A/N: Completely new chapter here.
May 25th
Patient
"Jack. . . Jack. . . Jack, c'mon, talk ta' me."
"No."
"Frostbite . . . C'mon - "
"I said NO!"
The blue clad boy turned further away from the older Guardian, tightening the strings on his hoodie, issuing a muttered, "Go away".
Bunny frowned, ignoring instinct that told him to push further. Experience dictated that it wouldn't do any good with Jack. Instead, he kicked at the snow underneath the tree the boy was sitting in, before sitting down and trying to shake off the cold.
He could feel Jack's gaze on him, but didn't turn around or look up. He reached into a pouch on his bandoleer, pulling out an egg and paintbrush.
"Look, Frosty, I don't know why ya' did what ya' did, but I'm patient, so I'll wait until ya' explain it."
His sensitive ears heard a slight sniff above him, as if Jack didn't agree with that statement.
"Hey. Whatever happened, it couldn't be worse than that time ya' got kidnapped by tha' summer spirit."
Jack snorted, rolling his eyes and relaxing slightly when he realized that Bunny was not going to yell at him.
They sat in silence for a while, Aster simply painting his egg and Jack trying to work up the nerve to start the conversation that would probably lead to disappointment from his older brother figure.
" . . . I didn't mean to. I really didn't."
Bunny didn't respond, other than to tilt his ears slightly up to indicate that he was listening.
The winter spirit bit his lip, one hand gripping tightly to his staff and the other to his hood. "I just . . . things got out of control. I-I never meant to freeze the workshop. I just got excited and my powers . . ." He sighed, banging his head against the tree. This wasn't where he meant for the conversation to go. "Tooth's been trying to help me, but I'm gaining believers too fast and it's just building up too quickly . . . "
"Your magic?" Bunny suddenly understood, eyes widening slightly.
"Yeah."
Aster let out a breath, pushing himself off of the ground. He was surprised that Jack had opened up this much to him. Manny knew that the two of them hadn't had the best relationship. He put a paw on the trunk of the tree the teen was sitting in, reaching the other one up toward Jack.
"C'mon then. We need to get ya' to Antarctica. Let ya' blow off some steam. Run out the power. Then I can start helping ya'"
Jack let the edge of the hoodie slip out of his fingers as he glanced down at the Pooka. "What do you mean?"
"There's more than one one to deal with power overload Frosty. Ya' just gotta find out what works for ya'. I gotta lot of ways. But ya' gotta get rid of the excess firs' so that we can start from the bottom up."
The immortal was silent for a moment before he rolled out of the tree.
"Let's go."
Bunny grinned. Tapping his foot, he realized just how easy it had been to talk to Jack this time. He'd have to try it again.
"Ta'. Let's go."