, I was so worried when I came in here. Please be more careful.”
Entrapta’s hair touched her lips. A kiss. It had been so long she she’d last thought of it, of that old experiment she’d run. Unlike Adora’s hard one, Glimmer’s firm one, or even Bow’s soft one, this one was very gentle. It felt like her favourite wrench, like an old friend almost. A comfortable kiss. “Hey, could we do that again?”
“Huh?” Scorpia blinked, confused. “Do what? The explosion? No way, Jose.”
“No, the kiss.” Entrapta had already moved on from that experiment. “Hey Emily, grab me a pad of paper.”
“Kiss?” Scorpia’s brow knitted, confused. “You want to kiss again?”
“Yes. A few times, actually.” It was something she hadn’t been able to do back at Bright Moon. A repeat experiment. “And then I need you to take a survey.”
“Huh?” Scorpia scratched her chin before shrugging. A broad smile settled on her lips. “Well, I don’t really get it, but sure. I’m always up for cuddling!”
5. Catra
“You want me to kiss you.” Catra stared at Entrapta as though she’d grown a third arm. “Seriously?”
Entrapta checked herself quickly—you never know, maybe one of her old experiments had a delayed reaction. Or a bizarre side effect. Disappointedly, she only had her four limbs, ten fingers, ten toes, one nose, and two eyes. And still no tail. Returning her gaze to Catra, she nodded. “Yes.”
“I know you’re more useful in the lab than out, but you seriously need to get out more.” Catra rested a hand on her hip, her expression as dry as her tone. “I don’t have time for your games.”
“It’s not a game. It’s an experiment!” Entrapta pulled out her pad. Thanks to Scorpia, she actually had repeatable findings for once. And oddly enough, kissing was far more enjoyable than she’d expected. “I even have a survey.”
“A survey.” Catra stared at her blankly. “Do I look like I fill in surveys?”
“Well, I don’t know. I’ve never done a study on that.” Entrapta frowned, considering it. Maybe it was a new avenue of research. People who did surveys. At the very least, it’d help her get more people who did surveys. “Emily, make note of that for later.”
“I forgot how annoying it was, talking to you.” Rolling her eyes, Catra turned around. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have actual duties. Like being a leader. And winning a war.”
“Please!” Flipping through her pages, Entrapta quickly started reading through her results. “I got Scorpia’s data already—”
“Scorpia’s.” Catra swiveled back. Her brow furrowed. “Am I not giving her enough to do?”
“—And Bow’s, and Glimmer’s—”
Catra snorted. “Those two? No wonder Bright Moon is losing, if they have time for such idiotic experiments.”
“—Adora was my first—”
“Adora?” Her ears perked up and Catra grabbed Entrapta’s shoulders. “You kissed Adora?”
“Yeah!” Entrapta nodded eagerly. “She was my first case, actually.”
“Adora, huh.” Her lips twisted into a frown. She looked at the door for a long moment before looking back at Entrapta. “I’m going to regret this, but fine. I’ll do your little experiment.”
“Really?” Entrapta grinned. “Oh, this is great, I—”
“Did anyone ever tell you you talk too much?” Catra snarled.
Glimmer, Entrapta’s brain wanted to say but Catra crashed her lips on hers and she short circuited. If Scorpia was a favourite wrench, Catra was every exploding experiment. She bit Entrapta’s lip. A sharp pain ran up her spine and her lips parted in surprise. Taking advantage, Catra’s tongue slipped into Entrapta’s mouth, their lips somehow pressing even closer together. Just as she thought she was going to run out of breath, Catra pulled back.
Her lips curved into a smirk. “How’s that for a kiss?”
Entrapta blinked. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d convinced Catra to do this, but wow. Wow. “THAT WAS AMAZING!” Her hands trembled as she grabbed her pad of paper, her lungs still gasping for breath. A kiss with after effects. With so many after effects. “You’re like a predator! Attacking! It was just…wow!”
“I don’t know if that’s meant to be a compliment, but whatever.” Catra rolled her eyes. Resting a hand on her hip, she raised a brow. “Better than Adora’s, right?”
“Muccchhhh better.” Entrapta had to admit her first trial had to be the worst of the bunch. Maybe she could get Adora to try again, now that she knew so much more about kissing. Well, that’d have to wait till they weren’t fighting each other. Which might take a while.
“Great.” Turning around, Catra waved over her shoulder. “Then I’m leaving.”
6. Entrapta
Sitting on a stool, Entrapta flipped through her notes. Adora. Glimmer. Bow. Scorpia. Catra. So many different kisses, different sensations. Looking up at Emily, she rubbed her chin with her hair thoughtfully. “You know, Emily, it’s strange. I have a lot of data. But…there’s really no practical use for this. Unless I make a kissing bot.” She stared at Emily, cocking her head to see her faithful friend at a different angle. “No, even that sounds wrong.”
Emily beeped, colours flashing sympathetically.
“It’s okay. Some experiments just have to be done. For science.” Entrapta touched her lips. She could still feel the tingle from Catra’s kiss, the warmth from Scorpia’s lips. “It was…kinda fun.”
Emily blinked.
“You’re right. If it’s fun, I should do it again.” Entrapta stood up. Fortunately for her, her two friends were creatures of habit. She knew exactly where they’d be at this time. Climbing up into the vent, she waved goodbye to Emily. “Who knows, if I get lucky, I might be able to get both of them at once!”