cardinal.

    lee tipped their head back, pushing the brim of their hat off their eyes, and uncrossed their arms, gradually pushing off the wall though their legs did complain something fierce. they rolled their eyes at silas, since the answer seemed obvious given their slumped posture, and didn’t reply. the ten minute wait had been long enough to get thoroughly bored.

    lee decided the second comment was more pertinent to hops than them— the old hound had gone and sat himself smack in the middle of the doorway. ❝ don’t think he knows what loiterin’ is, si, but I’ll tell off him later. ❞ they stepped over the dog to enter the shop, rubbing their eyes. predictably, hops lowered his head back between his big greying paws and promptly shut his eyes again, ignoring them both. 

    lee tapped the door bolt with their knuckles as they followed silas in. ❝ you’re gettin’ damned paranoid in your… ❞  they considered their next words carefully, the ghost of a smirk on their lips. ❝ …advancing years, ain’t ya? if I wanted in so bad, I’d find a way past one sorry ol’ lock, you do know that… your doors got glass in ‘em. ❞  

     ❝ there's nothing wrong with being paranoid. especially not in tombstone. ❞ silas replied, shaking his head. at first he was only going to ignore the comment about the ... how did they put it? his advancing  years? right. he was going to ignore that. but then he decided against it in the next moment, stopping halfway through the store and raising an eyebrow at them. ❝ careful, lee. you'll be this age one day, too. i wouldn't make fun of me or my paranoia just yet. ❞

   the man turned, took another step, and then stopped in his tracks again before turning on his heel and looking at lee one more time. ❝ break my doors and you'll be paying for it, kid. glass isn't cheap, you know. ❞ it was true. the glass panes in the door weren't very practical. and they were a bitch to clean when the dust storms hit, but they looked good. no one wanted to buy anything from a store that didn't look good. finally he turned back around and kept walking.

eyes never rose from the german shepard tugging at the other end of the stick, even if she hadn’t caught him out of the corner of her eye, the familiar voice was enough to cause no  alarm. even if she had been sitting out on the front step for a decent 10 minutes or so, the girl was in no real hurry. 

   ❝ reckon it depends what you see as long—one li'l’ ole minute could be too long for some, while a whole one hour could be nothing for others. ❞

the reply was absentmindedly spoken before she tugged the stick free and chucked it into the middle of the dusty main street, a smile spreading across her lips as she watched tibbers tear off before finally lifting her head up just in time to watch the other open up the doors. edie didn’t waste one more minute before pushing herself up off the step and dusting herself off before a quick comment of, ❝ me? loitering? what would ever give you that idea, i’d never, ❞ spoken as she followed the older male into the store.

    ❝ did the grain i ordered last week come in yet? or do i need to go chase down some farmers. coulda sworn it would be in by now, where ya order it from anyway? other side of this god damn world? ❞

     ❝ profound. ❞ came silas' only slightly sarcastic reply when he heard the girl speak. however, he ignored her the second time she spoke as he went back behind the front counter, eyebrows raised as he kept listening to edie. frankly, he was just glad that he didn't have to reprimand her for bringing her dog into the store, since that thing tended to follow her everywhere she went.

     ❝ well, i said it would be about a week before it came in. ❞ he pointed out with no real malice or aggravation in his voice, ❝ —so yes, it's come in. ❞

    Unfortunately for Jesse, he recognized the voice vaguely. A faded husk of a memory came to his mind, and the more he thought, the more he remembered the man who was currently opening the shop doors. By some miracle, maybe the shade that obscured his face, or memories lost to time, or even other’s preoccupation with unlocking the tall doors, he wasn’t immediately recognized. He coughed, voice scratchy when he replied, “Ah, it’s… Not long.” 

    He didn’t respond to the question, his answer instead was his hesitant footsteps after Silas. Silas. Well, he can’t say he expected this. In fact, he was sure of the opposite of this happening. He stared after him, confused, then casually made his way to the farthest corner of the store, hoping the distance would impede the other’s ability to identify him. 

    While he didn’t not wish to see Silas, he didn’t plan on meeting Silas here. Or ever again. Actually, to be frank, he hoped he wouldn’t run into him ever again. Not due to any animosity, but because… that’s how it was. That was normal and how he liked it. But now, his chances of getting out of this interaction were slim to none, he figured as he dawdled at the back of the store, not to mention he didn’t look like an upstanding character. The growing discomfort of this situation was irritating, and he did need to buy things. Bracing himself to buy then get the hell out of dodge, he sought out the horse feed he needed. 

    …. And couldn’t see it. He stepped into a slightly more visible area. 

   “Where do y’all keep the horse feed?” 

   looking up at the man, silas almost imperceptibly squinted his eyes at the new face. but no—it wasn't new. plenty of people tended to come through tombstone, most of which just wanting a quick little break from the rough and ragged trails they traveled on. so a lot of the faces blended together. from father's buying candy for their children, to women cooing over the fabrics he kept along the walls to the left once you enter. right about where this stranger—jesse—was in that moment.

   with narrowed eyes, the older male let out a long, slow breath that could almost sound like a sigh if you tilt your head just right. the only comfort in this situation was at least the younger one seemed as uncomfortable as silas felt. that was something, at least. then finally, after staring at jesse in silence for god knows what was probably too long, silas spoke up.

      ❝ in the back. i learned my lesson a while back about keeping it in the front. assholes tend to cut the bags open and stealing it little by little. ❞ he spoke slowly and deliberately, almost as if he thought ignoring who this was would make him go away quicker.

                        it wouldn't.

while he’s owned the general store for a long while, he didn’t used to. before him, another man (who i’m not going to name rn because i’m lazy and it has no real significance atm) owned the general store and .. well, oddly enough silas had bad blood with him. but one day that man went missing, and less than a week later silas was running the general store

ever since that man, though. silas hasn’t really gotten into any trouble other than a few sparse fights when someone tries to steal something from his business

he even got himself a wife (named lou) and they had a daughter (stella) but you know, not everyone gets their happy little ending and when she was roughly eighteen, stella made off with a roughneck thief who got them both into trouble and long story short, a year after she met the man, stella was dead and not long after that, lou packed up and left him 

and frankly, a year later, the man stella met turned up dead with a bullet lodged in his skull but he had a lot of enemies, and silas is an upstanding guy, right? 

while silas is good for a conversation, he doesn’t have too many friends (open to connections with that) and people rolling through town don’t really talk to him much because of his quiet demeanor unless it has to do with the general store. which is fine by him, the less people he knows, the less trouble he can attract, in his book 

  were the first words out of silas’ mouth as he stepped up the small steps leading to his store, a strong brow raised as he took in the appearance of the person standing there. usually he kept the doors unlocked and wide open during the day so people could come and go as they pleased, but considering he was the only one manning the store that day, he decided to lock up for a little bit. he just didn’t trust anyone in this town enough to leave it unlocked and empty, even for fifteen minutes while he went to see to something at the bank.