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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"Does New Year's even count towards this year? You know, as a party that happens this year."

That wasn't really a yes or a no.

"I think it can count however you want it to count," Rey smiled. "But if you do go, we could at least stand in a corner together."

"Assuming there are some to stand in wherever that one's held," Octavia quipped, as if there wasn't another flicker of a half-smile on her face, while she glanced around. "The Rouge isn't doing so great on that front."

But they didn't really need on, here.

"That's what below decks are for," Rey reasoned. "Though I can't see anyone having an issue with this group."

"Probably not," Octavia agreed. She could of course have an issue with just about any group, but at least she wasn't forseeing having one tonight. "But it's good to have an escape plan, right?"

This was what Rey had thought! See, past!Duke?

"True. Though here it would probably end in everyone going and drinking down there."

Because it would, there were four people.

"Fair," Octavia snorted.

Though the jury was still out on Larceny, a bit.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see how the night progresses, huh?"

"We will," Rey agreed. "So what do you normally do over this holiday?"

Octavia shrugged. "Not much," she said, perhaps unsurprisingly. "We didn't really have this holiday in my time, so... For the past couple of years, me and Bel, we've mostly just hung out and done nothing special."

A beat.

"We've seen way too many bad movies about this holiday."

"Bad movies how?"

She hadn't seen any outside of her time in the dorms.

Octavia paused to look for an apt description, because there just wasn't a question she couldn't take too seriously if the mood happened to strike her.

"Most of them are exactly the same," she decided on. "Like, it's the same story over and over. But that's -- I don't think that's what really annoys me."

She just couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"So it's not the predictability, then?" Rey asked.

"No." She shrugged. "I don't know, they just bug me. Something about what they're saying this time of year should be about."

"I mostly thought it was about togetherness, things like that," Rey said.

"There's a lot about family," Octavia replied, with a hint of a dry tone. "And romance."

"I don't have much in the way of either of those," Rey said just as dryly. "I just like the idea."

Octavia technically had both, but it was - like so many things - really complicated.

She shrugged. There was something a little uncomfortable, a little evasive about it. "I just don't like most of those movies."

The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Christmas Eve

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