fandomtownies | Fandom Post Office, May 18 (Tuesday)

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Fandom Post Office, May 18 (Tuesday)

There was a customer waiting outside the post office when Éponine arrived in the morning, a good half hour before they were even ready to open, which was enough reason for her to eye him suspiciously. As soon as the door was unlocked and the sign in the window flipped to OPEN (next to another, new sign reading HELP WANTED) he hurried inside and . . . proceeded to camp out in front of the post office boxes.

Well, all right then, it would be another several hours before the mail was all sorted and put into the boxes, but if he wanted to wait Éponine would be content to ignore him so long as he didn't get in the way. She didn't really give a damn how intently he stood there and stared at his mailbox as if he were trying to will the mail to manifest inside it sooner.

In between tasks -- and it was mildly disappointing that none of the returned mail today had teeth marks -- Éponine kept pulling a battered old book, one of yesterday's acquisitions, out of her pocket to read. It was certainly interesting, but not remotely quality literature -- not that she cared, really. It was entertaining, but more than slightly implausible in places judging from her occasional snorts and incredulous outbursts.

"Oh, come now, as if one can even get one's body to bend that way!"

The waiting customer gave her a dubious look. "Do I even want to know what you're --"

Éponine cut him off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's none of your concern," she informed him. "You stay over there and mind your own business, and leave me to mine."

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Just don't step on the guy waiting.

Who may be more amenable to talking to you than to that guy waiting for his mail.

Kenzi wandered in some time after noon, looking thinky. Usually this would mean another quality 'art' installation, but right now, she had more long-term thoughts.

She gave the guy waiting the Eyebrow, then leaned against the counter to distract Éponine. "Whatcha reading?"

"Oh, only some ridiculous thing," Éponine said in a breezy tone, closing the book and setting it aside. "It's silly, really. I'm not certain the author ever tried any of the things described, or he would know they're just not possible."

So yes, what she was reading was probably not at all suited for work. Like she cared.

That had Kenzi picking it up immediately, of course, and doing the random Page 119 test: Is There Sex?

"Okay, that's... dubious. Or hopeful? I don't even know."

The answer to the Page 119 test was probably yes. Depending on who you asked. Look, fic archives didn't exist in the 19th century; all that stuff had to get written down somewhere.

"It's amusing, anyhow," Éponine said, "though most likely not in the way the author intended. It's funny how that works sometimes, isn't it?"

The mailbox camper opened his mouth to say something again, and Éponine raised one index finger in warning. "Now, now, my good man, you'll remember the rules and leave me in peace, or I may decide it doesn't suit me at all to have you in my establishment." Gavroche had been a terrible influence. (Or the best.)

"Never mind him," she told Kenzi. "If you're interested, I don't mind lending the book to you once I'm done. You look terribly serious. Have you got some idea you're chewing on?"

"Cool. Thanks. And yeah." Kenzi put the book back down, and asked, "Did you get all old and weird this weekend?"

It was Éponine's turn to look slightly more sober now. "If I did, I don't remember. I think I slept through the entire thing. I take it you did?"

"Yeah." Kenzi swung herself up on the counter, expression preoccupied. "Dude. It was kind of awesome. I owned that old place out off Phoenix Way, with Toby and Bo."

"And you were all of you old?" asked Éponine. "And still living here? D'you remember much of your lives before that?"

"Some of it? I wasn't old old. Like. Thirty-eight, thirty-seven?" Kenzi drummed her heels on the cabinet, a rapid staccato of unease. "And, I had great shoes. And." tap tap tap! "Kids."

"That doesn't sound half bad," Éponine replied, frowning herself. "Don't most people dream of having a life like that?"

"Yeah. I guess. I just." Kenzi frowned. "I didn't think I'd get all that ever. Not really. I thought maybe, me and Toby would work out. Or maybe I'd get rich. I didn't think I'd get both." She took a breath. "And we took in all these fosters. Kids who didn't have anywhere to go. And now it's..."

Freaking her out! Because it was so cool!

"Got you all out of sorts because you can't imagine what on earth to actually do with it all?" suggested Éponine. "I know I wouldn't be able to."

She wasn't even ready to imagine the future a year from now, let alone twenty.

"Uh-hunh." This should not make her mournful. And yet! "And I don't even know how all that happened." She looked around, then slid off the counter and leaned closer to whisper, "I was a master thief! I stole stuff from everywhere! How the hell did I get that good?!"

