The second Saturday of December in Old Town D'Qar is Winter Wonderland--a night when all the local businesses open their doors and there's food and singing and all kinds of holiday cheer. Rebellion Pastries is filled to the brim with people, but when its owner, Poe Dameron, spies his crush sitting in a dark office next door, he decides to spread the holiday spirit (and lure the cute guy outside with some cookies).
"Uuuuuugh," Jess groaned as she pulled the gingerbread from the oven.
"Winter Wonderland only happens once a year, Testor," Poe's merry voice sing-songed behind her.
"Yeah, that's once too many, if you ask me."
"No one did," he hummed, rolling out more dough for sugar cookies.
Basitan came running back into the kitchen. "Boss!"
"Yes," both Jess and Poe answered.
Basitan looked flustered. "Jess," he said. She stuck her tongue out at Poe. "There's a problem with the credit card reader."
"Again," Jess huffed. She shot a desperate look to Poe.
"Go on," he smiled. "I got this." He moved over and started getting the gingerbread ready.
Winter Wonderland was an annual tradition in D'Qar. The second Saturday of every December, all of the businesses in Old Town would open their doors to the public. There were free goodies, crafts, carol singing, and special performances. The whole area was lit up with twinkle lights and usually, there was at least one roving band of Dickensian actors, with a special Scrooge who'd grumble "Bah Humbug!" at passing children. Poe loved it.
And he especially loved that this year, he got to participate.
When he was a child, he'd been mesmerized by Winter Wonderland. When the family could actually make it to the event.
Just after he'd been born, his parents had opened Rebellion Pastries in Maplewood, a suburb just outside of D'Qar. It was hard work, but with his mom's business sense and his dad's talent in the kitchen, it had grown to become one of the most popular bakeries in the area. After his mom died, his dad had continued running it, and Poe helped out after school and every summer—he grew up in that bakery. His father wanted more for Poe than baking, though, and had insisted Poe got to college and "get a proper degree." But, baking was in Poe's bones, so after college—where he earned a degree in business administration—Poe came back to Rebellion Pastries and promptly expanded the business. The year after he graduated, they opened a Rebellion Pastries in Oak Park that was run by his longtime friends Snap and Karé. A few years later, Iolo was running the Rebellion Pastries in Fern Corners, and his dad was still barking orders and baking up a storm at the original shop in Maplewood.
But this shop, the one they'd just opened up in the heart of D'Qar, was quickly becoming Poe's favorite. Not only did he get to hand pick its manager, Jess—who had grown up with him and started working for his dad when she was sixteen—but it was in his favorite neighborhood in all of D'Qar: Old Town.
Old Town was straight out of the late 19th century. Its tree-lined streets held tall Victorian houses, beautiful brick storefronts, and towering churches full of stained glass. It was the perfect space for Winter Wonderland, and now Rebellion Pastries got to be a part of it.
Poe hummed as he went back to mixing and baking. The bakery was offering free samples tonight as well as a craft station for the kids. Plus, he'd brought his guitar from home, so if the occasion called for it, he could start leading a round of carols. Everything is perfect, he thought as he put a batch of almond cookies into the oven.
# # # #
Everything sucks, Finn thought as he stared at the screen.
He knew that opening up a non-profit that helped local at-risk teens find steady jobs (and hopefully career paths) wasn't going to be easy. He just hadn't realized how razor-thin the margin for error was going to be. He and Rey had set up in a recently refurbished building in Old Town D'Qar, in a place they'd figured was close enough to most of the teens they'd be helping but also stylish enough to attract the kinds of money and support they needed to keep The Skywalker Project going.
