Matryoshka
"This is sooo stupid….I could be home now watching TV!"
There was a sigh and Buttercup rolled her eyes as Blossom laid a hand on her shoulder. "You never give anything a chance Buttercup! We as humans need to experience things to see if we actually like them first."
"OK, for one: I'm fucking sick—"
"Watch your language!" Bubbles's admonished cry cut through her tirade. Buttercup shot her a glare and the youngest Puff shrank back.
"Like I was saying, I'm fucking sick of learning stuff! And another thing, we're not humans. We're some weird ass genetic mutation thing."
"Hmm…" Came Blossom's response, and Buttercup rolled her eyes as they finally rolled up to the building.
"I'm so excited!" Bubbles squealed and wasted no time getting out of the car, probably eager to show off her cat costume. Buttercup rolled her eyes and took the unconventional exit of the window, snagging the hem of her angel costume on the glass. "Son of a bitch…" She yanked and tumbled to the sidewalk, earning herself a few snickers from people passing by.
"What the hell are you looking at?" She sneered and took her slightly bruised ego and her ruined costume inside. Blossom heaved another sigh and made sure all the crumbs from Buttercup's burger were cleared from the passenger seat before leaving. She stepped to the other side of the car and carefully removed the scrap of fabric that was wedged in the window before opening the door, rolling the window up, and closing the door.
"Alright…" She took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then released it before turning around and heading inside.
"Hey! You're Blossom aren't you?"
Damn.
Nodding, Blossom swallowed the distaste that had arisen in her throat for the two guys that were coming over dressed in the odd combo of 'half business' and 'half casual'. She wanted to press herself against the wall she was leaning on and disappear.
"We'd like to ask you a few questions." They smirked and surrounded her to form a tight half ring.
"Ask away." She smiles and they immediately started firing college leveled questions at her, which she answered dutifully. Her eyes glazed over in boredom and she suppressed a sigh.
"Thanks Blossom." One of them said and they leaned in close enough so that she could smell the overwhelming amount of cologne that they had practically bathed in. She wrinkled her super-sensitive nose and gave another smile. The one on her left reached out and placed his hand on her hip, slowly making his way to her backside.
Her reaction was instinctual. She latched onto his wrist and squeezed.
"Ouch! I get it, I get it!" She let him go and he yanked his hand away, rubbing it.
"C'mon man..." The other smirking one led his friend away from her and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"I told you she wouldn't go for it."
"Sheesh, fine you win. I didn't think she was that much of a prude."
Blossom inadvertently jerked at his words and sniffed a bit, glaring at the floor. She wasn't a prude! Honestly that was a bogus move on his part anyway. She sighed and looked around the room, trying to find her sisters. She could see Bubbles being surrounded by what looked like a bunch of old ladies by the refreshment table and in a darkened corner Buttercup was being jostled by a group of punk adolescents.
She sighed at all their predicaments and made her way into the dancing crowd in order to forget her experience.
"My face hurts..." Bubbles whined and rubbed her rosy cheeks furiously as she stared at herself in the cracked and graffiti stained mirror.
"Then stop smiling so much." Came Blossom's sharp reply. Cigarette smoke was blown in a straight line towards the young cat and she coughed in response, glaring at her older sister's reflection.
"You don't feel like going outside with that?"
"Nope."
"Gingers really have no souls."
Before Blossom could respond that yes, she did have a soul, albeit a messed up one, Buttercup burst through the door, mascara running down her cheeks.
"Ugh what are you crying about now?" Bubbles grimaced in disgust at her.
"S-Shut up!" She sniffled and wiped the black smears off with the sleeve of her already ragged costume. "I wanna go home!"
" 'I wanna go home!' Damn it Buttercup how about you shut your trap for a few minutes?" Bubbles whirled around and sat on the dirty counter, shooting her sister a piercing blue glare. Her sister responded with the same method but not with the same menace and soon started crying again.
