Morningstar Manor

Roxy was in the gym, running on the treadmill as she contemplated Spencer and his working late. She knew he had the responsibility of the whole store, but feeling like second place didn't sit well on her shoulders. It wasn't like she was expecting a whole lot, just some time with him after work to unwind and relax... At least it didn't sound like a whole lot of expectations when she mulled it over in her head.

*~*
Logan was sitting on a patch of dirt in the gardens, not really doing much of anything. He had a trowel and a flat of pansies beside him and Appa was napping in the shade. A bit more out of place was the white envelope on top of his backpack. It was regarding college and for now, he didn't want to open it.

~*~
Travis was taking in the sights of summer as he sat in the Mocha, laptop open as he pretended to put the finishing touches on his final paper for art history class. Truthfully, it was done; he'd finished it at Macy's after they'd discussed several of the pieces he had to include. She'd helped him quite a bit and for that he was grateful because this art history crap was boring to him.

*~*
Eve had today off and decided to spend it by the pool. She'd already gone for a swim so her hair was damp, but her body dry. That was the advantage of comfortable loungers, she thought as her eyes opened and she moved gingerly, hoping she hadn't gotten sunburned while she'd napped. Satisfied at the non crispy feeling, she sat up and ran her hand through her hair.

~*~
In the mail room, Tristan was contemplating how incredibly wrong the contents of his mailbox looked. He'd separated the junk into one pile, bills and other correspondence into another and stacked the magazines. Currently the latest issue of Parents was layered between Smashing and Maxim... With a chuckle he added Cosmo and thought about how that should make Rhiannon laugh when he got the mail to her. Hopefully she thought it was funny.

*~*
"Oh thanks, you're such a doll." Erin said with a broad smile to the doorman as she juggled a tote bag of groceries and Amelia's leash. "Come on hun; don't trip over your ears now." She said to the dog as she tried to hurry along. Callan would be home soon - if he wasn't already - and she hadn't so much as started dinner yet.

~*~
In the garage, Chad was juggling his own groceries as he listened to the message on his voicemail. He sighed as it ended, and he dropped his phone in the process of trying to close it up. "Damn." He swore lightly. Not because he'd dropped his phone, nor because he had to put things down to pick it up, but because Logan's grandparents had requested to have him for the summer, reminding Chad that the boy would be going off to college soon and he'd be on his own again. Chad wasn't sure if he was ready for Logan to be gone.

Saturdays, in general, were somewhat lazy days. The day of the week most Manorites were bustling about, getting done what was pushed off during the week. In that nature, there were quite a few residents milling around.

Memphis had taken his basket down to the laundry, dumped his clothes in the washer and fled off to the game room where he set up the pool table.

Travis was sitting in the Mocha, attempting to study a video lesson for his ASL class.

Also in the Mocha, turning the pages in a book, sat Chad. He looked like he was reading. Honestly, he was thinking about several things.

Logan and Appa were playing outside, taking advantage of the piles of leaves.

Just down the hall, Erin was in the process of collecting her mail.

Roxy had taken off to the roof, to lounge about in the hot tub and have a bit of a lazy afternoon.

In the garage, Eli was scrambling to get everything out of the trunk. He'd gone out and gotten groceries, to include dog food, which was a pain in the butt to juggle.

Between the elevators and a truck, Tristan was commanding a moving crew, overseeing the process of merging his and Rhiannon's apartments. Some things were going to storage Rhiannon had set up, other things were being moved to a storage room at his club. He made a mental note to follow up with the TA within the next week.

"Oh 'scuse me." Eve said to one of the movers as she slipped past with a messenger bag strapped across her shoulder. Figuring she should probably stay out of the boss's way, she went off to the back corner of the lobby to open her laptop and check her calendar for DeRossi appointments.

Ashlynn was humming softly to herself as she ran on the treadmill. The gym was not a place she'd ventured to often the last time she lived here, but it was pretty nice and quite convenient now.

Since Spencer had done the laundry yesterday, Roxy was sorting out the mail today. She opened up the box to find a smaller box, opened that one and enjoyed one of the chocolates in the box while sorting.

--
Erin was out in the garden with Amelia. It was breezy and she had her hands in the pockets of her jacket as the dog wandered about sniffing at the ground.

