Star vs The Forces of Evil
Earthni Sweet Symphony
Disclaimer: Star vs The Forces of Evil was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of Star vs.
Episode 4: Vet & Breakfast
Episode Summary: Star & Marco volunteer to take care of Jackie & Chloe for a day after a skating incident leaves them stuck in bed. Meanwhile, in the wake of the mayor's blowup, the Butterfly family commences a search for someone who could potentially lead Echo Creek, Earthni into a better world.
Original Release Date: August 23, 2021
"Come on, Jackie, open up the tunnel. The Choo-Choo's coming..."
Thanks to the decision by Jackie & Chloe to attempt some insanely difficult skating tricks, they both found themselves stuck in bed for a few days while their sprains healed. Given the nasty wipeouts they both experienced, it was a miracle that they suffered only sprains. While they were by no means completely incapacitated, Star & Marco still volunteered to look after them and Jackie's house for the day so that both skater girls could rest up.
"Choo-Choo?" Jackie found herself laughing at Star, who was attempting to spoon feed her some soup. "Do I look like a five year old?"
"No you most certainly don't, Miss Lynn Thomas." Star responded while holding the spoon. "Five year olds aren't nearly as h...cute...cute as you." An awkward chuckle from Star that slowly stopped before she fed Jackie her spoon full of soup.
"What was that all about, Miss Princess Girl?"
"Okay I was gonna say "Five year olds aren't nearly as hot as you" but then I realized how bad that sounded soooo awkward save!"
"'Awkward' being the key word here, ladies." Chloe chimed in, happily teasing them both for their behavior. Meanwhile, Marco got hre a sip of soup ready.
"Soooo how did you two hurt yourselves again?" He asked them, changing the convesation and saving Star any more self-inflicted shame.
"We were trying to pull off a new trick. I call it the "Forward Tubular 1080." Jackie explained. "It's when you tuck your head in between your legs and flip forward three times while landing the back wheels on the pipe first before the front wheels."
"That...sounds physically impossible."
"Yeah, and those are the types of tricks that get you noticed professionally. Sometimes you just have to take a chance."
"The doctors told us we were lucky to only have sprained our ankles with the way we landed." Chloe jumped in.
"It was one of our nastiest wipeouts ever, but it was so gnarly!"
"Were you girls wearing your helmets & pads?" Marco the Safe Kid had returned, to which the three other girls in the room could only chuckle.
"Yes, Dad, we did."
"Marco can you go one day without being a Safe Kid?" Star joked with him as the two switched, Star tending to Chloe & Marco tending to Jackie.
"My programming doesn't permit that." He joked back as he took a spoonful of soup and fed it to Jackie.
"You know, you guys don't have to stay here the whole day."
"Yes, this is hardly our first crash." Chloe added to the mix. "This isn't even our worst injury."
"Oh yeah, we totally wiped out this one time in France while we were trying to skate around the Eiffel Tower. I broke my arm & Chloe dislocated her shoulder. It was soooo nasty! This...this is just a sprain."
"Yeah, and we wanna keep it that way. The more you stay off of your feet now, the better off you'll be."
A playfully eye roll ensued from Jackie as she reached out to playfully punch Marco's arm. "Fine, then, Mr. Doctor Diaz. If you guys are gonna stick around for the day, maybe you could help me out with something?" Both Star and Marco's faces contorted, the wheels in their heads going a mile a minute. What could that possibly mean? "Slow down, guys. It's no big deal. Today was the day I was gonna clean out the basement, surprise my folks. We have a lot of junk just piling up down there that's gotta get tossed."
For the two lovebirds, a sigh of relief as all of the doomsday scenarios they planted in their own heads were for naught. "Uh, that's not so bad. I mean w-we weren't planning on stay the whole day or-"
"I'll give you guys each fifty bucks."
"SOLD!" Leave it to Star to jump at the chance for a little extra money. "Just do us a favor, make a list of everything that needs to go and we'll totally take care of it."
Jackie hesitated, taking a deep breath. "Uhh, it might be easier for me to make a list of everything that needs to stay. It'd be a much shorter list, if you catch my drift."
Both lovebirds exchanged looks at each other & quietly gulped, quickly preparing themselves mentally for the potential horrors they could face. Star knew all too well what it was like to have a room that was a complete disaster, as in her hayday she was incredibly proficient in keeping her room and her bathroom unorganized. Marco handed the girl a pen & notepad and she began writing. "Hey when you're done with that, can I borrow it?"
