Hope did allow herself a smile then, though it was a mixture of wry and sheepish. She still vividly remembered how their first meeting had gone and she really didn't want to repeat it. But she also didn't want her mother to decide who she could befriend. She was old enough, and she wasn't stupid. Not after that incident right after the Pulse..
She nodded at the question, her smile softening a little. "It was nice. Quiet." Just her and her mom, almost like it had been when she'd been a kid. She snorted a little. "To think they make Christmas into a reason to get wasted..." she shook her head a little at that. End of the World party, that she could understand. But Christmas? Meh. "I'm almost eighteen." she said a little stubbornly. Not legal to drink yet, but it wasn't like people were asking for ID'd here. "Yeah, just wanted a bit of fresh air. You? Back from a hunting trip?" She admired Orion for that. She had no idea how to catch any kind of edible animal, much less how to prepare it after it was caught. Though it wasn't really something she necessarily wanted to know...yuck.