VIDEO.

[icy]

[ The feed flicks on to show bright blue eyes and a wide white grin. Chuckling, the seemingly eighteen-year-old culprit tips the phone back so it can catch most of him (staff slung over a shoulder, perched somewhere hideously high and whoops, sorry if you get vertigo!) on the viewer. He's had a really terrible Easter weekend back in his own world but this, this place? This is incredible. (He might have taken several dozen selfies with people on the street already. No regrets.) In the past hour, all three cities have suffered a bit of a chilly spell; frost on windows and even light snow in the south as he explores.

Then again, with an ID reading Jack Frost | Spirit of Winter the mystery is somewhat at an end, if you've been wondering where the sun went. ]

Hey, people! Can everybody see this? Hear it? Kids, old fogeys, the whole nine yards — you don't even have to believe in what you're watching, you just can? [ Barking out an excited laugh, Jack's eyes crinkle. ] Oh, man, you've gotta be kidding me.

Anybody want to talk? I've got three hundred years to make up lost time for.

[ Chinning a hand, he settles in a perched crouch. Evidently, for those who pay attention to details, Jack is only frosty in name and powers, old-old, and completely at home with technology. ]

Comments

video;

[nostalgiabomb]

Three hundred years?

Huh. You don't look a day over two hundred. What, do you moisturize? Drink lots of water?

video;

[icy]

The secret is pumice stones. Buff and moisturize daily, you got it!

[nostalgiabomb]

See, now I just thought it had to do with making good lifestyle choices. You know, no fatty foods, avoiding cigarettes, not having any fun ever.

But pumice stones, huh? Weird.

[icy]

Who cuts fun out of their daily routine? Wouldn't like to be that guy. [ Shaking his head. ] Spirit of Winter, man. ID isn't wrong.

[nostalgiabomb]

Jack Frost. "Spirit of Winter"?

Wow, they were kinda on the nose with all of that when they named you. Lemme guess -- you have really awesome fire powers, right?

[icy]

I wish, that'd really throw people for a loop. [ Although he'd probably just ... melt snow on people, like an asshole. ] What is it that you can do?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ With gravitas, ] I can name songs after a note.

[ And then he waggles his fingers at the camera, as if to say, Spoooooky. ]

[icy]

[ Wut. ]

Like a seer of song? That's awesome, you could figure out whole spells that way! [ Sadly, the enthusiasm is genuine. ] Hey, which one is this: hmm —!

[nostalgiabomb]

"Notorious" by Duran Duran, 1986.

[ A beat of silence, then: confusion. ]

-- Wait, what do you mean by spells?

[icy]

You know when people are bewitched? They could hum the start of whatever chant they heard while they were going through it and you'd have the whole thing written down right there, you could pick it apart and figure out exactly what the wording had been. [ Raising his brows for emphasis. ] Even if it sounds like gobbledygook to you, someone else could always translate what you get from the recital.

That could help a lot of people if there are any trigger-happy magic folk around, if that's how it works. Maybe? Sounds useful to me. Also, and most importantly, useful for classifying songs people get stuck in their head. That's pretty up there, too.

You're like a cheat-sheet against magic.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter blinks at the camera for a long moment, face blank, because what the Christ, Jack, did you seriously just make this power useful?

Wow. ]

I'll, uh. Keep that in mind. Don't see a lot of magic where I'm from, so I guess I never thought I could use it that way.

[icy]

[ You're welcome, Padawan. ]

Kinda useless if people are just waving their hands to do their magical jazz, but y'know. Otherwise cool. [ If they get all dramatic and stuff though, he can see this guy being a shoo-in as a lead for the perp's intentions. ] Living in a world full of over-powered people can't make what you do redundant, at least, gotta be some crazies lurking around.

[nostalgiabomb]

Kid, there are always crazies lurking around.

Like, right now? I'm talking to this guy who's sitting on, like, a roof or something. For some reason. And he's got this weird stick on his shoulder. Not sure what's going on with either of those things.

[icy]

I should be calling you kid, technically.

[ JUSSAYIN, snorting a smile. ]

I'm Jack Frost, does that ring absolutely no bells for you? Not even doodling on windows, nipping on noses, etcetera? I bring the winter.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ OOookay, Peter's squinting at the screen now. ]

Your name's seriously Jack Frost? I thought it was, like, part of your code name or whatever.

[icy]

It's really getting cute how everyone thinks I'm pretending to be myself, by the way. Throwing that out there.

[ And by cute he means exasperating. ]

Dude, I'm the real deal. I bring the snow days and the blizzards, I'm that guy. Is it the lack of pointy boots and heel-kicking confusing you? 'Cause I don't put in for that, do me a solid and don't Rankin and Bass me.

[nostalgiabomb]

I think it's mostly the, you know. Knowin' a Duran Duran song and name dropping Rankin and Bass that's throwing me off. 'Cause I gotta figure spirits don't give a crap about, uh. "Mortal music" or kids' movies or whatever.

[icy]

No one can see me back in my world. You know what that means? Eternally free movie tickets.

[ And a bunch of really awful deal-breakers, but he's highlighting things for Peter's benefit. True things, happily enough. ]

I was there for A New Hope before it was re-titled. Glastonbury's been getting better every year, mostly. First time people ever used telephones? Hilarious. [ It was so awful but so much fun, too. ] I've seen some stuff. Even the Groundhog has an iPhone, how else is he supposed to keep in touch from underground?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Er. Peter's going to be. Blank-facing at the screen again.

Because-- what was any of that? But he latches on to the thing he does recognize, which is-- ]

What do you mean they retitled A New Hope?

[icy]

[ Did you just slap him, Peter? Did you. ]

Stop talking to me and Google 'Star Wars' right now.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He waves a hand dismissively, the look on his face saying, Yeah right. ]

I know what Star Wars is, dude. I love those movies. What do you mean they renamed it?

[icy]

Oh, thank God, for a minute there I was seriously having a 'tell him, don't tell him' moment over the father-son reveal. [ The sincerity is so real, though. Don't put him under pressure like that, Peter. ] No, I mean, they renamed Star Wars to tack on A New Hope when the second movie came out.

[nostalgiabomb]

Oh, Jesus, okay. [ He legitimately looks relieved. ]

I thought you meant, like, they renamed it entirely. Some kid was telling me about how they came out with some new ones that apparently really sucked? And I thought you meant, like, they changed A New Hope when they released those.

[icy]

They're not awful, they're just ... kinda mopey and Anakin-centric? Like "I'm so delusional that I'm not taking five minutes to talk to my secret wife and straighten out my head, I'm going to listen to this creepy guy for no reason, yikes I'm so evil now".

[ Grimacing, he shakes his head. ]

You spend all three movies just yelling at the screen for Anakin to talk to Obi-Wan. Maybe have a coffee, play some Galaga, anything but what he does.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He wrinkles his nose at that.

That just. You know. Wow, sounds great. He's super pumped about not watching them, now. ]

Alright, you sound like an expert. You wanna explain what the hell's up with Jar-Jar Binks? 'Cause the kid -- Hiro, I think -- had me look him up, and I just.

I don't understand.