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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3753700" data-attributes="member: 8530"> DMs Note: This chapter was an interesting exchange to play out. Tricia Shaw had been the playing character of a former player so I tried to play her consistent to how she had been played before while still trying to move the character development forward. The conversation got even more interesting once Emily and Tricia began talking about Mrs. Kale, as Emily and Kate are both playing characters played by Orchid Blossom. Chapter One-hundred-ninety-four, “Tricia’s opinions”, Friday, June 16th, 5:30 P.M. Back at the Shaw house, Emily pulled her legs in from the second floor railing, went back downstairs and found Tricia. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get in your way. I really won't say nothin'. Humphrey have a girl somewhere too?" Tricia says "No, and you have the wrong idea about Simon. He's a perfect gentleman. Their mine was attacked by outlaws...his father along with two of the three workers at their mine were brutally murdered last weekend and Simon was wounded and left to die. He's lucky to be alive. He came here to talk and cry, I was only trying to comfort him." "What idea do you think I had?" Emily asked and thumped down on the sofa. "It must be horrible to have someone kill your Pa. He is lucky, but I don't guess he'll think so for a while." Tricia says, "No, he and I used to be sweet on each other but we had a bad breakup a few months back. I didn't plan to see him again, but after I heard what happened to his Pa I just had to again." "So he isn't the one you were upset about last week when I got here? The one Uncle chased away?" Emily asked dubiously. "Yeah, he's the one," Tricia replies. "Well then I'm confused," Emily shrugged. "Sounds more to me like you were mad he let Uncle chase him off, but you still liked him and now you were making up." "I'm confused too," Tricia says. She stands and says "I thought I loved him, then I hated him. He didn't have the backbone to stand up to Pa and.....and I thought I was carrying his child. Turns out I was wrong, but he...he wasn't willing to stand up for me. I told him I never wanted to see him again. But a few hours ago I found out what happened to his Pa and that he was staying over at the Lucky Lady. So I went to see him." Emily says, “I'm not a great person to talk to about this, I never even had a boyfriend. Or wanted one. I guess I would doubt someone who wouldn't stand up for me; you got into the trouble together, you should have been facing it that way. I love Uncle and I don't wanna tell you to do something he won't like, and I think you and Ellen love your Pa. You know he just wants to protect you but you'll never have any kind of life unless you take charge of it. Maybe you're madder at yourself than Simon." Emily turned red. "Maybe till you're less confused you should keep your knickers on." Tricia says, "I plan to. As I told you, I hadn't intended to see him at all. But how could I stay away under the circumstances. He's hurting, he needs comfort." Emily replies, "You don't have to convince me. You went to the Lucky Lady cause of what happened, makes sense. I guess I just don't see how you ended up here, kissing. But I guess you don't either." Tricia says, "Actually, I wanted to talk to him in private, about the future. I think I convinced him to speak to father....then one thing led to another." Emily replies, "What happened prob'ly woke him up. Sometimes things you think'll always be there suddenly go 'poof'! Starts making a lot more sense to get what you want sooner instead of later." Tricia says, "Well, right now he's just confused. He also may now be rich, he says they found silver in the mine, which is why the outlaws tried to steal it from them. So he's not after me for Pa's money Emily replies, "That'll help with Uncle then, if he's got his own money.” Tricia answers, "He doesn't have it yet, it's still in the ground. He also doesn't know how to mine it, that was his Pa's know-how, Simon just helped with the paperwork and bookkeeping. He's an accountant by trade, not a laborer." Sorry Tricia, I'm just not very good at this stuff. I usually talked to Ma about getting boys to leave me alone.," she shrugged. "I think love is pretty much made of people being confused." Tricia says, "Thanks Em, having you here is like having a sister who will actually listen to me for a change." Emily replies, "Sisters are hard. I miss everybody at home, except Eliza. She's a brat, she's always in my way and her nose was always in my business. And there was no way to get away from her. Ma says her and your Ma used to drive each other crazy sometimes too, but once they didn't live together anymore they liked each other lots better. It was just being stuck together all the time that made them fight." Tricia exclaims, "I don't think there will ever be enough distance and time away from Ellen! That girl is impossible! All she ever thinks about is herself!" Emily replies, "Do you ever think about Ellen? Or Humphrey and what he wants? Or about what your Pa wants?" Emily asked quietly. "Not how it affects you, just about them? We all mostly think about our own selves. Me