--
Tucked away in the library sat Logan, coffee in hand and Appa under the table as he worked on a paper due for History. He kept mixing up the dates and names of these events and it was starting to irritate him.

--
Travis had his laptop in the Mocha, browsing between costumes and potential birthday presents for Memphis. They both landed on the same day and both required attention, which was not one of Travis's assets.

--
Ashlynn sat in the laundry room, cup of hot chocolate growing cold on the washer beside her. She had her headphones in her ears and was singing along to something in French.

--
Memphis, as usual, was out in the garage spending some quality time with Lucy. He had a bucket of cleaning supplies out and was currently buffing the wheels with a power buffer. A soft whirr noise filled the air as he worked.

Memphis was out in the garage, looking over Lucy. He could have sworn there was a scratch on it the last time Travis had brought it home, but now it was gone. Something was either messing with him, or the boy had gotten it fixed. Either way, the scratch wasn't there now and Memphis was looking for evidence.

Travis had indeed scratched the precious red fender on Lucy, though his brother had taught him touch-up work at least. He'd fixed it out in Macy's driveway while she sat on the hood and talked to him. Once in the elevator he hit the button to take him up to the pool, though he was more interested in the roof, where Charlie had taken him previously.

Erin sat in the Mocha, curled up on the couch by the fireplace and reading a book. She was waiting for Callan to get home. He'd had some shoot to do at dusk and she didn't feel like being in the apartment alone since he'd taken Amelia with him.

Tristan was in the process of wading through business emails in his office when Dave tapped on his door. Once inside he handed Tristan a purple envelope and left again. Contemplating just exactly what this could mean, he set it aside. Picking up his phone he texted Rhi. When's the next baby appt again so I can make sure to go?

Chad was frustrated with the way everything had seemed to come down on his head. There had been another body found, a gruesome one that had been left for a while, and now the press had gotten hold of the story. He'd spent his afternoon taking turns being yelled at by the higher ups and being screamed at by worried City residents that called the station.

Logan had been down to get the mail and take Appa outside. He saw his father walk across the lobby as they came in. Knowing the look on his face, he decided it might be best to let him have space for a bit. But a nagging feeling crept over him and he headed off to Olivia's apartment. Things just weren't right around here and he was curious if she'd want to listen.

Roxy had been downstairs doing laundry this evening. Until the lights had flickered on her and gone out. Remembering what had happened the last time the lights flickered, she left everything where it was and went upstairs. From the lobby she texted Spencer to let him know she wasn't there anymore and went into the Mocha for some tea.

Eli was looking over some websites on his little laptop. It was a bit embarrassing for him, to be researching low sperm count and how to fix it, so he was in a back corner of the library. He kept glancing up periodically though, hoping that if somebody did come up to him, he wouldn't have to share what he was researching.

Roxy had arranged to get home early today, making sure she had enough time to prepare and surprise Spencer properly. When he walked in she was showered and dressed, had dinner keeping warm in the kitchen and had a cake in the fridge for afterward.

On his plate at the table was a wrapped up book, with a small box on top of it.

Roxy had gone by and picked up their photo prints on her way home from work. She'd gotten the mail and gotten home before him. Figuring he might be stuck in a meeting, she fed Indigo then pulled out their photo album to put pictures away.

Saturday, and not working was definitely a bonus. Spencer had been run off his feet getting the end of summer sales stuff sorted, and now, about mid afternoon, was thinking pleasant thoughts about dinner, and later on, and oh yes, he had a surprise for Roxy too....

"So I was thinking," he said from the sofa, remote in one hand, beer bottle in the other, "that we should go on a trip or something, but, I don't know, anywhere you really want to go, or would really rather not?"

He was hoping that there might be something, anything, on any one of the lord alone knew how many channels they had on the TV, but so far was coming up empty on interest. "And would you have any problem getting time off work?"

Chad was sitting in the laundry room, watching the clothes go around. He'd debated on going to see Olivia a few times, but hadn't made up his mind yet. The latest case in the department had him more concerned about her safety than before.

While he was downstairs, Logan and Appa played in the gardens. Logan was trying to teach the puppy to fetch. It seemed to be a one way road though. The puppy didn't ring the ball back. He'd chase it though, so that was a good start, right?

