"A Strange Bond"
Note: What do two semi-new friends of different species do when they're curious about each other's people (and each other in general)? They grill each other for info, that's what! Tooth Fairy has a few questions for Alpha, and accidentally touches a nerve. Unknown to them, they are under surveillance!
Background music: 'Investigations' by Kevin Macleod. (Edited out a couple mistakes.)
"Chapter 3: Q & A"
January
The next day, Alpha arrived at the North Pole first and brushed some snow off the edge of the skating rink to sit down. She reached into an interior pocket of her denim jacket and pulled out a dog-eared copy of 'Watership Down'. A few of the Elves who hadn't quite gotten used to the idea of a Werewolf, however friendly, randomly showing up in their town, gave her a wide berth and many a suspicious look. She was aware of this, but she ignored the stares in favor of minding her own business. Soon enough, the nervous Elves relaxed again and ignored her in return.
"Ooh," Bernard's voice sounded at her right elbow, causing her to jump so badly that she dropped her book in the snow. "Don't let the Easter Bunny see you reading that! He already half-thinks you might try to have him for dinner, and not as a guest!"
Alpha quickly retrieved her book and brushed the snow off the laminated cover. "How did you sneak up on me so fast?"
"Did you forget I can teleport?" he laughed, dusting off a spot next to her and sitting down.
"I did forget," she admitted, rolling her eyes and putting her book away. "What can I do for ye?"
"Nothing," Bernard shrugged. "I just heard some of the Elves talking about 'the Werewolf' stopping by, and I wondered why you didn't come in to say hi. Hey, aren't you cold in that thing?"
"No, not really," she adjusted the lapels of her jacket and glanced up. Still no Roy. She half-turned to face the Head Elf. "There's no wind to speak of under the dome, and I don't feel the cold quite as much as a human would. What about you? You're not even wearing a jacket."
"I'm just used to it, I guess. So, what brings you here?"
"Actually, I'm meeting Roy here for lunch. I think I must be a bit early, though." She replied, hiding her concern. She didn't want to go into too much detail with Bernard, friend though he was. Tooth Fairy had sounded a little sad over the phone the day before, and she didn't want to throw him under the bus by telling everyone his business.
"Oh." Bernard nodded, looking back over at the Workshop. He would have to go back in soon, but he still had a few minutes. "How is he?"
"He's all right," Alpha shrugged, and changed the subject. "How are things here? Everyone's so busy."
"We're always busy. January, February, and March are our slowest months, though. The Clauses are currently on vacation, the lucky so-and-so's, but there's more planning than toy-making going on right now. Oh, and...a few of the 'Dark Elves'...that is, the ones who helped...are being given a second chance. They can't even be called 'Dark' anymore, because the tarnish is all gone now."
"Oh?" Alpha looked pleasantly surprised. She knew that several of the Dark Elves, including Joy and Sam, had left The Hollow, but they hadn't said where they were going. She'd gotten the impression that they weren't sure it was a permanent move, and had simply told them that they were always welcome to return, and left it at that. "That's good, right?"
"It's...yeah, I suppose it is. It was pretty tense there for a while." Bernard glanced up at the clock again. "Simon is still a little spitfire, but he's coming around. We tried him in Research and Development instead of toy making this time, and he seems to have found his niche. They're in training now, and doing pretty well this time. It might be time to revisit our screening procedures..."
"Well, they say life's the best teacher," she smiled. "Sounds like you all learned something, not just them."
"It wasn't easy..." Bernard mumbled, hanging his head. "Everything could have been avoided..."
"Not everything," Alpha put a hand on his shoulder. "Those two and their nine were more like 'monsters' than any of us. You saw something 'off' about them, and you couldn't let that stand. You didn't know what would come of it."
He looked over at her with a sad smile. "I guess not. Well, I better get back to work. Good seeing you again."
"You too." She watched him teleport out, then took out her book.
A few minutes later, she heard the tell-tale fluttering of wings, and she looked up to see a rather sheepish Tooth Fairy making his descent.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologized before she could greet him, pushing up his goggles and removing his cap. He had a case of hat hair, and he ran his fingers through it a few times to fluff it up a little bit. "I overslept."
"It's fine," she smiled, getting up and walking over to give him a hug. Before she could, however, she noticed something and fought back a cheeky grin. "Oh...um, Roy?"
