This seems to be losing steam, hardly anyone seems interested in more additions so here's to one more try. It's getting harder to think of ideas. This one helps explain why Bernard acts the way he does to Jack in "A Frosty Problem." As always reviews, feedback, and ideas are MORE than welcomed. It's easier to think of ideas when I know what some people are interested in reading. It'd be nice to know if people are still reading these things and what ya'll want. Remember, you don't even have to have an account to review, you can post anonymously!
A Frosty Challenge
To say that Bernard and Jack Frost started out with a rocky relationship would be an understatement. During Bernard's eighth year as Head Elf, the council meeting for Legendary Figures had been moved to the North Pole on the first of December. Even with eight years under his belt, he still hadn't gotten used to the stress of Christmas approaching that came with being Head Elf let alone with a council meeting thrown in the mix. Besides, eight years wasn't a long time to the elves. The Santa that year for his fifth year in a row was a man named Gregory Shulze, a man from a small town in western Germany. He was an optimist to say the least; he had the sort of personality that regarded everyone warmly, even those who didn't deserve it, including a certain Jack Frost.
Until that year, Bernard had never come face to face with the legendary figure. Frost had little reason to visit the pole, and only did so during council meetings. The chaos he often caused was talked about for weeks at the pole after every appearance made by Frost, making Bernard fully aware of the mischief the man often caused. Not wanting to let the man screw anything up on his watch, the elf swore to himself that he would keep an eye on Frost and get him out of the North Pole as fast as possible. He even sat in on the council meeting to keep an eye on the legendary figure. Unfortunately, his fervent dream came crashing down with the council meeting ran over its expected time and the kitchen elves started whispering all the problems happening in the workshop in his ears. Two sick reindeer, a crack in the sleigh, a load of snow globes shattered, a backup in wrapping, and finally a shortage of coal finally made him crack and leave to get some of the issues taken care of. Despite the meeting having no near ending in sight when he had left it, within half an hour of him leaving, Jack Frost had unleashed himself upon the North Pole.
"Uh, Bernard," Susie from wrapping nervously approached him while he was leaving the stables from his check up on the sick reindeer. Stable elves bustled about, the noise of them talking and signing made it hard to hear.
"Yes?" he didn't stop walking, forcing her to walk with him to talk.
"Jack Frost is in wrapping." Those words were enough to stop him in his tracks. "He froze some of the wrapping paper." He didn't need to hear anymore, he took off at a sprint towards wrapping. Every possible problem imaginable ran through his mind. He half expected to find the whole department and all the elves frozen by the time he got to it.
When he burst into the department he found the rolls of wrapping paper at the tables frozen solid along with their wooden holders, making it impossible to just replace the paper. The holders speeded wrapping up; the paper could be pulled out or quickly rolled back up. It also caused less mess without having wrapping paper tubes rolling all over the tables. But at the moment they were useless as long as they remained frozen.
"I just couldn't stop it in time, it's usually not that bad when I do that," Jack rambled on to the nearby wrapping elves who were glaring at him.
"What happened?" Bernard fumed at Frost.
"Who are you?" Frost blinked, unimpressed at Bernard's appearance.
Bernard stared at him flabbergasted for a moment. Had he not paid any attention in the meeting? Before it started he had introduced himself to explain why he was there. Or was Frost just that dense? "I'm Bernard, Head Elf, now explain yourself," he rested his hands on his hips, trying to look as intimidating as possible to the taller man.
"I sneezed."
"You sneezed?"
"Yeah, I think I might be allergic to reindeer. Sometimes I just lose control for a moment when I sneeze. I didn't mean to freeze the wrapping paper."
"Shouldn't you still be in the council meeting?"
"I needed a break; the meeting was starting to get really boring. I wanted to stretch my legs, they were beginning to cramp," he shook one leg as if to further make his point.
"Well get back to the meeting," Bernard pointed in the direction of the kitchen.
"Fine, fine, whatever you say, Berny."
"It's Bernard," he glared at Frost.
"Yeah, yeah, that's what I said," Frost waved his correction away as he started in the direction of the kitchen.
Bernard twitched at his words. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Put some towels under them to catch the water as the ice melts. In the meantime, you're going to have to wrap without the holders. It's a little more time consuming I know, but it's the next best thing. I'll have to check to see about getting some more elves in here tomorrow to catch us up," he started to head for the door. "We still have several weeks to get caught back up, and that's plenty of time, just keep working hard and we'll be caught up in no time."
"Yes Bernard," three of the elves chorused together. He gave them a thumbs up as he hurried through the door. He started for the kitchen, searching for Frost on his way.
"Oh! What's this thing do?"
He groaned at the sound of Jack's voice coming from the carpentry shop when renovations were under way. Of course Jack hadn't gone right back to the meeting, that would be too easy for Bernard. Jack hadn't caused enough destruction for one day yet. Bernard turned and headed for the carpentry shop, his anger picking back up again.
"Get away from that!" an elf from the mechanical department yelled as he dove for Jack. They both went crashing to the ground, but not before Jack had pulled the blue lever down. A Crane that they had been using for some renovations swung sideways and dropped a large box of bricks right onto the train tracks. The conductor couldn't stop in time, sending the train crashing into the bricks. All of the elves in the area stopped their work and gaped at the destruction, including Bernard. The train's young conductor crawled out on shaky legs with a look that showed he was close to tears.
Seeing the look of horror on the conductor's face, Bernard snapped into action. "Someone run for a nurse. Let's have Evan checked out."
"I can go find one," Jack offered a little too enthusiastically.
"NO! You've caused enough damage. Either go back to the meeting or leave the pole!" Bernard snapped at him. "Thomas Sake, go get a nurse," Bernard didn't take his eyes off of Jack. Thomas, a short, young elf dressed in all green with a tool belt around his waist, took off running, eager to get away from the tension.
