(Untitled)

[antiwhorish]

Angela was not. happy. about the state of the Christmas tree in the rec room. For one thing, there were no lights. None. Christmas according to Angela required small colored lights blinking at an appropriate rate of speed; too fast was too flashy, but some twinkle was necessary. And this stupid island had no strings of lights whatsoever. She

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[jim_halpert]

It was the arguing that led Jim to poke his head in, and he immediately regretted it upon seeing who the two fighting were. As a rule, Jim kept out of fights between - well, between pretty much everyone, because that usually only led to him somehow getting in the middle of it. He had managed to stay out of most conflict at work by ignoring it, but it was hard to do that this time when he knew he was already spotted.

So he walked in, hands in his pockets, and observed what River was doing with the tree, and Angela not at all looking happy. Jim wasn't surprised in the least.

"Tree's looking good," he offered. "You uh, guys need any help?"

[antiwhorish]

"Yes!" answered River cheerfully at the same time Angela firmly said "No."

The women glared at each other again, though River was somewhat more puzzled than angry. She didn't understand why anyone wouldn't want to share something as nice as tree decorating.

[jim_halpert]

Jim really should have known better. Angela never let him go near the tree in the office, and barely let her party planning committee do anything either.

"Well, I could just watch," he said, almost diplomatically, thinking that'd diffuse whatever issue that was going on between them. "I don't mind."

[crazyspacegirl]

"No," said River, grabbing Jim by the sleeve and pulling him toward her side of the tree. "You can help me. This side's for everyone, it's not just mine. I don't want to do it by myself. That's not what Christmas is about."

Angela, carefully arranging paper snowflakes, gave a snort of disapproval.

[chris_cutter]

"Hey, looks pretty good," Chris remarked, walking into the rec room from the kitchen, a mug of hot tea in one hand. He'd never really liked tea much, but he'd found himself drinking more of it since taking up Council office hours for some reason. Still couldn't bring himself to drink coffee, though.

He gave a quirk of an approving smile at River and then noticed the other woman, whom he immediately recognized as the one who'd called Lennox a whore. His smile brightened a bit and he cocked his head to the side. "Could probably do with some more orange, though."

[antiwhorish]

"Orange has nothing to do with Christmas," snapped Angela. She didn't care where people were from; Christmas was green and red, and maybe some blue and white, but most definitely not orange.

"You can put something orange on this side," offered River. "The island's tree should have something from everyone's traditions." She'd fought Reavers more than once and won; Angela didn't scare her.

[chris_cutter]

"You obviously haven't strung too many Christmas lights then," Chris remarked. "There's always some orange in those. Rounds things out." He still looked nothing but amused, though he wandered over to have a better look at River's side of the tree. "I like these," he said, touching one of the paper links lightly before stepping back again to admire the tree. It didn't look bad at all, just... a bit like it had a personality crisis going on.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Thank you," said River, who liked her paper chains quite a lot, all things considered.

"We don't even have lights," grumbled Angela.

River shrugged. "I don't think we need them," she said, though the spark of an idea had entered her mind. She thought maybe Kaylee could rig up some lights, but she wasn't going to mention it to Angela. Even in Christmas tree decorating, she had a bit of a competitive streak, and she wanted her side to be the best side.

[sweeter_be]

It was takin' some time for a boy from Louisiana to get used to this kind of cold, but Clay was doin' okay, huddled up in his bomber jacket, with his head bent low as he made his way down the path.

"Hey there, Miss Angela," he said, with a bob of his head, and a smile on his face. "That's a mighty nice tree."

[antiwhorish]

"Yes, it is." Decorations (or lack thereof) aside, the tree itself really was quite acceptable. "I suppose that's one thing nicer here. No chance of being stuck with a fake plastic tree."

[sweeter_be]

"You can get plastic trees now?" Clay whistled and shoved chilled hands deep into sheepskin lined pockets. "Woo-ee. I reckon this one's much nicer."

[antiwhorish]

"You can. Not here, but in the real world, you can get all kinds of artificial things." Angela hadn't thought about some of the things she missed in a while, but some of them were very artificial. "I miss meatless chicken nuggets."

[literarylessons]

"Tinsel?" was the off-handed and the definitely unasked suggestion that Jo March offered to the pair of women whom she did not know, but that fact she did not particularly care about. It was something which would've horrified Amy and made Beth laugh and Christmas made her ache for her sisters, so she decided to not think about them with Dickens and people fussing over trees.

"Perhaps waxpaper stars and some candles too?"

[antiwhorish]

"Tinsel would be nice," Angela agreed. "If we had some. I wonder if that something we could get someone to make?"

She looked at the tree consideringly. Tinsel would definitely add some of the sparkle missing due to the lack of lights.

"Candles are a fire hazard," she said dismissively. She supposed she might have to name herself safety inspector if no one else would take responsibility.

[literarylessons]

"It can't be that hard to make, we had a whole passel of it back home. And some of those little glass icicles as well," Jo continued, gesturing as if someone might, for some strange and unknown reason not know what she was talking about.

She made a face, one of total and utter confusion, and laughed. "But then what else would you use to light up the tree? Fairy dust?"

[antiwhorish]

"Electrical lights plugged into an approved outlet, of course." Any other way might have been pretty, but it was primitive and unsafe.

"Tinsel really can't be that difficult. I'll get my husband on that project as soon as I get home."

[numbertwoguy]

"Hi, River," Dwight said with the usual mixture of giddiness and bewilderment that there was a River here in the first place. A beat, and then he noticed his snugglebuns was decorating the tree too. "Hi, honey."

[antiwhorish]

"Hello, Dwight." River was pleased that Dwight remembered her real name this time, instead of calling her Summer like he did sometimes. (She could see the connection; rivers went with summertime.) She thought he must have been recovering from him brain injury at last.

Angela was less pleased that her husband didn't greet her first, but she needed someone to reach the upper branches. "Hello, Dwight."

[numbertwoguy]

"Wow," he said, surveying the tree with his hands on his hips. "It's looking really great." Oddly...divided. They must have come to some agreement, because Dwight knew Angela liked things done a Certain Way.

[antiwhorish]

"Part of it looks great," corrected Angela. That she meant her part went unspecified. Dwight should know that without being told.

"Thank you," said River, much better at being gracious than Angela.