Who: Tas and Anna What: Searching for Santa When: December 18 Where: Out and about Warnings/Status: None
As soon as Tas had found out about Frosty the Snowman from Raistlin and the rest of the Christmas Characters from the Network, Tas knew he had to find Santa. There were all sorts of presents he wanted to get for his friends, but he knew he’d never be able to precure them for himself. Instead, he could just ask Santa to get those presents and Tas could get them something a little more within his means.
And then he found out that Killian had lost his hand to his dreams. That some evil scaly wizard had taken away his hand and given him a hook instead. As cool as having a hook-hand would likely be, it seemed like a bad trade-off. How would Killian draw maps, or hold a pint of beer? Sure he could wave his hook at people and yell ‘shiver me timbers’ and maybe wear an eyepatch, but it probably wouldn’t be the same. And now Tas knew he had to find Santa, to help find Killian a new hand.
He wasn’t really sure how this whole Santa thing worked. He had always thought that Santa wasn’t real, but he’d also thought that Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Reindeer weren’t real either. But if Santa was really real, then people probably would know about it. He’d be giving people presents every year, and Tas was pretty sure that didn’t happen. So there was the possibility that even if Tas found Santa he wouldn’t be able to get any presents out of him, but Tas was currently choosing to ignore that possibility. It never did anyone any good to get bogged down by the possibility that something wasn’t going to work.
“If Santa was in California, where do you think he’d be?” he asked Anna thoughtfully. He was wearing a light jacket, a toque and some gloves. It was a little chilly out, but Tas had spent his last winter in Northern Canada (nearly at the North Pole itself!) and so this kind of weather didn’t bother him too much. He’d brought a couple of maps of the Orange County with him, and was currently crouching down, looking at the map. “I’m thinking North?” he said, pointing to a vague area on the northernmost aspect of the map. Then he dragged his fingers over to the mountain ranges. “Or maybe in the mountains.”
Anna was freezing. One might think the sister of an ice queen would be better suited to the snow, but Anna had grown up in southern California, and wasn't used to this kind of weather. Her childhood was mostly spent indoors, too. This was all new to her, and she was having a hard time acclimating.
“North makes the most sense to me!” she agreed, trying to control her teeth’s chattering. “He has a sweet tooth, right? Maybe he's stopping for pastries, or something!” That seemed logical. Santa's sleigh might seriously run on cookies.
“Oh good! Then we just need to find a nice Northern bakery!” Tas said. He folded up his map and placed it in his map case. When he travelled he always had carried the case, filled to the brim with various maps, but he hadn’t used it much since he moved to the OC, and since most of his maps were hanging on the walls of his apartment, the map case wasn’t very full either. It made absolute sense to Tas that if Santa was in the Orange County, he’d probably spend all his time in a pastry shop. “Do you think that the bakery owners just give him milk and cookies on a plate for free, or do you think he has to pay for them like the rest of us?”
Anna was glad she was out looking for Santa with someone who had maps. She never knew where she was or where she was going, so following someone else’s lead made perfect sense. (In her dreams it had been Kristoff, and in this world… apparently it was Tas.) “I think we can do that!” She brightened. “...probably. I mean, who could really make Santa pay? It’s Santa. He’s not supposed to have to pay for things!”
“Exactly,” Tas said. “And he shouldn’t either, since he’s bringing all those toys for all those kids all over the world!” Once the words were out of his mouth, he frowned a little. “Though, I guess normally Santa’s made-up and parents buy gifts for their kids. I wonder what it’ll mean if Santa’s really real this year.”
Anna almost made a really terrible joke. So that’s why I didn’t get any presents last year. Her face darkened as she thought about it, and it made her think of the yacht on which her parents died. It was terrible. She didn’t like those thoughts. The normally bright and sunshine-y girl went dim for a moment, her light fading as sadness crept in. Then she tried her best to shake it off. (I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake I shake it off, I shake it off…)
“Santa’s gotta be real. I mean, if there can be snowstorms in Orange County and vampires and stuff, Santa’s gonna be real, too.” She said, a newfound determination crossing her brow.
Tas noticed when Anna seemed to get a little sadder, though he didn’t understand why. Unless she actually believed in Santa and he’d just ruined that for her! He felt a little guilty for it even though he had thought that most kids found out that Santa wasn’t really real when they were still kids.
She did make a very good point about the magic of the Orange County, and Tas suddenly wondered if maybe Santa really was real here after all. It would explain why she still believed in him. “Vampires? There are vampires here too? That’s so cool. I’ve always wanted to meet a vampire. Are they as sad and broody as they are in the movies? But you’re probably right! If everything else is here, there’s no reason Santa can’t be as well!”
Speaking of Santa… “There’s some reindeer over there!” Tas said, pointing at a pair of reindeer that were on the other side of a large field. “Maybe that’s Rudolph!”
“You should come over some time and meet my roommates! They’re all vampires. I live in a vampire house! It’s pretty awesome. Caroline and Lexi are really bright and bubbly--kinda like me!--but Stefan’s a broody pants. He’s really handsome, too… just like Edward Cullen.” Anna blushed just a little. She rather liked it when Stefan got in the hot tub! But she wasn’t going to say any more on that subject.
“Reindeer!” Anna said, brightening up. “Come on, we have to go check it out!” She grabbed onto his hand and took off down the block at a run.
“That’s so cool! Don’t they ever try to eat you? I’ve never been eaten by vampires before. I can’t decide if it would be interesting or not. I guess that depends on whether or not they killed you, I guess. Though, dying might be interesting too. The last great adventure. And I guess not a lot of people can say that they died because they were eaten by vampires.” He frowned. “Well, maybe they have. I guess just because I didn’t know vampires were real until just now doesn’t mean that they don’t kill a lot of people. I hope your roommates don’t kill people!” Anna didn’t seem like the type of person who would condone murder, so he was sure they didn’t.
He let out a peal of laughter when she grabbed his hand, and he immediately started running with her. It wasn’t often that he was the one getting his hand grabbed. Normally he was the most enthusiastic person out of his group of friends, and it was kind of refreshing to have someone around who was just as energetic as he was.
"No no, two of my roommates have bitten me, though. One because she was really hungry and the other because he went a little crazy." Anna shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I must be irresistable to vampires and mosquitos! I get bit all the time." That was sort of a joke. But also true. "And none of my roommates have killed anyone, silly! They'd be in jail if they did something like that." She waved taht thought off.
The pair ran pel mell into the fray, searching for Reindeer that might be with Santa's Sleigh.