"What?" he blinked, low-key panicking that he might have gone and done something stupid without realizing it. Was his zipper undone? He discreetly looked down, and thank the Gods, it wasn't. Then, what...
"You, uh..." Alpha pointed at her own mouth. "You got a little toothpaste..."
"Oh!" His cheeks turned a startling shade of red, and he quickly wiped his mouth. "Wow...that's embarrassing."
Alpha gave him a hug, which he automatically returned, and tried to reassure him; the poor guy wouldn't even look her in the eye now! "It's all right. Who hasn't done that?"
"Well, I usually don't..." He cleared his throat, loosening his scarf. "Anyway...same place as last time?"
"Sure," she agreed, and they headed off into the town. She hadn't meant to embarrass him, but she thought he might have been even more embarrassed if she hadn't told him and he discovered it later.
They ordered the same thing as the last time, and again he noticed that she hardly touched her food. "You okay?"
"Aye," Alpha, who was about to ask him the same thing, was caught off guard by this. "Why d'ye ask?"
"Well, you're not eating very much. Now that I think about it, you didn't last time, either. You feeling all right?" He leaned forward a little, trying to see her eyes through the shades she wore.
Alpha didn't want to lie to him, but she couldn't tell him the truth! What would he say if he knew she was severely rationing what was left of her own food, and that she felt guilty eating even that when there was a food crisis? What on Earth had made her agree to go to lunch with him, where the main idea, other than talking, was to eat?
Then he volleyed her question from yesterday back at her. "What's going on?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Or, nothing I want to get into just now. Just...things are really stressful at home, and my appetite hasn't been that great, is all."
He nodded slowly. "Mine neither. M'sorry. I won't ask again."
She could sense him pulling back, and she hadn't meant for that to happen. "No, you can ask."
"No, you have stuff you don't wanna talk about. Believe me, I get it," he took a sip of his cocoa and considered asking for a doggie bag for his sandwich and chips.
"Sooo, ask me something else," she sat back, her body language becoming more open.
He raised an eyebrow, but seemed somewhat relieved that he hadn't overstepped. Or, if he had, it must not have been by much. Now that she had opened the door on questions, he was curious! But what should he ask her? "Uh, like what?"
"Whatever you want," she smiled and amended, "within reason."
"Well..." he leaned forward again and folded his hands on the tabletop. "Okay, there's something I've been wondering about. Maybe you can clear it up for me."
"Go ahead."
"I always thought Werewolves only changed when there was a full moon, but you seem to be able to do it at will. Is that a Werewolf thing, or a 'you' thing?"
"Ah," she nodded, mirroring his posture and folding her own hands on the table. "I'm not sure. I never actually tried to switch before I ended up down there, so...it could really be either one."
"Oh," he nodded, mulling this over.
"However," she went on, "nights when there's a full moon are the only time when I have no choice in the matter. Well, except for when wolfsbane is involved."
Curiosity satisfied, he nodded again.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Shoot."
"Bang."
There was a beat of silence, then he got the joke and began to snicker. It was a ridiculous thing to laugh at, and it really shouldn't have been all that funny, but it caught him by surprise. When she joined in, her laughter was contagious and they kept setting each other off. When one began to calm down, the other would break into giggles and they would go off into gales of laughter all over again. When they finally sputtered to a stop, she waved a hand. "Okay, okay...serious, now...and if this is too personal, let me know. But before you, I'd never even seen a Fairy before. And I've never heard of any humans knowing for sure that you exist, or where you are. How do you keep yourselves...well, secret?"
"Oh, that's not personal," he scoffed. This was actually kind of fun! "We go out among humans all the time, and they never even know."
"How?"
He sat back and grinned at her. "Like this."
Tooth Fairy raised his hands up to shoulder height and snapped his fingers, and with a purple flash and a puff of sparkly gold dust his wings disappeared. He laughed silently through his nose as she jolted back and gaped.
She perched her shades on top of her head and leaned forward again. "Are they gone?"
"No, of course not," Still grinning, he turned a bit in his seat and pointed over his shoulder. "Put out a hand and see for yourself."
She began to extend a hand, then hesitated almost guiltily. "Um...Aren't your wings kind of 'off limits'?"
"Depends on what you do," he replied, "I know you won't hurt me. Go ahead, it's okay."
