L A R R I K I N

Willie ditched that piece of galvanize to give her his full upright attention, which in all honesty was kind of flattering in a general sense of the term.  Not attractive or anything like that but Jupiter had never really been a ‘commanding’ person (her kids might say different if they did some nonsense and she was pissed at them) and Willie didn’t exactly snap to attention.  But he had a big grin and focus on her, dismissing whatever else he was doing, and it was kinda cute, in a neutral-cute way.  It was like having Big Bird eager to help you clean up Sesame Street.

“I know, me too!  I was a skinny little thing back then!  Not like starving but I could eat a whole hog and not regret it,”  Jupiter giggled.  “And you!  You were so dang cute.  Scrappy little boy with a mouth on you.  That mouth could talk,”  Jupiter grinned up at Willie.  “I know you’re back to normal now, but how’re you feeling anyway?  Miss being a little boy, or glad you’re all grown up now?”

It seemed like Willie wanted to pull her into a hug - which was so sweet.  It would be like what Jupiter imagined getting a hug from Tom Cullen from The Stand, she imagined.  M-O-O-N, that spelled ‘Willie’, etc - but then paused last minute for some reason.  Propriety?  He was an old fellow, so maybe it was impolite for his time. But Jupiter dived closer and gave him a hug anyway, her hands not touching as they wrapped around to his back. She pat his back.

“Awww ain’t you a sweetheart, Willie.  I’m glad you’re doing okay too.”  ‘One of the good ones’, he called her, and that just warmed Jupiter’s heart.  But she didn’t want to stall too long.  Maybe she was building anticipation for something that wasn’t even relevant or interesting to him anymore, or maybe it’d just make him sad.  She could handle sad, but she didn’t want to ruin his day.

Still, she’d taken them this far, couldn’t back down now.  “Damn I wish we had some yummy cake right now!  A big old fluffy white cake with chocolate frosting.  If only,” Jupiter giggled, and carefully extracted a brown bag from her purse.  “No honey, I got something else, something you’d recognize.  I hope it’s still okay…”

Opening the brown back, she jostled out a little branch, with some leaves and buds attached.  She held it in her palm.  “Guess what this is?  Go on, you can take it if you want it!”

“I miss it alreet!” There’d been a spring to his step that was auspiciously missing now, everything felt increasingly more difficult. In some ways, it had forced Will to lean a little more heavily on the magic, his attunement, reinforcing himself when needed. Lightening each step when previously he’d used it to skate along at thrice the pace. Nonetheless, it was nice to let all the aches melt away for a moment. Willie gave Jupiter a half-decent squeeze back, she smelt fresh, spritzed with coconut and a womenfolk-like scent he couldn’t distinguish. “You’s weren’t too quiet yerrself! Set of church bells ‘bout you.” He said, a wily smile as they parted ways, giving her a slight pat to the shoulder. “Ain’t no bad thing.”

This was all really long forgotten as Jupiter produced a small clipping of what was unmistakably, tobacco. Will hadn’t been one of the ones to nurture the plant, not strictly, but he’d spent enough time in the fields to know. “Blazes…” He tenderly took the little half-plant from her, it was barely anything but it was hope enough. “Ay’up! Jupiter!” He pinched it between his fingers, holding it up over both of their heads. “This is glorious!” Will leant in to give her a second, or was it third, another squeeze of the shoulders, and forgetting all the lessons that had come before. A light kiss to her cheek.

“We’s got t’ plant this now! Canna have t’lil one dying on us before gets a chance t’ grow up real big and strong. Ay’up! I’m happy as Larry, you’s no idea. Big man Tomas said I were okay t’be growing but bugger if I knew how t’bring it back. You’s know how t’plant? Ma’ did it all when I were lil lad, like I were last I saw you’s but I didn’t do much. Bit o’ a gobshite I were.” Perhaps, certain people might still ascertain that to be true but Willie was blissfully ignorant. “C’mon I know best spot for this and all, I do.” He said, with a nod of a gesture towards the farm and a quicker-than-usual amble in that direction. There was no rush, no urgency, but Will was terrified the fragile small thing would die if they didn’t sow it soon enough. The island had a habit of playing wily tricks on them, and Will had endured enough of that bollocks as of late.

He almost reminded her of Dix Denny. Odd looking, albiet in a completely different way. Excitable. Incorrigible flirt. It was actually pretty interesting to get an insight into Will before Meridium. Amelia did scoff a bit at his talk about women, though. “Maybe it’s all women were taught to want back then.” She shrugged, pretty sure he wouldn’t challenge her and hoping he didn’t because honestly things hadn’t been much better in her time. Especially not for women like her. “Oh, it never goes out, but it won’t spread.” She shook her head, trying to assuage whatever worry he might have, “…Usua lly, anyway. There’s a lot going on already so we’re probably fine.” Hey, it did have a history of being unpredictable.

She stopped a ways away from the water, wary enough of it these days. The last thing they needed right now was for her to get dragged out and sink into the ocean like a stone. Amelia’s mouth drew up into an apologetic smile and she turned her head to look at Will, “no pubs here.” She told him, “not much of anything on Meridium.” She kicked up a bit of sand and slid her hands into her pockets. “There’s work, though. On the farm, paper mill, animals to look after. Loads of work to do, ‘hah, but not the kind that pays cash.” Her gaze shifts away, awkward, and she stares back out at the water, “and I’m not fancy, promise. Dirt poor before Meridium, and not much better now.” 

