The 42nd Gecko

Grimoiric Heart

LILAC SHIMMER

Bonnie took Ozma's words at face value, smiling as things were explained. "Oh, good to hear. Bet that felt refreshing! See you on the battlefield, Cammy!" She waved before rushing forward. Ok, things seemed okay so far! She hadn't been too clingy about Burning Heart, had checked in with Camelot, had managed to not catch Dynasty Queen's attention, everything seemed great! Bonnie's eyes glanced over to Suzuya. No, no! Focus.

Giant flying robot... She didn't fly... But plenty of junk to pull off some clever shenanigans with! Bonnie's eyes glanced over the scrapyard, looking for something, and with glee, she found it. And failed to yank it out of the heap of junk as she tugged on it. "Nnnnrg, lot harder... than I thought... Without the transformation.. " She stopped pulling for a moment to shift, stamping down a foot to pull harder. "Come loose you stupid... This is gonna be so cool!"

Finally, she pulled forth her target... Springs? Oh dear.

A velvet darkness enshrouds Bonnie, as if curtains were drawn closed over the act on a stage. But more was still yet to come, heralded by a trio of spotlights swirling around her covered form. "Lilac Shimmer bounces into battle, Springheel Mode!" Lilac Shimmer spiraled into the sky, the darkness enshrouding her becoming a dramatic cape to be swirled around, then tossed to the side as she reached the apex of her jump, exploding into rosy petals. Then, the new element of her costume was revealed as she turned in midair, slamming her feet against the top of the protective barrier. She was now augmented with bouncy spring heels for even more dramatic flights and maneuvers than Lilac was usually keen to partake in.

A moment of build up and pressure, before Lilac shot forth at the mechanical Pageless. No ranged weapons had she, so if they were meant to all strike it together, she'd need to get in close no matter what else the plan was!

Grimoiric Heart

BONNIE CHANCE

Bonnie was taking a little time alone after the excitement of yesterday, cozied up in a large cushy chair with a book to read. Sure, there was technically several dozen other girls in the library, but it was a library so they were being quiet.

"Oh, the training seems lively today." Bonnie commented at the sound of part of the building being extravagantly destroyed as all the others in the Library glanced up. It seemed the two year magical girl wasn't overly surprised at seeing massive property damage accompany the acts of magic they were wont to perform. She didn't feel the instinct to run towards this disaster, as she figured you know, probably just someone getting a little excited. With how Camelot said experienced magical girls could sense the Pageless, she figured there was no way for a bad guy to sneak up on the Academy.

So, she enjoyed her quiet time even more as some of the other girls in the library left to find out what was going on.

--

Bonnie had considered not showing up for the training. She was a magical girl, what exactly where they gonna do if she played hooky? But on the other hand, she did want to keep a decent impression with the new team... such as it was. So she showed up anyway. Spying Charlotte on the way in, Bonnie gave a little wave and a smile but then looked back to the task at hand. And, huh, why was Camelot still steaming?

"Hey Camelot, why are you doing the steam thing still? I thought you and Burning Heart were just doing that to keep the rain off you." Bonnie seemed to have genuinely misunderstood the situation once again.

Grimoiric Heart

I feel like if a school full of magical girls had a bomb go off and everyone thought they were under attack, you wouldn't have fleeing panic, you'd have the world's greatest epilepsy inducing light show as a thousand transformation sequences go off at the exact same time.

Grimoiric Heart

BONNIE CHANCE

Perhaps someone stronger than Bonnie would have sought to make amends between Camelot and Burning Heart. Mend the cracks that were slowly growing. But in that moment, all she wanted to do was to melt in Burning Heart's embrace.

To Bonnie, there was a raw difference in the two proclamations of friendship. In her eyes, Camelot's seemed driven by duty and pity, that she was a project to fix, a friendship that would be nothing more than a painful reminder of all the things wrong with her until she was 'fixed' to Camelot's standards. While Burning Heart felt like maybe, maybe, finally, Bonnie had found someone who enjoyed being around her. That maybe she wasn't broken after all.

And in that hope, Bonnie could find refuge, safe in Burning Heart's Arms, hugging her tightly back. "Thank you." She whispered with her head low into Burning Heart's shoulder.

--

Space to be filled with potential after patrol/after meeting up with the other team shenanigans here.

Grimoiric Heart

BONNIE CHANCE

Bonnie listed to Camelot's words and became more and more downcast. They were warriors who had drawn blades together on the battlefield... but no bonds of sisterhood had they? Wasn't it supposed to be that no-one was your family like those who bled for you? For those who "put the work in", so to speak? Well, of course there wasn't any value to her sword alongside Camelot's, she'd been nothing but trouble, defective, a problem in Camelot's eyes.

"Mmm-" At first Bonnie offered little resistance to Camelot's inquisition "-eee!” But whether it was touching at a bruise that hadn't discolored yet, or simply having her shirt surprisingly raised, Bonnie did get some life sparked into her and she squirmed at Camelot's bold advance without waiting for permission. In truth, Bonnie wasn't too badly banged up, Camelot was a skilled swordswoman who had gotten to make her strike without resistance. Lilac who could tangle head on with the Pageless and slam them into the ground from the top of a building wasn't exactly a delicate flower, regardless of name.

At Camelot's silence as she pondered things over, correct in conclusion if not in cause, Bonnie began to turn away, taking silence as permission to shrink away from Camelot's gaze. But her flight was halted, stunned in submission at Camelot grabbing her shoulders and forcefully telling her no.

