Morningstar Manor

It had seemed easiest to drive the truck down to the garage and carry things straight to the elevator and up to the sixth floor - apartment number 6104 to be specific - to Laura Webster's new apartment. Before the moving load was carried upstairs, however, the blond slim woman herself popped upstairs to check what the place looked like now that it had been painted and otherwise fixed up to meet her wishes. It had been nothing drastic really since Laura liked things simple and stylish. Most of her furniture had arrived already the day before but they were scattered around the flat in the middle of the rooms so she made a mental note about where to shift them and finally find a place for them.

When Laura returned back down to the Garage she met with something she had been hoping for - help with carrying all the rest of her things. At least that's what the two big men with a trusty trolley looked like.

"You gentlemen wouldn't be here to give a lady a hand now would you?" she asked when she approached them.

There wasn't a lot of time so Deacon was already at work on the Aston Martin. He'd called in favors with Mark, who'd gotten him discounts from some friends of his that worked on cars - and a few things that weren't technically legal. Not everything was in yet but he was working on what he could.

Which at the moment was a nitrous system.

A vacation had been just what they'd needed. They'd gone to the Caribbean and raised hell, moved on to Europe for a bit and raised hell there as well. And with Del pretty much fire-proof now (though Eris didn't like the way he'd managed that) it had been one hell of a time for sure.

But, as usual, Eris had eventually felt drawn home and it was about mid morning when a large black limo pulled up out front. Del emerged first, looking tanner than ever and delicious as always and Eris stepped out after him. They were both dressed comfortably for traveling but that didn't stop them from turning heads. The limo driver unloaded their bags and carried them into the lobby then took his leave and Eris strode towards the security desk.

"Hey, Frank," she said. "Call someone down to get our things will you?"

Frank nodded, inwardly dreading the fact that she was back but made the call.

Eris went back to Del while they waited.

"Home sweet home," she said with a smile.

Getting ready for a party was a pleasant duty, even if it was quite hard work. The maintenance guys had agreed that it was as well not to leave the heavy stuff until the last minute and so had spent the last two hours washing down the paving and trimming back anything thorny and were now positioning the patio heaters and the tubs of sand for the smokers and the trash cans, covered to keep the rain out, and the all important barbeque pit.

This was two oil drums split lengthwise and welded to wheeled supports and fitted with grills. The four sections should be enough for everyone who wanted to cook to get a space.

Nick grunted as he dragged the second out of storage and began to bump it along the path.

"Shit," he said as his phone dropped from his pocket and bounced into a flower bed, then he spotted someone and shot them a sheepish grin. "Don't suppose you could get that for me couldja? Please?"

In all truth, Adam had forgotten all about calling maintenance (though he'd never admit it), and it was only as a result of Icene's gentle, off-handed reminding that Adam finally got around to making the all important call.

After all, what was a BBQ without a grill?

So after getting home from work he dug out the number and placed the call, idly popping the buttons on his uniform cuffs while he waited.

They'd tumbled in from outside about twenty minutes ago, talking excitedly - Zack with large hand gestures - and headed straight for the Mocha. Now the two small men were both sitting cross legged on the couch, huge coffees in hand, and continuing their conversation.

"But I don't remember Spock and Uhura having a relationship," Seth said and Zack waved his hand in dismissal.

"Who cares?" he said. "It was fucking amazing! And could they have possibly gotten hotter actors for Spock and Kirk?"

"Is it sad that I find myself having a serious thing for Bones?" Seth said and giggled. "Scotty wasn't bad either."

Zack shrugged and sipped his coffee. "He reminded me of someone to much," he said and Seth quickly changed the subject back to Spock and Zack perked back up.

Nick strolled along the path, litter pickers in hand, whistling quietly to himself. Working Saturdays wasn't too bad when one had a job like this to do and the weather was reasonable.

He stooped to pick a discarded candy bar wrapper and put it in his garbage sack then walked on.

[ooc: we numbered our pups and choose them using this handy little item. Other than that the rules are fairly elastic]

Despite not being Irish but Hungarian, Andras wouldn't pass up St. Patrick's day, or rather, the weekend on which it was celebrated.

Which was this weekend.

So Andras was sitting in the Slaughtered Lamb and kept staring grimly at everybody over the top of his third or fourth glass of Guinness.

So far, nobody has asked him if that was  due only to the rising inebriation, or if anything else was the matter.-

Sometimes, when you were really worried about something you couldn't help, you had to do something completely different, just because: - you know?

That is why Ricky was outside this afternoon, hanging up a long string of Tibetan prayer flags that his cousin from Boulder had sent him a bag of via Fedex, with a note she thought it really important to hang up as many as possible, for the sad anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight from his country.

New tenants were often demanding, but some were more demanding than others. In this case instructions had come down from the TA office that apartment 348 needed a full refurb.

Full as in right 'back to the fabric of the building then repaper, repaint, recarpet, re-everything'. Including detailed specifications for the kitchen and bathroom - hell, the new people were even bringing their own doorknobs!

