Anxious to reconcile with Bubbles, Buttercup flew over to the middle seat, wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulders. "Hey Bubs, come on. Just eat, okay? I promise me and Blossom won't fight anymore."
She looked imploringly at Blossom, but the gesture wasn't necessary.
"Yeah, we won't," Blossom agreed, no longer showing any antagonism for Buttercup.
She took a knife and fork and kindly cut up Bubbles's spaghetti for her. The idea of Bubbles losing her appetite because of the two of them scared the girls something awful. "We really were just kidding back there. Everything's okay, Bubbles."
Even with the extra help with her food, Bubbles still didn't show much appetite. She looked down and said, "You didn't sound like you were kidding."
"We were," Blossom insisted, placing her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "But we didn't mean to upset you, so we're sorry. Right Buttercup?"
Buttercup nodded quickly. "Right."
With that out of the way, Blossom moved on to more pressing matters. Moving her hand over to Bubbles's back, she asked, "Now, do you promise to eat the rest of your dinner?"
"Do you guys promise not to fight anymore?"
Buttercup and Blossom looked at each other with apprehension. Neither of them wanted to lie, even with their temporary truce.
Eventually, Blossom settled on what she felt was a reasonable compromise. "Tell you what, Bubbles. Why don't we promise to try really, really hard?" She gave her sister a smile. "We'll do it just for you."
"I guess that's okay," she eventually shrugged. "But I don't want you to do it just for me." She looked up at both of them, staring them in the eyes. "I want you to do it for yourselves."
That night Blossom sat up in her bed, staying awake much longer than her sisters. She made sure that both of them were sound asleep before pulling out a notepad as quietly as she could. She flipped to a blank page and took out a pencil, looking over her shoulder to double-check that the coast was clear.
"Alright," she whispered, "let's go over this list."
On the top of the page, she wrote IDEAS FOR INJURIES, and she had already crossed out a few duds.
"So anything involving broken bones is out," Blossom muttered to herself. "Buttercup's X-ray vision would see right through that."
Even if it did work, it still wouldn't be enough. Broken bones healed, and theirs healed even faster. That wouldn't do the trick of shocking Buttercup to her core. She needed to think bigger while still keeping things plausible.
Hmm, she thought, tapping the pencil's end against her lips. She scratched behind her head, and that gave her another idea.
Lighting up, she said, "I could fake a concussion!"
She knew all the symptoms and she could mimic them easily. All she'd have to do was hit her head on something. Then she'd pretend to lose her memories, freaking Buttercup out for sure. Yes, she thought. It's all coming together. In fact—no, wait. Why does this all sound familiar?
Then it came to her, and she smacked her own forehead. "Oh no! We already went through that with Bubbles!" Blossom shook her head frantically, scratching that idea out. "That won't work. It needs to be something completely original!"
Blossom sighed—this was harder than she thought. Never before had she strained her brain muscles so hard. Pressing her nubs against her temples, she chanted, Think, Blossom, think! She was the leader. She came up with tactical and creative solutions all the time. Why then was she having so much trouble now?
Oh, this is hopeless! She gave up temporarily, falling back with her head sinking into her pillow. She glanced over at her sisters, who were still sound asleep, and Buttercup who murmured sleepily before tossing and turning a bit.
She pressed her hands to her face, scrubbing at it with frustration. She rubbed at the skin over her forehead, then pulled down at the bottom of her eyelids. They snapped back in place, with her eyes watering a bit. Aggravated at this, Blossom brusquely swiped at her eyes, clearing them of the unintentional fluid.
At first, she remained hopeless until she analyzed her actions. Wait a minute... my eyes! That's it! Springing back up like a Jack-in-the-box in bed, Blossom grabbed her notepad and excitedly wrote down her new plan.
"Why did I not think of this before? The eyes are one of the most vulnerable body parts! So I'll just give myself a huge, shiny black eye!"
She'd just need the right makeup and... no. Still not good enough. Blossom shook her head again. "That's even less of a concern than a broken bone. I gotta think big, just like the Professor."
To be fair to the Professor though, he pretended to be executed. How exactly was Blossom supposed to top that?
She pondered even harder. "How do we up the ante? What's the worst thing that can happen to somebody else's eye?"
Obviously, the most extreme answer was having it pop out. She forced eyeballs out of monsters like that all the time. But that wasn't an option without some serious skill in makeup, and a decent fake eyeball.
"No, too much. What's the next best thing?"
