This wonderful piece was created by  Foxena

SO it's Christmas time once again, and what better time to continue a sibling rivalry between the FBA and UFFL with our deer Redfields... (is bricked for pun). But this is appropriate considering the antics from last Christmas Season ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15274554/ ).

So continue on for a bit of story by  Wendingo !

Artwork is ©  Foxena

Dylan Redfield and Story ©  Wendingo

The FBA is a creation of  BuckHopper with  steviemaxwell acting as commissioner.

The UFFL is a creation of  uffl

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“Red Deer Gift Exchange”

Story by  Wendingo

Dedicated to Herr for helping edit and providing kind words when i needed them.



“Merry Christmas Dylan, ”

“Merry Christmas Aspen.. it’s good to see you again.”

“So. Heh. I got you something, it’s in our old room upstairs.

Dylan Redfield didn’t need, or expected anything. After all, a hundred million dollar contract typically tempered the gift giving season – Dylan effectively had everything he needed. Everything except the one thing he wanted the most, and he knew whatever Aspen had wasn’t it.

The old Victorian floorboards creaked and groaned at bare hooves making their way upstairs. The two brothers had spent their youth in this house, and despite both of their attempts to upgrade the family compound to warmer climates, they continued to meet here year after year. The sound echoed memories of the past, old ghosts of their youth- one buck chasing after another with a ball in hand- out of the house and onto the lush fields outside.

Dylan ducked into his old room, smiling at how little it had changed from his youth. Old posters of FBA superstars lined the walls: legends such as Buck Hopper and Healy Davis, and even a signed, rookie year Rodger Umaechi poster that Dylan waited for three hours in the rain to get. The Alphas were always the team the young buck rooted for, and he could not believe his eyes when his favorite FBA player came to his childhood’s team.

Dylan and Aspen had shared this room for years until Dad added an expansion and moved the younger buck out. There were still dent marks on the wall from their earliest attempts at butting.

Dylan sat down on his old bed, far smaller than he had remembered it to be, while Aspen turned away, reaching into the closet for the gift. It This was the place Dylan had his first kiss, and it was where he got his first stitches. Aspen ‘accidently’ hit him in the head with a chair after a “KennelMania” wrestling event.

Aspen returned, handing Dylan a long letterhead white box no thicker than a stamp. “Merry Christmas Brother…”

Dylan curled his finger tips through the box’s packaging and unsealed its contents. He tend pulled out a red Christmas sweater, embroidered with his family’s name- “Redfield” in poor, almost childlike handwriting. While ugly Christmas sweaters were hardly a fashion statement, yet, what made Aspen’s gift completely unwearable was the prominent display of 2 antlered male deer ‘sharing christmas gifts’ with one another.

“… It’s wonderful, Aspen,” Dylan said through gritted teeth. “Just what I always wanted…”

“It gets cold in Dakota hmmm? Figured you’d want something to warm you up for Sunday after Fargo is knocked out of the playoffs.”

Dylan glared down at his younger brother, providing him a look as stiff as a drink on Christmas Eve.

Dylan expected that this holiday would be interesting. After all,Aspen was the star quarterback for the UFFL’s Baltimore Ponies and that Dylan had signed as a walk-on Wide Receiver for the Fargo Axemen during the FBA strike. Both teams needed a win to make the post-season, while the loser was likely eliminated.

However, with the strike over, Dylan was helpless to do anything but watch and root for his former team.

“You know, I got you something too...“

Dylan reached into his bag and pulled out a gift of his own. A large white box almost too big for his own travel bag, easily big enough to house a bowling ball.

Aspen smiled knowing it was a moment for retribution for such joke gifts, this year and previous years. “You shouldn’t have…” and his fingers tore open the package. Aspen peered inside, and then took the gift out to get a better look.

It was a faux red Baltimore Pony’s helmet, custom designed and modified. Complete with a pair of plastic antlers, shiny happy eyes, and a red lightbulb for the forehead.

“It’s a helmet you’re going to have to wear in shame after Fargo eliminates you from the playoffs this weekend.”

“You would root for Fargo over your own brother?” Aspen asked, a frown forming at the comment.

Conflicted, Dylan paused for a moment before answering his kin,“Aspen, I’ll always root for you. But you know as much as anyone, the gridiron is a battlefield. It’s a war and those who you run beside are as much my family as you are to me.“

Aspen’s frown remained, but he accepted that answer.

“So I guess I’m going to see you there in Fargo this weekend then?”

Dylan nodded.

With nothing else to say, the two brothers shared a moment of tempered disdain. Family first, but competitors till the end.