(It's okay, I totally get it fam)
Oscar looked troubled, but nodded and walked across the room to a booth by the window. He sat down, keeping an eye on Honor just in case.
It took the cashier a while to return from the back with their drinks, and he seemed a little surprised to see Honor still waiting at the counter. "Sorry for the delay," he said awkwardly, then realized he'd never taken her money. "Oh, right. I'll take that. Um…." He glanced over her shoulder at Oscar. "You guys just passing through town, then?"
"Yeah, road trip across the country," She replied, smiling and taking back the change that was left over before nodding towards Oscar, "It's his first time in the area and I figured I'd show him around a bit before we travel to the prettier places." Honor also scooped up the drinks as well, shooting one more smile at the cashier.
"The prettier places, huh?" The cashier was trying to sound casual, but it was obviously forced, and he kept glancing back at Oscar while he spoke. "Well….have a nice trip. I'll bring over your food when it's ready."
Honor nodded in thanks, adding before she walked away, "Thank you!" She was careful not to drop the drinks as she walked over to Oscar, setting his in front of him and sitting across from him in the other seat. "So, should we put those pictures up before we eat? Or after?"
"Let's do it now, while we wait," Oscar answered distractedly, accepting his drink and taking a sip. "….What did that guy say to you just now?"
"He was just asking if we were just stopping through and where we were headed. I just told him we were headed towards the pretty places," She replied calmly, sipping at her own drink and pulling out her phone. Quickly she got it to camera and smiled at Oscar, motioning to the table, "Want to set those pictures out? I'll take quick pictures of them."
Oscar nodded, retrieving the coloring book from his pocket and opening it onto the first painting. "Here." He snuck a glance at the counter once more, then added more quietly, "Don't you think that person was acting a little…..weird? He stared at me pretty hard…."
Honor nodded slowly, keeping her smile up but whispering back, "He made me a little nervous, I'm wondering if it's better just to leave after we post these than wait for our food..no matter how hungry I am, it's not worth you being found out about." She snapped a quick photo of the first picture, checking to make sure it was good before nodding again and tapping the book, "One down, one more to go."
Oscar found the second painting and showed it to her, holding the pages flat so she could get a good picture. He knew she was probably right, but at the same time he really wanted some of that good-smelling food.
"Can we wait at least a few more minutes, please?" he asked. "If it's not ready by then, we can leave."
"A few more minutes won't hurt I guess," She agreed, thinking for a minute as she took the picture, "We can stay here until I get these uploaded, hows that? It'll take me a little while to get them both up." Honor looked up at him, smiling as she did so, "I have a good feeling about these pictures, Oscar. I think they're going to sell incredibly fast." Then, just like that she set to work, going silent besides her food bouncing and doing her best to be as quick as she could with getting them up.
Oscar watched from the other side of the table, unconsciously twiddling his thumbs, then picked up his coloring book and flipped through it. When he found an uncolored page he liked, he pulled out his crayons and set to work, keeping half and eye on their surroundings at the same time.
As it turned out, the cashier had been just about done with their order, and now he carried it over with the receipt in hand. "Here you go, enjoy your meal. Um…..anything else I can get for you two?"
"No thanks," Oscar said, accepting the food hungrily. "Um, we'll actually be having this "to go" after all."
"Oh, okay. Welp…..have a nice day then." The young man hesitated for a minute, then almost reluctantly returned to watch the counter.
"I'm ready when you are," Oscar told Honor, having already put away his art supplies and taken a huge bite of his burger.
Honor smiled at the male, taking her food as it was set down and wasting no time as she dug into her own burger. "I'm ready to go now," She said easily before taking a bite, pulling the keys out of her pocket, " I have the drawings up and we can leave as soon as you want." As much as she wanted to sit and eat her burger, driving and eating was something she was quite good at. Plus, the faster they got on the road again, the faster they could go meet the level five they had to find.
Honor's calm demeanor in turn helped calm Oscar as well, and he decided maybe they weren't in danger like he'd previously thought. Gathering up his food and drink, he led the way to the door and held it for Honor so she could go through. "How long do you think it'll be before we have to post more paintings? I can make more pretty fast, but I'd also like to try out my new paints, and that might take me a little longer."
"You have however long you want, but I'm going to check on your pictures the next time we stop, and from there we can decide when to next post more," She replied, nodding in thanks as she walked out the door, "You have as long as you want to create as many picures as you want." Honor smiled at him, taking another bite of her burger while walking towards the truck, "I can post more tonight if you really want me to."
