Pick Your Poison, Wednesday

[myownface]

Sparkle had come in to work today! Look at that!

Because Sparkle didn't want to hang around the temple longer than absolutely necessary without Atton around, he'd even come in to work early. The whole place had been dusted meticulously before he'd even opened it, and he'd organized the cosmetics by type and then by colour, so that entire section of the room had a pretty attractive gradient thing going for it.

And now he was sitting behind the counter, drumming his fingers against it, looking antsy. Extra antsy. With bonus ants.

Normally when he went into 'doing a stupid thing' meltdown mode he would do shit like burn down a garden shed or whatever. But yesterday apparently his go-to had been 'call Hannibal,' so he had that to look forward to tonight? And he had no idea what to expect from it?

Freaking out. Between Atton and residual ick from Father's Day and now this, Sparkle was going to spend his shift freaking out.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[sharp_man]

At the end of his shift, Hannibal was there. In a nice but not ostentatious suit, a pleasant not-quite-smile on his face, nodding to Sparkle and checking him over for every tell.

"Good afternoon."

[myownface]

Aaaaaaand the moment had arrived. Sparkle blinked up as he finished ringing out the cash register for the day, chewed on his fingernail for a few seconds, and then nodded his greeting.

He really hadn't thought this through! But that was nothing new for Sparkle, was it?

"Hey! Hi."

[sharp_man]

"Hello." Hannibal did give Sparkle a smile now. "Are you ready to leave, or did you have some other things to do first?"

[myownface]

"Nah, I just need to lock up," Sparkle replied, blowing out an anxious little breath. "And then I'm good to go."

He stepped out from behind the counter and held out his arms. Already dressed up, wearing a nice blue button-down shirt and some crisp black slacks.

"Is this outfit good?"

Sparkle, it was fine?

[sharp_man]

"That will do nicely," Hannibal said, nodding. Personally, he'd have put him in a yellow tie to go with it, but he had specified not overdressed.

[myownface]

Sparkle had contemplated that yellow tie, honestly. He'd had it in his hand, tied it, untied it, thrown it back on his bed, picked it up, stared at it.

... Hung it on one of the statues at the temple. Left it there for the Padawans to contemplate or whatever.

"Cool," he replied. "Cool cool cool. So, uh. Let's go?"

[sharp_man]

"By all means." Hannibal waved him out the door.

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded, stepping outside and holding the door for Hannibal so that he could close and lock up after himself.

"Thanks," he said, kind of awkwardly, as he pulled out his keys. "For the... no notice? For, you know. I guess being free tonight."

[sharp_man]

"You are quite welcome," Hannibal said. "I am happy to do whatever I can for you."

[myownface]

"Yeah," Sparkle replied, standing there awkwardly for a moment longer than he needed to before starting to walk again. "Yeah, I know."

Sure, Hannibal's definition of what Sparkle needed maybe differed from... everybody's. But Sparkle believed him when he said he wanted what was best for him.

It made for a weird position in his head, overall.

"Means a lot."

[sharp_man]

That was because other people weren't willing to do necessary but unpalatable things in order to improve the ones they cared about. Sparkle might temporarily have hated him, but he was stronger for it.

For now, he simply nodded in acknowledgement.