A/N :
I'm terribly sorry for the late update. My creative juices are drained by all the art I have to produce to make a living and for an upcoming convention and that lead to some kind of writer's block. I want to write after my work for the day is done but then the creative part of my brain literally switches itself off. So this chapter took around three weeks to finish. Bleah.
Also sorry for making so many of you cry with the previous story. *hands out tissues* Next time I'll put a warning on insanely sad stories, hehe. ;)
Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and new followers! I'm so happy each time I see a new notification from this site in my inbox! ^_^
County fairs and theme parks. Jack loved them. Every single part of them. The many different thrill rides, sideshows, sidestalls and games, it all literally screamed fun. And even though he never ate anything ( until he became a guardian and found out how delicious food was ), he enjoyed the various kinds of alluring smells coming from countless food booths. Fresh popcorn, roasted almonds, cotton candy, chocolate covered fruit, it didn't matter what sugary goodie it was, people and especially the children were attracted to it like bees to a honeypot.
Since he suffered from the fate of being invisible, Jack had developed different strategies of participating in the fun.
When it was night and the parks were closed he sometimes froze the rails of the rollercoasters, applying a faint sheet of ice on them and always making sure to not damage the constructions. It was just enough to allow himself to slide up to the highest peak and all the way down in high speed, through corkscrews and vertical loops.
That was pretty much all he could do since there were night guards walking around most of the time. Actually switching the rides on would have immediately alerted them of something going on. He figured that out only after he had tried it. In barely a few minutes a rather tall middle-aged guy had arrived and ruined the fun by deactivating the carousel Jack had been sitting on, much to the winter spirit's dissappointment.
Playing all alone quickly proved to be quite boring anyway. A deserted park or fair just wasn't as entertaining and lacked the cheerful athmophere he treasured so much during the day when crowds of excited and happy people invaded it.
The much more fruitful tactic was to join the rides together with everyone else. One of his favourite activities was hanging onto the chains of swing carousels, enjoying the breeze of the wind and the motion without even flying. Standing on the back of bumper cars, cheering 'his' driver on and jumping from one car to the other turned out to be hilarious as well.
Sometimes, when he came across a rather big theme park and noticed that there was a parade going on, he landed amongst the costumed staff members and walked with them, waving and smiling at the cheering masses and pretending they actually saw and cheered for him. He knew he was just fooling himself but escaping reality was needed now and then.
On days with bad weather or when the evening approached and the places were nearing closing time the flow of visitors decreased so much that there were empty seats in most of the rides. And that's where Jack took his chance.
He waited until the rides were about to launch, so that no one would accidentally chose his seat and sit down on him. The feeling of people passing through him was nothing he ever wanted to experience again.
When he had taken his place and the machinery was set into motion he felt like he was part of the small group of humans who were surrounding him. So that's how going out with friends must have been like. He screamed in joy together with them, let the adrenaline of the thrill shoot through his veins and laughed at the compulsory person who was completely freaked out and cursed their friends for having persuaded them to join the rollercoaster ride.
Given his adventurous nature Jack liked the thrill rides most, but if he noticed an empty seat somewhere he refused to miss the opportunity, no matter if it was a freefall tower, a top spin, water slide or a children's merry-go-round. Even though they were different, they were all funny in their own way. Unfortunately he had to deal with not being able to drive one of the bumper cars. Well, actually he was able to do it but an empty car moving on its own would have freaked people out or alerted the owners of the ride to check what the heck was going on. And yes, he talked from experience.
Whatever, he had still gone on hundreds of rides, mainly in the 20th century when technical progress boomed and new theme parks popped out of every corner. Every time he discovered one he hadn't visited before he couldn't resist his urging curiosity to check it out until he had tested everything which sparked his interest.
By now Jack could honestly say he wasn't afraid of anything, no matter how thrilling and scary the owners of the parks claimed their new attractions to be. He simply was a huge adrenaline junkie.
