Outside MHA #4; Late Thursday Night [11/18].

[somethingwithturquoise]

Well. So. That was...a whole thing.

Honestly, Summer was kind of disappointed. That didn't take nearly as long or as much effort as she thought it was going to, and while there was a certain cleverness to what ultimately brought down the New and So-Called "IMPROVED" Galactic Federation, it was all kind of an anticlimax, and then....that was it. Sure, once again, the planets under Federation control were being thrown into utter chaos, but that she was a little more willing to leave to her mom and her crew because she was honestly just a little bit over it and kind of just wanted to get back home again. She missed people. She missed Fandom. And, obviously, she was totally on call if anything started up again, which she was sure it was going to, but for now?

Home sweet home, baybeeeee!

She parked her spaceship in the junkyard, feeling glad her spot was still there but a little disappointed not to see any ships she didn't recognize, grabbed her bags, and headed back to MHA under the cover of darkness, Pancakes prancing along next to her. And it felt good to get back, with a little wistful grin at Caritas as she passed it by before slipping into MHA and heading on upstairs, down the hallway, to her apartment, slipping her key out of her pocket and ready to just get back in and revel in being home.

...only to have the key not fit into the lock.

"What the hell?" she murmured, frowning down at it as she tried again, and jiggled the handled. Pulled. To no avail.

"What the fuck?" she gave it another tug, another attempt to unlock it. "Did someone change the locks?"

Someone defintiely changed the locks.

"Great," she murmured. "Just fucking great. I swear to god, Jon, you asshole, if you rented my apartment out...I paid you six months rent in advance! In cold hard cash! So help me..."

She was already on her knees in front of the door, shaking her head as she dropped her bag and started digging around for some hairpins. "If I have to break into my own damn apartment, because someone fucking sublet it out, despite the rent being paid in full for six fucking months, I am going to choke a bitch. I will." Pancakes let out a protesting meow. "I'll fucking do it, just you wait.

"Wait," she then realized, blinking, pausing in her attempts to pick the lock and pulling out her phone. "Have I been gone for more than six months--no. Nope. Definitely not, okay, good, because I was going to be fucking pissed if I was gone for...I mean, I still am pissed," she resolutely returned to her work, "but not about that. At least I didn't just lose half a year, even if I guess I lost my apartment!"

Pancakes let out another meow, this one more impatient and upset, and Summer cooed at her with a small apologetic smile.

"Ohhhh, I know, baby," she said. "I wanna get home, too, but Mama's just got to break into her own damn apartment, apparently just reaaal fast and we'll be golden, okay?"

And as she got back to work, she shook her head. "I swear to god," she said again, "he better not have fucking rented out my apartment to someone else, or else this is about to get real fucking awkward!"

She was just glad that, with all her experience breaking into Rick's lab (and, hey, she even broke into Rosa's place that one time, too, and that was Rosa!), a lock like this should be easy-peasy.

And if not? Well, fuck, then, she could just portal in, dammit.

[[ OH HEY GUESS WHO DECIDED SHE WANTED TO COME BACK BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS BEEN TOO BUSY TO WRITE HER SOME CRAZY SPACE ADVENTURES and is insisting that, okay, other characters got to have their time to shine a little, we're OVER it. I was going to do this over the weekend, but, well, this happened and I couldn't refuse? Like, how could I not do this??? Anyway, oh, hey, yeah, the post is totally open ]]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

There were certain things you got a sort of mental heads up when you had the Force, like when you could tell your friend was back on island.

So incoming text: Are you back?

[somethingwithturquoise]

Could the Force also pick up expressions like the teasingly coy, perfectly innocent one that Summer felt she had infused into her oh-so-ambigious-but-also-totally-obvious response back?

Maaaaaaayyyybeeeeeee.

[thatwaslucky]

For just a visit?

She was betting not, with the number of vowels in that response.

[somethingwithturquoise]

And there were more vowels incoming!

Noooooooope!

[thatwaslucky]

Yaaaaaay!

Are you home? Up for a visit?

[somethingwithturquoise]

I mean i apparently had to break into my own apartment when i got here

It was a whole thing!

but it's all good now and so yeah if you want to come over! maybe we could make a party out of it!

She was joking!

...mostly!

Look, the fact that it even took her this long to start thinking about parties was very impressive and showed a lot of maturity and growth on her part, she felt!

[thatwaslucky]

Be right there.

It did in fact take her a little longer than expected to get there, due to the fact that she actually stopped at the Kwik Stop to get a totally random bottle of wine to bring over.

Because Summer said 'party' and Rey tried.

Knock, knock.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Awwww.

Summer was never going to not be touched over anyone bringing her random booze. Bonus points if it was so random that Rey didn't even consider what kind of wine it was, and just picked it out based on the label, because based.

