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The line for Santa is miles long and doesn’t seem to be moving. At the front, it appears there isn’t enough help to keep everything running smoothly. Suddenly you are tapped on the shoulder and turn around to find a woman dressed as an elf looking at you with panic in her eyes. “There you are! Where have you been? Why aren’t you dressed? Hurry up! We need more hands up there!” It appears she has mistaken you for one of the missing elves. Do you go along with it? Set her straight?
Ignacio didn't really know why Raina was insisting on seeing Santa. She was ... thirteen, right? Thirteen, he was fairly sure. Definitely way too old to still be believing in Santa. He knew that he had stopped believing in Santa at that age.
Of course, his father had also told him at seven that Santa was a farce and that he wasn't going to get anything fancy for Christmas anymore. He assumed since his mother and Baldomero had gotten divorced fairly quickly after he had moved out, Raina wasn't really exposed to the same nonsense as he was. Maybe she still believed.
Or maybe she just found posing with Santa fun, or something. The pictures she could get from it were kind of cute.
He just wished the line wasn't so long. He knew that was the reason why his mother had begged that he bring her, seeing as she actually had work to do, but Ignacio had no interest in being there. He had work to do. Like ... actually acting. And not standing around, waiting for Raina to make the right pose with Santa and ask him for all the things she wanted for herself for Christmas. Why did she have such a long list...?
To his alarm, he was nearly bowled over by a woman screeching, "There you are!"
"Uh, what?"
He didn't recognize her face from anywhere. Did she recognize his? Maybe she had seen him in a movie he was in, but he didn't think he actually had stalkers yet. He was fairly sure that wasn't a thing he had to worry about for the moment, unless a movie he was in recently had gotten a little bigger than expected--
"Where have you been? Why aren't you dressed?"
"Ma'am, I'm definitely dressed."
He was fairly sure he wasn't naked. Ignacio looked down at himself. Nope, definitely wasn't naked. Very clearly had clothing on.
"No, your elf costume!"
... Elf?
"Ma'am, I'm not--"
She looked a little disappointed, her shoulders falling. Had she gotten him confused for someone else? Ignacio thought his features were fairly distinct. He had a lot of freckles, golden eyes, and red hair. Did he actually have a common face? Or did someone else look like him? Maybe she had just merged his face with someone else. He looked around, vaguely, as she shuffled her feet awkwardly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, uhm..." She rubbed her neck. "I must have gotten you confused with someone else. Do you know anyone named Dan?"
"That looks like me?"
Ignacio blinked.
"No, not really. I mean, I definitely know a Dan. Dan is a pretty common name, all things considered, but I don't actually know a Dan who looks like I do--"
Oh thank stars, there was his sister. This was awkward. Ignacio grabbed Raina's arm and yanked her over to his side, leaving the thirteen year old a little baffled. "Hermano, is everything--"
"I'm just here with my sister, actually! She wanted to see Santa. So I'm just gonna go now. Is that alright? I hope you find your Dan somewhere but--"
The elf in front of him let out a quiet sigh as Ignacio scrambled out of the awkward situation.
