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ramblinganthropologist · 3 years

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MER Week 7 - Christmas.

It Chrismas. Merr Chrismas.

Only, it’s not so merry for Bo and Alistair. They’re stuck on guard duty at the tail end of a shitty year. At least they have each other and ancient memes to keep each other company as they say goodbye to 2182 and hope that 2183 will be better.

---

Fuck, it was cold out.

“I hate this.”

“We both hate this.”

At least Bo and Alistair were on the same page on something as they stared out at the horizon. Both of their guns were low on ammo, the landscape was bleak, and the sky looked like it was about to open up with snow. Talk about less-than-ideal situations as they sat there on what had once been a wall, waiting for the chance to change guard and go inside.

It was a simple enough mission, but guard duty was the worst of it. Alistair wasn’t even sure why he was asked for it – he had zero depth perception. Whatever, he had drawn the short straw, so there he was waiting for his shift to be over.

Next to him, Bo scowled as she checked the settings on her suit, probably hoping things could get a little warmer. The wind certainly wasn’t helping, and if snow was coming it was only going to get worse. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure it was as high as it could go.

“Any chance you could hack this?”

She held out her wrist to him, nearly hitting him in the side of the head. Luckily, he managed to dodge at the last moment, ducking down into the old snow that was starting to get grey and icy. Immediately, he regretted it as he shivered and shot back up.

“I already tried, you’d have to take it off first and that’s not exactly ideal right now.” He wiped snow from his helmet visor, hoping it wouldn’t freeze over. “We’ve only got two more hours until we can go in, just grin and bear it.”

Honestly, Bo didn’t grin – she was more of the smirk and punch you in the face type. So maybe he didn’t exactly have the best advice then.

Next to him, she scowled and kicked some of the grey snow with her boot. It hit him in the leg armor, but at least there were no rocks in there to make it worse. Still, it made him shiver a little as he shook it off.

“I fucking hate this. Next time, I’m the one making up the straws, I think O’Henry rigged it.” She settled back in, hand near her rifle. “What time is it anyway? Feels like we’ve been out here forever.”

Alistair shrugged his shoulders as he flipped his wrist to check his omni-tool. The glowing numbers told him it was just after midnight, and by earth time it was now December 25th. Something about that made him chuckle, even as he shivered.

“It Chrismas. Merr Chrismas.”

Naturally, his sister groaned. “Not that fucking meme, you do that every year.”

“Just be glad I didn’t send the dinosaur this year.” Alistair beamed at her from his frozen guard spot. “It’s my present to you this year.”

His return present was a hard shove to the side that launched him a few feet sidewise. How thoughtful of her.

“Dork.” Bo rolled her eyes as she watched him climb out of the snowbank he had landed in. “Whatever, that just means that New Years is coming. I’d say raise your hand if you’re glad 2182 is almost over, but I don’t want to get it shot off.”

Alistair felt that heartily as he brushed the snow from his armor and got back into position. All things considered, 2182 had been an especially shitty year. It wasn’t his worst, but it definitely wasn’t one of his better ones. The sooner it was over, the better.

“Well, we put in papers to transfer to a different ship, so maybe we’ll get lucky.” He shrugged. “That Anderson guy that emailed me seemed alright. I got a good vibe from him.”

His remark got him a shrug from his sister. “I’ll trust you on that, not like I have any better ideas. Anything’s better than this.”

That he could heartily agree with.

After that, they lapsed into silence. After all, they had a job to do. At least it was quiet, though those clouds weren’t looking good to Alistair as he checked the aiming mechanism on his rifle. No doubt they were in for a heavy storm – hopefully that wouldn’t impede takeoff.

Naturally, as soon as he thought that the first few snowflakes began to flutter down.

“Fuck, really?” Bo scowled as a few landed on her. “Al, get on a rock or something. I don’t want to lose you in the snow.”

That earned her an eye roll as Alistair finished checking the gears. “Last I checked, I’m wearing black armor.”

“That won’t matter if you’re under the snow.” She was snickering now – asshole.

Oh well. There was no changing her terrible personality. Instead, he focused on keeping an eye on the horizon. Time was still slowly ticking down on their shift. He could already feel the relief of getting to go to bed, but there was still plenty of watch left. Best he could do was try not to freeze in place.

That was proving difficult, mind you. The snow was starting to pick up. It wasn’t white out conditions yet, but it wasn’t pleasant.

“I swear, if you were dreaming of a white Christmas, I’m going to turn you into Frosty.”

Alistair snorted as he flexed his cold toes inside his boots. “Bo, we’re both from Mindoir. Why the fuck would I ask for snow after living there?”

“Brain damage from the implant surgery?”

No, that only affected his fashion sense. Damn, and she was his sister? She should have known better by now.

“No, I’m good.” He shook his head. “But seriously, do you want anything this year? And don’t say to get off shift early, I can’t do anything about that.”

No doubt if he had been able to see her face, she would have been pretending to pout. He could feel it from her very presence. Instead, she just shifted from foot to foot, probably to keep her feet from freezing in the snow. Sensible.

“Damn. You’re a real Scrooge, Al.” She paused, checking the horizon. “I don’t know… I just want something other than this. Doubt you can do anything about that either.”

No, but he wished he could have.

“I’ll send up a wish on the next shooting star for you.” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “Maybe if we both wish really hard, 2183 will be better.”

Honestly, how much worse could it get than this? He’d take anything else.

“For once, I’ll allow your positive thinking to infect me.” Another pause. “And… Merr Crismas, I guess.”

“Merr Chrismas, Bo.”

After that, there was just more silence, punctuated by the soft sound of falling snow on the landscape. In time, they would be relieved. Until then, Bo and Alistair stood there and watched the snow blanket everything in white. In a weird way, it was strangely beautiful as it sparkled in the overhead lights.

It was also fucking cold, but he was trying to look on the bright side. It made time go by faster.

Still, as Alistair stood there, he sent up the quiet hope to the universe that 2183 was going to be a better year. Maybe they could find a different assignment, with a different CO. Maybe they could go under that Anderson guy. He’d only heard good things about the man, though he hadn’t exactly looked hard.

So, quietly he sent that energy to the universe. He doubted anyone heard, but it was nice to think of as he stood there, killing time and wishing more than anything that he could just go to bed where it wasn’t absolutely freezing. It was a simple wish, but it was one he believed in whole heartedly.

If the Universe wanted, it could use it as a Christmas present. After all, it had stiffed him for quite a few years…

#merweek2021 #Alistair Shepard #Bo Peep Shepard #this one was really hard

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