happiness is a warm puppy [open to all]

[doublethepain]

He's definitely come down with something.

It's hardly cause for panic, really, just a bit of congestion; some coughing that he thinks he's done a fair job of keeping under wraps; maybe a slightly sore throat, a few pressure headaches here and there, a case of the chills; but he's fine, Spencer is sure of it. He's fine because he's got a ring on his finger and a puppy at the end of his leash, so there's nothing at all in his life that he can complain about right now.

John had most generously given him half a day off--"a wedding gift from me to you" is how his boss had put it--so Spencer had stopped back at home to get Huxley before heading in some direction or another, he hadn't really had a plan. It's not very surprising that his feet seem to take him in the direction of Crossroads, as they so often do, but a part of him hopes that he'll run into some people he knows on the way there. He has news, after all, and he's not one to call up all his friends--not that it would take long, he muses--to share even the most exciting parts of his life, but he does want people to know.

He's happy, happier than he's ever been and not just since his mother and Dane had died. He has so much to be thankful for, so much to come to look forward to, and he can't remember the last time he'd felt so optimistic about his future. He smiles to himself as he watches Huxley sniff at the grass on the sidewalk before the puppy scrambles to meet a pair of feet that's headed their way, jumping up on his hind legs to paw at the stranger. Spencer's smile doesn't fade as he lifts his head to look at the other person; in fact, it only grows wider.

"You're in for it now," he says, a teasing edge to his tone. "Huxley seems to grow attached to people far too quickly for his own good."




[OOC: Spencer's a little under the weather right now because I am, too but he's in an excellent mood so it would be a great time to say hello, whether your character has already met him or not :) Find him walking his and Joel's new puppy Huxley or catch him wherever is convenient for your character to be. As long as that place allows dogs.]

Comments

[louise_abasi]

"Of course you're citing the people the Dalai Lama gets inspired by."

"Nerd", she adds with a half-smile. "I've always been meaning to ask, have you read every book in your library?"

Maybe Spencer is just so much further ahead in the process of losing, loving, life. Louise will carry the advice with her, but she doesn't know when she'll be able to live by it.

[doublethepain]

"Well, he's said a few wise things here and there," he replies, a wry smile playing at the corners of his lips. "And no, I haven't read every book in there. There's quite a few Harlequin romances that I haven't bothered to get to know."

There's also quite a few of the more mystical texts that he hasn't quite worked his way through yet because there's never a shortage of new donated books to be shelved away; but he's trying. He's married a witch, after all, it would do him well to get a general understanding of that history.

[louise_abasi]

"Elitist, mister librarian. Probably left wing elitist to willingly ignore the fictional treasures of the eh - ..romance world. I feel kind of dirty right now, saying that."

She bites her tongue. "Books are the only thing that make me sleep right now. Fiction, of course. I've had enough reality for a while."

[doublethepain]

"Not elitist, they just..." He trails off, pursing his lips as his cheeks flush red because this is exactly what reading the romance novels make him do, they make his cheeks fire up. He's not sure they'd have the same effect now, considering he and Joel get up to much more than what's written in those books, but that's neither here nor there. "They just aren't my cup of tea, that's all."

"I understand what that's like, though it's not books that help me sleep." Rather, it's Joel, and he'd stopped being able to fall asleep without his husband by his side not long after what had happened in that lighthouse.

[louise_abasi]

"I wasn't serious, Spencer. Sorry, I should have said it with a smile on my face." She smiles. "It's just that my cheeks are hurting ever since brunch."

"I never even read a back text of a romance novel and still judge them. I can be the elitist."

[doublethepain]

"No, no," he answers, waving a hand as if to brush the apology off. There's no need for one, it's hardly Lou's fault that he'd gotten caught up for a second in thoughts of Joel in the context of romance novels. It's actually very much Joel's fault, and Spencer makes a mental note to tell his husband that later. "If your cheeks are hurting because of too much smiling then I'm happy to hear it. I feel like that more often than not these days myself."

[louise_abasi]

"Hopefully for a better reason than to avoid the town's disappointment. I definitely hope you don't care about that anymore, or never did, even."

She was supposed to feel better because of some ordinary chitchat, not like the rude kid again. "I mean - I guess I'm just too trained to make sure that no-one is uncomfortable but unpleasant honesty. That you can't say 'fine' without a smell because else it might be a less than perfect fine and people have to worry about you while they don't want to, because else they wouldn't have asked the question in the first place."

