Caritas, Sunday

[suitably_heroic]

It'd been two days. Atton hadn't sensed anybody he knew on the island.

He still stepped through the doorway with infinite suspicion. "You there," he yelled at the zombies. "Seen anyone blond, pretentious and really up his own ass come through here this weekend?"

The zombie blinked at him.

"Ugh," Atton said, and turned to Tino. "How about you?"

Tino said nothing. He just poured himself another shot.

"Fine, you're all useless, whatever."

WELCOME TO CARITAS
Drinks half off if you can prove
your relatives are traumatizing

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[myownface]

Sparkle didn't so much walk into the bar as he slithered into it, pretty much done with this weekend for only the most predictable reasons.

"Ugh," he said, demonstrating his unbelievable eloquence as he poured himself into a barstool. "Fuck all this shit all over."

These weekends personally offended him, clearly.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton watched him come in, nodded sagely, and put a bottle of whiskey on the table right next to a bottle of Canadian beer.

"On the bright side, you get to pick the way you want to wreck your liver tonight."

[myownface]

Sparkle considered both, briefly considered just dumping one into the other and drinking all of it, and then shrugged and reached for the beer.

He wasn't going to say no to a taste of northern swill if it was right there in front of him.

"That's my favourite kind of decision," he drawled. "Thanks."

[suitably_heroic]

"You're welcome," Atton said. "Nobody's shown up for me, so we can just make it an Apartment Oh Oh Four Family Drinking Party."

He was going to pour himself a whiskey, in that case.

[myownface]

"Those are the best drinking parties," Sparkle declared. "Get all fucked up and before the night's through I'll probably end up in the duck pond."

A sign of a night well spent.

[suitably_heroic]

"Just make sure you take a swing at Tino, not me," Atton advised. "All right?"

[myownface]

"Cross my heart," Sparkle replied, making the appropriate gesture with the hand holding his beer. "You probably don't have it coming anyway. Unless you do. If you do, my heart is officially uncrossed."

Not that he'd ever land a swing against Atton anyway.

[suitably_heroic]

Not in Caritas, at any rate.

"So have we decided to be angry at anyone in particular tonight, or are we just winging it?"

[myownface]

"I think we're just winging it," Sparkle decreed. "I already gave a black eye to the person most in need of punching in my life these days, but the trade off is that I signed up for fucking evening classes this morning and I hate these weekends, so I'm sure we can find something to be properly pissed off about."

[suitably_heroic]

"You finally signed up for something, huh?" Atton prompted.

[myownface]

"They had a costume design course," Sparkle sighed, then paused to take a swig of beer. "Or, like, everyday fashion design around here, you know?"

Seemed relevant to his current life path.

[suitably_heroic]

"Might be useful if a bunch of kids from way back when show up again and want clothes in their style," Atton guessed. "Smart."

[myownface]

"Wouldn't even be a first," Sparkle replied. "And I mean, hell, for all the people who end up here from your neck of the woods? I had to come up with a design for a winter hood for a Togruta girl off the top of my head, this one time? Which... mostly just boils down to 'turn an entire second coat into a hood, attach to first coat.'"

[suitably_heroic]

"And you haven't even had to dress a Bith yet," Atton said. A beat. "Or find a hat for a Cerean."

[myownface]

"How much worse than making a hood for a Togruta would finding a hat for a Cerean be, anyway?"

It'd just have to be a really, really long hat, right?

Just wait until he had to find a scarf for a Kaminoan or something.

[suitably_heroic]

"Only one way to find out," Atton said, shrugging. "And that's without taking alien fashion into account."

Not that he knew anything about that.

[myownface]

Sparkle went into a little half-squint at that, tilting his head thoughtfully.

"I'm not drunk enough yet to start seriously contemplating designing an entire winter clothing line for non-humans and near-humans," he decided. "I need like another three beers for that first."

[suitably_heroic]

"You just say the word and I'll keep them coming," Atton said. "I mean, I'm getting the hang of this 'bartending for anybody who walks in through those doors' thing. I'm not even trying to cheat everybody at cards anymore."

[myownface]

"But that sounds like the best part of bartending," Sparkle replied, blinking. "... That said, fuck yes keep them coming, would you? Maybe what I need are some stupid trains of thought but with proper supervision for a change."

So that he didn't burn anything down or get kidnapped or whatever.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, but a lot of people who come through here are really bad at cards," Atton said, turning around to go find another one of those beers. He rifled through a minifridge for a few moments and then triumphantly produced another one. He put it down on the counter. "Takes all the fun out of it."

[myownface]

"Huh. Fair enough. You can only cheat the already hopeless for so long before it starts to get boring." Sparkle finished off his first beer and made a reach for his second. "You'd think there would be more people around here of all places that didn't suck at it, though."

[suitably_heroic]

"We've got people on this island who freak out about garden gnomes," Atton reminded him. "They're not exactly all winners."

[myownface]

"I always kind of wonder how those people manage to survive when something actually dangerous happens," Sparkle confessed. "Like, I've got a checklist of stupid ways I've died here going, and they're fucked up over lawn ornaments."

[suitably_heroic]

"Hiding under a table?" Atton said. "Just really good at getting out of here when the island starts getting into that time of the semester again? Or maybe they've got some martial skills we don't know about. I don't know, I'm just spitballing here."

[myownface]

Sparkle just sighed and wrinkled his nose in the general direction of his beer.

"We gotta get a sturdier table at home, I guess."

... Look, it made sense to Sparkle, anyway.

[suitably_heroic]

"I already got that reinforced," Atton said idly, taking a sip of his whiskey. "Twice."

There were also blasters hidden underneath.

[myownface]

"Oh." Sparkle blinked. "Well then, uh."

He tilted his head a little.

"Sometimes I forget how much you secretly actually have your shit together, you know."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton shrugged. "I want our place to be safe," he said.

Partly because of his own neuroses. Partly because Sparkle was squishy and he worried.

[myownface]

"Me too," Sparkle allowed, and then took another mouthful of beer. "Hey, maybe someday you won't even have to watch my back so much."

The neuroses part, Sparkle understood. That other bit, he really wanted to be able to do more about. Work in progress.

[suitably_heroic]

"Maybe if I drag you out to the gun range a few more times over the next few months," Atton mused. "Get a few shots in..."

[myownface]

"I mean, it probably couldn't hurt to get more range time in," Sparkle admitted, clicking his teeth against the rim of the bottle a couple of times as he considered it. "Not my favourite weapon, but... I like not dying."

He'd kind of come to accept it was a necessary evil around here. Doubly so in Atton's galaxy. And he still had his knives from Leto, too...

Hadn't touched a bow and arrow since Alec left the island, though. Because... nope.

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm free all week next week," Atton offered. "If you need a buddy."

[myownface]

"I super need a buddy," Sparkle said with all the authority of a guy who probably wouldn't commit to this unless he had someone nudging him the entire time, anyway. "I need a blaster buddy."

He was well past any concerns of blowing his own foot off, at least. But still.

[suitably_heroic]

"All right, how about Friday?" Atton said. "I can use some blowing off steam when I'm done dealing with those brats for another week."

[myownface]

"Friday," Sparkle echoed, looking thoughtful, and then nodding. "Sure. It isn't like I've got shit to do on Friday, anyway. We might have to look at the schedule again once class starts," aahaaaaaa oh god he'd done that, "but for now, Friday's perfect."