Fandom Island and Town

Marc and Watts were going to be heading out that weekend so Marc was more motivated than usual to make sure things were running okay with the boarding house. Not that he didn't keep a regular eye on things anyway. But, yanno. Office. His. Still weird that he had one. As with most uncomfortable things in his life, Marc tried dealing with it by avoiding it.

But as said, he was going to be out this weekend so there he was, in his office, making sure bills were paid and whatever else needed doing.

Out in the front of the building the chalkboard read Rooms for Rent. Ask within. The man in the office isn't as grumpy as his face suggests.

[open]

Watts and Steven had Stark's whatever the hell, so Marc wasn't going to be around long. But he was up in the morning to hit the gym in the basement and do a general check to make sure everything around Midnight was fine.

Which was why Marc was currently outside of Midnight and staring at it.

More accurately, staring at the giant... blanket? thing? over it.

With... sleeves? Except the sleeves were on the chimneys which implied those were arms and having seen what Midnight looked like when it wasn't being something else that really wasn't a mental path Marc felt hugely interested in lingering on.

Also the fact that the shirt-blanket-whatever was decorated with moons seemed a little much.

As did the fact that Midnight was kind of vibing as... content? Comfortable? Could a living pocket universe be comfortable?

Why not? Steven said in Marc's mind. Better then it feeling uncomfortable, surely?

"If this sticks around you're dealing with it," Marc told him. Which then had him realizing if one of those things appeared on them Marc was going to immediately give over control of the body. Because no.

As though you couldn't stand to have a little comfort yourself time to time.

"Shaddup," Marc said.

[open if anyone is passing by early in the morning]

It was, you know, a certain time of year so to speak. Almost. It would be at sunset.

Which was why there were apples, small bottles of honey from Nell's hives, and a vegan and not vegan versions of cake, courtesy of Watts, in the boarding house kitchen. A note in Steven's handwriting said all of the food was available for the taking with the hopes of a sweet new year.

Marc wasn't dealing with any of that. Or the updated sign on the chalkboard out front, also in Steven's handwriting, which mentioned the new year thing along with the rooms for rent, ask in the office within.

There was notably not a snarky comment about Marc on the sign. And it was - look, Marc was fine. Steven hadn't been wrong in his initial guess that this wasn't going to be a thing for Marc this time. They were going on years now. Nothing Marc felt a need to engage with or was obligated to engage with beyond the usual which Marc was just going to compartmentalize with everything else and it was fine.

Fine enough that Steven wasn't even joking about Marc being grumpy, for example. Totally fine.

Anyway, Watts and Steven had plans for the whole deal and they'd be starting with all that after lunch. But there was the visitor's weekend thing coming up and who knew if residents might need anything for that or whatever.

Marc had things to do, was all. Which was why he was in his office, not really reading anything that was on his desk in front of him, and a bottle of whiskey in easy reach but currently unopened.

For now, anyway.

[open]

Marc's office was still there. Which was worth noting because he could make it go somewhere. But, yanno, fine. If he had to be in charge of the place might as well have somewhere to be in charge from. Somewhere that didn't involve inviting people into the private residence. (Which was entirely a concern for privacy and not for Watts and Steven's cat who still got skittish around strangers sometimes. Just so that was clear.)

Today Marc was at his desk and using his phone to try to look up information on buying and installing outdoor speakers. Midnight could do a lot of things but creating something electronic that allowed for playing music either on the roof or out by the grill was apparently not on that list.

Getting this done was on Marc's list because... it was getting warmer out and the residents would probably make use of such a thing.

What? That wasn't not a reason.

All of which meant Marc was in his office, regretting the choices in life that led him to try to navigate his way through far too many pop-ups on websites that sold outdoor speakers, and thinking a tiny bit fondly of the days when his annoyances came in the form of people trying to shoot him.

Out front the chalkboard sign had the usual note about rooms available for rent, along with one underneath it which said Come on in, office is to your right. Don't mind Marc, he has other facial expressions, we promise.

[open]

Marc was not nursing a hangover, but he was sitting on one of the folding chairs now up on the roof for that very reason and nursing a beer. No particular reason other than he felt like sitting outside and taking in the view.

Of... the night sky. Okay look that was not on purpose. They were on the water. If you were looking at the water you were pretty much looking at the sky too. He had no particular attachment to it, sworn job descriptions notwithstanding.

He was enjoying the quiet, but he was aware he wasn't exactly in a private location. That was fine.

[open to residents or anyone who spots him from the street and wants to come up. Content warning for drug use.]

Marc was not a Welcome Picnic guy. Steven might be, if Watts was feeling better enough for it. But in the meanwhile they had an incoming new resident. Also Steven was not a morning person. Which was why come Saturday morning Marc was in his office waiting to see who would show up.

( He did not expect the first person who arrived )

Once Henry's paperwork was taken care of, Marc gave her the heads up about the free food at the picnic. He didn't know for certain if she went there, but he knew hovering over a teenager helped nobody. What she decided to do with the rest of her day was up to Henry.

One new resident down, Marc stayed in his office for the one he was expecting. Or frankly anybody else who felt like swinging by.

Out front the chalkboard sign said Rooms For Rent. Ask Within. Office is to your right. Marc loves making new friends.

[preplayed with the faboo singlenakedwhat. Also open post is open.]

Marc had a whole bunch of things he could be dealing with. Not the weekend, he wasn't addressing that with a ten foot pole. Last Wednesday, on the other hand, was something he and Steven probably still needed to talk more about. But they'd already gone one round on it and Steven was insisting it was fine so what was there to do?

