air mail [OPEN]

[theguideless]

Date & Time: 4/11, sporadic times in the afternoon
Location: across the street from the apartment bldg
Characters: Martin, all of you
Summary: it's not actually air mail it's more like fail mail
Warnings: you tell me


Martin's letters were not the sort to be sent – not conventionally, not intentionally – but the wind seemed inclined to give it a try, peeling pages out of his careless fingers as he carried them up the outdoor stairs to the floor he stayed on.

"Woh– wait, no!"

Five, six pages? He nearly forgot, his hand flexing and finding nothing crinkling against it as he raced down the steps, eyes on the sky and the kidnapped pages. He nearly tripped over his own ankle, rounding the last flight and hopping off the final three steps, landing with a heavy whuff! on the ground. With no time to spare before the pages would flutter out of sight, he hurried across the street, shuffling here and there in wait for those that had hit the wall and begun a staggering descent. He hopped a few times before – "Ha–!" – catching one in a hasty, flailing grab, doubling his efforts for another.

There's two safe, but...

He looked about, ears straining for the sound of the paper. They weren't in the air, so...where?

So Martin took to looking, scouring the length of the building opposite his home, peering around the corner and grimacing at the mess of trash and...well, papers waiting for him. Oh, no... He only gave a few messy pieces a ginger pick-through before backing away, chewing on his lip.

It wasn't long before he'd taken a seat near that corner, back against the wall and knees drawn up to make a lap for him to smooth out the pages he'd managed to catch. Some of the graphite had smudged with the effort (and his sweaty palms), leaving letters smeared and strange.

He let out a sigh, feeling some of the adrenaline shake off. These aren't in order...

He'd take up the search again, then – more than once before retreating back to the wall to think about it...and zone out a bit, getting lost in thoughts that led to nowhere and other places much farther out of reach than they had been before. It was hardly a productive use of an afternoon, but Martin had very few obligations to tend to. And in any case, those pages were a kind of obligation in his mind.

Was it three missing? Or four...?

Comments

Warnings: Elmer C. Albatross all in your business

[keep_smiling]

Oh, what's this?

Elmer had spotted a piece of paper on the ground, that hasn't been completely soaked by the wet ground yet. He snatched it up and looked it over and he continued walking. Hopefully it was still somewhat readable.

"Hmm?"

WELP

[theguideless]

The sound of Elmer's shoes, more than anything, was what shook Martin out of his half-awake thoughts, completely obliterated from memory as he startled. He forgot where he was, what he was doing, or why he was watching a man with a piece of...

"Uh–!" That's right! He began to scramble to his feet, his voice cracking at a point. "W-wait! Wait, I think that's mine!"

The pages he'd already caught were crushed in his hand, as he'd needed it to prop himself up and push off the wall, trotting after the man and his fine.

"Could I see? Really quick? Please?"

[keep_smiling]

Elmer turned to the voice, blinking.

"Oh, is this yours? I almost stepped on it. I'm not sure if it's still any good, but here! It's come back to you, so you should smile."

He handed it over, the usual serene smile returning to his own face.

[theguideless]

It would've been a strange thing to hear had Martin been wholly paying attention. Instead, he was more engrossed in pulling the page out of its crumpled state to expose what he hoped would be his handwriting.

He found some kind of invoice looking back at him instead – not that he really know what that was, other than not what he'd hoped for. It didn't strike up the desire to smile, in any case.

"Oh, no...it looks like it isn't." One hand let go to let it dangle and start curling back up the way it had upon discovery, making itself stand out more against the other pages that really were his. Martin let out a little sigh before wincing a little, as though he'd forgotten Elmer was even there. He did smile, then, though a shade queasy, embarrassed.

"Oh, uh– I'm sorry about that...I lost some pages of a letter. I've been looking all over here, but..."

[keep_smiling]

"Ah, too bad! Well, then I guess that means the hunt is on! How many pages? Where did you lose them? I hope they're still readable once we find them!"

Elmer immediately started looking around the area. The detective is on the case!

[theguideless]

The move surprised Martin, who ought to have not been so surprised by then for a stranger's aid. It'd happened before, hadn't it? Yet even so...

"Oh, you...I mean, you don't have to stop whatever you were doing!" Whatever that might've been; Martin was certainly not attentive enough then and there to really know. "I mean, thank you, I..."

