Morningstar Manor

The massive New Year parties were done and things were settling back into a normal routine. The beginning of a new year, a clean slate. Lord knew some of them needed it. Kara didn't know what this year held for her but she planned on doing what she could to make it wonderful. To keep the Lamb successful and to strengthen her own relationships - both with friends and those that were a bit more.

It was fairly quiet in the Lamb at the moment and she leaned back against the counter behind the bar and sipped a cup of coffee, looking around the place and thinking about the charity event she still needed to plan for Niles.

Sterrin was more than just a little put out. Her date had cancelled on her at the very last minute, literally as she was sitting in the restaraunt waiting on him. She despised being stood up.
Disgruntled and maybe just a little over dressed in her dress, coat, and heels, she walked into the Lamb because it was the closest place to get a drink. And, well, she happened to remember at the last moment that the rather handsome Conner guy worked here too.

It was edging closer to Christmas and Conn wasn't feeling it. Sure, the Lamb had been festively decorated and the carols were playing instead of pop music on the jukebox, but even so, he wasn't in the holiday mood. It would be his first Christmas since the kids were born that he wouldn't be there Christmas Eve, setting out the presents, there when they woke up at 4 am to creep downstairs, there to chase them back up and tell them it wasn't time yet, but then let them open presents anyway. He hadn't had so many years of that that he was ready to give it up. He'd be there on Christmas morning, but as a guest. It wasn't the same.

Connor, in the Lamb, had taken over the bar to give Molly the day off so she could...well, do whatever it was that needed doing this close to Christmas. He was alternately serving drinks and food and working on some lists of things he intended to order for the Lamb, bills to be paid, general stuff like that -- but ahhh, it felt good to be doing it in person instead of over the phone or online.

Sarah had ducked down to the Mocha for something sweet, her notebook in hand. She'd actually managed a few chapters on her book-that-wasn't-a-memoir-after-all, and it felt good to take a break from writing to face the world, even if it was still only inside the Manor.

Brian and his Grams were also in the Mocha, Grams looking pink-cheeked in her favorite dress and hat, ready to be taken out for a full day of Christmas shopping. Brian looked tired, probably because...he was. Late nights and early mornings at the lab were taking a toll.

Trevor in the gym, working out hard, working up a sweat. He was feeling strange, had to get out of the apartment that was too empty without his wife.

Gavin, on the other hand, was really out and about, sitting in the corner at the Lamb, nursing a Guiness and basket of fries. It was time, he'd decided, to get the hell out of that apartment, meet some people, get a life that didn't revolve around his brother...or anything else.

Annnnnd, finally, Elspeth was in the lobby overseeing some last-minute changes in the holiday decorations. It turns out some of the glass balls dangling from the Manor's oversized tree were too breakable, so she was supervising their replacement and the re-hanging of nearly identical ones in child-proof plastic.

Sterrin sat alone at a table in the mocha in a casual dress and a pair of brown boots browsing through a magazine and thinking about the earlier episode with poor Leo. She'd started to go home after that, but had heard some rather peculiar noises coming from her brother's bedroom and had preferred to not hear "Oh Declan" as performed by Jacky boy. It tended to ruin her appetite and she hadn't had dinner just yet.
Sighing, she turned the page.

Kara loved her job. She really did. She loved being behind the bar. Loved being an ear or a shoulder for the folks that needed it. Loved to flirt a bit with the older guys and watch them smile as they got the attention of a 'lovely young lass' once again. And at the holidays it was even better because there were a fair few who had nowhere to go and no one to spend the time with and they would come here, to the softly lighted and warm pub and it was like an extended family.

Today was one of those days - a couple of old timers sitting at a back table playing Dominoes, one guy that she knew had recently lost his wife and trusted that Kara wouldn't let him overdo it on the drink while still drowning his troubles, a group of girls that were eying up a group of young men playing pool.

And Kara stood behind the bar, dressed in jeans, a tight flannel top, and a Slaughtered Lamb apron tied round her waist, and just smiled at them all as she dried some glasses.

He'd spent the morning arranging for a cleaning service which was right now taking care of his flat. Another few hours on the phone with Lisa, on and off. And then one more with the suppliers. And now...the Lamb. Ahh, it was grand to be back behind the bar, though he wasn't officially on duty, just serving up a beer now and then to anyone who needed it. It just felt so feckin' lovely to be back here, he couldn't stop grinning.

The place smelled, which wasn't surprising considering it was unlikely anyone had been up here for a damned long time, himself included. Connor lifted the edge of a sheet-draped couch. At least it was still furnished. They'd bought new stuff when they moved out, him and Lisa and the children. Little Daisy was now an opinionated four year old and her younger brother Patrick, known as Patch, just past two. Of course they wouldn't be living here with him, not full time, but he'd make sure they had their own rooms just like at home. And his room, of course, at the end of the hall, silent and dark and smelling just faintly of a familiar perfume that made his heart hurt.

"Ahh, home," he said aloud into the silence. "Did you miss me?"

Kara hated dressing up. She wasn't a girly girl - she was far more comfortable in jeans and tshirts or flannels than in dresses. But sometimes you just had to. Like tonight when your bar was being given an award for one of the best bars in the City. She'd found out last minute and though she technically wasn't the owner - Connor still was - he couldn't go so Kara was filling in.

Hence the dress she was wearing now. But she had a bit until her cab arrived and so she had gone into the Mocha for a coffee, ignoring the looks she was getting.

****

Loki was sprawled over the couch closest to the fireplace, soaking up the warmth as he flipped through his old and battered copy of Poe.

****

Hugh was in the Mocha as well, reading glasses in place, hair sticking up wildly. He'd just had the oddest dream. Well he assumed it was a dream at least - and he must have been sleep walking. Because he didn't remember coming to the Mocha. But at least he had his notebook with him and now he was hastily jotting down the bits he did remember.