xp_logs | God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Trenchcoat Brigade

Backdated to Christmas Day - whilst the junior league is playing Truth or Dare, the older contigent contemplate their situation. With lots of booze.

Christmas was a time for giving, a time for sharing. Add that onto the stress of being locked away for the holidays and it was no wonder that Wanda appeared carrying several bottles. "I broke out the good stuff," she announced, gingerly finding a place to put them. "There is enough drunken giggling coming from down the hall to scare me for a life time, so I figured why should the younger members have all the fun?"

"Because dey young and full of life, and we are all miserable cynic bastards who have been worn away by de mighty river of time or something?" Remy said, swirling the contents of his glass. The noise of young laughter had been a little disconcerting, leading the older contingent to settle on the third floor lounge.

"Speak for yourself, I am irrefutably full of life." Betsy said, taking the glass from Remy's hands, drinking down its contents, and taking a seat next to him on the couch.

"You full of something, dat's for sure." Remy groused, leaning forward to refill his glass, which he pointedly snatched back from Betsy.

"Aw, c'mon Rem. If we're to be stuck here. On Christmas. I, for one, refuse to spend it the least bit...stuffy." She stood, retrieved a glass of her own from Wanda and sat back down next to him. "Besides, I have all three hundred and sixty four days left of the year to do just that."

"So what you're saying is that the last thing you want for Christmas is to be stuffed?" Remy shook his head sadly. "Alors, mes amis, at dis point, we should be calling de centre de Snow Valley Seminary college or something, vows of chastity required at de door."

"Shut up, you arse." Betsy laughed and punched him lightly in the arm. "Though we'll not undervalue your efforts on relieving this great plight upon your fellows." She kept her expression calm though her eyes were dancing. "It's a heavy burden, I know."

"For the hundredth time," Sofia put in, her accent even more pronounced as she slipped into a lazy drawl, drumming the pads of her fingers against the bottle resting on her leg. "Only the women here are attractive enough to be making sexual references. No one needs to picture you naked, merci."

"Frankly, I support all of us keeping out clothes on." Remy took a sip of his drink and turned to Sofia. "And de last thing I want to know is where you keep it tucked."

There was a startling ring of sound, and a warm breeze lifted the hair around her face; Sofia's laughter. "You wouldn't stand a chance, el principito," she announced, still smiling. "Thank you."

"Please," Betsy interrupted, looking slightly disgusted. "I'm drinking here."

Wanda snorted and spread out on the floor, pouring herself a glass. "And I am trying to," she added, sipping and looking amused. "The very last thing we need is a drunken, naked sparring match. Here's to the drinking part at least."

"Yeah, and if this conversation keeps up, we're going to run out very, very fast." Pete refilled his glass. "Incidentally, does it worry anyone else that out of the five of us, only two of us had plans for the holidays? Remind me next year, I want to start making sure the kids take a proper holiday every so often."

She was firmly entrenched within the couch when she spoke. "I'm sure we can make it so that the young ones don't overwork themselves. If anything, I have properties in various locales that we can whisk them away too, if necessary. But Pete, understand me when I say this, luv." Betsy said very slowly, as she sat up in her seat. "We will not run out, nor do we plan on running out. And to say such things, during a time like this...." she visibily shivered at the thought. "This will never be the house that Gin forgot."

"And if we do run out--not that we will, Betsy, not that we will--Betsy will suddenly have a secondary mutation that forces us to find more drink." Wanda shook her head. "But you've got a point about holidays and such. I would not be surprised if one, or more, had ended up in the office..."

She just calmly raised an eyebrow when everyone turned and stared at her. "I was planning on...lots of catching up with Stephen, thank you very much," she huffed. "You work yourself into the ground one time and see what happens. The trust is gone."

Remy looked over the top of his drink at Wisdom. "Think dey starting to turn out like us, homme?. All work and no... wait, what else do any of us do, really?"

"Occasionally, some of us go out and have sex with people we don't have to leave a tip for. Sorry," Sofia remarked, pausing to tip the bottle in her lap up and towards her mouth, then back again, not looking apologetic in the least. "Stop setting me up like that, it's getting too easy."

"I heard dat 'bout your reputation." Remy said offhandedly. It took a lot to actually offend him, and the woman wasn't even in his league. Although, he occasionally missed being Gambit in terms of allowable responses. Leaving a family member's head on her desk would likely make her scale back her insults. "Any more EOE activity on de radar?"

"Couple of things I want to check out in the New Year. So much of what was on that drive turned out to be dead programs, or at least shit they shut down fast after that whole business earlier in the year. But yeah, one or two things."

Pete took a sip of his drink.

"And yeah, I don't know if they're actually turning out like us, but I think it's worth reminding them that even you and I both took holidays this year. Well, OK, something that looked like a holiday, if you squint." He took another sip. "Well, we left the country on non-urgent business, and didn't hurry back." And another sip. "Well, no more than a few days early."

Wanda snorted. "Well, at least nothing was on fire..." She put up a hand. "And if it was, I sincerely do not wish to know about it. Now, let us see how much of a dent we can put in our stash here before we get molested by Mark and the others for it, shall we?"