[OPEN] Life's flushest feather...

[wintershepherd]

Characters: Jack Frost & various
Date: Misc January
Location: Assorted around the city
Situation: Collection of threads for the latter part of January. Ping me if you want a starter!
Special Note: Jack will have Baby Tooth with him unless noted otherwise and her visibility follows the UPDATED!! belief guidelines as Jack's do.
Warnings/Rating: TBA in threads if needed.


I. WELCOME CENTER
After his announcement of the welcome center, Jack was pleased to find that visitors to it picked up considerably as did the number of volunteers who offered to help out. In fact more people than he had expected had agreed to lend their time and aid and Jack was currently sitting on the floor in front of the desk, legs folded up under him and back against the wooden front. A spreadsheet was in front of him and he chewed absently on the end of his pencil, trying to redo the schedule to give everyone some time and on a separate piece of paper was some jotted notes about finances. He was running the costs of the Welcome Center out of pocket while for the most part, the fishing shop generally broke even for paying his employees and necessary supplies.

He was all right with math but he'd been staring at this for a little while and rubbed his eyes, stretching his arms over his head. "Hey Baby Tooth," he said, twisting his head to locate the fairy. "You hungry? Seems like a good time for lunch."

II. PLAYTIME
Even with how busy things got, Jack always made time in the afternoons to stop by some of the playgrounds and hang out with the kedan children. They talked about what they were learning in school, how amazed they were to watch the turtle hatchlings trundling their happy selves all around the city. How they had learned how to shift their forms in a new way and proceed to show it off, for which Jack was always effusive with his praise and admiration. They'd practice alternations that increased their resistance to the cold so that they could romp around in the snow longer, the novelty of their first real winter having not yet worn off for them as it had for many of the adults.

Most of the time he'd just sit with them, enjoy their company and they his. When they got tired from their play, Jack would scoop them up and deliver them snugly to their homes and so it was not unusual to see the spirit carrying one of them around sundown through the various Sectors.

Comments

[wintershepherd]

The winter teen shrugged, shutting the door behind them. "Everyone needs a chance to fly under the radar sometimes," he replied. It was what Spock had offered to Jack after the most recent debacle with the magic in his snow and if Jack could offer that tiny bit of sanctuary to someone else, he did so with a full appreciation of what it might mean.

"Hungry? I was getting some food out for lunch." Then he raised his voice to call into the other room. "Baby Tooth, we've got company."

[washitaway]

Booker grimaced a little - he didn't quite understand the phrase 'under the radar', but he could grasp the general idea well enough. "A lot of her things are still there," he pointed out, almost to himself, as if in explanation.

"Baby... Tooth?"

[wintershepherd]

Jack nodded, both in understanding of Booker's half explanation and in agreement to the faerie's presence and not a few seconds later, the tiny faerie came zipping out into the main room, hovering at his eye level and chirping a bright greeting.

"She says hi."

[washitaway]

Booker knew Jack wasn't... well, human, per se. He knew, and accepted it, the way he came to accept things like tears and multiple universes. They obviously existed, whether he wanted to believe or not, so there it was.

Booker blinked, and suddenly he saw - oh. "Er. Hi. Guess... she's from your world?"

[wintershepherd]

"Yeah, she's a miniature tooth fairy," he replied easily. "So, lunch? I have tea... coffee too, though I might get you to tell me how you want it. I don't drink the stuff."

[washitaway]

"Tea is fine," he said quietly. Elizabeth always made tea - especially when someone was upset. He supposed this qualified, though she wouldn't be making him tea anymore.

"I'm still sorta... working my way back to solid food, so I don't need anything real heavy." Ah, hangovers.

[wintershepherd]

Booker's remark drew a sound of amusement from the spirit as he waved vaguely to the living room. "Make yourself at home," he invited, ambling back into the kitchen. A few moments later he returned with some mugs and a tray of sliced fruits and nuts, crackers and cheeses.

[washitaway]

"I appreciate the hospitality," Booker said with a sigh when Jack returned with the food. "It's - I wouldn't expect many to look at me kindly after my little... display."

[wintershepherd]

Jack curled his hands around his mug and took a seat across from the man, letting a few whorls of frost decorate the face so that it cooled the liquid inside. He considers Booker's words for a moment before choosing his response carefully.

"It's not a great idea to judge people when they're at their worst, Booker. If everyone did that, I don't think anyone would have friends."

[washitaway]

"Maybe," Booker said quietly, staring into his own mug with a dark look. "I've done terrible things. Things that can't - shouldn't - be forgiven. I wanted to believe redemption was possible, but I can't. Trying to fix things just makes them worse."

