She smiled gently and nodded, watching as he walked away before turning and setting to work. Honor had absolutely no experience with selling art online, but she did her best, finding websites that would sell Oscar's art once he made it, researching pricing, the best places to catch some popularity, and whatever else she could think of. It was slow work, especially once she got to digging into more of the technical side of things, but she honestly enjoyed it.
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Oscar didn't find many new books, as he'd expected, but he did find a collection of 'how to draw' books that he was suddenly a lot more interested in. He absorbed every word and image with great fascination, trying to memorize the instructions for later when he had some paints and paper. He'd discovered that his favorite kind of art was abstract art, but he wanted to learn techniques for realism artwork as well, just in case.
All too soon, he came to the end of the shelves and returned to Honor, his head filled with ideas for more paintings. Part of him felt a bit guilty for making her do all the research work for him, but he still wasn't very practiced at considering the feeling of others yet so he didn't dwell much on it. "Hi, did you find anything? I'm ready to make more art to sell."
(Aaand I gotta go to bed now—I swear I'll get back to more regular responses soon ^^; )
(It's ok for the irregular responses! I'm at work over most of the week anyway so my responses are slow and sporadic)
"I found a few things," She replied, not even glancing away from the computer as she scrolled through one final website, "Mostly it just said that the best way to catch on is to get your art seen as much as possible and hope that people are interested enough to reach out and either buy or request for you to make something." Honor tapped a small piece of paper beside her, finally tearing her eyes away from the computer as she logged out and stood, "I wrote some sites to sell your art on here, now all we have to do is get you supplies and hope for the best."
Oscar nodded intently, excited to have a plan and an idea of how to get started. He was still unclear on some of the details, but he figured they could 'cross that bridge when they came to it'—a saying he'd found in a book and liked the sound of. "Okay, that sounds good. I'm ready, let's go to the store and see what we find. Unless you have any books you want to read here first?"
Honor shook her head, glancing around with a soft smile, "I don't think so, we should better get going and not stay too long in the same place." She grabbed her sheet and nodded to the door, slowly starting over there, "Store it is." Her eyes flicked around the space one last time and she smiled at the librarians, then walked out of the door calmly, heading towards her truck while humming slightly.
Oscar followed, already mentally planning out his next artwork. "It's great that Goldenrod hasn't found us yet. The people here don't even seem to care that one of us might not be human. Maybe we won't have to keep looking over our shoulders in every town anymore." He sounded quite hopeful, encouraged by the niceness of the restaurant waitress and the quiet librarians. "Wouldn't that be great?"
"That would be nice," She agreed, glancing over at him, "I wish all towns were like this, nice and unbothered." Honor smiled gently, then pointed to the truck, pausing by the bed, "Are you driving? Or should I take back over until we reach the store? Both work for me." Having him drive without his license did make her nervous, but in a small town like the one they were in, she didn't care as much. There was less of a chance that they would get caught anyway.
(Sorry for the wait! I was really busy there for a couple of days ^^; Also, I found some examples of Oscar's usual painting style on DA btw: https://www.deviantart.com/scheinlicht/art/Back-to-the-deep-lands-V-785441732
He has a similar way of using color and texture, and likes to blend realistic with abstract art (plus these paintings are just really pretty XD))
"I can drive," Oscar replied easily. He enjoyed feeling capable and helpful–it made him forget how weak and helpless he felt on Earth. He still couldn't remember much about his old home, except that he'd been far more powerful there, and knowledgeable, and maybe even…..feared? His smile faded as he got in the truck, trying to summon the memories without success.
(Ooo those are gorgeous!!)
She nodded again, wasting no time to get into the passenger's seat again. It was strange, not to have to drive herself everywhere, but Honor didn't hate it. Oscar wanted to drive, and she was going to let him as long as he wanted to. It was the least she could do for him seeing as he was the one that was stuck on Earth, away from his home. And plus, she could relax, while watching for Goldenrod.
(Right?? Wish I could paint like that XD)
Oscar continued to think intently as he started the engine and pulled away from the library. "Honor," he said after a minute. "You remember how, when I was using my powers a couple days ago, you seemed kind of….afraid of them? Why was that?"
(I gotta go to bed, seeya tomorrow)
(Goodnight!)
Honor was silent, though listened to his question. She only waited a moment before responding as well, her voice calm, or at least quieter, "I've had other…incidents with others like you before, and they all haven't been good. A few years ago, I had an encounter with one of the first of your kind to appear on earth, and they were scared of me. I don't know if they tried to, or what, but their powers messed with my head. I know now that they were classified as a level four, and that they had simply messed with how I saw things for a while, but it was still really scary. They made me see things I don't want to remember, or talk about. I've never been a big fan of any powers after that. But I'm trying to get better with dealing with them." She went silent once again, though glanced at him and offered a tiny smile, "Plus, you look like you would kill anyone in your path when your eyes turn black like that, and I'm worried you don't recognise me."
(Gotta say, that's a really cool backstory that fits perfectly within the world, me likey very much XDD)
Oscar got very serious and had to remind himself to focus on the road as he spoke. "I always recognize you, Honor. Even when I'm not looking with my human eyes, even when I'm mad. You look really different, all colorful and bright and….I don't know….gentle. I promise I'll never hurt you, okay? And I'll never let anyone else hurt you either." He realized he'd reached the small supermarket somehow and parked the truck, turning to face Honor fully. "I'm sorry I scared you before."
