Morningstar Manor

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?

"Oh I see," Andy said, phone to her ear as tapped away one handed on the desk keyboard. "No - no, I understand. Well give her our best wishes for a speedy recovery."

She made comforting noises, said goodbye then scowled as she put down the phone and ticked off another name from the staff list.

"Collette not available?" Sean said. "I thought she looked ill on Tuesday."

"Flu," Andy said with a sigh. "Ah well I'm sure we'll manage."

Collecting the mail was a routine job, as was standing by the bins and jettisoning the junk mail.

"Honestly Jerry," Leo said, dumping a flyer about a skate park, "if you know we're going to throw them away why do you put them in our mailboxes."

Jerry grinned and continued to slip brightly coloured rubbish into the slots and Leo sighed, knowing he'd be getting some of those eventually.

Erik was deeply involved in - something. Whatever it was, seemed to involve playing the same ten bars of notes with minor variations. After an hour Andy picked up her laptop and a spare battery and headed down for the relative peace and quiet of the Mocha to answer emails and mess around on the net.

From time to time she chuckled.

Miss Clapton really was a splendid librarian, for all her translucency! All Leo had to do was express an interest in a particular book and in a week or so it would be there. It had become a bit of a game actually. Tuchman's 'A Distant Mirror' had been no problem and she had even manage a copy of Salter's 'Castles of Kent' but he had really thought he was pushing his luck when he asked for the Luttrell Psalter.

He settled in his seat, opened the huge book on his knee and smiled as Miss Clapton walked away, stocking seams arrow straight above her stiletto heels. He watched her, knowing that she expected him to, knowing that she would check, and seeing no reason why he shouldn't admire a very lovely rear even if he could see a desk through it. Then he began to look at the pictures and puzzle out the latin under his breath.

Roxy had managed to avoid nearly everybody for the past week. With the air conditioning being broken and Spencer wrangling home a portable unit from the store, she'd spent nearly the whole week there besides working. It was rather comfortable, and in such manner, she'd kept to the routine of that week.

Which meant going to and from his apartment, not hers.

Thankfully, she didn't have any pets or houseplants to be concerned with. Just probably a fridge needing to be emptied and restocked... It also meant she hadn't checked her mail. The conveniences of online bill paying made it somewhat silly to even have a mail box, since she hardly ever got anything else.

She emptied her mail box into her arms and plopped the stack of bills and advertisements on to the table in the mail room. Might as well sort it out here and cart less up to the apartment, right? She thought. As she heard the door open she smiled and looked up.

Travis was getting tired of this working half a day and being sent home business. So what if he didn't want to fix a stupid piece of junk Toyota truck? It's not like he had any part of himself personally invested and it wasn't like he had bills of his own to pay yet.

He'd learned, through eavesdropping, that there was a balcony on the seventh floor. Wondering how the security was there and if a fire escape was handy, he wandered off to see for himself.

( Girltalk on the phone )
After the phone call Emily felt strangely lightened - she had not been talking about those thoughts and feelings to anyone, and now vocalizing her worries made her feel a little better, as if her mind had rearranged itself while she had been talking with Jenny.

She gathered her bag, put her dark long hair on a loose ponytail, said bye to Wayne, and finally picked up her scooter helmet and checked herself from the mirror. She made a mental note to keep her knees together while driving or the short denim skirt would show everything. She left her apartment and stepped into the elevator from the seventh floor and pressed the button for the lobby.

It was Logan's weekend to do laundry. Chad had cleaned up from dinner, but cleaning up after sandwiches wasn't much of a task. He washed the table ware and glasses, then gathered his notes on the cases and headed for the laundry room. It had to be cooler in the basement than it was on the sixth floor.

Logan had already loaded the laundry in two machines. Colored laundry in one and mostly towels in the whites load. Setting the machines to do the work and knowing he had at least fifteen minutes to go before having to toss the clothes in the dryers, he headed to the games room. The pinball machine had been calling for him all day today.

Saturdays were a day of being lazy. The heat helped everybody else feel that too, Memphis concluded as he decided Demon needed to be somewhere he wouldn't leave drool patterns. He'd jabbed at Travis enough to have the boy go with them down to the garden, even if he was still being sourly mopey.

Now, Travis was laying under a tree in a shady spot as Memphis bounced a tennis ball on the walkway. Demon, panting under a bench, simply stared at him like he was stupid for thinking that ball would be fetched.

Memphis whistled and looked curiously at Demon. "Wanna play fetch or should I just play catch with Travis?"

Logan wasn't one to bask in the air conditioning, but living in Texas had him used to it's comfort. Now the system seemed to be out everywhere in the building! Figuring it might be cooler outside, he donned a pair of shorts and tank top, then headed for where he hoped was a breezy place. Maybe, if he worked on an argument, he could convince Dad that they needed to go someplace for dinner tonight.

Sitting on a bench, in the shade of the angel statue, he flipped open his notebook and tapped the pen against the paper.

By mid afternoon Ang had been grumpy. The air con failing had not been a good thing, and now she was not just overheated, she was agitated and seriously at risk of stressing out. So she'd taken the opportunity of sneaking out while Alec walked Faith. Oh she'd left a note "Gone to the pool to float" stuck to the fridge.

Now she was floating peacefully in the middle of the pool, enjoying the fact that the water felt cool against her skin, and that although there were other people about the pool itself was not so crowded that she felt awkward just floating about in it. Of course, just occasionally she stopped floating and swam a couple of laps, because exercise when pregnant was still important. At the end of one lap she stopped, hanging on the edge of the pool at the deep end, and watched some of the other people having fun in the water.

Summer meant more time to work and more time to work meant more money. And Casey was definitely a fan of more money, especially with college coming up. (Okay, so Daniel was helping pay for college, and there were scholarships, but it'd be nice to actually have money to buy, y'know, stuff.)

So it was a cheerful Casey that was behind the register, tapping her fingers along to a song that'd been stuck in her head for most of the day so far.

Erin couldn't sleep. It wasn't usual, but most of the time she couldn't sleep flipping through channels made her drowsy. Tonight though, it was simply the opposite. She needed to go somewhere. Get out of the apartment for a bit. Maybe just wander through the halls.

She didn't bother to change from the mint green ribbed tank top and black track pants. Just slid her feet into a pair of flip flops and left her door unlocked. At the stairs she curbed the urge to wander down the corridor of the tenth floor, or out on the balconies of the seventh. No. Sky was what she wanted to see.

Pushing open the doors of the pool house felt like disturbing the peace. It was quiet and peaceful. There was a small bit of fog lifting off the water. It swirled licked at the air in the same manner flames would. Erin walked to the edge of the pool, slid her right foot free of its flip flop and dipped her big toe into the cold water.