Snippets and plans for later

The Smith residence lay wrapped in silence, its inhabitants peacefully asleep—all except for Elina Smith. The middle child, positioned between her siblings both in age and bedroom location, sat at her desk in pajamas, wearing self-crafted tactical goggles. Through these goggles, connected to a pad on her desk, she accessed a virtual space where she could design and create gadgets in her secret workshop beneath the garage.

Unlike her slow-witted but beloved brother Morty, Elina's intelligence set her apart from her family, making her a different kind of target for school bullies. This uniqueness took on new meaning when she discovered its source—her Grandpa Rick. Though frequently intoxicated and undeniably eccentric, Rick had unlocked universal secrets that justified his peculiarities. With both her own conviction and Rick's support, Elina had left traditional schooling behind, finding greater enlightenment in self-directed learning than from what she considered subpar teachers.

Now, her hands hovered over the pad as she assembled components from a blueprint, hoping this attempt wouldn't end in another fire-extinguishing session. When the final piece clicked into place, she pushed her goggles up and flipped the switch. After several breathless moments, the pad glowed green. "Fuck yes!" she exclaimed, grinning triumphantly.

Reaching into her meticulously organized desk drawer, Elina retrieved a cutting-edge portal gun. She fired it, creating a swirling blue portal—distinctly different from Rick's signature green ones—and pulled out an empty cylindrical device. With the press of a button, she watched in fascination as the cylinder filled with sparks and gas before materializing a soda can. Carefully extracting the can, she took a deep breath and opened it while activating a hidden monitor showing Morty's room.

Creating another portal above Morty's shoe, she poured the drink through, soaking his footwear. "Thank goodness it wasn't acid," she whispered, taking a satisfied sip from the can. The taste made her shudder with pleasure. "I may not have named it yet," she mused, patting the cylinder, "but an infinite soda generator is pretty spectacular." Glancing at Morty's drenched shoe on the monitor, she added, "Though I should probably clean that up later..."

Her moment of triumph was interrupted by familiar footsteps in the hallway—Rick's drunken swagger as he burst into Morty's room. Through her still-open portal, she watched Rick notice it, comment on the hidden camera, and proceed to wake Morty for another adventure. Sensing impending chaos, Elina powered down the monitor as it slid into her desk, then retrieved a remote control through a fresh portal, placing it on her bedside table.

Although Elina's room was smaller than Morty's or Summer's – a consequence of its awkward position in the middle of their living quarters – she found solace in her personalized workshop located beneath the garage. Wrapping herself under the covers, she was immediately enveloped by Mesa's warm embrace, her girlfriend having stayed over and fallen asleep earlier while waiting for her to finish tinkering. Elina smiled as Mesa instinctively pulled her closer, murmuring something unintelligible in her sleep.

Careful not to disturb her girlfriend too much, Elina reached for the remote and switched on the large television near the foot of her bed, lowering the volume before resuming the latest Jurassic movie—a product of her deep fascination with dinosaurs. While she knew that this particular film wasn't accurate or "realistic," its subject matter felt real enough elsewhere. After all, she had an egg waiting to hatch as evidence.

As time passed and background noise filled her room, Elina vaguely registered the sound of Rick and Morty's ship taking off. Eventually, her remote control alerted her to the alarming fact that the Neutrino Bomb had been activated. With a barely contained sigh, she pressed a button to disarm it, followed by another button to shut off all her devices. Mesa's arms tightened around her waist, and Elina finally allowed herself to drift off to sleep, feeling safe and content in her girlfriend's embrace.

The next morning, breakfast chatter mixed with the clinking of silverware as the family gathered around the table. Elina, seated between Summer and Rick, crafted her signature breakfast: sausage pieces carefully arranged between fluffy pancakes. Her attire drew subtle attention—a Victorian tailcoat with steampunk elements, accented in scientific white, complete with a different pair of goggles perched on her head. A portal gun hung from her belt, completing the ensemble. While her family seemed unfazed, Rick alternated between praising her style as superior to Morty's and playfully mocking her eccentricity.

"I see there's a new episode of that singing show tonight," Jerry announced, glancing up from his touch-pad. Setting it aside, he smiled hopefully. "Who do you think is gonna be the best singer?"

