I hope y'all are doing well! Onward!

Jack spent most of the night trying to devise a revenge prank on Hallow. He thought about freezing over his cauldron or potion bottles the next time he stopped by. It wouldn't work so close to this visit, though. Honestly, this had been the first visit he'd paid to Hallow in a while. This realization brought more thoughts to the front of Jack's mind. He tried to deal with them one by one as he lay in bed.

He didn't like to admit it, but Tenshi had said the same thing as Julius. Maybe it was worth reflecting on.

"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."

Before the battle against Pitch, Jack would have gagged at being lumped in with rule-keepers and protectors. He still wasn't sure if that fully described himself. But what else would you call the Guardians? Was this meeting pattern really the right thing to do? If others were all but scared of them, surely they needed to build some bridges. But they weren't doing anything bad by doing their work. It was for the safety of kids, for Pete's sake. They made sure no spirit harmed human children.

No spirit.

Jack thought about how quietly Julius walked through the workshop on his tour. How Tenshi, rude as he was, fed his guests on principle. How Hallow backed off every time he spoke like he was afraid of saying something wrong. They all had their reasons, and Jack was more familiar with some than with others, but he knew enough to realize that it wasn't all the fault of spirits. Life before now had an impact, too.

Tooth had told Jack that they all had lives before becoming Guardians. Jack knew this was true for many supernatural folk, but with his own lost memories and the spirits that always seemed so sure of themselves, he'd thought that some just...were. But his friends had been people. He'd been a person. Jack remembered what Bunny said about Clover.

"So she's a kid. Just like you, just like him."

And Jack had scoffed like it wasn't true. It was kind of right, but not really. What did it even mean? They were newer spirits, and weren't that old when they turned into such. To someone like Bunny, "kid" was probably right. But given their fights through the years, he might've just said it to be annoying. Jack wasn't a kid. He protected kids.

Jack had watched his tooth box many, many times after getting it. He drank in every detail he could find. From the tone of his mother's voice to the stitch on his sister's coat, he studied it all. He watched himself play with the village children, survey the world from high in a tree, and tend the shepherd's flock every so often. He watched himself wrap up his pant legs, wear his shoes to scraps (though he never liked them anyway,) and cheerfully ignore the other settlers his age asking why he hadn't picked a trade, why he wasn't courting anyone, why he bothered humoring the children so much.

He wasn't a kid. Not when he died. Not when he woke up. Not when he hid and cried behind the village hall, shaking, because people could walk through him. Not even when he snuck into stores and played dress-up in tailcoats, and peeked into other people's meetings, and pretended to have tea and pillow-fight with royalty. Not even when he thought about certain people and imagined a friend teasing him about a crush. Not even when he thought about pranking humans who went on secluded winter dates. He was not a kid and his friends weren't either. At least, not anymore.

Jack tossed his covers away and rolled over to try and sleep.

Tenshi dreaded going to work in the morning. He knew he should get some sleep, but the apartment was too quiet. Clover wasn't gaming or watching something or listening to music. Akuma had chatted with him when he got home, talking about how much he wanted a party night after they only drank a little bit the night before, and how he was approved for repainting the handles of his sickles. He praised Tenshi for "making up" with Jack, if only somewhat, before avoiding any other mention of him.

Now, in the dark bedroom while Tenshi contemplated turning on some music to help him sleep, his phone lit up on his nightstand. He grabbed it and saw a new message from Hallow.

Hi hey tenshi

Yeah?

Can u tell me WTF that was

I don't understand?

What was that visit today?

Tenshi sighed. A part of him figured this was coming.

Sorry it was such short notice. We visited Cupid earlier and wanted to meet you as well. I should have thought to call you.

Nevermind how he'd been preoccupied with trying not to lose his lunch on that death-trap of a sleigh. Hallow responded after a minute.

I was so fckin nervous

What did they want from me? Was that a test or something?

No, nothing like that. I think they're attempting a peace tour of sorts.

Pretty out of the blue

I'm not in trouble right?

No, it's alright. It's a slightly tone-deaf move but it was Jack's idea, as far as I know.

Well i kinda hope that doesnt happen again

Idk what would have happened if they caught me high

But idk santa looks cooler than the stories say maybe i wouldn't get in trouble?

Tenshi huffed a laugh through his nose. It was something he hadn't thought about, but he knew plenty of spirits who did arguably worse things.

I don't think they can do anything about that. Even if that habit is...well…

O dont u lecture me u lightweight!

But see, that's the reason I don't drink often.

Didnt u go out recently tho

Not for anything heavy. I'm certainly not as bad as some people I know.

Uh huh yeah sure

Goodnight, Hallow.

Lol night

Tenshi put his phone back and settled into his bed. He hoped Clover was doing alright. Tooth seemed like a very nice spirit, so he was confident that she would be welcoming and kind. Definitely much better than whatever trouble could have been brewed up with the irresponsible Jack and Julius. Even if North's workshop was huge and full of mostly-serious yetis. Tenshi turned on his side and tried harder to fall asleep.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, boys...

Also, those activities Jack did are -adapted- from the fifth Guardians of Childhood book where...apparently Jack pillow-fought with the royal family of Russia and had tea with the queen of England? And hung out with Kipling, Barrie, and Churchill? But since movie Jack is always invisible I figure he moreso pretended to do those things.

See you next week!