A Birth day

As they were putting things away, Victor and Ginger came in, with packages.

"How'd you do?" Anise asked.

"Great. Got yours right here," Victor said, handing her a totebag with several boxes. She opened the main box and saw green leggings, a long green cape,and a green tunic, green kneeboots, a bycocket hat, a bow and a quiver of faux arrows.

"Nice!" she said.

"Who are you?" Angus frowned.

"Maid Marian. And Sam is going to be Robin Hood," Anise said.

"And Ginger and I are Queen Gwenevere and King Arthur," Victor said.

"That would be type casting except that Anise should be Robin Hood," Angus said. "She's the champ after all."

"I did initially switch costumes on them, but Sam figured it out," Victor said. "Tried it." That made Angus laugh.

"Well, its just as well," Anise said. "We can only make him eat so much crow. Thanks for picking it up for me."

"Any time," Victor said.

"I'm going to go up and see if Elwood wants to play chess with me," Anise said.

"He would be delighted that you even thought to ask him," Angus said.

"I like Elwood," Anise shrugged. "And I'm learning a lot of things from him. The last time we played, he was telling me how even muggles could grow candy on a stick."

"Oh. Rock crystal candy. Yes. It certainly can be done," Angus said.

"Can you show me how?"

"Of course. Go play chess with Elwood, and we'll grown the sugar crystals later," Angus said. She headed upstairs. Ginger went to work on the lace for her wedding dress, and Victor went to work on a new project that Elwood had set him on--learning how to make a ship in a bottle. That left Angus to try to figure out what he was going to do for his fruit dessert.

"I'm thinking of doing a mixed berry pie for supper or a mixed berry shortcake," Angus told Ruby and Aria. "Roast chicken, roast vegetables, mash, and a mixed berry something-or-other. What do you think?"

Aria and Ruby both saw the teens return and chuckled at the choice of outfits " nice choices" Ruby said then heard about swapping and laughed when Victor said they tried and failed " awe that would be funny" she said smiling. Aria chuckled too and looked to Marcus as they spoke of their costumes.

"we'll have to try and make candies to give out this year" Ruby suggested to Angus " or we could get the babies some costumes and trick or treat ourselves?" she said with a teasing smile making Aria chuckle more. " how was Sam" she asked Victor.

"We could make some," Angus said. "That's easily done, but remember, we don't normally have trick or treaters here except for Molly and Abbey. The babies are too little yet, and the teens are too old."

"So why don't you do a pop-up shop in front of Honeydukes with some Halloween cookies or some sort of Halloween variation of your cinnamon roll?" Marcus asked. "Or, see if Kieran and Fiona will do some sort of big Halloween party for all the kids--not just the Colorado kids but the Paris kids too? The kids could go trick or treating through the 'village' on the grounds and play some traditional Halloween games and such, maybe with apple bobbing and some storytellers, that sort of thing."

"I like that idea. And I know Robert loves to do special events with the kids to give them some sense of a good childhood. Robert and Kate would love that," Angus said. "But it can be really cold in late October so if we do that, we would have to have a backup plan for an indoor party instead."

"That shouldn't be problem, though," Marcus replied.

Ruby smiled " sounds perfect" she said to the suggestion of a kids party with a trick or treat around the grounds. " I'll ask her tomorrow about that" she said knowing they still have several weeks before Halloween to prepare. Aria pulled a blanket over Caprice while she slept beside Amari in the play pen.

" So hows Sam?" Aria asked wanting to know if maybe he'd changed and would apologise to Angus yet " tired of being at Jack and Jess's yet?" she asked Victor as he had shown Anise her costume. Aria heard Angus mention of what he was going to cook and she smiled as did Ruby.

"sounds perfect dear, very warm and filling" she added " oh are we doing the mulled wine this year for Christmas?" she asked as she moved to the kitchen to help put the last of the food away. Aria stood up and stood with Marcus.

"They make their own mulled wine?" she asked " I thought it was always bought" having not been on the grounds for Christmas before she didn't know what was tradition and what was not.

"You do realize Halloween is only about 3 weeks away, though, so they'd have to get hustling to make it happen," Angus said. "I didn't actually ask Sam to apologize, not really. I really only asked him to follow the same house rules that we've always had. That's what I really want from him."

"We didn't talk about that," Victor said. "He does seem like he misses being here, though. I think Jess and Jack are probably stricter than things are here."

