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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3257585" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 212, “Calm before the Storm“, Friday, March 31st , 1882, 8:00 P.M.While waiting tables Kate reflected back upon her earlier conversation with Meghan, having said “I will see you girls at the El Parador in the morning. I'm afraid it will have to be early, around 8:00. It's going to be a very busy day. Thank you for your help tomorrow, by the way. I certainly appreciate it." Meagan gave Kate an odd look and said "You consider 8:00 O'clock to be early?"Kate laughed. "To tell the truth, I don't. But most of my friends do, so I have gotten into the habit of thinking no one else wakes as early as I do. And I often work quite late, so I rise a bit later on many days."   The ladies had talked for a few more minutes, then Kate went back to the El Parador. She and Sonoma then went out to the ranch where Kate carefully chose two of the horses she'd had the most time to work with to bring back into town, as well as bringing her stallion. They headed back driving three confused sheep before them. They got all the animals tucked safely in the barn, then Kate went to Gilson's for a bath. During dinner she had written a note to Conrad and asked that it be given to him when he came in for dinner, then headed off to work. The note read: Conrad, Please meet me tomorrow morning in the grove at ten o'clock. I'm sorry to make you rise so early, but I have a very busy day ahead and would very much like to speak before it starts. Katherine“Yes, tomorrow will be a busy day,” she said to herself, not fully realizing exactly how busy it will actually be. After talking with Maria, Ruby again takes to the stage to sing passionately while Jake starts his game up with new players, hoping to bring some real money in this time.  While up on stage Ruby notices the man that Katherine was speaking to the night before enter the Saloon. He waits over by the bar until a spot opens up near the stage and he takes a seat. Ruby notices that his light blue eyes rarely leave her or the stage area. At one point she catches his gaze and he smiles up at her. After her set she wanders over to the bar and asks for a bourbon. Before she even looks up she knows the man is standing next to her. She flips her hair as she looks towards him. “Good evening Mr.…Turner I think it was?” He grins and says, “Why yes, Miss West, Colin Turner.” He takes her hand and kisses it slowly. “A pleasure to see you again.”   She raises an eyebrow at his lingering of holding her hand. “It’s always a pleasure to see our customers return,” Ruby flirts, "Especially the handsome ones."Still dealing five card stud, Jake notices the man talking to Ruby at the bar and his eyebrows unconsciously raise a bit when he kisses her hand. Same guy from last night, he thinks. Jake focuses on his game only glancing over occasionally.  A cocky smile comes to Turner’s face. “And it’s always a pleasure to have a beautiful woman pay such a compliment. Will you join me for a drink?” At the Lucky Lady Kate practically had to push her way inside. I should have realized and come earlier. She got her apron, and got down to work, then played for Ruby. It wasn't long before Mr. Turner was back, but tonight he seemed to have no interest in her.  Ruby glances over to Jake who is concentrating on his poker game. Normally she would join any customer in a drink without question but this seemed different to her. Something about him was drawing her to him, making her heart pound and she felt like he knew it. “I’m not…” She starts as he pushes a red wine towards her. “Don’t break my heart Miss West,” he interrupts, his breath on her neck. Ruby shivers as a chill runs up her spine.  “Alright, just this one,” she hesitates, “We have so many customers here tonight I can’t let you monopolize all my time…” She lifts the glass to her lips and sips. Trying to distract herself from the unwanted feelings she asks, “So what are you doing here in Promise City? Come to enjoy the festival?” He continues to smile and stand near her. She could smell him, the strong scent of his cologne almost overwhelming her. “No Miss West, I’m here on business.” He sips his wine casually and Ruby swore he was looking right at Jake. “But things are different for me this time than there were the last.”  “Oh, what business is that?” She looks at the wine in her hand, wondering if that was giving her the lightheaded feeling she was experiencing.  He replies, “You, Miss West, my business here is you.” It takes Ruby a moment to comprehend what Colin has just said. She furrows her brows and again looks at the wine in her hand. She quickly places the wine on the bar and looks Turner in the eyes. “I’m afraid I’m already taken Mr. Turner and very much in love.” “So?” he replies, his eyes twinkling.  Ruby looks into his blue eyes one more time and she feels like she practically has to force herself away from his gaze. He is not fazed by her proclamation and they both know it. As she starts walking away he grabs her arm but she keeps her stare forward. He leans towards her and whispers in her ear, “Miss West, I believe that once you walk away from me you will not be able to get me out of your mind. But do not fear for I will be here.” He releases her arm and she walks away from him. When she finally turns back she only catches a glimpse of him strolling out the front door. She shivers again and has another whiskey before approaching Kate at the piano.  “Did you see me talking to Mr. Turner? There is something… strange about him. I hope Jake didn’t see that.” She glances back to the door. “Strange but kind of,” she lowers her voice, “Exciting.”Kate picked up the sheet music and began to fan herself with it. "His eyes are very... intense. I have been purposely not thinking about him since yesterday. And despite all his protestations, I see he had no interest in speaking to me again tonight. Probably a good thing, I have enough troubles. But he is compelling, to say the least.""Yes, compelling..." Ruby says, staring off to the direction of the front door. "And he said something... well, forget it," she snaps back to attention. "We BOTH have enough trouble." Ruby looks Kate up and down, "You look great tonight. I told you red was a good color for you," Ruby smiles.  