The Doldrums 2: Lost in the Cold Sweet Embrace of Snow
Jet's stomach was churning like a blender at Jamba Juice (some companies just stick around no matter what you do, like Nike). Those kabobs had really been something. It was like eating char with a side portion of char and a nice sauce of gasoline. Kinda tangy. He was currently lying down on his bed after his crazed ordeal at the hands of Spike, who, like many a housewife, had glowered at him until he had eaten all of his food.
Spike, a housewife.
It was kind of funny. Lock anyone up in the same room with nothing to do but clean it for three months and anyone will become a clean freak. Spike was getting more and more anal as the days were going on. He could hear him now: "No no, the pots and pans go in this cabinet, the plates and mugs go in this one, and oh my god, you are ruining all of my work, get out of my kitchen!"
Then again it was kind of disturbing to hear that come out of Spike.
"I work and I slave away all day to make this place clean, and what do you do? You spill coffee on it in three seconds and rub it into the carpet! Shame on you!"
It was time to be afraid. Very afraid.
__________________
"We need to talk."
Faye had feared this conversation for some time now, the "We need to talk" coming from Spike Spiegel, renowned bounty hunter and all that hooplah. Mostly she had been dreading it over her liking but not liking him, which is kind of obvious, if you look for that sort of thing, but no she didn't really like him and oh shit he was standing there with a serious look on his face and ohmygod we've been on this ship together for two months now and ohshitmaybehe'sseenthewayI'vebeenlookingathimandohno…
Spike closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was going to be hard. He knew that she was difficult, but after spending two months with her, more or less alone except for a kid a dog and an old guy (who was actually 36), he had thought that it would be best to just tell her the way he felt. "Faye… I…"
Just at that moment, Edward's face popped in from above, like some crazed spider-monkey that… pops in from above.
"Ya-ho!!! Spikey-poo, what do you do?"
"Uh… I… uh… it's nothing, just adult stuff Ed."
"What do you mean adult stuff?"
"Oh… just… well…"
Faye decided not to waste any time and did the most painless thing. She ran for higher ground. RUN, SPRINT FOR THE HILLS AND PRAY THEY DON'T COME FOR YOU!!! RUN FOR IT GIRL!!!
"Um… I guess we'll talk later then Faye…"
__________________
Jet stumbled into the living area and crawled into the sofa. Painfully, he reached over and got the remote for the television. Perhaps the bright, happy screen would soothe the inner flames of his tortured body, which could not at the moment play piano. Perhaps Big Shot was on, and that was always funny to watch. Maybe even some ancient sitcom that had been running for years and years… like Friends. They were re-running the entire show again for the thirtieth time on the oldies channel.
::CLICK:: The T.V is on.
::CLICK:: Infomercial.
::CLICK:: Infomercial.
::CLICK:: Static.
::CLICK:: Static.
::CLICK:: Infomercial, on the fat burning process, new product only 199.99 at a 400.00 value with…
::CLICK:: Static.
::CLICK:: Infomercial on brand new abdominal toning product.
::CLICK:: Tae Bo.
This is getting boring. If I wanted to get in shape I would work out. If I wanted to lose fat, I would work out. What is wrong with these people? Can't they see that if everybody just got off their lazy asses maybe, just maybe they would lose some weight? Shit. Bunch of morons.
::CLICK:: Static.
Hmm… funny… I could have sworn I just saw something in the static. Like… a face or something… there's another one. Maybe if I stare hard enough I'll be able so see something. Ooh, look, a car… a cloud… a tree… A smiling woman walking in a grassy field with her arms raised defiantly to the sunny sky, a light breeze blowing her hair around wildly as she saunters deliberately into my arms… A city, a beautiful city lost in the sweet embrace of winter, silent except for the roaring of a passing river and the occasional car that rolls through on the otherwise deserted streets… It's snowing… It's snowing… It's snowing…
__________________
Faye was sitting in a corner of her room, chain smoking all of the cigarettes she could find and praying that Spike wouldn't come and knock on the door. Although that would be kind of a comfort, knowing that he cared enough to come and check on her after she had run away while he was trying to talk to her, but she didn't care she ran because he had no right to put her in that position of wanting to have him but wanting to not want to have him but wanting to have him none the less. It was hurting her a little bit, not knowing that she wanted what she knew she wanted but also knew that if she had she wouldn't want to have but still have and want at the same time.
