Now I can post this!

Jackie was early for the meeting again, and had her nose buried in a book as Tooth flew in.

Tooth smiled at the Descendant, but decided not to disturb her, nor the quiet of the meeting room. For once the two of them were ridiculously early, with North still in his office. However, it wasn't necessarily the best pair to put together.

Tooth could tell the Jackie didn't like her. Actually, that probably wasn't all that accurate, Tooth had not introduced herself to Jackie in the best way when they first met. The latter had been stressed, tired and in pain, and Tooth had flown in and nearly burnt her mouth. It wouldn't surprise Tooth if Jackie had forgiven her for that, but Jackie could never seem to relax around Tooth after that.

Taboo looked up as Tooth flew in and settled down in her chair near the fire. The tiger nodded to the Tooth Fairy and lay her head back down on her paws, lying in front of the sofa Jackie was sitting on.

Tooth did want to talk to Jackie, as the only other girl in the meeting, Tooth felt that there was a lot to talk about, and that she should at least try to find some common ground with the Descendant.

The problem was of course, was that Tooth didn't really know how Jackie saw her now. Like she said, Jackie never seemed to be able to relax around Tooth, and Tooth really wanted to know what the issue was.

It didn't help that Jackie was like Jack in so many ways, and Tooth and Jack got on really well, so she wanted to get on with Jackie.

Before anything could be said Jack came bounding in, quickly and easily starting up a conversation with Jackie. She even put her book down and was smiling as she talked with Jack, the pair very animated with their conversation.

The others quickly arrived and the meeting got underway and Tooth missed her chance to grab Jackie. Maybe she'd have a chance later, she didn't have to disappear straight away, and she hoped that Jackie didn't have to either.

Once the meeting had come into an end Tooth looked over at Jackie, who was looking at her watch. She seemed to decide that she had time, so went back to her book. Now was Tooth's chance.

She flew over to the woman and Jackie looked up from her book, having heard her.

"Hey Toothiana."

"Hey Jackie." Tooth was smiling broadly, but tried not to sound too enthusiastic, so not to scare Jackie off. "I was wondering something."

"Yeah?"

"I know you never got to see Punjam Hy Loo in its prime last time you were there. I thought you'd might like to see it."

Jackie's face remained neutral as she considered this offer. "It's a generous offer Toothiana, but I'd hate to bother you while you work."

"It's no bother!" Insisted Tooth, heart sinking as Jackie still insisted on called her by her full name. "I'd thought, we'd might get to know each other outside of these meetings."

Jackie tilted her head to the side, thinking and Tooth struggled not to celebrate, Jackie was actually considering it. There was progress with the unsociable Descendant!

"Sounds good to me." Said Taboo, adding her opinion. The tiger then looked up at Jackie. "Oh, don't be like that! Work can wait!"

Tooth didn't miss but decided to over look Jackie's wary look as the Descendant remained silent. What on earth would make Jackie wary of Tooth? She had learnt that Jackie couldn't handle her body temperature and had made sure to not initiate unexpected body contact, so what was the issue?

"Yeah, okay." Said Jackie and Tooth beamed.

"Great! When are you free?"

"Erm, I have some free days between Christmas and New Year. Some Head stuff might pop up, but sometime during those few days."

"That's fine. See you then."

Jackie nodded, and again Tooth chose to ignore the fact that Jackie looked like she might be regretting this.

I was not looking forward to this.

I stood in front of the Burgess Branch Tunnel entrance, trying to get myself to stomp my foot to go down it.

I had nothing against Toothiana, far from it. I admired her work, but I guess I was just nervous around her, she was just so, energetic and could be extremely enthusiastic. These weren't bad qualities, they just made me uneasy.

"Oh, just get on with it!" Growled Taboo, who was in her usual position in my hood. "The longer you put it off, the worse it will be."

I nodded, took a deep breath and thumped my foot twice on the ground by the purple flower. The ground opened up and I jumped down it, landing on the ground as ice formed and I skated down it.

Taboo leapt out of my hood and ran alongside me, easily keeping up with me on the ice. We exited to the Departure Cavern and I went straight up on a column of ice, heading straight for the top.

I found the Tunnel to the Tooth Palace and didn't dare stop moving, just in case I changed my mind. I'd been doing that since Christmas, and it was now the day before New Years Eve, Taboo wasn't going to let me stop now.

We popped out of the Tunnel and I quickly came across two problems. One, we were outside the Palace, with no clear way in. Two, we were in a rainforest, and it was BOILING!

"TOOTHIANA!" I yelled as I pulled off my hoodie, already forming a layer of frost on my body, which helped a bit. "I'M OUTSIDE! CAN YOU OPEN THE DOOR OR SOMETHING?! PLEASE!"

Within a few seconds a cloud of Mini Fairies appeared from the mountain and I could tell what was going to happen. They were going to try and carry us in.

"I'll follow you guys." I said quickly, before any of them could grab me with their burning fingers. Okay, that wasn't fair to them, but there was only so much I could take.

