longestnight_old | Everyone Loves the Sleigh

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Everyone Loves the Sleigh

They'd had a few days to get settled in. In that time, the Yetis and Elves had been nothing but welcoming, making sure the gang had a never-ending supply of treats, cocoa, and eggnog, as well as more wholesome food to nosh on. Even though they had work to do - and seemed to enjoy doing it - the Yetis had been helpful in getting them all settled in, into rooms specially designed to each of their specifications. If anything had a want or need of something, like new clothes, or a new pair of shoes, they'd been quick to provide.

Jack and Bunny had done their part to make the new folks feel welcome, as well, by showing them around and socializing, but they'd been in and out constantly during the last few days. Some of the times they'd come back in, they'd looked a touch on this side of ragged.

True to their word, despite the fact that they'd been busy putting out fires caused by Kuk and Its minions, they had reached out to a few contacts of theirs to see about helping the others get home.

That was why Jack was gathering them all up on the balcony in front of the globe.

"Okay, guys, we have some good news. We managed to get in touch with an ally of ours. We think she can give us more information about what exactly you are. Like...how much you were changed to be like us, how the mechanics of the world have changed to pull you in. It might give us some headway in figuring out how to get you back home. She wants to meet you."

[ooc: Bendytimed to after they negotiate Tony being allowed to stay at the Pole.]

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Mami looks at Howard with clear concern in her eyes. She knows he was starving when he arrived, he's had a terrible life, but there can't be an entire world ruled by despair, can there?

And now all of existence might fall as well. She looks away from Howard's insect-eating with a faint nose-wrinkle of disgust and sighs.

"This doesn't change a thing. Every life we might protect is important, and we absolutely must succeed---that's as true now as ever. We learn what we can, form a strategy, and win, no matter how impossible it looks. Right?"

Maybe they'll let her add her firepower now, she hopes.

Sam watched Howard closely. "Yeah, well. The FAYZ may deserve it...whatever the FAYZ is. But there are always going to be people who don't. And, frankly, that's not a chance I'm willing to take."

He'd pulled Lucifer and Michael back into the Cage rather than let them take the world apart. This wasn't any different for him.

He nodded to Mami, hands in his pockets. "I think that's pretty much exactly what we're going to have to do. It's probably going to take a hell of a lot of work, especially if we're trying to find a way to get some people back to their worlds at the same time."

"I wasn't talking to any of you," Howard snaps, going back to picking at the lock and listening.

Zac straightens up once Katherine starts explaining more, and Jack gets a sympathetic look as he points out the scope of things. Mami and Sam get a grin, however. "Yeah, it's a pretty tall order, but we gotta do what we can. I know I didn't get pulled here to stand around and look pretty, that's for sure."

"You have to do what you have to only if you choose to stay or we can't get you home. This shouldn't have to be your fight. Not when it's the result of our failings with Pitch - "

Here her eyes flashed to Bunny and Jack in a way that wasn't accusative but rather guilty.

"The myths of the world stood back and let the Guardians fight our battles for us. After Pitch unleashed Kuk, instead of joining in, we hid, or we helped in small ways that let us fool ourselves into thinking we were making a difference, and because of it, we were picked off one by one as we let them fight alone." There was bitterness in her voice here, anger at herself. "If anyone should have to fight, it's those of us that didn't stand up to do it the first time."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a strange device, a little sphere made of clockwork parts. Winding it up, she held it in her hand and watched it start to spin.

"In any case, if we can get you home, we will. That's what this is for. It's why I brought you here." The little thing whirred over all of their hands and light started to shoot out of it, scanning them all.

"The villagers in Santoff Claussen helped me design it. It's fueled by the joy of children. This theme park is imbued with years of accumulated happiness from countless children that enjoyed themselves in it over the years; it only closed because of structural damage in the 921 earthquake. Hopefully, that means I'll get clear readings and that the information it provides me will be able to help me manufacture a way to send you all home."

While listening to Katherine, Zac folds his arms, then tilts his head side to side once she's finished, considering her words. He looks a bit amused, actually. "Now hold on - you go and tell us that this shouldn't be our fight despite our worlds being threatened, then kick yourself over inactivity that caused this?" His hands move to rest at his hips, and his expression grows a bit more determined.

"If anything, that's plenty of motivation to throw in. I dunno about everybody else, but having to say that kinda thing to the people at home isn't on the list of stuff I wanna do."