Grrr… he was so frustrating some times.
She wanted to come right out and say that she liked him, but then again she didn't want to come right out and tell him because he was about to do it anyway and why do something when others can do it for you right? But still if she had just waited around long enough to hear him out maybe she would have gotten some clue as to what to do with him now that she knew that he wanted her back.
Then again if she did want him and he wanted her too then there wouldn't be anything wrong with that, and maybe, just maybe it would work out and they would be happy together and get rich with some bounty and live in a mansion on Mars and all of that fairytale whatnot. Then again, with a cynicism filter, it would be more like, getting together, finding Julia, and breaking up.
::knock knock::
OH SHIT, THAT'S HIM!!! WHAT AMI GONNA DO?!?!?!?
::knock knock::
DEAR GOD!!! Ok… don't panic… alright, I'll just tell him, and I'll do it real fast to so he can't say anything to mess it all up… ok… here we go…
Faye got up out of bed slowly and walked with mincing steps up to the door. She took a deep breath, squeezed shut her eyes, and tore open the door. "Iloveyou!"
Edward was a little shocked at that. But she shrugged it off. "Thank you Faye faye! I love you too!"
Faye did the only thing she could do. She screamed.
__________________
Spike was once again, cleaning. It was really healthy once you got into it. It afforded you more chances to think than you would have if say you were getting beat on the head with a stick. Which did tend to happen, from time to time. It was kind of like a nice escape from reality, although said reality wasn't much to escape from.
Spike walked into the living room to check up on why the T.V was still on. He was about to turn it off too, when the huge coffee stain on the sofa decided to start breathing again and reveal itself to be Jet. Jet was sitting and just watching the T.V. Which happened to be showing static. It was actually kind of hypnotic, watching the white blips show up and disappear into the infinite sandstorm of time, whirling away into nothing wildly, drinking deeply from the sea of chaos.
Ooh look, something to clean. ::spray:: ::wipewipe::
It was then, cleaning the T.V that he heard Faye's scream. "What's up with her Jet?"
"…"
"Uh… Jet?"
"I… am… fine… it's snowing…"
"Uh… do you know what's up with Faye?"
"Faye? She is… repressing emotions… which have no need of… repression. All that Faye needs… is to expand her horizons. Perhaps… it would be a good idea to… introduce Faye to music… it's snowing…"
Jet spoke in a flat monotone, totally devoid of emotion, and was still lying curled up on his side on the sofa.
"Jet…what do you mean?"
"Faye has… feelings which she has long… ignored… in favor of… money, and her own twisted pursuit of happiness through money. What she needs… is a change of perspective and a little bit of time on her own… which she is not getting here… It's snowing…"
"Um… Jet, what do you mean it's snowing?"
"Look at it Spike. Do you see it swirling through the world? The snow is coming down everywhere and it embracing everyone in it's cold, sweet embrace, lulling us all off into an eternal sleep so that we may awaken into a world that the snow has cleansed. The snow… it fills every corner of the world, it fills the places where there is nothing, and it fills our souls with nothingness to combat the useless things we fill our souls with. Knowing this will lead us to nirvana, but ignorance of the snow will lead to our downfall into the collective stagnation we face as a species, and so I will say again, it's snowing…"
Spike finally realized that Jet had been staring vacantly into the television for the entire duration of their talk. He had been watching the static the entire time. It was almost as if he was watching snow fall through a small window… Snow falling from nothingness into nothingness, in a swirling void of chaos…
Spike sat down on the chair to get a better view of the snow… and to think about roses… roses falling to the ground amid a light fall of snow apon the world, which was already blanketed white in the expanse of pure white…
Ooh, something to clean. ::spray:: ::wipewipe::
Spike polished off Jet's bald head and walked off to find Faye and tell her what was on his mind.