Still it wasn't Nick's job to wonder so he had been in and out of the apartment all day and was on his last load of carpet before stripping the paper of the walls in the bedrooms.

Door open, he sang quietly to himself as he used a box cutter to hack the carpet into pieces sizeable enough, he hoped, for him and Jack to sell profitably later. Old habits died hard - also it was fun.

Nia was well aware that something exciting was going to happen so had refused to go to bed. Knuckling her eyes she sat on the couch in her nightie and sang to herself while Charlie made the final preparations for the party.

Deacon came into the room, straightening his shirt, and smiled to see the sleepy little girl. Nia held up her arms and he picked her up and settled her against his shoulder then strolled into the kitchen to get her bedtime drink.

Charlie smiled at them, patting Nia's back, and bobbed up to kiss Deacon before grinning and going to let their guests in.

Evening off from work, feet sore from the new dancing shoes (that were damn gorgeous but higher than the old ones), Emily strolled in comfortable old ballerina shoes to the Mocha for a hot chocolate. Such a chilly day desperately needed some warming up, and the cardigan she was tugging tighter around her as she queued was not enough. Was she finally coming down with the flu or was it really cold?

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.

There had been a big package in his mail box, and it had looked exciting,

Ricky had torn it open eagerly there and then, and was now staring with great dismay at a dozen colourful woolly hats with ear-flaps, in several sizes, from 'baby' to 'colossus'.

And a note from his cousin in Boulder, saying, 'Hey Deedee, give my best to all those lovely, lovely people in your building! Especially the handsome men in the band. Love, Marlene.'


[[OOC: Sal found these!!! If you like one of them, chances are, it's in that package for your pup!]]

"Nope, Auntie Gert, he won't mind at all! I understand!" Marlene was saying into he phone.

Ricky stood behind her, rolling his eyes.

"We'll just come on over to dinner at eight then? Yes, I can bring a guacamole, I saw he's got avocados in his fridge that need eating."

Ricky rolled his eyes some more.

"Dunno when I'll get a flight; everything's delayed because of that weather, you know, around Christmas. I'm not one of these stinking rich folks here, and I'm not ready to do some airline guy just to get home. They're mostly gay anyway."

Ricky looked around alarmed.

"No, Auntie Gert, you're right! Course you are! See you then -- bu-bye!"

Ricky sighed with relief when she put her phone away.

"Mocha now?" he suggested. At least his cousin was bribeable as a cat.

Jack had worked over the holiday and now had two whole days off. He'd slept like a rock last night and not woken up until ten this morning and now - dressed in jeans and a black thermal - was sitting in the Mocha sipping a coffee and enjoying not having to unblock anyone's toilet for a couple days.

In the conservatory, Leo sat staring at his notebook. On his hard drive was most of a novel. He had no idea where it had come from, just that it was there, he had obviously written it and it was GOOD. Pity it wasn't finished.

He sighed. "No," he said, "why would anyone DO that?"

#

In the library Amarie sat and watched her new friend shelve some books. "So - a librarian," she said. "Pretty good job for someone who can't talk."

Barbara grinned at her then said, "Sssshhhh!"

#

In the garden Palug had found a warmish spot on the pedestal of the demon statue. He watched the maze - waiting to see if anything small and furry ran out.

#

Keira stood in the lobby waiting for her car and clutching her purse. Final fittings for her costume today, dress rehearsal on Thursday afternoon and evening, and then her first ever performance in the City of Tosca. She shouldn't be nervous - but she was.

#

Del used a skewer to dip a cherry into the dark chocolate and coated it with a twist of his wrist. He eased it off the skwere and put it on the baking parchement to dry then dipped another out of the brandy they had been soaking in for months. Christmas was coming! Time to get ready.

#

Up a ladder Nick painstakingly tightened the lamps in one of the chandeliers. "Try that," he said and Phil snapped the light on. It flickered and snapped back off again. "Bum," Nick said. "I've run out of bulbs. Can you fetch some?" Phil nodded and went.

It was going to be a big night on Saturday so Nick was getting some jobs done in anticipation. One of the biggest jobs was to polish the sprung floor of the ballroom and luckily he had a machine for that.

It purred as he followed it back and forth across the room. And incredibly boring job but luckily Nick preferred boredom to certain sorts of excitement any day.

The bed at the lakehouse was huge and incredibly comfortable and there were books and a tv and masses of pillows, so Charlie had dashed downstairs and made breakfast and carried it back, and then they had had a leisurely time catching up on the news both at home and in the UK.

Once they were fed and informed, THEN they could start the process of getting ready for a party. ( Read more... )

"Hey, it's Deacon. Charlie and I have decided we need a guys only weekend out at our lake house. Ya know what that means - skinny dippin', a little booze, a little smoke and a lot of fun. Just think of it as Deacon's House of Sin and you're invited. I'll email ya directions. Just come on out Saturday when you can get away and we'll be waitin'."