Sorry it's been a little while you guys, but this pesky little thing called reality hit me smack in the face. Not to mention my teachers seem to be trying to cram a whole curriculum's worth of homework into the span of two weeks. This one is probably my personal favorite so far, mostly because I adore Jack and Bunny.
With a gentle swoop of his paintbrush, E. Aster Bunnymund finished painting a delicate curl on the egg he was holding. He set the brush back into a jar of paint and turned the egg around, carefully inspecting it while avoiding smearing the fresh paint. The design was one of intertwining vines, flowering with buds of every color. Frowning, he picked up the brush again to touch up a tiny detail that no one but he would have noticed. Satisfied, he set down the egg and it trotted off to be dried and stored for Easter.
The eggs were perfectly capable of painting themselves with a trip through the Rainbow Meadow, but Bunny liked to sit down and paint them himself as often as he could. It calmed him down in times of stress, and it reminded him of why he had become the Easter Bunny in the first place. Painting the eggs himself made his job feel more personal, and as he colored each one with bright designs he always smiled at the thought of the expression that would adorn the face of whatever child found it. The ones he did himself were infinitely more detailed and rare, treasures among the rest. But he knew that every egg, whether it was done personally or not, was a precious gift and sign of hope.
He had just picked up another egg and was pondering what design to use when he heard the shouts. His ears perked up and he listened closer; they seemed to be coming from the direction of the Rainbow River. It was too far away for him to hear the words, but he recognized the voice: Jack's voice. Bunny immediately set down the blank egg and set off; Jack's voice in his Warren was usually not a good thing.
Oh sure, he and Jack got along fine. They had to; they were fellow Guardians and if they didn't North would force a group hug. And hugging Jack was not exactly high on his list of things he enjoyed. It was immensely awkward, and the kid was always freezing. It wasn't that he didn't like the winter spirit; in fact he would be lying if he denied having an almost brotherly affection for him. But he was the bringer of winter and Bunny much preferred spring, so there was naturally going to be some rivalry there. And he was still a little frosty about the Blizzard of '68. Pun intended.
Not to mention Jack was extremely mischievous and loved pulling pranks, although this tendency seemed only to extend as far as Bunny, humans, and North's yetis. His pranks at the Pole usually involved sugar and elves, which was not a good combination. With humans it was stuff like icy sidewalks, bitterly cold winds, and snowballs that came out of nowhere. Bunny was the butt of most of the jokes, though. He would often arrive back at the Warren to find his golems frozen to the ground or half the eggs painted blue. He was not blind however; he noticed that whatever Jack did, it was never any permanent harm that might mess up Bunny's holiday or anyone else's. The kid might be a right pain in the neck, but he was not malicious.
Nonetheless, the sound of Jack yelling triggered warning bells and Bunny was not about to let it go uninvestigated. He sped up and within a moment emerged from the cherry blossom trees on the banks of the Rainbow River. On the opposite side, one of the golems had Jack by the ankle and was dangling him over the swirling colors. He was yelling at the golem to put him down and was struggling to reach his staff, which was lying on the ground just out of his grasp. The corners of Bunny's mouth twitched up at the sight, and it was then that Jack caught sight of him.
"Bunny!" he called indignantly. "Tell it to let me go!"
"Poor choice of words, mate," Bunny replied with a chuckle.
Jack's eyes widened. "Bunny, no! I can't swim-" But then the golem released him, and he fell headfirst into the river. He thrashed about, churning up the paint into a frothy mess.
Bunny, however, had caught his words. He reached out and grabbed Jack, yanking him out and throwing him to the grass. Jack rolled from his back onto his hands and knees, coughing and spitting out multicolored paint. Bunny looked at his face, and for a moment the pooka's amused smirk disappeared with a spasm of surprise as he saw in Jack's eyes not amusement or anger or annoyance, but wild, untamed fear. But then it was gone as a door seemed to close over his eyes and he composed himself. He stood up and glared at Bunny, and his concern was momentarily forgotten as he got a good look at Jack and bent double with sudden laughter.
"What?" Jack snapped.
"You- you look like a rainbow sprite!" he gasped around his laughter.