Summer heard the knocking and gave a little excited gasp over to Pancakes even though she was expecting it. "That must be Rey!" she informed the cat, and then bounced up off from where she was just luxuriating on her couch because she'd missed even you, IKEA couch! She missed you so damn much! But also she maybe kind of loved the fact that she'd barely even touched back on Earth and already people were coming over and it was so, so good.

She flung open the door as if it hadn't suffered enough abuse already tonight and, boy, she really hoped it was Rey, because she was going in pretty much immediately after for a hug.

"Ohmygoooooooooooood, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

So, so many vowels tonight.

[thatwaslucky]

"Hi!" Rey said, hugging her back tightly with one arm, since the other arm and the attached bottle would make for a bad time. "I'm so glad you're here!"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"It is soooo good to see you," gushed Summer, who was going to make up for Rey's one arm hug by being sure to give her friend a good squeeze with both of hers, "like, you have no idea."

Which, you know, not true, Rey probably had a pretty good idea, even without the Force, but still.

And then she pulled back so she could actually look at Rey and appreciate the reuinion visibly as well, which meant also noticed...

"And you brought wine!"

She seriously had the best besties ever.

[thatwaslucky]

"I didn't think the party thing was literal but just in case," she smiled.

And yes, it was in fact the first bottle she'd grabbed. There were a lot of kinds okay.

"I'm guessing everything went okay?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Rey," Summer grinned at her in the most adoring way, "the party thing is always literal whenever I'm involved. But also, a two-person bestie party is totally a thing anyway. So there. But, yeah." Her grin widened, and then settled a little with a wistful sort of sigh. "Everything went great, actually. Maybe a little anticlimactic, but, you know what? Considering how these things can go," pointed little quirk of her chin at how it seemed her dimension always seemed to just bust this shit out in a few episodes at most while hers....yikes, "I'll take it!"

[thatwaslucky]

"Anticlimactic means you come back safely," Rey reasoned. "Do you have to go back at all? Deal with any clean up?"

She had no idea how that went except that Leia seemed to have hated that part.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I'm sort of 'on call,' I guess?" Summer offered with a shrug. "In case anything else pops up, so I might have to leave at, like, a moment's notice, you know how it is, but Mom and her crew are going to take care of all that stuff. It wasnt' a complete economic collapse like last time, when we just changed their currency from one to zero, so it should be an easier transition. It all went down with just a lot of explosions."

And jeans.

So, so many jeans.

[thatwaslucky]

"Explosions i would expect," Rey said. "Not that other stuff."

Maybe the girl who had spent a weekend trying to trade a ship battery for baked goods would not be asked to help with that part of her galaxy's recovery.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeaaaaah," said Summer, "and I'm pretty good at the explosion stuff. Maybe not so much the other stuff."

Flashbacks to that one time she was super helpful with all those boxes that one time on that actual trash planet, anyone?

Although, also, flashback to the time she helped raised a brain-sucking parasitic alien society to space-travel readiness in the matter of just a few days, soooo...

It was a mixed bag, really.

"It's really great to be back, either way," she concluded. Because that was the important part.

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm so glad to have you back," Rey says with a smile. "It really hasn't been the same."

WEDNESDAYS, SUMMER. WEDNESDAYS. Even when Rey couldn't go every week!

[somethingwithturquoise]

WEDNESDAYS WERE BACK, BABY!!!

Summer grinned a little, just taking a moment to feel that nice little flutter that reminded her that, no matter how many times she considered just packing up and leaving for good, she really couldn't ever stay away, probably, because there was nowhere else in the entire universe where she could come back and have people tell her thing slike it really hasn't been the same just because she'd gone.

And now that that was in her head, it almost got a little overwhelming and she almost wanted to just hug Rey again and tell her thank you, but, instead, well....there was a bottle of wine.

"I'm gonna go get some glasses," she said, disappearing into the kitchen. "Hopefully, they haven't gotten too dusty or anything, but whatever, we can just rinse them off."

Unless you changed the pipes or something, too, JON.

[thatwaslucky]

You were talking to someone who didn't even have the ability to wash things out for years, Rey was not lucky.

"It's not too late for this, is it?" Rey checked, following.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"You're the one who has training in the morning," Summer pointed out with a grin. "You tell me. Assuming you're still keeping up with that, anyway."

[thatwaslucky]

"You haven't been gone that long," Rey said wryly. "As long as I don't show up hungover I'll be fine."

And she might have to have a conversation about the weekend, so best to have a clear head there.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Right," said Summer, "so what you're saying is...I should make sure to drink most of it, if only to help make sure that you are still in top shape for your training tomorrow."

As if that wasn't how it was going to span out anyway.

"Got it. A small sacrifice to make."

[thatwaslucky]

"Master Skywalker and I both thank you," Rey smiled.