#//feel a li'l foolish that i forgot his crutches in my last reply | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gas-stxtion · 2 years

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Continued from here: [x]

@sunnysidedeviledorscrambled:

"Sorry," Marshmallow says at the slight flinch, now feeling guilty as he stops fidgeting with his noose to pay attention. "You can never be too sure with these things, you know." He lets out a nervous laugh, fidgeting with his hood and tempted to pull it back up to cover his very light purple hair. People these days dyed it more often, right? It wouldn't make him look too strange, though he wasn't sure about his eyes. He tries not to be too jealous of Jack's, well...normalness.

"I-I guess I get a little spooked out here at night, I've never liked the dark. Never know what kind of assholes you're gonna find out here, you know," he said, eyes widening as he realizes how bad that sound, "N-not that I'm an asshole, just..." He lets out a sigh, giving up and realizing he's dug himself just a little too deep. He just nods at the reassurance, hanging his head in shame. "Thanks, I appreciate that."

He pokes at his own noose when Jack notices it. It had thankfully returned to its usual, rope over being chains or anything else The host might attempt to turn it into. Taking it off would be a sinch. He sinks back a little at Jack's eyes, looking at him as if he weren't real, and he starts to realize he probably looks an awful lot like a ghost himself.

"I'm not a ghost either!" he assures Jack, wondering if he too had any strange encounters with ghosts or green men as well.

He can tell Jack is confused but the uncertain tone in his voice, but confused was better than outright being suspicious he thinks. "Hi Jack, it's nice to meet you," he thinks, hopefully Jack wasn't some elaborate persona made up by The Host to trick him into coming back, he'd have to stay on alert.

He smiles in relief at the possibility of getting this damn noose off of him, trying not to be too over-eager as he patiently waits for Jack to lead him to said sharp object or offer to get it to him. Probably not too smart to give it to someone like him, but he had no reason to want to hurt Jack, or anyone anymore actually. If anything, this was his chance to start a new and forget about all that...even if it meant forgetting her too.

He didn't really know what to think about the whole situation. He knew his sister was desperate, but in the end, he was the one that did all the work, he was the one who had to suffer. Was she sorry, did she regret it? He might never know. Of course, he was still to blame, he was the one who decided to go through with it but...

He perks up at the offer, hesitantly looking inside and swallowing. His built-up instincts tell him he needs to go on regardless, and he supposed this was a better time than any to find out if this was real or not. So, he gives a short nod allowing Jack to usher him inside. This man was so nice, it'd been a long time since he met anyone so nice. He wondered if he could make it up for him somehow.

"A-alright," he says, hesitant to be left alone, but not wanting to strain Jack's goodwill and doing as told. He hesitantly makes his way up to the front, giving Jack some looks back before full committing to it and heading that way fully.

“No, you’re fine,” Jack says automatically. “Just- I don’t normally like being touched without a heads up.” He lifts a hand and awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, looking at the stranger curiously, before grabbing his crutches a little more firmly. Marsh really is kind of a strange looking fellow, but to be fair, Jack has seen a lot weirder. This isn’t even the most unusual interaction he’s had this week, all things considered.

What they say next catches his attention, though, and he blinks in surprise. “Oh... uh, yeah, no, I get that. It’s kinda spooky out here.” More than once, Jack has been faced with situations where he couldn’t quite be sure what was real and what wasn’t. While he’s never taken a hands-on approach to figuring that out, he understands what Marsh is saying. “No worries, man, I wasn’t worried about the ghost thing, but, uh, I appreciate the reassurance.” He chuckles a little, though he’s sure his confusion is clear.

Abruptly, Jack wonders if, when he leads Marsh inside, Jerry’s going to be able to see the stranger. It wouldn’t be the first time Jack imagined a customer, honestly, and while he would normally ignore the stranger and hope for the best, he figures it wouldn’t hurt to try to do something. Really, he’s already here, isn’t he?

It doesn’t occur to Jack that giving a stranger a sharp object is a bad idea, especially when he doesn’t know anything about said stranger. If it had, perhaps he wouldn’t have offered the box cutter so readily, but most likely, if the stranger does try something, Jack is confident that he and Jerry could probably fend him off together. Probably.

As Jack opens the door and lets Marsh inside, he realizes that it would’ve been a better idea to lead the guy through to the front. But, well, he’s already committed, and he’s not going to back out now.

Once Marsh is inside, Jack steadies himself on his crutches and follows after, letting the door swing shut behind him.

Inside the gas station, it’s a little warmer than it is outside, cleanly lit with the fluorescent lights above. The small hallway in the back that leads to the back door is a little darker, but for the most part, it’s much nicer and brighter than it is outside.

Jack nods down the short hallway in the general direction of the front of the store. “The booths are down that way,” he tells Marsh. “Um... if you’re cool with it, you can wait over there while I find something to cut that with.” He nods toward the noose. “My coworker Jerry is watching the front, but he’d be fine with it if you want to sit, or if you want to hang out a bit or something.” He shifts his grip on his crutches a little.

Before Marsh can actually make a move, though, wherever he wants to go, Jerry himself appears.

“Yo, Jack!” Jerry calls as he pops his head around the corner, a wide grin on his freckled face. His shaggy blond hair is tied back in a small ponytail and he has a smear of grease on one cheek. “I just took apart the cappuccino machine again to see if I can fix it for real this time--did you know that we left my screwdriver in there last time?”

It’s then that he seems to register Marsh standing there, and he blinks in surprise.

“Oh,” he says. “Hey, man. You need gas or something?”

#closer to canon verse: sharp left turn #sunnysidedeviledorscrambled #//feel a li'l foolish that i forgot his crutches in my last reply #//but they're here!!! this particular thread takes place before he gets his prosthetic #ask to tag #noose cw #you and your friends here are all kinds of messed up {in character}

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