Pick Your Poison, Wednesday

[myownface]

Sparkle was here! Still here, yes, after his attempt to arrive in time for his Sunday shift wound up with him arriving on the island on Monday, instead. He'd spent yesterday crashed out at the apartment instead of trying to travel to Coruscant just to turn around and come back again, and now he was sitting at work with a small selection of matted and framed photos, which he was holding on to for Hernando.

He'd picked the best of the best and really only had, like, four of them framed. Apparently having things professionally framed was expensive as heck. Which was good to know. Mostly that saved the other photos for posterity, he supposed, unless these turned out to be a big hit or something.

He was getting so wrapped up in the fact that somebody liked his hands-and-tea photos that he was actually kind of forgetting why he'd taken them in the first place, so sue him.

While he passed the time, he was going to do some tidying around the store, mulling over a few of the summer scents and wondering if he'd rather smell like strawberry blossoms or wild rose for the rest of the week.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando arrived carrying a reusable grocery bag with the remaining metal scales. "Hello, Sparkle," Hernando smiled and held up the bag a little, "I have brought scales for you."

[myownface]

"Oh, hey!" Sparkle perked up as Hernando came into the shop. "Scales! Awesome! And your trip here hasn't been for nothing, either. I got a few of these things framed. You can pick, like, some, or all, or.... whatever?"

How did curating work?

"I didn't get them all framed. There are a lot and frames are kinda spendy."

Hella spendy.

"But four's a good start, right?"

He wasn't flailing. Ssh.

[hernando_fuentes]

"It wouldn't have been for nothing even had you not," Hernando pointed out gently, "I would still have your company. That is not 'nothing'."

"Four is a very good start," he encouraged, "There is certainly space for four on the walls of the cafe. Which four did you choose?"

He cast a glance at the photographs. He was very curious which Sparkle had chosen.

[myownface]

Sparkle smiled faintly and spread them out so that Hernando could get a good look.

"The obvious one," he said, showing off the one that Kaidan had suggested. "One of the more aggressive ones," but not one that was outright making rude gestures, he'd save Miguel's artistic expression there for the coffee table book. "And then these two." One of his own hand, nails well-manicured and bright pink, one finger dipped almost lazily in the tea. And another that was basically a matcha-glitter hellscape, if one, say, had a respect for tea that bordered on religious fervor, one hand holding the powder in a way that once again displayed the pink nails, matcha spilling from between his fingers onto a pair of discarded black gloves below.

... He'd given up on subtlety by that point. Also, it looked damn good anyway.

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando looked the pictures over. He tapped the frame of the last with a fingernail, "That looks like a Broadway advert."

[myownface]

Sparkle smiled maybe a touch sheepishly.

"I, uh. Big Broadway fan," he confessed. "Is that one a dealbreaker?"

[hernando_fuentes]

"What? No!" Hernando shook his head and gave Sparkle a smile, "I meant that is why I like it. I also like to see Broadway plays, particularly musicals."

[myownface]

... Be still, Sparkle's heart.

"The musicals are the best," he agreed, breaking into a grin. "I'm glad you like it, then."

No, really. Like, a lot. Maybe flailing a little inside.

[hernando_fuentes]

"Do you go to many shows? Maryland is not so far from New York. I was there once on a sabbatical. Chicago was playing." Hernando smiled at the memory, "Catherine Zeta Jones was there that night. I was surprised how well she can sing."

[myownface]

Sparkle was doing an admirable job of not looking too jealous.

"God," he breathed, "that sounds amazing. I've never really, um. I mean."

He waved a hand around.

"Toronto's got an awesome theatre scene," he offered. "But I never got to take that in much while I lived there, either."

[hernando_fuentes]

"I have only been the once," Hernando confessed quietly, "to New York. Now that I am so much closer and there is a train, I should perhaps look into a trip."

"Is there any form of theater here on the island?"

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded a little.

"Um," he replied, when Hernando asked about the local theatre scene. "I mean, I think there used to be? A little community theatre thing. But after the whole sharkicane thing the guy who ran it consolidated his businesses and opened his music shop there instead. I haven't been in since. Not for, like, any particular reason. Just, any music I want I can get online, I guess."

[hernando_fuentes]

Sharkicane?
Nope.
"Were you costuming for the theater here?" Hernando asked instead.

[intraspective]

Yeah, sure, she could not scare the crap out of Sparkle by coming in... normally.

But yeahno, she hadn't gotten the fish, so she was getting some fun out of today, darnit.

So, out of nowhere, there was Ino peering at his framed pictures.

"Very nice," she said approvingly. "But if you steal I'll my tea again, I'll feed you to my plants."

And she had carnivorous plants, that was the thing.

[myownface]

Sparkle... totally jumped like three feet straight up.

"It was bought and paid for! I didn't even ring in my discount!"

Dammit, Iris!

[intraspective]

She laughed. She was possibly the worst.

"Then don't buy it all at once next time!"

But it amused her.

[myownface]

See Sparkle. See Sparkle grabbing his chest and just breathing, wide-eyed for a moment.

"Jeezus, don't do that," he complained. "I'll be good to the tea next time. I'll only buy out the matcha. It photographs nice."

[intraspective]

"But you react so nicely to surprise," Ino complained, grinning at him unrepentantly. This was what you got for being her minion.

She contemplated the rest of that.

"I guess the matcha only is a fair compromise..."

She guessed. Maybe.

[myownface]

"Good," Sparkle replied, settling into a grin, "because I know a guy who wants me to do a follow-up series to these ones. Gotta have my matcha."

He didn't even drink matcha.

[intraspective]

Yeah, she was raising her eyebrows at him for that claim. Sure, Sparkle.

Ino didn't think he even knew how to prepare matcha properly.

"Oh?" she asked curiously. "Who?"

[myownface]

Hey! His more-or-less dad was Hannibal. Whatever he wasn't sure about, Sparkle had researched extensively.

"Uh," Sparkle replied. It occurred to him that he'd never gotten the guy's name. "... Runs the new tea shop? He's putting these up on his walls in there."

[intraspective]

"Oh! The marshmallow man!"

What? He was.

"Hernando's his name," she said, nodding. "I showed him some of my plants."

The nice ones. Not the vicious ones.

[myownface]

"Marshmallow maaaaan," Sparkle agreed. He approved. Marshmallow man was adorable in all the right ways. "He mentioned your plants, actually, when he found out I work for you."

[intraspective]

"I only showed him publicly acceptable plants!" she protested.

[myownface]

"He approved," Sparkle clarified. "I didn't think you were going to traumatize the," adorable, kinda hot, "new marshmallow."