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Meeting in Midwinter

For @pontipines , featuring Tucker and Vivianite.

Narrator One: Midwinter in Ever After High is both a beautiful and dreaded sight. The white snow topping the trees and tiled roofs of the school, frosted glass and lit fireplaces. From an outsider’s view, it’s quite beautiful.

Narrator Two: Buuuut, i think we can all agree that looking at winter and being in winter are two, hextremely different things to experience.

Narrator One: Exactly, as beautiful as it is, the students at Ever After High often dread the winter weeks of their school stays. The campus building itself during the summer, spring and autumn months raised little issue. However, even after all those renovations, the students often still find themselves chattering teeth between classes.

Narrator Two: And so, due to this frost that has swept the land, students are keeping themselves inside.

Well, most of them.

-

“Row! Come on! If we don’t hurry up all we’re gonna get is the scraps! Do you want to eat cold roast beef and potatoes?!” Tucker Abbot was keeping up with his lifelong friend, Sparrow Hood, as the band leader swept frantically at the snow covered ground in front of them.

“Let’s just take it inside, okay?! We can hide it all in our big coats, no one will notice!” A strong gust of icy wind hit them, buffeting up the loose edges of Tucker’s coat, chilling him where he stood. In Tucker’s occupied hand hung a bag, weighing perhaps as much as, say, ten stolen necklaces and five rings?

Sparrow gave a grunt as he hefted open the secret hatch he and his Merry Men had dug earlier in the school year, agreeing to dump their too large hauls into it. Until they could find a better place that wasn’t their routinely inspected dorms, it was the best they had.

“Oh come on Tuck, where else are we gonna get the money to get this band afloat? Hand it.” Having dumped his own cargo in the hole, Sparrow shouted over the wind to get Tucker to hand his over. The boy was barely able to loosen the grip his hand held, allowing Sparrow to pull the bag’s strings out of his clutches.

A solid thud interrupted the chattering of Tucker’s teeth, whom had turned around to walk away to the school the moment the bag left his hand.

“Hey! Wait up,” Sparrow took a moment to catch up to his friend, snagging his arm around the equally tall boy’s neck. “That was such a good haul man! Let’s go and brag to Billy’s face!”

How Sparrow could remain so jovial while it was so cold would be beyond Tucker, if he didn’t know his friend was already tipsy. The smell on his breath was more than enough to know. Making their way up the stone stairs to one of the side entrances was always much harder than it needed to be during winter. It did not matter how the boys clung to the railing to haul themselves up, pushing and shoving at the other to try and supply a boost. Cold, huffing clouds of breath and hungry, the two little criminal boys were stuck.

The next closest entrance to the school was a decent two hundred metres by Tucker’s best, frozen brained guess. Pulling Sparrow closer to himself, he dragged the drunk boy with him down the path, or at least where he thought the path was. On their trek, they passed an illuminated window, high up enough that it wasn’t likely anyone would see them. Which, honestly is both good and bad.

-

Narrator One: Good, in the sense that no one could report them for fooling about outside in such weather. Bad, in the sense that if something happened, no one could report on it.

Narrator Two: Hexactly.

-

Usually, the biting cold was enough of a reason for students to remain safely inside after curfew, and whilst curfew was not yet looming over their heads, someone else was. As Tucker and Sparrow made their tired way to the entrance, a figure appeared in the lit window, neither of the boys saw it, but it saw them. It leaned forwards, peering through the frosted glass, and figured where they were headed. The shadowy figure in the window vanished.

This second entrance, the boys were soon to find out was locked, lacked any stairs, it was instead level with the ground. Much easier on a pair of tipsy knees and feet.

The rush of a new haul of goods and the high of slight drunkenness had left the archer’s strength, instead he huddled to his friend’s side as they plodded along.

This was one thing Tucker didnt like about Sparrow’s spontaneous robberies, with no one knowing where they were, no one was looking out for them. But no, Billy, LJ and Sparrow just had to be in the middle of an argument when Sparrow got the itch to steal. And of course, as his right hand man, his main drummer, his peace maker, Tucker went. Several different times the redhead could’ve brained himself over slipping on the ice, could’ve gotten his drunk arse caught if he wasn’t there.

They were having some words after Sparrow sobered up, just to find out exactly why he’d been such a prick recently.

Chik. Chik. Chikchik. Tucker pulled on the double doors, then pushed, shoved, heaved, but it was no use. The side entrance was locked. He stared at his barely outlined reflection in the window of the door.

“Oh for crying out loud! Are you fucking kidding me?! Augh!” Tucker slammed his hands against the door one last time before covering his face with them, groaning at the cold.

