This had been on my to-do list for a long time and I finally decided to write it. It was a little rushed (written in half and hour) but at least it's something.
It would be Easter soon and Bunny was deep into his preparations. Unlike the North, he could not start painting the next batch of eggs as soon as Easter was over. But he could manage. Between the lakes of dyes and the flowers applying patterns to the egglets, a lot of the work was done without him needing to do much more than supervise and fiddle with the flowers every now and then to ensure a greater variety. Not that the children would know if their egg was very similar to one on the other side of the world. Not until they started to post photos of their Easter eggs online and to compile lists. It was only a matter of time before some sort of Eggbook was created. He would really need to step up his game, when that happened.
Even without any egg-sharing social media, he still made sure to have a fair amount of unique, hand-painted eggs. He spent a big part of the year, in his off-time, coming up with designs for those special ones. Exotic flowers, intricate arabesques or delicate feathery motifs decorated them. He traveled the world looking for inspiration, from the deep forests to busy markets where one could find beautifully patterned carpets and potteries. In the long time he held this job as the bringer of hope, he had seen quite a bit.
He finished a pink and white star design that may or may not look like that of a certain purple unicorn when he felt the chill in the air. Looking behind him, he saw Jack Frost looking over his shoulder. The kid played with his staff nervously like he was trying to ask something without knowing how. A faintly amused smile stretched the boy's lips as he looked at the lilac colored egg in Bunny's hand. If he actually recognized the pattern, he could hardly mock Bunny for being familiar with it.
"What do you want, Frostbite? I'm busy here." It came out harsher than he intended as he shove the finished egg aside and picked up a new one. The winter spirit took a step back, the smile disappearing. Bunny regretted his tone as Jack looked down at his feet and held the staff to his chest, opening and closing his mouth several time without any sound coming out. When he finally did speak, it wasn't much better.
"I, er, can I, I-I mean... would you mind—"
"Out with it already!"
Jack flinched. Bunny mentally punched himself. The young Guardian took a deep breath before trying to talk again.
"Can I help you with anything?"
Bunny stopped himself before he could just flat-out refuse the kid's help. He wasn't a fool, he knew why Jack was here. It was about last year. Bunny had not exactly hidden his belief that the newly-chosen Guardian was responsible for ruining Easter. He had not exactly retracted that statement since. The longer he took to answer, the more Jack fiddled with the frozen shepherd's crook, shuffled in place and bit his lips. The temperature dropped a few degrees. The freezing grass crackled under the winter spirit's feet.
"Sure. Grab a paintbrush and get started."
Even should Jack Frost turn out to have as much skill in decorating eggs as a toddler finger painting on a wall, Bunny decided that the genuine smile he got when he agreed to let him help would make this worth it. The eggs could be painted over if they did not meet his standards and it would not actually set him back. He could let Jack feel useful for a day.
He turned his attention to the next egglet waiting to be painted, only throwing the occasional glance at the teen sitting across from him. He was relieved to see him use semsible spring colors. He had feared the boy would paint everything white and blue. After a moment, he got too engrossed with his own work to pay the kid much heed. Until he proudly presented him his first finished work, that is.
"H-how does it look?"
He had to snort. He looked like a child presenting his crayon masterpiece to his parents. Bunny took the egglet from him and examined it. Jack had stuck to the pretty standard idea of pink flowers on green, with some pale yellow fern-like pattern at the bottom. It was very well done and certainly a spring pattern, but something about the fern and oddly stylized flowers reminded him of winter and it took him a moment to realize why. He snorted again when he did.
"Your flowers look like snowflakes. And the ferns look like frost."
The temperature dropped a little bit more as ice formed similar fern-like patterns on the boy's cheek. Jack sighed in defeat and looked down at the blades of grass slowly frosting over around him.
"S-sorry. I guess I can't really be any help after all."
"Hey there, mate, don't look so down. I didn't say it was a bad thing. Unique designs are exactly what I'm looking for and those are quite beautiful."
Jack hesitantly looked up, as if he wasn't sure if Bunny really meant it. The Pooka reached over and ruffled his hair.
"Besides," he added, "a few snowflakes never ruined Easter."
That actually drew a smile out of Jack.
Thank you to everyone who has been very understanding of my desire to possibly stop writing this. I may still add to it if I feel like it, but I wanted you to know I might not so you don't wonder if I never update again. Should I ever decide to start a new arc (which I doubt) I assure you it will get finished, but other wise this is as good a place as any to stop. It's a short story collection, it's not like I could continue writing it until it's done.
For some reason, I've been feeling like writing a short How to Train your Dragon oneshot lately. It might actually happen.
