Trooper Station, Friday

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, Liam wasn't entirely sure what was up with the island's version of Christmas cheer this year but things had dropped off rather dramatically after that first week, hadn't they?

It was all very strange.

As was the fact that thanks to the barely-perceptible humming in the kitchen this morning as he'd been preparing breakfast, as well as the same in the Station's breakroom, Liam was now humming that song about the bells as he worked.

[ooc: work continues to be a tire fire. this ooc note is me shamelessly begging for entertainment.]

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[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto had been meaning to do this for a while now, ever since that conversation with Nina, and he'd finally managed to get a Friday off to do it and hitch a.portal back to the island so that he could swing by the trooper station with a small fancy box from.some Insomnia bakery tucked under his arm.

"Hey, Sheriff," he started. "Err...Mr. Kincaid-Price? Liam. Sir?"

What even was the right way to address your sister's dad, anyway???

"Um. How's it going?"

Perfect, Prompto. Not a paragon of.awkwardness at all!

[firstofitskind]

Totally not awkward at all!

“Prompto, hey,” he greeted with a friendly smile. “Come on in!”

[hashtag_chocobro]

And it was only going to get even more awkward as Prompto started to remember how deeply uncomfortable the troopers actually made him feel when he was around them, and for reasons he understood all too well now.

So he just focused on why he was there.

"Thanks." He tried a small smile. "I won't bother you too long. I just felt that this was a little overdue."

He held out the box for Liam to take, the one that held a slice of kupoberry cheesecake.

"Just something to, you know, say thanks. For everything you've been doing for Nina lately. Especially since I can't really...be here...a lot..."

[firstofitskind]

“You didn’t have to do that,” Liam said. “Still, I’m not one to turn down baked goods...”

He gestured for Prompto to take a seat. “Sit down, if you have a minute? I did actually want to talk to you.”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"...oh." Prompto blinked a little in surprise. Such much for a quick drop off and flee! He felt something harden in his throat, failed to swallow it down.

He almost said something like no thanks, I'm good, but thankfully had a little more sense than that.

"Okay," he said instead, pulling a chair a little closer before moving to sit down in it. "Sure. What's up?"

[firstofitskind]

"You're important to Nina," Liam said, carefully. "That means, by extension, you're important to me. "

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh."

Prompto tried to not look down at his fingers knotting together in his lap.

"Um."

He just wanted to bring you adorable cheesecake, Liam! Not deal with that thing that he's really bad at dealing with!

"Thanks?

"I mean..." He hesitated a little. "You're important to Nina, too, so I guess that means, by extension, you're also important to me?"

Which was weird, because he didn't really know the guy, and he was pretty sure Liam had way more weight on the important scale now, and it sounded like a smart thing to say at the time, but now it probably just sounded stupid, and oh gods, he should have just FedEx'd the damn cheesecake with a nice note or something...

[grenadesandohana]

Steve was back to pull his name for the Secret Santa now that Danny had put his foot down.

He hoped he didn't get Calvin.

"Howzit, Liam."

[firstofitskind]

“Can’t get that one Christmas song out of my head,” Liam admitted. “The bells one, you know? How’re you doing?”

[grenadesandohana]

"Silver Bells?" Steve asked, frowning. "And I'm good, man. Here for the Secret Santa that I'm sure the guys told you about, right, guys?"

[firstofitskind]

“They absolutely did not,” Liam said, shaking his head.

Which didn’t mean he didn’t know about it! He just assumed it was one of those things the boss wasn’t supposed to be part of, so he left it alone.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve joined him in shaking his head. "For shame, Ralph."

[firstofitskind]

“I just figured none of them wanted to worry about drawing my name,” Liam shrugged.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey showed up before training with a drink in hand and an inflatable reindeer under her arm.

"I brought you something," she said, holding out the tea. Not the reindeer.

[firstofitskind]

“I’m full up on reindeer,” Liam said instantly. “But this I’ll take off your hands gladly,” he added as he took the tea she was holding out.

[thatwaslucky]

"Did you take any reindeer?" Rey asked, since she didn't know where the first few had gone.

[firstofitskind]

“I did not,” Liam said. “The amount of inflatable reindeer I need in my life is zero.” He paused as something occurred to him. “Although...”

[thatwaslucky]

"I still have two reindeer. You can give one away," she said immediately.

[firstofitskind]

"I might know someone who'd enjoy having an inflatable reindeer of her very own," Liam said.

Nina was getting a reindeer now. Lucky her!

[weirderthanthou]

"Well, I'm glad we didn't finish the advent part of the handbook yet," Jesse commented as she walked up to Liam's desk.

[firstofitskind]

"No," Liam agreed. "Things are looking a little strange this year."

Which was practically a pattern in and of itself. Fandom did love its patterns, and it was hard to live here for years and not become at least a little genre-savvy.

[weirderthanthou]

"Yeah," Jesse said, and let out a soft huff. "I'm thinking we should probably keep our guard up until Christmas."

[firstofitskind]

"The last thing we need is to be blindsided by, I don't know, angry gingerbread men," Liam said with a nod.

[weirderthanthou]

"Sounds tasty, though," Jesse deadpanned, smiling at him.

Oh god, that was awful.

[firstofitskind]

"... Now that's a mental image," Liam snickered. "Though now I have to wonder, would they be swarms of cookie-sized gingerbread men, or people-sized?"