"Okay, aside from the sheer super-villainy of the phrase 'fueled by the joy of children,' which I'm prepared to overlook because you seem like a very nice myth...lady, I am all for this plan."

Yeah, he says that, but he's still keeping a cautious eye on the whirring sphere while he talks, because you never know.

"Mostly because Goo Boy's right; it would be extremely awkward to go home and tell my best friend he has to miss the new season of True Blood because I was too lame to step up. So I'm sure all of us—with the possible exception of Misdemeanor over there," yes, Howard, that was aimed at you, "—are up for saving the world. Worlds. Plural. All of them. But there's no reason we can't multitask with the magic Santa ball."

"Uh..." Sam blinks, then points at the new guys. "Pretty much what they said, honestly. Though less with the True Blood and more with...well, you guys are in danger. We'd have to be pretty big assholes..." He pauses, glancing to Howard. "Or, you know. Have other things on our minds. What I mean is that I'm all for finding ways for people to get home if that's what they want to do. But I can't just turn my back on people who are in trouble."

Especially when those people were kids. Or entire worlds.

"Well then call me an 'asshole', 'cause I'm perfectly happy to walk, run, or freakin' crawl away from a fight if it keeps me and my friends breathing," Nico said, rolling her eyes at Sam. "Especially when I'd otherwise have to deal with people whining about how people who actually try to deal with the problem get to be 'protagonists'."

She stared mulishly at Katherine, chin up and eyes hard. "But that requires that we have somewhere to run to. And if Jack and Bunny's boss trusts us to be useful more than he trusts you and yours, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of 'go home, everything will be fine'."

Katherine's jaw set much like Nico and she took a step forward, her goose sensing her agitation and honking angrily at Nico.

Katherine was held back by the crook of Jack's staff, which he reached out with right after he stopped pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Let's just get a few things straight. One, no one is an as -- a jerk for not wanting to help out, whatever the stakes are. Some people just should not have to fight this thing and there's nothing wrong with them not wanting to."

He stepped in between Katherine and Nico now.

"Which brings me to two, yes there are some myths that are living with their heads under the sand and letting us take a bullet for them and yes, they need to go fall down a hole, but most of them are the equivalent of civilians. Powers or no, they don't know how to fight or their powers aren't really that great. Once you take an oath to be a Guardian, if you get enough believers it's like the difference between Superman and - and that Wonder Twin that can only turn into a bucket of water. A lot you are probably more experienced at dealing with this than the myths that are left, and plenty of the stronger ones went out fighting. That doesn't mean you should have to fight this fight but a lot of the people left can't hack it power-wise like Bunny or I can or couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag."

He went on, "Which brings me to three..."

He turned to look at Katherine, his face softening into a look that was incredibly sympathetic considering their contentious relationship.

"You're not a fighter - I mean, you can hold your own, sure, but what you've been doing, the scouting, the spying, the research - you're the only one left that can do that. You have more resources than Bunny and he doesn't have the time to chase what ones he has left down. We'd have been sunk long before these guys showed up if it weren't for everything you brought us. If you're on the front lines and you get caught, we don't stand a chance."

He went on, "So, yes, we could really use the others stepping up, but you're being too hard on yourself, and it's pretty obvious why."

His voice went very, very soft.

"I know you're worried about him, but we'll get North back, Katherine. And the others, too."

Edited 2013-06-16 07:43 (UTC)

At that, at the mention of Santa's name, Katherine stood there, fists clenched, mouth set in a very thin line. Then her lips trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes, and there was nothing to stop them from rolling down her cheeks.

It was silent and only lasted a moment before she wiped at her face.

"Yes. Of course." She cleared her throat, trying to pretend the previous thirty seconds didn't happen as she wiped at her eyes.

The little device finally flew back to her hand and she pressed a few little switches that caused a shimmering display filled with strange, arcane characters pop up.

"It looks as if you now have the same makeup as the rest of the myths of this world. That means eating is optional, you'll only need to sleep every few months or when injured, you won't age, and you'll heal quickly, your bodies constantly restoring you to the same state."

