Author's Note: This chapter doesn't have too much going on. It's the rest of the Guardians' dinner with Pitch, Jack and Lillian and we get to see Jack and Lillian's toy prototypes. It isn't terribly plot intensive, but it sets things up for later chapters, what with making the toys and all.
As for reviews.. CrossoverJunkie gets the extra points for correctly guessing my cartoon reference in the last chapter, but he missed out on those elusive bonus points for not guessing Jack's and Lillian's toys correctly. I suppose I cheated a little on Lillian's toy, since it's not exactly a toy.. Anyway! A reviewer also suggested that Bunny put his foot in his mouth some more and yell at Pitch in front of everyone. I had this in mind when I was writing the chapter, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I do like teasing Bunny, but his relationship is already so damaged with Jack and Lillian that I didn't want to make it so that they would NEVER like him. It will take Bunny a looong time to stop being antagonizing around Pitch though, so don't worry, the drama isn't done.
Nobody else had any suggestions/guesses, but that's alright. Also, since I updated a little sooner than planned, you can expect another chapter tomorrow. I have no idea what to include in it.. Maybe some seasonal spirit fun? Maybe hanging with Bunny or the other Guardians. Plot suggestions are welcome, as I'm not quite ready to have everyone rush off to defeat any new bad guys. That will come in later chapters.
And thanks for all the follows and faves. You guys rock.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Dinner
North's voice rang out from the kitchen, soon followed by North himself, laden down with plates. He carefully set out a large platter of roast chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes. He had to return to the kitchen for the gravy, but he soon set that out as well.
He wasn't certain what Jack, Lillian or even Pitch preferred, so he went with a classic. For Bunny, he set out a special tossed salad with lots of carrots in it and made sure that there was enough for everyone, if they wanted. He then set out empty plates and glasses.
North looked pleased at all he had made, and then noticed that two spirits were missing. He glanced at Pitch, who seemed the obvious choice, but then thought better of it. He took in the other Guardians, and noticed that Sandy seemed rather happy as did Tooth, but Bunny looked disgruntled.
Hmmm..
"Ah, Bunny!" North said with a twinkle in his eye. "Would you get Jack and Lillian for dinner?"
Bunny looked surprised at the suggestion.
"Me?" he shot Pitch a look, "Why not ask him? He's supposed to be their... uh.." he trailed off, as he failed to think of a good word to describe Pitch's relationship with Jack and Lillian.
"I believe the term you're looking for is father, parental figure.." Pitch smirked at Bunny especially. "..Guardian."
Tooth's eyes widened at the term, and she shot Sandy a look. Sandy smiled at that and finished off his eggnog.
"G-Guard-?!" Bunny spluttered. "Now wait just a - "
"Bunny!" North interrupted, shooting Bunny a disapproving look. "Dinner will get cold and Jack and Lillian are hungry, no?"
Bunny stood at that, although he shot Pitch one last glare.
"..Right," Bunny muttered to North, as he stalked off.
Bunny soon returned, with Jack and Lillian in tow and it looked like the three of them were arguing.
"You peeked!" Lillian scolded him for what apparently was the millionth time.
Bunny threw his arms up into the air, clearly aggravated. Apparently North's idea for bonding time with the three wasn't exactly working out.
"For the last time sheila, I didn't see anythin'! You didn't have much anyway, just some book - "
Hurt flashed across Lillian's face as Bunny said that.
"It's more than a book - " she said, her tone giving away her hurt.
Bunny glanced back at her, as he was in the lead. He noticed Jack was silently fuming at him and Lillian was looking like Bunny had just kicked her. He sighed softly as he took in the sight.
It was not his night.
Jack took a seat next to Pitch once they got into the dining room and Lillian took a seat on the other side of Pitch, closer to North and as far as she could from Bunny.
Bunny shot Sandy a look, and Sandy nodded gravely. Bunny was all about Easter and Spring, so it really shouldn't be so hard for him to be on good terms with the Spirit of Spring, but Bunny's temper kept getting the better of him. Bunny had gotten along great with Leif, the previous Spring Spirit. As a Guardian, getting along with a child spirit should be a piece of cake, but he somehow kept putting his foot in his mouth.
It was pretty embarrassing.
Soon everyone was seated and North indicated that they should all start helping themselves. Pitch helped fill Lillian's and much to his embarrassment, Jack's plate. He gave each an extra large helping of green beans and a small salad - mostly just to aggravate Bunny a little, since he had correctly deduced that the salad was for Bunny.
