In which Bonnibel gets pecked by birds
Characters: Princess Bubblegum, Marceline the Vampire Queen & Fionna the Human
Date: Backdated to the morning of December 22nd
Summary: Day breaks on the second day.
Warnings: None. Well, maybe a little language.
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"Mhm, and I totes paid for it dearly!" Bonni rolled back a sleeve, revealing a few bruises here and there along her arm. "The birds don't take too kindly to last minute additions, those massive...ly amazing wonderful creatures who are positively not butts!" She laughed nervously. Who knew if that jay was still lurking around, ready to swoop down and peck at her again for the slightest provocation. "But despite the terror from above I managed to get us all stuff that we totally needed. For Marcy the parasol, for you the sword, and some parchment for me."
"I know it's not in the best shape right now, but maybe you can take it to those cats and they do something with it? Besides, since your last sword was given to you by a Candy Prince, I thought it was only appropriate to get your next one from a Candy Princess. That makes it symmetrical." Bonni's OCD was showing. She looked a little wistful, and added sheepishly, "I like symmetrical."
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At the mention of the dastardly Blue Jays Marcie gave a low hiss, her attempting at reminding the little jerks just who was at the top of the food chain here. Then again, without their help the three girls would have spent their first night hungry and sleeping literally in the snow. Giving a shifty glance about Marceline swallowed her hiss and painted on a smile. Yeah, she had been very much warned not to get on the bad side of the animals here. At the mention of her most awesome parasol she waved it, letting the precious jewel inlay catch enough light to sparkle. "Yeah, we owe her huge!"
Drifting over, playing a small game of catch up, Marceline went to get a look at the sword. "That is some seriously choice weaponry," she was actually in awe, it carried in her tone. "Now that's something that deserves to be called Math!" Then and there, Marceline was distracted by something: Bonnibel's wide, sparkling, starry eyes! At least the laugh she gave was good-natured! "Total Brain lord!" For the first time ever it wasn't an insult, it was a term of endearment.
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When releasing the Princess though, she did turn to the bluejays and say, "Guys, no more pecking at Princess Bubblegum, ok? She is one of the kindest, sweetest most awesome monarchs in forever, and you'll have to answer to me and Marcie if she ever gets hurt again, all right?"
Seriously, Fionna was more than happy with the gift, and showed Marceline how intricate it was. "Sure man, I'll get the cats to help fix it," she said, and then turned to look at Marceline's new parasol. "Oh man, this looks just as awesome as my sword! Sweet! Thanks so much, Princess!"
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"The sword is for carrying me to camp last night after I was a big dumb patoot and hurt my foot. And as an apology for bringing up something I shouldn't have like, again, a big dumb patoot. As for parasol, uhm, Marceline got me something ages ago. I thought I should be pretty overdue to give her something back."
Bonni put a hand on her hip, it looked like this tent was going to acquiesce after all! She was feeling powerfully proud right up until the point where it started to fall over. "Now the only debt left is in my favor for saving Marceline's bacon from the solar fry!" The tent wobbled about some more, and nearly landed on her. She panicked. "Hey, uh, guys can you help me with this amazing butt of a tent, before it flattens my buns? Oh and Fi! Sometime after we get this junked up junk the junk up could you be so awesome as try out your new sword and hunt us up some stuff to eat? I don't want to send Marcy out to do it during the day." She paused, and gave a mischievous smile, "And I am totes going to make her pay me back by tending to my bruises anyway!"
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So lost in admiring Fionna's new sword, Marceline was rather relaxed in her manner and didn't keep herself at the usual emotional arm's length. Even if they were tarnished by time and use the gems were still some of the most brilliant that Marcie had seen in a very long time!
"Hey, what now?!" But not so far gone that she missed the whole of the conversation, "-pay back?!" By that point the tent weebled, wobbled and fell right down. Okay, so that was really funny and all the pay back she needed for Bonni's intent. Being sure to keep under the protective shadow of her umbrella Marceline wafted over and started fussing with the tent. She paused for a second, "Fi, go on ahead! I'll stay here and help Princess Butterfingers get the tent back up!" Putting on a grin of her own she tilted her parasol in Bonni's direction. "Be awesome and hold this for me?" Syrupy sweet, she was laying it on as think as she felt she could get away with.
