The Drive

[not_his_pa]

William hasn't been sleeping much and he's been going between Milliways and the door in the barn as he gets everything read. At this point, he's fairly sure they should be able to leave tomorrow but he knows his mother wants to meet Jack and Michael in case they're not good enough.

Mark's inside and Alice is on the porch as she calls out, "William, stop worrying at things in that barn and come in here and introduce me to the men you've hired."

He looks over at Jack and Michael, Jack doesn't seem too different but Michael is a bit odd in his cowboy clothes, "Ready?"

Comments

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

For Michael, it's nice and calm - his eyes continuing to search for signs of trouble but his guard definitely on the low end of the spectrum.

Maybe it'll be like this the whole way and he won't have to worry about being the ever vigilant - it's sure a nice break from anything he'd be doing in Miami. Hell, a break from most things he'd be doing anywhere else.

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

He'd grin at the way the kid jumps in, but it would wreck the music, so he concentrates on that instead, sitting easy, one hand on the reins and horn, the other handing the harmonica.

Ennis hadn't known any of the hymns he'd grown up with, but he hadn't minded Jack playin 'em, either -- at least not much. He'd bitched about the harmonica, but that was expected, considering Jack ain't had any training and his skills are minimal, to say the least.

Still, it's some company on a long ride like this one.

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

As they go forward, they pass where the wagon had briefly broken down, a few pieces of paper are stuck in some scrub.

William rides over and pulls them off to give them a quick look and then hands them to Michael; nothing too identifying but there's the name of the one of the local mines on them.

Mark watches him and frowns before asking, "You sure they ain't goin' to cause us trouble, Will?"

"Yes, I am, Mark. Just some folks who broke down," It's not the best situation but they seem to have moved on and that's better than what happened before.

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

Glancing over the sheets, Michael frowns and furrows his brow slightly.

"This mine around here, William?"

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

"Mine?"

The harmonica gets lowered, if not put away, as Jack squints over, sun bright in his face despite the low brim of his hat, which is annoying, but not so bad.

"I figured folks was mostly ranchers round here."

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

"Copper mine in the hills, its pretty good business but the miners ain't nice," William says as he tucks on of the pieces of paper into his pocket.

Mark says with a look at his brother, "Will got into trouble with some of 'em once. Just cause they wanted someone to hurt, too many folks are mean just to be mean."

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

Michael turns his eyes to Jack for a long moment as though he could read the guy's mind - but there's nothing coming from him but that same quiet question.

After a long moment, he asks; "You think there'll be trouble?"

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

Seems like kind of a generalization to him, but, hell. He ain't here to make any kinda judgment calls, just to get this herd to wherever William wants it to go, so he shrugs it off, lets Michael ask the questions.

Seems like one of his favorite things to do, may as well let him go to it.

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

"Mark, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and they were drunk. Shouldn't be any trouble since they're gone and we're goin' forward,"

There's nothing except scrub on the road for a while and its fairly quiet. As the sun starts to head down, William looks for a good place to make camp.

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

Michael's uncertain of what his role is in setting camp, so he simply takes to building a small fire - lighting it with a cheap disposable lighter he supposes he probably shouldn't have brought through.

It's been quiet, for the most part, and when it's quiet he can't help but wait for that other shoe to drop and things to start going wrong. The paranoia is usually well founded, but this time he can't help but wonder if they'll make the drive just fine after all.

It's unsettling.

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

He's coming back from a last check of the herd, making sure they're settled in for the night (and somebody oughta stay with 'em, same as Aguirre had up on Brokeback, but there's no need right now, not til they bed down), swings off the mare with a few muffled curses and stiff motions. Been a long time since he's spent the whole damn day in the saddle, and he's sore and tired and hungry as hell, those pieces of jerky he'd chewed earlier seeming like nothing but a faint dream and the lingering taste of salt mixing with the dust on his lips and tongue.

Shit. He feels like he'd breathed in the whole damn desert and a couple pieces of scrub brush for good measure.

The mare gets tied to a branch and he sets to taking care of her, saddle and blanket off and set near the camp, brushes her down, turning to squint for William.

"There some water round here?"

