Atton's Coruscant, Saturday

[suitably_heroic]

This would not be the first time that Atton woke up a girl. It would, however, be the first time Atton woke up a girl while on Coruscant, and so there'd been a lot of groaning and complaining for about half an hour until he realized just how badly he could freak out Mical with it.

Also, the boobs. He'd lost another half hour on the boobs.

Of course, by the time it was time to pick up Sparkle from Portalocity, both had kind of lost their novelty factor, and he was left with a body that didn't balance quite the way he expected. Which meant no training, because he was absolutely not going to break a toe or something in front of Sparkle, thank you very much. He was going to have to do something he'd half-promised Sparkle at... some point, instead.

Though, he realized as he waited in the Portalocity office, at least no one had accosted him about being that Jedi today. (And Jedi tunics were unisex, which was nice and easy, at least. Even if he'd had to steal one of Mira's bras. He was just... not going to tell her about it later.)

[[ for the kid, and phone calls, what have yo. ]]

Comments

[myownface]

"That should work out well," Sparkle decided. "I mean, garlic is hard to kill. That shit will keep just fine sitting in cloves on the counter for months."

Of course, if garlic sat there that long, you were doing something terribly wrong. Eat more garlic.

[suitably_heroic]

"Until someone wanders in and takes a bite because they don't know what it is," Atton said.

A beat.

"Hey, I should leave some chili peppers sitting around, see what happens."

[myownface]

Sparkle had been picturing somebody taking a big bite out of, just, like, a bulb of raw garlic, skins and all, when Atton came up with that next gem. A look of mild disgust was quickly replaced with an expression of glee.

"Magic happens," he decided. "I mean, unless it's that Miraluka kid; then I'd just feel like an awful shit. But, like, Mical? We'd need to record that somehow for posterity."

[suitably_heroic]

"I'd even settle for Brianna," Atton said thoughtfully. "Of course, we could also just sneak one into a taco or something. You know, after you lull everyone into a false sense of security with your cooking."

You could take the boy out of the Sith, but not the Sith out of the boy, apparently.

[myownface]

"See, I'll let you do that," Sparkle decided, "because out of the two of us, you stand a better chance of not ending up a smear across the wall after they figure out who did it. But I totally want to be there to watch."

A beat.

"Of course, whoever we did it to would probably end up being like the one person who lives for insanely spicy food."

[suitably_heroic]

"We'll just have to test those boundaries first," Atton decided.

He walked past a vendor who had a few dozen baskets full of decidedly alive food. "I mean, I have to keep these people on their toes, hanging around the Temple all the time like they do."

He was not going to go after Mira, for instance. ... Because Mira would have his balls.

[myownface]

Sparkle followed along after Atton, sparing the baskets a quick glance. Yeah, he wasn't going to eat anything he could make eye contact with. Not today.

"Really, we're bringing new and exciting experiences to them, so that they don't feel like they're missing out," Sparkle decided. "I mean, a life inside the Temple all the time? Who even wants that?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Mical and Brianna?" Atton offered. "Brianna's making good on this weird 'I will dedicate myself to peace' nonsense she has going on."

[myownface]

"I bet a mouthful of jalapeno peppers would help plenty with that, huh?"

Sparkle laughed and shook his head, pausing to look thoughtfully at what kind of looked like a selection of spices. The sign with a senth-penth... number one... three lines that he was pretty sure were cresh, V-that-was-eating-a-T... looked promising. He was picking up on Aurebesh here and there, mostly going by context cues from things he already knew the names for, and almost entirely from the menus in those diners that Atton kept taking him to.

"I mean, I guess a surprise mouthful of jalapenos would help anybody with that..."

[suitably_heroic]

"A surprise mouthful of jalapeno peppers would help anybody with just about anything," Atton mused.

He came to a stop as Sparkle did, glancing thataway and seeing... mostly just a bunch of tiny, tiny food things. Whatever. "See, that's one of the upsides of your world: nobody here will recognize your vegetables."

[myownface]

"Man, just wait until I introduce them to potatoes. The versatile and delicious god of the vegetable world."

Potatoes. Because Sparkle cared.

... And because they were really freaking easy to grow and even easier to cook. Details.

"It would be really stupid of me to just, like, figure out what these are like by buying some of everything and then just sort of praying there's a book somewhere with pictures, right?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, they have potatoes on Corellia," Atton said. "But that's a few stands over, probably."

Because some things just kind of inexplicably grew here. Sometimes weirdly Kessel-shaped things.

"Books, no. Datapads, sure. Probably could've brought a scanner or something, but..." he shrugged.