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Whatevs. It was kinda sweet, in its way.
"Yeah, I'm going," she said, gazing at her sword, and putting it against her leg. She turned to the two of them. "Try not to get too kissy faced, we do need to get back in the tent. See ya!"
Oh, that was deliberately being mean, but even Fionna liked to be playful. She learned it from the best!
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"Oh sure thing Marzipan." Bonni had countered with some sticky sweetness in her own voice when she reached out to hold the parasol. She had not, in her entire recollection of anything with Marceline ever, been referred to as 'awesome' before. And had she actually said that being a brainlord was part of what made her unique? This was, wow! Whatever was left of that tension just about melted away right then. Maybe this was exactly what their friendship needed? A little time away from stress and work. A little less bitterness on the part of Bonnibel, and a little more effort on the part of Marceline? And maybe even the little bits of flirting weren't really hurting things as badly as Bonni had worried. Friends do that too sometimes right? Besides, she had choked back emotions and impulses before, and she would be perfectly capable of doing it again if she needed to. "Just let me know if you need help with this amazingly buttish butt tent!"
Bonnibel was happy right now, and unfortunately that gave her cause to hesitate. She had plots within plots involving that parchment of hers, and everything was exactly ready to be set in motion, except for the fact that she utterly did not want to do it now. It would require her to be alone with Marceline for a while, but she just wanted to spend that precious time hanging out with her and having fun. It would require that she twist her heart around and use herself as a pawn, but right now she didn't want to have to go through all of that junk. Bonni just wanted to stay happy for as long as she could manage. She wanted to enjoy being buds with Marceline for the first time in ages. She wanted to get to know Fi better and have fun with the two of them. She wanted put herself first and her responsibility second, for a change.
This was going to be a long day.
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Every nice word and gesture, deep in the pit of Marceline's stomach she was beginning to regret them. She was the flipping Vampire Queen! She was too powerful and too awesome for this kind of thing! For duck's sake she had killed to get her title and the respect that came with it. Sure, her ego was bruised but not as much as her heart and brain at that point. The best way to explain what she was feeling was Pandora's box Ad infinitum. Each joke and vaugely intimately moment just opened a box, which meant boxes inside of boxes. Marceline was confused and one thing she didn't like was being confused, not like this. Thinking, for once, about as much as Bonnibel was Marceline nearly dropped her parasol. Thankfully Bonni was there to "catch" it, making it look like a trade off to anyone without very trained eyes. "You try not to get kissy faced!" Yeah, really weak. But ugh, nothing witty sprang to mind.
At being called Marzipan again she jerked her head up, looking quickly to Princess Bubblegum. She was a rabbit hearted doe eyed girl for a second, and she hated herself for it. Why had she done what she had done and said what she had said? Two questions, not a single answer between them. "Yeah," She just as quickly put her attention back onto the tent, "-thanks, BonBon." They had gone from seemingly bitter enimies over night to this weird place where flirting and compliments happened? What-the-duck! Yeah, thinking way too much. All this thinking wasn't like her at all. Protected from the sun the vampire was able to work on getting the tent not only errected but properly secured to the ground. The first time she had set up camp it was freezing cold and dark as pitch, being able to see what you were doing really helped. Hammering the stakes into the ground really helped to ease the building tension that she felt.
It really was going to be a long day.
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One she reached the Orchard though, there was game and enough fruit to make a decent morning meal. Upon catching quail Fionna was mercifully quick, decapitating and then making sure to drain the blood enough before putting the animals in a sack. Weird thing was, after each kill Fionna silently thanked the animal for its meat.
No one had taught her that, it just seemed right.
She went for some quail eggs too, but was careful to only pick two for each of them. She also picked some really nice smelling fruit, only after cleaning her sword again, and then she was on her way back.
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And so, Bonni set out to fix this.
