Morningstar Manor

It was about ten o'clock in the morning and Charlie had got there early and had been working like stink ever since. He'd been finding that while the other partners in the cooperative were reat at chatting to customers and helping to mount exhibitions or set up classes or - well, fun stuff - they were much less enthusiastic about the godwaful boring things like stocktaking, checking and replying to emails, adding up invoices, ordering supplies of stationery and toiletries and stuff to sell in the shop. Charlie couldn't blame them and was quite happy to do it but after 2 hours of it figured he needed something to look forward to.

So he swung in his spinny chair and got his phone out and made a call to a friend which made him smile, then began to send texts and emails to Deacon and Seth and Andras and Sarah and Bea and Ana and Allan and Vincenzo and Leo and Cindy and - oh he was thorough! He went through almost everyone on his contact list who might be up for a bit of fun.

And the message he sent was something like:

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!!!! :D
Sl!Lamb 8 oclock for tequila/guiness cocktail invention competition!
See you there?

Who knew? Someone might be interested.

The Lamb was never exactly quiet but Wednesday was one of its slightly less busy nights and there were a few free tables and the dartboard was free.

Charlie came in and looked around, waved to Molly and headed for the bar. "Hello sweetheart," he said. "Happy thhhhhhinko da mayo. Guiness please. Ah - and one for my friend here. What're you having?"

Niles was drunk. So drunk he could hardly stand up, and as always, he found himself at Elspeth's door.
He couldn't blame her for her - father. She didn't even know. She hadn't asked for any of this, and he knew that. But fuck, he was so ANGRY. Angry at their situation, angry at the hopelessness of it all, and maybe a little angry at her for making him love her enough to get into this mess.

He knocked on the door, his forehead resting against the wood and his hand sliding up and down the smooth surface as he waited.