The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz

“Doe's Garage! Since 1971, the best repair and tune-up in the Five Boroughs!”

Placed neatly in front of Oz would be a circular tube with an orange bow on top of it. Inside of it was a rolled up poster, depicting an action movie popular in that specific dimension. The actors were posed in cool fighting stances. Gun and explosions adorning the background. In a big font read the name of the movie title.

Along with it fell out a note that read. 'Hey, Merry Christmas! I hope you like this, Rick gave it to me to hold onto but I didn't have anywhere to put it so I thought you might like it! --- Morty' { From Morty ! } @advnterccs

"Well, isn't that nice?"

"Rick might want it back, though, so..."

He rolled up the poster and put it back in the tube, ready for if Rick came a-knockin'. He hoped Rick liked the Shzechuan sauce he had made for him. And the cotton-candy liquor, too.

Run away. If Rick doesn’t ever remember him, why pay any attention to him?

“I-I don’t want to talk about it,” Morty tilted his head to look up at Oz. He held onto himself tighter. “It’s – uh – i-it’s stupid and it wasn’t entirely his fault, you know? I kind of went a little overboard with the whole infinite save points thing.”

“Well of course you did, Morty. You’re a kid. You’re supposed to be immature.”

“You’re allowed to screw up, and be rude, and have crushes on the wrong people, and eat things that give you bad breath, because you’re maturing and learning! That’s what kids are supposed to do!”

“Yeah, me too,” Morty crossed his arms in an attempt to hug himself, sat down now on the ground and sighing as he stared. The memory still so fresh in his mind. “My grandpa made me a device and I-I thought I could do anything with it, literally anything without any consequence, but i-it turns out that - that was a lie a-and he did it to get payback for calling his idea dumb.”

Oz leaned against the wall next to Morty. “I'd say there's a lesson to be learned from that, but it's more about your grandfather than about you.”

@mercwithagem​​ || cont.

Fists are balled up tightly at Rick’s sides. A cold, harsh glare directed at the other. “Don’t pretend you know anything about me when it’s clear you’re projecting all of your bullshit onto me,” He argued, eyes squinted sharply. “Fuck you, I-I’m nothing like you.”

Oz’s face dropped. “Not anymore, but there was a time when I was almost exactly like you. A smug jerk who thought of no one but himself.”

“It took a firm kick in the pants to get me out of that mindset. And someday, Sanchez, it’s going to happen to you.”

@mercwithagem​ || S.C

“And then it hit me, we are who we are because of consequences. You can’t live without consequences, y’know? You feel me?”

“Amen to that, Morty.”

“Truth is, you're never immune to consequences, only ignorant of them.”

Prehnite nodded, driving her van where he told her to but didn’t turn it off, so he could hear the noise. A sort of metallic gritting, coming from the engine.

She still was unsure about asking him about being a Gem, she didn’t want to be rude

“There, i hope you can recognize what it is”

“Well, between the sound and the fact that you’re hearing it idling... It might an issue with the A/C.”

“Huh, I heard of another condition that does that to the skin.  Except it turns yellow, not orange.”  Black Star noted with a thoughtful look.  However, this guy’s skin was very orange, like the fruit!  Surely the disease wouldn’t turn a human.. that orange?!  Part of her wants to believe Oz is human, yet.. she is doubtful.

“Diamond?  Pffff!”  The smaller gem cackled, “I don’t serve any Diamond, I’m a Crystal Gem!”  Black Star declared, getting into a ‘battle ready’ pose, as if she were the main character on a title screen for a videogame.

Oz let out a visible sigh of relief as he took his hand off of the handgun underneath the counter.

“Crystal Gem? Well. That’s something.”

“Sorry about the whole ‘clueless human’ act, trying to keep a low profile here.”

“Thanksgiving is literally my favorite holiday. It’s really big with me and my family.

“No Jingle Bells or Mariah Carey here, folks! Just turkey, my homemade brown rice, and pumpkin pie!”