(Untitled)

[e_delmar]

Ain't nothin' but a normal room. Pretty one, too, if'n you don't think too hard on what's goin' on in there. Ennis' sleeping more now, at least -- the drugs help with that -- but he's still awake a lot (and damn grumpy about it, too. But he ain't no less grumpy about the sleep, neither).

But he's there, and at least that's something.

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[gonna_live]

There's a soft knock on the door.

[e_delmar]

S'something like a grunt, and a small woman with a kind face opens the door, shuffling out as she lets Kaylee in. She gives Ennis a stern look, but he laughs a little, coughing, as he turns his smile on Kaylee.

"She don't like me too much, I think."

[gonna_live]

"Then she's got bad taste," Kaylee says, simply, mouth a little tight. "She givin' you a hard time?"

Because if she is.

Kaylee will be more than happy to reciprocate.

[e_delmar]

Well, depends on what you're meaning by a hard time. Yellin' at Ennis to get him to shower? Sure. But she's nice enough, and Ennis shakes his head to say as much.

[bev_marsh]

Someone else is here, too. She's maybe more timid than Ennis has ever seen her at the moment, hovering uncertainly in the doorway with one hand clasping the opposite arm, but she's here.

[e_delmar]

Ennis don't see her right away, it's hard, sometimes, to pay attention, and it's drivin' him right up the wall. But the kindly woman next to the bed waves her in and gives him a tug on his arm 'til he turns, and he looks over at Bev with a smile. He turns to the woman and says something, low and gruff, coughing once or twice, and the woman stands and walks out, placing a light hand on Bev's shoulder and giving a light "It's alright, dear," before doing so.

[bev_marsh]

Bev darts a quick, shaky smile at the woman and steps forward. She's still hesitant, but once she takes the first step, it's that much easier to take the next.
First my left foot
And then she's next to the bed, looking at Ennis with the same wavery smile.
Then my right behind the other
"Hey."

[e_delmar]

"What're you doin' here?" is what he says, and it ain't half so gruff as it comes out. Figures, somebody tells somebody tells somebody, then Ennis' head swims and everybody falls down. S'just easier enough to accept it.

[mmquitecontrary]

Mary doesn't knock.

She's just there - arms folded tightly across her chest, sharp face pinched and drawn.

"You were not meant to get sick," she tells him, without preamble.

[e_delmar]

It surprises Ennis enough that he starts into a fit of coughs, wiping his face only after he's finished, and turns to her.

"Sorry."

What else're you supposed to say?

[mmquitecontrary]

"Are you going to die?"

[e_delmar]

Ennis shrugs, lookin' off to the side.

"Guess so," is all he says, 'cause ain't really any use hiding it at this point.

[jack_f_twist]

Near by, there's a chair been set up by the window, and right now it's tipped back by the weight of the cowboy sitting in it, his boots crossed one over the other up on the bedframe and his hat pulled down over his eyes. Jack ain't been sleeping so well, himself, so maybe it's good that his chest is rising and falling so slow and even like it is, arms crossed over it.

Still, if Ennis is up, chances are good he'd want to be, too.

[e_delmar]

Hard to tell when Ennis'll be up and when he'll be sleeping, and mostly he's been sleeping lately. But he turns on his side some, shifting uncomfortably and cursing at the fact that the woman from town (the woman with the drugs) ain't there.

Jack's there, and it surprises him, though he figures maybe one of these days it should stop surprisin' him, but it keeps doin' so anyway. Could be it makes him smile, all things aside.

[jack_f_twist]

Well, Jack catching forty winks shouldn't be much of a surprise--weren't he the one always falling asleep when he was supposed to be watching the damn sheep?--but that chair seems to have become his new home, for all the time he's been spending in it, between trips back to the Bar for--

Uh, for company. And a beer or two.

--and doing some chores for Sallie.

Still, seems like most times Ennis wakes up for a bit, he's sitting right there, sometimes working on some tack or sitting whistling to himself, and sometimes catching a few minutes of sleep like he is now.

[e_delmar]

And Ennis can't help but think Jack needs his sleep, so he don't wanna wake him much. Seems he don't got that much of a choice, as the coughing starts and won't fucking start, and he's cursing before he knows it.

[true_desire]

It's just a room in a widow's house on Shadow: Still, from the inside, it could be anywhere: Anywhere 'cept that trailer Ennis called his once, full of dust and heat and old memories that stir up when the wind's right. It's probably better to be here, since that other place only promised the end would creep up on an aged cowpoke, all alone 'til Death took his hand.

Death's a decent sort, anyone in the family can tell you.

Desire's a bitch.

Perhaps then it isn't a surprise when there's a faint scent of peaches and exotic cigarettes, fading into the room like it had always been there.

[e_delmar]

Ennis coughs, but then that don't mean nothin' about the smoke in the room, seems he does nothing but anymore. But that look on his face ain't like it normally is, and Ennis' stupidy grateful that Jack ain't in the room at the moment. He narrows his eyes, trying to focus, struggling against the drugs.

[true_desire]

"Tch," comes the soft, androgynous voice. "I quite can't figure whether you're fighting to the end or giving up."

The sound of a slow draw on a cigarette, the person standing at the foot of Ennis's bed shimmering in and out of view like a heat-vision or a mirage: All water in the desert, and just as cruel.

[e_delmar]

Ennis shrugs, looking down at the figure, eyes tryin' to focus and never quite able (but then, that ain't really nothin' new).

"Gotta be one?"

The words are like gravel, hard and quiet.