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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3190024" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 195, “I don't want Jake any more than I want to catch smallpox!”, Monday, March 27th, 1882, 6:00 PM Kate went upstairs and changed clothes and had a short talk with Ginnie before Estaban escorted her to the bathhouse where she took a long, hot soak. There were the beginnings of what would be some spectacular bruises forming on her side and stomach from jumping from the horse.  Once she felt better she dressed in the prim blue she'd brought and had Estaban escort her to the Lucky Lady where she ordered some dinner and waited for Nanuet and Minerva to arrive and for the others to make an appearance.Nanuet was deep in thought but getting nowhere. "Time to stretch" he said to no one in particular. He starts making his way downstairs looking to see if anyone is around when he remembers the last time Ruby and Minerva were in the same room together. Well this is going to be a scene to remember when they get back together he thinks to himself.  Bright eyed and rosy cheeked, Ruby meets up with Nanuet on the stairs, "Oh you're back!" she says cheerfully, embracing him. "How was your trip?"He replies, "It was a little more eventful than I had hoped for... we had some um... unexpected visitors. C'mon downstairs and we'll talk about it, it has to do with our pal Johnny Ringo."  "Oh no... Is everyone ok?" Ruby asks concerned. "And, uh, we had some problems here too. We should have everyone together before we go over everything, Jake will want to hear what is going on and he'll be down in a couple of minutes." She takes Nanuet's arm and they head down the stairs. Once they are in the main room Ruby is immediately filled with intense emotion as she sees Kate sitting at their table. She stops short and Nanuet, still holding her arm looks at her curiously, "What's wrong?" Ruby takes a deep breath and tries to control the emotions welling up in her. She uses her free hand to push the hair off her face. "Nothing," she says curtly, "Let's go." They approach their normal table and while Nanuet then goes to the bar to get a bottle of whiskey, Ruby sits silently.Kate looked up and smiled at Nanuet and Ruby approached the table. Ruby took a seat and Nanuet went off to get the nightly bottle of whiskey. Over her teacup Kate noticed the bright new sparkle on Ruby's finger, and an usual silence from Ruby herself.  "Ruby, that ring is stunning!" she said sincerely. "It must be from Jake."  Ruby looks down at the ring on her finger then back up to Kate. "Who else would it be from? He is my lover and my boyfriend."Nanuet immediately notices the heat from Ruby. "Ruby, what's up? Is everything OK? You seem a little out of sorts."  Ruby replies, "Oh no Nanuet, I'm just fine. Except for almost getting blown to pieces last night along with the saloon, I'm great. It seems to be Katherine here that has a problem, informing my boyfriend of her desire for him. Not very friend like if you ask me.""What?" Nanuet exclaimed! "Blow up the Lady? Desire for Jake? Are those necklace things acting up again? What happened? I thought Kate was with Mr. Conrad?"  Ruby glances around to make sure no one is close enough to be listening in. "Yes, some Cowboys snuck in last night and planted some invisible dynamite. Not very easy to disarm when you can't see it. Then the Marshals were attacked, Marshal Rodquiez is almost dead, he was stabbed. Judge Isby had a trial today and sentenced them to 50 years in prison." In a sharp, mocking tone Ruby continues, "As for the other issue, I was also fooled into thinking our sweet innocent Katherine was with Conrad. But apparently all this time she's been telling me what a good man he is, she was just convincing herself, waiting for the right time I guess? I don't know." As Ruby speaks she stares Kate in the eyes. "Why don't you tell us Kate, why you decided NOW to let Jake know how you felt about him. Is it because you're jealous that he loves me?"Kate's eyes went flat and hard. She'd had enough for one day.  "I told Jake yesterday because yesterday was the first, last, and only time I felt any desire for him at all. And I told him because I knew those feelings weren't mine; that they were coming from outside myself. Since you know about that, I assume Jake told you about Aphrodite's influence over this town. It was a symptom of that and I told him so he would get away from me before anything happened that would be a betrayal of my friend. I don't want Jake any more than I want to catch smallpox!   