Morningstar Manor

Memphis was still a little perplexed at the location of his tools, but he'd gone out and bought a new set. Didn't hurt to have more tools. He brought the tool box with him as he stopped to get the mail before heading upstairs.

Inside the box were the usual bills, a letter from his mother and a plastic wrapped magazine addressed to Travis. Brow knitted together, Memphis realized that there was nothing he could do about that.

Folding the mail over in the magazine, he picked up his tools and went to head out only to fumble the hold on the door knob and drop the mail.

Erin was down in the laundry room. Work uniforms in one machine, the rest of her clothes in another. The few things left in her laundry basket, well she just didn't trust the washing machine with those, and went over to the sink for some good old fashioned hand washing.

~*~
Chad had already been downstairs and done his laundry. Now he was up in the Mocha without a paper, determined to catch up on something of recent activity here.

*~*
Logan was, as per usual, out in the garden playing with Lily. Now that school was out, he knew Emma had some summer projects, but he wondered if she would take some time aside for herself. A bit wound up in his thought, he didn't notice when Lily went off and didn't return promptly with the ball.

~*~
Memphis had gone out to the garage with the intentions of giving Lucy a bath. After getting out the supplies he needed, he noticed a ding on the back bumper. Grumbling and searching in his car for that little paint match thing he'd gotten for just in case scratches, he realized there was a whole set of sockets missing. Maybe he'd forgotten about them and they were in that old garage annex here. Memphis went off to find out for himself.

*~*
Roxy was in the mail room. It seemed like every day something new showed up to stuff the mailbox. Today it was a magazine devoted entirely to invitations, napkins and matchbooks. She decided to take advantage of the sorting tables and the quietness, and flipped through the book there. No need to be bugging Spencer with the difference between eggshell and ecru.

It was eleven thirty five when Memphis knocked on her door. He was dressed in his non oil stained or scuffed up boots, a pair of khaki pants and a blue button down shirt over a white tee shirt. He had sunglasses tucked away in his pocket, and a small bouquet of wildflowers in his left hand. He'd picked them on the way home from his shop, after making sure Travis was going to be keeping tabs on phones there.

Hopefully, Jane wouldn't notice he was late.

Memphis had gotten Jane's car straightened out for her. It hadn't taken too much work and his temporary fix had held it over until he got the appropriate parts in. All the fluids had been checked and changed, her brakes checked, tires rotated and any other little thing Memphis could think of. Now he was confident in returning her key to her.

He knocked on her door at quarter after three and waited in the hall, hoping she wasn't working still.

Memphis was out in the garage, with a small tool box, working on Jane's car. He'd helped with carrying her things back inside to her apartment, but was leaving the unpacking bit to the women.

~*~

Roxy had slept in today while Spencer had gone out running. She used the alone time to cuddle some with Indigo, then called Lexi.

Grinning she told her sister that Spencer had proposed, regurgitating the details of what she'd been wearing, where they'd been and what the ring looked like. Lexi had asked a bazillion questions, of which Roxy couldn't answer just yet.

"Lex we'll work out the detail and you'll be the first to know." She pleaded with her sister for the questioning to stop. Her grin had faded to a smile and sunk further at Lexi's request for engagement photos. "I'll see what I can do, but no promises."

This was one conversation Roxy hadn't expected, and was marginally happier when it was over.

In a man's ribbed wife beater and a pair of black panties Jazz padded the hallway in her apartment, stretching and rubbing sleepily at her eyes with one fisted hand. She saw the envelope, if blurrily, but it didn't click right away that it was out of place.

Yawning, Jazz turned into the kitchen, and made for the fridge, pulling out a carton of orange juice and fumbling in a nearby cupboard for a glass. She had already started pouring, the glass was half-full even, when it finally sunk in. She blinked, put the carton down and moved back into the hallway, looking down at the envelope with narrowed eyes.

Now just what in infierno was that? If Jason had dropped off another one of his "We need to talk" notes he was just tough out of luck, he'd had the whole night previous to say his spiel....Jazz bent and snatched up the envelope, tearing one end open and pulling out the paper inside.

Then she swore, loudly, string together a series of Spanish curses that would have made even Olly blush.

( Read more... )

After Wednesday's cooking lesson with Jane, Memphis and Travis had been having a sticky note on the door conversation about chores and responsibilities. Memphis was frustrated with it by Friday morning, so the last sticky note he left had just stated dinner Saturday Slaughtered Lamb.