Kate replies, "I was going to wear it tomorrow night, but I have a costume now. It seemed a shame not to wear it once or twice before.... Well, before it doesn't fit well.” Kate then asks, "What did he say that bothered you?"  Ruby says, "A costume? That's great! And you tried to say you weren't coming... I knew you were faking," Ruby laughs but then her face turns more serious and she speaks in a low voice. "He said when I walked away from him I would keep thinking about him and that he would be back. I asked him why he was here in town and he said because of me." She shrugs, "That's not all that strange. I don’t' know something IS strange though." Ruby continues quickly, "But don’t tell Jake, he has enough to worry about right now. I'm sure it's nothing.""I'll not say a word. As you say, it's not the first time a man has said such things to you. And being attached to someone doesn't make you blind to the charms of others," Kate said with a smile. "You just don't act on it.  And I really did think I wouldn't be going to the ball. It still seems not quite right to go, but I'm going to do it anyway." Kate is surprised to see Ginnie. She picks up an apron from the kitchen along with a cookie that Maria hands her and begins to bus the tables.   Kate moved over to Ginnie and smiled. "I'm glad to see you," she said, giving her a little hug. "It's going to be busy all night, make sure you stop and have Maria give you something more substantial to eat later. And another cookie."Ginnie smiles then catches herself and puts back on her professional face. "The tips should be good and plentiful. I'll make sure I get something for supper later if we have a lull."  "Good, I don't want to see you wasting away to nothing. Hmm, I think I need a cookie too," Kate laughed and kissed Ginnie's forehead, then squeezed her shoulder lightly before she stepped away to get her own cookie. Just that moment of a smile from Ginnie made her night. There might some hope after all.Nanuet has no trouble keeping busy at the Lucky Lady that night. The crowd is larger than usual but for the most part was well behaved. At one point he notices Ruby talking with a stranger at the bar and having a drink with him. That was not unusual but then when Ruby started to step away he grabbed her arm and started to move in and whisper something to her. Nanuet started in that direction but relaxed when he saw the stranger release her and make his way out of the saloon. He decided to check on Ruby just to make sure things were OK.  Nanuet waited till Ruby was unoccupied and made his way over. "I saw that man grab your arm. Is everything OK?""Uh, sure," Ruby replies quickly. "I think just a misunderstanding is all. But maybe if he comes back keep an eye on him?" It sounded more like a thought she was considering than a question. Ruby stares back out to the door again then smiles. "Where is Minerva tonight?" She saw Kate walk over to Ginnie and Ruby decided to keep an eye on her. She was acting weird lately and Ruby wasn't sure if she would try to lift something from some new customers, and she certainly didn't want any more trouble than she already had.He says, "Yeah, I will keep an eye out for him" a bit puzzled by Ruby's lack of conviction in her response. "Not sure where Minerva is right now. Haven't seen her recently, been busy here and I am sure she is busy with the festival arrangements."  "Good idea. He's hard to miss." She turns her gaze back to Nanuet and smiles. "Oh, I'm sure she's busy with this festival. Then again, she decided to have it and made everyone else do the work." She raises an eyebrow. "I hope she comes out the other end unscathed. If there are problems with it she will get blamed for them.""I guess that is how it is when you accept responsibility for any large undertaking. I do understand that she delegated much of the work, hopefully she made wise choices. I think everyone will do what they feel is best and hopefully everyone will enjoy the festival and the Gods will be grateful."   Ruby just laughs. "I'm not so sure about the wise choices part. We'll find out I guess, won't we?" A devilish smile creeps to her face.After Ruby finishes speaking with Nanuet she finds her way to Ginnie. Ruffling her hair Ruby says with a smile, "So, you never showed up for those lessons. You disappointed me, I was looking forward to it."   Ginnie tells Ruby "I have been occupied by translating the books and getting ready to be back on my own. I have had a lesson from Mr. Gonzales. Maybe after the festival when things calm down as long as we aren't still being hunted that is."  Ruby shrugs and smiles, "I'm not the one who needs the lesson. You just let me know if you fee like it." Ruby gets back to singing. By the end of the night she is exhausted from singing, talking, drinking and entertaining. The Saloon stays open into the wee hours of the morning filled with some regulars but mostly strangers. Kate leaves around 2am and takes Ginnie with her, and Harry takes over the piano. Ruby hadn't had much chance to talk to Jake this evening, he kept a table busy all night but from the looks of things he was doing well. Ruby helps clear up for a bit but it isn't long before she climbs the stairs slowly to get some rest.  Once upstairs Ruby sits on the bed wearily and pulls off her shoes and stocking and rubs her feet. She looks over to Jake, "I got up so early I wasn't prepared to stay up so late. How did you do tonight?"   He says, "I did fine, we made some money and sold plenty of drinks." Jake just throws his stuff on the floor and climbs into bed just as wearily. He throws an arm around her and falls asleep quickly."Nanuet is the last one cleaning up since his need for downtime was less than the others. He was glad to see the place so busy. It had been a while since Ginnie had been needed to help and everyone seemed to be excited about the festival. He decided to stay in the Lucky Lady tonight figuring outside was crowded enough and there were too many strangers around for him to feel comfortable in the grove. He made his way to his room, unrolled his mat and entered the trancelike state that would remove the weariness of the day and renew his soul for the day ahead.DM’s Note:  At this point in the game the module had run for six-months, with less than two weeks remaining.  You’ll find the remaining two character days to be rather intense and exciting.  It will probably run around two-dozen or so chapters, and there was a considerable amount of posting during this time.</blockquote>

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