Éponine snorted, a faint smile quirking up the corners of her mouth. "Practice, obviously, as if there was any other way!"

She reached into her pocket to absently touch the five-franc piece. "Taking in abandoned children, hmm?" They couldn't possibly have done a worse job than her own family had (and that thought came with a twinge of guilt). "There's some who'd say you were fools for taking your good luck and sharing it around so much."

"Pffftt. Why? The place is huge. Way too big for even a family. And those kids needed somewhere to go." Kenzi frowned, trying to remember. "They were magic and Fae and mutants, and they'd been through bad shit. I mean. I'm not all that maternal. But." But she kinda thought it was cool. And like a scam, getting those kids into a good place, not a group home or orphanage or on the street... "Bo was really good at it." See, that had to help.

"I said some people might. I said nothing of the sort about myself," Éponine felt the need to point out. "Though I certainly wouldn't have the patience, good Lord."

There were some decent parental instincts in the family. It was just that Gavroche had possessed all of them.

"They'd have done much worse elsewhere, you can count on that, so it's good of you, or will be, I suppose."

Kenzi settled down and muttered, "Yeah. Will be. I guess?" She bit her lip. "I haven't talked to Toby about it." And that was part of the freak-out. "It's really.. I dunno. I should talk to him."

Notice how she's talking to Éponine, instead.

"Or not. Maybe the future takes care of itself."

Well, talking to Éponine might be a wash as far as any useful advice, but at least it was better than repressing.

"It's a long way off is what it is," she said, withdrawing her hand from her pocket to reach for her book again instead. "I suppose the question is whether you want that, and it seems to me that you do."

"Yup." But did Toby? Would Bo? Kenzi frowned again, frustrated. "Nnngh. Stupid Island. Making me think too hard." She shook her head. "Right. For later. But!" She pointed at Éponine. "We should get you a cat this week." See, future. The present was more present.

And less likely to get a pessimistic outlook from her.

"Yes, some stray near my place had a litter recently; I can hear them squalling when I go out at night," Éponine replied, happy to shift the subject to something less detrimental to her mood. "Your talk of taking in kids put it in my head only a moment ago, but it shouldn't be too hard to get hold of one of them, should it?"

"Really shouldn't," Kenzi agreed. "But you should take 'em all to the vet, first. So they can make sure they're not sick."

"I never thought of that," Éponine admitted. "Though it's likely they are, don't you think, coming from where they do?"

"Probably. Fleas and stuff at least. And you have to wait a few weeks for the kittens to be old enough to leave their mom." Kenzi looked considering. "If you want help looking for her, I'll come along. Then we can take 'em to a no-kill shelter, get them fed up."

Éponine snorted, but with sardonic amusement and not derision. "You make it sound like what people would say about me when I first arrived -- though I don't suppose it's much different, really."

Kenzi gave her a look of affection, then snickered and leaned over to pet her hair. "Did you bite them? Or scratch their faces off?"

Éponine didn't hiss like a cat, but she did swat at Kenzi's hand with both of hers, feigning indignation. (The instinct to recoil, though, was ingrained and real.) "Hardly, but it was a temptation at times, oh, yes indeed. Don't you think I couldn't, if I needed to!"

Kenzi held up her hands in a peace-making gesture, still grinning. "I believe it. So you figure out the best way to deal with a mama-cat version of you, and call me when you're ready to go searching."

"Yes, yes, and figure out what to do about this vet business as well," she agreed, not nearly as huffy as she tried to sound. "I'll manage it. I'm more clever than a cat, anyhow. Honestly!"

. . . I don't even know. I choose to partly blame this on a fic I read this morning that I am soooo not linking to right now.

. . . but it was awesome.

Edited 2013-06-18 17:17 (UTC)

Ahahahaha! and what fandom was this fic in?

Les Mis fic, of course. Basically, someone dug up a book that's the 19th-century equivalent of a kinkmeme and used it in a fic, under the premise that Éponine would totally have read something like that. I agree completely. This has basically made my ENTIRE DAY.

aahahahahah oh that sounds awesome. I'm gonna have to go look for this. HEE.

*snerk* I can look up the name of the book/find the fic link later, but hahahaha not while I'm at work nooooo.

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Fandom Post Office, May 18 (Tuesday)

Mod Your Post Office [6/18]

Talk to Éponine [6/18]

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OOC [FPO 6/18]

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