Archive of Our Own

Entrapta was once again working with Hordak, the two completely engrossed in their work. Entrapta's mask was down as she welded together two pipes, and Hordak reviewed the notes the girl had made on his computer. 

Grrrrr...

He grumbled—Entrapta's body had been making those noises for almost an hour now. He had assumed she would tell him she required more substance, as many life forms on this planet needed, but she had completely ignored it. And it was getting in his nerves. 

After another grumble, his fist landed on the desk. "Entrapta. Would you please go... nourish yourself, so you stop making that sound?"

"Huh? Oh- what was that?" She paused and lifted her mask. "Oh! The pipes? Yeah, so I figured we could reinforce them with Entherianite so they could handle the power of-"

"No- not the pipes. You, go eat something." He demanded, rubbing his eyes. "Your stomach is annoying."

"Oh? Oh! Yeah, I'm not hungry!" She declared, before trying to continue telling him about her idea. A slight confusion spread across his face. He held up his hand. 

"What do you mean, you are 'not hungry'? You inferior lifeforms require consistent fuel, and your body has begun sending those ear grating signals." He said with... possible... concern? He understood well enough that eating was not optional for majority of the species on this planet, and he's heared a thousand guards whine about hunger while under his rule—Even shadow Weaver had needed to eat.  He's never seen someone outright lie about it.

And he, is not a fan of fibs. 

"Oh, well... I guess I'm just not! I'm way too busy with this anyways- food can wait." She waved him off, standing with her hair as she moved to go trinket with some wires. He frowned. 

"Entrapta." He said firmly. "Entrapta!" He repeated, getting her attention again.

"YEAH?" She shouted over the sound of electricity coming from the wires where she accidentally connected the wrong ones—she quickly separated them. "Ohhhh, the blue goes with the red!" She said as she joined those two, "Back at my old lab, all my wires were colour coded for efficiency—We really should do that-" She paused as she felt something touch her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Hordak behind her.

"Go. Eat. Come back once you've finished." He said. His grip tightening a bit. Up close, he noticed how her face was.... less full, than when he first saw her. Her eyes a little dark beneath, something just looked... off.

Her pigtails lower her to the ground, going limp beside her. "Sigh... Okay..." She sounded so... disappointed. It didn't make sense.

He watched as she left with her shoulders slumped and head down. This behaviour was so abnormal, even for her...

What was this feeling?

Entrapta leaned down in front of the toilet, she really, really hated doing this! But the food in her stomach felt so wrong. 

Two fingers, pushed tightly together before being pushed down her throat—By all logical accounts, this was anything but logical. Her body would surely give out on her if she continued to starve it like this- but oh, it felt so good. It felt right to be so... empty? 

She doesn't understand alot of things that she can't predict with science, like socializing and friends and why almost everyone else other than Emily and Hordak was so boring—And this was just another thing like that, she didn't understand it, and she had a feeling it probably wasn't socially acceptable—given the reaction her kitchen staff had when they caught her self inducing vomiting like this... but Hordak- He gets her! Oh, she's never had a friend like him before! 

She coughed and gagged, it burned. She didn't drink enough this time, so it struggled to come up. She'd make note of that—More liquids next time! In her defense, she didn't see anything fizzy, and she loves fizzy drinks, exclusively. 

Finally, she felt... good, again. Right. It was all better. She stood and wiped her mouth, her hair covering her ears as she flushed before going to wash up.

Control.

She felt so in control. And euphoric because of it- oh she loved when her brain gets all happy because she didn't eat! 

She didn't ear the distant flapping of small wings, or see the shadow of Imp flying away—She walked out of the bathroom, before getting an idea and sprinting towards a storage room.

"I'm back!" Entrapta exclaimed as she walked into the lab, walking on her hair—A box of tools and busted gadgets in her arms. "I thought I'd go ahead and grab us more material to work with! I really think we're getting close-"

Gag!

She froze. Hordak stook with his back facing the door she came in through—Imp on his shoulder. Said Imp, turned his head towards her, and mimicked the gagging again.

Her gagging.

"Aha! Uh, what-" Hordak turned around. His face a mix of... well, she couldn't tell.

