[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

[unetrustworthy]

"There was one place..." her fingers followed down a few streets, to a small square located in what looked like a back alleyway in Metal. "I've only been there once, but they let me barter for some of the gifts I'd gotten for Christmas this year. Though the old lady was really nice and kept smiling a lot at me, so it might have been a fluke."

For all her insecurities, Midii knew that she was kind of cute. That some older adults saw her as cute. It helped her get a lot of what she'd needed back home.

[wintershepherd]

Jack had begun writing down his own notes, his script legible and dated looking. He glanced up long enough to flash her a cheeky grin when she mentioned the old lady who had smiled at her and purposely mistaking her words remarked, "I hardly think anyone smiling at you is a fluke."

[unetrustworthy]

She bristled, hiding behind her hair as she shook her her head.

"N-not the smile." Although...once upon a time, that would have been a fluke, too. "I meant the bartering."

[wintershepherd]

"Oh," Jack said, smirking as though suddenly understanding the context. "Well, that too I suppose. So this works well, since there's a couple of cafes in that same area that serve food people from Earth will probably recognize."

[unetrustworthy]

"I can write up a list, if you like. In English. I'll even have somebody check it over for me to make sure I do it right."

[wintershepherd]

"What, you don't think I can check it over for you?" Jack chuckled. "I know my French is kind of awful but English actually is my first language..."

[unetrustworthy]

"No!" This time, she nearly squeaked. Why was this whole conversation suddenly not going the way she'd hoped? "I mean...you're busy. You have this whole place to run. I didn't want to take up any more of your time than necessary."

[wintershepherd]

The spirit reached over and gave Midii a playful ruffle of her blond hair, though since he couldn't fully touch her it only stirred the hair a little; it had been more for the implied friendliness of it.

"No need to get so flustered. It's good for me to keep busy, Midii. And my time is mine to give to whoever I want to take it up. If you'd prefer to have someone else check your notes over, I don't mind. But it's no trouble for me."

[unetrustworthy]

"I'm not."

Did it count as a lie if she only said it because she were trying to convince herself?

"If you're sure you don't mind...I guess I could start on the list now?"

[wintershepherd]

"Sounds good," Jack said, pushing back from the table. "You don't mind if I sweep while you're writing, do you?"

Of course, he'd swept not even an hour before she arrived. He just thought that, given how already self-conscious Midii was, she could use a little bit less attention on her.

[unetrustworthy]

He was right. The slightly less intense focus, combined with the gentle white noise of the broom, would help ease her nerves considerably.

"No. I don't mind at all."

Once she had a specific task to focus on--and then translate to the best of her ability--she fell silent. All signs of unease faded away into a far more certain, confident posture. For a time, it was as if she forgot Jack was even there.