"So. This is something." Jackie groaned, rubbing his head as he stood up. "What now?" Alex looked over to the horizon. "Fennec. We need to find him." "What? But, we just... Do you really think he'll give us answers?" Jackie paused for a bit, then continued. "And his place is miles away. We can't just walk there. Plus, he lives with her..." He scrunched his nose in disgust. Alex nodded. "Right, we need a car." After saying that, he started walking away. "What? Hey, how about the other problems, eh?" Jackie shouted. He scampered over to Alex. All Alex did was restate, "We need a car," and continue forward.
Alex and Jackie soon reached a small house with a busted-up car parked in front. "Yo, Ellen! Come out 'ere!" Alex yelled and punched the hood of the car. He made a small dent in the car. "Well, shit." Jackie murmured. The roar of an engine came from the house, followed by a large pop as smoke came flooding out of the windows. "Bloody hell. Eh, hold on a minute!" A muffled voice shouted from inside. Jackie leaned on the car and groaned.
One Minute Passed ... Five Minutes Passed ... Ten Minutes Passed ...
The door finally flung open. Thank God. A short woman with safety goggles stumbled out the doorway. She rubbed some gunk off her face and peered at Alex. "Eh, Alex? Whaddya need?" Alex approached Ellen, hands clasped together. "We need a car." He spoke, calmly. Ellen nodded and motioned them in.
As Alex stepped in the house, he noticed a thing sitting comfortably on the couch, reading a book on... Drag queens? As the thing looked up, its body emitted a bright pink glow. It smiled and nodded as Alex walked by. He paced to Ellen and whispered sharply, "What was that?" Ellen looked back, raising her brow. Alex pointed at the thing, irritated. "You talking about Flaunt-bot? Oh, right. He's a bot for those competitions, yeah?" She said softly. She got the two of them to sit at a dining table, then rushed off. Jackie set his bag on the floor and swiped his phone out. Alex leaned back on the cold metal chair. There was a light tap on Alex's back. He swivelled back instinctively, only to meet eye-to-eye with the robot. He heaved a sigh of relief. "Ah, it's just Flaunt-bot." "Oh no, please, call me XO." The robot said, with his surprisingly buttery voice, and slowly sat on the chair between Alex and Jackie. Alex slowly got up from his chair and took his phone out, swiftly avoiding eye contact with the robot. XO followed after. "So, how's it going?" XO asked, peering at the phone screen. Alex groaned and turned away. "Why do you need this car anyway?" He asked, leaning towards Alex with a sly smirk on his face. Alex looked at XO and softly asked, "Uh... What are you implying? And what's with that grin?" XO raised a non-existent brow and cocked his head. "It quite seems like the reason you're doing this is because you've got a thing for El, am I right?" He leaned over a counter with a stupid cat grin, or more commonly known as ":3c". Alex leaned back, shaking his head in slight anger.
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The conversation went on and on, XO asking questions and Alex giving blatantly sarcastic answers, until XO finally got bored and left. Good riddance.
The day was almost over and Ellen had invited Alex and Jackie to stay overnight. The moon hung low as the creatures of the night slowly made their way to the surface. Through the window, Alex spot Ellen placing a tin bucket under a brightly-lit lamppost. He ran to the kitchen and took two sodas from the fridge. Carrying the sodas, he walked out the house and quickly sat beside Ellen. Alex looked over at Ellen. Her eyes were closed, as if comatose. He nudged Ellen softly. Ellen snapped awake, glaring around in a daze until finally meeting eye-to-eye with Alex. "God, Alex. Don't do that." She said and looked back at the bucket. The light from the lamppost was dripping into the bucket and had filled it up quarterway. Alex smiled and waved a soda at Ellen, nudging her to drink it. She felt obligated to, but somehow still felt obliged to receive the drink. Ahh, The soothing fizz of a newly opened can of soda. It was enough to easily sink into the atmosphere. "So, what do you need this car for?" Ellen asked, taking a sip of the soda. Alex looked at the can of soda, sighing softly. "I'm going to Fennec's for some rumour going around about me and Jack. Eden said he might have some answers." Ellen nodded. "Wow, you'll have to travel pretty far for that."
"Yeah. Really not looking forward to that."
"So, it's like an adventure, innit? Gee, you're lucky."
"Really? Why's that?"
"Well, I mean, It's as if you've become the main character in a book. That's pretty cool, y'know?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Heh."
"There are quite a few stars out tonight, yeah? God, even this feels like a romantic scene in a book."
Alex frowned slightly. He tilted his head to look at Ellen. Her presence made the night seem much warmer than usual. He could faintly hear XO's voice chanting "Kiss! Kiss! Fall in love!! <3" in the distance. He turned back to the house. XO was looking out the window of the second floor, eating popcorn. Realising that he had been spotted, he quickly closed the blinds. How pleasant. "Hey, what are you doing?" Ellen asked, staring at Alex. He turned back and quickly nodded his head. It was strange, but Ellen continued with the conversation anyway.
"Whatever that was, I guess it's gone. So, are you gonna miss this place?"
"Well, what do you think? Of course I'm gonna miss it. If only I could teleport back and forth like Fennec. I'd come back daily."
"Yeah. Well, at least you're a better listener than him. Cuter, too."
Alex's eyes widened in surprise. He glanced to his left. No Ellen. He turned back to where the house was. She was there, carrying the bucket filled with luminescent goop back to the house. Looks like he wasn't going back into the house for a while. He turned back and stared at the night sky. The night started getting colder and colder as the stars started to fade away slowly, one by one. He heaved a deep sigh, whispering softly, "Just soak in the atmosphere, Al. Just soak in the atmosphere."