Now, would you like to discuss some actual problems or keeping working on made-up ones?"Minerva freshens up and strolls over to the Lucky Lady in search of her friends. She sees Nanuet, Kate and Ruby as she enters and takes a seat at their table. "Buenas Tardes everyone." She notices that Ruby and Katherine don't look very happy. "Que Pasa?" (what's going on?)  Without taking her eyes off of Kate Ruby replies to Minerva, "We're discussing how Kate told Jake that she found him attractive. She says Aphrodite made her do it."Ruby returns the cold stare to Kate. "I find that a very convenient excuse. Aphrodite influencing this entire town.." Ruby pulls her olive leaf out of her dress, holding it in her hand, "Pendants making people act like lunatics. Did she make the words come out of your mouth? You couldn't possibly keep that to yourself? And she was what, forcing you to do something that would be a betrayal of your friend?" Ruby stands from the table. "You must think me really stupid to believe that. And considering you both admit to this happening I find it hard to believe it a made up problem."  Minerva's eyes go wide when she sees the pendant. Not again!  She exclaims, "Aphrodite seems to be having a great deal of influence on a good many people in town. "Kate replies, "No, I did not say Aphrodite made me do it. I said she is influencing this town and those feelings were not mine. I chose to take an action that would make him go away from me, so I could get control of my emotions back. I got rid of my pendant, Ruby. Why don't you put yours upstairs in a safe place and see if you don't feel differently when you come down?""Normally you don't tell someone you find them attractive to make them get away from you. And I'm telling you right now, it's not the pendant. It's the betrayal from my friend that I am upset about." Ruby takes the pendant off her neck and leaves it on the table. "Will that make you happy?" She walks over to the bar and gets herself a drink.Nanuet looks back and forth between Ruby and Katherine with raised eyebrows. Minerva walks in and he gives her a quick but wary smile.  Kate picked up the pendant and handed it to Nanuet. "Take that upstairs out of the room. Someplace safe, I don't want her thinking we were trying to steal it from her." She turned to Minerva. "I didn't expect this, but I should have. It's very much like Conrad's jealousy was. I don't have much patience tonight; being chased and shot at will do that to you. If she keeps this up I'm leaving." Nanuet took the pendant and went up the stairs and Kate waited for Ruby to come back.Nanuet took the pendant upstairs. The door was open and Jake was still there getting ready. Nanuet knocked on the door. "Uh, Mr. Jake? Kate wanted me to bring this up here, she says to put it somewhere safe."  "Heh," Jake laughs, "This thing causing trouble again?" He puts it inside the safe. "I don't think I want to know. I'll be down in a few more minutes and I'm sure I'll find out then." Nanuet nods and some back downstairs, heading to Ruby instead of Kate. "Miss Ruby, I don't want you to get mad at me or anything, but don't you find it suspicious that Miss Kate suddenly feels this way? Look at how Minerva acted the other day. Something suspicious is going on." Ruby slowly looks at Nanuet. "Yes, something strange is going on. I don't know what." Nanuet puts his hand on Ruby's arm. "Why don't we stay calm, and go back and eat dinner. We can try to figure out what's going on." Ruby insists, "I want an apology." Nanuet replies, "I understand. I'm not saying to forget everything that is going on, but let's think about it. Plus we should all know what is going on with the Cowboys." Ruby nods in agreement and reluctantly rejoins the table.  Kate and Ruby were both silent for the first few moments. "Tell me about what happened last night. Ringo tried to follow through on his threat to blow up the saloon? He obviously didn't succeed.  