41 - video/action for Goldenrod;

[islandshore]

[Well, while Riku waits for Ven to get his act together so they can go grab Sora, Sasuke, and the others, he'll pop open the PokéGear.

After all, it's December. The perfect time of month for what he has in store. And oh, the chance to prove his best friend wrong is too much to pass up.]

So, Johto, Kanto. It's December again, and that means Christmas is right around the corner. And if you're a kid, that usually means waiting for presents under the tree-- supposedly from Santa Claus.

So, here's a question. Do you believe in Santa?

I'm trying to get some statistical data here. And believe me, I've got my reasons.

[With that message outta the way, Riku can be found over by the Department store, buying gratuitous amounts of TMs, swinging by the Breeding Center just to see how things are going, and dropping by one of the cafes later on for a bite to eat.

And maybe he'll stop by Route 34 for good measure in order to spar with his team. Because, while watching his Pokémon fight each other is nice and all, nothing beats getting in on the action. He'll be accompanied by his big ol' Charizard regardless of where he is.]

[ooc: Just gonna make a note here since I realize his icons are misleading-- but Riku is actually 17 in Route-- almost 18 and about 6' tall now. Minor detail, but I'll probably pin that somewhere later. There was just some confusion during 4th wall about his age.

Also, Sora will possibly be threadjacking!]

Comments

[video]

[enjoymyatelier]

[Well, even though Kayneth is in a generally foul mood because of fourth wall shenanigans and doesn't feel like speaking to anyone until he can be sure it will go over well...

...he has to admit, he has just enough composure to go into smug myth nerd jerk mode

he is a professor and it has been too long, enjoy your tl;dr]

It all depends on what iteration of "Santa Claus" you're talking about really. The modern over-commercialized conception... well, there's no way that person could exist outside of some ridiculous parallel universe. Given some of the things I've seen here, that really wouldn't surprise me, but I highly doubt he currently exists in my world. It would take the sort of magic that hasn't been present in my world for centuries to accomplish everything that's commonly attributed to that person.

There are, however, figures from my world who effectively served as his inspiration. There are many myths and legends surrounding Christian saints, and one in particular-Saint Nicholas-has been traditionally held to give gifts to children around Christmas. Of course, it's difficult to say if he truly fulfilled the role that Santa Claus traditionally does-more myths are true than one would expect, but it's also likely that it's simply an instance where aspects of a pagan religion were applied to a Christian saint, as this depiction of Saint Nicholas shares many characteristics with the Norse god Odin.

...So, I suppose you could say that someone with the characteristics of Santa Claus may have existed at some point in the past, but he almost certainly doesn't now.

[in before a fate/ spinoff happens featuring a rider class servant whose true identity is santa claus]

[video]

[islandshore]

I'm not saying the legends don't exist or that someone like him never did. It's the whole eight or nine flying reindeer that can somehow circle the universe in a single night and the bit about keeping tabs on every kid out there that seems a little too good to be true.

But with everyone arguing otherwise, it's kind of hard to defend my stance here. I wonder if it's karma getting back at me.

[video] sorry for the late tag! finals happened.

[enjoymyatelier]

No, I wholeheartedly agree with you on that. That seems a bit far fetched for anyone short of a god.

Though... really, in a place like this, it's a bit difficult to deny the existence of anything. There are some things that I've learned of here that I would have considered entirely unfeasible otherwise-and given that I am willing to accept quite a few things on faith, that's certainly saying a lot.

[A hint of frustration creeps into his tone towards the end of that last sentence. Some of the stuff he's seen is just plain stupid.]

[video] it's all good!

[islandshore]

True. And trust me when I say that stranger things have happened in the past, too. Stuff like this whole place transforming into pixels thanks to a living glitch.

[Ugh, MISSINGNO. In hindsight, he's kinda glad he couldn't catch one.]

[video]

[enjoymyatelier]

...I... what?

[...it doesn't really help that he barely understood that given that he's a borderline Luddite from the nineties]

[video]

[islandshore]

The best way to explain is to show you.

[So he'll go ahead and attach a video clip from the MISSINGNO. incident.]

Basically, everything around here changed. It became all blocky, and the music became a creepy loop of some backwards tune. All the Pokémon stopped acting like living beings, too.

[video]

[enjoymyatelier]

...That's probably the most bizarre thing I've seen in connection to this world thus far, which certainly says something. I'm not entirely sure if I'm disappointed I wasn't here to study it or if I'm thoroughly grateful that I missed it.