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Today is going to be a looooong day.
That was the thought that ran through Marcy's head as the heating noise from the alarm clock blared into her tympanums, forcing the newt child to begrudgingly get out of bed to slam its OFF button and be afforded silence for a little while longer.
Once the percussionist pest had been dealt with, the green-skinned child sat on the edge of the bed, legs dangling and tail protectively coiled around her thin body, and attempted to make sense of her surroundings.
The air was the first thing she noticed. While her home in Newtopia had its own share of microscopic annoyances that could cause an Amphibian's slime coat to feel off, that was nothing compared to the amount of pollutants, irritants, and toxins that saturated Earth's atmosphere and wormed their way through her mucus lining to reach her delicate epidermis. Marcy still remembered how itchy and unpleasant she felt the first two weeks since her arrival, the constant contaminants causing her to feel like her skin was crawling. Luckily, Yunan and Olivia allowed her to use their bathtub to replenish her slime coat and help her bring down her level of discomfort to a more manageable level. After that, it was just a matter of exposing herself until she no longer noticed it. However, it seemed that her brain had forgotten to do that as her body felt as itchy and irritated as the day she arrived.
The next thing she noticed was the light. She saw the same light as her adoptive human mothers (was four months all that was needed to see the two women as family), her eyes were less receptive to color as theirs while being able to function nearly the same in pitch darkness while Yunan and Olivia would be as blind as olms. Marcy still remembers the time there was a blackout and the two women kept knocking into each other while she had no problem crawling up to the kitchen cabinets to retrieve a "flashlight" from within them.
Today, though, it felt like her sensitivity to light was increased tenfold, as though she were an olm, making it difficult for her eyes to focus.
Lastly, there was her brain. The fast-thinking, analytical, genius brain of Marcy Wu, chairperson of the local architecture club, inventor of Wartwood's smelling salt system to ward off kill-a-moths, and one of the sharpest minds in Frog Valley!....was now replaced with one that felt fuzzy and warm with the processing power of muck. Anything more complex than the basic thoughts of getting out of bed or eating would quickly fall apart, much like that time back when she was an eft and saw Sasha try to make a mud statue of herself at the edge of one of the rivers in the forest, only to have it collapse into a pile of muck under its own weight.
Marcy knew what all of this meant. It was going to be one of *those* days. The ones that she forced herself to endure with a false smile and even greater false cordiality with her fellow townsfolk , when all she wanted to do was to tell them to suck muck and then go back home to crawl under the covers of her bed and read a relaxing book while chewing on her tail until that sense of *wrongness* left her for the day. Yes, it was going to be a day where she felt off, out of place, like a jigsaw piece that didn't fit in the puzzle of the world.
Gurgle
Marcy's mind was pulled from her introspection by a biological imperative, one that all animals share: the need to use the restroom.
As Marcy finished up in the bathroom, her mind became awash in memories: memories of Sasha telling her and Anne that she was starting military school next month and how she was going rule it with an iron claw, of Anne informing the duo that her family was moving to Northern Amphibia for "more opportunities", and of how she lied when the frog and toad asked her if she was ok. She said yes, but that was a lie. A horrible, awful lie.
The girl used her cling pads to reach up to turn the door handle and leave the restroom while her mind continued to churn. All she wanted was more time with the only friends she ever had in Amphibia! Was that really so much to ask?! Apparently so, because now her friends are missing or didn't get sent with her, she's trapped on an alien world where her only source of safety were the two human females she was currently living as well as Mr. Leviathan, and she had to be extremely careful if she ventured outside their apartment because there's a risk she could be captured and dissected if she was discovered!
Slowly plodding down the hallway, back to the guest room that had been converted to a newt-friendly habitat, Marcy was on the verge of tears as her thoughts continued to fold deeper in on themselves. She was so consumed by them that she didn't even notice the tan appendage of a human female in front of her.
"Oof! Sorry, Marcy. Didn't see you there!" Yunan tried to apologize, but it would do no good. Marcy was having one of *those* days, and the abrupt nature of their meeting broke already-strained restraints she had on herself today.
The alien child practically snarled as she leapt at Yunan's bare leg, punching it with her fists before biting down on it! She either didn't recognize or care that her victim was one of the women she had come to see as a surrogate mother in the months since Olivia and her found the poor child in some back alley. All that mattered was flailing and kicking and punching and screaming against the horrible wrongness she felt inside.
Luckily for Yunan, Marcy's short stature and upbringing as a scholarly newt rather than a bruiser like her soldier friend Sasha prevented the violent outburst from doing any serious damage to the human, though the sudden attack did still frighten her.
"Ah! What did I do?! What did I do!?" She frantically asked the newt as she braced a hand against the wall and lifted her leg that was being attacked, but received no intelligible answer, merely angry grunts and even a growl!
