Honor froze as the announcement came on and cursed internally, gently taking the bags from her and nodding quickly. "I'll be fine, I guess the sooner I get home and tell my friend about this the better." She knew that this meant she would have to get Oscar out of town, away from the goldenrod agency searching for him.
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"Oh for sure, honey. Here, let me at least walk you to your car. Parking lots are some of the most risky places at night, you know." Not waiting for a reply, Lily turned off the checkout lane's 'open' sign and bundled Honor and her groceries out the door.
She tried to protest before deciding to just stay quiet, offering her a polite smile and walking out to the car with her bags in hand and Lily by her side. "I hope you get home safe too, thanks for walking me to my car," She said, smiling at her.
"No trouble," Lily replied cheerfully. Her back was to the street, and so she didn't see the navy blue van idling on the curb. The driver's window was down, and there was a man watching them both carefully from inside. He made direct eye contact with Honor for a second, and almost seemed as if he was going to drive the van over–but then his gaze shifted back to Lily and he hesitated. After a moment, the window rolled up and the van pulled away, disappearing into the darkness of the road.
Still oblivious, Lily helped stow the bags in the truck and gave Honor a little wave. "Okay, well, drive safe, ma'am, and have a great night. Come again!"
As oblivious to the truck as Lily was, Honor spotted it immediately and her mind went to Oscar. She hesitated but continued smiling as she climbed into her truck and waved back to Lily, "You too!" Honor was worried by now and as soon as Lily was out of the way she backed up, controlling herself and forcing herself not to bolt out of the parking lot like a mad woman. She let out a shaky breath and looked over at the clothes, calmly trying to figure out the absolute fastest way to get back to her house. It seemed like eons but soon she was back on the road, going barely over the limit as she rushed back home and keeping her eye out for cops so she knew to slow down.
The streets were eerily dark and empty by now, despite the fact that it was a lovely summer night. No more cops or mysterious vans appeared, luckily–although at one point a chorus of sirens wailed briefly in the distance. Honor's house looked as safe and cozy as ever when it came into view….except for one tiny detail. The front door was ajar.
Honor's eyes widened at the sight of the open door and basically jumped out of her truck once she parked, leaving the key in the ignition as she grabbed the clothes and made her way to the door. "Oscar?" She called, the plastic bag in her hand making a ridiculous amount of noise as she held onto it tighter, "You still here?"
At first, the living room seemed to be deserted. Empty pizza boxes and half-open books were strewn across the floor, as if a tornado had come through, and Ocar was nowhere to be seen. But then there came the faint sound of snoring from the back of the room, and one of the pizza boxes shifted to reveal a pair of legs sticking out from behind the couch. They were definitely Oscar's legs.
"Oscar?" She asked quietly, setting down the clothes near the door and walking towards the pair of legs sticking out from behind the couch. Honor had a feeling it was him, especially from the books and empty pizza boxes everywhere.
"….Mm?…" The snoring stopped, and after a moment Oscar sat up groggily. There were crumbs peppering his hair and a stack of magazines in his lap. "Oh, you're back. You said I could eat as much as I wanted, but I saved a slice for you just in case you were still hungry."
Honor visibly relaxed when she saw it was him, even smiling a little at the crumbs in his hair. "Did you open the door when I left?" She asked, motioning to the still open door before walking around and picking up the books scattered everywhere, "What did you get up to while I was gone? It looks like a tornado came through here."
Oscar glanced at the door as if he'd forgotten about it. "I had read in the book about constellations, and I was trying to see them outside. It was too bright, though. Then I was trying to find more pizza, and then I started feeling really strange and heavy, and I was looking through all the books to try and figure out what was happening to me. But I couldn't find anything, so I lay down where it was dark and I closed my eyes, and then suddenly I heard you talking and you were back. And I don't feel strange and heavy anymore. Do you know what that might have been?"
"You just fell asleep, that's normal," She explained, piling the books next to the couch as she started collecting the empty pizza boxes to throw away, "And that strange and heavy feeling is called being tired, it means your body want to sleep." She walked over to the clothes once she finished with that and tossed the bag towards Oscar, "Here, look through these and see if any of them will fit you." Before she forgot though, she walked back outside and shut her truck off, taking the keys with her this time as she locked it and went back inside. She was sure to close the door to her house too.
Oscar pulled the clothes out and studied them, comparing them to the outfit he already had on. "Should I try the new things on now?" He inquired once Honor was back inside.