He'd closed the shop then gone straight to the Lamb. Looking around, Memphis realized Travis wasn't there yet. He sat at a table and ordered a drink, then pulled out his phone and typed away a message. Be here in ten minutes or less. No excuses.

*~*
Travis had been folding his laundry, with his stereo blasting out the latest album from Hinder. As he put his jeans away, his phone skittered off the dresser and on to the floor. He picked it up, read the message and narrowed his eyes. What did I do wrong this time? he asked himself as he turned off the stereo and pulled on his sneakers. Hopefully he didn't run into any problems between here and next door on his ten minute time allowance.

~*~
Roxy was out in the garage, grinning and splattered with mud. She'd taken Betsy out to the lake where she and Spencer had gone camping last summer. It was a bit wet and soggy still, so the mud was inevitable. It was a fun trip. Maybe she should take Spencer with her next time, she thought wondering just how much trouble she could get into with getting him dirty.

*~*
Tristan was down in the laundry room, not brooding over a ledger he'd brought home from work. Something didn't look quite right with the numbers and he was determined to find where they were off. It would help, he mused, if he hadn't flunked math... Or if he just didn't downright detest math either. Doing calculations on his Blackberry was dandy, until it beeped to say his sister had texted him and he closed out the calculator instead of her message.

Memphis was sorting out some things in the kitchen. He had put away all the clean dishes and taken out the ingredients on the recipe for tonight's cooking lesson. How on earth Jane thought she could make something good out of just these vegetables, spices and sauce, he wasn't too sure. She hadn't steered him wrong yet though, so he would do as directed and be surprised later on when it turns out exactly as it should.

He was getting the baking dishes an mixing bowls out of the cupboard when he heard the door open then close. "Kitchen" he called out without turning around.

Saturday mornings were for being lazy, or so Roxy had usually thought. Today she was wide awake and in the gym before nine. She blamed it on the nicer weather coming through, the fact that she couldn't sleep any more. Shaking off the thought that she should be doing her run outside, she turned up the treadmill.

~*~
Logan was out in the gardens, still unsure if he wanted a little plot of his own to plant. It would be nice, someplace he could tend to and find a result from... Plus provide him with a reason to be out when not accompanied by Lily. He could've sworn there was a name attached to acquiring a gardening plot, but at this present time, it escaped his memory.

~*~
Chad was downstairs, two loads of laundry going round in the washers. He sat in the uncomfortable chairs, cup of Mocha coffee within reach and crossword book in hand.

~*~
Travis was as far upstairs as he could get, in the pool house, trying to connect to a wi-fi signal there. He'd connect, then settle in to surf the web and get disconnected. Currently, he was laying across the fifth lounge chair, contemplating taking a swim instead.

~*~
Memphis was out in the garage, giving Lucy a bath. He had two buckets of water next to him, a couple sponges and a towel. Nothing like getting all the wintery road grime off the pretty lady while he had a nice morning to do it.

~*~
Tristan was spending the later part of this morning in the Mocha, watching the other people come and go over his coffee.

~*~
Erin was in the lobby, still in her pajama pants and tank top, reading yet another book, not paying much attention to her surroundings or the people walking by.

Memphis had put in a good day at the shop. Being in a good mood on Monday was a rare occasion, so Memphis decided to make the most of it. He stopped by the market on his way back to Morningstar, but instead of going up to his apartment, he found himself standing outside Jane's apartment door. Cooking lessons weren't on Mondays, but maybe Jane wouldn't mind a random night, just this once? Considering his options, he decided to go for it and knock anyway. Worst outcome possible was she was still working and nobody would answer.

It was traditional now [ie they'd done it once] so Charlie went round and put up a few notices and spread the word as far as possible:
SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

BALLROOM, BEER
BRING YOUR OWN BEAN BAG
6 til whenever
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE


Charlie checked that everything was ready, counted the chairs and nodded approvingly.

Then he went off to the gallery because he still had an exhibition launch to see to.

Roxy was downstairs, in the gym. She'd loaded clothes into the washer and popped in to run while they washed. Her ipod headphones tucked into her ears made it a bit difficult for her to hear, but she noticed a movement from the left.

~*~
Logan and Chad were sitting in the Mocha, Chad with a newspaper and Logan with a textbook. Chad grumbled, folded the paper and threw it on the table.

Logan looked up, knitted his brows together, and stuck a marker in the book. "Something wrong?" He asked, cautiously but wondering.

