#Marceline just instantly says its fine

[clowntothebone]

I loved the Fionna and Cake ending! I can't believe so many people seem to feel luke warm on it? I got almost everything I had been wanting, and was pleasantly surprised by the things I didn't expect.

I've been seeing people say the Casper and Nova story was hamfisted and that the audience didn't need another explanation of Simon and Betty's relationship when it was already made so clear even in the original run and then again throughout Fionna and Cake.

But it was a fresh way for Simon to gain understanding. Casper and Nova act as a vehicle for the little girl to be inspired by him in new ways. The implications of Betty being able to send him into Shermy's mind 1000 years in the future knowing he'll read a book that was paradoxically created because of her sending his conciousness there?? Plus we got to see more of Beth and Shermy which is cool. It was fun.

I also loved the bus scene reprise, and all the little metaphors peppered into it. Betty describing him as an experience and saying she didn't have any regrets. Maybe finding some peace in seeing Simon again and finally getting him to understand where they went wrong. Maybe getting to move forward herself, in whatever enigmatic way she is able to fused with a chaos god.

#I think the only thing I really would have liked to see is more Marceline #Simon finally being honest with her about how despressed he's been #or idk #at least like two seconds of her and Simon hugging when he comes back #I feel like the ways in which Simon ignoring Marceline to pursue Betty has effected their relationship was never fully explored #He apologies to her once in the original run #Marceline just instantly says its fine #and its never talked about again #but Marceline has just been abandoned over and over again by people #And simon's decsent into madness had him screaming for his lost princess (betty) #and then marceline finally gets him back and thats still like all he can talk about #there's no trauma there??? #idk man idk #fionna and cake spoilers

[spaceshipearth82k]

Thanksgiving

Short Excerpt of Marceline’s first Thanksgiving on the space station

Chris knows it’s a bad idea. It makes absolutely no sense. What would be the point? It’s not like Marceline can eat anything. However, when Chris hears the robot ask the question, “Why are so many people off tomorrow?”, she finds herself saying, “No idea. Hey, want to help me make a feast for tomorrow?”

The correct response, of course, would be to explain Thanksgiving and how all the American workers have the day off to spend the day either back on Earth with their families, or one of the restaurants with other fellow Americans there on the ship. Chris herself hadn’t been planning on doing anything special. She hadn’t even asked Antonia what she was doing for the holiday. It had been years since she had done anything proper for thanksgiving. All she had done was get excited about the boarding school serving more food than usual. And it wasn’t like she had anything to be thankful for.

“A feast? As in the preparing of food?” Marceline asked.

“Yeah. If I’m off, you’re off, y’know?”

Marceline looks over to the side, mulling it over. “I’ve never prepared food before.”

“It’s real easy. I’ll show you what to do and I’m sure you’ll pick it up like that,” Chris responded, snapping her fingers, not mentioning how she herself wasn’t all that great at making food. Besides, she could just find some online videos on how to prepare a synthetic turkey and her and the robot would be fine.

----

They were not fine.

“The video clearly states to wait 45 minutes before-“

“That video is old and it’s talking about a real turkey! This stuff’s different. We’re just using that as a guideline!”

“You told me the videos would teach us everything.”

“I wasn’t talking about all of them!”

Antonia Sanchez walked into her small kitchen early thanksgiving morning to see a tall hunched over L-CO robot and Chris, splattered with gravy and flour, attempting to put a misshapen synthetic turkey in the oven.

“Chris, what are you doing?”

Chris whirled around, nearly dropping the turkey, causing Marceline to catch the tray, splattering gravy on the floor.

“Toni! Wait! I-I um…dang it.” Chris sighed and sat down on the floor, the palms of her hands pressed against her forehead, smearing gravy everywhere, “You weren’t supposed to be awake yet.”

