Look, another update. This took forever, sorry. Holidays and finals and new semester projects of doom and all that jazz. Not to mention that I hadn't seen the movie in months, and I needed a refresher course on all the characters. So... I bought and watched the movie! I am so excited guys! I own it all for my own!

Anyway, someone brought to my attention that my last few chapters were lacking in subtle adult humor. Oh you silly reviewer, you. I appreciate your review, but just you wait. They're starting up again. Oh, and I'm super excited because there is a joke that I'm literally taking chapters to build up to. (don't believe me? I hinted at it at least two chapters ago)

And my word, you all are super concerned with Spire's teeth. I mean, wow. All the dental-nuts came out of the wood work. :P But never fear, I shall address it.

Disclaimer: Rise of the Guardians does not belong to me.

The Art of Suggestion and Terrifying Fairies

North's sleigh in its own right was magical and stylish and a ride complete with a full set of bragging rights. Bunnymund's tunnels were mind-boggling, unexpected, and a little adventure wrapped up into one endless system of underground transportation. Tooth's wings were beautiful, delicate, but surprisingly strong and capable of so many flaps per second that Spire wondered how Tooth never seemed to tire. Sandy's golden creations were equally amazing and unpredictable, fitting his mood and forming to whatever aircraft he could need to get where he was going.

However, none of those modes of transportation could compete with Jack Frost's flying.

Or at least, that's what Spire imagined she would be thinking if they were actually flying. After all, Jack Frost was the youngest and newest of the guardians, the most interwoven with the modern day world and the least believed in. His perspective was completely original, so she imagined so would be his way of travel.

Alas, after Jack had managed his very confident smile and said three very confident words... well, it kind of ended there.

It had been roughly twenty seconds, and Jack was still hovering in midair, practically shaking as Spire clutched his hand from her place on the roof. He was at a loss for words and extremely embarrassed. He simply couldn't move with her holding onto his hand, and that was that. Come on, brain. You can't turn to slush now. Work! Just a little wind, okay? In an attempt to concentrate, he screwed up his face to a point where Spire could believably compare it to a knot in a tree. Still nothing.

"Performance issues?" Spire asked, cracking a grin at the flustered guardian.

"W-what?" he spluttered, clearly confused. She was still holding his hand, so he, of course, was still shaking in his spot in the air. The two were totally unrelated though. He was simply shaking because he was experiencing a headache, or a brain freeze, or something similar that was making it impossible for him to call the wind like he usually did. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the alien gender was touching him. Since when were teenage girls so touchy-feely, as in literally 'let me hold onto your hand and share my deep regret about the fact that you were invisible for three-hundred-years'? He swore they weren't like that back when they could see him. Back when he was human and girls didn't talk unless spoken too. Of course he wasn't complaining about the fact that they had clearly climbed the social ladder.

He just wished they'd keep their newfound confidence and weird womanly ways away from him.

Spire gave a contented sigh at his reaction and withdrew her hand. Jack stumbled in midair at the loss of contact, as if a large weight had been lifted from his shoulders unexpectedly. "It's not your first time, is it?" she continued, grin widening.

"F-flying? N-n-no," Jack stuttered, floating away from her while rubbing the back of his neck.

"No. I mean, with someone else?" Spire asked. Something in her expression suggested she had given up on some kind of joke while talking with Jack, making him wonder what exactly it was.

"O-oh! Well I have. I just..." He just what? Didn't feel safe touching cootie-infested skin? Because that was certainly true.

"Some other time, after you're in your zone," she offered, to which he dumbly nodded. "Still, I want to see you work. How about I follow you there?"

Jack swallowed thickly as he watched Inspiration herself walk to the edge of the house to where Sophie's room was, as if she was about to jump off. "Uh, well, I... Okay. Should I... should I go slow?" he nervously asked, and Spire giggled as if something about his question amused her.

"Go as fast as you like. I'll make it," she tried to assure him between giggles. He was beginning to think that they were having two very different conversations without the other one knowing, at least from what he could tell by her very strange responses.

"You're not planning to walk there are you? That'd be pretty long... and hard," he pointed out.

Okay, so Spire was stretching the potential meaning of his words by a lot when she started laughing. But the way he was wording everything was so awkward there couldn't possibly be anyway it was by accident. No one was that naive and worded things so... oddly.

But then she remembered how they had met mere minutes ago, and realized that maybe Jack was the exception.

"Of course not. We're not close enough to Canada for me to do that. Don't worry about it, okay? You go on ahead and I'll catch up," she informed him, still struggling to get all her words out correctly through her laughter.

Yup, they were definitely having two different conversations, Jack had decided. He just didn't realize how different the two conversations were. If he knew what Spire was thinking he might've gotten a clue and thought his words through more carefully.

Still, if she was so adamant about seeing The Jack Frost do his magic, well... he really didn't know how to stop her... or talk to her about it. Confused and eager to leave the now very awkward roof, Jack leapt into the air, allowing the wind to firmly grip him in its transparent fingers and whisk him away.

With the frost spirit gone, Spire sat down on the edge of the roof and maneuvered herself so she could drop down, hands gripping the roof. Sophie's window was slightly open despite the cold outside, and with a gentle kick of her foot to widen the opening, Spire found she could swing and release to fall into the bedroom. One swing, two swing, three swing, let go, make it through the window, success.

Landing gently, she stood and looked around the room, smiling at the colorful pictures tacked all over the walls. They were poorly drawn by an adult's standards but extraordinarily well done by an elementary school student's, never mind the fact that Sophie was still in preschool. Spire smiled appreciatively at the artwork, running a hand lightly along the edge of each picture. Some of the poorer, older drawings were most often of fairies, but curiously enough it seemed that any fairy artwork Sophie had created in the last year portrayed a terrifying fairy holding bloody white blobs... teeth, Spire realized. What could have brought that about, she couldn't be sure.

On the bright side, there was a very picture of a sunny green meadow full of little round creatures of all sorts of colors and patterns and even... Ah. Spire paused to stare for a few extra seconds at one particular picture full of white and gray and blue. She rather liked that one. She'd put enough inspiration into the world to last for the hundreds of years that she was gone. The picture made that clear. She just couldn't decide if that gave her hope for the world's future or if it bothered her that the world didn't need her to protect inspiration.

She sincerely hoped that wasn't the case. There was so much she wanted to do and create. She especially liked creating artists. As far as Sophie was concerned, Spire believed she would make an artist of her yet.

Suddenly she heard shuffling behind her, and Spire whirled around to stare at the bed. That's right, she hadn't come to look at the art, as regrettable as it was to admit that.

"Alright Sophie, let's see if you have what I'm looking for."

Hopefully she's not looking for droids. Sophie doesn't have those. This was so difficult to write! Bear with me guys, I'm still working out a couple kinks in my character.

Thanks for reading. Reviews/favs/stuff appreciated.

Ezzy