Soon everyone was eating the dinner, the Guardians chatting a little about work and nothing much in particular.
North noticed that his guests were being rather quiet, and so he boomed out suddenly to them.
"Jack, Lillian! You having fun making toys? What have you decided to make, hm?"
Lillian jumped at North's sudden loudness and Pitch had to whack her on the back, as she accidentally swallowed a rather large piece of chicken. She took a big drink of her milk and gestured at Jack while she recovered.
Jack, who had been looking a little upset still, grinned at North.
"I only have a prototype right now, but Phil said he'll help me work out the technical aspects of it." Jack said proudly. "I'm making a - "
"Wait wait wait!" Lillian interrupted as she finished drinking her milk. "We should do a proper presentation after dinner! It's going to take us a long time to make them though," she told North.
"Is no problem!" North said happily. "You three are welcome back at Pole at any time."
Pitch raised a non-existent eyebrow at that.
The three of them, hm?
He shot a sly glance at Bunny and was unsurprised to see that Bunny was looking annoyed at North.
"That's very kind of you," he told North. "I'm certain that Jack and Lillian will take advantage of your offer after they're done being grounded."
Lillian pouted at that.
"Grounded?! But.. but.."
Pitch shot her a stern look.
"I believe we already worked this out. Now eat your dinner before it gets cold."
Lillian harrumphed in a Bunny-like fashion and reluctantly went back to eating. Jack chuckled, much to Lillian's annoyance and she wrinkled her nose at it.
However, Lillian couldn't stay silent for long as she glanced at Pitch.
"Hey Pitch," she said as she finished some of her chicken, avoiding her salad and green beans like any child would.
Pitch, who didn't look surprised at all at the interruption, glanced at her.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Why don't you make a toy too?" she asked him in her innocent, child-like fashion. Even though she was much older now, she still had a tendency to do that sometimes.
Pitch, who had been about to eat some of his green beans, paused with his fork halfway to his mouth.
"What?" he asked, sounding incredulous. "..Me?"
Lillian nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! Then you can come with Jack and I. It'll be a lot of fun," she added on with a grin over at Jack.
Jack shook his head at Lillian.
"What would the Boogeyman make?" he asked her.
"Umm.." Lillian looked thoughtful. "He could make a night light that says 'Boo!'"
Pitch rolled his eyes.
"You do realize that in order to properly frighten children it's probably best that they don't have a night light?"
"It could be cute!" Lillian insisted. "It can look like you, and come with a little story book that's all about The Boogeyman, but how you're not totally evil."
Pitch's expression softened a little as he realized what Lillian was trying to do. He set his fork down and reached over to ruffle her hair.
"You don't have to worry about me," he said gently to her. "I am perfectly capable of getting my own believers."
Bunny snorted at that, but didn't make any comments as North shot him a look. He knew better than to get on North's bad side.
Jack spoke up next.
"You could make some kind of a toy though," he put in. "You're pretty good at sewing anyway. Maybe you could make a stuffed animal."
Pitch looked like he was thinking about rolling his eyes again, but Lillian looked enthused.
"Yeah! We can all come back after Jack and I aren't grounded anymore. Or maybe you could come here by yourself!"
Pitch looked quite hesitant at that, but before the Guardians could comment on that, Tooth spoke up about something else.
"You sew?" she asked, trying not to sound rude, but she could NOT believe that Pitch could sew.
"Well - " Pitch started, but Lillian interrupted.
"Pitch makes all our clothes," she said as everyone stared incredulously at Pitch.
Pitch, uncomfortable with so much attention, went back to eating his dinner. It was quite the sight, an embarrassed Pitch. It was yet another side of him that the Guardian's hadn't seen before.
After that, the conversation drifted off to Lillian's and Jack's seasonal duties. Bunny of course, started it off by asking Lillian about spring.
"Ya know, it's gettin' ta be late in the season," he said in a casual tone to Lillian, but Lillian looked offended anyway.
"No it's not," she said firmly to Bunny. "Besides, Jamie asked Jack for one more snow day. We've had late springs before, and the Groundhog saw his shadow. That means six more weeks of Winter."
Bunny frowned at her.
"Yeah, which would mean somethin' if it were still February. In case ya hadn't noticed sheila, it's April."
Lillian rolled her eyes at him.
