Morningstar Manor

It was a sunny Saturday morning in the City, and around eleven, you found several of the Manor population in the garden, with beverages from the Mocha, enjoying one of the last sunny mornings this summer might afford them. Among them were:

• Maude Temminck, who was sitting on a bench with a small latte, watching her two-year-old granddaughter Morgan carefully stack pebbles nearby. Occasionally, she made a note in a little Moleskine notebook she took from her purse every time a thought struck her.
• Chandika Malhotra, who was talking on the phone to a friend in an excited mix of Hindi and English while walking up and down with a large mocha with all the extras, cream and sprinkles. It was her day off, Rahul was with his dad, Bethan was working, and Chandika felt like being all young and irresponsible again for one day, so she'd called Anjali, and they were planning and afternoon and evening of spending money and causing very mild outrage. Hanu had lost himself somewhere in the undergrowth, but would of course come when whistled for, so she wasn't worried.
• Cindy Papadopoulos was sitting and drinking straight coffee in her wheelchair by the entrance to the conservatory because WLAN signal strength tended to be especially good around there; she was going through her email on her laptop and throwing a ball for Axminster every time he came bouncing up with it, which however hadn't happened for a few minutes now. Cindy had seen Hanu and his missus earlier, so guessed that the dogs were probably chasing mucklas or wrackspurts in the undergrowth together.
• Sibyl Grey was in the maze, with a chai latte, and carefully explored the rather awe-inspiring passages. This wasn't her first time in here, but it was different each time, somehow. She'd just met two stray greyhounds, one smaller and brindled, one larger and a lovely silvery grey, who were very friendly, so she'd put her cup on a bench and was bending down to pat them both as the looked up at her and lashed their whip-like tails.

In the gallery, Charlie shuffled his papers into four separate piles - Important/Urgent, Important/can wait, unimportant/Urgent and unimportant/can wait.

His unimportant/can wait pile was three times the height of the others and he had a feeling that close to the bottom of it were things that were beginning to edge their way into Important/Urgent.

He sighed and looked at the four piles and reached for the vital stuff again.

###

Alan carried a coffee across to the base of the angel statue and looked up at it with a scowl. He still hadn't shown Deacon the bronze he had made. He was hoping they might forget all about it.

Meantime he had coffee and it was sunny - he could smile about that.

###

Guy sat on the hood of his cab and turned his face up to the sun. He had a fare booked for noon and a good twenty minutes to wait and a soda clinking with ice from the Auberge and paperback novel that someone had left in his cab. It was - different - very different, and Guy was going to look out for the next in the series.

Sunday afternoon had Celeste leaving work early, trusting in her staff to close up by themselves. She deserved to take some time to herself, after all. And that time, today, was going to be spent in the gardens of the manor, coffee and cigarette in hand, a magazine open in her lap. Celeste wasn't paying much attention to the magazine mind you, instead looking up at the sun, eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Her high factor sunscreen would ensure she didn't burn or tan, but she still liked to feel the warmth from time to time.

There were several people around Vine Square going about their business this fine Saturday morning. Nobody would have thought there had been a blizzard only a week ago!

	Andras was wheeling his bike over the Square, talking into his phone as he went. "No, she won't want any fucking promotional items, you fucking moron," he growled. "She's a fucking pro and wants to use stuff she fucking knows. Where the fuck did you get my fucking phone number anyway, you fucking dick, and on a fucking Saturday morning!" He glared at his phone as he disconnected the annoying call. He'd need some coffee now!
	Charlotte was leaving the Auberge just at that moment, having paid up, carrying three dainty shopping bags that screamed of luxury, and looking airily around her. Had the air just turned a shade bluer?
	Cindy was visiting her building site, where the plasterers were putting in an extra shift so everybody could get on with things on Monday. Of course, they were being paid for it, but she still thought it great that they'd give up their Saturday instead of keeping everybody back another day. So she was bringing them several large bags full of Chinese food from those little folding boxes, fresh from a restaurant three blocks down, as a surprise lunch.
	Maude was hesitating in front of the gallery windows. She had had a call from a friend in California, who knew a friend who had a question. Pity Andy wasn't working here any more. So, Maude was pretending to look at the things in the windows while trying to determine who was there.
	Chandika was rather exhausted and made a beeline for the Auberge as well. She'd done lots and lots of Easter shopping. With a Catholic flat-mate, there was an excuse to get a good breakfast for when Bethan came from church, nice dinner, and lots of seasonal candy. You were never too old for hot chocolate with tiny yellow peeps in! But you had to find all the stuff somewhere.
	Ricky was sitting on the base of the bronze angel, smoking a roll-up. It was not discernible as anything but an ordinary roll up, but you could never tell what might be in one of Ricky's roll-ups. He wasn't quite completely happy. Something had gone wrong lately, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
	Sibyl had been browsing the disreputable antiques shop that was still sprawling through several old garages, workshops and commercial storage space in an alley off Vine Square. She was proudly carrying three late 19th century dining chair with their upholstery in an unspeakably vile state. But re-upholstering a chair was one of Sibyl's most familiar tasks; she'd find some nice fabric, pamper the wood a little, and then make them all pretty again. The substance of the chairs was completely sound, so she proudly lugged the apparent ruins across the Square.
	Urquhart was lounging on what was, temporarily, his own doorstep, sipped a coffee he'd fetched from the Auberge, and watched people. By now, he knew where he was going with this contract. Some rumours about the Manors were rather weird, though. Some were quite silly. A few were laugh-out-loud preposterous. One or two were actually worrisome.

