Up the path, the trail became rockier. The industrial properties below them started to give way to a thinned out patch of trees, some of them clinging to their leaves for dear life. Some were lucky enough to be pine trees. The sunlight wasn't much better at all, in fact, the shadows from the trees gave them more cover. The path began to wind slightly, though they were never completely out of sight from the river.

"Can I know anything else about you? No, wait-" Garrett turned his head fully toward Jasper. "Let me guess."

Jasper sighed softly. "Go on, then."

Garrett rubbed his hands together and inhaled deeply. "Alright. First off, you're a Southern boy. Texas?"

Jasper nodded.

"Nice, one point. Texas...that's a way's away from here. You got up here because-" Garrett noticed that the higher up they went, the more of the city they could see. At least, the parts of the city that weren't covered in grey fog. "-you escaped from something."

"What makes you think that?" Jasper's brow knotted.

"A lot of shit went down in Texas, so I've heard. Listen, I probably would've done the same."

Jasper chewed on his lower lip. "You're good."

"Okay, something more positive. Let's see..." Garrett's gaze turned back to Jasper, studying him with a long hum. Turning on his heel, he started to walk backward to get a better look at him. "You're an excellent swimmer."

"Not really, no."

"No?!" Garrett sighed. "Is that a point for you, then?"

"You're the one that made up the game," Jasper reminded him, trying his hardest not to smile. It was proving difficult, as one corner of his lips curled.

Garrett squinted. "I bet...you're a bookworm."

Jasper's head tilted upward, and his smile grew. "Point for you."

Garrett turned around and glanced up at the sky, then settled his sight on a cabin up ahead. Unable to help himself, he sped up to it for inspection, and circled around the outside.

"Garrett?" Jasper asked, following in suit. "Everything alright?"

Garrett peeked in through the window, then pulled his head back and ran his finger over the surface of the glass. There was a black residue left. "Doesn't seem occupied." He looked up again, then over across the river. "Guess at this altitude and all the mills around, it's pretty hard to live here." When he turned around to look at Jasper, mischief plastered itself on his face.

Jasper immediately looked cautious about the idea, and he stepped up to try the front door. It was locked.

"Go on, then," Garrett encouraged him.

It didn't take much force to break the lock, but it meant the door was, of course, unable to be locked again after that. With a gentle nudge on the back, Jasper stepped inside.

There was no warmth to the house at all. Cobwebs formed over the ceiling and down the walls, and there were greyed sheets covering the one sofa that made up for the room's furniture. The whole structure was small, like a detached apartment. Just a living area with a small, run-down kitchen and two doors on the wall opposite them.

"Hm...quaint." Garrett nodded as he took in the details. "Kinda makes you wonder who built this place...and why."

"Clearly, they had to have built it before the smog set in." Jasper pressed his foot down on a squeaky floorboard. "Doesn't look like it has any modern wiring..."

Garrett slid himself passed Jasper to get inside. "Is that something that's important to you?"

Jasper gave a nonchalant gesture. "It's a hiding place. That's what matters, right?"

"You should choose how you wanna live." Garrett took a step closer to him. "It's your life, after all. And since it seems like you're by yourself, you are your own master. What do you like, Jasper?"

"I'm surprised you haven't decided to guess," Jasper responded, giving his brow a faint arch.

Garrett snorted with a chuckle, which gave way to silence.

Jasper shifted timidly. "So. What about you?"

Garrett hummed. "What about me?"

"Do you have somewhere that you're gonna stay?" Jasper rolled his shoulders, unsure of where to look. His eyes darted from one direction slowly to the other.

"Ah, well...I can collect a pension if I need it, find a place downtown or something. I guess I'm used to hiding in plain sight." His bag shifted again on his back, and he bit his tongue. "You, uh, you gonna be okay up here all by yourself? I'm not gonna walk in on you on the brink of starvation again, am I?"

Jasper was fighting not to hug himself. Although he'd fed a decent amount, he still didn't feel fully satisfied. What was worse was that he wasn't sure if he had the willpower to go through hunting another human so soon. His fingers twitched anxiously, then he forced a smile. "Yeah. Thanks for worryin', but I'll find my bearings."

Garrett's lips parted in thought. "Why don't I...help you clean this place up a bit? I highly doubt you'll want dust bunnies as companions."

"Oh- you've done so much already. You don't have to..."

"But I want to."

Jasper stammered, unsure of how to respond. Instead of words, he just hurried to open one of the two doors, and found a small bedroom awaiting. The other was just a tiny bathroom with a gas lamp above the sink, and he tried testing out the faucet. It squeaked, and the tap dripped pathetically. It made him chuckle.