Chris had had a long morning. Getting herself up at 5am, she woke up Marceline, and together they went to The Land’s pavilion food storage. Technically, once tourists and residents were done buying what they needed for the day, the workers had free pickings of what was left. Thankfully, most of the American workers at The Land opted for either going to Earth for Thanksgiving, or going out to eat somewhere. There were more than enough stocks of corn and bushels of green beans to go around. Unfortunately, all the real turkeys and potatoes sent from earth were sold out, which really sucked because Chris had really been looking forward to real mashed potatoes. Once she and Marceline got more than enough for two people (Chris kept having to remind herself that the robot couldn’t eat), they snuck into Antonia’s quarters, and quietly went about searching the network’s database of cooking videos. Cooking started off well enough, but as time passed, Chris slowly realized that trying to learn how to cook while explaining every little thing to Marceline was depleting her holiday spirit very quickly.  And then Antonia just had to ruin the surprise…

“Chris, it’s 9:30. Why wouldn’t I be awake yet?”

Chris groaned, still not moving from her position on the floor.

Antonia looked around her small kitchen; there was corn, green beans, and a salad each prepared in the largest Tupperware bowls Antonia had. Off to the side in a pot was instant mashed potatoes that hadn’t been mixed yet, making it look like water with powder sitting in it. In a bigger pot, on top of the stove was a synthetic corn bread mix that was slowly bubbling in a way Antonia was sure wasn’t supposed to be bubbling.

“Were you and Marceline making…Thanksgiving?”

Marceline placed the turkey in the oven and crossed her arms, “We’re making what?”

Chris, eyes closed in stress, and slightly on the verge of tears, said, “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

Any ounce of annoyance Antonia had instantly vanished, and she slowly walked over to Chris, knelt down, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, “We haven’t had Thanksgiving in years.”

Chris snorted, “I know. I’m pretty sure it was back when Mom could find an actual butterball turkey.”

Now Antonia felt teary eyed. “Your mother could find anything; she had that way when negotiating with people.”

“Hmm.”

There was a poignant silence for a moment where Antonia looked lost in memory and Chris tried to pull herself together. Marceline looked at the “turkey” in the oven and asked, “Wait, what are we making?”

Chris took a deep breath and stood up from the floor, using a kitchen towel to wipe her face.

“We’re making Thanksgiving. We’re still making it even if it’s not a surprise anymore.”

“I thought we were making a feast.”

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t tell you. Thanksgiving’s a holiday where Americans,” Chris gestured to her and Antonia, “make lots of food, especially a Turkey, and reflect on what we’re thankful for or whatever. It has some dodgy history behind it, but it’s still…y’know…nice to eat a lot of food.”

Marceline slowly nodded, looking like the explanation didn’t satisfy her, but she remained quiet anyways. Antonia looked at the overflowing stuffing mix on the stove and said, “I appreciate the gesture of a surprise, Chris, but why don’t I help out?”

----

Everything needed seasoning, but all they had was an abundance of salt. Somehow, Chris had forgotten this fact entirely while cooking, and was desperately trying to shake salt on everything made on the table.

“Chris it’s fine! We’ll just put salt once we have it on our plates.”

“God, I can’t believe I forgot the most basic- A-And we didn’t even make dessert!”

“Honestly, Chris, I haven’t had a home cooked meal in ages. I’m surprised you even got my kitchen working to be honest. This is great.”

They ate mostly in silence on a makeshift table usually used for Antonia’s botany experiments. Chris, found herself, between takes of filling her plate up again, looking at the door of Antonia’s lounge, waiting for the L-CO to come back. Antonia noticed and said, “She promised to come back Chris. It’s not like she’s left my quarters.”

Chris looked annoyed that Antonia caught her feeling any sort of emotion towards the L-CO. Antonia ignored the look, and continued with “I’m actually surprised you involved Marceline in this. You could’ve left her charging in your room.”

Chris shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, “I needed the manpower. Can’t have it just lounging around.”

Antonia gave a short laugh, and a smile that hinted she knew more, but she didn’t push Chris any further.

Just when they were both about done with their food, Marceline came bounding into the room with a piece of paper in her hand, and an uncanny smile that threw Chris off.

“I understand what Thanksgiving is now.”

Chris swallowed the food in her mouth and said, “You do? Did you not before?”

