Overnight Beau slept peacefully curled up on a bench underneath another canopy at the big train station, waiting for the sound of the train stopping to be his alarm clock essentially. His thick curls were still kind of wet from the rain water. He didn’t really map out a plan at all, although he was subconsciously aware that the train ticket was nowhere near affordable. Beau just went with the flow. His eyes fluttered open to the sound of the train’s tracks and its low, rumbly horn, causing the ground around it to tremble. The train specifically scheduled to stop at Graycott. Passengers were already hauling onto the train with their luggage and their tickets, Beau unraveled himself from his sleeping position on the bench and wasted no time jogging toward the line of passengers. Some stood very tall, others were opaque spirits, some had families, ranging from every species you could think of, so Beau was just as diverse as the rest of the passengers in line. Except for one thing, Beau just figured he’d get on this long train ride without a ticket or anything but his satchel. The line was moving slowly, in words blurred together in the chatter, Beau cut in line a little bit until he reached the worker who collected the tickets. He was a cyclops who stood tall with quarterback shoulders, a square jaw and stubble.
“Sir, where is your ticket?” The Cyclops asked.

Beau looked over his shoulder with a smug expression, his eyes still lidded from just waking up. 

“Dunno, can I get one?” Beau asked, unintentionally holding up the line.

The two exchanged witty smalltalk for a bit, Beau being too tired to communicate well.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave—” The guard was cut off by Beau abruptly left the bus.

Eventually Beau could be seen creeping his way around one of the luggage carts of the train, sneaking around the guards who were just now done piling the last luggage into the train storage. Beau was almost too experienced sneaking into places he shouldn’t be in. He crawled his way into the cracked open sliding cart door. It was cold and dark, other than the light that shined through the crack of the door, as well as crowded with luggage and boxes. Beau curled up, his knees glued to his chest in the back corner of the car, farthest away from the view of the door. The train was on the tracks sooner than expected, and Beau’s heavy eyelids already had him unconscious despite the cold car being extremely bumpy, it was better than sleeping on a bench or on the concrete. 

Moments passed. The sun was now rising well over the horizon, and clouds were scattered across the sky here and there. Beau’s eyes fluttered open slowly to a blinding light peeking through one-third of the cart door, the train was no longer moving. The silhouette of a guard stood before Beau,

“Hello? Who’s in here?” The female guard asked, her voice echoing in the cart. 

Beau raised his head up and revealed himself lazily instead of attempting to hide, his eyes squinted from the noon sunlight beaming toward him. 

“Sup,” Beau croaked, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. He didn’t have a sense of time and he just figured that 6 hours had already passed and he made it to Graycott already.

“You're not supposed to be in here, lemme help you out,” The guard said passively, shuffling through the luggage. 

Beau blinked repetitively until it hit him, the train was just at a stop in a different town. It had only been possibly a two hour long nap from the placement of the sun in the sky. He began to wordlessly make his way crawling out of the luggage cart. The lady moved herself out of the way so that Beau could hop out, her eyebrows furrowed with sympathy and concern.

“Where're you headed to?” She asked once Beau was standing outside of the cart.

The elf’s face was scrunched up and his eyes squinted at the ground from how powerful the sun was beaming down. His replies took some time to muster out,

“Erm, Graycott. I gotta go to Graycott,” Beau replied.

The lady nodded and began to pull out a rolled up paper from her messenger bag. She spoke,

“Well, we’re now stopped in Newgrounds, we got 3 hours to go til’ we arrive in Graycott. I think you could make it there,” handing Beau the paper which turned out to be a map. “If you head about one mile down south you’ll stumble ‘cross a ranch. The folk there could help you get to Graycott in no time.” She explained.

Beau spread out the map before him, his lidded eyes darting around it. He pointed his finger down to the lady’s directions, one mile south. He sighed, disappointed by his plan failing.

“Thanks,” Beau spoke.

“You’re gonna make it in time, they got horses at the ranch,” The guard said with a smile.

The sky had little to absolutely no clouds in it, the sun beaming down from the very center of the blue sky. Cool breezes that picked up dead leaves and plants loomed by occasionally, causing the tall grass to wave. Beau was walking on a dirt path so that he didn’t have to tread his sandals through the tall grass, his satchel over his shoulder was also swaying in the rhythm of the gusts of wind. The elf had been walking on the right one mile path for about 20 minutes now. He had an apathetic, slightly disappointed look across his face, his eyes still squinted and his nose scrunched from the sunlight, his once damp hair was air dried from the hot sun, his curls in matted chunks. Until Beau’s face lit up suddenly, he could spot the farmland and sheds in the distance, the ranch that the train lady encouraged Beau to go to. His brain suddenly ran 50 miles per hour in excitement, he bent his knees and charged up for some momentum before bolting toward one of the barns. 

