In Front of the Dorms, Thursday Afternoon

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

So, between Karla's suggestion yesterday and radio this morning, Jack had worked out a business plan. It was a pretty simple one, so far as business plans went. After all, he hadn't ever really had much in the way of marketable skills in his lifetime. The plan went as such- First, there was the sign, written on a piece of scavenged cardboard with a dying Sharpie marker. And then there was the wastepaper basket, borrowed from a common room (sorry, fourth floor!) and half-buried in a mound of snow so that it wouldn't blow away.

The sign read, simply:

Feeling Hot? Localized Snowstorms - $5
Hugs From Jack Frost - $5 and Actually Believing in Jack

... With an arrow pointing to the basket, in case people didn't know where to put their money. He wasn't taking any chances here.

His little business all set up, Jack perched himself on a tree bough and waited.

[OOC: Open, but SP for work. I kind of had to.]

Comments

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

"You have to be kidding me," Emily said as she read the sign.

She threw five dollars in anyway. "Alright, I'm ready to believe."

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Jack leaned forward in his tree branch, giving Emily a skeptical look. She was the one who was splashing around in the ocean a few months back like a crazy person, wasn't she?

Well, he'd give her something to believe in, then. Just a wave of his staff was all it took for a breeze to kick up, circling around Emily alone. And, along with it, snow.

Lots and lots of snow.

"Try not believing in me now. Go on."

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

Was she hearing things? The snow was real, she could tell that much. "You know, this would be a lot easier if I could actually see you. I think I just heard you, though. You were on the beach too, right?" Emily said as she hugged herself. Kinda getting cold in here.

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

"Well, of course I was," Jack replied, shrugging his shoulders and letting his feet dangle off the tree branch, just in front of Emily's face. "Who else would be splashing up seawater and freezing it before even letting it splash down again?"

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

Emily shuddered and took a step back. "Who else? I don't even- you know, this is the first time I've had to play in order to meet someone," Emily said as she tossed another five dollars. Then she closed her eyes. "Okay, hug away. I think this should be easier if I'm not trying to trust my eyes. Just hurry up; I'm getting a bit cold."

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

"Well, you did pay for a snowstorm," Jack pointed out, jumping down from his tree branch. "This isn't going to be any warmer, though. I mean, I am pretty cold."

If Emily could feel a pair of icy arms wrapping around her, those would belong to Jack.

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

For a moment Emily was tempted to open her eyes, but she kept them shut. She actually heard Jack now, and then she got a lot colder. And hey, those certainly were arms. Opening her eyes, Emily got to stare at him from up close. "Jack Frost I assume," said as she weakly patted his back. "Y-you can let g-go now."

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

Jack gave her a broad grin, blue eyes tinted with snowflakes practically dancing as one more person looked him in the eye.

"Getting a little cold for you, is it?"

He gave her another little squeeze for good measure, and then stepped backward into the snow, giving his staff a wave and calling off the little snowstorm that was twisting around them.

"That'll happen."

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

It was difficult no to smile back, and the pollen had nothing to do with it. "Am I correct to assume every extra person that can see you is like a little victory to you?" Emily asked as she rubbed her arms.

"It's okay though; I like the cold."

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

"That would be pretty safe to assume," Jack confirmed, still smiling as he gave his staff another little swing. "Not many people around here can see me still, and here's the first place that anyone has. It's all a matter of being willing to believe."

Well, he was pretty sure that's all it was a matter of. Fandom kind of made up its own rules.

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

"Wait, so before here...nobody?" Emily asked, the idea of being completely ignored not really sinking in. "Guess you found just the right place, considering this place is quite fond of shoving its beliefs down everybody's throats half the time."

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

"Almost nobody," Jack replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "The Easter Bunny. Some yetis. It's a pretty short list, and the rabbit's a jerk."

In fairness, Jack had caused it to blizzard out on Easter a few decades ago. Bunnymund was allowed his righteous annoyance.

"I kind of like it here. I mean, it's weird by normal standards, but... I'm not exactly normal."

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

"Wow, that blows big time," Emily said as she rised and eyebrow. She wasn't even going to get into the topic of yetis and Easter Bunnies because really, not her position to judge.

"In all fairness, everyone is weird here. Even the so called normal people like me."

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

"I guess you'd have to be. I mean, you just put ten dollars into a garbage can hoping for a blizzard and a hug." Really, Jack couldn't help but laugh at that. "I mean, you got both, but I'm pretty sure the word most people would call anyone who did that is 'gullible.'"

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

Emily was letting that go, just because she had gotten to finally see the guy. Plus snow. "Yeah well, it's adapt or go crazy around here," she said with a little laugh. "So how does this work? Can I always see you now? It doesn't like, reset or anything right?"

[nips-your-nose.livejournal.com]

"You'll see me for as long as you believe in me, I think," Jack replied with a little shrug of his shoulders. "I haven't had anyone here suddenly not be able to see me again, but I think that's generally how this kind of thing works for the others..."

He hadn't really had a chance to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with, like, the Sandman about how this sort of thing went.

[reven8e.livejournal.com]

"Then I guess that's settled," Emily said as she shrugged back.

"So, how has the island...treated you?" Maybe it was the cold, but Emily hadn't felt this calm in a number of days.