[keep_smiling]

"I wasn't up to much. Plus, if we find everything you're looking for, you're sure to be happy and relieved and smile, right? So let's get going. Paper won't fare too well in this weather!"

Whether Martin was coming or not, Elmer was trotting off to start the hunt.

[barefootbender]

A crumpled sheet of paper bounced off the top of Marty's head and landed in his lap. In front of him stood a tiny girl with her hands on her hips, eyes downcast in his general direction but seemingly not focused on him.

"Hey! Looking for that? One of your fliers hit me in the face."

This kid had been wandering around picking paper up from the ground, and for a while Toph's attention followed him as he searched. She honestly thought he was looking for garbage or something, but when a sheet suddenly smacked against her head, she figured she'd check.

[theguideless]

"Ah!"

Martin startled, heart in his throat. It had been so quiet, he'd been thinking of...something. Something that wasn't a loud, young voice or the bap on the head! He blinked, staring dumbly at the paper ball in his lap while one hand patted where it'd bounced off.

What is...? Oh.

Oh!

Quickly, he got to work unfolding, scanning the page until he hit...well, he ought to have known right away, seeing printed type and a splash of color. Not his. He felt a twinge of disappointment, his body losing tension very quickly with a long sigh.

Tension that came back a bit when he realized he still had company. He straightened up against the wall, still clutching the page.

"Oh– no, this...this one isn't mine, I'm afraid. I was hoping..."

[barefootbender]

"Oh. Well, thought I'd give it back just in case." She sniffed and rubbed at her nose. Toph could tell from his voice and his body that this kid was the anxious or nervous type. But not bad. "If you're putting up fliers, does one really matter? You probably have a whole ton of other ones, right?"

[theguideless]

"Fliers?"

Martin, who had begun to stare because of those strange, cloudy eyes, looked more confused than before. It took a moment to get a bit of what she was aiming at, fidgeting a little, about to get to his feet.

"Uh, no," he uttered as his foot scuffed and then found footing again, enough to lift him up. He found himself...much taller than her, which was, at that first second, alarming. He wasn't used to being all that tall, let alone taller.

He blinked. Right, fliers--

"No, I was writing a letter...but the wind blew it out of my hands. I've been looking for some of the pages." The ones in-hand rustled as he gestured toward the corner, the alley. "I found a couple, but not all of them yet."

[barefootbender]

Toph silently notes his size difference after he stands, picking up on it from the weight pressing on the ground through his feet. Just about everyone is taller than her, so it doesn't make much difference. Besides, with all that fidgeting, he's definitely not a threat, so it's mostly just a passing observation.

"I'd help you out, but... every sheet of paper's the same thing to me, so I dunno if I'd really contribute much. My name's Toph, by the way."

[theguideless]

It didn't make sense to him at first. He frowned, squinting at her, having no acquaintance with blindness at all.

"Martin," he said slowly, reflexively, still puzzled. Toph barely registered right away, so secondary to the confusing first part. "You mean you can't read?"

It was the only thing he could think of.

[perdre]

"Oh-" Yes, that was a paper flying right into his chest and flopping down on the ground. His foot accidentally steps on the back, leaving the dirty print of his shoe on the corner, which is quickly taken aback with curiosity and just the slightest bit of alarm. He thinks about just letting it be - after all, papers are hardly things people take it upon themselves to pick up from the ground - but the sight of a young man fumbling about with a pile of similar things on against his chest makes him think twice.

Plucking it with a couple of fingers, Peter moves closer, tentatively calling for Martin's attention with a wave.

"Sorry, is this yours-?"

[theguideless]

Martin had to look twice to acknowledge the stranger and stare twice as long to process the gesture and the words that went along with it. So distracted by that, he nearly failed to notice the this that was being called about, but one dubious flicker of his glance, and...

"Oh–" He turned, starting to advance as well. "It might be mine, can I see? Please. Some pages got away..."

[perdre]

"Of course," He nodded quickly, stepping just a little closer to turn the paper and hand it over, should the boy need to have it in his hands for a look. "I saw you were looking around for some papers, so I thought - I mean, it just flew into me with the wind, it could be anything, really."

Shut up, Peter.

[theguideless]

Martin's attention split between the possibly very important pages and the things Peter was saying, only catching pieces of the latter while glimpsing pieces of the former. Papers, wind, anything...

Anything...But he spied his awful, blocky, twice-traced-over lettering on one crinkled side and let out a little sound of success. He nearly snatched it out of Peter's hands without a thought for courtesy, only feeling real relief with it in his own, turned over and truly his.

