a very special spaceship holiday

[tactician]

Partaaay on the First!

Nowadays, it's mostly humans that celebrate the winter holidays this...festively, but luckily for all of you, the leader of Circle 7, the System's most notorious crime mega-conglomerate, is human. He insisted on the celebration on the First, too, said something about morale and good cheer and a shit ton of (most likely laced) alcohol. Something about holiday pranks, too, but that might've just been my imagination.

There's mistletoe hanging everywhere, the suspicious smell of Astorean Norther Fir in the air, jingling bells tied to every doorway, and is it just me, or does that big Santa have a glass eye?

It's gonna be a grand ol' time.

Comments

[aphelionix]

This was the first Christmas Bentley was going to celebrate with people in a long time. He was hesitant to make an appearance, well knowing that there was going to be drinking, and where there was drinking, there was Evan and Viana ready to yank him into their shenanigans.

But he'd be lying if he said they weren't a little fun.

Still, he stayed away from the open bar, sticking to the food trays. For the event, Bentley pulled out a red vest with subtle gold pinstripes, matching the green and red holiday color schemes. He could at least have a bit of holiday cheer, right? Even if he was getting cookie crumbs all over himself.

[tactician]

"Ugh, use a plate!" Subsequently, a disposable plate was shoved dead center into Bentley's gut, perhaps with a bit more force than necessary, though the flexible quality of the plate took the brunt of the blow for him. Viana, as always, looked mildly disgusted as she took in the state of Bentley's striped and crumb-speckled vest. Considering she was hardly the paragon of fine manners, the fact that she had noticed was saying a lot.

"Well, look who's all dressed up," Evan said from behind Bentley, followed by a small wolf whistle. The siblings were often like that, as the doctor had no doubt noticed. They really seemed to like pincer attacks.

[aphelionix]

"Oof," Bentley grunted with a slight wince, catching the plate before it could fall out of Viana's grip. Setting the half of his cookie down on it, he did dust himself off, sighing. "Happy Christmas to you, too."

At the whistle, Bentley glanced up, only to be met with another Dominico sibling. Which, really, was unsurprising. It would've been more surprising if he wasn't there. "Seriously, were you two hiding under the table? You always come out of nowhere."

[tactician]

"You don't pay attention," said Viana, jabbing a finger into Bentley's shoulder. Compared to even Bentley himself, she was relatively un-festive given the season, except for the fact that her tank top was red today. (Maybe she got additional points for the fact that her hair had been green for the past three months or so, too.) "We've been here the entire time."

Evan, on the other hand, held up his hands. One wouldn't doubt that the two of them had the good-cop-bad-cop routine down pat, too. "Jeez, didn't know we were so unwelcome, doc."

god how do i bentley I FORGOT

[aphelionix]

Bentley rubbed his offended shoulder, knowing by now that complaining about Viana's blatant abuse was futile. He didn't bring up the fact that she looked just a little bit festive, either.

"You know I don't mind you guys," he said, frowning. The poor doctor was always thrown back and forth between Evan's politeness and Viana's... less-than-politeness. "It's just crowded and I didn't see you."

be nervous ALL the time

[tactician]

"You weren't looking very far past your cookie," pointed out Viana with a smirk, and her eyes lingered on the aforementioned cookie for a moment before she looked up at Evan. "¿Quieres?"

"No tengo apetito," said Evan, shaking his head, and with that, Viana bounded off to retrieve some sweets herself. (Hopefully she would stay away from those citrus tarts; those were sour.) For his part, Evan was in his Circle uniform, but at the very least, the bandanna around his neck was a bright scarlet.

"I didn't peg you for the partying type, doc," he said.

A-A-AM I D-DOING IT RIGHT

[aphelionix]

"This seemed mild enough for my participation," Bentley assured, eating the last bit of his sweet. He swallowed it down politely before speaking again, before Viana could pop out of nowhere and beat him. "Although I'm... a little worried, since I could've sworn I saw Calibri haunting the drinks earlier..."

DID SENPAI NOTICE YOU

[tactician]

"Calibri was in the kitchens this morning. He said he was testing for quality control," Evan said before reassuringly continuing, "So everything is equally unsafe."

Viana clearly had no reservations to this fact, though she was no doubt aware. At the snacks table, despite sampling twice as much as she was packing, her plate was piled high with pastries and puffs of every color and variety, some with origins from the farthest breaches of the System and imported here solely for the purpose of the holidays. If there was something you could count on in organized crime, it was their resourcefulness.

"Don't spit anything out; it's bad manners," Evan added as an afterthought.

EVAN-SENPAI /////

[aphelionix]

Bentley stared at his empty plate in horror, as though to say, Why did I eat that?!

He set down the plate with a sigh. Whatever Calibri might've put in the cookies, it was too late. If he did. He didn't feel funny, in any case.

"Too late now," he reasoned.

