A/N: Special thanks to Dr. Exposition. This was originally an idea of his and with his permission, I took what he had already written up, added, and expanded to it.
It was a cool day in Amphibia, and our trio were busy having a private sleepover in the fwagon. Anne was dressed in her normal sleeping outfit, which consisted of a pair of sleep shorts, and a t-shirt. Marcy's was the same as it was in Newtopia, a shirt and a pair of pajama pants. Sasha's sleep wear consisted of a red shirt and black shorts. However, they weren't alone this night. Joining them in the sleepover was Polly and Sprig, and just like last time, the pink frog boy was dressed in his oversized shirt.
Sasha gave him a sideways glance the moment she saw Sprig coming into the fwagon and said, "Uh, since when are boys allowed to an all-girl sleepover?"
"Chill Sash, Sprig was at the last sleepover that Marcy and I had back in Newtopia, he's cool," said Anne.
"Yeah, Sash, I'm cool," said Sprig as he looked up at the blonde girl, smugly.
"Tch, you wish you were as cool as me," Sasha retorted.
Sprig gave her a narrowed eyed glare and added, "Least I didn't try to kill anyone."
"ONE TIME! I tried to kill you guys ONE TIME!"
"Okay! That's enough!" Anne shouted.
Sprig and Sasha went silent.
Anne took a deep breath and put her hands into a prayer position. "Guys, please, can we just have fun together tonight without any bickering or snide comments?"
Sprig and Sasha glanced at each other, and everyone swore they saw sparks clashing in the space between. Anne sighed and walked up to Sasha, without warning, the Thai teen draped her arms over Sasha's shoulders and gave the blonde cheerleading captain a kiss on the lips.
"A-A-Anne!" Sasha gasped.
"Please play nice tonight. For Marcy and me?" Anne pleaded with a half-lidded gaze and a flirty smile.
Sasha couldn't fight it. Stupid sexy Boonchuy! "Alright, alright! You win, Anne! I'll play nice. Ugh, no fair using flirting to make me do what you want."
"Pot calling the kettle black, Waybright," Anne remarked.
"Touché."
Anne released Sasha and bent down to look Sprig in the eyes. "And Sprig, same goes for you. I just want us all to hang out and have fun tonight. Okay?"
Sprig sighed and eventually relented. "Fine, I won't start anything. But let's be honest, it'll probably be Sasha who starts something first."
"Considering how annoying you are, unlikely," Sasha commented.
"Guys!"
"Sorry!" Sasha and Sprig apologized.
Anne walked over to the table and started to set up her phone. As she did, Marcy walked on over and said, "Looks like you found a way to make Sashy do what you want."
Anne rolled her eyes. "I'm not using flirting to make her do stuff. I was just trying to diffuse the situation."
"But you liked it, right~?" Marcy teased.
Anne blushed. "…Maybe a little."
"Called it! Also, don't I get a kiss?" Marcy asked with an adorably pouty face.
Anne chuckled and leaned over, kissing Marcy on the lips as she did Sasha. "Of course, you do, Mar-Mar. Go and get the snacks ready, I'm going to find us a movie to watch."
"On it, Anna-Banana!"
Anne watched as Marcy went to get the snacks she had gathered in preparation for tonight, and as she did, Polly hopped onto the table and asked, "You guys aren't going to be sucking face all night, are you?"
"Polly!" Anne exclaimed with a blush.
"What? I'm just asking, 'cause in that case, I'm just going to haul Sprig out of here with me and leave you guys to it," said Polly.
Anne shook her head. "No, we're not going to be 'sucking face' all night. This is a sleepover for all of us. I'll tone down the throuple stuff."
"Hey, it doesn't bother me if you do throuple stuff, but if you want privacy, just say the word."
Anne gently patted her adopted little sister on the head said, "Thanks, Polly. But don't worry, you won't have to worry about anything tonight."
The sun was nearly about to set, and everything had been set up inside the fwagon. Pillows were scattered about the floor for optimal seating, and snacks were placed nearby and within easy grabbing range. And the phone was perfectly positioned for the best viewing experience. Anne sat down first, getting herself comfortable, but then Marcy plopped herself right between Anne's legs and laid her head against her lover's chest.
