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

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[hexentotchen]

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]

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?"

[flickofawrist]

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."

[flickofawrist]

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?"

[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."

[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.