"Never mind. Just expect me to tell you if I'm miserable, with or without a smile as a flag post."

[doublethepain]

His smile fades but just slightly, it's more of a flicker in his expression than anything else before he straights his back and lifts his chin up a bit. "Don't you mean the town's cruelty?" he retorts, tone carefully neutral. Of course he'd cared, he doesn't know how he could possibly not have cared that he'd come home to find the word 'MURDERER' painted on his property more than once or that he'd received hate mail quite consistently for almost an entire year before it had started dwindling down or that there are still some people who look at him like he's a disease that has no cure.

It's easier to ignore it now just because he's had so much practice and also because there exist people in his life who give him significantly better things to think about. He's never been one to put much stock in other people's opinions of him, that much is true, but yes, he'd cared. He's cared quite a lot.

"I do understand what you're getting at," he tells her, nodding his head a bit. "Oftentimes, it's all that's expected of us, to tell each other that our days are going well and that we're doing just fine and that's that. So if you tell me you're miserable when I ask, I certainly won't hold it against you. I can promise you that much."

[louise_abasi]

She blinks. "Cruelty, you're right. All memories lost of how to act in a humane manner, fueled by the majority deciding they can pass better judgment than those in authority."

".. are you free of them, by now? Completely?" Louise knows that she and the system have failed Spencer impressively, and it's always hard to be confronted with such a thing. "If you even want to talk about it longer than necessary, of course. We can move back to your happiness with Joel and puppies."

[doublethepain]

"It's fine," he says and oddly enough, it is. He doesn't talk about it much, what had happened, not even to Joel, but he still thinks about it almost every day. It's difficult to avoid when the site where he'd found his mother is his own backyard; what becomes even trickier is having to reconcile that with the fact that his own library, the one place he'd always felt safest, had become the very room he'd been attacked and abducted from by Mark. He has a hard time once in awhile and some days are worse than others; but Spencer has help. It's bearable now, and he has one person in particular to thank for that.

He shrugs a shoulder, reaching down to take Huxley in his arms when the puppy paws at his leg. "I think that there are always going to be those people who believe I did it. I've gotten... well, letters that aren't exactly kind in the mail on the past two anniversaries of my mother and brother's deaths." He gives her a tight smile. "My birthday, as it happens, and I anticipate that next year will be the same. People still whisper, they still point, they still cross the street to avoid me. It's not a majority of people, it's not even that many people anymore, but when there's nobody else to blame, I suppose it's only natural that I would become the easiest target. So no, I'm not free of them completely but the best way to counter it is to show them all that I'm still standing."

[louise_abasi]

"You know that you can fight them, right? Maybe you don't want to anymore, but there are plenty of restrictions you can at least place on them."

"Although I can imagine doing such a thing would only give them a more righteous feeling and might have them make a turn into the violent s- more violent side. I just don't like seeing law and justice being incompetent."

"Still standing", she nods. "I just hope it'll forever be more than that, Spencer. But I'm sure you know that, that there are more people out there that wish good on you than bad. And I don't know when this turned into a motivational speech."

[doublethepain]

"You mean like a restraining order? Cease and desist?" The corners of his lips turn up in amusement and he shakes his head. "I'm afraid the number of names I'd have to collect for such a thing would be more trouble than it's really worth."

It's not as if the numbers are in the thousands or even the hundreds, but he hardly wants to take a headcount of who in this town still believes he killed his own family. It's easier this way, dealing with the anonymity rather than having to walk down the street and be able to pinpoint exactly who does and doesn't view him as a murderer.

"In any case, it's nothing I can't handle," he says, which is perhaps easier said than felt but he's not talking to Lou to earn her sympathy. He lets out a little laugh, running a hand through his hair just to give himself something to do. "Neither do I but I can't say I don't appreciate it."

[louise_abasi]

"Restraining orders put a lot of weight on both sides, I thought more about some below-the-surface stabs of 'we're on to you'. Legally, of course."

She beamed. "Yay, I made Spencer Waters laugh and he thinks my speech talent is not completely horrible. I've been out of it too long, but if I want to get back onto the working horse again ..I'm going to be able to do crowd control while keeping everyone just a little bit satisfied."