myownface | Toronto, Wednesday Evening, Fandom Time

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Toronto, Wednesday Evening, Fandom Time

Shit. Oh, oh shit, Sparkle had needed that chuckle something terrible.

City Council had made their judgment pretty swiftly. The home was going to be shut down, the kids were to be relocated to new homes, with a temporary place to stay somewhere in the interim until they could be assigned to somewhat more permanent lodgings. It was a pretty unanimous decision, though. Lewis wasn't to be taking care of any more kids. Ever. Because honestly, now.

So today had been spent packing. Or, well, mostly packing. Alternating between packing, and consoling teens who were terrified that they'd be split up with kids who were practically siblings, after living under Lewis' supervision for years and years. Sparkle had seen people start crying today who he didn't think had the ability to cry.

It had been... rough. So when he took a break from his own packing to check his voicemail, the pair of messages that had been waiting for him were a welcome reprieve from the ho-hum and the woe and the worry. Sure, Raine had looked at him funny when he started cackling like an idiot, but she understood quickly enough when he handed her the phone and played both messages for her to listen to, too, and she'd joined him in that laughter.

He was going to have to call the both of them back and take them up on those offers. You know, doing them the favours, and all. And not just for the free drinks and portal fare or anything.

Everything was packed. Or, anyway, everything that any of the kids wanted to take with them. There was no way Sparkle was going to let Raine crash in some interim home, so he'd made arrangements for the two of them to camp out in a hostel for the night, and he was just doing one last check for anything he might have missed in the kitchen while Raine waited outside.

When he was finished, he couldn't help but sort of pause in the doorway with his suitcase and eavesdrop for a minute when he realized that Lewis was talking to Raine.

"You are giving up," Raine accused.

"No. Listen, just layin' low for a bit," Lewis protested. "Got things to take care of back home, Raine."

"Hah! You are so full of shit."

Raine wasn't exactly wrong, there.

"I'm passin' the torch to you, Raine," Lewis replied. "Are you gonna take it?"

Raine didn't reply to that. Not in words. She just looked utterly disgusted, spat on the ground at Lew's feet, and turned to stalk away. If Sparkle knew Raine at all, she'd probably wait up for him around the corner, out of sight.

He tentatively took a few steps out of the house, and caught Lewis' eye. Lewis hesitated there, looked at Sparkle for a long, wavering moment. And then turned and walked away.

Sparkle's lip curled up.

Fine. Fucking fine. He had more important shit to worry about, anyway.

As Sparkle walked away to catch up with Raine, he pulled out his phone. He had a call to make. One that had nothing to do with drinking or even to do with Lewis. Lewis was throwing down the torch, not passing it on. Which meant somebody had to pick up the pieces, here.

Asshole.

[OOC: Sparkle is phoning one person in particular, but the post is open for phone calls after that thread, chronologically!]

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Parker was more than a little surprised to be getting a phone call. Although at least her phone told her who was calling.

"Sparkle?" She squinted at the phone. "What's going on?"

"Um... shit... maybe kind of hit the fan?" Sparkle was bad at asking for help. But he'd seen enough people breaking down today to actually make up his mind and suck it up, for once. "Hi. Um. You guys said once that you... made things work out, right? Like, that was what you excelled at?"

"Yes. Completely. That's exactly it." Parker was hanging out on top of Luke's, and was now up and pacing the roof. "Are you okay? Do you need money or something first? Are you safe?"

"I'm safe, I'm fine," Sparkle said quickly. "A friend and I are staying in a hostel tonight, that part is okay. I've got some money still saved up from when I was working two jobs on the island, so I can hang in there for a bit longer the way I am. I was... actually sort of maybe asking for somebody else. A few somebodies. Almost a dozen."

Parker blinked, and sat down, feet hanging off the edge of the roof.

"Why don't you tell me the whole story." Best to treat him like he was a client, because it kind of sounded like he was about to become one, yes. "And who needs to be leveraged, and what you want to have happen."