__________________
Faye was sitting in the back of one of the store rooms of the Bebop, chain smoking pack after pack of cigarettes.
It was really terrible. There was a sizable pile of butts right next to her, and her ash tray/coffee mug had already over flowed with ashes from her smoking. She was really tweaking out on caffeine and nicotine. Not the best way to spend your days.
If only Spike would just come right out and tell her what he was going to say earlier dammit!!! GRRR!!!!! She could just throttle him thinking about it. It bugged her more than anything ever had. It was like a constant itch, right in the corner of your eye that just won't go away no matter how much you rub it, and if you do it'll just bother you more.
Faye got up from her half-crouch, half-dejected slump against one of the crates in the room. There was only one thing to do. Torturing Ein got her nothing anymore, and Ed was still lying twitching on the floor of her room. She had to talk to Spike.
__________________
Spike was walking down the corridor, randomly spraying cleaner at anything that looked like it wasn't shining, which everything was. The cloying scent of chemicals rose in a bouquet of harsh scents to his nose, setting off some pretty funky chemical reactions in his brain. Ah, the reasons why some people clean everything all the time.
As he turned the corner, he found Faye, doing something like practicing a speech. She seemed fairly into it, so he chose not to disturb her quite yet… but still… there were some ashes on the hem of her jacket, and it would be a nice thing to get those cleaned off for her.
"Hey Faye, what's up?"
Faye stiffened, and turned around slowly.
"What's up? I'll tell you… but you have to tell me something don't you?"
Spike straightened. Did she suspect? No, she couldn't. She was still after allnot pummeling him into the ground… Maybe he should ust play along…
"Um… yeah I do have something important to tell you, but what is it you wanted to say?"
"No, no I think you should go first."
"It's not all that important…well… yeah it could be important, I mean, if you agree and all… anyway… yeah you go first."
This is it! He's really going to say it! Faye was almost giddy with excitement.
What the hell? Spike was… not so giddy. Why is Faye all… twitchy?
"…Are you alright? You seem kind of… on edge."
"Nono, I'm fine. It's just that, well, I'm kind of surprised that you would do this."
"Wait, so you know? Whoa, that's a load off. I thought you would never agree."
"Yes, Spike. Yes, I agree, and I feel the same way about you."
"Wait, so we should quit together?"
"Yes, we should…what?"
"Well, yeah, I mean if you think it's a good idea, sure."
"Wait, we should what together?"
"Quit smoking. I mean, well, recently I have been getting a little overzealous about the whole cleaning thing, so I figured that if we stopped smoking the ship would stay clean. I'm so happy, now I won't have to vacuum your room so often. You know, if you stop smoking, we'll actually have more money around here for food and stuff? Yeah, I worked out all the math not too long ago…"
"Wait… so you… all this is to quit smoking?"
"Well… yeah. Wait, what did you think, that I was in love with you or something?"
Ouch.
__________________
Jet was still staring blankly at the television. Suddenly, the snow he was picturing in his mind had bloodstains all over it, and there were the screams of a man in pain rocketing through the streets.
Huh… maybe I should turn this thing off…
TBC… I hope…
__________________
Authors Notes:
A little concerned at first that this would… suck, I decided to hold off on writing this chapter, but now that I have written it… I still hope it doesn't suck. Tell me if otherwise.
A special thanks to: Social Misfit, ChibiSkye, Achilles, Lady Razorsharp, Washu the Goddess, Melfina-Pan, and Farstrider for giving the go ahead for this chapter. This wouldn't exist without your reviews, thanks guys.
"BEWARE, I am a PARANOID SCytzophrenic… Psyctsophrenic… how the hell do you spell that anyway?" ~ Moi.
