Same Old Grind (Retry and Solo)

[Jack Frost]

Jack's journey into his past began one simple day when he was praying alongside the Grand Primus of N'Jal. He had recently become a more devout follower, and he had yet to actually hear her talk back to him like he knew she did for Lorenor. The gaunt undead man with purple eyes would occasionally glance over to Jack, the remains of his hair clung in dreadlocks would swing slightly as he did so. Jack began to grow slightly unnerved by this. Finally, after an hour of solid meditation he decided to break the silence.

"Sir?" he asked turning towards the Grand Primus. The high priest simply sat in silence for a moment, then opened his mouth to speak. "Tell me Jack, why did you sign on with me those many months ago?" He asked, locking his purple glowing gaze with Jack's cold teal eyes. "Well sir It's a long story..." Jack replied lowering his gaze to the floor. The floor of the grand temple was slightly dusty and worn down from the ragged steps of the undead that trod upon it.

"I have plenty of time to hear it..." Lorenor replied. Jack sighed, and closed his eyes recalling the memory of the day. "Well it all started off with a dream..." That was it, just with that line his mind perfectly recalled the day which changed his life forever. The simple day that he learned that there was more to himself, the falling out he had with his father, and then the accident that forced him away from home.

[Jack Frost]

Jacks dream had not simply been a dream, but perhaps a possible reality that could have been but had not. It had consisted of a much stronger Jack fighting against a giant ice behemoth. Jack had a wicked looking icy katana that he was using to hack and slice through any icy projectiles that the beast was spewing from it's mouth. Jack himself was much older than he had been currently, almost 28, and he had changed dramatically. His Teal eyes were sharp, and his gaze tore through everything like an arctic gale. His silver hair was practically frozen in place. He wore a white leather ensemble; a jacket with many buckles and straps that just seemed to be there for show, leather trousers that bore three looped belts that bore two sheathes one with a rather regal looking blade inside it. He was perhaps a thousand times stronger than any other ice elemental, but Lady Luck was against him. Right as Jack was about to land the final blow a spear of ice fell from nowhere and impaled him, rousing Jack from his sleep.

"Oww!" He roared sitting up. His cry awoke the other denizens of his tent, a slumbering penguin, a big wolf, and a young woman. The wolf rose to its feet and pawed over to where the distressed silver haired youth was, and then promptly gave him a rather uncharacteristically cheerful lick to the face.

"Good morning Van." Jack muttered affectionately as he rubbed the large hound’s fur. The young woman who shared the tent with Jack rose to glare daggers at him. She shared Jacks silver hair, but was distinctly elven, where Jack was not. Her figure was slender and tall. Jack was slightly built and stood slightly taller than her, standing six feet tall. Both youths were pale, but Jack had teal eyes she had green eyes.

“I’m going to kill you!” She growled. “Love ya too honey.” Jack replied. Her name was Katharine Gale, and she was Jack’s fiancé. They had never talked to each other before two months ago, when Jack’s father had talked to her father and made the marriage agreement. She had moved in to Jack’s considerably larger, tent that he had just received in order to house a family. Such was the way of Underwood’s elven population. Because of this Jack found the whole situation slightly uncomfortable.

Katherine was not unattractive, quite the opposite. Jack just despised being forcibly tied down into a relationship. She also had a number of “Quirks” that seemed to leave her as the perfect candidate for the rather odd Jack Frost. She had silver hair, when no one in family had ever had silver hair, not even going back to some of the eldest of the elders that had long since rotted away in their tombs. She also could talk to animals, a very rare gift that very few elves retained through childhood. There was also the fact that she was immune to Jacks icy aura.

Jack Frost could drop the temperature in an enclosed space by several degrees, and it had always made people uncomfortable around him. She seemed to be completely unfazed by it, and did not mind that Jacks body temperature was close to freezing, making him colder than death most of the time. When she was in the mood she would hold hands with Jack, or even give him a light kiss before they went to sleep. In all reality she was probably perfect for him.

Of course while Jack was reflecting on all of this, his soon to be wife had gotten changed into her normal hunting clothes that consisted of a tight, form fitting leather shirt and trousers. She quickly slipped her slender feet into her knee high boots, and exited the tent. Van the wolf, her pet, followed suit. Leaving Jack with his penguin in the much too large tent that was his home.

