Double the Jacks, double the fun [Closed]

[canyouseeme]

Who: Jack Frost and Jack Wynand
Where: The grounds
When: Sometime during 12/27
Rating: PG.
Summary: The new Jack vows to show the old Jack the joys of sledding.
The Story:

Jack Frost leans casually on the handrail for the Mansion's front steps, drawing crystalline patterns on the surface of the snow with the end of his staff. There's a sled nearby, obtained easily enough from a closet.

While introducing people to the joys of careening uncontrollably down hills in the freezing cold is Jack's area of expertise, he's still nervous. He's not sure if the other Jack will be able to see him, or how he's supposed to interact with him if he can. Jack's used to a much younger crowd. What if this quiet, strange man doesn't actually like sledding? What if he just scares and alienates him?

...

No, never mind. He's pretty sure that can't happen. Everyone likes sledding. Everyone.

When the door opens, he recognizes the man from the video. Jack wears a lopsided smile and waves experimentally.

"Um, nice to meet you? If you can hear me?"

Comments

[whatseparates]

Jack steps outside, adjusting his mask--he's switched from the sparkly thing he was wearing to a more plain and utilitarian papier-mache moth mask.

He might not have the concept quite right, but he's at least been convinced to believe in a ghost named Jack Frost, if not exactly the embodiment of winter fun. Still, it's enough to hear and see him.

"I hear you."

[canyouseeme]

Jack jumps up, pumping his fist in the air in victory. He stays airborne slightly longer than someone with a more conventional relationship with gravity might.

"Yes! That is amazing and you are an amazing person. Seriously. Thank you."

Now charged with pure excitement, Jack rocks back and forth on his bare feet, unable to stay still. He scans the grounds quickly, but decides to just ask the other Jack.

"So, where are the biggest hills in this place? I didn't get a very good look at the grounds before I came inside."

[whatseparates]

"There's a bunch of hills that way. I can see them from my window inside."

He chooses not to remark on all the rest; he's not really sure what to do with all that enthusiasm.

[canyouseeme]

He picks up the sled, turns back to Jack, and makes a dramatic sweeping gesture with his free hand.

"Lead the way, then!"

[whatseparates]

Jack stares.

"Okay."

Beat.

"You walk next to me."

Doesn't do to have a stranger behind you.

[canyouseeme]

He shrugs.

"All right."

He trots up beside him, his feet not leaving any footprints in the snow.

[whatseparates]

Jack glances down at some point, makes note. Ghost. Okay.

"I used to see ghosts."

Yeaaaaahhhhh small talk.

[canyouseeme]

Jack thinks that he should proceed with caution here. This guy seems like he's been through a lot, and while Jack knows plenty of fun spirits, he also knows that there are those like Pitch who feed off of fear. And the other Jack is obviously more than familiar with fear.

"Did you like these ghosts?"

[whatseparates]

"I don't think they were really real. Not people. Just old things left behind."

[canyouseeme]

It seems like everyone Jack talks to had different rules for how the supernatural worked in their world. Now he's curious.

"Could everyone see them? Or just certain people, like you?"

[whatseparates]

"Certain people."

People lucky enough to have taken drugs recycled from corpse blood, but Jack won't get into that.

[canyouseeme]

"That's how it was where I was from. It was mostly just kids who could see us, though. Kids believe in things more easily."

He can finally see some hills, and his heart speeds up in excitement. A ghost with a heartbeat- yeah, their worlds obviously play by different rules.

"I'm assuming those are the hills we're looking for?"

[whatseparates]

"Yeah, that's them."

[canyouseeme]

"All right! Wait here. I'm going to to get a better look."

Jack drops the sled, takes a running start, and launches himself high into the air. Riding the wind, he does a quick scan of the hills below, looking for the steepest slope among the white mounds.

Once he's found what he's looking for, he swoops back down and lands in front of Jack.

"This way!" he says with a laugh. He grabs the sled and takes off running.

[whatseparates]

"Hey, wait! How did you do that?"

[canyouseeme]

Jack stops on a dime and spins around on his heel.

"What, fly? I can use the wind. It's part of the whole 'controlling winter weather' package. I got the power when I became a spirit, but I need this to channel it."

He gestures at his staff.

[whatseparates]

Well. Okay.

He's starting to just take these things in stride. He nods shortly, and keeps walking.

[canyouseeme]

Jack reaches the crest of the Official Best Hill. He sits the sled down and says, mostly to himself, "Now let's make this a little more interesting."

He raises his staff and the wind begins to pick up. New snow starts to fall. He doesn't want any shortage of working materials here, and besides, there's something about the ambiance of snow actually falling that makes snow days all the better.

Jack cracks his knuckles and gets to work. Sometimes sliding, sometimes gliding on the air, he reworks the already sled-able incline into something that looks more like a kiddie coaster than a hill.

(That is, assuming the kiddies this particular coaster was built for were pretty hardcore. Did Jack mention he's made sled tracks that go straight through busy downtown traffic?)

It doesn't take very long, but by the time he's done, the actual track leads over a few hills, is made more of ice than snow, and includes at least one decently sized jump towards the end.

Jack Frost, once he's satisfied with his work, turns toward the other Jack and grins. "That looks like it'll do for a start, right?"

[whatseparates]

Jack just nods, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. What exactly do we...do with it?"

[canyouseeme]

Now that breaks Jack's heart a little. He knew this guy had never been sledding before, but he hadn't realized he didn't even know what sledding was.

"Okay. That's a sled; you sit on it." He points with his staff.

"Then I push you down the hill. The sled's designed to slide over the snow. So just hang on, and you're in for the ride of your life."

He decides to add, by way of warning, "It's going to be a little fast."

[whatseparates]

"You push me down the hill."

Slightly skeptical. Untrusting.

[canyouseeme]

"Yeah! It's fun, don't worry about it."

[whatseparates]

"Can I just push myself?"

[canyouseeme]

"Not if you want to get a decent start. You won't have any speed that way. But if you really want to start yourself, you can take a running start with the sled, throw it down, and jump on it on your stomach. That works too, it's just trickier to do, especially for your first time."

[whatseparates]

"I'll just fall on my face."