Jackie hesitated, clearly confused. "Sure, but why?"
"Oh nothing. I just need to write out a will in case we don't make it out of here today."
That got a laugh out of her and everyone else. "You guys will totally be fine! We keep the basement clean, it's just...super messy & stuff."
"Yeah, sometimes you just have to dig deep & just get it done. Then everything seems to feel more clear & less foggy."
"Okay, you girls all set here?" Marco asked, to which both playfully nodded. "Alright, I'll leave my phone on. You girls need anything, just call, and Dr. Diaz will take care of everything. Just stay off your feet today, okay?" In his rush to play doctor & leave so he could clean up the basement, he unconsciously kissed both Chloe & Jackie on their cheeks like an overprotective father. "Love you!" And it was only after he & Star had started to leave that he had realized what he had done. Fortunately for him, both were such good sports & merely laughed it off, with Jackie in particular taking extra humor out of the situation. Star had to quickly lead the boy out of the room and carefully close the door behind them. For Marco's part, he was concealing an incredibly dark shade of red on his face. Star herself couldn't help but giggle at his perpetual embarrassment. "Not one word, Miss Bubble Butt."
"Keep calling me that and I'll take it to my grave." She joked before pecking his cheek. "Come on, let's go."
At the Butterfly Castle, as a light snow fall began to grace Echo Creek, Moon, Rivera, Eclipsa, & Globgor found themselves in the study, still steaming over their confrontation with the Echo Creek mayor not a week prior. So many differing, conflicting thoughts ran through each of their minds. What happened to create a rift between them, as they had all assumed the working relationship was fine? Why did the mayor feel the need to attack Star? And for her mental health issues of all things? Was he under a tremendous amount of stress, not unlike the kind Star & the Butterflies used to find themselves under? Was he simply corrupt & attempting a power play?
It was clear to them at the moment that they needed to find the answers. That would be the only way they could move forward, either with a repaired relationship with the mayor...or someone else running the show. After all, this was Mewni, and those dagnabbed Mewmans didn't believe in elections. Except that this was now Earthni and the U.S.'s method of government had been installed as the primary one - much to the Butterfly family's relief, as it meant they had less responsibility on their plate.
Oh, and Janna & Tom were also with them today because reasons. "So we just gonna sit here pretending we know how to meditate, or is someone actually gonna say something?" Janna asked, finally breaking the increasingly uncomfortable ice in the room.
"Forgive the uncomfortable silence. We're all having a difficult time devising our next move." River explained, looking around the room and settling on one of the corners, where baby Miles was joyfully playing with baby Meteora, keeping them both distracted from the political discussions.
"What's that supposed to mean exactly? 'Next move?'" Tom asked, taking note of the tension contorting everyone's faces.
"You know what happened last week, do you not?" Moon asked them.
"Yeah, Star told us, that stupid blow up with the head people in charge of this nation."
Janna groaned & promptly turned to her boyfriend. "Okay, for the last time, he's not the leader of the country, just this little town. There's more than just this little town out here on what used to be Earth, dude." She sighed, composed herself, then turned to the rest of the Butterfly family. "So...what? You're thinking he needs to be replaced or whatever?"
"Well, we're not entirely sure at the moment." Moon explained. "We're not entirely fond of him at the moment, but I still believe we're a long ways away from talks of replacing him with a committee or the likes."
"A committee...? You mean an election?"
"...A what now?"
"You do understand that when that whole portal explosion happened your people took on our government, right?"
"...Yes, I don't-"
"That means the way that you did things when Mewni was still its own dimension don't work here anymore. We here in what used to be the United States have these things called "elections." That's where we democratically elect the people we want & think will be the best people to lead us for however long their terms are. It varies on state & elected position." A quick survey of the Butterfly adults and even Tom made Janna realize that it wasn't quite sinking in for them. She loudly sighed, then shuffled over to one of the corners of the office to grab the whiteboard that was inexplicably sitting there for some reason. "Okay, quick crash course..."
30 minutes later...
"And then the final vote tallies are shuffled over to the judge presiding over the election & the results are ratified." She huffed as she finished burning her wrist out writing on the white board & turning to the adults. "Any questions." Eclipsa immediately raised her hand. "Yes?"
