RANCOR

“Uh...should you really be messing with that?”

“I dunno about you but, I think all of us would appreciate it if you didn’t knock out the power.” A scoff escaped the bounty hunter’s lips as a cigarette loosely hung from them, voice monotone with an undeniable feeling of annoyance within it. Spike stared down at the blue eye-glassed hacker, who had been tapping away at his laptop fervidly - he’d only assumed this kid was hacking, eyeing all the cords that were hooked up to a electric pole guiding the electrical wiring of the city above....either that or he was just keysmashing to look cool. Hey, some people do it. 

 The kid here looked strange, different from both interpretations of hackers he’d seen or heard about. The stranger didn’t exactly look like  oversized neckbeard munching away on doritos and chugging mountain dew as though their life depended on it - like Faye had described - but he also wasn’t Ed, the hyperactive child with extreme ADHD and strange goggles he’d been used to, even if the glasses were a debatable fashion statement. 

“I think I’m more of a rose guy...”

Spike murmured, staring up at the trees in-bloom, which had been notably popular within the  Cotes Ward. Sure, the smell of the blossoms had been nice, certainly different from the metallic, old smell of a space ship out in the middle of nowhere...But he’d still never quite understood the craze behind them. The rest of the galaxy he knew of back home housed different planets, with distinct temperatures and contrasting environmental conditions. The bounty hunter had never been able to see the blossoms with his own eyes, but had been aware of the craze that never seemed to die. Cherry blossoms were a rarity in his experience, but they just seemed like regular flowers to him. 

“I don’t get it.” Spike turns toward the nearest person, eyes settling on a girl with soft pink hair and a gotham green coat. The man pulls at hand from his pant pockets, gesturing towards the trees with a thumb pointed at them, an eyebrow cocking at her. 

"Circus come to town or something?” 

He remarked, smugly at that. “I’ve heard about those fire eating people...never thought I’d see one in person.” Did he stare at her while she downed a lit Seething Solar? Of course he did. After all, what was the chance he’d see something like that ever again, in a bar at that? 

Certainly, he’d seen crazy things at bars before, after all the galaxy back home had many colorful characters, and it seemed here was no different, albeit on a more of a crazy level. The bounty hunter had seen plenty things, but never someone swallowing raw fire. That was exciting.

Spike leans over the bar in a relaxed manner, whiskey in one hand calmly and the other on his cheek. A smirk coats his lips as his generic-brand cigarette hangs loosely at the corner of his mouth. He stares at the oddly detailed chalice that held that lit drink before, and then back at the woman. 

“I hate to be that guy...but...”

“Is there a chance I could bum a cigarette off you? ‘Lost mine when I got here.” It wasn’t like Spike to ask a stranger off the street if he could ‘bum’ something from them (opting for a more pickpocketing approach), but here he didn’t exactly have a choice. Being left without his belongings put him in a tight position, something he’d realized after coming down from his slightly panicked high once he arrived to this...place. Spirale? Right? Only left with nothing but a bb gun and nothing more, he couldn’t exactly spawn a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of thin air. 

“Then again...” Spike looked up and down at the man in question, and blinked a couple times before it registered. “You look like a priest...” A airy chuckle escapes from his throat for a moment as a light smirk appears, “Maybe you’re not the best man to ask..” Didn’t look like this stranger had any pockets either. How foolish of himself not to think before he spoke.

this is spike.