054;

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike finally reached his limit. Well, his new limit; the one he set after he reached the last one. The castle took it a few steps too far when it started making him fall in love with random residents, then followed it up by screwing with his memories and giving him new ones that would bring him nightmares for the rest of his life. There's no way he's going back there. -- He's currently lying on a bench in town, where he's been sleeping for more than a week just to avoid anything related to the castle. Which has worked, but as a consequence gave him an obscenely sore neck. No plan is ever perfect.

He takes off his jacket to use as a pillow when he notices the journal still stuck inside it.]

You again. [He could have sworn he threw it into the duck pond on his way out. But since he's stuck with it, that could be a sign... Maybe there's another reason he's having trouble sleeping. Against his better judgment, he sits up and rubs his neck. Then he finally opens the journal and pulls out something to write with.]

---

(People he was in lo-...)

[-ve with...... His pen stops halfway through writing the filter and his expression turns sour.]

... Eugh.

---

[Turns out, he still doesn't want to deal with it. Scowling at himself, he uses the journal to block the sun from his eyes and lies back down on the bench.]

Whatever.

Comments

[exanimatus]

[well, he was going to take a nap there... but upon approaching, he sees that someone else is already on his bench. which is unacceptable.

so he'll walk over and kick the metal part closest to Spike's head. he hopes it reverberates nicely.]

Hey.

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike had just closed his eyes again when someone starts playing with the bench. He frowns and waits for the vibrations to stop, not even bothering to see who it is. Hopefully blatant ignoring will get the hint across.]

[exanimatus]

[huh. that usually works.

he'll just... set the air on fire a little ways from Spike's face. might light his hair on fire if he's not careful.]

[gottaknockhard]

[It works. Spike's eyes snap open when he feels the heat, and he scrambles away from the fire (???) that brushes close enough to singe a few hairs. His reflexes just barely save him from something tragic, but that doesn't mean he won't be pissed off about it.

Once he figures out what's going on, and his heart slows back down, he fixes an annoyed glare at the guy standing in front of him. Since Spike wasn't watching, he's not immediately piecing together how he did that. His memory will jog in a second.]

What the hell?

[exanimatus]

[the fire, of course, disappears the moment Spike starts moving. he's too far away do have done that any logical way. vampires, always ruining everything.

...Zelman just points at the bench.]

You're in my spot.

[gottaknockhard]

[It's nice to know whenever he's overloaded with personal turmoil, he can still expect to run into the same petty bullshit he always has.]

Your spot?

[exanimatus]

That's what I said.

[petty is his middle name.]

[gottaknockhard]

[He's not getting up. On principle of getting woken from his nap.]

Looks like you'll have to find a new one.

[exanimatus]

What a shame, that's not on my list.

[he debates... kicking over the bench. not going to do it just yet, though. he'll see how far he can get away with being a brat first.]

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike looks back up with them, like he can't believe this guy would push him right now.]

I was taking a nap.