"Well, its Sam's choice," Angus said. "I hadn't given really any thought to a Christmas menu yet, but mulled wine isn't a problem. I personally have never seen mulled wine sold by the bottle. I've always made my own. It really isn't hard to make. It's a lot like making wassail. The biggest difference is whether you're using wine or cider. We can do either, actually."

He headed to the kitchen to start washing and preparing the ingredients for supper. He washed everything first, and then proceeded to work on making the mixed berry pies.

Ruby heard Angus and nodded " yeah need to get a hustle on " she said thinking a she picked up a note pad and began making notes on what they would need for the party. Ruby heard Victor and nodded " all right and maybe so" she said with a smile.

Aria chuckled and nodded to Angus " would it help it I learned how to make it" she asked " that ay I could do it while you are doing something else" Aria offered as she watched Angus head to the kitchen to start supper. Standing she moved with him " want some help?" she asked as she took some veg and washed it for him placing it on the counter ready for him to chop.

"That would be great," Angus said, weaving a scalloped lattice crust top for each pie top. "Thanks. I'd use a separate roaster for each chicken since they're big chickens. I think you should just chop all the vegetables in big chunks and putting them in the bottom of the roaster. Then I'll add some poultry seasoning, some smoked paprika, and some salt and pepper. Then I'll add some stock and some vermouth to that and put the chickens on top of the vegetables. That will help them roast and not steam, but they won't be dry either. By the time they're ready to go into the ovens, the pies should be out. We shouldn't need a salad because this will have a lot of fresh, flavorful vegetables. I'll take the juices when the chickens come out and make a quick gravy with them to pour over the chicken and the vegetables. Sometimes one pot meals are a good thing."

He finished putting the pies together and put them in the oven and came back and saw that he had plenty of leftover berries that didn't fit in the pies. He got busy and made a mixed berry ice cream with the leftover berries and tucked it in the freezer.

"I think I'll see if Edward and Simone want to come over for roast chicken tonight for supper," Angus said. He headed over to invite them.

"When he gets back, maybe I can get him to take a bit of a walk with me so I can try to talk to him about those nightmares," Marcus said to Ruby and Aria. "I need to know the content of them in case there's anything in there that I can step up protecting him from."

Aria nodded to Angus and began chopping the veg into rough squares and placing them in the bottom of the roasting pans, once that was done she took out the chicken and prepared it by tying it up and removing all the bits from inside it. " you adding a seasoning?" she asked then heard him mention asking Edward and Simone if they were coming over for supper " oh good idea, there will be more than enough for them too" she said as she started trussing the second Chicken.

Ruby looked up as Angus walked to the other side of the duplex she heard Marcus talk of taking Angus for a walk to get him to open up more and nodded " please do and I agree can't protect him if you don't know what from." she said

"I believe he said he was using poultry seasoning, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, some chicken stock, and some vermouth," Marcus said to Aria, recalling what he said. "All I know is that the quieter he becomes, the more it bothers him."

He went to the desk, got a pack of Angus's cigarettes and tucked them into his pocket, knowing that sometimes a cigarette was welcome in such discussions.

"I think I'll see if he wants to go over to Robert's farm to walk. There are some really beautiful areas over there, and with the trees starting to change colors, it should look pretty amazing over there, especially near the lagoon where Remus used to camp," Marcus said. "I doubt we'll be awfully long." He got a thermos out and filled it with some hot tea and then he shrank some insulated cups and put them in his pocket.

When Angus came back, Marcus tossed him his jacket.

"Where are we going?" Angus asked.

"Out," Marcus replied.

"Um...okay," Angus said. "No clues?"

"It could be chilly. That's your clue. Take your jacket," Marcus said. He looked at Ruby and Aria. "Page us if the house catches fire. Otherwise, we'll be back." Marcus took hold of angus and apparated out.

Aria heard Marcus and chuckled " oh right" she said and gathered the poultry seasoning, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, chicken stock, and grabbed a bottle of vermouth adding some to the mix before rubbing it on the chicken before placing both wrapped in tin foil ready to cook " there all ready, just needs the Angus seal of approval" Aria said with a chuckle.

Ruby heard Marcus and nodded " yeah and the quieter he becomes the more worried I become about him, I know your there to do that too Marcus" she said with a smile to him knowing if any one could get Angus to talk about what worried him it would be Marcus.