"So all of those men & women in the robes...why are their first names "Judge?" Won't that cause some sort of confusion in communications?"
All Janna could do was twitch her eye & hold back her burning desire to strangle her. "You're doing this to me on purpose, aren't you?"
"What she means..." Tom stepped in to quickly diffuse any potential violent events that could transpire. "Is that things are very different now for you all, and we all need to adjust to it if we're going to make it through."
"That's all fine and good, but where does that leave us now?" Moon asked.
"Well, if you really think this guy's out of his league & someone can do better, then find someone who wants to do it & have them run for mayor." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw River's hand start to go up into the air. " No, not actual running. There is no physical activity involved in an election." And just as quickly, his hand went down. "That reminds me, how's the sumo career thing going?"
"The what...Oh, heavens, I knew I've been neglecting something!" Was River's response. Yes, apparently every since declaring his desire to take up sumo wrestling as a hobby...he's forgotten to do so. Because River.
"Anyways, the election is, like, 8 months away, so if you think you can find someone to run against him, be our guest. But hurry."
"What is your mayor normally like? Is he known for being brass & attitudinal towards his constituents?"
Janna shrugged. "Sometimes. He's one of those people that's almost always convinced that his way is the right way, and that nobody can tell him he's wrong. It's bitten him - and consequently us - in the butt more than a few times."
"Yes, that is a rather terrible attitude to take for any sort of leadership..." Moon quietly said to nobody in particular.
"His track record doesn't scream, like, evil or irredeemably corrupt, but when he's convinced he's right, he'll get in your face about it, especially when he's challenged. Fortunately, in the country land we live in, you can't be detained for simply disagreeing with government officials, no matter what the guy with the lousy spray tan wanted to think."
"That doesn't really jump out as a leader who wants to serve all of his constituents equally."
"You're never going to have a perfect system. Neither monarchies nor democracies nor any other government system can ever be perfect. The goal is just to stride to be better, and in democracies, we have elections that help us achieve that."
Tom found himself fancied & impressed by Janna's articulation. "And here I thought you of all people wouldn't care about politics."
"Unfortunately lately "not caring about politics" isn't an option. So, that leaves us with today's dillema..." She turned back to the Butterflies again. "Who would you want to put against him in an election?"
"What about Star?" Eclipsa suggested. "According to the bylaws she's technically old enough to initiate a campaign."
This elicited a laugh out of Janna. "Ha ha, yeah...no. Be serious."
"Wha-"
"You're not gonna do that to her. She's just now, finally, turning a corner and we're not going to put her in this situation to screw her up again. She's good at making others happy, but there's more to being a politician than that. It's just a bad choice."
After a brief silence, a light bulb went off in Tom's head. "What about you?" He suggested Janna, who winced even harder at that notion.
"That's an even worse idea!"
Back to the Starco story, where the two lovebirds found themselves being eaten alive at the massive mounds of garbage & disposables surrounding them in Jackie's basement. As it turned out, it was still challenging to sift through the piles & pull out what Jackie & her family wanted to keep, even if the list of such desireables was quite short. "Where's that skateboarding book?" Star asked with a huff as she struggled to drag her feet through the trash. Marco, in another corner, was sifting through & eventually managed to pull it out.
"Got it!" He shouted, holding it high in the air. "Skateboarding for Stupid People." He tossed it to Star, who subesquently tossed it into a desginated pile away from everything else. "What about that old family photo album?"
"There's, like, five different ones here." Star commented, noting to Marco's confusion how there were five separate binders with photos in them. Inconveniently, Jackie's list did not designate which one or ones were for keeping and which ones were for tossing. "She didn't specify."
"Well technically, she said "The gray one." Marco added before silently noting that they were all the same color.
"That's really helpful here, Marco."
"Maybe we should just skim through them & judge for ourselves which ones can stay?"
This idea was met with a playful gasp from Star. "Marco! Aren't you the one that's always telling me we should respect people's privacy?"
"Yeah, I know, but the other solution is to just trash all five of these."
"Ooooorrrrr keep them?"
"We're trying to get rid of stuff for her, not hoard more junk."
