Second Floor Common Room, Sunday Evening

[myownface]

Well, graduation was over with, and most of Sparkle's crap was already packed up, and he had Lewis' word that when he got back to Toronto, they'd be just a couple of days away from moving into the new house that Lewis had been saving up for decades for. The only trouble was? Still a group home. And given the assortment of teens that Lewis tended to pick up, allergies were sort of a thing.

He'd begged. He'd pleaded. Hell, he'd threatened to live in the garage or something. No, Lewis wasn't going to budge.

No cats.

So Sparkle was now in the common room with Velcro, frowning at the little guy while he tried to make the best of his last day here, before... something something. Taking him to the shelter, maybe, or seeing how long he could smuggle his shouldercat around in his bookbag before Lewis took notice, or maybe actually running away somewhere after all and starting life over as a hermit in, like, sunny California or hey, the seventies were kind of okay. He could handle running away to the seventies.

But for the time being, he'd settle for making the best of his last day here before his portal would cart him off, by dangling a shoelace at the end of a broom handle for the cat to chase around the room like a complete lunatic.

"That's right, moron. You're a good stupid boy, aren't you?"

[OOC: Open! Probably Sparkle's last post on the island before alumni-land. There's a new owner in mind for the kitty already, no worries.]

Comments

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna came in from her run, and on her way up wandered through the Common Rooms, scrounging for food. Opening the fridge, she found a bottle of water and contemplated dinner.

"Hello, Sparkle." She grinned over at Velcro as he batted at the shoelace. "Hello, Velcro."

[myownface]

"Hey, Bugs," Sparkle greeted, giving her a little smile that was meant to have way more pep to it than he managed to put into it. Dammit. "Velcro says hi, too. I mean, that's not what he actually means when he's waving his ass in the air like that, but, you know, I'm allowed to take some liberties, here. How're you?"

Waaay easier to talk about how she was than it was to talk about his cat-related melancholy. Dammit, Sparkle didn't do farewells well. At least he could visit the people he left behind. Or phone them. Or something.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna got a bottle of water for Sparkle, should he want it, and some cheese sticks for herself, then climbed over the couch to sit down. "Good. Not sure what to do now that classes are over for a week. But good." She smiled a little. "I heard you on the Radio today. Toronto?" She offered him the bottle and started nibbling on the cheese. "Can Velcro eat cheese? Or do cats not eat that?"

[myownface]

"Toronto, yeah. Like, tomorrow. It can't come fast enough and it seems kind of too soon, you know?" He smiled a little and accepted the bottle with a nod. "And I think he can eat cheese. Like, he shouldn't eat a lot of it, and I'd steer clear of the stuff with the veins of mould in it, you know? But he'll hoover that stuff up if you let him, anyway."

He gave his toes a wiggle.

"You like cats?"

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"Yes. I like all animals, but cats..." She frowned, and broke off a thumbnail-sized slice for Velcro, holding it out on her palm. "I understand them, a little. They're hunters too." She looked abashed. "And they're soft and fuzzy." Two great things put together in one tiny package!

[myownface]

Sparkle couldn't help but laugh at that.

"The only thing this guy hunts is the wild kibble. And maybe a cricket or two when they wander into my room." He watched as the cat sniffed his way over to her palm, and then, after some brief consideration, pretty much inhaled the offered morsel. "Aaaaand now you're friends for life."

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna kept her hand out so Velcro could sniff and ascertain that, but her smile was much brighter. "I like his name. Does he stick to things?" She paused and added, "I kept meaning to go to the pet shop, but... there was so much happening this semester." Gaunt, and small children everywhere, then -- ghosts, or something like them. "I'm sorry you're leaving so soon."

[flickofthewrist]

Having seen his mother and Joi off, Flick found himself stopping by the common room on the way up his room.

"Is it kitten bonding time?" he asked, amused.

[myownface]

"Yeah, getting some last-minute playtime in before I pass him off on Hanna and catch my portal tomorrow," Sparkle replied, giving Flick a wry smile. "Still trying to come up with logistics for smuggling him out in my bag. I figure I could probably make it two, three months before somebody figures out that I've got him, if I'm really careful about it."

