2nd floor common room- Thursday afternoon

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had skirted through most of her time at Fandom without any other problems aside from the occasional invasion, and that deep-seated anxiety that she’d been here too long and completely missed her family, not that she ever said that part out loud. Now, on a related note, with graduation coming up, she had no idea if anything was going to change now. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get home now, and what exactly she was going to do if she couldn’t, and if she could, what kind of situation would she be walking into?

There was also that other thing, which she didn’t really think about because obviously it was wrong.

She’d camped out on the sofa in the common room, and was currently scrolling through the Portalocity app, just checking to see if she could find anything that would get her home. Sure, it had never worked before, but maybe this time.

[Open!]

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[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer came in with some paper tucked under her arm and a T&C bag filled with markers and glitter and pens, because she had invitations to make and only a short time left, so she definitely wasn't going to hole up in her room by herself when she could be out here and seeing people a little bit more.

Case in point, there was someone already there.

"Hey, Rey," she smiled in greeting, hitching her chin a little, as she dropped her stuff on the table and took a seat, "how's it going?"

[thatwaslucky]

“Okay,” she said, putting the phone down for the moment. “What’ve you got there?”

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer shrugged a little, dumping out all the supplies on the table and organizing the papers in front of her. "Invitation materials," she said. "I've got to have one last big party after graduation before I leave. I'm thinking Sunday night, since it's not like anyone'll have class the next morning and I'm pretty much heading out Monday anyway because I think my mom'll blow a gasket if I put it off any longer. So one last hurrah. Obviously, I'd rather let everyone know by word of mouth, but that's not dependable, and my last mass text invite backfired, so I'm going old school. Making little cards and slippin' 'em underneath everyone's doors."

Sometimes, she wondered how many piled up party invitations waited in the rooms where no one lived, but people didn't realize no one lived there, so they slipped invitations under the door anyway.

[thatwaslucky]

“Oh. You’re leaving already?”

Yeah, that was what she came away with. Sure, she’d been trying to figure out the leaving thing herself, but it hadn’t really occurred to her that anyone else she knew would.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer rolled her eyes, making a face, as she picked up a pair of scissors and started cutting a sheet of paper into an experimental shape. She really had no idea how she wanted the invitations to look; they'd probably all be vastly different.

"I wanted to stay for the summer," she said, "so I can figure out what to do after graduation, but my mom was just hounding me to come home. You never come home," she said, mocking Beth's voice to be far more shrill and shrewish than it...usually was. "Your brother misses you. Your dad misses you. I miss you, too. Blah blah blah. So I made a deal with her: I'll come home for the summer, and she'll pay for some business classes for me to take, and then I'll decide what I'm going to do and she can't nag at me about it."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey... kind of thought it might be nice to have someone who wanted you home.

“Sounds look s good plan, at least,” she said with an encouraging little smile.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"It's...not a...bad plan," Summer hesitantly admitted. "I mean, if I am going to start my own business, the classes would probably be helpful. The only jobs I've ever really had is selling antiques either cursed by the devil or in a town where no one buys antiques. But, hey," her attention shifted from what was...sort of a butterfly toward Rey, "you're graduating, too, right? What are your plans?"

[thatwaslucky]

“Well,” she said slowly, “that depends on whether or not I can get home at all.”

Biiiiig question mark there.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer's head tilted.

"Why wouldn't you be able to?"

Portals here made her grampa's portals look child's play, something she was so looking forward to rubbing into his face this summer.

[thatwaslucky]

“I’m not here on purpose, and I haven’t been able to find a way to get back, yet,” she explained. “I’m sure something will open up soon, though.”

Her deluded optimism was a gift.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Really?" Summer seemed genuinely confused for a moment, but also genuinely interested, turning in her chair and leaning forward a little. "But, like, how? People take portals here for field trips for classes, sometimes I suspect on a whim because they can't think of anything else, but you're really having trouble getting home?"

[thatwaslucky]

“Portalocity tells me that my universe should be added to the system soon,” Rey said. “I didn’t use them to get here, so I guess I confused things somehow.”

[somethingwithturquoise]

"How did you get here in the first place, then?"

[thatwaslucky]

“I touched a light.”

She shrugged.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Ohhhhhh," said Summer, with the tone of complete understanding and a nod. "Yeah, gotta watch those lights, man, who knows what they're going to do? Still, out of all places for a random light to whisk you off to, I think you got it pretty good..."

[thatwaslucky]

“I’m not complaining. But I shouldn’t have left at all, really,” Rey admitted.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Did you leave something important back home?" Summer asked.

[thatwaslucky]

“My family,” she said.

Oh, Rey.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer's faint smile was a little sympathetic. Hey, just because she thought her family was trash didn't mean she couldn't appreciate someone who actually did have a good relationship with theirs.

Or so she assumed.

"Man, I probably sound like an asshole, then," she snorted, "groaning and moaning about having to go home, while you can't even get home, and you've been here even longer."

[thatwaslucky]

“No, it’s fine,” Rey assured her. “Everyone has their own thing. I’ve just been gone too long, myself.”

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Want me to go down to the Portalocity office and yell at them?" Summer asked, with maybe a little too much enthusiasm, but, hey, it always worked with the diner staff, and she really liked doing it. Honestly, it had been a pretty solid solution in most cases so far.

"And if that still doesn't work, maybe I can steal my grampa's portal gun again."

Just...full of great ideas, this one.