Halloween Debut

Wishing Well

A sort of orientation to wishing wells

"Now that father is more or less approving of outdoor excursions, Bessie and I went exploring and stumbled upon a wishing well."

Tony blinked as they started their descent, "Wishing... wait, what? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, one of those wishing wells showed in that movie of yours." Rudolph said, settling them down near the said structure. "Oddly enough, however, it doesn't seem to work. I wished for Halloween to come a lot sooner, but I kept waking up to the following day, as usual."

Two things that came into Tony's mind. First, why there was a well at all in a place like this, and second, that he shouldn't have started introducing Rudolph to the wonderful world of Disney by starting with its first colored animation movie. At least, without the orientation of fiction first.

"Well, where is Bessie then?" Tony asked, "she wasn't exactly the stead Anna keep saying she was, but it's fun pretending she was while riding her."

Rudolph waved his hand dismissively, "Oh, she died a few weeks ago."

"Wait, what! She died!?" Tony's mouth pops open. "and you don't care?"

Rudolph shrugged, "Well, it's been expected. I did bite her," he says, "so she has vampire venom inside of her instead of blood. Venom, as in, poison?"

"Yeah, but I thought she was vampire. Uh, a vamp-cow?" Tony frowned, "so that makes her immortal, right?"

Rudolph shook his head, "Poison is poison. To make a full vampire transformation, the person needs to be bitten four times, once per month from when the first bite was given to... You could say, develop an immunity of sorts to it." he explains, "Father didn't think it was necessary to transform her completely, however, because it would be a hassle to take care of her. Plus, Bessie would just be a bother to the normal cows grazing here and we need those to keep our strength up."

"I see." Tony hummed, still a bit sad. He understood the logic, it was reasonable. Still, he was going to miss her. "So, is it the same with turning people into vampires?"

Rudolph nodded, "Gregory said he was on his way to take us back from the orphanage when he encountered an accident." he says, "Mother begged father to turn him when they chanced upon him. He only remembered us after his full transformation, and his important human memories restored to him."

"Only important ones, huh?" Tony hums, "Like?"

Rudolph thought about it, and his own memories that he retained. "It's those things you may think of before dying. Your name, family that really matters to you, maybe even a pet. What you were passionate about..." he explained. "According to Gregory, at the time, the only thing that mattered to him was me and Anna. He didn't have big ambitions or anything, but he was always willing to take risks for our sake's. But he had to be completely transformed to remember any of that, so he came back for us by that time." He said, before shaking his head. "Anyway, enough of this dreary prattle. Shall we?"

"Uh, shall we... what?"

Rudolph shrugged. "Make a wish. Maybe you can show me what I did wrong, and why it won't grant my wishes." He said.

"Uh, about that Rud, wishing wells don't really work—" The blond trailed off at the hopeful expression on his face. "—er, you know, unless it involves... uh, a penny. Yeah."

Rudolph raised a brow, "A girl... named Penny?"

"Uh, no. Like, you know, um...." Tony said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Er.. Ah, like this. It's like... money?" he held out the coin.

Rudolph hummed, taking the coin. "Hmm, haven't used money since... Well, not even back when I was human." He shrugged. "But that maiden in the movie, she just sang to this thing. Ugh, do I have to sing?"

"No, not exactly." Tony snorted, and as much as the thought of Rudolph attempting to sing sounded so pure and amusing in its own right, he didn't want him to sing expecting that his well would grant his wish. "That was then, anyway. Nowadays, the thinking is that you gotta throw a coin into the well for a wish." He said, before realizing what he said. He intended to make up an excuse why wishes don't work on wells anymore but still leave the impression that it still works. He wasn't supposed to give him another idea to try it again. "Er, that is... I mean, that's what I heard, anyway. Haven't tried it yet, and sometimes people make something up. To, uh, keep the secret of the wishing well, um, a secret."

Rudolph crossed his arms, one hand to his chin as he hums in thought. "Well, then, might as well try it then." he snatched the coin from Tony and walked over to the well. The blond gaped, but before he could say thing, like suggest the vampire to wish for a simple, more low key wish than controlling time, Rudolph spoke his wish. "I wish for Tony to live a long life, about a hundred years or so would be nice." He said and flipped the coin.

It shimmered in the moon light before sinking down, deep into the deep and almost bottomless well.

"You..." Tony blinked, honestly taken by surprise by the vampire's wish. "You made a wish for my sake?"

Rudolph smiled, turning back to his friend and away from the well. "No, for me, silly." he said. "you're the most entertaining thing I've encountered in years. And I am not returning to those days of boredom if I can help it."

"Oh, so that's it," Tony rolled his eyes, and smirked. "So I'm just your court Jester. Well, jeez, nice to know what you think of me." He snarks.

But if he was being honest, he was touched that the vampire liked him enough to desire his company. Even if their meeting was intense and led to a lot of dangerous situations, the blond would do it all over again for the chance of the friendship he had now with the vampire. Tony liked Rudolph a lot, too. So even if it meant having to eat vegetables a lot to keep healthy and live long, Tony would suck it up.

For Rudolph.

As for the vampire, he wasn't going to admit that he had every intention of turning the blond into a vampire someday. Rudolph didn't just want hundreds of years with Tony, he wanted centuries with the blond, possibly even a forever. He understood, though. That Tony still had human concerns, like his parents. But Rudolph was used to waiting, so he would wait for that time Tony would consider and welcome the idea of becoming a vampire.

Rudolph can wait now that he had the well helping him with his wish.