fandomtownies | Fandom Post Office, June 11 (Tuesday)

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Fandom Post Office, June 11 (Tuesday)

One of the inevitabilities of working at a post office on a multiversal nexus was the amount of returned mail. Related to this, the thing that made dealing with it daunting was the sheer variety of possible reasons for delivery failure: incorrect postal codes, mail getting sorted to the wrong parallel dimension, an unexpected meteor shower forcing the delivery starship to turn around and go for repairs.

Éponine's duties included going through that pile of mail every so often to see how much of it could be salvaged and re-delivered, and how much was a lost cause. Some days she felt like doing it, and some days she didn't (and on those days she kept disappearing into the break room or the restroom for long stretches of time). Today happened to be one of the days when her need to feel useful outweighed the precariousness of her work ethic, and she was sitting behind the counter with a postal bin full of envelopes beside her.

The envelope she pulled out and stared at for a while had half its address (and half its contents, by extension) missing -- due, no doubt, to the ragged, tooth-marked, and still slimy edge that marked where the paper had been torn away.

"Well," she told the envelope as she tossed it into the discards bin, "you're of absolutely no use to anyone any more, sorry to say."

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And your service.

For work-related reasons or not. She's not picky.

After some cleaning of her apartment over the last couple days, Kitty made her way over to the post office and greeted Eponine with, "Hey, I finally brought you those maps."

"Maps?" Éponine echoed, distracted by what looked like scorch marks on the outside of a lumpy package wrapped in brown paper, but she looked up and blinked, much more focused now.

"Oh, the maps!" she exclaimed. She looked surprised and almost delighted. "You remembered about them!"

"I did," Kitty smiled. "It just took some digging. I need to stop throwing things in the closet instead of cleaning."

"D'you know, I'm starting to have that problem too?" Really, it was sad how pleased Éponine seemed to be by all this. "Sometimes, especially now that it's starting to get hot, I'm just too tired to bother putting things away, and I'd been out of the habit of simply having to put things away for so long anyhow. Then I look at the pile and think, 'Well, I really ought to do something about that,' but I decide that no, it can wait."

She waved a hand. "And it just keeps waiting, as I can't be bothered."

That was a really long way to say "procrastination."

"That exactly," Kitty said. "And then putting things away ends up meaning 'hide it somewhere for now and then forget about it.' Which means then you have a pile of stuff hidden away that you know you should get to and don't. It's a vicious cycle."

"And the pile gets bigger, and that only makes one want to sort it out even less," Éponine agreed ~~not that this is her player's problem too rly~~. Look, she was just happy she owned enough things to make a mess now. "Only now yours will be a bit smaller, and mine a bit bigger, except there's useful knowledge to be had there so I'd guess we both benefit."

"Especially you, because maps are fun." Keep in mind, Kitty was kind of a learning-obsessed nerd. She held out the maps and said, "There's a world map, plus a US one. Also there's a little guidebook for the area, just because I had it."

The speed with which Éponine stood up, came over, and made a grab for the maps was probably lacking a good deal in decorum, but she was excited here.

"Well, look at that -- they're so much fancier now," she said, already poring over the world map. "And lord, how neat that tiny lettering is, it's actually readable."

She squinted a little more closely at the map, lips moving silently as she read some of the text to herself, then laughed. "All these funny names are going to be quite the trick to learn, let me tell you that."

"Something tells me you'll be saying them like a pro in no time." Maybe it was the speed there that made Kitty think that.

"We'll see about that." Éponine set the maps down carefully, then picked up the guidebook to start flipping through it. "Well, this'll be a nice way to spend some time, that's certain. What d'you want for them in return?"

"Oh, nothing," she said, shaking head head. "They're all yours."

Sorry, Kitty, but Éponine looked like she wasn't sure she should believe that just yet.

"Nothing at all, really? If there's something you need done -- a message delivered, or something found out -- you've only to say, and I'll see it's taken care of."