The cold and frost made it hard to do, but Sparrow’s face was lit up by the light of his mirror phone as he clicked on his favourites list in his contacts, calling LJ. The two barely heard two rings when his call was denied. The sour look on Sparrow’s face was lessened by his shivering blue lips. Tucker absently stops himself from telling the boy off for not stopping to dress more appropriately for the middle of a storm. But then he’d have to admonish himself as well, as in his rush to follow Sparrow to look out for him, he hadn’t entirely dressed well enough either. A fact Sparrow would harp on him for days if he tried it.

Tucker sighed, leaning his back against the door and taking out his own phone, after heating up and drying his fingertips. He hadn’t even pressed Billy’s contact when Sparrow made an aborted, scared sound.

“Oh! Christ above Row!! You scared the shit out of me!” It caught the friar to be’s eyes that Sparrow’s spooked gaze was pointed just to the side of Tucker’s own head. Next to his head was the window set in the door. Slowly, he turned his head to the side, the glow of his phone casting light on a ghost white face staring right at him. It split into a small grin.

The sound that came out of his throat was wholly embarrassing, his knees stung as he pitched forward with fright, straight to the frozen cold ground.

Chik clack.

Rear on the ground, frozen breath billowing about his face, Tucker watched as the door was opened from the inside. The muted light from the overhead sconces outside only partway lit her form, but the stark difference of her face to the rest of her allowed her eyes to be easily found.

“Well? You guys coming in or what?” The ghostly face stepped forwards, opening the door further against the wind with what looked to be barely any effort.

“Dude, don’t scare people like that!” It was clear that the boost in heartbeat had given Sparrow another spark of life, he was busy crouched over his own knees with his hand to his heart, laughing and coughing at the cold. Tucker rolled his eyes, scuffing Sparrow by the neck of his coat and hauling him inside, letting him stumble on the familiar hallways.

It was still deathly cold in the halls but at least they weren’t being harassed by wind and snow. Tucker caught his breath, hearing the door be closed, the soft thuds of steps coming closer. Soon, a pale white face came into view again, carrying a pair of prying eyes.

“Um, thank- uh, thank you. Saved us the trouble of walking to the next one.” Clutching his coat closer to himself, Tucker remembered to smile. His teeth chattering reminded him to clamp his mouth shut.

The ghostly pale girl looked at him with a curious gaze.

“What in the realms were you two doing outside in the storm?”

“What’s it to you?” Tucker sighed at Sparrow’s loud bite, his shoulders sagging. Ghost face girl looked down at the crumpled archer, made a humming sound, then simply walked down the hall, her trim bob slightly swaying as she walked. Her destination was a lit doorway, as she opened it, noises of chatter spilled out. They were muffled when she closed it again, tucking her away from his sight.

“How many times do you have to screw yourself over? You do realise you could’ve gotten yourself hurt if I wasn’t there? Are you nuts?” Sparrow batted away his helping hand, the silence that followed was telling enough.

“Get off my dick, I’m fine, just cold.”

“Then let’s go get some hot drinks, sound good?” A beat of silence.

“Okay, fine, i need to figure out how I’m gonna chew out Billy and LJ, oouh if I could get my hands on that little bitch-“

“Hey, cool it, you don’t know if that was LJ, okay? You know that Billy can get in his head when you’re all arguing.”

“Oh don’t make yourself sound so perfect- you didn’t have to follow me.” Tucker sucked at his teeth as they walked towards the commoner’s dorm tower. He so did not want to have this talk when Sparrow was both angry and under the influence.

“I followed you because you’re my friend, thats it.”

“Oh yeah, and not because your Destiny told you to?” Tucker didn’t reward that with a response beyond knocking the backside of his friend’s head. “Just keep walking.”

The dorm common room was decently packed, students huddled around the fireplaces or the gas heaters, slippers, robes and knitted hats alike. No one paid the two of them much mind, besides seeing a pair of feline eyes gleefully grinning at them. He can figure why little Cheshire looked like the cat that got the cream.

It wasn’t below the younger girl to have poured water on steps to make them impossible, or to go around locking doors. Trouble is, he could be right, but no proof, no retribution. Plus, there would be questions as to why they were stuck outside in the first place. Tucker preferred lies of omission to outright lies, they were easier.

The electric kettle was already steaming when they got to the kitchenette, Sparrow fishing some mugs out for them whilst Tucker dug around for something that tasted nicer than cold freezing air. Honestly, just standing over the small spout of relaxed steam still coming out of the kettle felt amazing. His face relaxed, his frown easing.