That's why his blue eyes widened and his heart had done a leap the moment he saw North's sleigh for the very first time. The high-tech yet classic looking vehicle literally screamed 'Fun. Adventure. Thrill.' Granted, the inrun through the icy tunnel couldn't compare to all of the crazy rollercoasters out there, but Jack enjoyed it nonetheless. It was fast, it was exciting, it was fun. And seeing the old Easter Bunny's expression of sheer terror made it even better. For him it was hard to imagine why someone wouldn't like a ride like this. To each their own, he guessed. Kangaroos didn't really belong up in the air, rabbits neither.
When the Guardian of Wonder had told him to take the reins during the attack of the nightmares at the Tooth Palace he didn't hesitate for a second. Finally he was allowed to steer something, even though it wasn't a small bumper car but a rather huge sleigh. But his lack of experience had led to what doomed to happen, a less than graceful crash landing. Anyway, even though it didn't last long he had realized how cool it was to drive the big vehicle. And he definitely wanted to try it again. Though there was a decent amount of doubt that North would allow that again after the first failure.
But asking wouldn't do any harm.
Jack sat on the mahagony banister, his back leaned against the wooden column as he observed the bustling activity in Santoff Clausen. From his perch he had a perfect look at the hordes of yetis and elves below, who were working on and testing various kinds of new toys. Miniatures of strange vehicles which vaguely resembled planes, ships and ufos floated through the air, glowing in all their technically refined glory. Usually they were able to fly on their own, so the elf in a mini-sleigh with an animatronic horse at the front caught the young guardian's attention. His cerulean eyes followed the little guy who steered the toy through invisible tracks all around the Globe of Belief.
Right, he still wanted to ask North about something. In fact, he had often thought about it but always decided to rather wait for a better occasion. Though he wasn't sure when exactly the time would be right.
"Hey, Jack! What are you up to?"
The addressed winter spirit was ripped out of his trance and jerked visibly at the sudden loud voice with the unmistakable Russian accent.
"Oh, hi,North. Uhm, nothing, just sitting here." he explained lamely and bit his lower lip, unintentionally emphasizing the awkwardness which loomed around him.
"No pranks in mind at all?" the Cossack winked at the young guardian and rested his arms on the banister next to him, following his gaze that was traveling from one flying toy to the next one.
"You like new prototypes?"
Blue orbs only glimpsed at the Guardian of Wonder for the fraction of a second before continuing to focus the miniature vehicles which were gracefully floating around the globe.
"Yeah, they're pretty cool. Especially that sleigh." he admitted and pointed at that particular toy with the elf guiding it.
"Haha, everyone loves sleigh, no matter if big or small." North laughed.
"Where did that elf learn to drive anyway? I mean, they're pretty clumsy usually but he hasn't steered it into the globe yet." Jack inquired, trying to find a more or less smooth transition to his upcoming plea.
"I taught him, one of the few who is actually allowed to test flying and driving toys. Though you shouldn't be one to talk about crash landings, eh?" the old man grinned good-naturedly and shot an amused look in the youth's direction.
Jack blushed faintly as he remembered how his first attempt to drive the sleigh had ended. As if he'd ever forget that. But it was now or never.
"Well, then...could you maybe teach me, too?" he muttered sheepishly.
North, who wasn't sure if he had understood it right because his attention had been drawn to the yetis working several floors downstairs, glanced at him questioningly.
"Teach you what?"
The frost teen awkwardly tugged at the sleeve of his hoodie before he regained his posture and spoke in a confident voice :
"To drive the sleigh. It might come in handy someday."
While this was true it was of course not the real reason. Deep down he knew that North was aware of it, the big guy could look right through him sometimes, even though he didn't always show it. A mischievous smile formed on the Russian Santa's face, his left hand running through his long white beard as he pretended to weigh the pros and cons.
"Oh, I don't know...yetis are busy with toy production, they don't have time to fix broken sleigh as well..."
Even though it was said jokingly and with a twinkle in the ancient guardian's eye, Jack couldn't help but feel a little offended by the cheekiness of the statement.
"Hey, who says I'll break it? You just have to tell me how to steer it. Come on, or are you afraid of failing to teach me?"
