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Message: <blockquote data-quote="orchid blossom" data-source="post: 2809645" data-attributes="member: 12815">Jacky O'NeillJake responds to Ruby and Minerva's conversation about where to stay.  "Seems like all the townsfolk recommended the hotel.  Unless we are going to walk out into the desert.  Maybe they are charging four dollars a night because it is the only safe place in town." Jake nods to Minerva when she makes the suggestion about playing poker.  "Ruby, would you like to play instead?  You are pretty good and he is throwing money about."  Jake takes a moment to clean his glasses as part of the act.  "It would take your mind off a few things and you could probably charm some information out of him where I couldn't.  Something tells me it is Mr. Jacobs that needs to talk to that man with peacemaker on the table." "Chet, keep an eye out for that guy you spotted.  Let us know before you go running off though."  Jake pats him on the arm.Ruby ponders for a moment and twirls her finger in her hair while she thinks. "Sure I'll play cards. I like to play... And I am pretty good." She smiles knowingly. She leans towards Jake and whispers in his ear, "Are we supposed to be pretending not to be together? You know, with your disguise and all?""No, that is not necessary.  My disguise won't last long anyway.  Who did you say you were to the townsfolk?  Just tell folks I'm your business partner, or servant or even your husband if you like."  Jake snorts a laugh.  "If you pick husband I'll try not to be too bossy.  Of course I could be the henpecked type and you could walk all over me instead."  Jake laughs again before the smile becomes gentler.  "Decide what you like.  We WILL get a room together at the hotel.  I couldn't bear to have you too far away."  He delicately touches her hand and releases it.Ruby smiles warmly at Jake. "Good. I couldn't bear to be away from you either." "I said my name was Constance and that I had something important to tell Colin. The sheriff thinks I'm having Colin's baby. I didn't say that but I didn't correct him. I said you were all here to carry my bags but he didn't pick up on that either." Ruby stops again, lost in thought. "I would always choose to have you as my husband but you know that already. I'm not sure that is the best idea though... It would be nice to be respectable for a change, even if only for a couple of days. We could have been the Cookies," she laughs."The Cookies indeed.  Will Baxter always haunt us?"  Jake replies humorously.  "Fine then Mrs. Jacobs, I'm going to see that tough looking guy in the black coat."  Jake says looking at his own black duster and Colt sidearms.  "Does he remind you of anyone?"  Jake smirks and walks slowly over to the table where the man is sitting, his unbuttoned duster pulling open as he navigates through the chairs. Chester watches the upstairs room for some time.  After about 20 minutes a woman dressed in the garb of a prostitute comes out of the room.  She has a nervous look about her and seems very tentative as she makes her way downstairs.Chester slides off his stool and makes his way over to the woman. "Evening, Miss. Do you know who that guy was in the room with you? I can pay for your time if you like. I just want to find some answers."The woman looks Chester up and down slowly gaining her confidence back. After a moment she speaks, her voice cracking at first.  "What are you law or something?" she asks.  She then turns to the barkeeper Greely and pointing at Chester she says "Greely, this guy law or something?  Ain't never seen him around." Greely shakes his head and says, "Don't know if he is or if he ain't.  First time I seen him myself.  Didn't seem to want trouble before you got his attentions. Guess you still got the magic touch," he says with a snicker.Chester asks the woman, "Do you see a badge? It just seemed to me that your client didn't want to come out when he saw me. You looked a bit nervous back there. If the guy is crazy, I'd like to know before he shoots up the place. If you don't want to tell, then so be it.""It's not that I don't want to, it's that I think it is in my best interest not to, if you catch my drift.  Let's just say my last customer is a shy guy and real nervous around new folks.  How about you?  Looking for some company stranger?" she says gently touching Chester's cheek with a soft hand.***"A man who displays his weapon on a saloon table is either sending a message or forgot his holster."  Jake takes a sip out of the glass of whiskey he is carrying.  "I bet you have a holster.  Care for some company?""The darkly handsome man look out from under his hat.  He smiles and nods to Jake and then speaks with an Irish accent as he removes the gun from the table and puts it in his holster.  "The act works better and better every time, but usually the ladies come over first.  Name's Jacky O'Neil.  Have a seat stranger, can I buy you a drink?""I believe I'll take you up on that offer.  Alistair Jacobs.  Pleased to meet you."  Jake drops himself into the chair.  "The ladies find that enticing do they, the dark dangerous mysterious man bit?  Do you actually know how to use that thing or is it just a table decoration.""Barkeep, two whiskeys!"  Jacky looks at his gun and smiles.  "Well I can't tell you all my secrets right off the top can I?  As far as the ladies go, I'm still figuring it out so far it only seems to attract the wrong ones."  The whiskies arrive and Jackie offers a toast "To our health!" and then downs his in one gulp.  "So what brings you to a little town like this?""What are the wrong ladies Jacky?"   Jake tosses back his glass of whiskey as well, but scrunches his face slightly at the quality.  "I am here keeping my partner company, she has some personal business with one of the local residents.  I myself am sort of an entrepreneur, always looking for a good business deal.  I figured I would check out the town while we are here."  Jake leans forward a bit and says quietly, "If you don't mind me saying so with what little I've seen, it doesn't appear to be a good place for investments.  Unless of course you are in the mortuary business.""Came here to scout the place out myself but yeah, this place is pretty much used up.  Not sure what you mean about the mortuary business stuff though.  I know most of the residents, who is your partner looking for?""The town cemetery seems rather large and fresh.  There were folks burying a lass when we got off the stage.  They made comments about how frequent that happens here."  Jake then focuses carefully on the man's face to gauge his reaction when he says, "She is looking for a man named Turner, Colin Turner.""Hmm... well I've been in town for about a week now, don't remember anyone by the name of Turner.  I guess some of the locals might know better, but I figured I had met just about everybody by now.  I understand what you mean about the cemetery.  Poor lass died just yesterday, upstairs at the Gordon Hotel I believe it was.  Not sure if they ever determined the cause of death.  You play cards Mr. Jacobs?""From time to time.  It's my wife who is the real card player though.  Seems like she's always getting the better of me."  Jake adjusts his glasses casually.  "So you came here to scout the place out, find it sorely lacking, are attracting the wrong ladies as you call them and yet you are still here.  I wonder what keeps Jacky O'Neil sitting at a table attracting strangers in a dead end town."Ruby watches Jake approach the man with the gun before heading to the back to the room. She puts a dazzling smile on as she approaches the dirty looking men.  She waits patiently until she gets their attention to speak. "Excuse me gentlemen," she purrs, "Would you mind if I joined you?" She bats her eyelashes and flips her hair from one shoulder to the other. "I just love to gamble.""The tall well dressed man with the receding hairline just continues to scowl and rolls his eyes.  The other men seem agreeable and introduce themselves as Edwin, Charlie, Fingers, Billy and then point to the scowler and announce his name as Bobby." "Did I say you could tell these folks what my name was?  Suppose I didn't want her to know my name?  Are we playing cards or what?" "Oh sure Bobby, I didn't know, I didn't know." replies Charlie.  "Let's keep playing cards" he says pulling out a chair for Ruby. Bobby speaks to Ruby but doesn't look her in the face.  "Game is 7 card stud ma'am.  Ante is 50 cents.  You're dealin'.""Of course," she smiles warmly as she sits, then nods, "It's nice to meet you all." She reaches down her gown and pulls out a small wad of bills. She throws a $1 in the center of the table, taking $.50 back for her change. Ruby pulls her long hair back behind her ears before she reaches for the deck of cards. She quickly decides not to try any scams, as they have enough to worry about at the moment. She uses her skillful hands to bridge and snap the old, worn in, musty deck, deftly shuffling them thoroughly, before dealing a round to each player. She looks up from her dealing, and with the same dazzling smile says, "Alright, let's play."After just a few hands Ruby believes she is the best player at the table by far.  The others seem to know each other's tendencies well since they must play together often, but she gets a read and figures out tells on each of them very quickly.  Bobby bets more aggressively than the others and seems to take things more personally than the others.  