Topic: The Late-Late Show

Race Bannen

Date: 2015-02-06 19:08 EST
"Thank you! Thank you everyone. Last week there were some reports in the paper about energy bursts, or displays at the cemetery. Weird right?

What was that all about?

I saw that headline and thought two things,? holding up two fingers and waving his hand before the crowd with a serious look on his face. ? There were two sorts of people near the cemetery that night. The hero types.." Strikes a manly pose. "Who rushed towards it to investigate..." Loosens up. "And everyone else who went 'Fuck that shit. I've seen this movie. Ethnic dude gets it first!?

Studio laughter and clapping goes up.

?Saturday, tomorrow, is the annual Disco Ball party. This years theme is Xanadu. I know a few people asked me. What the hell is Xanadu? It?s actually difficult to answer depending on what source you use. Historically speaking, Xanadu was synonymous with a Shangri-La on Terra. It was this place created by some ancient emperor for himself to go and escape worldly problems. Held every earthly pleasure he could think of. The name was made popular several centuries later in a poem by the Terran, Samuel Taylor Coleridge called Kublai Khan. To warn you, it?s like thirty pages. A thirty page poem. Might want to snort some Spice before reading, keep you awake.?

More laughter erupts.

?This is the last season of the Walking Dead..? some depressed sound effects. ?This is definitely going to mean a rise in unemployed zombies. Which means Jesse Van Bokkelen will be promoting her new book ?The Undead and You: Not just for dinner anymore.?

Heavy laughter.

?Her book will be available in crayon, marker, and serial killer newspaper cut outs. Speaking of serial killers, Tara...you all know her. Well she was spotted with her current flame, Gren Blockman in the Outback having a pre-tty heated argument. The current Daimond left looking upset, then disappointed and relieved. Kind of like me when I watch an episode of Real Housewives of WestEnd.? Race?s face goes through the spectrum of emotions as he looks over the crowd.

Crowd roars along with some whistles.

?Welcome to the show my first guest of the evening...Andrea ?Apple? Anderson-Holliday??

Crowd whistles as she enters smiling.

"Welcome, welcome. Now, do you prefer to go by Andrea or Apple?" Race greets with a sip from his mug as they both sit.

"Thanks for having me on. Andrea or Apple? Ah-ha, I've gotten more used to Andrea now a days. Maybe, just maybe I'm growing out of the nickname phase."

"In my notes here, you recently stepped down from Duel of Swords Assistant Coordinator,is that right? I guess what's on everyone's mind, or at least mine is..What are you going to do now? What do you hope to do?? Shuffles his topic cards a bit while sitting back.

"It's nothing too dramatic. I'm sure there's many speculations out there, but I stepped down due to personal reasons. My wife is about to have our child soon and it was just time for me to pick between family and work. Helping the Duel of Swords was always a side-gig for me, and I'm sure Gabby will be able to give it more attention while I'm learning the ropes of diaper duty. Sorry if this disappoints anyone, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who would have rather it been a bigger blow up."

Andrea sits back and crosses her legs.

"I'm looking forward to relaxing for a little while and mentally preparing for many nights with zero sleep."


"From a sports enthusiast to an actual fighter, take away all the hype and ego, brass tacks. Who do you think is the best fighter around the Outback??

"Currently or all time? If we're talking currently, I'm going to have to say Harris. He went undefeated in the Iron Fist League and hasn't been a slouch when it comes to challenges. It's gotten to the point where months have gone by and no one feels like going after his title anymore. If this keeps up? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he'll be stuck with PathFinder until he stops being lazy enough to join and win the Diamond Quest. All time has to go to Matt. Nine Diamonds, the longest reign in Opal history? There's really no one who can stand up to that when you put all twenty years of Duel of Fists under the microscope. You know, Matt was the one who first introduced me to the Outback.. so maybe I'm a little bias, but I'd like to think I'm not." She laughs.

"Really? Wow, Hypothetically speaking...do you think the duels could stand to lighten up some? Maybe do a jello-wrestling event, mud? What about cream pies?"

"Sports should be taken seriously, but I do think the regulation hours should make an attempt to draw in the crowds. Us fighters can only do so much. The crowd are the ones that make everything possible. I think those in charge should sit down and try to figure out a way to mix the two together. The Magic duels have been doing a good job with this. I look forward to see what Claire will bring to the table in the future."

"Stage manager's giving me some evil eyes back there.." motions to the back curtains. "Must be running out of time. So last question here, What do you think would be the ultimate cage match?"

She laughs again after sipping her coffee. "I won't keep you long with this answer. Harris and Matt. No disqualification cage match and loser has to retire until the winner says they can come back. Add in Kalamere with a betting line and I'd try my hardest not to bet away my life savings."

