Chapter Thirty-one
Hiatus
Pitch found he couldn't sleep spending most the night milling about his room, looking out the portholes as the dawn broke, and the sun began flooding across the sky. As the morning drew on, Pitch had started to wonder why North had not shown up yet. Hadn't he told the man he liked to work with the deer before the sun had come up? Had he forgotten, or was he just making him wait on purpose? Either way, it served as an irritant now as Pitch paced about with a scowl occasionally opening his door to glare outside of it as if that would bring North faster.
It was another hour before North came to Pitch's room and knocked on the door.
Pitch snatched the door open looking quite incensed as he spat, "It's half past nine! Where have you been?"
North's face turned into a displeased frown as he glared down at Pitch. "Don't use that tone with me, Pitch."
Pitch frowned back his anger getting the best of him enough not to take heed of North's comment. "You're leaving the reindeer to starve! They normally have eaten close to five hours ago," he replied hotly.
North's hand quickly shot out and grabbed Pitch by his bicep, pushing him forward and into the bedroom, leaving enough space where he could squeeze into the room himself and shut the door behind him.
Pitch realized quickly enough his mistake as he stumbled back holding his hands up in supplication, "I... I'm sorry! I... I was just concerned about the reindeer! I didn't mean to be brash! I'll mind my tone! I'll mind my tone!"
North silently regarded him a few minutes, the hard glare never leaving his eyes.
Pitch bit his lip fidgeting now looking more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, "I didn't mean to get testy... I... I've just been waiting for you for so long. I got a little impatient. It won't happen again."
"I admire your dedication to the reindeer, Pitch, as well as your knack for keeping on schedule." North said at last. "But you need to learn that everything, including time, does not revolve around you. If you are a little late, it is not going to hurt. I still see hint of selfishness surging through you. You need to learn to be more understanding, especially towards others. Maybe I was late because of emergency. Had that ever occurred to you?" The truth was, North had been late on purpose in order to teach Pitch a lesson, but he wasn't going to ever tell the Boogeyman that.
Pitch shifted uneasily; his nerves were on pins and needles. It was taking all of his will to contain himself and not rush North further. Intent on getting down to the reindeer no matter what North's supposed emergency. Pitch didn't know for sure, but he suspected that North was just giving him a hard time to be difficult. Still, even though he was roiling inside, Pitch nodded demurely lowering his head, "Of... of course; I understand." He lifted his head now eyes darting from North to the door, "Now that we've got that settled, might we be on our way?"
North continued to stand between Pitch and the door, moving his hands to put on his hips. He could tell that his lesson was not working on the dark man. The only thing Pitch cared about was his own goals, which at that current moment was getting to the deer. He knew Pitch could care less about what had happened to delay everything.
Seeing North take on a stalwart stance, Pitch backed a step away regarding North in confusion, "What... what are we waiting for?"
North shook his head, sighing. Finally he moved out of the way to let Pitch pass. "We will go now."
Finally! Pitch thought peevishly; this whole ordeal had already taken much too long! His silent worry of course was that Frost had already been by the stables to take care of his reindeer! Pitch was quick to lunge forward and tug the door open more than ready to depart.
North kept his annoyed glare as he followed after Pitch in silence.
Pitch had darted out of the door storming off and leaving North behind in lieu of making it to the reindeer at a steady clip. It wasn't as if the man didn't already know where Pitch was going. The brisk walk helped Pitch to relieve some of the tension he was feeling from being trapped in his room all night. He'd never seen the room as so small before …well at least not since the first couple days he's arrived here at the Pole.
Pitch gasped halting in his tracks when he saw a shadow milling about within the stables and realized a couple of the deer were already in the field. Someone was already here doing his job! A flash of rage ran through him as he charged into the stables now to see who would be usurping his detail.
Jack Frost caught sight of Pitch, smiling and waving toward him as he approached. "Hey!"
"What! Why are you here?!" Pitch exclaimed, "You're not supposed to be here until after the repairs are made! Until then, I will be taking care of these reindeer!" Pitch hit his chest with his fist angrily as if he needed to emphasize to Frost how he felt even though his voice had steadily been rising as he spoke to the winter sprite.
Jack only looked at him with confusion, not understanding why Pitch was so mad.
