Guns & Roses

Chapter 40

[Hank]

Of course, 2B was making them leave already. Barely a day, and he called for them all to be packed up and ready to leave within the hour because he might've seen an airship nearby. Frankly, he didn't even know they had airships. In all his years here, he'd never seen one.

A clicking of a pebble skimming the ground sounded next to him, and he quickly turned to see who it was. It was that damn Texan again. He just turned, facing back into the empty space ahead of him, hoping they'd just leave him alone and wait quietly. But he should've realised by now that he never gets what he wants.

"So... What're you looking at?" Sheriff was staring off in the same general direction as him.

"Nothing." Hank answered blankly, not looking away.

It was silent for a few moments, and he was given the false hope that the conversation would end there. "...Doesn't it get... Boring?"

"What do you mean?" There was nothing else for him to be doing. 2B said to wait outside, and he was doing that.

"I just mean... There isn't really much to look at out there." While he was right, he didn't see why it mattered.

"And?" He shifted his gaze to Sheriff, wondering what his point was.

"Well... Don't you get bored?" This again? Of course he got bored. But what else was there to do here?

"Yes." Hank looked back into the distance, "But I don't see why that matters."

It was quiet again. After glancing briefly he noticed Sheriff seemed a little shocked somehow. "...Well... Don't you want to do something?"

Again with the stupid questions. He obviously wanted to do something, but Nevada wasn't much fun to stick around in.

"What is there to be doing?" Unless they were all finding extra tasks to be doing, he didn't see how anyone here couldn't be bored.

"I mean... There's books around the place, there's blankets to make forts with, and-"

"And what good would that do me?" He didn't understand why anything Sheriff was saying was relevant.

Sheriff was silent for a while again, but he knew better than to hope the conversation was over this time. "...It would keep you entertained?"

So in other words, pointless. "I wouldn't gain anything by doing it."

Sheriff seemed a little perplexed, but if anything Hank was the one with the right to be confused here.

"But..." Sheriff paused, blinking a few times, "Don't you have any hobbies?"

He thought on it, "Yes. Walking around to make sure the buildings are secure."

There was no response, and he assumed Sheriff would finally back off. Like always, he was sorely mistaken, "...You do that for fun..? Not that there's anything wrong with that! It's just..."

He trailed off, looking into the endless expanse ahead of them. What was that supposed to mean? He obviously wasn't doing it for 'fun'.

"I do it in my spare time." With boredom finally catching up to him, he started looking for pebbles to skip across the ground. "So it's a hobby, isn't it?"

"Not really..." Despite not caring much for the conversation, he couldn't help but feel oddly attacked. "A hobby is something you do because you enjoy doing it."

Oh. Then he supposed he had no hobbies. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being judged for that somehow. "What are your hobbies then?"

Surely they were something stupid. Surely the whole 'hobby' this and 'entertainment' that was all a hoax.