Jet's stomach was churning like a blender at Jamba Juice (some companies just stick around no matter what you do, like Nike). Those kabobs had really been something. It was like eating char with a side portion of char and a nice sauce of gasoline. Kinda tangy. He was currently lying down on his bed after his crazed ordeal at the hands of Spike, who, like many a housewife, had glowered at him until he had eaten all of his food.
Spike, a housewife.
It was kind of funny. Lock anyone up in the same room with nothing to do but clean it for three months and anyone will become a clean freak. Spike was getting more and more anal as the days were going on. He could hear him now: "No no, the pots and pans go in this cabinet, the plates and mugs go in this one, and oh my god, you are ruining all of my work, get out of my kitchen!"
Then again it was kind of disturbing to hear that come out of Spike.
"I work and I slave away all day to make this place clean, and what do you do? You spill coffee on it in three seconds and rub it into the carpet! Shame on you!"
It was time to be afraid. Very afraid.
__________________
"We need to talk."
Faye had feared this conversation for some time now, the "We need to talk" coming from Spike Spiegel, renowned bounty hunter and all that hooplah. Mostly she had been dreading it over her liking but not liking him, which is kind of obvious, if you look for that sort of thing, but no she didn't really like him and oh shit he was standing there with a serious look on his face and ohmygod we've been on this ship together for two months now and ohshitmaybehe'sseenthewayI'vebeenlookingathimandohno…
Spike closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was going to be hard. He knew that she was difficult, but after spending two months with her, more or less alone except for a kid a dog and an old guy (who was actually 36), he had thought that it would be best to just tell her the way he felt. "Faye… I…"
Just at that moment, Edward's face popped in from above, like some crazed spider-monkey that… pops in from above.
"Ya-ho!!! Spikey-poo, what do you do?"
"Uh… I… uh… it's nothing, just adult stuff Ed."
"What do you mean adult stuff?"
"Oh… just… well…"
Faye decided not to waste any time and did the most painless thing. She ran for higher ground. RUN, SPRINT FOR THE HILLS AND PRAY THEY DON'T COME FOR YOU!!! RUN FOR IT GIRL!!!
"Um… I guess we'll talk later then Faye…"
__________________
Jet stumbled into the living area and crawled into the sofa. Painfully, he reached over and got the remote for the television. Perhaps the bright, happy screen would soothe the inner flames of his tortured body, which could not at the moment play piano. Perhaps Big Shot was on, and that was always funny to watch. Maybe even some ancient sitcom that had been running for years and years… like Friends. They were re-running the entire show again for the thirtieth time on the oldies channel.
::CLICK:: The T.V is on.
::CLICK:: Infomercial.
::CLICK:: Infomercial.
::CLICK:: Static.
::CLICK:: Static.
::CLICK:: Infomercial, on the fat burning process, new product only 199.99 at a 400.00 value with…
::CLICK:: Static.
::CLICK:: Infomercial on brand new abdominal toning product.
::CLICK:: Tae Bo.
This is getting boring. If I wanted to get in shape I would work out. If I wanted to lose fat, I would work out. What is wrong with these people? Can't they see that if everybody just got off their lazy asses maybe, just maybe they would lose some weight? Shit. Bunch of morons.
::CLICK:: Static.
Hmm… funny… I could have sworn I just saw something in the static. Like… a face or something… there's another one. Maybe if I stare hard enough I'll be able so see something. Ooh, look, a car… a cloud… a tree… A smiling woman walking in a grassy field with her arms raised defiantly to the sunny sky, a light breeze blowing her hair around wildly as she saunters deliberately into my arms… A city, a beautiful city lost in the sweet embrace of winter, silent except for the roaring of a passing river and the occasional car that rolls through on the otherwise deserted streets… It's snowing… It's snowing… It's snowing…
__________________
Faye was sitting in a corner of her room, chain smoking all of the cigarettes she could find and praying that Spike wouldn't come and knock on the door. Although that would be kind of a comfort, knowing that he cared enough to come and check on her after she had run away while he was trying to talk to her, but she didn't care she ran because he had no right to put her in that position of wanting to have him but wanting to not want to have him but wanting to have him none the less. It was hurting her a little bit, not knowing that she wanted what she knew she wanted but also knew that if she had she wouldn't want to have but still have and want at the same time.
