Chapter 3: Connecting
Thai-Go (original location)
The remains of several dishes (pad see ew, panang curry, dumplings, green papaya salad, and both shrimp and pineapple fried rice – all peanut free because they wanted Marcy to live), plus the last third of a bottle of one of the better Napa whites, decorated the table. Dinner here always was one of the highlights of those rare occasions when all three of them could get together.
"I.. *hic* I have no idea what you're talking about," Marcy was denying.
"Oh, c'mon," Anne insisted. "The main characters are named Nan, Tasha, and – and clearly you weren't even trying at this point – Larci."
"Coincidence. Nothing more." She blushed. "And it's short for 'Larcellia.'"
"Mmm-hmm… well, how about this." She navigated to the proper page on her phone. "Our heroes are stalked by 'Commander Vunan…'" She suddenly stood up on the chair and struck a dramatic pose. "BANE OF THE STARDUST WARS, CONQUEROR OF XOLNAR THE DREADED, ANNNND…" She suddenly lost her balance and toppled, only to be caught by Sasha.
"Stop rubbing my sobriety in my face," the blonde grumbled.
"Somebody has to drive, and you've got the car," noted Marcy.
"She's right. Rule #... something… or other…"
"I never agreed to any rules. *sigh* Was it always like this? Were you two unbearable when we weren't all exactly the same level of inebriation?
"Oh, you love us, Sashyyyy," slurred Marcy.
"You looooove us…" Anne echoed.
"Right. No more for you two," Sasha declared, snatching the bottle away just as Anne was reaching for it.
"Nooooo…" whimpered Anne.
"Someone has to be the responsible one here. You two can not be trusted."
"'Zat your professional opinion, Doctor Waybright?" teased Anne.
"It's so weird…" commented Marcy.
"What is?" asked Sasha.
"I'm the only one who isn't a doctor."
"Well, now that you mention it…" Anne remarked. "Weren't you supposed to have solved cold fusion by now? And you… you are neither gatekeeping, nor gaslighting, nor girlbossing. None of us are where we thought we'd end up."
"And where did you think you'd end up?" asked Marcy.
"That's the thing… I never even thought about where I'd end up. I never really thought about the future at all, other than 'I can't wat 'til I can drive' or 'College parties are gonna be awesome.' Vague stuff about stuff like that, sure, but, like, concrete goals and junk? Never."
"That made two of us," Marcy admitted.
"…seriously?"
"Seriously! I was always thinking about the next video game or the next anime to drop, but what I wanted to do with my life? Other than 'more video games and more anime?' I had no idea. *snicker* Mom and dad, they had goals for me. I was gonna go to the best college, I was gonna go to the best med school, I was gonna be the best, most prestigious doctor… clearly none of that happened."
"But you're happy, right?" Sasha prompted.
"Darn right I am! Man, you should've seen their faces when I told them I was going to art school. They were furious! But… it felt soooo good. An' just look at me now! Who said an art degree wouldn't get you anywhere? They did! An' theyyyy… were… WRONG! Heh heh heh…" She leaned back I her chair and toppled over. Sasha just shook her head. "I'm okay!" Marcy drunkenly assured, waving from the floor.
"…so… might be time to go home…" Anne remarked.
"Oh yeah," Sasha agreed, "But maybe after we clean up. Don't wanna leave your folks a mess for tomorrow."
"Yeah, that would be bad," agreed Anne. Thai-Go had three locations now, so her parents wouldn't necessarily be at this particular one, but you could never be sure. "So… uh… Marcy… where are you staying?"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Sasha assured. "I already talked to Dawn, ad he's fine with her staying with us during her-"
"Nonsense!" interrupted Anne. "She's staying with me. Three's a crowd, after all…"
"Well, it's up to Marcy if she wants to…"
"Sounds okey-dokey t'me!" answered Marcy tipsily.
"If you're sure," Sasha replied, giving Anne a knowing look. What was she implying? Anne was simply being a good friend, offering up her living space to save Marcy the cost of a motel room and Sasha and her girlfriend the hassle of a houseguest. There was no deeper meaning to this! None! The fact that Anne felt her cheeks getting warm every time she looked at Marcy was simply the consequence of the alcohol and a lot of spicy food, nothing more.
"Totally. It's gonna be great."
Anne awoke to the sound of her phone going off. Half-consciously she groped for the device, her hangover-addled eyes attempting to focus enough to register the caller. ID BLOCKED, the screen read. Not mom and dad, not Sasha, not work, not Dr. Jan, not anyone she knew. Probably some telemarketer or scam artist, she figured. No big loss there. She tapped the "ignore caller" button and set it down.
The sun was peeking through her blinds… there was no sense in going back to sleep no matter how much she wanted to. She rolled out of bed, bracing herself for the dizziness as she stood.
As she staggered toward the bathroom to splash some water on her face, she glanced at the living room couch, where Marcy slept peacefully. Anne had offered her the bed but she'd refused.
She took a moment to just watch, losing herself in the rhythm of her slow, even breathing. How is she so adorable? she found herself thinking. Where had that come from?
Where had any of this come from, really? She wasn't attracted to Marcy… at least, she hadn't thought she was. Sasha, sure… they'd even tried dating for a bit after the return, mostly due to the fact that nobody else could really understand what they went through… but it hadn't lasted, and they soon decided they worked better as friends. And as their time in Amphibia continued to recede into the past and they developed new, and divergent, interests, they drifted towards new friend groups and new relationships (sometimes unexpected ones – if you'd told 13-year-old Anne that she would take Jamie Krieger, of all people, to prom, she would call you a dirty liar). They still remained very good friends, they simply weren't attached at the hip any more. It was an entirely natural, and healthy process, as Sasha herself would tell you.
