Kwik Stop, Wednesday Morning

[nottrivial]

Contrary to what was often the case, Alec was not oblivious to the recent weirdness that had been affecting the island. There were inept mundanes carrying guns. You'd better believe he was paying attention.

In response, he'd been carrying his bow strapped to his back lately and making sure to have a seraph blade or two on him at all times, something he'd gotten out of the habit of since moving here. It wasn't that he was worried about the mundies with guns -- hardly -- but people starting to arm themselves usually coincided with other problems, and Alec didn't want to be caught off-guard, not even when he was just out buying a bottle of water.

It went without saying that he was probably going to be, one way or another.

[[open, expecting one!]]

Comments

[myownface]

Alec, you were seriously tempting Sparkle to kick you again.

"What? Back there? You... fucking seriously, Alec? Seriously?"

Okay, no kicking. But Sparkle was going to lean back and stare incredulously all the same. He'd thank Alec to not point out what a mess his makeup was.

[nottrivial]

"Yeah," Alec said. He took advantage of the personal space in order to wipe sweat off of his forehead, because that had needed to happen a while ago, sorry Sparkle. "I've never done that before. It's always Izzy and Jace who get to that part."

He wouldn't normally have told someone else that at all, but this was Sparkle -- Alec trusted him. Trusted him a lot, it turned out.

[myownface]

"Huh." Sparkle never would have guessed. He frowned a little, thoughtfully, and then plastered a grin of his own across his face, shaky though it was. "Well, I guess that makes it a first for both of us, huh?"

It still bothered the hell out of him, but hey, if Sparkle was making his first... possibly demon (he was dubious about the demon part. His brain was insisting there was probably PCP involved or something, though) kill on the same day as a guy who had trained his whole damn life for it, and he managed to do so with slightly less dying than Alec, he could almost consider that a point of pride.

Once he got his head around the 'murder' part.

[nottrivial]

"I guess so," Alec said. He was a little bit shocked. That wasn't likely to go away anytime soon. "Congratulations."

Or something.

"Uh," he said, "this is going to sound stupid since I just, you know, died, but since I normally don't: if you ever don't feel safe walking around, I can walk with you if you want. At least as long as all this is going on."

[myownface]

"I... might even take you up on that," Sparkle admitted, looking down at the twin cans of dog food in his hands. "Pretty sure Homestyle Tender Meaty Bites aren't going to be able to hold off those freaks forever."

But if Sparkle did manage to take out a psycho using reconstituted beef cubes in gravy, he'd probably be thrilled about it.

[nottrivial]

"And you don't want a proper weapon?" Alec checked. "There are melee things at the store you could look through, if you don't like guns."

[myownface]

"I don't want anything that'll let them get close," Sparkle replied, cringing. "I mean... can't hurt to have something in case. Just to be on the safe side. I guess. I was going to just get a baseball bat."

He felt kind of stupid saying that.

"At least I know how to use one of those."

[nottrivial]

"You have to get pretty close to use one of those, though," Alec reminded him gently. "Do you -- oh. What if you tried a bow?"

[myownface]

"A bow is great if I can see them coming, and shit if they come up from behind," Sparkle pointed out. "I keep a bat on-hand just in case, and a bow for if I spot them first, and then I figure I have my bases kinda covered."

Kinda. Right? That's how that worked?

[nottrivial]

Alec seriously evaluated that suggestion before he gave a hesitant nod. "I think you can do that," he said, and it didn't even occur to him that that sounded a little bossy. "You know where to aim for?"

[myownface]

"With the baseball bat? I'd be going straight for the fucking kneecaps and then taking off at a run," Sparkle replied, because it seemed like the saner option than sticking around and trying to bludgeon a lunatic to death with a blunt object.

[nottrivial]

"Okay." Alec nodded. "Good." Some tension drained out of his shoulders now; he hadn't even been aware that he was tense at all. Today had been strange. "And if you... if you want to... if you decide you want to leave town or anything and you need to borrow money for a hotel room or something, I could..."

Stop it, Alec. Stooooop.

[myownface]

"S'fine," Sparkle promised. "If I take off to Baltimore, I've probably got a place."

Which was to say, if, for any reason, Hannibal turned him away at the door? He was still a street kid. He'd cope. He gave Alec a reassuring smile, and then shrugged.

"Either way, let's get out of the street for now, yeah? If they have friends, I don't wanna meet 'em."

[nottrivial]

"Definitely," Alec agreed. He looked up and down the street cautiously, and, when neither his Sensor nor his eyes detected anything unusual, he gestured for Sparkle to follow and started back toward the dorms.

The gesture was probably unnecessary.