Fandom Post Office, December 18 (Tuesday)

[filleauloup]

The mailboxes were playing music today.

Every now and then one of them would pop open of its own volition and a burst of song would emerge from within, usually some mournful medieval carol, but exquisitely sung.

Not that Éponine, even with her somewhat underdeveloped sense of musical appreciation, could really enjoy any of it, because it was competing with -- and largely drowned out by -- the gremlin choirs that kept showing up outside the front doors every time someone walked into the lobby. They had a repertoire consisting largely of more modern, cheerful, upbeat songs.

All told, it was something of a surreal accidental mashup spanning centuries, but Éponine was really just tired of it by lunchtime; put together like that, it was just too much noise for her.

At least there were plenty of deliveries to keep her busy and out of the lobby today.

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

So, Summer had gotten Éponine for this whole Secret Santa thing, but was faced with the problem that she didn't really know Éponine, like, at all. And, sure, she could go for some generic catch-all thing that nearly anyone would enjoy, but that wasn't nearly as much fun, was it? And she knew from radio that the other girl was usually at the post office on Tuesday, so it seemed as good a time as any to swing by and actually make her gift seem a little less rando.

And she really needed to get her Christmas gift sent out anyway, so it worked, with a small stack of boxes and cards ready to go tucked under her arm as she gave the gremlin choir outside the door a bit of a warning look as she went into the still pretty musical inside.

"Hello?" she called out, not sure if her entrance would be noticed very easily underneath all that music.

[filleauloup]

"If you're not here to sing, come on in," called a very exasperated sounding Éponine -- just in time for the mailboxes to slam shut and provide at least a brief respite.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Definitely not here to--" Summer started out nearly shouting her response to carry over the music, but, of course, she hadn't caught up with the fact that the music actually stopped, and realized she was shouting unnecessarily at that point. So she tried again more conversationally. "Definitely not here," with an apologetic smile, "to sing, yeah, no one wants that. Man, though, have you been having to put up with that all day?"

[filleauloup]

Éponine laughed, still a rough sound but not as harsh as it used to be somehow.

"It's always something or other around here, isn't it? But no, it isn't always quite so noisy. Ordinarily it's butterflies or some odd thing or other flying out of there. S'pose the place decided it ought to be more festive to match the rest of the island. But never mind that! You've got things to send in the post, do you?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer's smile was a bit sympathetic. "My own store got hit with its own uncontrollable holiday music a while ago, but that was in November, so I think it was kind of doing its own thing. I get it. And yeah," then that smile went sheepish as she held up the small collection of envelopes and packages, "I do. Probably a bit late in the game, but better late than never, and who even knows when you're sending things through time and space and dimensions?"

[filleauloup]

"Nobody," Éponine said firmly, then grinned as she headed over to sign in on the register. "But I'm glad to see you understand that at least, I am! Sometimes people think things ought to arrive faster because we've got so many dimensions that the post can go to, as if that makes things simpler instead of trickier. D'you have any idea how many forms I've got to process everything month reporting mail lost to the void? I hate that form, it takes forever to fill out. Luckily it never seems to eat anything too important. It's usually bulk mail advertisements."

It was a benevolent void sometimes.

"So no, I can't guarantee any of it will arrive in time, even if some of it might arrive before you sent it, but let's have a look. So long's you've got it all properly labeled it ought to be fine."

[somethingwithturquoise]

And Summer had to laugh at that, because, while the void-specific bits about it didn't necessarily ring as true, the complication of getting things too and from different dimensions and times was not unfamiliar to her at all.

"Yeaaaaahhhh," she said, "I definitely understand. I run Turtle & Canary, so, while it's not exactly the same, some of the notes are hitting all too familiar. And it's just some cards, a few gifts, they're all going to people who are similarly dimensionally disorientated, so I'm not too worried either way.

"I'm Summer, by the way," she added with another smile, a small tilt of her head as she set down her outgoing mail. "I'm not sure if we've ever met?"

[filleauloup]

"I don't know that we have," Éponine said thoughtfully, "but I've heard of you from radio so I've a bit of an idea who you are, and I'm sure I've seen your name on letters and things addressed to the store. You're much easier to deal with than most folks I've had in here the last week or so, I have to say! But then I s'pose you've some of the same problems as I do round about this time of year?"

As much as her outlook had improved in recent years, some things like customer service kept some aspects of her cynicism alive.

"Oh, and I'm Éponine. There, now we've been properly introduced!" She laughed and reached for the cards to begin entering them into the system. "It's funny how many people I don't know here despite my recognizing most everyone's names from letters and such."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah, that would be kind of weird, wouldn't it?" Summer mused thoughtfully. "Surreal, almost. So many names without any faces to go along with them, which you can kind of get with radio sometimes. I know I definitely felt that when I moved back after the summer. So, where are you from, anyway, Éponine? Have you been her very long?"

You know, sort of basic getting-to-know-you, figuring-out-what-the-heck-to-get-you-for-a-present sort of questions!

[filleauloup]

“Good lord!” Éponine paused halfway through punching in an address to look out toward the doorway and shake her head in bewilderment. “It’s just about five years now since I left Paris, I think. Has it really been? It’s completely snuck up on me. Time goes by an awful lot quicker when you aren’t hungry and cold all the time, I think.”

She wasn’t even sure her former self would even recognize her in the mirror now, honestly.

“I don’t much like talking about home, though,” she went on quickly. “It was so very long ago, almost two hundred years now, and I was glad to go. I don’t suppose you’re from any time quite as long ago? If you’re even from this world, that is. I don’t assume that sort of thing any more, not with as many places as I’ve got to make sure the mail gets to.”

[somethingwithturquoise]

Well, that definitely satiated more than enough of Summer's curiosity, too, and gave her plenty to work with. Sp she just sort of grinned a bit and shrugged. "Five years does seem like kind of a long time," she had to admit. "It's really only been a year for me, especially if you don't count last summer, when I went home. No, I started my senior year here last summer, graduated, went home, then came back. And home for me's not that much different, really. Same time frame, basically the same world, just a different dimension. And just about as weird as Fandom Island is, so I sort of had one-up on everyone with that part."

[filleauloup]

“That’s cheating, that is,” Éponine said with a laugh, though from the look on her face it didn’t seem like she disapproved of cheating, exactly. “I’m a quick learner, me, and it’s a good thing what with electricity and phones and all that to learn about when I got here! I think I’ve mostly got the hang of it all, now.”

Fairly well, considering how easily she seemed to be putting all the mail into the system.

“So you went to school here, did you? And liked it enough to stay on after?”

[somethingwithturquoise]

"If it makes you feel any better," Summer offered, "when I came here, I thought it was a special brainwashing camp run by the aliens who took over my dimension, so, yeah, the fact that I decided to come back speaks loads about the fact that this place is definitely not that and is in fact much better. It's...mostly the people, though, really. Made a lot of good friends here. It's...kind of a stop-over until I'm ready to move onto my next thing, which'll be a jello shop in space."

[filleauloup]

“That’s awful specific, that is, and not at all what one might expect right off,” Éponine said with a laugh, “but I like it. And I know what you mean about the people. I’ve friends here —“ said in a tone of awe that spoke volumes — “and it’s got me in no hurry to go anywhere. I don’t even know where I’d go, really.”