Eventually the vicious assault on her limb came to a stop and the teenager, apparently realizing what she had done, wrapped herself around Yunan's toned ankle and thigh in a hug.
"Are you...good?" Yunan paused, her tone a strange mix of sincerity and sarcasm. Marcy merely let out a quiet mumble as she wiped her snout against the toned muscle, smearing her slime coat against the taut skin. "I'll take that as a 'yes'" Yunan responded as she slowly set her leg down.
The moment Marcy's feet made contact with the floor she released her grip from Yunan's lower limb and cast her gaze down to the wood paneling beneath her, the shame of her very recent assault preventing her from looking at her victim.
Yunan merely stared down at the green teen.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" Yunan asked as she squatted in front of her attacker, her voice heavy with concern. While Marcy had some difficulty coming to terms with living in an environment that seemed, at best, indifferent to her kind, the girl had taken it in stride. There were some crying periods here and there but overall she was still bright and cheery, pouring over books and the Internet (once they got her her own laptop since they were tired of finding theirs covered in mucus) for more information about the world she found herself in as well as any info that could lead to her friends. She rarely got angry and *never* physical, so this greatly surprised the human. Had something happened since last night? Was it something about the world? Her friends? What had happened to cause her to act so out of character?
"Kid,? You-" Yunan started but before she could finish her question Marcy dashed forward toward the human! Yunan gave a yelp to surprise as she felt back onto her toned rear just as the newt reached her, wrapping her arms as far as she could around the muscular torso before burying her face in Yunan's black sports bra and letting out a cacophony of shrieks and wails.
Yunan blinked in surprise. First the girl attacks her and now she's crying? Yunan wanted to ask Marcy what was going on in her little alien head but comforting her seemed to be more appropriate, so she just wrapped her arms around the little amphibian as the girl continued to let out fat tears.
After a good five minutes or so the girl's cries began to die down and by the ten minute mark they had been reduced down to sniffles. Still, Yunan did not relax her grip on the small child. By the fifteen minute mark, even the sniffles had subsided and there was just a calm that surrounded them. Yunan relaxed her hold and looked down at her little houseguest.
"Ummm....Feel better?" Yunan finally let out. Marcy could only shakily nod her head, her face rubbing into the woman's undergarment.
"Do you...want to talk about it?" Yunan followed up with another question. Marcy vigorously shook her head.
"Would you like breakfast?" Yunan asked her third and final question. This time, Marcy nodded.
"Ok, let's get you some breakfast then. I'm sure I can make us some eggs and Canadian bacon. I remember you telling Oli and me that it was really good."
The human slowly relaxed her grip even further until Marcy had the space available to back away, though she kept her gaze centered on the hardwood floor beneath her, clearly ashamed of her earlier aggression. Once Yunan stood up Marcy went up to the taller woman and delicately held onto her shorts with her webbed fingers. Yunan couldn't help but give a soft smile at the sight. From what she and her wife had witnessed, Marcy appeared to hold onto people that felt comfort with when she was having emotional turbulence.
The duo made their way down the hall to the kitchen/living room, the human pacing herself slowly to allow the girl to keep her grip on the shorts. Once they got the fridge Yunan opened the door and pulled out the egg carton and a package of Canadian bacon. Maneuvering with care, she made her way to the stove and grabbed the recently washed large pan from the dish drainer. She set the pan on the burner and turned it on, letting the pan warm up a bit before grabbing an egg and cracking it on the cookware to sizzle while she repeated the action with two other eggs before setting four slices of Canadian bacon to cook alongside them.
The whole time breakfast cooked Yunan and Marcy didn't speak a word to each other, their only interaction being when Yunan would occasionally rub Marcy's head, the action eliciting a murr of contentment. The human couldn't help but give a little smirk as her mind brought her back to the day that she and her wife found the little girl, dirty, curled up, and crying. It has taken a while to get used to her, learning as much as they could about her unique physiology to help her acclimate to her temporary home, before the couple found that they had begun to see the inquisitive anuran as part of their family and had even discussed asking her if she wanted to be adopting while on Earth, though it wouldn't be official due to the fact that she was a walking, talking newt and the court would need to see her to approve their adoption certificate.
After a couple of minutes the food was ready. Yunan grabbed two plates and the appropriate cutlery. She then slid two slices of Canadian bacon and an egg on Marcy's plate and the rest on hers. The duo then made their way to the table to eat their meal. Marcy cut a piece of egg off from the yellow, jiggly mass and forked it to bring it up to her mouth. Wrapping her lips around the little morsel she began to chew, the taste bringing out a little smile. Chicken eggs were so much better than tarantula eggs!
Marcy knew that she needed to apologize to Yunan once she felt better. Even though she knew it was unlikely to not have hurt the human, she still acted unkindly to her. Maybe...maybe even open up about what caused it. Perhaps there was something similar here to what she has? Yea, that sounded like a plan.
Today started as being one of those days but maybe, just maybe, it could be better.