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Pale eyes had shadows beneath them, the skin just this side of puffy from lack of sleep. He'd get an hour or two, here or there, when exhaustion would drag his body down, but he couldn't stay asleep, and that was a problem.

It was also something he wasn't keen on sharing with people, not even Ever, though he imagined the Life hunter wasn't oblivious to it. It wasn't normal for Zeke to pass up easy opportunities to sleep, considering the hours he kept in the infirmary when they were on Deus.

This new found insomnia was frustrating, but if he didn't get a handle on it soon it was going to prove worse than that in just a few short days.

I know you...

Vasily kept seeing the man out of the corner of his eye, across fires or in the midst of games, and it had taken him this long to finally approach alone. His face was familiar enough, except that their last meeting had been brief, and frenzied, and Vash himself had felt like s**t, and he hadn't been certain -- still wasn't certain -- it was the same hunter who'd tossed a bit of healing his way.

"Do I know you?" Somehow, despite it being innocuous, his intentions something of a 'thank you', Vash still came off strangely hostile.

the last one

They had been there a few weeks by now, and their phones had faded, their weapons were quieter, and their watches had died. Zeke stared at the stick between Ever's fingers as if the thing would answer the question for them, but it was silent, and it was up to them to decide.

"I feel like maybe we should just smoke it and be done with it." Oh, they'd enjoy it, there was no doubt about that, the cravings were getting bad, and every day without was worst than the last.

Minor inconveniences, in all honesty, but one more shitty thing in a whole.


I know you...

It was actually a decent morning. Zeke had managed a few hours of sleep through sheer exhaustion, and was working his way through half a fish he'd roasted earlier.

"Kind of." It was the kids from the Shasta, the one he helped out. "I helped you, in the desert."



those remanning

"What an astute ******** observation," he snapped, not nothing to lift his head from the folded pillow of his arms. He looked shaggy, his scruff and hair over grown, though at a certain point hed cared enough to keep them relatively short. His pants had been reduced to tatty shorts, and his usual muscular physique was a bit on the lean side.

There was also the overall numbness to his expression, and the dark circles under his eyes. His patience, once nearly bottomless, seemed to have died up.

those remaining

He groaned, hands coming up to rub over his face so when he spoke again it was slightly muffled. "Gone." That one word managed to hold a lot, almost growling out, and after a moment he'd let his hands fall away again so he could narrow pale eyes up at her.

"What do you want?"

the last one

"I think that once it's gone I'm just going to lie down and die." It was dramatic, for Ever, and it was also surprisingly heartfelt. His eyes lifted onto Zeke in a miserable sort of way and he rolled his shoulders in a shrug. Simultaneously pretending it didn't matter and that it was the end of the world. Slowly, he twisted the cigarette between his fingers.

"Maybe we should drag it out. One puff a day for a week." But his tone was dry. There was no chance in hell that was going to happen.

I know you...

Vash's reply was a long, lingering moment of silence, a hesitation. He'd thought as much, and now that he was confirmed he didn't have a damned clue what he was supposed to do with that fact. So he shifted, tugging hair back out of his face and looking back over his shoulder like there might be something there to save him.

"Yeah. Okay." He cleared his throat, awkward and young. "I didn't get your name, though."

shorelines and dunescapes

It never ceased to surprise him, how often he actually ran into someone when he was out wandering the island at night. In the beginning he'd wake Ever, bring the life along for company, but as their cigarettes dwindled, and the days had stretched into weeks with no sign of hint of rescue, he'd started letting the other man sleep. Rest was important.

Now if only his body and mind could get with the program as well.

Zeke thought up and discarded a few different responses before finally settling on a joke. "Someone's gotta keep an eye out while the rest of you are sleeping.



the last one

It was dramatic, and it'd earn a side-eyed look from Zeke, his lips pressing together and ticked up on one side. Ever could be many things, but seldom dramatic. It was odd, and it left the Mist wondering if he had need for concern.

Probably?

"Maybe I should just let you have, and then you can decide if you want to savor it or enjoy one last good smoke."


I know you...

The young man's uncomfortable silence was met with a flat, unamused look from Zeke, who would shift so his elbow was resting on his thigh, and his chin propped up on his curled fingers.

"Ezekiel." It was offered with a small huff. "I didn't catch your name, either."



night stroll

"No." His voice was soft, bordering on thoughtful, but perhaps it was just exhaustion. "There's more of us than I thought. I keep running into people at night." It could be, he supposed, that there were those that were just used to staying up late and sleeping in, but who knows.

He was fiddling with an unlit cigarette, but as he turned to face her better he'd tuck it behind his ear.

"What's keeping you up?" It was a very personal question, but those could be the best kind.

the last one

Ever was smiling, so the drama was probably a joke; a tease, perhaps, to lighten the mood. Thus far, it didn't seem like the island had really gotten to him. Not much, anyway, except for the itching hunger for nicotine in his bloodstream.

"If you just give it to me, it'll be gone in ten or fifteen minutes, I dare say."


I know you...

"Vasily. Vash." He was still looking Zeke over, though, through narrowed eyes -- behind a fringe of hair that had one been choppy and stylish but was now leonine and probably needed to be chopped down short before it went to knots and dreadlocks. He was still frowning, but that was hardly anything new.

"How long have you been here? Not here, I mean, but..."

night stroll

"Sounds familiar," he'd muse, in a rare moment of transparency about himself.

She was staring, and it took a moment for him to realize what it was that had caught her attention. The cigarette he'd tucked up behind his ear, and that he had no intention of sharing with anything aside from Ever.

So he pretended, for the moment, as if he hadn't noticed.

"An over active mind and a plethora of bad memories." He shrugged, smiling pleasantly at her.



the last one

Zeke chuckled, and let himself flop back into the said with his arms folded behind his head and his eyes closed. There were times when it wasn't so bad here, and those times usually involved the sun, the sand, the sound of the waves on the shore, and good company.

"Isn't that exactly what I just suggested?" One eye opened to peek up at him as the grin widened.

"I could distract you, then it'd last longer."


I know you...

The name was filed away in that mental library Zeke kept tucked away safe in his brain.

"Almost three years now. I woke up in September of O'four." To a very warm reception.



shorelines and dunescapes

He hadn't actually expected Melvin to buy that explanation, but apparently he had. It had the Mist shaking his head as he wandered over and sank down in the sand.

"Not really, no." He didn't sleep much at all. Short naps here and there when his body demanded it, but not often, and not nearly long enough.