"I'll keep it in mind," Kitty said, "but I really don't need anything. Consider it a gift."

"Oh," Éponine said, and went silent for a second or two before finally saying, as if she wasn't used to it, "Well, then . . . thank you. It's very kind of you."

"You're welcome," she said. "Just enjoy them."

Éponine set the guidebook down on top of the maps and gave the stack an affectionate little pat. "I'm sure I will. They'll be awfully useful."

"Good," Kitty said. "So how've you been?"

"Well enough," Éponine answered, looking about as pleased as she always did whenever people seemed to have an interest in how she was doing. She gestured back toward her pile of returned mail with a wry smile. "Keeping quite busy this week, as it turns out. I don't know what people have been trying to post, but something seems to think it's good to eat."

And it took her a moment, but she remembered to ask:

"And you?"

"Oh, you know. Things are going freakishly well so I'm sure I'll be turned into something else for a weekend soon," Kitty said casually.

"Ah, that's right, that happened to you recently," Éponine said, then snorted. "Not that I've any doubt that's likely to happen. Everything going that well all at once is too good to last, isn't it?"

Thanks, Éponine, that was cheerful.

"Yep! We're due for a little dose of Fandom's version of reality just to remind us not to get too comfortable." Which Kitty was used to by now.

"What d'you suppose it'll be this time?" Éponine asked, rolling her eyes. "Nothing that sets us on fire again, I hope."

She was still bitter about the shirt the jalapeños had ruined.

"I wouldn't mind something invading and me not being a lion for it," Kitty admitted. "Been a few months since I've gotten to hit anything other than a punching bag."

Éponine winced. "Oh, hell. If it comes down to fighting again I'd just as soon hole up at home and not come out until it's all over."

"I mean, I'd be perfectly happy being six instead of something invading," Kitty said quickly. "Bad experience with the last one?"

"I don't like it, that's all, when it's nothing but noise and pushing and shoving and worse in the streets," Éponine said, looking just a touch uncomfortable, but then she managed a laugh. 'Forced' might be the more accurate term for it, though. "I'm not afraid! I'd just rather avoid it."

"I can't blame you," Kitty told her. "And I think the vast majority of people would agree with you."

She was just a superhero.

...Freelance.

Which Éponine would think was weird, but actually impressive once she finally got over believing people would really do that sort of thing.

"But you enjoy it, though?"

Not judging! Just curious.

"I don't know that I enjoy it as much as I'm used to it, and sometimes hitting something that actually deserves it is kind of satisfying," she admitted.

"Well, of course that's always satisfying," Éponine agreed. "It's just a shame that not everything that deserves to be hit can be. But the fighting, that happens often where you're from?"

"I come from somewhere with superheroes," Kitty explained. "There are always bad guys or something weird happening. It's a lot like here, only more frequent and with a lot more spandex."

"Well, of course there's always bad people." Look, blame her upbringing for how that came out so matter-of-fact. No, more like jaded. "But something's actually done about them?"

"Yep. Well, when it's possible, anyway," Kitty said. "You find the bad guys, you put them away." Or you save the world from aliens or whatever else.

Éponine just stared at her for a few moments, then burst out laughing. "I was right. There's something wrong with everyone on this damn island."

Including herself, to be fair.

"I'm not disagreeing," Kitty said honestly.

"I suppose that's all right," Éponine decided. "Seeing as you're the most bearable lot of people I've ever fallen in with."

"Aww. Now I'm all proud," Kitty smiled.

"Well, don't let it go too far to your head, or I'll have to find a way to bring you back to earth," Éponine warned her.

Playfully, even.

. . . I have absolutely no idea. I choose to blame it on how I only managed to get three hours of sleep. Stupid insomnia.

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Fandom Post Office, June 11 (Tuesday)

Mod Your Post Office [6/11]

Talk to Éponine [6/11]

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OOC [FPO, 6/11]