In the dark of the night, evil will find her

[swarmoflies]

Characters: Sette and Fionna
Date: In the dead of night, in the three days following the first snowfall.
Summary: Sette's mad quest to steal Fionna's hat.
Warnings: None!

Comments

[fionna_time]

The next few days had been days Fionna was almost always on the alert. When she made a bet, after all, she meant to keep it, and likewise had not told Marceline or Princess Bubblegum that she had a pint sized thief to worry about. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, it was simply that she wanted it to be a fair as possible, so it HAD to be only her that knew.

Fionna, though unaware of the girl's abilities, had some raw talent of her own: mainly, being an adventurer in Ooo required you to be mindful of just about everything, including intruders lurking about. It helped to have Cake's power, but even without it, she was pretty good at what she did. At the moment though, she was just gathering firewood for the other girls.

[fionna_time]

Fionna settled back into her sleeping bag, yawning.

"Yeaaaah," she said, breaking into a yawn. "That's my rival. We made a bet where he has to steal my hat in three days. Never thought she'd try to attack at night though."

She felt bad for the girls, really, but right now she just wanted to curl up and sleep. "Sorry she woke you guys up."

[lost_moral_code]

Whoever the person was, they were long gone. This more than irritated Marceline, this infuriated her. Marcie wasn't going to settle for less than screaming herself hoarse at the both of them. Yes, both. Sure, Fionna had told her about her little rivalry with the tailed girl. She had thought nothing of it, thinking it a good-natured back and forth. However, she was kicking herself for not putting her foot down about it before Fionna ended up trailing a total stranger (who may have been dangerous) to their camp.

"They're gone," She rested a free hand on Bonnibel's back, a gesture that she should duck back into the tent so that Marceline could close it. Even then there was a dangerous rumble in her voice, for once it wasn't directed at or intended for the Princess of the Candy Kingdom.

She hadn't turned around or come back inside yet, her eyes trained on the emptied darkness ahead. "Fionna," the rumble was a great deal louder, "-that means you lead a flipping thief to our camp?!" She nearly collapsed the tent on them, the fabric

[fionna_time]

Fionna did stir, and was now very much awake, rubbing her eyes and clutching her ears. Jeez, now what? Oh wait, was Marceline actually getting mad at HER for this? What the nuts?

"I didn't tell her to come attack at night!" She said crabbily. "I just thought she'd be laying traps and junk, doing her thievy biz! I didn't think she'd come at like some crazy person! What do you wanna blame me for this? You think I make up the rules in this stinking place?"

Great, now she actually DID feel guilty. She was starting to care about both Princess Bubblegum and Marceline, she didn't expect to get them mad at her for something someone else did! She just wanted some sleep!

[royal_tarts]

Bonnibel had taken another breath to yell some obscure food related obscenities at whoever the nuts that just was when she felt Marceline's hand on her back. Strangely her anger was stilled, not extinguished entirely, but stilled. She slid back into the tent, sat down on her sleeping bag, and recoiled a little at the sound of Marceline's rage. Good glob it was clearly audible through the tent. Bonni tended to be the recipient of a different form of Marceline's anger, one that had an underlying current of sadness and hurt, and she had forgotten just how honestly frightening Marceline could be. Even though this time the anger wasn't directed at her she still shivered and scooted back ever so slightly.

"Marceline wants to blame you..." She waited, and took a few deep breaths. She tried to calm herself. She had to calm herself. "And I do too, because you didn't think that it was pertinent to inform us of this development!? Fionna, you know better than this! And oh my Glob. Peppers and Cumin, you were expecting traps and you didn't tell

[fionna_time]

"I was just...it wasn't supposed to be this...look, I was just supposed to be making sure she didn't grab my hat! I didn't know there would be traps and junk, I just made sure to get them all so you guys didn't fall into them, ok? It wasn't supposed to be anything I couldn't handle, that's why I didn't tell you! It's just...I'm here without Cake and being called goodie two shoes and not a lady and no one even believes I could be the last human on Ooo, ok? I just wanted to do something that made me be me, that's all!"