[Jack Frost]

A rather large amount of time passed before Jack decided to crawl out of his bed and get dressed. As he finished putting his black leather Jacket and Black Jeans on he glanced at a small polished mirror that leaned on one of the many support poles of his tent. His young teal eyes beamed back at him as his thin pale lips curled into a small grin. Another day alive. It was always his motto, ever since his mother had died. The event had awoken his sense of realism, and he learned to be slightly cynical of everything.

He ran his gloved hands through his spiky silver hair, and checked his pale skin for any stubble. Nothing seemed to be growing, which for elves, was rather reasonable. Of course, Jack wasn't elven. Once he was done he quickly straitened up his tent, tucking some of Katherine's discarded clothes into a chest, kicking some discarded parchments to the side, and rehanging some of the Elven fertility charms on the rafters. After all, he was expected to produce at least one child with Katherine once they had gotten married.

After he had finished up his penguin companion squawked rather loudly. "You need to stop worrying about some pitiful attempt to be organized and practice your magic!" It complained. Jack turned and shot an icy glare at the bird. Ever since he had shown up talking about his ice magic being all powerful he wouldn't leave the poor silver haired youth alone. "Shut up Joly, I have more practical things to worry about." Jack replied nudging his companion aside with a swift brush of his furred boot.

He then departed into the stunningly bright morning light that shone down on Underwood's elven settlement. He shielded his eyes, then waited to regain his senses. "About time you got up sweepy head!" Jake Evenkeel said running up to Jack. "Hey little brother!" Jack said smiling. He bent down and picked the little boy with curly brown hair and green eyes up, tossing him lightly as he did so, quickly catching him. "Hows the bestest big bwother in the world?" Jake said leaning his head on Jacks shoulder.

"Big brothers all right, how are you little man?" Jack asked patting the young elf on the back. "I'm good, but daddy's being mean!" The toddler complained. "What did daddy do?" Jack asked holding him up so they were eye to eye. "He said to stop playing with your birdy, he says he's not safe." This caused Jack to frown. "You mean Jolly?" He asked turning to look behind him. He managed to catch a glimpse of the penguins black tail feathers as the bird retreated back into Jack's tent.

"Between you and me..." Jack said whispering into Jake's ear. "Dad's right, I don't trust that bird with my little brother, I've only known him for a little bit and he seems kind of cranky." The little boy looked heart broken,but nodded. "The birdy was gonna teach me how to be more like you! Maybe you can teach me to be like you?" He asked.

"Yeah," Jack said smiling. "I'll teach you to be like me, after dinner tonight okay?" The little boy nodded, and ran off as Jack set him down, joining up with bunch of other little ones as they prepared for a game of ball.

[Jack Frost]

Being a young adult had some perks and downfalls in the elven settlement. One of the many perks was one typically got their own tent until they got married. Second of all the would actually get to do interesting chores other than picking up the hunting dogs poop or gathering flowers for the elders. Jack, having discovered his magical potential, was apprenticed to the elders to learn their ways.

This meant that every morning Jack would sit by the elders' council fire and listen to them prattle on about all of the spirits of nature and various ways to seal away the ka, bad spirits, away while he ground herbs with a mortar and pestle. Today was slightly different. The elders had told Jack to take the day off. Which was not a normal occurrence. Jack quickly dashed down the the well worn trail that lead to Underwood.

...

I took Jack all of two minutes to reach town, and when he did he quickly inhaled the fresh, mule shit odored, air. The town was busy, carts and farmers traversing the muddy roads. The various houses all had stands filled with goods the inhabitants had made in front of them. It took Jack a few moments to realize that it was market day. His hands quickly shot down to the pockets in his jacket and pants, patting himself down to find his coin purse. The lack of clinging in coins caused the corners of Jacks mouth to droop.

"You get one day off and you forget your purse?" A voice asked behind him. Jack turned to see his step mother, a tall, slender elven woman who rose up to his shoulders, walking towards him. "Hey Lea" He called out smiling. He was not overjoyed to see her, but the fact that she had his coin pouch clutched in her slender hands. Her green eyes met his as she handed his money to him.

"Call me mom please Jack," She said in a friendly tone. Jack forced his smile to remain on his face, even though he wanted to scowl. She was a friendly, agreeable person, but the fact that she was replacing his "real" mother really bugged him.

Suddenly a smell crossed his nose. The sweet smell of bread pierced the shit odor. Jack's stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten yet. "Go eat, I'm gonna go visit your father. You know where to find me." Then she vanished into the crowds that were starting to form. Jack turned and wandered off in search of the source of the bakery.