"PITCH!" North bellowed as he quickly lumbered into the stables. Even though he had shouted the Boogeyman's name, the volume of it made Jack wince and step back.
Pitch recoiled spinning around to see North quickly approaching. His anger washed away like ash in water, and Pitch's eyes widened as he cringed at the man's tone. His jaw worked to speak, but Pitch was stunned silent from the menacing glare the Russian was giving him.
"That is enough!" North said as he approached. "I have had it up to here with attitude, Pitch! You are in enough trouble as is. Doesn't that mean anything to you? If I was in as much trouble as you, I would take care to watch what I did!"
Pitch paled at the Cossack's words swallowing hard. Pitch had thought he was still quite a ways from North, and he hadn't realized that the big man would have kept stride with him so well. He nodded dumbly, "Yes, yes! I… I was just… coming in here to let Jack know he didn't need to bother himself with coming by the stables yet." He turned to Jack with a look of urgency that spoke that he wanted Frost to either leave or back up what he had just told North.
Jack looked between Pitch and North, finally holding up his hands and backing up, silently saying that he wanted no part of the drama.
Pitch spun back to North warily before turning his head to look back at Frost repeating this a few times to judge where everyone stood before he made his next move. Deciding Frost was more than willing to back off, he inched his way over towards the harnesses silently, not letting his eyes leave North as he did so. Pitch grabbed a harness off the wall as casually as he could muster, although with the tension in the air, he was moving a tad jerkily. Pitch hoped if he just started doing his chores that North would back off and find somewhere to fade into the background, so Pitch could work with the reindeer unbothered by him or Jack. Quietly he willed the boy to take the hint and just go away.
North continued to stand silently in the middle of the stable, not moving. He crossed his arms over his chest and eyed Pitch, watching his every move.
Jack said nothing, deciding it best that he slip out quietly.
Pitch was happy to see Jack leave loosening up a little to know the boy was done meddling where he didn't belong. Satisfied now, Pitch straightened and moved over to Donner's pen trying his best to ignore North now, so he could enjoy tending to his favorite of all the reindeer. Pitch was relieved that Jack had not tended to Donner before he was able to make it to him. These thoughts had Pitch frowning thinking on how North had caused this mix-up. Pitch would have already been done looking after the deer hours ago if he'd not moseyed about doing who knew what with his morning and wasting Pitch's time! Pitch was all out scowling now as he dragged Donner over to the tethering pole to tie him to it. Every now and then, Pitch would throw North a cursory glare as he secured Donner (although not enough to actually lock eyes with the man.)
"I cannot read your mind," said North at last. "But I can tell by your actions that you still have attitude problem. Just to let you know. Jack is going to fill in for you whether you like it or not."
Pitch squinted his eyes hatefully and sneered as he stalked over to the wall to snatch a grooming brush. He was doing his best to ignore North and pretend he didn't hear what he was saying although the man's words were eating at him making him livid to think about.
Finally, North moved. He walked over and picked up a stool and set it down where he'd been standing, seating himself on it and crossing his arms over his chest again.
Pitch huffed watching North out of his peripheral wondering how he could have entertained the notion that having the man breathing down his neck could have ever been considered enjoyable company!
He began grooming the reindeer, and as he worked, he wore a thin lined frown, a mark that he was still brooding over the fact that Jack had been here already cutting in on his tasks. After ten minutes of festering, Pitch's rationale towards the whole event had steadily worn away, and he growled, "If we would have gotten out here sooner, Frost never would have felt the need to come over here to check on the reindeer! Even 'he' thought they'd been out here untended for far too long," Pitch quipped as if this were justification enough for Pitch's own feelings.
"Pitch, you walk thin line." North stated simply, an edge to his voice. "You are acting petty and childish over this whole thing, and I do not like it."
Of course you'd think that; you pompous ignoramus! Pitch fumed but didn't dare say out loud. He scowled as he spat, "I am not! I just have a system of how I do things, and you've severely interrupted my routine! Why can't I have any feelings on the matter? I do almost everything you tell me, but it's never enough for you!" He groused feeling tired of the tight rein that he had been recently restricted to. It had had him nearing the boiling point several times over, but North's continued pecking at an open wound and finally stepped on Pitch's last nerve.
"That's too bad," said North, flatly, "And I suppose you think that activating my robot and torching the garbage conveyor didn't interrupt my routine nor routine of yetis."
