islandshore | 63

[It's that time of year again, network. The time when two island doofuses set the stage for the ultimate bet of all time. A matter of life and death, of... okay, so maybe nothing that extreme. Still, here we have Riku, dressed in a black jacket and a scarf, looking slightly. So, right. He should probably get the ball rolling, but first, he turns to look at Sora and Kairi.]

You guys ready for this?

[ third year. it's officially a tradition. Sora? he's bouncy. two year victor here. he's pretty confident this streak is going to last. ]

I dunno... Are you ready to lose again, Riku?

[See that? That would be Riku slapping his face with his palm.]

Don't get ahead of yourself. A lot can change in a year.

[Not that he particularly feels invested by now, but it is tradition, and he can't ever turn down a challenge.

The camera pans down to Kairi, the lovely host for this little wager. She grips a pair of clip-on antlers in her hand, disappointed that she couldn't convince Riku to wear them. She will, however, make sure he at least ends the night with the glowing red nose.]

Hey everyone! It's time for us to see which one of these two is the bigger dork.

[Wait that's not it.]

We're looking to see who believes in Santa! If you don't know Santa, he's the big guy who flies around the world with his magic reindeer delivering presents to all the good boys and girls.

[And the fluffy red hat atop her head should make it easy to see what team she's on.]

Old Man Riku is such a stick-in-the-mud that he doesn't believe in magic presents anymore, so Sora wants to prove him wrong. Whoever loses gets to show off their "Christmas Spirit" for everyone to see, so make sure you all vote!

[Riku rolls his eyes, flicking Sora's shoulder.]

Hey, if I'm old, so's he. But anyway, consider this our Christmas tradition. So... place your bets. We'll see who ends up singing their heart out this time...

Pfft. Coming from the guy with white hair? I'm not so sure that you're not old... Foofyku.

[ Sora snickers, escaping to stand by Kairi and throws a friendly arm around her shoulders. ]

Just remember this, guys... Voting on Riku's side means you have to hear me and Kairi sing and do you really wanna have to put people through that?

[Riku smirks.]

Hey, we gotta shake it up somehow. Besides, Sora's gonna need a decent backup singer, otherwise it'd just be painful.

[The feed ends with Sora pouting and sticking out his tongue.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[It sort of feels like she's going to rain on the parade....]

....What if I said I didn't believe in Santa back home?

Huh. Wonder how it got so skewed, then. I've heard about celebrations to honor the dead, but these days Halloween seems all about the sweets, goofy costumes, and campy movies.

Then again, I hear Christmas used to be a lot less commercialized, too. Some people say it actually snagged a bunch of pegan traditions.

[Riku doesn't really delve into that kinda stuff all that often, so it's really all based on hearsay.]

True. But I don't know. I still say you're leagues ahead of Sora.

Maybe you both could ask Illya for pointers. That's kind of her thing.

[He shrugs. Really, he's one to talk when he's so shy about singing.]

You could always just flip a coin and hope for the best. Saves you time, and you still get a performance one way or the other.

That'd probably count in my favor. But are you saying you'd believe in him here?

[He guesses it makes sense. There is evidence pointing to his possible, if not probable existence.]

And it spares from admitting any belief or disbelief. That's like having my cake and eating it.

....I don't know. Frankly, there's a lot of stuff here that doesn't make sense. But, maybe that means that Santa is real here.

[She shook her head.] But, I don't think there's anything like that back home.

Well, the sweets and the costumes have their own roots in the old traditions too. It used to be that you wore masks and costumes to hide from the demons, or to intimidate them. The idea was to make something so frightening that even a demon wouldn't want to mess with it, then wear that for the night. And the candy was to both satisfy them and celebrate getting through the night without being snatched up by a monster.

As for the movies, I assume that's just an evolution from the old tradition of telling frightening stories.

Pfft. So wait, people tried to scare demons?

[Riku's eyes go wide, and then he slaps his thigh, laughing.]

Man, how'd it get so watered down? That sounds awesome.

Ha. Trying to be an enigma, eh? Knowing Sora, he'd probably hire a detective just to find out where you stand.

Well, we did have flying Stantler last year. Red-nosed Stantler that gave Christmas presents.

I'd almost say Santa's more plausible here than a talking llama god, but I've at least seen him.

...Did those Stantler fly through the windows and attack you?

[Because she heard about that.

That's wickedy whack man.]

Think he'd let me borrow that detective for a quick performance appraisal, then?

No! No, I wouldn't do that. ...Yeah, I would but I'm not trying to. Honest.

Yes you did. Don't try to get out of this, Kairi.

What about the integrity of the tradition?

[ Sora that's a mighty big word. do you know what it means? ]

Well why don't you?

[She just sort of... shrugs helplessly.]

You're young. That's the best time to update old traditions, and create brand new ones.

Well think a little more about what you're going to say before you say it, then. Honestly.

Anyway, I don't see why this is a surprise. There needs to be a balance to this sort of thing, after all.

Oh I'm pretty sure that was deliberate. Some people decided children couldn't handle being that scared or some such nonsense. Really, there's no excuse.

But you know, around here the season does seem to have a certain genuine thrill to it, even if it's a bit different every year.

I'm not sure that 'balance' is something I'd want for something like Santa.

Wimp.

[She snickers at him, entirely too amused by his dislike of her description of evil!Santa.]

We've only been doing this for two years. Three now.

Why am I a wimp now?

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