"Maybe try them on in the bathroom, but yeah." She wandered over to the last remaining piece of pizza and picked it up, not caring that it was getting cold by now and taking a bite of it, "Two rules though. One, you have to wear a pair of underwear and pants, and two, you have to have a shirt on too."
"….Okay." Oscar shrugged and carted the bundle of clothes into the other room to test them out. "Do you have any more food?" he called once he was out of sight. "I'm still a little hungry."
"Yeah, I'll get something for you," She called back with a mouthful of pizza. Honor polished off the slice and was soon digging through her kitchen, taking out some little snacks he could try and that might fill him up. Once she had a decent amount of choices out, she flopped onto the couch and grabbed the remote for the TV, turning it to some random cooking channel.
Oscar soon wandered back into the living room to see what the noise was, tugging at his new shirt absently. He'd added a jacket over the outfit of his own volition, seeming to prefer the extra layer despite the warm weather. The tags were still on all of the garments, and they fluttered as he walked to the couch and started investigating the snacks. "What is that noisy glowing box called?"
She glanced up at him before looking back at the TV, already relaxed back on the couch with no intention of moving, "It's called a television, or a TV, did you read about it in the dictionary?" Teaching him about and how to use a TV would be difficult if he wanted to learn, seeing as she didn't know how to explain it in more technical terms than a 'magic box' that he would understand.
"Oh, yes, I did," he said after a moment's thought. "It's a form of long-distance wide-range information dissemination machinery that operates using either satellite or cable or perhaps the internet, and is powered by electricity." He said this sentence in a single breathe and frankly looked no less knowledgeable when he was done. "What are you watching right now?" he continued in a more normal tone of voice.
"A cooking show," She replied as she looked up at him again, "You can come sit down and watch too if you want." Her mind wandered as she watched TV though, thinking of what to do now that the Goldenrod agency was looking for Oscar. She wanted to leave, but didn't know if it was the best choice to just pick up and leave her life someone she barely knew.
Oscar watched the show with a slight frown, doing his best to make sense of what he was seeing. Eventually, however, the drone of the TV began to make his head nod and his eyelids droop. "I feel heavy again," he mumbled with mild annoyance in his tone. "I mean I feel tired. Hey Honor, is it okay if I sleep somewhere some more?"
"Hm?" She looked over at him and nodded, slowly getting up and motioning for him to follow her, "You can use my spare room, I'll get you some blankets too." The guest room was right across from her own, on the same side of the short hallway as the bathroom was. It was home to most of her extra stuff, but there was a bed nestled in the madness incase anyone came to visit her. She flicked on the light inside the room and pushed her stuff to the side so there was some room to get to the bed.
Oscar followed her with a yawn. "Okay. Um…." He paused next to the bed, realizing he still had several misgivings about this plan. "How do I know how long to sleep? Is there even a way to wake up on purpose? ….What if I fall asleep and can't figure out how to stop?"
Honor laughed lightly and answered his questions one by one as she looked around the room for extra blankets, "You should try to sleep for eight hours, or until you see the sun start to rise outside. Your body will wake you up when you've gotten enough sleep or you need to use the bathroom or whatever else, Otherwise I promise I'll wake you up in the morning if you don't seem to be waking up." She finally found a few carefully folded in the corner and tucked in the closet and pulled them out, walking back to the bed and setting them in a stack on top of the main comforter, "Here's some extra blankets if you get too cold, this blanket is really warm though so I doubt you'll need it."
"Okay. Thanks." Oscar climbed into bed without removing his jacket or getting under the blankets and lay down in a comically stiff position. "I'm going to sleep now, I guess. Are you going to sleep also?"
She just smiled softly as he laid on top of all the covers, shaking her head before grabbing one of the blankets and laying it out overtop of him, "This'll help you stay warm. and if you want you can get under these blankets and stay even warmer." She tapped the comforter and sheet and shrugged, "Up to you though."
"Oh, I get it now." Oscar decided that one blanket was enough for him so far and shifted to get a bit more comfortable. He remembered a phrase he'd read in one of Honor's books and decided to try it out. "Good….night?"
"Goodnight Oscar," Honor replied, making sure there was still a clear path before walking back to the door and shutting the light off, "Get some sleep, and just wake me up if you need anything." She looked over at him one more time before partially closing the door, leaving a gap for light as she headed quietly back to the couch to relax.
(sorry, been super busy the last couple of days ^^; Also would you like to skip to the next morning?)