Special Delivery | Melvin + Vinzent | Lost Letters Car

Melvin Greene

If Melvin had been thinking a little harder he might have found it a bit weird that the clown car spat out the Space Jam memorabilia, but damn if he hadn’t always wanted one of those. The only thing preventing him from throwing the jersey over his shirt right then had been the fact that he knew full well it would be a crime to let it come in contact with all that grease. It would have been easy to miss with all the other assorted craziness going on, but it had put him in the best mood he’d been in this entire time. Injured fellow passenger notwithstanding. It’s fine, Abel was… not fine, but not dead, so close enough. While it sure didn’t look like it, some of that good(…?) mood was carrying over. Just a bit.

There had also been some other mostly useless junk, and a couple of things that should probably maybe get returned to people. One of them was fairly obvious given the signatures present upon a cursory flip through. Which was fantastic, because Melvin absolutely did not want this album and now he knew exactly who to deliver it to! Yay. It wasn’t like he was absolutely committed to reuniting this thing with its rightful owner, but in this papery, papery new train car? It also wasn’t like he had anything much better to do with his time. Scrounging through a bunch of paper could wait. It wasn’t too hard to pick Vinzent out against the otherwise fairly beige environment.

“Uh, hey, pretty sure this is yours. Here.” No real greeting or anything, just holding out the collage album to hand it off to Vinzent. At least it seems like he’s trying to be kinda careful with it.

Vinzent Mayer

Melvin Greene

Vinzent was still looking around, debating on what to do, when he saw he was being adressed. Ah, another familiar face, even if not the friendlest…

Well, honestly, not the worst. Wacky shit happens.

Anyway, he couldn’t help but notice what he was being handed. What the fuck? This machine had his most precious item? But then again, he couldn’t fault Melvin for getting it, it was a pure hasard. If anything, he really appreciated that at least, the guy was willing to give it to him right away, no request or anything else added.

Taking it from Melvin’s hands, a soft smile could be seen on his face, as well as a gentle laugh being heard.

“Ah… Indeed, it is mine. Thank you.”

He debated adding a ‘very much’ but felt it could be going overboard, even if he really appreciated it. And Melvin got a simple thanks which was plenty, he figured. There… Was something that he realized. Oh boy. Well.

“Ah, I think… I have something that may be yours too, I’m unsure but… I can destroy it if you want. It’s… Not nice, really. It’s uh, a math exam.”

While not immediately handing it over to Melvin, Vinzent looked for the math exam among his belongings. He could be wrong, but still, he made sure to hide the only thing left of the name that was scribbled all over once he found it, so Melvin only sees the back of the paper. Whatever it was, Vinzent was ready to either rip it apart or hand it over if Melvin confirms it’s his, or… Simply just looking for someone else who may have a name starting with M. Not like there’s many anyway, and Viper’s real name is still unknown.

Well, he’ll find out soon enough!

Melvin Greene

The album had been successfully reunited with its loving owner. Hooray! “Yeah, uh. No problem.” Melvin couldn’t help but feel a little envious that something in here meant so much to him. Sure, it wasn’t like he’d come out totally empty-handed, but it also wasn’t something like a previous prized possession either. Ah well. One more reminder of how big a nobody he was next to all these people wasn’t gonna kill him.

… Something of his, huh? His lighter and all his other important stuff (minus his CAR KEYS, which he’d MANAGED TO DROP BEFORE BOARDING, APPARENTLY) still remained safely in his pocket. Maybe it was his keys? He’s a bit confused until Vinzent drops the whole ‘math’ thing, whereupon his expression immediately sours. A lot. It might have been an idea to play it off and act like he didn’t have any clue whaaat on eaaarth that could all be about, but, well. He wasn’t actor material. He didn’t need to see the front of the paper. As soon as the other guy said ‘exam’ he knew exactly what it had to be. Turns out one more reminder might, in fact, kill him - or at least kill what remained of his good mood.

“The hell you think I’d want that for, huh? You trying to rub it in or something?” He’d gone out of his way to give Vinzent something precious to him, and this was the thanks he was getting? Neato Burrito. Dammit. It occurs to him a moment too late that he should probably keep his voice down a little more if he doesn’t want someone like Viper to catch wind. “… Get rid of it, I don’t give a shit how, just get the damn thing outta here. And don’t tell anyone about it.” Vinzent didn’t particularly strike him as the nasty type, especially considering that he HAD offered to destroy it off the bat but… well, that didn’t really make it feel any better, did it? Even the nicest person on the planet wouldn’t be able to bring something like that up in a way that didn’t suck.

Vinzent Mayer

Melvin Greene

Yikes. Yeah. Vinzent flinched at the reaction. His voice was now down to a whisper. He was a little afraid of what might be coming…

“… No. I figured. And that’s a promise, I will not. School scores don’t necessarily reflect a person’s worth… No matter what, I will not tell anyone about this.”

He tore it away without hesitation right after. Melvin can see that Vinzent hadn’t a second to spare to hesitate before ripping it apart, to the point that it has become bits of paper nearly impossible to assemble…

“… I’m really sorry about bringing that up. I really didn’t mean to revive nasty memories.”

To be fair, if he was handed a similar thing? He might have a reaction like Melvin’s so he wasn’t sure why he didn’t destroy it earlier. So much for that, huh.