She looked up at them. "You might also find you have new powers and abilities. They'll get stronger if you manage to gather believers, exponentially stronger if you decide to take the Oath of the Guardians and truly become a Guardian. It involves more than Manny just choosing you. But I must warn you, taking the oath would come at a cost. Right now, you can survive with no believers, even if it means you can't interact with humans. As a Guardian, if you lost your believers, you would simply cease to exist. That's what would happen if the children were to stop believing in Jack and Bunny, for instance - and the others. The other catch is that the oath is for life - an eternal life - so there's risk it might bind you to this world and to the children here, making it impossible to change you back to your true forms and send you home without killing you."

She added, "You were chosen by Manny for a reason, though. You most likely have centers - that's what the Guardians call their focus. Jack's is fun, Bunny's is hope, North's is wonder, the Sandman's is dreams, the Tooth Fairy's is memories, and Anansi the spider is the Guardian of stories. These things are what they put into the world and what they protect in children and knowing that, playing to their strengths, gives them considerable power. That might still hold true of all of you if you manage to discover your centers, even if you don't take the Guardian oath and make the full conversion. It's worth a little self-reflection, I'd think."

She looked at a few more readings.

"I'm also seeing something that might be like...a tether, perhaps, tying you back to your worlds. There is a chance you may be snapped back home at random - and...and perhaps back here again. It'll take further research and investigation to make sure I'm reading this correctly, however, but it could possibly be used to send you home permanently..."

She pressed another button and countless shimmering runes and magical words suddenly sprang to life in front of her, unimaginably huge amounts of data.

"The rest...is going to need some time for analysis," she said flatly.

Edited 2013-06-16 07:58 (UTC)

Well, at least that tension, thick as it was, seems to have mostly passed quickly.

Zac can't help but look down at himself curiously as Katherine explains things, and once she's done, he pokes at his torso, making himself jiggle a bit in the process. "Well, good thing it's a metaphorical center, and not a physical one, or I'd be in trouble," he comments with a half-hearted chuckle - maybe the humor will help make things smooth over a bit better.

Howard's shoulders are shaking slightly as he works at picking open the food cart. It takes a moment for even him to realize he's actually laughing. He stands up and takes a deep breath, one of those scrapey breaths that feels like snow shoveling instead of sighing.

"This. Is such. Bullshit. This is bullshit! This is you guys laying it on thick with the wishy-washyness about how ohhh, we don't have to do it, but Gigantor and the Stooge over here," he gestures to Sam and Shawn, "playing up the guilt trip about how it's so inconceivable a bunch of kids want to go off to fight the forces of I don't know, the goddamn Boogieman. Your whole schpiel about how this really isn't our fight? Bullshit. You already decided for us that it is our fight and you're just going to give us the illusion of a choice so you don't have to drag us in kicking and screaming. I don't care if it's you or this Manny goon who decided on us specifically, you're a bunch of fucking opportunists trying to get us to help out with the dirty work without us resenting you. Too late for that. Too fucking late for that!"

Is now the time for a tantrum? It's always the time for a tantrum. Howard slaps his hand against the top of the food cart so hard a bunch of birds nesting on top take panicked flight.

"And if I have a center, it's the center of fuck you guys, you're a bunch of manipulative con artists and I hope kids stop believing in fairies just to spite you."

They have no choice? Huh. It hasn't seemed like that to her quite yet---she's just happened to make it already. Mami draws herself up to her full height, about the same as his, and shakes her head, curls bouncing.

"I know what it's like to have no choice about a fight. To be stuck between two almost equally awful possibilities and have to pick one. That's how I joined a fight in the first place, but I don't regret it because it was better than the alternative."

It was, wasn't it? She does have regrets, but not about that specific oath.

"I understand---I don't think any of us particularly like what's going on, and it's hard not to be able to verify our information. It's healthy to be suspicious, but what good would their deaths do?"

Katherine's new understanding of the scope of their task left Bunny silent in thought for more than a moment.

The number of adults prepared to take up the cause was heartening - but that only highlighted just how unsuitable the teenagers were, how inappropriate it was that they had been asked by their presence to participate in this fight.

Not to mention the fact that Howard had valid points. Bunny and Jack had told them the best of their knowledge, but the best of their knowledge had been wildly optimistic. Now, though Jack was doubtless as determined to continue NOT having the children fight as Bunny was, no matter what they did - this battle had become theirs as well.

He reached to Jack, putting a paw on his shoulder as Howard exploded at them, flinching only a little at the severity - and sincerity - of the boy's vitriol.

