* 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 & 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕!

Oh, she did adore when people were inquisitive about her baby. A light hum of approval grew from her chest as the boy spoke, taking him in with the raise of an eyebrow and a smile. Nimbly, she climbed to her feet and took the taffrail down to where it continued on the half deck, motioning for him to join her aboard.

“You can come up, if you like.” She said the words with a breezy air in time with the motion. “This darling ship is mine, her name is Legacy. She’s usually out in the waters, rarely docked, so I can understand how you’ve never seen her before.” She spoke of the ship as an old friend, lovingly and with a little distance in her voice.

She looked down to the boy, taking him in for the first real time while bouncing on the balls of her feet. Amelia was excited.

The lady got to her feet and made her way onto the half deck, and motioned for Peter to join her. She’d barely said the words before he called, “Okay! I will!” and dived into the water, graceful and quick as a gull. He swam front crawl underwater until he reached the ship, before he hurriedly scrambled up the hull. He deftly grabbed onto loose ropes and slight grooves in the woodwork to pull himself up, not cheating by flying even a little bit. There was a gangway leading from the edge of the dock to the ship, and it would have been much quicker and easier to come aboard using it, but where was the fun in that?

He scuttled up the side of the hull as he had done hundreds of times on the Jolly Roger, when he’d wanted to surprise the captain and his crew by coming from the water instead of the sky. He’d had his dagger clutched in his teeth, then, but now, he boarded this stranger’s ship without a weapon. But something in him told her to trust her.

When he climbed onto the gunwale, he just stood there, his toes curled over the wooden ledge and his hands on his hips. He grinned his cocky grin at the stranger, daring her to say something about how he’d gotten aboard. “Legacy,” he said, admiringly. “She’s beautiful. Much nicer than another ship I know.” He wrinkled his nose at the thought of the Jolly Roger, and jumped off the gunwale and onto the deck. He was drenched in seawater, and he shook his head like a dog coming in from the rain, before holding his hand out to the captain for her to shake. Wendy had taught him that was good manners. “My name’s Peter,” he said, proudly. “Who are you?”

warmth blossomed through amelia’s chest as she lay back on the taffrail of her beloved. one foot lulled off the side of her perch, bringing a lazy nature to the posture of her sitting situation — that and a general sense of anxiety for any onlooker. speaking of! amelia rolled to her side, teetering on the edge of the thick wooden slab. “may i be of service?” she called to the person standing below, her gaze trained towards the dock with a blissful smile. “you do seem to be rather lost.”

.

Peter liked to go to the cliff edge every day, to see if any pirates were on their way from Never Never Land. From the top of the cliff, looking out at the sea with his hand shielding his eyes from the sun, he could see all the way to the hazy horizon. He’d never seen ships before, but today, as he stood there and looked down, he saw a huge galleon ship at the dock. 

It was empty, except for one lady, who was lying on the taffrail. It wasn’t the Jolly Roger -- that was a carrack, and this ship didn’t have the tell-tale skull and crossbones flag flying. But Peter still wanted to see who it was, so he looked around to check nobody was nearby, and then he neatly stepped off the cliff’s edge and flew down to the dock.

It was early in the morning, and Peter had flown to the edge of the Forest as the sky was bleeding from light grey to deep orange as the sun rose. He alighted on the ground soundlessly, pulled out his small dagger, and started shadow sparring with the tree, thrusting and cutting in quick motions, imagining it was Hook in front of him. He couldn’t let himself get out of practise, in case the pirate Captain decided to leave Never Never Land too, and they crossed paths.

isabela swept the floor of the bakery as there was not much else to do at the moment. she was getting dreadfully bored just standing around waiting for customers and figured she might as well do something productive. sweeping invoked humming which led to dancing around with the broom. not paying attention to the sounds around her, she spun around to find someone standing there. she let out a small oop as a few flowers appeared in her hair. 

“hello! welcome to the sweetest things! “ she announced a little too loudly and then lowered her voice and leaned toward them. “where i will give you a free pastry with your purchase if you pretend you didn’t see that.”

.

Since coming to Atohallan, Peter had been on the look out for other magical people. The only way he could feel close to Never Never Land was when he flew, which he often did at night, to avoid people seeing him. He wasn’t ashamed, but he didn’t want people to crowd him. Not here. He wanted to stick with his Boys, and keep them safe, until they could go home. He couldn’t do that if he was surrounded by strangers. So, he flew mostly at night, but sometimes he half-flew as he walked, his feet barely touching the ground, just to remind himself of home.

One thing that he was still getting used to about living in Atohallan was the fact that they didn’t have to hunt or forage or fish for food. It was all there, in markets and shops. So, on his way back to their temporary home in Shimmer Shire, Peter stopped at a bakery. Tootles loves those things they called pastries here, and Peter had a few doubloons he’d stolen from the Jolly Roger, so he wanted to trade one for a pastry. He walked in just as the woman turned around, and a few flowers appeared in her hair.

Having arranged delivery to the estate, Anna thanked the stall owner with a smile before continuing on with her shopping. The novelty of being able to go out and purchase things for herself, to interact with all the people in the marketplace, still hadn’t worn off. Even before her parents had closed off the castle it had never been so lively, with things being so controlled and everyone on their best behavior.

Of course, the best part of shopping was the faster she got through her weekly allowance, the sooner she got to talk to Elsa. It wasn’t quite the sisterly bonding she was looking for, but she would take a lecture on fiscal responsibility over nothing at all. Which was why she found herself stopping at yet another eye-catching stall, every inch covered in brightly colored fabrics. Here Anna was quick to snatch up the loudest, tackiest green scarf she could find and wrap it around her neck before turning to a nearby fellow shopper, “What do you think? Can I pull it off?”

.

Peter wasn’t used to markets and stalls -- people bustling and hawking their things, trying to press seashells and beads and jewels into his hands as he walked through the crowded street. They didn’t have anything like that in Neverland. The Lost Boys sometimes traded nuts and berries they’d foraged with the fairies, in exchange for bags of pixie dust, or fish they’d caught with the mermaids, in exchange for conch shells and sea glass. But it was nothing like the busy markets in Atohallan.

He knew the Lost Boys had stolen things from a few stalls, because they returned from their walks wearing new clothes in the local style, and strange hats, and handmade shoes. He never told them off, but every time he saw them wearing something new, it made him feel like they were forgetting home. So, when he was wandering through the stalls, looking for Curly, and a stranger turned to him and asked if he could pull the bright green scarf off, Peter wrinkled his nose childishly. The green was unnaturally bright -- obviously dyed -- not like any shade of green he’d seen back home. “No,” he said, bluntly. “It clashes with your hair.” His own auburn hair was bright next to his forest green shirt, but he didn’t mention that.

nevernever land is your home, it’s your domain and for as long as you can remember, you’ve been it’s unofficial king. you like to cause trouble, but at the end of the day you have the backs of those close to you. the darkness is threatening your carefree lifestyle and you’re gonna fix it, you’re gonna be the hero of nevernever land. or, so you think.