Morningstar Manor

Lara crouched on the floor in front of Stone Hawthorne's apartment, slowly surrounding herself with the contents of her messenger bag. (Slowly because the big puffy coat she wore was kind of limiting her mobility.) He had a show tonight and was supposed to meet her at his place after. The only problem was that she couldn't figure out where she'd put his keys. She'd heard something jingle-jangle-jingling when she shook her bag, so she figured they must have been in there somewhere. But so far she had yet to locate them. Damn it.

Enclosed inside the plain white card, embossed with a single, silver 'E' on the front, was a check, the amount not quite large enough to be obscene but enough to make a difference.

Niles,

Holiday gifts should always be about the thought, and although I thought very long and hard about what might be an appropriate gift for you, nothing seemed right. I don't believe you're a man who lacks for material possessions, and I'm not in favor of purchasing just anything for the sake of giving a gift. In the end, the only thing I could think to do was this. The Manor will be making a matching donation, as well. Please use it toward your efforts in New Orleans.

Happy Holidays.

sincerely,

E.Vale

placeholder 5