Longest Night

After getting Bunny comfortable, replacing his ruined hoodie with yet another provided by the yetis, having a quick, quiet talk with Katherine, and taking a few minutes for a breather himself, Jack finally ventured out into the common area where the others were. He was mostly healed over now, though there were a few scratches on his face that were still fading.

If it seemed like he was in a daze, a strange mix of agitation and apprehension, it was because he was. There was only so much you could get chased and attacked and trapped and battered without it starting to take its toll, and the bickering before the attack hadn't helped with his sense of hope.

All that was left of the Guardians were two of them fighting alone, and a motley crew of strangers they had to babysit - most of whom (rightly) didn't want to be there.

Except... except that motley crew had done some damage out there. Even if Bunny and Jack had still been herded into a trap, the group had held their own and given that they were untrained in their powers and in working together, that was something. And if it weren't for Nico, Bunny would be dead right now.

Some of them wanted to fight. Even the ones who didn't felt they had to. Maybe they could come together on this, stop Kuk, and send everyone home - or whatever places they wanted to go instead.

Right now, though, he expected a few scared people being scared and paranoid at him and he wasn't sure how he'd deal with it if they were.

The flight was fun for Jack.

Which probably meant it wasn't the most fun for Tony.

The Wind wasn't the most gentle way to fly, especially when someone like Jack was riding it - because naturally It assumed Jack could take whatever It could dish out.

Their flight got a little gentler as he came in on his final approach to the tooth palace, though. It had been evening back in Pennsylvania, but here it was early in the day and the first vestiges of morning light were dancing over the mountains. Most of the mountains nearby were a bit more arid but here in this valley, everything was lush and green.

And colorful. True to its name, there was a palace here, one that looked as if it had been ornately carved out of the mountains themselves, painted in hues of pink, green, purple, yellow, and turquoise. There were also countless lattices and towers lined with - or maybe even made entirely of - gold. Some parts of the palace looked like other parts, only inverted, as if the different parts of it had grown up from the stone or down from the rocky ceilings like incredibly ornate stalagmites and stalactites.

Everywhere, there were fairies, little blue things that looked just a little too human to be hummingbirds. They flitted in from every direction and spread out in every direction, the ones coming in bearing teeth in their tiny hands, and the ones flying away carrying little coins tied to their waists with string. Jack and Tony passed by columns full of complicated contraptions that looked almost like a glorified reward system. Mechanical devices extended out when fairies approached, opening up to reveal puzzle boxes - painted with the faces of children - that had half-finished shows of tiny teeth. The fairies put the new teeth they'd collected in the boxes and then they closed up and withdrew back into their columns again, tucked away safe from the world. In exchange for the teeth, coins rolled down out of slots for the fairies to carry away to give to another child.

"We're gonna have to go let the lady in charge know you're here so she doesn't freak out over a strange guy being here. She runs a tight ship."

A tunnel appeared in the wall of North's workshop and two very weary spirits tumbled out of it. Jack didn't even bother to try landing on his feet or flying out gracefully, he just let himself flop across the floor an undignified sprawl of limbs, until he slid to a stop at the feet of Phil the Yeti.

"Arghughblorgblugh?" asked Phil.

"Oh, we won," Jack said lightly. "The kids are safe, no worries there. We just nearly got eaten in the process. Twice."

He looked to the elves, reaching out his staff and poking at one of them.

"Can you guys get Action Grandpa his hot water bottle? And maybe some Bengay. Ugh."

Nowadays, some days he actually felt old. Physically and mentally weary, muscles aching and exhausted. Every time they had a chance to recover from being chew toys, they usually had to be on the move again.

The elves scurried off and Jack flopped over on his back now, gingerly, looking down ruefully at his burned, ruined hoodie. (Third one this month.)

"Bunny, I think I'm going to take an early retirement from this Guardian thing. Do I get a pension?"

[ooc: locked to Bunny for setup.]