#scarsdale

(And Zara, indeed, gets her precious slice of Hannah's year-old world-famous apple cake. Earl gets one that was baked on Wednesday.)

Earl chuckles at the sing song whisper of his beloved. His true heart is a dignified lady, but she at times like these, he delights that she is also unable to keep her girlish joy from bubbling out "What are we having again?" Faux Cluelnesses, but his eyes shine.

"Fie!"

A gentle bap on his arm. "Ap-ple-cake!"

A grin at that and singsongs a bit back "Ap-ple 🎵 cake? 🎵 "

then he kisses her forehead and says "Ap-ple cake it is. Happy new year, my love"

"Aye. Tis. Must be."

"Any year I spend with you is sure to have some joys" He assures her as they go to the house, "Tizzy already here you think? She's been kissing that Scathach boy in the halls at Earth Runes a lot"

"Eshu. She shall show up at the most dramatically appropriate time. Mother Miriam and Jacob are coming, and Hehe and Ratchet. Vashti was... unclear..."

"Vashti is often unclear" He says "Though that's not always intentional, but she enjoys being mysterious. Something in common with her sister I think." A light tease, "Let's hope she shows. Should I knock, or shall we barge on in?"

"Oh, Love, not the front door." She snags him by the elbow, and goes round the side to barge on in the kitchen.

"How foolish of me" He chides himself as they barge on into the kitchen. Well, as Zara's footfalls make about as much noise as a falling autumn leaf, HE is the one who might be 'barging' but in his defense, the pale leaf of his heart pulled him into it.

The smells of the kitchen defend the house by being absolutely DELICIOUS ,and assaulting their senses with mouth watering onslaughts.

That'll teach em!

"Mama!" Zara detaches from Earl to fling against her mother's side in an octopus-grapple of an embrace.

"Zara!" her mother is a pro at hug catching, the food abandoned smoothly (and safely) and her daughter getting hugged back in one smooth motion, "you still look so thin, don't they feed you at Earth Runes?" She teases gently

"Oh, not like thou dost."

"They're good, but they just can't match your apple cake" Earl affirms.

Hannah hugs her daughter some more and whispers "You've been training your trueheart well, I see. Good girl" then slightly louder so Earl can hear, "Good to see you too, Earl, and Apple Cake we have. You look very nice by the way."

Earl has dressed up quite nicely for this, shoes at a high shine and all that.

"Thank you, Hannah"

"We brought board games."

Earl, the pack mule for that, and without complaint lifts them to show the selection Zara picked!

Curious, Hannah looks up to see. She has her own favorites, of course.

A range of options - but then, Zara and Aaron both like the oddball ones.

Hannah makes sure there's no Monopoly option, family peace is hard enough without THAT game brought in.

No Monopoly after the Great Monopoly Incident of Purim 5778.

Dark times those.

Her mother smiles "you even brought one of my favorites, and this one looks fun" she says approvingly

Then she adds "Your father and you can show us how it works"

Earl smiles "Are you saying your daughter likes bossing folks around?"

Hannah smiles back, and defends her daughter from any such slurs, "NONSENSE, she just likes helping people get it right"

"Hey!"

Earl wisely looks contrite

Hannah just chuckles

"I'm going to say hello to Papa." A little head toss, and she's off to the study.

Earl watches her go delight in his eyes, only to be grabbed by Hannah for gossip whether he likes it or not

Aaron is, for once, not behind a newspaper. He is checking out a window sill, and frowning. he lifts it, it squeaks. He lowers it, it does not squeak. Either it needs to squeak both ways, or, preferably, not squeak either way

Head-tilt.

"WD-40?"

"mm" he nods then turns to see her, and smiles "You mind getting it?" she knows where he keeps the stuff

"Oh, you want I should fix it, too?" A wry smile before she bips off to fetch the supplies.

"mmph" her father says in his way at that

And she soon finds the WD-40 he'll need.

She ghosts back to his side - helping and handing things, in the quiet companionship they often enjoy.

Like a surgeon's assistant, she passes on the items he needs just when he needs them. He nods approvingly that her own DIY skills have not faded, even as he applies his super dad fixit skills. Boggans move quicker when no one is watching, but the two of them are in no rush, and this is easily tended to anyway.

Happy Zara!

And happy papa too. When they test the window and get ZERO squeak, he looks over at her and says "That'll do it."

And he makes sure his hands are clean, and gives her a hug

"Missed you, too."