71; action/dictated

[gottaknockhard]

( morning : outside room 613 )

[When something is on his mind, Spike tends to arrive at places before he ever makes a conscious decision to go there. It's only when he's standing outside her door that he puts any thought into why he suddenly showed up. They haven't really been on good terms lately, to put it lightly, so showing his face may not be the wisest idea. And anyway, the last trips out of town that they've been on has proven just how little she really needs him around. If anything, the recent one is more than even he's sure he can suppress.

With that memory resurfacing, he lowers the fist he'd risen to knock on the door. Instead, he wishes up an apple, and sets it on the floor in front of it.

He's gone and up the stairs a minute later.]

--

( afternoon : in the game room )

[This afternoon, Spike visited his room at the castle, setting out on what's been his new routine. Work out, clean up, eat something -- which inevitably evolves to being guilted into feeding a dog who somehow hasn't wised up enough to run off -- then disappear for a while. Usually to take a nap. Only on this day, after that bout of productivity, he pauses by the game room on his way out.

A round of pool isn't a bad way to pass the time.

Not long after, he's setting up a table, cigarette wedged in his mouth as he gets ready to see how his hand-eye coordination is faring. It's a decent excuse, so he sticks with it.]

--

( evening : in town )

[Dealing with his new affliction is always the most annoying at night. Avoiding bars has the unfortunate side effect of giving Spike little direction in where to make himself comfortable before starting another day. Tonight's wandering lead him to a shop he hadn't been to since the time that Kaylee found him drunk in her Mule, and he surprised her while she was running errands. As such, he feels the tug of nostalgia as he starts towards it.

He walks in the Pie Hole like he's surprised it's still there, and starts to look around. Before he'd only been outside, but he imagined it'd be more... full. Taking a seat anyway, he pulls out the journal and dictates to anyone who keeps up better than he does.]

Must be hard to keep a business going around here, but they might have to consider changing the name. A place called the Pie Hole is misleading if there aren't any pies left.


ooc: open anywhere!

Comments

Written

[nottallerordead]

Cute name though.

[ Linda's done a bit of exploring herself, but mostly she's interested in figuring out how to best use this journal thingy. She can't quite bring herself to try anything but writing yet. ]

Why aren't there any pies left?

Dictated;

[gottaknockhard]

[Not being anywhere he can wish for a pen, he just dictates back.]

Maybe the earthquake scared off the baker.

Written 5eva

[nottallerordead]

[ Slightly more socially awkward, but not enough to make her want to try and show her face. ]

When was there an earthquake?

Dictated; lazy 4ever

[gottaknockhard]

A few months ago. It hit the town pretty hard.

[mal_addict]

My, that is an unfortunately named establishment.

[gottaknockhard]

That's what happens when you don't go back to a place for a few years. Everything changes.

[mal_addict]

So what do they sell there now, exactly? Or is it just the hole?

[gottaknockhard]

I don't know. I haven't seen anyone since I walked in. [He's kind of hoping the bitching will make a waitress magically appear.] So I guess the kitchen is fair game.

dictated (for now?)

[freeslider]

[Oh shoot, she knew she forgot something. Like locking the door.]

Sorry about that. We kind of lost our cook-slash-owner and I haven't found a replacement yet. Also I'm pretty sure he was going to change the name, but---

dictated;

[gottaknockhard]

[And he was about decided that all the employees went back home.]

So you inherited it?

dictated;

[freeslider]

Well, that makes it sound like somebody died, but yeah, pretty much. I was going to just start working there as a waitress when the owner up and vanished. And then, boom, here I am with the keys and no idea how to bake.

dictated;

[gottaknockhard]

[This is a familiar story. She'd be surprised to learn how many people still try to run a business by themselves when their employees jump ship.]

We never could keep the chefs for long.

[action forever]

[both_neither]

[He tells himself he should probably just keep walking when he passes the room by and spots Spike in the middle of a solo game of pool. He wonders if Vicious' order to stay away from Spike is technically still standing, but that's back when they were stirring up trouble. Actively, anyway. He's not in the mood for a fight, necessarily, but he can't resist the chance.]

Room for one more?

[gottaknockhard]

[When Spike got a glimpse of Gren while he was setting up his shot, he barely reacted. Seeming to be concentrating on what he's doing, he takes his time replying until he's satisfied with his move.

But when he straightens back up, all that tension rolls off his back, and he gives what could pass as a friendly smile.]

Are you any good?

[both_neither]

I might be a little rusty, but I heard pool is one of those games you never really forget.

[His smile is much the same. The suspicion is more distant to the curiosity.]

[gottaknockhard]

[He regards him for a few seconds, then holds out the pool stick in his hand to take.]

Spoken like a real shark.

1/2

[ensorceler]

[ Anne is out nearly the entire day, and so she is exhausted when she returns to her door, her leg aching from all of the walking she's had to do. Though it's been some time, her leg still gives her pains she can't describe to anyone else, but it hardly stops her.

