Turning Points

One in friendship
Three in love
One in freedom
One in blood

Cats have nine lives
And here are six
A thorny thicket
A nasty mix

These turning points
That fill our lives
Should we turn
To left or right?

These crazy choices
That we make
Always fearing
Our mistakes

Yes, one in fire
One in rain
Three in sunlight
One in pain

These turning points
That fill our lives
I turn left
And you turn right


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        Nepeta smiled fondly as she put the last touches of paint on the newest addition to her shipping wall. A picture of Gamzee and Karkat smiled/scowled back at her. It had taken ages to mix the paints to get the orange of their horns, and she was proud of her work.

Nepeta sat down on the floor, resting her back against one of the many random treasure chests scattered about the lab, and put her paints at her feet, the better to admire her masterpiece. She loved all her pictures – they reminded her of home, of her charcoal-and-blood shipping wall, and it made her happy to see all her friends paired off so nicely. Love was one of Nepeta's favourite preoccupations, and redroom more so than blackroom. Happy endings made her want to purr in contentment.

The only pairing on her shipping wall that didn't make her smile whenever she glanced at it was her OTP. Herself and Karkat. And yet, that was the one she couldn't help but think about over and over again, all the time.

Lately, he seemed more out of reach than ever. He and Terezi were developing a matespriteship, and there was nothing Nepeta could do about it. Worse, she knew she would never forgive herself if she interfered in it. She couldn't bear the thought of hurting either of her friends, but she didn't want to lose Karkat. Nepeta only hoped that when the time came, she could put aside her jealousy to be happy for both of them, or at least to convince herself that she was happy for them. She also hoped that she would learn of the pairing second or third hand, from someone sympathetic.

Suddenly, she heard a knock at her door, and jerked upright, aware that she'd drifted off for a few moments. As she scrambled to her feet to open the door, she accidently knocked her paint tray over. Bother! She'd been hoping to save that orange for more pictures. Oh well. She'd clean it up later.

"Who is it?" she called, although she knew it would be Equius. Since her new shipping room was in his section of the lab, there should be no one else outside that door.

Imagine her surprise when Aradia answered.

"Nepeta?" she called, her voice muffled and distorted through the thick metal door. "It's Aradia. D0 y0u kn0w where Equius is?"

Nepeta quickly opened the door to let Aradia in. "Sorry, I have no idea!" she said. "I thought fur sure he was out there, building robots." She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the room behind Aradia.

"Well, I was waiting 0ut here f0r a few minutes, and he hasn't sh0wn up," Aradia said.

"Purrhaps he's looking fur you!" Nepeta giggled. "H33, h33, h33! Why don't you stay here, and I'll go look fur him? That way, if he comes back you won't miss him, and if he isn't going back, I'll send him back."

"S0unds like a plan," Aradia said. "Thank y0u." She glanced at the rainbow-splattered floor over Nepeta's shoulder. "And I'll clean up that paint for y0u."

"Pawesome! Thanks!" Nepeta said with a grin. "Just don't move those crates that are against the fur wall, please. S33 you!"

She stood aside to let Aradia go past her into the shipping room, then set off up the stairs, back to the main part of the lab.


[TO BE CONTINUED...]