The Fortress, Sarah's London, Saturday

[electrocynic]

It had been decided Sarah wasn't going to the picnic. By Sarah. Because she felt she got the best quality decisions when she made them all by herself. New kids could just as well meet her during office hours next week. She wasn't portaling back and forth for that. Or the free food, even.

So, she'd already been here for a while. They'd gotten back from the retreat – finally, thank Christ – late last night, and she'd slept in, done some shopping, then retreated to the only place in London that really mattered: the Fortress.

And now she was standing outside in the street, smoking as she waited.

[ooc: NFB, and for the boys!]

Comments

[myownface]

"Seriously," Sparkle chimed in. "This is the best-dressed bar I've ever seen. I feel like I'm under-dressed for the occasion."

And Sparkle didn't often feel that way.

"Calls for a whiskey here, too."

[electrocynic]

Sarah shrugged. "Dunno. Reaction to wearing fucking spandex to work, I suppose." Lord knows she liked to cover herself up with full-length pants and a nice blazer when she wasn't working. "So that's two whiskeys then, is it? I can handle that."

She nodded towards one of the booths. "There's the regular spot." Already occupied by a dark-haired guy in all-black and a smiley, if a little frumpy young woman with huge glasses. "You can go on over there while I go deal with Norsey at the bar."

[suitably_heroic]

"Have fun," Atton said.

He looked towards the table and heaved a sigh. He had just come here for the drinks, damn it.

"Well, no time like the present," he said dryly, and wandered towards the booth.

[myownface]

"Oh hey, being social," Sparkle mused, looking toward the booth, and then shrugging his shoulders and ambling along behind. "If you need to bail from, like, human interaction," he said along the way, "I can always come up with some kind of shitty teenager excuse. I, like, come with those all built-in, really."

If he was here to play buffer to both sides, at least he was going to do his best to oblige along the way.

[suitably_heroic]

"'Sorry, it's vitally important I go outside and set the dumpster on fire'?" Atton suggested.

Stop putting the word 'fire' in Sparkle's head, Rand.

[myownface]

"I do come with my own pyrotechnics," Sparkle pointed out, grinning.

He was talking about the sparklers in his pocket, of course, but still.

[electrocynic]

"This is them, yes?" the man at the table asked the woman as they got close enough. There was a rosary hanging around his neck, and his voice was deep with a slight Spanish accent.

The woman immediately looked over and bounced up with a biiig smile. "Hi! You must be Sarah's American friends! Come, sit down, sit down! So nice to meet you, we don't get to see a lot of the people from Fandom."

And this was Sarah's BFF, boys.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, you're lucky that way," Atton agreed, casting Sparkle a quick look. "This one's Sparkle, I'm Atton, and you're--"

He snapped his fingers. "Jenny. Sarah's best friend."

[myownface]

"Hey," Sparkle added with a little wave. "And actually, I'm Canadian, not American."

Look, this was a big deal and that mistake needed to be rectified, here.

... Not just because it was their cover, apparently.

[electrocynic]

Had you thought Jenny's smile couldn't get any wider and brighter? Well, you'd thought wrong. She was kind of like Pinkie when it came to friendship. "Ooh, sorry about that. Canadian, right." That wasn't what the smile was for. "And yes, I'm Jenny," she chirped. That was the reason for the big damned smile. "And this is Don."

Don... nodded before knocking back a shot.

Jenny continued on. "Hello, Atton ––" Who was rather more handsome than Sarah's usual blokes if you asked Jenny. "–– and hello, Sparkle. Is that your cape name?"

[suitably_heroic]

"No, that's his name-name," Atton said. He was stalling for time as he tried to figure out which person would be the least annoying and/or frustrating one to sit next to. (He figured Sparkle could handle whatever.) "He had some funny parents, you know how it goes."

[myownface]

Sparkle was going to just kind of hang back and wait for Atton to take his pick. After all, still here to make this whole thing less shitty for... like, both of them.

"Yeah, that's my, 'my mother was on so many drugs and shouldn't have been allowed to name me right after I was born' name. Which could be a cape name, I guess, but that would kind of defeat the point."

A beat.

"Makes me wonder what kind of powers would go with a name like that, though."

And could he have them?

[electrocynic]

"Oooh, I bet they'd be something really pretty," Jenny enthused. (Fair warning, she was going to enthuse a lot.) "Ooh! Like maybe you could light the way for your teammates!"

Don shrugged a shoulder. "Is no worse than gliding," he noted, casting a sideways glance at a woman who happened to walk past.

[suitably_heroic]

... Right, that settled it. Atton was going to sit next to the guy who seemed more set on drinking and grunting, instead of the one who was giving off extremely clingy octopus vibes. "Fireworks," he said. "Hey, that would actually work for you, Sparks."

[myownface]

Which left Sparkle with Sunshine McGee. He shrugged and took a seat.

"I wouldn't have to carry sparklers around in my pockets all the time," Sparkle mused. "I could live with fireworks powers, I think."

[electrocynic]

"I think it would be lovely," Jenny said. See? Positive. She cradled her drink with both hands. "So! How did you meet our Sarah? She hasn't been very talkative."

(It was probably a good thing Sarah was nearly done at the bar right now. But only nearly.)

[suitably_heroic]

Atton shrugged. "She lives across the hall," he said, "She shouts pretty loud."

[myownface]

"And I played sidekick for a bit on the island," Sparkle replied, shrugging his own shoulders. "Less shouting, though."

[electrocynic]

Don snorted. "Sounds like Sarah."

Who now made her way back and set whiskeys in front of Atton and Sparkle with an ugh before dragging herself a stool to sit on at the end of the table. (It was really a four-person booth. Whatever.) "Fucking Devlin."

Jenny offered her a sympathetic look. "What was it this time?"

Eyeroll. "An absolutely charming offer of getting reacquainted with city life by blowing him."

[suitably_heroic]

[[ Start sending me notifs, LJ. ]]

"Sounds like a real ladies' man," Atton said dryly. "Seriously? They still allow people to use lines like that?"

[myownface]

"How often does that actually work for him? Like, he's just stupid, right? That's why he thought it would?"

Sparkle needed to check, here.

[electrocynic]

"He's the most powerful and famous superhero in the country," Jenny said by way of explanation, sounding mostly resigned.

"He's a massive prick," Sarah translated, glancing back to where Devlin was standing by the bar, surrounded by his laughing cronies. "It makes him ever so irresistible."

Feel the sarcasm.

"You should've told him you're on a date!" Jenny suggested brightly. Which would have been fine, if not for the obvious look at Atton.

Prompting a rather quick (and annoyed, and a little defensive) "Well I'm not" from Sarah.

[suitably_heroic]

"She's not," Atton said, at roughly exactly the same time.

He pointed helpfully at Sparkle.

Nobody brought a teenager to a date!

[myownface]

"Yeah, hi. Official third wheel," Sparkle said with a grin and a little wave. "I'm here to be, like, super not romantic and shit."

How was he doing so far?

[electrocynic]

Don squinted at him.

Then he nodded. "I like you."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it's not like Devlin would give a shit even if this was the strangest, bordering on illegal kind of three-way date," she drawled. "He didn't when I was with Alex."