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"Revenge, Renewal and the Promise of a New Year" (Boot Hill/D&D)
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1897476" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter Fifty-seven, “Off to Tombstone”, Sunday, January 8th, 1882:</strong></p><p></p><p>Chester Martin woke an hour earlier and had breakfast downstairs. He recieved directions to the Wells Fargo Office and wandered over that direction. He was told that the stagecoach to Promise City would depart at approximately 2:00 P.M. He purchased himself a ticket. </p><p></p><p>Back at the El Parador:, Dorita knocks on Jake's door and tells him the time. He thanks her and says "Thank you. Please go wake Ruby and tell her the stagecoach leaves in half an hour." "What about Katherine?" she asks. He replies "Let her sleep, she needs it. She's planning to stay in town today to spend some time with your Grandfather." As an afterthought he adds "And if it isn't too much trouble, could you put together some breakfast for me and Ruby to eat on the stage?" She says that she will. </p><p></p><p>Ruby’s head is totally clear as she awakens to a knocking sound, noticing the sun shining through the window. The knocking picks up and she hears Dorita’s voice call in “Miss Ruby, wake up. Mister Jake says the stage leaves in half-hour.” Jake throws on his traveling clothes and normal weapons. He also grabs the leather duster and his two extra revolvers. Downstairs he writes a quick note for Katherine about meeting Maggie Whipple for lunch and asks Sonoma to make sure Katherine gets it 'when she finally manages to get up'. He stands around bleary eyed waiting for Ruby. </p><p></p><p>Ruby moans when she hears the knock on her door. “The stage leaves in half an hour.” “Half an hour isn’t much time," she thinks. She slowly gets up and gets dressed. She was exhausted, physically and mentally. She had left her purple off the shoulder dress for today. It always made her feel pretty and confident and she was going to need that today. She tried to brush the knots out of her hair. She had been so out of sorts she went to bed without braiding it and now it was going to be more wild than usual. She grabbed her derringer, money and playing card and shoved them down the front of her dress. She didn’t have her normal pistol. She hoped she wasn’t going to need one. She made her way down stairs and saw Jake standing there yawning. </p><p></p><p>When she comes down he stretches and yawns and says, "Why don't you talk to the stage drivers. I never got to them last night. I was," he looks away and then back, "distracted. I'm sure they'd rather talk to you anyway." He says with a sly smile. He yawns again, "Oh, and here take your pick." He offers her a single action or double action revolver. "Take one of these until we get yours back from the Marshal. Do you remember last night?"</p><p></p><p>“Yes I remember last night,” she says with a sigh. “And I’m thoroughly embarrassed. I don’t know what came over me.” Jake notices Ruby is keeping her distance from him, not really looking at him and fidgeting. “Yesterday was a bad day, Jake, one I don’t hope to repeat anytime soon.” She grabs the single action gun from Jake, lifts up her dress on the right side and puts it on her thigh. She fixes her dress, looks at Jake with half a smile, “Thanks.” Then she looks away again. </p><p></p><p>“I’ll go talk to the stage drivers if you want. Plus when we get to Tombstone I’ll distract them while you help look over the wheels after the trip. I was hoping that we could just pay them off to delay the stage and use messing with the wheels or something as a last resort if they were not amenable. I'm not sure if I can control the damage so that it is repairable in a couple of hours." </p><p></p><p>“Ok, I can take care of that.” Ruby starts twisting her hair around her finger. “I was thinking too that maybe we shouldn’t use our real names over in Tombstone? Just in case someone gets word that we are asking about things that shouldn’t be asked about…” She kicks the bottom on the chair she is standing next to. </p><p></p><p>"There may be folks that know our names from Promise City there, and we may have to go back to Tombstone on other business. I'm a little hesitant to use false names so close by to where we are living. I am worried it will come back to bite us in the behind. It's not like I've never used a false name before, but I'm not so sure that this is the right time. Besides, you are conspicuous." Ruby starts to interject but Jake cuts her off. "Don't you tell me that you don't know exactly how many men's eyes are on you. I'm not complaining, I have a front row seat." </p><p></p><p>Ruby gives Jake a pout. “That’s not my fault!” She pauses. “But I guess you’re right about the name thing. I just don’t want to be in any more trouble than we already are.” He replies, "Leave it to the last minute, if we need faux identities I can play along." Ruby finally looks up at Jake. “I’m real sorry about slapping you last night. You didn’t deserve it.” Jake can tell Ruby is blushing and uncomfortable. He gives her a little half smile back. "Ah, don't worry about it. I was pretty angry last night, but I got over it. Besides, I'm up one now. Next time I do something that deserves a slap I've already got one in the bank." “Alright Jake it’s a deal.” Ruby got the feeling he really was still mad.