and if I just stay awhile here staring at the sea

[gottaknockhard]

Who: Spike Spiegel (gottaknockhard) and Anne Boleyn (ensorceler)
What: A quiet moment
When: The evening before the attack
Where: The cliffs at Terre Haute
Rating: PG-13

To say that Spike was out of his element would have been a joke to anyone who heard it. Every new destination they reached seemed to pull him further away from any rational expectations he had about the world beyond the castle, and anything he was remotely comfortable with engaging. Thankfully, since they reached the land of talking giraffes, it at least seemed to scatter the camp and make it less obvious when he broke away for the sake of his sanity. That he spent that time trailing the woman who convinced him to go was only expected.

It was the job he'd agreed to, anyway.

All this time he hadn't been tempted to explore a world he never cared to understand, and she barely needed to give an order. (How long had it been since he'd actually taken one?) It had started out as an act that he could play for the chance that something might spark his interests, but even that was a stretch to get him to spend weeks out in the wilderness. Even now, he didn't really know why he was so willing to follow her. Maybe it made him feel not as lost as he had; or he just needed a change in scenery more than he knew.

Anne was at the cliffs again, and he watched her as he finished one of his last cigarettes. He walked up behind her then, but kept his eyes to the horizon, not willing to break her thoughts. If nothing else, they found a nice view.

Comments

[gottaknockhard]

He can't decide if this is a welcome shift in conversation. Sometimes it catches him off guard how she can find just the right way to phrase something to filter in past his defenses.

"That wasn't by choice." Having Julia here made him realize how much her memory must have changed him. Part of the reason they had so many problems was because of how difficult it was for her to cope with what she had left.

Thinking of Julia is enough of a sign that he's into dangerous territory, so he's quick to add on. "Not everyone is used to living in a castle."

[ensorceler]

There is much she could say in response to that. How living in a large building of stone does not a true castle make. Living here is nothing like living as a queen, not even like living like the maid she was before.

"I know so little of you. And you...know so little of me, and where I have come from. Do you see me only as a queen? I ought be thankful deep in my heart for someone to. And then I also ought not care one fig."

Her hand settles against his chest, feeling the heartbeat for a long moment, letting it trail down the buttons curiously before she turns and pulls away, walking back to the edge of the cliff. He may not stop her, but she will not jump. Cannot bring herself to brave that step now, her will having all but abandoned her.

She still stares down, though, ever downward towards the black waters bursting against the rocks.

"Do you know of Psyche and Eros? She sought him out after he fled from her, though he was her husband. She requested the goddess Aphrodite's help in order to find him. The third task set forth was to fetch a cup of water from the dark river Styx, which cascades down from heights beyond imagination. It was an impossible task for a lone woman."

[gottaknockhard]

Spike listens carefully, attentive in that way that can only really occur after a near suicide attempt -- although he seems to have successfully spoiled that moment, and the next when she moves away. There's still a possibility that she'll be inspired again as she returns to the edge, but with her odd change in subject, he trusts that her mind must have moved onto other things.

"I can't remember that one," he replies slowly, encouraging her to tell the rest. This is a more comfortable approach for him, and a common way to get around telling too much about yourself, so he'll do his best to follow.

[ensorceler]

She rocks back onto her heels, then forward nearly to her toes in a precarious second...and then she's rocking back, and forth, and back, and forth. "An eagle helped her fetch the water from Hades.

Aphrodite was angry, proclaiming there was no chance a lone woman could have accomplished that test. But Psyche was still permitted to ascend to the second test."

[gottaknockhard]

Anne is apparently very good at making men nervous. He's not above pulling her back a second time, but at some point it starts to look like he's tempting fate.

"Do you think you're being tested?"