Posted November 19, 2020 | Jonah Danforth | With: Leah Steelgrave
“Good evening Jonah, I thought perhaps you had abandoned me.”
"I'd never do such a thing!" Jonah kissed her hand. He actually hadn't thought about asking how she was going to get here, Leah was so self-sufficient, but he was glad she had made it.
“The Marshal was kind enough to rescue me from the doldrums of reviewing the presentation for the Town Council meeting, and you’ll be pleased to know, I have been invited to speak at The Kalispell Ladies' Society tea at the hotel. That could well give us traction with our detractors.”
"It's my good fortune, then, that he had the foresight to bring you here." He smiled, but then shook his head. "Detractors, still? "I'd have hoped that they would have given up by now. I'm sure they haven't counted on your tenacity."
Slowly, he strolled with her toward the dance floor, although he intended to wait until the Gallop was done before stepping out. "The Ladies Society...smart. They may not have a direct say, or a vote, but they have husbands who want to keep them happy."
Having the support of the women in town was certainly a positive, and was something he was sure that Leah could accomplish.
I took an oath for this job. The oath says bring him in. That's what I'll do.
Posted November 19, 2020 | Charlie Wentworth | With: Clara
She held out her hand to him, "Lead me out there then. I trust you know how to do this dance."
Charlie nodded. She was right about it not being the time. He wondered if there would be such a time. Maybe it was the way she was dressed and looking older than she was that made him go off in this way. When things were back to normal and she was wearing her pigtails again, he would probably forget all about this.
Her answer to his question of trust was about as close as he was going to get for now and he half-smiled, "I'm sorry, Clara. We're here to dance and not to talk about things that we may never talk about."
Taking her hand, he gently lead her to their place on the dance floor with the other couples.
Posted November 19, 2020
"What do you do?" He tried to get the focus of himself.
Mike smiled, "I'm the foreman at Lost Lake Ranch. There are only a few of the hands here tonight so I'm sort of making sure that they don't get in too much trouble. Considering that they have a wager going they won't be starting any fights but if they're pulled into that's already going then that's another matter."
He noted Jay's reaction to somebody or something he had seen. The man seemed to tense up all of a sudden, so Mike turned to look in the direction Jay was looking and all he could see was people gathering for a dance. One person, he did notice was that peculiar girl, Arabella, who thankfully hadn't come near him at all. It looked like her feelings of gratitude had subsided after all.
Turning back, he looked at Addy, "Later on, I was wondering if you would do me the honour of having a dance with you. If there are no objections."
Posted November 19, 2020 | Emeline Pike | With: Bridget, Barnabas
"It's all right, dear." Emeline smiled and patted the girl's hand. At least she tried, and that was more than could be said for a lot of people.
Back at the table the joined back with Barnabas, who was ever the gentleman, not that Emeline would ever have thought differently.
"Would you like to help me place out more cookies?" she asked the girl, "I think this is the last of them. Do you cook? You should join Clara and I sometime, and we can make cookies, pies, whatever you want to try!"
Even if Bridget couldn't handle baking on her own, she could certainly help, and if it boosted her confidence, all the better.
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
Posted November 19, 2020 | Adelaide Chappel | With: Jay, Mike
"Later on, I was wondering if you would do me the honour of having a dance with you. If there are no objections."
"I surely would be inclined to that." Grinning, Addy nodded, "no objections at all!" It didn't occur to her that Jay might object, as it wasn't his to object, and there was nothing to object. Mike was a friend, as were many of the cowboys around town, and she thought nothing of it.
"No more bears out there?" She chuckled. That bear hunt had been something, and she'd gotten her vengeance on it for killing one of her horses. "Jay here does ferrier an' ironwork, if ya ever need somethin' done out there." May as well help him get work!
Want... dolls!
Posted November 19, 2020 | Bridget Monahan | With: Pronto Pike, Emeline
It's all right, dear." Emeline smiled and patted the girl's hand. At least she tried, and that was more than could be said for a lot of people.
Bridget caught the patting hand and held it firm, giving it a squeeze to intimate her gratitude toward the warm woman. She would have made a perfect model for the Hibernian goddess of hearth and home after whom, had she known it, Bridget herself was indirectly named.
Back at the table the joined back with Barnabas, who was ever the gentleman, not that Emeline would ever have thought differently.
Pronto was not quite sure about the point the girl was making, other than the speed of the dance, which he agreed was fast. “It is that Miss, perhaps a bit too fast for everyone, but then, there are those as we can all see, that enjoy the fast dance.”
Bridget turned and looked back at the dancers, what he said was true.
Ms. Em’s voice snapped her out of it.
"Would you like to help me place out more cookies?" she asked the girl, "I think this is the last of them. Do you cook? “
Bridget shook her head and leaned over to quite cheerfully inform Emeline “I’m useless”.
Mr Fa did everything back at their unorthodox little domestic set-up in the old Funeral Parlor: cooking, sewing, mending, cleaning: not out of any idea that he was in anyway inferior because of his oriental race, in fact it was the exact opposite: he was just the only capable one out of the three of them.
Nothing daunted, the nice Mrs Blakesley added a rejoinder:
“You should join Clara and I sometime, and we can make cookies, pies, whatever you want to try!"
Bridget nodded her head as vigorously as she had just been shaking it, she would love to try baking and cooking again. Mr Fa had banned Lorenzo and Bridget from the kitchen after their incendiary attempt to make ‘bear sign’ one day while he was out of the house.
Then she pointed at Pronto, as if to say ‘Can he join in too, please?’ She liked his beardy face and kindly manner toward her.
