Didn't see a claim on this in the DE...

[themightyspazz]

...but if somebody's already called this, let me know and I'll take it down.


FOURTH WALL BREAKDOWN, Y'ALL.

Have some coca/eggnog/whathaveyou, compare presents, and enjoy the festivities at the end of the universe.

Comments

[sdelmonte]

Somehow, the real life knowledge of clicking on a web link is now in Alex's Bar-mind. Weird.

"Grover wasn't more popular? With the rising star of Grover Cleveland? I'm disappointed."

[gorgonfondness]

It's a good thing that she can't be arsed to reenact the whole thing herself. She probably can, though her Mickey Rooney imitation isn't all that good.

"Ah, can't promise that," Aura admits. "The Miser Brothers are hammier than Christmas dinner. So I guess that's a no."

"Why would we even dress up for Christmas anyway?" Mia asks.

"Why not? People dress up as Santa and elves and reindeer," Aura argues.

"I suppose that's true..."

"Oh well. Figured it wouldn't hurt to ask."

[camwyn]

"Maybe the ladies of the day were afraid the name would preemptively incline the boys towards begetting bastards. Who knows."

[themightyspazz]

"Yeah, on a scale of suckage from stubbed toe to global thermonuclear war, that's about..."

The Scots-Irish kid in his PJs and USMC hoodie pauses in thought before resuming his typing.

"...maybe a 2 A.M. meeting with Donald Trump."

The 18-year-old firebender looks on at the computer screen, unimpressed.

"Is it, like, the drive into Boston proper?"

[camwyn]

"I'm headed a little north of Boston," says Cam. "I have to pass through the city proper to get to where I'm going, but I can mostly do that on the Mass Pike. Get the cats and the Christmas stuff home, then return the car to Logan Airport, then about two stops on the T and either a bus ride or a taxi ride back from the T and I'm good."

[camwyn]

"I'm just going to be over here with my TARDIS cookie jar, myself," says the dark-haired fortyish woman with the ponytail. "Present from my sister. Makes the right noises when you open and close it, but alas, it is no larger on the inside than the outside."

[sdelmonte]

"Ellen, do you have any idea what we're talking about? Did your world HAVE a Grover Cleveland?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen rubs at the back of her neck, thinking. "I remember the name," she says after a bit. "From Mr. Brotch's classes. But he was one of those presidents who all kind of blur together after awhile. Was he the one where they had all that trouble with the electoral college?"

"That was Rutherford B. Hayes."

"Oh, right. And... he's not the one who died in thirty days, either."

"That was William Henry Harrison."

"So ... okay, he was one of the ones where the highlight of his administration was that the Earth didn't crash into the Sun, right?" She gets a sheepish look on her face. "I'm sorry. Mr. Brotch probably wouldn't be happy that I don't know the older Presidents better, but... he doesn't stick in my memory as one of the important ones. To be honest, most of them don't."

[sdelmonte]

"There were a few in that era who were so ill suited to the job that it's a wonder the Earth didn't crash into the Sun anyway.

"But Cleveland was a fairly successful president for the era. And the only one to lose and then be re-elected four years later." Imagine if Carter or GHWB tried that stunt.

[bodldops]

"It's a deep flaw." Ro agrees, pulling a sad face. "Though, the idea of a real TARDIS full of cookies isn't a bad thing."

"You and your cookies." The Russian scoffs, rolling her eyes in turn.

"... Are your pups this mean? I feel this is somehow unfair."

[camwyn]

"Medic's the only really snide one," Cam allows. "Varric has his moments, but he's usually pretty genial since he knows I appreciate dwarves in general. Arcade mostly just rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath. Sometimes in Latin."

[leeshajoy]

"There's still New Year's," Leesha points out. "But at least I don't have to do crap for the next couple of days. I need a break."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, right, I remember hearing that that happened," says Ellen. "I just couldn't line the name up properly. I'm guessing that's what you meant about thinking his name would've been more popular? That kind of thing probably takes work..."

[sdelmonte]

"I never know how these things work. Aside from the insidious influence of pop culture." See under: babies named Bella. And Jacob.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "Back home I never know if someone I'm talking to is using a birth name or a nickname or some name they changed to as adults or what," she says. "I don't even know what naming patterns there are in the Wasteland at this point, or what they've been doing namewise for the past two hundred years. Vault 101 was mostly just using and reusing the same couple dozen names over and over, from what I understand."

[leeshajoy]

"Eh, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus was way more awesome," says a passing Leesha.

[sdelmonte]

"Isolated communities do that. I think if you look at shtetls - the little towns of Jews in Eastern Europe - you'll find a lot of Benjamin son of Abraham son of Benjamin situations. A handful of names used over and over. My own family did that." Three cousins named Sherman Louis is a sign of such thinking.

[musesbyaura]

"Meh, Year Without a Santa Claus is my bread and butter," Aura comments, punctuated by a very mature sticking out of her tongue. "That and Twas the Night Before Christmas, even if that one's about Santa Claus getting all butthurt because of that little atheist mouse."

[camwyn]

"You got that in my Italian family as well," Cam notes. "Most of the men were named Nicholas. If they weren't named Nicholas they were named Leonard or Raphael or Peter. One of those four, repeatedly, from what I remember. That was Abruzzi for you."

[sdelmonte]

"Halfway to a TMNT set. Bing might be pleased.

"Though of course you would have that, since the Turtles derive their names from Italian artists."

[camwyn]

"My maternal grandfather was half a set all on his own. First name Leonard, middle name (or Confirmation name, I forget) Raphael. Neither an artist nor a ninja, though. You take what you can get, I suppose."

[sdelmonte]

"No way to be sure he wasn't a ninja, though."

[camwyn]

"... point. And he is descended from a man who died jumping out a third-floor window to escape the police at the age of 94; you never know what might run in a family like that."

[sdelmonte]

"Do I want to know what the cops wanted him for?"

[camwyn]

"The building was a brothel. Given the man's age at the time I have to assume he owned it or ran it or something, because Italian police who found a 94-year-old man patronizing prostitutes successfully wouldn't arrest him, they'd shake his hand and take him out for a glass of wine."