Chapter Text
Bunny sighed and stretched, stretched and sighed. The last basket of googies had been delivered to the last child’s doorstep, thanks to assistance by all the other Guardians and their associates, particularly Tooth’s fairies, Pitch’s mares, and North’s Yeti crew.
This year had definitely been... different, with so many public events having been cancelled in light of The Great Virus that had spread worldwide. Egg hunts in the park were the last thing on the minds of most adults, but he just couldn’t let the kids down.
He had to hand it to Jack; the cheeky little icicle’s idea of borrowing the old May Day idea of hanging baskets on the door, knocking and running away was a solid one. It didn’t make people break quarantine, and it definitely brought more than a few smiles to faces, if that was any consolation.
Nevertheless, Bunny was feeling more than his usual post-Easter letdown, even though all his beautiful googies had found homes for the year. And that was a dangerous state of mind for the Guardian of Hope to be in.
The kids AND the adults needed something more this year. But he himself, the Herald of Spring, was fresh out of ideas.
Jack Frost, however, was usually over-brimming with ideas, AND was the Guardian who had made it his mission to be actively involved with his believers..
Jack would know what to do.
Bunny shook himself vigorously, undrooped his ears in determination, and stamped his hindfoot fiercely, opening a tunnel to Burgess.
He popped up about ten yards from the brokendown bed in the middle of the woods on the outskirts of town, thinking he was more likely to find Jack here near Pitch’s portal entrance than at the winter sprite’s lake, and he was right. Jack was sitting on a lowhanging tree branch, one leg dangling, the other drawn up under him, He was shaping the chilly air into snow-shapes of rabbits. He’d guessed that Bunny would seek him out. The brat.
Bunny asked, with only a little of his usual sarcasm, “So where’s His Majesty the stick insect?” He knew that the Boogeyman, as Guardian of Caution, was working overtime these days by shaping bad dreams into ones where both adults and children could overcome obstacles, where it be a “bad guy” or a monster or something shapeless that would slink away and leave the dreamers feeling some degree of control.
Jack confirmed his suspicions. “I had Sandy hit him with some knockout sand so he’d actually get some rest. The fear spikes in the world out there are getting to be unbearable.”
“You’re telling me, Frostbite.” Bunny sat low on his haunches below Jack’s branch. “That’s why I’m here to jaw with you. You had a good idea to save Easter this year, and I’m wondering if you could help me think of something to... I dunno, keep feeding what hope and happiness can be found, even now.” He felt ridiculous putting it like that, especially to Jack Frost, but thankfully the Guardian of Fun showed absolutely no signs of laughing or gloating.
Jack replied, slowly and contemplatively, “I’ve been thinking about that, too. Everyone is feeling cut off from one another. I talked to Jamie a couple of days ago, and he said that there’s this messaging conference-y thing called Whoosh where people from all over the world can talk to each other in big groups. That’s how he’s taking his uni classes right now. There’s also people who are giving concerts, reading stories to kids..”
“That’s it!” Bunny interrupted, leaping up. “ Oh, Jackie, I’d tell you y’re brilliant, but I don’t want to swell that fat head of y’rs any more than it is.”
“At least mine’s not stuffed with fur, like yours, Cottontail.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
They both lapsed into silence, thinking their own thoughts, until Bunny said, “So how do we make this work? Even if the Bennett kids have the technology for us to borrow, only our believers would be able to see us. Anybody else tuning in would just see an empty room.”
“I have an idea about that, too. Remember the hospital visit we made last fall, when we tagged along with all those superhero cosplayers?”
“Yeah?”
Jack grinned. “There’s no reason WE can’t dress up like that to show up on camera.”
And thus, for one memorable week, the Burgess Believers each got to play host to a Guardian, each Guardian dressed as one of the 1980s-era X-Men, reading stories aloud on Whoosh to families in quarantine.