'Leveraged.' That sounded so... official.

Sparkle stopped walking, sighed, and sat himself down on the curb, leaning against his suitcase. Raine would wait up at least a few more minutes, anyway.

"So... I mentioned the house before, right? And the neighbours who didn't want us around, and that whole mess?"

"Right," Parker said, voice sympathetic but business-like. She'd gotten a persona down for dealing with clients, but it was a little easier with Sparkle, since she already knew him, and didn't have to worry about him being un-vetted by Hardison. And he was a kid, in a situation she really, really got. "What did they do? Was it legal?"

"City hall and everything," Sparkle sighed. "There was a city council meeting and everyone presented their points and... Lewis fucked up. Lewis fucked up bad. Everybody spent the day packing, and now most of us have no idea where it is we're headed next, just that Lew can't take care of kids anymore, and everyone is probably being split up."

Even Sparkle couldn't quite keep the worry from his voice, there.

"How did he fuck up?" Parker asked. It probably wasn't entirely relevant, and she could find out from other sources, but, you never knew. "So basically, you want another group home situation, for the kids who are now going to be split-- and social workers to look out for them who won't be removed. Yes?"

Sparkle swallowed. Right. So. His knee-jerk reaction would be to lie. To lie like a man hell-bent on lying. He was excellent at that. But if he wanted Parker's help with this.

"He confessed to thinking dirty thoughts about one of his wards," he said, a little more quietly. "He never did anything, but admitting to it doesn't exactly make it okay, either."

At all.

"And yeah. I mean... some of these kids, they've been together since they were new to the system. And a lot of them are old enough nobody's likely to adopt them, and all of them have been through some kind of hell, and... all they have is one another. Some stability for the first time in their lives... that'd be... like... right?"

Full and complete sentences were tough. But he figured Parker could follow.

Parker had ground her teeth through the Lewis part of the explanation, for too many reasons to count. That part, she was going to leave to Eliot and Hardison to follow-up on, because she knew, she knew she couldn't be objective about that.

The next part, she leapt on with both feet. "They've created their own family. They just need a place to put it." She was already pacing, thinking aloud, voice taking on a note of surety. "Right. We can do this. How many kids. How old. And how many have records of some kind? Do any have physical disabilities, or health problems, that we need to be careful of?"

"Twel-- eleven kids," Sparkle said, deciding all at once that whatever happened from there, he could only stick it out around here for so long before he'd lose his mind and run anyway. "Not counting me. I've got options. They're between twelve and eighteen, though. And at least a few have youth records, though most of us don't talk about that sort of thing. Most have a history of some kind of abuse or other. There's some asthma, and one has some trouble getting around but manages to hide it pretty well anyway. Knowing this group, they'd need... somewhere that's pretty accessible, I think, just to be on the safe side. If something did happen, it'd kill 'em to have to uproot again."

"Somewhere open," Parker said aloud. "Somewhere they could live on the first floor."

Like her warehouse lair, with all its security and open space to see people coming--

Oooo. If they were anything like her-- well, they *were* like her. Maybe....

"Sparkle? I think I have an idea. At least for the where. I need to check in with Hardison, and make some phone calls." She paused. "The social workers are going to be trickier. But maybe, maybe-- are Lewis's superiors angry, or embarrassed?" Easier to know how to work them if she knew the lay of the land going in.

"I don't know," Sparkle confessed, after a pause. "I mean... I wouldn't be surprised if they were pissed. He confessed to lusting after one of his charges in front of all of city council. In front of the freaking mayor. I wouldn't be surprised if it's made the news, but I haven't had the heart to check."

Because, you know, it was maybe a little personal.

Parker grimaced, then narrowed her eyes. "I think we can use that. Okay. I'm going to make some calls, do some research, and check some laws... if you can get me the names and ages of the kids in question, that would be great, but if not, I'll work around it. Call me back tomorrow, and I'll let you know what kind of progress we've made."

