*･ﾟ* on the 2nd day of Christmas :･ﾟ*

"We Need A Little Christmas"

The new era of cautious peace was still young, and real work had largely fallen to Vancha and Darren. Mika and Arrow preoccupied themselves providing support from the Vampire Mountain end of things, mostly by managing routing logistics via the Stone of Blood. Last night's staff meeting ran late, but not because there was too much to do. There wasn't enough to do. They sat there sipping wine and chatting until sipping turned to slurping and chatting turned to side-splitting laughter.

Mika knows for a fact there are 2 kinds of hangovers. The violent ones that kick you in the stomach so you wake up a sweaty bundle of anguish, self-loathing, and nausea. Then there's the benign variety that waits while you wake up slowly, then taps you gently on the shoulder and murmurs in your ear, you were a little silly last night.

Mika slowly sat up and conducted an internal system check. First thing he realized was that he was still in the Hall of Princes. His body was stiff from sleeping curled up in his throne, and his abs ached like he'd been laughing. But fuck if he knew what he'd been laughing about. He remembered Arrow rolling the barrel of wine into the Hall of Princes. Everything after that was a downward spiral into a black hole.

Speaking of Arrow, he was here too. And he didn't look much better than Mika felt so it was unlikely he'd be much help piecing it all together. He was flaked out on the floor, arm dangling off the side of the throne platform. Just a couple of majestic, noble Princes in their natural habitat.

From what Mika could remember, the staff meeting had been small. But everyone in attendance stuck around for the social hour(s) that followed. And three others had hung in there til the bitter end. Newly-designated Quartermaster Crepsley was on one of the front pews. Awake, but by the loosest definition of the word. He was sitting hunched over with his face in his hands looking like he was rethinking every decision he'd ever made. (About time).

Vanez Blane was there too, passed out on the floor, halfway between the thrones and the pews. At least he looked comfortable.

And the third was Kaden Hale, curled up under a blanket in Arrow's vacant throne. Ever since the war ended she'd occupied herself helping Vanez run training programs. And getting drunk at staff meetings.

Mika got up slowly, yawned, and stretched his arms. As usual his left shoulder joint was stiffer than the right, and there was a dull ache deep within it. But he didn't resent the physical souvenir of the war. If anything, he was grateful. It meant he was alive. He chuckled to himself as he gently prodded Arrow's belly with his toe. This wasn't their first mutual hangover and it wouldn't be the last.

"How you feeling, A?"

"…Mmmmpph."

"Yeah. You look it."

"By the black blood of Harnon Oan!" Larten groaned as he helped Vanez to his feet. "What did we drink last night?"

"If my pounding head is any indication, everything." Said Vanez grimly.

"Where'd I get this blanket? Last thing I remember is going shot-for-shot with… fuck, I don't even remember who." Hale added, awakening at the sound of raspy voices around her. She quickly got out of the throne as though embarrassed to have been caught sleeping there - as if anyone cared. She sat down instead on the platform floor a few feet away from Arrow. It's worth noting his eyelids flickered open at the sound of her voice.

"Fuck, I barely remember what we discussed at the meeting-" Mika had to pause to yawn again "- before we started drinking."

"We got through the entire agenda, I remember that much." Said Larten.

"How would you know, you illiterate old bat?" Vanez hooted, punctuating it by clapping Larten roughly on the back.

There was a moment where it looked like Larten was about to hurl, but he regained his composure to round on Vanez and snap, "Rather rich coming from the man who does not even have a single eyeball to his name!"

"Ah, thanks for reminding me." Said Vanez. His eyebrow twitched in the ghost of a wink. "I always forget that part."

"Mika, what's on the schedule today? Whatever it is, I wanna cancel it." Arrow muttered as he slowly sat upright, rubbing his eyes.

"Why do you always assume I know what's on the schedule?"

"Because you always know what's on the schedule."

"Well, why do you never know what's on the schedule?"

"Because you never let me make the schedule!"

"You hate making the schedule and you're bad at it!" Mika protested vehemently. He would've kept talking back as long as Arrow did. But then Hale burst out laughing and Arrow was helpless to do anything but chuckle along with her. The rosy flush in Arrow's cheeks did not go unnoticed by Mika, but the last thing Mika wanted to do was call attention to it. Besides, there was no way Hale didn't notice too.

Nobody seemed in a hurry to leave. They remained loosely clustered around the thrones, swapping hoarse laughs and hazy theories about what may or may not have happened last night. Roughly an hour in, there came the familiar sound of the guard's staff pounding the floor outside the Hall of Princes, signalling a visitor. Everyone flinched slightly at the sound.

"Announcing the arrival of Quartermaster Nile!" The guard boomed.

"I don't know what's funnier, the fact that they still call him Quartermaster even though he's been retired for six months, or the fact that he still doesn't ask us to let him in. He tells us he's arrived." Mika snorted as he stood up (wincing slightly; everything still ached) and walked back to his throne to touch the panel and open the doors for Seba.