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

"Yeah, there is. I'll show you. Mark, you get dinner set up,"

William says as he walks around to get a good sense of what still needs doing. Mark starts building a fire and getting out the food.

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

By the time Mark makes it over, Michael's already got a decent fire going, but he invites the younger Evans to stay anyway.

"What's cooking tonight?" he asks casually, peeking with an easy smile. "I can probably help if you want."

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

"Just hope it ain't beans."

It's a mutter, spoken around the cigarette Jack's got stuck between his lips, scratching a match into life and lighting the end as he follows William away from the fire.

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

It is beans, cornbread and some steak. Mark starts it cooking before William comes back, "I'll take first watch, then Michael, then Jack and Mark you do the last one."

His plan is that way, Mark gets the most sleep as he needs it and Mark nods before coughing a little from the smoke.

Quickly he says, "I'm fine. Just cause I was sick for so long don't mean you have to worry all the time."

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

"Could be a lot worse," Michael tosses over his shoulder at Jack, offering an almost playful half smile. "You ever eat sheep's stomach?"

He's teasing, of course, because he can.

When it came time to dole out watch, Michael only nodded and kept careful watch over the group. It wasn't as though he'd be sleeping much anyway, he never did.

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

Michael's joke gets a blank stare and a furrowing of Jack's eyebrows. "Can't see why anybody'd eat that when they got the whole rest of the sheep," he says, disturbed by the concept.

Dinner's dinner, it's the same kinda food he's had a thousand times before, and he don't stick around much for conversation, tired from the day and knowing he's gonna be waking up in the dead of the night for a bunch of cattle instead of Bobby crying in the nursery.

The night's clear and quiet when he wanders, bleary-eyed, over to the fire, wishing there were coffee but settling for a quick splash of water to his face. The cattle checked, he looks to the horses, but they're all resting easy, so he settles by the campfire and throws a couple sticks into it to keep it going, boots scraping against the warm stones placed around the crackling flames.

And if his thoughts drift back to other campfires, other long nights spent watching over stock, up in the thin air of the mountains instead of down here in the desert, ain't like nobody's around or awake to pay attention.

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

There is some coffee or will be, William's making it up as Mark drifts off to sleep.

William likes the quiet and he cradles his coffee watching Jack and Michael and the world around them.

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

Quite as ever, Michael's sitting with his back to the fire - trying to keep his mind on the drive and not what's waiting for him when he goes back. Still, he can't help thinking about things.

His eyes scan their surroundings, stopping to track the occasional movement of wildlife but accomplishing nothing worthwhile.

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

Ennis would say Jack's a laze-about who sleeps too late and can't be trusted to get up and get shit done in the morning, but that's never really been true.

Well, hell. Maybe he does it with a whole lotta swearing, but ain't no surprise there, as he grunts a morning to Mark, on the tail edges of the last watch, before heading off towards the stream to take a leak behind a tree and get water for themselves and the horses.

At least it ain't like there's much in the way of camp to break, and he's rolling up his bedroll and gear to stash on the back of his saddle by the time the sun's full up.

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

Breakfast is biscuits as camp's broken and William says,

"End of today should have us closer to Contention. We go everythin'?"

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

Michael nods, still a little dark-eyed from what little rest he'd gotten in the small hours of the morning as he stares down into his coffee.

"I'm good to roll out when you guys are."

Re: Morning

[jack_f_twist]

"Better start gettin' this place broke down, then," grunts Jack from where he's saddling the mare. He takes a second to grab a saddlebag and tosses it at Michael to fill with the dishes once they're cleaned, then heads to check the tack on the gelding.

"Sounds good, boss," he tells William, as he ties his bedroll down. "Herd looks good."

Re: Morning

[not_his_pa]

"Michael, you and Mark take care of what's left of the dishes and we'll be good to head out."

Mark shows Michael the quickest way to clean them and covers the fire.

Re: Morning

[luvs_yogurt]

Content to do what's needed, Michael takes care of the limited mess quickly and steps in to help ready the horses - copying Jack's routine for lack of one of his own that wasn't what he'd done back at the bar while he was still learning.

"How you feeling about this, Jack?" He asks quietly, voice barely a murmur as he pats down his horse. "Seem all right to you?"