fandomtownies | Fandom Post Office, May 13 (Tuesday)

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Fandom Post Office, May 13 (Tuesday)

Éponine was having one of those days today, the kind where you got a song stuck in your head only you didn't remember the words, so you kept humming it, all the while getting disproportionately irritated about all the lyrics that just weren't coming to mind.

Did it stop her from humming as she sorted mail and restocked the supplies, or as she went out on her route for that matter? No, but it was the reason why she'd sometimes stop mid-phrase and sigh or shake her head while staring off into some unfixed point in the distance, then resume her business and her humming with an almost manic determination. It was annoying, but damned if she was just going to let it ruin her day.

The Now Hiring sign was in the window again, too, what with new people around and all.

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And your own earworm, if you wish.

No, it isn't a One Direction song stuck in her head. This time.

Rapunzel wandered in after class today, a folded letter clutched in one hand as she tugged her hair in behind her with the other. She had no idea how to get a letter to her mother, but this seemed like a good place to start, right?

All it said was, I love you, I miss you, I'm okay. Rapunzel hadn't disclosed her location, because...she didn't want to come home, yet, guilt aside.

She tilted her head at the girl, cocking her ear to try to follow the melody. "I don't know that song," she greeted her, smiling.

"I don't either, not really," admitted Éponine. "That is, I've no idea how the words go, I only hear it sometimes when I'm passing by some house that's got the radio playing, but doesn't it get stuck in my head!"

It was an Ingrid Michaelson song. That was always a possibility.

"Oh!" she said, abruptly changing her focus of attention when she spotted the letter in Rapunzel's hand. "You've got a letter to post, don't you?"

"That happens to me all the time," Rapunzel sighed. "I'll hear something and I won't know the words or the name of the song in the first place! That sounded pretty catchy, though."

She waved the letter, feeling a little silly. "I've never sent a letter before. And I'm not sure how to send it, but I heard this is the place to try."

The letter actually just had "GOTHEL, THE TOWER IN THE VALLEY, CORONA" written on it on the outside. Rapunzel felt really silly for not knowing her own address, but that was the best she could do.

Edited 2014-05-13 20:29 (UTC)

It was more specific than one letter that had come in last week, where the sender had drawn a crude sketch of the constellations visible from the letter's destination at this time of year.

"That'll do," Éponine declared, leaning across the counter to peer at the address. "We'll get it there somehow. God knows how -- it's not my concern once it leaves the island and I haven't bothered to ask -- but it ought to get there just fine, don't you worry about that."

She shook off her residual distraction and assumed a more businesslike demeanor, as if having a job to do made her feel more important. "Used to be, someone wanted a letter posted, they'd call me over and tell me where to go with a coin or two for my troubles, but that'd be a tricky bit of business here, hmm? Letters to send much further away than just the other side of Paris, that's what we've got here! It still costs you a bit of money, mind, more if you've got an envelope heavy as if there's a small elephant in there, only I don't keep the money straight away. Now let me see -- ah! No, that letter doesn't look heavy at all, it'll likely cost less than a dollar 'less you need it to get there yesterday."

Figure of speech?

"That costs a nice chunk of glim, tell you that. Something about special processing, is how they explained it to me."

Apparently not.

That was a lot of words, but Rapunzel kind of loved that it was a lot of words, because she tended to ramble and she'd never actually met anyone who did it as bad as she did. Or as well. Depended on your perspective, she thought, considering Rapunzel listened absolutely raptly to Éponine's explanation.

"I have some money!" she said, still kind of proud of that fact. She'd never really had her own money before, just...found money. It meant something when you could actually spend it. "Maybe not enough to send an elephant. I'm not even sure how much stuff I'd have to put in an envelope to make it weigh as much as a baby elephant." She frowned, tilting her head and looking down at her letter. "Do you think I should include more to make it heavier? Are heavier letters better?"

People who listened to her when she rambled on! That was nice.

"If I were receiving it, I'd think a heavier one was better," Éponine said decisively, nodding. "Perhaps, anyway. S'pose that would depend on what was inside to make it so heavy. Imagine if there wasn't anything but boring old legal papers inside!"

She wrinkled her nose, which probably indicated what she thought of that idea.

"Or -- well, I don't think I'd like to receive a baby elephant in the post, now I think about it. No one's tried that yet while I've been here, but who knows? Perhaps it'll happen. I don't suggest it, though. That's the sort of thing that means you'll spend ages filling out paperwork first, and probably costs a nice little fortune."

