What Marines Do At Christmas

Posted on Tue Aug 24th, 2021 @ 2:35pm by Petty Officer 2nd Class Halla Dezom (*) & Major Levi Drake

Mission: Cosmos
Location: Starbase 47
Timeline: 2396
1935 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Halla was not sure about this at all as she stood outside the quarters that Levi had been allocated on the base as part of his shore leave. She had decided to stay on the ship with quarters purely as she wanted to have the choice of freedom but it was not as simple for senior officers. They had all been assigned so they could be contactable and she was pretty sure Levi would be grumbling about his choice and the fact the Commodore had likely picked it purposely as a hit for him to relax. She was not sure he even celebrated Christmas or he might not even celebrate it this way but there she stood outside holding a package and a bag with other Christmas stuff. She pressed the door chime and waited for a response.

Levi appeared in a pair of casual shorts and a marine-issue vest, a towel draped around his shoulders. His expression, initially one of annoyance at having been interrupted, softened quickly when he saw who it was.

"Hey," he grunted, giving her a wave so she didn't just stand outside. "I wasn't expecting you. Was trying to get a light workout in while I can." Patting down the light sweat on his brow, he shifted inside, making a move towards the replicator. "Can I get you anything?"

The woman smiled as she saw his reaction to her presence shift on his face. She had hoped she wasn’t interrupting. Had she made too much of an impulse decision?

“I am sorry. I thought to come later but I also did not want to leave it too long as I did not really know what to do and I did not want to miss you unless you were doing something but… you seem to be…. And I….” She stopped realising she was stumbling through words that were not overly making sense. “I came to see what you were doing for Christmas. It is not a Trill holiday but it is a Federation Standard holiday and well…. “ She shrugged shyly. They had seen each other since the planet and the fact she had been in his head but it had not been more than quick passes or dinner surrounded people.

He lingered by the replicator, not having had an answer, but he smiled a little all the same. "I...I didn't have anything planned," he admitted. "Family is a long way. Well, if you ignore the corps of course." He requested some water from the computer to refresh himself. "So I'm free for whatever sort of tradition you can think of."

That was no surprise. He did not talk about his family much. “I thought maybe we can start our own traditions out of the jumble of this Federation holiday. Something for us..” She mumbled through looking surprisingly nervous at what she was suggesting as she clutched the bags she was holding closer.

Levi thought about it. Although a traditionalist himself, he didn't have actual traditions for this time of year per se. He motioned his head towards the bags. "What did you bring?"

“Oh… Um. I brought some stuff for Christmas before invading here. I have been researching things.” She looked at the blue bag and held it out to him. There seemed no time like the present to surprise him even if she was sure she was rambling and making very little sense. “Christmas presents, I guess. I saw it and thought of you. Merry Christmas Levi.” She said despite it being three days until the 25th of December. It was more of a surprise and she liked surprising him if she was honest. He was so in control all of the time that it was nice to ruffle his feathers.

"Presents?" he echoed. It was a mix of surprise and a touch of guilt for not having thought of it himself. Certainly, nobody would have called Levi the most romantic of men, and gifts weren't really something he had much inspiration for. He retrieved a small, shiny-wrapped and ribboned parcel from the bag. It didn't feel particularly heavy or noisy inside.

"What is it..." he wondered, peeling back the wrapping. Inside was a ceramic mug, painted army green, with the words 'Front Toward Enemy' printed in stylistic letters on one side. He couldn't help but smirk a little at the vaguely silly sight he would be drinking from it. "Oh. Uh...thanks." Somewhat awkwardly he kissed her on the cheek by way of gratitude. "I guess I'll have to think of something to return the favour."

Halla rolled her eyes at the kiss and the awkwardness the gift had produced. She should have known that it would have caused something like this. "No, you do not need to." She assured quickly touching his arm in a gesture of calm or at least she hoped it was. Sometimes humans especially her human were hard to read. "I should have warned you. I got overly excited about my first Christmas and bulldozed in." She apologised quietly shaking her head again as she gathered herself together.

"No warning needed," he shook his head, finishing off his post-workout towel-down. "I'll find some way to repay you. Might have to be in favours though..." he admitted, half-meaning the innuendo that inevitably they both noticed. "I guess dinner's on me, then. The traditional roast was always the way in my family. That work for you?"