Posted November 19, 2020 | Clara Redmond-Lutz | With: Charlie Wentworth
:: on the dance floor ::
Charlie actually agreed with her (for once) and took her hand to lead her out onto the dance floor, just in the nick of time too as the music had started but they were only to the opening part where couples stood next to each other facing other couples about ten feet apart. Everyone had turned to bow politely to their partner and were in the act of then bowing graciously toward the couple opposite them. Charlie and Clara scrambled to their places, skipped the bowing to each other so as to catch up then bowed to their opposite number - well if it wasn't Arabella and Brendan. Clara put on her best poker face and remained perfectly solemn and composed.
And then it was turn again and take hold of one's partner, Clara and Charlie assumed their proper position, the musical pace picked up and off they went in a big circle their feet moving rapidly as they spun about. It was lively but anyone with a modicum of coordination could do it.
A few sweeping circles and it got a bit trickier. Each couple threaded between the other and made it a point to come close to each other but stop short and fall back. Clara quickly checked to make certain Arabella and Brendan were on the same page with them as they approached.
Posted November 20, 2020 | Brendan Connolly | With: Arabella, Charlie and Clara
Brendan frowned at Arabella's explanation about the Leap Year being a reason that she could lead. He had never heard that before, but maybe it was a newer fad from back East.
"Oh usually, sure. But this is a Leap Year, so sometimes ladies can lead… like they can also ask gentlemen to dance with ‘em, or even propose and ask a gentleman to marry ‘em!” she grinned, then added. “Oh, don’t look so worried, Cowboy, you’re safe from me. Even a big handsome feller like you can’t break my heart, it’s already broke.”
Brendan hid a smile at Arabella's lovesick sigh. He decided not to ask who had broken her heart - at such a young age - since listening to that answer would take too long. He put on a solemn face and bowed to her, then pulled her close again - but not too close - as the music began.
He saw a flash of blue and realized that Clara and her partner were their opposites. Well, he would ignore her for now, he decided. He grinned down at Arabella, who was not a bad dancer. She had a lot of pep in her step and threw herself whole-heartedly into the dance, dragging him along with her. It was the most fun he'd had in a while, galloping along with Arabella and making square-like shapes with the other couples.
Suddenly, he noticed that he and Arabella were heading straight for Clara and her partner. That was what they were supposed to be doing, but he was worried that Arabella would plow straight into her friend, so he dug his feet in a little to slow them down.
"You still wanna use your elbows on Clara?" he asked Arabella teasingly, hoping the answer would be no.
As the two couples neared, he decided not to ignore Clara anymore - he had made a point to look in the opposite direction whenever they had happened to be looking at each other - and so he flashed her a smirk and raised his voice so he could be heard over the music. "Havin' fun?"
Storyteller / Shared NPC
Posted November 20, 2020 | Wyatt Redmond | With: Weedy
~*~ in the hayloft ~*~
"She said something, but didn't talk about it a lot," Weedy shrugged.
"Tarnation! I'd have been braggin' about it to everybody I saw," Wyatt admitted.
"She sure don't take any guff off anyone!" added Weedy.
"Like me, when I get older," Wyatt decided, full of boyish optimism.
"I like Jay, too, he's real nice, and smart, he got to be on a ship to sail here."
"Really, wow! He never said anything about that when he stayed with us. I could have asked him so many questions," Wyatt said.
"Say 'yes' to what?" he didn't quite get what Weedy meant in his next statement.
"To me coming home with you." Weedy glanced at Wyatt. "We don't have school tomorrow, so it would be good...or..." he had a sudden thought, "We can stay the night in Addy's barn and she can take us to your house tomorrow?"
"Oh right!," now Wyatt got it then heard the rest of it before smiling, "Hey, that might be fun. Clara would never let me sleep in the barn at home. But yeah, if Pa is in a good mood, he might say I can stay in town for tonight. You ask Addy and I can ask Pa."
What with the cookies and all, so far this dance nonsense was turning out to be quite fun!
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Posted November 20, 2020 | Arabella Mudd | With: Brendan
After the initial bow and curtsy (combined with an excited wave in Clara's direction) Arabella had expected the dance to be hard work. Fun, but hard work. However, although she had to direct Brendan a good deal of the time – during some of the more complicated passages she could be heard murmuring instructions like “In, in, in, and out, out, out, and round and round and JIG!” – he had such an intuitive feeling for the directions she was pulling in him, an observer would have found it hard to tell that he wasn’t leading.
When they came in for the first boomps-a-daisy, he even rebelled from her tutelage and pulled them up short.
“Hey!” she objected.
"You still wanna use your elbows on Clara?" he asked Arabella teasingly, hoping the answer would be no.
“I wanted to bump our bustles!” she corrected.
She didn’t actually have a bustle herself, but Clara’s was more than ample. She thought it would be fun to bump backsides when they met in the middle, although it was unlikely in the extreme that the Redmond girl would appreciate such a deviation from the accepted steps. Arabella was a full 100 years ahead of her time.
As the two couples neared, he decided not to ignore Clara anymore - he had made a point to look in the opposite direction whenever they had happened to be looking at each other - and so he flashed her a smirk that said "Havin' fun? I am."
“Whoa Cowboy!” frowned Arabella in mock indignation “You’re meant to be smiling at me not … in again, in, in, in, out, out, out … not a-grinnin at the opposition!! Two more o’ these, then the jig!”
She had to combine reminding him that he was her partner for the next four minutes, with telling him what came next.
But the part where they did a little jig facing each other was so funny, she couldn’t help laughing out loud. There was something so naturally graceful and unrestrained about Brendan, he was like the wild and free horses and cattle he worked with every day and the dance floor was like a wide open prairie they trailed. He looked like he was enjoying himself, and that made her enjoy herself too, she could have stood jigging back and forth with him like this forever and a day.