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]

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.

[gottaknockhard]

[He nods, understanding.]

You usually hang around forests?

[bronwe]

[ Frodo stares at him a moment, not understanding the reason for the question. ]

No, we prefer holes in the ground. Sloping valleys. Farmlands, if you will.

[gottaknockhard]

[Just wondering if he's going to have to be on the lookout for short people hiding in the bushes.]

So you live off the land? [He likes that answer. It sounds relatively normal, despite the comment about living in holes. (Honestly, he can't afford to be picky anymore.)]

[bronwe]

Why yes. [ Frodo tries not to grin too wide. This guy gets it! ] We are fond of everything that grows. That lives, that is.

[gottaknockhard]

[As oppose to... But no, he won't ask. He's sticking to the normalcy thing.]

Sounds like a nice life.

[bronwe]

About the nicest I can imagine, I must say, though I can't quite speak for everyone.

[ He hesitates first, not sure how to even ask or if it would be weird to. ]

What is it like where you lived?

[gottaknockhard]

[He smiles at the earnest curiosity in that question.]

Nothing that envious. [But he downplays anything too deeply rooted in his past, choosing instead to go with his usual distraction.] I spent my last four years there drifting through space in an old fishing ship, in search of my next pack of cigarettes.

[bronwe]

[ Old or not, it seems terribly exciting to be out among the stars. He imagines them like jewels floating in space, bright and beautiful. ]

Uncle Bilbo, my cousin actually. He told me all the stars and helped me remember all the names. The ones here seems different, unless I have forgotten everything he taught me...

[gottaknockhard]

[Maybe the first time. Until you run out of food and all the money you make catching bounties is only enough to pay for fuel and repairs. They might have been better off as fishermen.]

Pretty sure they are. We're not on any planet I've been to, so who knows what they're called anymore.

[bronwe]

[ Frodo thought going on an adventure would be most exciting too, until he had one for himself. ]

Did you ever have a favorite one?

[gottaknockhard]

[He quirks an eyebrow.]

A favorite star?

[bronwe]

[ He pauses a moment, wondering if that's a strange question to ask. The other hobbits would surely think so. ]

If you have any, that is, there are so many...