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Demon Marcus, Sunday

Sparkle had a fish in a cup.

It had been an impulse buy, of course, when he'd taken a meandering route to work and had found himself peering into the animal shelter window at a bunch of puppies and kittens and things. He'd stopped in, mostly to wiggle his fingers at the smallest kitties ever dammit, and somehow before he'd left, he'd noticed a couple of plastic cups out with betta fish floating in them, looking as though they were begging him for sweet freedom.

That there had been a Halloween-looking one had pretty much clenched it. So now, Sparkle had a fish in a cup. And a little tank with a filter and some gravel and a couple of cute plants and some fish food that all needed to be set up somewhere that it wasn't all going to get knocked over, sure. But fish. Cup.

There was a new shipment of Halloween-themed onesies in that could wait for a little while. Sparkle was busy trying to figure out where to put the little guy. He couldn't take him home. It was bad enough that he'd gotten a new houseplant over the week, named it Guillermo, gave it a little bowtie, and left it on the windowsill there as it was. So, Fish-in-a-Cup was going to have to stay at the shop.

... It had been a lonely week. But Dr. Lecter had left him a turkey dinner for him to find when he'd went back to feed the cats after taking Joni on her little outing, so it hadn't been all bad.

[OOC: Open!]

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It's a great time of year to go looking for cute winter clothes and/or Halloween costumes!

And his new friend, Mr. Cupfish. (Actual name pending.)

Lucille had picked up that celebrating Halloween required a costume of some kind, and she was sure that Sparkle was the right person to ask about this. She hadn't seen him on the trip, so perhaps he had spent the week on the island, in which case he might want to hear about Sleepy Hollow. So here she was, entering the shop.

Sparkle wasn't really much of a landscaper. It wasn't like he'd had enough lawn in his life to really worry about things like maintenance of a yard or anything like that. But the way he was raking gravel around in the little tank he'd gotten for his fish, trying to figure out where the plants would look the best before he put water into the thing, could really only be thought of as landscaping, of a sort. It took him a few moments of 'hmmm' and 'maybe...' before he noticed that he wasn't alone in the shop, and turned to look Lucille's way.

"Oh, hey," he greeted. "How goes it?"

Mister Fish mostly just sat in his cup and did fish things. He was less personable than Sparkle was.

"Good afternoon," Lucille returned, and whatever she had been intending to say next got replaced with: "Have you bought a fish?"

"I bought a fish," Sparkle admitted, and then reached for the cup so that he could show the little guy off. "This is the sort of stupid shit that happens when I'm left to my own devices for a week. I have a new houseplant, too, but that's at home."

He smiled sheepishly.

"Proof I need someone around to tell me when I'm about to do something stupid, I guess."

But... fish! In a cup!

Lucille leaned forward to look at the small fish. "It has pretty colours," she noted, then smirked. "But he is far too small to cook."

Lucille did have a sense of humour occasionally.

"And that," Sparkle shared, "is why he gets a tank, and not a frying pan."

He grinned a bit, peering down a the little guy.

"I mean, it's either that or I put a lot of time into side dishes, I guess."

There would be no eating of Fish Stick McGraw.

... He'd come up with a good name eventually. Probably.

"It seems wiser to buy fish intended for eating," Lucille said, stating the obvious. "Does making frivolous purchases mean you had a bad week or a good one?"

"It means the island was, like, stupidly quiet all week, and it was either that or I kidnap one of Dr. Lecter's cats," Sparkle replied, smirking. "Anyway, he's pretty. He'll be something to watch on quiet days, you know? And I can keep him here so that Atton doesn't get all weird about pets in the apartment."

"Could you not hide him from Atton?," Lucille asked. "I have never considered getting a pet. Perhaps I am not suited to having one. I don't know if Cassandra likes them either."

Sparkle actually took a couple of seconds to consider how successful an attempt to hide a fish from Atton would be.

"... I mean, I guess I could try, but I'd give Atton maybe three minutes before he figures it out. Anyway, he gave me a roof over my head. If his one stipulation is that I don't bring pets home, I'm gonna respect that."

Okay, there was another one involving how many vegetables Sparkle was allowed to sneak into the food, but that was mostly just Atton blowing hot air anyway, he figured.

"And hey, not considering a pet doesn't mean you're not suited to one, you know? But it's a lot of responsibility that you want to consider before you go ahead and bring something home, anyway. Fish are easy, at least."

Clean the tank, feed them now and again. Bettas were not exactly one of the biggest challenges of the universe.

"I believe I should keep to buying books," she said. "At least my own aren't as lively as those in the library, and I can share them with Cassandra."

She couldn't help thinking about this further though. "What pets would be easy, apart from fish?"

Sparkle paused to consider this, setting the cup back down on the counter again.

"Easy pets? I guess a cat is always a pretty solid choice, if you like them. My first pet was a cat. They'll let you know when they're hungry, and they're okay with being left alone for a while, if it comes to that. They do also claw at stuff, though, and they shed." He pursed his lips a little. "Maybe some birds, like finches or canaries? Or if you're not bothered by rodents, hamsters and gerbils are pretty popular as first pets for little kids..."

He'd always kind of wanted a hamster. Add it to the list of 'someday, maybe.'

Lucille gave a small nod. "I would have to discuss it with Cassandra."

She reached out and put a finger in the water, trying to gently touch the fish.

"I enjoyed the trip. Sleepy Hollow was a charming town."

The fish didn't really have anywhere to go, being in a plastic cup, so he tolerated the touching as only a fish in a cup really could. It was a tough life for a betta.

"Yeah?" Sparkle smiled a little as he got back to arranging fish gravel in the little tank. "I'm only really familiar with the story about the ghost there, but it looked like you guys had a pretty relaxing kind of trip. I love the Halloween stuff, though."

Lucille wasn't going to torment the fish for very long.

"There was a guided tour of the cemetery," Lucille said. "And a beautiful gothic mansion. I found a nice tea room too."

There had also been an awkward visit to the spa.

"Halloween, yes. I understand you need a costume for the party."

Aw, Lucille. Was a wet Cassandra a little too much to process?

"Sure, costumes can't hurt to have," Sparkle agreed, looking at Lucille thoughtfully. "You're looking for something to wear, then, are you?"

Yes, Sparkle, that generally was why people walked into clothing shops.

Lucille looked at him. "Are there costumes you don't wear?"

That earned a blink out of Sparkle, and then he scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly.

"No, I guess there aren't," he admitted. "Score one for me for asking redundant questions. Okay, re-phrasing that, then. Did you have any particular sort of costume in mind?"

"I have learnt of stranger things here than unwearable costumes," Lucille observed. "What is the fashion?"

She would not wear anything that showed too much skin.

"I understand they are supposed to be scary."

Yeah, Sparkle was giving Lucille a speculative look for a moment. He didn't think anything with 'sexy' in the name was going to fly, here.

"Well, it doesn't have to be scary," he noted. "Sometimes it can be weird, or just fun. But if you're looking for scary, that can be arranged, too."

"I would very much appreciate a suggestion," Lucille said, trusting Sparkle's judgement in this.

Smiling a little, and not very sweetly, she added: "And scary would suit me, I think."

A lot better than sexy.

With a smile like that, Sparkle was certainly inclined to agree. She definitely struck him as somebody who would wear scary well, yes.

"So... a ghost or a vampire or a witch or something like that?"

You could get pretty creative and elaborate with any of the above, after all, or keep them all simple.

"How close to your usual look do you want to go? Because a lot can be accomplished with the right dress and make-up, you know?"

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