@willieshaw​

Will hadn’t much thought of it that way, that women folk might be taught to want marriage, but what else was there for them? “Bloody hell, what’s t’point being here then? No pubs? What you’s lot do?” It was inconceivable really, besides there being work for days as she reeled off the list of places eligible for employment. Will didn’t understand either, what was the point in doing any of that work if you weren’t going to be paid. He’d been paid bloody fuck all, all of his life but at least it’d been something. “Well how ‘bout we’s make most of it duck?” He said, reaching out to give her a light pat on the shoulder but he stops part-way. A realisation, perhaps, but really time shifts forward and Will isn’t the young bright and obnoxious boy of the past. Instead he’s a relic as old as time.

“Bloody hell duck, island int’t messing ‘bout is it?” Will brought a hand up to his temple, but the difference was not immediately evident to him. Blindly, he rubbed two fingers against his higher hairline. “You’s were right…think it were different for womenfolk where I was from.” A different time, a different era, as he was sometimes reminded of. “Amelia…int’t duck? Supposed t’be learning names now, but int’t easy! Ay’up how ‘bout you’s and I go get sugar treat? Not much here, but we has t’ small things ducky.”

Will’s shouting and lamenting just gives Hazel further reason to wail, but mostly because, “I don’t know what you’re saaaayiiiiiing!” This boy has a funny voice that she doesn’t quite understand. Interesting to listen to! But hard to understand. Especially with her funny ear. Her mom told her not to call it her bad ear. It isn’t bad. Even if it doesn’t work.

Isn’t she supposed to be avoiding kids like him, so she doesn’t get sick again? Ones that are all dirty and grimy. Which is most kids, Hazel has discovered. At least ones that aren’t in the hospital. It’s somewhat reassuring, then, when the grimy boy says he’s not sick. But that’s just his word. Hazel peeks out of her bag, big eyes gone narrow and suspicious. “How do you know for sure? Maybe that’s why your voice sounds funny. ‘Cause you’re sick. That’s what happens sometimes. Your voice goes funny. Have you ever been sick before?”

It’s only when the boy mentions a house that Hazel looks around and goes wide-eyed again. This is not the hospital. “This is where you live?” It looks… weird. Nothing like her house with its big windows and shiny floors. Finally, her curiosity is piqued enough that she’s shuffling out of the bag to observe what’s around her. The question, though, has her tilting her head, then giggling. Are they playing a game? That’d be fun. “Yes, I’m Nesh!” Clearly, she doesn’t understand the meaning of the foreign word, but she likes her made up meaning all the same. “And you’re… Mr. Neshy-pants! And Mr. Neshy-pants has to… catch Nesh!” And then she’s off, trotting out of the house on her little legs and shrieking with delight at her own game the whole time.

The fruit squished against his mouth through all the squirming. Sae-byeok wiped her fingers in mist when she was done. “Remind me to clean your ears later,” she said, similarly cleaning the juice off his face before extending a hand for a shake. “My name is Sae-byeok.” Her brow crinkled along familiar lines; Will’s dialect was easier to understand than what he used it to say. “If I find a dog, I suppose I can sell it to you.”

Cheese did the trick nearly too well. Will’s movements came across her attuned vision, a slick pose right after such loud excitement. Soon enough, he figured out what she really meant. For no actual reason, her voice lowered to a bad, raspy whisper. 

“Your mother was correct.” The farm began producing cheese twenty-ish years ago, but the Cheese Riot broke the central process and much more. Cheese was more of an artisanal product now. “As far as your question, to truly reach an answer, you must first familiarize yourself with the present mode of production. Fortunately, I’ve written several texts on the subject.” Unfortunately, Sae-byeok still took these things way too seriously. 

She led Will to the paper mill. “So, Will. When I used to work here,” she quietly began, laying a hand on an exterior wall, “I kept a wheel of cheese in the drawer of my desk. I forgot to take it with me when I retired, and now the new papermaker keeps eating my cheese like it’s his.” She was only talking about her longtime friend and co-worker Julian, gifted the cheese as a congratulations.

Sae-byeok pulled a square of paper and a pencil from her pocket. “The cheese has my name on it. Has your ma ever talked to you about learning how to read?” She handed Will her name in English, a scheme within a scheme. He always brushed off the topic of his illiteracy, but children were more honest than adults. This Will might be the only one with those answers.

“Bugger off.” He said, absolutely certain that she wasn’t going to be coming anywhere near his ears. Will’s discontent spilled out into hearty laughter as she took him seriously. His tiny fists pounding down into the dirt as he tried to stabilise himself from topping over. “You’s do that alreet.” Willie uttered between haggard gasps for air. “Right well Sae-something you’s int’t my ma’ canna be telling me what t’ do!” Will huffed. Even if she followed it up with what was probably a dogshit load of bollocks.

Nevertheless, Willie did follow her with juice dribbling down his face from hurriedly stuffing the rest of the fruit into his gob, towards an unfamiliar building. It were big, bigger than his home, which meant she were proper rich. Will avidly listened to every word from here on out. “Pa said I had t’learn but I hate Sunday school.” Willie rubbed the juice into his cheek, smearing it in with the dark soot that formed a peculiar unwanted shade of rouge.

Somewhat reluctantly he took the paper, staring at it blankly. The heady dark ink swirled into incomprehensible symbols that Willie didn’t even know where to begin deciphering. His smile wavered in frustration, and then swiftly, he thrust the paper back at her. “I’ll find cheese! Do I bloody need no note.”

