62; action/dictated

[gottaknockhard]

[Cold. Spike hadn't considered the weather when he made the decision to spend his morning working on the zipcraft. It had been put on the back burner shortly after he'd flown it through a wall and eventually transported it outside Brock's cabin. Of course he remembers now that he's trying to use the engine to warm his hands; he was going to wait until Spring before continuing that particular project, but recent events had Spike too anxious to do something (anything) normal. Even if it's something that he never had much of a knack for. Wouldn't surprise him if Brock had made more progress on the Redtail when he looked it over, and he's never even been in a spaceship. -- Still, it was his only idea, so he's sticking to it.

This isn't how ordinary people survive, and that thing with the mirror drove the point home. It happens again whenever he stops by the castle. Over and over, it's the same insane bullshit that he's getting clumsier at avoiding. And maybe there's a part of him that welcomes insanity. A place without blame or guilt. Where the past doesn't matter. If he thinks of it that way, it's not so bad.

They've all lost their sense of place in the world...

Annie's voice comes to him as clear as a bell, but everything that follows is immediately swallowed in haze. Were those her last words? Spike draws his hand back with a sudden jerk, and sparks fly out as the engine dies again.] --Dammit.

[No. He was wrong. This is really getting old.]

---

( Faye )

[Sometime later, after the noise coming out of the engine sounds less immediately suspicious, he bites the bullet. He'll feel better when it isn't hanging over his head anymore.]

Back from your vacation?

---

[Distant music filters in from the open journal. Not the kind of music you'd expect to hear from someone from the distant future. Old fashioned jazz. He's had it playing since he started working on the zipcraft, and now that he's done and waiting, he can actually sit back and enjoy it.]

They say the music you listen to says a lot about you.

[Mostly, it points to who has taste and who doesn't. Which can be a hard thing to come by.]

I wonder if they've got a club around here.


ooc: open to action and over the journal

Comments

[bronwe]

[ Frodo stares at him with wide-eyed wonder. ]

Have you been to the moon? What is it made of?

[gottaknockhard]

[His cigarette burns in his mouth for a few seconds after he catches that look. It weirdly prompts an honest answer out of him.]

I've only been to the ones that were already terraformed, so they aren't that different.

[bronwe]

[ BUT IT'S THE MOON, THAT'S SO COOL. ]

Terraformed? Different from what? [ Cheese? ]

[gottaknockhard]

From here. [Spike Spiegel: making space sound boring since yadda yadda we're not counting...] Amazing what people will live on.

[bronwe]

Oh. [ He tries not to seem too disappointed. ]

Do men actually live on the moon where you're from?

[gottaknockhard]

They live anywhere they can.

[Why he suddenly felt like talking about it, who knows. Not that he misses it or anything.]

[bronwe]

Did you ever live on the moon? For more than a day?

[gottaknockhard]

[He gives Frodo a sideways glance.]

Thinking of moving?

[bronwe]

[ Frodo snaps his gaze at him. Does he so look the part? ]

No, I should like to go home. We have songs about the man who lives on the moon, but I never thought he is real.

[gottaknockhard]

[Depending on the moon, maybe.]

They had to get the idea from somewhere.

[bronwe]

[ Frodo thinks about all the other things he thought isn't real... ]

Can cows jump over the moon?

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike isn't following that train of thought, judging by the look in his face.]

Is that what they say?

[bronwe]

In verses only... [ Wow, Frodo that probably sounds so dumb. ] Not that I thought it was real, but you did say men live on the moon!

[gottaknockhard]

[Actually that helps.]

Yeah, I did.

[bronwe]

No cows then, I suppose.

[ Then he remembers his manners. ] You can call me Frodo.

[gottaknockhard]

They still have cows, so who knows.

[He doesn't want to make him feel dumb when he already has to deal with being short. Not to mention the name.]

Spike.

[bronwe]

They didn't jump to get there though... [ Somehow that is terribly disappointing. Also Spike, your name is no better. ]

Is that a nickname?

[gottaknockhard]

I couldn't tell you. [He could, but he's never dealt with cattle, so he can feign ignorance on that weird question. He doesn't know why he's being nice though, if he's going to poke fun a his seemingly-common name.]

Is yours?

[bronwe]

[ It just sounds more like a name one gives to a pet, though he won't say it so outright. ]

No. Some call me Master Baggins instead, but that's not quite a nickname either.

[gottaknockhard]

[Master Frodo Baggins. Well, if he had to imagine a name for a forest creature.]

Some call me Mr. Spiegel, but they usually aren't the ones who know me.

[bronwe]

My closest friends call me that too, Or Elf-friend. I am quite fond of that one. [ Still not a forest creature!! ]

Can I call you Spike?

[gottaknockhard]

Spike is fine. [Don't mind the way he's staring at his ears now, debating what a PC question would be.]

You're an elf?

[bronwe]

[ Frodo stares at him weird for a moment. How does one possibly mistake him for an elf? ]

I'm a hobbit of the Shire. Little Folk, if you will.

[gottaknockhard]

[Meet the guy who knows nothing about anything. Magical beings are all hard for him to process, even now.]

Do you like being called that?

[bronwe]

Little? [ He shuffles his feet. ] It is truthful, if anything. Some call us halflings, which we disapprove. We aren't half of anything.