He'd woken up as a girl that morning. He hadn't had a lot of time for forward planning.

[myownface]

".... We're getting some potatoes," Sparkle decreed. "I have no freaking clue what we're doing with them yet, but it's happening."

Because potatoes.

"Maybe next time we bring the scanner," he added, wryly. "Because making dinner probably shouldn't involve a game of Russian roulette, but with seasonings instead of a partly loaded gun."

Probably. But what did Sparkle know? Like half the things in this galaxy were probably out to kill someone at any given moment anyway.

[suitably_heroic]

Hey, there were places he could be and people he could spend time with where he'd never have to encounter anything deadly in his life.

Atton was not one of those people. Whatever those people were, Atton was pretty much the opposite.

"Maybe next time," he said easily. "Of course, you could also just ask the nice Neimoidian what everything is."

[myownface]

"... I could also do that."

Look, Sparkle, like, sucked at asking shop owners about things. He was far too used to trying to avoid catching their attention. Shop owners hated kids like him.

For good reason, maybe, but still.

"Hey, um, excuse me? I'm curious if there are any of these that are safe for human consumption, that, like, come highly recommended?"

He'd taste-test from there, so long as he knew it wouldn't kill him. He was brave enough to subject himself to the mystery foods, so long as they were safe.

[suitably_heroic]

The shopkeeper was a Neimoidian. Atton was pretty sure the only thing she was interested in were credits, and she didn't much care who they came from.

In fact, she sighed. "You might try the boontaspice," she began, and then listed - and pointed at - several in turn. "All edible by humans. However, I am not intimately familiar with your species' palate."

"Eh, anything that won't kill us," Atton said, shrugging. "Right? ...Just, y'know, stick to stands labeled 'cooking spices' while we're here."

[myownface]

Sparkle's mouth fell open a little, and then closed, and then he nodded.

"Cooking," he agreed, because it wasn't so difficult to figure out what 'spice' might be otherwise. He was familiar with the term because science fiction back home was totally a thing that appeared to have some tangential basis in real life throughout the multiverse. Thank god. "And sure... I'll give the boontaspice and those other ones a shot. If I don't like them, I'm sure somebody will."

Maybe there would be something even vaguely resembling taco seasonings in there. Ish. If he squinted. If not, it would be a taste adventure, and he'd have to just cheat and bring a flavour packet with him the next time he visited. The Temple totally needed more stuff in the kitchen anyway.

[suitably_heroic]

"A wise choice," the Neimoidian droned, though she didn't sound particularly invested. She put some of each in the bag, and Atton handed over the credit chip again.

"It's a Coruscant marketplace," he said, to Sparkle. "I mean, people here like to pretend it's all civilized and clean, but... well, nobody needs you getting hopped up on glitterstim by accident."

[myownface]

There was a long pause at that, and then Sparkle blinked, and grinned, and just laughed outright.

"Okay, like, being fucked up on random drugs without even seeing it coming would probably suck, but what a name."

Honestly. A kid named Sparkle being messed up on glitter would be humourously fitting. If not for the whole telepathy and highly addictive yadda yadda of the thing.

[suitably_heroic]

"Which is the whole reason why I'm warning you," Atton said sagely, "Because I'm pretty sure if you actually ran across it, the name would make you stick it in your stupid face."

[myownface]

"It's because I never developed basic common sense to go with my amazing sense of humour," Sparkle decided, still grinning. "But okay, okay, no eating the space glitter. It'll be tough, but I think I can handle it."

It would be way harder to resist than something with a name like deathsticks, though.

[suitably_heroic]

"There might be hope for you yet," Atton said. "But don't quote me on that. You might start using it as an excuse to pick up the stupid-slack."

He put the spice bag in the vegetable bag. Seemed like the best place to put it. "Save it for the next time you see Cade, instead."

[myownface]

"Cade can have all the stupid," Sparkle promised. "I will sit back and observe the stupid, so that I might understand just how stupid that stupid happens to be. That work?"

He'd film it for posterity, anyway.

[suitably_heroic]

"You know, I was just about to say 'I wonder how he's dealing with the weekend weird'," Atton said, "And then I realized it's Cade and I really, truly don't want to know."

His own half hour of squishy probably paled in comparison.

[myownface]

Sparkle's mouth fell open. And then he shut it again. And then, once more, open.

And then he just snickered.

"Yeah, no, probably not. Like. Going by weird weekends past, the responsible option still involves showing a lot of cleavage and seeing how many guys want to buy him drinks."

Which, you know, Sparkle would be all over doing too, if the island hadn't ripped him off royally this weekend. Boo.