He huffed, rolling back his tiny shoulders and then turning his attention to the hut. It was easy enough to get inside. He wasn’t particularly tall, no growth spurt yet, and Willie had been climbing trees since he was old enough to walk. He didn’t really have a plan, but he didn’t need one. “Oi, oi! Int’t nobody in here.” He cried, hopping down off of the table that he’d landed on. He’d scattered a few pieces of paper but what did they matter? Fuck if he cared what happened to them. Will searched for a desk. That he could find  notes and stupid bloody reading aside, it were as easy as piss to yank open drawers. Will stared practically salivating as he found the grand prize. Belatedly, did Will realise that he was no longer alone.

location: oot and aboot​

“Yoooooooo there he is!”  Jupiter called out to Willie, when she found him.  It seemed like he was in the middle of doing something, but not something delicate or dangerous action where being surprised might not end well.  Besides, he was air-attuned just like her; and she wasn’t trying to be quiet as she hopped and bounced towards the huge man.

Up close, he looked even larger than she remembered, but height alone wasn’t a deterrent to Jupiter.  People came in all shapes and sizes, and Jupiter had met her share of Napoleons and gentle giants.  Willie, she believed, was of the latter persuasion after what he’d done.

“Hey dude, how’s it going!  Looks like you threw yourself right back into work, huh?  Looking good, looking good.”  Jupiter sing-songed as she pranced up to big Willie and surveyed whatever he was busy with.  “Hey!  I wanted to find you because we were never properly introduced!  I’m Jupiter, I dunno if you remember me?  You were a little kid for most of the time, I was a teenager.  Weird island shit, huh?”

And Jupiter still wasn’t quite sure how to parse it, really.  They were young.  Like literally, physically and mentally young.  It was so bizarre, to be oneself but not, but was.   

“And I wanted to thank you for helping me, bro.  You like carried me to safety, right?  I fainted, didn’t I?  But you kept me safe and I appreciate that.”  Smiling, maybe still kind of seeing Big Willie as that precocious little shouty kid, Jupiter teased,  “And I think I got something for you that you might like…”

“Ay’up!” Willie greeted, unceremoniously abandoning the hunk roof he’d hauled off one of the smaller outhouse buildings that had all but come down itself. It needed to be a little less holey and frankly, possibly redoing. But Will was never one to be defeated. Much beside the fact that Willie didn’t consider there to be many other options beyond making do and mending, especially now. The sheet of metal had evidently been scavenged from somewhere, and it was not the sort of material he was altogether used to. Elusive and somewhat ethereal in it’s glossy but red-crusted state.

None of which Will was paying much attention to now, they hadn’t spoken much but the last they’d seen of each other still permeated his thoughts. “Ay’up duck!” Will repeated part-in-part because her name had escaped him, part-in-part because she was singing all the right tunes, and Will had nary a thought. “Always somethin’ t’do.” Weird island shit. He chuckled, which spiralled out into a deep belly laugh. “Bugger it were! Canna say last time felt so…springy.” On par with the usual, he added a liberally acted wink onto that one.

“It were nothing Jupiter!” There’s almost indefinitely a conscious effort being made to remember her name, and cement it properly to his memory. In this instance not just because Tomas told him he had to. He’d clapped a hand on her shoulder to bring her close for an embrace, instinctual, habitual at this point, but stalled recalling all the other conversations that had built lately. Instead he gave her shoulder a light tap. “Glad you’s alreet. Shan’t be losing no more good’uns.” Will let go, and shuffled back as if doing a terribly complicated dance he couldn’t remember the steps to. “You has something?”

A new child’s voice answered. Sae-byeok scrunched her face and quickly waved a hand until her cold fingers found a tiny ear. She didn’t pull or pinch, only felt around to test the child’s skin. The discovery was clear to her attunmenet. “Gae saekkiya,” she openly cursed. A little Will wouldn’t know what she was saying, and she didn’t censor herself for children anyways. She cleared her throat and tucked her knife back in her sash. “Hello, Willie-ya. My name is Sae-byeok. You don’t remember me at all? We’re very good friends, you know.”

He continued with an accusation. She did a decent job not laughing, but her wide smile gave her amusement away. “Well, there’s more to it than that, but go ahead, keep your treats.” Her daily tasks were simple and exciting, even familiar when she thought of her short time as a parent: Let him do whatever he wants, and make sure he doesn’t die. With no reason for that to change now, she bent down to his eye level, not that she could really see. “It seems you’re good at sneaking around. I could use your help finding something even better. Tell me, Willie-shi, do you like cheese?”

Will attempted, which was the real imperative, to dissuade her investigations as if fearing she’d pinch. Which she didn’t. In the end, despite his grumbling he accepted his fate if only because she wasn’t deterred by him. Set on her path as he tried to shovel another mouthful of the sweet juicy orange looking thing straight into his mouth. “Nah, no idea who you’s is.” He said, staring up at her for a moment as if he could discern who she was with a good hard stare. Nothing really came to mind. He scrubbed at his nose. “You’s selling me a dog?” Good friends. Like he’d be friends with an old hag like her.

Who needs to care about a disappearing house when there’s a potential new one on the horizon? “Really?” Hazel asks with arguably too much surprise at Willie’s bright enthusiasm. But quickly she’s smiling too, laughing along with Will. “You don’t look that old!” She automatically responds, out of politeness, though that’s true of all of Meridium, isn’t it? No one shows their age. (Not yet, anyway.) “That sounds great. When can we start? I mean not that we have to start right now – like, you should probably put down that thing at least but – but I’m free… whenever, is what I mean, really. It could be right now but also it could be… yeah. Whenever.”