Alpha got up and reached out again, and the back of her hand brushed against something invisible. She couldn't bring herself to grab onto it, remembering how badly it had hurt him when the Founders tried to take it and it's counterpart by force; she wasn't sure how much pressure it would actually take to cause him injury. But she traced the pads of her fingers over it (his wings flapped once, the left one knocking against her hand as her too-light touch tickled him) and she was able to make out the general shape of it. Small as this wing was, it was strong, and it was alive. She raised her eyebrows, fascinated. "It's warm."
She seemed surprised by that.
"Well, sure. We're warm-blooded." He smiled at her curiosity; it was endearing, in a way. He snapped his fingers near his wings again, and they reappeared. He hadn't figured on startling her, though, and she slipped on a patch of ice and nearly lost her balance before he steadied her. "Ohp! Sorry, I should have warned you first. You okay?"
She nodded and sat back down, laughing merrily at her own mishap. "No worries. Your turn to ask me."
"Okay." He thought a bit before he asked his next question. "What about silver?"
This topic was a bit of a tricky one for her, and she grew a little more serious. "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't answer that one."
"You don't have to."
"No, I don't mind. Definitely weak against silver. I can't even touch it, it burns me. And Heaven help me if there's ever a silver bullet involved." This last was said in a whisper, and she flashed her eyebrows once for emphasis, sipping at her mug of hot chocolate.
Tooth Fairy wished that he hadn't asked her that question. Not that it was likely for many people to have such a thing in this day and age, but there was still the smallest chance that some occult nut would get a little bit trigger happy, and he shuddered. "For me, it's wrought iron. There. We're even."
She smirked. "Well, that doesn't count, because I didn't ask. Still my turn?"
He smirked back and motioned for her to go ahead.
"All right...what about sleep? You fly all around the world, and it's always night somewhere. When do you find the time to sleep, and still get things done?"
Ah, here was a question that had him a little stumped, and he carefully considered before trying to answer. "Not all cultures believe in the legend. And not all kids are raised with it."
"I wasn't."
"Oh, really?"
"No. You know how I lost my first tooth?" she had that mischievous glint in her eye that she sometimes got before she said something funny.
"Mm-mmm." he shook his head.
"I was running around the yard, playing some kind of chasing game with our dog. Just being a crazy six-year-old," She smiled as he leaned in, interested. "I fell down, spat out a tooth, then just got up and kept on running."
"Hah!" he leaned back, shaking his head. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. Hm. Now, what was your question again?"
"Oh, sorry, I interrupted ye, didn't I?"
"No, it's okay. I got it now." He began to warm up to his topic. "If it wasn't for Father Time, I wouldn't be able to do it. I had trouble following along when he told me about how he can alter time and space. Somehow, he...um...okay, so, every full rotation of the Earth takes twenty-four hours, right?"
"So I've heard." she shrugged. Day and night had little meaning in a place that never saw the sky! Perhaps this was why she had occasional bouts of insomnia.
"Well, he...I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm drawing a blank. Something about compressing time zones, and...I don't know. Sorry." He flushed again, though whether it was with shame or the effort he'd put into explaining something he didn't understand, it was hard to tell. "Anyway, I experience twelve hours of time passing when I'm working, then I come home, have a nap, and do the things most people do in a day. I guess I usually get about six hours of sleep, give or take."
Alpha thought she had the general gist of what he was saying, and she nodded. "No, you did fine. Maybe Father Time's the only one who can really 'get it'. I mean, it's what he does, so..."
"Uh-huh."
"All right, your turn."
He hesitated, then decided to ask something a little bit more personal. He wasn't sure if this was a sensitive subject, since she'd said at the last meeting that she didn't enjoy hunting, but that it was necessary. He highly doubted that her nocturnal habits extended to humans, but he still felt the need to get confirmation from her. "What do you eat?"
She resisted the urge to say 'food' or point at her turkey club. She tended to use humor as a defense mechanism, and this question had her a tiny bit defensive in a way that the 'silver' question had not. "You might not like the answer to this one."
"Why not?"
"Well, obviously I can eat whatever a human...or a Fairy, or an Elf, can eat. But...well, this might put you off your lunch." she rubbed the back of her neck, uncharacteristically shy.
"Just tell me." he urged before making a guess. "Is it raw meat?"
