Morningstar Manor

Anastasia was the first one in the Mocha that morning. She hadn't slept well last night, and now she was slowly nursing her second cup of coffee, attempting to wake herself up. Fir the first time ever, she was strongly considering getting a hobby that didn't involve art in some way, shape or form.

Isabella was sitting in the lobby in a gray dress, reading over the newspaper as she waited for the car that her client was sending to pick her up to arrive. It wasn't anything new. In fact, it'd become sort of customary on these initial meetings that her client attempt to subconsciously show off the sort of money they had to throw around. Despite all that, she was starting to despise these initial meetings more and more, simply because she didn't really know the people she was going to meet. 

Olivia had been sitting in the Mocha, but when her cell phone rang and she saw her father's number, she'd decided to move herself out into the gardens where there was less opportunity for eavesdroppers. Billy had gotten in trouble in rehab again, because establishments like that tended to look down on their patients being in possession of a few eight balls of cocaine and a prescription bottle of Oxycontin that wasn't theirs. Her father seemed to bounce back and forth between being pig-headedly hard on Billy and giving him everything he wanted. Right then he was in a 'give him everything' mood and spent fifteen minutes rationalizing why Billy was stealing other people's pain pills. Olivia sat down on the bench after she hung up and ran a hand over her face and strongly considered taking up smoking.

Sterrin was laying on her stomach on a large beach towel in the garden a good ways away from the usual garden activities. She was wearing a blue and white bikini, and beside her on the ground was a bottle of water and a pair of big silver sunglasses. Life right now was extra boring since she'd gotten Micah as a babysitter any time she left the Manor and when she'd managed to elude him, Declan had been right there waiting. She got the worry, she really did. She' just didn't like feeling - caged.

Kate was in the library standing on a stool and fighting off the shivers that kept shooting up and down her spine. It was a wonderful library. So many interesting books! However it was mostly empty. When a second shiver shot up her spine and she turned around to see who was watching her and found no one there, she had to wonder if that feeling might be the reason why.

"...you want nacho chips with cheese or salsa?" Brian called from the kitchen. It was snack and TV time, just hanging with his girl. Best time of the week, so far as he was concerned.

Isabella was in Sanctuary Tuesday night with a bunch of her girls  wearing a peach dress, strappy heels, and so drunk that she was contemplating taking up smoking. She was having an amazing time, though, which was all thanks to the chemical alteration of alcohol, but that was okay. A good time was a good time, right? And she needed a good time right now like she needed nothing else. Thankfully she was a pretty classy drunk, so if tales of her shenanigans reached Micah he wouldn't have to be embarassed.

***

Seamus stood at the bar in the Lamb, leaning over a bit as a regular named Mac told him all about how is ex wife used to pose naked for him.

"I gots a whole calendar a nothin' but her titties, son. That was back in the day when titties were nice and real." He cupped his hands in the air to demonstrate, to which Seamus earnestly nodded.

"Fuckin' A," he said, looking impressed. "Did ya hear that?" he asked the guy sitting next to Mac. "A whole bloody calendar of World War II era tits. They should put that shit in a museum or somethin'."

***

Kate sat in the mocha with a pair of black framed reading glasses perched on her nose while she glared at her lap top. All the work she did last week, all the research concerning cancer, was being discarded for another project to cure FRECKLES.

FRECKLES.

Drew stood in line in the Mocha, fresh from work but not in his operating scrubs. Instead he wore jeans and a comfortable white t-shirt, and he was fairly certain he looked as tired as he felt. His day off started right now, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get to sleep right away.

Anastasia moved through the lobby of the Manor fresh from her studio, her hands and dress covered in paint, her stride slower and just entirely different than usual. Later, she wouldn't remember this. She wouldn't remember the people that she talked to or the things she did, because in that moment, Anastasia was someone else entirely. She turned to smile at someone, all teeth, her eyes cold, and the man she smiled at looked away. She laughed and it wasn't her laugh at all. How lovely.

Declan sat just outside of the Mocha on a bench in the garden, smoking and looking up at the sky.  One hand rested in his lap and was clenched in anger, but he was attempting to work through it. One of his partners had quit today to go work for Playboy because "it was a good, honest magazine that didn't pander to queers." Good riddance if he felt like that. Declan was just pissed that he hadn't had the chance to fire him first.

Bea had decided to take Pippa for a walk in the park since it was such a lovely day, and right in that moment she was sitting on a bench watching as Pippa tried to coerce a gaggle of geese into playing with her. Ther was a series of loud squawks and Pippa came running back to Bea with her head down and her ears flat. "No such luck, huh girl?" Bea said with a laugh as she leaned down to pet her dog. She felt almost weird, like she was being watched, but that was likely just leftover nerves from the creep at the signing. Right?

Kate was walking home from the labs, enjoying the sunshine despite the fact that it was a long walk. Her car was in the shop and it was such a nice day that she hadn't bothered with a cab. Across the street there were a group of boys on skateboards and one shouted at her, then made an obscene gesture involving his crotch. Her brow furrowed. That didn't seem like the way to attract a woman to her, but men, especially young ones, were such curious creatures.