The question hung in the air, met with indifference from everyone except Jerry, who alone seemed to enjoy the show. Elina had attempted one episode but fled after ten minutes, knowing far better performers across the multiverse. Her attention shifted to Morty, who swayed silently in his chair before suddenly face-planting into his breakfast.

"Oh my god, his head is in his food," Summer said, crossing her arms as everyone except Rick regarded Morty with concern.

"Morty, are you getting sick?" Beth asked, her voice mixing concern with exhaustion. "Please tell me you weren't practicing kissing on that living room pillow again. Mr. Snuffles uses that as his bed."

"Aw geez, Mom! I-I wasn't kissing any pillows!" Morty protested weakly, lifting his face from his plate with egg still stuck to his cheek. "I just... I just didn't get much sleep, and somehow my shoe got all wet, and I-I don't even know why." He propped his head up with his hands, clearly struggling to stay awake. "Maybe it was just, you know, one of those things?"

"Hah, right!" Mesa's voice called out from the stairs, having caught the tail end of his excuse. "Pretty sure I heard you and Rick blasting off into space again last night! I know thatsound even in my dreams!"

Mesa entered the dining room with a happy grin on her face showing off her clean sharp teeth and a laugh. She had a black jumper with a brown shirt underneath while having long black pants on with boots to accompany it. Her hair was brown and messy with a few parts spiked slightly, and her amber eyes glanced at Morty as she entered, a small snicker at the egg on his face. Though her gaze soon turned lovingly at Elina.

The last part of her getup was a necklace that had a raptor claw as its central piece. Rick scooted his chair over so Mesa could place a seat next to Elina, and when she sat down it showed that Mesa was taller than Elina. Jerry watched Mesa suspiciously from across the table – he still hadn't gotten over how she'd called his favorite reality show "a dimensional cable reject" last week.

"Oh my god, you're so obvious," Summer said with her typical teenage disdain, though she couldn't help but smile slightly at how Mesa immediately took Elina's hand under the table. As much as Summer pretended not to care about her sister's relationship, she had to admit they were kind of cute together.

"What?!" Jerry's face contorted with his signature impotent rage while Beth shot her father an exasperated look, though she couldn't help but feel a hint of joy watching Mesa and Elina together – at least one Smith had managed to find a healthy relationship. "Dad!"

"Oh-oh, I'm sorry, burp Jerry," Rick rolled his eyes, taking a swig from his flask. "I didn't realize we were living in some kind of fascist sleep-mandatory dimension. Y-you realize sleep is just death being shy, right? At-at least Elina here is doing something productive with her time. Speaking of which—" He turned to Elina with a knowing smirk, genuinely proud of both his granddaughter and her choice in partners, "—saw that infinite soda thing you wrapped up last night. Pretty sweet. Just uh, burp just make sure you name it something better than whatever Jerry would come up with. Like, seriously, remember when he named the dog 'Snuffles'?"

"Aw man, Mesa, that was awesome how you helped me with that math homework last week," Morty chimed in, perking up despite his exhaustion. Even if she did tease him sometimes, Mesa had become like another cool older sister to him.

"Hey! What's that supposed to—" Jerry started to protest.

"Jerry..." Beth cut him off with that familiar warning tone that suggested they'd had this conversation a thousand times before.

"Beth!" Jerry whined, his face scrunching up like a disappointed child. "You always take his side!" He stabbed at his pancakes with unnecessary force, causing syrup to splash onto his tie.

"Ugh, I literally can't even with this family right now," Summer groaned, slumping further into her chair with her phone in hand, the screen reflecting some interdimensional social media app Elina had created for her. "Like, it's too early for this drama."

Mesa shook her head at Summer's theatrics, casually reaching over to snag a piece of sausage from Elina's plate – a regular morning ritual between them that had started three months ago. "Drama? This is just Tuesday breakfast." She popped the sausage in her mouth with a satisfied grin, her sharp teeth glinting in the morning light. "You should see my family's reunions."

"There is no God, Summer," Rick interjected with a casual burp, waving his fork dismissively while using his other hand to mix something suspicious into his orange juice. "Gotta burp rip that band-aid off now. You'll thank me later."

"Well, not the 'one true god' anyway," Elina added with air quotes, sharing a knowing look with Rick as she adjusted her goggles. "Though debating with Thoth was pretty entertaining. For a god of wisdom, he sure crumbled fast when I mentioned telling the Egyptian goddesses about his... opinions on female deities in positions of power."