too. If you help Ellen though, she's more likely to help you. Someone has to do it first, even though it takes some swallowing." Tricia replies, "Oh, just wait until you spend some more time with Ellen. You'll see that she is impossible!" Emily says, “Well... I did have a fight with her after school, but I don't think she was being impossible. She had reasons to think the way she did, although I hope I can change her mind someday." Tricia says, “"You have a better chance of moving the planet then getting her to change her mind. I also think it is totally unfair the way she is using that nice Jamie Cartwright. She's making him think she is interested in him so that she can later make a trip out to Nevada to visit him. But all she really wants is to spend time on the journey out to Nevada and back with our driver Paul." Emily comments, "I don't know how Uncle doesn't know about Paul already; it's not hard to tell. Maybe she told Mr. Cartwright all about it already? Is she letting him take her to the play tonight?" Tricia replies, “Oh yes, with Father's blessing. I'm tempted to go with Simon but that might not be the best way to have things start out with him and Father. Maybe it would be best if Simon approaches father for advice about the mine, he needs counsel from somebody who won't try to take advantage of him." Emily says, “"And if they get to know each other, Uncle can see what kind of man he is. If he's hardworking and determined on his own to make his mine work, I bet Uncle would see that and reconsider when you talked about Simon being your boyfriend again." Emily sighed softly. Trisha was just as self-absorbed as Ellen but she didn't realize it. "For tonight I don't mind sharing my Uncle if you don't mind sharing your Pa. I've never been to a real play. I hope I can understand it." Tricia replies, "Not at all, you have just as much claim to him as we do. I do hope he wins this Mayoral race, that will make him so happy. He hasn't had much to be happy about since Mother died." Emily replies, "He likes to take care of people," Emily said, wrestling with another thought trying to form. "I think maybe Aunt was the one who took care of him, and it's awful lonely without someone to take care of you. Being Mayor would make him happy, that would be nice. Ma still seems sad sometimes too. I always wish I could fix it." Tricia states, “Ya can't fix everything. Your being here seems to have cheered him up some, he's always been worried about you since....well...for a while now." A shy smile appeared on Emily's face. "I cheer him up? I like that. He's been worried about me? I haven’t even seen him for a few years, I'd think he had enough to worry about without me. Since when was he worried, Tricia?" She says, "Well....er....um....I'm not supposed to bring it up, I don't want to upset you." Emily exclaims, "Huh? Nothing bad was happening in Chicago, except for the problem I had with those human boys at school. If it's about me, shouldn't I get to know? You can't say something like that and then not tell." Tricia says, "Um....he doesn't want us to talk to you about.....the fire." "Oh." Emily pulled her feet up onto the sofa and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I think about my Pa every day, so you wouldn't be bringing up nothin' I don't think about anyway." She took a deep breath. "Tombstone smelled like it when I got there, I didn't like that." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Ten years is a long time to worry. I thought it was something else I didn't know about." Tricia relaxes a bit, apparently not more comfortable with the subject, and says, "No, but his worry was more than you just loosing your Pa. He said that your Pa had adjusted to being...different...around human folks. He said that without your Pa's presence it would become harder on you." Emily nodded. "Being an elf doesn't make you act funny. Elves live one way, humans live a different way. Pa just lived like a human for a while. I was raised like a human. In our neighborhood everyone knew my Pa and about the fire, and they knew who I was and were nice to me. School was harder, and people would whisper when Ma took me places they didn't know us. It didn't get real bad till a couple years ago when I started to look grown up. Some of the human boys thought since I was only an elf-girl I should do whatever they wanted. They learned different real quick. That's when Ma took me out of school." Tricia says, "I never had the opportunity to go to school. Ma had been trained as a school teacher, that's how she first met Pa in fact as she was teaching in Tucson when they met. So she taught the three of us, but it would have been nice to have had a chance to be with other students." Emily says, "I coulda done without it. School wasn't any fun, Tricia. You just sit inside and stare at a book till the teacher calls your class up and you recite what you've been reading. Or solve math problems in your head. Mrs. Kale's school is better. There's more teachers so you don't just read, and they teach things you'll actually need to know. Most of the kids there are younger than me, and I made Nakomo mad today so there's not really anyone to talk to there but I guess that's better than too much