Blossom scoffed and huffed and puffed down her cigarette until only the butt remained, then she flicked it towards the crying girl slumped on the floor. It bounced off her halo and she looked up, eyes puffy.
"C'mere." Blossom opened her arms for a hug and smirked when the usually tough Puff damn near crawled towards her, wrapping her arms tentatively around the bustier girl's waist. She flinched when her arms encircled her.
"Thanks." Blossom pulled away and laughed at the shocked and slightly betrayed look on her sister's face before taking a swig of the alcohol that Buttercup had in her purse. "Do I look like a Care Bear to you?"
With a groan Bubbles reached her hand out for the bottle and Blossom obliged, tossing it at her with the speed of a rocket. She caught it effortlessly and took a hearty swig, smacking her lips in satisfaction afterwards.
"You two are such assholes!" Buttercup stomped over to Bubbles and wrestled the bottle away before taking a few sips.
"And you sip your beer like such a girl. C'mon now." Blossom clicked her tongue and reached her arm over to tip the bottle up. The raven gagged and tossed the bottle to the floor where it exploded; amber liquid cascaded from its glass prison and spread over the dirty floor.
"See what you did Buttercup!" Blossom scoffed at her sisters ineptitude. "You can't even take a beer down without fucking it up."
"That was your fault!" Buttercup roared, some of her old anger returning. Blossom held up her hands and smirked.
"Alright, calm yourself you freaking cry baby."
"Y-You guys are hilarious!" Bubbles keeled over with laughter and nearly lost her position on the counter, eyes unfocused.
"I totally forgot you can't hold your liquor." Blossom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Ha!" Buttercup pointed an accusatory finger towards her elder. "The professor's gonna be so mad when he sees her!"
"He won't be mad." Blossom floated over to her giggling sister and gently picked her up before making her way to the surprisingly spacious bathroom window.
"He won't?" Buttercup asked.
"Nope. We're gonna fly around to sober her up." She carefully lifted the dust caked glass and floated out to the slightly chilly night, her blue eyed sibling cooing softly in her arms.
"...Again?" Buttercup's distant reply came to her ears as she started a flying joy trip through the city.
"Yes again. It's the only thing that really works."
"I hate it though...it's so boring..." Blossom didn't even turn around, feeling Buttercup's presence behind her.
"Then you can go home."
"...This is stupid."
"That's what you think about everything."
Bubbles giggled and wrestled herself out of her sister's grasp to drift down to the street below. "Yeah she does because she's the stubborn and tough one and you're the smart and mature one and I'm...I don't know anymore." She barks out a laugh and suddenly plummets sixty stories down to the cold concrete below.
"Goddamit Bubbles!" The sisters chorus, and go flying down after her. They find her seconds later in the middle of a slight crater in the middle of the street, giggling her head off.
"Isn't everything so funny?" She stands up slowly and looks at them with her unfocused eyes, tears sliding their way down her cheek.
"What's wrong?" Genuine concern spreads across Blossom's face as she steps towards her.
"Don't touch me!" Bubbles stumbles back, pointing her finger at her Blossom before letting it drift to Buttercup. "We're all so fucked up we don't even know what to do anymore, aren't we?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about how we had to play our roles but we're so different from what we used to be that it was fake. I'm not really sweet and loving and you're not all that smart and mature and you're not all that tough and tomboyish." She chokes on her own tears and lays on the sidewalk, the infinite cloudless sky stretched out above her.
"We're all just smoke and mirrors, aren't we?" She sobbed out.
Blossom sighed and crouched over her sister, clearing some hair from her face. "No; we just grew out of our shells. And people kind of want for us to stay the way we were, because if we do, then they'll think that they're not changing either."
"...That's a stupid theory." Bubbles sniffled and leaned to the side, throwing up. Blossom smiled and patted her back.
"Yeah it is." Chuckling, she helped the little one to her feet and patted her head. "Let's go home now. You've had a bit too much to drink."
A.N: I'm not...I'm sorry. This isn't as detailed as I want it, but it's all my brain can come up with. I'll go back and completely redo this eventually.