My Land, My Rules

There was no gingerbread on the menu tonight. Nell had had enough of that nonsense. Instead she'd made a macaroni and cheese casserole and a smaller veggie casserole. She also had homemade hot chocolate ready to go as well as an assortment of frosted Christmas cookies carefully labeled as to which ones were vegan.

The gas fireplace was on and she spent some time contemplating whether she should get a Christmas tree or not. She'd never actually decorated for Christmas, though she'd enjoyed seeing the decorations around town.

For some reason Nell had decided that she wanted to try something different tonight. She'd made her own pizza dough and fresh tomato sauce and had portioned the dough out so that everyone could make - or have her make if they'd rather - their own individual pizza with whatever toppings they chose. She had, of course, been sure to have some vegan cheese and plenty of vegetable choices should the Detective join them, in addition to the more usual cheeses and meats. There were also a number of herbs and spices set out to add at the end for just the right extra dash of flavor.

She hoped her guests would think they were fun

Nell was still a bit distracted and a little worried that she hadn't heard anything from Gladio, but again, missing a gym time was not something she needed to call and check on - though she wanted to. Undoubtedly he'd stroll in tonight with some fun drink to try and a story about his day and she'd feel foolish about ever being concerned at all.

In the meantime she had her usual food stuffs to set out along with some raspberry hand tarts that she'd made while she was not worrying.

Nell was rather cheerful today. Not that this was unusual for her, but she was feeling particularly content today. She spent some time down in the shop, replanting seedlings into bigger pots and organizing a new shipment of supplies before moving up to the greenhouse.

The plants were all thriving and growing like crazy and Nell's happiness had some of them flowering well before they were expected to. She checked on her bees, which were making honey like it was going out of style, and made sure there were no problems with the hives.

A break for tea in the afternoon, dinner at the appropriate time, and clean up from the day ended her labors. Then she was free to go up on the roof with one of the leftover sparkling drinks from Tuesday and a good book to read as she waited to watch the sunset and see the stars come out.



[Open for anyone who might want to stop by and see Nell at any part of her day!]

It was hot and sticky and rainy, so Nell had made up a Thai chopped salad with a tangy peanut dressing and a delicious fruit salad. There were of course cookies and brownies she'd made in the relative cool of the morning and both ice cream and frozen yogurt for anyone who wanted a sweet dessert.

She'd set up a sort of canopy over her bee hives to try and keep them a little safer from the driving rain, which she'd run up to check on before her guests arrived. The bees seemed fine, but she was rather damp and her hair was curling wildly, with maybe just the slightest touch of green around the edges.

Nell had everything clean and ready to go by the time people were to arrive. She'd made a batch of vegan brownies since the Detective was planning to join them tonight and she wanted to make sure he could have something sweet as well should he choose.

She was bustling along as usual and marveling once again at the sheer amazement and wonder of not only having friends, but being able to have them at her house without fear of reprisal. It was a good feeling, even if there was a tinge of sadness over other things.

Nell also couldn't help but smile after hearing on radio that apparently one of the classes yesterday had been about baseball. Maybe they all should have attended!

Nell had been (not so) patiently waiting all week for it to be time to check on her bees and see if they were truly settled into the hives. She'd let Steven and Lana know they could join her and had also invited Gladio.

She had her smoker ready to go and get fingers crossed that she'd find all was well!

Nell had definitely not made it into work today. She'd slept straight through till some semblance of daylight - maybe late morning? - when the kittens had awoken her. She'd fed them, sort of responded to a text Steven had sent her... sometime, and then was out again till sometime much later which was definitely not morning, but still a little too light to be night.

The kittens were snuggled up with her in bed, her phone was somewhere under her pillow, and her eyes weren't sure they could stay open, but her pain was gone, her hands seemed functional, and she had a vague memory of yelling to Gladio to not look at her. It was going to take her a while to figure out what had happened and straighten it all out in her mind, but for the moment she was just going to let herself be and doze in and out as her body wanted.


[Mostly establishy, but can be open if someone wants to call or text or knows how to get into her house.]

Nell had called Lana to ask for some advice, so while she waited for Lana to stop by she straightened up a bit, not that the apartment needed it, and set out some scones and jam. Cygnus and Rigel were chasing each other in the small living room, occasionally dashing into the kitchen to skitter across the floor.
Nell laughed and scooped Cygnus on one of his trips and set him up on his cat tree. "All right, you'uns, settle down. Lana will be here any time now.""