"So..." He walked towards her. "You regurgitated your meal?" He asked weirdly calmly.

He didn't... seem distressed, so... that was probably good! She relaxed, and nodded.

"Well, yeah! I mean, I always work better on empty, but you kept telling me to eat, so we both win!" 

His eyes narrowed into slits. "Are you sick?" He asked with a sharp tongue, as he began circling her.

"No? Well- I don't think so—Hold on! Lemme see if I have a thermometer!" 

He groaned as she looked through the box. "Did you vomit on purpose? Is the food not up to your dietary needs?" He spat, frustration and worry mixing. He had insured she had access to 'tiny' foods and 'fizzy' drinks, what was he missing?

"Oh- oh! Well, I did do it on purpose. The food is fine! I just wanted to be empty again, like I said, I work better on an empty stomach!" 

That... didn't sit right with him.

His claws ran over his face. "That doesn't make sense. You require calories to function..." 

She shrugged, and went forward to continuing her work on the portal. "Oh yeah- I don't really know why- whoops!" Her hair suddenly gave out on her, causing her to lose her balance and fall woth the box. He startled.

"Entrapta!" He quickly made his way over to her, his Imp jumping off his shoulder and flying. He caught her before she hit the ground. His brows furrowed tightly. 

"Woah- ahaha... whoops, that happens!" She dismissed.

"...There's something wrong with you, clearly." He said, his head turning towards the Imp. "Go get a medic. Now." 

The Imp coos and flew off. Entrapta taking a second to breathe.

She felt... lighter. Looked lighter. What was happening to her, why was her body changing, even if it were subtle?

He was surprised when the Imp brought back Scorpia. Apparently the rest of the medics were either busy keeping others from dying or dead—He didn't even know she was medical certificated, but here she was.

"L-Lord Hordak! Hi! I came as-" She panted, "As quickly as I could!" She saluted him. 

"Good. Fix her." He pointed to Entrapta, who was bound in a glowing green cord, her hair was free of course, and typing on the computer. 

"Uhm... Lord Hordak, Sir, not that I'm like, questioning you! Because I'm not, but uh... why is Entrapta tied up?"

The Lord sighed. "She keeps passing out when she stands, so I had to use... this. So fix it!" 

"Passing out?" She raised an eyebrow. "Did she eat? I mean, I pass out sometimes when I forget breakfast. Uh- no that that'll hinder me, obviously! But it is the most important meal of the day—And honestly, I haven't seen her out of your lab- sanctum... like, at all?" 

Hordak nodded. "She ate. But she foolishly forced herself to throw it up, so it was a waste of time..." He scrowled. Scorpia's eyes widened.

"S-She what!?" The panic in her voice immediately told him this was not, in fact, a minor issue. "What do you mean she..  made herself throw up!?"

He scoffed. "She self induced vomiting... was I not clear?" 

The princess gulped, claws nervously tapping together. "This is bad..  this is really, really bad. And, you said she did that after she ate? Like, was it right after?" 

A sense of... worry? Was rapidly making itself known to him. "So she is sick..." He muttered.

Scorpia looked over at Entrapta, the screen that lit up her face only defined how she had almost certainly lost weight. How had she not noticed!?

Finally, the looked back at Hordak, gesturing he followed her behind a large crate, her voice hushed.

"Do you... uh, know what... an eating disorder is?" She asked. Hordak tilted his head.

"A disease, I assume."

"Kinda..." She mumbled. "It's... not a physical- well, it's kinda physical... but it's a mental thing, it's where someone doesn't eat like they should... they eat too much, too little, they... sometimes make themselves throw up... i-it kinda depends, but... it's bad." 

That... sounded very unhealthy. He glanced at Entrapta, then back to Scorpia. "So cure her. I do not care what resources you need, just do it." 

"Hordak... I mean, Lord Hordak... it's not that simple... I... I can't cure her, it takes time to... recover, from something like that, it's like... addiction?" She said, her claw scratching her chin as she mumbled, actually you might not understand that either... 

He sighed. "Yes, I understand what addiction is, fine. We'll just force her to eat, and you will keep an eye on her so she does not purge it."

