Harriet had, of course, not intended to get into an argument about democracy when she'd walked into the kitchen. In fact, she’d only wanted to make herself a cup of coffee and some food but the kitchen was generally busy and so she’d got talking with a man named Davos who’d had similar ideas. By the time Harriet had settled down with her drink and ( Read more... )

It had been raining for two days. Buckets of the stuff, propelled sideways by a constantly-gusting wind, the skies so densely clouded that it felt like evening even during the day. It was miserable weather; spooky, unpredictable weather. The sort that made you want to stay in and lock the doors. Martha Jones' current disposition made a strange ( Read more... )

Lewis Nixon has never been much for big parties. He'd been forced into them for most of his life, and his general impression was that of an exceedingly civilized battleground, where the primary goal was to make everyone else as miserable as possible while pretending you yourself weren't just as badly off. It was entirely false, a lot of glitter ( Read more... )

Donna had often lamented her boring life. After all, she was thirty-six, living with her mum again, working a temp job that she was often loudly reminded was not a "career," hadn't had a relationship that lasted longer than three dates since she was in her twenties, and well, nothing really interesting had ever happened to her. Heck, she'd even ( Read more... )

There it was again, right up on the shelf directly in front of her: Persuasion by Jane Austen. The shelf thought itself pretty funny, and got in the added bonus of Eden feeling pretty stupid for thinking of it as a sentient being. All the fairy tales of months past had disappeared, but now she couldn't get anything but Austen. Not anything ( Read more... )

Trance had brought her tree with her into the rec room. Normally, she kept it away from people. It was far too precious to be out where everyone could see and touch. But she’d had an instinct and she always followed her instincts. Maybe he was feeling sociable. She stopped at the bookshelf and sighed. It was being picky today, offering her ( Read more... )

Parties were always something Ellie enjoyed throwing, and this one was no different. While she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before for some very good personal reasons, she was up early and cooking up a storm for most of the morning to finish up what she hadn't made already, while Devon took over setting things up outside. With his help, as ( Read more... )

Anyone in the kitchen at about ten that morning would see Dr. Allison Cameron, barely dressed in pleather, chewing her lower lip and gripping her coffee mug like it was a lifeline to something. Maybe sanity ( Read more... )

It had been bothering him for some time. During the day, he kept himself busy. There were always floors to be swept. Even on days where it was empty, the little wooden church seemed determined to fall into disrepair. Such were the strivings of man, Javert supposed. They were always on the edge of ruin ( Read more... )

It could have been worse ( Read more... )