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"It makes sense to me," Oscar said cheerfully. "And if we go there first, we'll for sure have a chance to do it before we meet the Level Five and ask them about away home." Getting out his crayons and sketchbook, he started loosely drawing the beginnings of a picture. "Until then, I'm going to make more art. Oh, and just let me know if you want me to drive for a while or something."
Honor shrugged and nodded, "Sounds like a plan to me." She settled back in her seat, sighing softly as she watched the road, "I should be good to drive for these last few hours…that way you can paint all you want." She glanced at him and smiled gently, "Are you excited to possibly go home soon?"
"Yes, I really am. I can't wait to show you what it's like there. I mean, I still don't exactly remember what it's like….but I know you'll love it." Oscar returned the smile briefly, his hand flying as he drew. "And if the Level Five can take me home, then I'm sure they can take you back here to Earth when you're ready. It'll be perfect." A few seconds later, he got distracted. "By the way, when you think of a dog, what color do you imagine it?"
Honor tapped on the steering wheel with a nod, trying to picture what Oscar's home was like. In her mind, it was a blur of color and space, filled with Erased One's like him that actually felt at home and safe. Wether it was right or not was yet to be discovered, but there was quite the possibility that her imagination couldn't come up with whatever it was actually like. "I'd love to see your home," She said, her smile returning once more, "When I think of a dog, I think of a two different breeds. One is a yellow-blonde color and the other has multiple colors that it can come in."
Oscar nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I'll go with yellow then." He started drawing a happy, friendly yellow dog, but then hesitated. In many of the stories he'd read, especially the older ones, dogs were violent, unpredictable creatures that carried diseases and maybe helped humans hunt for food if they were lucky. Oscar wasn't sure which type of dog to represent in his artwork. Eventually, he settled on drawing both and readjusted his sketch so that the two dogs faced each other on the page.
"Maybe I will use multiple colors after all," he remarked distractedly. "Do you like dogs, Honor? Have you ever owned one?"
"I do like dogs, but I don't have one of my own. I used to have a few when I was a kid though," She replied, smiling once more, "I can tell you about them if you'd like, but otherwise I won't bore you with the stories." Honor glanced at him and the piece he was working on, though she didn't comment. It seemed more polite to wait until he was finished to comment, even though she already liked the sketch of the work he seemed to be doing.
"No, please tell me," Oscar replied easily, digging around for more colors. "I can listen while I paint. What kinds of dogs did you have? Were they a lot of fun?"
"Well, when I was really young, we had a golden retriever named Corncob because he always got lost in the fields," She started, laughing lightly at the faint memories of the happy dog, "Then we had a black and white Australian shepherd named Cow, as well as a mixed breed dog that we called Giant mostly because we figured she was part Great Dane from how tall she was. I was a teenager when we had those two and Giant easily came up to my waist in height. I loved all of them, they were really fun to have around and play with."
Oscar smiled. It amazed him just how many unique dog breeds there were in the world, not to mention the mixed breeds. He added brown eyes and a floppy tongue to the yellow dog in his painting, working quickly and loosely. "How come you don't have a dog now? Do you have other animas instead or something?"
Honor shrugged, turning as the road wound around, "I suppose I just am too busy for one. Between helping my parents with the farm and going to trade school for the past two years, I wasn't home much. Maybe when I get home I'll get one since I'm not in school anymore. I don't have any other pets no." She glanced at him, deciding to ask the question on her mind, "Do you remember if you have other animals in your world? Any that are domesticated?"
Oscar's eyes became distant as he tried to remember yet again. "I wish I knew. I guess….when I first read about pets, I thought it was a very weird idea. So maybe we don't have them in my world. They don't sound like a bad thing to me, though." He almost wished he could have a dog of his own before returning home, but something told him he wouldn't be able to take it away from Earth safely. "Maybe there are animals in my world, and I can be the first one to try 'domesticating' them. That could be fun."