And then it hit her. Something could go through her eye, like a stick through an hor d'oeuvre! It had all the right ingredients to achieve the desired effect.
It all sounded perfect—in Blossom's head, at least.
"So for this to work, I'll need all the right supplies. Realistic fake blood, something to act as the splinter, and something to cover my actual eye so it doesn't get hurt."
The next day...
"YOU ATE MY LAST CHOCOLATE BAR, YOU LITTLE FREAK!"
Believe it or not, that wasn't part of the plan. Blossom really had suffered a moment of weakness. She simply got hungry and the chocolate bar was right there. She wasn't actually thinking about who it could've belonged to.
The fight that she had with Buttercup afterward was unscripted too... mostly. She didn't plan on getting her hair pulled, or having her Nutty Buddy Bars threatened, or Buttercup elbowing her hard in the face by accident. She did oversell her outrage about that, though, making it out to be a bigger deal than it was. Then she shoved Buttercup roughly, just enough to provoke her. It worked well. Even a little too well. Buttercup pushed her back... really, really hard.
So Blossom retaliated, and that wasn't completely an act. Their tussle in the living room involved true aggression and when Buttercup gained the upper hand... well, there was a reason she was considered the toughest fighter. Buttercup truly overpowered her and threw her over her shoulder.
As Blossom flew through the air, she let out a scream. The table rushed up to meet her in all its wooden glory. This was exactly what she wanted. She even rigged the table to fall apart more easily. Kind of like movie glass, except with a table. She shut her eyes just before the moment of impact.
SMASH! It broke apart beautifully. Splinters went everywhere, and she had one for a prop. As she kept her face down, she covertly picked a shard off the floor with the hand that covered her face. Then she put in her contact lens, driving the thick splinter through it. She opened a packet of fake blood and crushed it over her eye.
All Buttercup saw was Blossom twitching on the carpet, failing to get up from that brutal collision.
"Bloss?!" she cried out, shooting to her side. She placed a hand over her back, asking, "You okay?!"
When she didn't get a reply, Buttercup gently rolled her over where she laid on her back. Blossom kept her hands to her face, letting out a moan. She hoped that it sounded pained enough. Her heart was racing as Buttercup sat her up and carefully placed her against the wall.
This was it. The moment of truth. Either Buttercup would buy this or her plan would be ruined. What if she hadn't put the splinter in correctly? What if the blood didn't look genuine enough? What if the contact lens was applied wrong? No, she thought. I can't afford to have any doubts.
Blossom hoped that her shaking would work to her advantage. She slowly dropped her hands—and Buttercup screamed. The scream sent a chill down Blossom's spine. There was no way Buttercup would scream like that unless she truly bought it. Blossom had succeeded. She really, really did it!
The excitement made her heart turn into a jackhammer again. What should she do next? How she should play it off? Should she scream back with pain? No, too hysterical. Blossom didn't want to risk going into melodrama. Instead, she took the approach of confusion.
She groaned again and slurred her next words. "Ohh... wha' happen?"
"Oh my God!" Buttercup shrieked.
Blossom put on a look of discomfort. "Hey," she asked softly, "why can' I open my eye?" If she pretended to be ignorant of her situation, that would make it even more believable, right?
She lifted her hand in a gesture to touch her face.
Predictably, Buttercup stopped her, grabbing her wrist. In a shrill voice of terror, she warned, "Blossom, don't touch it!"
Blossom gave her a glazed-over look, letting her hand come away easily. Then she clutched a spot over her chest, secretly activating the blood-squirting device. As a red ruby river spurted out of her face, she could see Buttercup shaking with her eyes filling up with tears.
She gave Blossom a hug and screamed for the Professor.
"PROFESSOR!" she cried. "BLOSSOM'S BLEEDING! GET UP HERE, QUICK!"
Blossom pretended to be dumbfounded by the sight of her own blood; in truth, she was merely marveling at the quality of it. Man, she thought. This really came out well! If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was actually bleeding!
She looked up at Buttercup and gave her a frown. The fear was painted so clearly on her face. "Buttercup?" she asked. "Wha's wrong?"
Tears spilled over her sister's eyes in return. When she spoke, it was in a tone Blossom had never heard before... except on the day that Buttercup lost her blanket.
With a high, strangled voice, she said, "Blossom, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"
Blossom immediately comforted her, but kept up her character. This wasn't about pouring salt in her wounds. She patted her sister gently on the hand.
"Okay," she said. "Don't be upset."
Of course it was hard to be calm when your sister was maimed.