Pick Your Poison, Wednesday

[myownface]

Sparkle came in to work today twenty minutes late and immediately set to cleaning the place.

It didn't need much in the way of cleaning, but didn't today seem like a good day to just, like, deep scrub the floors?

Sure did.

Pick Your Poison was open, and it had a door open because otherwise someone was going to get high on cleaning solution fumes, and that was not actually the goal here today.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[myownface]

"Isn't everywhere?"

Sparkle shrugged.

"Everywhere with people, anyway."

[spectre_alenko]

"No," Kaidan said firmly, "So far, the only consistent awful I've found has been where the humans are."

[myownface]

Sparkle cast Kaidan a little side-eye at that, and then he shrugged a little.

"Humans suck," he allowed. He couldn't deny that one. He'd seen some non-humans doing some horrible shit over the years too, but hey. Humans sucked. "Guess what one of the most common races is in that galaxy, either way."

[spectre_alenko]

"I think maybe that's why things aren't so bad, where I'm from," Kaidan shrugged, "We're outnumbered and outgunned by races who've had certain laws since before the Industrial Revolution."

[myownface]

Sparkle managed a wry smile.

"I mean... I'll believe they're all better than we are when I see them," he replied. "But it does sound great. Besides how we apparently need fucking babysitters in order to not be trash at everything we touch."

[spectre_alenko]

"Oh, they have their flaws," Kaidan said wryly. Like releasing a genophage on another species, or killing off inorganic lives they'd created, "On the whole, things sound like they were better there, but maybe that's just the devil I know. The other races had more time to evolve and learn to play nice in the galactic sandbox."

[myownface]

Yeah, attempts at xenocide didn't exactly give anybody the right to claiming a moral high ground.

"Maybe it is," Sparkle agreed. "I'm willing to bet there'd be people from here and now who would be just as fucked up about the way things are where you're from as you are about shit here."

[spectre_alenko]

"Likely true," Kaidan agreed, "especially if they arrived there before the war. Right now, every species is too stupified and focused on rebuilding to bother anyone else."

[myownface]

"Distractions have a funny way of doing that," Sparkle noted. "Give it another, what, fifty, sixty years, and then see if you've got yourself a utopia or not."

He shrugged.

"People suck."

[spectre_alenko]

"I'm a soldier, I'd have nothing to do in a utopia," Kaidan said wryly, "I don't think any galaxy is, and wouldn't want to go there if it were, but places without rampant ugliness? Sure. They must exist somewhere."

[myownface]

"Well... let me know if you find them."

Sparkle was a pessimist at the best of times, sure. But twenty-one was a shitty age to have already given up in the possibility of the inherent goodness in sentient beings, even while clinging desperately to the hope that he was wrong.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan made a mental not to introduce Sparkle to his Liara if he ever got a chance.

His brain was actively running away from the thought that he'd have liked Sparkle to meet John.

"You gonna be able to survive the day without bleach-burning your lungs out?" he asked, instead.

[myownface]

"If I haven't managed to by now, I'm probably immune or something," Sparkle replied, glancing back down at his bucket. "I clean a lot."

Translation: He did angry trauma cleaning more often than most.

[spectre_alenko]

At least it was a somewhat healthy outlet. It beat arson by leagues.

"I should get back to the store," Kaidan said, "Unless you need to vent more?"

[myownface]

Sparkle shook his head a little.

"I think I'm good," he replied. "I'll probably just swap out the floors for... like... dusting or something. Give my sinuses a break. I'll be fine."

[spectre_alenko]

"Do that," Kaidan encouraged, "Give the air a chance to clear for a bit."

He nodded to the bakery box, "And if he's allowed solid food in the next few days, decide whether he's cake-worthy or not. I'm fine if you decide the answer is no."

[myownface]

"I'll try not to throw it at him," Sparkle promised. "No guarantees, but at the very least, I try not to waste perfectly good food."

[spectre_alenko]

"Eat it in front of him, if you have to," Kaidan said, heading out, "It's chocolate and caramel and cake."

[myownface]

"... I'm going to remember you gave me permission," Sparkle called after him.

And then, a little more quietly, he added, "Thanks."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan just nodded. He knew Sparkle wouldn't want a fuss made.