Guys, last week I posted two chapters together instead of just one. You may want to go check chapter 21!
Chapter 23
A Letter As An Out
The heavy kitchen door was flung open, revealing a large yeti with searching eyes. North peeked out from behind the toy catalogue he was looking at, and sent a wave at Gordon as he swallowed his bite of sandwich.
Gordon grumbled something in Yettish and gestured to someone just outside the doorway.
North checked that his chest pocket was buttoned shut, tossed his magazine to the side, and sighed.
"Let him in," he said with a heavy voice.
Gordon shuffled out of the room, but kept the door open long enough for the Charlie egg to enter. The metal minion watched North for just a moment with his round red eyes before waddling closer and handing him a piece of paper. North frowned as he took it, but he didn´t need to look at it to know exactly what it said.
"Still busy, is he?" he asked.
"Tik ere tokat, Tik etakate rr tokat."
North sighed.
"I do not understand your words little one, but I will take that to mean yes," he said as he ran a hand over his beard.
Charlie began examining the cast, especially the part that covered the sole of the foot, presumably for signs of abuse.
North considered the egg as his free hand tapped on the message. His eyes narrowed and his beard hand stopped when he decided to speak.
"This is second time you have delivered this message to me. Is he faking being busy and is just pouting and being mad?"
Charlie shook his head as he pinched North´s big toe and watched the nail.
"Tik ere tokat, Tik etakate rr tokat."
North raised an eyebrow.
"Would you tell me if he was lying?"
Charlie's movements slowed and his eyes blinked between off and red for a moment as they wandered to the note he had delivered. Then he turned and surveyed the two-person occupied room. Sure they were alone, his eyes turned to red again as he looked back at North.
"Ikotatouuk-ka," he said, nodding.
North´s eyebrow raised further.
"Has he forbidden you from talking to me?" he asked.
Charlie considered this, and then shook his head.
"Do you know who Primula is?"
Charlie´s eyes turned orange and dimmed until they were nearly off as he looked down, tilting his body with them. His legs bent, and his arms went slack. He emitted a low, depressed moan.
North´s blue eyes sharpened in concern, and he automatically reached out to comfort the robot with one of his large hands, patting him on the head very gently, the way he would a child.
"Shh-shh-shh. . . I am sorry little one, I did not mean to upset you, shh-shh-shh. . ." he cooed softly.
Charlie´s moans quieted a little, and he tilted his head slightly, his faded eyes blinking on and off slowly.
He stood still like that for a moment before his eyes brightened to a steady pink. He raised his own spindly hand to cover North´s large one; patting it in the same caring way, much to the man´s bewilderment.
Despite the curious reaction, the mood was still dampened as North's expression faded from concern to regret.
"Forgive me, little one. I know very little about her, but she must have been very wonderful to have such an effect on you. . . or on your master especially." He said quietly.
Charlie´s eyes flashed orange off and on a few times as he listened, but that was the only change to his comportment.
North managed to pull out a chair with his other hand and beckoned Charlie to sit in it, guiding him gently. Once Charlie was seated his mourning silenced and the lights went back to a steady, if somewhat dimmed, orange. North removed his hand, and Charlie sat still for a moment. His limbs seemed to relax as the seconds ticked by.
North watched his new little friend, deciding what to say.
"Can you tell me about her?" he asked softly.
Charlie moaned a little, and shook his body. The chair creaked as he twisted on it.
North sighed and gave a sad smile.
"I did not think so," he said. Charlie´s eyes raised to look at him again, and he ventured another question.
"Has your master always been so secretive?" he asked.
Charlie´s eyes wandered and to the side and flashed off and on as he appeared to consider this. It took him a while, as the outside of North´s milk glass began to drip condensation in the silence.
"Ikotatouuk-ka," he said, nodding.
It wasn´t a surprising answer, but a troubling one nonetheless.
"Can you tell me about him?" he asked.