Pitch only frowned deeply knowing better than to open his mouth regarding that subject. Instead he went back to silently grooming Donner. He decided to just focus his energy on the reindeer, so he could fight back the prickles of irritation he was feeling. He'd just be sure to take an elongated amount of time grooming each reindeer as payback to North for making him wait so long this morning. Pitch smirked thinking on this; now you can spend some time waiting on me fat man!
North regarded Pitch in silence for a long while, watching as he brushed the deer. He didn't want to take the strap to Pitch again, but he had a niggling feeling that Pitch was going to earn time over his knee again before long. It was his attitude that was the biggest problem right now, North thought.
"You are allowed to have feelings on matter." North finally said. "However, I don't think you have right feelings."
Pitch's lip curled momentarily as he fought back a venomous reply. After a moment he stated in a barely contained snarl, "You don't… why doesn't that surprise me. Then again, the shoe is not on the other foot is it? I wonder how you would fair if you were in my position slowly getting all your freedoms whittled away." Pitch kept his tone even and certainly gave off an air of passive-aggressiveness.
"And I don't think you have fully understood how much trouble you are actually in or seriousness of situation. After everything that has happened, I would have thought you would be more mindful of that mouth of yours lest it get you into more trouble with my strap."
Pitch blanched at the mention of the strap wishing to mollify the situation quickly, "Uh… it's …it's just banter North. I am fully aware of how dire my situation is. I didn't mean to offend… we're just talking here… about feelings. Nothing more," Pitch untethered Donner feeling the urge to vacate the premises and the conversation.
"Yes, we are talking. But your words are more than just banter. I can tell they are laced with venom."
Pitch muttered crossly as he moved toward the field, "Well maybe if you didn't threaten to beat me every five minutes, I'd be much better company!"
"What did you say, Pitch?" said North, his dangerous glare returning.
"Uh… nothing North! I was just talking to Donner here!" Pitch grimaced pulling on the deer to move a little faster through the doorframe. Pitch set the reindeer loose watching him a moment before turning regretfully to return to the stables. Pitch avoided eye contact with North now working his way over to the next stall to bring Dasher out and tether him to the pole as he'd done for Donner.
North sat and silently watched Pitch take each deer out. He sighed, closing his eyes. Pitch was doing so well about changing, now it seemed like he had taken the greatest step backward that he had taken so far.
Pitch continued to groom the reindeer, and as the time went on, he slowly simmered down taking joy in the simple pleasures of grooming the beasts. As his anger dissipated, he'd felt a little badly about giving North a hard time, but it was hard not to want to take a jab or two when he felt so limited as well as pushed into such extremes.
This prolonged punishment made it hard for him to not let all the littlest things bother him and build upon each other. He realized he needed to get it together, but he just couldn't stop feeling so mad all of the time now. It wasn't like when he was getting regular visits from the other guardians, riding reindeer, painting, or wandering about the Pole. Now he couldn't do anything he really wanted to do… well anything he wanted to do in the means that he wished to do it and when. His whole little world was getting turned upside down again, and for the worse.
North sat silently. Sometime during Pitch's outing with the deer, he had pulled a book out and began reading. Every so often he would look up to make sure Pitch was still in sight before turning his attention back to reading.
Pitch took as much time as he could span between each deer stretching a two hour job into almost four hours. North had finished his book, and Pitch was still shifting about aimlessly doing little things here and there in the stables and taking long pauses out by the gate in between each reindeer. He was finally placing the last reindeer in the field, and their coats gleaned with the length of time that Pitch had spent grooming them. The reindeer were certainly happy.
North was a bit miffed at first that Pitch was taking so long, but then he shrugged it off and let it slide, knowing that Pitch had a week's worth of grounding ahead of him. The man probably needed as much time as he could get outside of the bedroom he'd be confined to.
Once finished with the reindeer, Pitch found himself leaning over the gate just staring out and watching the reindeer romp about. He did enjoy watching them, it brought him a sense of peace. He needed it right now more than ever. He inhaled the crisp air closing his eyes as the breeze branded his face with its icy kiss whipping his hair about carelessly. He liked this, he'd have liked it even more if he were up to riding. Pitch frowned, as Jack had mentioned, he wouldn't be doing that for a while he thought sourly.