The Mini Fairy leader, Baby Tooth I think, shrugged and turned around, waving at me to follow her with a few squeaks. I went up on an ice bridge and followed the cloud up the mountain toward one of the entrances. Taboo and I went through it, and I finally got a good look at Punjam Hy Loo.

It was the same structurally as the last time I was here, but it was in much better shape. The paint glowed with colour, the gold gleamed and it was busy.

Mini Fairies were darting around all over the place, either returning with a tooth or leaving with a coin. I looked up at the seven main pillars and at the various platforms and columns, seeing it almost completely filled with Mini Fairies.

Instead of being unbearably noisy and busy as I expected, the activity seemed right and comforting. Very different to the unnerving quiet that had been present in my last visit.

There were so many places to explore, but I decided that it was best to at least let Toothiana know that I was here. I used an ice bridge to get up to a platform, then walked and jumped around the palace, trying to find the Queen of the Tooth Fairies.

Taboo and I found her eventually, in the centre of the seven enormous pillars. She was fluttering around, giving rapid fire orders to the Mini Fairies, and I was reminded of why I had been worried. She was clearly busy and being extremely fast, I was almost afraid to interrupt.

Taboo on the other hand, had no such issues.

"Hey Tooth!" She called and I winced at the shortening of Toothiana's name. We'd only met her a few times, I still wasn't comfortable calling her by her nickname. Not to mention HOG had drilled respect for immortals into me, so it felt even more wrong calling her by her nickname.

Tooth looked up and smiled when she saw us. She put a nearby Mini Fairy in charge and flew out to greet us.

"Hey you two! I'm glad you got in alright."

"Well, we got spat out outside, so we got a little confused." I admitted.

"I heard you anyway. So, do you want a tour, or just to talk?"

"Just talk, please." Taboo tried to say without whimpering, and I held back a laugh. Taboo's fear of heights was out in full force.

"Jackie, what do you say?"

"Let's just talk, just so we don't antagonise Taboo." I put on a stage whisper. "She's afraid of heights."

"HEY!" Cried Taboo as Toothiana and I tried to stifle our giggling.

"Okay." Said Toothiana, calming down. "Let's go over there to talk." She pointed to a nearby large platform which was easy for us to get to.

"What about?" I asked as we started walking.

Toothiana stopped in her tracks. "...I hadn't actually thought of that..."

I shook my head and kept walking, relaxed now that Toothiana wasn't moving around quite so much. I wasn't sure there was much to talk about. I knew Toothiana's past from the files, and she knew a large chunk of mine. What else was there to say?

"Well, I don't know if we have the same interests." I said, sitting down on the platform and Taboo curled up beside me, keeping as far from the edge as possible.

Toothiana quickly joined me, sitting down on the platform while stilling her wings. "Well, what do you do when not with HOG?"

"I er, I train, work in a bookshop..." I trailed off, other than drawing, I didn't do anything else.

"So, not much of a social life?"

"Er, no."

"Why not? I thought a lot of people went out these days."

"They do, I just, don't."

"Is there a reason?"

I shrugged. "I just don't like it."

Toothiana had a sympathetic expression, radically difficult from Tina's expression on this, which was usually exasperation.

I coughed in embarrassment and tried to change the subject. "So, what about you? Do you get up to anything outside of work?"

Toothiana blushed slightly. "No. Other than the Guardian meetings, I don't really leave the palace."

Wow, she had a worse social life than me.

"Doesn't it get boring?"

"Not at all!" Cried Toothiana. "There's always a new tooth and a new memory to log. It never ends!"

She looked extremely enthusiastic over teeth, good that she was happy with her job though.

"Do you sleep?"

"I nap."

"That doesn't sound healthy." I commented.

"Says you, miss 'nightmares most nights'." Snorted Taboo.

I let out an irritated noise from the back of my throat. Toothiana hadn't been there when Sandman and Jack confronted me about it, so she didn't need to know.

"I'd say I was fine." Said Toothiana, but her face grew serious. "But, nightmares?"

I sighed and glared at Taboo. "...I've had nightmares on and off for a few years. They fizzled out a few years after the Lupine episode, but they came back when Alexander and I came to the Pole."

I wanted to stop there, but Taboo let out a growl. "...And I still get them most nights. It's not Pitch." I jumped in as Toothiana opened her mouth. "It's just my imagination going nuts."

"But still, that's horrible!"

"I've gotten used to it." I said with a shrug. "And I've a system for it." Seeing Toothiana's curious face I elaborated.

"I wake up, then go out for a run, either through Burgess or do some rooftop running in the nearby town. Really clears the cobwebs."

"That's still not good though. You should get counselling for that."

I snorted. "I had enough therapy when I first joined HOG, and I can't afford it on my salary."

"You don't get paid being a Head?"

"No. Who would pay us?" I asked. "Officially, we don't exist!"

"I thought you Descendants had a whole underground system worked out."

