Thank Oberon it was almost all over. The whole holiday season was so draining. It wasn't that Julius didn't like festivities--he would have had to be pretty dumb to open a bar if he hated festivities--it was just the winter ones that snowballed (pardon the expression) one right after another, and it seemed that everyone had a new holiday they celebrated that he'd never heard of. Fair Folk really only partook in the winter solstice, but he'd still managed to get a few holiday staples on the menu with a bit of input from James and the rest of the staff, and even sort of gotten in on the spirit of things with the mulled wine, which was his specialty. What was it that Maeve had said? He wasn't a terrible cook? It was a nice compliment coming from her really. But he'd let James handle the fancy kitchen work. Drinks were more his strong suit. Spent more time behind a bar at this point than in a kitchen. It was a more social position to be in.
But with one holiday left to muddle through, and having put himself on the schedule for New Years Eve (not having any plans of his own), it seemed about time to regroup before diving in for one of the more typically raucous nights of the year. As much as it had been a surprise to Maeve, he did actually go fishing quite a bit. Particularly when he had a lot to think about. It was just a nice, quiet solitary activity. Less nice when it was this cold though, and the waves out by the wharves were a bit ominous, so he'd bypassed his normal haunt to head into the woods for the pool at the bottom of the falls. It would be calmer there anyway. Less peopley--and Julius typically liked people, but not so much when he was in a contemplative mood.
And he was feeling very contemplative. He had, as was typical when he got this way, on cigarette in his mouth, one behind his ear and a mostly full pack in his jacket pocket, and was already smoking up a storm as he approached the pool. It took a good solid five minutes of setting his things down, finding a nice boulder to lean against, and was about to cast his line when he realized there was another person there. In the water. It was too bloody cold for that. "Isn't it a little cold for a swim?" He drawled, but with genuine concern because... From where he was standing it was not swimming weather. Not horrible by any means but. Not exactly cozy.