More like Me III-Christmas Joy
More of the babies.
"Come on Bunny!" Little Sky bounced excitedly, pulling him along by one paw. She was almost chest-height which was impressive. He doubted she'd ever be fully-grown though. She might be close, but she'd always be tiny.
"I'm comin', I'm comin'." He assured through a chuckle.
"Hurry!" She whined, he was purposely padding along behind her as slowly as he could.
"What's the rush, Sheila?" He asked.
"Come on!" She urged again.
"Alright, alright." He caved, she looked worried for some reason. The fact that it was Christmas eve and that she'd been sick, and that it was almost three AM, and that North could get back any time now couldn't have had anything to do with it… "Come here." He scooped up the little kit and hopped into a tunnel. She laughed and whooped the whole way.
"Sky!" Jack tackled her when they walked in and started a play-wrestling match. As kits tended to do, they rolled all over the place. Two little fur-balls, limbs flailing, ears poking every which way and lots of little trilling noises when they were knocked over hard enough. Jack was kicking her ass, thoroughly. He nipped her ear for what had to be the fifth time before she got serious. North walked in to her plowing into him and rolling, latching onto his ear and landing squarely on his back.
"Sky? Give 'im a break, Sheila." Bunny chuckled, scooping the much smaller girl back up.
"Why? He didn't." She argued.
"She's got a point." Tooth offered, for once not concerned about the violence. She'd accepted it as a normal part of Pooka play a while ago.
"Sky! Jack!" North greeted happily, kneeling and opening his arms in invitation.
He got the tackle he was looking for to the chorus of "North's back! North's back!" and he couldn't help the shaking laughter it always prompted. They were always his babies and they were exceptionally precious in this incarnation. It certainly didn't help that they didn't remember their previous lives, making them fluffy and cuddlier than they had been. He picked them up and made for the couch with his little furry babies cuddled up under his arms.
"Alright, let us get party started, no?" He addressed the group, finally. He had taken to talking to Sky and Jack first before anything else. They'd all gotten use to that, and if he didn't they knew there was trouble.
"Oldest first, now." Bunny offered but quickly frowned. "Wait…is Sky oldest, or…is it Sandy again?" he wondered out loud. They had gone with technical age before, but Sky herself only remembered the last…almost year, not even a full one! Did that make her and Jack the true babies or would they open hers first anyway? They all seemed caught up.
"Well…technically Sky is still the oldest…" Tooth offered skeptically. Sky and Jack sat wwatching them like a tennis match, little ears swiveling madly, trying to figure out what was being said. They understood, just not fully.
"But they're mentally, well…about five or six. That would be weird." Bunny offered.
"True. Maybe we have them open together?" North offered, getting Bunny's point. Splitting little kids up so far, Jack last and Sky first, might be a little too confusing and upsetting. "Not to mention we don't want to be explaining why, do we?" There was a collective groan and lots of heads shaking 'no'. Sandy was sitting back, making little butterflies and such to entertain the babies while sipping eggnog.
"Alright, Sandy! We start with you again!" North announced, bringing things back to focus. Sandy snapped out of the trancelike state he was in and started paying attention. "You want to help give gifts?" North enticed the two curled up beside him. They hopped up with wide eyes.
"Yeah! How?" Jack perked up.
"Yeah, where are they?" Sky asked. Both had their little ears perked up and they were bouncing all over. North had to calm his chuckling before he could speak. His bright blue eyes were sparkling with excitement and they could see how absolutely enamored he was with the kits.
"See that red bag?" He asked. They both saw it at once and nodded. "Go get it." He instructed. It took both of them to shove/pull the big bag over to him.
"Are they all in here?" Jack asked.
"'course they are, it's huge!" Sky chided. Silly Jack. They got caught up in teasing each other for a moment and North let them go.
"Sky is right, all gifts are in here. Want to know how it works?" That got their attention. He took their wide-eyed stares as a 'yes'. "Think about who's gift you need." They nodded, "then reach in and you should pull out right presents." North offered.
Sky dove straight into the now much smaller bag.
"Woah!"
"What?!" Jack jumped in after her. There was a lot of giggling and rolling around.
"What did you find, little ones?" North chuckled, hopping off the couch and kneeling to peek into the big red bag of wonders.
"Toys!" Jack giggled and gave a tiny little trill as Sky knocked him over, then was quickly distracted by a toy bird. North's grin was starting to hurt his face. He slapped his leg and shook his head, he was laughing so hard it hurt. He reached in and around them to pull out a few presents, Sandy's to be exact.