What was all that about a trial?""Some Cowboys came by last night and planted some invisible dynamite," she says quietly. Ruby pushes her hair off her face and takes a sip of her whiskey. "Luckily we figured it out and found it, and I.. we got rid of it." Ruby continues telling them the whole story, constantly making sure no one is around to listen. Jake arrives in the middle of the story. Ruby finishes by telling them of the trial. "So what happened, you said something about Johnny Ringo?""Conrad and I went out to picnic, there were some things we needed to work out. After about an hour he saw dust being kicked up the road we had taken out...." Kate went on with the story, explaining how they had run and how she had first recognized Ringo's horse. Riding in the stream, killing the two Cowboys and trying to get to the plateau. She emphasized the ammunition they used, and the fact that the mage armor spell seemed to protect Conrad from the worst of the magical blast. "They had no reason to go after him, just me," she finished quietly. "Seven of them.""Are you sure they have no reason to go after Conrad?" Ruby asks. "Oh, I saved the best news for last... they broke into the gun shop and stole about as much magical ammunition as you can imagine. Very cheery news."   Kate says, "Wonderful. Well, we will have the scrolls to stop magical effects. Let's hope they give us some protection. The matter of Conrad... they only tried to hurt him when he shot at them, otherwise they aimed for me."Nanuet says, "Well none of this is good news except that we are all here to tell these stories. I am very worried about them getting all that magic ammunition. Any encounter with any of them could be very bad for any of us if they have cases full of magic bullets. We must be very vigilante. And what about the festival? Are the plans for it to continue, I mean it sounds like they might be planning something big. I can't imagine what would happen if they attacked the town during the festival!"“We can not cancel the Festival!” Minerva says adamantly. “Dionysus would get quite upset if we canceled. It would be a grave insult and he might wither the crops and cause illness among the livestock or worse! Beside that the merchants would not tolerate the loss of business and I couldn't tolerate the smug look on the face of the Vigilance Committee members. No, I don't believe that canceling the Festival is going to stop the clash between the gods. They will use the cowboy gang and us as pawns in their game whether or not the Festival takes place. We will not be able to prevent it from being played out. What we must do, is find a way to use the Festival and maybe even Aphrodite's distraction to our advantage. Perhaps we can find a way to ensnare the Cowboy gang in her spell? After all they can't attack the town if their all in rutting like bulls now can they?" she says with a wicked smile.Nanuet states, "Not sure there is any love in Johnny Ringo's heart to begin with. I am just worried about innocent people who should not have to be involved in this. I know you don't want to cancel but how will you feel if anything happens to innocent women and children because of Ringo and his lust for violence. People like Conrad shouldn't have to fear for their lives."  Ruby asks, "What do you all keep talking about, Aphrodite's influence? She is here making people do things they don't want to do? I don't understand."Minerva turns to Ruby and explains about the pendants and what Kajika told them as well. "We did this ceremony to clear our minds of her influence and then he gave us these charms to protect us. Conrad was under her spell as well. But you'll have to ask Katherine about that."  Minerva says, “Do you think that canceling the festival will stop Johnny Ringo and his gang? As long as they are free to terrorize people like Conrad will never be safe."   "Look, I am not saying to cancel it, I am just saying that we have to be careful and consider the possibility that it may be disrupted by the cowboy gang. I think it could be a mess if Ringo and his friends shows up and terrorizes a bunch of drunken revelers." Ruby says, "Protect you? Don't you think it's selfish of you to ask Aphrodite for her blessing then turn it away? I'm not going to anger a god like that."  Nanuet says, "But people who did not ask for anyone's blessing are being influenced as well. They say that there is a priestess here using her powers to put the town under a spell basically... to "force" them to worship Aphrodite or carry out her will."  Minerva says, "Kajika did not say that it was Aphrodite, directly that was influencing everyone. He said that there was this priestess in town who was misusing her power. I'm sure that her intentions are good, but she should not be taking peoples choices from them. She is upsetting the balance. Do you know who he is talking about?"  Ruby raises an eyebrow, "What has that got to do with our pendants?"  Then turning to Ruby Nanuet says, "My guess is that those pendants are a link to Aphrodite in some way, that they were touched by her and hold some of her power."   "Then why wouldn't I wear it, if it is a gift from her?" Ruby looks at Jake, then at Nanuet. "Or are you trying to say that everything that's happened since we did our ceremony, when we ASKED HER FOR HER BLESSINGS, isn't real or something? Because I won't believe it."Nanuet states, "I am not saying that things that happened are not real, I am saying though that some people seemed to be influenced by the pendants or by some sort of spell that is being cast over the town. That explains the event between Jake and Kate. He was wearing a pendant at the time wasn't he?" Minerva says, “Our pendants seem to be unbalanced also. When I placed them in the bowl it was intended as an offering to Minerva. Aphrodite somehow managed to eliminate the other two goddesses from the ceremony. When all three of us wore the pendants we were open to the love of one another. as we had asked to be. but... when any of us remove them. we become angry and repulsed by one another. It is not right that she should control our emotions that way. And when other's wear the pendants anyone of the opposite sex becomes attracted to them. My own emotions were a bit shall we say enhanced, but fortunately Nanuet is a gentleman" she laughs and winks at Nanuet and then stops and thinks about what she just said. "Maybe there is a way to use the pendants to our advantage with the cowboy gang." Well the point I'm trying to make is that Aphrodite seems to be taking advantage of this priestess's zeal to bind the town to her."Ruby says, "I was just wearing my pendant and yet managed to keep myself calm. What proof do you have of this priestess trying to influence people?"  Nanuet says, "I personally don't have proof, just what I have observed, what I have felt, how I feel now that Kajika has cast a protective spell over me and what Kajika has told us. For me that is enough to be wary.""You already know what I believe to be real." Jake says looking Ruby directly in the eyes. "That doesn't change." He then looks back to the group. "It seems to me Aphrodite or her priestess is causing some kind of distraction here. Who is affected or by how much is certainly debatable. Unfortunately, what ever is going on is distracting us from the real problem of the Cowboy gang. Let us not over react regarding Aphrodite, it is unwise to draw the ire of a friendly goddess." Jake snaps his fingers. "Ringo is also behaving oddly. He seems too smart for some of the things he is doing. Is it possible he is affected by this? Could it be he has escalated his war because of feelings he has over a woman in Promise City?" Looks of surprise and disbelief greet Jake's glance around the table to be replaced by faces thinking. "It's a long shot but if it were true and we knew who that person was....."Ruby calms down a bit at Jake's reassurance. But are all my friends going mad?  "I don't know about your woman theory, it could be true, but I have another idea. Ringo is a cleric of the god of war, Ares. Ares is the enemy of Aphrodite. So he must be jealous of Aphrodite sending her blessings here, so he has sent Ringo to destroy the good that she has done."  Nanuet says, "Well, if mortals are now being used openly as the tools of the Gods then that does make sense."Minerva states, "I agree with Senor Jake, we need to focus on the Cowboy Gang. I do not think that Aphrodite is siding with Mars but she is unwittingly helping his cause by causing all this confusion." She turns to Ruby. "Ruby, perhaps we should visit this Priestess, if you know who she is, explain to her what is happening and seek her aid in defeating the Cowboy Gang."  "Aphrodite is the sworn enemy of Ares, she is not trying to help him she is trying to destroy him." Ruby thinks carefully. "You haven't told me what proof you have about the priestess. I can see that you are confused but if you've never met her how can she be influencing you?"Minerva says, " This priestess intentionally tried to keep me from hearing the will of my goddess. I know how I feel now that I am under the protection of this charm." She says pointing to her chest. "Kajika has said that the Apache have had to move farther away from Promise City to escape her influence, and Sr. Gonzales and Katherine spoke to the high priest of the Greek church about her also. You need to speak to your mentor, Ruby. He will explain it to you.""I saw him yesterday he said no such thing. And if what you are saying is true then this priestess must be very powerful indeed to keep you from hearing your own goddess." Ruby kept her next comment to herself as Minerva would surely be offended. "You told