Travis was out in the garage. He had a bucket of water and some soapy sponges, giving Lucy a bath. It was usually Memphis's job, but if he could show his brother he was seriously taking care of the car, maybe he could use it? He plotted and planned taking Macy out again as he worked, whistling lowly.

Memphis had gone out to shop some in Vine Square. Currently he had a bag with some colored pencils, a sketch book, and a few different paint swatch booklets from the hardware store. His next stop was the book store, where he intended to pick up some magazines. If Jane wanted to work on the apartment, he would make sure she had material to work with.

Roxy sat in the Mocha, reading a letter from her sister. She sighed as she picked up her tea and sipped. There were soft pokings in the letter about children and Roxy didn't like that idea. Her sister wasn't her mother, and she'd live her life without dictation on what needed to be done.

Memphis was down in the laundry, trying to scrub some grease out of his shirt. He was rather pale looking without his shirt on, save for the coloring of his tattoos.

Logan had waited for Chad to get home before taking off down to the gardens, wondering if he'd see Emma and Lily as he tended to the small plot of garden he'd gotten last summer.

Travis sat at a corner table in the Mocha, more for the ability to see everything around him as he plunked away at the keys on his laptop. If somebody looked over at him he shifted a bit and moved off of the OK Cupid site he was browsing.

Roxy was in the mail room, sorting through the contents of her mailbox. Whatever company thought sending baby things as junk mail was nuts, she thought as she pulled a random baby magazine out of their stuff. Maybe it was mislabeled?

Roxy had planned out dinner, prepared what could be done ahead of time, and then refrigerated what needed to be kept cool. Spencer had said something about possibly having a late meeting, so she wanted everything easy to cook when he got home. Her hands had been full when she came home, so she decided to check the mail and now sat in the lobby, reading through a magazine, waiting for Spencer.

Eli was still on leave, and on the phone with his boss. Out in the garden he paced as he squared away some appointments for paperwork, explained vaguely what he had in his plans and begged for an extension on his leave. Sure, he had the time, but he needed the approval.

~*~
Travis was down in the laundry room, trying to find a cool place to wait. The floor was hard, but it was cool, and he sprawled out on it as he waited.

~*~
Erin had finished he shit at work and was settled in to the Mocha with some iced coffee thing. This was her weekend off and she was planning for her and Callan to go visit her parents. She smiled, considering that they would be taking his car and a Porsche in her father's driveway would be a first. They couldn't say he wasn't good enough for her this time.

~*~
Roxy was in the mail room, getting the mail for her and Spencer. She looked over the envelopes, a little worried that something would come up at a different store and Spencer would have to sort it out again.

It didn't require any sort of special ability to look around the Mocha and see which of this people wore the mark of his father. There was no one doing anything even particularly devious at the moment, but he could tell. It might've been something in the eyes, something he saw every day now when he looked in the mirror. His eyes met those of the blonde woman working the counter, so a product of his father that she might as well have had 'Vision' stamped across her forehead. His head tilted slightly and her expression went immediately from a sneer to blatantly adoring. He smiled. She blushed.

Poor, pathetic creature.

He looked away, this time to meet the eyes of a pretty woman, there seemed to be a lot of those here, and he let his smile brighten and appear more genuine as he gestured her in front of him. The moment she stepped in front of him he looked over her backside with blatant interest, dark eyes shining.

Oh, yes. This will do quite nicely...

Chad was throwing darts while he waited for his laundry to finish. Things had been a bit routine, monotonous, and that was starting to bother him.

Logan had holed himself away in the library to study for finals and not thinking about not going to his prom.

Memphis was bringing some groceries in from the garage. Enough to fill both hands and make the door a little troublesome to open, but if he needed he could handle it.

Erin had gone out to the gardens, laid a blanket down by the angel statue and opened up a new book. She laid in the sun reading until a shadow fell over her, then looked up.

Travis had gathered some things and gone into the Mocha. He was dreading the next two weeks and knew a little time to de-stress wasn't going to kill his grade point average. Or at least he hoped not.

Knowing that Harvey was better and Rhiannon was supposed to be resting, Tristan went to check his mailbox. He whistled as he sorted, then just shrugged at the purple envelope. It was about time... He thought to himself as he actually opened it.

Since today had been a nice day out, Roxy was coming in again from going out on a run. She'd stopped in the lobby to tie up her shoe when she felt a little dizzy and decided to sit instead of stoop.

