Morningstar Manor

Emma thought she was doing really well, not only did the constantly being watched feeling not freak her out, but she was actually feeling remarkably comfortable with it. Unlike Ang, who'd been down earlier while Alec was out with Faith and Gavin, she hadn't wanted to be alone was her reasoning for visiting, but then she'd confessed to the pregnancy and Emma understood more. After their visit, Ang had headed home for dinner, and Emma had walked Lily then left her back in the apartment to come down to the Mocha and web browse on her netbook in company. She wasn't looking for much, just ideas, and the odd fact about various painting movements and fashion trends, and if she could find it, something nice for Halloween.... She'd just given up on one site, nothing but nothing would have her going anywhere dressed as a pumpkin when something made her look over her shoulder...

Emma had been late for work that morning and had left forgetting the most important thing.

Vastly annoyed, Palug let himself out of the apartment - staring hard at the door eventually made it open out of nervousness - and headed down for where there might be people.

He was hungry and unloved and didn't care who knew it. So he sat in the middle of the Lobby in the most inconvenient spot he could find and said "MMMMMWWAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWRRRRRR" very loudly hoping someone would get irritated enough to feed him.

Round two in the basements for Jazz. This time though she'd brought food with her and when she needed a break she perched on an overstuffed ottoman (a survivor of the first purge) and propped her feet up on a box of clothes as she bit into an apple.

~.~

While Ang gave Gavin his nightly bath, Alec took Faith for a long walk around the block that ended with a stop in the Mocha for a coffee for him and an oatmeal cookie for her. While the dog gleefully enjoyed her snack under the table, Alec sipped his coffee and quietly perused the classifieds in the paper someone had left behind. Ang said they'd be okay, but it still made him feel nervous, neither of them working, like he was tempting fate somehow.

~.~

Joe was beginning to suspect the librarian liked him. You know, as much as the dead could like anything. More often when he stopped in to do a bit of reading, as he was now, he would see her, moving slow and silent just out of the corner of his eye. Perhaps because he too was careful and quiet she felt a sort of ghostly kinship?

~.~

Setting his grocery bags down at his feet, fish tonight - he'd been craving grilled fish for ages it felt like, Adam popped open his mailbox and started the ritual sorting dance. Junk in the trash, keepers under his arm, bills...hover over the trash then reluctantly stuff them under his arm with the rest of the keepers.


((OOC: I'd love to play if someone wants to, but if not, consider it a 'Yes! My pups are still about!' type post.))

Not everyone was that careful about how they disposed of their garbage - which was how it happened that Palug was able to drag a turkey carcass into the lobby and hide under a chair with it. The vigorous purring and crunching sounds were audible several paces away.

~

Nick had dropped several boxes of screws down the stairwell and was cursing and collected the scatter. "Mind your feet," he called as he heard footsteps.

~

Fin was taking a call from a customer so had paused in the conservatory phone to ear, enjoying the curl of the steam from his coffee cup.

~

Leo had tea so all was right with the world. It was some of that new tea too and he was feeling uncommonly alert. He flipped a page on the brief his was reading and scribbled a note in the margin.

~

Del was sleepy, but had got up because he was hungry. Hungry for a Mocha caramel muffin. Sometimes you just HAD to.

"UGH!!"

With a great grunt like a caveman Ricky threw himself on a couch in the Mocha. His mom's home-raised turkey were the best, ever, getting better every year, and Auntie Gert's home-brewed cider -- heaven!

There had been the right sort of spice in the cookies, too, and that was traditional, too. Good weed was something to be enormously thankful for, too, in the extended Sands family.

Everybodyy had come home this year, and whoever had somebody, brought them. So Ricky had got Marlene -- again! -- to take home as all the rooms were full with siblings and cousins and adopted family members that had all brought their spouses and kids and newest lovers.

Marlene went to the counter to fetch some Karma Chai so as to clear their systems from all the excesses, and then they settled down to do some serious gossiping about all the people they's known for ages and seen today -- oh my gosh, wasn't Galadriel's new Peruvian girlfriend the cutest thing ever? And how like Tebby to have brought the cause of his epic lovesickness along!

Oh, this had been such a party!

First thing in the morning, Charlie paused on his way to open the gallery and looked at the sky. There was something in the air - just a little chill - that warned him to make the most of the good weather. Then he walked on, resolving to get the winter woollies out of storage that very weekend.

#

Around eleven Andy crossed the Square with her shopping list, Erik's suit, neatly bagged, over her arm and she too paused. But she was smiling as she watched a pigeon land on the head of the bronze angel. "Go on," she said. "Poop. You know you want to."

#

At noon Nick was at the other end of the Square, just coming out of a tatty little plumbing supplies shop that was nevertheless the only place within walking distance that stock a particular type of European metric dimension washer. Trendy French style bathrooms might look chic but they were a bugger to repair.

#

Lunchtime at the Auberge was part of the routine for Leo on working days and he sat and sipped his coffee while he waited for Paula to bring his salad. He was at a table outside, feeling he might as well make the most of what remained of the summer.

