No Hero - Tumblr Posts
No Hero
A sultry voice drifted from the entryway of the tavern as Spike made his way in past a couple as they held open the door to leave. Slow and sensual, the voice demanded answers - not from the audience but from life itself. Gradually, the woman's inquisition rose from queries into a full throated cry of her need.
Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods? Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
It wasn't a song Spike was familiar with but that wasn't saying much. He tended more towards blues, jazz, and instrumentals. Naturally Faye would gravitate towards powerful female ballads. Well, he couldn't fault her for it - she certainly had the vocal cords to handle the passion of the lyrics she chose.
The people who frequented the karaoke bar all thought she was a rising star. A soulful beauty with a keen brilliance that kept her churning out new songs.
Of course, Spike knew she was just rehashing music from before the Gate Accident - particularly tunes she was fairly sure had been lost since then. Ed was pretty good about scouring the interwebs for anything Faye could recall in case it had been recovered, but there was plenty that had been destroyed in those tumultuous days that only existed now thanks to Faye's recently returned memories.
She could be on her way to the top, in fact. No one knew except the Bebop crew about her personal knowledge of the actual original song writers and singers. And even then, music was often copied or remixed or bought out from the originators or whoever held ownership of the notes.
But Faye didn't bother. Maybe it was due to her own scruples. Maybe she secretly didn't want a life of fortune and fame despite bemoaning her lack thereof to her shipmates endlessly. Whatever the reason, Faye kept her singing as merely a side gig and not even a paid one at that. She seemed to relish simply showing up at a bar and wowing all the patrons.
Somewhere after midnight in my wildest fantasy... Somewhere just beyond my reach... There's someone reaching back for me!
Spike purposefully kept his back to the stage as he made his way to the bar, signalling for the bartender as he went. He didn't need to look to know Faye was there, reaching imploringly towards a rapt crowd, hope shining in her glimmering green eyes.
He'd been to this establishment before and recognized the buxom blond who was currently helping another lush further down the way. She looked like an airhead but she made a mean martini (Faye's favorite fancy drink) and knew that Spike liked two fingers of whiskey, neat. She also knew that he didn't care to make conversation, which was frankly a relief given how some bartenders were nosy bodies just itching to offer unasked for advice.
After she left the drink, Spike found himself staring at the wood grain of the bar. Idly he traced his pointer finger around a wet circular smear left by some previous glass of the night. What manner of person ordered a drink with ice? Something doomed to perspire onto whatever surface it was placed.
It was Callisto, after all. Sure, the moon had begun to see an influx of the female persuasion at long last, but the temperatures remained bitterly cold all year. Most folks opted for warm drinks or something served at room temp. It was a trifling thing to fixate on, but Spike liked to consider oddities and the why of them.
Up where the mountains meet the heaven above... Out where the lightning splits the sea... I could swear there is someone somewhere watching me...
The allure was too much to resist. Her voice was like a siren call no matter how he tried - however feebly - to distract himself. But he was strong enough to avoid turning on his stool. He could be discreet. He could be coy. The view of Faye, clad in a ridiculous satin evening gown that clung to her curves, with a split in the bodice that plunged recklessly between her breasts to nearly her navel... That view was just as wonderful seen in the reflection of the glass behind the wall of bottles as it would have been had he stared right at her.
There was no need to give her the power here. No need to display his weakness for her charm. Indifference had been a source of strength for him since he could recall. It had been the one thing to aid him in keeping her at bay during the first months of their cohabitation on the Bebop. Later, after his triumphant return (broken and bruised and bloodied, but what's new)... It had been his indifference that made her boil.
It was a petty victory but keeping his cool when she got fired up was still something to savor. Torturing himself (and her, apparently) was childish and pointless and for some reason was still his go-to response when emotions threatened to engulf him.
Her eyes would snap fire. Her words would carve ice. More than once he'd seen her hands tremble as she fought to keep from slapping or slugging him. Yet no matter how irate he made her, he could tell she saw through his act.
It was in the curl of her lip. In the way her gaze would skitter away. In the soft sigh she'd let slip before throwing her hands in the air and stalking away.
She knew his nonsense and she liked to play the game.
Lost in reminiscence of the woman on the stage, he nearly missed when the music changed and the atmosphere of the tavern shifted to correspond to the upbeat tempo of the next karaoke performer's choice. Unlike Faye, who sang from pure memory and with only the fumbling accompaniment of a band unused to her requests, the other acts would all be reciting off a projection of lyrics upon the wall.
She did love to outshine any competition.
Slender fingers tapped the bar in a quick double beat right next to the slowly evaporating water ring. In no time at all the blond deposited a dry martini next to Spike's drink. He kept his gaze on the bottles across the bar, eyeing her in the reflection as she raked her own gaze over his body from top to toe and back again.
Her gaze on him stoked the fire inside.
Finally swinging his eyes to her form, Spike smoothly presented a lighter from his pocket to spark to life the cigarette she'd pulled from a slim metal case that she kept strapped to her thigh with a garter belt.
Faye stared dead into his eyes, neither of them blinking, as she inhaled deeply and then exhaled a beat later, extinguishing the flame and enveloping them both in a plume of smoke.
"Why hello stranger," She murmured in greeting. Like always, Faye emanated life. There was something so refreshing about her. So intoxicating.
"I should warn you," His voice was low, nearly a whisper. Intimate in ways he shouldn't be with her. But, like always, he couldn't help himself. "I'm no hero, Faye."
Her laughter made his heart soar, though it was clearly at his expense. Or, since he wasn't offended at her reaction in the least, perhaps she wasn't so much laughing at him as laughing with him.
"Oh Spike," Faye took another drag of the cigarette and blew a few smoke rings in his direction. "A lady like myself has no need for a hero. Sometimes a song is just a song. Anyway..." She dragged a finger over his lower lip until he opened his mouth and she placed the cigarette there for him to puff on, freeing up both her hands to trail down past his lapels, teasing over his ribs, to splay her palms flat against his stomach over the worst of his scars.
"Anyway," She said again, giving him a lascivious smirk, "You're the one in need of rescue, after all..."