He does however seem to avoid getting in heads up situations with Ruby, preferring to play with the other players.Ruby glances over at Jake, sitting with the mysterious man. He seems relaxed so Ruby guesses there is no immediate danger. She sighs to herself, What is Jake telling him about why we are here? She hadn't had a chance to argue about being Mrs. Jacobs, as much as she imagined she might enjoy being Mrs. Cook, this was a sore topic between them and Ruby didn't think it was a good plan to pretend she was married to Jake. She might like it too much and then she would be even more disappointed and hurt on this subject than she already was. Then again maybe this would be a good time to show him what is could be like... She suddenly shakes her head. What are you thinking girl! There is a monster who wants to suck your blood and keep you as his pet for eternity and this is what you're thinking about?? Then she puts the smile back on her face. Jake was a topic that would always come before all others. As everyone looks down at the first set of cards dealt, Ruby slips her hands underneath the table and moves her ruby ring to her ring finger on her left hand. When she looks up one of the men is looking at her. "So pretty lady, you gonna tell us your name and why someone as pretty as you is even here in our little town?" Billy asks. She nods and smiles, "My name is Constance." She looks quickly to Jake before continuing, "Jacobs. Constance Jacobs. I'm looking for someone, that's why I'm here." She looks back down at the cards in her hands. "It's not safe for a pretty lady such as yourself to be here, and especially to be here alone." Ruby looks up at this statement and the man introduced as Charlie is staring at her lewdly. 'Well, Charlie is it? Sorry to disappoint you but I can take care of myself," she says forcefully. "And I'm not alone. That's my husband over there." Ruby again looks at her cards and throws two down, like she isn't concerned, but suddenly glad she had that excuse to fall back on. "Married, huh?" Charlie responds, with a hint of disbelief in his voice. Bobby interjects before Ruby can respond, "Are we gonna play or yap?" The others are immediately quiet and they get back to the hand. Ruby asks, "So what IS up with this town? I've heard some strange rumors. Plus it seem pretty dead here at night. What's everyone nervous about?"Edwin looks at Ruby quizzically.  "Well the town doesn't have much going for it lately.  Like most towns out here someone found silver in the nearby hills, and this was the only spot around where they could find water for a well so the town sprouted up around it.  But the silver didn't last too long.  By then though there was a small town here and lots of folks thought it was a good place to stop on their way back and forth.  Once they built the railroad though that kinda stopped too.  Some of the traveling salesman types still come through, but mostly we support ourselves now." Bobby Whitaker is still not pleased with the amount of conversation in the game.  He throws down his cards and declares "I fold!" and gets up from the table."What's wrong with him?" Ruby asks the others, trying to avoid the still leering Charlie. She watches Bobby stomp off and as he walks past Jake Ruby quickly glances to make sure everything is still ok. "Oh don't mind him, he's always like that.  Got more money than the bank and doesn't mind parting with it here at the table.  He's a grumpy bastard, but we don't mind taking his cash right boys?" The last comment gets the remaining men all laughing heartily.Ruby looks toward Jake, and this time her eyes are drawn to the stranger. Her heart flutters slightly as she takes a good look at the mystery man. Classically tall, dark and extremely handsome with a lean but muscular body he actually resembles Jake a good deal. She's almost entranced as she asks dreamily, "Who's that man over there?" while twirling her ring around on her finger."New guy in town... Jacky O'Neill.  Real friendly type, maybe a little too friendly if you ask me.  Wants to get to know everybody and their business.  I think he's up to something."Ruby continues staring, distracted. "Will you gentlemen excuse me for a moment? I think I'll introduce myself..." She stands and without breaking her gaze from Mr. O'Neill waits for a response."Aww... all the ladies got something for that guy.  What's he got that we don't?" the man introduced as Fingers says with a mock whine. "Maybe because he doesn't have holes in his underwear like you and he puts on a fresh pair once in a while," Billy jokes with his friend.  "Sure go ahead ma'am, we'll keep your seat warm."Ruby nods and heads directly over to Jake's table. As she walks she stands tall and pulls her hair off her face. She stops, standing next to Jake. She keeps her eyes on the stranger as she speaks. "Hi baby, I missed you. Who's your new friend?"</blockquote>

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