Except… not right now. Not as time flips on its head and Hazel is sent backward, shrunken and clad in a hospital gown, giggling at her own game. She dives into a sleeping bag but doesn’t help her hiding efforts, shrieking as the tall man calls out, searching for her. Still, she wiggles further down into the bag, as if that’ll help. Then she’s outright laughing, a bright belly laugh when two hands tickle at her sides…

Until they’re gone. Little Hazel creeps forward in her bag, frowning at the sound of a new voice… and then they collide head-on. “Ouch!” She cries out petulantly, tears welling up immediately. “You hurt me!” Accusatory in the way only a child can be, whole-hearted and finger pointing, even though she’s still in the sleeping bag, having scooted back. Which prompts more motion, it seems, something hitting her repeatedly from the outside. “Ow! Ow! Stop it!” Hazel wails, not bothering to hit back. Instead, she clumsily rolls away, putting a few feet of distance between her and the boy before attempting to peek out of the bag again.

“That was mean!” Hazel scolds once she’s out in the light, rubbing her sore forehead. “Why’d you do that? And why are you all dirty?” The soot on his face is smudged but still there, leaving her to wrinkle her nose and shake her head. “That’s not sanitary, you know.” Sanitary. The nurses taught her that word recently. She likes it. “You’re gonna get germs and then you’re gonna get sick.”

“BUGGER!” He screams, pulling back as the weird looking shiny bag starts wailing at him, and a head pokes out one side that’s most definitely, just a girl. “YUCK.” Will adds on, because that was a definitive and given response when faced with a girl. He had not yet come to the age of appreciating, nor wanting, the attention of girls. “Blazes you’s well gobby!” She wouldn’t bloody stop either, kept wailing as if William had really hurt her. He hadn’t even touched her! He kicked up his feet and pushed himself to a stand. Hardly tall at all though he did his best to posture himself into something mighty, fearsome. The sort of pose that his pa adopted for himself whenever trouble was afoot.

“Bugger I t’know you’s in there!” He hollered back, which is entirely unnecessary because the girl wasn’t all that far from him. Will pulled a face of disgust at her. “I int’t sick.” He hadn’t a clue what she were on about, but he knew that much, that he wasn’t sick. Little Lou had been sick when she were born, apparently ma had to put her into the stove drawer to keep her warm. But William? He was strong! Big man they said he was, even though he hadn’t grown much and was still pint-sized. Small enough to wriggle up the chimney to clean it out, which he hated.

Amelia shook her head and bit back another smile, “you are when you know me.” She said, maybe a bit more mystic than she needed to be, but honestly? Amelia was enjoying this, just a little bit. It was far from ideal obviously, but considering everything else Meridium had thrown at them? It didn’t put their lives in imminent danger or throw everything they’d been building up to make survival bearable into the ocean. It did bent the fabric of reality a bit, sure, but that was every day here.

At least Will still had all his limbs and his brain and whatnot, and seemed to be regular Will, though a version Amelia didn’t know. He wasn’t trying to drag her into the jungle or steal her memories or anything. Hey, they’d had worse days. “Husband!” Amelia laughed again, almost doubling over this time, “oh god no, not me honey.” She gave a swift shake of her head, still grinning, “I don’t think I’m the marrying type. But anyway, the heart tree is… Well, it’s a hollow tree. We called it that because the fire inside it threw shadows kinda like a heart shape. I think so, anyway. I could be wrong.” She shrugged, figuring there were more pressing matters than vague Meridium Lore.

Growing up in California, the coast was never far away. Ocean air was Amelia’s old friend, and the only familiar thing about Meridium. Maybe she was lucky for that, since for someone like Will it seemed like such an impossibility. He was gonna be real excited when he realized they were surrounded by saltwater, until he realized what that meant. She let him carry on, just trying to keep up wth his stories and nod at the right time. “Oh. My name is Amelia. And yes, I live here. So do you.” She levelled him with another concerned glance, then started the walk down the path proper, “c’mon. It won’t be far before you can see the water.” ​

“Ay’up you’s be calling me honey now, I’m no fool int’t I duck. Say that’s a winner that is.” He said, generously and liberally applying a wink to that statement. “I int’t marrying fella, ay but thought you’s lot…ladies were supposed to want it most? All my bloody sister talks ‘bout.” She wanted a husband, and a good one, and there didn’t seem to be naught else in life she wanted. Not that Will had ever really interrogated her on that, or dug deeper into her life, and what she herself wanted. All the better that he didn’t have much to do with her these days. Any of them, except Daniel, the little blighter was a good laugh with a drink. “Tree on fire? Shouldn’t you’s be…calling one them fire folk to put it out?” His knowledge on the topic was slim, but the boarding house opposite his had gone up in flames one night. Half a dozen men with buckets had fought to suppress the lick of orange heat.

“Amelia. Good name that is ducky.” Though he was less sure about the living part, he certainly didn’t live anywhere near here. He was, as he liked to call it, between houses. Which meant sleeping a little rough until the money came in from this new factory, well it weren’t new, new. New to him. Willie scratched at the back of his head, keeping up with her to soak in the sight of the ocean as they came upon it. It really wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen. He stopped dead and stared, not sure if he really liked the look of it. Angry rolling floods of water came crashing down hard against the beach. White foam reeling in its wake.

