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Cafeteria | Afternoon | Thursday | November 25

It was Thanksgiving Day. It was time for parades, football and food. Currently, Alex was leaning against one of the walls in the kitchen, watching the catering company set up for dinner. There was a shitload of food and his stomach growled just watching.

It was good to be president. He got to delegate everything.

When one of the caterers stepped forward and thrust a plastic wrapped garment bag in his hand, Alex frowned.

"What?"

"Outfits for the dinner," the caterer said. "The contract states that we make and you serve the food. No fulfillment of the contract, no food."

Confused, Alex unzipped the bag and peeked inside. The costume was not cool at all.

"Are you serious?" Alex asked, glaring. "No way!"

"No costumes," the caterer said, already signaling his workers to get ready to package the food up, "no food."

Alex continued glaring at the caterer and the costume. He hated his life.

[OCD is up and this is posted early for SP, of course!]

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"Shut up," Alex said for what had to be the hundredth time today. "Did you want food today? The stupid caterer is a prick."

Effy glanced towards the catering staff with a smirk. "Thought you were supposed to be all appreciative and peppy today," she commented. Obviously, he wasn't feeling the cheer. Expecting that from Alex if you knew him even a tiny bit was... crazy, really. But she couldn't stop herself from teasing.

"Peppy?" Alex said, making the word sound like a curse. "You on something that's making you think something insane like that?"

There was a slight twitch of her smile, and Effy shook her head. "Not today." Just in a relatively good mood. Seeing him dressed like that didn't hurt.

"Am told that's the point of the holiday." The 'peppy' part had probably been her own sarcastic embellishment, but the sentiment was the same. "... Well. That and arguing over whose fault the burnt turkey is."

"And since you're participating in the holiday, what are you thankful for?" Alex asked, still trying to deflect attention from his stupid costume. "Cigarettes?"

Effy shrugged, and decided to take a seat by him. "Sure. That'll do." Because no, she was not going for the sort of overly cheesy crap some people would start spouting on days like this.

"You?" He'd helpfully done hers for her, but she could still turn it back on him.

Alex shrugged. "Thankful that I'm alive, I guess. Kinda touch and go there when I was a kid."

That was a lot more honesty than Effy'd expected from him, and there was a slight tic of surprise in her eyebrows before she briefly raised her glass (of miraculously unspiked Coke) to that.

"Being here doesn't seem so bad." Compared to what she imagined he'd put up with, anyway. "Just makes me think of Christmas." Americans apparently just needed an extra day in the year kept free to eat turkey.

"Christmas big at your house?" Alex asked, curious. It wasn't a big deal at his. He was lucky if his mom remembered it was anything special.

"Not huge, but we celebrate." Or so it seemed to her. "Tree, presents, turkey my dad insists on carving, badly, while talking about thighs." That probably made more sense when she accompanied that snippet with more explanation.

"Talking about thighs?" Alex repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Whose thighs?"

"Turkey... Possibly his aunt Mabel's." It was one of those little anecdotes brought out every time they had a meal like this and Effy didn't ask questions when he did that sort of thing, it led nowhere good.

"Apparently, thigh is the least dirty part of a bird he can think to ask for," she elaborated after a moment.

"What, really?" Alex asked, snickering. "Ask for a wing. Or a drumstick. I can see breast if she's all shy and shit but come on."

"I never said he made sense." In fact, her dad rarely used the sort of logic most earth people did. "He's a moron." Aside from her language use, she didn't take after him an awful lot. Thank fucking god.

"Made a dinner game betting what he'd swear over longest." Maybe he knew what he got baited into, but usually not before he was deep in enough not to be able to back out.

"Did you win?" Alex asked, curious. "What'd he swear over longest?"

Her traditions might have been twisted but at least she had some.

"Usually the fucking bollocking wankshite twat of a turkey, funnily enough," she answered. Because one curse was never enough when you were mangling your wife's cooking. "Either that or shitty TV." Which no doubt he had an equally colourful opinion on.

"And I won a lot." Or so she'd tell people while Tony wasn't around to argue his corner.

"You win anything good or just the ability to brag?" Alex asked, guessing both would suit her.

"Rights to be smug?" Bragging was putting in that bit too much effort to be her style. She shrugged. "Made dinner a little more interesting." That improved things for both of them.

"That mean you're gonna go back this Christmas and celebrate?" Alex wondered.

"Something like that. Make sure my mum puts down her eggnog at the right time." Or at least didn't mix it with anything else and pass out with her cigarette still lit. That was easily a possibility. "She's not a big fan of Christmas these days." And tended to deal with that with booze.

Effy did in fact take after one of her parents in certain ways, much as she loved to deny they were anything alike.

"She wants to see me. Been a little too long."

"Huh. Might be a fun time," Alex said, shrugging. "I'll be here. My mom won't realize anything's happening and my brother and sister will be with their other families."

Effy huffed a wry breath. "Welcome to come back with me if you want," she offered. "Not like she'll care if I have a friend around." Might not even really notice.

"She just spent best part of two months screwing some Italian. Might be in a better mood after that." Less man-hating, at least. Maybe more depressed at having to leave said Italian in Italy.

"You really think bringing me home with you isn't going to send her right back into man hating?" Alex wondered, amused.

"Would probably depend what you said to her," Effy allowed.

Even then, considering the man she'd married... At least she was used to difficult?

"Well, if I was on my best behavior, you'd get bored," Alex pointed out, smirking. "That'd be too goody two shoes for you."

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