carpe noctem// rick and morty

a new bestie

the rest of the day gone by unbearably slow, so much so that aster wondered if her anticipation had contributed to the seemingly distorted time-space continuum. after she left the siblings at the end of lunch, she had a free period so she'd called jasper to let him know she would go to a friend's house after school.

she had been subjected to the 'is it a boy or a girl? what is their name? what age are they?' conversation, which made her realise once again just how much jasper cared for her.

she wasn't complaining though, it was nice to have someone care for her well-being, especially since she was in a different continent than her family.

she'd also managed to somehow be initiated in to the "cool kids group"? whatever that entailed. one second she was chilling with her music and a book, the next she had been led to where the group of popular kids sat by none other than jessica.

there everyone was giving her backhanded compliments about her outfit and hair, which she returned by giving out even more intense backhanded compliments. she guesses that made them realise she wasn't a pushover, because they switched to trying to convince aster to hang out with them, " you are new so you might hang out with the wrong people, let us help you" and all that, which made aster feel like harry potter of the very first book, where draco was trying to convince him to be friends.

aster hadn't been entirely sure what was happening, but thankfully the bell had rung before she had had to figure it out.

back to the present, aster was currently standing at the front gate with morty as they waited for summer to come. morty's attempts at starting a conversation had been... poor if aster was being completely honest, but she didn't really have much energy left for socialising, so she couldn't really help much.

from what morty said, beth had been more than happy that the siblings were bringing a friend over, and that aster could stay as long as she wanted. soon enough they were joined by summer, and were waiting for their mother to come to pick the siblings and aster up.

the siblings were discussing what to do after lunch, asking aster from time to time, to which she just nodded, not having the social battery to contribute to the conversation actively. she just wanted to take a nap, her only motivation to keep going was that she would be hanging out with THE smiths. just as summer turned to ask aster her opinion about a dress she wanted to get, beth came around with the car and rolled down her window as she stopped in front of the three.

"hey kids, you had fun in school?" aster realised beth was wearing sunglasses, even though the weather didn't really call for it. summer and morty ignored her and just entered the car, as for aster, she wanted to make as best a first impression as possible.

"hello, mrs smith, im aster. i am new to the school, and summer has been a big help to me."

"oh, aren't you sweet! don't worry and hop in aster"

aster sat at the back with morty, and summer in the passenger's seat. the ride to the smiths' house had been quiet, except for when beth was telling aster how proud she was that her kids had made a new friend in classic mom fashion. they eventually pulled into the driveway of the smiths' house and that was when aster truly acknowledged the reality of things.

she was actually about to walk in THE smiths home, where rick would probably be waiting while watching interdimensional cable or whipping up some obscure gadget in the garage.

she still felt a bit out of it, the emotions she should've been feeling since she came here overcoming her all at once. she realised just how lightly she had been thinking of all this. to her, it had been just another never-to-be-completed plan on paper, and now that it was coming to life, she did not know how to react.

she also realised just how highly she thought of rick, and how much his character meant to her. she thought back to when she would watch rick and morty on repeat whenever she would just be sitting around. she'd seen rick as this invincible person, someone who could always take advantage of the situation, no matter what that'd be.

he was an icon, he was confident, cocky, arrogant and not a good person, but he'd also been a stand-alone figure, completing himself, showing no weakness, and always remaining cold and logical.

he was what aster had wanted to be. he chased after what he wanted, with no one stopping him, and he had a clear place in whatever crazy world he visited. he belonged everywhere, but also nowhere at the same time. he was adaptable and methodic, with plans upon plans upon backup plans to show for it.

and yea he'd fucked up many times, and yeah he wasn't all that great in reality, and yeah he had many issues, but at least he didn't make it anyone else's problem.... okay yeah, now aster understood beth.

aster thought of herself as emotional, but take away that and she thought she'd be able to keep up with rick... in a proportional way obviously, since she wasn't even that much of a genius to begin with. if only she wasn't riddled with anxiety, maybe she would be able to go on cool, idgaf about anything adventures too, doing whatever impulsive shit she wanted without having a panic attack before AND after.

she snapped out of her trance when morty asked if she was okay, to which she just nodded. as she exited the car, she only wished for everything to go smoothly, and for zero embarrassing moments to be had that evening.