Chapter 10
Your Current Priority
"We decide two or three hours every other Thursday, so we don´t drift apart like before!" burst North.
Bunnymund (and everyone else) froze.
Well, except for the green egg named Charlie.
If Sandy had been paying attention, he would have seen Charlie´s eyes change to a rosy pink color and brighten as they grazed back and forth between the guardians. But, even the observant Sandman was too busy balancing on the edge of his seat and staring at the Guardian of Hope to notice. The silence only lasted a few seconds before the pooka broke it.
"Heh-heh-heh, very funny North."
The doctor turned to look at them with a smirk on his face. It disappeared as he saw the 'we're dead' looks on their faces.
His eyes swung to each of them, blinking twice.
"What, you´re serious?" he asked.
Their expressions didn´t change.
Green orbs became cold as he analyzed them.
"'Drift apart?' You can't drif-are you serious?! North, there´s no way I´m going to be able to come every fourteen days to meet with all of you! I don´t have time for that, especially now!"
Bunny's nose and ears were taking turns twitching, but mostly his ears, and his voice had raised in volume. His eyes darted back and forth, not really looking at anything for an awkward few seconds before he continued.
"That´s-it's . . . it's 52 to 78 hours per year! Impossible. . . Unreasonable! A minimum 2,600% increase in meeting times alone!" he shook his head and pointed a hand at them as North recovered his composure.
"Absolutely unreasonable! I made my terms quite clear, North. I won´t do it."
The rabbit turned his back to them, raising a dismissing hand before re-folding the same bandage as before.
Jack shrunk back a little, watching the others with a wide expression.
Sandy looked troubled, but said nothing, deciding to pat Jack on the shoulder instead.
North´s eyes closed slightly and he let out a deep huff through his nose.
"We agreed to those terms half millennia ago. Things are very different now! Look, -" he lifted his shirt to show the right side of his belly "—scars are all gone! Time has passed! Let us make change, no?"
Bunny´s ear twitched and he swiveled around with narrowed eyes.
"Having Jack as a guardian changes nothing. And yes, time has passed. Regardless, I told you I would protect the children and do what I could if anyone of you got injured. I will come if there is an emergency, but 52 to 78 extra hours per year is too much—I don´t care how many of your scars have faded!"
"You used to say that being Guardian was too much, but you make exceptions to your rule all of time! What will it take for you to reconsider in less than one century hm? Another accident with your experiments?" shot North, pointing a finger at the doctor.
Bunny rolled his eyes and folded his arms.
North got a stubborn twinkle in his eye as a defiant smile crept up from under his moustache.
"Or perhaps another duel?" he said, raising an eyebrow.
Jack´s confusion skyrocketed, and Sandy looked a little uneasy, and a few symbols flashed above him; mostly a candy cane, an egg, a G, a spinning clock, a crescent moon and a series of x's and exclamation points.
Once again, Charlie´s eyes changed color, but this time to a blaring yellow as he watched. Jack was the only one to see it, but the young man thought nothing of it.
Bunnymund scoffed and motioned to North´s leg.
"That didn´t end well for you last time, and you had all of your limbs then. Don´t insult me with such a demeaning challenge, Nickolas. I thought we were past that," he said carelessly.
The exclamation point above Sandy´s head evaporated.
Charlie´s eyes turned red again, and his posture seemed to relax.
"You cannot tell me that you expected things to always stay the same! Manny called Tooth after you met us, and you did not have problem with her, or helping her."
The doctor glanced at the young man before shaking his head a little.
"I have no problem with helping Jack. What I do have a problem with, is meeting an absurd 2,600 times more often than is necessary. It is outright foolishness, especially coming from you two," he said, indicating to North and Sandy. "You know it´s not needed, so don´t try to convince me that it is."
Sandy frowned, but did nothing else.
North took a deep breath and pursed his lips as he rubbed his forehead.
Bunny was a train going downhill with plenty of steam.
"Aside from that, I am still committed to doing everything I can to fulfill my oath. 52 extra hours in meetings are no part of that, so I will not waste my time by going to them. End of discussion," he said with another wave as he turned away.
North drove his chair a little closer to his comrade.
