Morningstar Manor

Things had been looking up, for the most part. Stone was finishing up school. He'd redone his store to sell less CDs, more vinyl and a good selection of instruments rather than letting it fall by the wayside. He'd hired a few more cooks for his restaurant, people who understood the idea that there was no set menu and it was pay what you want and were creative enough to handle it. Mostly he just wanted time to finish his classes and still be able to hang around at Upstairs, or wherever else, with Lara. He'd spent the last few months tapering off his shrink visits, which freed up even more time, and he was in a pretty good place mentally.

Currently, he and Lara were having a night in. It wasn't so weird anymore, being all normal couple-y with her. They bounced from one of their apartments to the other every few days or every other day. That part, he thought anyway, was getting a little irritating, if only because sometimes he tended to leave things at her place that he forgot about and then couldn't find, or he'd be at her place and want something from his. It wasn't like their apartments were far apart, but he'd started thinking that maybe they should just suck it up and consolidate. After stopping by her store to walk her home, they'd made and consumed dinner and cleaned up their mess. Slate was passed out on his back at the foot of the bed, legs sticking out in all crazy directions, purring off and on. Stone was seated in the recliner to the left of the bed, his acoustic guitar set up on the ottoman as he set about restringing it while Lara worked on her laptop on the bed. Stone glanced at her every now and then, contemplating possibly bringing up the idea of moving into one of their apartments together.

"What're you working on?" He asked to get a conversation going, not that he minded just sitting in silence with her at this point. In fact it was kind of comfortable to do so.

( E-mail to Lis )

( E-mail to Lara )

Phin was nervous. He had listened to Bridget's suggestion and had readily agreed to try the whole...shrink thing. Initially, he'd been shocked when Bridget suggested (insisted even) that he actually spend his recovery after the hospital at the actual Manor Pandigaeshik apartment. He'd told her initially that she didn't need to do that but had given in because it meant being able to see the kids, and not only that but she seemed more receptive. Part of him hadn't wanted to use that to his advantage but a bigger part was desperate enough to do so. Also, he had been sure that he really had nowhere else to go but his own apartment. Obviously Billie only had a dorm, and his parents wouldn't be very receptive to having him invade their space, and his brothers were both in high school, so.

( Couples therapy. To be continued in comments. )

Stone wasn't supposed to meet Lara for another couple of hours, but he had a surprise lined up for her, sort of. It was kind of an impromptu surprise really. So he pulled his phone out of his pocket after hiding part of the surprise in his backseat, hidden under a couple of blankets he'd brought along since Lara was so damn cold all the time. Anyway, he hopped in his car in its parking spot in the alley next to his store and dialed Lara's number. He turned the car on and the radio down as he waited for her to pick up.

Stone had a long day on Tuesdays. He had a Music of World Cultures class at eight in the morning, then he opened his store at ten and spent the entire day catching up on paperwork. He left Alyssa the store for the last two hours at seven o'clock and went home. After setting up some stuffed shells in the over and a pot of sauce for them on the stove, he went to the living room to go over more paperwork, this set for the corner cafe he was still working on getting ready for construction, and waiting for Lara. She was supposed to come over after work. After a half hour he plugged his iPod into its iHome and set it to random.

And then he heard a crashing sound in the kitchen. Slate had managed to knock over the sauce he had set out on the stove. Thankfully, it hadn't been heating, but the deformed little cat was now covered in the sauce, having practically rolled around in it as he started licking it up from the floor. Though he knew cats cleaned themselves and you weren't really supposed to bathe them all that often, it was his only real option for how dirty Slate now was. First he cleaned up the pot and the floor, then he set up the sink without the garbage disposal in it, with a few inches of water. He picked up Slate, who was happily licking alfredo sauce from his fur, and checked the water to make sure it was warm before he started using a little tin measuring cup to scoop up warm water and started cleaning the sauce off. Slate was not a happy camper once water was involved. In fact by the time he heard the door, he was in the middle of still trying to bathe Slate and he had three scratches along his hand and arm.

"I'm too tired for this, cat," He sighed before he turned his head and called out that the door was open. He grabbed the little hose from the sink and held Slate in one hand as he pressed the button down to make the shower of water come out to rinse Slate off.

