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Demon Marcus, Sunday

Well, it wasn't going to be below freezing or anything today, but Sparkle figured he probably ought to make it a little easier for kids to go outside in this weather all the same. After all, he was prone to just giving away winter gear to people who seemed dazed and confused enough, and he had kind of kicked himself this morning for not thinking about doing this sooner, given that the weekend was very nearly over now.

Still, Sparkle had gone running around the shop, gathering up hats, scarves, mittens, earmuffs... any warm clothing that he could find for little children, which he was then putting into a big bin, which, in turn, he was putting out in front of the shop with a 'free' sign on it, written in English, French, Spanish, and Aurebesh. So, pretty much every language he knew, or knew some kid knew and could Google so he'd get it right.

And then he sat himself behind the counter and busied himself with painting his nails. Black with hot pink stripes, today, mostly just because he felt like it. All the little kids were great, and he kind of adored any weekend where he got to see a million of them running around and having fun, but he wasn't looking forward to Monday.

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"I shot someone in front of him," Kaidan reminded him calmly, "Traumatized the crap out of him. That didn't scare him off."

He regarded Sparkle for a moment, "You really worried about that?"

Sparkle was quiet for a few moments.

"There are different kinds of damage," he said, finally. "He understands why you did that. I tend to not give people much to work with, if I can help it."

"You know he's not going to ask, right?" Kaidan asked after a moment. "He's not going to go on some grand epic quest where he has to find out what makes you tick. He just doesn't do that. Especially if you tell him it's something you don't want to talk about."

Sparkle shrugged.

"Just means he's going to worry more whenever he trips over something that fucks my head up, then."

He reached for the nail polish. Turned his attention really thoroughly toward putting more dots onto his thumb.

"Dunno. Maybe I worry there's a limit. Everyone's got one somewhere."

"He'll cope, Sparkle," Kaidan shrugged, "I mean, he probably has a limit because like you just pointed out, everyone does, but.. I mean, he's kind of solid."

Except when he went completely off the rails about Kanan but even that seemed to be working out.

Sparkle was quiet for a long moment.

"I'm not."

God, was he ever not.

"Doubt he expects you to be," Kaidan pointed out, "He doesn't seem to expect things from people, generally, anyway."

Dot... dot... dot...

Stripe.

Pink nail.

"Yeah," he said, finally. "I'm starting to see that." He blew out a breath. "He showed up to our first date, like, dressed to the nines, you know? Here I was expecting, like. tweed."

"Yeah?" Kaidan asked, not sure where Sparkle was going with this.

Sparkle stared down at his hand.

"It scared the shit out of me. I thought it was a trap. Didn't think for a second that maybe he just wanted to look nice to surprise his date, almost went home again before he even saw me."

"A trap," Kaidan repeated slowly, still not understanding, "To do..what?"

A beat. "Did you tell him? Please tell me you told him."

"It's stupid, doesn't matter," Sparkle muttered, putting the cap back onto the nail polish bottle and shaking his head. "I didn't tell him in so many words, anyway. I think he figured out maybe to not... that... again... on his own. I don't know. Now I know better, so it's a moot point."

He looked back out toward the box of clothes.

"Saw a kid out there going through that stuff earlier. Was kinda nice. I mean, seeing it was actually doing someone some good."

"That's a conversation you should have, though," Kaidan said slowly, "He likes to do nice surprises. I had to have the conversation with him that surprises are not something a combat vet ever really wants, even when they're meant nicely. He got that right off. If he did something that set you off..Sparkle, he's gonna want to know."

He glanced out at the clothing and muttered, "That's another thing I was thinking about this weekend. Signage. Like, at the major crossroads, pointing pictograph signs with arrows so kids or people who don't speak English know where to go for things."

"I know," Sparkle muttered, bunching his shoulders up. "And I know he's not gonna ask unless it looks like I wanna talk and, fuck, I'm so fucking off these days, shit keeps coming up that hasn't been a thing in... like... for-fucking-ever."

He ran a hand - the one he'd been painting his nails with - through his hair and made a frustrated sound.

"Let's talk about the sign things," he muttered. "What kind of things would you point to?"

"Want a hug?" Kaidan offered, because honestly he could use like fifty.

