MCA #4, Monday Morning

[myownface]

It was probably worth noting that Sparkle wasn't cleaning the apartment from top to bottom today. Sure, he'd gotten a lot of that out of his system yesterday over at Casa del Leverage, and between that and the whole thing with the explosives, mostly he was kind of just feeling numb, now.

So instead of scrubbing the bathroom from top to bottom until his lungs hurt, he had kind of oozed into the living room and was hugging his stuffed cat, ignoring a box of Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs, and staring at whatever fluffy kids' show happened to be on Netflix. Peppa Pig or something. He wasn't actually paying attention, he was just... tired. Maybe later he'd try to figure out where to go from here, but this morning? This morning was for cartoons and moping.

At least he wasn't sitting in the bathtub hugging the fish tank again. This was kind of like forward progress.

[OOC: Open for phone calls or that roomie or whatever, though I'll be pinging around work like the freewheeling rebel I am.]

Comments

[myownface]

"Well, it isn't like she knows any better," Sparkle pointed out. "She knows what the news said, and what the cops said, and, I mean, 'wanted for assault and arson and drug possession and breaking and entering' all sound worse without context."

They... were all still pretty bad, Sparkle.

[suitably_heroic]

"Could also sound like you had one really bad party," Atton said, putting the newly-procured spoon down beside the ice cream. "But okay, fine, it doesn't sound that good, I'll give you that."

[myownface]

"What she knows is that I act out in big ways when something goes badly," Sparkle sighed, finally peering up and the reaching out for the ice cream and the spoon. Atton was his hero. "She... us... our, you know, like, family... we have a history with that sort of thing. I don't blame her for wanting to avoid it."

And then he shook his head and broke out into a harsh bark of a laugh.

"Oh god, Parker and I made it worse."

Lil'bit.

[suitably_heroic]

It was generally Not Good when Sparkle started making noises like that. Atton squinted at him as he sat back down on the sofa.

"Did you set anything on fire?" he said. "Please tell me you didn't set something on fire."

[myownface]

"... There might have been fire involved."

It was so much worse.

[suitably_heroic]

"Haven't we had this talk?" Atton wondered. "I think I remember us having the talk about how setting things on fire is bad unless it's trying to kill you."

He'd devoted an entire class to the subject!

[myownface]

Sparkle buried his face into his arms again.

"Parker bought C-4."

Yeeeep. Much worse than just arson.

[suitably_heroic]

"Are you kidding me."

He'd have to devote an entirely new class to this, Sparkle.

[myownface]

Sparkle's reply to that was another one of those weird sounds of his. A kind of whiny noise followed by a giggle, all smothered by a plush cat.

So, no, not kidding.

[suitably_heroic]

"What, you thought another arson charge wasn't enough?" Atton said, snagging the six pack off the table.

Sparkle wasn't the only one who needed a drink.

[myownface]

"It was a shitty abandoned building," Sparkle managed. Into the cat. "Nobody living there nobody even owns it I probably did the city a favour."

The city probably did not think of it that way.

[suitably_heroic]

"Nobody lived in the house either," Atton pointed out, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You've got to come up with some better coping strategies here, Sparks. And that's coming from me."

The guy known for his occasional murder sprees.

[myownface]

"I was gonna just break a few windows in," Sparkle muttered. "The explosives weren't my idea."

Though he'd rolled with it when it had become an option, so...

[suitably_heroic]

"So you protested loudly when Parker coughed them up?"

Atton didn't believe that, funnily enough.

[myownface]

Good call, Atton. Good call.

"... No."

Sparkle wasn't even going to pretend he hadn't done something stupid, now. So at least there was that?

[suitably_heroic]

Atton sighed.

He picked up another can of beer, opened it, and set it down in front of Sparkle. "Next time, just high tail it back here instead of adding to your rap sheet, all right? We'll blow up bottles in the parking lot or something."

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded a little, then set down the ice cream and made a reach for the beer. He needed the beer. Today it was not too early for beer.

"Was the place I grew up in. Before the homes."

Which didn't excuse it either. But hey, context.

"So, nothin' left back there now. I'm not going back. Ever."

[suitably_heroic]

"That's what you said last time," Atton pointed out.

This time, not a lot of judgment in his voice, though.

[myownface]

"It was stupid," Sparkle replied, because, shit, he knew it. "Eliot said Hardison could probably find my sister, and he did. I'd given up on that ever happening, and then it was real, and she was right there, flesh and blood family and I got fucking stupid."

Thinking that it would go any way but badly, he figured, had been 'fucking stupid' too.

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, she could've at least said she'd call you while you stayed at a nice, fireproof distance," Atton ventured, "So maybe you were only 90 percent the stupid person in that conversation."

[myownface]

Sparkle... wasn't so super sure. He'd always trusted Carla's judgment, and he knew better than anyone what kind of hell she'd been through with people who lashed out without thinking, before. So he hiked his shoulders up into a shrug, and kind of stared at his beer before taking a mouthful.

"I'm a stranger asking for her to make a place for me in her life," he said, finally. "And she has kids to worry about. I would've asked me to leave, too."

[suitably_heroic]

"Life's easier without family dragging you down, anyway," Atton said. "You can be free to be as stupid as you like."

Look, he wasn't sure what else to say either. His family was dead.

[myownface]

"At least we all know I'm really good at stupid," Sparkle muttered. And then he was taking another swig of beer. "And yeah. Who needs family? S'only never let me down before anyway."

Except for the family he got to choose. And even then, eeh...

[suitably_heroic]

Accidentally drag a guy into a murder spree once and they never let you live it down.

"That's the spirit," Atton said, taking a swig of his own beer. "I'll toss up the 'store closed' sign if you just want to lay around looking pathetic for the next week."

He was a giver.

[myownface]

"Yeah, maybe," Sparkle sighed. "Or I could go pester Leto for a bit, or... I dunno. I'll figure something out. Something that doesn't involve more property damage, I promise."

... Well. Probably.