The Nominal Temporary Wiggin Home Base, Friday

[gameinprogress]

The clock was ticking, and Ender was aware of it. He sometimes wondered if Peter wasn't, or if Peter had already calculated in their defeat and planned on from there.

It was probably the smart thing to do. Ender just wasn't capable of it: he had to go for the win, had to make this work. Now, here, and as thoroughly as possible

Comments

[hungriesteyes]

"Pointy things?" Sparkle's attention had been totally piqued, there. "Have anything small enough for a guy like me to carry around while hauling a backpack and whatever random crap I can drag into the castle with me when I sneak in tomorrow?"

[doesntbetray]

Alec sized Sparkle up. "Ranged or melee?" he asked. "I mean, something more along the lines of a bow, or a dagger?"

[hungriesteyes]

"Never shot an arrow off to save my life," Sparkle replied, looking almost thoughtful right on back. "Daggers are pretty straightforward, though. I don't have to worry about shooting for someone's ass and having it end up stuck in a wall or something."

And he wouldn't have to teach himself how to knock an arrow on the bow between now and tomorrow!

[doesntbetray]

Alec nodded. "I'll find you a dagger, then," he promised, making a mental note of it. "I bet there are people around who can give you some pointers with it, too."

There were people around with insight on a lot of things. He could only hope that one of the people hanging out in HQ had grown up with a lot of experience storming castles.

"Not from a place with too much fighting, then?" he guessed.

[hungriesteyes]

"Not from a place with fighting that compares anything to this," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders carelessly. "Toronto's streets can be pretty tough, but you learn what neighbourhoods to steer clear of if you don't want to get shanked while walking around in the dark."

Street brawling was a very different business from walking into battle. Swords and powers and bows and arrows and crap like that? Completely not Sparkle's style.

[doesntbetray]

Alec nodded in understanding. "This is even rougher than what I'm used to back home," he admitted. "Which is fighting demons."

Who at least usually had the decency not to shoot people with arrows, so there was one bit of danger Fandom had that home didn't.

[hungriesteyes]

Sparkle whistled at that, something low and actually kind of appreciative.

"Yeah, we don't have anything like that back home. At least, not that I'm aware of. Crap seems like it crawls out of the woodwork all the time, in other realities. Almost enough to make a guy jealous."

Only almost.

[doesntbetray]

"These days it's easy to be jealous of a lot of places," Alec said quietly.

[hungriesteyes]

"Would've left some people better-prepared for this place," Sparkle agreed, idly raising a hand to rub at his shoulder. His skin was etched with scars, the result of being too stubborn and proud to play by the rules from the get-go, hundreds of lines tracing 'I will not' over his body. "Maybe I would've asked for the bow, instead."

[doesntbetray]

"It might be just as well," Alec offered. "The other side has an archer who as far as I can tell doesn't like people stepping on his turf."

[hungriesteyes]

"Yeah, I heard about him," Sparkle agreed, frowning a little. "He's put holes in more than a couple of our guys since he got to the island. Probably better to just stick with something I can hide away. No need for people to know I'm armed, anyhow."

[doesntbetray]

"Tell me about it," Alec said a bit resentfully, rubbing his shoulder. "A dagger should be fine. You don't have a problem with getting up close?"

[hungriesteyes]

"I have a problem with being seen at all," Sparkle clarified with a shrug. "The dagger is just in case. I'm going in with Atton, too, but he's still running around with seams stitched into him after getting out of there the other day."

He considered for a moment, and then broke into a little grin.

"Feel like I owe you something for the dagger, though. You're putting your ass on the line for these things, right? Any little surprises you'd like to see us leave behind while everyone else is busting the prisoners out of detention?"

[doesntbetray]

Alec shook his head. "That's all right, but thanks," he said. "I'd rather just get this over with."

There was nothing -- about storming the castle, charging detention, any of it -- that he wanted. He just wanted Umbridge's spells undone.