aterat | 002 [Network: Audio]

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002 [Network: Audio]

I know there are serious things happening but focusing on that has never been something I'm good at. That said, Thanksgiving just passed by. [Not that Jacob has a good track record for celebrating or understanding most holidays but it got him thinking.] Not sure who has thanksgiving or who celebrates it.

It's a pretty strange holiday.

[Jacob remembers it as a holiday dedicated to overeating.]

But it also reminds me that Christmas is coming up too. I don't remember doing much the last time I was here. [He thinks he gave away wooden carvings but then that might have had no relation to Christmas, Jacob's memories were still a bit fuzzy.]

Anyway, I wanted to know what sort of traditions people had.

My traditions changed a lot after my parents passed but when I was very young I remember a lot of cookies and a lot of pie. Along with a great deal of decorations that I had to help with or, I wouldn't get the aforementioned cookies and pie.

What about you guys?

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Yeah, lots of worlds are really different from mine. I don’t think there’s a Santa in mine, or at least not that I ever heard or saw before.

[People always seemed kind of surprised by stuff about his, so he was… getting used to that.]

Stuff is always different than it seems, or from what you get told.

[He knew that all too well… Like an old schoolteacher who wasn’t nearly as kindly as one would expect… Instead, he’d listen to Jacob’s story and try to fill in some blanks on his own. That way, if he needed to be ready for something, he would be.]

That's a good way to look at it.

Okay. [He settles in and gets ready to tell a story.] I'll tell you my favorite story of Santa.

Once upon a time, there was a town in the far north. This town was gray and dreary, and was in desperate need of hope. Living just north of this town was a boy and his father. This boy was named Nickolas Claws.

He was a teen when a harsh winter soon took his father away from him. After his fathers passing, he was determined to continue on but Nickolas wanted to do more than just live. He wanted to be happy. He walked through the town and noticed that everyone was unhappy. So he decided to travel to find this hope for his home town.

Along the way he met some friends, one of which was a reindeer that he had named Blitzen and an elf. The elf told Nickolas about his home, a place where they would make toys, but when toys were banded by the closest town, they weren't able to make toys anymore.

Nickolas knew that he had found his hope. He asked them to make toys for all of the kids in the town, and he would personally hand deliver them. Of course, he'd have to do this secretly as to not get in trouble. After all the toys were delivered there were warrants for his arrest. The man in charge of the town was furious. So Nickolas went to meet him and give him his own toy as well. This act melted the man's heart and the band was lifted.

Slow, Nickolas expanded his reach but when he had to travel over the world he found it difficult to do it in one night. Not to mention the elves had to make hundreds of toys. That was when he found out that the reindeers could fly. So he could delver all the toys in one night. But they also had to choose the night. So he choose his birthday, December 25th.

Since then, every night, children await toys delivered to them from Santa or Saint Nickolas as he was eventually called. He would place gifts in socks that were drying by the fire, which inspired the tradition of Christmas stockings. And soon the people brought in pine trees to have a bit of green in their homes during the harsh winter. They would decorate these trees with bright colors and pretty lights and Santa eventually placed gifts beneath the trees as well.

[He pauses.]

I've never had to say that story out loud. I hope I didn't forget something.

[Mono listened quietly aside from the odd burst of static from the feed while Jacob told his story.]

It’s a really nice story…?

[And the child meant it, even if still couldn’t help but feel a bit skeptical about it. If there were different versions of the story, then it was hard to say if it was just pretty words and ideas or something more truthful. Something like the stories the kids at the orphanage might have thought up to make things a little less dismal, a buffer against the realities of the way things were… Or a trap to lull them into a false sense of security. Not that he thought Jacob was trying to trick him, it more the origin of the story itself and why it might’ve been told to Jacob and other children in general that had him wary… And everyone else's worlds sounded nicer than his, so for all he knew it could be true.

He was going to have to find more of these stories and decide for himself; he supposed.]

And even if you forgot something, I wouldn’t know since I never heard it before! … Right?

That's true.

[It's a cute story but Jake knows that it isn't real. There is no way that a story like that could be real but it's not its validity that matters to him, it's the message behind it. People should treat each other better than they do.]

Some of the other stories aren't as nice as that. There is one where Santa is called another name and he eats children who are bad. I think it just depends on where you grow up but most of the world I'm from has some form of a holiday celebrated in the winter and many stories that are told about it.

I think it's just what people did when they were stuck inside and cold. They told stories and looked for nice things.

Even so, I like to believe in this one. If only because it'd be pretty awesome if someone that nice existed.

[He doesn't lie to kids.]

[Mono wasn’t entirely startled by the idea that there might be a version of Santa who ate children. If anything, that kind of checked out based on his expectations of how unnatural entities acted around children.]

If there’s a Santa in my world, he’d probably be like that, I think…

[Again, his tone breaking through the static was more thoughtful than anything. It just… made sense to the boy.

He at least hurried to continue a moment later.]

… But I like your story better? It would be kinda nice if it were the one that was true somewhere.

[Mono could definitely appreciate not being lied to. He had a hard time trusting things for what they were to begin with… He was only just starting to warm up to the way things were here.

Still, he was going to be wary of the idea of this Santa Claws guy. If he was a thing in the world at all, the child hadn’t really heard of him before Harry and now Jacob.]

Yeah?

Is your world mean to kids? I think you mentioned that Santa doesn't exist there.

[Jake's tone doesn't add any additional meaning to his question. He doesn't want to put Mono no the spot or anything but he is curious about the kids home.

It doesn't sound like a good place but that is an assume made from the bread crumbs that Mono has offered him.]

I said I don’t think he does, or I never heard anyone mention him before. So I dunno for sure, I don’t think I’ve seen the whole place yet.

[Although, to be fair, very little talking happened in Mono’s world anymore.]

And I guess so… It’s a really weird place compared to most of the worlds people tell me about? So if there was, I guess he’d be kinda like that.

[One could probably imagine the child shrugging a little by his tone, he didn’t think his world was always the way it was… But it wasn’t a nice place anymore, and explaining that to adults tended to get varied and confusing reactions.]

I get it.

If you're interested, I'd like to hear more about your world.

[He wonders what it's like and Mono's vague replies only makes him more curious. He's pretty sure this is the same curiosity that curses his sister as well. It has a way of getting them in trouble.]

[Only a few people like Illyana had expressed a genuine curiosity in his world, usually the vagueness or the things he said without realizing was strange unsettled them in a way that they decided it wasn’t their business or they were afraid to hear more about it.]

Um… I could, if you want to. It usually makes other adults upset or sad though, and it doesn’t really match your um… celebrating stuff.

That's fine. I'm used to sad but if you'd rather talk in person we can talk another time.

or wait until after the holidays.

[He's easy.]

[Mono liked the option, admittedly. He wasn’t big on sharing over the network as it was. If it hadn’t been for his curiosity over the original topic, he probably wouldn’t have used the network at all due to the issue he had when he tried using the tellphone.]

Yeah… Maybe another time. After the holidays, they sound like something that should be spent doing happy stuff.

[And he wants to get a better read on Jacob, he was a cautious kid at this point when it came to sharing. Or he tried to be, anyway.]

Sounds good.

You can come find me. I think you're better at finding people than I am. [Jake also considers himself very easy to find.]

Okay, I will! I’m only good because I got a lotta practice with it.

[But yes, even through the static one could hear the slightly proud tone in his voice.]

Bye, I’ll see you later!

Sounds good.

Later Lil Shade.

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002 [Network: Audio]

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