[flickofthewrist]

Flick tilted his head and watched the cat for a few seconds. "No cats allowed where you're going? Is someone allergic?"

[myownface]

"Yeah," Sparkle sighed. "Like, anyone could be, any given moment. The joys of group home life."

Yep. Totally joyful, that group home life.

"We get people in and out often enough that there's no real guarantee, you know?"

[flickofthewrist]

Flick nodded. He'd never been in a situation like that personally but Joi ran a place like that so he'd definitely been around it.

"But, you're giving him to someone here so you can come visit, right?" Flick guessed. "Better than a shelter, I think."

[myownface]

"Way better than a shelter, yeah," Sparkle agreed, nodding. "Like, he's a good cat. Deserves better than that, you know?"

Sparkle maybe didn't trust any manner of foster system out there, these days. There were issues there.

"I think Hanna will be good to him, though. Like, she seems like good people, anyway."

[voiceoverdue]

"Oo, Sparkle!"

Cecil hurried in, and unless Sparkle was fast, he was getting hugged. "I didn't think I'd find you before you left."

[myownface]

"Whoop!" Sparkle dropped the shoelace-stick and managed, barely, to hold his arms open in time to meet Cecil for that hug. "Yeah, I'm not gone yet. I mean, like, tomorrow, my portal leaves? So I've got one more night of bumming around this place before it's back to Toronto."

[voiceoverdue]

"We never did get to have that movie night at Kenzi's place," Cecil said. "So I guess you'll have to visit. But I didn't want you leaving without your going-away present!" He handed Sparkle a huge but surprisingly light package. "Just something to remember us by, you know?"

[myownface]

Sparkle blinked at the package, and then up at Cecil. And then he grinned.

"Whatever this is, it's going to be awesome, isn't it?" Well, hopefully, Knowing Cecil, just about anything could be in there. Knowing Cecil and Fandom combined, that anything might be some sort of flesh-eating tentacle creature. "And you know I'm going to visit, like, as soon as I can, right? Much as I'm convinced this place is out to get me, I'm going to miss, you know, the people."

[voiceoverdue]

"Well, I hope so?" Cecil grinned. "For both of those, really - the people and the present are both pretty great, I think. Go on, open it! Just be careful."

[myownface]

"Careful, huh? That just makes me worry, man," Sparkle laughed, carefully opening the top of the box.

And blinking.

And then cracking up.

"Oh, shit. Perfect. This is perfect!"

Glitter!

[not_a_moonie]

"Cute cat," Alana observed, when she came on very late sorry to check the fridge for the good yogurt. "He's got you trained, huh?"

[myownface]

"Yeah, he's had me good and trained for a while," Sparkle agreed, glancing up at Alana and grinning a little. "He's good at what he does. Which is mostly eat, sleep, crap, and cling."

He was doing none of the above at the moment, but that's mostly because there was a shoelace that needed killin'.

[not_a_moonie]

"He's a cat," Alana shrugged. "That's basically their job description. Cute little furry leeches."

She took the yogurt over to the couch and sat. "Hey, good speech yesterday."

[myownface]

"You liked that, huh?" Sparkle pursed his lips a little, and then set his shoelace to the side, reaching down to scoop up the cat to deposit in his lap. "I woke up that morning, like, Shit, I need to do a speech, and that happened. But I guess it went over pretty well."

Nobody had said otherwise, anyway. Sparkle would take that as a good sign.

[not_a_moonie]

"You really captured how weird this place is," Alana informed him. ".. and how it's not always awful. Completely."

She stuck a spoon into her yogurt and offered, "But it's so weird that that's just it for you. You're done, huh?"

StuCo would miss him!

[myownface]

"Yeah, that's the plan," Sparkle replied with a shrug. "Go back to Toronto, probably end up going back to high school anyway because of stupid timeline crap. They think I'm going into my senior year, so that'll be fun."

He sounded thrilled. Really.

"Toronto's less likely to try to kill me, at least."

Marginally.