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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2034944" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Seven, “Food and Beverages”, Thursday, March 9th, 1882, 11:45 P.M.Katherine was silent and stiff on the walk home.  It wasn't a long walk, and it was only a few minutes before they walked inside.  Chester followed Kate and Ginnie quietly. There 's been something on her mind ever since that halfling spoke to her. It's too bad, because it looked like she was getting over her husband's death. It's probably nothing. Chester walked up to his room and changed for bed. Should I move to the Lone… wait, the Lucky Lady? Wonder if I'll have to pay rent there. Need to ask Ruby about that tomorrow. It's a nice offer. He falls asleep thinking about the new family he's found in Promise City. Kate followed Ginnie to the stairs and up to their room. She waited there until Ginnie had gotten changed and into bed. She knew that the moment she left the girl would do what she pleased, but so far she seemed to be keeping it pretty tame, so Kate didn't worry about that.  Once Ginnie was at least pretending to be settled Kate left and went into Mr. Gonzales' rooms. He should be back by now. She said the incantation and went into the magnificent rooms behind and started pacing the long front room.Katherine paced the length of the room a few times with only a few stumbles. Mr. Gonzales usually appeared a minute after she came in. Kate began to poke her head into each room, looking for him. She stepped inside the library and looked at the books that Johnny Ringo claimed belonged to him. Maybe they did and maybe they didn't, but even if she was inclined to give them up, how in the world would they be moved. She grunted and turned her back on the room. He wasn't in his bedroom or the laboratory either. She spent a moment looking at the laboratory, with all its tempting bits of glass. There was enough sense left in her to back away and shut the door. Instead she walked over to the fountain and began casting, holding her shaking hand in front of her face. Her hand remained empty as she slurred her way through the spell. "Damn it," she muttered and tried again. This time she said it slow and loud and a blob of glass appeared in her hand. Kate looked at the irregularly shaped thing in her hand. It was supposed to be round, but it didn't really matter. The spell wasn't very strong; it could only make fragile and pale imitations that disappeared after a short time. But that was her intention. She stepped a bit away from the fountain and looked at the back wall. No one would hear her from in this place. She pulled in a deep breath and screamed as she hurled the ball against the wall. It shattered with satisfying spray of glass and Kate immediately created another and repeated the process. She rapidly ran out of spells, thumped down onto the side of the fountain and put her head in her hands.Manuel Gonzales enters his mansion and immediately notices all of the broken pieces of colored glass all over the floor and a dejected Kate sitting there. He approaches her without making a sound and stands there for a considerable amount of time until she notices him.  "My little sandpiper, it saddens me to see you so distressed. And you drank far more than you should have back at the Lucky Lady. What exactly was it that the little man told you that brought you to this state?"She states "I.....Did I tell you? You were away and I can't remember... Ruby told me about Tom, how they lied to me. When I went to Tombstone, the time when I brought Ginnie back, I went looking for Morgan Earp. But his brothers hid him from me. And then he disappeared." "Yes my dear, after I returned from California both you and Ruby told me parts of that story. I was grateful that no harm came to you. The Earps are dangerous people. Kate dropped her hands into her lap. "And now he's back. But I don't.... I shouldn't... I can't stop being angry."  He replies, "Anger is fine, but what you do with that anger can be problematic. Right now you have had far too much to drink and am not thinking straight. Although I am at least thankful that you decided to take out your anger in the privacy of this place rather than around town.  What are your thoughts as to how you will handle this?”She answers, "What is there to do? He's an Earp. I can't so much as set a foot in Tombstone without them knowing they'll just hide him again. Or worse. They know who I care about, and they have Wyatt's eyes here. And they wouldn't hesitate to 'discourage' me by going after those people." Kate stood up again, her hands helplessly waving as she continued. "I just want to know the truth! I don't care about judges and charges and courts. All I want is to know why my husband is dead, and I want to hear it from the man who did it. I want him to face me to admit what he did!" "What was he thinking? What was he doing out there? Why wasn't he home in his bed instead of out drinking and playing cards? We were supposed to...." Kate's hand flew to her mouth as she sat again and whispered, "I'm sorry. Forgive me."Manuel gives her a big hug. "My little sandpiper, you know that I want only what is best for you. But now you have been drinking too much, so are not looking at things right. In the morning you will probably be able to look at this more objectively. You should get a good night's sleep first. If you'll wait a minute I can put together a nice herbal tea for you, to help you sleep."Kate just nodded waiting for the drink. "Isn't the idea of drinking to drink too much?" She had missed her teacher while he was gone, and it was a relief to have this safe place to let everything out. A few minutes later he returned and she took the warm cup in her hands.  "Where were you earlier? I thought for certain you'd be back before Ginnie was settled.""Mr. Austin was helping out some mutual friends of ours," is his cryptic response. He waits for her to drink the tea and then escorts her back to her room. He gives her a kiss on her forehead and wishes her a goodnight's rest.Kate managed to pull of the new dress and her corset before crawling into her bed. She'd hoped to have better memories to go with that dress at the end of the night. After a few minutes of struggling with her shoes she managed to get them off and curled up, waiting for the tea to take effect. March 10th, 1882, 7:15 A.M.Ruby slowly opened her eyes. She wasn’t accustomed to the new room and the morning light was coming in different spots than she was used to. The bed was comfortable and she was comfortable, up until the part where the splitting headache came on her. Damn champagne. Jake was still sleeping and it was early so she didn’t want to wake him. She pulled herself up slowly, the headache getting worse. She needed coffee. Ruby grabbed Jake’s shirt and threw it on, left the room and headed to the kitchen. It seemed the whole place was still asleep. When she got to the kitchen she stood there helplessly, trying to remember what Maria had told her. Where was the stupid coffee? Ok, she went to the pantry and got the coffee out and the pot. She put it on the stove with some water. She stood there waiting. And waiting. Maybe I should turn the stove on, she thinks. She gets the wood, throws it in and uses a spell to light it. She smiles to herself. That wasn’t so hard! She decided while she was there she was hungry. Jake would probably be hungry too. Hum, a steak for Jake, he would appreciate that. Ruby grabbed one and another pan. She put the steak in the pan on top of the oven. That’s not too hard either. Then Ruby decides to get adventurous. Pancakes it was. She went back into the pantry, grabbed another pan, a bowl some flour and eggs. She laid the items on the counter, looking them over carefully. How hard could pancakes be? She started with the flour. She tried to pour just a little in the bowl but a whole pouf of flour came out, leaving white dust in the air and all over Ruby. Coughing she fanned the air until the flour settled. Ok, I’m making more than I thought. Then she tried cracking the eggs. Pieces of shell kept ending up in the bowl and the battle to get the pieces out waged for a few minutes. She mixed it up but it didn’t look right. She went searching for the milk, which she found. She poured too much milk in, so then she added more flour, which pouffed out again. After mixing it up, that finally looks good, so she puts the pan on the oven next to the steak and pours the batter in. Hey, I’m making breakfast! It smelled like something was starting to burn. She checked the coffee, which was ok. Whoops! It was the steak. She grabbed a fork and turned it over. Maybe Jake wouldn’t notice. Damn It! At the Cantina Dorita always made good breakfast and it looked easy. This was getting hard. The pancake started to bubble, but didn’t really look like a pancake. Ruby tried to turn it over but it stuck to the pan. She scraped it off and flipped it over, but it was all mangled. Well, maybe the next one will be better. Of course, the next bunch turned out just the same. Ruby was getting frustrated at the situation and the headache was getting worse so she took the coffee off the stove and poured it into a mug. It looked a little thicker than usual, but she tried it anyway. It was immediately spit out. She put the coffeepot on the counter, wondering what she did wrong. The pancakes didn’t look nice but she held out hope anyway. One bite proved that hope had failed, they were not cooked on the inside, they were hard on the outside and they tasted like paper. Ruby frowned at the mess that was all around her and she shook her head. She pealed the now blackened burnt steak off the pan and threw it on a plate. She started making her way upstairs but not before a stop at the bar, the only true cure for a hangover headache was whiskey. She grabbed a bottle and made her way back upstairs. She put the steak on Jake’s nightstand and had a looonnngggg drink out of the whiskey bottle. She climbed over the covers and hoped the next time she woke up would be better.  A while later, Nanuet wakes up due to a burning smell assailing his nostrils. He wonders why his head feels like it is in a vice, then begins to remember pieces of the night before. Boy, did I make a fool of myself he thinks. "Oh well, at least it was among friends. Now... what is that smell?" He stands up and immediately puts his hands to his head trying to do something about the throbbing. His mouth feels like leather so he thinks some water will help the situation and heads to the kitchen. As Nanuet approaches the kitchen area he realizes that is where the smell is coming from. He walks into the kitchen and his jaw drops. There is flour; eggshells and a few pancake looking objects scattered across the room. The wood stove is still burning so he begins quietly searching for someone who might be around. While searching, he spots a pot of coffee on the countertop. He feels the pot and sees that it is still hot and pours himself a cup. He grabs the mug as he sees footprints leading through the flour and begins to follow them. He makes his way back out of the kitchen and heads up the stairs Upstairs, Jake slowly comes to consciousness.  He thinks “Why is Ruby moving around so much? Ah there she stopped. Some time goes by. "Sniff" What is that smell?”  More time goes by. "Sniff” Jake sits up slowly and sees Ruby with her head under the covers and a just started bottle next to her. He smells the air and looks around. He discovers that there is a plate on his nightstand. He swings his legs over the side of the bed and looks that the plate. "What the f..." With his fingers he picks up the cold burnt piece of meat that perhaps was once a nice rib-eye steak. With a tsk he drops it back on the plate. He gets up and wipes his fingers on the shirt he threw on the floor. He pulls on some pants and goes to sit in one of the velvet chairs, admiring the room and watching the pile of bedclothes faintly rise and fall with her breathing.Ruby moans and rolls over, back and forth, until the blankets are barely covering her. With more moaning she opens her eyes again and sees Jake. "Baby, please, please don't let me drink champagne anymore, I mean ever again. I have such a headache." Ruby sits up and Jake notices the dusting of flour. "I made you a steak this morning. Did you try it yet?"Jake smiles. "Good morning princess. I'm sorry but I slept so late it was cold by the time I woke up." If I was a more kind-hearted man, Jake thinks to himself, “I'd take that poor steak out in back and shoot it out of its misery.” "Oh. I'm sorry. You want me to try to heat it up?" Ruby asks in earnest.Nanuet has followed the footprints to outside Jake and Ruby's room. He turns away from the door a full smile on his face shakes his head and takes a sip of the coffee. "Ah, why don't you..." Jake's answer is interrupted by the sound of someone spitting a mouthful of liquid and then coughing loudly can then be heard outside of Jake and Ruby's room, followed by loud words in native elvish and more coughing. His head turns towards the door and then back to towards his flour spattered girl friend. "Did you feed anyone else this morning?"</blockquote>

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