It was a true, honestly, that you didn't miss things until they were gone. The little, silly comforts of living a normal life, where the major conflict of the day could be what kind of coffee you wanted from some over priced cafe; Venturing outside without a second thought, walks in the summer, being able to just BE without any thought or fear or worry that any moment, any, heart stopping moment, a stranger might call out your name. Call out your name, followed by the rush of armed hands dragging you into some government van to take you who knew where. It all felt... Horribly insignificant now. All those luxuries he'd once had. Although sometimes Felix wished he could go back, spend one afternoon buying that far too expensive coffee in the coffee shop in Bellefonte, sat at the window. It felt like a lifetime ago. Now it was another motel, another building in a sorry state of disrepair, paint peeling and a smell that Felix wasn't certain was JUST rotting garbage from the piles of uncollected binbags in the parking lot, and another hotel owner who didn't care who they were or where they'd come from as long as they had money and didn't cause trouble. They all kind of blurred into one over the years, these corpses of buildings with broken neon signs flaring "VACANCIES" like a beacon for the desperate... And they WERE desperate. This one looked no different.

Felix breathed out slowly, exhaling a deep sigh as he glanced back over towards the car, back towards Ellen. He could just about make her out, slumped in the back seat against the window; Safe to say she hadn't wanted to scope out the new venue. "Hmm?" A quirked brow and he looked back towards his best friend, just catching sight of the rodent as it basically paraded past them and disappeared round the corner. "... I don't know, put a little oakwood smoke on it, some BBQ sauce and we're talking." A small, light hearted smile made it's way onto his lips, as Felix shoved his hands into his pockets. The same jacket he'd left Bellefonte with, it was worn and a little torn in places, and dulled in colour. "At least it's better then the last one." Bloodstains on the wall would do that... But overall, this new place looked... Okay. As okay as a motel that took cash and didn't ask questions could.
"... We can likely stay here for a while. Doesn't seem like it's going to be on anyone's radar..." Felix trailed off thoughtfully, his smile slipping away. "... Hey. Eri? I'm... Getting really... Worried about Ellen." He didn't risk glancing back towards the car, in case the other girl was watching. Instead he began to walk, aiming to circle the building at least to clock the exits. Should they need them. "... She won't talk to me, not really. Even before she barely..." He fell silent a moment. He wasn't about to bring any of THAT up. "... Maybe you could talk to her?"

Felix's smile had long since faltered, slipping away at his best friend's simple, almost emotionless response. No tug at the corners of her lip, no smirked giggle she'd quickly try to hide, no nudge of her elbow quickly followed by a playful bat back in the humor tennis match they'd so often engaged in back before... All of this. Instead, her response was quiet. Calm. To the point.
Of course Felix understood. He understood why she would want to place any mental barrier she could, any hold on the unstable emotions from the events back in Kalispell... Who wouldn't want to forget, or at the least, place all the fear and pain into a mental locked room and throw away the key? But the upbeat in Erika, the humor, it seemed to have been dragged into that prison along with all of that hurt. It wasn't healthy, to shove all of it down into some dark place and hope it went away, it certainly wasn't going to; But what right did HE have to say that? To protest? She needed to deal with this in her own way, as did Ellen. Felix wasn't naive to how well he'd gotten it. Parents distanced themselves from the beginning, even before Bellefonte had fallen, making it easy for them to stay alive. HE was just the black sheep, the mistake in the code, easily dismissed; And if it meant his siblings stayed safe, he was more then happy to remain that. But being pushed aside was hardly the same.. HIS family were still breathing. He had NO right to judge Erika or Ellen for how they coped... But it didn't stop him from worrying, raked with guilt for feeling he was not doing enough.

"... Thanks. Although I'm not sure it'll change anything," He exhaled, beginning to pay less attention to actually scouting out the building as they walked. Another rodent scuttled by, seemingly not bothered at all by their presense. "... You know, before... Ellen came to me a few times for music therapy..." He trailed off into silence, dropping his chin a little and pulling his brows tight until they were practically knitted together. The sessions had been few, back in the old radio station. He wondered if that was even still standing, the room he'd spent hours upon hours in running the radio... "... I'd offer it again but my equipment is..." He trailed his words off again. She knew where he was headed with that, he didn't need to clarify. Giving an exasperated sigh, the ex radio host lifted his eyes to the darkening sky. There was a gentle breeze which played with his hair, brushing strands across his forehead. "I'm sorry, that feels kind of a pathetic thing to offer now that I think about it." He smiled weakly, but it lacked any sense of humor. "... I mean, how's MUSIC THERAPY going to solve anything?"