"Marcy I.." Bonnibel paused, looking for the right words. The usual diplomacy training was tossed aside for a more sincere approach, one that she thought Marceline would respond better to. "I've seen how you get when Fi teases us like that. I'm a diplomat and a scientist; I know how to be observant." She added, feeling the need to explain herself. "If I'm making you uncomfortable..." Another pause. The irony that she would be the one to worry about making Marceline uncomfortable was not lost on her. "If you need me to stop doing any junk, just please let me know Marcy." Her voice wavered and carried a little more vulnerability than she had hoped near the end. Bonni braced herself. She knew Marceline would probably pick up on it, after all the Queen of Vampires had to know how to be observant too.
And that was exactly what Bonni was banking on. She pushed the slightest amount of air through her vocal cords as slowly as she could, forming words softly with her tongue and trying to keep her lips still. She couldn't even hear the sound of her own faint faint whisper, which was just the way it needed to be.
"Marceline, can you hear this? Please don't respond verbally if you can, just give me some small sign."
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Putting all of her consentration and energy into putting up the tent, going as far as to make ruts in the dirt for it to snugly sit in, Marceline was a bit startled when Bonni started talking. Breathing heavily, she locked her eyes with the Princess' and waited for her to finish her thought. "It's not like I didn't think you wouldn't," she stopped to wipe her own hair out of her face, "-you know?" This conversation could go one of two ways: Well or super horrible. Marceline didn't have it in her to wether another storm, so she wasn't going to let it end badly. They were both observant and had been picking up on the same shifts in emotion and tension. Weird, they were both feeling something.
Only able to look the Princess in the eyes for so long, Marceline turned her attention back to the tent. "You really want to know?" Rhetorical question. Rhetorical meant stupid right? It doesn't? Oops! Anyway, she knew Bonni well enough to know that she really did want to know and was probably going to feel worse and worse the longer she was left to ruminate on it herself. "You don't make me uncomfortable," sadly being observant meant that she picked up and responded to things as they happened.
Bonnibel was too cleaver for her own good! It took a person with a great deal of intellect and cunning to be able to literally speak between the lines. In response to the question asked Marceline flipped a bit of her hair out of her face, her head inclinded to the right to mean yes. "Why?" She finished their first line of conversation, answering a question with a question like a total butt.
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"Perfect. Awesome. You're awesome Marcy. Let's head into the tent if we can, that way there's less risk of the Vine spying in on us." She took a few breaths. It was actually quite difficult making sure that she never made these reach even a single decibel. "I'm going to feign some junk about the bruises for that. They really honestly do hurt though."
"Why? I, uhm." Why?! Oh glob Marceline did you really have to ask that? Bonni took another moment, hoping the right words would come to her. She was feeling much better after hearing that she wasn't making Marceline uncomfortable, but she still wasn't entirely sure how to answer something as complex as 'why'. "I know I've been more affectionate than usual. And I was just worried that it was too much." She paused again, meeting Marceline's gaze and quickly darting her eyes away. Her heart was beating a little too fast, her voice trembled too much belied a good deal of fragility. "It's been so long since we've been really cool like this, and I'm absolutely not going to let myself wreck it with my junk." I don't want to wreck it with what I think is a crush. I don't want to wreck it with what I know is an attraction. I just don't want to wreck it.
"Hey Marcy, do you think you could take a look at my bruises? I just want to make sure there's not any cuts and stuff. We can go in the tent when you're done so there's no worry about the huge glowing butt in the sky." Bonni smirked a little. She had meant that as implying both the sun and the Queen, and she hoped that Marceline got that little joke.
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Somehow, and even she didn't really understand it, that made me feel a little lonely, but for now, she wasn't going to let tat kind of stuff phase her. She got started on cooking the quail at once, saving the eggs for afterward because they would take less time to cook then the actual bird. as she let them smoke, she turned her attention toward the ground and called, "Meow!"
Several moments later, some cats were on the ground next to her, and seemed really friendly, rubbing themselves against her leg. Fionna laughed lightly, scratching them behind the ears.
"Guys, could you please get me some plates for my friends, and maybe some, like, soothing lotion stuff for bruises and junk? The birds kinda got mad at my friends earlier."
The cats gave each other a look as if to say what else can you expect from birds and were off, Fionna looking into the remaining birds still cooking on the spit, and brought out some fruit to drizzle some juice onto it to give the skin a bit more flavor. It was starting to actually smell quite delicious.