#

"May I?" Fin had asked as the tweedy Englishman had left the table and had got both somewhere to sit and that days local paper. He read it with as much relish as he ate his red onion quiche.

#

Vincenzo waited near the dance studio trying not to feel self concious about the bunch of pink rosebuds he was carrying. He glanced at his watch, then along the road hoping to see Emily but no, he was still a bit early.

#

Amarie romped through the Square on her way home from work. She had new shoes and had picked up pizza for dinner and all was right with the world, yeah, man. She paused at the lights, thumb busy as she sent a text to a friend, but took a moment to wonder at the scraps of mildewed ribbon tied to the upright by the crossing.

#

Del waited near the entrance of the Flamingo Lounge. He was carefully dressed, had a pale yellow rosebud in his lapel and was carrying a London Times. Sometimes customers liked a little intrigue and there was no way he'd say they couldn't have it.

They were late.

#

Jimmy had a bone to pick but the guy had fled. Much good it would do him. He OWED Max and Jimmy would collect. He'd give him one more chance and if he didn't pay up then Jimmy was happy to take payment in body parts.

Meanwhile he ambled along the sidewalk, killing time until he had to get to work.

#

Close to midnight and a horrible shriek disturbed the peace in the alley at the back of the gallery. Two bodies tumbled on the filthy paving, kicking and gouging, spitting curses, until one broke free and fled leaving quantities of ginger fur and a very pleased Palug. He rubbed a paw over a bloodied ear licked it and grinned. Just because he was off his usual patch didn't mean he wasn't still top cat.

Del was up early for once, bright eyed and bushy-tailed and amusing himself with the crossword in the local paper. He took a sip of coffee, gave Joy a blinding smile as she voluntarily refilled it and tried his best to ignore the amused look of the man two tables along.

Leo Beck scribbled on his feint ruled paper, half an eye on the time and half the other one on the man sitting near young Mr Avilar. For some reason he made him feel slightly edgy.

Palug hid in a dark corner behind a potted plant and growled softly - the sing-song snarl of a cat that's very very scared and trying not to show it. At no time did he take his eyes of the man and every time he moved the growl grew a little louder.

Fin Welch had started off in the Mocha but someone had brushed past him and he had started feeling the first gasping breathlessness of a full blown panic attack. Now he sat in the conservatory close to an open doorway and tried to get his breathing back under control.

Mr Vision sat with his coffee and his cigar, perfectly well aware of what was going on around him and thoroughly enjoying it.

That it was a special day wasn't lost on Palug. He wasn't sure why, of course, but knew he should do his bit so had gone out early and brought Emma back all the best bits of a really nice rat and left it where she would be sure to find it.

She would squeal with joy he was sure.

And just to show how considerate he could be, he left another for the big tom she'd stunk of a couple of mornings ago. Right outside his door, to show him how a he should provide for his she. These humans were so clueless.

So after all that activity he needed to rest and a sundrenched window sill in the conservatory where he could hear and see all the comings and goings seemed about the best place.

After a while he began to snore.

The weather was lovely today, so Bella had taken Nia to visit the penguins again that morning. But it was so nice when they got back to the Manor that Bella decided that a play in the garden would be fun.

They got some lunch from the Mocha and ate it sitting by the angel statue and were joined by a cat that made Bella smile reminiscently. They had had one just like it on the farm when she had been young. And even after lunch the cat stayed with them and was now chasing nia as she scampered in circles on the grass, giggling as the blades tickled her bare toes and as the cat pounced and patted.

Bella sipped her rather cool tea and smiled as she watched.

Andras was out in the garden, taking pictures of very small things with a very big lens. He had just found the cutest flirting june bugs and was snapping away, happily, completely oblivious to the rest of the world.-

Two old friends were having a chat by the plots. Charlie was half listening while he weeded around the strawberry plants he had put in and picked dead leaves and greenfly off everything else, and making the occasional reply. People often talk to their pets, but it's not often their pets initiate the conversation.

"Of course I allowed her to pet me," Palug said from his comfortable place across Charlie's shoulders.

"Good," Charlie said. "Poor lady must be feeling a bit out of sorts."

"And she said I was beautiful, which I am. Bonito gato she said."

Charlie wiped sweat from his forehead, leaving a muddy smear, and frowned. His French was good, but his Spanish wasn't so much broken as ruptured.

"Bonito?" he said. "Isn't that some kind of big mackerel? And gato ..." He snickered. "That means cake. She called you a great big fish cake you div!"

Palug sank his claws in. "Didn't," he said.

Charlie yelped but continued to laugh.

A few days under her belt and Jazz believed the worst was behind her. She'd avoided Jane on Tuesday, making sure to find something outside the apartment to do before the maid had even arrived, and working helped. Nobody knew there, and it was easier to pretend nothing was out of the ordinary.

She swallowed the whispers she heard from the pair of maids she'd had the misfortune of crossing paths with, and ignored the looks she got when she passed the security desk...As it turned out, there was only thing she couldn't handle with a combination of poise, grace and false deafness.