(Oh thanks! I had to check that first page of info an embarrassing amount of times to make sure it would all work lol)
"It's ok Oscar, don't worry about it. It's just nice to know that you do still recognise me, and that you won't hurt me," She replied in the same quiet voice with the same tiny smile on her face, "I'll get used to it, eventually." Honor had been surprised to hear that she looked different to him, and as he had described it, she looked bright and colorful. Even if it was the weirdest semi-complement she had ever received, she felt happy knowing that at least she stood out to him. "Now, before I drag you down the complicated road of my past, let's go get you these supplies..and some food."
(lol well your hard work shows! >w< )
Oscar sighed–he could never say no to food. "Right." Getting out of the car, he adjusted his bandages and surveyed the store in front of them. "So….if you used to think Erased Ones were so scary, how did you end up being brave enough to stay with me and help me even though you knew I wasn't human?" It didn't make sense to him and it made him curious.
Honor shrugged as she got out of the truck, chuckling softly, "I'm not really sure. At first instinct all I wanted to do was run, but you needed help, and I'd be damned if I didn't help someone just because I was afraid of someone like them. Plus..you were different than them. You were still scared, and scary, but I could tell that you didn't have the same abilities just when I stepped close to you." She smiled gently and made her way around the vehicle to Oscar's side, glancing at the store as she asked, "Why did you decide to stay with me? You could've bolted days ago, even the night that I helped you, and yet you didn't..why?"
Oscar hadn't expected the question, and he took a minute to think about it. "I….I didn't have anywhere to go," he admitted. "I felt so confused and uncomfortable and upset, I could barely think. I didn't have any real choice but to trust you…and by the time I was smart and strong enough to leave, I didn't want to." He started walking towards the store. "Besides, you still know a lot more about the world than I do. I think there's plenty of knowledge that never got put in books, so I have to have somebody tell it to me. And you're good at that."
She smiled, shrugging again as they entered the store, "Well, if at any point you want to leave me behind, please tell me first, and I can tell you everything I know that isn't in books." It felt nice to be needed, and to be helping someone that could use her help, even if they weren't completely human, but she wasn't going to force Oscar to stay with her if he wanted to leave. "Well, before we forget what we came here for, want to get shopping?"
(Sorry for the wait again, working on the weekend is a doozy lemme tell ya)
"Yes," Oscar replied decisively. "Hey, if you want we can split up and look for stuff at the same time, if you tell me a list of things we need." If he couldn't help pay for their groceries yet, he at least wanted to make himself useful in collecting them."
(It's ok! I was visiting friends anyway so I was afk)
"Well, I'm going to go stock up on some more food, but if you'd like, you can work on getting whatever supplies you need to use for your art. Then we can meet back here in a little bit to pay?" She suggested, glancing around, "I'll walk with you until we find the art supplies, then I'll go get the food if you'd like." Even though Honor was slightly wary to let Oscar pick what he wanted, he wasn't a child, and as far as she could tell herself, he could decide when he had enough supplies.
"Alright," Oscar agreed, quickly noticing the signs above each aisle and scanning them in search of what he needed. "If you tell me what our….um….our budget is for this, I can probably figure out what to get and how much without costing us extra." He'd been reading some math books lately, and was eager to test out his new money-management skills. He was always trying to occupy himself with some puzzle or challenge–he got bored and restless very fast if he didn't. "I guess we'll probably need a cart, huh?"
Honor shrugged, pulling out her wallet and replying as she looked through it, "Well, I'm going to put a twenty-five dollar limit on art supplies, but if you go over by a dollar or two, I won't be mad." She slipped her wallet into her pocket again and nodded, smiling gently, "We can each take a cart, then we won't be worried about dropping anything." She walked towards the line of carts as she talked, pulling one out for herself and letting Oscar get his own. "Alright, don't take too terribly long if you can help it, and please, if you see anyone that looks like they work for Goldenrod, come find me as quickly as you can."
Oscar nodded. "Okay. I'll be quick. You keep an eye out too."
He wheeled the cart off to the art supplies aisle, starting to feel slightly excited about picking out some tools and colors to paint with. He gave Honor a little wave as he left, feeling strangely lighter after their talk in the truck.
A smile pulled onto her face as she waved back to Oscar, then quickly headed over towards the food section of the store. There wasn't much that they could get that would last a long car ride, especially if the cooler she had was full, so her list was short. Only the basics. Still, that didn't stop her from wandering through the aisles, tossing things into her cart and even adding various chocolate and candy for the two of them just as a treat.
Oscar ended up having quite a bit of fun with the shopping, not just because he got to look at art supplies, but also because he got to stretch his mental muscles while running cost calculations. It took him a some time to find everything he needed without going over the budget, but at last he was satisfied with the items in his cart. On his way to their planned meeting place, he spotted a display of 3D puzzles and fidget toys, and got so enthralled by them that, after some deliberation, he put one of the art supplies back so he had enough money to buy a puzzle instead. Only then did he go to wait for Honor.
Honor took only a little bit longer to gather everything else they needed, making her way back to the meeting spot only minutes after Oscar was there. She smiled and waved to him once she got closer, glancing at what he had in his cart. "Did you find everything you need?" Seeing the variety of things he had in his cart, she guessed that he had found what he needed, but she wanted to make sure. After all, if his artwork took off, she wanted him to have everything he needed to create more.