( what was life after death? in the eyes of a man who was gripped by the vision of his past and future, betrayal and deep emotions left him on a questionable path of self discovery aboard a ship with a ragtag group of equally lost people seeking home somewhere.

his last moments were marred by a sea of blood and being hunted by a man he betrayed for a woman who he loved, but betrayed him as well.

waking up in a strange new world, nearly naked and to luxury far above what he was used to, was far from whatever lucid dream he could have. were they all just lost souls here in this strange place? kites with their strings cut off?

whatever the reality was, even in life after death spike took a ‘whatever happens, happens approach’. even if he was still shaken up by everything that happened. )

You know something? This really ticks me off.

( in a sea of lost souls, he was the first to call out the strange owl/human hybrid guards after taking a few hours to gather his bearings. he didn’t quite want to leave the honey wagon, staying well into the night—

after all, even in life after death, free food and hospitality was better than braving the unknown. at least for now.

whoever was cramped up in that trailer with him would be subjected to his never ending complaints. it was the only thing that kept his mind off her. )

Doesn’t it bother you being gawked at like some zoo animal by these gym rat owls?

( after scoring a meal voucher or two, he was finally sick of trying to play the role of actor and being tugged left and right, stomped around by the higher ranking guests and staff. he needed a break, a distraction really from everything going on so he decided to head towards where some films were being shot.

instead of actually trying to participate, he had some critiques. a childish way of distracting himself from memories of faye begging him not to leave and of the inevitable outcome of it all. )

Are you kidding? Those tentacles look incredibly fake. I’ve seen better production value in an amateur film!

( immediately he tossed his criticisms at anyone willing to listen, not caring for any guests around him who might have actually been enjoying or wanting to act in lonely tentacles want lovers. )

You know for a sex resort this place is too cheesy. Couldn’t they have put in a bit more woolongs into the production?

( with the rush of being at death's door now far behind him, there was a more pressing and urgent matter to attend to— living to see another day through obtaining food. despite being rather new here, spike was quick to learn that being a low rank meant he was worthy of nothing at least in the eyes of those high ranking and the staff. a morsel of bread was too good for him, so he had to find a way to scrape by in the event he was truly left to his own devices here, and somehow that meant actually acting in one of those cheesy pornos despite criticizing it before.

and hunger was always a powerful motivator even for those with big judgements.

after pestering and annoying the hell out of some of the staff, they eventually gave him a hint that if he 'volunteered' to be a doctor he would be given a food voucher. it didn't take him long to rotate through a few of the costumes, being kicked out a few times for 'not looking the part' or simply not doing a good job. his last resort was playing the role of a porn doctor who could ‘fuck away’ a headache or whatever ailment his co-star had.

so he donned the outfit of a doctor, robe and stethoscope, and actually did something about the mangled mess he called hair. whoever was unfortunate enough to come waltzing into the dressing room, they were met with spike towering over them with a soft smirk, fingers dangling the end of his stethoscope. )

Hey there, need some tender love and care from Doctor Spiegel?

( if there was anything a person could get used to, it was everything but hunger. access to a private enough trailer, a warm shower and a hot meal were all he truly needed and while spike certainly envied the guests of the resorts with much more private, and comfortable accommodations, he wasn't above trying to find the positive in the little things. especially since he did his role perfectly and got a stack of ramen cups for his efforts.

unfortunately for everyone else, his definition of positive was taking up the entire row of showers and letting them run to steam up the place, while singing in a rather annoying tone of voice a little jingle— )

'Someone cry for me with parched eyes....I want to know what real sadness is~♪'

( regardless of however happened to enter or be around, he was scrubbing away at his skin without a care in the world, a rather goofy expression on his face. as he went on, he only stopped singing when someone happened to come close to him.

naturally he wasn't going to let them shower in peace. )

Hey isn't great? A roof over our head, a warm bed to pass out on, and no annoying children or pets around. Oh hey—

( and don't mind him crossing whatever boundaries normal people clung onto; he's immediately touching your character with his loofah on a stick. )

Don't forget to wash behind your ears...actually you really should be washing every inch of yourself properly. Right?

( for all of his chatter about being in control, at peace, and letting things happen as they would, spike was a hypocrite. every little thing about this resort was leaving a bitter taste in his mouth— far more bitter than the terrible cooking of jet's 'beef and peppers'. he was ignored by the staff, he was ranked at the bottom of barrel, and his scheming attempts to try and score some free food from pretty ladies ended with him having egg on his face. he wasn’t cut out to be an actor, a porn star, whatever, and found the whole affair to be stuffy and annoying after all—

there was nothing left for him to crawl away and try to find some way to let out all the stress that built up within him; and being the rat that he was, he found that place and way was in the garage. it was unmanned for today and while the technology was rather ancient in comparison to what he was used to, it looked far newer than some of the things he had seen.

so if anyone was hoping to somehow escape from the resort in one piece, or at the very least find the exit, they would be stopped by a literal mop-head doing donuts in the parking garage and yelling out the window. )

Hey! You should be more careful, some of us are trying to drive here.

( as if he wasn't the one who should be careful. thankfully, he does eventually stop, opening the door to invite whoever happened to be standing there. )

Wanna take a ride with a wild tiger?