Sparkle nodded. And then, realizing that Parker probably couldn't actually hear that over the phone, he murmured a little, "Sure," followed shortly after by a, "thanks. I'll do that."

And a deep breath. He hated feeling so helpless, but this was the first thing he'd done since this whole mess started that actually made him feel like he was doing some good in a non-destructive way, for once.

"I'll get you everything I can. And... um... Thanks again, Parker. This... I mean... you probably know how much this... you know. Means. To us."

Words. Stupid words. They were hard. Who authorized that?

"Yeah." That professional exterior was wavering now. "I can guess." She let out a huff of breath. "Just. Hang in there. I'll probably be in Toronto this week, if things go like I plan. I'll see you then." Not a request. She was worried about you, Sparkle. "And if you need any other help, we're here."

"I... yeah, I'll see you then," Sparkle agreed, swallowing and nodding again. "And thanks. A lot. I mean that."

More than he generally meant a lot of things. Sometimes, Sparkle was honest when he opened his mouth.

Hannibal had flagged the news from Toronto and been paying attention; when the decision was publicized, he frowned and called Sparkle. Whatever it was that had sent him to prison had better not have happened yet.

Not yet, no!

... Though Sparkle would be lying if he said he wasn't thinking of doing something drastic and horrible, anyway.

"Hey?" Excuse him for sounding so tired, Hannibal. Sparkle had had a long day of packing and watching people with the emotional fortitude of concrete actually crumble and cry. "Doctor Lecter?"

"Sparkle. I heard the news from the city; I wanted to hear it from you," Hannibal said.

"Pretty much what the city said," Sparkle confirmed with a sigh. "We all spent today packing up. Raine and I have a room at a hostel for the night with whatever we could fit in our suitcases. I'll have to figure out how to get, like, the mini-fridge another time."

These were the things he dwelled on, yes.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Hannibal reassured him. "Would you like to come here?"

Sparkle chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment, sorely tempted.

"I'm keeping the option open," he decided, finally. "But right now, I think I need to stay here, with Raine. She needs some distance from well-meaning strangers for a bit. She got burned a little too badly for trust to come easily, you know?"

"Quite understandable," Hannibal answered. "But you'll let me know if you change your mind, or should you need anything." If it was just a touch too firm to be a question, well, Hannibal had a promise to keep to Sparkle's older self.

"I... okay." Sparkle bit his lip. Even he knew not to argue with that tone of voice. Or maybe he was just too tired to try. "If anything manages to get worse somehow, I'll call. Thanks."

What else was there to say? Normally his pride wouldn't let him accept even that. But his pride was suffering just a smidgen, these days.

"You're quite welcome," Hannibal answered.

And then, because he was by nature ~~a helper~~ ~~a psychiatrist~~ nosy, "Have you spoken with Lewis since the meeting?"

Sparkle went quiet for a moment before replying to that.

"Not... not in any way that matters," he settled on. "We managed to make eye contact once, and then he turned and walked away."

Which he was going to be bitter about for a long while. If Lewis was going to cost them the home over it, the least he could do would be take a few minutes to actually talk to Sparkle in the aftermath.

The very least he could do, yes.

Hannibal hummed, but it was hard to miss the judgement in such a simple sound. "I trust you know that he has been treating you very poorly, and that you have in no way earned it?"

"Yeah," Sparkle sighed. "I know. The whole thing is a big, stupid fucking mess, and here he is, just... like... leaving everyone burned. He could try an apology, at least. That'd be nice."

"It would," Hannibal agreed. "However, based on his recent behavior, I don't believe he's thinking much of anybody else right now."

"No, I don't think he is, either," Sparkle admitted, wrinkling his nose. "Which... in retrospect, I dunno, kind of makes me wonder how he wound up with a dozen wards in the first place. But, like, he was okay until all of this Mapleview bullshit. He just, like lost it, there."

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Toronto, Wednesday Evening, Fandom Time

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