And there went Mami, responding with the same resolve she was much too young to have. There was clearly so much more to her situation that he and Jack were going to have to learn about in order to understand why she was so much keener to fight than a child like her had to be.

"The only thing this changes is that now it IS your problem as well as ours," he said, addressing Howard and Nico particularly. "That doesn't mean anyone's getting sent to the frontlines who's not suited to it."

That still included Mami, in his book. Though getting her to agree to that was going to take some work.

"The kids're staying hidden. The Pole's still an option until we get you home, and there are other places you can hole out that haven't been compromised."

His warren, for example. He was prepared to hide the children there, even if he still wanted to learn a little more about the adults before giving them a pass.

He spared a glance at Howard, a very brief one. It hurt - not that Howard hated him, because his skin was too thick for that, and they had so many more concerns now than whether or not children under their protection resented them - but that there was nothing he knew to do better for the kid.

"What he said."

Jack could only stare at Howard with a mix of annoyance and open sadness.

What had happened to him to make him that bitter? That distrusting? Something had caused him harm. It always stung when they ran into the ones they couldn't help - that it was too late to help, and all he could really feel in the face of it was helplessness.

That annoyance was still there, though, and though the patience won out far more often than it used to, that didn't mean the immaturity had entirely been put to rest.

"I hate to break your lashing-out-at-somebody-because-the-universe-is-scary, authority-figure-hating bubble, but at this point, I don't care what you do as long as you don't get yourself killed or get in the way of us doing our jobs. Despite Manny picking you, you're not the Chosen Ones. You're not the ones that have to restore balance to the Force. You don't have a clue what your powers are or what you're doing, so if you were to fight, you'd be just as likely to trip us up as help."

The flow of teenage irritability stemmed somewhat, though his hand gestures as he spoke were expressing that there was still a little bit of it in there.

"Pick what you want to do, whether you want to fight (which is not our preference for anyone under eighteen), want to stay safe until you go home, or want to run off somewhere in our world and fend for yourself, and I can promise we won't stop you from doing any of those options - but we're not going to sit here holding your hands through the whole thing trying to assuage every little fear or talk you down from every little tantrum. We've got bigger things to worry about. We'll give you what we know and you can decide what to do with it."

Edited 2013-06-17 04:53 (UTC)

Okay, humor fell flat. Time to be a bit more serious.

Zac steps around some of the others, putting himself in better view to Howard before he speaks. "Now hold on a second - the situation is bad, yeah, but lashing out like that isn't gonna help anything." He motions with one hand toward Jack, Bunny, and Katherine. "These guys, their hands are tied. They're no con artists, they're just folks trying to do what they can to save their world." He frowns a bit, then folds his arms.

"Disagreeing with 'em is fine. You're welcome to do that. Kickin' them while they're down, though, that's going too far."

Nico rolled her eyes. God, even the freakin' Easter Bunny doesn't listen to kids.

"Didn't I just say that if this thing's coming for us, there's nowhere for us to run to?" she said. "All I'm saying is that I'm gonna need to go home and call up the Young Avengers to get them to talk to the adults when we figure out how, because there's no point in those idiots running around in their costumes if they're not going to try and stop the world from ending."

She stared unflinchingly back and Bunny and Jack. "The people who want to stay hidden can stay hidden, but I know damn well what my powers are and how they work, and you don't get to tell me whether or not I'm 'allowed' to use them."

Howard goes down the line with his fingers, pointing at Bunny, Shawn, Sam, Katherine and finally Jack in turn. "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. Also you, and especially you. You think this is a tantrum? You think this fear is little? You've just mentioned that possibly the entire universe is at risk, you're shadowpuppeting up the illusion of choice for us like we're too fucking stupid to see what's going on, you're treating us with kid gloves and you've got the information advantage here, and now you're threatening us with the idea that we could get sent home at any point, just to keep us on our toes. Take a fucking look at me, asshole. Do you think that's a 'little' fear for me?"

Well, yes, it is a tantrum, but not like Howard's going to admit that. Instead he reaches down, throws open the picked door to the battery compartment, rips a piece out, then shoves the food cart over. It...isn't quite as dramatic as he'd like. It kind of just tips, wobbles for a bit, then flumps over in a pile of fallen leaves like a dead fish, with a pretty wussy crash.

Whatever.

Howard rounds on Zac instead now. "And oh, I'm sorry, am I hurting the poor widdle myth's feelings? Because if this is what you consider them being 'down', we're up shit creek when things really get bad. How about you talk when people actually care what you have to say, Oogie Boogie?"