Oh glob, saying that just SUCKED. She wasn't supposed to be like this, all emotional and shaky, she was a hero! But by not telling them and being yelled at, she just felt like she'd been feeling the last few days: some dumbnuts people made fun of, for her hat and her talking about Ooo.

[lost_moral_code]

Bonnibel had slid back inside of the tent and was having her say; meanwhile, Marceline kept her head poked out and into the night still. The cold air, while it wasn't helping to soothe her rage, it somehow helped the ringing in her ears. Was she being too harsh on Fionna about this? The answer that surfaced been the torrents of mental cursing was: No.

"Don't start with me!" As she barked the words the tent flaps swayed shut and she turned around: Her face purple with rage, her snake like tongue lashing back and forth within her open maw. "She's a thief and you took her flipping word over common flipping sense?!" Marceline was so furious she was shaking, "What if she took more than your hat?! What if one of us got junked up by one of her traps?!" The worst was yet to come, "You never never EVER lead a stranger to your camp!" The last bit was close to a lion's roar, shaking everything in the tent. She, in having lived for well over a thousand years, knew her fair share about what it was like to be ambushed in the middle of the night

[royal_tarts]

Bonnibel, despite her long history with Marceline, and all of their frequent fights, was honestly a little scared right about now. She had practically never seen Marceline like this. And as she talked, or rather yelled, Bonni didn't chime in. Not only was it hard to state things better than a terrifyingly angry vampire, but it was really quite difficult to work up the courage to interject anything.

"Wait. Oh, oh Fionna no. Please, Fi please just tell me that this is flipped out awful dream." Bonni crumpled back onto her sleeping bag, her tone having just changed from scolding to honestly hurt. "Is this junk for real? You weren't just expecting traps, but you had actually flipping come across them!? You knew that there were traps out there, and you not only didn't tell us, but you intently hid it from us?! Oh cabbages. Cabbages Fi." By the end Bonni sounded like she could just as well have been pleading with her.

[fionna_time]

"No, guys, I...I'm sorry, they were nothing serious, they were just the usual dumb things you..."

But she trailed off. She wasn't right here, was she? She could avoid the traps, deal with this stuff and take Sette on, if this were her Treefort. How many times did the Ice Queen come with this kinda junk, only to have herself beaten down by Cake and Fionna? Plenty. But when it involved other people, and she knew when it had to come down to her and that other person, it was just that. This, now that she realized what was going on, what she had done, was like a betrayal to her peeps.

"I...I'm sorry," she sad softly, turning her head away. "I thought I would just fight another bad dude, but I've betrayed my alignment by getting you guys involved. I've done a totally unrighteous thing, and its my fault, I'm sorry, Marceline. Princess Bubblegum. I screwed up man."

And with that, she just didn't want to be screamed at anymore,s he felt horrible enough. She opened the tent and started to walk.

[lost_moral_code]

Again, Marceline had meant well but had gone too far. In not being at 100% and out of her element she was hypersensitive and easily panicked. Fionna honestly felt that she had done nothing wrong, it showed in her face. Enraged, as much as she wanted to be sympathetic and understanding, Marceline simply had no sympathy to give. While neither girl was totally incapable of taking care of themselves, there were the obvious limitations.

Again had this been OOO and had they known what to expect, maybe a situation like this wouldn't be so horrific. Then again even there you never knew what a total stranger was and wasn't capable of. Maybe Sette was perfectly harmless like Fionna said? Sadly, neither Bubblegum or Marceline knew that. Given that the thief, like a thief, had come in the night they were less inclined to think of her as anything but harmless.

Bonni wasn't taking it well either, from what Marcie could hear of her through the shrill ringing that still reverberated in her ears. If only this had been a bad dream, if lumping only.

