Just Pretending (Bubbline/Sugarless Gum)

Trickery and truth.

This. Is. So. Lame.

Here they were, a queen and a princess, both respected and powerful (well, Bonnibel probably moreso on the former), chained up like a couple of weaklings. She thought her wrists were getting sore from all the pulling - she didn't even know why she kept trying, considering the chains were made of metal.

Her attention was sharply pulled towards Bonnibel, who was beginning to stir from her drug-induced sleep. She noticed she wasn't her normal, healthy pink, and she felt worry twist in her gut like a knife. Bonnibel wasn't fragile, neither of them were, but that didn't mean she was okay seeing her get hurt. She twisted herself around as much as she could and asked, "Hey, Bonnie, are you okay?"

Bonnibel blinked and looked at her, seeming completely out of it for a moment before saying, "Wha - yeah, just really sleepy," she paused and emphasized her point with a yawn. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I guess the same as before. Just our luck that we both got captured."

"Hey, I didn't know she was gonna stab me with a needle! I was trying to get us out." Bonnibel frowned, tugging at her chains. "This is dumb."

"Hah, you're telling me - and didn't I tell you she was harvesting my emotions? Like, c'mon, she wouldn't have had a magic wand or whatever. She doesn't even look like a witch."

"Well excuse me for not having the perfect plan," Bonnibel hissed, her frown deepening, "She would've kept hurting you, I couldn't just stay back in our room and let her."

Marceline felt oddly touched by that. That she could drive Bonnibel - who always seemed so in control of herself - to the point of recklessness... she imagined if she had a working heart, that thought would make her heart flutter (or something like that). And upon coming to that thought, she really almost felt her heart start beating again for an entirely different reason - she heard a loud, startling sound against the wall nearby. She twisted herself around again, as far as she could, and found Chienne back in chains, looking lively and working furiously against them - a strange juxtaposition compared to her earlier subdued state.

"Doctor Chienne! I thought she killed you!" Marceline exclaimed, supremely relieved.

"No way, she's not really the type to kill. She leaves that for her minions, whenever they're hungry." Chienne said, settling against the wall, giving a break on her fruitless attempt at escape. Marceline would know, because she's been pointlessly trying to escape since yesterday to no avail.

"Her magic is still killing us indirectly though, even if she's not doing it herself," Bonnibel said, sighing. "If she wasn't exhausting us, we probably would've been free by now, so she's still just as guilty as everyone else in this place."

"She doesn't like to think she's in the wrong," Chienne muttered, sighing against the wall. " Also, it's only exhausting if you have a lot of what she wants, which you both seem to have."

Bonnibel and Marceline exchanged an inquiring look, then both turned back to Chienne. "You mean our love, or whatever?"

"Yeah, although, she likes to make it more dramatic than it sounds. I think it's probably more along the lines of hormones, like oxytocin or dopamine." She exchanged another look with Bonnibel, who had been going over that exact idea not long ago. She wasn't sure she herself agreed with it, as actual magic tended to be a lot more literal in its use. At least from her experience.

"Maybe it's the emotion itself. Magic isn't always so scientific, you guys." She remembered the long-ago encounter with Maja the sky witch, who's magic she remembered hadn't felt or seemed scientific whatsoever but was still doing weird stuff with Hambo.