New stock had come in today so instead of enjoying her lunch in the staff room, Jazz stood in the jewelery department, plastic salad box balanced in the center of one palm while she gestured vaguely with the hand holding the plastic fork and directed the setup of the new counter displays.

"Move the canary-drop earrings up next to the new necklace - yeah, right there, good." She gave Ray a thumb's up and then speared a cherry tomato with her fork.

Spencer had let her sleep the last Christmas they had spent here. He'd made her breakfast in bed too, so when she got up first, she slipped out of bed careful to not disturb him.

Indigo wound himself around her legs and she fed him, then finished up making breakfast. After she'd arranged coffee, eggs, toast and fresh fruit on a tray she took it in to their bedroom.

Travis was in the lobby, notebook open and scribbling notes as he sipped on his tea. This was the last bit of major homework before the Thanksgiving break and he had to get a good grade on it. Writing papers on cultural observation hadn't seemed this difficult last week...

Erin had gone down to check her mail. With the exception of a couple cuts and a slower paced stride, she didn't look much different than she had before her attack. She still had he ribs taped up though her limitations were starting to fade out into dull ache and not sharp pains.

Memphis and Demon were outside in the gardens. It was chilly enough to make Memphis want to be back home again. Pretty soon the snow was going to start swirling around and then he'd be outside even less. Demon brought him back the tennis ball and Memphis squatted down to retrieve it.

Chad was sitting downstairs, in the laundry room, his notebook of cases in his lap. Icene had forwarded evidence results to him and he was trying to figure out where these two serial muggers were staying. If he could catch them in another act then he'd have a solid case. Right now the case was only pieced together. It would be hit or miss to present it to a judge right now.

Roxy had her laptop open at a corner table in the Mocha. She knew that it wasn't Thanksgiving yet ad she shouldn't be looking at Christmas decorations yet, but she had offered to help Spencer out with the Michaels' Bro's Christmas party. She was looking forward to helping out with fun because he worked too hard and a helping hand could be a good relief.

Logan was avoiding the laundry by playing arcade games in the games room. He had to go back in an hour or so to help out with folding, but in the meantime he'd let his Dad grumble at a notebook and put in some pinball time in the process.

Eli was wandering around, dressed in jeans, a button down shirt and a sweater over top of that. For once he felt comfortable not in his uniform and he contemplated how things could go with taking Bea home. Nearly to the elevator in the lobby, he saw a door that wasn't marked. He didn't remember seeing it there before. Should he poke his head through to see what was on the other side?

Erin was bored and procrastinating. It didn't go well together, but she wanted to do something fun, not something she should be doing. Like laundry or tidying up around her apartment. She was wandering around instead.

~*~
Logan was out in the garden, pulling up all the plants that had died off because of the cold.

Chad sat on a bench in the sunlight, glasses over his eyes as he watched people pass by.

*~*
Travis was in the library, hunched over a table and doing some online shopping. Memphis's birthday was coming up and he needed to find something good after what he'd done.

~*~
In the garage, Memphis was cleaning out Lucy's interior. He hadn't noticed the scratch across the back bumper, but since it was getting cooler out he wasn't washing her as much.

*~*
Tristan was, as per usual on Thursday, dressed in his suit and winding his way through the lobby to head out to work. He hadn't buttoned his shirt fully, nor had he shaven since last Friday. It felt good to look a little less kept. Smiling to himself he decided a treat wouldn't be a bad idea and detoured into the Mocha.

*~*
Roxy had turned the treadmill on and set a distance for ten miles. Maybe by the time she was done with that some of her thoughts would be clearer.

~*~
Eli was sitting in the Mocha, pile of mail on the table in front of him. He sipped at his coffee as he read a rather long letter that contained a couple different style of handwriting on it. Family letters were always unpredictable and his brother had atrocious hand writing. He smiled still at the news of hometown football games and the fights that broke out as a result, then flipped the page over.

Riley's agent had once again volunteered him for an industry function this weekend and since he'd unable to come up with a decent excuse to get out of it, Riley was now in Michaels' Bros. men's department, trying to find something appropriate for such an occasion.

The black, perfectly fitted dress shirt he was on board for - but the pale, shimmering pink tie the female salesclerk brought over he wasn't so sure about.