[[OOC: Open all weekend and Monday! Say in your tag whom you want!]]

Maude was forever organising one thing or another; and this December, it was another big do on Vine Square. It had been Andy Andrassi's idea, but she had to go to New York for work reasons, so Maude had been pulling a few strings so the event could go forward.

But of course, it was Andy's gig, and she had some of the master lists, and Maude liked to consult with her when she had a moment during work. Apparently, Andy had quite the cat herding assignment there. Organising wintry fun back in the City was probably pure relaxation, in comparison.

So this morning, Maude called about the tree decorations.

The room was full of women, and Manny sat in a corner and wondered at how his life had exploded and come down in another pattern, in the last two to three years.

His mother was going over some lists on the phone while Corazon was sitting at the kitchen table, lovingly polishing the silver for Thursday. Morgan was putting potatoes from one basket into another and back again, and Sasha ---

Where was Sasha?

Andy had her laptop with her again because, while she didn't doubt that Maude's was perfectly adequate, she had a load of useful stuff saved on it that it would be a pain to have to find again.

At the appointed time she tapped on the apartment door and waited to be let in.

Morgan's first birthday had been wonderful, an Maude was still basking in thoughts of that little face earnestly blowing at the candles as she was walking though the lobby, planning to see marquees and tents. Her young people were off doing things by themselves, and Maude knew when to step back, especially on such a special day.

And she seriously had to do things, too!

Her phone rang as she was by the door to the Mocha, and she answered at once, cheerfully. However, her face fell rapidly during the short conversation, and all she said was 'What? What?? Impossible! Unbelievable! Incredible!' until she hung up.

"I hate these damn bastards," she sighed, dismayed, pocketing her phone.

A whole year! Sasha couldn't quite believe that it had been so long since Morgan had been born. The time had flown past. She was a married woman with an adorable child - it almost didn't seem real.

Luckikly, there were the Temmincks, who were much more practical at times. Maude had prepared an enormous birthday breakfast -- why wait until teatime? -- and Manny had splurged on a few colourfully wrapped boxes for mother and daughter, so when they woke up and came from their rooms, they'd get horribly spoiled.

( Birthday breakfast with happy Temmincks )

Maude was sitting in the Mocha, with a yellow legal pad and her phone, making lists.

There were two important events ahead that she needed to make lists and call people about; and one of them, she had better plan away from her apartment.-

Saturday at 11 am, and the Mocha was really busy. Among them were:

• Andras, who had visitors. One of them was his brother Lajos, in the City again for lawyerly business, even though he no longer kept a flat here; the other was a bloke he brought along to sleep on the sofa, some researcher from Cambridge whose cousin apparently was Ilona's best and most high-strung graphics designer, here to briefly consult something arcane that was kept at Rutherford. Andras had no hope of even understanding what it was, except that it was Historical; so the bloke was most likely a historian, right? Funnily, though, he was from the same area of Old Blighty originally where Charlie had that farm Andras visited once; so there was something to talk about, at least.
• Charlotte James, who had just been to an early morning visit to the new spa, and was discussing the relative merits of that versus the Michael's Brothers spa with Maude Temminck (whose character had much improved, Charlotte thought, since she was widowed, dried out, and had a grandkid) while her son Manny was sitting peacefully by, as if the chatter of women was no more meaningful than the waves of the ocean, and just as calming. On his lap, little Morgan Temminck was fast asleep. Theoretically, he was waiting for his wife, but Charlotte got the impression that he was content to just sit there.
• Cindy was sitting a few tables on (having said hello to Charlotte and her lot, but still uneasy about the Temmincks, so she hadn't joined them), talking to the Indian woman, Chandika, and her adorable kid whose dog Hanu was most likely the illegitimate son of Axminster, but nobody minded any more, not even the owner of the mother, because Hanu was such a great dog, and while not pedigree, still an indubitable lurcher. They were talking about spas as well -- in particular, the one where Chandika worked. Cindy was very cautiously trying to work out whether it would be all right for her to go there, and Chandika was doing her best to gently reassure her that of course it was. The dogs were both under the table in classic Axminster pose, fast asleep.
  
