#cosmignon

C/o Nick Johnsmith

It was like the opposite of the the Fatherland Follies. Quite unlike the backstage of it where its broken up and twisted by the important bits. Instead of the black void surrounding a one way path, The Mail Room would start as an enclosed labyrinth-like space like the size of the vents a certain child went through, stumbling out to a certain senior agent’s lab. 

There's a lot of corridors going in different directions. A bunch of cans and letters litter the halls. The walls look unfinished, like someone might put another corridor but aren't quite sure yet. There's doors marked under construction with no door handle. There's colored mail slots on some of the dead ends. 

It's easy to get lost.

You aren't sure where you are going, your stomach growls. You feel like you’ve been walking walking and just walking around in circles. 

The Mail Runs On Trust

You pick up a letter along the way to see if putting it in one of the mailslots would get you somewhere-- then suddenly you end up in a hallway with a mirror in the end. Who is this guy in another outfit on the other side?

Oh wait! he has a nametag, it's -- "Welcome, Nick Johnsmith - Mailroom Staff" The scanner loudly announces.

...

The vents and the conveyor belts are above you, and its all twisted up layered in every directions. There is dust everywhere. Nobody has been sorting the mail (they tried but they aren’t good enough, somehow even the broken was better than them).

It was easy enough to get the job. Nick-- yes that is me alright-- new staff here

The packages need to be sorted up the chutes -- up there. (Why?? Would you need to throw these?) You climb up with the help of ladders leading up to a hole and -- oop it’s a portal.

You recognize the familiar walls of the vents, but now there’s markings in the walls that are the same to the packages you hold.

You walk and walk, finally with direction.

You deliver the mail into the right slots, and it opens back to the mailroom, where the conveyor belt straightens and you can send off packages safely.

You do it several times, and now the doors under construction open up for you.  There are other employees around here, some floating and chatting. You hear gossip about another person’s life, or about the paper they have been using.

You call to one of them, giving them your most charming smile, flowery compliment, and of course their mail, the correct package. 

They ask you to stay but you refuse. You go back to the mailroom.

...

Sometimes, you pass by this door that kind of looks like the levitation elevator psychics go through in HQ, except this one had thought of non-psychics and is upright sideways. 

When you go through it, the vent corridors open up to form a road, you can finally see the sky but you aren't sure what color it is. There's stars in the sky. The road leads to a boat and an all too open ocean. You go back inside, not quite trusting where you would end up if you went out there.

...

You continue work, till every vent and conveyor belt is sorted out. You are actually getting hungry, and you didn’t notice till now. Where do you eat again?

There is a knob near the mirror and you reach to open it like a door. You are back in the corridors. No matter, you are Nick Johnsmith - Senior Mailroom Staff, and you know your way around here by now.

...

Walking in the corridors, you were about to head to the Noodle Bowl when a kid on a pony shows up grumbling about the lack of his favourite food. 

You ask if he wants something else instead. The kid shakes his head and insists, as if he hasn’t eaten anything else but the best eggs, all for a little prince like me. He seems eager to share that as a fact.

Come on -- he starts going down toward this vent that looks like the top tin can. It's easy enough to open, when you go in the metal corridors unfolds into a red carpet. You don't see the kid anywhere. 

It twists and turns but stays in one path, the walls open up to the void.  Golden ornaments start to decorate the railings and its starting to look famili- ah, there's the royal family picture. 

You are back at the start. 

You know where this goes

You should get back on the ride. You’ve been walking for a long while.