The 10 hours of rest came and went in a flash, and before Spec and Alexis knew it, the two were back on the road. Having some time to themselves to "recharge their batteries" seems to have aided in mending the hostile vibe in the air. The two had started making small talk to pass the time— an act that would have been unthinkable a day ago.
"…So yeah. The Cold War. Shit took until the fuckin' NINETIES to end. Wild stuff. Oh, right, politics. We uhhhhhhhhhhhhh… well, we certainly had some of the presidents of all time. Like, out of all the presidents, these guys were definitely some of them. One guy played the saxophone. One guy tried to use a pandemic to kill off all the queer people. One gu—"
"Spec, PLEASE. I can only take so much at once. SLOW DOWN!!" Alexis responds, dragging his hands along his face. "I've had access to the internet, yknow. I've caught up on the major world news. You don't need to give me a run down of the past fifty years…"
Spec puts his head down. "Aww… But I had the whole ramble all planned out and everything…"
Alexis rolls his eyes. "I'm starting to see a theme with you."
"Didn't Alexis literally just say he 'still had a lot to catch up on?' He's always on his phone, is clearly adjusted to Backrooms life, and yet then he goes and says stuff like this? Why would he think it's the 1970s if he knows about the cold war ending?"
The two walk in silence for a few minutes, before Spec finally breaks it again.
"The Stones made a new album."
"…"
"Came out like… a week or so before I clipped…"
Spec's voice trails off, his face quickly changing from the usual smug expression into one of despondency.
"Moving on. So yeah, music still fucks. There's some newer artists that are starting to come out too, Tom Von Haderach was telling me about— wait, do you know Tom? He's Blanche's butler. Anyway, he put me on to some of this metal stuff, not my thing really, but its cool—"
"Spec."
"Yeah?"
"Are we just going to gloss over that?" Alexis pries, tilting his head slightly as he tries to read his colleague's expression.
"Gloss over what?" Spec asks dryly, giving Alexis a look that made clear it was time to back off.
Alexis just sighs in reply. "Nothing. It's just… take it from me, man— burying the things you don't want to talk about only makes them worse. Sort of like your 'shadow' in a narrative sense— you've got to learn to live with it."
The young adult pauses, putting a hand up against his forehead.
"I know it isn't my place, I mean, I'll acknowledge I've been an asshole for the past week, but trust me on this one. Nobody is above their troubles."
The pair walk in silence for a few more minutes, the desolate wasteland of purple sand threatening to numb their minds. Spec eventually breaks the silence.
"Well, when did you get so deep all of a sudden?" He asks with a smirk.
Alexis pauses for a moment, before responding in overly dry tone. "About the same time you got so dense."
Spec shrugs. "Ah, so the beginning of time? Yeah, checks out."
Alexis visibly cringes, almost as if Spec's response caused him physical pain. "You really don't care about how you come off, do you?" He asks, giving Spec a look.
"Nope! That's everyone else's problem, not mine."
"I think I'm starting to understand why you say you don't have many friends."
Spec stammers, trying to come back with a response. After about a minute of stumbling over his own words, he sighs and replies with a simple "Fuck you, Alexis."
Alexis smirks, the two returning to silence as they make their way across the desert wastes.