Secretly Pooka
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Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or other works made into film. Or any references to words belonging to Shakespeare.
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Author's Notes: I have updated languages from last chapter (they weren't supposed to be in times new roman).
Thank you to my reviewers, brittanyleewilton, painapple, cat girl 1995, story stalkers, snowing-in-the-springtime, random ging, jewel131415, skyefall o. bunnymund, kidamerica123, Luzith and Guest. Each review is exciting to receive.
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Thank you Painapple for the constructive criticism, I appreciate it. Working backward from your comments:
4. I haven't read the canon books yet, so I don't really know what Manny's personality is. I was working off of the information online about Mim. It doesn't really go into detail about what he was like. It just talks about his infanthood and a couple of pictures. So I mostly based him off of a don't-know-how-to-interact-with-kids-in-person Mr. Magorium because of the picture of Mim surrounded by balloons reminded me of the bouncing balls in Mr. Magorium's Wonderful Emporium. (If you haven't seen it, it's a kid's movie where the toy shop is alive... and acts like a little kid.)
3. I have noticed that I sometimes use passive voice instead of active or do twisty things with grammar to try and make my sentences have more flow. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. (It bugs my teachers occasionally too).
2. What type of details are too much?
1. I am rushing, but I also don't want to drop the story because I lost interest in getting the story where it needs to be. Jack originally in my outlines didn't take this long to get to Earth. Then again, Manny wasn't in my first or second outlines either.
I skipped the scene where the fearlings slaughter Jack's family because it didn't want to be written at that time. It should be there now.
Thank you again.
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Chapter five: Mission to Earth
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"You're going to want to buckle in." Jack warned the Moonmice.
Amber and Andrew nodded, finding restraints to tie themselves into as the group of four entered Earth's atmosphere. The Pookan escape-ship jolted, shaking slightly as Jack gritted his teeth while controlling their plunge at the correct angle. As long as the ship didn't land in the ocean, they would be fine, but just in case, Manny helped time it so Jack didn't land around Australia. However, had they known of Jack's closest neighbor when Jack landed, they would have preferred Australia. But Jack wouldn't know of his neighbor for centuries.
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Manny must have not mentioned a few magical modifications, Jack realized as, instead of landing with the working brakes the Pookan spacecraft started digging into the hillside. Where had that drill come from anyway? But once they were under the surface of the hill, the spaceship stopped. The drill made of whatever energy vanished, leaving the egg-shaped escape-ship cradled in the Earth.
Exiting the pod, Jack noticed there was a sizable clearing/tunnel back up to the now holey hillside. Inspecting the space that would be their Warren, Jack needed to make the impact less obvious. With the help of the two Moonmice, Jack started digging another tunnel, just a little bigger than himself to the surface. It would take a while, as Jack didn't know how to use tunnel magic. He did know how to do some simple illusions from his cousin's teachings. However, magic illusions were all well and good, but they were just that, delusions of the senses. The better illusions were the ones you made with your hands. At least they couldn't be magically found.
By the end of the week, Jack and the twins had completely hidden their presence to being nigh undetectable. The wall of the hill was just that, a hillside. (Unless an inside lever was pulled and then there was a second exit that came out behind large bushes and grass). The main exit and smaller tunnel came out near a trickling waterfall on the edge of a large lake. The insides of the small warren were 'painted' with a mixture of the remaining stardust and Light Beamers. (Jack had been astonished to find some still left, rather than faded away in a storage capsule.) Light Beamers were a lot like Earth's fireflies, but looked more like flying glowing party streamers rather than a bug.
Now the basics of the Warren were set! No shadows could exist in a complete Pookan lit area. The few limply alive Light Beamers were gently set into a hastily erected 'home'. 'Home' for the Light Beamers were a highly reflective lantern. They could recover, given time and lots of light. After Jack explained this fact to the Moonmice, Andrew asked,
"So... they're like Moonbeams but different then?"
"I guess?" Jack shrugged, "I've never seen a Moonbeam."
"You will one of these days." Amber said eagerly with a determined tick in the corner of her cheek.
Andrew sighed,
"What?" Amber snapped at him,
"You're showing the dimple again."
"So?"
"Trouble usually follows after. And I get stuck with clean up."
"You do not! I clean up my own messes! And yours!"
Amber and Andrew kept squabbling until Jack interrupted them, "Hey! What happened to helping me set up a garden?!"
Andrew smirked, scooping a handful of mud and sneakily threw it at Amber, "Amber's afraid of getting dirty!"
Amber groaned, "Seriously? Who's the one covered in a pitiful mud pie right now."