Not many people were seen around, only around four older men in overalls doing farm labor, they didn’t seem to be having fun at all, they seemed like lifeless NPCs. But the little cabins scattered around had their porch lights on and the windows were lit up. There were fences full of cows, donkies, draft horses, pigs, and mules, they made up for most of the chatter in the ranch. Beau stopped himself in his tracks, slowing down and making small dirt clouds with his sudden declaration. He crept toward the nearest wooden fence that he could hide himself entirely behind, away from the farmer’s point of view. With his eyes glued to the farmers nearby, he carefully shuffled his way over the fence without much noise at all, he kept himself in a crouched position. The mysterious farmers nearby continued doing their work, not even budging from any intrusion, and the animals in the pen remained calm and welcoming to Beau. There were two mules, one cow, and one draft horse, the parents of the mules didn’t seem to be harmfully predatory or overprotective with how they exchanged eye contact and kind body language to Beau’s presence. Beau began to shuffle toward one of the mules mindlessly, his cautious steps crunched under the hay and dead grass that blanketed the pen ground. His eyes widened tensely from the little noise, although Beau was overthinking it out of his own caution. He waddled in a crouch closer to the mule, she made a small honk in response which didn’t make Beau’s cover any better, it didn’t help that Beau’s blue skin drew attention to him. Suddenly, one of the closest farmers around lifted his head and scanned the animal pens with a squint because of the mule’s noise. Beau eventually lost his composure, instead of still desperately trying to blend in, he shot back up from his crouching position, and before the farmer could exclaim anything, Beau was already on the mule and startling her to have her sprint away up and over the fence. The two other horses raised their heads, but they didn’t seem to care enough to stop Beau. The first witness farmer on the other hand was already darting toward Beau’s direction, letting his hoe  drop to the dirt beneath him. He was a hefty werewolf of a man who looked to be in his mid-forties. As he chased after Beau at full force he shouted phrases that scared off birds from telephone lines,

“Get back here!! I’ll kill you!”

The direction that the mule and Beau were heading toward wasn’t comprehensible to Beau at the moment, his hair flew back to expose his entire forehead, his jaw clenched from anticipation, and his knuckles turned a white from how much he was trustfully holding onto this mule. The mule breathed heavily and trembled a bit underneath Beau, her hooves drawing dirt and dust clouds behind them and flattening the grass beneath them. Her tail whipping back and forth and flying with her rhythm. Beau glanced behind him in the man’s direction, his face as red as the crimson face of Mars. Though he was a labor worker his endurance wasn’t holding up, for he was slowing down and coughing in his exhales. Once he eventually gave up and stopped to crouch and put a hand against his chest, Beau nudged at his new friend to tell her it was okay to rest. She was still quite startled, but she came to a smooth stop.

After moments of the two coming down from their adrenaline rush and finding a solitude clearing to rest, Beau wondered what the mule’s name could be. He was still sitting on her in a riding position, watching as her big donkey ears would wiggle and twitch, maybe because she was exhausted or scared. But her other body language was oddly trusting toward Beau, if he were to stand behind her she wouldn’t kick him with her back legs. After moments of more silence Beau reached over to stroke the mule’s big ears gently, they wiggled and twitched some more upon impact, she replied with a surprised, positive hum. He smiled before muttering,

“Your name will be… Wiggles,”

Beau reached for his satchel after a few seconds, shuffling out the map and unraveling it to navigate where the two were. It was very difficult to map out which direction the two had sprinted away toward because of the impulsiveness, but Beau eventually found the forest they were closest to, giving him a vague idea as to where they were located. He also located how far Graycott was from here, Two and a half hours if we’re speedy enough, Beau thought to himself.

“Oh snap, we gotta get goin’!” Beau exclaimed, instructing Wiggles to head to the correct trail.

The sun lowered some more, the horizon transformed into a darker blue than before and the gusts of wind gave Beau more goosebumps. Wiggles and Beau had exchanged minimal conversation as Wiggles speed-walked on the dirt trail that led all the way to the center of Graycott. As seen on the map, the two eventually had to go through this little forest area for a portion of the trail soon, but that didn’t seem like a problem at all. The path split into two directions, Beau pointed toward the right direction, toward the forest, to help guide Wiggles. She was aware that they were in a rush, so she trotted toward it quickly with a determined look on her face, until the ground beneath them began to let out a deep rumble like the vibrations of a throat humming. They were now on the outskirts of the thick forest, trembling and losing balance from the sudden attack, and it only escalated. The tall grass around them began to shrivel down like it was fine hair being burnt, it turned a charcoal black in the blink of an eye as the one-note rumbling from the ground increased in volume, the vibrations increasing in strength as well. Wiggle’s knees gave out from the vibrations, Beau toppled over with her, landing beside her with a grunt. The breezes picked up abnormally, in long, thick wind pointing the two companions outwards of the forest. Beau’s breaths quickened and his mind went blank because he couldn’t imagine a coherent plan to get out of here, his fight kicked in rather than his flight, and he dragged his body toward the forest some more, against the restraining wind. A loud roar emerged from all directions and the wind only picked up its pressure. There seemed to be a supernatural curse bound to the forest, like it doesn’t want anyone in. Wiggles whimpered and dragged her body across the grass into the other direction, where the wind was pushing, and Beau decided to take the same route instead of fighting something he couldn’t see. The two both scampered away from the aura of the forest until the grass was green again and the wind was back to normal. They consoled each other and tried communicating until they stumbled across the path that was split between heading toward that forest and in another direction, this time Beau insisted on going the other direction. It may be longer, but some entity must not want anyone near that forest.