"Oh-oh yeah, that was burp classic," Rick chuckled, pointing his fork at Mesa while a drop of his enhanced orange juice burned a hole through the table. "Though pretty sure what really scared him was your girlfriend here giving him that death glare after his comments about Elina's 'place in the cosmic hierarchy.' Never seen a god of wisdom look so... unwise."

Mesa chuckled nervously, caught out, her amber eyes flickering with something ancient and dangerous for just a moment. "Hey, nobody talks about my girl like that, deity or not. Besides," she added, stealing another piece of sausage, "he had it coming after that crack about 'mortals attempting to comprehend divine mathematics.'"

"L-look, with all due respect, Rick—" Jerry interrupted, his face reddening as he tried to dab the syrup off his tie with a napkin, only making it worse. "What am I saying? What respect is due? How is my son supposed to pass his classes if you keep dragging him off for your high-concept sci-fi rigmarole? You already have Elina out of school—"

"Jerry," Beth cut him off sharply, her voice carrying that familiar mix of warning and exhaustion as she took a long sip from her morning wine. "We've been over this. Elina..." She softened slightly, glancing at her daughter with pride. "She just isn't suited for regular school. They can't keep up with her level of intelligence. That's why we agreed Rick's mentoring was better. And we said we weren't going to bring it up again." Under her breath, she added, "At least not until I've finished a glass."

"Listen, Jerry, I-I don't want to burp overstep my bounds or anything," Rick drawled, gesturing with his fork while something in his pocket quietly sparked. "It's your horse, your world, you're a real Julius Caesar. But I'll tell you how I feel about school. It's a waste of time. Bunch of people running around, bumping into each other like-like some kind of domesticated primate daycare..."

"The teacher up front asking people what two plus two equals, watching their souls die as they answer 'four' for the millionth time," Elina chimed in, adjusting her goggles. "Hell, even Morty has better math skills than anyone in that school now." She shot a knowing look at Mesa, who'd been tutoring Morty in dimensional calculus. Elina managed to spear the last sausage just before Mesa's fork could reach it, flashing a teasing smile. "And don't get me started on lunch period. It's like The Hunger Games meets a zombie apocalypse, minus the entertainment value."

Mesa leaned in close, her sharp teeth gleaming as she whispered something that made Elina's eyes go wide. Whatever it was, it was meant for Elina alone, though Rick's smirk suggested he'd caught every word. The effect was immediate – Elina choked on her sausage, her face turning the color of a supernova. Mesa smoothly caught the abandoned piece of food mid-air and popped it in her mouth with a wink. "Something like that?"

"Either way, burp school is not a place for smart people, Jerry," Rick concluded, dabbing his mouth with a napkin that started dissolving on contact with whatever was on his face. "And I know that's an unpopular opinion, but it's my two cents on the issue." He stood up, his chair scraping against the floor. "This was a good breakfast, Beth. Really made the crap out of those eggs. I wish your mother was here to eat them." With that, he shuffled toward the garage, pausing only to take another swig from his flask.

Morty's head began to drift downward again, but Mesa's hand shot across the table with inhuman speed, catching his forehead before it could meet his breakfast. Without missing a beat, she grabbed her drink and splashed it in his face. "Sorry, Morty, but if you face-plant now, you'll be drooling on your desk all day... though that might be an improvement over your soggy soda shoe situation."

"W-wait, how did you know it was s-soda in my shoe?" Morty questioned, suddenly more alert as he wiped his face with his sleeve.

"This was amazing, Mom!" Elina practically squeaked, jumping up from her chair with suspicious haste. Her face was still flushed from whatever Mesa had whispered. "Love to stay and chat about Morty's footwear mysteries, but Grandpa Rick needs help with... science... stuff." She grabbed Mesa's arm, practically hauling her girlfriend toward the garage. "We'll see you later!"

As soon as Elina and Mesa disappeared into the garage, Jerry slumped in his chair, fiddling with his syrup-stained tie. "I don't know about that Mesa girl. Something's... off about her. Did you see those teeth? And what's with all the cryptic comments about reality collapses? Plus, she keeps stealing Elina's food, and-and she clearly has no appreciation for quality television—"

"Oh my god, Dad," Summer cut him off, rolling her eyes so hard they might have briefly entered another dimension. "You're just mad because she called your stupid singing show garbage. Which it totally is, by the way."

