myownface | Baltimore, Rawlings Conservatory, Saturday Afternoon

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Baltimore, Rawlings Conservatory, Saturday Afternoon

Oh, Sparkle was in a good mood. He'd had a place in mind in case of one of Leto's surprise visits for a while now, and it just so happened that said visit was going to coincide with his return from the ski trip (and surprise Christmas, damn him!) that he'd gone on with Atton. So Sparkle had called ahead to make certain they were even open to the public, and then had specifically asked about which areas of the conservatory had the most moisture in them, "because we've got someone here with respiratory issues."

Hey, a little white lie for the sake of Leto's comfort never hurt anyone, did it?

"Okay, so," he said, grinning as he practically skipped through the portal, "we want to avoid the Mediterranean house this time of year. They keep it wet and foggy for the benefit of the plants inside. And the tropical house is humid to the point of being misty in there. But there's a desert house which might have some plants you haven't seen, if you like, or an orchid room, which is, like, super colourful, and they make sure that everything that's on display is in bloom, or else they'll swap it out for another one. The palm house should be pretty okay, too, with big tall trees and flowers and things, but if you're not sure about it, we can skip that one."

And the outdoor public gardens, eh. They had trees in 'em, but they probably weren't quite the sight to behold in late December as they were in, like, mid-July.

[OOC: For that guy! NFB for off-islandness!]

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"I would enjoy all of those," Leto said, following Sparkle through the portal. He was in a good mood too, both thanks to things at home that he would not think about today, and because of this. Sparkle's choice had indeed been a good surprise - very thoughtful in a way he hadn't expected.

Also thanks to Sparkle, Leto was wearing clothes that wouldn't stick out in this time and place, as well as contact lenses. His eyes were still blue, but not out of the ordinary, and winter made wearing a scarf around his neck to cover the wormskin inconspicious.

He grinned at Sparkle. "I think I like your surprises. Orchids, you say? I've never seen one."

Well, Sparkle had been given a challenge. If he was supposed to figure out something that desert royalty had never seen before, he had to get creative, dammit.

Sparkle liked a challenge. Especially when the end result was something altogether unexpected.

"Well," he said, grinning, "now you're going to see plenty. In all kinds of weird shapes and colours. I'm told they're pretty diverse. There are, like, thirty-thousand different known species on Earth, not including hybrids."

Sparkle also did his homework on stuff like this.

Leto appreciated someone who took a challenge seriously, and one who intended to be a good guide, it seemed.

"A good place to start then? I'm curious to see the desert plants too." The gradual change that the terraforming was causing on Arrakis had increased the plant life there, and perhaps there would be something similar here?

"So, how have you been since we last met?" Leto added as they walked towards the conservatory.

Maybe there would be! Possibly something that they could cultivate out there themselves without hurting anything?

"Not too bad," Sparkle decided, leading the way in and pausing at the door to pay their admission himself. It was his surprise, it was his treat, dammit. "The island did its weird trying-to-kill-us-all thing again, but we got through that. And then my roommate and I went on a ski trip to get the hell away from all that for a few days."

Atton had also gotten Sparkle a plush cat, who now lived in Sparkle's backpack and went with him basically everywhere.

"How about you?"

Leto followed Sparkle, and made no comment about Sparkle paying, as that was clearly his choice. It was a kind gesture though, and appreciated.

"Oh, one of those weeks," he commented. "I remember those. But skiing? Is that something you usually do?" It was hardly necessary to mention that he had never tried that himself.

At Sparkle's question, Leto smiled, mostly to himself. "I helped an old friend regain his memories. Other than that, nothing worth mentioning."

"I've never been skiing in my life," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But Atton and I thought it would be good to, like, get away for a bit, and it seemed like something different to do. I mean, mostly we just sat inside in the heat and watched other people fall down the hill."

It had been awesome.

"Your friend, huh? Is he doing better now?"

Sparkle got a chuckle in response to that. "I see. Well, there is nothing wrong with enjoying watching other's fail, I suppose. Did you celebrate the holiday? Most people here do, don't they?"

