Dite's Decadent Delights, Friday

[myownface]

Okay, so Sparkle was getting kind of crappy at little things like showing up for work on his days to, you know, work. What could be expected from a teenager who was pretty sure he didn't have a boss anymore at either of his jobs?

Okay, sure, so somebody kept paying him for the shifts that he did pull, but he was just as inclined to blame some kind of weird island thing for that. Either way, the important thing was that he was here at work now, and putting out a display of over-the-counter contraceptives, sorted according to variety, and then pretty colours on the packaging. Because condom-box rainbows and dental dam checkerboards were awesome, okay?

They just were. Don't judge him.

[Open! SP from work, and probably tiny phone internets pinging when I get home later, though.]

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

"Acting is a useful life skill for a lot of things," Hannibal answered.

[myownface]

"Fake it 'till you make it?" Sparkle smirked a little at that. "Sell it with attitude, or whatever?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Precisely." Hannibal smiled. "As no doubt you have discovered, few people look past appearances. If you can appear to be confident, they're unlikely to question you."

[myownface]

"Yeah, people care about appearances pretty much everywhere but here." Sparkle shook his head. "I've been saying that was too good to be true."

For as shitty as the past few weeks had been, now that he knew Atton was still alive out there, he could at least feel vindicated, a little.

[sharp_as_knives]

"You should know it isn't only me that this doesn't sit well with," Hannibal told him. "Mr. Starsmore also feels the dean acted badly, and that your friend should not have been summarily judged as he was. But then," he acknowledged, "I would imagine he has a history of reasons not to judge on appearance."

[myownface]

"Starsmore is, uh, the one with the..." Sparkle made a vague gesture toward his mouth, and then shrugged and reached for a pen to fidget with. "Maybe he doesn't, but it's good to hear anyway. I mean, coming from teachers, not just, like, other pissed off students. Means I'm not just being a whiny kid."

... Who had camped out in a warehouse watching his friend bleed out. You know. Typical whiny kid things.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal gave him a serious look. "I have seen you hurt, drunk, upset, and in any other number of situations. I have never known you to whine."

Thankfully. Hannibal didn't much care for whining.

"Are there other students upset as well? How many know what happened to Atton?"

[myownface]

"Cade," Sparkle reported. "Sia. I think that's all. I'm the one that was all the way outside of... whatever this Jedi-Sith crap is, lucky me. I don't know how Sia's doing. I don't know her that well. Cade's been drinking a lot, though."

So... not actually a stretch.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I don't know either of them, I'm afraid." Hannibal shrugged. "Feel free to let them know about my progress - or lack of it - with the dean, if you think it warranted."

[myownface]

"Cade might wanna know," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I think he'll be more interested in knowing Atton's not dead yet, though."

It had certainly been awesome news for Sparkle, anyway.

"I'm thinking the more I stay off Skywalker's radar the better, though. Squirrels tattle all the time around here."

[sharp_as_knives]

"True." Hannibal grimaced and reminded himself again of that and other reasons he was not going to ask for the dean's business card. "I should say that I wouldn't think much of a dean who would use his position of power to victimize a student, but..." He shrugged.

[myownface]

"That's what power is for, isn't it? Get your own way and nobody'll even question it? If it's not, shit, have I ever been looking at the wrong people."

Sparkle? Bitter?

...

Duh.

[sharp_as_knives]

"It often is, yes," Hannibal agreed. "But I loathe seeing it used against the powerless, rather than others in power."

He shrugged and gripped Sparkle's shoulder for a moment. "Well. Acting camp, and then possibly accountancy camp, and you needn't worry about him for some time now. And your friend is well. So the best we can do is ignore the man."