Book 3 - A.T.X.D. Stealth Angel - introduces our next major protagonist in the series - former U.S. Marine Laney Davidson. It also introduces a few more female characters (because I originally scripted this book as a girl-power story but may have taken it too far, so some elements are still being reworked). One element that I feel needs at least some addressing is Laney and another newbie operative - Hikari Li Sano.
As a reminder, Laney is bisexual and will ultimately fall more for other girls than boys.
Like Laney, Hikari was introduced from the start when I first began writing, and she's a more moody and eager character. She hasn't been developed on as well for the longest time, but a new fighter character in the upcoming Tekken 8 video game - Reina - has inspired me to update Hikari and make her even more likable.
When they first meet, Laney and Hikari get into a brawl during an exercise because Hikari calls the former a name and it provokes her super sense-enhanced anger. The fight is a draw because Ashley and Melody pull them apart. As it is currently written, Hikari shortly seeks Laney's forgiveness because she feels bad about getting into this fight. Over the course of Stealth Angel, Laney and Hikari become friends. Just a heads up, Laney is starting to experience feelings for a different girl at this time - Cassy Wayne. Laney is not Hikari's girlfriend yet.
I want Laney and Hikari to become friends without having too much friction. At the end of the chapter where their fight is broken up, Melody warns both girls that she and Ashley are going to put them together in additional exercises and in missions to ensure they don't keep getting into repeated brawls and cause their team's comradery to dissolve when the Stealth Angels have only just been formed by Command. Melody in particular threatens both girls not to try to beat the tar out of each other, "or I'll do so to both of you. Do I make myself clear?"
Throughout the book, there is no clear sign of romance between Laney and Hikari; just friendship.
My question: How do I ensure that Laney and Hikari become friends without showing complete hatred for each other. Laney isn't one to hold a grudge herself unless you really, REALLY piss her off....or you get in her personal space without her permission and trigger her fight-or-flight response. Hikari is the more moody and extroverted girl who wants to make friends, but she's got a little bit of space marine, gung-ho ego. Something about getting into a fight with Laney makes her feel bad and she wants to be friends, but how do I do that.
It isn't until Book 7 that I have currently scripted a clear romance between Laney and Hikari. But how do I bridge Laney and Hikari fighting each other to being BFFs (not romantic partners, but close and supportive friends - sisters-in-arms). Here are samples from the two scenes:
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Looking up, Laney could see the flares of her comrades still descending through the clouds like gently falling stars. It looked like it would still take them a while to hit the ground, so Laney picked herself up and prepared to head for the rendezvous point. But she couldn’t help letting out a small giggle of relief and a whoop of joy for her success.
“What're you so joyful about?” a voice demanded behind her, and Laney turned around to see the girl she’d copied the move from; Hikari. “You stole my rank.” Hikari’s eyes were flared up now that she’d removed her mask and apparatus.
“Well, sorry, I didn’t know I was cheating,” Laney replied. “And if it was cheating, then why’d you do it?”
“Are you calling me a cheater?” Hikari demanded with a venomous voice.
Unwilling to get into a fight over a mere contest, Laney decided best to ignore Hikari and finished packing up her gear to return to Ashley.
“Oh-ho, are you ignoring me?” Hikari interrogated with a snarky offended attitude.
“No, I’m just choosing not to answer you,” Laney replied plainly.
“And you’re an idiot for doing so.”
“Jesus. You clearly aren’t in the mood to talk,” Laney scoffed irritably, rolling her eyes with a repulsed look and beginning to walk away.
“Hey! Don’t turn your back to me unless you want my boot up your ass!”
“Look, even though I got here first, it’s Sergeant Armstrong’s call if I get the promotion or not,” Laney attempted to defend. As she turned away again, she mumbled a little louder than she wanted, “So quit being such a sore loser.”
“I heard that!” Hikari retorted, “Say that again to my face, you little shit!”
What Hikari didn’t realize was that the last statement contained a trigger. Laney froze with a look of shock at being called a harsh insult again and, while her back was still turned, she wrinkled her face and bared her teeth angrily. There was no one around, so maybe she’d just deal with Hikari right here and right now. Laney removed her flight vest, wheeled around and strode back over to Hikari as the latter chanted, “Yeah come on, girl. What, did I say something you didn’t like?”
