Marcanne Week
Sunday - Back to the past
Monday - EmoButter
Tuesday - AU
Wednesday - Angst Time
Thursday - Confessing
Friday - It's a Date
Saturday - Back to the Future
"Are you sure about this, Marbles?"
Anne looked with uncertainty at the green liquid bubbling in the cauldron out behind the Plantar's house. It was dusk, the sun dipping down over the western horizon.
"Trust me Anne, I got this potion-making business down," Marcy said as she stirred the emerald concoction with a large wooden spoon. "Maddie's been spending the last few days teaching me the ins and outs of alchemy, and she says I'm one of the fastest learners she's ever seen."
That alleviated Anne's worries somewhat. She hadn't interacted with Maddie much outside of the whole 'curse' incident, but the frog girl seemed to know her stuff when it came to magic and mysticism. If she thought Marcy was good at potion crafting, then Anne was willing to give her friend the benefit of the doubt.
That, and she was kind of having trouble focusing on much else at the moment. The way Marcy had her hair styled with her bangs covering one eye looked really good on her. Marcy called it her "witch look."
"Okay, just gotta add a few pinches of dried woundwort…" Marcy grabbed a jar from the table beside her, sprinkling some of the flakes into the cauldron. The mixture briefly glowed pink before returning to its green hue. "Done! If I got the recipe right, I've created a potion that will give any common food items HP restoration plus all-stats buff."
"Okay, now can I get that again in non-video game terms?" Anne asked with a smirk. Marcy giggled.
"Sorry. It'll heal your injuries while also making you stronger and faster. Now, to put it to the test…"
She reached for the table again, this time grabbing a stick of butter she'd grabbed from the Plantar's refrigerator. She dipped it in the potion and quickly pulled it out. The green liquid quickly evaporated, leaving the butter with an ethereal glow.
"A stick of butter?" Anne asked with a raised brow.
"I just grabbed something at random from the fridge," Marcy said. She looked down at the butter and shrugged. "Well… only thing left to do is test it."
Anne felt her heart race as she watched Marcy lift the butter towards her face. The butter that had just been dipped into a magic formula. A highly unstable magic formula mixed by someone new to alchemy. Sure, Maddie had said Marcy was a natural at mixing potions and Marcy had grown more reliable as a whole since coming to Amphibia. Anne should have faith in her friend. She knew this.
But still…
"Wait!" Anne shouted when the butter was less than an inch from Marcy's lips, startling her. "Why don't I test it for you?"
"You sure?" Marcy asked, uncertain. "I mean it's my potion, I don't mind being the one to test it."
"Come on, what are friends for?" Anne smiled and held out a hand.
Marcy smiled and passed the butter to her. "Alright. Knock yourself out, Anna-Banana. Just a small amount should do the trick."
Anne nodded. She brought the glowing butter to her lips, taking a cautious nibble. She made a face as she quickly swallowed. It didn't taste any different, but it still felt weird to just eat butter raw.
"So… now what?" Anne asked, setting the butter down.
"If I got the recipe right, you should start to feel a surge of energy any second now."
"Well I don't feel any different so far." Anne crossed her arms and tapped her feet. "I mean it's not that I don't trust you, but this whole magic and potion stuff is still kinda weird to me and I just couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you, you know?"
Marcy's eyes widened. A faint blush spread across her cheeks. "Oh. Well, thanks Anne."
"And I know you've really grown as a person and all that, but I still feel this need to protect you," Anne continued. "Like I just wanna wrap you up and keep you safe from all of life's troubles and just hold you and wait whoa what am I saying Marcy what's happening?"
Marcy's eyes widened further and her blush grew deeper, as Anne's own cheeks started to glow. "Uh, Anne? Are you feeling okay?"
"Well I'm not feeling any stronger or faster like you said but you know what it doesn't matter if you screwed up the potion because you're still amazing at everything you do and what is happening?" Anne slapped a hand over her mouth, face burning red.
"H-hold on, I can fix this!" From her cloak's inner pocket Marcy produced her trusty journal, flipping through to the section where she copied some of the potion recipes Maddie had shown her. "Let's see, potion of minor restoration… Hmm…" Marcy paled. "Oh."
"Oh?" Anne tentatively lowered her hand. "Marcy, what's with the oh?"
"Uh…" Marcy tugged at her collar. "So. There's maybe a slight chance I sorta might have mixed the wrong ingredients and made a truth potion instead of a restoration potion."
"Wait, truth potion? Is that why the words are just pouring out of me like how I wanna hold you and cuddle you and I think you're super cute and gaaaah!"
Now Anne slapped both hands over her mouth, face so hot it threatened to burst into flames.
Marcy's face was just as crimson, staring at her friend in naked shock. "... Anne?"
Anne very slowly lowered her hands, a nervous smile on her face. "So… Marcy? I uh, kinda have a confession…"
Author's Note: So... I'm gonna be honest, I had no freakin' clue what to do with this prompt. According the Marcanne Week twitter the prompt literally called for Emo Marcy (as in "Maddie and Marcy") and Butter Anne (as in "Breakout Star"). At first I thought "butter" was some kind of new phrase that I - as an old man of 27 - didn't recognize since I don't know what slang is hip with the kids these days. But no, apparently the prompt was supposed to literally involve butter.
Yeah, I have no idea either. If anyone has twitter and wants to ask the creators of Marcanne Week just what the hell was up with this prompt, be my guest. Eh, at least the rest of the week's prompts look like they'll be much more my style.
Stay tuned for the next installment. And remember to check out r/TheHughJarchive on Reddit if you like my writing and want to check out my original stories.