Notes:
JRJRJR Means a jump in time or switch between characters
Italics are thoughts
Now onto the story
JRJRJR
Centuries passed since Aster had taken the bottle from Grandfather Time, he had dated on and off but none had worked out. His hope slowly began to fade, how could he be guardian of something that he himself lacked? So instead he hid the bottle far back in one the shelves in his pantry, finally accepting that he would never find a mate in a world without his own kind.
Slowly as the years went on he had forgotten about his dream of a family, rebuilding his hope around that of the children. All he needed was the very kids he had already sworn to protect, enjoying the way each ones face would light up as they found one of his carefully decorated eggs on Easter morning. Slowly he let himself forget about that hidden bottle, he had enough of the dating for now. Someday, maybe. Just not today.
JRJRJRJRJR
Being a guardian had been kind to Aster, for one he didn't look as though he had aged a day. Second, he had 3 great friends - no make that 4 now. They had a new guardian, Jack Frost. The boy had joined them when Manny had told them of the threat of Pitch Black. While it may have taken a while for him and the lad to see eye to eye, they had settled into a sort of understanding since that final battle. I had been almost a year since they had set Pitch back into the darkness and Easter was fast approaching.
Aster was determined to make up for what happened last year and double his believers. He had asked the other guardians for help but they all claimed to be busy, Tooth and Sandy he understood since teeth and dreams are a daily job. North though, had said it was never to early to start on Christmas...since it was so much more important than Easter. He had know the guy was just trying to take his mind of things but that didn't stop the 3 hours fight they had over which mattered more. That left the prank pulling winter sprite, shocking enough he looked thrilled to get invited to Aster's Warden. Last time, he had frosted over 1/2 of it and killed many of the egg making plants in the process. Aster had torn him a new one and said to never return, but now as his only option for help he couldn't turn the smiling boy away.
So now Jack was grinning, running around with the eggs and plopping them into the color river one after the other. His laughter rang throughout the entire Warden, even the stone eggs seemed to be in better moods. Aster couldn't help the small smile that he had on his face the whole time he sat calmly painting more elaborate designs on the eggs one at a time. He couldn't remember the last time he had enjoyed himself so thoroughly. They had finished all the eggs with a few hours to spare before Aster would have to take off and go hide them. He invited Jack to stay the night and enjoy some Matryoshkina vodka, he had a few of the creepy doll bottles since North insisted that it was a good manly gift to give him each and every Christmas. He had only had it once with the man, and could not remember any of that night after a few bottles in. The guy was a tank! Thank tooth and her blessed heart for all the wonderful pictures from that night...including ones of the elves shaving a race track on his back to play with after he had passed out. Shivering slightly at the memory of waking up to that, he thought it might be fun to get the upper hand on the new and youngest guardian. Unsure of how much the boy could hold he grabbed 5 bottles from his pantry and placed them out on the table with two glasses and a bowl of salted nuts know that they would help in making him drink more. Smirking to himself he poured them both their first glass of the night, already plotting ways to get back at the prankster when he returned from hiding eggs. Hangovers are always such fun! he thought to himself.
What he didn't expect was how honest, and hands on Jack would be as he got drunk. The boy could hold a lot! He didn't expect it, he himself had finished off 4 of the 5 bottles himself. He had learned to build tolerance to such things over the years, in fear of a repeat of that night. Jack had a full bottle himself and while it was funny to watch to boy grin from ear to ear and tell him how much he liked him and his soft fur...successfully boosting his ego a slight bit he had to leave. He told Jack where to find the rest of the bottles before he took off to go escort his egglets to their hiding places, moving more quickly then he had in past years excited to get to come home to someone at his house. Has it really been that long..he though as he gathered his eggs up and left.
JRJRJR
After Aster had left the already highly intoxicated Jack behind, the boy of course made the terrific decision that he needed more vodka. So stumbling he made his way to the pantry, pulling the string to turn on it's light. The whole place was stocked full of various jars of items. It took him a few minutes to find the vodka, a bit higher up than he could reach so he had to retrieve his staff so he could balance on top of it to reach said shelf. Moving the creepy smiling red doll bottles around he looked to see if Aster had any hidden spirits that might taste better, or at least not smile at him as he drank it. A few minutes into digging he had just about given up after moving around 30 of the same bottles when he noticed the light hit something in the back. Squinting to make it out, he figured it must have been another type of vodka. So he pushed a bunch of the other bottles away, successfully knocking a bunch from the shelf and jumped slightly as they hit the ground with a loud crash soaking the floor in the liquid, "Ooops.." he mumbled to himself giggling lightly. Partially climbing onto the shelf so he could reach the back to pulled the bottle forward, wiping the dust from it. Smiling he jumped down off his staff careful to land outside the pantry and avoid all the broken glass, taking his find with him he moved back to the kitchen table. Wiping more at it, he found the bottle lacked a proper label, Probably home made he thought to himself, "And what was that about there might be a little dust on the bottle...?" he slurred, "But don't let it fool ya about what's inside?" nodding he was happy with his answer that he had remember the line.
Popping the bottle open he gave it a quick sniff before shoving it away from himself, "Jesus Aster, what in gods green earth is this!?" he yelled out. "It must be good to smell this strong." Pouring some of the liquid into his glass he made a face at it's greenish brown coloring. The bottle held enough to just fill his glass, must have been something good he was saving he thought, I'm sure he won't mind my having it after all the help I've been. Lifting the bottle to the sky in a thanks, he chugged it back ignoring the thickness of the liquid and taste figuring he didn't want to miss out on something Aster must have thought to be good to have saved it so long and waste it on him.
Hacking he held his throat after slamming the glass back down hard on the table. He was suddenly feeling warm, no hot! Jack never felt like this before and started taking deep quick breaths as his skin started to feel as though it was crawling. Jumping up from his chair the last thing he remembered before darkness was seeing an old man in Aster's kitchen just in front of him saying, "You shouldn't have done that my boy." as his body hit the ground in a loud hard thump.
Notes:
The vodka I picked is a real one, here is a link /russian_vodkas/matryoshkina_
The Dust on the bottle line Jack is saying is from a country song called "Dust on The Bottle" by David Lee Murphy. The song is talking about a wine bottle, but meh. I grew up listening to country so I pull it out sometimes lol here is a link to a video of the song. watch?v=uNkF_ZpQ4eg