Chad nodded. "News isn't ever good anymore. How about we blow off Saturday for something fun?"

~*~
Memphis had gone out for groceries, and was now lugging them in from the garage where he'd parked.

~*~
Travis was hiding in the back of the library, laptop open, head on the table and snoring.

~*~
Erin was sulking by the pool. She had her bathing suit on, under her clothes, bare feet showing off black polish on her toes, and sunglasses though it wasn't very bright. Maybe nobody would come up and she could sulk all day.

~*~
Tristan was picking up his mail. Sorting through like usual, there wasn't any pale purple envelope. Satisfied with this, he whistled as he opened the door and ran right into the person coming in.

Jane had been through a very trying morning, Mr Avery had been equally nasty today as he had been over the last couple of sessions. Having finished his apartment, and gone down to Jazz's only to find she was out, she'd had a bit of a cry. Picking herself up after Avery was not going to be easy twice a week. But she was determined not to let him beat her down, it was just, she wasn't doing so well with that right now. So she'd decided to do something else to keep herself busy and having finished Jazz's apartment she'd checked her grocery stores, expressed her emotions some more with a spot of bread making and then called Memphis.

Now, she and a coolbag were knocking on his door, ready for a cooking lesson!

Memphis had ducked down to the first floor and left two presents for Jane, along with an invitation to dinner, if she wanted a distraction that was.

~*~

In the same hallway, Travis had left a present for Amarie, then sneakily rung the doorbell and ducked behind the nearest corner.

~*~

Logan had let himself in to Emma's apartment, fed Mr. Cat and left behind presents for Emma, Lily, and Mr. Cat, though he doubted the cat would get much use of the present, it was worth a shot to see how it turned out.

( Ang in the Mocha )

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( Emma in the gardens )

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( Icene in the Poolhouse )

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( Spencer in the Gym )

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( Jane in the Library )

Memphis was sitting in the lobby, silently watching the people passing though. He had been cooped up in Lucy all day driving home from... Well home... But now found himself alone again. Travis spouted something about finally being able to go to the library and finish homework then disappeared, leaving Memphis with Demon. Once Demon was fed and content, he fell asleep. This left Memphis to wonder if Travis really was in the library or off some place else. Hence why he was people watching in the lobby.

Travis was supposed to be doing the laundry this weekend, but had spouted off something about taking Amarie to the movies. He'd put it off and let the kid do the laundry, if it wasn't for the fact that he wanted a specific pair of jeans. Doesn't do much good to just wash one pair, so he gathered enough for one load and was now wondering what to do while he waited on jeans.

Memphis was sitting in the Mocha, hands around a huge coffee cup. He was staring off out the window, wondering where Travis was actually at. He'd tried calling, but his phone wouldn't work. Leaving the Manor was beyond pointless as well. It was like one huge prank being extended out and he did not like this one bit.

It was the first Friday night in a while that Memphis had been out on his own. Travis had made prior arrangements with some friends and taken off for the night. Memphis, skeptical about trusting the boy, was trying to not go far from home. But what fun was a birthday night spent alone at home?

He had on a pair of new jeans, a black AC/DC shirt and a distressed patterned A7X hoodie on when he pulled up a stool at the bar. Two thirds of the gear had been a birthday present from Travis. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd find somebody to keep him company for a while.

Erin had been lazy all week. Today, she was paying for it though as she stood in the laundry room, folding her jeans. She wore her uniform pants and a white tank top, seriously considering shimmying out of her pants and into the warm jeans.

~*~

Logan was sitting in the library, two text books open on the table in front of him. Sundays meant one thing. It was the last day to get homework done.

~*~

While Travis didn't have school tomorrow, he had used it as an excuse to leave the apartment. He was using the hotspot connection in the Mocha to catch up on his facebook page.

~*~

Memphis had poked in to check on Travis, then went off to get their mail from the mail room.

~*~

Tristan was stretched out in the lobby, reading a thick book. It was holding his attention and keeping him distracted from his sister's annoying calls. He used the invitation - still sealed in the lovely lavender envelope as a book marker.

~*~

Roxy had her ipod plugged in to her ears as she stretched out over a yoga mat in the gym.

~*~

Chad sat numbly, bundled in his jacket with a cup of coffee, staring at the maze from the safety of the same bench Logan had sat on last night. Was it a bit of twisted irony that Lindsay's favorite thing about the Halloween season had been the corn mazes? Sipping from his coffee cup he pondered it further.