Caritas, Sunday

[suitably_heroic]

"Okay," Atton said, leaning back - very slightly - on the stepladder to admire his handiwork. "Pure pazaak. I think we're going to stay on this ti--"

All the lights in the bar went out. Again.

"Oh come on!"

He'd get there. Eventually.

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Comments

[myownface]

Hell yes, Sparkle was coming by with a battery-powered emergency lamp he'd liberated from his own shop. After the whole thing with the sharks, he'd gone a little gung-ho on the disaster preparedness end of things.

"You know," he said as he walked in, lamp in hand, "it's like this everywhere? Pretty sure you're not gonna win this round, man."

[suitably_heroic]

"No, no, I can make this work," Atton said irritably, reaching back up for a strand of the lights. "Okay? You don't know what kind of rust buckets I've flown!"

[myownface]

"Were those rust buckets the result of a sentient island with a rotten sense of humour, though?"

These were the important questions, Atton. These right here.

[suitably_heroic]

"Sometimes it felt like that, all right?" Atton returned. The lights sparked beneath his hands. "Ow-- what in space-- I hate this island!"

[myownface]

Sparkle just gave Atton a crooked little smile and set the lamp down nearby.

"Yeah, it's a shitty island," he agreed. "Except the free Coke yesterday. The fridge is stocked up with the stuff, if you haven't been in there yet today. Everything else can basically go to hell, though."

Fuck Christmas!

[suitably_heroic]

Atton muttered complaints as he came down the step ladder, glaring at Sparkle like he had something to do with it.

"I had Coke for breakfast this morning. Let me tell you, it's not a breakfast drink."

[myownface]

That was fine. Sparkle, who had clearly personally gone to the effort of making the island hang lights, just grinned back up at him.

"Only thing that shit is good for that time of day is getting the funky morning taste out," he replied. "And the same thing can be done with toothpaste. Do I need to, like, start putting out cereal boxes for you before I go to work?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm not a kid," Atton retorted, even though that was sometimes debatable. "How's your day been? Probably full of this bantha poodoo."

[myownface]

"Full of this bantha poodoo," Sparkle confirmed. "I didn't bother trying to get the lights back on at the shop once they went out, though. I don't have that kind of patience."

Well. He didn't have that kind of patience when he was reeling after drinking a little too much whiskey the night before. He was going to have to be faster with the mixers if he ever went drinking with Seivarden again.

[suitably_heroic]

"Ugh," Atton said to that. "You know, the least the island could do is give us a fireplace or something. It's cold! I didn't ask for this!"

[myownface]

Sparkle perked up a little at that.

"We could see what colours the Christmas light wiring burns," he suggested. "Just start a fire in, like, a garbage can in the back alley or something..."

Never listen to Sparkle.

[suitably_heroic]

"No, I've lived like that once, I'm not doing it again," Atton said, squinting up at the dead lights. "There was this guy once who had this trick where he turned scrap and a candle into a heater," he mused.

[myownface]

"... I wanna learn that trick."

Not that he needed it these days, but Sparkle would always have a keen interest in that sort of thing. It was how he was wired.

[suitably_heroic]

"It's as good a project as any," Atton decided, getting back up on the ladder to yank down a strand of lights. "... So there's a small chance I might get called away to go deal with Sia's problems sometime soon."

[myownface]

Sparkle tilted his head and looked up after Atton curiously at that.

"Deal with her problems? There's trouble in a faraway galaxy?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Sith, empires, rebellions, the works," Atton said. "That's our galaxy for you."

[myownface]

"Apparently," Sparkle replied, shifting his weight a little uneasily. You'd think he'd be getting used to this sort of thing by now. "You'll stay in touch if you have to take off?"

He worried. He wasn't making grandiose plans to tag along or anything, but a few 'I'm still alive' check ins would go a long way.

[suitably_heroic]

"Phone's staying on unless I really need to keep low," Atton promised. "But there's like, a 25-75 chance of this happening. It's Sia. She doesn't usually need the help, she's just got an idiot boyfriend right now."

[myownface]

There was a long pause from Sparkle, and then he said, "So this could very well just be a trip to go knock some sense into her idiot boyfriend?"

It was never that simple, but let him dream.

[suitably_heroic]

"I wouldn't say no to that," Atton admitted.

[myownface]

Sparkle laughed a little at that, settling in with an easy smile.

"See, and if you go to do that, I demand somebody takes a holo," he declared.

It was important.

[suitably_heroic]

"I'll bring a spy cam or something," Atton said. "He nearly got her killed." Beat. "He did get her killed! Cade worked his healing ass off to keep her alive."

[myownface]

Sparkle blinked at that. And then hissed a little between his teeth.

"I mean, even if you don't get called to back her up, next chance you get, you kick that asshole in the balls anyway."

Some things, you just did not do. Things like get your girlfriend killed.

[suitably_heroic]

"I should be a mature adult Jedi about it and yadda yadda yadda," Atton said, pulling a face. "But some assholes deserve to get kicked in the balls. Maybe when no one's looking."

[myownface]

"I promise I won't tell on you," Sparkle said, holding up his fingers in a sort of 'scouts honour' that was both sloppy and done with the wrong hand. Whatever. "It's for a good cause."

[suitably_heroic]

"And this is why we're roommates," Atton said.

He took another moment to eye his mostly-dark bar, and shook his head. "You want a drink? I need a drink."

[myownface]

Sparkle actually made a bit of a face at that.

"Just so long as it isn't whiskey."

He'd had more than his fill of that already, last night.

[suitably_heroic]

Long pause.

"Am I missing a story here?"

[myownface]

Much shorter pause.

"I mean, kind of," Sparkle confessed. "I kind of took somebody up on an invitation to go drinking last night? Somebody that I don't even like? And it didn't go shitty or anything, but I'm pretty sure she was trying to get me drunk."

He really didn't want to end up stranded, drunk, in Baltimore. With Seivarden. So he'd cut her off and they'd taxi'd back.

[suitably_heroic]

"... Okay, why did you do this thing that sounds like a terrific life choice?" Atton said.

[myownface]

Sparkle sighed and ran a hand through his hair awkwardly.

"I mean, at least in part because she's completely fucking lost around here," he admitted. "Completely lost. First time she stepped into Demon Marcus I banned her from ever coming into my store again. She's... fucking obnoxious, acts like every rich, entitled asshole I ever hated, and she has... nothing."

Sparkle was a bleeding heart for people with nothing. Go figure.

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, she's not going to get an attitude adjustment if you go along with it anyway," Atton opined, walking back towards the bar to at least get himself a drink.

And something to assemble the space heater with.

[myownface]

"I'm not really going along with it, is the thing," Sparkle replied, following along after him. "I mean, yeah, I took her up on her offer to go drinking, but... like... she listens to me."

He tilted his head a bit.

"Pretty sure that's at least mostly because she thinks I can get her drugs," he allowed, "But she still listens. Which might just save her ass someday, because I'm not stepping in to save her if she pisses someone off enough that they take a swing."

[suitably_heroic]

"She thinks you can get her drugs?"

Sorry, this was Atton's 'eeeesh' face.

[myownface]

"I mean, she's not wrong. Doesn't mean I'm gonna, though."

Which was a point he'd hoped he'd managed to get across, but by the end of last night, he hadn't been so sure.