• Ricky had his earbuds in, surfing MySpace on his netbook; he was sharing his table with some tall stranger with lanky hair and a large nose who was also working away at his notebook -- a rather larger and posher one. They were both drinking chai latte, and any attentive observer might have realised that they were each drinking distractedly from both cups and totally not noticing. Unless one of them had the swine flu, it probably didn't matter.
• By the door to the conservatory, two ghosts were lurking, mostly unseen by the rest of the Mocha. "Just listen to them!" Marek was saying. "They're totally superficial! All they ever talk about are spas." Manny shrugged. "I've spent my life talking about business; spas are a nice break. And I don't like women for their conversation, you know. More for their curves." Marek laughed.

[[OOC: Brief visit of Lajos Toth and Edgar Cobham to justify the icon and make sure that all twelve are really there!]]

Charlie was at work in the room that would soon be the creche and Deacon was doing something to his car. This meant that Bella had the pleasure to looking after Nia and the possibility of calling on a friend.

Holding Nia by the hand and with a sizeable package under her arm, Bella banged on the door of the Temminck residence and wondered who, if anyone, was in.

Hello Persephone,

it was very nice meeting you the other day at the Students' Association. I found this email address for you on the list of Marvin's friends that we got off his computer before we donated it to his old school; I hope it is still working?

I have been thinking about what you've told me, and am wondering if you'd accept my hospitality until the University makes room for you on the floor for blind students, or gets more dorm space converted; the dean promised me they were working on it. But until then, you'd be welcome to stay in Marvin's old room.

I hear public transport to the University is quite easy to use, and there are other kids from the Manor that study there and go by car, and might take you.

Tell me what you think!

Yours, Maude Temminck

Saturday afternoon, and there was a tea for friends and contributors at the rooms of some worthwhile cause that Maude supported. Nothing new there.

But when she got out of the limo and was greeted by her hosts and introduced to some of the students, Maude Temminck was reminded of why she was here, and not, let's say, over at the Opera Society.

If things had been different, Marvin might be one of these kids now; or maybe, given how much time had passed, he might be one of the grad student tutors?

Maude chatted to people, friendly as ever, but realised she did miss her middle son quite often. When she got home she' give little Morgan a cuddle, and feel better.-

There was a baby in the Mocha, with her grandmother, and that drew people -- especially those of a female persuasion.

Charlotte usually preferred the company of her cats to lots of noisy kids, but the occasional adorable little lady didn't come amiss.

Cindy was a bit shy, but the baby was interested in Axminster (and he in the baby), so she had come over to prevent trouble, and just hung around when the dog sprawled in his eponymous way on the floor.

Chandika was chatting eagerly -- she was called in for an interview, for the job she'd applied for! And she really wanted that job, so totally down her alley. And the day care facility was the best idea ever, and a godsent at this point in time, really encouraging her to go out and get that job. And Maude was really in on it? Cooooooool!

Maude sat, holding Morgan on her lap, and was surprisingly happy.

The big doors opened as the sound of Charlie's knock died away and Mary smiled gravely. "Mrs Temminck, Charlie," se greeted. "Mr Vision will see you now. If you would care to go through to the study? You know the way, don't you, Charlie?"

She looked a little dishevelled, probably because, behind another door, they could hear the lusty roars of a child.

Michael was obviously 'upset'.

"Of course," Charlie said. "After you, Mrs Temminck."

The afternoon found Maude in the Mocha, drinking a cappuccino and ignoring her copy of New Yorker. Manny and Sasha had brought some interesting ideas to her, and now, she was pondering practicalities.-

Maude had been very busy, what with her grandchild and the concert and everything else.

But she didn't forget about her friends; and she considered Andy a friend by now.

The day before the concert, she made time to call her on the phone, all lists checked, and little Morgan asleep on the sofa with her.

Andy had had a call from Maude earlier in the week suggesting they meet but Sunday morning was the first mutually agreeable time.

She had got the usual coffees and some cookies [she'd pay for them later on the treadmill] and after she had waited a while she glanced at her watch.

Maude was late. that was unusual.

Maude was having a extra large mocha with everything, and muffins.

She was happy -- finally, yesterday morning, her little granddaughter had been born!

Worries were gone, and in a few hours, she was going to see little Nastasia in the maternity hospital again.

Somehow, in the last 28 hours or so, the world had sprouted sparkles.-