"Y-yeah, Dad, Mesa's actually really cool," Morty added, wiping the last drops of drink from his face. "She helps me with my homework way better than my teachers do. Did you know she can explain quantum physics using dinosaur metaphors? It's pretty amazing actually."

"Jerry," Beth set down her wine glass, fixing him with a stern look. "Mesa makes our daughter happy. Happier than I've ever seen her. And unlike some relationships I could mention," she raised an eyebrow pointedly, "they actually support and challenge each other. So what if she's a little... different? This family hasn't exactly cornered the market on normal."

"But—" Jerry started to protest.

"Plus," Summer added with a smirk, scrolling through her phone, "she got me early access to, like, three different interdimensional streaming services. So maybe stop being such a basic dad about it?"

About an hour later, the garage had transformed into a hub of scientific activity. While Rick tinkered with his latest invention, Elina and Mesa huddled around a holographic monitor on the workbench. Though most of Elina's projects lived in her sub-level workshop beneath the garage, the portable holo-display allowed her to work anywhere—a necessity given Rick's tendency to commandeer the main workspace.

Elina groaned, running her fingers through her brown hair with its distinctive blue streaks. The monitor displayed an empty egg, awaiting the perfect DNA combination she and Mesa had been working on. "Let's start with the basics," she said, massaging her temples. "How smart should we make it?"

"Hmm," Mesa mused, her amber eyes drifting to a second monitor that showed the status of their computer-generated prototype. The display pulsed like a living thing, text suddenly materializing: 'Want to be as smart as Elina, while also being strong like Mesa.'

A smile tugged at Elina's lips. "Well, that settles that." She flipped a switch, expecting to see the specialized liquid flow into the egg. Instead, a warning light flashed, indicating an empty reservoir. "Oh come on!"

"Jesus burp Christ, what's with all the—what's with all the screaming over here?" Rick set aside his work, wandering over despite his earlier stance. "L-look, I know you two are doing your whole science power couple thing, which is burp great and all, but some of us are trying to invent stuff that'll actually matter in the grand scheme of the infinite multiverse." He peered at the monitor anyway, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Oh great, you're out of smart juice. Real burp amateur hour over here. Y-you know what? We should grab Morty from school and make a run to Dimension 35-C for some Mega Seeds. Kid needs to learn about burp about these things anyway. Plus, those seeds need to go waaaaay up somewhere, and I'm not doing it this time."

"Great," Elina sighed, retrieving her portal gun. "I'll have to leave this behind—it's still linked to the Galactic Community's portal network in that dimension." She fired a miniature blue portal onto the wall, creating a direct path to her bedroom. "At least selling them the limited portal tech paid off," she added, tossing the device through the portal and watching it land safely on her bed before the opening closed. "Needed to fund certain purchases somehow."

"Also speaking of 'wayyyyy up somewhere,'" Mesa muttered, her sharp teeth flashing in a grimace, "no way in hell am I doing that again." She wrapped a protective arm around Elina's waist. "And no, babe, you're definitely not experiencing that either. My ass hurt for days after last time." She shot Rick a pointed glare. "And yeah, I know I like the kid, but if we're bringing Morty, I'm not helping him avoid it. Neither is Elina."

Elina opened her mouth to argue but caught the fierce protectiveness in Mesa's amber eyes. With a slight blush, she sighed and nodded, closing the monitor before sliding her goggles back up to rest on her head. As she stood and stretched, Mesa pulled her closer, making her smile despite herself. "Fine, but you're telling Mom and Dad if they find out about this little field trip," she said, looking at Rick.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Rick waved dismissively, taking a swig from his flask. "Also, burp FYI, I really didn't need to know about my granddaughter's... preferences regarding certain activities. Keep that shit to yourselves." He shuddered while Mesa flashed a victorious smirk, earning another elbow to the ribs from a thoroughly embarrassed Elina. Rick pulled out his portal gun along with a small device, tossing the latter to Mesa, who caught it effortlessly. "There's your quick-switch clothing thing fixed. Gotta admit, burp wasn't expecting that level of complexity. Color me impressed." He fired a portal that would lead straight to Morty's school. "Now let's go rescue him from that prison they call education."