attention." Tricia says, "Pa speaks very highly of Mrs. Kale. I get the impression that he would have been interested in a social relationship with her except that another gentleman in town is already courting her." Emily exclaims, "Really? I suppose it's bad manners to try to get a girl someone else is already courting. But Uncle deserves to be happy too and if he likes her maybe he should do something about it. Has he liked anyone since your Ma?" Tricia says, “"Not really. For the last year he's started to flirt with women who he finds attractive but he hasn't gone out on a date with any of them." Emily says, "I don't guess there's been a lot of women for him to meet out here until the town started up. Who's courting the teacher anyway?" Tricia replies, "She's dating one of the town gamblers, he plays over at the Long Branch Saloon. He's also playing the male lead in the play tonight. Mrs. Kale seeing her would probably be rather scandalous if she were an unmarried woman. Being a widow, people have been given her the benefit of the doubt." Emily says, "Uncle's much better than any old gambler, even if he is going to be in a play," Emily said. "He'd be a good husband, although Mrs. Kale's pretty young, Uncle might not want a whole 'nother set of kids," she finished with a laugh. Tricia says, "Some of the other ones he was flirting with were even younger, younger than me in fact. Mrs. Kale is young but has some maturity about her. Still, if he's living in town instead of on the ranch it will be much easier for him to find someone. I'm not sure if I really want a stepmother though." Emily says, "My stepfather has always been real good to me. Uncle wouldn't marry a woman that wouldn't be good to his family, and you all are grown-up so a stepmother wouldn't have any kind of charge of you. It would be strange to have a new person in the family though. We're just imagining anyway. Right now it don't look like Uncle is going to bring a lady home anyway." The two girls were quiet for a minute, Emily still hugging her knees to her chest. "Tricia? I guess maybe Uncle wasn't wrong about the fire, there's other stuff I don't like to talk about that happened after that. But maybe, sometime, I might wanna." Emily suddenly looked much younger. "I'm glad I'm here now." Trica smiles and says, "Yep, having you here will be just like having a younger sister!" Emily replies, "I've always been the big sister and helped take care of the little ones.  It's nice to have people taking care of me instead.  Tricia, Uncle is spoiling me something awful.  Has he always been like that?" Tricia replies, "No, only to mother, she was the one who spoiled us while he remained the stern disciplinarian.   It's only been during the last year that his attitude towards myself and my siblings have change.  He's finally realized that we're all adults now and seems uncertain what to do.  Your being here gives him a chance to play father again and he's falling into a 'daddy' role that he never had time for before." Emily asks, "Does that bother you?  I mean...  that's he treating me different?" Tricia replies, “Nah, it keeps him busy and happy and I'd rather have him spend time spoiling you than chasing after some saloongirl half his age like his friend Seawell is doing." "Uncle wouldn't chase after a saloongirl," Emily laughed.   Tricia replies, "Don't bet on that, we've had one saloongirl out at the ranch a couple of times who he seemed enamored with.   But I think I heard that she's currently dating Judge Isby." Emily says, "I'd guess there's more to her than just being a saloongirl then." Tricia says, "I don't think so, I found her to be rather empty-headed.  She's very good looking though, which is why the older men seem to notice her." Emily says, "I think he's going to be mad tomorrow.  I met some people today... they're coming to talk to him tomorrow.  I don't understand it all, but there was something about the goddess Diana and a mentor and I'm supposed to learn to be a priestess." She replies, "Well, Pa does believe in the gods and I think he's friends with the town's Priestess." Emily says, "I don't think that kind of priestess, not for the Greek gods.  Well, for Diana at least, but...  for all the gods that love nature.  It was so exciting!  Mr. Valdez already knew who I was, and Jadito wanted to start teaching me right away.  It would be so much better than school! Jadito is going to come tomorrow morning and bring someone Uncle would trust.  A play tonight, then tomorrow I get to spend the day outside in the grove." Tricia says, "I know who Valdez is but who is this Jadito?" The younger woman answers, "He's, umm...  Well, he's an elf, older, and her seemed nice but stern.  He's a Yavapai elf.  Mr. Valdez said Diana herself told him I was coming here and he was supposed to teach me." Tricia asks, "An old Yavapai?  Is that the one who Manny Escobar used to talk about, who helped found this region three hundred years ago?" Emily shrugged.  "I don't know who Manny Escobar is.  Sounds right though, he was very old.  Three hundred years would be nothing for him. Sometimes it's strange to think about how long I'll live.  But never as long as Jadito."</blockquote>

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