</p><p></p><p>Dorita gives them a wicker basket with food food as well as two ceramic cups and a large ceramic pitcher-like pot with a lid. Jake can smell the aroma of hot coffee coming from the pot. They head over to the Stage, with Ruby heading into the Wells Fargo Office. There are two men getting ready to leave, including the same driver that brought her to Promise City the week before. </p><p></p><p>Jake sees one other man apparently waiting to board the stage. He appears to be balding beneath his derby-style hat. Hehas a full beard that is mostly white but with flakes of black throughout. He is wearing a wrinkled brown suit, cotton shirt, western style tie and Jake detects the telltale bulge of a shoulder holster. He is also carrying a satchel.</p><p></p><p>Ruby lets Jake take the basket. She is heading to the Wells Fargo office. Before she does she runs next door and pushes a note underneath the door of Lacey’s General store. It says, “Mr. Lacey, I’m terribly sorry but something of great importance came up today and I have to take care of it. Unfortunately this means I will miss our lunch appointment. I will come see you tomorrow and you can tell me when would be good for us to share a meal. I promise I’ll make it up to you. Love, Ruby.” </p><p></p><p>She walks up to the two drivers who are getting ready to leave. “Gentlemen, fine day for a trip to Tombstone, no?” She immediately commands their complete attention. The one from the week before says "Pleased to see you again Miss. We'll be leaving for Tombstone in a few minutes. Shouldn't be as crowded as your ride out here." What the hell? thinks Ruby. I guess Jake was right about the name thing. “It’s Miss West. Well, less crowded sounds pleasant. It was rather loud on the ride over here.” Ruby thinks back to Chumbley and laughs to herself. </p><p></p><p>“I was hoping you might be able to help me with something. You see, I need to do some shopping while in Tombstone and I’m not sure an hour is going to be enough time. I need to get some…” she starts whispering, “undergarments.” Ruby pretends to blush. “You gentleman know how important it is to have a good foundation right?” She flips her hair. “Well, I just can’t find something soft and silky enough here in Promise City. I don’t even know if they’ll have something in Tombstone! But I figured I would look.” </p><p></p><p>“An hour just doesn’t seem like enough time to properly try everything on. So I’m hoping you might get us to Tombstone a little faster than usual, and maybe wait a little longer? Or am I asking too much?” She looks up at them with questioning eyes. He laughs and says "Fear not Miss West, you can count on Chuck Nevers to be your knight in shining armor. If I drive the team I can shave a good half hour off the time. If I do that both directions we could stay in Tombstone for a full two hours and still be back here at our usual time.” "Mr. Nevers, a girl can always use a knight in shining armor. I really appreciate it." She winks at him and walks to the back of the coach to wait for Jake.</p><p></p><p>The next to board the stage after ruby is the older gentleman with the beard. He smiles very friendly towards her and says in a very thick German accent "Hello Young Lady, It is a good day for a carriage ride, ya? I am Hans Josef Zikmund." </p><p></p><p>Shortly thereafter Jake arrives. One other passenger then boards, a middle-aged woman who is helped onto the carriage by both Nevers and the other driver as though she were a member of royalty. Ruby recognizes her as the Saloonkeeper from the Drover's Hotel, where the gunslinger O'Dell had treated the group to a drink when they first arrived in town the previous Sunday. The stagecoach then gets going.</p><p> </p><p>Oh I hope it's a good day for a carriage ride, Mr. Hans." Ruby guesses if she doesn't give her name the guy with the weird accent will leave her alone. She settles back into the seat, trying to get comfortable. She leans over to Jake, "I took care of the time problem, I hope. We should have an extra hour or so."