"Would you please stop saying stuff like that?" Elina hissed, playfully punching Mesa's side with her fist, careful not to actually hurt her. "I know you enjoy grossing out Grandpa Rick, but you're embarrassing me too!"

"And yet, you don't seem that mad about it," Mesa teased as she kissed Elina's forehead. They followed Rick through the portal, emerging into the fluorescent-lit hallways of the school. The familiar scent of floor cleaner and teenage anxiety filled the air as Rick immediately split from them to cover more ground in their search for Morty.

It honestly didn't take long for Mesa and Elina to find him first, trapped against the scratched metal lockers by a hulking bully. The kid was at least twice Morty's size, his letterman jacket stretched across broad shoulders as he pressed a switchblade against Morty's throat. A small trickle of sweat ran down Morty's temple as he tried to maintain his composure.

Mesa's amber eyes narrowed dangerously, her pupils briefly shifting to vertical slits. She gave Elina's hand a gentle squeeze before letting go, her movements becoming predatory as she approached the bully from behind. Her boots didn't make a sound on the linoleum floor—a reminder of her hunting heritage. Morty's eyes widened as he noticed her, a mix of relief and anticipation crossing his face.

"Hey! What are you looking at, focus on–"

The bully's words cut off in a startled grunt as Mesa's hands clamped down on his shoulders, her fingers digging in with inhuman strength as she spun him around. The knife clattered to the floor, forgotten. Up close, the bully could see the way her skin seemed to ripple, patches of iridescent scales briefly shimmering beneath the surface. Her teeth elongated, becoming razor-sharp as her jaw structure began to shift.

For a few terrifying seconds, Mesa allowed her transformation to progress further than she usually dared in public. Her face elongated into a velociraptor's distinctive profile, complete with that iconic curved killing claw that matched the one on her necklace. The amber of her eyes spread until they were entirely gold, pupils contracting to pinpoints as she opened her jaws and released a screech that contained 65 million years of predatory intent. The sound echoed through the hallway, a noise that shouldn't have been possible from a human throat.

The bully's face went chalk-white, his mouth opening in what would have been a scream—if Rick hadn't chosen that moment to emerge from around the corner, modified taser in hand. With a casual burp and the press of a button, he froze the bully solid. A thin layer of frost crackled across the bully's terrified expression, preserving his moment of realization that he'd chosen the wrong kid to mess with.

Mesa blinked, allowing her features to settle back into their human configuration. She stepped back to admire Rick's handiwork, absently running her tongue over her teeth as they returned to their normal sharp-but-not-quite-prehistoric state. The raptor claw on her necklace seemed to gleam with approval in the fluorescent lighting.

"Nice timing, Grandpa Rick," Elina said, walking over to examine the frozen bully with scientific curiosity. She pulled her goggles down, the lenses whirring as they analyzed the crystalline structure of Rick's latest freezing compound. Her hand reached out to tap the bully's shoulder, the surface unnaturally solid beneath her touch. But her attention quickly shifted to her brother, who still looked shaken. "You okay, Morty? Don't worry about him anymore. Oh, by the way—"

"Yeah, yeah, touching family moment later," Rick cut in, waving his flask dismissively. "Listen M-Morty, we've got some multidimensional errands to run. Need an extra pair of hands—specifically yours." He glanced at the frozen bully and smirked. "And hey, be grateful I froze this burp jackass when I did. Pretty sure he was about to piss himself after Mesa's little dinosaur display... though if I froze his bladder mid-release, that's probably getting pretty uncomfortable right about now."

Mesa's sharp teeth flashed in a predatory grin as she turned to Morty. "What class would you be missing anyway?" When Morty mumbled something about history, she let out a laugh that still held traces of her raptor screech. "Oh please, you can skip that. History's different in every dimension anyway. Besides," she added, shooting a meaningful look at Elina and Rick, "with these two around, you could literally just visit the past for your homework."

"Y-yeah, okay, whatever—can we just get out of here before Frank unfreezes?" Morty cast another nervous glance at the bully, already backing away toward Rick. Rick grabbed his grandson's shoulder and started steering him down the hall, with Mesa and Elina following close behind. None of them looked back to see the thin crack spreading across Frank's frozen form, or hear the crystalline sound of his body shattering into countless glittering pieces across the linoleum floor.