After a few seconds of waiting, Jimmy saw a bright light coming out from the chimney. The light was so bright that it was almost blinding. He closed his eyes in an instant once it turned that bright and waited. Then he sensed someone poking his shoulder.
"Hey, little Jimmy! How are you doing?" He heard the voice ask.
Jimmy slowly opened his eyes. Before him was Santa in all his glory. Surprisingly, Santa was taller than Jimmy—way taller. It seemed as if they had at least a foot of difference in height.
"What? Never expected this, didn't you?" Santa spoke as he flaunted himself before Jimmy.
"For real, no. I didn't." Jimmy spoke the truth.
"Well then. I'm happy that I could surprise you." Santa smirked.
After the initial hype and surprise, Jimmy went back to normal. "Anyway, how did you even sneak into the houses when your chimney gives off this level of light from it?" Jimmy asked.
"Ah. it usually doesn't do that. I just programmed it in that way for the theatrics. The light of the mythical being, you know? Like the holy light and stuff." Santa replied.
"You really like torturing me in odd ways, huh?" Jimmy sighed as he heard Santa's explanation.
"Not intentionally. But, if you got tortured, then I'm pretty satisfied with what I did." Santa gave out a ho, ho, ho after that.
"A sadist." Jimmy mumbled, but never outright said it. "By the way, milk and cookies. Really?" Jimmy gave out a disappointed look at Mr. Claus.
"Hmm, what about it?" Santa asked, wondering what he did wrong for Jimmy to give the look that his parents usually gave him after loitering around doing nothing for years.
"Dude, you're here to work out. The first thing you're gonna eat is cookies?" Jimmy asked.
"Ah, think of it as a punchline, nothing more. I mean, people keep milk and cookies when I arrive, right? So, I just gave out that line. Don't think nothing more of that." Santa replied.
"You really ate all the cookies that the children around the world kept for you, didn't ya?" Jimmy asked.
"I mean, it had a noble thought behind it. I just can't deny such a thought." He replied.
"No wonder why you gained weight. But we're here to cut that down!" Jimmy shouted.
"Wait, we're here mainly for your-" Santa interfered, however Jimmy was deep in his thoughts.
"Hmm, there's like new diets in town. Maybe we should try it." He mumbled.
"I heard something about a keto diet." Santa came forth with the reveal.
"Are you kidding me? We're not here just to cut down our weight. We're here to increase our overall strength. You think keto diet would help us on that?" He asked.
"Well then. Maybe we should give up on the whole diet thing because if we are to increase our strength and stuff, we need to eat some heavy food. Dieting would only make us weak if we do it excessively." Santa replied.
"Hmm, emphasis on the excessive part. And dieting doesn't mean eating less, though. It means eating healthy. Look, healthy five meals a day can also be considered a diet, as long as you're ready to work out hard along with it." Jimmy replied.
"I'm ready to work out! No pain, no gain, right?" Santa looked enthusiastic as he spoke.
"Yup. But, I'm broke and I don't want to mess it up for Piers, so we aren't gonna go all out with our diet. Three meals a day is just fine by me." Jimmy replied.
"Yea, yea. I'm fine with that as well." Santa replied.
"Wait, you got elves in the north pole, right? There'd be good cooks there who're willing to make five meals a day for you, right?" Jimmy asked.
"Ah, I don't have a personal chef. I just buy food from the convenience store. So…" Santa replied.
"Wait, those elves aren't your personal servants?" He asked.
"Shh. Don't say something as controversial as that out loud. They're hired workers, not servants." Santa replied.
"Then, you have to pay for their services?" Taro asked.
"Well, that's how hired services work, right?" Santa asked back.
Jimmy sighed. "My perception of the north pole is all broken down now. It seems as if you are in the top post of the place just because you're the only mythical being in that area." He spoke.
"That's accurate as hell!" Santa gave out a thumbs up as he answered. "The north pole is currently a democracy with a voting system and stuff. I'm not their leader; they got their president to do that stuff. I'm like the King who doesn't have any powers vested in him. The king by the title, nothing more. If you want a better explanation, I'm the face of the North pole, nothing else." Santa explained.
"Dang, I kinda feel bad for you." Jimmy replied.
"Ah, don't be. Because of this, I got a lot of free time. I still manage the gift distribution sector though, which sucks. Anyway, had I not have the free time, I would've never built the system or met you like this. So, I'm not bummed out or anything." Santa replied in a cheerful tone.
"I see. Let's try our best to have fun then!" Jimmy spoke.
"Yea!"
"By the way, I was thinking about the workout routine. I can't do it the whole day because I'm going to work as well. So, the most we could do is in the morning and at night. Look, I've downloaded an app on my phone that gives us a thirty day workout plan, so let's follow them. It's not like we can go to the gym." He replied.
"So, what are we gonna do at night?" Santa asked.
"Well, Piers would also join in on that, so let's do stamina building exercises and a very long run." Jimmy answered.
"Hmm, a run is better in the morning, right? How come we're doing at night?" Santa posed the question.
"Well, I don't like getting attention from people. At night, the streets are usually silent. So, we could run peacefully." Jimmy replied.
"I see. Then let's get on with the workout plan then!" Santa sounded enthusiastic as he said it.
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