Another playful eyeroll before Star relented. "Fine, we'll just look at them real quick." She grabbed one of the binders and flipped it open. It was a binder featuring photos of her and Chloe being together, doing things like skateboarding, sharing ice cream, snuggling under a tree at night, etcetera. Normal, cute couple stuff. "Aww, look at them. They're so cute together."
"I'm glad they're happy together." Marco responded with a smile on his face as he opened up another album. This one contained photos of Jackie & Marco together, doing similar stuff, minus the skateboarding since the safe kid was always so bad at it. "Oh, uh..."
Before he could even contemplate the idea of hiding it from her, Star gained sight of the album & peered over for a closer look. "Aww, look at you two! Oh my gosh, Marco, you look so adorable with her. Look at that awkward smile. You're with the girl you were crushing on for years and having a blast."
"Nah, that boy was being silly & kinda clue-" Marco found his lips being forcibly closed by Star's fingers.
"Don't do that." She told him. "Don't minimize the good times you had with her for my sake. Come on, dude, look at you. You were having a great time. Nothing wrong with that."
He shrugged but couldn't bring himself to look at her. "It was fun, and she is pretty fun to hang out with."
"And she's smokin' hot too, can't forget that part."
"You still have the hots for her, don't you?"
"Oh. majorly, totally..." She quickly replied as she felt her face turn a dark shade of red. "We totally need to have another sleepover with her one of these days." She gently tossed the photo album to the side and opened up another one. This new album contained photos of...Star & Jackie together. "What the-" Most of the pictures were selfies Jackie had taken of her & Star hanging out & having a good time together like girl best friends did. But Star & Marco couldn't help but notice an increasingly red blush on Star's face with each new selfie, culminating with a picture of Marco, Star & Jackie sleeping soundly on the bed from their sleepover a few months back; Jackie & Star were snuggled rather closely together & Star had by far the darkest blush on her face of any of the photos.
"Wow, we sure know how to have fun together." Marco joked; while there weren't as many pictures of Star & Jackie together as there were in the prior two albums, it was still obvious that Jackie treasured her friendship with Star. He took note of the last photo, the one of the slumber party. "Even when you're out cold you can't help but feel tingly for her." He playfully teased.
"That's an understatement." Star herself found her blush getting even stronger.
"We sure had a lot of fun at that sleepover, didn't we?"
"We did. And it was super nice of Jackie to let us share a bed with her."
"Because we got to nap really close to her, right?" The boy teasingly nudged Star's arm, which only helped to sustain her blush.
"Well it does have its benefits."
"Such as?"
"Well..." She looked away rather embarrassed for a brief moment before returning her gaze to his brown eyes. "You know how I've been saying I don't understand how you can possibly be aroused by me snoring like a lumberjack?" He silently nodded, noting how she turned to stare at the Jackie in the photo, then back at him again. "I get it now."
"...Oh?" When all was said and done later that day, they were going to have a hearty laugh about this. "Huh."
"Tell anyone I said that and I will kill you."
"Noted."
"She's just so dang hot. She's got such a nice bod and such a pretty face, and those little...erm, what do you Earth people call them? Freckles? They're cute as heck & they bring out her eyes and her squishy cheeks an-Marco if you don't smack me soon this is never going to stop." All the boy could do was laugh at his girlfriend struggling to keep her composure. While at this point Star had hashed out her attraction to Jackie with Jackie, the attraction still remained, and strongly. But it wasn't like Jackie - or even Chloe for that matter - was bothered by it. If anything, she found it charming that Star was wrestling with her hormones & her budding bisexuality. She always had a soft spot for Star. "Can you believe I was her first girl crush?"
"Honestly? Yeah, I can totally buy it." He leaned in & pecked her cheek. "Who wouldn't like you? You're cute, you're peppy, you're passionate-"
"Oh jeez stop you're gonna make my face explode."
"I'm not going to lie about you, if that's what you're asking." They moved past the Star/Jackie album & opened up one of the final two remaining: this one did not contain pictures featuring anyone Star or Marco recognized. In actuality, these were pictures of Jackie's family, consisting of her parents when they wed, pictures of them with their own respective parents, pictures of them caring for a toddler Jackie. "Aww, this must be her family."
"Aww, she was so cute as a widdle baby." Star's "Mama Star" switched had inexplicably been turned on at the sight of toddler Jackie. "What a pretty smile, I wanna pinch those chubby cheeks." Her eyes then went wide as she quickly turned to Marco. "Her face."