"Here you go, Sandy! This one is from Tooth, Bunny, myself…I think these are actually from Sky and Jack, too. Before all this happened." He explained as he handed Sandy the pile and settled himself down on the floor. After a moment's thought he picked the whole bag up and put it in his lap, warranting lots of little bunny giggles.
By the time they got to Jack and Sky's gifts the two were getting tired. He scooped them up out of the sack and deposited them on the couch behind him while settling in himself. He pulled out a sizeable pile of presents and presented them to the pair, half in a light blue for Sky and half in a darker blue for Jack. North had color-coded them for both cuteness' sake and to make sure he didn't have to large-label them.
Wrapping paper was everywhere.
Soon Jack and was hyped up on chocolate and Sky was curled up with her little paws around North's arm, fast asleep. Sandy was trying desperately to keep Jack in check and North was petting Sky.
"Aw, poor girl, she's probably tired. She's been so sick this week." Bunny commented as he settled down beside her. North shifted her and picked her up to hold her against his shoulder. As he did she started to purr, and it had hitches in it like she couldn't breathe right.
"Is she okay?" Tooth fretted.
"I think so, yeah. She's just gettin' over it." Bunny offered, the paw rubbing the back of his head giving away his nerves. "I've been givin' her medicine but she's still a little warm.
"Maybe she needs to stay at the pole a little bit?" Tooth asked. Bunny shrugged.
"Maybe, it might do her some good. Problem is, most baby Pookas need the warren to live. Jack doesn't seem to have that problem, but…he's different."
Sandy flashed a few images. 'They both are.'
"He has point. She was old when she changed. Stardust can do so much…" North trailed off, not liking where this thought was headed. He refused to make that leap in logic, he wouldn't.
"No, mate. She'll be okay…" Bunny, for once, didn't sound that convinced.
While they had been talking, Jack had started noticing Sky's troubles. Something inside him pushed for him to help. He didn't know how or why, and for some reason he wasn't thinking about his sister. She was never his sister, he knew that. How he knew that, he couldn't say but he knew she needed him. As they talked he climbed into North's lap and tried to reach her.
North had absently picked him up, but he squirmed against the much larger man. Realizing this North snapped out of his worry to see what he wanted.
"What is it, Jack? What's wrong?" He asked as Jack let out a soft mew.
"Sky." He offered simply.
"Sky is sick, sweetie." Tooth cooed carefully, giving Jack a little pet. He squirmed away again.
"Sky." He was determined.
"Set 'im down, North." Bunny instructed suddenly, very calm and looking a bit stunned. North did and the second he did Jack stood and, being tall enough and not impeded by North's arm, nuzzled Sky's check gently. He started to nudge her with his nose and she squirmed, waking up and seeing him.
She even looked sick now, but she immediately plopped down on North's lap where Jack immediately curled up around her. He rested his head on top of hers and she was quick to bury her face in his fur, falling asleep quickly. Jack was right behind her somehow and the sound of their unison purr was too precious. Bunny snuck a paw into the pile of fur to check Sky's temperature and found a pleasant surprise.
"She's cooled down." He practically huffed in relief, sitting back heavily. A mutual feeling through the group.
"We should keep an eye on things like that though." Tooth offered, unable to just overlook that thought.
"She'll be alright." Bunny insisted quietly, watching their babies purr happily.
After several moments of blissful silence Tooth decided she couldn't handle the cute anymore as a thought occurred.
"They remember."
"Remember what?" North asked, confused.
"They were together before and…they don't seem to act like, well, siblings. It's like they remember." She explained hesitantly, second-guessing her assumption based on how it sounded coming out of her mouth but Bunny nodded.
"I've seen it, yeah. That makes sense." He agreed.
Sandy thought his heart was going to explode from the cute, their little snuggles were too precious.
North couldn't help his smile, his babies were so full of love.
Tooth wanted to squeal, they were so eternally concerned for each other.
Bunny's chest was bursting with pride for his baby brother and little sister, they were so pure, so wonderful.
They were their babies, and nothing was going to touch them, not a hair on their heads, as long as they lived.
Sorry this is short! I know! Please don't throw things at me! I'm trying not to be half you-know-whatted so I've been going a bit slower as of late. But the fluff train is not pulling out of the station just yet! If you have suggestions inbox me, I'd be happy to talk about it and maybe get you something y'all wanna read! (With credit, of course!) 'Till next time! ^.^
