Spectral Springs

Through the trip to the gas station and back to their RV, Molly slowly learned a couple of tidbits about the two, mainly concerning Asher as Drake remained silent to a degree. The city life, although it was something that she wanted to pursue, seemed like it was a lot more trouble than it was worth. The bespeckled blonde gave the younger male a sympathetic smile at his comment, and nodded. "Yeah, here, everyone's related or has known each other since birth, et cetera, et cetera," she sort of waved it off and they talked a bit more as they got the gas containers filled and back up on the truck bed with somewhat idle conversation until Asher paid her a big compliment. Her face filled up with a big grin, and she looked down with a bit of sheepishness, "Oh, no, it's not a big deal... It's good to see a new face around here. Gets a little tiresome lookin' at the same ugly mugs all the time," she joked, giving him a mild-mannered wink. She shoved her left hand in her pocket and made her way around back to the driver's seat to get them back.

Molly hummed softly to the radio, mainly making noise for herself to stay calm as they sat in silence together. The road was long overdue for new pavement, so it bumped them along somewhat uncomfortably. She never understood why they'd go such lengths to advertise the town when they couldn't even accommodate the basic necessities for a good traveling experience: smooth roads. The blonde silently cursed the city planners in her head. Maybe she'd stir up some trouble sometime and report it? Bah, not like they would care, anyways.

When they were parked and stumbled out of the car, she was more so surprised by the question than anything else. "Oh..." she murmured, "You know, you're the first I've ever heard even mention that kinda stuff, to be very honest. And to be even more frank, I thought I was the only one." She gave a bashful smile, and shoved both of her hands back into her jean pockets, leaning against the side of her truck, if somewhat uncomfortably, "Well, I'm not one to stick around in town all the time, so I go walking in the woods, y'know?" She adjusted her glasses that had moved down a little, pushing them back up to the bridge of her nose, "Sometimes, you'll see things. Things that don't make much sense when you're walking in the woods of all places." How did Asher or Drake know about these mysterious occurrences? Actually, looking at Asher, it was pretty plainly seen that he was messing around in the woods or fell or something with all those leaves in his hair. She had mostly shaken off any thoughts about that until now. Strolling through the woods outside of town was like a hobby for her almost. Sometimes she packed up a blanket and picnicked by herself and brought a couple of books and would stay outside until dusk climbed over and settled above the trees. But no matter what she did, there was something always wrong every time she left. She couldn't put her finger on what, even, which made it that more frustrating, but it was noted nonetheless. She sighed a little, "Sorry I can't be more specific. But there's something different out there."

Garfield sat in the back of the truck's cab, listening as the other teens discussed life and what not. He really didn't wish to talk about his home life or anything like that. It wasn't that he had a bad life, no anybody who knew him would think otherwise most likely. People always thought that folks with money would have good lives after all, most problems in the world could be solved with a bit of green.
What they often neglected to realize was that other problems tended to arise.
And while these issues weren't nearly as colourful as Asher's seemingly random assault by costumed sesame street characters, but they were still problems to him and it wasn't something in which he felt he should burden others with.

“If I had to live in a place where I was related to everybody I'd probably go mad...” He muttered, barely audible.

When they got to the gas station, the blonde boy got out of the truck and assisted the girl with carrying the cans and filling them up. It was the least he could do after all. He tried to pay for the gas, only to be rejected by the girl insisting. Well, he'd just leave 40 bucks in the truck and she'd find it later. No big deal.

The trip back to the RV, the conversation topic shifted to one of more interesting matters, stuff he could really attempt to contribute to, or maybe just stuff he thought he could.
Supernatural phenomenon, wonders and enchantment.

The conversation continued when they got to the RV. Listening intently, the boy climbed out of the truck, making sure to leave the money he thought he owed her in the back, with a short note in very neat handwriting that said “for the gas.”.


Walking over to the RV, he unlocked it as he heard Molly's account of the forest. Something there was different to some extent, and he needed more information to go off of.
“When you say 'different' could you possibly go into more detail? Are there unexplained patches of cold that seem to chill your very core? The smell of sulphur in the air? Does time stop entirely for brief moments or do you look at your watch one minute and then maybe 5 minutes later only to find that you're literally missing hours?”
He tried not to sound excited with his questions, but honestly this was incredibly interesting to him.
Perhaps he sought this sort of thing to bring about a distraction to his own mundane existence, or perhaps he was just so very tired of the same old same old.

But the girl said she couldn't get into specifics and thus his hopes were dashed. He'd have to find answers elsewhere.

Taking the gas cans out of the back of the truck, he began to refill the monster of an RV. This was always a huge pain, but if it was the cost of his freedom, then it was worth it.
Thinking about that, his mind couldn't help but imagine what his family thought of his disappearance. Edith was probably taking the brunt of their so called 'affection', all those lessons, all those standards to up hold. He almost felt bad about leaving her to deal with it, but there was no way else to get out.
Shaking his head, he cleared those troublesome thoughts from the forefront of his mind and focused on the behemoth.

