Robin T. Frog

As Summer pulled the junker jeep into the driveway of her post-apocalyptic suburban home, she braked just a little too hard, toppling over the grocery bag filled with the spoils of her raid: some wilted lettuce, a shitty orange, some sticks, an honestly really spindly arm, and some half-eaten meat on a bone. "Ugh," she muttered, sweeping down to pick it up as she climbed out of the car, including the jawless head that fell out onto the driveway. "Goddamn it."

"Hi, there, Summer!" called Eli from the lawn next door, pausing his mowing to give her a wave. "How were the ruins today?"

( I was a monster when you met me! )

Summer reached up to take the metal shoulders from her sweet raider ensemble and threw them to the ground. "Oh, cut the crap, Rick, okay? You proved your point, I get it. Let's just go home."

"Coolsies." Rick shot a portal into the ground, and Summer and Morty wasted no time in jumping in. Rick was soon to follow, but not before grabbing the small core of Isotope 322 in the generator that ran the electricity throughout the town, plunging it into an electricty-less darkness. And over the darkened streets and ramshackle homes, a shocked cry of realization emerged from Hemhorrage like an animal cry.

"Noooooooo!"
_____________________


Back at the Smith household, Beth eagerly tossed a pair of dice from a shaken cup onto the the table, took a look at her roll, and smacked her hand down on a button at the center of the table shared with the robot version of her daughter, her son, and her father. "Downbeat!"

"I enjoy this game," said Rick as Beth turned her bright grin toward them. It was a grin that fell quickly when a small beep drew their attention down to the watches on their wrists all in unison.

"We must go into the garage," Rick announced.

( I want to taste ice cream, but not just put it in my mouth and let it slide down my throat, but really eat it! )

"Ah, I'm sure it was nothing," Rick said, turning. "I'm gonna go, uh, work in the garage."

"We're not gonna finish playing Downbeat?" Beth asked.

"What," said Rick, "that dice game where you shake dice and yell out, 'Downbeat'? No, thank you."

"Mom," Summer asked, "would it be okay if I went to visit Dad?"

"Sure," she said with a small, uncertain smile.

"Thanks."

_________

Summer stood outside her dad's apartment, comfortable again in her own clothes, but not so much with her surroundings. She lifted her free hand, as the other one was holding a three-eyed skull with teeth and horns, knocked on the door, shifting a little as she waited for him to open it.

"Summer." The surprise was evident in Jerry's voice, but she didn't give him time to make a big deal out of it. She had her own big deal she was trying to make.

( Dad? I wanted to give you this as a reminder not to look back. )

"Soooo..." Summer said cautiously once she let go, glancing briefly over her shoulder to the parking lot of Jerry's shitty apartment complex, "lots of hookers outside, huh?"

"Is that what they are?"

Oh, Jerry. And you were doing so well...

[[ and fin! transcribed from S3;E2 of Rick and Morty, "Rickmancing the Stone." open for text and calls if'n you'd like! Summer will be back and normal (relatively speaking) tomorrow! ]]