Charlie began to shake his head, but couldn´t finish as his attention sprang to the doggy flap next to the heavy kitchen door being pushed open. Orange circles flashed yellow a few times before going back to the usual red.
North furrowed his brows as a single rainbow-dyed elf jingled in with a determined face.
"What is wrong? I am in private meeting, come for snack later!" ordered Santa as the rainbow elf pulled himself up onto a chair, and then onto the table.
Once he was safe on the high surface, he turned to North and shook his head, and then put his finger to his lips, shushing his boss with as much sass as a ten-inch being can possibly muster. Then he ignored North completely and walked up to Charlie who, sitting down, was about eye-level with him. He smiled and pointed to Charlie, and then to his own chest. Then he made bunny ears on his head and jumped up and down.
Charlie´s red circles lightened to a bright pink as they darted to North, and then glowed even more when they made eye-contact. Taken aback by the intensity of the robot´s gaze, North´s words of rebuke dissolved on his tongue as his belly twisted.
Charlie stared at him for a second longer before turning his attention back to Rainbowie.
He raised a spidery hand and patted the little bell-topped menace gently a few times, exactly as North had done to him mere minutes ago.
North´s belly grumbled.
"Nat iko," said Charlie to the elf, the pink becoming a little paler.
Rainbowie must have somehow understood, because he beamed an enormous smile in response, clutching his hands together and jumping up and down a few more times. His bell giggled as his emotions overcame him and he leaped at Charlie, spreading his arms across the egg´s face in what North could only assume was meant to be a hug.
Charlie pastel pink eyes brightened some more and he waited a few seconds before gently removing the elf from his face with two metal hands and settling him tenderly on the ground.
Rainbowie smiled and waved at him proudly, but then turned and pranced away with his toothpick limbs, reminding his boss of a baby horse.
A very strange baby horse.
North´s eyes were wide, but he had no explanation for what he had just seen.
Belly twisted again.
North doubted it was because of the hot-wing-macaroni and peanut butter on rye lunch plate that sat half-eaten next to his elbow.
The elf disappeared through the doggy door as Charlie turned back to look at the table again. Or, more specifically, the note he had brought, pink darkening to red.
North shook his head to himself, and then took a breath and leaned back in his chair. One of his hands was once again stroking his beard in thought as the other prodded his belly.
A nearby clock ticked for a few seconds before Charlie picked the note up and handed it to North again, looking at him expectantly.
North´s demeanor saddened, but he obliged the messenger and began reading the note.
North,
I don´t have time to visit you in person so fill this out and send it back with Charlie.
Have you done the exercises? If not, do them.
Have you experienced pains or discomforts in your leg? If so, give me details.
Have you walked on it at all? If you have, you´d better hope I don´t notice the difference next time I see you.
Any problems with the cast? If there are, give me details.
Any medicine-related problems that I ought to know? Explain.
Keep an eye out for Charlie next week as well.
-E.A.B.
It was nearly identical to the one he had received a week after the Primula incident; except for the handwriting. Bunny's penmanship was long and slim, but this contained only deliberate letters and blocky spacing; just like the note that Charlie had given him in the Warren steam-room.
The fact that Bunnymund had used a letter as an out to avoid meeting in person not once, but twice in a row in as many weeks was very disconcerting to North. He let out yet another sigh and placed the paper on the table again, pulling at his moustache in thought.
"Your master can be very big pain in the toosh sometimes," he muttered to Charlie.
He shouldn´t have been surprised when the robot nodded his body, his eyes lowering to a dim orange. The sight brought a chuckle from the large man, and he couldn´t help patting Charlie on the head again as he let the laugh seep into his bones.
"Well, you probably know this better than the rest of us, no?" he chortled.
Charlie nodded again, but stayed quiet as he watched North´s amusement with a tilted head and blinking lights. North shook in mirth before settling down and eyeing his companion conspiratorially.
"You are worried about him too, yes?" he asked quietly.