( Stone and Lara are awkward babysitters until Bridget's Brother and almost Sister-In-Law arrive. )

( Summary: Frustrated Phin keeps a crew on to work at night so he has something to do in his restlessness. There's a collapse at the site that traps Phin under a mountain of debris after sending him falling two stories. Phin's construction partner goes to retrieve Bridget since Phin's asking for her. Panda sappiness ensues. )

Re: Hallowe'en

Dear Mr Hawthorne,

As usual the Manor will be hosting a costume ball at Hallowe'en and we are trying to organise live entertainment. This year, rather than offering the gig to bands from outside the Manor, we have decided to ask some of the resident musicians if they would be prepared to play a short set.

We would not, of course, expect you to give up your time for no financial recompense.

Please let me know if Stone's Throw would be interested in playing.

Yours

Charlie Shaw.

Stone was exhausted. He knew he probably shouldn't have been, but he felt like his day was dragging on and on. In order to shift more focus onto the new building he owned next door to his store so he could get everything renovated and up and running, he'd decided to promote Alyssa and Randy so they could assume as much of the daily responsibilities as possible for is music store. This was for the time being anyway and Stone would still have to stop in daily anyway, but it was right next door and for now he was going to be working out of the record store anyway until everything was renovated. Regardless, today he'd met Alyssa early in the store around nine in the morning to start going through her new responsibilities with her. After the store had opened, he'd gone to do inventory and let her work in the store front area.

He'd had a lunch meeting with his lawyers to go over some of the tax and legal papers for his new cafe venture. He had run ideas by them and had asked them to draw up papers on the tax codes, permits and other regulations that would be necessary for what he was planning. After he'd returned to his store, he'd finished up the daily paperwork and then had called it a day. He'd returned to the Manor and met Poe in the apartment, to help her carry some of her lingering possession from his apartment to the garage to load it in the back of his car. After making sure that she had someone who was going to help her carry the boxes once she got to her apartment, he let her take his (beloved) Xterra with the promise that she'd return it the next day. Once all of this was finished, Stone went to the Mocha to get some coffee and a couple of cheese danishes. He chatted on the phone for half an hour with his half sister Cassidy, listening to all about how camp was going now that she was old enough to be a counselor to the younger kids. Finally, he put his phone away and settled in. He lifted up his Danish but was interrupted before he could take that first bite. Damnit.

Stone showed up at Lara's place a little early to wait for her. He'd ordered them some food from Agrarian, including veggie dip, and had carted it back to the Manor to wait, leaning against her door. He was just about to pull his phone out and text her when he saw her step off the elevator and start up the hallway. "Hey," He said once she was closer, lifting his hand to wave as he smiled. "How was work?" He asked.

Stone made it to the hot tub slower than Lis because Slate wasn't finished eating. He brought some of Slate's toys with him as well as a towel and his iPod with its little speaker plugged into the top. He smiled as he approached with Slate in one arm, his towel, iPod and keys in the other and his bathing suit and flip flops on. "Hello Wife of mine." He smirked.

To: Mrs. Lis Rhodes-Hawthorne
From: Stonewall
Subject: My Dearest Wifey

Wifey, my dear, it has come to my attention that all of our visits as of late consist of you bringing Bacon to have a, what is it called...'play date' with young master Slate. While I approve of these bonding sessions between the children, I find shameful the lack of our formally frequent bubble bath chats. This matter, I'm afraid, must be remedied immediately.

~ Stonewall

( Lara's Major Douchebag is quite the little housewife. )

Stone was still feeling bummed about what happened at the hospital with Lara a few days ago but he was doing his best to ignore it so he didn't have to think about it anymore. This was why he was in the Mocha. Well, actually he was in the Mocha because when he'd gotten in from work he'd wanted some coffee and something to eat but didn't feel like making anything. He also hadn't felt like lugging his laptop down there with him so he'd wound up with a big pile of papers in front of him. They were about the shop next to his. He'd put in a bid to the landlord to buy the rest of the building from her. Unfortunately, she was out of town so he had to wait until the beginning of next week until he'd know if the bid was accepted.

