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

[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.

[ensorceler]

[ The glance she offers him up and down is quick, but her expression doesn't change. The apple stays where it is, offered out most pointedly as she speaks, bypassing any proper greeting or request. ]

Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live: and my law as the apple of thy eye.

[ A flick of her wrist, and she turns her hand over to show the most ornate ring she yet wears, one he ought to recognize. The apple is still gripped beneath, and her arm remains outstretched, waiting for something. Did he really leave this, or is he just a clueless fool? ]

[gottaknockhard]

[She always did have a poetic way of demanding answers. This would be his window of opportunity to shrug and pretend that he doesn't understand, but that would be counterproductive when he went through the trouble of getting her there.

It's tempting to feign ignorance anyway, just to have her find a more direct way of asserting herself until he told the truth. If circumstances were different, he may have even run with it. As it is, it's only a fleeting fantasy, and he smiles back instead.]

I couldn't remember what kind you liked.

[ensorceler]

[ She near scoffs, but reins it in, though her lips purse and her chin jerks higher for a moment. She says nothing about her preferences, but there's a beckoning of her hand. ]

Accept the apple, or kiss the ring. Which do you choose?

[gottaknockhard]

[There's a slight satisfaction he gets when she feels the need to remind him of something he already knew she expects, like it was back when her greatest frustration was trying to teach him how to enter a room. Then he takes the apple, and her hand with it, and kisses her ring.]

Your Majesty.

[ensorceler]

[ That actually draws a reluctant smile (partial smirk) from her lips, and her fingers relax and fan out, releasing the apple and the cloth with it as she accepts the kiss to her ring.

She had anticipated both, but where he is predictable he is also unknown, and she can scarcely tolerate either now. The days of smoking lessons and card games may be no more, but Anne has already had to learn say goodbye to her old life. Why would this be any different?

It's the rebuilding she struggles with, at least in her heart, and so that is why she must focus so much on the buildings themselves. Today again she must head into the city, but there is time yet to linger, if her fractured mind can handle it. ]

Why did you leave this, or concern yourself with my favorite?

[gottaknockhard]

[He leans back on the door, opening it more in a silent offering to enter. The inside may only look like a cheap hotel room, but talking in the hall always accompanies a risk for the reasonably paranoid.]

You weren't home, and I'm not in the habit of leaving notes.

[ensorceler]

[ It's true, though at the same time being seen going into his room is a whole new can of worms. But with a look cast over her shoulder, she then lowers her gaze in a falsely demure fashion as she brushes past him into what he might call an abode. ]

Was the apple not a note?

[gottaknockhard]

[He takes the opportunity to place the apple on a table and to grab a shirt, which he exchanges the towel with and pulls over his head.]

One you figured out in record time.

[ensorceler]

Have I?

[ She follows after him, seeming to take no heed of where it is she's walking around, as if she's already lived here for years. Her gaze is on him, unmoving, and her steps halt just before him once the shirt is pulled on. ]

I am not to be tested. What do you wish of me?

[gottaknockhard]

[There's a second reason he doesn't write notes, and it's complicated questions like that one.]

I wanted to see you.

[ensorceler]

You wanted to see me. Only to see?

[ She moves closer, and she'll continue to do so if he backs away, though if he doesn't or once she corners him, Anne will hardly shy away once they're almost close enough to touch, head tipped back to make up for the height difference. Her own expression reveals little of her intentions as she carries a half smile but predatory eyes, her movements as fluid as if she were on the dance floor. ]

What do you wish of me?

[gottaknockhard]

[He doesn't move; if anything he stands perfectly still, his train of thought taking a detour the closer she gets.

It's her own downfall for being one of those rare women who posses the kind of tragic beauty that he finds so attractive, and still manages to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. After everything he did to her, he has the nerve to be captivated by the idea, and he grins to keep from acting on impulse again. -- That was the whole point.]

That may have changed in the last few seconds.

[ensorceler]

[ Yes, she should think so. He is a man, just a man. A man who is as innocent as he is cruel in his association with her downfall, but she can go to no other.

She remains, calm all for the quick and shallow breaths that strain at her bodice, her voice now a whisper. Still she allows little to be revealed through her expression. ]

You wish to possess me?

[gottaknockhard]

[As she says it, he realizes it could be that simple. She isn't a replacement, she can't be, but it's true that he feels aimless without her. More so.

It's also entirely possible that he hasn't woken up from the night before.]

Would you allow yourself?

[ensorceler]

[ Anne's lips twist at his bold inquiry, and it ignites an old fury in her that is difficult to quell. Reasons that no longer matter.

But there will always be other reasons. Always. He will never have what he wants, but why should she feel sorrow for him when she must live with her own loss? So she turns away, and where she dons a smug look in turning she must also feel regret for it. ]

Not by any mortal man; not ever again. I am in God Almighty's hands, and no other's.

[gottaknockhard]

[He expected her response, which is half the reason he answered the way he did. Testing her still.]

Is that what you came to tell me?

[ensorceler]

I came to seek your intention. You still do not answer questions, but then I suppose it matters not.

You follow still.

[gottaknockhard]

[His shoulders slump and his hands get stuffed into his pockets, the only outward sign that he found anything about that assessment unfair. She brought more answers out of him than anyone before her.]

I actually thought I'd been giving you a break.

[ensorceler]

[ She shoots a quizzical look over her shoulder, not quite understanding the phrase. It sounds like something bad rather than good, but she'll give him two seconds to explain or distract. ]

[gottaknockhard]

[Sometimes he wonders if all their problems may have stemmed from translating dialect from two different centuries.]

I wanted to give you some time.

[ensorceler]

[ Wishful thinking, friend. ]

Time... Time for what, pray tell? To mourn? To be gay? To turn to stone, as nothing more than a statue?

[ And they are back to her original question. What do you wish of me? ]

[gottaknockhard]

Maybe not the last. [But saying 'to cool down' would either be lost on her or offend.] Time to adjust before I asked you to breakfast.

[ensorceler]

[ She pins him with a puzzle look, facade temporarily rattled by his strange proposition, given everything just discussed. Quick to look away then, her gaze finds the apple, and Anne's fingers curl inward until her nails bite against the skin of her palm.

A catch of her breath, and a cool collect. ]

No.