026 Summons ❈ Dictated ❈ Backdated to the 11th

[rose_of_battle]

[Sheena's voice is tired and filled with concern as she dictates into the journal.]

[Filtered to anyone who knows Spike Spiegel]

Hey, I know we've all been through hell, but I haven't been able to find or reach Spike. Does anyone know where he is?

[PleasePleasePleasePlease don't let it be more bad news.]

[/]

Comments

yay Bonnie and Clyde filter

[heloise]

How do we know you are a friend?

[ofhope]

It doesn't matter.

[rose_of_battle]

[She's in shock by what's just been said to her, and it comes out as anger.]

What kind of a question is that?! And it does matter! Spike wa--no, is my friend, and friends should be allowed to have one last good-bye because you don't know for sure it won't be!

Sure, people can come back after two weeks, but what if they don't? What then? What do you do then?!

[Her voice cracks a bit because this is something she's fearing about another one who's gone.]

[heloise]

[ She gives Joshua a look because it does matter, and not in the way the woman explains it either. Bodies can be defiled and stolen and the woman is a stranger as far as she's concerned. Her paranoia is on a different level. ]

Give us your name.

[ As much guarantee as can be asked for in a magical castle. ]

[ofhope]

[ Bodies are just bodies. Srsly. ]

[rose_of_battle]

[Oh, there's no way Sheena will ever do something like that, and she'd rather be hurt herself defending the corpse than let someone else do it.]

My name? It's Sheena Fujibayashi.

[Had Spike mentioned her to these people?]

Sheena Fujibayashi and Joshua

[heloise]

[ No, Spike has mattered the art of speaking and saying nothing. She turns to Joshua to see he agrees. ]

Come to the mansion.

Sheena Fujibayashi and Lucrezia

[ofhope]

She doesn't know where it is.

[ A sigh. He hates giving directions to just anybody. It's bad enough Lucrezia has such an open door policy...

He draws a crude map, anyway. It's perhaps a forty minute walk outside of the city. ]

[rose_of_battle]

[She's opening her mouth to say something when Joshua does it for her, and takes a few minutes studying the map.]

Thank you. I'll be there shortly.

[It's a relative term to someone who traveled by foot for several months.]

[heloise]

[ Fine then. Sheena can come when she wants to, but Lucrezia won't be waiting by the door. ]

[ofhope]

[ He probably won't be, either. He just doesn't care enough to entertain mourners. A maid can show her to the cellar. ]

[Action] Always

[rose_of_battle]

[Sheena arrives just as promised, feeling as out of place there as she had in Meltokio, despite the condition of the mansion and its surroundings. But this is important, and she'll be damned if she'll let people keep her away from her friend.

So, with that thought, she announces her presence with three loud taps of the door's knocker.]

[heloise]

[ It will take a few minutes for the maid to finish whatever she was doing to reach the door, opening it with a silent bow. She would ask Sheena for her name before beginning to lead her down a series of hallways and stairs to reach the cellar.

It is dark and cold, with dust-covered barrels stacked in one corner and wine racks in another. The rest of the walls are covered with heavy fabric. But there are candles lighting the room enough to read, as Lucrezia is doing, seated on a plush seat near a large bed. The tuft of dark curly hair may betray the person laid there too. ]

Sheena, I presume?

[rose_of_battle]

[As impatient as the ninja is, Sheena's been in "polite" society enough times to know not to show it when the maid answers the door, nor when she's asked for her name again. Still, she can't help the angry twitching of her fingers against her thighs as she follows the other woman, the rage she feels at the castle growing with every step they take until she feels she's going to explode.

Luckily, everyone is spared that by her reaction the moment they reach the cellar and she spots that familiar tuft of hair. She stops, her eyes glued to that spot for several seconds before tracing down the body, reflexively looking for that tell-tale rise and fall of material that would indicate breathing.

Finding none, and snapped out of her stupor by the sound of her own name, she turns to the woman reading.]

Yes. Yes, I'm Sheena. Thank you for letting me come here.

[heloise]

[ Lucrezia sets her book aside so she can stand and step closer to Spike's bed, resting her hands on its side. She nods at Sheena as if to give her permission to come closer. Gratitude is unnecessary, perhaps anger would be more suitable but she knows better than to remind the woman of that. ]

It has only been a number of days.

[rose_of_battle]

[Whether or not the nod is for permission, Sheena moves closer to the bed anyway, her eyes once more fixed on the man before her.

She's angry all right, but she's keeping it in check in deference to the other woman, the only sign of her rage is still the trembling of her fingers as she reached for Spike's hand.]

Oh, Spike, you're an idiot, too, you know that?

[Yes, Lucrezia, she has trouble expressing how she truly feels sometimes, but that tear running down her cheek speaks volumes.]

[heloise]

[ Lucrezia has her eyes fixed on the woman, dropping her gaze only to watch her hand around Spike's, as if to make sure she isn't about to break it. Then there is the uncanny similarity... ]

No. [ Not an idiot, even if she can hardly remember much of what happened. ] He may have died protecting me.

[rose_of_battle]

[Sheena's head pops up and she inadvertently tightens her grip on Spike's hand. Another friend gone for the same reason.]

He died protecting you?

[Ohhhh... No wonder she had been so protective of the man.]

[heloise]

Maybe.

[ She doesn't like giving straight answers, most of all to people she isn't sure she can trust which may be everyone ]

Would you believe he did?

[rose_of_battle]

[Sheena, on the other hand, gives straight answers because she's a horrible liar for a ninja.]

Spike?

[She looks at her friend for a moment, recalling a wobbly trip home after a night of drinking and smiles softly.]

Actually, yeah I would, even though he doesn't act like he would.

[heloise]

[ Lucrezia reaches to tuck away any stray strands of his hair. A futile attempt, but she does try. ]

What does he act like instead?

[rose_of_battle]

[Half-expecting Spike to react to the other woman's action, Sheena smiles sadly when he doesn't.]

I'm not sure how to put it. Not exactly indifferent, and not exactly like he doesn't care, but... Would "subtle" be a good way to put it?

[heloise]

Subtle. [ As if she doesn't quite understand the word. ]

Underhanded. He was never straightforward.

[rose_of_battle]

[Sheena tilts her head in thought.]

Yeah. I know it sounds kinda bad, but that's a good way to put it.

He was stealthy about it.

[heloise]

Stealthy when it comes to kindness?