fandomhigh | Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part I

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!event: welcome picnic

Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part I

The fall semester was about to get into full swing, but summer wasn't about to let go of the island just yet. The sun was out, the temperature was holding steady at a comfortable 80F/27C, and most importantly, the tables were beglittered.

Speaking of tables, there were of course the ones that were filled with a vast array of food and drink, and also the ones with nametags and lists to facilitate the meeting of new roommates and siblings.

There was room to sit, room to sprawl, room to walk around and mingle... and it was a big lawn, so if you needed to get away from the crowd for a bit, room for that too.

[OCD Up! This is part one of the picnic, specifically for meeting siblings, roommates, and teachers. The rest of the picnic is happening here. Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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"I mean, now that I know that annoying works, I might have to really embrace it," Sparkle laughed, shaking his head. "I missed my window to teach this semester, I guess, but I'll probably have my hands full with the shop anyway. I want to open up some of that space in there. Maybe get rid of the burn barrel."

It would be a sad loss, but probably a smart one. He was giving 'smart' a try for a change, at least partly out of spite.

Hey, at least it was a better life choice than hanging out with a cannibal.

"Going to be a real shopkeeper, huh?" Atton said lightly.

And in that same light tone, he added, "Are we gonna talk about whatever had you taking off for a week or are we going to pretend that didn't happen? Your choice."

That cannibal had offered to adopt Sparkle. Like, four years too late for it to really do him any good. Sparkle had some shit to work through right now.

"I dunno," Sparkle drawled, keeping his own tone fairly light. "What are the odds you'll smack me if I say I started the week at like an eight on the one-to-stupid scale we were talking about?"

...Well, Atton would hope he wasn't the only one in this conversation who thought that was a terrible idea.

"Pretty high," Atton said, "And you'll know you deserve it."

Oh yeah, Sparkle knew how terrible it was. He was still waffling on giving a yes or no answer, though. Hannibal was literally the first person in his life who had offered.

"... How's 'got drunk, broke into someone's place, was caught passed out on the couch with the expensive vodka' rate?"

One day they'd have to have a long conversation about self-esteem and what happened when you got too close to secretly complicated-evil mentor figures.

"... Not eight. Maybe seven. Unless they had a gun."

They were going to desperately need that talk, one of these days.

"... What if it led to being dragged away to Toronto for an intervention?"

Ten? Did that make it a solid ten?

Just run when they start telling you to kill people, Sparks. Take it from the guy who said 'yes' when it was his turn.

"...Depends on who did the dragging and how," Atton said slowly.

Look, consider the above narrative: Atton's idea of how big that scale ran was special.

Sparkle fidgeted just the slightest bit, and then he hedged, "I mean, I woke up in a hotel bed? I'm not actually sure how I got from point A to point B."

And just the fact that he wasn't naming names was probably a big clue as to who had done the dragging, honestly.

It was at least enough to get some level of squinty going. "Inching towards an eight," Atton said. "So when you texted me, the worst was over?"

"Yeeesssssss?" Sparkle wrinkled his nose a bit. "No? Sort of?"

That was very helpful, Sparkle, thank you.

"I didn't burn anything down?"

"For a good liar, you're really bad at lying," Atton said, after a beat.

Sparkle wrinkled his nose that little bit more.

"I didn't burn anything down," he noted, maybe a touch sourly. "Some shitty stuff happened, but I didn't do it."

Which was actually kind of a big deal for him.

"I was aiming for the 'yes, no, sort of' part more than the not burning something down part," Atton said, tilting his head. "If I thought there'd been fire I might've done more yelling."

Don't force him to spend another first class yelling about fire hazards at students, Sparks.

"Shitty stuff, huh."

Sparkle sighed, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. One of those rip off zippo deals.

"Kinda shitty. We made a house call."

Edited 2017-08-27 18:35 (UTC)

"With who?"

"Are you asking who is 'we,' or whose house we visited?"

Sparkle. Sparkle, he probably wanted to know both at this point.

"I'd given up on the first part and now I'm just hoping to get an answer to the second part," Atton said. "Again, you can check out of this conversation any time, Sparks."

So either fess up or stop dancing around.

Sparkle chewed the inside of his cheek, and then flicked the lighter on an off a few times before sighing.

"Some other-reality version of my father," he settled on. "We paid some guy who doesn't even know me in a reality I never existed a visit so I could 'face my demons.'"

He was totally making airquotes with the hand not holding that lighter, yes.

"Seriously?" Atton said, pulling a face. "Sounds like some stupid Force poodoo right there. You should've clocked the other guy."

"I should've," Sparkle agreed, sighing. "Instead I screamed in not-dad's face and stole his lighter and his hash pipe."

As you do.

He flicked the lighter open and shut a few more times, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. Maybe it was catharsis I actually needed, but it was a shitty way to go about it."

"Well, you didn't set anything in the house on fire," Atton said, after a brief pause. "So you know what, I'm going to count this one as a win for everyone."

Sparkle briefly considered telling Atton that he'd considered just flat-out killing the man.

...

Nah.

"I didn't set any fires at all," he confirmed. "I went through a few packs of smokes, though."

And ate a lot of vegan food out of spite.

"Eh, you only have to worry about that in another year or forty," Atton said easily.

He'd have slapped Sparkle over the head if he'd heard about the killing people thing, except he didn't really have a leg to stand on to give anyone crap over that. "So, then you got out of there and came back...?"

"After a day trip to the spa," Sparkle agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "Here safe and sound in one piece."

He paused for a long moment, before adding, with a sigh, "Dr. Lecter offered to adopt me. Like. Officially. On paper."

IT HAD BEEN CHEWING AT HIM FOR DAYS, OKAY?

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