Melvin Greene

It’s not Vinzent he’s mad at, really. It wasn’t fair to take it out on him like that, though that didn’t seem like it was about to stop Melvin from continuing. He’s caught a bit off guard at the sound of paper tearing, though. He’d expected some hemming and hawing and hesitation, but… not to see Vinzent destroy it immediately. Sure, he’d offered to, but most people wouldn’t have actually done it so quick. He’d always thought tearing that stupid paper to shreds would somehow make him feel better. It doesn’t.

Vinzent Mayer School scores don’t necessarily reflect a person’s worth…

He snorts derisively. “Heard that one before. S’all good ‘til you waste, what–” To his even greater embarrassment given the context, he actually has to pause for a second to think about it, “– six god damn years of your life hauling pizzas around knowing that’s as good as it’s gonna get.” Not that chewing Vinzent out was going to help matters any.

Vinzent’s apology seemed completely genuine. Melvin was still pretty pissed at him for bringing it up in the first place, but true to the artist’s word, nobody else would be able to get a hold of the thing now. And he hadn’t even demanded anything in return… yet. He was waiting for that shoe to drop, fully expecting Vinzent to present some sort of ultimatum for his silence on the matter. To say he was calmer would not quite be correct, but there was a sort of confusion creeping in that was taking the edge off.

“… s’that all? You’re just letting it go, like that?” It’s a bit more accusatory than it maybe needed to be, but he_don’t_trust_like_that.jpg

Vinzent Mayer

Melvin Greene

Well! Breaking news! Vinzent is feeling much worse! He felt like he had absolutely destroyed whatever there was. It wasn’t friendship but… It did feel like it has gone horribly wrong for something that was just fine at the base.

Eep. He wasn’t not expecting the ‘already heard that before’ part but it still stung.

“… Yes. I’ll make it a point to never bring it up ever again. There’s no use. And if you think I am asking you anything in return, you can throw that thought away. There’s nothing to gain from this, okay?”

He was still scared. No, not just scared, terrified. On one hand, he doesn’t think Melvin will get violent with him, on the other… Vinzent was still on his guard. And the tone of the voice wasn’t helping.

“…”

Yeah, that’s really all he’ll say at this moment. Nothing else.

Melvin Greene

Great. Good. Sounded like that was settled then. There wasn’t much reason to trust Vinzent at his word, but it wasn’t like he seemed particularly sketchy (lol!) either. He’d been resoundingly fine pretty much this entire time, and just like how destroying the paper wasn’t gonna change anything, giving Vinzent any harder of a time wasn’t gonna make anyone feel better either. Melvin could just… leave it at that for now. He didn’t have much choice in the matter anyways.

He takes a deep breath and exhales, huffing irately, but when he speaks it’s… well, he’s still distinctly not happy, but not too mad in Vinzent’s direction. He was definitely going to need more time to get over it, not that he had the self-awareness to figure as much out. Handling rude-ass high schoolers was so much easier than trying to navigate situations like these.

“Okay… okay. Good. We’re good then.”

He’s not going to thank Vinzent or apologize or anything, though. It doesn’t even occur to him that it might be reasonable to. Still, letting that silence hang any longer was gonna get too awkward even for him to tolerate.

“… Don’t think any of the other stuff was yours, unless you like balloons.” Very small ones, at that.

Vinzent Mayer

Melvin Greene

To be honest, this was a little out of left field but… That question got a slight laugh, perhaps if Vinzent was younger then yeah, he’d like it.

“Hah no, don’t worry about that. These balloons aren’t even mine.”

Then who…?

But… Maybe, he could write on it with sharpies or anything like that. Eh, not a big deal, he has So much on him already.

… Certainly Melvin can’t be just a miserable pizza boy for the rest of his life, is he? What it is that Melvin actually likes…?

Maybe… Trying to look more put together, Vinzent thought on how he’ll phrase this.

“Say… You got anything you like to read or watch in your free time? Tv show, series or books, whatever it is? Or even listen to. Whichever your pick.”

He’s tentatively trying to land on a better topic…

Melvin Greene

Hooray, the situation is defused. Kind of. Not really, honestly, but it sort of beats being mad about stuff. Melvin wasn’t gonna be over it for a while but at least things were ending on a not-completely-catastrophic note, which was great.

… Not that Vinzent seemed like he would or could kill anybody, but y’know. The fewer enemies running around the better.

It’s a bit surprising that even after all of that, he’s still trying to make small talk. Which Melvin is really bad at. He almost considers saying nothing, for a moment, because it’s almost better than answering honestly.

“Don’t have a ton of free time, really. Mostly whatever game still has people playing at 5 in the morning.” Which wasn’t too difficult to accomplish these days what with more global services for Gaming, especially those that didn’t require a great deal of verbal coordination. Not that he’s never gotten into shouting matches on Xbox Live or whatever but that seems better left unsaid. ” You?”

Vinzent Mayer

Melvin Greene

Yeah, Vinzent felt he was unsure if he had to make small talk or not. What he was sure of is he wouldn’t want to extend it too long, he’d just like to try to know Melvin a little better despite what happened not too long ago.

“That’s fair. So, you don’t really have a favorite game you’d return to in the end?”

And of course the question gets returned, alright, good…

“Uh… Well, I like playing some games in my free time too, mostly on Playstation. Or on Switch. I don’t own so many games despite having two consoles, more like ten or a dozen games in total over the years. I just pick what I know I would like.”

And like hell he’d admit right away he has played and would still play Animal Crossing New Horizons (which is among his games) whenever possible, on occasion. But he had definitely remembered that one game. Sometimes. Having just a fun, relaxing game to vibe is an excellent way to spend time, but it doesn’t really help with his General Brand™.