Demon Marcus, Sunday

[myownface]

Last weekend, Sparkle had been more than a little irritated about the island's visitors.

This weekend, Sparkle was mostly just thankful that there weren't visitors to be had, for him.

He was celebrating that fact by showing up to work and parking his ass at the counter, pulling up Furnado's website, and passing the time by contemplating rescue animals. Maybe a friendly old cat for the shop or something...

He wouldn't. He was too all over the place and it wasn't as though they had enough staff to properly take care of anything more complicated than a fish. But it was nice to look anyway. Kept him from worrying too much about other people who were going to get this, and then nothing more until the next time the island decided to be an asshole.

Before the end of the day he'd start going through the shipment of Halloween costume bits that had come in, because he was still bent on not letting anything ruin Halloween for him. But for the time being? Cats.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[an_angel_scorned]

"You're taking me to... a clothing store?"

Eva's voice was the first thing to drift in through the door. She soon followed, a statuesque redheaded woman who seemed to exude a curious calm, as if her very presence made the flowers grow and the birds sing.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Well, yeah," Dante's voice followed, and Dante not long after. "A friend of mine works here."

A friend he hadn't talked to in a while, but still.

[myownface]

"Friend of yours has pretty much staged a hostile takeover, even," Sparkle called across the room, grinning up at the familiar voice. It had been a while, yeah, but Dante was Dante, dammit. "Pretty sure once you renovate and nobody shows up to complain about it, it's yours, fair game."

He slipped around the counter and made his way across the room to say hi, nodding, politely even, to the strangely soothing woman that was here as well before pausing to size Dante up.

"Jeeze, it's been a while, huh?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Way too long," Dante said, grinning. "Man, I've got some stories for you later. But right now..."

He gestured to the woman, the grin dimming into a genuine smile. "Meet my mom." Beat. "Eva."

[an_angel_scorned]

Eva shot her son an amused look. "And your friend is...?"

[myownface]

"Completely here for those stories whenever you want to share them," Sparkle said with a grin to Dante before smiling back at Eva.

"I'm Sparkle." He managed to even swallow back that usually challenging 'no, really' that tended to live at the end of his name, here. "It's a pleasure."

[an_angel_scorned]

Eva wasn't about to say anything about it, don't worry. But she did extend a hand. "Nice to meet you," she said. "You look... young to have your own store."

[myownface]

Sparkle smiled wryly and reached to shake the offered hand.

"Probably young for a lot of things, but Fandom doesn't care about things like age most of the time anyway," he replied. "I came by the place honestly, either way."

... By breaking in to sleep here one time and then just kind of continuing to come back, since it wasn't like anyone else was.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I mean, honestly's a big word around here," Dante said, grinning. "Welcome to Fandom Island, a place that exists outside the rules of the free market."

[an_angel_scorned]

"The free market was invented by demons," Eva said, without even a hint of humor. "It stands to reason a place like this would place itself out of it."

She smiled at Sparkle as she dropped his hand. "Did you attend the school at some point?"

[myownface]

Hey, the store was named this way because of a half-demon, nothing would surprise Sparkle anymore.

"Graduating class of 2015," he confirmed, grinning a little. Even if that was still super weird to say. It just got weirder every year that went by after that, too. "I think I was out of the school just as Dante was showing up for it. Pretty sure we met..." He paused and looked around the shop. "Here. Here? Probably right here."

They had definitely spent a lot of time hanging out together here after they'd met, anyway.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I showed up to Fandom with like, a coat, a pair of jeans, and half a shirt," Dante shared - because that was the only part of hanging out with Sparkle here he was ever going to tell his mother about. "Sparkle helped me out so I didn't have to go to class naked."

[an_angel_scorned]

"And yet you still don't know how to dress yourself," Eva said wryly.

[notbornforthis]

It wasn't like Awn needed clothes. She wore the brown uniform of a Radchaai lieutenant, a few pins attached to the front, matching gloves. Her One Esk ancillaries wouldn't have let her look untidy.

So her reason for entering Demon Marcus wasn't to buy something but to ask for directions. She had been unable to find One Esk, and she suspected it was hiding.

[myownface]

Sparkle glanced up and blinked at the person who had just entered his shop. The pins, the gloves, it was hard not to immediately look at this woman and be reminded of Seivarden by doing so.

He tilted his head a little, wondering if she was another lost soul in the literal sense, or simply in the 'new to the island' one, and ventured, "Hi, welcome to Demon Marcus. Can I help you with anything?"

[notbornforthis]

Awn smiled. "I'm looking for someone, and I don't know this place." She let out a soft laugh. "It probably doesn't make it easier that I think she might not want to be found and that I don't know what she looks like."

She didn't know which of the segments had been able to escape the explosions.

[myownface]

"That, um, does tend to complicate things a little," Sparkle agreed. He blinked again, chewing his lip for a moment. "Sorry, this question is going to sound dumb," he said, "but it'll help narrow things down a little. You're Radchaai, aren't you?"

[notbornforthis]

"It would be unexpected in most places," Awn replied. "But I know I'm far away from home. I'm Lieutenant Awn Elming of the Radchaai fleet. And sadly, I can't even tell you the name of the one I'm looking for. Unless you know Justice of Toren One Esk, but I'm guessing that's not the name it goes by here."

[myownface]

"She... doesn't," Sparkle said, after a long pause. "But I know her."

Yes. Yes he was putting a slight emphasis on that 'she.' Ship or not, Breq was no it.

He bit his lip for a few moments.

"If she doesn't want to be found, I hope you'll understand I can't just tell you who she is or where to find her," he said, carefully. "I could send her a message, though. Let her decide for herself."

[notbornforthis]

Awn gave a nod. "I believe it... she feels guilty. It's not necessary, not now. It wasn't her fault."

She smiled again, hoping this person would understand the reluctance One Esk might feel.

[myownface]

There was a long pause, and then Sparkle nodded slowly.

Guilty. This was one of those weekends, of course this woman in front of him was dead.

"I'll send her a message," he said softly as he pulled out his phone. "It's up to her from there."

A moment taken to tap out a message:

There's somebody at Demon Marcus looking for you. Radchaai. Her name is Lieutenant Awn Elming. Should I keep her here for you, or tell her no?

[justice_undone]

A few moments later Sparkle got a reply.

I killed her.

[myownface]

Sparkle glanced up at Awn quietly, lifted a shoulder in a lopsided shrug, and then looked back at his phone and replied.

She isn't angry. She understands you might be reluctant to see her right now.

[notbornforthis]

Awn had been glancing around the shop, mostly to give Sparkle some space. Now she turned her head towards him.

"Is that a communication device? Are you getting a reply?"

[myownface]

"It is," he replied, nodding. "I'm sending her text messages. She's replied, but she hasn't said if she's willing to see you yet or not."

And he wasn't going to pressure her into it, if she couldn't.

He hesitated for a moment, and then offered, "Would you like some tea, while we wait?"

He still had plenty after his snit with Seivarden, after all. And most of it hadn't even had hands in it.