Morningstar Manor

Andy stirred the pot on the cooker - Charlie had given clear instructions and they had included "the more you stir the rice the creamier it gets" - and with her free hand turned over the page of the notebook she was trying to read.

"Dammit," she said as her fiancee entered the kitchen. "I wonder if every prospective bride reaches the stage where an offer of elopement sounds pretty good."

The start of a new week and the Mocha was hopping.

Deacon had dropped Nia off at the daycare already as he and Charlie both had things that needed to get done. Charlie of course had the gallery. Deacon needed to take the cars to get their new inspection stickers and do some general shopping. But first - coffee. Charlie was still getting ready and had had to take a phone call and Deacon would likely be gone before he got down there so Deacon just got himself a coffee and found a place to sit and enjoy it before going on the first of his errands.

****

Eris was in the Mocha as well, once again at a table and looking through brochures on warm sunny beaches.

****

Seth entered the Mocha just after Deacon had left, passing in the doorway and exchanging a few words. Now, coffee in hand, he sat at a table and sipped his drink as he happily sketched the passers by.

****

Gabe was in the Mocha as well, sprawled on a couch and sipping his coffee and idly flipping through a fashion magazine.

****

There was one customer not quite at the Mocha yet but oh he was ready for it. Rhys had just gotten off a forty eight hour shift and was slouched in the back of a cab headed for the Manor. He was exhausted and looking forward to his bed but his stomach was rumbling and he didn't have the energy to make something so he'd stop in the Mocha first, get something to eat and some decaf coffee and then sleep for a day. Maybe two.

He coughed, and that cough turned into a bit of a coughing fit and when he could breath again he murmured an apology to the cab driver. Looks like his boss had been right. Rhys was sick. And a sick doctor was not what you wanted in the ER of a hospital. Maybe that forced time off wouldn't be so bad after all.

Bea - party Saturday Flamingo Lounge 8pm, make own way there, lift home! Emily's birthday. Hope you can come. xx


When Andy finished that one she thought a while before sending the next.

Hi Eris, hun. Fancy a bday party at the Flamingo? All girls but I'm sure we can find some guys to dance with. 8pm and we get a lift home. *hugs*

She didn't think it was Eris's kind of evening but really didn't want her hair set on fire if Eris felt slighted at not being invited.

The dog was dripping all over the lobby.

Cindy was trying to smuggle him through without causing too much upset. She'd taken Axminster to the park this afternoon, had thrown toys for him to fetch, and chatted with other dog owners while the dogs were playing together.

With all this snow thawing into slush, they all got monumentally wet and enjoyed it tremendously. Cindy really pitied the woman with the sodden malamute. Thank goodness for a short-coated dog!

Axminster was wet enough as it is.

Emily invaded a large table from the coffeeshop and spread her things on the table: laptop, cell phone, calendar, coffee mug and a slice of pie. Her birthday was coming up and she had a party to plan, and at the same time she hoped to bump into any Manorite lady who would like to come along.

She wrote down the names of those who had already signed up, and started thinking of a place to go. Perhaps she should contact Gil - the Flamingo had space, it wasn't too loud for a bunch of girls to gossip and giggle together, and there was everything from food to drinks to dancing.

Emily continued brainstorming and keeping an eye out for friends for a long while in the Mocha, getting refills to her coffee mug every now and then.

Bea sat next to Andy in a cab as they made their way to the club, excitement making her smile. It was good to be out for a proper girl's night, and she was looking forward to the sort of novelty that only a room full of male strippers could provide.

"So what sort of place is it?" she asked Andy. "Is it like a choreographed stage thing like the Full Monty or is it like a regular strip club, where they have floor shows and dance on poles?"

Sometimes it was hard to know what to do when harbouring the type of news that might make another variety of woman squeal a lot. So far Andy had told the people that absolutely needed to know - parents, siblings, Uncle Ernil in the barber shop - but hadn't yet decided how to break the news to her friends, or her employer.

In the end she decided to let chance play it's part and if she saw someone she knew and liked she might just drop it casually into conversation. Yes, that would work.

So she snugged down in the Mocha with her laptop and if she occasionally spared a glance for her ring who could blame her? It really was very lovely.

He'd been horribly nervous since deciding to do this but once the day was here the nervousness vanished. There was little worrying was going to help with. He would take her to dinner, take her for a moonlit stroll in the park, and pop the question. She would say yes or no. And really he couldn't do anything about it.

They'd gone to the Empress for dinner and it had gone very well - the food and wine was perfect of course and the atmosphere was romantic without being over the top. The weather was cooperating nicely - it wasn't bitterly cold but there was still enough snow on the ground to make the park a lovely picture.

With her arm tucked through his they strolled down the walking path in the general direction of the Manor.

"We don't do this often enough," Erik said.