Pitch sighed, the repairs would be starting tomorrow, and as much as he wasn't really thrilled to do the work, he was kind of looking forward to having a project to do that would pass the time, and more than some small part of him wanted to fix what he'd destroyed to assuage his niggling guilt. He wondered restlessly how long it would take to recover from this particular stunt of his. It brought his mind back to Jack's words on moving on to a new level where the North Pole was its first level. He had to wonder then if it was possible for him to go into negatives in such regards. It was a depressing thought. He wasn't getting anywhere, and it served to demoralize his spirits now as he slumped on to the rail a small pout forming on his face.
North slowly walked up to silently stand beside Pitch.
Pitch glanced at North a moment before looking back out at the field, "I… I guess you're ready to go," he stated gloomily.
"No," North replied. "We can stay for however long you need to."
Pitch snorted softly, "I don't think I'll ever want to leave," he stated dryly. He really didn't want to go back to his room now. Pitch knew it was almost ridiculous how much he fought this, but having been confined so much in his long life, the thought of enduring it at all even in small amounts rose great levels of anxiety in him. There was scar tissue left from years alone that pushed him to dreading it and fighting it irrationally so just because it hit deep seeded triggers within him that even he didn't fully realize.
Confinement raised the threat of loneliness within him as well as abandonment. He didn't think that the guardians would banish him in such a way, but the mind plays funny tricks when it has been conditioned to be branded in such a way. It was hard to shed those feelings no matter how much the rational mind posed the truth of the matter.
"It will all be over with before you know it. And you will be back to old routine." North said. "Just keep looking forward."
Pitch harrumphed from the lack of empathy, "You know, instead of the whole solitary confinement bit, you could always mange more projects where I could actually be productive for you over just wasting away in my room," Pitch offered trying to sway North into reanalyzing the edict he'd decided on.
"I have reasons for doing what I do." North said with a hint of warning to his voice. "You are not in control of your punishments."
Pitch grimaced snapping, "It was just a suggestion. I'm not arguing. You've got the say; you've made that painfully clear," he complained.
"Pitch, I am tired of your attitude." North said. "Keep on going the way you are going, and I can easily make your grounding two weeks instead of one, not to mention more time over my knee to go along with it. I know you are disgruntled over punishment, but it is not end of world. Once you get through it, you will be allowed to return to your life as it was prior. A little change in your routine is not going to kill you."
Pitch looked wounded, "What? I'm not doing anything other than expressing myself! I'm not happy about all of this; am I not allowed to feel unhappy about being punished without a threat of getting punished even more? That's unfair! I swear you expect me to walk around here all smiles and cheer even though I'm miserable!" he smoldered.
"Pitch, I have nothing against you voicing your displeasure. Do it all you wish, but I do ask for you to drop your snappish and smart-aleck attitude. You are going to help with repairs and afterward you will be grounded for week. This is final. I do not ask or expect you to like it, but this is way life is. Once you get in your room, you can throw pity party all you wish. Or you can finally decide to approach it like a man and accept the fact that you messed up and brought all of this on yourself instead of trying to make me out as bad guy."
Pitch sneered at North's comment, "I'm not making you out to be the bad guy, and I'm definitely not throwing a pity party! I've already accepted your decrees; I don't have any choice but to; do I?"
North just raised an eyebrow.
Seeing he was getting dangerously close to upsetting the man, Pitch moved away from North opening the latch to the gate, "I …I suppose I'd better get the reindeer back to their pens."
North grunted and gave a quick nod. "Good idea,"
Pitch trudged along putting the reindeer away lost in thought thinking about what North said about his attitude. It was hard not to have an attitude, and snappish was his nature, or as he liked to refer to it as, witty. He did need to stop projecting his feelings and reel them back before they ended up getting him in trouble again he realized. Horrible flashbacks to the second day at the warren assured Pitch he needed to tone it back a bit or risk a repeat of such awful events and maybe even a longer sentence tacked on. He didn't want that, so taking a deep breath, Pitch affirmed to himself he'd keep a cool head and just get through this, so he could get back to better times.
North waited for Pitch in the stable, watching as he put the deer back into their proper pens. He figured enough had been said, so he chose to remain quiet.