"Personally I think the funniest part is how often they forget to call Larten Quartermaster Crepsley." Hale contributed drily.

Seba was moving at a pace far brisker than a man his age should've been capable of. Like he was on a mission. Whatever he was here for, it wasn't a social call. Harkat Mulds was hustling along behind him, carrying a piece of paper and a clipboard.

"Good evening to you all. I hope your respective hangovers have not been too excruciating." Seba greeted them as he reached the throne platform.

"Mr. Nile." Mika replied with a wry grin and a nod. "I see you had better things to do than drink yourself stupid with us last night. Gods, I envy you."

"Not to worry, Sire." Said Seba. "There is still plenty to do."

There was something about the way he said it. Something that made Mika feel like Seba was even more steps ahead of him than usual. And Seba's always at least two steps ahead of everyone.

"…There is?"

Seba gave Mika a bit of a funny look, which Mika countered with a funny look of his own. Then Seba glanced around purposefully at the others. "I just came from briefing the kitchen staff. They are all delighted and grateful for your generosity, and will ensure the kitchen is ready. But they did warn me we will not have enough cattle or hogs ready to slaughter for a feast of that size. Instead we will hunt wild game for our dinner. If it was good enough for our forefathers, I dare say it is good enough for us! The next item on the list is procuring the Christmas tree."

Mika abruptly lost all faith in his senses. His brain was telling him he was awake, but there was no way that was accurate. He was still asleep. This was just a funny dream. He was so dumbstruck he almost didn't notice Arrow whispering (loudly) into his ear: "What the fuck's he talking about?"

Seba heard him, of course. Everyone heard him.

"I am updating you on the Christmas preparations, Sire." Said Seba, silver eyebrows arching. Gods bless that man and his endless patience, because nobody seemed to be picking up what he was putting down.

"Oh." Said Arrow, in a way that suggested he'd been left with more questions than answers. Mika was scouring his brain for a diplomatic way to ask 'No seriously what the fuck are you talking about?' when Larten took care of that for him, scoffing:

"What Christmas preparations?!"

"The Christmas preparations you discussed and agreed upon at last night's meeting!" Seba stared back at his former-apprentice-now-successor as if he'd sprouted a second head. As though Larten's very existence was baffling him.

Mika practically had to pick his own jaw up off the floor to maintain some semblance of professionalism. Someone had to get this straightened out, and nobody else was jumping at the opportunity.

"My apologies, Seba." Said Mika. "I'll admit last night's meeting went a little off the rails. We discussed and agreed on what now?"

Seba's eyes narrowed as he glanced from Larten, to Vanez, to Hale, to Arrow, and finally to Mika. Seba seemed to deflate a little as it sunk in that none of them had a shred of context for what he was saying.

"Do none of you remember?" Said Seba. "You summoned me to the Hall of Princes at some ungodly hour to announce your intentions of preparing a grand feast on the twenty-fifth of December! Which, I may add, is in seven days from now."

"Personally I'm never going to say no to a grand feast." Mika offered. He felt that sounded like a pretty diplomatic answer. "As long as the staff are able to pull it off on such short notice. I'd totally understand if-"

"The staff are not hosting the feast for you." Seba cut him off, patience waning. "You - the Princes and senior supervisors - intended to host the feast for them. As an expression of gratitude for keeping the mountain functional throughout the war."

"Oh." Said Mika. So much for eloquence.

That earned a round of boisterous laughter. From everyone but Seba. He was standing there studying the group with an expression that almost looked like disappointment. Almost, but not. He's a professional after all.

"Shall I call off the operation, then?" Seba inquired drily. "Considering none of you were in an… ideal frame of mind when you set the plan into motion? It is not too late."

Mika automatically prepared to respond with the obvious default, "Yeah, we fucked up, sorry, our bad, pretend it never happened."Then he thought about it. The staff really did work hard. They worked hard before the war. They worked hard during the war. And when it was finally over, as everyone picked up the pieces in a daze, they were still there. Working harder than ever. Everyone knows it's not the Princes who are the heart and soul of Vampire Mountain - it's the staff. And nobody knows that better than the Princes. Mika will go on record admitting he doesn't even know how most of the kitchen apparatuses work. But he's never once been hungry here. So when he opened his mouth to answer Seba, what came out was:

"I mean… we said we'd do it. And you already told the staff. So it'd look pretty bad on our part if we cancelled at this point, right?"

"Terribly unprofessional." Arrow affirmed with an earnest nod and a gleam in his eye.

"Downright sloppy." Said Vanez. He was already grinning.

"Completely embarrassing." Hale added.

"Personally I am fine with calling it off." Said Larten drily.

"Well… nobody asked you… Larten!" Harkat spoke up with a hesitant chuckle. He flashed a toothy grin as the others howled with laughter, including Seba. Especially Seba.

Normally Mika wasn't into this kind of thing. But it had been almost a decade since anything felt normal. After more struggling than he cared to admit, Mika had reached the conclusion he didn't need normal anymore. He'd settle for whatever this was. Because this was nice.