His dad said it wouldn’t be easy. God, he wished his dad had been lying. Maybe he just needed to sleep this all off, he’d knock some sense into Billy and Sparrow, they’d get back on track and everything would be fine.

Watery hot cocoa never tasted right, but it tasted like home. As the two boys sipped their mugs, a cheer came from a larger huddled group. Looked like they were playing a board game, fun.

All the fight had sapped out of Sparrow, he could see his friend’s eyelids drooping where he stood. Another moment and he’d be swaying. Tucker took his shoulder in hand.

“Okay, either head to bed or go have a warm shower, either way, you’re headed right back to your dorm, got it?” It felt odd to take charge when it came to Sparrow, but he’d been doing it for so long that not doing it felt wrong. Sparrow barely reacted beyond a nod. “And we’re talking about what started that fight earlier, got it?” Sparrow brushed him off, downing the last of his drink, too fast, heading out the common room with his gaze low.

The kitchenette counter became a short place of refuge, because soon enough the tall boy found himself leaving the loud room, no longer as cold as he was. He just needed somewhere to think, somewhere quiet so his mind could blare at him in peace. His feet brought him to one of the main hall’s steps, cold and vast but it was so quiet.

He doesn’t know how long he spent sitting there, trying to figure out why everything exploded the way it did. The first time something like this happened, they were all still kids, his father had told him that his generation of Merry Men had fought countless times, especially nearing the end, when his Robin had been meant to die.

These arguments and fights, once resolved, had made them stronger, until one day, it truly broke them apart. ‘Ease your mind, my boy’ Friar Tuck had said, ‘you’re all still children. When they happen, sure, these fights feel like the end of the world, but a day or two will pass, most everyone will see arguments are never worth breaking a friendship over.’

He busy praying when he hears soft footsteps again, looking up to see that pale face again. Their saviour of the night, really. In her hands are two steaming paper cups, the smell distinctly herbal. That same smile from the door window is on her face.

“Hi.” It comes out unbidden, his voice echoes for a short second. She grins wider.

“Hello. You and your friend doing okay?” She walks up higher on the steps, he can more clearly see her robe holds the sheen of velvet, sparkling with beads and a few inlaid gems. He blinks at the opulence.

“Uh, yeah, yeah he’s um, headed to bed, right now- you know what, I’m so sorry about him, i feel like I should tell you he’d been drinking and there was this big fight so he’s just angry at everyone right now.” A steaming mug is before his face, being slightly tilted back and forth. An offering.

“Here, it’s got a blend that warms you up nice and fast, i made a lot last week.”

“Oh, um, thank you, again.” The paper cup is slightly too hot to handle, so he holds it closer to the rim, takes a sniff. It mostly smells like an earl grey tea, but something is different, more floral than normal. As ghost white girl sits next to him, the small sip he takes runs heavy warm down his throat. The heat stays longer than it should.

“Mm! What is that?”

“Something we learned in potions class, practical potions for the everyday witch… soooo, you’re Tucker, aren’t you?” Tucker pauses, he knows he must’ve seen her around school at some point, but he’s been so occupied with the band and this sudden infighting, any other memories escape him.

“Im so sorry, have we met before?” She laughs, it’s a husk sounding laugh, the grin on her face splits wider than he’s seen it before.

“No, we haven’t. I just knew who Sparrow was, and all I’ve heard of you is you’re usually looking after him.” Tucker felt something deflate a little. Is that all he is to the people that know of him? That he’s always babysitting Sparrow? It stings even though he’s usually proud of caring about Sparrow when others don’t. He sighs.

“I’m sorry but i have no idea what your name is.” He looked to her face again, and saw it was holding a strange expression.

“I’ll tell you my name if you stop apologising all the time, for one. We can’t have been talking more than two minutes and you’ve apologised three times.”

Tucker catches himself right before the moment another apology leaves his lips. He pinches them together and laughs at himself. He watches as she smiles again, a short huff coming through her nose.

“You seriously have an apology problem.”

“Yeah, it’s a force of habit at this point.” Tucker takes in a deep breath, the warming tea stopping the cold air from hitting his lungs, instead it’s a pleasant room temperature.

“Okay, pinkie promise i won’t… unnecessarily, say sorry again.” His pinkie held out to her, he waits. She hums, shrugs, then links her thin, long white finger to his.

“I’ll hold you to it.”

“Good. So, wonderfully spooky girl that saved mine and my friend’s arses, may i please know your name?”

“Vivianite, Blackstone. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

The End.

Meet Vivianite Blackstone

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