fandomtownies | MHA Lobby, Sunday

Everything had started, as everything always started, with a crow showing up at his window.

It wasn't like Atticus didn't know his time in Russia was coming to an end. An hour before the crow showed up, he'd scared off four faeries--well, he'd scared off two faeries after lopping the heads off of the first two to attack him--and that could only mean one thing. He opened the window just long enough to let the crow in and was greeted by the ever pleasant words of the Morrigan, Celtic Chooser of the Slain.

"Aenghus Og knows you're here. You must leave this place at once."

"Are you sure?" Atticus had asked, like he wasn't cleaning blood off of his sword, like the little house he'd been living in wasn't packed up in boxes already. "I was hoping my imminent demise could wait until after the Olympics."

The Morrigan made a noise like she was surprised that Atticus hadn't learned to not be sarcastic to a goddess of war yet. "You must leave this place," she said again. "This time, you will go where I tell you."

For a second, Atticus had genuinely considered protesting, but what good would that have done? The only choice he had anymore was to run. The next few days had been a flurry of finalized packing and plane trips to get to America, of all places. Atticus had been worried that, with all the increased security going on at airports, his brand new forged identification papers would get him into trouble--his old ones were a little too old, he couldn't pretend to be almost 40 anymore and he had a new name to boot--but he didn't have any problems. Then, he came across the causeway and started to get a feel for where the Morrigan had sent him. First of all, he wasn't happy about the island part--how was he supposed to protect himself with only one way out of town? Second, this place felt weird and more unfamiliar than Atticus remembered the general United States being, and the only thing that really made him nervous anymore was the unknown.

He'd managed to find his way to the apartments he was supposedly managing - sure, that wasn't a thing he knew how to do, but this was what he'd been told to do and every once in a long while he was capable of shutting up and listening - and moved his most important things into his new apartment. He still had a few boxes of things to drag over from where he'd had to leave his car, but for now, he was looking over all the paperwork he'd found in the manager's office and wondering if anyone, at any time, had ever kept this place organized. He hadn't had a chance to talk to the gentleman who'd been here yesterday, but he had a pretty good feeling about what, or who, had scared the poor guy off. Maybe he'd figure out what the Morrigan wanted with him here, but it wasn't likely.

[~~Finally omg I know.~~ Open!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mindy was on her way back to her apartment with a very large bag of take-out when she spotted a hot neighbor she hadn't seen before. Naturally, this caught her attention.

She hastily pushed the contents of the bag down so it didn't seem to be overflowing as much as it was before she approached him. "Hi there," she said. "Moving in?"

Atticus gave her what he hoped came off as a friendly smile because hey, if he was going to be stuck here for a while, at least he could make friends with the pretty ladies that were around. "Kind of. I mean, yes, but I'm also the new landlord. Manager-type person. Whatever you want to call it." Oh yeah, he was off to a great start. "Do you live here?"

"I sure do. I wasn't half as efficient at moving in as you seem like you are, though. It took me like five hours." That might even be an understatement. "I've never had a landlord who wasn't a sketchy bird owner in his seventies, so you're already a step up."

She smiled and held out her hand. "Hi. I'm Mindy Lahiri."

"Atticus O'Sullivan. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, shaking her hand. "I can't say I've ever owned any birds, but now I'm even less interested if that's a sign of sketchiness."

"Good idea," she said with a serious nod. "I used to see my old landlord with, like, peck marks on his face. He tried to tell me they were hickeys, but when they're clearly beak-shaped, it's hard to pull off that excuse."

"Was that the guy who was here before me? I didn't get a chance to meet him," Atticus admitted. "This job was a little sudden."

"No, no, I'm new here," Mindy assured him. "In fact, I never met the last landlord here. How do you suddenly become a landlord? Were you looking at real estate sites drunk? I've been there."

"No, that's how I end up with really questionable appliances," Atticus said. "I had to move and I found this place and there just happened to be a job. I know you said you haven't been here long, but do you like it here?"

"Well, the security isn't great," Mindy noted, her tone suggesting that this might well be the first item on a very long list. "Some squirrels got into my place on Thursday night and I assure you the doors were double-bolted. Also, my neighbor's apartment smells like fried fish all the time to the point that it permeates the hallway? I'm not sure if that's a landlord issue or what. Oh, and I can't get my laptop to connect to the wifi..."

{ neighboring apartment modded with permission! }

"So, wifi, anti-squirrel protection, and talk to people about their fish eating habits. That sounds like a good list of things to start on." Not that he knew how to start, but that was what the... non-stable internet was for. "If you need anything else, I'm right down here and I'm a light sleeper."

"I may take you up on that," Mindy promised. "I bet your apartment is really nice, huh? You know, the last time I was in a designated landlord's apartment I was dripping wet and covered in pie, so I didn't really get to look around."

"It's bigger than I thought it would be," Atticus said, doing his best not to picture Mindy wet. Ahem. "Should I add 'deal with pie-related incidents' to my list?"

"Only if there is a crazy, boyfriend-stealing tenant here who's likely to deliver me pseudo-apology-themed dessert and then attack me with it," Mindy said. "Is there?" She muttered, "It would be just like Heather to stalk me across the country just to irritate me in my new apartment building..."

"Uh, not that I know of? But you're also the first tenant that I've met," Atticus said. "I'll keep an eye out for anyone with crazy eyes though, I've got a pretty good radar for that." They were usually aimed at him, after all.

"That's an excellent suggestion, Atticus, thank you," Mindy said firmly. "I actually believe that crazy eye checks should supplement background checks on apartment applications. Sometimes the only way you can tell someone should not be near your living space is with your gut, you know?"

"Oh, absolutely. I think everyone can learn to be good at reading people with enough practice." Magic helped, but not everyone had that to fall back on. "Hopefully we won't have any bad gut feelings about the people walking through that door."

"Well, you would just chase them outta here, right?" Mindy joked, smiling.

MHA Lobby, Sunday

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