"No!" She nearly yelled, then covered her mouth. Hordak's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?"

She cleared her throat, "I-I mean, no- we can't, that'll make things worse... also, she is kinda a genius and would probably just figure something out... just saying..." 

He grumbled, his hand rubbing the bridge of his barely existent nose. "Damn it... then do tell me, how do we fix this?"

Because he knows that she'll die if he doesn't, he may not understand everything about these lifeforms, but starvation has taken out a plethora of his troops before. 

"I... I don't know." She admitted. "It's... different, for everyone, I guess... maybe... talk to her about it?" 

His eye twitched. "Get out." 

Scorpia's head shot up. "Wait, Lord-"

"GET. OUT!" He pointed to the door. She gulped, and made a swift exit.

Afterwards, he just... leaned against the wall, listening to Entrapta working, and faintly he could here her body's cries for nourishment, despite pleads for fuel. The ones she had been ignoring, the ones he had seemingly missed too.

How...? She was such an intelligent creature... how did she get herself into this? 

"Hey, Hordak! I found something!" She exclaimed. Anxiety about the situation built up within him, and he ignored her calls, unable to face her right now. Afraid his fear would would the best of him- he'd yell, perhaps cry. He couldn't understand why she was hurting herself like this, and that pissed him off. 

Later that Night, Entrapta was trinketing with Emily, as recently the bot had taken a liking to blasting well- everyone. She was in her quarters, and assumed everyone else was asleep.

Then the door hissed open—And... out of all the late night visitors she might have excepted, it was Hordak. Someone she rarely saw outside the lab or throne room.

Emily whirls, and rolled away. Entrapta spun around. "Oh, Hordak! Hi! I'm so glad you're here! I was gonna sleep but I just have so many ideas!" She exclaimed. He took notice of how her hair was more limp, less lively. And had a suspicion it requires the calories she refuses to function. 

"Not now... I... brought you dinner." He held a plate out. It had little cups on it, each filled with fizzy juice. And a gray ration bar cut into mini squares—Each square had a poorly drawn on animal face, but the attempt was made.

"Oh! Fizzy!" She picked up a cup and drank it, hydrating wasn't nearly as hard as eating seemed to be. "Okay, that hit the spot! Anyways-"

"You need to eat." He said. No anger, no demanding, just... facts.

"But, I'm not hungry?" She explained, her head tilted.

"Entrapta..." He said, voice a tad frustrated. "I am not asking if you are hungry, which you undoubtedly are, I am telling you an undeniable fact, you require food to survive... you will die without it. And you-" He cut himself off, suddenly shoving the tray in her hands and looking away. "Are too... useful, to perish on my watch."

Her face changed to near sad, looking down at the food. "But... this is how I am... I don't wanna eat, and if I do, then I throw it up, I guess... I don't like the feeling of it. I like how I am now... aha... empty?" 

Why must she be so difficult? Why must... this hurt so much to watch? 

He reached over, taking one of the squares—It was his attempt at making a cow face. He bit into it, chewing and swallowing. Wow, this was what he had been feeding his soldiers? 

Anyways- after choking it down, he looked a her again, holding his hands behind his back. "There. I have eaten one, you will-" Scorpia's words rang through his head. "...I would like you to eat one as well, now... please."

"But..." She gulped. "That's different... It's not a good new- Ike a new discovery! That's a bad new..." 

He sucked in a breathe, willing patience, it was... possible, he read up on this 'eating disorder' concept, and knew- he knew screwing this up could have detrimental consequences. 

"...I will do it with you, if you do not... purge it, afterwards. I will sit here, with you, and you will eat atleast one." He offered. He knows that sounded like an order, but when was Entrapta ever taken his words as anything but a suggestion? 

She nervously chewed her hair, "I guess... I could try that..." She said hesitately, she could barely remember the last time she hadn't thrown up...

But Hordak acted like this was important to him, and he's her friend... So...she picked one up, and took a little nibble. 

It was bad—She spat it out. And Hordak had to go get one of her 'safe foods' instead, but that didn't matter to him.

He felt like she took a step in the right direction... and that's all he could ask for.