Grrr… he was so frustrating some times.
She wanted to come right out and say that she liked him, but then again she didn't want to come right out and tell him because he was about to do it anyway and why do something when others can do it for you right? But still if she had just waited around long enough to hear him out maybe she would have gotten some clue as to what to do with him now that she knew that he wanted her back.
Then again if she did want him and he wanted her too then there wouldn't be anything wrong with that, and maybe, just maybe it would work out and they would be happy together and get rich with some bounty and live in a mansion on Mars and all of that fairytale whatnot. Then again, with a cynicism filter, it would be more like, getting together, finding Julia, and breaking up.
::knock knock::
OH SHIT, THAT'S HIM!!! WHAT AMI GONNA DO?!?!?!?
::knock knock::
DEAR GOD!!! Ok… don't panic… alright, I'll just tell him, and I'll do it real fast to so he can't say anything to mess it all up… ok… here we go…
Faye got up out of bed slowly and walked with mincing steps up to the door. She took a deep breath, squeezed shut her eyes, and tore open the door. "Iloveyou!"
Edward was a little shocked at that. But she shrugged it off. "Thank you Faye faye! I love you too!"
Faye did the only thing she could do. She screamed.
__________________
Spike was once again, cleaning. It was really healthy once you got into it. It afforded you more chances to think than you would have if say you were getting beat on the head with a stick. Which did tend to happen, from time to time. It was kind of like a nice escape from reality, although said reality wasn't much to escape from.
Spike walked into the living room to check up on why the T.V was still on. He was about to turn it off too, when the huge coffee stain on the sofa decided to start breathing again and reveal itself to be Jet. Jet was sitting and just watching the T.V. Which happened to be showing static. It was actually kind of hypnotic, watching the white blips show up and disappear into the infinite sandstorm of time, whirling away into nothing wildly, drinking deeply from the sea of chaos.
Ooh look, something to clean. ::spray:: ::wipewipe::
It was then, cleaning the T.V that he heard Faye's scream. "What's up with her Jet?"
"…"
"Uh… Jet?"
"I… am… fine… it's snowing…"
"Uh… do you know what's up with Faye?"
"Faye? She is… repressing emotions… which have no need of… repression. All that Faye needs… is to expand her horizons. Perhaps… it would be a good idea to… introduce Faye to music… it's snowing…"
Jet spoke in a flat monotone, totally devoid of emotion, and was still lying curled up on his side on the sofa.
"Jet…what do you mean?"
"Faye has… feelings which she has long… ignored… in favor of… money, and her own twisted pursuit of happiness through money. What she needs… is a change of perspective and a little bit of time on her own… which she is not getting here… It's snowing…"
"Um… Jet, what do you mean it's snowing?"
"Look at it Spike. Do you see it swirling through the world? The snow is coming down everywhere and it embracing everyone in it's cold, sweet embrace, lulling us all off into an eternal sleep so that we may awaken into a world that the snow has cleansed. The snow… it fills every corner of the world, it fills the places where there is nothing, and it fills our souls with nothingness to combat the useless things we fill our souls with. Knowing this will lead us to nirvana, but ignorance of the snow will lead to our downfall into the collective stagnation we face as a species, and so I will say again, it's snowing…"
Spike finally realized that Jet had been staring vacantly into the television for the entire duration of their talk. He had been watching the static the entire time. It was almost as if he was watching snow fall through a small window… Snow falling from nothingness into nothingness, in a swirling void of chaos…
Spike sat down on the chair to get a better view of the snow… and to think about roses… roses falling to the ground amid a light fall of snow apon the world, which was already blanketed white in the expanse of pure white…
Ooh, something to clean. ::spray:: ::wipewipe::
Spike polished off Jet's bald head and walked off to find Faye and tell her what was on his mind.