</p><p></p><p>Jake was hoping on the outside chance they would be the only passengers this morning. But the long leisurely private conversation was not going to happen this morning. Instead he offered up the breakfast that Dorita had provided. She replies, “No thanks Jake, I'm not hungry." By the time Ruby responded to Jake he was practically asleep. "Men" she thinks. She tried to keep her eyes on the two other people in the coach, she tried to keep her head up but it wasn't happening, even when the man mentioned he worked for the safe company. He nodded civilly to the others. No stranger to stagecoaches, his body recognized the ride and began to do what it had done dozens of time before; fall asleep. After a bunch of head bobs she was asleep too. </p><p></p><p>Mr. Zikmund begins a long conversation with the woman from Drover's Hotel, who introduces herself to him as Vera Blake. She says that she and her husband own the hotel and that every other week she makes a supply run to Tombstone staying overnight on Sunday and coming back on Monday. "Isn't that dangerous for a woman alone?" he asks. She laughs and says "Not with the two guys up top. All of the Wells Fargo employees eat and drink at our hotel, it's as though they were my own children. And they are as protective of me as their own mother." </p><p></p><p>She asks about him and he says that he is a salesman and machinist for the Harrisburg Safe Company and that he was in Promise City on business. She presses him for more details but he explains that he cannot say, that his business is dependent upon confidentiality. Across the way, the conversation has partially woken Jake, who sleepily listens to what is being said. </p><p></p><p>Jake's reflexes were good and he immediately woke up as soon as the stagecoach came to a stop. He waited until the other two passengers had disembarked and were collecting their luggage before lightly shaking Ruby's shoulder to awaken her. Jake helps Ruby down from the stagecoach, and she pauses just long enough for a shy smile at the drivers who smile back knowingly. Jake raises an eyebrow but keeps moving. </p><p></p><p>"We don't have much time, why don't we head right for the Oriental Saloon and look for James Earp. I've been thinking about how we go about this. And it keeps coming back to a plan I don't like or often use." "What?" Ruby says looking concerned. Jake looks grim. "Tell the truth."</p><p></p><p>"That'll be new and different," Ruby laughs. "Let's go." They start walking then she pauses. "Hold on one second." She runs back to the drivers and says something to them. They nod and she runs back. "Ok, now we can go." She returns and Jake asks "What was that all about." She replies "Just thanking the man for the speedy ride, he says they shaved 45 minutes, it's only a quarter past twelve." Nevers yells "Make sure you're back by 2:30, that's the latest we can wait."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 1897476, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter Fifty-seven, “Off to Tombstone”, Sunday, January 8th, 1882:[/B] Chester Martin woke an hour earlier and had breakfast downstairs. He recieved directions to the Wells Fargo Office and wandered over that direction. He was told that the stagecoach to Promise City would depart at approximately 2:00 P.M. He purchased himself a ticket. Back at the El Parador:, Dorita knocks on Jake's door and tells him the time. He thanks her and says "Thank you. Please go wake Ruby and tell her the stagecoach leaves in half an hour." "What about Katherine?" she asks. He replies "Let her sleep, she needs it. She's planning to stay in town today to spend some time with your Grandfather." As an afterthought he adds "And if it isn't too much trouble, could you put together some breakfast for me and Ruby to eat on the stage?" She says that she will. Ruby’s head is totally clear as she awakens to a knocking sound, noticing the sun shining through the window. The knocking picks up and she hears Dorita’s voice call in “Miss Ruby, wake up. Mister Jake says the stage leaves in half-hour.” Jake throws on his traveling clothes and normal weapons. He also grabs the leather duster and his two extra revolvers. Downstairs he writes a quick note for Katherine about meeting Maggie Whipple for lunch and asks Sonoma to make sure Katherine gets it 'when she finally manages to get up'. He stands around bleary eyed waiting for Ruby. Ruby moans when she hears the knock on her door. “The stage leaves in half an hour.” “Half an hour isn’t much time," she thinks. She slowly gets up and gets dressed. She was exhausted, physically and mentally. She had left her purple off the shoulder dress for today. It always made her feel pretty and confident and she was going to need that today. She tried to brush the knots out of her hair. She had been so out of sorts she went to bed without braiding it and now it was going to be more wild than usual. She grabbed her derringer, money and playing card and shoved them down the front of her dress. She didn’t have her normal pistol. She hoped she wasn’t going to need one. She made her way down stairs