"Jasper," Garrett called to him quietly, staying by the front door. "The last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable. I just hate to see ya waste away, is all. You're one of the good ones."

A dull pain began to fester in Jasper's chest. "And how do you know that?"

Garrett stopped himself at first, then relaxed his shoulders. "I think you starved yourself by choice," he spoke up, though his voice wavered. "You do...things with emotions. Maybe you feel other people's, so you...feel their pain when you feed."

Jasper's jaw clenched. The air went bitterly cold, but not in temperature. Garrett could start to see a vignette of black and white again, and he tried to shake it off subtly.

"Listen, we all deserve a chance to live, and you didn't really get much of a fair chance with that power. How about I...give you some time to think it over, and I'll be back at dusk?" Garrett finally set his bag down outside. "I'll tell you what it's like in the surrounding area when I return. Looks pretty cool up here." He vanished before Jasper had a chance to respond.

Something coiled in Jasper's gut, something that almost made him speak up and tell Garrett not to go yet, but his throat dried up when he did something so simple as parting his lips. Regret ebbed at the base of his mind, so to try and retaliate, he turned and forced the rusted window panels open in order to get the dust out.

At least cleaning was a good distraction. Jasper was never particularly good at it to begin with, but it didn't need to be perfect. Besides, there wasn't a terrible lot to do, considering fixing the water pipes wasn't a huge necessity. At least not with the river being so close. The most difficult thing about it was actually finding things to clean with; he had to do some searching to find a broom, and he'd torn off a piece of one of the sheets covering the furniture for a rag. He'd only bothered to wipe down the inside of the windows, seeing as the outside soot was more of an aid to hide him.

Once the dust was all cleared out, it seemed that all were left to deal with were a few spiders that seemed comfortable taking up residence in delicate webs. He almost felt sorry for them, but picked them up anyway to set them on nearby trees. It wasn't going to be fun minding his own business and suddenly finding a creepy crawly on his arm in the future.

Before he knew it, the sky was darkening above. Jasper thought about lighting up the few gas lamps around the cabin, but he figured he could see well enough in the dark that it wasn't necessary. He stepped out to lean against the outer edge of the front door frame, wiping his hands of any remaining dust. Garrett had arrived right on time, and at first, he smiled. That was, until he saw how bright red his eyes had become. The smell of blood followed, and he shifted his foot back an inch.

"So, there's not much else if you keep going up the path. I went down instead, well, down to the riverside and followed it a little more upstream. It's a bit of a shanty town down that way..." Garrett rambled, making small hand gestures as he spoke. "And if you go the other way, well, it's a lot more busy. But the people seem interesting." His casual smile started to fade out when he noticed Jasper's discomfort. "You okay?"

Jasper straightened up. "Yeah. I guess I'm still a little exhausted."

As if on instinct, Garrett stepped up and held out his arm out, wrist-up. "I don't mind."

Why did he have to be so kind? Jasper thought, almost frowning at him to try and ward him off from the idea. But he didn't give himself any other choices, and his stomach craved something. Anything. Maybe he should have just eaten the damn spiders...

"Jasper." Garrett caught his attention again. "C'mon, you gotta eat."

Instinct got the better of him, and he gripped Garrett's wrist. His teeth sank deep into the icy flesh of his arm, hunched over like a scavenger. Strangely enough, it wasn't even the blood itself that enticed his senses so strongly, perhaps because it wasn't human, but the offering. The moment Garrett insisted, that's when he felt his loss of control. His conscience was still backed up into a corner until the hunger was sated, and the blood settling in his stomach felt heavy. But it was better than stiff muscles, better than being unable to think about anything else except hurting people. It was enough.

Then again, he'd never met a human that combed their fingers through his hair so softly as he indulged in such violence. He knew he shouldn't have felt so soothed, but he wasn't about to tell Garrett to stop. He didn't feel as sated as he usually did, but it was enough. When he decided he was finished, he licked the blood clean from his arm and gently rubbed his thumb over the already healing wound.

"Better?" Garrett asked.

Jasper nodded, though he didn't look very happy. "Thanks." He felt it was the least he could say.

Not wanting silence to reign over them, Garrett took a peek inside the house. "Looks good, you all ready to settle down in your new home?"

"It still needs a bit of dusting here and there, but it's mostly done," Jasper muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"I can help. I don't have anything better to do." Garrett invited himself back inside and immediately looked to the ceiling. It was going to be much easier for him to reach, after all.

Jasper watched idly as he just grabbed a rag and effortlessly got to cleaning. It was both strange and warming to see another nomad so unlike the rest, but at the same time, it started to make him miss Peter and Charlotte. He stepped back outside to watch the dark fog roll over the city, its man made lights shining dimly between.