038

[gottaknockhard]

[Typical with free vacations from the castle, Spike has been more or less out of commission since Paris and that whole incident. Cuts and bruises are already well on their way to healing, but for some valid reasons, he hasn't felt like going out. Maybe it wouldn't have been as bad if he hadn't spent most of his time stubbornly avoiding the clinic,

Comments

[itwas_raining]

[Now, more than ever, Julia knows why she doesn't make a habit of being a heavy drinker. She barely remembers the last time she had a hangover, and now, she sincerely wishes that that would stay in memory.

Who knows how much she had had to drink; it wasn't terribly far into New Year's where it'd started to be impossible to keep count. And who knows how long she'd been out before she'd woken up in her room with no memory of how she got there. Maybe there'd been something about allowing herself to let go and keep drinking that had felt nice at the time (some kind of release from every frustration that had been building ever since she got here), but now she's regretting every minute of it. Whatever she's able to remember, plus all of the things she probably doesn't.

The pounding, splitting headache hasn't gotten any better since she woke up, and now it's started to hit the point of desperation. She can barely even think like this, much less walk, but she's somehow made her way down to the clinic, in search of something, anything

[gottaknockhard]

[What? No, he wasn't in the clinic. He was just asking for directions...

Spike doesn't waste time thinking of excuses (although he does keep walking until he's out of visible range of anyone watching inside); he's a lot more interested in why she's coming towards it. Especially with the information he picked up while he was(n't) in there.]

Hey. [Which is his way of asking what's up. Use your words, Spike.]

[itwas_raining]

[That's information he won't be privy to. Because no one needs to know about the past 24 hours. She scrunches her eyes shut for a second to let this wave of pounding pass before trying to regain her normal composure.

So, after that, the best plan is to obviously get the focus back on him. Obviously.]

What are you doing? [... Why are you up?]

[gottaknockhard]

[Nice try. Spike might have his own problems, but Julia in pain is pretty easy for him to pick up on.]

Just going for a walk. [He doesn't move his eyes from her, trying to gauge the situation.] Seeing what I missed.

[ectobabble]

[Ray was trying to figure out where his ghost traps had gotten to --- and then he found them. in a dragon hoard. which he has ... no intention of disturbing. any free-roaming vapors that show up will just get free reign of the castle until he can get his trap back, and he's decided to go up and play Pac-Man in the game room instead.

which is what brings him wandering past the clinic --]

Spike! ... Hey, you okay? [since, uh, Julia never TOLD HIM that that was YOU in that accident]

[gottaknockhard]

[He winces a little bit from the shouting, but fortunately that's before he (slowly) turns around. With any luck, he can play it off like a hangover.]

Yeah. [This is why Julia is the best. We don't speak of things that happened in Paris.] ... Just checking on someone.

[ectobabble]

Oh! ... Is it that friend of Julia's that was in the car accident? ... I hope they're okay. She was too upset to talk about it ... and I guess I don't blame her.

[gottaknockhard]

... [Now he's got that weird guilt feeling nagging at the back of his mind, which doesn't really help his headache. It's why he usually likes to dance around the truth instead of outright lying. Shows how off he is.]

It was a motorcycle.

[nyochhavar]

[She had been checking if the clinic had changed since she was last here, as she intended to volunteer there again, when this battered and bruised man hobbled his way in.]

You will not find anyone to help you in that room, I'm afraid.

[STOP SNEAKING WHERE YOU SHOULDN'T GO!]

[gottaknockhard]

[He's about to turn around with some charming retort, but that voice... is vaguely familiar. Spike had only really seen her once or twice back then, but some people are hard to forget. Did she-?]

Lilith?

[nyochhavar]

[She, too, takes a moment to remember, but then...]

It's nice to see you again, Spike, though I would have preferred to find you in better health.

[gottaknockhard]

[... it's a lot stranger that she remembers him. But, being Spike, he doesn't comment on that directly.]

Don't worry, I'm not a patient. [Although it seems like he looks worse than he thought he did. He'll play it off as well as he can, while he's still moderately confused on what happened between now and Paris.] They've probably got their hands full.

Spike

[both_neither]

[God...hearing that voice again. He wasn't sure how it made him feel. A lot had happened in Callisto that he hadn't really had the time to sort through. Spike's part in that had seemed moot given his inevitable death, but now that he was alive...

Well...one thing at a time.]

Something like that.

Gren

[gottaknockhard]

...

[Honestly, Spike was only half-expecting a reply to that filter. When it happens, he has to take a minute to wrap his head around it. (And yet, considering what he's halfway sure this place is, maybe it makes sense.)]

Sorry I missed it.

Spike

[both_neither]

[Gren is far less sure about this place than Spike, though that's nothing a few more months won't fix. For now he's a man on pardon from death, which counts for quite a lot]

You didn't really. I...woke up here. [Still dying, but...details]

Gren

[gottaknockhard]

[He won't hear it from Spike. He tends to keep his morbid opinions to himself.]

How long ago was that? [Sticking to the mundane questions for now. At least until he figures something out.]