Once Pitch had finished the task he moved over to North looking at him hopefully, "Where to next?" Pitch didn't want to go back to his room, but he didn't really have anywhere else he had in mind to go. He figured he'd give North the call to see where he wanted to go next.
North sighed, "I have work that needs doing. You either come with me or go back to room."
"What kind of work?" Pitch figured it was better to ask now rather than not know what he was getting himself into.
"Mostly sitting in my office looking over my list and other important papers. I plan to take a walk to the workshop later to oversee how the new toys we've come up with are turning out."
That didn't sound overly fun, but poking about North's office was likely more entertaining than sitting in his room. Besides, maybe some of the other guardians might come by to provide a better distraction Pitch decided. "Sounds like loads of fun," Pitch stated sarcastically.
"Well, if you are done with deer, we can make our way to my office." said North.
Pitch smiled, "After you." Pitch followed after North quietly now content to move along at North's pace now that he'd fully tended to the reindeer.
North quietly led the way to his office, opening the door and stepping inside once they had arrived. He waved toward a chair. "Make self comfy." he said as he walked around behind his desk and sat down.
Pitch wasn't interested in sitting of course and instead started to poke about while North busied himself in paperwork. Finding interest in the elaborate train set, Pitch pushed the train into motion watching it careen down the tracks doing impossible loops and turns. Pitch found the scene pleasing as a small smile formed on his face.
North looked up at him and smiled. He offered the Boogeyman a long sheet of paper. "Would you like a look?" he asked. "Due to recent circumstances, you have made first place on naughty list. Congratulations, you knocked Jack Frost down to second place."
Pitch looked up as North held out the paper and then grimaced at North's comment. Of course he would manage to beat out Jack at being the naughtiest. Pitch had to look now curious as to what the long list held, "Funny, I thought this list only accounted for the acts of children? Otherwise I'd have thought I'd have made the top of that list ages ago."
North smirked. "You would think," he said, turning his eyes back to another list in his hands. "Actually, I think the question is, 'I thought this list only accounted for mortals?' But if that were the case, then Jack would not be on there."
Pitch couldn't help but glance through the list now just to see what it covered. He paled to see some of the offenses he'd recently done such as purposefully taking as long as possible with grooming the reindeer just to make North wait on him. He hoped North didn't plan to read over this list any time soon! Interestingly enough all of his bad deeds weren't on the list. In fact it seemed only the most recent ones that were less bad and more, bad choices were on the list and nothing that had been malicious intent. It appeared the criteria (at least for his list) had to actually be considered 'naughty' and not nasty.
North continued to look over the list in his hands. "Find anything interesting on there?" he casually asked, not looking up.
"It's uh... strangely selective... how does it even know everything? Are you casting a spell to generate this list?" Pitch was baffled to conceive how the man could even keep up with all these lists. He supposed that's why he spent so much time in his office pouring over them. It seemed rather daunting.
North let out a small amused laugh. "Something like that, I suppose. It is very old magic I set in place long ago, when I first became Santa Claus. It has since become a part of Pole and just automatically does what it was meant to do. I've become so accustomed to it that I sometimes forget it is even there."
Pitch hoped that meant he'd avoid looking over his deeds as easily and see them just as forgettable. He rather didn't like a magical record of his wrongdoings especially spelling out things he'd done that had yet to be addressed. It did still fascinate him on its methods of writing down what was considered to be naughty, and he had to ask, "I noticed that this list only lists mostly minor offenses, not that the recent mistakes I've made are minor," he rectified so as to have no qualms that he thought what he'd done with the spell page and the robot would have been considered not noteworthy violations, "I just noticed that this list doesn't include some of the worst things I've done comparatively, well like trying to throw the world into darkness for one. Rather odd that something like that wouldn't make the list isn't it?"
"How many children do you know who have attempted to throw world into darkness?" North asked with a chuckle. "The magic was set up to monitor the naughty deeds of kids, not malicious and evil deeds of the wicked people of world."
This explanation only drew a frown to crease Pitch's face, "Preposterous! There you go comparing me to a child again North. I swear you just want to goad me now. As far I know, since I've come here, I haven't been transformed into a kid for your list's sake! If you didn't want to tell me how the list worked, than you should have just said so," Pitch huffed slightly miffed by what he saw to be a load of hogwash on North's part.