?Hopefully not your first born!?

More crowd laughter. ?Andra Holliday everybody! We?re gonna take a short break, when we return I?ll be sitting down with our next guest, the delectable Claire Caelum!?

Camera pans out as Race gets up to make parting lines to Andrea, offering a hug and thanking her for coming on.




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Race Bannen

Date: 2015-02-06 19:13 EST
Commercial break ends, Race is staring at the camera in annoyance. ?What took you so long? We?ve got a show to run here! The DVR is not for extended bathroom breaks?? Squints and jabs at the audience eliciting laughter. Then he?s turning to Claire.

"Heard through the grape vine you had a good tournout for your Midnight Sun Event. Do you feel confident with the results to sort of go forward?"

"It definitely surpassed my expectations, that's for sure. Here I was expecting a laid back night of spell slinging and out came four incredibly diverse and talented teams. Bob and his pokemon really knocked it out of the park,-- Hi Bob!--, so I'm hoping we get more opportunities going forward to host more events like the Midnight Sun Tourney."

"Not sure if I'm the only one, but I've never seen you and your sister in the same room together. Is it like a Jekyll and Hyde thing? When one leaves a room the other waits outside to walk in?"

Gasps. "You've figured us out! They say getting two Farron sisters in the same room is like dividing by zero... you just don't do it unless you want the universe to implode. And we've already done that once, we learned our lesson. No but for real, we've just got incredibly different schedules so we usually just get together when we can."

"You know for me to do this show, I promoted her to be in charge of Ampersand?" In case she didn't know. "You've been busy with Dragons Gate Orphanage, now the tournament and a few other outreach projects. What's next on your calendar? Besides sleepless nights with the baby?"

"You're a braaaaaaave, brave man, Race. If you don't watch out, the WonderPlex'll be next and then," a conspiratorial lean and stage whisper, "Rhy'Din! Ah, but yes, Dragons Gate Orphanage has been a huge undertaking but so rewarding and we've got a great team including our headmaster Shadow running the show. As for me, who knows, as cliche as it sounds being a mom is probably the scariest adventure I've been on yet so I think I need to conquer that a bit before I get back to some of my other aspirations, sporting, professional, and otherwise."

"Are you worried the child will make it hard to come back and get into the swing of things?" Looks at the crowd and stage whispers "See what I did there?"

Some light laughter breaks out.

She groans and swats a hand in his direction. "Well, if all else fails I just exit stage right and let Serah take over from there. That's what we do, right? It's definitely an adjustment though, rewarding but not for the faint of heart."

"That's going to be a lot of pain. Someone once told me for a mani to experience the pain of child birth.." pause for effect. "He'd have to...tug on his scrotum..and pull it up and around behind his head, wear it like a swimcap...."

She nearly choked on a laugh but saved herself with a few coughs. "That... may very well be accurate. I know that's about what I wanted to do to my husband while I was in labor but I settled on breaking his hand instead."

"Hope you've got good insurance. Or a skilled doctor to rebuilt his hand. Those are not fun injuries, so many little bones that don't heal right." He nods. "Mother, duelist, philanthropist...what feathers are you thinking to add to your cap next?"

"Between healers and doctors, he's healing just fine. Took it like a champ, no need to worry." She snickered then nodded as well. "I'm figuring tight rope walker should be an easy one to add after all of that but otherwise giving back to the community is huge, so whether that's through charitable work or putting my skills to use where ever they need me, that'll be my focus going forward."

"I certainly will be keeping up to date on your works. Before we wrap things up here..there's been a lot of drama revolving around the Overlord Mantle in the last handful of months. First the stuff with Artemus and Melanie, banishment, then Terry and Melanie. What's your overall intepretation of it?"

She visibly cringed. "Well, I thought Art was a bit of a dick... wait can I say that? Well, he was a bit of a jerk taking pot shots at Mel and stuff but I guess I'm a closet romantic and thought what she did was sweet. Anyways, it all devolved from there so whatever. Ever seen Katt Batten's expression when she looks like she really, really wants to facepalm at you to the point it's pretty much implied that she is? If I could do that as well as she does, it would accurately sum up how I feel about it."

"I've seen that look from her many times. Usually directed at me!" Grins largely. "Thank you for coming, I really hope to have you again. KNow what? Come by any time..."

"And I'm sure you'll see it plenty of times in the future." A grin from her as well. "Thanks for having me, Race."

"That's our show everybody! Tune in next week!" Throws his note cards into the air. End credits roll as the band starts playing. "To everyone int he audience, as a thank you from us here at the Late-Late show, you're all walking home with a swag bag of goodies!"

Show ends.