He stopped at the entrance to the orchid room. "And yes, he is better, and I am pleased about that." It had been an issue that had troubled him for some time, after all.

"Well, that's good to hear, then," Sparkle decided, smiling a little. "I'm glad your friend is doing better."

Because if anybody understood how rough it could be to lose a friend, it was somebody who had pretty much accepted that he'd spend most of his life alone when he was still pretty little.

"We did a bit of the Christmas thing at the ski hill. Atton got a tree and this kind of fruitcake thing, and there were presents. I don't usually make a big deal out of the holiday, but it was kind of awesome."

If unexpected.

Leto gave a small nod in response. While Duncan was a friend - had been, in his previous life, had become one in his current - Leto's concern hadn't just been for that reason. That wasn't something he wanted to explain, or think much about at all today.

"It's not a holiday we celebrate on Arrakis, but I know it is important here." Alice had occasionally decided it was time for a Christmas celebration, but those had been rather unusual, he had gathered, and had anyway mostly been replaced by newly invented holidays.

"So I got you something." Leto paused to get something out of his coat pocket. Wrapped in spice-cloth, which smelled faintly of cinnamon, and tied with string was a small but elegant dagger. He hadn't been sure what to get, and wasn't entirely sure what was appropriate, but as Leto was Fremen and Atreides, this seemed like a suitable gift. Offering someone a knife expressed trust, and besides they were always useful.

Sparkle was going to have to come to accept that people he considered friends were going to surprise him with gifts around those times of the year when gift-giving was traditional, wasn't he? He blinked, and kind of chewed his lip as he accepted the gift and opened it.

"Oh, wow," he breathed, even as he kind of unconsciously angled his body so that any passers-by wouldn't see that he was holding a fancy little weapon. He was way too used to people finding him suspicious at a glance. Suspicious at a glance and holding a dagger wasn't a game he wanted to be caught at, today. "This is awesome, Leto. Like... really awesome. Thank you."

He gingerly gave the edge of the blade a test with one finger.

Yep. Sharp.

"Maybe you can show me how to use it, sometime?"

"I'm glad you like it." He was, and it amused him that Sparkle's reaction meant more than he had expected it to.

"And I will teach you later, if you like." Leto suspected that would be quite fun, actually. And for fun, he reached out to adjust Sparkle's grip around the hilt in a way he would if he was indeed teaching him.

Sparkle let Leto correct him, and then grinned and gave a little nod as he noted how much more comfortably it sat in his hand that way. Yeah, he was so committing that to memory.

"I'm going to have to get you to, I think," he decided. "Knowing how to use a dagger while I'm living on the island really can't hurt, you know?"

And it was too nice not to know how to use!

"Knowing how to use a dagger is what I would consider an essential skill," Leto grinned at him. "So I will be happy to."

He gave a nod towards the orchid room. "Time for flowers now?"

"Time for flowers now," Sparkle agreed, wrapping the knife up again and taking a moment to tuck it away carefully into his bag. Yeah, he had to rearrange the stuffed cat, but whatever. Velcro Two could handle a little bit of being jostled around, there. He was tough. Once the bag was on his shoulder again, he grinned at Leto. "Thanks for the present."

And he pushed open the door.

"After you?"

Sparkle had lived in a rich neighbourhood for, like, a couple of months. If you'd seen one flower garden, you'd totally seen them all, right? And besides, this trip out was Sparkle's gift to Leto. Of course he'd let him in to see the flowers first.

"You brought a toy?" Leto asked as they walked through the door. He had noticed it in the bag, and thought it unexpected.

Once inside the room he was distracted though. Colours, faint scents and intriguing shapes evoked memories that weren't his own. The gardens of Caladan, which his father had known as a child, and further back. He reached out to run the tip of a finger along the edge of a petal, where pale orange met deep pink. Smiling, he let his own appreciation mingle with that of his Caladan ancestors.

