Set before the movie.
They did not meet the way most spirits met. Most spirits felt another in the vicinity and were usually compelled to go find out who they were. Not in Jack and Tabe's case, however. No, when they met, they literally collided with each other. In midair.
Jack's first impression of the other was that he looked like a fire. His clothes were rust red with gold accents. His skin was dark, what little Jack could see of it, and his eyes were like gold had melted into them. He wore many layers, like he could not get warm. A strange hood covered most of his head, and the scarf that was attached hid his mouth.
From the way the skin crinkled around his eyes, Jack could tell he was irritated with being nearly knocked clean out of the air. For that matter, so was Jack.
He cursed Jack in some language that he vaguely recognized but could not exactly place. "Who are you?" came the sharp follow up.
"Who are you?" Jack returned, equally as irritated. He had the childish notion that he should be covering his face like the stranger to give himself a fair advantage. He felt exposed without being able to see the expression on the other's face.
"I asked you first."
"I was flying here first."
The other snorted. "You weren't watching where you were going."
"Neither were you."
The stranger scoffed. "I don't fly, I ride. I have no control over where I go."
"Yes you do." Jack saw that for the lie it was, past the surprise that this stranger was a wind rider. Not his wind, though. The other's companion was warm and dry and made Jack's nose burn.
"How would you know?" he said hotly.
"I ride too, and I have plenty of control."
"Then why didn't you get out of the way," the other flung back, making Jack feel stupid.
"You have the same amount of control, why didn't you?"
There was a half-second pause. "I have other important things to do then watch out for lowly ice sprites."
Jack felt his hackles rise at that. He gripped his staff, planning to show this stranger just what a 'lowly ice sprite' could really do. "I'll have you know that I'm a spirit. The winter spirit, to be exact." He kept his expression relatively flat, but he was sure that the other could see the anger simmering just below the surface.
The pause from the other this time was nearly a half of a minute and Jack really wished he could see his face. "You're the new winter spirit?" It was a flat question, but there was a hint of awed disbelief. "I heard you're the first elemental to be born from the Moon and not Terra."
"That's right. Now you know who I am, so who are you?"
"Oh. I'm the summer spirit. Tabe is what they call me."
"Jack."
The pause was awkward as they both grappled for something to say. "So then… I guess-" Tabe cut off with a shrug. "I guess I'll be going."
Jack nodded, thankful for the excuse to leave. This was getting really awkward really fast. "Yeah, me too. I gotta go do winter stuff."
"Yeah, me too. Except, you know, summer instead of winter, because I'm the summer spirit so it would hard to do winter stuff." He laughed nervously. "Right, watch where you're going next time."
"You too."
They flew off in their respective directions. Jack quirked the slightest of smiles, his brows furrowing. That was the strangest conversation he had had, but the promise of a next time still made him smile a little.
Afterword: For those that don't read Darkness, I will release the first chapter of DBD on the first Sunday of April. That would be the 7th. Also my birthday. I'll be nineteen…
Anyway! Thank you for everyone that responded. It gave me all kinds of warm fuzzies. I will announce where I plan to post DBD at a later date. It will likely be in a number of places, so no worries. Follow me on tumblr for updates on how that's coming along, as well as some Invisible scraps and ROTG headcanons. And probably just random shit that I find funny. There's a link in my profile, if you're interested. I've advertised before, but I thought I should do it again.
And with that I have homework to do before class starts todays, so ta my lovelies!