Laney replied with a straight punch to the nose. Hikari shrieked in pain and doubled over on her back, clutching her nostrils.
“Fuck you!” Hikari snarled. “You’ll pay for that!”
Laney rolled up her sleeves halfway as Hikari shook off her flight vest, ripped off her helmet to reveal black bob cut hair with a tinge of purple to it, and bared her own teeth, some blood trailing from one nostril, before the two of them charged each other.
[fight, fight, fight, etc. Ashley and Melody then break it up, but then the former decides not to discipline them because she's intrigued by their fighting spirit after their first parachute drop.]
After slowly releasing Hikari, Ashley looked at both girls with a more stoney expression. “But if you two have something you need to get off your chests, now’s the time, because I don’t want this escalating into repeated brawls.”
Hikari glared at Laney, but admitted with a frustrated exhale and a sour tone, “I yield.”
“Laney?” Ashley inquired, but Laney simply wiped the blood from her nose with a messy sniff, held up her hands, and replied plainly, “I yield, ma’am.”
“Good, that settles it.”
“But just so you girls know,” Melody added with her own displeased look as Ashley headed off to meet up with the other operatives, “if this team is ever going to get off the ground, we need full cooperation among the ranks. Like it or not, Ashley or I may place you two side-by-side in another exercise. So don’t either of you try and beat the tar out of each other again or I’ll do so to both of you. Do I make myself clear?”
“Ma’am,” the two girls replied in exhausted unison.
[Next chapter - two days later. Towards the end of the chapter is the next time Laney and Hikari will see each other.]
“Laney?” a voice from behind her said calmly.
Laney turned around and, with some shock, saw it was Hikari, the girl she’d fought with two days ago. With her tac gear replaced by a basic t-shirt, shorts, Fila Disruptors, and her own jet black hair undone to reveal a neatly rounded bob cut, Hikari looked relatively different from the girl Laney had tussled with two days prior. Reflexively though, the former Marine’s guard went up, but she kept as plain a face as she could.
“Please, Hikari,” Laney responded, “I don’t want to have a rematch of our first fight.”
“No,” Hikari replied, and her voice seemed quite calm compared to her aggressive tone from before. “In fact, I wanted to apologize.”
Laney’s eyes widened a bit and her attention was hooked further as she inquired, “For what?”
“What do you think?” Hikari inquired, a somewhat sincere look in her sharp eyes. “I was a real bully to you out on the field two days ago simply because you got the promotion and beat me to the ground. And I should have watched my tongue and not called you...you know what.”
Laney looked at her for a little bit, not sure if Hikari was being honest or just trying to get out of trouble from earlier. But the sincerness was pretty convincing, and Laney’s lip eventually curled up into a smile.
“To hell with it, Hikari,” Laney replied with a joking swipe of the hand, “I think we were both just being a little too rough and over-competitive with each other. And you’re not the first person who’s gotten me angry before, so I’m not going to hold a grudge against you. Anyway, Melody’s going to bust my skull open if I try to pick a fight with you again, and she’s right that we need to all work as a team if the Stealth Angels are going to get any traction.”
“So then,” Hikari replied, coming a couple steps closer and holding her hand out, “No more differences, Corporal Davidson? We can be teammates now?”
“You bet your life on it,” Laney replied and shook her hand firmly.
“I was watching some of your combat moves earlier, Laney,” Hikari commented, “And you have quite a deadly moveset. You want me to show you some of mine?”
“Oh, I think I’m pretty familiar with your moves,” Laney commented with a smug smile.
“That was just a rage set, not my professional style,” Hikari dismissed.
And Hikari was indeed right; Laney was impressed to see how Hikari put her martial arts skill set to the maximum with anything from whiplash hand strikes, wheel kicks, and even a couple heel drops.
“I guess I’m glad we got pulled apart when we did,” Laney replied. “I’d be in my barrack full of stitches and bandages if I went against that moveset of yours.”
“Well I saw the double face-kick earlier,” Hikari commented, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I could never really pick up that move for some reason.”
“You stick around and I might teach it to you,” Laney offered.
“Deal,” Hikari accepted with an enthusiastic smile, a gleam in her eyes and a playful knuckle bump with Laney.