Finally, the destination was in sight, the town of Graycott. Every building was standing tall and had clean cut modern architecture, they were all snuggly close to each other in the center, probably because every building was strictly a cube-like shape or a sleek rectangle. Even the smaller buildings of apartments, businesses, and markets had a flat, minimalistic grayscale vibe to them other than the occasional greenery that would grow around wherever. Instead of dirt and brick pavements there were tiles and andesite slabs to walk on. All of the businesses were flourishing, all of the houses were in a condition Beau couldn't even fathom, even the houses that would normally be in a less developed part in other cities, there was no spot of land where the homes, businesses, or education was too broken to function well. None of the street lamps were shattered, they were also in the shape of cubes. None of the windows to any buildings were boarded up, not even the ones farthest away from main street. And Elliot’s halfway-house was not in the busy area around main street, it was in its own quiet neighborhood. The sky was now a plum violet smeared with crimson colored clouds as the sun peeked over the horizon and illuminated its warm-toned light onto the monochrome architecture.

Beau was standing tall on the front porch of Elliot’s halfway-home, light chatter from around a small clique could be heard through the front door. Beau’s heart felt like it had sunk when he first saw Elliot for the first time in forever. He still had his platinum blonde hair with tight curls, it was still kept pretty short. He had the same recognizable hooked nose and the same rosacea-ridden face. A big smile tugged at the ends of Elliot’s lips,

“Beau! You made it!” he exclaimed.

Beau was too ecstatic and overjoyed to coherently reply or form any words, all of his teeth were on display from his massive smile. He tugged Elliot into a tight hug with one swift motion, his chin snuggly resting on Elliot’s shoulder. Wiggles was left to wander around the sparse areas of nature around the neighborhood, she looked pretty out of place in such an industrial town like Graycott.

An hour passed and the party was calm and more like a hangout with around five people not including Elliot and Beau, but the interior was decorated well and Beau noticed how much it contrasted with the poor living conditions he was comfortable with. The seven were seated in the living room around a coffee table, Beau had never seen this much furniture in one room. He seemed uncomfortable from this new environment although he was simultaneously overjoyed to have made it in Graycott in time. He sat uncomfortably tense on the nice couch and didn’t engage in much of the conversation, for everyone was mostly talking about careers and education. Everyone seemed to have a stable job, whether it being in clock making, welding, leatherwork, or trading, Elliot having just graduated from the skills of clock making and collecting. All of the chatter was muffled from Beau’s overthinking, I don’t know if they like me, they're all dressed so much nicer than I am. The conversation around him was still inaudible and muffled until he suddenly snapped out of it when Elliott questioned him,

“What do you do for a living, Beau?” and everyone’s head turned toward him.

A knot began to form in Beau’s stomach from tension, he froze for a second before replying with the embarrassing truth,

“I’ve never really gotten ‘round to getting a job.”

The people around the room didn’t react the way Beau was pessimistically expecting, they nodded understandably in consideration and Elliot offered suddenly,

“Oh! Do you need a job? I can always get you a job there in Wandermere, I can be your reference!”

Beau’s face lit up with interest and happiness, his eyes widening and a blush spreading across his blue face. He nodded quickly with his eyebrows raised and stammered out,

“I would be… beyond grateful.” Beau paused, “I couldn’t find a better way to arrive here cause I don’t got any money.” 

“I know this general store owner in Wandermere, he gave me one of my first jobs. I can try to get you that job,” Elliott said.

One of Elliot’s friends chimed in with an offer and said,

“I know this small pottery business in Wandermere that you could work for!”

Beau’s eyes widened, he couldn’t find the words to say other than how unfathomably grateful he was, he went over in his head how screwed he would be if he had never visited Elliott. This was  a turning point, and he gladly accepted every offer. 

Beau eventually had to go more into detail with his living conditions in order for Elliott to supply necessities before Beau had to go back home to Wandermere. Firstly, a train ticket. Then a flask, a new satchel, a sleeping bag, and money. Enough money enough for several months of responsible spending. 

Two weeks passed, and it was Beau’s first day of his job at the Wandermere general store, not as a cashier but as a shelf-stocker. The pay for this job was sustainable, and he even had a little bit of extra money to take care of Wiggles. He eventually finds himself not having to rummage through dumpsters or steal from places anymore.

A month passed and Beau saved up some of his hard-earned money to get a sleeping bag, a nice one. Him and Wiggles every night had a spot behind a building to sleep at instead of hopping from location to location. He even had some extra money to send better letters to Elliott, being able to afford better paper and better pen ink. His boss encouraged Beau to stay in contact with Elliott because of his own personal bond with him.

Several months pass and Beau is now qualified to work at the general store register, making even more money. He was even working on a plan to save up his money to visit Elliott again in Graycott, with a less bumpy ride of course. Beau was also qualified to live in a homeless shelter on the outskirts of Wandermere, it wasn’t in the best condition, but neither was the rest of Wandermere, and Beau couldn’t be more grateful. He now felt like he had a reason, that his life had potential and redemption.