Satisfied, Oscar started painting again, adding more electric green in tiny streaks and accenting each streak with bright orange-yellow. "I think a lot of stuff on Earth is like that. It's hard to understand and it's not very fun, but you just have to deal with it because you don't get a choice." He thought for a minute. "I can't remember if my world is the same way. I hope not…..at least, I hope it doesn't have the same problems Earth does. I think I can handle anything but that."
It occurred to him as he said this, that maybe Honor wouldn't like him constantly putting down her home and her kind. Maybe she thought he was including her in his complaints. That was the last thing he intended, but he hadn't really considered the possibility before. He cared for her a lot, but empathy was still something he struggled with.
"Does it make you mad when I say bad things about Earth?" he asked her timidly.
Honor paused what she was doing as she listened to Oscar, then shook her head, "It doesn't make me mad at all. I actually agree with your opinion. There's a lot of things that confuse me…even after twenty-one years of living on Earth and trying to figure things out. But I've learned that more often than not, you just have to stomach your opinions and deal with whatever."
She popped a chip into her mouth before continuing, setting her phone beside her for the time being, "I really hope your world isn't the same. You don't deserve to deal with this all the time, you're not a bad person." Once again, she paused, glancing at him and adding, "If I had any clue what your world was like, I'd want it to be somewhere that you're happy and not in pain. Somewhere that you were stuck in the right body, with the correct name, and weren't being chased or dragged halfway across the Midwest to look for some way for you to get home."
"…I want that too," Oscar said slowly—half glad that Honor wasn't upset, half filled with homesickness. He wanted to thank Honor for caring about him so much, but was too embarrassed to come up with the right words. Sitting back, he stared at his painting and sighed. "It's getting dark out, isn't it? I guess I'll finish this and then try to sleep. Will you be up much longer?"
"It'll be getting dark anytime soon," She said with a nod, finally grabbing her phone again and getting back to work, "As for how long I'll be up…I'm not sure. You can turn off the lights if you want to get to bed. I'll just be working on my phone to set up things with those paintings." Honor looked over at him and smiled gently, then quickly focused again. If she wanted to get these paintings paid for before going to bed, she would need to focus.
Oscar painted a while longer, then set the artwork on the desk to dry and went to bed. Five minutes after lying down, he sat up and took off his shoes, then tucked the pillows and blankets at the food of the bed. He still felt stiflingly warm, even without them. But eventually, the long day caught up with him and he drifted off to sleep.
He was dimly aware that he was dreaming. But they were empty and boring dreams, mostly composed of hours sitting in the car, or eating at roadside diners until their kitchens ran out of food. He muttered in his sleep a bit, repeating some of the foreign phrases he'd read in the language-learning section of the last library.
Honor didn't get to bed until much later, and only then because her phone needed to charge. Between arranging for shipping and payment for Oscar's sold paintings, and getting the time to text her parents and let them know that she was alive, it was a fairly stressful few hours. She was sure it was well past midnight when she finally stopped tossing and turning and fell asleep. Dreams floated through her mind all night, but many of them didn't hold any significance to her and she forgot about them as quickly as they came.
(Aaand sorry that took so long, I've had a rough couple days ahaha. Apologies for the following ramble as well TvT)
At some point past midnight, Oscar became very dimly aware that, although his eyes were still closed and his body wouldn't move, he was actually awake–in a distant, unfocused sort of way. His dreams continued, but in a different part of his brain, and they melded with the quiet sounds of the hotel room around him. He heard footsteps pass by the door to the hall, and alarm briefly made him try to sit up, but the footsteps faded and he decided they must belong to some other late-night traveler.
Still, it made him feel unsafe to be stuck there with no control over his muscles. Instead of drifting back into true sleep, he found himself pacing the length of his body, like a tiger in a cage. After a while, he realized that he'd never felt this detached from his human body before. Whatever part of him was awake and nervous–could it be the part of him that was actually him? The part that had been dragged from its home and trapped here, unaware of its true powers and identity? His anxiety turned to curiosity, and he quickly searched his memories to see if he had access to any new information about himself.