[royal_tarts]

Bonni made a motion to stop Fionna as she was leaving, and tried to apologize but the words wouldn't come. She admonished herself for letting the situation spiral out of control like this. That's what she was supposed to do was control situations. And a rotten awful job she was doing of it! Sure the points were valid, but what good does pushing them do if it just hurts someone and chases them off? She used to lecture Marceline about that very thing, and now she was doing it herself!

Bonni made her way to the tent flap, and returned the gesture from earlier by placing a hand reassuringly on the back of Marceline's shoulder. She was acutely familiar with the guilt Marcy could get after a fight. "You had every right to be mad, Marcy, and I was too. But it's okay; we're going to make it okay." She whispered, and then called out for Fionna, that pleading tone entirely back in her voice. "Fi! Please, Fi!"

[fionna_time]

She stopped, if only because she felt the tears springing and she was not NOT going to let them see her like that, the ways she bet Finn never would have been, crying and sad and just not able to deal with it all. She wanted to give them space, so they could be by themselves. But why, why did she have to notice so quickly how close, even with all the arguing, they were. That she was here, sort of filling in or something, and everything felt like she was only beginning to understand.

"I wouldn't have let you guys get hurt!" She finally said, making sure she could talk without choking up. "If it ever felt like that, like she was going to do something to you guys I would have kicked her buns all over the garden! You're good friends, and you made this whole thing easier, ok? But if she's gonna do that stuff, I'll lead her out, ok? I can find a place to stay on my own, don't worry!"

And darn it, she knew it was all true. She would have fought any woman to the death if they ever harmed PB or Marcie, but by her actions, she'd lumped things

[lost_moral_code]

"We will?"
Marceline's voice was thing, crackling like dried leaves under foot. In her rage she had screamed herself hoarse, well and good at that. Just talking in a whisper hurt, her throat felt like it were on fire. Swallowing gave her no relief either, as the icy air clawed at her lungs. At first she wasn't sure that they could make things right, everything had gone so wrong since they woke up. Yeah, she was feeling as rotten awful as Bonnibel. Marceline failed at keeping her cool and had failed as a friend. The only thing that made her feel as if things could, or ever would, be alright was PB's hand on her shoulder. Gnawing her bottom lip Marcie mutely nodded in reply: They would at least try to to make things alright; however, that all relied on them being able to keep Fionna from charging away

[royal_tarts]

"Yeah, we will.Marceline's voice had sounded awful, and Bonni couldn't at all tell if it was her throat, or the guilt causing it. Feeling sympathetic, and also immensely awful, she held herself a little closer to Marceline. There was no room for worrying or awkwardness or implications or any of that utter nonsense right now. They were both tattered and torn emotionally, and they needed the comfort and strength to be able to do this. Bonni took as many deep breaths as she could. She tried to focus, tried to find her center, and tried to feel a little less awful

[fionna_time]

Why do these guys even need me here?Even she knew that was a dumb question. They were really at their strongest together, whether it was Marshall, Gumball and Fionna or Marceline, Bubblegum and Finn. These strange turn of events had made it so it was a mixture, but without Jake or Cake, and maybe that was the problem. Fionna could go to Marceline or Princess Bubblegum for a lot of stuff, but Cake was an adventurer and knew her best. She would have flat out TOLD HER how cheesed off Marceline and Princess Bubblegum would have been about having someone they didn't know following her, laying traps

[lost_moral_code]

There were many a stupid thing that could be asked, said or done. What mattered was seeing the stupid for what it was, making the best of the situation and carrying on. In a place that was supposedly founded for the purpose of strengthening relationships it, and a couple of it's residents, were doing a very good job at straining the still forming friendship between the Princess, the Adventurer and the Vampire. It was bad enough to not understand the world or strangers around you. When something causes you to not be able to understand (or get along) with the people closest to you, it made things worlds worse. Each girl had a person that served to keep them sane which, of course, wasn't around thanks to the Queen