and saw Jake standing there yawning. When she comes down he stretches and yawns and says, "Why don't you talk to the stage drivers. I never got to them last night. I was," he looks away and then back, "distracted. I'm sure they'd rather talk to you anyway." He says with a sly smile. He yawns again, "Oh, and here take your pick." He offers her a single action or double action revolver. "Take one of these until we get yours back from the Marshal. Do you remember last night?" “Yes I remember last night,” she says with a sigh. “And I’m thoroughly embarrassed. I don’t know what came over me.” Jake notices Ruby is keeping her distance from him, not really looking at him and fidgeting. “Yesterday was a bad day, Jake, one I don’t hope to repeat anytime soon.” She grabs the single action gun from Jake, lifts up her dress on the right side and puts it on her thigh. She fixes her dress, looks at Jake with half a smile, “Thanks.” Then she looks away again. “I’ll go talk to the stage drivers if you want. Plus when we get to Tombstone I’ll distract them while you help look over the wheels after the trip. I was hoping that we could just pay them off to delay the stage and use messing with the wheels or something as a last resort if they were not amenable. I'm not sure if I can control the damage so that it is repairable in a couple of hours." “Ok, I can take care of that.” Ruby starts twisting her hair around her finger. “I was thinking too that maybe we shouldn’t use our real names over in Tombstone? Just in case someone gets word that we are asking about things that shouldn’t be asked about…” She kicks the bottom on the chair she is standing next to. "There may be folks that know our names from Promise City there, and we may have to go back to Tombstone on other business. I'm a little hesitant to use false names so close by to where we are living. I am worried it will come back to bite us in the behind. It's not like I've never used a false name before, but I'm not so sure that this is the right time. Besides, you are conspicuous." Ruby starts to interject but Jake cuts her off. "Don't you tell me that you don't know exactly how many men's eyes are on you. I'm not complaining, I have a front row seat." Ruby gives Jake a pout. “That’s not my fault!” She pauses. “But I guess you’re right about the name thing. I just don’t want to be in any more trouble than we already are.” He replies, "Leave it to the last minute, if we need faux identities I can play along." Ruby finally looks up at Jake. “I’m real sorry about slapping you last night. You didn’t deserve it.” Jake can tell Ruby is blushing and uncomfortable. He gives her a little half smile back. "Ah, don't worry about it. I was pretty angry last night, but I got over it. Besides, I'm up one now. Next time I do something that deserves a slap I've already got one in the bank." “Alright Jake it’s a deal.” Ruby got the feeling he really was still mad. Dorita gives them a wicker basket with food food as well as two ceramic cups and a large ceramic pitcher-like pot with a lid. Jake can smell the aroma of hot coffee coming from the pot. They head over to the Stage, with Ruby heading into the Wells Fargo Office. There are two men getting ready to leave, including the same driver that brought her to Promise City the week before. Jake sees one other man apparently waiting to board the stage. He appears to be balding beneath his derby-style hat. Hehas a full beard that is mostly white but with flakes of black throughout. He is wearing a wrinkled brown suit, cotton shirt, western style tie and Jake detects the telltale bulge of a shoulder holster. He is also carrying a satchel. Ruby lets Jake take the basket. She is heading to the Wells Fargo office. Before she does she runs next door and pushes a note underneath the door of Lacey’s General store. It says, “Mr. Lacey, I’m terribly sorry but something of great importance came up today and I have to take care of it. Unfortunately this means I will miss our lunch appointment. I will come see you tomorrow and you can tell me when would be good for us to share a meal. I promise I’ll make it up to you. Love, Ruby.” She walks up to the two drivers who are getting ready to leave. “Gentlemen, fine day for a trip to Tombstone, no?” She immediately commands their complete attention. The one from the week before says "Pleased to see you again Miss. We'll be leaving for Tombstone in a few minutes. Shouldn't be as crowded as your ride out here." What the hell? thinks Ruby. I guess Jake was right about the name thing. “It’s Miss West. Well, less crowded sounds pleasant. It was rather loud on the ride over here.” Ruby thinks back to Chumbley and laughs to herself. “I was hoping you might be able to help me with something. You see, I need to do some shopping while in Tombstone and I’m not sure an hour is going to be enough time. I