But just as he though he was getting close, a car honked loudly from the street outside, and his body decided to wake with a jolt. He sat up, frustrated, as his true self slipped into hiding once again.
"I have to try again," he muttered, and flopped back down. But this time, he didn't stir until morning.
(It's totally alright, take all the time you need :) )
When morning rolled around, Honor was still thoroughly passed out. Her hair looked more like a rats nest than hair, and she was sprawled out over the entirety of her bed with her blankets tossed over her in the least ladylike way possible. Even with the sun shining through the window quite brightly, she didn't stir. She just snored quietly halfway into her pillow. Clearly, she needed the sleep.
(ty ^^)
Oscar woke feeling hungry—again—and also stiff from barely moving all night. He rolled out of bed, thinking that something had happened last night which he'd wanted very much to remember…..but what was it? Now that the sun was up, he couldn't quite recall.
Rubbing his eyes, he saw that Honor was still asleep and decided to have breakfast. There wasn't a whole lot left in the grocery bags they'd brought in, but Oscar was encouraged by the fact that sugary foods really did fill him up faster. He ate an entire package of cookies, washed it down with some kind of soda, then started working on a new painting while he waited for Honor to wake up.
(Oscar…I absolutely love your food choices XD)
It took Honor another hour to wake up, tossing and turning in the bed before finally opening her eyes. She groaned at the sunlight, yanking the blankets over her head. "What time is it?" She mumbled, finally sticking her head out from under the blanket pile and pushing her hair out of her face.
Mornings were always rough for her, but especially so after an entire day of driving like yesterday. Something about sitting still for that long messed with her sleep schedule she figured. Maybe today she could convince Oscar to stop at some tourist spot and walk around for a little bit. But first, that meant she had to actually get up.
(ahaha yeah his sweet tooth is legendary xD)
Oscar glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "It's almost nine o' clock. I think the front desk person said we had to leave before ten, right? I should have my painting done by then." After a minute, he added, "I left some food for you. I guess you were really tired, weren't you?"
She nodded slowly, yawning before answering, "I was exhausted…driving for so long always does that to me. And yes, we have to be out of here by ten." Honor rolled onto her back as she spoke, closing her eyes once more but mustering the will not to fall asleep. That would only lead to them being late out of the room and getting only a fraction of the way closer to their destination than they could've been.
Oscar nodded. "Okay. Well, we still have an hour, so we can–"
He stopped abruptly, his head snapping up. His gaze was drawn to the window, but it wasn't something he'd seen or heard that had caught his attention. He couldn't really describe it. A feeling? A smell? Whatever it was, he found it much more interesting than his painting. He didn't realize he was walking towards the window until his hand pressed up against the glass.
"There's something out there," he muttered. All memories of their current conversation were swept out of his head. "Honor, don't you feel that? What is it?"
Honor was mid nod when she heard him go quiet, opening one eye to see what was going on. She frowned when she saw him walk to the window, shaking her head as she answered, "I don't feel anything, Oscar." Sitting up slowly, she pushed her hair out of her face again, squinting out the window to try to see what he was talking about. "I don't see anything either…"
She wasn't sure exactly what Oscar was talking about, and even as she mustered the energy to stand up and walk to the window to see for sure what he was talking about, she was still confused.
Oscar stood rooted to the spot for a moment longer, then turned to her in frustration. "It's gone now." His eyes were jet black again, and he kept looking around the room searchingly. "It was far away….." He felt restless all of a sudden, and found himself looking around for his shoes. "Honor, can we go soon?" Distracted as he was, he forgot to ask politely, or give her time to eat first.