In fact, as the woman draped it around his neck for him to 'appreciate' in the full length mirror, he stood so stiffly one might think she'd just tossed a live, particularly ill-tempered, boa constrictor about his shoulders.

~.~

It was only her second day back to work, but Jazz was definitely wondering if she should have milked her sick leave for another week.

The pretentious socialite that she'd been scheduled to meet with had not only been a half hour late, but had then taken almost two hours to make a decision as to which pair of earrings would go just perfectly with the one of a kind gown that, didn't Jazz know, had been designed just for her.

In the end the pampered princess decided to ignore Jazz's advice against the large, chandelier earrings that, combined with the heavily beaded top to the dress, was bound to make her look like a mint tinted disco ball, and Jazz was tired enough not to care. It wasn't until after the money had changed hands and the woman was putting on her new earrings ("Oh no, I want to wear them out!") that Jazz spoke up again, this time when the brat was throwing her old earrings - which were quite the stunners in their own right - into her purse. Loose.

"Oh, don't do that-" Too late, the earrings made a muted thunk as they sank into the bottom of the stylish clutch. "Here," Jazz held out a hand. "You shouldn't do that. I'll put them in a box for you."

The woman shrugged, but fished the earrings back out and handed them over, looking at Jazz like one might a small child.

Roxy was sitting in the Mocha, playing with her new phone and loving the fact that it was a worldwide capable phone. That meant that the next time she and Spencer went on an extended trip... Well she wouldn't really be wanting to take her phone then either.

~_~
Travis was sporting a Save second base tee shirt he'd picked up from the mail room, and had another with him as he walked down the hall to apartment L-E. He hadn't seen Amarie in a few days, so he was taking a guess that she'd be home.

_~_
Eli was downstairs, in the gym. He had on a pair of Army sweat pants and a black tank top. Lifting weights helped him think about things that were going on and he was thinking about Bea a lot.

~*~
Memphis was in the lobby, juggling around the couple bags of groceries with Demon's leash. "Hold on dog, we'll get there and then I'll feed you." He grumbled lightly.

*~*
Chad was trying to take his Sunday easily, having been swamped at work with the recent activities at Rutherford. His phone buzzed and he opened it up, opening up the video message that'd been sent. Listening to it he wondered just what was going on with cops now.

^-^
Logan was outside in the garden, tossing a ball around with Lily and waiting for her to bring it back.

-^-
Erin was in the laundry room with a load of coloreds in one machine and a load of whites in another. Now the only thing to do was find something to occupy her time until they needed to be swapped to the dryer.

--
Tristan had moseyed his way upstairs, to the pool, and currently sat in the hot tub. It was a nice warm welcome to the contrasting temperatures soon to come, and he didn't really want to get out any time soon.

Erin was curled up on a couch in the Mocha, sipping on hot chocolate and contemplating the past couple days with Niles. She hadn't seen ghosts around here at all, even when others next to her swore there as one standing in front of her. Maybe she was the crazy one but then again she wondered if they existed to only those people believing in their existence.

*~*
Logan was siting in the Mocha as well, looking out into the garden. He didn't have anything productive to do today and that just made it seem longer of a day overall. He needed to find something to do before boredom took away his brain.

~*~
Chad was downstairs, working in the gym. He had the treadmill set at steady six miles per hour and was jogging along steadily.

*~*
Memphis was in the library, checking on some books about cooking. He wanted to find a recipe that was new and not one Jane had given him to try out next weekend.

~*~
Roxy was downstairs in the laundry room, tossing clothes into two of the machines. There had been a laundry facility at one of the hotels on their adventure, but it had been the one in the middle. Just meant they'd brought home a large amount of laundry, which she was doing now.

*~*
Travis was sitting in the lobby, notebook in hand jotting down random fact about the people who walked by. He was grinning, because this was actually homework he didn't mind doing.

~*~
Tristan had gone down to the Gallery 290, where Emma worked, to see if he could find something new he liked. Having gone with Anastasia last night, he picked up a piece but it was staying in his office. It didn't fit with the black and white prints already on his walls that seemed to be missing something. Maybe he could find it here.

*~*
Eli was up at the pool. His jello stain marks had come off now so he was willing to be out where people could see him. Wandering over to the edge he looked out on the City. This place sure had a good view, that was certain.