When the gas cans were empty, he put them back in the truck bed and thanked the girl. Turning back to Ash, he gave him a smile and asked if he was ready to hit the road again.  

OOC:// sorry this took a while!! D: But I finally got a post up!!!

"Yeah, here, everyone's related or has known each other since birth, et cetera, et cetera," The thought of being related to everyone in town sent an involuntary wave of shivers down his spine. Truth be told Asher didn't even know if he had any extended family. To his knowledge both of his parents were only children (well for sure his dad was). His mom never was one to discuss much about her past because she was the type of person so caught up in the here and now to give little thought to matters from the past. She was always up to her nose in piles of books related to the supernatural and things like alternate dimensions, wormholes, black matter, string theory and all sorts of sciencey stuff that was way over Asher's head. It seemed like Drake and his mom would've been a good pair. Both into supernatural occurrences and liked ghost buster grade equipment.

It seemed though as if Ash wasn't the only one who found the idea of living in a town where everyone was related a bit troubling. He thought he could faintly hear Drake mutter an, “If I had to live in a place where I was related to everybody I'd probably go mad...” The green eyed boy looked over to the blonde male before giving an unusual laugh. “Y—Yeah, I get what you mean. B—but hey you'd probably have liked to have met my mom prior to her well...disappearance.” Ash refused to believe she was dead despite the fact they even held a memorial service for her. “You'll probably get along with my dad too. He graduated from the engineering program at MIT. Our house his like some freaky sci fi home of the future. Well at least the one back in the city was. I think he's scaled down and tried to blend in slightly with the way this town is.” He muttered.

Ash's attention drifted back to Molly when she mentioned it was nice to see some new faces around here. “Haha..hope you don't get tired of seeing my face too soon.” He let out a nervous laugh. Maybe he was nervous because Molly had called all the other townies faces “ugly mugs." Ash was at that oh so awkward age where part of him actually cared about how he looked and smelled for that matter. Ugh, gross, why did he have to smell like he'd just ran the mile in gym class? He was still self aware of his appearance and this was no way to make a good first impression on someone. Not with leaves sticking out of your hair and smelling like a sweaty sock. So far it seemed like he hadn't run Molly off with his offensive odor or interesting choice in “accessories”.

"You know, you're the first I've ever heard even mention that kinda stuff, to be very honest. And to be even more frank, I thought I was the only one." Really? This caused the brunette to arch a brow in curiosity. Ash carefully, as to prevent further humiliation, reclined against the rusty pick up truck and (in a failed attempt to look 'cool') folded his arms across his chest. He just nodded as Molly kept speaking."Well, I'm not one to stick around in town all the time, so I go walking in the woods, y'know?" But why? Nature is a thing of evil and likes smacking you in the face with tree limbs or tripping you over knotted roots."Sometimes, you'll see things. Things that don't make much sense when you're walking in the woods of all places." Well, yeah, he could definitely attest to that. Who the heck would have a bunker in the middle of the woods in some hick town like this? Was the bunker A's bunker? Hmm. Ash casually glanced to the book that was still tucked close to him. He began to zone out before he caught the last thing Molly had to say, "Sorry I can't be more specific. But there's something different out there."

It seemed as if while he was zoned out that Drake had decided to jump into the conversation. He started spouting off questions one after the other. Ash caught little bits of his questions but his focus was just so off right now. All he could think about was this mysterious journal and the bunker. Maybe tomorrow or possibly later tonight he'd take Drake to the bunker? That guy seemed like he'd know a thing or two about doomsday prepping or well preparing for a garden gnome apocalypse. Ash gave a small nod as if agreeing with himself about taking Drake to the bunker. Maybe he'd invite Molly? Would it weird her out and make her go coocoo for cocoa puffs if she knew what her town was really hiding? Ash didn't want to be responsible for making someone lose their sanity.

As he was lost in thought he looked up in time to catch Drake give him a small smile and ask if he was ready to go. “Y—Yeah, sure thing!” Green eyes darted back to Molly before he gave an awkward smile. “If you're um n—not doing anything later maybe we could I—I dunno take a walk in the woods and erm see if we can find any mysterious things? D—Drake would be with us so it wouldn’t be like a d—date or just us in the woods at night kinda stuff. Ah.. what? Sorry um phone is blowing up g---gotta go!” His face was turning from a light shade of pink to almost red as he quickly scampered into the RV.