"He's my pet cat," Sparkle replied, only half-joking. "Velcro Two."

Velcro Two, unsurprisingly, didn't have much to say. But that was really to be expected, all things considered.

He fell quiet once Leto grew more distracted, though, deciding to explain why he had a pet stuffed animal maybe another time. There was something about even just watching Leto lose himself in the sights and scents of the flowers that was appealing, that gave him an appreciation for the flowers that he hadn't really had before.

He couldn't help but smile, at that. Okay, so the orchid room had been a good choice.

Leto might ask about the reason behind the pet stuffed animal later, but for now the orchids had his full attention. He reached for Sparkle's hand to pull him close. "See that one? The pale yellow, with white and purple speckles? It reminds me of a flower on Caladan, my father's home world. It had more petals though, and long vines that climbed over rocks." His great-great-grandmother had loved those, and the memory triggered brought that emotion with it.

Ooh, close. Sparkle was a fan of the closeness, and found himself kind of leaning back against Leto a little as he spoke. Yeah, okay, he could really come to care about... about, ah, orchids. Orchids were pretty great.

"Sounds nice," he decided, trying to picture the flower as Leto described it. "I wonder if there are other flowers here kind of like that... Maybe we can find one with vines, like you said."

Probably not in the orchid room, no, but there were other rooms they hadn't even gotten close to yet.

Sparkle leaning against him pulled Leto away from his memories and he turned his head, brushing his lips against Sparkle's cheek, then said: "There is no point in getting lost in memories though. I do enjoy the present too, without making comparisons." Laughing softly, he added: "But I'm sure I'll make the same mistake again."

"Why not have both?" Sparkle quirked a little smile at Leto at that. The kiss... the kiss was nice, too. Kind of warm and fuzzy without expecting too much. Comfortable. "Good memories and a good here and now? That's not really a bad combination, either."

Leto fell silent for a moment, wondering what he should say in response to that. Of course Sparkle was right, but Leto was referring to the burden of millennia of memories. "A balance between them, then." He squeezed Sparkle's hand before letting go.

He added: "I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?" Sparkle leaned back again, giving Leto a little smile. "Well, I'm here to be asked. Fire away."

If he was being overly casual about that 'fire away,' it was mostly because, in his experience, questions that were prefaced with statements like 'I have a question' were usually the harder ones to answer. Sparkle tried to go into questions that were potentially loaded with at least some sort of casual attitude, just in case he needed to bail quickly to save face.

Some people got outright attitude from Sparkle when they said things like that. Leto had yet to give Sparkle cause for concern, so he was getting the benefit of the doubt.

It was entirely possible that Sparkle worried too much.

Leto didn't know Sparkle well enough to expect that reaction, but didn't think there would be any reason for Sparkle to be concerned. "I'm glad you arranged this," he began. "A surprise in the best sense." Here Leto smiled, partly to himself. "I enjoy your company, and I won't be going home until tomorrow, so unless you have other plans or commitments, would you want to spend the night with me as well?"

He could certainly take a no, and that wouldn't affect his enjoyment of the rest of the day, but considering how little they knew each other, asking plainly seemed like the best approach.

That...

That was much better than any of the questions that Sparkle had been afraid Leto might have asked! Not that he had any particular terrifying questions in mind, really. Hell, he couldn't think of anything specific that Leto might have asked that would have gotten messy, come to think of it.

He relaxed, visibly, and settled into an easy smile.

"No plans for tonight. I work, like, sometime tomorrow, but I don't even really have to hurry in. It isn't like the one other person I work with is going to care." Especially since he'd only hired her a few days ago. "Spending the night with you sounds pretty great, actually."

"Something to look forward to later as well, then." Leto took a step closer again and let his fingers nudge Sparkle's. He liked how Sparkle usually responded to that; that it could be both flirtatious, but perhaps even more just the comfort of touch and closeness.

"I think I'm tempted to look at desert plants now."

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Baltimore, Rawlings Conservatory, Saturday Afternoon

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