"Oh your on!" Andrew ducked a ball of dirt and threw a second 'mud pie'.
Jack hastily moved a resting Aloe to out of range of the messy fun, "How did I end up being the responsible one?" Jack mumbled as he secretly started creating and assembling mud pies of his own behind a slightly raised ridge of grass, spying on the unaware Moonmice. Smirking, he joined the fun with twin mud bombs...
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Aloe's upset shriek of surprise abruptly ended the mud showers. Jack dashed over, only making the munchkin shrill even louder at the mud hellion approaching the infant. Jack winced, pining back his ears. "It's okay Aloe! It's me Jack." Jack cooed at the mud spattered baby.
Aloe relaxed at Jack's voice, but still tensed as mud crusted hands reached for him. Detecting Jack's scent, Aloe finally settled down and allowed his older brother's soggy self to pick him up without bolting. Aloe scrunched his nose, "Muddy Ack."
Jack chuckled, "Yes I am rather mucky," and then got to work cleaning and grooming Aloe before the younger youngster squirmed out of his hands. Jack then quickly groomed his own fur, before remembering the Moonmice. Opps. Jack felt rather embarrassed because grooming was only supposed to be done in privacy at home. Thinking about it, Jack shrugged off his embarrassment. Well... they were in their new warren and the Moonmice were friends, but still... Seeing that Amber and Andrew had politely turned away Jack resolved to do his own grooming away from them. It's not like they were family yet.
While Amber and Andrew cleaned themselves off in turns at the other end of the Warren, Jack played with Aloe until the shape-shifting crystals caught Aloe's attention. "Don't eat that Aloe." Jack fished the crystal out of Aloe's mouth, wiping the slobber off of it, directing Aloe's attention to the ground, "Watch this Aloe." Jack buried a seed and waved his hand over the spot. A long stringy plant up spouted, growing until Jack was satisfied.
Aloe was trying to pounce on the single blade of swaying wispy grass. Jack bit most of it off, Aloe turning big sad dejected eyes on his brother, as if to say 'Why did you do that?'
"Almost done. I can make more willow rope for you to play with later." Jack apologized, sniping the piece of willow rope grass into two uneven pieces. With a few misses, Jack managed to thread the crystals, making two simple necklaces. From a storage capsule, Jack revealed two sets of clasps, snapping and tying the necklaces together. Aloe watched in curiosity as Jack draped the smaller crystal necklace onto his head. Now Aloe wouldn't dislodge the crystal by accident. Jack put on his own crystal, thinking hard to activate the magic and shifted into a short brown haired and brown eyed human child. It was a bit trickery to activate the magic for Aloe, but Jack managed, turning his brother into a mini human version of himself.
Now... the Moonmice needed to be coached through the process. Good thing they were already there inspecting Aloe and Jack in fascination.
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"How do these crystals even work?" Andrew glared at his unyielding amulet.
"Well..." Jack thought, "First off, it's not recommended to change into something bigger than your normal form, especially for beginners. It just doesn't end well." Jack winced, remembering watching a shape-shifting accident. The memory was faint but it still sent shudders of horror through him to this day.
"Why not?" Amber asked,
"The best option nothing happens. The other options include a gutsy explosion or stuck as a half formed original species with random, twisted features from the species you were trying to turn into." The Moonmice made disgusted faces,
"So becoming taller isn't good. Got it." Amber nodded.
"Are there any more don't or it doesn't end well?" Andrew asked weakly
"Not that I can remember, sorry. Just think hard enough about what you want to be."
"Right then. I've always wanted to become a flying squirrel." Andrew decided, apparently thinking hard enough about it that... no poof, but Andrew was now a small brown and black furred flying squirrel.
"...Why a flying squirrel?" Amber asked, inspecting her brother's new appearance.
"What is a flying squirrel?" Jack knelt down to Andrew's even shorter-than-before height.
"'Cause they are cool." Andrew retorted to his sister, turning to Jack "They're squirrels with a superpower!" It was odd to see a squirrel fold his arms, even if that squirrel was Andrew, "And they are easy to blend in when it's a common enough animal in the wild of Northern America and-! It's a common pet or 'favorite' in this area."
Amber blinked, "That was more logical than your first reason. Have you really wanted to be a flying squirrel all that time when you took your turn at the telescope?"
"Yes. I don't have to be logical all the time to make sense." Andrew declared, rather exasperated. "Like how cheese tastes better on the Moon."
Amber looked like she -mostly- disagreed, "We haven't even tried Earth food yet!"
"So?" Andrew the flying squirrel shrugged, "I bet it's true!"