Bonnie's head was swimming, and a bunch of particularly loud dolphins were churning the waters. -Oh no, am I why Burning Heart and Camelot were fighting? Wait we're a team? But what was all that before about not being a team? Er... That wasn't a bad point about how a magical girl should act. But can I live up to that? Even Usagi got a chance to cry every now and then... especially Usagi. Oh god why was she listing off all her deficiencies, I know I suck! Really? Heart? That's what everyone says when they know you don't contribute. Someone with heart wouldn't be broken just because someone said they weren't your friend. Camelot knows I'm alone. But it's all pity. She doesn't like me, she just feels guilty that I'm sad. No one really wants to be friends with a sad person, they just want you to stop being sad. But at least she said the words, and even if it falls apart tomorrow...-

There were so many things she wanted to say, so many directions her heart wanted to take her, dreams made and dying in the same moment.

"Sorry! Sorry, I'm a mess aren't I. Not putting on a good display as a magical girl." Her eyes drifted for a moment to Dynasty Queen and longer to Burning Heart, ashamed of her appearance, no doubt she looked a fool losing her cool over something as silly as this. Then she turned back to Camelot. "I- I should be tougher than this, you're right. I'll try to bring it together for the rest of the patrol, leader. And-uh, of course I'll be your friend. Of course. Bonnie tried to smile. Because of course that's what you say. That's what everyone always says.

Grimoiric Heart

I think that level of softness, not directly saying the word friends, would soften the blow quite a bit. I'll try to get something up as soon as I'm off work.

Grimoiric Heart

I haven't really gotten to that part of your post yet, as I'm trying to ponder how Bonnie wouldn't break down crying and run away after hearing this line. "Unfortunately, despite your impression to the contrary, not a one of us placed upon this team is friends, or even often comrades."

Because, that's like, literally her greatest fear preyed upon and exploited perfectly. Like, if you were Roma a supervillain trying to break Bonnie's spirit, that's better than anything I could have imagined to say. In I think Bonnie's third post I established her weakness being that she fears everyone is just acting like her friend to be polite but don't actually like her, and then after the slam dunks of the last two posts hitting her hard, she's emotionally compromised and then she hears this.... just... Oof.

I know that's not exactly what Camelot means by friend, and that she means something like "Hey, I like you, but we haven't gotten to know each other yet", but with Bonnie's definition of friend, what Camelot said sounds like "I don't like you and I was just pretending to be your friend like all your worst nightmares made real".

But of course, Bonnie running away would make the rest of your post very awkward, so I'm not quite sure what to do.

Grimoiric Heart

LILAC SHIMMER

“We’re done here.” Joyeuse dropped from Lilac's hands, shattering into motes of light upon hitting the ground. Even though the words hadn't been directed at her, they pierced her heart nonetheless.

“I think we’re done here?” Lilac's hands pulled back to hide her eyes. Breathe. That wasn't today. It didn't happen today.

"Yeah, we're done. It was fun, see ya later." It wasn't raining when that happened. No matter how clearly she could hear them still, that was months ago. Nothing could be done, nothing could be said, that would change that day, no matter how much she dwelled on it.

She bit her lip and leaned back. Far from the battle ready stance with blade in hand before, now she rested against a wall, back from the conflict. She forced her hands from her eyes to hold them at her side. She couldn't be this weak. She was supposed to be a magical girl, irrepressible hope.

Lilac seemed dazed as Ozma appeared on the scene and settled things down.

“Lilac Shimmer, if I have injured you, speak now honestly, and I will heal your ailment, no matter how meager it may be. It was not my intent to do harm, but I drew arms against you and took the risk anyway. However, you seem to have a problem. I regret to admit my ignorance of it till now, despite the warning signs and even after two years living together in the same damn room. It is a shameful failure on my part, and had I noticed sooner… perhaps I could have done something before now. For the time being, know only that we shall address it later.”

"Okay. I'm alright." Bonnie responded without eye contact to Camelot as her transformation failed, returning her to normal form. Of course there was something wrong with her. She was just a bad to mediocre person. 4/10. Any friend group she'd join would just break apart. She wasn't cool enough, strong enough, charismatic enough to solve these things. Ozma just whipped in and in a handful of words everything was okay. Bonnie could never be like that.

A day. That was exactly how long it had taken for everything to fall apart again. One day. And this time they had even been fighting each other. The fact that she had been a target was unimportant. It was just that they had been fighting each other at all. Once? Maybe it was bad luck. Twice? Well, you're the common element.

"Can.. Can I go back for now? I don't think I'm ready for another fight." Bonnie asked after Ozma told them the Apex Pageless would likely be handled by someone else.

Grimoiric Heart

@Lewascan2 You are wrong. It 100% matters how Lilac perceives Camelot when it comes to how much she's blinded, because Lilac's trust in Camelot was such that she wasn't even looking at her. It is much harder to be blinded by a light you aren't looking at. While general light radiation can get in your eyes anyway, the sun's effect on your eyes is much less dramatic if you aren't looking at it.

And, having personally been sucker punched before, when someone genuinely sneak attacks you from an unexpected angle, it can be hard to tell who hit you when your personal timeline goes: "Walking" "Huh, senses are offline for some reason." "Ok, why am I staring at the ceiling and my stomach really really hurts?"

We may joke about how video game characters are dumb reacting to sneak attacks with "Huh? What was that?" after being hit by someone crouched down. But I have both seen that happen and had that happen to me.

Grimoiric Heart

This is about half my planned post, but I don't have the energy to finish it tonight.