Until that came about, he had time to try and figure out just what the fuck he was going to do with the rest of that building. And this was where the paperwork came in. He was trying to read up on the by laws and permits he'd need depending on what he'd do with it. He was contemplating possibly doing something food-related with the place. Why not, right?

Yet another evening delayed by a hospital visit. After Lara's derby bout, Stone drove her to the hospital. She was pretty sure her wrist wasn't broken, but the on-call medical people at the game told her she should get it checked out anyway.

"This is gonna take forever," she sighed once they were in the waiting room.

'Don't spend it all at once,' the email had said.

But really, it wasn't as if he was buying a dead rapper's mansion or something. Ricky had had his eye on the object of his dreams for a while, and now, knowing there was enough money to bolster him for a bit, he went and pounced on it.

So, this Saturday afternoon, there was a roar in front of the Manor, and Ricky arrived in style -- helmet-less, on a used classic Harley! He parked his less-than-gleaming vehicle on the sidewalk for the moment and wandered in to find somebody from the staff that would tell him where to put it in the garage.

To while away the waiting, he got himself a coffee from the Mocha and was hanging about the lobby, coffee in hand and happy to babble off at everybody. Oh, and drag them outside to admire and worship the Harley!

Lara had told Ricky about a week ago that flyers were going to go up for the Landlocked City Rollers next bout on Saturday, but Lara only received the flyers Tuesday morning. That didn't leave a lot of time, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

Her team assigned her the general Vine Square area for poster plasterage, and Lara dragged Stone along to help her out. He was tall, he could put the posters up in higher spots. Or something.

They stopped by the noticeboard and Lara handed him the stack of papers as she grabbed some thumbtacks. "So I heard there's going to be a Flight of the Navigator remake," she commented with a glance in his direction.

Stone was bored. He'd taken the day off from working since he'd finished his paperwork for the week the dsy before. He'd planned on taking Poe to lunch but she'd said she had class and then some club meeting. He'd sent Lara a couple of texts but figured she was busy and he had no idea where Lis might be.

All of this amounted to the reason that Stone had hooked Slate up into the little blue harness leash that Poe or Lis he didn't know which, had gotten for him to bring him outside. He took the growth stunted kitten out to the garden to play around in the grass since it was nice out. Eventually, Stone sat down in a patch of grass and hookes the leash around his ankle. He kept an eye on Slate as the cat chased around a particularly extra fluttery butterfly.

Stone's birthday present for Lara was a redo of their attempted getaway in the fall/winter. He'd even suffered and flew commercially in business class to keep her from getting all uppity at the private jet. They were, however, utilizing the Hawthorne penthouse in the Venetian. This one was legally Stone's, so there was at least not chance of Patience or Gibson being granted access. Anyway, they'd been in town for a few days, gambling, seeing shows, stuffing themselves and taking advantage of the warm dry weather. They'd even escaped injury so far!

After dinner tonight though, they'd split up to go do some gambling. By sometime around midnight, Stone had lost a little over twelve grand at the poker tables. He'd managed to win about three thousand back at the craps tables but then had decided he wanted to see how Lara was fairing so he started searching for her. He was pretty sure she'd be somewhere around the blackjack tables, which had been where he left her since she dug the game. So he started in that direction, looking for an excitable possibly drunk small blonde woman as he went.

Stone was frustrated. He was sitting on the bench of the piano in the ball room, sheet music sitting in front of him, his arm sling on the floor next to him, and his shoulder sore as hell. His stitches had been removed the day before but he still had to keep a piece of gauze taped over his shoulder blade since it was still scabbed and apparently not done healing itself up. Oh, and his assignment was to compose a piece between five and ten minutes long, to be performed in the Rutherford theater at the end of the semester at, that's right, a recital-type event. Talk about embarrassing. Not only that but Lis was hanging with him today so he was feeling particularly embarrassed and also was suffering from writer's block at the moment. He let out a groan and leaned over to drop his forehead on the keys, which let out a not so melodic set of notes. "...Why couldn't they let me write a regular song so I could have this done already..." He sighed.