need to get some…” she starts whispering, “undergarments.” Ruby pretends to blush. “You gentleman know how important it is to have a good foundation right?” She flips her hair. “Well, I just can’t find something soft and silky enough here in Promise City. I don’t even know if they’ll have something in Tombstone! But I figured I would look.” “An hour just doesn’t seem like enough time to properly try everything on. So I’m hoping you might get us to Tombstone a little faster than usual, and maybe wait a little longer? Or am I asking too much?” She looks up at them with questioning eyes. He laughs and says "Fear not Miss West, you can count on Chuck Nevers to be your knight in shining armor. If I drive the team I can shave a good half hour off the time. If I do that both directions we could stay in Tombstone for a full two hours and still be back here at our usual time.” "Mr. Nevers, a girl can always use a knight in shining armor. I really appreciate it." She winks at him and walks to the back of the coach to wait for Jake. The next to board the stage after ruby is the older gentleman with the beard. He smiles very friendly towards her and says in a very thick German accent "Hello Young Lady, It is a good day for a carriage ride, ya? I am Hans Josef Zikmund." Shortly thereafter Jake arrives. One other passenger then boards, a middle-aged woman who is helped onto the carriage by both Nevers and the other driver as though she were a member of royalty. Ruby recognizes her as the Saloonkeeper from the Drover's Hotel, where the gunslinger O'Dell had treated the group to a drink when they first arrived in town the previous Sunday. The stagecoach then gets going. Oh I hope it's a good day for a carriage ride, Mr. Hans." Ruby guesses if she doesn't give her name the guy with the weird accent will leave her alone. She settles back into the seat, trying to get comfortable. She leans over to Jake, "I took care of the time problem, I hope. We should have an extra hour or so." Jake was hoping on the outside chance they would be the only passengers this morning. But the long leisurely private conversation was not going to happen this morning. Instead he offered up the breakfast that Dorita had provided. She replies, “No thanks Jake, I'm not hungry." By the time Ruby responded to Jake he was practically asleep. "Men" she thinks. She tried to keep her eyes on the two other people in the coach, she tried to keep her head up but it wasn't happening, even when the man mentioned he worked for the safe company. He nodded civilly to the others. No stranger to stagecoaches, his body recognized the ride and began to do what it had done dozens of time before; fall asleep. After a bunch of head bobs she was asleep too. Mr. Zikmund begins a long conversation with the woman from Drover's Hotel, who introduces herself to him as Vera Blake. She says that she and her husband own the hotel and that every other week she makes a supply run to Tombstone staying overnight on Sunday and coming back on Monday. "Isn't that dangerous for a woman alone?" he asks. She laughs and says "Not with the two guys up top. All of the Wells Fargo employees eat and drink at our hotel, it's as though they were my own children. And they are as protective of me as their own mother." She asks about him and he says that he is a salesman and machinist for the Harrisburg Safe Company and that he was in Promise City on business. She presses him for more details but he explains that he cannot say, that his business is dependent upon confidentiality. Across the way, the conversation has partially woken Jake, who sleepily listens to what is being said. Jake's reflexes were good and he immediately woke up as soon as the stagecoach came to a stop. He waited until the other two passengers had disembarked and were collecting their luggage before lightly shaking Ruby's shoulder to awaken her. Jake helps Ruby down from the stagecoach, and she pauses just long enough for a shy smile at the drivers who smile back knowingly. Jake raises an eyebrow but keeps moving. "We don't have much time, why don't we head right for the Oriental Saloon and look for James Earp. I've been thinking about how we go about this. And it keeps coming back to a plan I don't like or often use." "What?" Ruby says looking concerned. Jake looks grim. "Tell the truth." "That'll be new and different," Ruby laughs. "Let's go." They start walking then she pauses. "Hold on one second." She runs back to the drivers and says something to them. They nod and she runs back. "Ok, now we can go." She returns and Jake asks "What was that all about." She replies "Just thanking the man for the speedy ride, he says they shaved 45 minutes, it's only a quarter past twelve." Nevers yells "Make sure you're back by 2:30, that's the latest we can wait." [/QUOTE]
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