It was true. Jack's snow white hair and pale skin had been the perfect canvas for the paint, and every part of him was covered in swirls of color, red and yellow and blue and green and every other hue of the rainbow. He looked down at himself and gasped.
"Oh, crap," he said eloquently.
He took off his (not so) blue hoodie, revealing a plain white tee underneath that had somehow remained so. He began trying to wring the color out of the hoodie, but to no avail.
"Doesn't this stuff come out?" he asked.
"Oh, sure," Bunny replied with a smile. "In a few weeks or so."
"A few- what!" Jack's voice was fringing on panic now. "Bunny!"
"Sorry, mate." Bunny replied, not sounding regretful in the least. "Can't have the paint washing off the eggs in the rain, can I?" Jack was still glaring at him, and Bunny raised an eyebrow. "You're not really mad, are you?"
Jack held the stare for another second before sighing and dropping his gaze to the multicolored hoodie in his hand. "No." But then he looked up again with a devious smile. "But that doesn't mean I won't want payback."
Bunny took a step back. "Don't even think about-" Before he could go further, Jack jumped across the narrow river, grabbed his staff, and crossed back in a blur of movement. He froze the grass underneath Bunny's feet into ice and, before he could react, gave him a push that caused him to slip and slide straight into the Rainbow River.
Bunny suddenly found himself in the situation Jack had been in just a moment before, splashing and spluttering and sending drops of paint flying everywhere. The difference, however, was that he could swim, and within moments he had clambered back onto the banks of the river. He stood up, drawing himself to his full height, trying to be intimidating despite the fact that he looked like a walking rainbow and Jack was too busy laughing at him to notice his attempts.
"You probably shouldn't have done that," he said.
Jack's laughter subsided to a smirk as he looked Bunny straight in the eyes. He magically formed a snowball in his hand and dipped it into the river, dyeing it with bright colors. "Bring it on, Cottontail," he challenged.
Ten minutes later the two of them were covered in grass and rapidly melting, rainbow-tinted snow. They called a truce and sat beneath a blossoming tree, trying to dry themselves off and wipe away some of the paint. Their attempts yielded no results, for they still looked as if they had gotten into a fight with the Leprechaun.
"You know, North's monthly party is in a couple of days," Jack said.
"Yep," Bunny replied.
"It would be pretty embarrassing to show up looking like this, don't you think?"
"Absolutely."
"I think I might be busy that night. Got lots to do, you know?"
"Yeah, me too."
With that they fell into a comfortable silence as they continued their futile attempts. Something was nagging at the back of Bunny's mind, and after a minute or two he voiced it.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?" His voice came out muffled as he slipped his hoodie back on over his head.
"Back there, when I pulled you out of the river… you had this look in your eyes, like you were afraid. Like, truly afraid."
Jack's expression closed off and something dark flashed in his eyes. "Did I?" he said casually.
"Yeah, mate. You did. And you had no reason to. I was right there; you knew I woulda helped you out. And that river isn't even very deep."
He shrugged. "I guess I just panicked."
"No mate. That wasn't just plain panic. You were reliving something, weren't you?"
Jack stood up very abruptly, slightly startling Bunny. "You know, I should probably get going. I told Jamie I would come see him today. He's probably expecting me."
Bunny knew that was a lie, but before he could say so Jack summoned the wind and flew off too quickly for him to follow. Bunny heaved a sigh and stood up, slowly making his way back towards his egg painting spot. He picked up the egg he had abandoned not long before, his mind still back under the tree. Jack was hiding something; that much was obvious. But Bunny didn't know if he should press the subject or just let it lie. There was a possibility that Jack would tell him on his own, but the chances were small. For the first time Bunny wondered if maybe there was a whole lot more to the winter spirit than his foolish jokes and freely given smiles let on.
Letting that sink in, Bunny dipped his brush into a jar of paint and placed the tip on the egg. After a second an idea came to him, and with deft movements not thought possible for someone with paws in place of hands, began painting. After a time he set down the egg and watched it walk off, its design of rainbow snowflakes glinting in the sunlight.
Yes, I know that the Easter Golems in the movie don't have arms. But let's just let it go, shall we?