"I can be helpful! I hear that you have all kinds of problems right now, I could help," Jack beamed.
"No, just get out!" Bernard balled his hands into fists. He didn't like how cheery Jack was being about it all. The man really didn't seem to have any sort of remorse for his actions. "Get out before you kill someone."
"Bernard? What is going on?" Santa's concerned voice rang out over the shop. Until now, Bernard hadn't realized how quiet the carpentry shop had gotten. No one else made a peep. Even the shops outside the door seemed to have sensed something going on and quieted down. The elves parted to let Santa through.
"That… that is what is going on," Bernard pointed furiously at the wrecked train. "Jack Frost did that, and it's not the only thing he's done. He needs to leave."
Santa nodded solemnly. "Looks like it's time for you to leave, Jack."
"I don't get what the big deal is, it was an accident!" he held his arms out. "I think your head elf is over reacting. You should get one that isn't sotightly wound. He isn't even cheerful; I thought it was the law or something for Christmas elves to always be cheery. Out of all of the elves here how come the grumpiest one gets to be the boss?" he stuck his nose up at Bernard.
Bernard couldn't handle the rage building inside him at the legendary figure. He stormed out to not only to get away from the irritating man, but to keep himself from giving into his sudden urge to grab the nearest piece of garland to strangle the legendary figure with. The elves in the rest of the workshop had already started clearing out and heading home for the day. Seeing the anger on his face, none of them said a word as he stormed through the workshop. He decided to go home as well and once outside, he jogged through the freshly fallen snow to go to his own private rooms as fast as he could. He needed a break from the workshop and more importantly Jack. The elves outside were too busy planning the rest of their day to take notice of him as he passed by. The ice skating rink had already filled up along with the few cafes and shops in Elfsburg. Bernard didn't take notice of any of it; he was too focused on steaming over Jack.
Once inside his own rooms, he locked the door behind him to make sure no one would disturb him. He kicked off his shoes, unwound his scarf, and tossed his jacket onto his small dining room table. In his living room, he lit his big fireplace before curling up in a ball on the sofa to watch it. He focused on the fire, letting it lull him into a feeling of peace. His eyes watched the flames flicker and dance while the logs sizzled in the flames. Now that he had time to be alone in his own rooms, his stress was fading, although his dislike of Jack Frost burned brighter than ever. Nearly asleep now, a loud knocking at his door made him jump in surprise. He rubbed at his eyes and stretched, hoping that whoever it was would just go away. No such luck, the banging started again.
Disgruntled at the interruption, he made his way to his door and opened it. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that awaited him: an annoyed looking Jack Frost humming Grandma got ran over by a reindeer.
"Oh, there you are. Santa forced me to come apologize. I don't think I need to apologize for what I said, but I have to apologize for something. So I'm sorry if my words angered you Berny," he crossed his arms over his chest.
An exasperated sigh escaped Bernard. "It's Bernard, not Berny."
"Well goodbye then, Santa won't let me stay any longer thanks to you," Frost glared at him. "See you at the next council meeting, Bernard," with that Jack puckered his lips together.
"What are yo-" before he could finish his words Frost blew a jet of cold air at him strong enough that it sent him sliding backwards two feet. He grabbed at the walls, trying not to lose his balance. Unsuccessful, his arms flailed before he landed on his butt on the hard wooden floor with a hiss of pain. Jack slammed the door closed. Bernard shot back to his feet and grabbed for the door handle a little too late. The handle already felt as cold as ice and wouldn't budge. Moments later, ice seeped through the door crack and key hole, freezing the knob and door from the inside as well.
"Frost!" he banged at his door angrily to no avail. He could hear the legendary figure cackling before he disappeared. After another minute of pounding he gave up with sore palms. He considered putting on his coat and shoes and crawling out through a window but decided against it. It wouldn't matter, Jack was already gone and knowing their current Santa Bernard couldn't say anything to convince him to ban the legendary figure, especially with Frost being a council member. He leaned against his wall and slid down it. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his arms on them.
Feeling completely defeated he blinked back a few tears. What kind of Head Elf was he if he couldn't even handle Jack Frost? Ever since getting the Head Elf position he constantly worried about screwing up and losing it. Every day he felt like he still had to prove himself worthy. Jack's words in the workshop had hit a sore spot. Perhaps he did have a tendency to be a little grumpy, but at least he wasn't raving mad like the last Head Elf. He had let Jack Frost screw things up when they had already been falling behind. How could they ever catch up before Christmas? Chances were they wouldn't and it'd be all his fault.
By the time he realized his tears had spilled over, his cheeks were already soaked. He wiped them away and rested his head on his arms with a sigh. The thought of facing the workshop the next day made his stomach turn. He pictured the elves whispering about what had happened and how he had failed. With a groan he climbed to his feet and headed towards his kitchen. Right now he needed a cup of hot cocoa followed by a long nap.
Jack Frost had won this year, but he wouldn't let it happen next time. No, next time he'd be ready for him. And if he failed again, then he'd just have to keep trying. He couldn't let him embarrass him again or lose his temper, no. Rage welled up inside him and he slammed his hand down onto his counter. At least he now knew what to expect from Frost, he'd need to find a way to keep him out of the workshop.
He reached into his cupboard and grabbed his favorite candy cane striped mug. He vowed to not think of the frustrating man any longer and focus on enjoying a quiet night in. Come morning if the ice hadn't melted he'd have to go out a window, but he'd worry about that tomorrow. Now it was time to enjoy a night free of Jack Frost, he had hot cocoa and a nap to look forward to after all.