Unlike with Sasha, Anne rarely saw Marcy in person. They would video chat sometimes, though not as often as she would have liked; for the most part, they lived very different lives on opposite sides of the country, and had very little reason to interact most of the time.
But she was here, now, and Anne found that it was getting very difficult to think of anything but her. Was this the inverse of "out of sight, out of mind" at play? Or perhaps her rather lackluster love life as of late was coming into play here. It had been a long time since her last date, and maybe just about anyone was looking good to her.
And even if this was the real thing, the odds were that Marcy wouldn't be interested back. Marcy'd never been particularly interested in romance, at least not for herself. Shipping, oh, yes, she could ship 'til the end of time, that was one thing the two of them had in common, but dating? She wasn't sure Marcy had ever mentioned seeing anyone in all the time they'd known each other.
So perhaps it was better that Anne just dropped all thoughts of it from her mind.
Right, then. Focus on things that were doable. Coffee. Coffee was doable. And breakfast. What did she have? Half a box of Bibbsy Puffs, some eggs… had she finished the last of the frozen waffles? It was hard to think.
She had just set the pot of coffee to brew when the doorbell rang. Who could possibly be calling on her this early in the morning? If it was her next-door neighbor accusing her of stealing her paper again – honestly, who actually got the newspaper delivered in this day and age?
She glanced through the peephole and was greeted with a shiny, brown, bad head. No… no way. It couldn't be. Not after all this time. Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the door.
He was much as she remembered him, a few years older, a few more wrinkles… if he had any hair, she was sure it would be graying. But he still wore those red-framed glasses that were probably loaded with all sorts of high-tech gadgetry and that stylish purple tuxedo jacket with its yellow carnation boutonniere that probably shot lasers and junk.
"Ms… sorry, Dr. Boonchuy – congratulations on that, by the way – this wouldn't be a bad time, would it?"
Anne resisted the urge to slam the door in his face. She was way too hung over for this right now, but she was under no illusion that Secret Agent Man was going to just go away. "No," she said sarcastically, "I just love being bothered at my apartment first thing in the morning by someone I haven't seen in ten years."
"Well, you're no less sassy than you were back in the day, stringbean. Look… I wouldn't be bothering you without a reason. The truth is… we've got a situation."
"Talk fast. Anne no have coffee yet, brain no work good. Bullet points, please."
"More of a tea man, myself… very well. It seems we have a visitor from a world that you're pretty familiar with."
All of a sudden, the hangover haze seemed to simply melt away and she felt everything go into focus. "Someone from Amphibia is here?"
"Yes. See, there's this issue with a temple in the Amazon that keeps vanishing and reappearing… and now we know where it's going."
"And the visitor…?"
"Is a newt by the name of Bella Carbunkle. She claims to have been investigating the temple in her own dimension,"
"Oh," Anne said, disappointed. As soon as she'd heard "visitor from Amphibia", her hopes had kicked into overdrive. It could be Sprig, Ivy, Maddie, Hop Pop, Polly (she'd be a grown frog by now, would Anne even be able to recognize her?). The odds had probably not been in her favor, but she could always hope. But no, it wasn't any of the people she'd been hoping to see. She did vaguely remember a Bella… hadn't she worked at that wax museum? No… that wasn't it… then again, it had been a long time, it was okay if she got some details wrong. "It's interesting, but why did you come to me?"
"Well… there are only a few people on Earth who know about Amphibia, and most of them already work for me. But you're one of the only three who spent time there, which may prove useful if we really have found a way there. Of course, it doesn't hurt that you're also a herpetologist."
"You know what I do for a living," Anne observed.
"Honey, we're the government. We know everything."
"Heeey, Anne," a sleepy voice piped up from behind. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, Marcy, go back to sleep," Anne advised.
"No way… Marcy Wu's here too? How convenient is that? I knew she was in town, but I had no idea she'd be here."
Crap. "Uh… no… no, she's not that Marcy… she's a different-"
"Whoa, it's that Mr. X guy!" And just like that, she was right behind her and any hope of cover was blown. "Are you here to recruit Anne for some kinda secret mission? Have you done it before? ARE YOU A SECRET AGENT, ANNE? Is the museum job your cover? Ohmygosh, are you gonna have to wipe my mind now? I'm not done using it yet!"
"Actually, we need people who have experience with Amphibia… and you certainly qualify. So…" He raised a perfectly-plucked eyebrow expectantly. "How'd you like to go on one more adventure?"
"OH MY GOD, YES! CAN WE, ANNE?"
Anne sighed. "Look, Mar-Mar, I know you work on your own schedule, but I have to clock in at the museum in about-"
"Oh, don't worry about that, we've smoothed things over with your supervisor."
"You can do that?"
Mr. X flashed his badge. "The government, remember?"
Anne took one look at Marcy's eyes, which had grown almost cartoonishly puppy-dog-like.
"Okay. We're in."
A.N.: And so, the plot threads are coming together! And if you're sensing a bit of Marcanne brewing, well… I'm not saying anything.
Notthenightslayer: I don't know exactly when we'll be seeing Dawn in person. A couple of relevant tidbits: she's an EMT and she resembles Nafessa Williams from Black Lightning.
Snake screamer: Well, Sash was designated driver, but he did catch two of them in the throes of a hangover.
iron maker 2: Let's just say that situation caused a LOT of headaches.
Jose: Thanks
Kokomo: Owl House and Star vs. the Forces of Evil, plus The Ghost and Molly McGee in ch. 1
Reishin Amara: There's a reason they don't like talking about it.
Mando Whiskey: Thanks, I went back and fixed it.
Next: What's happening n Wartwood?