Andras had got into a kind of routine by now, undisturbed by the bustle around him, taking pictures, archiving, pampering models, working with Juanita for the details, with Pammie for what Lewis really wanted, and with Lewis, for what he really, really wants now.

His hard disks were filling up, and people were alternating between hectic activity and utter lassitude.

Somebody handed him a styrofoam cup from the Mocha, and he went on working.


[ooc: Party post so tag in and let the pups chat amongst themselves, or if they want input from one of the staff, please give us a poke.]

Into the Mocha they went and Kris looked around, seeing a few of the gorgeous faces and bodies he had hoped to see, and he cleared his throat and tapped on a table to attract their attention.

"Um - ladies, gentlemen," he said, "we are in - frankly - awful trouble and are hoping some of you might be kind enough to help us out. The fact is - we have a designer and a complete collection of clothing but the photographer and all the models are stuck in Switzerland. So - would you be prepared to wear Lewis's clothes and have photos taken? What do you say?"

He looked round hopefully. "Anyone?"

U know where I am if you need me <3 A

Bea had spent all morning making a rather elaborate Valentine for Eli since they were having their Valentine's day on Sunday. There was glitter on her face and in her hair, but it had been fun so she wasn't too upset about it. Besides, it was a fun distraction to keep her from getting too depressed over what was coming on Monday.
She was also ready to get out of the house, so she put on her jacket and headed out to the Gallery, figuring Andy or Charlie or Sean or someone would be around to at least talk to and maybe get into some silliness with.

Del, at a loose end, lounged on one of the couches reading a novel in Spanish and sipping iced coffee and dreaming of white beaches, brilliant sunshine and girls in hardly anything at all. Winter - he hated it. Not that he wanted to go anywhere - his job for De Rossi was still fun - but some sun would be nice.

~

Brendan had come down to buy a bag of coffee beans because, while Zack was still too poorly to drink much of it, Brendan needed the bursts of caffeine to keep him going. He thought the crisis was past, thank God, but Zack didn't seem to be improving quickly. Between tiredness and worry Brendan needed all the help he could get.

~

Andy had come home from work early with a crashing headache and a general down on the entire world. It was just one of those days and she didn't much care who knew it. With her aching forehead propped on his fist, she flipped through a copy of Smashing that someone had left there and thought snide things about the glamour pusses within.

~

Finally Allan breezed in to the Mocha with his duffle bag on his shoulder, having dumped the rest of his luggage on a trolley in the lobby. Someone from maintenance would be along to help him move in just now, he had been assured. Meantime - coffee!

U + me + tequila + guy in miniscule posing pouch.

I hvnt 4gotten

:D

Andy

Obviously, with new schedules and working practices, one would have days where people got confused.

Today was just such a day where Charlie and Andy had arrived almost simultaneously and Allan had ambled downstairs, looking like an unmade bed, to see if he could score some coffee and craic.

So there they were, going about thir business in their own ways - and just as well too since none of the desk staff had turned up.

Andy typed busily until Sadie told her a visitor had arrived. Then she stood up, poured him a coffee and set it ready beside the guest's chair.

"Hello," she said, as she saw his shadow cross the door. "cold enough for you?"

Hello you,

How did you do on Monday? Or haven't you collected all the money yet? If you need someone to go round and apply polite pressure to get people to pay up I'll be delighted to do so.

Also, did you go to the doctor? Because you said you'd let me know and you haven't. I saw you at the Lamb on Monday and frankly you've looked better.

ttfn

Andy

It had been very late when Andy had gotten home - or very early depending on your definition. He'd known she would likely be feeling awful the next morning and so Erik had risen early, as he usually did, and let her sleep, keeping his music quiet. When he heard her begin to stir he headed into the kitchen and brewed her a cup of very special tea and a made a bit of toast and carried it into the bedroom on a tray.

"Ah - she wakens," he said, moving to set the tray on the bedside table and sit on the edge of the bed.

Andy was answering emails and chatting to her brother Marton via IM while she read through the chemical analysis of Karma Chai that his chemist friend had sent him. Every so often she sipped her coffee then went back to her comfortable familial sniping.

Andy's attention was caught by the bright yellow posters as she crossed the lobby. She had seen scraps of the same bright colour caught under thumb tacks on other boards around the place and had wondered what they had been from and had assumed that whatever it was no longer applied. Seeing the poster for the fund raiser, she frowned and said to Frank, "Is that still happening, hun?"

"What? ... Oh, that - yeah. It's going ahead. Whyzzat, Andy? You gonna auction off something of yours?"

"I might," Andy said, giving him a sultry glower. "Have you got spares? I'll take 'em and put 'em up round the Square."

"Er - no, but there's two there," Frank said. "You could take one of them for now and when I see him I'll ask Mr Devreux for more."

"Sure, but I've got a scanner at work. I can print some off there." Andy stretched up and began to detach one of the yellow posters. Might as well spread the news as far as possible.