__________________
Faye was sitting in the back of one of the store rooms of the Bebop, chain smoking pack after pack of cigarettes.
It was really terrible. There was a sizable pile of butts right next to her, and her ash tray/coffee mug had already over flowed with ashes from her smoking. She was really tweaking out on caffeine and nicotine. Not the best way to spend your days.
If only Spike would just come right out and tell her what he was going to say earlier dammit!!! GRRR!!!!! She could just throttle him thinking about it. It bugged her more than anything ever had. It was like a constant itch, right in the corner of your eye that just won't go away no matter how much you rub it, and if you do it'll just bother you more.
Faye got up from her half-crouch, half-dejected slump against one of the crates in the room. There was only one thing to do. Torturing Ein got her nothing anymore, and Ed was still lying twitching on the floor of her room. She had to talk to Spike.
__________________
Spike was walking down the corridor, randomly spraying cleaner at anything that looked like it wasn't shining, which everything was. The cloying scent of chemicals rose in a bouquet of harsh scents to his nose, setting off some pretty funky chemical reactions in his brain. Ah, the reasons why some people clean everything all the time.
As he turned the corner, he found Faye, doing something like practicing a speech. She seemed fairly into it, so he chose not to disturb her quite yet… but still… there were some ashes on the hem of her jacket, and it would be a nice thing to get those cleaned off for her.
"Hey Faye, what's up?"
Faye stiffened, and turned around slowly.
"What's up? I'll tell you… but you have to tell me something don't you?"
Spike straightened. Did she suspect? No, she couldn't. She was still after allnot pummeling him into the ground… Maybe he should ust play along…
"Um… yeah I do have something important to tell you, but what is it you wanted to say?"
"No, no I think you should go first."
"It's not all that important…well… yeah it could be important, I mean, if you agree and all… anyway… yeah you go first."
This is it! He's really going to say it! Faye was almost giddy with excitement.
What the hell? Spike was… not so giddy. Why is Faye all… twitchy?
"…Are you alright? You seem kind of… on edge."
"Nono, I'm fine. It's just that, well, I'm kind of surprised that you would do this."
"Wait, so you know? Whoa, that's a load off. I thought you would never agree."
"Yes, Spike. Yes, I agree, and I feel the same way about you."
"Wait, so we should quit together?"
"Yes, we should…what?"
"Well, yeah, I mean if you think it's a good idea, sure."
"Wait, we should what together?"
"Quit smoking. I mean, well, recently I have been getting a little overzealous about the whole cleaning thing, so I figured that if we stopped smoking the ship would stay clean. I'm so happy, now I won't have to vacuum your room so often. You know, if you stop smoking, we'll actually have more money around here for food and stuff? Yeah, I worked out all the math not too long ago…"
"Wait… so you… all this is to quit smoking?"
"Well… yeah. Wait, what did you think, that I was in love with you or something?"
Ouch.
__________________
Jet was still staring blankly at the television. Suddenly, the snow he was picturing in his mind had bloodstains all over it, and there were the screams of a man in pain rocketing through the streets.
Huh… maybe I should turn this thing off…
TBC… I hope…
__________________
Authors Notes:
A little concerned at first that this would… suck, I decided to hold off on writing this chapter, but now that I have written it… I still hope it doesn't suck. Tell me if otherwise.
A special thanks to: Social Misfit, ChibiSkye, Achilles, Lady Razorsharp, Washu the Goddess, Melfina-Pan, and Farstrider for giving the go ahead for this chapter. This wouldn't exist without your reviews, thanks guys.
"BEWARE, I am a PARANOID SCytzophrenic… Psyctsophrenic… how the hell do you spell that anyway?" ~ Moi.