"M-Marcy!" Anne exclaimed.
"Yeah, Anne?" Marcy asked innocently. "What's wrong?"
"Yeah, Anne, what's wrong?" Sasha asked with a teasing tone.
"I – uh – well – n-nothing, nothing's wrong," said Anne.
"Cool beans!" Marcy replied.
Anne's face was red as she felt Marcy nestle herself into a comfortable position before finally settling. The Thai teen had her arms up the entire time, unsure where to put them right now. Well, that's not true, she did know, but she was a tad nervous about doing so.
Marcy seemed to notice Anne's hesitation and said, "Anne, you can put your arms around me." Without warning, the teen genius grabbed ahold of Anne's arms and brought them around her midsection. "There you go!"
Anne gulped.
"Boo, Mar-Mar you stole my spot," Sasha pouted.
"Oh, sorry Sash," Marcy apologized.
"It's okay. Hey, Anne, lift your left arm for a sec."
Anne looked at Sasha and said, "Okay…?" She released her arm from around Marcy's stomach and held it up.
Once she had, Sasha scooted herself right into that spot, laying her head against Anne's left shoulder and bringing that arm down to drape over Sasha's shoulders, at the same time, Sasha reached over with her right and intertwined her fingers with Marcy's left hand.
"There we go, all cuddled up," Sasha remarked.
Marcy was blushing, Anne was blushing, and Sprig was mentally barfing at how Sasha weaseled her way into that. Sasha seemed to notice the sour face that Sprig was making at the time, turned to him, and stuck her tongue out quickly before retracting it and turning her attention to the phone. The movie that Anne had on her phone was an old movie called "Mimic".
"Wow, is that what your world's cities are like?" Sprig asked.
"You mean in size? Yeah, there are lots of cities around the world as big or bigger," said Anne.
"Well, that, and the giant bug monsters," Sprig clarified.
"No, that's just fiction. But there are documented cases millions of years ago where – due to oxygenation levels in the atmosphere – insects and mammals were as huge as the ones here in Amphibia. I still can't figure out how that works here since the oxygen levels seem to be the same as Earth's current atmosphere–" Marcy got her head bopped. "Hey!"
"Nerding out again, Marc," said Sasha.
"Sorry," Marcy apologized.
Anne lightly chuckled and patted the spot Sasha bonked. "It's cool, you are cute when you nerd out."
"Adorkable is more like it," Sasha remarked.
Marcy made a pouty face and said, "Why is it that I'm always just the 'cute one'?"
"Cause you are," Anne and Sasha stated in unison.
Sprig went back to watching the movie, but as he did, something peculiar caught his attention. It was nighttime, and yet, there seemed to be a bluish light coming through the windows. "Wait…that can't be possible."
The pink frog hopped to his feet and quickly walked to the window that was closest to the house. That's when he saw the windows in the house boarded up, and a sign placed on the door. There was bluish light bathing everything around outside, a light that was very familiar. Sprig focused on the sign and managed to read what it said.
IT'S THE BLUE MOON!
Sprig's eyes widened as he yelled, "THE BLUE MOON!"
Anne and Polly's eyes widened with shock when they heard that.
"THE BLUE MOON?!" Polly yelled.
"AGAIN!? I thought that was only an annual thing?!" Anne asked.
"NOT TONIGHT, LOOK!"
Anne bolted from her seated position, throwing Sasha and Marcy off her as she and Polly rushed to the window and saw the sign that Hop Pop had put on the door. The familiar blue hue of the moon was bathing over everything, verifying Sprig's words.
"Close all the blinds and barricade the doors!" Anne ordered.
"ON IT!" Sprig and Polly exclaimed.
Sasha and Marcy watched as Anne, Polly, and Sprig closed all the blinds and began to move what furniture wasn't nailed to the floor to the front door and used others to keep the windows covered. Sasha and Marcy were completely confused. When it was over, Anne, Sprig and Polly sat back-to-back on the floor, huffing from the rush job they had to do.
"Uh, okay, I'll bite. What the heck was all that about?" Sasha asked.
"It's the Blue Moon!" Anne exclaimed.
