The Perk, Monday Morning

[myownface]

Sparkle was... hungry, he thought.

Or cold? Maybe he was cold. He'd slept outside last night, not completely certain what to do with himself after the slugs had gone away, and while Atton's intructions to go to Selkie Cove were still ringing in his head, he was all too aware that if he were to go there, he'd find nothing.

And he... he wanted nothing. That had been the whole point, right? But that sort of nothing was too much. So he'd kind of aimlessly stumbled around town, and then the island had started dropping chocolate sprinkles on his head. Which was maybe a hint? He was taking it as a hint. He was hungry. He should eat. He hadn't done that since...

... He wasn't sure.

The barista had taken some manner of pity on him, walking him through his usual order and then letting him have his coffee and a donut on the house. Had even told him to take a seat and eat them, be careful not to burn himself on the coffee, though it was possible she'd done that just to get him out of the way so that other customers could order.

Okay, good. He'd gotten this far. Island said to eat, barista said to drink, and so Sparkle was sitting at a table near the window, kind of mechanically doing both, and wondering what to do himself after he was finished with that.

[OOC: Open Perk! Sparkle is not exactly all there just yet, but he probably won't try to kill you!]

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[future_sandworm]

Leto hadn't spoken to Sparkle in a while, so perhaps this was a good time to call?

Even if his prescience didn't include other universes, he still just had a feeling that he should make sure that Sparkle was ok. It might have to do with knowing Fandom in general, though. He didn't care which.

So, he was calling.

[In case Sparkle can deal with SP comforting from the boyfriend.]

[myownface]

Sparkle's phone rang. And it rang again. It wasn't until somebody near him said, "Would you answer that, already?" that he really realized he should.

And the "Hello?" that he had when he answered was... off. It was definitely Sparkle on the other end of the phone, but it was possible he wasn't entirely at home just yet.

[future_sandworm]

So something was wrong. Leto hoped it was just a temporary Fandom thing and not a serious Sparkle thing.

"Hello Sparkle," he said. "How are you?"

If the answer was 'good' Leto was going to be worried.

[myownface]

For what it was worth, the answer wasn't 'good,' at least.

"I... don't know...?"

It wasn't much better, either, though. Sparkle stared down at his donut, still untouched, and shook his head in tired bemusement.

"How should I be?"

[future_sandworm]

"I think that's for you to decide," Leto said gently. "Why is that a difficult question?"

It sounded like a Fandom thing. Memory loss of some kind?

[myownface]

"Because..." Sparkle made a little sound in his throat that was somewhere between frustrated and hopeless. "Because it's not up to me."

... Wasn't it?

[future_sandworm]

"How you are might not be," Leto replied. "But the way you choose to speak about it is."

Would Sparkle remember this conversation? Perhaps he should call Ghanima, Leto thought, and find out what was going on.

[myownface]

"... Is it?"

That seemed wrong, somehow, though Sparkle couldn't put a finger on why.

"No, I..." He frowned. "I shouldn't even be speaking right now. There's not supposed to be anything left."

That had been the plan, right?

[future_sandworm]

"But there is, isn't it? It's not all gone?"

Leto paused before asking: "Do you remember anything?"

[myownface]

"Sure," Sparkle replied, tilting his head a little, a quizzical note in his voice. "Why wouldn't I remember anything?"

[future_sandworm]

"Because you're telling me you don't know things you are supposed to," Leto replied softly. "I just wanted to ask. Do you know who I am?"

[myownface]

"You're Leto," Sparkle replied. "Of course I know who you are."

He frowned a little.

"What other things am I supposed to know?"

He was so confused right now.

[future_sandworm]

"I asked you how you are. You couldn't answer. I took that to mean you didn't know."

Should he hang up? Maybe, and call back in a day or two.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton hadn't seen Sparkle in a while. Considering everything that'd been going wrong? Yeah, he was worried.

It was Monday when he finally gave in to latent mother hen tendencies, and followed Sparkle's Force presence all the way down to...

The Perk.

"You know we have coffee at home, right?"

[myownface]

"At home?" Sparkle blinked up at Atton - his Atton, not the other Atton, who was... more his Atton right now, and he didn't want to think too hard on that to try to figure out why that was - and squinted a bit, trying to puzzle that out. "Should I, like, drink home coffee instead of here coffee?"

He looked down at his cup.

"The barista told me to drink this."

It had been some kind of direction. He'd needed it. Desperately.

[suitably_heroic]

"You should drink home coffee. You haven't had home coffee in days," Atton said, and winced.

There was definitely the sense of some coercion about Sparkle. Great.

[myownface]

Sparkle stared at his cup for a few more seconds, frowning.

"I'm supposed to go to Selkie Cove," he said, because there were now two sets of directions warring in his head and he had to focus on what he could. Even if only for a moment. "But I don't think it will make any difference anymore. I think I'm too late."

[suitably_heroic]

"You're supposed to..."

Atton sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He wished he'd paid closer attention when Mical'd been nattering on about mind-healing.

"You're not supposed to do anything."

[myownface]

Sparkle stared at Atton hard for a long moment. And then he set his drink down and sat there obediently, with a slow, careful nod.

And waited.

Nothing. He could do that.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton muttered a few Ryl curses under his breath.

"I should've seen that coming," he said, and sank into the seat opposite Sparkle.

[myownface]

Sparkle sat there quietly and watched him for a few moments. And then sort of fidgeted a little. Glanced down at his coffee again. And his donut.

He hadn't eaten in... in days. It had been days.

"Everything feels like fog," he said, finally. "And I don't know why. I don't want it to. I just wanted quiet."

[suitably_heroic]

"Something put a whammy on your head," Atton said. He let out a sigh. "Eat your donut."

[myownface]

"Okay," Sparkle said tiredly, reaching out almost mechanically to pick up his donut from the napkin it had been sitting on. It wasn't until it was completely eaten that he looked up again at Atton, expectantly.

He still had that coffee that was digging a hole in his mind. He wasn't sure if he ought to drink it or forget about it, so he went for the distraction again.

"Something? A whammy?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Did something to your head to make you all... obedient, I guess," Atton said, pulling a face. "Under other circumstances I'd figure some Sith or Jedi asshole was involved."

[myownface]

There was a long pause, and Sparkle tilted his head a little.

"There was you, but I think you're gone now."

Helpful, Sparkle.