Thank God Nico's got a brain in her head, even though she's way too gung-ho to like, be proactive and stuff. Almost unconsciously, he takes a step towards her, as if standing with her in solidarity.

Edited 2013-06-17 06:06 (UTC)

Jack looked like he was trying to throttle the air with one hand.

He didn't know what to do to keep everyone happy because there wasn't anything he could do to keep everyone happy. Not when they all wanted different things, not with the level of distrust there.

That whole "the fate of every world there is" thing was getting to him a little. People stress being added on top of it was not really something he could deal with right now and it didn't help that everyone was tugging in all different directions - Mami wanted to fight because she seemed to trust them, Howard didn't want to fight and didn't trust them, and Nico did want to fight but it was because she didn't trust them.

Jack never thought he'd miss the days of having no human interaction but they were starting to inspire some nostalgia at the moment.

He and Bunny were not leaders.

"Listen, you little -"

Jack stopped.

That was because the birds had stopped. They'd been chirping and chittering and chattering the entire time they'd been here but now there was dead silence.

Far off in the distance came a noise that was in between the laughter of children and screaming, and dark clouds suddenly started to roll over the sun.

Jack's eyes went wide.

"They can't be here! It's daylight and the kids' joy should be shielding - " Another screaming laugh rended the air. Frost - no, more like a thin sheet of ice - spread over Jack's skin with a crisp noise.

"Everyone, back to the sleigh!" Jack cried out, his voice thin and panicked. "Now!"

Molly, to be perfectly honest, had lost interest in the conversation ages ago, and wandered off to poke around. Always within eyesight, so Nico wouldn't get scared, but out of earshot of regular conversation. She'd definitely caught some of the shouting, but as far as she was concerned, unless Nico was looking like she was getting ready to make herself bleed that was all the more reason to stay away.

She'd found a few odds and ends that looked interesting and made it into her pockets and was playing with a piece of metal pipe like it was a sword when suddenly everyone arguing went quiet for just a second, and a strange, kind of scary noise started off in the distance.

Clouds started to roll over the sun.

And Jack shouted.

Molly raced back towards the group as fast as she could, eyes already glowing because something wrong was coming.

"Nico!"

"Molly!"

Nico reached out to shove Howard in the direction of the sleigh as she ran toward Molly -- if the younger girl wasn't going to be able to reach the sleigh by the time whatever-it-was got here, Nico'd rather be by her side that too far to help.

"What's coming?" she shouted at Jack. "What's its weakness?"

This, at least, was something that Sam was used to. He reached back, under his shirts to pull his gun, carefully thumbing the safety off as he looked to the sky.

"Anybody who can't or doesn't want to fight, run for the sleigh." He looked to Nico. "Nico, fall back with them, please. They'll need somebody there who can fight and we'll need somebody to cover our asses when we pull back." He wasn't sure what she did, but he was pretty sure she had distance powers. That would be most useful in the sleigh, when they had to run. "Everybody else, spread out a bit. Stay close enough to cover each others' backs but far enough away we won't be hitting one another."

He wasn't always used to being a leader, but group tactics were drilled into his head by his father. Smaller group, sure, just him and Dad and Dean, but a group. And maybe he was only human, but he was going to make sure those who couldn't fight this were safe.

Part of Zac wonders just what an 'Oogie Boogie' is, but that's drowned out more by the sheer sting of what Howard's saying. There's a visible bit of recoil in Zac literally shrinking a bit, but before he can put together a response, Jack freaks out - a look to the darkening sky coupled with the strange noises gives a vague explanation why.

Really, all he knew here was that there was danger, and they apparently needed to get away from it. He straightens up, regaining that bit of height he'd lost a few moments ago, and raises his fists as he puts himself on the outer edge of the group, so that everyone is between him and the sleigh. He doesn't know most of these folks from Adam, but putting himself between important people and dangerous stuff is old hat to him now. Though, it's admittedly nice to be doing it without a Summoner yelling in his head.

He does turn back to Howard for a moment, though - "Well, maybe this will fall under when you care: you get movin' so we can finish this conversation later, little man." He then looks at the others, and nods at Sam. "You guys heard the man."

Everyone Loves the Sleigh

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warning for lots of swearing.

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more grace and maturity I mean swearing

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