"I figured. She is an adorable little tyke."
"She's always been adorable." They closed the book on that and opened up the final album, gold-colored. This time, there was absolutely nobody in any of the pictures that Star or Marco could even hope to recognize. "That's weird. I recognize Jackie's parents, but...not most of these other people. Marco...you got anything?" She turned to see that his face was wrinkled with nerves, giving her her answer.
"Not a clue. But they have to be important to her if she has an entire photo album dedicated to these people."
"Or she could've just misspoken. Maybe she made a mistake?"
"Maybe I should go ask her again just to make sure."
Star shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, go for it. I'll just see what else I can clean up here."
Well, Marco did just that. He made his way back to Jackie's bedroom, briefly peering in to see her & Chloe laughing in up in Jackie's bed. He gave a smile, then tip-toed in to not disturb them. "Hey, Jackie?"
"Oh, Marco!" The girl quickly interrupted him, clearly excited about something important. "Great timing! So get this: it turns out Chloe's parents were friends with my family before we had ever even met!"
"...Whoa." Marco immediately picked up on the excitement Jackie's smile elicited. He even had to let out a small one himself. "That's so cool!"
"Yeah, my folks and her folks spent all of their time together, they were like college buddies before life got in the way and they went their separate ways. But they kept a photo album of all the fun times they had as pals!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, it's the gold-colored binder. It's the only album of people I don't recognize. You mind bringing it in so we can reminisce?"
After a brief hesitation, he nodded in approval. "Sure, absolutely!" But as he went to turn around, he was blocked by Star's body standing there with a stone cold face on. "Oh, hey! Guess what? Jackie's folks & Chloe's folks used to be friends back in their young adult years."
While Star outwardly did not show any change in emotion at the moment, internally, she was beginning to put the pieces together. "Oh...is that right?"
"Life has a funny way of reuniting people, doesn't it?" Chloe chimed in.
"Yeah, there's a gold photo album in the basement that has all the photos of their families hanging out & having fun. Would you be a dear and bring it up for them?"
Again, no immediate change in face, but there were emotions brewing. "Yeah yeah sure sure sure...um, just...just give me a sec?" And she slowly started to back away down the hall. As soon as Marco turned away from her to face Jackie again, Star too turned and began running. Not for the basement...but for the front door.
Star, in her finite wisdom, decided that the gold photo album was not one that they needed to keep, and she decided to toss it. Coincidentially, a garbage truck had pulled up in front of the home, on its usual route of garbage collecting. So Star simply threw the album into the back of the truck and called it a day. And now...
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" As her muffled screams pierced the walls & Marco raced to raise the blinds, it was clear what was happening: Star was chasing after the garbage truck as fast as her legs could run. "WAIIIIIIT! COME BACK!" The truck had stopped at its next stop, allowing Star to catch up and leap into its storage area, where she promptly - without regard for her appearance - began digging around the trash, looking desperately for the album, all while Marco, Jackie, & Chloe looked on in total disbelief.
While that was going on, the Butterfly family found themselves, for a few hours, in the midst of sifting through potential candidates to run against the Echo Creek mayor . Unfortunately, aside from their vetting process showing they still didn't completely grasp the concept of "free and fair elections," the candidates they were initially "vetting" weren't remotely qualified to be anywhere near a position of governmental power. For example, first, there was Sensei Bradley.
"And what is it, young man, that you do for a living?"
"I dunno, I'm just sorta doin' my thing." He gave such a lazaire-faire answer that it almost spooked Moon & River into disgust. "After my karate dojo thing kinda blew up in my face I worked at that taco stand for a few months. Then I got fired because apparently you're not supposed to clip your toenails near the condiments. Now I'm just kinda freelancing."
"Such as?"
"...I don't know, I didn't think I'd get this far."
That was purely atrocious. The next one to be "interviewed" was Miss Skullnick, who was unamused by the set up.
"And how long have you been a mentor to younger species of your kind?"
A small period of silence before Skullnick found the wherewithall to answer. "Are you calling me an animal?"
"Ma'am, please, it's just a routine question." And Eclipsa's response did nothing to help the matter.
"Are you sure you people don't live in a cave? It would explain everything! At least it would explain why your daughter is such an oddball."
