Morningstar Manor

It was happening again. One second Bridget was sitting on the floor, building a cardboard brick fortress with the kids, and then the next it was like all the air pushed out of her and that surprisingly familiar feeling of someone else inside her head was back. The fortress didn't last long after that and the kids, now frightened for reasons they couldn't really figure out, were soon forgotten as Bridget found herself abandoning them in favor of the balcony attached to the master bedroom. Her brain said she wanted to feel the wind on her face.

( To be continued in comments. )

"Can you get me a soda?" Layla asked from the living room when she saw Neil head into the kitchen.

She wasn't really thirsty, but the pointe shoes Neil had received as a Secret Santa gift were sitting on the bottom shelf, next to the soda bottle. Layla had been having a lot of fun taking them and hiding them all over the apartment for Neil to find. She was way too amused by their existence and the fact that someone had given them to him.

In the morning, Lara sat at a table right next to the Mocha line, wearing the bracelet she'd received the day before as she scrolled through some songs on her iPod. She dug the gift a lot and was hoping maybe her santa would see her sitting out there wearing it so she could thank her or him personally. But the Manor had a lot of tenants, so she knew it was a long shot.

At about the same time, Bridget was also at a table. She had a few last-minute things to take care of at work before her vacation kicked in, but since there was no rush, she decided to stop for some coffee and a pastry. Her secret santa gift remained at home, set out on the bar that lead into the kitchen. For the time being the candles remained unlit. That was just life with toddlers.

Toddlers weren't a problem in the Kwon-Smith apartment, so Layla had put her gift around the tub in the bathroom, just waiting for a bath when it would be put to good use. She came down to the Mocha in the afternoon, since she was done for the semester and didn't have anything better to do than stand in line, waiting for some holiday-flavored coffee.

Lis showed up in the late afternoon, wearing the grin that had been on her face since she'd gotten her fabulous gift the day before. It was so incredibly perfect; her secret santa must have been a secret angel. And even though it wasn't anywhere near summer, she wore the warmest of those cleavage-framing tops with pride as she sipped her coffee on the cafe's couch. This was going to be a good Christmas.

Ever since she and Neil had made plans to move into a new apartment, Layla had been looking forward to hosting some family events there. The first one that came up was Thanksgiving, so this year, instead of going up to the Smith family home in New York, everyone came to Morningstar Manor. Because Neil and Layla only lived a few floors above the Pandigaeshik apartment, there really was no excuse for Phin not to go. Even though no one aside from Bridget or the kids particularly wanted him there, having him stay at home just wasn't an option.

Considering this was the first time Phin had seen Bridget's parents and younger brother since his big secret was revealed, the day didn't progress very smoothly. There were some pretty awkward moments before and during dinner. Luckily the twins functioned as a buffer. Bridget noticed that Phin generally had one within arm's length most of the time. She couldn't exactly blame him. For that.

At least the food was good. After the majority of it was eaten, it was time to clear the table. Neil and Layla had plenty of volunteers to help bring plates into the kitchen; Bridget was one of them.

Lara's hands and arms looked like they'd been stuck in a blender. She and Stone had tried to give Slate a bath the night before, and though the kitten was tiny, he sure made up for it with brute force. Lara had tried to cover up all the claw marks with band-aids, but there was only so much she could do and still be able to bend her fingers. She sat at a table near the register, delicately holding a danish as she tried not to pull apart any closed cuts on her knuckles.

--

Phin was upstairs with the kids and Bridget came down to get them both coffee. She'd had their upcoming couples therapy appointment on her her mind, but once she got into the Mocha line and saw the menu board she found herself wondering what the deal was with this Karma Chai stuff. She had been seeing it pop up on menus all around town lately.

--

Layla was in charge of an upcoming Hitchcock mini-film fest at the Square's old movie house/video rental store, the Ivy. Everything was moving along smoothly with the planning except for the poster. She had Photoshop open on her laptop and was trying to assemble something herself, but she was no design expert. It looked like crap. As she sipped her coffee, she wondered if she could rope some Fine Arts undergrads into doing it.

--

Lis sat on one of the Mocha's couches, restringing her bass. Why was she restringing her bass in the Mocha? Well, after picking up the strings after practice, she was too lazy to go upstairs and do it. Also, it was a good way to get attention and she loved that.