Rhiannon stood in the window of NOIR as she outfitted a mannequin in leopard-print lingerie that she'd just gotten in this morning. She was taking a stab at a line of lingerie, and she needed to pimp it out big time if she wanted it to do good. 
"I'm telling you, girl," Lee said from the cash register at the front. "Let me model that shit. I can stand in the window and look good all day."

"Hard to find a pair of panties that would do an ass like yours proper justice, Lee," she replied absently, but with an amused smile. Best way to get Lee off of a silly idea was to stroke his already pulsating ego.

Lee, quite predictably, preened. "You know, you might be right."

"Ahhh, well,fuck." Dermot said this morosely, watching Molly wiggle her way across the room without even a glance in his direction. "Seems as though she doesn't care for knock knock jokes, brudder."

They'd cut out of work early to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, and now walked along the River. He was thinking of buying an ice cream cone before he had to head back to take Gram to her pilates class.

Kate walked into the lab with a new guy flanking her. He stuck close which annoyed her, but seemed eager to do the job.
She was glad she'd be handing him off to Dr. Banks when he got back from vacation. But for now, he needed to be trained.

"Mr. Johnson," she called, even as she warmed at the sight of Brian. "This is Mr. Lance. You'll be training him. He's going to be Dr. Banks' assistant."

She'd barely seen him all day, she'd been in meetings, and now it was almost nine o'clock and he still wasn't there.

Not that she could blame him. Who wanted to  sign up for something like this every day? For someone like her everyday?

Still feeling just a little disappointed, she went to start dinner.

Anastasia sat at a table shifting through her sketch book with a wrinkle between her brows. Her sketchbook was full of small, intricate paintings that once again, she didn't remember doing. What the hell was going on?

Niles sat sprawled out on a couch, fiddling with his new iPhone and writing a happy song on the iPhone's piano app. Things were good. So good, in fact, that he didn't even notice the pretty, but sad looking blonde woman that flickered in and out of sight beside him.

Isabella sat at a table staring at a slip of paper in front of her. It was a prescription for prenatal vitamins handed to her by her doctor this morning when she'd gone to confirm that the three pregnancy tests she'd taken on her lunch break Monday morning weren't lying.
She was pregnant. She didn't think she'd be a good mother. How could she bring a baby into her life where there would be so many people, like her father and Max, to protect it from?
But oh, a baby. Micah's baby. Smiling just a little, she put a hand on her stomach and tried to figure out how she was going to tell him.

Smith stood in line, staring at the back of someone's head that was in front of him. Man, he really didn't like that guy. It probably even showed on his face, not that he gave a shit.

Bea sat at a table with her laptop open in front of her, composing a blog for her website. She'd made her website more interactive and started blogging, which seemed to be going over well with her fans. There were some bizarre ones, but weren't there always?

Declan sat at a corner table on his phone, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "Well, I can't crap out a deal for him, Mike. Tell him to call back after lunch and I'll give it a try." He hung up, but smiled to himself. He was still in too good of a mood from last night.

Olivia sat on one of the couches, idly flipping through a tabloid. Things were so different from the times when she'd been in these things constantly, she realized. That was a good thing, though.

Sterrin stood in line, ignoring everything around her as she shifted through some pictures on her phone. She hoped she never lost this anywhere, or at least hoped that with all of technology's advances they'd invent a self-destroy option for the phone soon for when people did.

Drew was in line as well, and he could feel eyes on the back of his head. When he turned around, he saw Laura's serial killer looking boyfriend giving him a stare down. He faced the front again and sighed internally. Awesome.

Kate sat at a table sipping cofffee and countng the chocolate chips in her cookie. This was supposed to be a double chocolate chip cookie, but it seemed average to her. "False advertising," she muttered to herself with a frown.

Rhiannon sat at a table with Harvey who'd decided he was going to wear an Optimus Prime helmet all day. He pushed it up just far enough to take a bite of his cookie and Rhiannon smiled as she flipped through a magazine, attempting to think of an idea as to what to fix for dinner tonight since her boyfriend was coming over. Boyfriend. It still made her feel a little giddy.

"Yeah, so anyway, I was like, totally wasted." This came from Lisa, the tiny blonde intern from the bio department. She was wearing impossibly high heels and still only came up to Brian's chest. "It was awesome!"

"Sounds like it," Brian said non-committally, pouring coffee for himself and for Kate.

"Your boss has you fetching coffee?" Lisa asked. "Wow, that's harsh."

He laughed. "Nah."

Lisa chattered on and on. And on. And on. It took Brian a few minutes to realize it, but she was like, totally hitting on him.

Huh.

Brian's stomach was rumbling, starving, and everything on the menu looked good. Not as good as Kate, seated across from him, did. "What do you want to order?"

It was a Monday in the truest sense of the word, Kate decided as she watched her boss prowl around her lab. She didn't know why Ed felt like he had to periodically stop in and just... Touch everything.