Now it was the winter spirit's turn to smile cheekily. For a moment North was rather dumbfounded how quickly the youth had turned the tables and challenged him, but returned to his jolly self right away.
"Alright, then. You want to drive sleigh, you will drive sleigh. But before that I have to finish a few ice prototypes, once they're done you'll get your driving lesson."
"Can I help you? The faster the work is done the better." Jack offered, the excitement in his voice and the wide smile on his features revealing that the wish to drive the sleigh again must have lurked in him for quite a while.
North had to chuckle at the boy's enthusiasm and gently patted his lean shoulder.
"Sure, let's go."
"SLOWER, Jack! With that I mean NOT SO FAST!"
The sound level of North's demands had significantly increased after less than a minute with the Guardian of Fun at the helm of his beloved sleigh. And that spoke volumes considering the fact that Santa himself wasn't a reserved driver either and had no problems with wild rides. Usually.
"I already slowed down!" the teen protested.
"No, you didn't!"
"Yes, I did!"
For someone who was used to travel with the help of the wind at top speeds, which sometimes even broke the sonic barrier, the current pace was nothing extraordinary plus he wanted to find out how fast the reindeer could run. But the urging remarks from the old Russian next to him clearly implied that he was going too far with his speeding craze. With a semi-annoyed groan Jack pulled on the reins, a little stronger than he should have, because a second later the sleigh almost came to a complete stop and both occupants were thrown forwards by the momentum.
"You have to be more careful with that!" North bellowed after he had ripped the reins out of the boy's hands to get the sleigh back to move along smoothly.
"Then tell me how I'm supposed to do that!" Jack snapped back, both grumpy and embarassed that his dignity had just gotten another kick in the behind.
The Cossack eventually calmed down and sighed, reminding himself that the adolescent immortal next to him simply didn't know any better and was in desperate need of a little guidance.
"Alright, I already told you, you have to be gentle with reins. If you pull with too much force, reindeer will halt abruptly, you just saw that. But if you pull not hard enough they won't even notice you pulled at all. You have to find balance. Same counts for going left and right, whether you want them to merely drift to one side or make sharp curve. Want to try again?"
Jack hesitantly grabbed the thin leather straps and dearly hoped he wouldn't screw up again. While he tried his best to keep the reindeer going at a normal speed for the time being, North was glad that their driving lesson was taking place at the Pole. There were no obstacles they could possibly crash into, well, except the snowy mountains but those were far below. The older guardian glanced at the winter spirit whose gaze was fixed on the vigorous animals in front of the sleigh. He looked tense and North's features softened when he realized the teen was probably worried about failing again.
"Doing fine, Jack. Now try a slight turn to the right."
Upon hearing the praise he visibly relaxed and very cautiously pulled on the reins in his right hand. Apparently too cautiously because there was no reaction from the reindeer. Without having to be told he pulled again, this time a bit stronger but still more gentle than he had done previously. And then, with grace and ease, the sleigh's direction changed and angled off to the right.
"It worked!" Jack shouted in happiness and with a wide smile on his face.
"Haha, surely did!" North chuckled and gave him a hearty pat on the back, almost knocking the breath out of the lean boy.
"But we're only getting started, unless you rather want to go back to workshop?"
"No way, I won't stop before I have mastered driving this thing!" Jack insisted brimming with ambition.
Giving up obviously wasn't an option for the teen and the Guardian of Wonder couldn't help but smile proudly at him. The start had been rough but now he was learning fast. If he continued at this pace he would be a decent driver by the end of the day. Maybe they would go on sleigh rides regularly in the future, just to further improve Jack's driving skills and so North could get a little break from the stressy work at Santoff Clausen now and then. He was sure the white-haired spirit was going to approve of this idea as well.
"Haha, I figured. So what are we waiting for? Let's turn you into brilliant sleigh driver!"
A/N : Random info, I'm a real chicken when it comes to rollercoaster- and thrill rides. Remember Bunny being terrified in the sleigh with everyone else being excited like hell? Yep, that's my friends and me. 100%. XD