Unfortunately for Miss Skullnick, Moon was now in full "Protect Star" mode and did not take kindly to that little quip from her former teacher, even if it wasn't intended to be an offensive remark. "Thank you, Miss Skullnick, you may leave now."
"Oh don't tell me you're all hot and both-"
"I won't ask you nicely again."
The next "interview" was for Tip & Finnley, the two monster friends that former royal servant Manfred had befriended as a child but had to cut ties with due to Moon's then-increasing paranoia over the "monster threat" following the killing of her mother.
"If you were elected, what change would you immediately make to improve the lives of all of our citizens?"
Tip & Finnley both looked at each other for a brief moment before finally delivering...an answer. "Well, I don't know, I think I'd...I'd make it so, like, you couldn't use the forests a-and stuff to leave your garbage, cause you know people go in there and they just toss their garbage all around & it really stinks up the place."
"My dears, there are already laws on the books to prevent littering." Moon explained to them.
"Oh really? With all the garbage that's lying around the forest? What good is a "law" if it won't be enforced?"
"Now, now, boys-"
"Nonononono, they've got a point." Janna interrupted. "So what would you do to enforce the laws if you were to run for mayor & win?"
Both Tip & Finnley gave a glance towards each other before turning back to Janna. "I don't know," Tip stated. "We'd probably, like, hire some people to go beat up the perpetrators that keep littering & making the forest smell like raw sewage with their garbage."
"So...you'd hire cops?"
"I-I don't know, we've never done this before! Nobody said this was going to be a test!"
"This isn't a test!"
So that marked three separate "interviews" that flopped. The Butterflies were all left flustered & exasperated, while Janna was near ready to throw something. Yes, in the ultimate irony, Tom was the one needing to keep his new girlfriend calm & collected; visible frustration was not often seen on Janna's face. Fortunately for them, they were about to receive visitors that would ease the tensions & improve their situation vastly, as into the castle came none other than Buff Frog and his many children.
"Buff Frog, you magnificent bastard! We didn't hear the door!" River exclaimed, while Miles, still playing with Meteora, laid his eyes on Buff Frog & instantly squealed in delight.
"Buffy!" He yelled, dashing with his tiny feet pitter-pattering towards the large frog man and his kids.
"Forgive intrusion, friends. Lead Man in charge redirected me here."
"Lead m-oh the mayor!" Eclipsa exclaimed.
"Yes! About house projects. He instructed me to return here. Why?"
"Well...let's just say we and his people aren't exactly on nice terms at the moment. To make a long story short, his office is feeling overwhelmed over the recent projects we've undertaken to help settle the monsters and our mewman kind into competent homes across town. And as a result, he's started to take out his frustrations on us...namely Star."
"He's a big meanie!" Miles screamed, clearly agitated remembering that fateful day. But his mood perked up quickly when Buff Frog picked him up & planted him on his shoulder.
"So what is next move?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out. The truth is we just don't very much like him, and if that were it, we wouldn't be undergoing today's interviews."
"Interviews for what?"
"They're trying to find someone who can run against him for mayorship." Janna intervened. "The next election is later this year and they feel like it'd be better if someone else was running the show."
"Someone who truly understands the people, both from our original kingdom and from the place Marco and his people call their home world. The only person I can think of who could remotely fit that criteria is Star, and there's absolutely no way in corn I'm going to ask her to do that."
"Why not? She is qualified to lead." Buff Frog objected.
"Well, of course, none of us dispute that, but-"
"She is intelligent, kind, forgiving, she is passionate about cause. We need passionate leader to guide us into next generation. Your daughter proved better leader than anyone I've ever known, no offense."
His praise of her daughter brought a huge, teary smile to Moon's face. "None taken. And I couldn't agree more with your assessment. But it would be a heavy ask of her, and I'm not really comfortable with going down that road again...at least not now."
"But what if she really wants to do it?" River proposed. "If she decides she wants to take a stab of leading these people, who would we be to stop her?"
"Lousy parents? We're not king and queen anymore, River. Our obligations now aren't the same as they were before we were cleaved together. Star's obligations aren't the same as they were, and I refuse to put her back in that box. Not after all it's done to her."
"Oh I understand, Moon Pie, but she's a natural born leader! She'd make a great leader."
"You really think so?"