Halla laughed at the innuendo and lay a quick kiss on his shoulder before stepping back to have a look around. "Still I am sorry. I should prepare you for my whims or checked. Marines need preparation for battle right?" She teased just a little as she racked her brain for what a traditional roast was. "Um, what is a traditional roast?" She finally asked aloud.

"You're kidding...no, you're not kidding..." He actually laughed at that part. "You just take a seat. I'll sort it all out, though I'm afraid it's all replicated stuff this time. Does that bag have anything alcoholic in it?"

"Now?" She wondered looked around a bit alarmed. "Christmas is tomorrow, isn't it? And of course, it had something alcoholic. A Trill rose wine." Was this some other tradition she did not understand? The woman had tried to research Christmas but there had been so much information it had been impossible to sort out and process.

"Why not now, hmm?" he asked, poking in the bag himself for the bottle. Fishing it out he checked the label just to be sure. It was a decent vintage; she must have had it a while. "There's no hard-and-fast rule on when people celebrate. I know some cultures would celebrate a day early, others would extend it out for a week or two. Maybe we can make it one of our own traditions?"

"Um... Okay." The woman said blown away slightly by him taking the bottle from her bag. "Sure our tradition." She agreed as she put the rest of the bags down finally out of the way of herself and her own clumsiness. They only contained bits and bobs but she was fully aware that she would and could over them. It was a well-known fact that she could fall over thin air if she wanted to.

"This was your idea, Halla. Something wrong?" he asked, seeing a little hesitation in the way she was acting.

"I am just blown away. I did not really expect you to go along with me." She giggled a little. She had not expected him to jump in and preparing this traditional roast.

He relaxed again when she said that. He wrapped a big arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. "Don't get too carried away, we've got plenty more traditions to make yet. Did you bring Christmas crackers?"

The man's touch calmed her for a moment before she looked at the bags. "Um..." She looked in the bag and pulled out the tinsel, then wrapping paper, several other random items before she held up a cracker. "The man on the stall said they were important." She shrugged holding the large box out to him.

"Oh very," he said seriously. "Vital. Can't have Christmas without them." He winked, taking hold of one of the cardboard pieces and holding the other end out to her. "Go ahead, pull."

The woman raised an eyebrow but did as requested standing up to do so. She tugged hard and let out a surprise down as a band went off and the cracker broke in two. "You use explosives inside Christmas things? No wonder you like them with that smug grin and winking at me." She teased looking at him before noticing some items had fallen out.

"Ha! You think that's bad? Back in my boot camp days we'd have loaded them with concussion grenades and let the rookies pull them." Levi chuckled. "So, come on then - what's the terrible joke it comes with?"

“Why did nobody bid for Rudolph and Blitzen on the galactic eBay?” She wondered reading it before chuckling herself. “This is terrible …They were two deer.” She shook her head feeling light-hearted again.

"Annnnd there we go." Levi nodded, approving of the terrible pun. "Shame we didn't get any of those at the Officers' party, might have livened things up a bit. They're fine people, but as a Marine, it feels like I'm still not quite one of them, do you know what I mean?"

"I do but you cannot tell me that the Commodore is not trying to include you." She had not heard of Marine Commanding Officers being included as much as he was. "Was it nice to have a catch up with everyone?" She wondered putting the piece of paper on the coffee table shaking her head at it still.

"It was fine." He poured them a couple of drinks. "Met the new Intelligence Officer, think his name was Spello - had a bit of a stick up his ass the whole time."

"Le..." Halla sighed softly. She had to tell him now before he found out later from Maxun or any number of people who had been on Cassiopea. She had hoped that he would not have attended or been too busy but she could not be dishonest with the man. Maxun had broken her heart into more pieces than she had thought possible so there was no risk of her falling for him. "Spello is Maxun... that is my ex..." She whispered thinking about having seen him the night of the Winter Solistice event.

"Oh." Levi didn't really react at first. Spello hadn't necessarily impressed him all that much in their first brief encounter. This news didn't necessarily change anything from a professional perspective, but he suspected it might make her feel awkward. "You've moved on since then," he noted. "He should have too. No reason to worry about it."

"More than moved on." She said brightly taking in how he did not overly react. She did not know if that was good or not but she knew that Levi had nothing to fear from the reappearance of Maxun. Slowly letting out the breath she had been holding out she moved to the wine and grabbed some glasses pouring two big glasses.

He managed a smile as she passed him one. "To moving on?" he suggested, touching the rim against hers.

"To having moved on." She corrected quickly wishing that she had not mentioned it but it was out there now. She would have to deal with it all come what may.