"Is not absurd to become better friends!" he urged, extending a hand but unable to reach the rabbit with it. "Manny called Jack, and now we need to learn how to be a team with him! Extra meetings will not hurt you, so do not be so nervous!"
Jack´s eyes darted from person to person, but he maintained his peace.
Bunny kept his front away from them all with a still posture, his hands clasped behind his back, presumably staring at either the wall or the table. Suddenly, one of his ears twitched toward the door, pulling his eyes with it.
The others followed his gaze.
Just outside the door, there were a handful of minion eggs huddled together in the hall. Their blinking red eyes peeked through the doorway, past Charlie and Edgar as they watched their master´s interaction silently.
Bunnymund shook his head at them, and they all seemed to deflate slightly as their red lights steadied.
"You´ve all got jobs to do; go do them," he ordered just as a stern parent would, raising an eyebrow and motioning for them to leave for emphasis. Most of them complied with a group "Tika!" before scampering metallically away.
Those who remained blinked at him and wiggled their hips.
Their boss folded his arms.
"I know that not all of the tunnels have been cleaned out. Get to work in them, or go help the supervisors; there´s no reason for you all to be here, so move along."
These ones blinked a little more before answering with their own "Tika," but the sounds weren´t as enunciated, and the volume was much softer. It took only four seconds for the hallway to be clear again, leaving only the two egg sentries at their posts.
North let out a soft sigh, drawing the attention of his friend. The large man smiled gently and began speaking with a lighter tone.
"Bunny. . . I am sorry for surprise you like this, but we do mean well. Fight with Pitch is over, so do not make excuses to push us away. You are guardian. You made oath. Your current priority should be getting close with us as team, not locking yourself alone down here as always and pretending to be busy."
There was a hiss as Bunnymund took a sharp intake of air, whipped around and balled his fists. North could see one of his green eyes tick as they glared into his blue ones.
Neither said anything for a few seconds, but Sandy had raised himself slightly from the bench, his eyes ricocheting between the two of them with a question mark and an x flicking above his head.
Jack decided it was time for him to put in his two cents, despite the weak feeling he had in his hands.
"Hey Bunny, before you burst your enormous ears off, just know that we´re wanting to meet more often so that we can make Team Guardians as hardcore as possible, and we can´t do it without you. If we could, then we wouldn´t be here bothering you like this."
Bunny´s green bullets shot to Jack, who looked back openly. After an analyzing moment, his eyes relaxed in the smallest degree, but he still said nothing.
"Tik Tik ooko kikeki rr Tik Tooka keeka rr aketea ki ek," added Charlie from his quiet station by the door, his eyes flickering from red to pink a few times.
Bunnymund gritted his teeth and turned to face his minion. Jack and North were astonished when the guardian answered Charlie using the same vowely ticking noises, but coming from him, the language sounded much more intelligent and fluid than it did when his robots used it. It also seemed sharp and precise as he snarled at his worker.
Sandy was the only one who didn´t seem completely taken aback.
Once Bunny finished his foreign lecture, Charlie retreated a step and quieted down. The light in his circles returned to red and dimmed slightly.
Bunny's green orbs stared into the wall as he took a few slow breaths. The fur on the back of his neck flattened itself gradually until he was finally ready to speak.
The others observed quietly as the seconds ticked on.
"That´s. . . that's considerate of you, Jack. But. . . I can´t commit to so much time." he answered as he shook his head slowly and twisted the buttons on his vest with one hand.
Sandy waved to them, indicating he wanted to speak.
"Guardians together, Bunny, clock, wave."
North´s eyes lit up, "Yes! If you are so upset, just come to as much as possible each meeting! Is no problem!"
Bunny´s eyes roved over theirs for a while before he looked away and sighed, rubbing his nose bridge. "This is not the time. . ."
He looked back at all of them, slowly making eye contact with each one, including and lingering on Charlie before shaking his head and finally speaking.
"I know I´ll regret this. . . I won´t promise that I´ll be to every meeting, but, I´ll come to. . .—" his eyes shot to Jack and seemed to narrow a bit "- . . . I´ll come to 25% of them. Fair?"
Sandy nodded at him with a wide smile and two thumbs up. There was a smiley face forming itself above his head as he did so. The other two guardians exchanged a wink and a tight smile before the tension dissolved completely.