"Signs. Like, pictographs for groceries pointing to T&C, a plate of hot food pointing to Luke's, beverages pointing to the Perk or T42, clothing pointing here," he began, shrugging, "Most of that is pretty universal."

"Dunno," Sparkle muttered. "Maybe. Yes."

Yes.

"The signs sound good, though."

Kaidan walked around the counter. He eyed Sparkle's fingernail polish and made sure not to smudge it while offering a hug to his friend.

"Yeah, kind of been thinking about something like it for awhile. Vette couldn't read English, just Aurebesh. I guess that's kind of a known issue for some new people. Then you get weekends where suddenly there's kids everywhere and the reading level varies from 'too young' to 'doesn't know English' and it becomes a whole new problem. I mean, that was part of my worry. I could set up some sort of tab at Luke's or something to make sure the kids could go get food there but.. how would they know to even go there? The arcade was the best I could think to do. Lights, noise, other kids.."

Sparkle was kind of just launching himself into the hug, because... shit. Yeah. He needed one. A lot. And never quite realized how badly he did until he was already doing the hugging and could feel that stupid burning 'gotta cry' feeling in his chest trying to come around to betray him.

He swallowed it back. Not today.

"And even the noise was probably too much for some of 'em," he mumbled, instead. "Kinda wanna go around, ask folks who run places and see if they'd be willing to get marked down as, like, supply stops for weekends where island residents are most vulnerable."

And Kaidan was just going to kind of bodily wrap around Sparkle and do the same sort of thing.

"Noticed that, and I was really glad Summer thought of it and brought like, coloring books and stuff. I hadn't even thought of it," he admitted, "That's a good plan, though. I kept wondering all weekend if the kids not in the dorms had places to go, but.. that's not something I could ask them, you know? Not without looking creepy as hell, anyway. Maybe setting up the Community Center with like, cots and stuff, just in case? The thought of having the shop owners be supply stops is a good one. My shop doesn't sell anything but.. I mean, I have couches and seats. Throwing on some sort of movie and having snacks available is a thing I could do."

Sparkle, clingy little thing that he was, was going to just kind of... cling. A little.

"If I was a kid, I wouldn't have gone for any of it," he noted, finally. "Like, the mitten box I have out? I'd be suspicious as fuck about that. You wouldn't have seen me at the arcade. I'd spend like three days avoiding everything and nobody would even know I was out there. You bet there's someone getting missed out there right now, somewhere."

Which was fine, Kaidan was a big solid clinging thing himself.

"Yeah, me too. That's my worry, that one of the kids was out there like, sleeping in the forest or something because they were too frightened to try to come in from the cold."

Or just that stubborn, Rosa.

"What could be done for those kids, though? I'm perfectly happy to set stuff where they could 'steal' it if I thought they'd take it," Kaidan said, frustrated at the lack of things he could think of.

"Short of going out and... fucking... scaring the shit out of them by dragging them in out of the fucking cold?" God, there was that pang again. Sparkle hugged on a little harder. "I dunno, man. I wish I had an answer for that. Travel through time and fucking murder everyone who ever hurt someone here, I don't know."

"Nope," Kaidan said immediately, "No dragging them anywhere, no chasing them down. I'm not adding that sort of fucking trauma to their memories. Plus, that's just a bad plan. Not all the kids are human-average. Anyone chasing a tiny Kaidan anywhere would have gotten a biotic burst to the face."

Wasn't that just a cheery thought. If tiny wee Kaidan killed someone on a weekend like that, would they wake up Monday all fine and dandy? He sure as hell wouldn't.

"I'm all for time travel and murdering whoever hurt these kids, though, I am absolutely down with that. Or would be, if I thought it'd help," he sighed.

"All I got is making sure food is available, and they've got somewhere to go. You've got the cold weather gear covered for the ones who'd take it. I just.. ugh."

Sparkle hiked a shoulder up and blew out a sigh.

"There's no saving everyone," he muttered. "I guess at the very least, it's only a few days. 'This too shall pass.' Maybe a few people wake up tomorrow heartsick or sneezing, I dunno. Sucks, though."

"Has it ever hit in winter? This weekend was chilly, but it was above zero," Kaidan asked.

That was his nightmare, right there. Kids outside in sub-zero windchills.

Demon Marcus, Sunday

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