Charlie nodded, orange intensifying.
"Ikotatouuk-ka. Tik etakate, rr Tik tokat."
North raised an eyebrow, despite not understanding a single syllable.
"Does he listen to you?" he asked.
Charlie shook his head.
"Ikotatouukrer. Tikrer akuta Kartee."
North frowned.
"I want to talk to him, but he refuses to come. I do not know if he is really busy, or if he is avoiding us." He tilted his head to the side and shook it slowly.
"Or maybe he is in mourning. I do not know-how can I if he never talks to me?"
He looked to Charlie for an answer but received only an orange stare in return.
"Have you any ideas?" he asked with a tired huff.
Charlie shook his head.
North glared at the message on the table.
"Is there any way you know of for me to get him here without breaking another limb?" he asked dryly.
Charlie regarded him silently for a few seconds as his lights methodically blinked off and on before he turned to look at the same piece of paper. The orange darkened to a steady red as he reached out for it again, and held it up to North, who sighed grimly before raising a hand to take it for the third time.
But Charlie didn´t release his grip on it.
The resistance shook North out of his thoughts and he looked at Charlie with a slightly furrowed brow.
"Is something wrong, Charlie Egg?" he asked gently.
Charlie met his eyes, and then looked down to the paper they were both holding. North followed his gaze. Charlie let go of the paper a formed his strange hand into a pointing finger and moved it next to a certain sentence on the page.
North raised a brow as he re-read the words.
Realization dawned on him along with a smile.
"I see," he said slowly. "Is much better than broken bone and will still take long for him to fix. . . Do you think he will suspect?"
Charlie shook his head as his eyes brightened to a pinky-red.
North´s smile widened, and he let out another chuckle.
"You know, you are very smart for robot," he said lightly.
Charlie tilted his body but said nothing, choosing instead to watch his fellow conspirator quietly.
North began laughing smugly as he came up with a plan.
"We will have to be very careful, since we do not want real damage, no?" he said to himself. Charlie´s circles lightened into a steady pink, but he stayed quiet.
North spent another minute drumming his fingers and humming thoughtfully. When he finally made up his mind, he reached for a pen and filled out his Doctor´s note.
Charlie must have been able to read the writing, because he stood up from the chair and wiggled back and forth in anticipation. Once his host was finally finished, he rolled the note up and placed it into one of Charlie´s waiting hands with a smile.
"Here you are, my friend. By the time he reads it, it will be true," he said with a wink.
Charlie was still bouncing back and forth as he pointed at North.
"Ikotatouuk ooko auka a Tik?" he said.
"He is stubborn, but I will do my best to talk to him, yes?"
Charlie nodded and waddled away with happy pink eyes and a bounce in his step.
North watched him go with what can only be described as a knowingly sly grin.
Once Charlie was gone, his blue orbs wandered around the kitchen. It only took one gulp of milk inspiration for him to look back at where the egg had disappeared. He raised a brow, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his smile widened as he speculated to himself.
"That door is very heavy. . ."
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Guest: Hello! Your comments are so wonderful. I´m excited to see what you think about this chapter! On a different note, I´m very sorry that you´ve had to re-home your horses. Family deaths are hard enough without that added pressure, but I'm glad that you´re at peace with your decision. My experience with horses is limited, but I´ve always loved them, so I can´t imagine your choice as being easy in any way. I hope things have gotten better for you since then.
What do you think?
1. What do you think North plans to do?
2. What are your thoughts on Charlie´s behavior?
3. North clearly is determined to talk to Bunnymund. Do you think he´s right to do this even though only 2 weeks have passed since the meeting? What would you do or what advice would you give him, if any?
4. Any other thoughts or suspicions that you´d like to share?
5. Is there a certain kind of scene that you´re hoping to see in this story?
6. Lots of questions this week, sorry. Have you ever been sneaky like North is being in order to solve a problem with a friend?
Have a great week everyone!