Ash took a seat in the passenger's seat before letting out a sigh and smacking his hand against his forehead. “Ugh...can I be any more of an awkward freak?” He muttered underneath his breath. The brunette slide into the seat and more or less was trying to melt into the chair so he could hide. Pulling out his phone he looked and did see a few texts from his dad. Well at least he was finally starting to show some concern. “So..Drake..if you like I dunno want to you could eat with me and my dad? His cooking isn't the greatest but it's not poisonous either. Then after we could go back into the woods? I uh.. I might've opened a bunker up in the woods earlier today and that's where the umm book came from.” He nervously awaited a reply from the other male. “But like it's cool if you got RV things to do and stuff...” Ash added in an attempt not to sound too pathetic or clingy.

Molly pushed her glasses up her nose once more as she listened, perching them at a point where she deemed suitable and less likely to slide down. As much as she enjoyed the “cute” quirk the glasses gave her, they were terribly frustrating; she needed contacts, but her parents continually avoided her attempts of persuasion to get out of town and let her get them. They always had an excuse, one thing or another that they were too busy to leave at the time. So she got stuck with chicken-sitting (which was fine in the grand scheme of things), but it defeated the initial purpose of actually getting contacts. Thanks, Mom… And Dad.

And just when she was thinking about her parents as the three of them sat snug in her truck: “…You’d probably have liked to have met my mom prior to her, well… disappearance…” Asher’s voice, although timid, sounded to her, almost determined? It was weird how he said it. Molly’s eyebrows arched up and she said, quite solemnly, “I’m sorry to hear about your mother. I hope you find her.” Ash also mentioned his father, and the rumors she’d heard around town were true, to some extent. The townies and school kids referred to him as if he was Bill Nye the Science Guy, but it sounded like he was just incredibly intelligent. It’d be a bit of change for their small town. And a good one, at that.

And change was something she coveted; she had made a comment on the town’s ugly mugs, with the response of ‘hope you don't get tired of seeing my face too soon.’ It had melted her heart a little, in a way that goaded her into responding sympathetically. Molly smiled softly and shook her head: Aw, bud, not a chance, she wouldn’t get tired of either of their faces. She almost felt bad referring to her neighbors in that way considering it might’ve rubbed the newcomers the wrong way. In Asher’s case, moving from the city to a dinky, little town like this was practically culture shock. It was hard enough trying to figure out where he was in the world without anyone giving him a hard time. The same went for the mysterious Drake; anyone that quiet had secrets, and secrets meant that he was hiding information that burdened himself or others. Regardless, she was almost sure that Drake had a hard enough time as it was—he was around her age and living in an RV, after all. She did her best to conceal any pity, however. Pity wasn’t something most people wanted.

Her subconscious meandering on the hard lives of these young vagabonds (or at least one was an official vagabond) didn’t drown out their interested questions however. Anna Molly was almost guilty she couldn’t answer them as well as the blonde male wanted; he was so excited to find someone that knew! And she failed him in this respect. She could give him gas, but a good, credible, first-person experience, she could not. She shook her head at the majority of the questions, unfortunately.

Alas, it was time to go. Drake thanked Molly, and she shrugged it off: no problem. As for Asher…

There was a bit of fumbling over words and, well, a lot of nervousness compiled in maybe ten seconds of interaction. Miss Anna Molly, herself, was quite impressed that such a record was created right in front her eyes. The younger brunette boy looked immensely flustered, “If you're um n—not doing anything later maybe we could I—I dunno take a walk in the woods and erm see if we can find any mysterious things?...” He continued a little longer, probably about to melt on the spot from the heat of his own inner-workings of his mind; you could practically see the cogs in his head working a mile a minute! Nonetheless, he got out most of what he was going to say—and a little extra?—and then muttered something about his cell phone before she could interject any. She called after him, “Sounds like a plan, Stan!” If he dared look back, he’d see a reassuring smile on her face; though, despite the good intent, some things will never be seen.

After Ash absconded, she looked to Drake, who was about to walk to the RV. “Hey, one second, if you can, Buck-O?” She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and found a pen in the side of her open truck door; with the two required objects, she wrote her cell number on the paper in her curly, connected handwriting. “It’s for you and Ash both, I guess,” she said softly, pulling out her little flip phone. Its little baby chick phone charm dangled from the bottom as she waggled it side to side in between her fingers, “If you ever need anything, just call or text or whatever. If I don't answer, I'll probably be at my house, which is that one piece of property that's on the outskirts of town. Not hard to miss. But... Yeah. It’s no bother; I don’t do anything important.” Molly shrugged her narrow shoulders, giving him a wry smile. Hopefully she didn't sound too desperate in wanting company. She almost regretted giving out so much information at once because it definitely implied: SEEK ME OUT! The blonde handed over the crinkled paper to Drake, “It was nice meeting you. See ya whenever.”

With that, she waved goodbye to him, and at the window of the RV, hoping Ash, too, would see her attempt of a short farewell. As she did so, something bittersweet gushed in her stomach, making her feel queasy and feverish. She had just basically made friends, no sweat? Watching them go made that feeling in her gut swell and burn. Meeting new friends sure was weird.