fandomtownies | Pick Your Poison, Wednesday

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Pick Your Poison, Wednesday

The arrival of spring meant that all of her wintry scents were on steep discount and her stock had been redone to evoke warmer, funner weather.

(Ino was maybe a bit biased against the cold. A bit. Or a lot.)

Today the shop was smelling sweetly of lilacs as Ino worked over formulations at the front desk.

Spring was nice and all, but summer was even more fun, and she wanted to get started on what she was going to offer then.

Pick Your Poison is Open!

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Small town life was driving Sparkle up a wall. He could only ignore that fact for so long, but between winter happening and classes in Baltimore reminding him what he was missing out on in a big city that he just couldn't get here in a small town, he had decided to take matters into his own hands.

In a healthy way, for a change.

Yeah, he was confused by that too.

"Hey," he said, walking into Ino's shop, thankful to see that she was in today. "Ooo, lilac. I like those."

"They smell amazing," she said happily, "and they're really pretty too."

Ino set her pen down and straightened, stretching. "Yo!"

A beat.

"You do not come bearing gifts."

She didn't need a drink or anything but, hey, she was going to point it out.

Sparkle broke into a little laugh at that, and then waved a hand at her easily.

"I'm here to ask for your drink order," he said, not missing a beat. It was bullshit, but hey, this was Sparkle. He was great at bullshit. "Unless you want food. How close is it to lunchtime?"

"Dunno," Ino said, grinning at him. "Don't usually eat lunch 'less I'm wrangling minions. Hot chocolate's always good, though."

"Hot chocolate, easy," Sparkle replied, smirking. "I mean, unless you want a minion to wrangle. What's the employee situation like in this place?"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

It seemed like the thing to do.

"Me, Myself, and I," she said cheerfully. "And Lucille, who thinks she quit but I left her on the payroll."

Ino was maybe bad at letting go.

She squinted at him. "...Why'd you wanna know that?"

Sparkle blinked at that Lucille part, and then laughed. Hey, there would be no arguing that there was no money to patch that roof with, now.

"Because," he drawled, once he'd recovered from his chuckle, "I'm a big city kid in a small goddamn town, I am bored as fuck, and looking for something productive to do with my time instead of just heading into Baltimore and burning stuff for fun."

Yeeep, that squint wasn't going away.

"So you want me to hire you?" Ino asked. "For selling nice smelling things?"

Sparkle tilted his head right back at her. And now he was squinting back.

"Are you hiring for something besides that?"

"Maybe yes, maybe no," Ino admitted, smiling at him cutely.

Sparkle crossed his arms over his chest and gave her his best, 'I am totally game' smile.

"Come on, you were literally teaching me how to throw fireballs the other week. I'm not going to freak out or anything."

"Tell you what," Ino said easily, leaning forward on her elbows. "While you're going gone to get drinks for us, you think 'bout the name of my shop a whole bunch, okay? Don't come back 'till you're fine with that."

Sparkle paused, raised an eyebrow, and then glanced back toward the window of the shop.

And then he looked back at Ino, and tilted his head.

"I've been living on this island since I was fifteen," he noted. "I'd be an idiot if I didn't assume everything here was almost certainly meant to be taken literally, somewhere under the surface." He inclined his chin a little. "Hot chocolate? Anything with that?"

Look, Hannibal Lecter was practically a father figure. If what he got up to wasn't a total dealbreaker, nothing was.

"Ain't treatin' you like an idiot," Ino noted, a bit dryly. "Still want you to think 'bout it. A lot of people who're okay with other ways to deal with folks ain't even the slightest okay with what I do. And nah, I'm good. Like I said, I don't eat lunch usually."

Sparkle bit his cheek for a moment, and then he shrugged, turned, and headed for the door.

Hot chocolate and some time to think. That seemed like a fair enough deal. He'd be back in about fifteen minutes; it wasn't like it took long to make hot chocolate or to walk anywhere in this town. That was enough time for him to scrape his thoughts together, too.

When he came back through the door, two hot chocolates in hand, the first words out of his mouth were, "What would the job be, if I decided I was okay with what you do here?"

She'd been expecting the question, or one like it, so Ino took that in stride.

"Mostly you'd be doin' just what you expect--keepin' the shop tidy, organizing the shelves, acquainting yourself with the stuff out here, helping customers, that sort of thing." She tilted her head at him. "'Less you got some other skill sets you ain't told me 'bout, you won't got much to do with anythin' else 'less you wanted to learn. Signing for packages, maybe. Anyone come in lookin' for special special orders, you send 'em to me. Far as you tell people, it's just like it looks."

She contemplated that.

"The work room and storage down here is fine for you. It's all stuff for this," she waved her hand at the shop. "You won't be able to get upstairs without me."

"The upstairs stuff is the dangerous stuff, huh?"

Sparkle nodded a little, glancing toward the door for the back room.

"I am interested in selling cute soaps and lilac bath salts or whatever," he said, finally. "I'm not really in the market to learn how to kill people. But I've been living here long enough to know better than to say no if I'm given an opportunity to learn how to be more dangerous. The world's a killer, quick or slow. I'm a big fan of learning how to end up not dead."

"The stuff upstairs is the interestin' stuff," Ino said, shrugging. "Ain't no one talkin' 'bout killing but you."

Not that she didn't have poisons up there, but Ino wasn't saying that with squirrels around.

"Ain't made no mention of teachin' any of it to you either, just don't want no moralizing at me 'bout any of any."

Lucille had been so much easier! Ino missed Lucille!

"What, you figure I'm the type?"

Sparkle's eyebrows went up a little at that.

"Do you, like, know who I spend my time with? If I haven't started getting all righteous at them, trust me, you're safe."

She rolled her eyes, making grabby hands at her hot chocolate.

"It ain't 'bout you, even," she said, making a face. "Lame as it is, it's 'bout me. I could find out who you're hangin' with and who you're judgin' or not, but I been hit more than enough with this eras soft squishy people and their woe is me morals."

Ino was bad at the status quo of Fandom. She always had been. She was just better at keeping her mouth shut now--but Sparkle was giving her reason to open it.

"You say you're not like that, you ain't that kind, you like playin' with fire and defendin' yourself but you ain't a killer. That's what I know 'bout you and your morals. I ain't got your lines all neatly laid out in front of me to read like a shitty romance, yeah? My lines are so far different from what's 'normal' here that I got to ask shit like this. If I didn't like you so much I wouldn't've mentioned the upstairs in the first place but I ain't fond of havin' to fake me here if I don't have to."

Sparkle sighed and handed over the hot chocolate. Okay. That was fair.

"I'm not a killer," he said, not because that was a point of pride so much as because it was a fact. "I have killed. We both know that isn't the same thing. But, like, I live with someone who is. The closest thing to a father figure I have is. I'm pretty sure most people who've taken me under their wings like a sibling are. I'm not in any position to start judging people who are." He shrugged, and then lifted his own hot chocolate. "Shit, my boyfriend is. He gives me knives as presents for every holiday. Taught me how to use them, too. I'm not a killer, but if I started getting preachy at the people in my life who are, I would never shut the fuck up."

Edited 2018-03-21 19:09 (UTC)

Sparkle! Sparkle, you gave her an easy comeback. Gods.

She hummed and sipped her drink, then held up one finger.

"Ain't much noticed you ever shuttin' up ever."

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