“Well I’m sorry but that stinky is exactly what your daddy sounds like to me.  No offense but I’m just saying.  Your pa sounds like a big old stinker,”  Jupiter opined firmly, knowing she was right.  Any man who hit a woman was a jerk, and the concept seemed so simple that young Jupiter often wondered why then, it was so difficult for people to understand.  Her world, at her age, was still mostly black & white, with little room for grey.  People were wrong for not understanding what was so obvious to her.

She giggled at John Willie’s proclamation.  “Okay then! A big old ham sandwich and a big class of orange juice!  Or chocolate milk…”  What she wouldn’t give herself, for chocolate milk and a ham sandwich.  Distracted by her hunger, too late she realized that what opened the door wasn’t a precocious little boy but a huge, tall…huge man.

Jupiter screamed, and screamed more when his innocent greeting half-hug was interpreted as an attack.  “Get away from me, who the hell are you?  And where the hell is John Willie?!”

Her terror turned to suspicion and worry for the poor little boy.  “What did you do to that little boy who fell in -”  An audible gasp, and Jupiter reared back.  “Are you…are you Big John?  You big stinky asshole!  I ain’t afraid of you!  You shouldn’t treat your wife so badly!  Or your kids!”  

She’d promised herself not to get involved in the personal business of strangers, hadn’t she?  And yet here Jupiter was, yelling at the dad himself for things that she had no right to yell at him for.  

The way air started to feel compressed or pulled or something weird around her, Jupiter felt like she was getting dizzy.  Dehydration or blood-sugar or something - but Jupiter swayed on her feet, and then started to collapse with a dramatic sigh.  “Sweet Jesus, I’m dying!”

By the time she fell, Jupiter was back to herself - older, back in her regular Meridium clothes…but still fainting.

“I int’t Big John! Willie!” He declared, Big Willie, as if his life depended on it. Except she hadn’t heard him, or didn’t understand, because one moment she was upright on her feet the next she was swaying like a tree in a storm. She changed, which both dazzled Will and sparked a curiosity that was intrinsically fleeting due in part to her dramatic sigh. “Bugger you’s ain’t!” He launched himself forward, taking hold of her with both hands so she didn’t crack her back, or head, on the loco floor. “Bloody hell…” He hadn’t a clue what to do in such a situation, with a lady fainting. Will hoisted her up to carry her, half aware that time was still flickering back and forth, eventually it seemed to settle. But Will was otherwise preoccupied with the limp form of Jupi.

“Ay’up ducky, you’s be hearing me?” He gave her a gentle tap to the face, when it was evident that he needed to do something, Will hoisted her up with a grunt. Holding her in his arms to carefully lay her down outside of the loco after negotiating the steps down. She were breathing, good, but she seemed…out of it still. There was nothing else for it, it weren’t like the other farm was all that far away, Willie was wholly convinced he could carry her that far. “Tarnation duck, you’s come round you’s will. Won’t be having it no other way.”

He is kinda cute. But he’s also Will, and hopefully he’s going to zap right back to his regular age at some point. Or a different, less inconvinient age, because Amelia really isn’t sure what to do about the flirting. He seems incorrgible already. And he just kept going, too, prattling on like the fact that he was who knew where with who knew who was not a problem at all. 

“Aw, hell.” Amelia huffed a bit, trying not to look at him all wide eyed and worried but not sure if it worked. “You really are old. And you’re not in 1854 anymore, Will.” Though, any sympathy he might’ve garnered withered fast in the face of fresh amusement. Really, what she should be worrying about was him running his mouth to the wrong person. “Um-” She tried to contain her laughter and be serious, because the last thing this situation needed was fights breaking out across ages, causing more tension when things got back to normal. “I’m not a prostitute, and if it’s about the way I’m dressed then get used to it fast.” 

Almost everything else Will said went right over her head- he winked, and she had no idea if he was making a joke or it was another line. Seriously, no idea.- except that he asked to go on a walk, and that sounded like a decent way to help him wrap his head around all this. Amelia kisses her teeth and sighs, “god, this is gonna be a long week. Okay, sure. Let’s take a walk. Just… Try not to panic.” She tipped her head a bit, towards the path that would lead them back off the farm, and started to walk. “I don’t suppose anyone will mind too much if the farmwork isn’t all done today. What would you like to see? The ocean? I reckon we steer clear of the jungle, but I think the heart tree might be safe again.”

“Old! I int’t old duck!” Willie protested, he was a grown man enough. Certainly enough to seek the company of pretty ladies like herself, but she seemed, not interested in that. Then righted him of one little misleading fact that perhaps Will had gotten all confused ‘bout. “Well it were–-” He started, but she were looking at him with a look of sheer disappointment, the sort of one his sister impressed on a regular weekly schedule. Will scratched the nape of his neck, not willing to admit to that little factoid. Instead sheepishly he piped up. “Right-o yous int’t that.” That still didn’t really answer the question why was she dressed up like a right tart? But he didn’t dare ask that.

“Panic? I int’t no pansy ducky! What farm work you’s on ‘bout? Supposed t’be getting work at t’factory I is.” Though that would involve Will actually traversing far enough to get there and offer himself up. Thus far he’d already been booted from one potential avenue of coin. If he didn’t shape up quickly there would’t be a roof over his head no longer. “You’s got a man? Husband I means? Pretty lady like you’s…” He trailed off, what did he want to see? “Bugger is t’heart tree?”

Lina couldn’t understand this definitive stance on being married before having a baby. It had to be some sort of religious nonsense but when had Will ever been so religious? He had been around for other island baby births on South Beach, where was all this marriage demands then? It seemed ridiculous that he was so adamant on this for her but she knew explaining it to him why it wasn’t happening would be in one ear and out the other.