"We'll see how long it takes me to do one while we're driving," Oscar decided. "Then I'll let you know." He made it to the truck and hopped into the passenger's side, finishing off is drink as he did so. he glanced around at the parking lot, but he couldn't see any suspicious activity, so he allowed himself to relax a bit. "Okay, I'm ready."
Honor finished off her burger in the last few steps to the truck, hopping into the driver's seat with a nod. "Perfect, then let's get on our way," She said after a minute, offering him a smile and starting the truck. In a matter of minutes they were off, her focus only between her fries, the road, and occasionally Oscar. He would talk to her if he wanted to, she figured, especially if he was focusing on drawing, she wasn't going to bother him.
Oscar opened his new sketchbook thoughtfully, reaching down by his feet for the new paints he'd brought from the back of the truck. "You know….I maybe already mentioned this, but…..I want to paint what I remember about my home. I'm hoping that by doing that, I can remember more. Maybe not jut about my home, but about who I really am, and my real name, and everything. I think painting might be the best way to do that. I just….don't really know where to start."
"You're free to paint whatever you want," Honor replied gently, a smile on her face, "I'd love to see what you create regarding your home, maybe it'll help us with talking to the five, but if you'd rather paint something else, you have that freedom." She kept her eyes on the road as she talked, her fingers drumming gently against the steering wheel, "Just don't make a mess please."
"I'll be careful," Oscar promised. He watched the world race by outside the window for a minute, then closed his eyes and tried to remember something, anything about his old home. But there was nothing solid to go off of. Eventually, growing frustrated, he decided to just start painting and see what happened.
Picking a color at random–red–he carefully put a dollop on the paper and smeared it around with his brush. He added tiny bits of other colors, listening very carefully to his feelings and letting them guide him as he worked. He still had no memories, only faint snatches of emotion and sensation, but he held on tightly to them. Soon he forgot about the truck, and the road, and the sky, and even Honor, his eyes turning black as he hunched over the slowly evolving painting.
Honor stayed silent as she drove, the only noise being from the truck and from the softly playing radio, but she did dare to look over at him every so often. He was hunched over in his seat, so she didn't see much, but the glimpses of the painting that she did see were gorgeous as he added color after color. As much as she wanted to, she didn't comment, smiling gently and turning back to the road. Oscar needed to focus, and she would let him do that.
After what felt like a long time, Oscar realized he was starting to wear holes in the paper with the many layers of paint. He sat back with a frown, studying the work he'd already done. With a sinking feeling, he realized that the whole painting was wrong. Somewhere along the line, he'd strayed from the memories into something else, and he'd been too focused on the details to notice until it was too late.
"I have to start over," he sighed, pulling the painting out of the book and resting it on the dashboard to dry. "It's not right."
It was still a remarkable painting, though. There were dozens of colors both light and dark, all tinted a muddy red. At first it seemed as if the brush strokes formed a face or a landscape, but upon closer inspection the image returned to chaos. It was both mesmerizing and somehow unnerving.
Oscar eyed it for another moment, then grudgingly added his signature to the bottom corner. "The books said to always sign it. But I might not keep it for long."
"You know, even if you're not completely happy with it, I'm sure there's someone that would buy it, it's amazing, from what I can see," Honor replied, her voice calm as she glanced at the muddy red painting, "What's it based off of? Something from Earth? Or from your home?" It was the first time she had said anything in about an hour and a half, and she was almost relieved to have an excuse to talk again. Sitting in silence for so long, with only the quiet radio playing was making her zone out.
She looked over at Oscar for a moment, giving him a small smile, "How are you liking your painting supplies?"
"I really like them," Oscar replied. "I can get some interesting colors and textures that don't work with the crayons. As for the painting…." He gave it another displeased frown. "It's supposed to look like home. Or a thing that comes from home. But I messed it up…..it looks too flat or something. I added detail to the wrong parts. I have to try again." He took a big daub of blue-black paint and started working on a fresh page, unconsciously humming along with the radio. "Can we talk while I do this? I think it might actually work better if I'm a little distracted."
She noded, listening as he talked and not hiding a smile at his request, "We can talk all you want, I'm happy to provide as much of a distraction as you need. Sitting here in silence get's kinda boring if I'm honest." Even if Oscar didn't like his picture, she truely thought it was mesmerising and one of a kind. Honor was well aware of the fact that even on her good days, she wouldn't be able to create something that amazing anyway, and she was happy to let him do it instead. She could stick to driving and talking for the time being.
Oscar cast her a grateful smile. "Thanks." He painted quietly for a minute longer, deciding what he wanted to talk about, then spoke again. "I guess…..I've been wondering about something for a while. Do human parents and their children mean a lot to each other?"
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