"Yeah, you guys were yelling that a lot. I mean, what's got you all so freaked out about it?"
"There's one time of night every year when the moon releases a supernatural blue glow. And anything caught out at night and gazes upon the glow of the moon will be transformed into hideous beast!" Sprig explained.
Sasha deadpanned upon hearing that. "Okay, wait a minute. I think Grime told me about this one time. But we were on the run, so we really didn't get to move around that much. But, c'mon, you really don't believe in that stuff, do you?"
Anne rushed over and got right in Sasha's face, placing her hands on either side of her girlfriend's head as she stared seriously into Sasha's eyes. "I DO! Because Polly turned into a monster the last time this happened! And it took Maddie, me, and Sprig days to get her back to normal!"
"I do miss the monster strength, night vision, heat vision, and the ability to snap bones in half with my jaws and bare hands. But, yeah, totally became a monster," said Polly.
"Oh my, frog! Oh my, frog! This is amazing! I read all about this in the Newtopian library! They even have a holiday centered around it called the Blue Moon Shut-In," said Marcy, giddily.
"Not a holiday!" Anne and the Plantars retorted.
Marcy giggled. "Sorry."
Sasha crossed her arms and looked at Marcy. "So, what happens during this 'Shut-In' thing?"
"Well, like in Newtopia, everyone barricades themselves in their homes for the night. And to pass the time, they tell scary stories."
Sasha perked up when she heard this. "Oh, like scary campfire stories, huh?"
Anne decided to chime in. "Yes and no. The stories have to have actually happened and be scary even to remind us…NOT TO GO OUTSIDE."
Everyone scooted a couple of inches away from Anne as her voice echoed on that last bit.
Marcy started to look at the blue light that was seeping from the cracks here and there. Her mind was already at work trying to figure out what kind of radiation or supernatural force could cause such a physical transformation. I wonder if it would be the same for humans? Or if it's just a unique physical reaction to the Amphibians here? "Maybe we should study it? This is a rare occasion that the Blue Moon would appear twice in one year."
"Yeah, I don't know why it's back, but we're definitely not going outside," said Sprig as he glanced a Polly.
"What?! I'm not going to do that again," said Polly.
"I'm still watching you."
Sasha shrugged and sat down in the middle of the fwagon. "Okay, this sounds like fun. So, who's first?"
"Oh! Oh! Me! Me!" Marcy jumped up excitedly before plopping her rear onto the floor. "Okay, I've always wanted to tell you guys this story, but I was waiting for the right moment. And I think now is the best time!"
Anne, Sprig, and Polly joined up and formed a circle, as they waited for Marcy to tell her story. The Taiwanese teen took out her cellphone and made the light shine up under her chin, making it cast eerie shadows on her face.
"Alright, so this is an urban legend from Japan," Marcy began.
"What's a 'Japan'?" Sprig interrupted.
"A country on Earth."
"Sprig, don't interrupt," Polly scolded, punching her brother's arm. "Carry on, Marcy."
"OK, so long ago, a samurai married a beautiful woman. However, his wife was unfaithful to him so when he caught his wife with another man, he killed the man then slit his wife's mouth from ear-to-ear," Marcy continued. The Plantars gasped. "Before she died from blood loss, he asked her, 'Do you think you're pretty now'?"
"Is that the end?" Sprig asked.
"No, it was only the beginning," Mercy said grimly. "Since then, her spirit wanders the streets. She wears a long trench coat and a medical mask to hide the horrible slits her husband cut into her cheeks. If you encounter her, she will ask you, 'Do you think I'm pretty?' What happens next depends on how you answer."
"So, what happens if you say no?" Anne asked.
"Oh, she kills you with her scissors," Marcy answered bluntly.
"Oh, so the correct answer is, yes?" Sasha asked.
"Oh, if you say that, then she'll remove her mask and show you her slitted mouth before giving you the same look."
"Yikes!"
"So, what is the right answer?" Polly asked.
"Just tell her she's average," Marcy said. "Or ask her the same questions she asks you. Some even claim that throwing candy at her feet will stop her."
"That usually stops me," Polly agreed.
"Now, that I've caught you up, let me tell you about a time I encountered this urban legend in a story I like to call…"
