You hear the clock ticking. Constant, anxiety inducing tick, tick, tick. Knowing that time is precious, you and dAnkan showed up early. Like, way early, to make sure that if Santa got an unexpected opening in his incredibly busy schedule you could be first in line to fill it. That opening never arrived, and now you have been sitting outside the big man’s office for over five hours listening to the muffled sounds of an intense conversation about optimizing broadcast schedules.
Suddenly, the door flies open, and some corporate executives are swiftly carried out by a small army of elfs. Another legion of elfs pick you and dAnkan up and before you know it you are both seated in chairs in front of Santa’s desk. The entire exchange couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds.
“Ah, am I glad to see you!” Santa says, wiping stress-sweat from his brow. “It’s a catastrophe! The broadcaster that purchased the rights to the final competition is threatening to withdraw!”
“What happened? Has the media finally–” dAnkan’s attempt at a snarky reply is cut short by an angry elf pointing to a big sign saying “NO TIME FOR COMEDY.”
“You see, the one responsible has a son, Timmy, who wants his presents now — today! — almost an entire week before Christmas!” Santa continues, his body language one of complete frustration. “I don’t have time to deliver any presents before the games are over, so I hoped you would. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just enough to satisfy the little br-… I mean, child.”
“Well we were planning on attending the party tonight–” you begin before dAnkan cuts you off.
“We’ll do it! Anything for you Santa!”
As the sound of dAnkan’s enthusiasm fills Santa’s office, the elfs take that as their cue to act, and suddenly you are whisked away and find yourself in a town…somewhere.
“Okay, so, how does one deliver presents, boss?” you ask cautiously.
“I don’t have a clue,” says dAnkan cheerily, while glancing through the empty knapsack that the elfs left you with. “But I got a hundred bucks, so I guess we’ll ask Timmy what he wants and try to optimize the usage of them. We’ll figure out some good heuristics and go from there. There should be plenty of people in this town that can help us with getting some good gifts for the kid!”