"Jack can make the snow go away whenever he wants, and I can help it melt. Plus it's supposed to rain a lot in April anyway. Jeez, you're no fun," she complained to Bunny.
Pitch shook his head as he recovered from his earlier embarrassment.
"I've been telling her that you would disapprove of the late Spring," Pitch said conversationally to Bunny. "But she refused to listen."
Bunny didn't really know what to say to this, and he shot Lillian a hurt look.
"..Ya.. ya really think I'm no fun?" he asked Lillian.
"You yell a lot," Lillian said as she toyed with her green beans. "And you always look grumpy, except on Easter."
Pitch shifted guiltily in his seat, as did Jack. This Easter, Bunny was more than grumpy.
"Ya just.. haven't seen me in a good moment." Bunny said a little lamely.
This seemed to end the conversation as everyone finished up dinner. The Guardians all looked amused, as they had to wait for Lillian to finish off her green beans and salad. It seemed like a typical family meal, with lots of bargaining ("One more bite?"), whining and threats from Pitch.
Finally however, the meal was finished and North had the table cleared.
"Should we go into globe room for presentation?" he asked everyone.
They seemed agreeable, and soon everyone was gathered into the globe room.
"Jack should go first," Lillian announced.
Jack grinned a bit at that, and proudly displayed a miniature ice version of the toy he was going to create - with Phil's help.
"It's an automatic snowball thrower," he said as he displayed his ice creation proudly. "You pull this trigger here, and it shoots out snowballs! The best part is that it's going to be heat-seeking, for the kids who have terrible aim. It'll be a blast!"
Jack demonstrated by pulling the trigger and a small ice cube shot out from it.
Pitch looked at the thing curiously.
"So, essentially, you'll have a snowball bazooka, hm? Instead of nerf toys, you'll load it with snowballs?"
Jack nodded enthusiastically.
"It'll make snowball fights more interesting! Jamie would love it."
North chuckled appreciatively at it.
"That is very smart, Jack. Never have I heard of such a toy before. Children will love it! But you must be certain that snow balls do not shoot out too fast, da?"
Jack nodded.
"It's going to take a lot of work, but I'm sure the other yetis and Phil can help me out."
"In the meantime," Pitch said with a smirk, "you have a rather interesting way of dispensing ice cubes into drinks."
Jack's eyes lit up and Pitch wanted to face palm. Why did he have to give the boy ideas?!
"You are not going to use that in the lair. Especially not at meal times."
Jack pouted at that and Lillian giggled.
"Lillian," Tooth smiled at her. "What's your toy idea?"
Lillian smiled proudly as she stood in front of the couches and chairs where everyone was seated.
"My idea is more than just a toy," she said. She held up a painting she had done that had a book with the symbols for all the seasons on it: A Spring Flower, A Sun, A Leaf and a Snowflake. "It's a story book for kids," she continued.
Bunny blinked as he looked at Lillian's picture. The kid was.. good. Really good. He could tell from the picture that she wanted the book to seem like an old book of fairy tales. The sort of book that families treasured and passed down through the generations. If he had to hazard a guess from the color, he'd say that the book was supposed to be leather bound with the symbols on the front, carved out in gold.
Tooth smiled at her.
"Kids love stories. What's yours going to be about?" she asked.
Lillian beamed at the praise and shot Bunny a smug look as if to say 'See? I told you so!'
"It's about the Seasons, or rather, the Seasonal Spirits. There's a lot of stories about the Guardians, but nobody knows much about other spirits. I wanna write a bunch of stories about the different Seasonals. First it'll start off with Spring, then Summer, Fall and Winter. If it works out, then we'll all have a bunch of new believers."
Jack looked surprised as Lillian hadn't told him much about her idea. In fact, he'd been rather absorbed in creating his own prototype and hadn't paid her much attention once they'd stopped scheming.
"There's already a lot of stories about Jack Frost," she added. "But none of them have gotten it right! I also want to paint the pictures and have all the Seasonals' pictures in it - how they really look. If it works out, maybe I can make a series of it and put down some of my and Jack's adventures.
Jack's grin slipped as he shot Pitch an anxious look, something that Pitch immediately noticed but didn't comment on.
Sandy waved his hand and a golden picture of a sun and leaf appeared above his head followed by a question mark.
"That's a good point," Bunny said as he noticed what Sandy was trying to say. "Do ya know enough about the other seasonal spirits ta make stories about 'em? You want it ta be accurate."