So that’s why walking away and ignoring it was the easier solution. Until she started falling into a freshly dug hole that appeared out of nowhere. Luckily Will was fast enough to grab her before she plummeted down, though he still managed to make them both topple to the ground anyway.

“Fuck…” she groaned as they hit the ground, doing her best to pick herself off of Will. While she was trying to get off of him, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight, talking to her as if she was away for a while instead of right in front of him this whole time. Lina was trying to understand what was going on, just staring at him with furrowed brows as he mentioned Mrs. Maja. “What are you talking about? She’s not even here anymore.” Lina told him even though he should know that.

While she didn’t pick up on this first change, the next one was more obvious. After brushing off any dirt from her dress, she looked back up at Will who had longer hair and was…hitting on her? Not that she was complaining but what was going on? “Where exactly are you going to take me for a drink around here?” She asked in an attempt to figure out where this was coming from. It wasn’t like Will was clever enough to make a point by tricking her. So obviously she was going to play along. “But how can I say no to a handsome guy like you? You can take me anywhere.”

It was, under further evaluation, evident that Will didn’t know where he was. He certainly wasn’t where he thought he was. Despite the altogether highly distracting pretty woman. Heavens, she had a dress that really left so little to the imagination, Willie yanked at his collar. It was particularly hot wherever he’d woken up at, presumably he’d fallen asleep, that was after all the only logical conclusion. Except that missed out how he’d managed to find himself in some kind of…seaside location? Will hadn’t a bloody clue. Maybe he’d fallen asleep on the loco on his way back from London-town. “Well I was going t’take you’s down t’ George’s. Has them fancy cuppas you’s lady’s love.” Except Will was fairly certain they’d need to catch a train for that.

Bloody hell, it really was hot. He shifted so he could unbutton his shirt and discard it altogether. They could fight him they could, if they were upset with his indecency. He was going to end up soaked in sweat and ruin his only good shirt if he kept it on. “Ay’up, now canna be taking jammiest bit o’ jam like you’s to nowhere dis-ree-pu-table!” Will had already learnt that lesson. Fine ladies required a finer touch, perhaps, finer than he really had. Nonetheless, he cosied up to her anyway with one arm slung over her shoulder. “Going t’be brick layer I is. Got meselfs apprentice. Canna be showering you’s in pearls! But wicked good time, eh?” He grinned down at her, making no effort to where his gaze trailed some distance down from her eyes, or even her lips.

“Oookay, so we got Big John your daddy, Lil John your brother, Johnny your other brother, and you’re John Willie?  Damn, John must be one of those family names,”  Jupiter chuckled. “What’s your momma’s name - Johnetta?”  It seemed old-fashioned and totally aligned with her theory that the kid was Amish-Quaker.  But for Jupiter, her teenaged naivety and willingness was to just accept whatever, whenever, and however.

And now she felt totally bad for even mentioning Johnetta, never mind making a little joke. Lord, she really should’ve expected this.  If the look of the dirty, scrappy kid was any evidence of a bad homelife.  “Your momma is no tart either!  Your daddy’s just an asshole.  You know what an asshole is?  It’s a big, mean, stupid bully.  Sorry, but that’s just my opinion,”  Jupiter sniffed with the self-righteousness of a child.  “John Willie, you gotta promise me that you’ll grow up to be a better man than your daddy.”

As if she expected John Willie to comply, but at least she spoke up; and at seventeen that was the epitome of action. 

“Yeah I’m from the city. You’re from the country, right?”  Jupiter laughed when he called her a hag.  “If I’m a hag then you’re nothing but a little baby!  Baby John Willie, nyaaaaaah,” she stuck her tongue out at him, not fearing his wrath.  “I don’t go messing with babies, but I will do this–!”  She turned on Willie, but only to give him a few tickles like she would her baby cousins.

The poor thing was hungry; and so was she. “I like blackcurrant jam!  I’m sorry I don’t think they have stuff like that in LA.”  She missed home, even those stuffy high tea afternoons that Mrs McGavin ran. Tourists and Royalists loved that shit.  Always blackcurrant jam, or marmalade with the scones.

Her hopes shot up at the sight of a train.  A whole-ass train!  Which meant there’d be tracks, and those tracks could lead them to a train station. But this meant they were really far from the city proper.  And her high-heeled boots were not meant for walking.  She let Willie run wild, jumping and prancing about as he pleased.  “Are we in a museum or something?  This damn thing looks old-fashioned as hell.  Oh sweet jesus, John Willie!  You made your nose bleed!”

Silly kid didn’t even seem to care.  If it didn’t hurt, then she’d let him play and clean him up later.  For now she hopped into the carriage, timidly peering in.  There was….luggage around.  Like people were here, but just disappeared and left their luggage.  “What the hell…”  And old-tyme purses and cases too.  Jupiter opened a basket, to find glass jars and wax-paper wrapped food.  

“This is messed up…” But she was hungry!  What was going on.  “John Wi - oh my god NO!!”  Jupiter looked up just in time to see the wobbly chair give way under John Willie’s feet, and the boy slide like a fish, right into the engine-room or whatever.  

Juptier rushed to the front of the carriage.  “Open the door, John Willie! Open it right now!  Are you okay?  Geez louise.”  She rattled the locked handle.  “Come back out and I’ll give you a sandwich!”