"So what are you going to be Amber? The local humans wouldn't have ever seen a Moonmouse maiden before." Jack interrupted another budding argument.
"I... don't know." Amber mumbled in embarrassment as she straightened her Moon navel uniform.
"How about crickets?" Andrew suggests, snickering, "They are popular pets in Asia."
Amber glares at her brother, "No. I don't want to be eaten because I looked like something on the bottom of the food chain."
"What about one of Toothiana's fairies?" Andrew idly drew in the dirt as he thinks out loud. Behind him, Aloe plays with the willow rope.
"We are trying to blend in remember?" Amber stomps her foot in frustraton.
"Besides," Jack added thoughtfully, "Who knows how long I'll be a storyteller? You can decide on something simple and you can switch up forms later."
Amber sighed, "Maybe I'll figure out what I'll be when we figure out when we figure out why you don't have parents."
Jack deflated, "It's not like I can explain they were killed in battle without unseen consequences. So what about a sickness?"
"No that wouldn't work. Everyone would avoid you as if you are carrying the sickness. Especially it would have happened somewhat recently for you to be left taking care of a toddler, two maybe three years of age. Not to mention Aloe is a very healthy toddler when they are typically among the first to be sick." Amber deconstructed the suggestion.
"Hmm... it has to explain my skills too. My Aunt Blizzi made up quite a few stories, but she loved the nit picky details about a certain character even if it had no relevance to the story. I'd make characters with her," Jack reminisced both joyful and sorrowful, going off track, "It was fun. Fun even more so to dump random characters together and try and get them to understand each other with a set of experiences. Well... it was hard at first... I had a hard time getting the interactions the way I wanted sometimes." Jack scrubbed his eyes.
"I'm sorry." Amber blurted awkwardly,
"For what?" Jack asked softly, an eye peeking out from behind his hands.
"For your family. I know I don't understand your loss, but I'm here." Amber hugged Jack as best she could with her short stature. Silently, Andrew put a squirrel paw on Jack's knee, "We're here." Amber corrected herself.
"Thank you." Jack soaked in the contact of friendship. This rudimentary den in and under the hill was on it's speedy way to becoming home.
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It was late fall and the leaves were turning the most gorgeous colors, the gentle breeze carrying along the rich tart scent of apple cider and apple pies. (And numerous other pies, but the number of apple pies were overwhelming in comparison). Four young noses twitched in anticipation... well Aloe had sneezed, but kept sniffing the air anyway.
Traveling quickly with a somewhat odd gait (his feet kept wanting to bounce instead of roll), Jack carried Aloe on his back with his father's supposed staff (really it was clay and bark molded on top of his favorite weapon). And a tame flying squirrel sat on his left shoulder while a small otter pranced next to him. Approaching the in sight town labeled Burgess by a wooden sign staked into the ground, Jack hoped that he would be able to find residence in a home during winter.
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"But soft! Here cometh a wayfaring stranger! Good Morrow youth! From whence thou come over the bladed grass decked with liquid pearl?!" An over eager elderly man shook Jack's hand vigorously. A handbell tied was to the older man's belt, causing his every movement to jingle.
Okay... for all that Jack had basically learned English with the help of the Moonmice and a fixed language learner, he wasn't sure if he understood that. Although... it sounded intriguing, "Hello." Jack responded. The elder was dressed in what Jack assumed were clothes a step under the wealthy, durable, but with some threads of fashion. The as yet unnamed individual was a modest height of a solid five feet, but still taller than Jack.
"The youth speaks! Hark in mine ear! This is Fortune's work that I should greet those friends thou hast and thou first before yet a member of the company favored with mine soul. Seek you toil or trouble? Hark!" The little man quieted, before pardoning himself in a not very hasty manner, "By your leave, making it momentary as a sound to enter human hearing and come I now! My business calls on me and I embrace th' occasion to depart. I'll not be by. He that hath the steerage of my course, direct my sail. The form of my intent will at more time, the interim having weighed it, let us speak our free hearts each to other."
Jack idly wondered how bewildered he looked in comparison to how bemused he felt.
Fortunately, a giggling young pregnant woman with mischief twinkling in her eyes soon rescued Jack from his predicament.
"Greetings young stranger! That was Edmund Fortinbras the town crier, but he prefers to be called the bellman." Seeing that Jack was still baffled, Melody continued, "In other words, he makes public announcements and spreads the news. He's odd, going as far to offer a different reason each time for speaking in rhyme. The reasons that often recycle in gossip say that he's a lost actor or that he took a knock to the head. Personally, I think he likes to make others look confused. And I am Melody Overland."