Morningstar Manor

Fall had finally come and the evenings were beginning to get cool. Which meant even more people than usual decided that a coffee in the evening was a nice idea.

Jack had just come from a long shift at the Lamb and was in desperate need of a coffee. So he got in line and sent a text to Declan.

Must have coffee. Want one?

***

JJ was already sitting at a table, sipping his coffee and looking through a car magazine. He'd had a long day at work, then a nice long practice with the band where he'd had that interesting encounter with the new bookstore owner. Now he had no more plans for the night and coffee and a magazine in the Mocha seemed as good as any.

***

Kara was headed to the Lamb but was also trying to fight off the cold that seemed to be going around. She'd taken a nap thanks to some cold meds and now needed a strong coffee to perk herself back up so was standing in the line for the counter.

***

Ruprecht stepped from the men's restroom and put a sign in front of the door that said Out of Order. He looked over the crowd of people and sneered a bit.

She couldn't remember being more nervous in her life, but then again, she had not seriously pretended to be someone entirely else before. She had been thinking of herself as Susan Jukes, not Robin Reed, ever since sending the application for the job, and tried to fit into the character of someone who would want to work as a maid. She finished her cigarette outside the Manor's front doors, and finally pulled the door open to walk in.

It was incredible - to walk into the building with completely innocent air, only wanting a job and a flat to go with it, without having to try and avoid the security. Her black hair was free on her shoulders, she carried a black bag on her shoulder, and she was dressed casually but with great care. Her jeans were well-fitting, her shoes were feminine but not flashy, and her jacket was warm and practical.

"Hello?" she walked up to the security desk at the lobby, and for a moment she expected the men to stand up and throw her out. "I'm here for the maid's job, I'm supposed to meet a... Mr. Ruprecht?"

He'd finished up two quick jobs that were on his list then gone back to his apartment. For a moment he just looked around. It was small, usually cold, but it had been home for a while now. But not anymore and while he might miss it a little, Jack was looking forward to the change. He'd lived in shitty hotels and apartments his whole life. Time to move up.

Out of uniform and in jeans and a dark blue button down Jack headed down into the basement, looking far more calm than he felt, and to Ruprecht's office, knocking and poking his head in.

"Decided to show your face did you?"
( I Quit )

It was very late when the door to the basement stairs opened and Ruprecht stepped out. He'd been out of sight for a while seeing to 'other things' and leaving the day to day handling of the Manor to his staff. But tonight he felt like stretching his legs.

And there was enough turmoil in the building that he wanted a little more of a taste. Love lost, love strained. It was delicious. And then that little twink Shaw's galleries all in a tizzy. He'd enjoy that more if he didn't have to thank Loki for it.

Abrams was at the front desk and he watched Ruprecht warily but said nothing as the man headed for one of the elevator call buttons and unscrewed the cover. Whether it needed work or not, who knew. Ruprecht would find things to do to interact with the tenants.

But did they dare to talk to him?

Jack had thought that the major work of getting the new daycare area was done and that meant they could go back to their usual routine. He'd been wrong. Ruprecht had them down in the basement now and it looked like they had a good amount of work cut out for them.

"Here's the plans," Ruprecht said, handing him and Nick a rough floorplan. "We'll have contractors in to do the plumbing and some of the work but right now we need to get these rooms cleared out. And by we I mean you."

Jack just barely managed not to groan.

Summer time and all the honeys were out in their little nothings. A good time to go for a stroll around his domain.

Also, it was time to give things a nudge. "Things" that he could feel as a growling roil of discontent writhing within the fabric of the building. Everything needed a break from time to time, their subsequent re-confinement would be that much more painful.

So he left his apartment and passed along the corridor. He lay a hand on one door, causing the varnish to crawl and blister, and gave what lay within specific intstructions. it screamed with frustration and Jon snickered as he walked on.

So many lives, so much drama and angst and anguish. So many deaths.

In another place he paused and held his hand over one particular patch of carpet and the blood, long since washed away, welled thick and hot. He walked on licking his fingers.

No part of the Manor was unvisited. In the basement he looked into a long dead face which looked back in terror. But Joy in the Mocha bloomed and blushed as he touched her, her face briefly that of the woman she could have been.

Then he went out into the garden and stood between the two statues - angel and demon - and looked up at the sun.

Did it dim a little?

Quite possibly.

A dark shadow was stalking the halls of the Manor. From the corner of your eye it didn't look like anything human - was that at tail? Wings? But once you turned to look it clearly was human - if a rather frightening one.

Ruprecht was making his rounds. To most that meant he was checking things like lights, the elevators, air con, and various other odds and ends that maintenance was responsible for. To those that knew better it meant he was testing the waters. Were the tenants getting to comfortable, to happy? There were a few that were. He could think of one former employee of his in particular that really needed to be put in his place again.

But there were others that were simply interesting. More children about the Manor meant more young innocence to feast on. And that always pleased him. There were also tenants oblivious to the 'other' side of the Manor and those were always fun to mess with.

Yes there was quite a bit going on in the Manor these days.

Thomas had the vague feeling that the Maintenance and cleaning 'offices' would be situated somewhere in the basement floor. Dressed in his usual, rather luxurious dark suit he took the elevator straight down there and wandered about looking for Mr Ruprecht. It was a little odd that half of the lights in the basement's rooms did not work, wasn't it?

Mr Thomas Avery was a man of importance that had no time or energy for mundane things such as cleaning. He had seen maids about the Manor during the week or so that he had now lived in the building, and had already set his mind on giving them some more work.

He decided it was time dig out the small phone book he was handed when he moved in, and searched for the number of Maintenance. There was a few numbers on the list, but he chose the one that seemed general enough, dialed and waited.

Jon didn't often walk the floors, he found the bright chirpiness of the breathers wearying, but today he was making a special effort.

Last night, when the silly partying had died down and the last of the trick or treaters who had braved his door [some mothers would take their children ANYWHERE for free candy] had been sent away laden with sugar and E numbers, he had gone down a level to see to the souls in his care. It had been as much a relief to shrug off the soft human shell and spread his wings and arch his spiked spine as it had been to accept the grovelling adoration of his subjects.

It always amused him to see their cringing desire to be noticed. Did they but know it they were all equals - equally damned, that is - and it struck him that even the damned sometimes needed a day off. No dammit, he grinned, why stop at a day. Let them have a whole week! Ruprecht in particular deserved some time to be himself. He was well aware of the stress his old friend must suffer having to pretend all the time.

So he had opened the ways and now was going from floor to floor, cigar between his teeth, wondering who, or what, would be brave enough to approach him. If anyone - the little humans tended to steer well clear.

Jane was kind of nervous, it wasn't that long until the divorce hearing now, and she was rather worried by the tone of Mr Ruprechts note. She'd rather rushed through the morning jobs, each and every one was completed, and she'd had time to just tidy her hair and smooth down her uniform. Still, at one minute to noon, she knocked on the door and waited.

Mr Ruprecht,

The date for my divorce has come through, and I will need to be in San Diego from the 19th March until the initial hearing is over at least. I hope this would not take too long, and wondered if I could book annual leave from the 19th to at least the 24th. I may need to take the remainder of my leave from 25th through 30th should the divorce get hung up.

Would this be ok?

Jane Franklin
Maid Service.