The apple, however, does, forcing her to halt her entry into her chambers and stare at it in wild suspicion. There's no helping that she shoots a look over her right shoulder, then to the left, and then back down. When she tries her door, she finds it still locked, and that brings her relief. After another moment's pause, she crouches down to pick up the apple, but doesn't inspect it out in the hall where anyone can see. She's quick to enter her rooms after that, locking the door behind her and setting it down on a table. She tries to give it no more thought as she goes about her evening preparation for bed, but it's impossible to keep her mind from wandering back to it and what it could mean. It could be a threat; poison, or a message. The apple is a message of sin, of a fall from grace. Those thoughts make her mood sour, but that also has something to do with still needing to ask ghosts to assist her out of her dress.

At the same time, she knows it to symbolize love, or someone of great importance. It even represents sensuality, but that can lead right back to sin. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

She decides it can't be poisoned, because that is too stupid and blatant of an attempt. It's a message, but it troubles her too much to figure out what for now. Of course her mind wanders to Micheletto first, to think he might have returned (this seems like something he might do). But she is too weary to go wandering the halls to see for herself, so she forces the thoughts away with heavy drink and then falls into a dark slumber. ]

[ensorceler]

[ The next morning she's up early, as usual, eating as little as ever and then beginning the long trek that involves preparing for the day in the 16th century. From sleeping shift to complete outfit and hair takes no small amount of time, but at least she forsakes any make-up to accessorize the symbols of purity and sobriety that white and black represent.

She reads for awhile, soothing her soul somewhat with an old pamphlet from home before heading out. There are many floors, but she is not in a particular hurry. She brings the apple with her, wrapped in a cloth, as she begins to walk the halls from her floor on up. Then when she's through, if she finds nothing, she can just go about her business in the city once more and pay it not another thought. It could have just been a child being kind, after all. Maybe Arya or Ted, though that doesn't seem very likely.

She doesn't get very far before another idea hits her hard. On the seventh floor, outside door 705, she stares at the numbers with a look bordering on horror and curiosity. But she doesn't linger, forcing herself to move on. First she will check all the doors, but now this new suspicion won't leave her thoughts. It could have been Spike. This is also something he might do, but that thought baffles her much more than Micheletto. Both of them, however, represent her death. They were nothing but foreshadowing, and if she seeks either out now, it's hard to know if it's for peace or for war.

She walks up and down the entirety of the castle's floors, but sees no sign of the scruffy assassin's presence anywhere. Of course, she reasons, that could mean nothing. He could remove the nameplate; live elsewhere just as before. But she doubts it, as the more she has thought of Spike, the more likely it seems. There are no others that would do something like this... None that she consciously knows.

Ending up at Spike's door again, Anne doesn't hesitate this time before knocking. The apple is unbound and offered out with her left hand as her only greeting should he be around, or bother to answer the door. ]

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike is in the middle of the routine he established the day before; halfway between working out and getting cleaned up, when he hears the knock on his door. The timing gives him a few puzzling moments of doubt, but then, he should be expecting someone. It just happens that his list of possibilities is a much shorter one to go by.

Who knows what he'd been thinking the day before, when he left a piece of fruit as a way of checking in. He rarely questions himself for his actions, as she could attest. For whatever reason, he wanted to see her. He just didn't know how much of a grace period he should give after ruining her life. Leaving something for her to figure out may have been his way of giving her the option of deciding that for herself. Maybe. He hasn't quite figured it out by the time he pulls the door open.

In nothing but a pair of sweatpants and a towel draped over his shoulders, he raises both eyebrows in honest surprise at the accuracy of his prediction. He looks at the apple first, only focusing on her when he's sure she isn't about to throw it at his face.]

... 'Morning.

[bro_codebreaker]

Yeah, that's kinda why I don't have the WildKat anymore. All my staff kept leaving. More trouble than it was worth, if you ask me.

[gottaknockhard]

I guess places like that are sabotaged from the beginning.

[bro_codebreaker]

Sabotage? Weird choice of words, there, bro. It just seems like economics, to me. Not enough people to form a workforce, not enough need for a system where people pay for things when they can just wish for them....? Then you don't have grounds for successful business. As much of a rabid capitalism fan as I am, you just can't beat free stuff.

Game room (and sorry so late!)

[rose_of_battle]

[Everyone needs to blow off steam once in a while, and that can take the form of anything: from training, to hitting a pillow, to taking a walk, or in the case of one Sheena Fujibayashi, venturing into the game room for some one-on-one with a video game or movie.

Upon entering, she can't help but notice Spike, and after a moment of watching him, tilts her head in wonder.]

What are you doing, Spike?

no worries c:

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike stops in the middle of his play, looking up with mild surprise at Sheena. He thought it was obvious what he was doing, so his first thought is that he missed some horrible castle curse since this morning.

... She doesn't looked panicked though. Probably nothing.]

You discovered my day job.

Okay. real one.

[rose_of_battle]

[Nope. No castle crisis going on now. Sheena has just never seen this before, so she's just confused.]

Your day job? How is hitting some balls with a staff a job?