Abruptly she continued, her expression animated, "But if it's a letter from someone talking to me, or a book, or something nice! That would be prime, I think. I'd like that. Wouldn't you?"

"I don't have any legal papers," Rapunzel assured her, tapping her chin in thought. "It's to my mother, and I don't think she'd like papers. Or a baby elephant, come to think of it, though I would! Sending it through the mail would be a pain, but it'd be so cute to just have around! It could use its little trunk to help you around the house!"

Rapunzel's mind was, occasionally, a very special and weird place.

"But I'd definitely want to receive something heavier in the mail, like a book or a really long letter! I've never gotten any mail before," she said, a little shy. Most people probably had gotten mail before, right? She just figured most people had done most things she hadn't, like riding a horse or eating pineapple or, you know, sending and receiving post.

She looked down at her letter again, doubtfully. "I'll send a heavier one next time," she decided. "I'm just letting her know I'm safe. Next time I can include a cookie or something, maybe! She'd probably like that."

Really, she'd probably like Rapunzel coming home, more, but cookies were always nice.

And yet Éponine felt like she could follow that train of elephant-related logic perfectly. Take that as you will.

"I don't get mail either, not really," she said in a commiserating tone, "for all that I see everyone else in the world's every day, it seems like! It would be nice, I think. Sometimes I say to myself, well, what if I sent something to myself? And then I think that no, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it? That wouldn't be as amusing. But I'm sure just knowing you're all right will be a nice enough message to receive."

Look, there had been that time she kept Cosette's letter, but in her defense she'd let Marius have it in the end, for all the good it must have done any of them.

"It's a popular thing, though, sending cookies or pastries or whatnot," she blustered on, because la la la not dwelling on that residual bit of guilt. "Lots of people do that, 'specially since there's treats to be had here that aren't around where and when they're from."

Rapunzel tilted her head thoughtfully. "We should have...pen pals, or something, here, so everyone gets mail all the time and feels special!" she decided, eyeing the other girl. "I make a great batch of cookies, and Mother probably wouldn't appreciate them as much as someone here would, if they never got mail."

The idea of sending something nice to her mother was appealing, but she really doubted that she'd appreciate it, somehow. Mother wouldn't like Dr. Lecter's food and would tell her it'd make them both chubby, probably, and she'd say Rapunzel was being an idiot if she sent candy or some of those spicy crisp things.

"I'm Rapunzel, by the way." She would have felt dumber for not introducing herself sooner, but baby elephants and treats had been far more important topics of conversation, she felt.

"Éponine," she said after a brief moment of what was both surprise (yes, still) at new people introducing themselves to her like any other person and slight amazement (again, yes, still) that people could really be this optimistic. "Well, I suppose if we all did that I'd be awfully busy and that's good, so long's I have work to do they'll keep paying me for it and that's just fine by me. But wouldn't it be expensive for everyone to pay money to post letters to each other right here on this tiny island! I shouldn't tell you that, no doubt the post office'd like the business, but there's no law against sticking a note in someone's door, I don't think, so that works just as well and anyhow, there's other things you might like to use the money for, I'd think."

Her mother and Rapunzel's mother would probably get along. Now there was a scary thought that would only occur to the narrative.

"Right! Okay, so we could drop things off by people's doors," Rapunzel said, really taking to this idea. "And then you'd get a surprise, sometimes? Like, oh no, I had the worst day...but, oh, here's a letter on my door from Éponine and suddenly my day got a lot better!"

She thought this was genius, personally.

"I mean, the actual mailing part is fun, too," she added. "But if we're worrying about paying for postage, and I should since I am definitely going to run out of money if I don't find a job, your way is waaaaay better."

Éponine laughed, and if you thought she was laughing because she liked the idea, and not because she thought a letter from her would improve anyone's day she wasn't going to disabuse you of that notion.

"I can't go into the dorms," she said with a vaguely regretful look, "unless I've official business there, but I can slip things into people's boxes here, if they've other mail to come and pick up as well."

Strictly speaking she probably shouldn't be doing that, but she didn't really care.

"You can't go in the dorms?" Rapunzel looked puzzled. "How come? Nevermind, this can be your official business! Making people smile is a perfectly good reason to go anywhere, I think."

Rapunzel would maintain that defense someday when trespassing or illegally parked somewhere, probably.

