Demon Marcus, Sunday

[myownface]

Sparkle was kind of in a haze today, but it wasn't... a bad haze, probably? Yesterday a whole lot of Life had been dropped into his lap when he'd figured he'd be able to steal away another few days before facing it down, and that meant that he'd had to actually face some stuff.

Some ugly stuff. Some stuff that maybe he was already wondering if he could ignore by packing up and moving to Antarctica to become a penguin.

What he wasn't expecting when he came in to work today, then, was the weaponized cuteness that Hernando had seeded around the shop, mostly behind counters and in registers, places where random photos of kitties wouldn't catch the eye of paying customers unless Sparkle drew attention to them with a sudden, startled cackle or a high-pitched dolphin noise, or, in one noteworthy incident, a shout of "WHY IS CEILING CAT IN MY TOILET!?"

... Mission accomplished, Hernando. Warm fuzzies achieved.

Demon Marcus was open. And there was even a NOW HIRING sign in the window, because hey, you never knew with the new kids.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

Hey, was that two take-away pitchers of margarita (pitcher one) and... some unholy watermellon concoction in red and sparkles (pitcher two), just appearing on Sparkle's counter about half an hour before closing time, almost as if they had magically floated inside?

... Maybe.

[myownface]

And was that Sparkle, coming up from a rummage through some autumn stock to kind of blink at those two take-away pitchers in quiet bemusement for a moment?

... Most certainly.

And then he was squinting toward the door.

"But did you bring cups?!"

He'd absolutely just drink these straight from the pitcher. Nothing was out of bounds when it came to glittery, fruity drinks offered by mysterious magical forces.

[suitably_heroic]

Yeah, that solo cup zooming for Sparkle's hand was totally Atton showing off.

[myownface]

And it got a laugh out of Sparkle, at least. A real, actually present laugh as he called back, "That's more like it!"

He set the cup down and reached for the glittery monstrosity, because Sparkle's gonna Sparkle.

"And how about some company? Is that gonna fly into the room too?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm technically working!" Atton shouted.

He'd already parked his shoulder in the door, but still!

[myownface]

"You're delivering drinks," Sparkle called back. "That's totally working!"

See? Sparkle was already getting into the swing of looking for loopholes, at least!

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, I have to make more drinks," Atton argued. "Other people like drinks. That's why they pay me good money!"

These were on the house.

[myownface]

"Pffft, good money," Sparkle complained back. And then lifted the Solo cup of sparkly nightmares and grinned a little. "Well, I'm gonna congratulate you on a job well done here, because this is definitely gonna be a drink I'm gonna enjoy."

It was horrifying, Atton.

You knew Sparkle so well.

[suitably_heroic]

"Look, how about we compromise, and I'll be back here in half an hour to carry your drunk ass home," Atton said. Beat. "And it better be drunk when I get here, I worked very hard on that."

[myownface]

"Oh believe me, it will not just be my ass that is drunk," Sparkle promised, lifting his glass and giving Atton a lopsided grin. "There will be all of me. I might be buried in cat photos by then, too. Even odds."

There were so many cat photos. So many.

Ceiling Cat got to stay in the toilet, though.

[suitably_heroic]

"Trick of the island or did someone vomit those up on you?" Atton said, squinting.

[myownface]

"I think it's vomit," Sparkle mused. "The island doesn't usually use tape."

A beat.

"Hell, the island usually just uses real cats."

[suitably_heroic]

"Would it help if we got you real cats?" Atton said, pulling a face.

[sharp_man]

With Sparkle having been accosted by Jack yesterday, and Hernando wanting to do something special for him today, it didn't take someone of Hannibal's intellect to realize that something was up.

So, here he was at lunchtime, bringing lunch and homemade beer.

[myownface]

It was probably well-timed lunch, too, because it was a convenient distraction from how, when Sparkle opened a cupboard to pull out more hangers so that he could set out some light jackets on display, there was a picture of a little cat doing the classic, 'Hang in there' motivational poster thing, and that was actually doing an admirable job of making Sparkle get a little weepy.

Dammit, Hernando. These kitties were going to be the death of him.

So, if he was sniffling and wiping at his face when he realized that there was someone else in the store...

"... Allergies," he said immediately, and attempted to just swipe the last of those tears away. "S'allergies."

[sharp_man]

"Of course." Hannibal set his bag down and got out a handkerchief, offering it to him. "Have they been this bad for long?"

[myownface]

Sparkle shook his head a little, reaching for that handkerchief with a grateful little smile.

"Funny, only since this morning," he mumbled. "It might be an allergic reaction to feelings."

Fuck feelings.

[sharp_man]

"Terrible things," Hannibal said solemnly. "I hear good food and company are at least partial antidotes, though. May I offer you some?"

[myownface]

"I'll take both," Sparkle replied, wiping at his eyes because guh. This weekend. "Thanks."

A beat.

"You didn't make this trip all the way from New York on my account, did you?"

That pasta probably hadn't come from the diner, was what he was saying here.

[sharp_man]

"I stayed over last night, if that makes you feel better," Hannibal said. He dished out the pasta and poured two glasses of his beer. "I came for the welcome picnic; I stayed on your account." He handed Sparkle a fork.

[myownface]

And Sparkle accepted the fork, smiling wryly.

"Heard about the call, huh...?"

He glanced at the handkerchief.

"I can wash this for you," he added, awkwardly. Wiping his stupid face on actual fabric meant to go into somebody's pocket later would never not be weird.

[sharp_man]

"If you like," Hannibal said, at least in part because he knew Sparkle's tendency to stress-clean.

"I had heard you were upset; there were a few guesses I had as to its source. You phoned the lawyers, then?"

[myownface]

"Yeah," Sparkle confirmed, absently folding the handkerchief and tucking it into a pocket for cleaning later. "Yeah, that's a thing I did. And. Like. They figure I have a pretty solid case. Two pretty solid cases? I just..."

He shrugged. Reached for his fork and started idly twirling noodles with it.

They got a little smile out of him in spite of everything.

"Hey, I know these."

[sharp_man]

"You do," Hannibal agreed, smiling back. "Two cases?"

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded and blew out a breath.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "Two cases. My arson trial, yeah. But..." And up went a shoulder. "... I want to try to rub Lew's nose in the shit he pulled. And the lawyer thinks that if we can pull that off, get him a guilty verdict, my own trial will go more smoothly."

So... bit of a trade-off. But having his sentence lessened exceptionally seemed worth it, almost. And even more so, since that wasn't really even the whole point of it.