White Flint Mall, Maryland [early evening]

[sith_happened]

Anakin glanced down at the baby in the stroller beside Rory, then at the seemingly endless line of cranky children in front of them, leading to a giant chair and a man in red. "Juliet is in far too good a mood to be here," he declared. "Look. The rest of them are screaming. We should go home."

Anakin was just creeped out by Santa. Shhh. Don't tell.

[OOC: For the fake wife and fake kid!]

Comments

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I'm going to tell Santa you're afraid of him," Rory replied seriously, watching Juliet strain to touch a bit of cottony fake snow.

[sith_happened]

"I'm not afraid of him," Anakin insisted. "I just don't understand why he has to watch me all the time."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"To see whether you're being bad or good!" Rory insisted right back. "So be good, for goodness' sake. It's like you don't even hear the rest of the song after that part."

[sith_happened]

"Because I'm too creeped out by the first half," Anakin said. "Can't he just take my word for it that I'm good?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"No. Because you'd lie," Rory replied logically.

[sith_happened]

"Maybe I don't want his presents anyway," Anakin declared maturely.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Well, your daughter does," Rory pointed out. Pointedly.

[sith_happened]

Anakin was going to be super-disappointed when presents he didn't buy didn't appear, huh?

"Oh," he said, cheeks going pink. "Maybe she's too young to notice?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Her mother isn't," Rory noted, smiling a little at him.

[sith_happened]

He shot her a tiny grin in reply. "So we'll be doing this for years, huh?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"That's how Christmas works, yeah," Rory said solemnly. "The whole once-a-year thing, and all."

[sith_happened]

Anakin reached out to poke her. "Then what's with Christmas in July?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"People being bored," Rory decided after a moment.

[sith_happened]

"We don't have to stand in line then, too, do we?" Anakin craned his neck to see what was holding everything up. "Is that child reciting the telephone book or something? How many possessions can he possibly be asking for?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"We have to help Juliet ask him for her things," Rory decided, checking on the kid in question and fumbling for a pacifier, since Juliet was starting to look fussy.

[sith_happened]

"What does she want?" Anakin said, crouching down and reaching out with the Force. "She says...the pacifier was good, and a bottle would be fine too. She has simple needs." He winked. "She also wants a pony."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Of course she does," Rory said, grinning down at them. "And she wants books, too, right?"

[sith_happened]

"Yes," Anakin replied, nodding. "She wants to branch out from Shakespeare, too. She'd like the Art of War."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"That sounds violent," Rory frowned. "How 'bout some nice Voltaire, sweetie?"

[sith_happened]

"Does it have to be in the original French?" Anakin checked.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Oui," Rory decided. "Things get lost in translation, you know."

[sith_happened]

Anakin laughed. "Good to know. I'll be sure to mention it to Santa, should we ever get there. Think it would be wrong to tell some of the stupider people in front of us that he's going on break?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I think that defies the spirit of Christmas," Rory said seriously.

[sith_happened]

"Half of them are crying anyway," Anakin said, "and that little boy is doing a dance that means he's going to wet himself any minute now."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Maybe he'll do it on Santa," Rory said, perking up a touch.