Stephanie
After the blizzard, the full moon, and visiting with Akira. Jade had hardly maintained her home and now that she was alone. It was impossible to keep warm, no matter how much wood she put in the wood stove. It didn't stop her from seeing her breath inside. She felt as if she couldn't catch a break but she couldn't sit around feeling sorry for herself. She had sent for Jackson to come live with her and that meant getting her own house up to par. She had to push Arthur, her pain, how she felt. All of it was pushed to the back burner. She had to get things back in order. She was running the courier shop for Arthur, she was managing the library, and helping with the search for Francis Estep. She was just used to doing instead of feeling. She didn't help herself at all by sitting in the snow all night after the full moon. She wondered if anyone would answer her ad. She knew that being her and asking for help... She didn't deserve it but she could hope. She let out a soft wince as she pulled the clunky chest of blankets out from the spare room and moved it to the living room. Her shoulder was still healing up but she had absolutely no room to complain, people were mourning and looking for their loved ones. She shook those thoughts away, just focusing on what she was preparing for those who showed up. Chicken & Dumplings and Blueberry Jam cake. 

This meal was the only thing she felt like she could control, she couldn't control how things unfolded on the night of the full moon, how the blizzard had affected her home. She couldn't control the fact of when Francis would be found. She focused on the bubbling pot on the wood stove and the cake sitting on her counter. She hoped that this would be enough, she did have a little bit of money to give as well but she could never really tell what was good enough anymore. She waited nervously. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach. Had she lost the friendship of everyone in town? How could she fix it?
Brenda
Truth be told, Jasper had started over so many times he had all but forgotten what came after. Each new town a new table to play, a well practiced step-by-step to lay his cards just right to profit. Start with the notice board to find those in need, find an ear to listen and a hand to feed, then move on before the anyone looked too close at his costume. Briar Ridge however twisted this pattern. The dull ache in his leg was a visceral reminder he was in no shape to run. With his purse running near empty, Jasper had to accept the fact he would _actually_ have to put the work in this time around.

Ther notice had been simple enough, a request for a helping hand, labor for a meal and pay. That he could do, at least that. Jasper pulled the coat tighter across his chest, shivering. The winter this year had a bite to it almost worse than the wolves.

The cottage belonging to Jade Grant took a few turns to find, Jasper still unfamiliar with the twists and turns of the town. Winter had washed all color from the scene, the large tree spreading its currently bare branches skyward. Come spring, they would be heavy with lush green leaves, but now they grasped at the air like fingers of death himself, searching for more innocent souls to claim. Still, smoke rose through the chimney, cutting its path through the cold air as a reminder that the people of Briar Ridge were still here, and the winter and all else would one day pass.

Jasper hesitated on the doorstep, a tug at the fabric to fix the way his coat fell across his shoulders and a tug at the seams of himself so all pieces of him, this version of him, fell into place. The note said the door was open yet he elected instead to knock, knuckles rapping against the wood. After all, even creatures worse than him needed an invitation to cross the threshold.
Stephanie
Jade knew that Arthur wouldn't like that she had put an ad out and was by herself but she had no other choice. She was freezing, she could even see her own breath. As if she were some sort of dragon, exhaling the smoke from its lungs. Once she heard the knock on the door, she jolted out of her own thoughts and went to let the stranger in. She opened the door to see Jasper, normally she would be intimidated but could she really have any fear? After what she had been through in the town. 

"Well I'll be" She spoke in a friendly tone. "You must be here because of the ad I presume" She waved her hand to usher him in. "Come on in, goodness it's cold." She felt the chill setting in just from having the door open, not that the cottage was any warmer than outside. The woodstove provided some heat. "Well, I hope you are hungry. This is supposed to make up for the money, or well lack their of" She sheepishly offered what she had from her pocket. "It ain't much, I'm sorry about that" She chewed the inside of her cheek before shaking off the mean thoughts of herself. "Well here, let me get you a bowl, its homemade tomato soup. Canning is important for the winter, especially one like this" She had spent the summer stocking up on things that could be preserved. 

"My name is Jade, what's yours?" She looked to him holding out the bowl of tomato soup. "I suppose I should've started with that..." She offered in an embarrassed tone
Brenda
"Yes, ma'am." Jasper nodded. "I saw help was needed and thought it's high time I made myself useful around here." 

Jasper stepped over the threshold almost sheepishly, a small part of him bracing for repercussion, a force from above or below to smite him for placing his footfall where it did not belong. The rules of the world seemed not to have their grasp on Briar Ridge after all. Or maybe Jasper was the one losing his touch with reality, coupled with his ever denied flair for being dramatic. For this question he did not seek straight answers.

"Food is a better payment than most else. Money can't buy a meal made from the heart, at least that's what they say." Jasper stood awkwardly in the kitchen, uncertainty lingering like the chill in his limbs before he willed it to dissipate. There was no need to pick this apart like a puzzle, to formulate the winning strategy. There was no winning, there was no losing. There was simply soup.

"I'm Jasper." He replied with a smile, gratefully accepting the bowl and its warmth against his frozen fingertips. "A pleasure to make acquaintance."