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[Charlie looks tired. Her skin is a bit paler than usual and there are faint circles under her eyes. She's still smiling, though.]

So. I heard some rumors [she almost said 'a little elf told me' - be grateful she has at least some tact, you all, seriously though] that Christmas might be coming up. Anyone want to fill me in on if that's true or not? I'd check but the calender on my tablet didn't update to, uh, space time or dates.

[A slightly awkward pause as she realizes that's probably not the best way she could say that but, well, there it is. She shrugs then smiles again.]

Anywho. So. Christmas. On a spaceship. [No, Charlie. You will not reference Doctor Who. No. Instead have another awkward pause then her smile fades to a 'really, folks, really' kind of look.]

Is this something that's actually happening? For serious?

[Heavily filtered like whoa to all those in Communications]
[As soon as she has the filter set, Charlie refocuses on the screen and she smiles lightly.]

Hey there. For anyone who can see this that I haven't met, hi. I'm Charlie, you better be in Comms because if you aren't I'm going to find out and we're going to have a problem and, well, if you are in Comms... I need your help.

[A breath as she starts to explain.] See, I was tweaking the coding that lets us know if key words are mentioned in posts and, well, after way too many cups of coffee and definitely not enough sleep, I'm pretty sure it's done. Still needs some tweaking and I'm pretty sure nobody else wants it to start yelling at you in a faux human voice when you don't react fast enough so that'll have to be worked on, but yeah. I totes made this coding my bitch.

[A pause to draw another breath.]

Problem is, there are a lot of variations of 'I need help' and unless you all want me to give this coding some kind of sentient understanding [she leans a little closer to the screen] which you don't want me to do, bee tee dubs, because it won't end well [she clears her throat and gets back on topic] then we need to figure out a way to let the coding recognize all possible word choices.

[Her eyes widen as something occurs to her.] Oh! And any ideas on how to make it know the difference between things like 'I need help because the ship is about to explode' and 'I need help to bake this cake', that'd be super awesome too. Unless you all want to be bugged whenever someone is trying to make desserts, in which case I guess we can leave that last one in. Who doesn't like cake, right? Except Dean. Dean's all about the pie.

[Have that awkward pause again, and another clearing of her throat.] So, um, yeah. Help and stuff. [Cue a hopeful smile.] Please?

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[The face that appears on screen makes Charlie look positively rosy by comparison. Though she doesn't look particularly tired.]

I think people could use a bit of Christmas right now.

[Have a nod in greeting.]

My name is Leia Organa. I just joined Communications recently.

I'm not really sure where anyone is getting that it's Christmastime from. If we go by when I was taken, we've just entered August.

[...happy belated 19th birthday?]

[Charlie considers what's been said for a few seconds before tilting her head a little and squinting a bit. Her tone is mildly confused with a touch of curiosity; she's not judging.]

For serious? We're already missing a good chunk of our numbers who're still in stasis. Doesn't it feel a little like tempting fate to throw a party? The timing kind of, well, sucks.

Last year, before the jump that sent everyone down like this, we had... Well, the worst of the situations we've ever been in happened. We experienced what can only be described as our nightmares coming to life. Since we didn't have any real sense of time, people began to refer to it as "Space Halloween", and anyone with a brain can count between Halloween and Christmas--thus some people decided to celebrate the latter too.

The fact is that it probably isn't actually Christmas. We're on a ship in a whole other corner of the galaxy and as far as we know time might not even be passing at all. The period of time between the jumps varies, to make things worse. But as far as it bringing a feeling of uniformity and comfort to the people on board? Well, it might as well be Christmas. Why not. Just like it may as well be Friday--that's my contribution, by the way.

[ He had to choose which seventh day was Sunday, so he picked one out of thin air. He had a one in seven chance of getting it right. ]

[ Comms Encryption ]

I'm afraid coding is genuinely the thing I'm worst at in this place, can I leave this project with you?

[Charlie knows Leia is on board but that doesn't mean she's prepared for the sudden sight of her coming across the screen. The redhead's eyes widen and she sucks in a sharp breath before forcing it out and quickly schooling her expression from surprise to a smile.

She can do this. She's already dealt with most of her fictional heroes and role models; she can handle the one she also happens to have as a tattoo. That's not completely awkward or anything.]

I joined just after the last jump so I'm pretty low on the totem too. It's nice to meet you. Totes looking forward to working together.

[Hey, what do you know? She actually managed to sound normal. For her, anyway.]

[Charlie almost wishes him a happy birthday but stops herself. She's trying this new thing where she doesn't act like a total fangirl all the time and possibly makes friends instead of making people want to avoid her because they think she's crazy. So she just nods.]

That's what I'm saying. Time seems pretty irrelevant here because we're all from different points. It's crazy like that.

That's exactly why people need it though. Bring the people who are left together, get their spirits up.

The last place I was, we actually had a calendar. And terrible things always happened right around Christmas. But when the dust settled, we would always have Christmas celebrations. It was a way of taking it back.

[What can she say? She loves people]

Okay, that at least makes a little more sense. Something to mark the occasion. Because yeah, it was totes seeming like some folks just decided hey, let's celebrate, and that's just all sorts of no at the moment.

[A pause.]

It still feels wrong to be having a holiday with so many not able to be a part of it, though.

[Nathan]
Yeah, no, that's fine. I wasn't really asking for your help. [A pause.] Wait. That's... no. I meant, I figured if you had something to suggest on how to tweak it, you would've offered it when you said I should work on the coding in the first place. I just wasn't going to contact the others and not you, too. In the loop and all that.

Edited 2013-12-13 16:12 (UTC)

Isn't that what Christmas is? [ Making a big deal out of one denomination's festival so that nobody can do anything for two months without plowing face first into tinsel. ] I can't abide it myself, because Christmas at home would've been a time I spent with my family. The pleasure my kids got out of it made it worth it. But I don't see any reason to stop people celebrating Christmas, just as much as I'd never have stepped in to stop Thranduil and his kin celebrating midsummer last month. It's just not conductive toward the whole good will to all men spiel.

So long as they aren't harming anyone - or destroying our trees (which by the way are the only oxygen we have) - then I'm fine with it. Christ--if they can find any pleasure despite being stuck here then good luck to them.

[He should comment on this Christmas thing. Could ask about it. Could ask that she explain this in a little more detail but there's something else that's caught his attention.]

You need rest, Charlie.

[Forgive him. He's in mother-hen mode.]

Not exactly the best atmosphere for Christmas, is it.

......but what about Hanukkah?

Well, I suppose having the heat turned up a bit isn't altogether inaccurate to either -

[Wait.]

Hold - hold on - Annie, why are you asking that?

Maybe you just need to light a menorah, George.

That - that - that - that - I - I...wh...at would a menorah help?

It might help you feel lighter.

Happier.

Celebratory.

We can put it in the window of the shuttle bay so other spaceships will know you're Jewish.

Right, because as we all know, there's - there's nothing I like better than announcing everything about myself to the whole of the cosmos. Annie, if you're...planning something -

Hanukkah is not a "plan", George, it is a holy day to your people.

It's - a minor holiday, Annie, and it's - I didn't hear much of this holy day to your people talk when I'd volunteered to work Christmas last year -

Well of course not, Mitchell is the one who should have taken Christmas off, he's Catholic.

That's - a bit - reductive of what he is...

You can't be reductive about religion, unless he was the pope, and I promise, he's not the pope.

Oh, is he not the Pope? Thank you, Annie, for that - excellent and informative bit of - helpfulness.

There's no need to be nasty.

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