"What do you mean, they're not working? Bloody outposts have been there forever!"

Thank God for old-fashioned land lines; there's something satisfying about slamming down a receiver that a mobile just can't top. Doesn't mean he's not still stuck on Deck when he'd scheduled a trip back home to escape the cold pick up fresh produce you can't get this ( Read more... )

Snow. Why did there have to be snow? Hadn't the weather gotten this out of the way back in October with that freak storm? One would think they'd run out of it. Caleb could almost resign himself to a cold winter, if it was just the temperature. But the frozen flakes falling through the air as he's out running errands in town are gathering in his ( Read more... )

It's a little-known fact that Teddy's mother has been depressed since the death of her husband, and winter always seems to make it worse. Perhaps it's because the castles look enough like skyscrapers when covered in snow to look like New York City. Perhaps it's the fact that her wedding anniversary and late husband's birthday (as well as her son's ( Read more... )

Briony took the bait and the reins and ran with the Garden in the Green even though Cooper had backed her into the project. She'd been a good sport about it. The least he could do was contribute his own half to the equation. So he took charge of removing the trees felled from the Asarlai's magical explosion. Most he'd had chopped into mulch, mulch ( Read more... )

[Planting bulbs before it snows again.]

It was a few months ago that she and Cooper had this idea of a community garden at the Green, to replace the grove destroyed by The Magician a freak weather pattern, but time's gotten away from her. Between the storm at the beginning of last month, some oddities off-Deck and on, and the latest incarnation of ( Read more... )

After his coronation, as it were, he wanted to have a chance to meet people, to let them see him face to face. So he'd asked the kitchens to prepare a dinner for as many hearts as could fit into the dining hall in Heart Castle. They'd set a table for the three faces, so they could all sit before everyone else, and let the people in to sit and eat ( Read more... )

[It had taken the better part of two days for Caleb to finish cleaning up after the storm, getting the clinic ready for patients again, but today he's finally back in business. His work over in the Club castle clinic had been wrapped up, follow-up appointments scheduled, and those appointments missed due to the weather rearranged. Today, he's in ( Read more... )

Might be a bit of trouble.It has been an interesting day in the Deck. He's only been here a couple of years, but surely a Jack doesn't often resign on the same day that both a Ten and a Nine depart the Deck, not to mention two Sevens. And so many of them were close, too: the Jack of Clubs and the Seven of Hearts were best friends; the Seven of ( Read more... )

It's entirely possible that he's mostly doing this to weird out most of the Hearts. After all, of the things people have seen Jordan Novak do in the Hearts, baking chocolate chip cookies is pretty far from being one of those things. But chiefly that's because most of his baking has been done at the Ambrosi household, over in Clubs. Natalia had ( Read more... )

Lasandra's room is lovely and elegant at Heart Castle. She's added a loft bed to save on floor space in her living room. She has a beautiful view of the town and the rooms are small enough that a portable heater is all she needs in the winter. When the power is on ( Read more... )