(AAAAHHHHHH I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T REPLY SOONER)
A smile pulled onto her face and she nodded, "You could be remembered forever as the first person to domesticate an animal in your home world." Honor drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, relaxing back in her seat as she drove, "Hey Oscar, can you pull up the map to Talpa again so I can make sure I'm heading the right way?"
(No worries fam!! I was pretty busy over the weekend anyway x'D )
"Sure." Oscar reached over and flicked open the map, using a tiny bit of red paint to mark the town so Honor could see it better. "….And I think we're right about here, back up the road a ways." He indicated that spot too, then propped the map against the dashboard so they could both refer to it. "When I get back to my world, I also want to try building a truck like this one. I read some books about building cars and it didn't look too hard. If I have a truck, I won't have to walk everywhere. I can carry stuff and go super fast….it'll be great."
Honor smiled at his help, then chuckled at the mention of him building a truck, "Be sure to name the truck after me if you remember me, as a way to remember this road trip." A part of her hoped he was able to build a truck when he got back to his world. Then they would have something connecting them, even if she could no longer talk to Oscar. They could share in the idea that they both had a truck. "Do you remember anyone from your world that you're excited to see again?" She asked, prying further into his past than she had before, "Or do you just remember anyone from your world?"
Oscar liked the idea of naming his future truck after Honor, and nodded in agreement. When he heard her second question, he paused, then shook his head. "Honestly…..I still don't remember anything at all." A sudden worry struck him. "You do think my memories will come back, right? Once I'm home, I mean. I'll be able to remember my true name and who I really am and everything?" The idea that he might be stuck without memories forever hit a sour note, and he stared unhappily at his half-finished painting.
(Happy belated holidays!)
(You too! Hope you had a good day yesterday ^^)
She paused, nodded after a moment, "I think you'll remember everything. Maybe being here is just scrambling your memories." Honor didn't fully trust her words, but she desperately wanted to. She wanted Oscar to remember his home and everything he wanted to remember, even if it meant he didn't remember any of the time on Earth. Just the idea of him being stuck without any idea of his past or his real name felt horrible. It was something out of her control, yes, but that didn't mean she would feel terrible if it did happen. "I think you'll get all of your memories back."
Oscar smiled, seeming much more comforted than he probably should have been. "Okay. I'm sure you're right." He added a brighter yellow to the happy dog in his painting, putting confetti-like dots of color all around it for no real reason. "There. I think this is almost done. I just need to make the bad dog a little scarier." He liked 'scary'. In a strange way, it made more sense to him than safety or beauty did. "Can we find more music on the radio?"
Honor smiled gently and nodded, turning on the radio and scanning through the various channels she got. "Take your pick of what you want to listen too," She offered, happy for the change in subject. Thinking of him getting his memories back was an uneven path of ideas, and she frankly wasn't sure what was going to happen with it. Really anything could happen when Oscar went home, and she would have no idea if he got his memories back or not. That was if she wasn't able to see him again once he left.
Oscar happily selected a station of alternative music and hummed along as they drove down the road, seemingly inspired to add a few extra flourishes to his painting. He sat in contented silence like this for quite a while, as the sun reached the middle of the sky and the scenery changed from fields to hills to tiny towns to fields again.
Eventually, he cleaned his brush and packed it away, then carefully rested his painting on the dashboard to dry. "There. It's done." Stretching, he glanced out the window, feeling restless and suddenly chatty. "I bet we'll be in Talpa pretty soon, right? I hope so. I want to get out and walk around. How are you doing? Also I'm hungry–is there any more food in here I can have?"
"I think we'll be there soon," She said with a nod, blinking a few times as she returned to the present. The majority of the drive, she had tuned out the music and really everything but the road, but as she glanced around now, she realized that they actually were quite close to Talpa. "Also, I'm good for now…maybe a little tired, but nothing that I can't handle. There should be a few more things to snack on by your feet…if you didn't eat them. Otherwise I can stop and grab something from the back."
