An Apartment in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday Afternoon

[lockestheway]

If there was a picnic happening in Fandom, then Peter didn't know about it, nor did he care to. The last few weeks had been busy: busier, even, than the weeks that had come before them. He simply hadn't had the time to as much as think of the school, let alone the people in it

Comments

[dollpocalypse]

In the weeks since Peter's departure, Topher had dealt through a variety of different ways, the most prominent of which included sublimating through video games. At first he had missed Peter a lot, and then... he'd missed him a bit less. Although his ability to entirely forget a past emotional attachment wasn't quite on Peter's level, he'd made some progress.

You know. Some.

If his return email came within minutes of his receiving Peter's, though, well, that was just him being prompt or something.

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: Re: A Job For You

Yep. What do you need?

BTW, happy unnecessarily scorching hot picnic day.

[lockestheway]

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin

Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Enclosed are details on several S.E.A. gov't archives. Need transactions, movements, recent acquisitions.

It's that time of the year again? I'm sure it's lovely.

He didn't really care so much.

[dollpocalypse]

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Gross actually. Eggs frying on sidewalks, literally and all that. Raining sunscreen, etc. Good guess though.

Then some moddable number of minutes later, another email came through with the data Peter was looking for.

All yours.

Hush, Topher was very bored.

[lockestheway]

Well. That was fast. At least Topher was still useful.

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin

Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Bring an umbrella outside then. If you're even planning to leave your room at this point.

[dollpocalypse]

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Hey. I leave my room. I'm at the picnic now. So there.

Yes, with his laptop. Shut up, okay?

[lockestheway]

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin

Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

So you're sitting under a tree with your laptop, browsing the internet and probably playing video games.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher rolled his eyes.

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Not under a tree. At a table. And actually I'm reading up on some people complaining about some DLC. So yeah.

You sure told him, Topher.

[lockestheway]

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin

Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

...Democratic Leadership Council? Since when are you interested in politics?

[dollpocalypse]

Topher sighed. It was a heavy, heavy sigh.

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Downloadable content. For games. My interest in politics is pretty limited.

To, you know. Looking up the goings-on in Haiti on his desk and attempting to make sense of it.

[lockestheway]

Peter pulled up another screen and sent some of Topher's findings on to other contacts - if altered and tweaked for his own purposes.

About ten minutes later, he returned to Topher's email.

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin
Subj: A Job For You

Well, that's a real waste of time. Why argue about something like that?

Peter judged. He judged so hard.

[dollpocalypse]

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

That's sort of the point. People are morons.

In case Peter didn't know.

But whatever. How are things?

[lockestheway]

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin
Subj: A Job For You

Busy. I think they've finally realized they can take off the training wheels.

What followed was an intricate description of Haitian politics that probably went way over Topher's head.

[dollpocalypse]

...Yeah, Peter, the effort was appreciated, but... gah.

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Well, that sucks. Can't be solved by just yelling?

[lockestheway]

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin
Subj: A Job For You

No, Topher, it can't just be solved by yelling. I'm trying to navigate both factions into a compromise, but it's going to take several weeks of talks on both sides.

[dollpocalypse]

To: P. Wiggin

From: Topher Brink
Subj: RE: Re: A Job For You

Ew. Sorry. Unless that's fun for you?

[lockestheway]

To: Topher Brink
From: P. Wiggin
Subj: A Job For You

It's not about whether or not it's fun. It's about whether it's necessary. Which it is.