Joy.

All it took was one, not exactly whispered, drop of the word "whore" and Jazz was abandoning all hope of getting coffee from the Mocha and retreating to the Gardens.

There she settled on a bench, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. Still bristling, she studied an early blooming flower across the way and tried to decide if it would be worth it go walk to the closest Starbucks for coffee, or if she should just call it day and go home.

Vincenzo wouldn't really have minded except Joy seemed to find it hilarious.

"I wish I hadn't picked the damned thing up now," he said, carrying his coffee and a danish over to a table. The tabby cat on his shoulders was well hooked on and he knew he wouldn't be able to shake it off without losing skin - he had already tried - and even Frank hadn't been able to get it off.

"Suppose I'm stuck with you until Emma Brooks gets back," he said, "unless...." He put his drink and plate down and stooped towards the table but the cat didn't budge.

With a sigh Vincenzo sat down and picked up his coffee wondering why he was suddenly getting the urge to buy a tuna sandwich. And he didn't even like tuna!

You tight son of a bitch. Go on you can afford it! Palug said, but began to purr anyway because being annoying was almost as good as being fed.

There were feathers - quite a lot of feathers - and a pair of grey-pink feet and a surprised-looking pigeon's head and one exceedingly full Palug, sleeping off a surfeit of game on one of the benches in a patch of sunlight.

hearing fottsteps he opened an eye, turned upside down and said prrrt.

Emma wasn't bored, she had far too much to do, but with her college work up to date, and two Christmas card ideas sketched out already, she'd opted to get her laundry done today after college. So here she was, in the basement, wondering whether to go up to the Mocha and eat something, head for the games room and play something, or maybe go work off some energy in the gym. Then she had a great idea! The Christmas decorations were in the storage room down here, and she had all her keys on her... if she could just remember where down here it was.

She'd walked up and down the corridor a couple of times before she thought she'd found the right door, she couldn't recall it properly, but, she opened the door onto a corridor that looked, well, even less familiar. Still, there were other doors off of it, so she figured it was the right corridor at least, and started off down it. The bang of the door closing behind her made her jump, but, she was intent on finding the storage room, and paid it little thought once she turned away from the door itself. Several doors later and she was still trying to find the one her key fitted into, sure it was here somewhere, and hadn't noticed that the lights at the far end of the corridor had started to go out.

If one lurked under the tables for long enough one was bound to find either a friend, or an aquaintance, to blag some food from. Failing that a messy eater would do.

Also, dogs were good fun. Most of them had heard the news by now and just stared, quivering with desire to chase and catch and crunch him mingled with a very sensible desire to keep both eyes. But there were some who had not yet met him.

Also, sometimes, there were warm laps and soft stroking hands.

You never knew what you'd get in the Mocha.

"Fuck off, you," Joy hissed and Palug hissed too and fluffed up his fur at her but didn't give an inch.

On early Thursday evening Emily was making another trip upstairs to her apartment. First of all she needed more change clothes, and she and Mary-Anne Baker had ran out of flour. They had been baking a lot during the week and feeding the Security guards (as well as keeping themselves busy), but now they needed more flour and sugar if they were to continue.

When she was climbing up the stairs to the seventh floor she started feeling like she really should have asked Vincenzo to accompany her. Too late now. She just needed to be fast and not linger around in the corridors too much, she decided.

People came and went, times changed, but some things remained the same.

Like the fact that Goblin was always around, always checking things out. And always getting into trouble. Today he'd broken some mugs in the Mocha, chased some cats and stolen a few pretty sparklies from the dresser of one of the ladies up on 12.

All in all a good day.

Padget enjoyed the garden in Morningstar Manor's courtyard all the time, but mostly in the early day when the flowers were coated in dew and nobody was around. It was quiet, something she relished, and the wet grass on her bare feet felt good.

If someone had asked her if she were happy, the answer rising to her lips would have been automatically a "yes." But the truth was, her husband and children, the people who should have brought her the most joy, were the same who were slowly driving her toward thoughts of running away to join the circus.

Maybe she should give up the idea of being a stay-home mom and housewife; maybe she wasn't cut out for it.

She sighed.

Like all cats Palug was fascinated by water. It was the dancing sparkle of it. He felt that he should really be able to pin it down with one big paw the way he occasionally did with a butterfly or a moth. But water wouldn't pin. Water was WET!

But he could't resist looking, either from the edge of the pool or the rafters above. Today he had been up on a lounger, happily watching the glint and the comming and hasty going of the tenants. But when he had had the place to himself and had gone to the edge for drink - it didn't taste very nice but it was too far down to the Mocha to blag some cream - the damned pool had come and got him.

He still couldn't believe it as he started his fourth, or was it fifth, circuit of the pool. Because every time he got close to the edge a wave would wash him back to the middle.

So - in the pool, one soaking wet, extremely angry tabby tom-cat, just beginning to get a little bit frightened.