[aphelionix]

Locke had reluctantly decided to check out this event thing going on. He certainly wasn't swayed by Weiler, who insisted that there must be some excellent cheeses out if the Boss was the one throwing the party. (And there were.) The spread in general had been rather impressive, though.

It had been so long since he celebrated Christmas. He almost wasn't sure he remembered all the traditions. He completely forgot what that little branch with the red ribbon above his head meant.

In any case, the punch was good.

[tactician]

Returning with a small plate of assorted cheeses (and only cheeses), Weiler stopped a few paces away from Locke and began to laugh. "Well, you could've just asked."

[aphelionix]

Locke stared at Weiler, lowering his plastic cup of punch. "Asked what?"

[tactician]

It was for the better that Locke lowered it because otherwise, it would have been awfully in the way. Weiler stepped forward and moved that arm out of the way and to the side, where it wouldn't obstruct him or be caught between them as he reached up. Pulling Locke's head down, he led the man into a modest kiss underneath the mistletoe, neither minding the fact that they were in public nor the laughs and claps from a few people squeezing by.

He let go shortly and picked up his plate from where he had set it down, tugging Locke out of the entrance lest someone else try that with the man. He began nibbling on a slice of brie as if nothing had changed.

"How's the punch?"

[aphelionix]

Wow, what just happened?

Not that Locke was unused to public affection, given the way they met, but that was... random. He was left blinking as he was pulled away. Maybe he'd be a little more embarrassed, if Locke wasn't already convinced that everyone knew the nature of their relationship already.

"Good," he answered, still confused. "What was that for?"

[tactician]

Weiler raised a brow at him. "You were standing under mistletoe, Rhys."

[aphelionix]

A blink, and he glanced above where he had been standing. How could he forget that?

"Ah. Right. I didn't... see it there."

[tactician]

Locke earned an incredulous laugh for that. And here they were supposed to be observant. "You didn't see it there?" Weiler echoed.

[tactician]

It didn't even take a good working knowledge of Viana and her infamous moods to know to stay away from the corner where she had planted herself. The atmosphere around here was dark and foreboding, quite the polar opposite of the otherwise cheerful and lighthearted party around her. It was as if the temperature dropped a few degrees within a five foot radius of the girl and all that, in addition to the look on her face that clearly welcomed no company, all but ensured that no one even chanced to wander close.

Evan had spent the better part of ten minutes earlier steering her away into the safety of the corner and trying to talk some cheer back into her mood, but while her brother was good at reading and placating almost everybody, Viana was good at reading him. She wouldn't cause any scene, she had assured him, but she didn't want any more punch, any more cookies, or any more party. When it became obvious that her heart was set on just that, Evan had sighed and ultimately left her to her own devices.

From experience, he knew that was the most practical way to brave that storm.

[aphelionix]

Bentley, however, had much less experience.

Of course, he didn't walk straight into Viana's obvious little blizzard going on. He valued his life, after all. So, he went for a different method.

He did leave the party temporarily after Danny had saved him, but he still felt bad. (And all right, he was determined to examine one of those cookies for traces of anything.) Keeping in the crowds, he saw Viana from afar, and decided to message her instead. He had never actually tried; he had no reason to. They never hung out or talked with just each other. Evan was always there. But Bentley tended to hang out with Evan without her. It seemed a bit... odd, when he thought about it.

Hey, it's Bentley. Are you still mad at me?

It wasn't until after sending it that he slapped a palm to his face. What a ridiculous question, of course she'd still be mad! He quickly added another message.

I mean, can we talk, or will you just, you know, damage my internal organs?

[tactician]

The reply, when it did come (there was a long pause before it did, as if Viana had just dismissed the message and decided not to grace it with a reply), was succinct and rather to the point, much like its sender.

'what do you want'

[aphelionix]

Bentley had grown worried in the wait, wondering if he should give up, when his communicator dinged again.

To say sorry.

[tactician]

At that, Viana stared at the screen, both brows creeping up her forehead. To be fair, Bentley spent a great deal of his existence apologizing for things so really, she shouldn't have been so surprised.

'for?'

[aphelionix]

"My insensitivity earlier," came the answer, Bentley now standing a couple feet from Viana's gloomy corner. He looked nervous, venturing this close (for good reason), rubbing his neck. "I-It was a, um... mean thing to say on Christmas Eve..."

[tactician]

Sticking her phone and her hands into her pockets, Viana turned her head away, drawing her knees up until the heels of her feet rested on the edge of the bench.

"Yeah?" she said coolly, which never was a good sign because Viana hardly was the cool type, and any hint of such was usually just a precursor to an explosion of some sort.

[aphelionix]

Bentley swallowed, growing even more worried. Was this just the calm before the storm..? "I-it was rude of me and I wasn't thinking, so I... just thought I'd say that I'm sorry. In person."