“Asshole is STINKY!” He declared, not that it mattered too much because Will had fallen into a fit of giggles his pa forgotten. Not that it mattered too much either when he slipped right out of the window as if he’d been soaped up to the teeth. Willie crashed down, rolling inelegantly into what he’d perceived to be his prize, well that was all good and well. Except he smacked into the pit that would’ve housed the coal once upon a time. Will righted himself with a groan, rubbing at his head, “bugger that HURT!” It took all the might and willpower he had not to just burst into tears then and there. Tears never helped much. Willie resolved himself to shuffle out to stand.

He stared up in pure awe, taking in the sight of the locomotive up close and personal, the engine really was a behemoth. Except the old hag was pounding n the door. He could see her looking down at him through the itty bitty window. Willie stuck his tongue out at her. Then hesitated. Sandwich. “I LOVE HAM!” He shouted, though it was probably too late to be begging for sandwiches when he’d been mocking her.

Willie turned to stare at the loco once last time, eyes large and luminous from taking in the sight of it alone. He really should let her in. Bugger! Why did stinky girls always ruin it. “Asshole.” He muttered, liking the way that the word rolled off his tongue as he stamped his little feet. Awful! Terrible! But he was going to let her in anyway, shuffled up to the door and gotten as far as unlatching it before ––

It all shifted, again. The axis on which Willie had been living in jolted forwards not just years, but centuries. He aged, rapidly, and well beyond what he’d previously seen. “Ay’up!” He called, unlatching the train door with a beaming grin. “You’s a sight for sore eyes.” Willie gave her a light squeeze to the shoulder then attempted to squeeze on by her, difficult now he’d shot up in size. He had to stoop to get through the doorway. “You’s t’last good’un left.” Willie said with a slow sigh, time would prevail, they would return again. “And t’ little lass but bugger knows where she gone.”

Madi knew that Willie was from– what did he say? The 20s? Madi genuinely couldn’t remember what era Willie told her he was from, she just remembered it’s been a long, long while. Decades at least. So yes, she knew that Willie could potentially not know what a sauna was.

And still, seeing his earnest, excited, curious and genuine reaction was pretty sweet and cute. Quite a different reaction to him that their first meeting.

“Yeah, I know what it is. Have tried a couple of versions, too - never thought I’d see one around here, but this is Meridium, I guess,” Madi said and then needed a few more seconds to realize that what she said wasn’t quite helpful at all.

“It’s– yeah, it’s really hot inside,” she said as he stated it himself too. “That’s mostly the point of it. It gets heaten up to really really high temperature and then people go in there and sit there for 5-10 minutes and the heat makes them sweat and then they come out and and get into a cold pool of water right away to cool down. It has plenty of health benefits, it’s really good for the body.”

She loved saunas, but really, what got her even more excited was– “That’s a jacuzzi. It’s– yeah, it’s basically just a really nice, warm bath with amazing bubbles. You should definitely get into that one and try it.” She’s gotten closer to it, waved her hands through the water and the bubbles, “it just feels really nice.”

Will couldn’t quite make sense of it, why someone would want to sit in a hot room and then jump into a cold pool of water. He could understand the first part, just not the last half of it. Then there was the nice warm bath she was describing, he’d been keen on it first, but then as he peered over he realised he couldn’t quite see the bottom. Which sparked fresh anxiety. “Blazes, you’s do it for fun?” Will yanked his hand out of the water and shook off the damp. “I’m alright ducky, don’t float! Sink right t’bottom if I go in there.” He’d never been much keen on baths though a few over the years had tried to convince him otherwise.

“Canna believe what seeing.” He said, straightening up and rubbing at his cheek as if to cement the reality in front of him. The world changed with a flash of light, or rather William did. He shrunk down to the size of an eight year old, not fully grown, brash and inevitably dirty. Always dirty. Willie rubbed his face. “EW!” He shouted at the girl stood next to him, a pool of water between them. He knew what was going to happen next and he wasn’t having any of it. “Who is you’s?” He asked, which as he jutted his little chin out felt like a demand.

The farm was suspended in one moment, while Will wasn’t. So this was how it was going to play out, then? People were going to change too. Amelia looked down at herself, but she was still barefoot in her cut-offs, hatchet swinging off a belt loop, and she didn’t feel any different. Safe. For now. 

Though Will’s accent, hard to muddle through before, only came out stronger, and he threw around words she couldn’t even begin to decipher. Damfino? She wished she could write that down. The whistle couldn’t be lost in translation, and Amelia’s nose wrinkled a moment before she started to laugh. “Posh!” Amelia exclaimed, the idea only making this more ludicrus. “Don’t mess around, Will…” 

The longer she watches him, the more it seems like he isn’t. He’s got that deer in the headlights kind of expression, even as he puffs himself up with bravado and flirting and funny words. His arms shot out, and that old instinct made Amelia shuffle back, paranoia and curiosity warring with eachother. “…Meridium.” She told him softly, “are you- Will, be serious for me, okay? Do you not remember me? Do you really not know where you are? What about the year, what year is it?” 

🦆

“I innt messing wit’ you’s ducky.” There’s that ear to ear smile, the one William used to try and get out of all sorts of trouble. Usually to no avail. She seemed unsure of herself, or unsure of him. Either way he didn’t care nor notice, he did however, pick up that she knew his name. “We had a go before duck?” He asks, with a toothy grin that’s growing by the second. It wouldn’t surprise him if they had. There weren’t many a lady that could resist his charms. Which had gotten him into all sorts of trouble since his freedoms. “Bugger if I knows…53? 1854? Some bloke whats at that boarding house said the good beautiful Vicky has a new princeling.”

