Summer Smith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
somethingwithturquoise) wrote2017-06-26 09:20 pm
somethingwithturquoise) wrote2017-06-26 09:20 pm
The Smith Residence; Earth Dimension [Unknown]; 06/26.
What. A. Day. What a goddamn stupid, awful, dumb, stupid day. Summer knew that having to go home for her 'suitable for society' test would be lame as all hell, but she had severely underestimated just how lame all hell could be. Some of it was fine; her friends were still her friends, and places around town where they used to hang out was still pretty much the same, just with an extra Gromflomite presence everywhere, the skyline filled with weird alien ships, the streets swarmed more with unfamiliar creatures than human ones. She even got a chance to catch up a little with Ethan, which was...nice. A good distraction, especially since they both knew she'd be leaving again, but it was good to grasp onto something old and familiar. She was as stubborn and uncooperative during her test as could be, pretty much guaranteeing she'd be sent back to Fandom High for the rest of the summer...she hoped. Once she returned, she remembered just how messed up it all truly was, the distance distorting her perspective, so she had to be careful to show that she could still be swayed, just maybe, in the right circumstances, because she knew that there was somewhere much, much worse they could send her.
And then she spent the evening having a...lovlely pill dinner with her family, lovely and full of tension and bad attempts to be polite that wound up exploding into bitter commentary and angry glares. Beth was drunk, Jerry was being asinine, and Morty...well, Summer had to admit, she had really missed Morty, and he was actually quiet most of the time, though he kept shooting her these worried little looks that made her want to punch them right off his dumb face. But she tried to be good and take it and be civil, at least for now, because she was just focused on that night, when everyone else went to sleep, and she would slip into the garage and start looking for something...anything!...that would help her find her Grampa Rick.
In the dead of the night, Summer sneaked down to the garage, though it was barely recognizable as her grandfather's lab anymore, her father having turned it into his own dumb workspace. There had to be a secret lab hidden in here somewhere still. With, like, laser guns and jet packs and a space tank... Look at those dead flies on the counter! If she rearranged them, maybe they'd open a secret hologram or a secret door, or...
She moved the flies around to no avail, but she was going to take a few pictures. So many pictures, the selfies with Gromflomites in the background for Kanan to see what they looked like, a few pictures of ships because maybe they'd be helpful to Miss Hera. She'd tried to snap pictures of the testing center and their weird languages and their testing equipment, anything and everything, with plans to comb through it all, looking for something helpful. She'd even recorded a conversation she had with some Gromflomite about prisons. She hadn't gotten much out of him, but it was something, anything.
She started opening the cabinets, pulling out all the junk, searching and looking restlessly. Hopeless, perhaps, but she was at least trying.
"What are you doing in here, Summer? And at this time of night?"
Summer nearly jumped out of her skin, whipping around to find the floating robot butler standing in the doorway. "Conroy! I, uh, I was, um, looking for--"
She couldn't think fast enough. Conroy moved in, his pincer hands reaching for her. "You should not be in here, Summer, you should be in bed, getting your rest. A young woman such as yourself needs her rest. She certainly has no business snooping around a garage in the middle of the night."
"Back off, Conroy!" She jerked her arm away. "You can't tell me what to do, you're just a stupid robot butler!"
But Conroy wasn't reaching for Summer, she realized all too late. He was reaching for her phone, and he managed to get it, pulling it away. "You've been quite busy, Summer, haven't you? All these pictures, my oh my."
"No! No! Not my phone, anything but my phone! Conroy, that's my phone!"
"With an awful lot of things about the Galactic Federation, no less. For your friends back at your new school? Ho, I don't think so, my dear girl."
His grip tightened on the phone. Summer's eyes widened, suddenly paralyzed with terror.
"I." Tighter. "Don't." Tighter. "Think so."
And the phone was crushed between those strong metal pincers. He dropped the pieces carelessly onto the garage floor and Summer, shocked, sunk to her knees. She didn't say down long, though, as Conroy floated over and lifted her up to take her back to her room. "Time for bed, Summer," he said, and though his mechanical British accent seemed neutral, Summer could only hear the dark malice therein. He not-so-gently pushed her through the door of her room, and she heard the door lock as he closed it behind him. Summer stared at her hands, now empty, perhaps for a while, perhaps for good, because he'd just destroyed her goddamn phone.