Honor was happy for the conversation again, having spent much too long quiet while she let Oscar alone. Now that he brought it up too, she was getting quite tired, and her back was stiff from sitting so long in the same position. Maybe a change of drivers in a little while wouldn't be a terrible thing.
(Sorry for the wait and the short reply)
Oscar nodded and started hunting for food, turning down the radio slightly so they could talk. "I'll switch soon with you if you want. I can't wait to meet the Level Five. I'm sure I'll be able to find them right away if I use my powers. But the ice cream factory first, right? I guess I'd better not eat too much so I can save room for that. And then maybe we should find a hotel here just in case, and–" He stopped short, realizing he needed to take a breath. "Uh, sorry. Guess I'm kind of excited."
(All ok!)
Honor chuckled and nodded, amused by his excitement, "If you want to drive for a while, I can take back over when we get to Talpa…that way you can focus on trying to find the Level Five then." She listened to his ideas of what to do, excited for the prospect of ice cream herself. And for the idea of another break from constant driving. The fact that by the end of this trip, she would be most likely going home on her own though… that thought made her a little distant. She had only met Oscar what…less than a week ago, and already she was attached to him. She didn't want to try driving back home all on her own with no one to talk to.
Oscar nodded with his mouth full of chips and dried fruit. "Sure, I can drive for a while. I memorized the next few turns so you can just relax—don't worry about checking the map or anything. Okay?" He noticed her expression turn slightly more serious–just slightly–and paused. "….Is that all right?"
She turned to face him as he broke her out of her thoughts, mustering up a smile, "Yeah, that's alright. Sorry…zoned out." Honor glanced around for somewhere to stop, deciding it would be easiest to just pull over since they were on a fairly rural road. She stopped the truck along the gravel ditch, then hopped out, switching spots with Oscar quickly. Honor stretched her legs as she walked to the other side, reluctantly sliding in and closing the door once more.
Oscar took the wheel and guided them back out onto the road, proud of his responsible self-taught driving skills. "You must be tired. We didn't spend much time resting at the hotel, did we? Do you want to try and sleep a little while I get us there?" He himself felt energized and full of anticipation, but he could guess that Honor might not be running on the same sugar high as him.
She hadn't realized just how tired she was until she slipped into the passenger's seat, sinking against it gratefully. It felt good not to drive. Yes, she liked being able to drive, but after a while, she got sick of sitting there, and driving took much more of her control and focus than she wanted to admit. "I suppose I could try to sleep a little…just let me know if anything happens and wake me up when we get there," Honor said, already leaning her chair back as far as it could go and settling in.
"I will," Oscar promised. "Sleep well."
He drove as smoothly and quietly as possible, and turned down the radio so it wouldn't bother Honor while she napped. The road was mostly empty and the afternoon was very calm, so he didn't have any trouble driving them towards their destination without help. Whenever boredom started to kick in, he occupied himself by counting the segments of the road's yellow center line as they whizzed by, or by calculating the exact time when they'd arrive in Talpa based on the speed limit and the angle of the sun.
Thirty-five minutes passed, and all at once a tiny town appeared on the horizon, heralded by a water tower and a sign advertising gas. Oscar blinked, shook himself, and checked the map.
"Honor," he said, slowing down as they passed the first few buildings. "We're here. This is Talpa."
(I…I thought I replied to this >_< I'm very sorry)
Honor had no trouble falling asleep once she got comfortable. Dreams kept her mind busy as she slept, not once waking her in the entire rest of the drive to Talpa. She only woke when Oscar finally spoke again, and even then, she was still half asleep as she replied, "Hm?" Honor rubbed her eyes and yawned, blinking while she surveyed the start of the town, "This is Talpa?"
Even half-asleep, her thoughts wrapped around the idea that she was going to have to most likely leave Oscar here. For the time being, she pushed those ideas aside, taking in the small town quietly before looking to Oscar, "Anything fun happen while I was asleep?"