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 Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 8:46 pm
The mail room was in Hermes dorm -- and while the new recruits might not have proper mailboxes yet, there was a young woman on staff more than happy to help sort through all the forwarded mail, check to see if there was anything addressed to them, and present their letters and packages -- Or, rather, she'd be happy to do that if it weren't for the nuisance perched on her desk, somewhere between adorable and annoying: Asher, cross-legged, his phone in hand, filling her in on the details of some scandal that had his eyes going bright. He had her attention, animatedly telling her about the politician in New York who'd been caught taking bribes from some underworld something-or-other that Asher himself had met more than once. He scrolled idly with his thumb, reading bits and pieces with a laugh behind his voice. He'd probably been there a while. At least he didn't seem to be annoying her, though it might be a different story if anyone came in and tried to get actual work done.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 8:55 pm
Mal checked in semi-regularly. As soon as he'd found out where it was, he checked it once a day, every day that mail could come in. Seeing Asher on the desk wasn't that surprising. Seeing that he wasn't annoying the young woman behind the desk was better, at least. "What'd I miss?" He leaned a hip against the edge of the desk, but he smiled at the mail woman. "Hi. Anything for me?" It was still not what he wanted yet; he had a card, though, something by Papyrus from his brother, with a long scrawled note that went all over the card, inside on both sides and the back and some of the envelope.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:35 pm
Snooping was rude, maybe, but that hardly slowed down Asher. He leaned in as Mal took his card, fingers curling around the edge of the desk and head tipped to the side, shamelessly trying to see something revealing in the card. A handful of words. A name. A picture on the front of the card, which he wished were a postcard. "...the usual," he offered, as he tipped his head the other way, eyes narrowed in an attempt to read. "People getting huffy over corruption as if it's something new."
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 7:43 am
Mal cocked an eyebrow at Asher, nudged his glasses up. "Help you?" At least he said it with an edge of a smile, almost. The envelope had ink smudges from nervous fingers; the address was somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, but the writing was a colorful skirl, all spiky loops. It wasn't the invitation he'd been looking forward to, but he'd have to at least send a letter back.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 6:54 pm
"Who's it from?" Asher was completely shameless about his efforts to read the card, even going so far as to put a hand on Mal's to c**k his posture a little bit, to make it that much easier. He didn't even try to hide it or play at stealth, not here and now. Maybe he was capable of it, but only time would tell.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 7:43 am
"My little brother. He moved in with his fiance when I came over here, he's letting me know how it went." Mal figured Asher might have a hard time reading Finn's handwriting; most people found it worse than chicken scratch. "And also that if I don't reply within a certain time, he's going to come looking, because he's my little brother and he gets antsy when I'm out of touch for too long."
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 11:13 am
Asher snorted at that, leaning back again -- and then, in an easy way, unfolding his legs to roll off the table. He really was tiny, only a bit over five feet, but it didn't seem to leave him with any kind of complex. He grabbed his phone, idly flicking away the article. "Good luck to him. This place -- I tried googling it, you know. There's not even a section of coast that matches ours. I can't find any kind of island like the one out on the water." As he said it, he pulled up a map of Michigan; pinched to zoom on the coast alongside Lake Huron. "Either they lied about where we are, or I don't even know."
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 7:18 pm
"Oh, I figured something like," was what Mal said, shrugging as he folded the card back up, but he leaned over Asher's shoulder anyway, to look at the phone. He was taller than Asher by enough that it was comfortable to look over his shoulder. "After all, Mount Olympus was also a mountain, not just the home of the gods. Some irreverent soul probably scaled the thing and didn't find anything." He pushed his glasses back into place with a finger. "I imagine with the power that they--" Mal meant Zeus more than anyone, he still couldn't think of that booming voice without smelling charred meat, "--have, this sort of thing could be pretty easy."
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 8:35 pm
"As if you know anything about it." Asher's indignance was delighted, though, as he twisted in place to face Mal instead -- because maybe, finally, someone had found something that bothered him. The looming raised all the hairs on the small of his back, and he was more comfortable when he could see the man in front of him, instead. "What, are you suddenly a bigshot expert on magic or whatever?" His eyes were bright and amused, even if the words were angry. "You think you're better than us?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 5:27 pm
"No, do you?" And then, after a beat for Asher to process the fast return sally, while Mal looked at him. "You're too smart to think that. Extrapolation. They exist, therefore they had a place. Legends say Mount Olympus. This place doesn't correspond to any map, therefore." Mal shrugged a shoulder at Asher. "Are you mad at me because I'm willing to extrapolate or because I'm willing to say so?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:31 pm
"I'm mad 'cause you used the words therefore and extrapolation." Except he wasn't mad -- instead he still seemed amused, dry. Just making sure that Mal didn't settle in to loom against his back; instead he pressed it into the desk, arms folded over his chest to look at his phone again. "Methinks it a bit excessive." Maybe he was googling something else even as he stood there. "Using intelligence aggressively. We don't all have PhDs or whatever."
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:44 pm
"Would you rather if then?" Mal leaned his hip against the desk, where Asher was already leaning, watching him google-- but, curiously, not looking at his screen. He pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose, thoughtful. "I could bludgeon you with words, but that gets boring."
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:55 pm
"Isn't that what you're doing?" With a blink, he looked back up at Mal -- raised both eyebrows, considering the man more thoroughly. He did have a bit of a nerdy look, oversized glasses combined with the way he moved, his style of dress. Asher strummed fingers against his phone and squinted just a bit, seriously thoughtful for once. "Do you actually have a PhD?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 9:07 pm
Mal grinned at him for that; crooked, a little mischievous behind his glasses. "No. Not even a Master's, thank heaven." It was actually not so much his scene, that nerdiness, but-- The mischief made him look like he was up for wildness, like he wouldn't mind an offer of wildness.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 9:14 pm
It was an interesting kind of look, and one that made Asher finally -- finally -- put down his phone, drop all the sly looks and mocking comments, still watching the man in a thoughtful sort of way. It was a moment before he spoke, and maybe that was the first time he actually paused before speaking. And when he did, the question was just, "Do you smoke pot?"
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