I shrugged. "We don't want to involve money unless it involves getting raw materials from outside sources. When it comes to other Descendants we usually trade."

Toothiana nodded. "Okay, but you should see someone about those nightmares."

"It's fine. They'll fade eventually."

"And what if they don't?"

"Then they don't. And that's fine."

Toothiana shook her head. "I had no idea you could be so stubborn."

"Wonder where I get that from?" I asked, and Toothiana let out an unladylike snort.

"Yeah, I wonder."

We shared a laugh before falling into silence.

"...It's nice to see you relax."

"Huh?" I asked intelligently.

Toothiana shifted her position slightly. "Well, I guess I've never seen you relax around me."

I looked over in surprise, then down at my feet. I hadn't realised that she'd noticed. She was more observant than I thought.

"Jackie?"

"Huh? Oh." I coughed again nervously. "I didn't think you'd noticed."

Yeah, great thing to say there Jackie.

"I'm not blind."

"I know, I know." I said, not sure what to say.

"...I guess you want to know why?" I asked. "Is that actually why you invited me here? I had no idea you were such a mastermind."

"Yes and no." Admitted Toothiana. "I did want you to see the palace how it should be, but I was curious."

I let out a long breath through my nose and tapped the platform beneath me repeatedly, frost forming in small curls.

"I don't really know." I admitted. "I guess, well, we didn't exactly start off well."

"You got off worse with Bunny." Toothiana pointed out.

"I suppose. I just guess I never got on with my own gender." Wow, that was great thing to admit. "Most girls my age were idiots, and in some cases just cruel."

"There must have been some nice girls."

"Maybe, but I guess we never came across each other." I shook my head. "Really, I'm not sure."

I looked back up at Toothiana. "But, I think I'm getting over it."

"Good." A thought seemed to occur to Toothiana. "You don't have to call me by my full name either you know."

"Sorry, the idea got drilled into me."

Toothiana shook her head. "Seriously, just call me Tooth."

"Okay, Tooth."

Tooth's face split into a smile. "Okay, enough serious talk. Surely you do more than just work and train."

"Well, I like to read... and draw."

"Drawing? Can I see?"

I felt my face go red as I fished into my hoodie pocket and pulled out my sketchpad. "They're just sketches." I said as I handed it to Tooth.

Tooth cracked it open and had a look through. "They're good, no, they're great! You could become a professional artist!"

I shrugged, feeling my face burn even redder. "Well, I don't know about that."

"At least try. You never know." She said, handing the sketchpad back to me. "Do you want to try sketching the palace?"

"You don't mind?"

"Course not! I have to get back to work, but you can stay as long as you want to."

I went into a cross legged position, with my sketchpad on my knees. "Thanks."

Tooth smiled and flew back to work as I scanned the area, looking for something to sketch. I stood up and backed up slowly, my eyes in artist mode as I looked for something good to draw.

I used ice to get down to a lower level, and had a look around. I could see the area where, nearly a decade ago, the Guardians and the Heads had been held hostage. I decided to avoid that area though, but it wasn't the only area with a pool of water.

I found a new area, a pool of water in the mountain rock framed by pink blossomed trees. It was almost aching beautiful, so I knew I had to draw it.

I settled down on the rock, set my phone to shuffle for music, and began sketching. Taboo went off to explore the lower parts of the palace, but I paid her no heed as the soft scratching of graphite and soft music filled my ears.

Tooth stopped in her work as soft music reached her ears. Frowning on confusion she paused and looked around, trying to find the source. She placed a Mini Fairy in command as she left the main hub of her work and flew around the palace, searching for the location of the music.

The song changed midway through the search, to a song Tooth had never heard before.

She finally found out where it was coming from. Jackie was sitting cross legged in front of one of the many pools in the palace, quietly sketching as music played from her phone.

She looked, relaxed, and happy. Like Jack, Jackie seemed to an independent, and almost lonely soul, and Tooth couldn't ask her to change, again like Jack she was too set in her ways. However, Tooth was glad that Jackie had opened up to her a bit.

Calling each other friends might still be a stretch, it was a step in the right direction. She wanted to know the girl who had given Jack companionship when he needed it, and vice versa.

Tooth smiled to herself, and decided to give Jackie some space to her work.

Okay, some stuff to say about this one. One, this takes place in the original HOG universe, just like all the other one shots unless otherwise stated. Second, one thing I sometimes forget while writing, and also HOG forgets, is that the Guardians are honestly nice people, so it makes sense in my head that they'll try and get along with them. Then the second story in the HOG/Mimpossible universe happens, but that's not going to be out for a while yet.
I honestly think that Tooth would be the one to try first, with Sandy, North then Bunny. Although Bunny's kinda interesting, as he thinks that his Descendants are related to the Pookas, which would probably be conflicting for him. He doesn't know that they aren't, not biologically anyway. So he might just be odd about Descendants in general.

Think that's all for now. Shapeshifter out!