Steven and Watts had taken Tuesday morning to recover from, yanno, weekend stuff. But after which Steven was happy to hand the body over so Marc could deal with the other thing that needed taking care of.

Which was why come Tuesday afternoon Marc was standing outside of the Midnight Manor and looking at it critically.

Word had been sent out to the residents that they'd be making some changes so they'd had fair warning. All that was left was to... ask?

Sure. Not the weirdest thing in Marc's life.

"Okay, Midnight, we need a staircase to the roof," Marc said. "Let's put that outside in the same place as the elevators. May as well not block anyone's view. Then second floor for the boarding house, same as the first. Think that's it."

A mist appeared both outside and inside of the structure. When it dissipated there was a wooden staircase leading up to the roof which matched the Tudor-style exterior decor. It had a gate on it which, like the front door, would happily open for residents and their guests. Inside there were brand new rooms ready to rent.

"Cool," Marc said when he saw all that. He then sent a text to Dwight because new rooms meant they needed new furniture.

At which point Marc stared at the place that was his, complete with more than a handful of people inside he'd promised to keep an eye on, and decided he wasn't going to spend too much time thinking about that either.

Maybe he could find something else to do. Like use up some of the booze stashed in his office. Which was another thing he was refusing to think about.

Having an office, that is. He was fine for thinking about the alcohol.

[establishy but also open if anybody wants to bump into him outside or in]

Steven was into the stars and all that shit, so he was full on for the eclipse. Had the glasses and everything. But when you were the avatar of the god of the moon and the night sky, you had to figure an eclipse got his attention too. Which was why to start it was Marc who went up on the roof of the Midnight Manor and looked around.

"Feeling proud of yourself?" Marc asked. ( He wasn't really expecting an answer. )

And with that Marc slipped back and Steven took over the body. He didn't like that bloody Khonshu had made an appearance, but he supposed it was only to be expected. At least it hadn't interfered from the eclipse happening.

Steven sat down on the rooftop, his glasses at the ready. There was a great deal for him and Marc to think about, but now he wanted to enjoy the show.

[Open for residents or anybody else who wants to come up on the roof. The part under the cut just looks and sounds like Marc talking to himself.]

On the scale of things in Marc's life which were weird, having gone from "Seriously, who wants to live in a place where I'm a freaking landlord?" to "Well shit, do we need to add another floor soon?" wasn't really on the high end of things. Not compared to stuff like not being the only person in his body, being in service of an ancient Egyptian god, the god being a nine foot being with a bird skull for a head, the fact that one of the residents of the boarding house was made of felt, the boarding house in question being a sentient pocket universe who only wanted to love -

Look, Marc had long ago learned to lean into the skid of his life's dubious connection to anything resembling sanity. Things were easier that way.

That being said, he was looking at the proof that more rooms in the place were being rented than not and thinking - well shit. Did not see that coming.

(He was also thinking damn it, this meant Steven had yet again been right about something. But he was thinking that one way softer. Steven did not need the encouragement to be smug.)

Anyway, that was why Tuesday morning found Marc in his office (nope, still not over his life giving him a freaking office), looking at floor plans, and wondering if it was too early to start drinking.

Out front the sign said Rooms to rent, ask within, come on in the door's unlocked, don't mind the man in the office his face always looks that way.

No prize for guessing whose handwriting the sign was in.

[open!]

Marc was in his office - yep, going on two months now of being in charge of the place and Marc still found it weird he had an office - having a lunch of Thanksgiving leftovers and going through his mail.

Apparently when you put your name down as the guy who owned a boarding house, all kinds of companies started mailing you catalogues of stuff they thought you'd need. Garbage pails, industrial cleaners, outside ashtrays (who even smoked these days?), furniture, the works.

Marc chewed on a non-vegan butter tart and studied the picture of a picnic table setup in one catalog where the graphic skills were such that every part of it looked literally cut and pasted into the shot. By someone who had no sense of proportion either, if the size of the people (giant) to the table (small) was anything to go by.

Then again he lived in Fandom. Maybe there was a niche market for tiny furniture for giant people.

Out front the hand written sign said Door's open if you're looking to rent a room or you want to see the place and not cause trouble.

[Post, like door, is open!]

Look, Marc didn't need an excuse to avoid the Welcome Picnic. He could just not go. Especially since Steven certainly would cheerfully head over and try to make new friends in a heartbeat.

However, Illyana was moving in today and at least one of them should be around for that. Plus there was the vague odds that other new people on the island might at least be interested in the place. As far as that went, Marc pretty much only trusted himself to handle it.

(Okay, sure, Steven was serious about making sure the people who lived in the Midnight Manor were a good match, but still. Marc trusted himself to be a hardass about it a tiny bit more than Steven.)

On the upside they now had one extra room ready in addition to Illyana's. And Dwight had handwavily with permission dropped off the last of the dining chairs he'd been working on yesterday, so they were good to go there. (And hey: Credit where due, Dwight did great work even with the rush order. Even Marc could appreciate that.)

They also had contracts and floor plans written up. Because Marc wasn't going to let anybody remotely try to claim they'd pulled a fast one on any of their residents regardless of when, if ever, more residents appeared.

And now Marc was in his office, a thing he was still wrapping his brain around. But on the plus side the office was now sporting a small freezer which held some of the vodka Illyana had dropped off the other day. If anybody did come by, he was available.

Meanwhile on the front door of the building was a handwritten sign which read:

New Residents and Others Welcome! Door is open, come on in! Office is to your right --->

And, smaller but still the same handwriting:

(Don't mind Marc, that's just his normal expression. He's perfectly nice under there we promise.)

No prize for guessing who'd written it.

[Midnight Manor Boarding House is open! Figuratively and literally.]