somethingwithturquoise | Room 204; Monday Afternoon [09/18].

"Ooof."

It wasn't as if she'd had a really taxing day or anything, just Creative Writing class, but Summer felt exhausted. It took a lot out of a person to realize that someone had been here, acting like her, pretending to be her, who wasn't her, and she had no idea what she'd gotten into, what she had said or done or anything. And she should probably take are of figuring it out. When she'd dug up her class schedule (what had even happened in those past classes? At least the classes weren't as stupid as the summer ones, though), she found out she even had a Little Sibling, what the fuck? So this Paris Geller person was being introduced to Fandom by a robot. Sure, it seemed fitting, but that robot was supposed to be her! She didn't have the energy to go hunt her down now, though. Tomorrow. Tomorrow she'll do it, tomorrow she'll have recovered a little.

Right now, all she seemed to have the energy for is flopping onto her bed, rolling onto her back, and staring at the ceiling. Feeling impossibly clean and peaceful and safe, and missing the weight of another body in the bed beside her.

Summer sighed.

Why did this all suddenly feel so weird?

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"Ummm." How best to explain this, really? "Well, mostly just to trick my mom because we were all hanging out in another dimension and I guess he didn't want her to worry?"

That...was probably not a helpful explanation. Summer shook her head, waving a dismissive hand. "You know what? It's a really long, complicated story. All that matters now is it's over and I'm back. Come on in, if you want. Maybe you can fill me in on anything interesting that's happened this semester, any interesting new students? Any weird Fandom stuff that I missed? BDG was, like, absolutely no help whatsoever on that front."

"That does sound kinda complicated," Ringo agreed, her eyes crossing slightly as she tried to think through that. Which she gave up on a couple of seconds later with a shake of her head.

"And, you're right." She beamed. "What matters is that you're back. So welcome back!"

"Thanks," said Summer, and she smiled, and it just felt really good to hear that, even from someone she wasn't terribly close with. Maybe even because it came from someone who she just sort of knew and it wasn't a big deal, but she was still happy to welcome her back. It was...really, really nice.

"It's good to be back," she added. "Which is, like, sort of weird? Because I didn't even want to come here in the first place, but, man, that seems like forever ago, that's insane."

Ringo grinned, shaking her head. "I think this place has a way of, you know, growing on you. I mean, I first came here because I wanted to, but I never expected for it to feel as much like home as it does? Like, home is still, you know, where my family is, but this place doesn't feel so far from that sometimes."

"Where are you from, anyway?" Summer asked, seeing an opportunity to not talk or think about herself and her own home for a little while and seizing it with gusto. "What's it like, and your family?"

"Tokyo!" Ringo smiled happily as she thought of home. "With my three sisters." That thought made her smile go downright dopey.

"But, um, the city's like. I don't know how to describe it? Huge? Busy? Practically bursting with life? It's home, you know?"

Awww. Ringo's reaction was just so excited and sweet, and so why did it just make something hard and gross form in Summer's chest? She was just overly tired from everything, that had to be it. Still, though part of her felt like crying, she easily found a smile for Ringo.

"I've never had a sister," she said, "much less three. Just a dumb little brother, but he's okay. And it's funny, I've been to all sorts of really crazy places in different dimensions and everything, but I haven't been to many places just here on Earth. The most Earth I've seen was through Dr. Lecter's international food class. I bet Tokyo's just wild."

"It's awesome!" Ringo grinned. "You should come visit sometime! I could give you the tour or whatever."

"Oh, and sisters are pretty great. I mean, sometimes they're soooo annoying, but even then, they're the best. Maybe you can find some. I mean, it's never too late for more family, right?"

"I mean, Rika-nee was already, like, eighteen when we decided to all be family."

And Summer couldn't help laughing at that, holding up a hand, shaking her head. "You've...clearly never met my family," she said. "Believe me, they're enough. More than enough, but, uh, joined? Are your sisters adopted?"

That might explain a lot.

"Hmm, I guess sort of?" Ringo squinted thoughtfully, then shrugged. "We all sort of adopted each other, is maybe the right way to put it? I mean, we all took Rika's family name since she was the only one who had one, but, yeah, adopted is close enough."

"See, so that's a little different," Summer pointed out. "You guys got to choose your family, it sounds like. Mine kind of got stuck together."

She made a little bit of a face, though. "Kind of. My parents...kind of just got divorced..."

She had hesitated to say it; she didn't want to bring the mood back down, but she was also weirdly curious to what apparently-happy-family-Ringo here would have to say about divorce.

Ringo's face fell slightly, though not quite as much as someone might expect. "That sucks," she said softly, eyes intent on Summer's face. "You okay?"

That was the part that mattered to Ringo. She wasn't sure how to even think about divorce herself. She'd never had parents of her own to even begin to guess what that might feel like.

"Not at first, I wasn't," Summer admitted, "but I'm better about it now. I kind of get it now. It's just..." She shook her head a little. "Really weird. They've always been fighting and threatening it with each other for as long as I can remember, but they always made up, and then, boom, final line, and they're following through with it, and it's just so weird. Part of me is really sad, and the other part is just, like, ugh, finally. I, like, can't even really picture, like, a happy normal family. You're really lucky. But you're also right, family's more than just people you share blood with. My...time away has shown me that I've got family here, too..."

"Yeah." Ringo's smile was distant for a moment. "You do. But I get that that doesn't mean you just, you know, forget about everything else."

"It sucks that people you care about can't always be happy, huh?" Ringo seemed perfectly comfortable assuming that Summer cared about her parents. Why else would she feel partially sad?

"I'm sorry you have to deal with that."

"It's okay," Summer smiled faintly, sadly, "but thanks, I appreciate that. It helps to just have people sympathize, you know? And, like I said, it's just weird. And it's weird feeling like here is where I go to try to feel normal again, but, whomp, there it is."

Ringo giggled. "I know, right! I mean, no one would ever accuse Fandom of being even close to normal, but," she shook her head slightly. "It's definitely where I feel the most normal. You know, where I can just be, me? And not be so worried about who everyone else thinks I'm supposed to be?"

Room 204; Monday Afternoon [09/18].

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