"You're in the right ballpark," she confessed. "All right...full disclosure. That first night you saw me, I was hunting."
"I guessed that." he said blandly.
"There's more. Most of us down there don't look human enough to go to the market and pick up this-or-that, and it wouldn't matter if we did. We usually don't have human money there unless someone finds something that's valuable enough to pawn, and...look, it's not as if I enjoy killing animals. I mean, I've gotten good at it, to the point where they never even know it's happened. It's not something I ever take lightly, and I wish it wasn't necessary, but it is. And...well...sometimes I'll help myself to some of what I catch before I bring it back. I'm actually kind of nervous that one night you'll spot me and be disgusted." She thoughtlessly ate a potato chip, mostly to distract herself from her discomfort.
He turned this over in his mind, and was privately surprised that he wasn't more put off by this. After all, he had known that she was, technically, a large predator for much of her time. It was hard for him to reconcile the confident creature of the night with the woman who now picked nervously at her napkin and avoided eye contact. She almost sounded like she was apologizing for what she had to do to feed her people, and she was definitely over-explaining! "It's not something I'd wanna watch, but I kind of already guessed some of that, too. Werewolves have a bit of a reputation as bloodthirsty killers, but I kinda figured the stories were exaggerated. Most legends are."
She lowered her shades again, frowning, and this caused him to frown as well.
"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.
"No..." Why should she be a little hurt by his admission? And shouldn't she be happy that he didn't push away his plate and call a hasty end to their lunch? She tried to cover it up with a glib response, but it fell flat even to her ears. "As long as you don't think I'm some kind of mindless beast, I guess not."
"What?" He realized what he had accidentally implied, and was horrified to think that he might have said something that hurt her feelings. "No, of course I don't! That's not what I meant at all."
After a moment of tense silence, she gave her head a rueful shake.
"Sorry," she smiled apologetically. "I'm not used to caring about what 'topsiders' think. Did I really just overreact over something that silly?"
He shrugged, smiling back a little in his relief. "I dunno. I don't think it's silly. I just didn't think about how it sounded before I opened my big mouth. Anyway, it's your turn. Ask away."
"Hmm..." she folded her hands and rested her chin on them in thought. "You mind if I ask you something personal?"
He shrugged, folding his arms as if to shield himself, but other than that he showed no discomfort. "Fair's fair. My last question was kinda personal, I think. I might not answer, though."
"All right," She tried to think of a way to phrase it that didn't sound too weird, then finally she just gave up and asked him outright. "So, about your wings...do they ever get in the way?"
"Uhhh...can you be more specific?" His brow furrowed, but with confusion, not displeasure.
"Well, when you sleep, can you lie on your back, or do they get in the way?"
Well...personal or not, it was a valid question! He supposed he deserved this one, and once again he found her curiosity endearing. "I can, and they do. It's not painful, but it is a little uncomfortable. That's why I'm a side-sleeper."
Or belly, she thought, but didn't say. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked you that."
He shrugged, uncrossing his arms. "You're fine. I answered it, didn't I?"
"Well, I think you get a freebie after that one. Go ahead and ask me something personal."
Hm. What could he ask her that he hadn't already covered? Then he had it, and decided to get some harmless revenge on her. "Okay. Same question back at you, but about your tail."
"Haha!" she sat back, flashing her white teeth in a laugh. "The answer's the same, too. Side-sleeper all the way."
They shared another chuckle, and he nodded to her. "Your turn."
"So, what are families usually like? I mean, are they like, 'mother, father, kids', or are there variations on that?"
"Yes, and yes," was his succinct reply before he elaborated. "It's an awful lot like human families, really. There's the 'traditional' family unit, there's adoptions. Extended family, in-laws. Pretty much anything the humans have going on, we do too."
"It's the same back home," she grinned, "We're a bit of a species melting pot, but otherwise it sounds like we're not all that different."
Tooth Fairy wasn't sure if that was true or not. As far as he knew, The Hollow only had one Werewolf, and he was sitting across the table from her. In some ways, the two of them were plenty different. And yet, here they sat, truly enjoying each other's company. Now that he thought about it, they were similar in almost as many ways as they were different, and it was a pleasant thought. This was the closest he'd felt to 'normal' in weeks.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
He realized he'd been staring again.
"Heh, I have enough coins," he joked, then grew serious. "But here's one for free; I don't think I've ever had a friend like you before."