He ran his fingers over the vials, leaving orange smudges from the cheese curls he'd apparently eaten earlier. He went through her files that were so neatly organized and then replaced them wherever he felt like, paying no attention to her system and leaving those nice and smudged too.  He paced, scratching at the psoriasis on his elbows and Kate tried not to look at what fell off. It was utterly disgusting.She itched to take them from his hands and just push him out the door, then bring a full hazmat team in and start all over.

By the time he left, her head ached, there were grooves in her palms from where her nails had dug in, and she was in a considerably bad mood. Mouth thin, she went immediately for the Lysol and got to work.

He'd come in early to be sure he got there before she did.

Coffee on her desk.
Afternoon snacks in the drawer.
Lunch preordered, delivered, in the fridge.
And every single vial and file alphabetized, color coded and sorted precisely the way she wanted.

She'd managed to avoid him since the - incident - last week, but she knew she'd see him today.
She wasn't prepared and she had no idea what any of it meant.

Kate could understand the appeal of pot, even though this was her first time dabbling in it.

The joint Brian had brought for them was a little wrinkled, like he'd been holding on to it for a while and he'd acted like she was about to scold him at the dinner table when he'd presented it to her, but still - it was good.

Now laying on her back on the floor in the star-gazer lab with the exhaust fan on and the stars projected on the ceiling, she couldn't stop laughing.

"What do you see?" she said, laughing harder. "What shape do you see right there?"

Dated January 22, 2010

Mr. Johnson,

This is a list of tasks that are to be completed by Tuesday at the latest.  I will check on your progress on Monday night.

- K.R.

1. All file cabinets in my office are to be dusted with lemon-scented Pledge and the handles wiped down with sanitizer. Use the Lysol foaming spray and allow it to sit on the handles for at least three minutes before wiping away. Pay attention to any stray globs of sanitizer on the surface of the cabinets. If there are any, see that they are cleaned in the correct fashion.

2. All folders in the cabinets are to be changed from plain manila to a color-coded system. Red folders for projects that are in progress and due within the month, yellow folders for projects that are in progress but have up to three months, green for in progress but up to six months, and blue for completed projects.

3. File the folders with a color to each drawer, then by date and finally alphabetically.

4. Label each folder on the tab clearly and in black ink with the project name and number. 

5. Look at the papers on the inside. There are to be no paper clips, bent edges, or unreadable notes. If there are paper clips on a set of notes that is no more than three pages - staple the pages. If  it is more than three pages, use a three-hole punch and fasten the notes neatly in a separate report cover. If a report cover must be used, type up a cover sheet using Times New Roman 14 point font briefly detailing what the notes pertain to. If there are bent edges, copy the notes neatly onto another sheet of paper that is not creased in any way. Repeat the last step if the notes are in any way unreadable. White-out is not acceptable.

Things would be much easier if she could remember which direction home was. And if these damn shoes weren't substituting for stilts.

Kate stopped to glare down at her cherry red heels in the middle of crossing the street from the Lamb, the noise of the party continuing on behind her, and jumped back when a black Buick appeared out of nowhere and almost hit her.

"Assface," she murmured as she stumbled a bit, mostly from the shoes instead of the abundance of alcohol she'd consumed, or at least that's what she told herself.

They'd worked all morning in silence, Kate (he should stop thinking of her as Kate, it was really better to call her Ms. Robinson) studiously ignoring him. That could be okay, actually, so long as he got the list.

The list.

Heat flushed through him for a moment before he pushed it aside.

She'd been working far too long. In fact, she hadn't even went home last night. She'd just slept a few hours where she could squeeze it in and gotten straight back to work. She didn't have to work like this, she was choosing to. Something about the episode with Brian yesterday had left her - unsettled - and she had no idea why. Working kept her mind off of it. Mostly.

Rubbing at one bleary eye, she rested her forehead against her palm and contemplated catching another hour. She contemplated so hard that her eyes closed invouluntarily and she was sleeping...

 

 

Mr. Johnson,

This is a list of tasks you must complete to the letter by this evening. When I am done with my meetings I will check on your progress.

- K. R.

1. All vials in the West laboratory are to be organized alphabetically, then numerically and by specimen color.

2. All vials are to be relabeled. Red labels for time sensitive, yellow labels for in progress, and green labels for completed. All labels should be marked in black ink with comprehensive handwriting.

3. Once the vials are organized and put away, all counter tops and tables are to be washed with bleach, rinsed, then cleaned with disinfectant and wiped down with a sterilized towel. You can find them in the third cupboard to the right under the sink.

4. All eye pieces for the microscopes are to be cleaned then sterilized. Check the lenses for any sort of smudges or milky residue left by the disinfectant. If there are any, see that they are handled.

5. All unused petrie dishes and those whose specimens are no longer needed are to be cleaned, sanitized, then dried upside down on a sterile towel.

6. Finally, all reports for this week are to be formatted with 1 inch tabs, 10 point spacing after and line spacing at exactly 25 points. Also, please use 14 point Times New Roman font. Bullets should be used where they can and be mindful of spelling and grammatical errors.