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It was a simple plan, really.
Mess with Mollie's plane while she isn't looking to make sure the smokescreen bomb she planted inside the front went off just at the right time to make her fall into the right spot of the forest. Then, wait for that annoying little raccoon to come to his friend's aid, just in time to see her transformed by her newest concoction. A "corruption" potion, removes all desire and want for that gross, abhorrent friendship. (Even just saying it to themselves made them squirm in disgust.) Then watch as the macaw beat the snot out of Rambley from the shadows.
And now there they were, standing in front of an angry raccoon with their arm tightly wrapped around the worried pilot as she squirmed in their grasp, the glowing purple liquid swirling in the bottle in their free hand. Showtime. "SALEM! I should've known you were behind this, you shady skunk! Let her go!" He raised up his closed fists, and for a moment, Salem was oh-so-tempted to laugh. No, they needed to save that for when his face's getting beat in by his own friend's wings. Instead, they shoot him a sly grin.
"Nah." They raise the potion, shaking it around to get both their targets' attentions. "Howzabout I try my new potion on her instead? I'm tired of wasting it on squirrels." The skunk brought the potion closer to their face, gripping their teeth around the bottle's brown cork to tear it away, spitting it onto the ground. A startled squawk sounded off from their captive, while Dumpster-Face yelled out a warning far-too-late as they shoved the bottle into her beak. Within the second, the potion had been emptied and they let go of the avian pilot. Her feathers started to lose their bright blues and yellows and greens, turning into a dark shade of purple as she fell to her knees coughing. But the sputtering gasps soon turned into a snarl, before the macaw looked up with empty glowing yellow eyes at her former friend.
Rambley stood frozen like a statue, looking at the bird in horror. Oh man, that look. They always loved making him look so afraid, a dark chuckle escaping their snout despite their best efforts and snapping his attention back to the skunk. "Too slow, Dumpster-Face!" Salem shouted to him, standing behind the corrupted Mollie as they formed an L on their forehead. "W-What did you do to her?" he shakily asked, pointing to his friend, now standing back up. The shady skunk stepped forward, standing beside the purple-feathered fiend, placing their hand on one of her shoulders. "Meet the new and improved Mollie Macaw!" they lightly shook the macaw, causing her to turn her head towards them. "Now with none o' that "friendship" garbage stopping her from tearin' you to pieces! I wonder what she REALLY thinks of--" their breath catches when they feel something rest itself on their hip, quickly turning around to see Mollie looking at them still, feathered wing now wrapped their waist. Half-lidded eyes stare into their face, a small smile forming on the corners of her beak. "What are--"
The skunk did not get to finish the sentence before the macaw tilted her head, opened her beak and closed it around Salem's mouth.
Their eyes widen, comically so, while their tail shoots straight up. A confused yelp sounds from them as the bird's beak stays gently shut around their snout, before eventually she pulls away. Saliva strings stick to their mouth and fur from her beak as the skunk is stock still, eyes darting wildly in seemingly every direction as they process what just happened before catching glimpse of the enemy. Oh yeah, he was there, they kinda forgot about that for a few seconds. He, too, was looking just as bewildered as they were. Both are snapped out of their thoughts with a giggle, somewhat distorted, comes from Salem's right. "Oh, I've always wanted to do that with you!" Mollie pulls Salem in closer again, their wing still resting around their waist as the fur on their face begins to shine a nice red instead. "...come again?" is the reply that manages to squeeze out of Salem from the many pool of responses floating in their mind. "Kiss you! And like you~" She leans in close again, hard beak pressing against soft nose. "Now that I don't have to worry about what those park losers," she snaps to face Rambley, still standing with his jaw as far open as it can be, with a glare and a very wide smile. "Think of you, I can finally tell you everything I wanted to say to you..." her other wing now rises to rest itself against the skunk's cheek, feathers rubbing soft fur. "You've always been so cool... and so hot... Even when you were messing with my friends..." she draws that last word out like a snake. "I wanted nothing more than to make you smile at me again, just like the way you did when you slapped a pie in my face." Another giggle, before she dips the ne'er-do-well in a way they never thought she'd be able to pull off. "I love you, Salem."
"What the heck is wrong with you?" is what they wanna say, but the only thing their body seems to be letting them do right now is gulp nervously as the glowing yellow eyes of the pilot stare down at them... until a foot suddenly kicks it away, sending the bird flying back with a cry and the skunk to be unceremoniously dropped onto the grass below. Snapped out of their daze, they roll from their back and prop themselves up with their arms, looking up to see Rambley sporting a far more angrier expression then they're used to seeing aimed directly at them. A loud squawk draws his attention away as Molllie charges towards him, narrowly dodging out of the way of her attack. They know an opportunity to escape when they see one, and they take it, diving into into the bushes behind the crashed plane as the fight between friend and former-friend rages on... and yet, the skunk cannot focus on it, as their mind assaults them with endless questions.
What in the world was that? Did they mess up the potion?? They didn't MEAN to make another love potion, they already used one on Valentine's, using the same potions over and over was lame. The recipe was different for sure, and up until then the plan was working fine! What did they-- A loud roar bellows out from behind their cover. Curiosity may kill the cat, but it hasn't gotten skunks yet, so they chance to peak around the plane just in time to see the raccoon deliver a (quite frankly impressive) kick into the center of the corrupted macaw. Instantly, the pilot keels over, falling to her knees while clutching her stomach before the purple liquid starts spewing from her beak. It stains the ground, turning the green grass to a dark indigo while her feathers started to regain their own color. Drat. Mollie coughs, hacking up the last slivers of the potion while Rambley pats her on the back and hurriedly apologizes over and over again.
"Golly, Mol. Are you okay?" his reply is another stream of coughs, before she turns to look at him, blinking slowly. "W-What happened...?" Another defect with the concoction, dang it! Corrupted targets are supposed to remember all their bad-doings if they were to be freed from its spell, to make them feel worse. What did they mess up with the recipe? "That shady skunk made you drink one of their potions!" Rambley waved his arms around frantically. "And it made you all purple and creepy! You said you loved Salem, and you kissed them!" Recalling that memory makes him go green around the gills, quickly putting a hand to his snout as he swallows back down the urge to hurl his own guts. "It must've been some kind of weird mind control potion..." he turned to face her again, only to see Mollie looking... embarrassed? Well, yes, she probably would be embarrassed she was made to make out with one of their worst enemies, but... the way her face flushed and her feathers puffed up made him think that maybe it was because-- "I SAID THAT? IN FRONT OF THEM?!" she yells out, and before the raccoon (or the skunk still watching this all unfold) can do anything else she's hiding her eyes in her wings. "Oh g-gosh, I... I didn't think I'd ever ever do that! I mean they'rekindacoolandstuffbutyouallhatethemandikindadontlikethemallthewaybuttheyrestillso--"
Her rambling descends into gibberish, just long enough for what was legible from it to click in the raccoon's mind, his eyes widening. "Wait, you DO love Salem?!" a shrill squawk from the pilot, she curls in on herself a little. "PLEASE don't tell the others!" Rambley sputters for a moment while Mollie whines, before shooting his arms up into the air. "BUT THEY'RE SO MEAN TO US! ALL THE TIME!! THEY MADE YOU TRY TO BEAT ME UP!" The rest of the ensuing argument is not heard by the skunk, who had rushed off further into the forest, mind racing alongside their feet. Mollie liked them? LOVED them? Hah! Yeah, right, no. That doesn't make sense! It's probably still some of that flawed potion stuck in her stomach. There's no way...
So why, they briefly think in the midst of all the other thoughts, did the alternative of her actually liking them make their face feel as warm as it did?