Alpha half-smiled, unsure what she should say to that. "I'm not surprised. I haven't seen another like me in centuries."
He shook his head, sobering down again as he remembered once more how grumpy he had been when she had appeared in his living room, and during that first awkward lunch. He couldn't even begin to identify the mix of emotions that washed over him, both good and bad, so he didn't even try. "That's not what I mean. Not 'you' as in 'Werewolf'. Just you."
"Oh," She felt her face growing warm, and hoped he wouldn't notice. What he said next just about broke her heart, though.
"Alpha...you don't have to spend time with me, you know. We both know the others put you up to it. But you're here, and I don't know what I did to deserve it. I just..." he bit his lip and looked down at his plate. "I haven't been in a good place for a while now, and I just didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't even want anyone near me. I was actually pretty mad when Curtis left you there in my living room. I didn't blame you, but...I know I kinda snapped at you that day, and you were just trying to help me. That's...that's actually been eating away at me for days now, and I'm sorry."
"Hey," she leaned forward to catch his eye, and he looked up. "You were still nicer than I would've been if someone pulled that nonsense on me. I never took any of it personally. I'm here because you're my friend...because I truly like you...and because I've known loss, too. You don't have to explain anything to me. Okay? I get it."
He nodded slowly, his heart feeling about ten pounds lighter...and a lot warmer. "I think you do."
"So, what do you say we bag up our food and get out of here?" she suggested.
"Okay," he shrugged, relieved to have gotten that out finally, and to have the 'feelsy' stuff over with. "Where to?"
As if the Elf waitress had ESP, she showed up right then with containers for their leftovers.
Alpha thanked her, then responded to his question as they packed up the remains of their lunch. "I thought we might just play it by ear and see what happens."
"Sounds good to me."
As the two of them walked off to explore Elfsburg, Jack Frost, who had gone unnoticed from the back of the cafe, stroked his chin with a devious smile. "Now, this is getting interesting..."
Cupid, who had been perched unseen on an overhang, fluttered down to hover at the Sprite's shoulder. "Don't get too excited, Jack. This was nothing."
"What are you talking about?" Jack pointed after them. "They're practically holding hands!"
"But they're not."
"So, you're telling me they weren't on a date?" Jack tried to hold onto his smug attitude, but Cupid was unphased.
"Oh, it was a date, all right," Cupid shrugged. "A platonic lunch date. With some harmless clumsy flirting, mostly on his part. Friends do that kinda thing all the time."
"So, you didn't notice when he invited her to touch his wings? That's a bit suggestive, isn't it?"
Cupid landed on a chair and set his bow down on the tabletop. "Not in this context, it isn't. Wings are just limbs, like your arms or legs. For a Fairy, their life force is directly tied to those wings, but that part of their anatomy has nothing to do with risqué activity. For a Fairy to grant a non-Fairy permission to touch their wings, that's just them sayin' 'I trust you with my life'. A little weird to come out of nowhere, but it's not really coming out of nowhere, is it? They both been to Hell and back together."
"What exactly are you hoping for?" Jack demanded, annoyed that Cupid wasn't taking him seriously.
"I don't really care. If they get together, great. If they end up just as friends, fine. And if this goes to Hell in a handbasket, it's on you, not me."
Jack sipped his cocoa, smirking. "Ah, see, now that's where you're wrong. You took part in our bet, remember?"
"Did we ever shake on it? I don't recall."
"Forget it, a verbal agreement is as good as a handshake, and I'm not streaking through Elfsburg or anywhere else."
"And I'm not singin' some Cyndi Lauper song. Instead of being happy about what you just saw, maybe you should try to keep them apart for the next six months. Because, sorry to break it to ya, but I'm gonna win this thing."
Jack rolled his eyes. He didn't really care if Cupid won the bet or not. At least then, he wouldn't have to streak! Cupid might have handicapped himself by betting that they would get together in six months instead of twelve, but Jack didn't want to get between Alpha and the Tooth Fairy just to ensure that Cupid had to embarrass himself. He just knew that Alpha and the Tooth Fairy could be perfect for each other, if they could just get past what was bothering them, and who better to help each other through it than...well, each other?
Besides, there was no way on God's Green Earth that Jack Frost was about to run through Elfsburg in the buff! Nope, nada, not happening!