North finally took his eyes away from the list in his hand, looking at Pitch. A scowl appeared on his face. "Excuse me, Pitch?" he said. "I did tell you how list works. It is not my doing if you end up on it."
Pitch scowled back giving North a look that said that he clearly wasn't buying what North was selling him before turning back to the list once more and scanning all the deeds the list had chosen to scribe. There were several he found that had occurred outside of the Pole, but they too hadn't been vindictive. There were deeds like giving a child a nightmare of being bullied for bullying another child or the first time he had discovered that touching Sandy's dreamsand had corrupted it and the fun he'd had changing those dreams into nightmares. At that point, doing so was just for the sheer fact that he could do it and it was a magical moment even if it wasn't nice. This was of course before he'd made such grand schemes to use the sand as an opportunity to plunge the work back into the dark ages.
North regarded Pitch in silence for a while before speaking again. "It is not a bad thing to have one's actions and misdeeds counted as naughty instead of evil. And just because you do naughty things, it doesn't necessarily mean you are child. Even adults do naughty things sometimes." Although, as far as North was concerned, Pitch was extremely immature and childish, but he figured it best not to say any more about that subject.
Pitch peeked up from the long list seeming to perk at this rationalization liking it much better than North's first account, "Oh? So then that's better right? Does that mean I'm on the nice list at all? And if I am, does that mean I'll also get presents from you? If not, you can skip out on the coal." Pitch was grinning mirthfully now having read enough Christmas stories to understand a little more about what to expect from North's holiday.
North raised an eyebrow. "You cannot be on both lists at same time. You end up on nice list if you do nice things instead of naughty, Pitch."
Pitch pouted, "That's not very fair! I've done nice things, so you're saying that they don't even show up until I'm off the naughty list?" Pitch soured thinking, 'I'll never get on the nice list at this rate.'
"Precisely. If you do more naughty than good, you stay on naughty list. You get on nice list when you stop doing naughty things altogether." North calmly replied. "And it is not my fault if you stay on naughty list. The magic of the lists only show what is truth."
"Oh don't tell me these brats you service presents to every year have stopped doing naughty things altogether," Pitch scoffed indignantly, "Believe me, I've been around long enough to see what children get up to, and I assure you they don't go all year being nice to be able to stay on that little list of yours."
"Of course not," North replied. "They are just children, after all. I can't expect them to be perfect. I have bent rules a little bit every now and again. You, however, are not a child and should know better."
Pitch wrinkled his nose, "Oh I see. You can give me a child's punishments but none of the leniency. Well now that's double standards don't you think?"
"If you don't shut your mouth, you're going back to room." North glared at Pitch.
Pitch sneered in disdain at North's statement tossing the list back on North's desk with a slight harrumph as he turned away to move back over to the train set to get away from North's presence. Pitch didn't care about North's stupid list anyway. It wasn't like the fat man was going to be giving him a bunch of Christmas gifts and a stocking full of candy, so why should he care?
"And that is why you are on naughty list." North whispered to himself, shaking his head at Pitch's tantrum. He focused his attention back on his work, grateful that Pitch took his warning and shut up.
Pitch was frustrated from the conversation; it could be so hard to talk to North when he was being so rude to him! How dare he tell him to shut his mouth! This rankled Pitch to no end especially since he wasn't allowed any venue to retort verbally without risk of a very negative follow up. Fuming he moved around the side of the train set no longer as amused with the toy's expert maneuvering. He'd only moved over here because he was left with little recourse but to vacate the area he was in lest he make more trouble for himself. North's office wasn't huge, and after a few moments of standing over here, Pitch moved to the big stain glass window and gently sat on the large sill leaning delicately against its frame to just stare outside. He could be doing this very thing from his room Pitch mused grumpily, but at least here, the view was different.
North glanced over at Pitch. "Care to look at more of list?" he said, handing Pitch a small stack of papers.
Pitch turned a confused look up to North, "What?"
North shrugged. "You look bored. I just thought you might enjoy looking through other pages of list."
Pitch reached out taking it in his hands wondering why on Earth he'd care about some other miscreant's deeds when his face lit up remembering Jack was in second place now, so his numerous deeds most likely were also all over this list!