"Oh, I'm so glad this is it," he breathed, scanning the page, mouth tugging. He felt a pang of embarrassment, compelled to look up again.

"Oh, you. I'm sorry, I only just..." The page was drawn closer to himself. "This is something really important to me, so I was worried I'd really lost it..."

[perdre]

"It's fine", he waved a hand, shaking his head softly. "I'm glad I caught it in time." He brought his hand to the back pocket of his trousers, giving a small glance around them. "Did you lose any other pages?"

[theguideless]

Martin was careful, setting that newfound page among the other two still in his grasp. He fidgeted with them, trying to make them match, make them belong to each other again. He fumbled, looking up to stare and listen.

"I did," he nodded. "A couple pages more...They flew right out of my hands when I was going down the stairs over there." He looked toward the apartment building.

[flamberge]

While out and about on patrol, one learns to expect various sorts of surprises and occurrences. Today's exciting event happens just as Kratos rounds a corner only to witness the scattering of numerous papers. Kratos watches as a good chunk return to the person's hands by either him catching them or other people doing so for him.

One paper seems to not have been so fortunate and is getting carried higher and higher by a sudden gust of wind. At this rate, it'd be impossible for most people to get it. Thankfully, Kratos isn't most people. Within a split second, two blue, translucent mana wings are now out and he becomes airborne. The paper quickly gets rescued from its windy kidnapping. Soon as the paper is securely in his hand, Kratos makes his way back towards the man and descends directly in front of him. "I believe this belongs to you?"

[theguideless]

The boy he addressed looked gobsmacked.

Having been so engrossed in scouring the ground, much of whatever it was that caused a man to fly and land before him was lost to Martin, single-minded as he tended to be. He'd barely registered the bluster of wind that wings had caused, the loud crackle of paper snatched out of flight. That startling sensation of a body close and the shadow that went with it by was what yanked his eyes away from the ground, bringing him to gawk open-mouthed at a man who'd, to him, just appeared out of nowhere, floating to solid ground.

Words? Didn't he say something just now? Martin felt a twinge of panic in realizing yes, his head quickly shaking to snap himself out of his stupor. It helped to back away a step.

"You surprised me!" he declared, still at a loss even as he gave Kratos a second look. "I, I mean, I didn't see anyone else around a moment ago, I was...I mean, I was looking around for..."

He saw the page at last, eyes widening again.

"Ah, is that...?"

[flamberge]

The surprise from the boy was a bit unexpected. Kratos hadn't thought him to be so engrossed in with searching for papers to not notice someone landing right in front of him. A miscalculation on his part.

"I apologize for startling you." He meant the apology, too. The last thing the poor guy needed right now was to get startled by some strange guy appearing out of nowhere.

If nothing else, at least this strange guy has something of value to make up for the startling. Kratos spared a quick glance at the paper. "And this would be one of the papers which had flown from your grasp." By the end of the sentence, his eyes had already returned back onto Martin.

[theguideless]

Martin fumbled to reply, stuck between trying to dismiss the apology and regarding the paper...and the latter won out quite soundly as his eyes dropped back to it, eager to have it back now that he'd been told it was really his.

"I'm so glad," he uttered, his voice quivering in a syllable as tension began to leave him. He looked back up at Kratos, smiling gratefully as he held out a hand to take it. "Thank you so much. I was so worried..."

[flamberge]

Someone being so grateful over a good deed as small as this feels nice. It also feels lucky. Very lucky. Had he not happened to decide to turn this way when he had, that paper may have been lost to the wind. Ah well, no point in dwelling on unhappy hypothetical situations. "Not at all." Said once the paper has left his hand and gotten returned to its owner's.

After a beat, he adds, "You may wish to invest in a folder to keep such valuable documents more secure in the future." This isn't said in a scolding tone, but just as more of a suggestion than anything, with perhaps some underlying teasing hidden in there. Going off the reaction, whatever these papers were, they were of great importance to him and losing them again? Would be bad.

[theguideless]

The suggestion was met a flush of red on Martin's face, aware once again of how silly his predicament was. If he'd just held onto those pages a little tighter, really...

"You're right," he admitted, ducking his head. "I wasn't thinking about that at all, and then the wind just took them..."

Ah, that's right. He looked concerned once again. "There's still a few I have to find still...I've been looking..."