She froze for a second when he turned around and she spotted his black eyes but didn't bring them up. All she did was nod and get herself moving, mumbling, "Sure, let me get ready quick…then we can leave." If his eyes were black, she was learning that it meant he wasn't goofing around, and she wasn't going to get on his bad side. It didn't take her more than five minutes to pull her hair back into an extremely messy bun and slip on her shoes before she was ready. Changing into different clothes could wait for later.
Oscar looked down at his painting supplies and realized, suddenly, that they bored him. He closed his sketchbook without bothering to let the paint dry and put everything in one of the empty grocery bags for later. He felt oddly energetic, and wanted to run down the hotel hallway just for something to do. Instead, he settled for pacing back and forth across the room while he waited for Honor.
It wasn't until several minutes later, when he glanced up and noticed how upset she seemed, that the haze started to clear from his brain a bit. He blinked, coming to a halt, and his eyes returned to normal.
"Wait," he said. "What's going on? I don't know why….why I thought it was so important to leave for a second." He faltered. "….Are you okay?"
Honor packed her few things back into her bag that weren't already there, then sat on the corner of her bed, unaware that her emotions were starting to show on her face. "Hm?" She looked up when he spoke, then slightly nodding, adding in, "I'm fine. We can still leave if you want…we should get going anyway." She didn't want to bring up her unease around him when his eyes turned black, and changing the subject seemed like the best way to avoid it. Even if it meant she had to skip eating for the timebeing.
Oscar's expression remained troubled as he collected their belongings. "…I guess we should go, yeah. I'm sorry." He glanced at the bathroom mirror, willing his eyes to stay normal until they were in the truck. Even with horrible empathy skills, he could tell Honor didn't like him behaving this way.
"I can pay for gas," he offered a bit helplessly, getting the door for her. "We probably need gas, right?"
"It's alright, I don't think you mean to do that," She replied, shrugging as she stood and grabbed her things. Making sure she had the room keys as well as her wallet and keys before she left, she nodded in thanks as he opened the door for her. Honor didn't know what had happened in the room, but she didn't want to talk about it, or bring it up, and so she tried to stay silent, answering his question simply as he asked, "We'll need gas soon enough. Probably before we leave town we can get some." She kept her focus on her things and walking, reminding herself that they would need to ship out the paintings before they left town.
Oscar trudged behind her, carrying his bag of painting supplies carefully. He still couldn't help mulling over what had just happened, wondering what on earth could have grabbed his attention so thoroughly that he forgot everything else. Part of him suggested hopefully that it had something to do with his home and forgotten memories, but now that the feeling was gone, he had no way of knowing. Besides, another part of him didn't want the feeling to return. It made him act impulsively, and he didn't like not being in control. So instead of asking Honor what she thought of the whole thing, he kept silent as they went downstairs and checked out of the hotel.
Honor didn't speak much as she returned the keys and check out of the hotel, leading the way out the doors to her truck again. She quickly unlocked it and tossed her things in, then waited for Oscar to do the same, closing the tailgate once his things were in. "We have to stop at the post office quickly before we leave," She finally spoke as she slipped into the driver's seat, letting the truck start as she yawned, "So I can ship out those paintings."
"Okay," Oscar agreed. Honor's continued quietness was making him miserably guilty. He wanted to apologize again, and make sure she knew that he'd never hurt her or try to threaten her, but somehow he guessed that she didn't want to dwell on the topic. So, clumsily, he changed the subject.
"We could get more food somewhere too," he suggested. "Maybe this town has a drive-through?"
She nodded, speaking again once she had backed out, "I think we passed one when we came into town." Honor wasn't a fan of the silence, but she didn't want to have Oscar's eyes turn black again, and she wanted even less for him to bring it up. And so she drove in silence, quickly making it to the post office. "I'll be right back," She said, searching for the sold paintings, "Just have to send out those paintings…if I can find them."
"Here," he said hastily, grabbing his sketchbook and the coloring book from before. "I think this is where they are. Um…..I'll wait in the truck and…..keep watch." There was obviously no need, since the street and parking lot were deserted, but he couldn't really think of anything else to say.
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