me yourself how to honor the goddess and I'm not going to turn my back on that now because you think it went wrong." Minerva says, “I am not suggesting that you do not honor the goddess Aphrodite, Ruby. I too honor Venus. She is not evil and does much good in the world, but perhaps this priestess in her enthusiasm, has used her power appropriately and by doing so has shifted the balance of power in Olympus. Do not blind yourself to all else as you once blinded yourself to Her. Your eyes must remain open so that you may decide for yourself. Balance must be maintained. Por Favor, I am your friend. Do not be angry with me."Ruby also kept her thoughts about the priestess to herself. She would be seeing her the next day and ask her some questions then. "So what is the next step in the war against the Cowboys?" Nanuet says, "Well, not that it is a plan, but it is a tool we can use. Kajika gave me this powder that can be used to cancel magical effects. It needs to be sprinkled on the ground and then moistened. We could use it to help combat his magical defenses and the ammo that he has. The trick is to get him in the right spot at the right time."Well, don't make me angry then. I don't want to talk about this anymore." Ruby drinks her whiskey down, "If you persist I will get mad. I have heard no proof today, only words." Ruby walks away from the table and sticks her head in the kitchen, asking Harry to bring them out some supper. She stops at the bar and gets a bottle of bourbon, to help improve her mood. She stands at the bar for a few moments, trying to clear her head. Why are they all acting crazy? She pours herself a drink and gets lost in her thoughts. I have had the same doubts about Jane but have no proof yet. I don't want to anger Aphrodite and have her take away her blessings or make things less clear. Too long I've lived not being happy. I won't give it up. They must be weak to let someone control them so easily. Or the priestess is very very powerful but that is doubtful. Perhaps I should give them the same lesson I gave Jake... A smile comes to Ruby's face remembering Jake's lessons. I will have to look into this more, ask better questions when I meet with Jane tomorrow. Ruby looks back over her shoulder at her friends. I know they wouldn't hurt me on purpose but this all just seems so strange...Jake shares the information about the special ammunition. "Please don't share that outside of our circle, it would put Pierre in danger. It was interesting to hear him say that a temporary magic stays permanent here in Cochise country. No wonder so many blasted wizards seem to be drawn here." Jake notices Katherine looking at him oddly. "Ahem, our friends excepted of course." After they are done eating and talking, Jake excuses himself to go visit Pedro at the El Parador. "I won't be gone long. I'll be back in time for poker."Nanuet makes sure Minerva does not need him for anything and let's her know he will be working here the rest of the night. "Perhaps a walk later if you like, but we have to be careful, we know trouble is close." He kisses her longingly and then gets ready to work the evening at the saloon.Ruby finally lets her thoughts go and rejoins her friends, her bright eyes back. She doesn't bring up anymore talk of the goddess or the Cowboys. She shows off her new ring proudly to anyone who will listen. Jake leaves for a walk and Ruby stays behind to help Harry in the kitchen. Until he kicks her out anyway. She amuses herself on the porch with the puppies for a while and chats with Kate and Minerva, although still refusing to bring any of the previous nonsense up. She asks them if they will stay for the evening. "Even though it's usually our night off Jake is going to play and I am going to sing." Ruby notices Kevin Tomlinson come into the saloon and she watches him order a beer and have a seat out of the corner of her eye.Kate stayed quiet as Ruby chatted as if nothing had ever been said. She let Minerva answer whether she would stay for the night, waiting for her chance to leave. The others were working or busy or would put up a fuss if she told them she wanted to go. Once everyone else was inside she went to the porch and sat in the cool evening air, breathing deep. Too much had happened today. She wanted to get drunk, but knew that was the worst idea she could have. It had been hard to stop getting drunk every night, if she let herself start, she might never stop. She sighed and sat on the steps, refusing to think at all.</blockquote>

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