There were several bits and pieces Pitch noted on Frost's record, mischief causing a car wreck here, a little boy's tongue suffering severe swelling from getting stuck to a pole there, a snowball causing a bloody nose, oh, these were going to be fun to rub in the winter sprite's face! Guardian of fun to children ha! The poor boy would be feeling horribly guilt ridden by the time Pitch was through with him! Pitch couldn't help but titter gleefully as he absorbed the multitude of offenses.
"Something amuses you?" said North, glancing up and noting the smile on Pitch's face.
Pitch smiled a little too gleefully flushing a tad at his intentions as his eyes flicked up to North, "Oh! Uh… nothing much… just amusing little read to see all the things these… rascally kids can get up to." Pitch couldn't contain the mischievous smile that now painted his face.
Smiling, North gave a chuckle. "I thought maybe you might find it worth your time." He picked up another stack of papers and handed them to Pitch. "Why not read some of nice list, too?"
Pitch wasn't at all interested in this list, there wasn't going to be any dirt to gather on Frost, and even without Frost, at least some of the antics some of the children wound up on the naughty list for was at least entertaining. Pitch doubted the nice list would have anything worth reading, so he held a hand up stating flatly, "I think I'll pass."
"Pity." said North. "I thought maybe it would give you some inspiration."
Pitch rolled his eyes as he spat sarcastically, "Somehow I doubt reading about how little Tommy walked old ladies across the street is going to spark some born again renewal in me to do good deeds."
North shook his head, turning his eyes back to the paper in his hands. "I cannot force you to be good, Pitch. Changing and doing good will have to be your choice."
Pitch scowled, "Do you really think reading a list of good deeds is going to help me become more prone to do good deeds? I mean, it's only a list, it's not osmosis."
North looked up annoyingly, cocking an eyebrow. "No, I don't. I never said it would. You are one who brought up that subject. But it never hurts to read the good that others do so it might inspire us to do same." He turned back to his paper. "Like I said, choice is yours to make. I cannot force you. But just remember that no one but yourself holds you where you currently are."
"Pfft! That's funny, and here this whole time I thought I could leave any time I wanted to... oh wait, that's right, I can't. I really am being held where I currently am, and oddly forced. I guess that blows that theory out of the water now doesn't it?" Pitch smirked haughty.
North rolled his eyes. He pointed a finger at Pitch. "See, your attitude. It keeps you from stepping forward. Like I said, you are holding yourself where you currently are. You were doing so good not long ago when you were painting eggs and experimenting with Bunny and dreams. You were stepping forward and changing. Now look at yourself. Just take a few minutes to button that mouth of yours and examine yourself. You say that you are not treating me as bad guy, but your mouth and attitude speak differently. Every time you open up to say something, nothing comes out but haughtiness and bitterness directed towards me like you secretly blame me for the bad that has happened to you. I think you lie to yourself without even realizing. You still cannot see that you and only you have been the one to bring downfall on your head."
Pitch sighed, of course he was the one with the attitude while North just told him repeatedly to stop talking never allowing him to let him speak his mind, "I don't have an attitude, I just have a differing opinion. Never once did I disagree that I made mistakes, and I have even been made to admit them fully. Perhaps you just see it as bitter or haughty because there's a bit of truth in what I said? Did you ever consider that for once you might actually be wrong on something, or can the great Nicholas St. North never err?"
North grunted. Typical, he thought. Of course Pitch wouldn't see that he has an attitude problem. Anyone with his kind of attitude never stops long enough to realize they have a problem. He sighed. "And what exactly am I wrong about, Pitch? Enlighten me."
Pitch snapped, "Well, for starters, all I did was say I wasn't interested in reading over the nice list, and suddenly I'm giving you an attitude and blaming you for what has happened to me. Perhaps it's just that I think reading a litany of drab deeds that get a pat on the head sound about as fun as plucking my eyes out. That doesn't mean that I don't want to get back to normal the way things were before you put me on a leash."
North shrugged, remaining calm. "All I did was offer you list to read. You chose not to. I am not mad about that. For records, you have been giving attitude before we even came in office. That part had nothing to do with me giving you list to read."
"I told you, I'm not happy with this new arrangement, so it isn't easy for me to just act like I am. I'm doing my best to contain any ill feelings, but I can't help if they seep out every now and then. It's a testament to the misery I'm having to cope with," Pitch complained.
