Whee! On to the next bit!

"So once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker, huh?" Bunny asked with a smirk towards Jack. Jack opened his mouth to snark, but Tooth spoke up before he could.

"It's sweet you stayed to clean things up," she said. Hallow looked down at the ground and gave the tiniest of smiles.

"Well, I didn't want to make too much trouble for them. Though when I think about it now, I wonder if it messed with their heads to find most of the stuff returned to normal. We did not know how to fix the TV, though, so we ended up leaving it after making sure none of the sparks caught on anything."

"Anything but Jack, you mean," Clover said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Hey, I went for atmosphere and I got it!" Jack pulled himself up to sit cross-legged on the sofa. "It didn't even hurt!"

"But you…" Hallow started. Jack glared at him with what he'd thought was a pouty face, but the taller man flinched and looked away again. "A-anyway, after that we got outside and watched the town for a bit. We talked about where we came from, what else we did for fun, things like that." he fumbled his awkward hands yet again. "And then we went our separate ways."

"Right, and I saw you around Burgess a couple times before the winter really set in," Jack said. "Not much of you after that, though…"

He looked down at his lap. There was somewhat of a reason for that, but he never brought it up. It wasn't just Hallow, after all. He didn't see anyone for about half a century, even Jay. He refused to think about it now.

"Oh, before I forget! E-excuse me," Hallow turned and started down the hall. He went into the first room.

"Is there any reason he's half a scare from keelin' over all the time?" Bunny asked the minute Hallow passed through the door.

"He's all for spooky horror thrills, but draws the line at social skills!" Jack said with a shrug and a laugh.

"Hey, don't be mean," Clover puffed out her cheeks. "He's just not good around new people. Plus we showed up really suddenly."

"He is meek, but he is kind!" North said, giving a nod of approval. "Obviously a good friend, too."

"He's being as gracious as he can," Tenshi added. "Especially when high profile spirits came right to his door."

"High profile?" Jack raised an eyebrow. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with Julius.

"Well, it's just…" Tenshi sighed. "You all keep your distance from most other spirits. That's not a bad thing in itself, since lots of spirits do that. But you also have a role that puts you in a position of power over other spirits. Some of them are bound to get jumpy if they suddenly get visited by rule-keepers. Reapers aren't that different- at least, Spirit Reapers, I suppose."

"What are Spirit-"

"I'm sorry for the wait!" Hallow returned to the room before Tooth could finish her question. He crossed the room and stopped in front of Jack. He held out a small plastic pouch.

"What's this?" Jack asked, taking it from him. There were a bunch of little bits inside, all in the vague shape of pumpkins.

"You might not remember, but…" there he went AGAIN with the hands, it was so darn distracting- "You said the next time I made new sweets, to let you know. S-sorry I couldn't get it to you sooner."

"Wow, that's….that's crazy you remembered!" Jack said. Hallow gave him what seemed to be a truly happy smile.

Oscuro mewled and hopped out of Clover's lap. She trotted into the hall. Hallow followed her with his gaze.

"Ah...um, everyone, I am so very sorry about this, but I need to attend to the work I was doing," Hallow shrank away to the entrance of the room. "It was very nice to meet you all, though!"

A distant meow came from somewhere...beneath the house? Hallow sighed and apologized again. It was Oscuro's dinner time as well, it seemed.

"It is getting pretty late, we should probably check on Jay and Sandy too," Clover said. Hallow perked up.

"Jay is here, too? Oh, a shame he didn't come in. Here," he fumbled around the room for a moment and found a plastic bag on one of his shelves. He poured about half the contents of his candy bowl centerpiece into it and handed it to Clover. "Please take this to them. Maybe another time we can talk."

"Sure thing!"

The group found themselves leaving the front porch with no light but the lanterns of the path. The forest was dark but not very silent; crickets chirped to the bubble of the stream, while owls called to each other from above. Naturally there was a problem here; where the path ended so did the light, and beyond that the forest separated them and the clearing. Tenshi was ready to slice open a portal, but before he could, the tinkling of a bell came from his feet.

Oscuro walked past them, presumably sated by her dinner, big eyes glowing even as she left the pool of lantern light. She flicked her tail, and the bell chimed again. This time, a ball of light jumped from the bell and into the trees. It bounced from limb to limb, illuminating a string of lights.

"That wasn't there before, was it?" Jack asked. No-one had an answer, so they decided to simply follow it.

The trees parted for the clearing within just a few minutes. The Moon smiled down like he always did, blissfully silent. Dream sand floated out from the sleigh, though Sandy himself was dozing next to Julius. Jack peered at the golden waves and surfing turtle that danced around his head. He stifled a laugh and reached for the camera that lay next to his hand.

"Thank you for the ride, but I think I'll head home myself," Tenshi said. Clover looked between him and the sleigh, but eventually agreed.

"I'll keep up with you THIS time." she turned to the Guardians as they tried to quietly enter the sleigh. "Where are you guys going next?"

"Probably to see Tates," Jack whispered, readying the camera position. "Then it'll be every Season down."

"Aww! I wanna go too!"

"WHUH-" Julius gasped awake as the shutter and flash went off on his camera. Sandy barely moved, but blinked his eyes open after a second. Jack cackled and held the camera out of reach. "You doofus, give it back!"

"I don't have time to run you everywhere, Clover…" Tenshi pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll be making up paperwork already for taking today off like this."

"Well, can I stay over with someone instead?" She turned to look at the Guardians. Tenshi's frown deepened.

"Don't invite yourself like that-"

"Ah, the more the merrier!" North cheered. "Plenty of rooms at the workshop!" he turned to the pair now roughhousing in the back of the sleigh. "Julius, do you plan to stay as well?"

"Oh, Clover could stay with me," Tooth said. "I have some spare rooms!"

"Shoot, might as well," Jack said, straining to keep hold of the camera while Julius tried to pry his fingers off of it. "Hey, but if you stay at the Pole then we can-"

"Why don't you stay at The Tooth Fairy's home, Clover?" Tenshi said, his voice clipped and his body stiff. Jack paused, letting Julius slip away with the camera while he glared at Tenshi.

"What? I was just gonna say we can watch a movie in the great room."

"...uh," Clover grimaced at the daggers being shot from each spirit's eyes. "Maybe I'll just camp out in the Warren, if it's okay with Bunny?"

"What?" Bunny shook his head. "Don't go draggin' me into this!"

Sandy shared a look among North, Tooth, and Julius. No-one needed a translation.

Yikes, they just can't stop, huh? :\

Thanks for reading!