MCA #4, Tuesday Evening

[myownface]

Sparkle had been... less than functional today. The episodes of Sesame Street that an errant wish yesterday had bestowed upon him had gone away again, and so even getting his hands on his brainless g-rated amusements would have involved stealing from, like, PBS or whatever. Which Sparkle wasn't entirely opposed to, but figuring out torrents and shit involved thinking. And brains. And... combining the two, somehow, so that brains were doing thinking, and Sparkle wasn't exactly feeling that so much just yet.

So he'd kind of pottered around the apartment aimlessly for a while. At some point, he'd remembered how cereal worked. Somewhere around noon he'd realized that he was halfway through cleaning the bathroom for what was apparently the third time already, and around what would have been suppertime, he was already on his fifth shower.

By the time the evening rolled around and Sparkle could see his reflection in the bathroom floor, he'd given up on shower six and had mostly just deposited himself on his back in the otherwise empty tub, poking halfheartedly at whatever stupid cell phone game he could get for free from Google. There was a game that involved tapping the screen. Just tapping the screen. And it was just cartoony enough that the little cartoon character swinging the sword around to beat up cartoonish monsters didn't even bother him all that much.

If anyone asked, he'd just say that it was cooler in the tub than anywhere else in the apartment. He was Canadian. He wasn't made for... comfortable planetoid weather.

Shut up.

[OOC: Open mostly for phone calls, though that guy who lives here is welcome to check up on Sparks in person for our hilariously mismatched SP if he so desires.]

Comments

[future_sandworm]

Leto had met Atton only once, but if there was one thing he had learned about the man it was that he cared about Sparkle, and that he would not put him in danger if he could avoid it. So the next question was rather obvious:

"How come you were taken hostage in the first place? Did they come to Fandom?" That seemed unlikely though.

[myownface]

"No, not Fandom," Sparkle sighed. That was good, anyway. It meant that home was safe, comparatively. "I was still at the temple. They were looking for an easy human shield, I think. Leverage against the Jedi and the Republic for whatever illegal garbage they were doing. Wrong place, wrong time. I was convenient, that's all."

Which was better than alternatives that included things like 'trying to get at Atton,' at least.

[future_sandworm]

"You went to Atton's world as leverage?!" Leto knew Sparkle didn't need someone telling him he'd been really stupid - he probably knew that already - but there were limits to what he could calmly accept.

[myownface]

"No, not exactly. I..." Sparkle sighed. "I went there to try to help find him. I was just in the temple when the guys broke in, and they took me as leverage. I didn't... like... I wasn't volunteering to be kidnapped, or anything."

More thumping around the tub. Laying down again seemed like a great idea.

"I mean, we didn't KNOW where Atton was. Just that he took off somewhere, and that Mical's an idiot."

Which was possibly irrelevant, but still worth saying.

[future_sandworm]

"Sparkle, did you go to look for Atton in his world, where his fellow Jedi had failed to find him?" This was getting a bit confusing, but Leto would really like to know.

[myownface]

Sparkle's toe scuffed against the foot of the tub. Okay, when he put it like that...

"I went to the Jedi Temple, because I know him better than anyone else there, because Mical asked me to, because they couldn't find him," he explained. "They thought I might have a better idea about what he might have done. Or maybe they thought my being there would...like... flush him out or something. I didn't, like, volunteer to go. It was the Jedi's idea."

Mical's. But Mical was stupid, in Sparkle's professional opinion.

[future_sandworm]

"What, are they idiots? Using your sense of loyalty?" He could have added lack of sense and self preservation, but now wasn't the time.

"And letting you get kidnapped?"

[myownface]

Sparkle wasn't going to argue much with... any of that, actually.

"Guess so," he muttered. "Mical, like, tried to fight them off, but by the time he took care of the guy with the blaster, I'd already been grabbed and stabbed and I wasn't much good for anything."

He'd been a bit of a gibbering mess, really.

[future_sandworm]

There was a moment of silence. "I thought the Jedi took pride in being honest and loyal, or something similar." And not using friends as targets.

"Stabbed? I'm guessing you didn't get the pleasure of returning the favour."

[myownface]

"I don't even know what the Jedi stand for," Sparkle sighed. "They're mostly just a bunch of hypocrites in stupid robes, from what I can tell."

This whole thing had really cemented that one in there good.

"And I didn't get to stab her back, no," he muttered. "I did kick her a good one, though."