North nodded. "Alright, you are not happy. That is understandable. I have already said that I do not expect you to like it, and I do not expect you to be happy all the time. What more do you want me to say? What is it that you wish me to do? Already I feel like I am repeating myself with you. I am trying my best to help you, because I want to see you change and do something good with your life, but you are making my job very difficult."
Pitch saw North was looking strained and was earnestly trying to work with him, and he felt a little bad for giving him such a hard time. But didn't North see this was also hard on him to? "I'm not trying to make things difficult for you. I just… find it hard not to project how I feel sometimes. If you were having to deal with what I'm on the end of, even with it being my fault, you'd understand. It's not easy to just pretend to be happy when I can't go the places I want to go and take care of the reindeer as I see fit. This… further imprisonment after I was already so harshly punished just feels a bit like overkill don't you think? I mean what is the purpose of it? I'm not going anywhere already, so why can't I move about without a babysitter? Do you think I'm going to take off or something?"
"Pitch, we all go through hard times. It is way of life. You are not only one that has faced difficulties and hardships. The rest of us have faced difficulties, too, and have gone through times where it has been difficult to be happy. But we have overcome them and we are here now." He heaved a big sigh. "As for your grounding… You have proven to me during all of this that you cannot keep your nose in your own business and cannot keep away from places you are not allowed to be, even after you've been told not to go there. Due to this, I feel need to put some restrictions on you for a time. Your grounding will be time for you to reflect deeply on the things that put you there. It will also be time to test your ability to obey a simple order. If you so much as sneak out of your room during the grounding, you will face my strap again. If you do not like grounding, I suggest that you learn to ask permission first before you go into some area that might be off limits."
A small pout formed on his lips as Pitch stiffened at the mention of the strap. It was apparent North did in fact plan to use that vicious device at any juncture he deemed called for a spanking now. He of course had no plans on upsetting North any further as he silently squirmed under the man's serious glare and the well-remembered chafing of his most recent strapping. It echoed a firm warning to heed North's words. As the Cossack spoke, Pitch's eyes had fallen away due to the embarrassment North was making him feel. He could manage not to go places he wasn't allowed! That whole terrible event was enough to teach him to stay away from any mysterious locked doors at the Pole most certainly! He didn't need to be grounded to learn that lesson! But, Pitch didn't comment further on the subject since the answers North was giving him tended not to be to his liking. It was better just to drop the subject Pitch decided. He'd just solider through this and by the end of it, he could put this horrible incident far behind him. "I… I will. I'll ask permission from now on," Pitch said softly still not raising his eyes up to meet North's as a familiar burning shame raced across his cheeks and ears to say this to the man.
"Good to hear." North's face softened. "Pitch, I don't do this to make your life harder or miserable. I do it to teach you and to help you. You have been alone for so long that you need guidance, whether you want to accept fact or not. I told you to stay away from the area that housed the robot to keep you safe. But you disobeyed and went there anyway and almost got self killed. Do you see now how important it is to obey?"
Pitch folded his hands in his lap now and nodded lightly, "I… I do." North's words wrung through to him as Pitch thought once more on the near death experience.
North nodded. "This is what I want you to think about while you are spending time in room."
Pitch wanted to pipe in that he had in fact thought about the event quite extensively, but that too he was sure would not go over well, so he only let out a disheartened sigh. Some things were just better left unsaid.
North continued to eye Pitch a few more minutes before he turned his attention back to his work.
Seeing North return to his work, Pitch just watched him for a while before turning back toward the window to lay his head on the frame. He wasn't really staring at anything in particular, but the high view did lend vast room for thoughts as Pitch ruminated on his day thinking on how he'd fallen to this point. He hadn't even realized how far he'd come regarding his progress with the guardians until he was put in the position he was in right now.
He'd actually had it pretty good before, he realized belatedly. He let out a soft and humorless dry laugh thinking back to when he'd first came to the Pole and how very angry and indignant he'd been. The hate and malice he had carried then. It had been washed away with both firmness and kindness combined where he'd started to flourish and was even gaining respect and encouragement for his actions. Now he had slipped back to some weird place in between that was almost undefinable in regards to his station among the guardians.
He knew they still cared about him, and he found he cared about them too, and this was a good feeling. What he didn't know was what he needed to do to stop finding himself in these dire situations that he kept managing to slip into. It was both perplexing and troubling.