paradisalost | 029; dictated

Entry tags:

spike spiegel

029; dictated

[Jet used to say life goes in cycles, but to Spike, here it's more like a spiral. Lose everything you never really had until you're left with the nothing you started with -- all those ways of thinking that make you a productive member of society. Just wait around for the next suicide mission to pop up and spend the meantime catching up on some sleep. As it happened, Brock's cabin was conveniently left up for grabs, and Spike found his nice little getaway to not give a damn in.

After briefly getting cheered up by the mischief of the 'new gang' in town, he returns with a case of beer to the only place that has nothing but solitude to offer. Sure, it could still use a big TV and a fridge full of food, maybe a decent fan to get some of that musk out of there, but he isn't in the mood to be picky.

It's only after he makes himself comfortable on the couch that he hears something off to the side... Movement catches his eye, and he automatically draws his gun. In the shuffling that follows, the journal falls out of nowhere and opens just in time to pick up a screeching animal and the hollow sound of empty cans scattering to the ground from a nearby pile.]

Hey! [Gunshots fire, but from his shouting, it sounds like he only succeeded in scaring something away.] Sonofabitch... Raccoons now.

[So he'll admit to some drawbacks in this brilliant plan. Maybe the castle is trying to make a point with that journal he sees on the ground and reluctantly reaches for. Everything's always got to be complicated.] Might have had better luck with a tent. Can you wish up bear traps, or is that against the rules?

[Good job checking in, Spike.]

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[In some ways, Julia isn't much different. She can also have a fondness for endlessly dancing around the point when the mood strikes her. But even if that nagging feeling only starts to, well, nag her just a little bit more, she's not quite ready to do anything about it yet.]

If you can call it that.

[And if Spike is still drawing a blank, he's nice enough not to show it. He can talk about nothing for days, so he came prepared.]

Every now and then. I'll let you know how the raccoon encounter turns out.

[They'll have to come to some kind of point. Eventually. But why rush it? When she really thinks about it, talking ~~and trying her best attempt at joking~~ about nothing is familiar, a small comfort, something she's running a little short on these days.]

Please do. I'd hate to be left thinking you were killed in a raccoon attack.

[You'd be surprised at how often he never gets to that point. The indirect approach doesn't always work.]

I'm not going down without a fight.

[You mean it's less often than practically never?]

That's good to know.

[Okay, so maybe it's not so surprising...]

I've got a few advantages on my side anyway.

[Try totally and utterly predictable :3]

Such as?

[Only to the people who pay attention to things like that.]

I'm at least three times its size, for one.

[Only to everyone with some amount of observational skills]

That isn't always guaranteed to be an advantage.

[So long as they let him get away with it.]

I think I'll be able to outsmart a rodent. [Which is why the Bebop never got any rats... in space, no less.]

[~~Good job, Spike.~~ If she were ~~more like Faye~~ meaner, there would be such an easy crack to make here. But, fortunately for him, since she isn't, she won't.]

One would hope.

[Pause]

Although, I've heard they can be fairly intelligent.

[... Nah, she's just more subtle. But it's all in good nature.]

[He sees through you, lady. Luckily, since she's not Faye, he doesn't take offense.]

In that case, I shouldn't have to worry about it coming back. [He's not above shooting defenseless animals when they're after his beer.]

[Oh, let her have her fun. (It's... been a while.) By now, she almost has herself convinced that this is like old times. Almost.]

And what's your plan if it does?

[If he had any clue who he was talking to, he'd possibly be having a much more serious conversation. He'll blame the raccoon later.]

I'm sure I can improvise something.

[Since nobody has come knocking at his door selling bear traps... What good are magic journals if they don't deliver?]

[Typical response. But it does manage to make her crack a small smile over there on the other end. ... She'd missed him. Stupid charm and all.]

You were always good at that.

[...

That pretty much confirms that she knows him from somewhere. Here or...?]

I've had enough practice.

[... Oh hey. Getting warmer.]

Then taking on a rodent shouldn't be a problem.

[Okay, she's good at this game.]

No. I've taken on bigger ones than that.

[Well. She's had a fair amount of practice herself.]

It's the nature of the world we live in.

[... Or lived, as the case may be.]

[The world we live in.]

How long have you been here?

Just over a week.

[The answer comes out automatically, but as it does... she pauses as the ramifications of this begin to hit her. If he'd been here the whole time, why had it taken this long for her to find him? It wasn't as if there were a whole solar system potentially between them this time....

There's that nagging feeling again, the one she can't quite pinpoint, but is growing stronger this time around. Something is.... Then again, maybe he hasn't been here long either. She has to ask.]

What about you?

[He's quiet himself for a while, trying to decide something.]

At least a year.

[She lets out a breath she wasn't even aware she'd been holding, but then falls silent again. What the hell does she even say to that? She thought that things would start to clear up for her as time began to go on, but she's now only more confused than ever.]

That's... quite a while.

[Sure, it sounds stupid, but that's what she finally blurts out when her voice comes back to her.]

[There's a possibility that's occurring to him, but he doesn't want to risk saying it out loud.]

Longer than I was expecting.

[There's so much that she doesn't understand. The questions continue to jumble around in her mind, but she tries her best to bite them back. Her characteristic coolness hasn't been broken just yet, and allowing that to happen wouldn't be in her best interests.]

Isn't that how these things usually turn out?

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