Which was why she'd stabbed him.

"Vibroblades are dumb."

By which he meant, 'vibroblades are very good at what they do, which sucks if you're on the wrong end of one.'

[future_sandworm]

"I suppose you can find hypocrites in any universe, with or without robes." Leto thought for a moment, considering how to phrase his next comment. "I hope you know that you are always welcome to ask me for help or to discuss strategies if you want to."

It was better than directly telling Sparkle that he had made some stupid decisions, because even if he chose not to acknowledge it, he probably knew that himself. It occurred to Leto that it wasn't often he cared enough about someone for something like this to make him angry. Ghanima took on students she felt responsible for, while he kept a distance to all but very few.

[myownface]

"I... yeah..." Sparkle chewed the inside of his cheek. "I would've asked a lot of people for help if I could. I was kind of kept locked up. Didn't exactly have my phone or anything."

Which was why he hadn't answered, earlier.

"I... I'll keep it in mind, though. I don't feel much like talking strategy right now, but I guess that's something I'm going to keep needing. I'm not in Toronto anymore."

[future_sandworm]

"I meant before accepting the invitation from the Jedi," Leto clarified, then added in a gentler voice: "I am sorry, Sparkle. I wish you would have better news, but I am glad that you are home. I was worried when you didn't return my call."

[myownface]

"Oh... oh, right..." Sparkle chewed his lip. Of course that was what Leto had meant. He still wasn't completely all there again, yet. He breathed in, held it for a second, and then exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry I worried you. I mean, didn't mean to, obviously. I just... You know. It'd be better if none of it had happened, but here we are."

The past didn't change, so much, no matter how often he wished it would.

[future_sandworm]

"Well, regret is only helpful if it serves as advice for the future," Leto said with an inaudible shrug. "Um, what are you doing?" When leaving the subject of the recent past behind seemed like a good idea, Leto couldn't help being curious about the odd sounds.

[myownface]

"I'm..." Sparkle sighed. "I'm getting comfortable. Um. In the bathtub."

A pause.

"It's empty, it just kind of... I was going to shower," again, "but then I just kind of didn't."

That wasn't normal, Sparkle.

[future_sandworm]

"I can call back later," Leto offered, "if that would suit you better."

Sparkle could be a little cryptic at times, so Leto took that to mean that he had interrupted him.

[myownface]

"No," Sparkle said, maybe a bit desperately. "No, you don't have to, I just, I mean... I wasn't doing anything I was just in the tub, it's stupid, it was just where I was."

That didn't clear much up, did it?

[future_sandworm]

Leto had faced stranger things that someone wanting to sit in an empty bathtub, so he saw no reason to comment on that.

"Good then. And the reason I called before was to talk to you about your visit. I understand now if you need some time at home, but there is less than usual that requires my attention here for a while, so you are welcome when it suits you."

Perhaps making plans for that was a good thing right now, too.

[myownface]

It gave Sparkle something to look forward to. And... somewhere far away from anything that was bothering him. He needed both of those things. A lot.

"Yeah...? I mean, I might not be up for travel right this minute, but... but that does sound good. I mean, soon? Can it be sometime soon?"

[future_sandworm]

"Anytime you like, just let me know a few days in advance," Leto said. He smiled, although that was obviously not noticeable over the phone. "I look forward to it. Is there anything in particular you would like to do?"

[myownface]

That... that was a good question. Sparkle chewed on his lip for a moment before venturing, "Something laid-back, to start? Is there anything like that? Not too loud or anything?"

That was probably why he was in the tub, come to think of it.

[future_sandworm]

"There are quiet places even in the palace, if you know where to find them," Leto said with a laugh. "I'd like to show you a sietch, they are a lot less formal. And the desert... I don't think you could call it laid-back but... there are places I could show you. Although I suppose it's also hard to avoid."

He would have suggested sandworms, but perhaps not now.

[myownface]

Now would probably be the worst time for sandworms, yeah. Another visit, perhaps.

"Well, I mean, what's a visit to Arrakis without taking in the desert, right?" Sparkle was trying a little smile of his own on for size. "And maybe something'll catch my attention while I'm there, too. I've never been, you know? Hard to say, right now."

[future_sandworm]

"Yes, I realize that," Leto said with a small laugh. "I'll try to come of with something that will surprise you. In a pleasant way." Sparkle had had enough of unpleasant surprises for a long time.