betterthanaplan | The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Christmas Eve

As a rule, he didn't tend to do much for the winter holidays -- unless you counted "go somewhere it's not winter" -- but some combination of Fandom's festivities and the cold weather had actually put him into something of a Christmas-y mood this year, so the Rouge's deck was -- well. Decked. There were string lights and garlands all over the open deck area, especially around the table holding the big thermos of hot, buttered rum. He'd set up a little fire pit on the metal cargo-bay doors, and the door to the galley and lounge below-decks was propped open with a now-dormant loaf of yesterday's fruitcake, in case people preferred to go in where it was warmer.

As discussed, Duke had only mentioned the party to a few people since planning it with Rey. It was Christmas, though, so if people decided to wander up and say hi, he wouldn't turn them away.

[up early and ready for all the slowplay. A few people in the know expected, but as it says in the narrative, it's open for wandering in if you want, too!]

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"If you didn't know I was annoyed, then you've never seen me annoyed," she assured him.

Rey was not subtle there.

"Fair enough. Pretty sure I've only seen you . . . trepidatious or amused."

"Trepidacious or amused," she repeated. "That's interesting."

To be fair, he also got to see her the way most people didn't, since he did keep on her about the fun stuff.

"Oh yeah? How do you think people usually see you?"

"That's a much more complicated question back home," Rey admitted, and shrugged. "Probably just quiet?"

She didn't think people thought of her that much to have an opinion, honestly. Which was why home was complicated.

"Well, what about here? I'm not the only person you hang out with, right?"

"You're the one I hang out with the most." Most of the people she'd hung out with when she first got here were gone now. "Aside from maybe Liam, I couldn't tell you what anyone here thinks about me."

"Really? I can't quite decide if that's very flattering, or very sad."

"People here are harder," Rey said with a shrug. "It's a lot of people keeping a lot of walls up. It makes it hard to really get to know most anyone."

So, probably sad.

No wonder he got along here so well. The bar was on the ground.

"Well. That's their loss, I think."

"Thanks," she said with a little, grateful smile. "And I went and made it serious."

Duke gave her a mock stern look. "I'll give you a pass on that this time, but don't let it happen again."

"Got it. Fun and amused from here on out," she said with a very serious nod.

"That's the Christmas spirit." Duke toasted her with his mug, then finished it off and gestured to the thermos. "More rum?"

"Can't hurt, right?" she said, holding out her own mug.

"Not if it hasn't already," Duke said. He took her mug and refilled them both, then picked up a small, slim package he'd tucked away on the table. "So I got you something."

"You did?"

She had something for him, but she'd felt a little self-conscious about bringing it not knowing how big this event would be, contain all shock.

Hey, he'd told her it would just be a few people. . . .

"I did," Duke said, handing her the package. Inside she'd find a simple, wooden disc, inlaid with a spiraling labyrinth pattern.

"You'll have to wait a bit for yours," she told him, taking the package to unwrap, and smiling once she saw what was inside. "This is beautiful."

"That's alright. I wasn't expecting one anyway." Duke smiled at her reaction. "It's a labyrinth. A meditation tool. It's complex, see, but there's only one path through it. So you run your finger along the path, and it takes time and focus, but not decision making, so you free your brain up for other things."

"This is perfect," she told him, actually kind of surprised by that, and hopefully he'd learned by now that Rey was a hugger and that was the response he was getting. "Thank you."

You’d think he would have, but somehow she still took him by surprise. He gave an awkward chuckle and hugged back. “You’re welcome. Maybe sometime we can go find one of the walking ones, too.”

"Those plant maze things? We could do that."

She'd be way too good at one of those.

“We could,” Duke agreed. “But I actually meant one of these.” He pointed to the labyrinth. “They’ve got ‘em all over. You walk it instead of run your finger on it. Meditative walking.”

"That would actually be a really good exercise," Rey said thoughtfully.

Re: On deck

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