"Thanks Cottontail," said Jack with a smile.
Bunny leaned against the table, next to his med case, and fingered the shiny silver buttons of his vest again.
"We´ll see how it goes," he frowned, staring out of the window in thought.
North looked at Sandy, who made a nod in the direction of the door with his head.
The Russian rolled his eyes slightly and sighed.
"Fine. We will see you in eight days. I assume you want to meet with both Jack and myself, yes?"
Bunny nodded, pulling his gaze away from the window and out of his thoughts.
"Yes. I´ll need about a quarter hour with you and at least an hour with Jack. What time is the meeting?"
Sandy signed "3:00 PM."
Bunnymund sighed and twitched his nose, then nodded again as he leaned further against the table.
"Fine. I´ll meet you, North, at 1:30. Jack, 1:45 just so I don´t have to rush through anything. Alright?"
The others nodded and made ready to leave.
Sandy and Jack stood up and brushed the crumbs off of their chests as North fished around in a pocket for something.
Bunnymund watched them, his fingers tapping against his arm and his frown deepening. After a moment he spoke.
"One more thing North," he said. He made eye-contact with the Russian, who now had a snow globe in hand.
The few sounds stilled as the others waited for the doctor to speak.
The whiskered guardian blinked slowly before doing so.
"When I asked for help with Easter, I didn't mean it as an open invitation to come here whenever it strikes your fancy. Don´t let it happen again."
North raised his eyebrows and was about to reply when an egg with a blue body and flashing yellow and orange eyes came rushing in, ticking frantically at Bunnymund. The doctor turned all of his attention to his minion, leaving North to simply narrow his eyes, purse his lips, and hurl the snow globe against the wall.
The last thing Sandy heard from the warren as he walked through the portal was Bunnymund´s voice.
"How did that happen? Run and tell Agatha I´ll be there again as soon as . . ."
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Leave a review if you enjoyed reading this chapter! I would love to hear your thoughts and inferences, even if you prefer not to answer the questions.
Guest: Thank you for your replies! About the cows. . . In this story, Bunnymund has his own milk cows to make the chocolates (as you guessed). Well done! Also, I think that Bunnymund would´ve responded better if North had confessed the way you suggested. . . Who knows? Maybe he´ll learn. . . I couldn´t help laughing at your "wait for my impending doomed lecture, while thinking 'here it comes' while mentally rolling my eyes." Ain´t that the truth! I´m glad I´m not the only one with a sassy voice in my head. I can´t wait to hear what you think about this chapter!
Selkiesong22: Hey! Thanks so much for leaving a review, and for the high praise; it made me smile like an idiot for an hour. I´m so glad that you are enjoying the story so far. With regards to Jack. . . He didn´t strike me as being starved or bullied based on his reactions in the movie. I too love a good injured character story (as you will soon see; this is a Doctor story after all), but I don´t have anything big planned for Jack as of yet, seeing as this is Bunnymund´s story. However, I have been toying with the idea of a scene with a sick Jack. . . hm. . . I´m going to give it more consideration (because you brightly suggested it, which is wonderful!), but I make no promises; I´ll have to see if it fits and moves the plot along before I commit.
Witchypoo Jules: That is an adorable name. Thank you for your review, I am so pleased that you are enjoying the story so far! As I´ve mentioned before, the first chapters were the slowest, but things are on the downhill now, though not as fast as they will be. I promise, you will find out what is going on with Bunbun. . . perhaps even sooner than you think.
Go Outside: I know you didn´t leave a review, but you mentioned in your last one that there has been civil unrest where you live. I hope you are being careful!
Thank you so much to all of you. I hope to hear from you again next week!
What do you think?
Jack, Sandy, North and Tooth all agreed to meet together to build trust and teamwork. Do you think that Bunnymund is right to be annoyed? How would you feel if you were them? And if you were him?
What do you think North was referring to when he mentioned: the scar on the right side of his belly, a duel, and an accident with an experiment? (There´s no right or cannon answer, I would just like to hear your own creative ideas).
What are your thoughts about North´s comment: "Stop hiding alone down here and pretending to be busy?"
When was the last time that someone intentionally pushed you away, like Bunny did to North with his last comment?