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]

"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.

[tactician]

Bentley didn't feel funny yet.

"You better get your partying in while you can, then," Evan said, grinning as he stepped past Bentley toward the refreshments and hor d'oeuvres tables. He had told Viana he wasn't hungry, but there was still plenty of room and time for drink. Still, he didn't walk away quite yet, not while Bentley was still standing in the corner by himself with an empty plate and particularly bright red and gold vest.

Evan turned around, motioning at the center of the large mess hall, which had been cleared, decorated, and repuposed for this exact purpose. It could easily fit the entirety of the first, though there were no doubt holiday grouches who just couldn't be bothered to crowd in with the rest of the ship.

"You should go ask somebody to dance."

[aphelionix]

Bentley turned to Evan, but was looking out at the cleared floor where only a few couples had taken to the music. Was one of them quickstepping?

"You know what happened last time I danced with someone," he said, his face turning a shade closer to his vest as he thought about it. "In fact, I'm fairly sure the whole station knows."

[tactician]

"Word gets around in organized crime," Evan said, smiling slight enough to show that he did know exactly what happened last time. "And one botched attempt doesn't mean you can't try again. In fact, a mistake is all the more reason to try."

A pause.

Evan tilted his head. "Unless you don't know how without some drink in you?"

[aphelionix]

"O-of course I know how!" he scoffed. "I don't need to be drinking to dance. I just don't want to."

[tactician]

Evan raised both brows, hands on his hips.

Viana chose that time to return, reappearing behind her brother with a gigantic tray of treats in hand. She was balancing it in one palm and, testament to her area of expertise, not a pastry or puff even wobbled as she picked out pieces to throw into her mouth. She looked between Bentley and Evan, brow raised before her face inevitably settled on a frown. "What are you two doing?"

"The doctor doesn't know how to dance," Evan reported, all smiles.

[aphelionix]

"The doctor doesn't want to dance," Bentley corrected, turning to Viana with desperation on his face. "Haven't you two traumatized me enough?"

[tactician]

Viana snorted, slapping the side of her leg. Like the rest of the First, she knew all about Bentley's 'traumatizing' forays into attempted romance. "You did that to yourself, didn't ya, doc?"

[aphelionix]

"I've done nothing to myself! I have no idea what you mean!"

[tactician]

A few people nearby who caught hints of the conversation turned their faces and hints of smiles away at the outburst. For Bentley's sake more than anyone else's, Evan took the doctor by the shoulder and led him away, wedged between the two siblings.

"I'm just saying, doc, that you gotta put yourself out there! It's a scary place, but you won't find anything just holing yourself up in your office like that. There's definitely no harm with just having a little fun at the party. You're with your own, here."

[aphelionix]

Bentley sighed dramatically. "We've had this conversation a million times, Evan," he said. "I'm not interested in those things."

Though as he said it, Bentley began to wonder... He really could dance if he wanted, or could go up to anyone he wanted to. Maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world if he got out of his shell. Had Evan been right all this time?

Or had something been slipped into his system via the food he nibbled on? Hm.

"But I... guess it wouldn't hurt. For fun."

[tactician]

Viana's eyes widened in surprise.

Evan looked delighted. Teasing the antsy doctor was all good fun and games at times, but Bentley still was his friend, and Evan did sometimes wonder if it was all right to be so resigned to a life devoid of company, even if it was just the platonic kind. The Dominico siblings had all but forced their companionship on him, after all. Bentley had had little choice but to stay and accustom himself to it.

"You're right! It wouldn't hurt at all!" said Evan, bumping an elbow against the doctor's arm. "You should ask somebody. No one's going to turn you down; it's all in good cheer."

[aphelionix]

He glanced around the room, actually considering. It was a little difficult to make moves, though, when you knew everyone. Danny looked a little preoccupied his his hair, he was fairly sure that blonde German man hated him (and that the redhead with him would be rather unhappy if he asked him to dance), Calibri was... terrifying... And a lot of other people had been his patients at least once.

"This is harder than I thought," he muttered, chewing his lip.

[tactician]

Viana made an impatient huff, stuffing her face after she said, "C'mon, it's not like you're picking for marriage material here. It's just a dance."

[aphelionix]

Bentley frowned a little, crossing his arms. "Then how about you?"

It wasn't quite a gentlemanly proposal at all, and just a bit backhanded, but Bentley had surprised himself with it. Now his face was awfully close to his vest.

"I-I mean, um... Not that you're... not m-marriage material, I mean, but..." He stammered a bit too much to make that into a coherent sentence at all.

[tactician]

This time, it was Evan who looked surprised.

Viana, on the other hand, darkened until it looked like she was about to burst, the plate in her hand trembling with either barely-contained embarrassment or, more probably, livid rage.

[aphelionix]

"L-let's not jump to any conclusions, okay, Viana?" Bentley edged back slowly, closer to Evan. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant to... it crossed my mind to maybe just ask you to d... to dance, is all, but..."

Whatever was in those cookies was completely trumped by fear for his life, it seemed. (Maybe Calibri was watching somewhere from the shadows, taking note of it.)

[tactician]

Evan gave Bentley a wince over Viana's line of sight. The doctor had really stepped in it this time; considering his sister's frame of mind, what Bentley had said hadn't exactly been the kindest of implications. "Vi, he's only asking because you're his friend, right, doc?"

"No! He's only saying asking because he's too much of a wimp to ask somebody else! He thinks it'll be easy 'cause he figures I can't be worse than him!" She slammed her plate down on the nearest surface, not minding that this time, two or three cookies fell from the top of the pile and onto the ground. "He thinks he's got nothing to worry about, I'm not even a girl to him! Well I'll give him something to worry about! ¡Voy a golpear sus dientes en su garganta, no pensará eso otra vez!"

[aphelionix]

That really didn't sound good.

Bentley looked a lot like a puppy with its tail tucked, half behind Evan. This really wasn't how he imagined his evening going at all. Though really, he shouldn't have been surprised - as he mentioned before, he had been traumatized by them before.

"T-that really has nothing to do with it!" he all but whined, cowering preemptively. "Of course you're my friend! I-I don't consider anyone that way - no offense, Evan - so please, don't... gold pear... me, or whatever it is you said."