[wintershepherd]

The spirit nods, Booker's words pulling a faint depreciating smile from him. Boy do I know how that feels, he thinks. Trying to fix things only causes a bigger mess...

But he glances back up at the older one after a moment and hopes that his sincerity carries through in his tone. "There's two things you missed about what you just said, Booker: that you know they were terrible things, and that you tried to fix them. I don't know how that stacks up against 'redemption', if at all. But it tells me that you're not the same person you were when you made those mistakes, that you've tried to get better. And for me, at least... that's worth something. Worth a chance to let you keep trying."

[washitaway]

"But it's not just my life I've ruined," Booker points out with a scowl. "It's hers."

[wintershepherd]

Having been in the same position, Jack knows when to stop pushing and let the words he's already said be given consideration, like North had done for him. And while Jack is under no illusions that the scope of his advice will ever come close to that of the Guardian of Wonder, his intention here isn't to give Booker some kind of grand revelation about his life. He'd offered a place to stay and that was not going to come with any kind of lecture.

(He didn't have to guess which "her" was being referred to. And Jack did intend to press into the details of that at a later date, just in case... much later.)

Instead he leaned forward and pulled some crackers off the plate, a silent reassurance that he was not looking for an argument here.

[washitaway]

It was good, the non-judgment. It wasn't that Booker didn't think he deserved it, but more that he was doing enough judging of himself for the time being. Having more added to the pile might've just sent him spiraling downward again.

"My memories got all jumbled up," he offers, still skirting around the real issues. "I forgot important things, but now I remember everything."

[wintershepherd]

Something flickers behind Jack's bright blue eyes at the mention of memories lost and found, but he nods, silently inviting the man to continue if he wants.

[washitaway]

"It hurts, all those memories crowding in at once," Booker says after a moment's thought. "Not sure what's real and what's your mind playin' tricks on you.

"And then knowing the worst of it - the terrible things, the things you regret most - those are the real ones."

[wintershepherd]

"Booker," Jack breathed out unhappily, wishing he could offer something to lessen the pain the man was going through.

[washitaway]

Booker shook his head, as though to absolve Jack of any responsibility for him.

"Now that I remember, I can't believe I forgot. Twenty years, I hated myself."

He flexed his right hand, the one with 'AD' scarred on the back of it.

[wintershepherd]

"If it's any consolation, that seems to be the going feeling when recovering memories," Jack said lowly. "But you're still alive, and she's still-- it's not out of your reach."

[washitaway]

"She's here," Booker said with a nod. "She's safe. Away from that place. That's the most important thing."

[wintershepherd]

"Then, and forgive me for stealing Bunny's line here but there's still hope," Jack replied kindly, eyes crinkling slightly at the corners with gentle mirth. "So dry out and rest up. And maybe get a haircut, if you're feeling ambitious later."

[washitaway]

Hope. For her, maybe. He'd do anything to give her the hope of a better life, at this point. Maybe in the beginning she was just a job, but she was so much more than that, now. His daughter.

He didn't really believe in hope for himself, anymore. But for her, that was all he wanted.

"Maybe," he said, almost self-consciously running a hand through his hair. Hell, Jack was probably right about that, too.

[wintershepherd]

The good news for Booker was that Jack was perfectly willing and capable of outlasting pretty much everyone's distrust in themselves. For now though, the spirit just snags a fresh piece of fruit off the plate between them and grins, as though Booker's halfhearted agreement is the best thing he's heard all day.

"You'll have some time to settle in, I have a shift at the Welcome Center in an hour or so," he offered. Actually his shift didn't start for several hours yet, but he figured he'd gracefully bow out of the suite so Booker didn't feel quite so self-conscious. The man had already shown up, that was bound to be enough of a concession for one day for someone with Booker's (and Jack's own, to be honest) independent disposition.

[washitaway]

Booker nodded. Jack was being more than fair - he was being downright kind, which was not something he was very used to in his life. The world Booker knew was not, on the whole, a particularly kind or compassionate one, not to a man like him.

"Thanks," he said. "Really. This is... You're a good guy, Jack. One of the best."

[wintershepherd]

Jack smiled quietly, though it seemed as though he didn't take the remark to heart. "No need to get carried away," he joked instead.

He picked up his mug and drained the last of it, then unfolded gangly limbs from his seat and headed back into the kitchen. While he was there he scribbled the name and address of a barbershop on a piece of paper and stuck it next to the sink where Booker could find it before heading back to the main room.

"You want me to bring anything back?" he asked, gathering his staff in preparation to leave. He rather hoped the man wouldn't ask for more booze, but he purposely hadn't put any kind of stipulation on Booker's staying here.