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Bonnibel stands in front of the mirror, twisting herself left and right, trying to see how the back of her dress is falling. With a huff, she stops and stares into the reflection, which does not show the vampire floating behind her, arms crossed and eyes closed. "Marceline!" the princess cries. "Are you paying any attention?" Marceline groans and slowly opens one eye, bobbing gently as she reclines in midair.
"'Course I am, Bubs," she murmurs. "You look great." Bonnibel snorts and fluffs the train of her dress.
"Is it falling straight?" she asks. "If it gets twisted it's going to look all wrong, and I'll wind up getting caught in it, or someone else will, and there will be a serious disaster." She pauses for a moment, waiting for the response; then turns, and sees the vampire has closed her eyes again. "Marceline!" This time, she bellows, and the vampire jolts. With a growl, Marceline floats to the floor and stands, walking to the princess.
"What, your butt?" she asks, almost playfully. Bonnibel frowns and faces the vampire head on. She catches her eyes and holds their gaze, freezing Marceline in her tracks with her sincerity.
"Come on, Marceline," she says. "I asked you to be here because I need your help. This is really important to me and I trust you to help me make the best impression possible, okay?" Marceline's eyes dart away and she scratches, hard, at a spot on her shoulder.
"I don't know why you care so much," she mutters. "This whole thing is so stupid." The princess starts to speak, but the vampire continues, "You don't even know this guy and you're expected to hit it off with him and get married after one lame party?" Bonnibel chuckles and smoothes out the wrinkles in her dress.
"It's not like that," she says. "We're not getting engaged tonight or anything! It's just... it would be good, diplomatically, if we *did* 'hit it off,' you know?"
"Diplomatically," Marceline repeats, with a roll of her eyes. "That's how you describe everything that you don't wanna do. 'Diplomatically' it would be better if I stayed home and did paperwork today. 'Diplomatically' it would be better if I wasn't caught sneaking into Wild Berry Kingdom for delicious fresh raspberries with Marceline. 'Diplomatically' it would be better if we didn't --" She stops herself, biting the forked end of her tongue and hissing at the pain. Bonnibel's eyes soften.
"Marceline," she says quietly, as if sound could shatter the vampire like glass. "You know my responsibilities. You know what I have to do for my people." Marceline snorts and folds her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, I know." Bonnibel reaches forward and places a hand on her cheek, rubbing the space beneath Marceline's eye with her thumb, which is slightly moist when she pulls it back. Marceline rubs at the spot vigorously, then, with one long sigh, moves to stand behind the princess. "Turn around, Bonnie, I gotta fix your butt."