Like clockwork, Star & Marco had arrived home from Jackie's house for the day, having partially overheard some of their conversation. Miles, on cue, squealed loudly & asked to be put on the ground, where he sprinted as quickly as his tiny legs could go over to Star & leaped into her arms. "Star! We weren't expecting you back so soon!"
"Our day ended earlier than we thought it would..."
[Flashback]
Eventually Star had successfully retrieved the photo album she had carelessly thrown into the garbage...and she returned to Jackie's house covered in filth. The photos, however, were spared from the trash & were untouched by the filth, allowing Jackie & Chloe to look through it without interference.
"Sorry about almost losing that album." Star uncomfortably apologized, all while grimacing at her own filth.
"Oh it's cool." Jackie was surprisingly nonchalant about it. Yes, surprising even for her. "If it makes you feel better, I almost threw it out too one time. Fortunately my dad was there to stop me & we got to talk about the cool people in all these photos. Man, if only I knew all those years ago it would be of my future girlfriend's gnarly family."
"You're too kind." Chloe said in response, to which Jackie in turn responded with a kiss.
"Well I guess we should go finish cleaning up the basement..." Marco awkwardly intruded into the conversation. "Coming, Star?"
"Um...no thank you. I would love to help finish, but I'm covered in garbage. I'm not getting anything down their dirty that we'll just have to spend more time cleaning up."
"You could just use the shower." Jackie suggested, having a bit of a goofy, amused smirk on her face. "It's no trouble."
"...You sure?"
"Of course, dude. We're all good."
Marco leaned in nice and close to his girlfriend. "Maybe if you shower fast, she'll give you a nice, big, hug when we're all done." Marco sure did love to tease Star about that. "Pretty sure she'd like th-"
"I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!" And Star, mind on autopilot, dashed out of the room and plundered straight for the bathroom for a nice, hot shower. Jackie, Chloe, & Marco could only laugh in amusement.
[End Flashback]
"So what have you all been up to today?"
"Your folks wanna challenge the mayor's authority & put someone up against him during the next election." Janna spewed out without any hesitation. The looks on Star & Marco's faces implied they had been expecting a reaction similar to that.
"I had a feeling that would be your move. Sooooo have you decided on anyone yet?"
"I'm afraid not, deary." Eclipsa admitted. "The ones we've talked to today, for one reason or another, failed to show themselves as adequate candidates to potentially lead this new world into a better age."
"One cannot simply pick leader." Buff Frog exposited. "Leadership is natural. Leadership comes from within. Leader takes the front mantle & asks team of legions to follow. True leader commands respect, but does not demand it. There are very few true leaders that exist."
"And to ensure the clean transition from Mewni to Earthni continues, we need the strongest leader that we can find. The truth is...I think there's only one person we know that's completely qualified to try their hand at it..." Eclipsa was hardly subtle about her reference, which only served to set Moon off.
"I already told you, Eclipsa, that's out of the question!"
"Must you dismiss it outright?"
"Yes. I don't know why you're insisting. It's just...not a good idea to entertain."
"But why?" Star intervened, assuming that she had a grasp on who they were referring to. "Okay, so at times you weren't the best queen..." Yep, Star had assumed they were all referring to Moon. "Not all of your decisions were good ones, and there was that whole "betray all of us in an misguided attempt to play double agent with Mina," but if you think I deserved a second chance at being a good princess, why don't you deserve a second chance to be a better leader?"
"...Me?"
That one word was all it took for it to click with Star. "...You guys weren't talking about my Mom?"
"I think they were talking about you." Marco whispered to her.
"...Ohhhhh..." And her face subsequently darkened with blush. "Well...this is awkward."
Moon loudly groaned, visibly agitated now. "This is exactly why I didn't want to go down this road. I'm not going to put my own pride & joy under that obscene amount of pressure every again."
"I understand why you hesitate, Moon, but consider this: she's far & away the most qualified person we know for the position."
"Isn't that a bad thing?" Star piped up, drawing everyone's attention back at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Eclipsa...I'm sixteen. I've spent the last eight months fighting internal wars within myself & suffering from some despicable forms of depression & anxiety & not having control over my sleep schedules, all of which I'm now on medication for. If I'm the best candidate for mayor, doesn't that do nothing but indict our world as a whole?" The quiet murmurs elicited from the adults only helped imply they agreed with her logic.
