xp_logs | Angelo and Topaz || Monday Afternoon

Angelo finds Topaz in the rec room doing homework and enjoying updates from a small desert community.

It wasn't often Topaz was seen outside of one of her two hobbit holes. But even she needed a break from her suite every now and again, and considering the mere sight of the library at the moment rekindled her desire to kill Matt and Clint...

It was probably best she stay out of there.

So she commandeered an empty rec room, spread her books out on the floor, and sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor, chewing a pen, with her laptop blasting an old episode of Night Vale. Hopefully the noise would keep out intruders

"The arctic is lit by the midnight sun. The surface of the moon is lit by the face of the Earth. Our little town is lit too. By lights just above that we can not explain. Welcome to Night Vale."

Most intruders, it might. But the odd one - meaning Angelo - seemed to have the opposite reaction.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Topaz looked up from her book, a bit surprised. She hadn't really been expecting anyone to poke into the rec room. "That depends. Do you think it's news updates from a small desert community?"

"A small desert community with strange lights in the sky?"

He was grinning.

"While everyone pretends to sleep, that's the one." Topaz smiled as she reached over to turn her laptop down. "You know the show?"

"I love that show", was the instant response. "Picked up on it on a roadtrip a couple of years back."

"I found it last year when I was in India." Her smile was a little bitter. Not one of her finest moments and that was saying a lot. "Had a lot of time alone and it weirdly reminded me of the mansion."

Angelo wandered further into the room and settled on the floor.

"Yeah, I can see that. Sometimes it feels like its own weird little world."

"And all these weird things happen and no one ever really bats an eye. It has to be something huge for anyone to really react." Topaz paused to listen to Cecil talk about station management, and frowned. "Although I don't know if living in actual Night Vale would be a good thing."

"It has its dark side", he agreed. "But then, doesn't every place? Just there it's - more literal monsters."

"The problems are eerily similar sometimes though. Did you ever read the book?"

"Not yet. Kept meaning to, but you know how things get in the way... what happens in it?"

"Well it's a bit mad -- even by Night Vale standards -- but it's basically about the pawn shop owner, Jackie Fierro, and the PTA treasurer Diane Crayton are both investigating mysteries that turn out to be connected, and they find out Jackie's father and the father of Diane's son Josh are the same person. It goes a lot into being a kid growing up without a father and gets pretty deep." Topaz paused for a moment, frowning before adding, "It also finally solves the Man in the Tan Jacket thing, which was brilliant. The audio book is narrated by Cecil Baldwin."

He nods.

"Wouldn't be Night Vale without Cecil. But it sounds like it's got important things to say."

Topaz was quiet for another moment, listening to Cecil talk about the notice he'd just received from HR about mandatory reeducation. "Yeah, it went a few places I wasn't really expecting. I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much since it wasn't focused on the town as much but the characters turned out to be pretty great."

"Drop me an email with the title sometime", he requested. "So I remember to buy it."

"I have the audio book if you want to use my Audible account? I don't use it for much, pretty sure I have a bunch of unused credits right now."

She flipped to a clean page in her notebook to scribble down the information for him. "I feel like it's a better experience to just listen to it, honestly. Even if it's not typical Night Vale format, the spirit is still there."

Angelo nodded. "And there's nothing wrong with a bit of a change in format. Just opens up new parts of the world outside the radio station."

"I wouldn't mind if they did another book like it, honestly. Night Vale has a bit of a cast of characters, seeing them outside of Cecil's point of view is fascinating."

"Maybe if this one sells well enough, they will", he said with a grin. "Which means I might buy the hard copy anyway, just for another sale."

"That's a good point - oh." Topaz looked back at her laptop, realizing the weather was just ending. "What's the next episode again?" She checked the list quickly. "PTA Meeting. That's a good one."

"Nice", he agreed approvingly. "You're listening to old favourites, then, not the new stuff?"

"Yeah, I'm caught up unfortunately. It's amazing how quickly you can listen to dozens of episodes of a podcast when all you do is sit around a library all day." The episode ended, and Topaz started the next one. "I usually start on Station Management, that's pretty consistently stayed my favorite."

He nodded. "Some things you never get tired of. And yeah, I can see you'd have a lot of downtime in the library."

"Yeah, as long as magically rage influenced idiots aren't ripping it apart." She was still a little bitter.

Angelo made a sympathetic face.

"I don't think anybody would blame you if you banned him for a while. And definitely banned magic experiments."

Topaz's responding smile was just the tiniest bit bitter as Cecil talked about a rift in time and space opening during the last PTA meeting. "Par for the course. Just another day at the mansion, right?"

"Pretty much. But there are better and worse parts of the mansion for that sort of thing."

"Could always be worse, though. At least the world isn't ending."