Lillian shifted from foot to foot. She hadn't thought about that.
"Weeell.. I guess I could ask Jasper, the fall Spirit, about some things if I go by myself. I haven't really met the Summer seasonal yet. Is she nice?" Lillian looked inquisitively at Bunny, and Bunny inwardly rejoiced, then deflated. He didn't know the Summer seasonal very well.
"Ah.. well.. I heard he can be a bit of a hot head," Bunny said as he tried to recall what little he knew about the spirit. "His name's August Bay. I wouldn't recommend callin' him 'Augie'."
Lillian nodded, but then giggled.
"August? For a summer spirit?"
North chuckled.
"Spring Spirit before you was called Leif. Seems someone is having fun with names! Perhaps next Fall Spirit will be June."
Lillian giggled more at that.
"Anyway, that's my idea." she concluded as everyone exclaimed over her idea. It was different. Both of their ideas were different. Nobody had ever thought of them before.
"Ya know," Bunny said trying his very best to sound natural (and not grumpy), "I know all about paintin' and such. If ya wanted.. ya could come to my Warren when ya want to paint yer pictures. I have a lot of different paints."
Lillian's grin faded and she looked at Pitch a little anxiously.
Pitch came to her rescue, as she obviously wanted him to.
"That's a generous offer," he said smoothly to Bunny. "Should she decide to take you up on it, we'll be in touch."
Bunny looked a little deflated at that. He hadn't meant for Pitch to be involved at all in the offer. Lillian's unease around him also hurt. Had they really messed up that badly? Would he ever be able to have a normal relationship with the two kids?
When Lillian began to yawn, Pitch announced that it was time for them to go. Sandy made the suggestion of a sand plane to take Jack and Lillian home, while Pitch shook his head.
"I'm more than capable - " he started, but Lillian bounded over and took a hold of Jack's and Pitch's hands.
She grinned mischievously at them as her bracelet started to glow.
"You guys haven't ever traveled my way!"
Pitch shot an alarmed look at Lillian and Jack looked equally as alarmed.
"Lillian," Jack said nervously. "It's a really long way - "
"I don't think - " Pitch began.
Lillian ignored the both of them as she grinned at the Guardians.
"Byeee! Thanks for all the fun!" she said to them.
"You'll have to - " North started to speak, but stopped as a HUGE flower grew up behind Pitch, Jack and Lillian.
The Guardians all stared as the flower opened wide and ate the three spirits. The last thing they heard was Pitch's startled cry.
"Well," North chuckled. "Is one way to make exit."
Author's Note: I couldn't help it! There was a suggestion for the Guardians to experience Lillian's way of traveling, but then I realized that Jack and Pitch never had the pleasure either. :P I can't decide if they should appear back in the lair or make some side trips throughout the world. I would imagine that it would be pretty far for Lillian to go in one shot.
So what do you guys think of Jack's toy? Don't ask me where the idea came from.. It just popped up out of nowhere. But the idea of a heat-seeking snowball bazooka thinger is really amusing to me. I'm not sure if there would really be a market for it, but I'll have to have Jamie and Friends try it out at some point. What do you guys think of Lillian's idea? It's really just an excuse for her to try and get more believers for Jack - but she didn't want the other Seasonals left out either. I'm not really sure how Lillian having more believers will impact her life. She's never minded too much that kids couldn't normally see her, as she's always had Jack and Pitch.
I'm not sure what the next chapter will contain, but it will have Pitch, Jack and Lillian/Guardians interacting. Do you think Pitch should take up North's offer of tagging along? Also, SHOULD Pitch make his own toy? I suppose it could be a way of showing the Guardians a different side of Pitch. Should he also tag along if Lillian decides to visit the Warren?
Let me know your ideas! And stay tuned as another update will be TOMORROW for sure!
Edit: My tired brain forgot to add that I also really like the idea of North deciding to trust Pitch out of all of them. It's North's party for one, but he also seems more like the type to take a chance on Pitch than anybody else. After all, who knows better who's really Naughty or Nice? Plus poor Pitch needs at least ONE of the Guardians in his corner. Tooth and Sandy seem to be coming around (Sandy most of all) at least. Bunny.. eh. Well. He's Bunny and to him, Pitch is still a ratbag. Since he's determined to not see how Pitch has changed, he'll probably continue to misread things Pitch says. (For instance, when he thought Pitch was gloating in the last chapter.)