Anastasia decided to venture out for something other than work for the first time since Saturday. She went to a quiet corner table in the Mocha and started to grade her papers. She had to get out at some point, right?

Niles was standing in line, a battered book under his arm. He loved the fall and was thinking about going out to read in the garden while it was sunny.

Declan was sprawled out on one of the couches reading the Wall Street Journal and feeling uncomfortable. Where was Sterrin? He hadn't seen her all day and no news was always bad news with her.

"These pre-packaged costumes get worse every year, I swear," Layla shook her head as she pulled down a plastic bag that seemed to contain a few scraps of fabric and piece of posterboard, and some stray balloons. The label on the bag read 'Party In My Pants'. She held it up for Neil to see. "Can you believe they're charging twenty bucks for this?"

Costume shopping had not been going too well so far and Layla and Neil only had two weeks left to find something good enough for the Manor's famous Halloween Ball. Getting derailed by cheaply made, poorly executed, and all-around stupid costumes like this probably wasn't helping.

Neil and Layla were moving their things into the Manor today, and Neil supposed things were going pretty smoothly. He was just finishing carrying in a box full of...he thought they it was Layla's shoes but he could've been wrong, when one of the other elevator bays opened and he heard thundering footsteps and loud cheers that could only belong to Jeth and Penny, heading his way. He'd stopped in front of the doorway and turned to look up the hall in time to try and brace himself before a toddler barreled into each of his legs, each one latching on and babbling a mile a minute. "Whoa..." He said as he tried to keep his balance without spilling the box. He wound up on his ass with the box lading next to him and spilling a couple of shoes out, whoops. He had no choice but to laugh though because once he was on a more even playing field, the kids crawled right up his torso in an effort to be the first to give him a hug. So before he even saw Bridget behind them, he'd already morphed into the tickle monster and was rolling around the hallway floor like the tallest toddler in the world as he tickled his niece and nephew. He was a very mature thing for random neighbors to wind up seeing, should they enter the hallway.

( Read more... )

After Neil dropped Bridget off from the Pandas' apartment and at the same time picked Layla up from watching the twins, the two drove to Neil's apartment. It was time to pack up his place, or as Neil referred to it 'get rid of everything Layla doesn't want him to bring to the Manor'. He was not getting rid of his armchair. No sir. That thing had been with him since high school. It was a trooper and it was broken in and he loved it. Everyone was afraid to sit in it, which meant he was always guaranteed a seat!

"I'm just saying that I think it's premature to just move him back in while he recovers. She's trapping herself. What's she going to do if she changes her mind later?" He was saying as he unlocked the door. After he let them into the apartment and shut the door behind them, he stretched as he set his keys and wallet in the bowl by the door and then pulled his phone out. "Want to call for pizza while I call Brad?" He'd talked to Brad earlier about trying to talk some sense into her about Phin. Clearly she wasn't thinking straight after Phin's accident if she was so willing to just take him back after what he'd done to her.

Neil and Layla were already in the Manor when they'd gotten the call to come in for an interview about an open apartment in the Manor. That was convenient, or Neil at least thought it was anyway. Thankfully, Neil's mom was in town currently anyway and had been up at the hospital with Bridget and Phin while Neil and Layla were babysitting. So they called her up to come home a little early so they could go to the interview.

"Ready?" He asked Layla as he looked over at her after they reached the TA office's door. At least they'd had enough time to run to Neil's current place and get some nicer clothes so Neil no longer had a spaghetti-o's stain on his shirt from where Jeth had launched a spoon of them at him earlier in the day.

Isabella sat alone at a corner table of the Mocha, wearing a black dress and a pair of whimsical leopard print shoes that did not match her mood. It had been a fuck all of a day. One of her girls had been nearly assaulted last night by one of her clients. Luckily, security had intervened before anyone got hurt, but the girl was still shaken and understandably so. She'd quit today and left Isabella short for the next two weeks. That in itself was stressful, but Isabella felt worse about the girl and what had happened. She'd left at lunch today and didn't plan on going back for the rest of the day. She had more refunds to issue and clients to soothe than she'd manage to take care of this morning, but she just couldn't do it right now.