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"Yeah,cool." She thought she would give speaking between the lines a try, only to find that it was almost beyond her. The best she could manage was that single word before her lungs began to burn and ache in complaint. Left a little dizzy and very much out of breath, she gave another nod. Back into the foreground conversation, Marceline just folded her arms over her chest and waited for whatever answer would come. She couldn't help but wonder if the whole conversation being had was a part of the rouse, which made her stomach pitch and roll.
Why was it so difficult to know where the thin line between normal and creepy eye contact was? The first few moments Marceline didn't blink at all, beady eyes locked on PB. That was until she became a blurred mass of pink, which forced Marcy to blink a few quick times. The question of why was one that even she regretted asking, because she wasn't sure of it herself. Then again, she hadn't been expecting Bonni to have an answer let alone for it to be the one she gave. "No," She had to clear her throat, "-it's cool." There the words went, refusing to come out as they should. "Stuff wasn't the same after we stopped bein' cool," She wanted to say something other than cool, but her mind was reeling. That wasn't a part of faking out the vine, it couldn't be. While Princess Bubblegum was a lot of things she wasn't an actor. Right? For as excited and happy Marceline felt she was also confused and scared.
"You didn't ruin it," Even though they fought like cats and dogs it wasn't like Marceline had ever stopped thinking of Bonnibel as her friend--she started showing it through antagonizing her. From one subject to another, it caught her off guard some. "Yeah," She motioned toward the tent, "-we can't have you bein' all banged up or me standin' out in the sun like a goof." Bonni must have had a pretty good plan to have smirked like that. They would talk and tend to wounds (emotional and physical) while Fionna was out and about.
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Bonni sighed. She was incredibly relieved, but all of this was getting to be pretty draining. She almost missed the old days of being able to drown everything out with the steady soothing stress of work. That was so much easier! There wasn't this incessant nagging worry about what Marceline thought of her. There wasn't time to think about any of that other junk that kept coming to her mind. And to make matters worse, Marceline was the only thing that reminded her of home! She was impossibly scared of how homesick she could get, how lost she would feel without something, or someone as it were, to tie her back. It was hard work patching up a friendship, sure, but patching up a friendship in some distant land after having been kidnapped and torn away from everything and everyone you knew?
She then felt a little guilty for mentally blaming Fionna for the awkwardness. Sure she may have picked on the two of them, but Fi really had done a lot to keep things balanced. And this had to be just as hard for her, deep down, to be separated from her own home. As she ruminated, Bonni slipped into the tent and sat down on her sleeping bag. She shrugged the hoodie partway down her shoulders, but not all the way off. And even though she was covered under it she still drew her arms around her chest. Her shoulders were pocked with a blotches of lavender and darker pink. "How bad does it look?"
And then came that whisper again, "S'cuse me Marcy." Bonni leaned in and tink! She poked Marceline gently in the forehead with the tip of her crown. "Sorry, sorry, oh lemons, I'm sorry." She stared at the ground intently. "It's, you know the Royal Regalia, the Lich King, psychic dampening and all that junk. I probably don't need to tell you this, but it's possible that the Queen is psychically listening in on us. This may be the only way we can talk without alerting her. I'm sorry if it's uncomfortable, it won't have to last long!" Still staring. That ground sure is interesting! It had the bottom of a tent, a sleeping bag, and her feet and stuff.
"Right. Right, I've come up with a method that just might let me slip some information back home. It's not perfect, and it relies on assuming some junk about the Queen, but it's something. So... I'm going to need your help with this like what. You're the only one I can communicate with safely, and yeah. But if you don't want in then let me know now, and I'll improvise." Bonni hoped it didn't come to that; she sucked at improvisation.
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Which, Fionna thought, did make her a little sad. As much as she still hated the Ice Queen for the trick she played on her, it'd still be nice to have a face she knew from her Ooo. The girls were great,and she was starting to get pretty attached to them, but with no Cake and no Tree Fort it just felt really awkward at times. How sad was it that Ice Queen would at least have been someone she could fight, so she would't feel so awkward?
"Food is almost done!" She announced. Nuts to those thoughts anyway! She could stil stay upbeat!
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