Marceline suddenly looked self-aware at her boisterous entrance and tried to tone down her appearance, “Oh, well, I was confused before. But after some quick research, I think I now get it.”

The L-CO robot sat down on one of Antonia’s chairs and put her paper on the table.

“You were right about the history of America being…well you said dodgy, but I found it needlessly violent.”

“It sure is a downer” Chris added.

“Yes, but the core of this holiday, and what it evolved to, is about recognizing what you’re grateful for. So, since I cannot partake in the other half of the holiday,” Marceline said, gesturing to the still large amount of food on the table (Antonia was going to have leftovers for at least a month), “I figured I could partake in this half.” Marceline grabbed her paper, and, after realizing that it was a numbered list, Chris felt a deep sense of awe at how long it was.

Turns out Marceline was grateful for quite a lot of things. Her list ranged from the way the artificial stars twinkled against the glass greenhouse ceiling at night, to the many different plants in the various greenhouse study rooms that were just starting to grow, with each plant having its own number on her list.

“…and of course I’m grateful for the Mimosa Pudica plant having a new home next to my charging station in Chris Santana’s room. But what I’m most grateful for,” and at this point, Marceline looked up to Antonia, who was listening intently, and to Chris, who was trying her best to not succumb to a food coma, “…is for both of you being the only beings in this greenhouse who pay attention to what I say and for helping me understand…just about everything that happens around me.”

Antonia gave a good-natured laugh, and even Chris woke up from her stupor at the gesture. A small part of her felt a twinge of guilt at the way she had been treating the robot the past couple of weeks. How could the L-CO feel anything positive towards her after she had treated her like a machine? Chris shook her head, and sat up on her chair. L-CO 82K was a machine; the Marceline persona was just someone’s clever programming. It had to be.

“Okay, now it’s your turn.”

Chris gave Marceline a long-suffering look.

Antonia gladly went first, “Well, I don’t know if I can list as many things as you, Marceline, but what I’m grateful for is this wonderful feast you and Chris put together, our good health, for your existence Marceline, including the fact that we’ll be able to present you to the EPCOT board at the end of the year to help this space-station out, and…” Antonia faltered, looking unsure if she should say anything more. One look at Chris, and she continued with, “And I’m grateful that you’re here, Chris.”

Chris felt like she was punched in the gut. She coughed and tried to find the words to joke away the serious tone Antonia took.

“W-Well, y’know. I-uh…” Chris was failing at finding any response; did she mean ‘here’ as in here on the space station or…?

“I just…well it’s my turn.”

She cleared her throat, “I’m grateful…that…” looking at the empty plate on the table, Chris found solace in parroting back what Antonia said, “…we managed to put this feast together. For the synthetic turkey that was still left over in the storage unit, uh…good health…” God, this was pitiful. Chris’s eyes wandered over to Marceline’s list on the table, trying to catch ideas, “the...Charophyta algae growing in the water tanks…”

Marceline gave a big smile and said, “Oh! Me too!”

Chris gave a fake smile, and Antonia gave her a look.

Chris straightened up her back, “And, I’m grateful for all of your help, Antonia, y’know…in botany and…” her eyes wandered over to Marceline, who was drinking in every word, “and your help with…82K.”

Marceline frowned at the moniker, but didn’t say anything. Chris felt her guilt increase.

“I’m also grateful for you too,” Chris said, giving the L-CO a pointed look so she wouldn’t have to say her name, “you’ve been…a big help.”

Marceline’s frown turned into a small smile. Antonia rolled her eyes, but looked satisfied all the same.

Antonia stood up, picked up her empty plate and said, “Well, this has been lovely. Great food,” Chris made a so-so face, “Damn it Chris, it was good, and great conversation. Happy Thanksgiving y’all.”

Chris grinned sincerely and together they started to clean up the table with Marceline, ever the eager helper.

“Are there any other holidays coming up that I should know about?”

“Oh…well…we’ll get there when we get there.”

Fin

#writing #marceline #chris santana #oc's #antonia sanchez