The Perk, Saturday Afternoon

[myownface]

Coffee. Sparkle had a class on the mainland later this week, had to throw together revisions that his instructor had given him on his 'Big Bad Wolf' costume design by Wednesday, and was going to have a long night ahead of himself if he wanted to get the first draft of his pattern done up so that he could start sewing before the weekend was through.

Which, of course, was why he was at the Perk. Procrastinating. A lot. In one hand he had the biggest possible cup of the sweetest, most syrupy garbage they would serve him. In the other hand, a pencil, which was just sort of hovering over a sketch of someone in clothing meant to be evocative of oppressive wolfishness, ragged and military both at the same time. Now his teacher wanted him to add a little more actual wolf.

"I don't want to design an actual furry," he was muttering, tapping his pencil to his paper. "There's gotta be a better way."

There was not enough coffee in the world. And really, there probably weren't enough distractions in the world, either.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[notconflicted]

Sia had decided last minute to show up for one very specific family-related reason, and was already questioning that decision for another very specific reason. Once she was in town and settled at the hotel, she wandered out in search of coffee, and also because she was kind of bored.

She spotted Sparkle while waiting for her drink and debated not coming over (related to that second specific reason), but when she heard him, she couldn’t resist asking, “A furry?”

[myownface]

"Yeah, like, these people who straight-up dress up as animals?" Sparkle winkled his nose at his page, and then sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't want people to mistake this for some kind of fetish thing."

That probably either cleared up very little, or at the very least raised a few more questions. He glanced up at the one who had asked the question, and then blinked and tilted his head.

"Sia, right?"

It had been a while.

[notconflicted]

She nodded. “It’s been a few years,” she said, and it was kind of weird to ask how he’d been when they’d never actually really met? So she went with, “What are you working on?”

[myownface]

Sparkle gave a little huff of a laugh at that question, maybe a little ruefully, before looking down at the sheet of paper on the table in front of him.

"Homework," he admitted. "I'm taking a costume design course on the mainland, and I'm trying to get a wolf look without just straight-up dressing somebody up like a wolf. I'm getting tempted to slap some fluffy ears and a tail on there and call it good enough."

Only he actually cared about his grades in this class, for once. It was one of the few things he'd done for himself, and he was weirdly terrified of screwing it up.

[notconflicted]

"I suppose a fur coat would be taking the easy way out," she said.

[myownface]

"That and it would get really hot under stage lights," Sparkle agreed. "But damn, I was tempted anyway."

He was pretty sure half the people in his class had gone that route, after all. Most of them probably hadn't also been on a stage before, either.

"So... what brings you around?"

[notconflicted]

"There's some gathering, for people from my galaxy here," Sia explained. It didn't actually hold that much interest for her, since she was so far down the timeline that she didn't really feel very connected there. "It's a good opportunity to talk to some family about some things."

[myownface]

Sparkle considered that, and then gave a little nod.

"Yeah, makes sense," he replied. "Sounded like things got pretty intense for you the past few months. It's, uh, calmed down now?"

He was a little sparse on the details, but figured that was probably none of his business, anyway.

[notconflicted]

"In some ways," she said as she took her drink from the barista. "Fewer explosions, more political chaos. I take it you've been hearing what's been happening?"

[myownface]

"Only in fits and starts," Sparkle admitted. "Atton gives me just enough details that I know both that I should probably be worried and that he isn't dead yet. And then when he comes back, he either doesn't want to talk about it, or he zeroes in on, you know..."

He shrugged. Vaguely. But there was a faintly knowing look in his expression and the slightest twitch of a smile on his lips.

"Stuff."

[notconflicted]

Uh oh.

"What stuff?" she asked.

[myownface]

"Oh, you know..." Sparkle shrugged, and that little twitch of a smile became a straight-up grin. "Stuff."

Fortunately, he was willing to give her a little slack, here.

"He didn't go into, like, details or anything? I was having a shitty day, the conversation went off on a tangent, you know? So, uh, I don't actually know if I should be offering you a high-five or being all weirdly protective of a guy who can clearly take care of himself right now."

[notconflicted]

It was deeply worrying that Sparkle and Jessica both brought up high fives.

"I would hold off on any of that," Sia said slowly. She'd been over here trying to figure out how to approach him when she assumed he wouldn't want to see her. "What did he say?"

[1000yearstoolate]

After work Seivarden decided she needed to sit down and have a cup of tea. Not that she hadn't been drinking tea all day at work, but was there ever such a thing as too much tea?

The barista gave her one look (a very unimpressed one) and prepared the tea just as Seivarden liked it and placed it in front of her without saying a word.

"Thank you?" Seivarden frowned, but picked up the tea and turned to look for a table.

[myownface]

"Oh no," Sparkle said, glancing over at Seivarden from where he was sitting with his homework and his sugary monstrosity. "You're a regular now, huh?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"So it seems," Seivarden said with a sigh. "There's no other place here, after all."

The barista could probably hear her.

"Oh! I have been meaning to talk to you."

Since Sparkle had said she could. Seivarden still didn't trust him not to throw a fit over something unexpectedly.

[myownface]

Hey, now! Sparkle only threw fits where he figured fits were warranted.

Which was more often than some people did, granted.

"Oh, yeah?" He sipped at his drink. "Something on your mind?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"I don't mean to interrupt whatever it is you're doing, though," Seivarden said.

She was being careful today.

[myownface]

"By all means, interrupt my procrastinating," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders. "My head isn't going to be in this until I've had more coffee anyway."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden put her tea down on the table and took a seat. She threw a glance at what Sparkle was working on, but didn't comment on it.

"There's a holiday coming up soon and people keep ordering flower arrangements for it, in very specific colours. I think I need to know what it's about."

[myownface]

"What, Valentine's Day? You're talking about, like, all the red and pink stuff, right? People haven't started ordering things for Easter yet, I'm guessing."

That wasn't until April.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Yes, red and pink! Valentine's Day. That sounds familiar."

Her flower arrangements were getting better, luckily.

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded and shrugged his shoulders.

"I think it started as a feast day for a saint? Like, some kind of really pious religious figure? But it went all commercial, so now it's really just a day for people to get chocolates and flowers for the people they love. Expect your flower orders to get way busier before they go away. Valentine's isn't until the fourteenth of February."

[1000yearstoolate]

"Oh, fuck." She took a sip of tea. "Well, thank you for warning me."

A holiday for giving things to people you love didn't sound that fun when there were no such people around, and Seivarden decided to change the subject. She was looking very hard for one.

[myownface]

"Hey, all I did was answer your question," Sparkle replied easily. "You might want to invest in, like, a calendar or something if you're going to keep working in the flower shop, though. We do holidays, like, all the freaking time."