Island of Oahu, Hawaii, Monday

[glacial_witch]

Regretfully, Captain Chiba had had to explain over the phone that, no, his yacht was not available for them to charter today, as it was already in use. That had led to much sad eyes and wobbly lower lips on the other side of the phone until Warren had asked the good captain what it was chartered for--possibly to offer the other party some kind of

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[not_a_parakeet]

And so long as the Christmas Angel didn't need to stretch, he'd be doing just fine. Honest! It wasn't like he was nervous or anything. It was a really convincing costume! Really.

Really really.

"Tell me again," he said, still smiling, "that this wasn't a bad idea?"

He would have probably looked pretty goofy as an elf, but all things considered, anyone who didn't know the wings were real were probably going to look at him and guess that there was some serious narcissism at play.

Or maybe just point and whisper, like some of the kids were doing.

[glacial_witch]

"It was a wonderful idea," Karla said, grinning and waving at the children as Captain Chiba--dressed to the hilt in a Santa suit, though his had a red-on-red Hawaiian pattern of palm trees on it--brought the Serenity in to dock. "No more hiding, remember?"

Not that they were going to be stupid about this or anything. But Captain Chiba--if they were going to keep hiring him, if they were going to talk about taking family trips on his ship years in the future, well, then they needed to know that they could trust him.

[not_a_parakeet]

"No more hiding," Warren agreed, taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders a little. "It's just, I kind of figured the not-hiding parts would start at home, mostly."

Which they had. Since he'd made absolutely certain that there was no shadow of doubt that the boy who had jumped from the Worthington Labs window months before was, in fact, the Worthington heir. But still!

[glacial_witch]

"Most people will just assume that you've gotten an impressive costume," Karla soothed. "I mean, look at this pile of gifts we have for a bunch of children we've ever even met. Extravagance is kind of what we do."

How much do your jeans normally cost, Warren?