It was a surprise Summer's animal scream of rage didn't wake the whole household, as she pounded her fist into the door.
"Oh, it is fucking on, you goddamn monsters!!!"
Of course, she could barely do anything right now, so she settled for a petulant little huff as she plopped on her bed and glared at the ceiling for the rest of the night, until exhaustion won out over anger and she slipped off into a fitful sleep.
[[And this is what happens when you're STILL WAITING FOR YOUR NEW CANON THAT YOU WERE EXPECTING TO HAVE BY NOW, ARRRGGGH. ]]
And then she spent the evening having a...lovlely pill dinner with her family, lovely and full of tension and bad attempts to be polite that wound up exploding into bitter commentary and angry glares. Beth was drunk, Jerry was being asinine, and Morty...well, Summer had to admit, she had really missed Morty, and he was actually quiet most of the time, though he kept shooting her these worried little looks that made her want to punch them right off his dumb face. But she tried to be good and take it and be civil, at least for now, because she was just focused on that night, when everyone else went to sleep, and she would slip into the garage and start looking for something...anything!...that would help her find her Grampa Rick.
In the dead of the night, Summer sneaked down to the garage, though it was barely recognizable as her grandfather's lab anymore, her father having turned it into his own dumb workspace. There had to be a secret lab hidden in here somewhere still. With, like, laser guns and jet packs and a space tank... Look at those dead flies on the counter! If she rearranged them, maybe they'd open a secret hologram or a secret door, or...
She moved the flies around to no avail, but she was going to take a few pictures. So many pictures, the selfies with Gromflomites in the background for Kanan to see what they looked like, a few pictures of ships because maybe they'd be helpful to Miss Hera. She'd tried to snap pictures of the testing center and their weird languages and their testing equipment, anything and everything, with plans to comb through it all, looking for something helpful. She'd even recorded a conversation she had with some Gromflomite about prisons. She hadn't gotten much out of him, but it was something, anything.
She started opening the cabinets, pulling out all the junk, searching and looking restlessly. Hopeless, perhaps, but she was at least trying.
"What are you doing in here, Summer? And at this time of night?"
Summer nearly jumped out of her skin, whipping around to find the floating robot butler standing in the doorway. "Conroy! I, uh, I was, um, looking for--"
She couldn't think fast enough. Conroy moved in, his pincer hands reaching for her. "You should not be in here, Summer, you should be in bed, getting your rest. A young woman such as yourself needs her rest. She certainly has no business snooping around a garage in the middle of the night."
"Back off, Conroy!" She jerked her arm away. "You can't tell me what to do, you're just a stupid robot butler!"
But Conroy wasn't reaching for Summer, she realized all too late. He was reaching for her phone, and he managed to get it, pulling it away. "You've been quite busy, Summer, haven't you? All these pictures, my oh my."
"No! No! Not my phone, anything but my phone! Conroy, that's my phone!"
"With an awful lot of things about the Galactic Federation, no less. For your friends back at your new school? Ho, I don't think so, my dear girl."
His grip tightened on the phone. Summer's eyes widened, suddenly paralyzed with terror.
"I." Tighter. "Don't." Tighter. "Think so."
And the phone was crushed between those strong metal pincers. He dropped the pieces carelessly onto the garage floor and Summer, shocked, sunk to her knees. She didn't say down long, though, as Conroy floated over and lifted her up to take her back to her room. "Time for bed, Summer," he said, and though his mechanical British accent seemed neutral, Summer could only hear the dark malice therein. He not-so-gently pushed her through the door of her room, and she heard the door lock as he closed it behind him. Summer stared at her hands, now empty, perhaps for a while, perhaps for good, because he'd just destroyed her goddamn phone.
It was a surprise Summer's animal scream of rage didn't wake the whole household, as she pounded her fist into the door.
"Oh, it is fucking on, you goddamn monsters!!!"
Of course, she could barely do anything right now, so she settled for a petulant little huff as she plopped on her bed and glared at the ceiling for the rest of the night, until exhaustion won out over anger and she slipped off into a fitful sleep.
[[And this is what happens when you're STILL WAITING FOR YOUR NEW CANON THAT YOU WERE EXPECTING TO HAVE BY NOW, ARRRGGGH. ]]