At which point Éponine would most likely wonder if she was even real, because whatever share of cynicism had missed Rapunzel must have gone to her instead.

"Well, I don't go to the school, see, so I don't have much business being there," Éponine said, shaking her head as if this were a minor annoyance instead of a sore spot, "and anyhow they aren't so fond of us town folks wandering about in there."

Which was stupid, if you asked her. Though what would she do there, really? Be lurky and weird, so it was for the best.

"But!" And now she brightened up abruptly. "I can go to the library, and I'd like to keep it that way. S'pose if I have a delivery to the dorms I might manage to drop a few things off so long's I'm there, but that's as much chance as I care to take."

Also she really doubted the project would work that well, but didn't quite have the heart to point that out.

Yeah, no, this project was never happening. But Rapunzel was off on another tangent and would probably get over the fact that her idea was probably not going to become reality.

"Oh, gosh, isn't the library great?" she enthused, eyes widening. "I've never seen so many books before. I didn't know there were so many books."

And at least now Éponine was too distracted by her own enthusiasm about the library to dwell on her cynicism about it.

"I didn't think I'd ever see so many in one place," she agreed with about an equal amount of awe, "and where anyone can wander on in and read them! There's folks with big libraries at home, of course, but in their fancy old homes where they look at you funny if you so much as think about coming up to the gate. To actually get inside, much less breathe near the books? No sir, you just put that thought out of your head right now, and I thought, well, it's a castle, it's bigger than most of their houses, even, surely they won't let me in. But they do, and fancy! They'll even let me take books home with me so long's I give them back before too long! I'll tell you what, it's almost a shame I've got to work most of the week or I'd spend all my time reading."

"Same," Rapunzel agreed, eyes widening as she nodded. "I mean, I used to have a lot of books where I used to live? But not such a variety. I can read about anything I want there! Even things I never even imagined! I saw a book there on something called intergalactic relations. I don't even know what that means and there was a whole big book on it! I didn't check it out, though."

Good job, Rapunzel.

Was Éponine twelve? Sometimes, yes, because she had to smother a snort of laughter.

"So many books on things you never thought of! Would you expect there was that much to know about thimbles? I didn't, but I found a book all about the history of them the last time I was there. Who thinks of these things, I wonder? What's more, who has time to sit down and gather them all up to put them into a book?"

She hadn't checked it out, but she had sat right down there in the middle of the stacks and read the entire thing because thimbles.

"Were there pictures in the thimble book?" Rapunzel had to know. "That's the only way I'd think it'd work -- I wouldn't know all the different types of thimbles without being able to see a visual reference, and even then, probably not. And I've seen my fair share of thimbles!"

What a strange thing to brag about, Rapunzel.

Éponine burst out laughing. "Isn't it funny! I hadn't thought people would think it was that amusing to make that many pictures of thimbles but there they all are. D'you do a lot of sewing, then? I learned, a bit, but --"

There hadn't exactly been a whole lot of opportunity to put the lessons to any use.

"Well, I never did much with it."

Ah, the opposite problem of Rapunzel's overabundance of opportunity.

"I didn't get out much, before I came here," she admitted with a giggle. "So yeah, I sew a bit, and I knit, and crochet, and I do a little bit of macrame, and...I'm not all that good at it? It's not really my favorite thing? But gosh, am I good at stabbing my fingers. I'm gonna have to go look for your thimble book if I ever decide to make myself another dress or something, because I've probably been using the wrong kind all along!"

She paused, then lowered her voice confidentially. "You're not missing much. Sewing's kinda boring."

Éponine nodded solemnly, going along with it. "Oh, I never liked the lessons either." They'd had Cosette to do all of that tedious stuff, and then she was gone, leaving Azelma and Éponine stuck with her chores. "Good lord, I don't know why I thought that book was so interesting, only that it made me laugh. There's some awfully fancy thimbles in there, too, you'd like them, but I don't know that you'd want to use them, carved up all pretty with tiny sculptures like they are."

"Is that a thing people do, decorating thimbles like that?" Rapunzel wrinkled her nose. "That seems silly, like decorating a hammer or a hairbrush. They're tools!"

Though now that she was thinking about it, she could totally decorate her hairbrush. She certainly used it enough.

Method RP? Naaaaaaaaaaaah.

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Fandom Post Office, May 13 (Tuesday)

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OOC [FPO 5/13]