A grunt? How charming. Opal raised her eyebrow at his reply, but knew better than to pry, despite her newly fledging instincts as a reporter. Family stuff, she assumed.

And he wasn't the only one with a bottle of drink in his desk. She eyed the crystal glasses and decanter a moment, before pulling out an unopened bottle of Ogden's Finest. A gift from Garrick Ogden himself, following the publication of her article about his cousin. She just hadn't yet found the occasion to crack into it. Caffeine had been her fix when approaching a deadline so far. "Will this suffice?"

As for Christmas? He got a shrug. "The parentals are headed down to the south of France, but I don't feel the need to join them. Probably just gonna be me and the cats on the 25th, although a group of us are getting together for Boxing Day."

And then Maia happened, and candy canes were flying. She caught hers with a laugh; talk about a contrast with Casimir. "And to you! We were gonna have a drink, if you fancy something a bit stronger than what they have out there?" Or less eggy.

Why was eggnog even a thing?