"Still, sweetie, you know Earth & Mewni's inhabitants far better than any of us could ever hope for. And you're so incredibly passionate about helping others."
"That doesn't mean I play a good political game."
"We'll have to agree to disagree on that."
"Regardless, it's not a decision I endorse." Moon again interrupted. "Nobody wore the burden of attempting to right the wrongs of several generations of queens more than she did. She took it with her everywhere. She was marvelous as a Mewni ambassador, but that part of her life is over, and I won't allow her to go back!"
"Shouldn't that be up to me, though?" Was Star's response. Firm, decisive, and unrelenting. It clearly took Moon & the others out of their comfort zone. "Look...I don't even know how much I want to be back involved in politics. I've appreciated all the accommodations you've all tried to give me over the last eight months. All the time off, all the bed rest, all of the spoiling...but I never wanted to be out of the game permanently. I just...wanted to scale back. And running for mayor...doesn't really gel with that. But I want this new place to be in good hands, too."
"But if not you, pumpkin, then who?"
"Buffy!" Came the adorable, squeaky voice of Star's little brother, who anxiously pointed towards Buff Frog. "Buffy!" He kept repeating that word at infinitum, hoping beyond hope that someone would understand. Star picked the little tyke up and sat him down on the table so that they were at eye level.
"Okay, buddy, what are you trying to tell us?"
"Buffy can be...the thingy..."
"Thing...you mean mayor? You think Buff Frog should run for mayor?"
He excitedly nodded his head & laughed. All the adults plus Janna, Tom, & Marco silently contemplated the idea, while Star continued to pry at her brother for information.
"Why do you think he should run for mayor?"
"Because! Because he's nice. He likes my friends and...he likes everyone and everyone likes him and..." The proud sister kissed Miles's forehead, eliciting another laugh.
"Boy is too kind, but...I am not government material." Buff Frog attempted to dismiss the concerns outright, but to no avail.
"Hold on...I could see it..." Star acknowledged. "Buff Frog, you're good with younglings, you have a good grasp of our people and Marco's people, people do look to you for guidance & advice..."
"I second the motion!" River yelled out. "If our fantastical daughter can't take the mantle, then I say we'd be in good hands with this man!"
"Wait!" Yelled Katrina, Buff Frog's oldest daughter. "If he did run for mayor, he'd have to give up coaching our Cornball team. What would we do then?"
"You have excellent replacement here already." Buff Frog didn't hesitate whatsoever in anointing Star as a potential successor. This time, unlike with the potential mayorship, she took it in stride.
"Aww, really?"
"If you want job of course."
"...That depends. Do you want to run for mayor?"
A short stint of silence followed as Buff Frog gave the proposition the contemplation it deserved. He held an immense level of respect for Star, as she was the first true mewman friend he had, and he was the first monster Star truly took pity on. "I...wish to sleep on it. Important decision must be made thoughtfully."
"I suppose that's fair enough." It was evident that Eclipsa was dissapointed that this was the direction they were taking, as she still considered Star to be the one worthy of the honor, but if this was what Star - and Miles - believed was the best course, then she would respect that. The silence that followed was broken by Miles randomly applauding Buff Frog while still sitting on the table edge. Spontaneously, the others gradually joined in, creating a awkwardly sentimental moment.
"You are too kind."
"And I helped!" But of course when they were done applauding Buff Frog, they quickly pivoted to applauding Miles for his brilliant idea, eliciting even stronger laughter from the loving child. It rapidly devolved into a playful tickle fight with the young boy where nearly everyone got in on the action...with the exception of Tom & Janna, who uncomfortably stood on the sidelines watching it unfold.
"...You don't like tickle fights, do you?" Janna squarely asked her boyfriend.
"...No." The demon answered, relieving her. "...Why? Do you?"
"Why would I ask that question if the answer wasn't "no?" Think, Demon Man, think."
End of Episode 4!
Sooooo what do y'all think? Would Buff Frog make a good leader? He was briefly Mewni's Monster Expert...before he and the other monsters decided to leave Mewni. I don't know, it could work. ;)
That's it for this chapter! And don't forget my retrospective on Total Drama is ongoing on my YT channel - as of this writing I've gotten up to the All-Stars season. Or as I like to call it, the All-S*** season. Don't hesitate to check it out if you want.
And as always, don't forget to read & review! Circulate the links! :D