“I don’t know ‘bout none of that that but tarnation, you’s a sight for sore eyes. How much you’s be charging? Ducky I ain’t much!” In fact, Will scant had the money for food, never mind board, they weren’t going to be paid in proper till end of the week. Tall bald bloke with a fancy hat had been spouting off over issues. “Nah! This int’t Murr-ra-what you’s said. Canna remember you’s ay’up been hard week ducky.” That, he delivers with a wink.

“Lil Dawg!  He’s a rapper, baby!  You don’t know Lil Dawg, oooh he’s gonna be big.”  Lil Dawg was actually swallowed up like grist for the record industry corporate mill.  But 17-year old Jupiter didn’t know his fate.  She giggled.  “Not a dog-dog.  Not like bow-wow-wow.”  More giggles, because now she was thinking about Snoop Dogg.

“If your pa’s Big John, does that make you Lil John?”  Jupiter asked sweetly, wanting to make a Robin Hood joke but not wanting to confuse the kid.  He really was committing to his role.  Or he was a crazy homeless child with weird delusions.  Jupiter didn’t know but it wasn’t really her problem.  She’d get the kid a hotdog or something and they’d part ways, no problem.  That was just life in a city like LA.  

“If we find a convenience store, I’ll buy you one of those big jugs of water, okay?  God, I miss drinking water from a tap.”  Couldn’t do that in LA either; the tap water here was nasty.

His outburst earned a raised finger.  “Mm-mm, don’t you talk about my momma like that!  My momma - she’s got her problems but she’s not a frigging tart, okay?  What’s your momma dress like, god.  Are you some kinda Amish runaway or something?” Was it Amish or Quaker who were the old-fashioned group in middle America?  Jupiter couldn’t remember. “So you take that back!  Take it back, or I’m not gonna help you.”

Must be one of those Amish or Quaker folk, if he didn’t know what a video was.  Poor thing; now Jupiter just felt sorry for him.  Maybe there was a police station she could drop him off at…granted, a black girl toting in a white kid?  They’d be laughed back onto the street.  Maybe if she took him back to momma’s?  Her momma would throw a fit if she brought home a stray, especially a mouthy one like this.  Still, Jupiter giggled.  “Plenty, huh? Sure, kid.  At your age, you’d think girls would be super-duper gross and icky.”

But the boy took her hand, and welp; now he really was her responsibility.  If only she could find a road, or a phone booth…something!  The boy mentioned his neighbour eating a dog, and Jupiter made a face.  “Nasty!  Was he starving or something?  Are you hungry?  You can’t just eat those leaves.  I’ll buy you something to eat when we find a road, okay? And I’ll show you what a Slurpee is, you’ll love it.  Don’t you worry, sweetie.”  She was hungry too.  And tired, and feeling irritable.  But she couldn’t, not with a kid in tow.  

She grinned.  “Are you seven?  I’m seventeen.  That’s a whole ten years older than you!  So you see - we’d never make a good match, I’m an old woman!  You need to settle down with someone your own age, babyboy.”

Willie frowned, thick brows coming together as he tried to discern what in tarnation she was telling him. In the end Will decided he didn’t know what dog she was on about, maybe it was one of them fancy ones. “Nah!” He exclaimed, as she asked if he was big John. “I’m John Willie! Lickle John is my brother. I hate him! And Johnny!” Will spat to the side to express his grievances towards them, and discard the nasty leaf. She carried on talking and Willie was lost. One muddied up blank expression staring up at her. Though he did snigger at her attempt to tell him off. She didn’t look so stern. Except, he had no bloody way home.

William huffed, with a dramatic roll of his tiny shoulders. “Fine!! She int’t tart! Ma says she int’t tart too but my pa told her she was. Gave her black eye he did. She cried all night. Was awful it was.” Will tugged on her hand as he skipped along, it’d mostly been awful cause ma had kept them all awake. Lil John had to do the lock books ‘cause pa didn’t come home for days. Willie hated Lil John on the basis he could read and Will couldn’t.

“Girls are ick! But I’mma big man now I is.” Willie puffed out his chest. “Is you from t’ city?” But she remarked on her age and Willie had to agree. “Aye!!! You’s old hag! But you’s can stay. Good’un.” Mostly because she was promising him things, even if he didn’t understand it. “I’m real hungry, do you’s like jam? I LOVE jam! Blackcurrant t’best.”

Up until that moment Will had been practically angelic, but he spotted a machine like no other on the path up ahead. Willie broke free of her, running as fast as his short legs could carry him until he nearly struck the machine on head first. “Blazes!!” He yelped, reeling back with a bloody nose but that didn’t deter him from yanking open a door. Willie had to climb up with all hands and feet to get inside the carriage but once he did, he marvelled. “THIS T’ BEST DAY EVER!!!”

Will climbed up onto one of the tables, to stick his head out of the already cracked window. He stuck his tongue out at the lady. “Bang up! Bang up it is!!” He pulled his head out too fast and nearly skidded right off the table, but Willie was so happy. He ran to the end of the carriage, rattling the door, it didn’t open. The locomotive was just on the other side, a beast that Willie had only ever seen the once before. What a glorious day that had been. They’d all snuck off out the house before ma could catch them and run through fields to sit atop the hillside. Catch a glimpse of the loco in action. It didn’t happen again, ma made sure of it.

The house… disappears. Hazel turns quickly to watch it seemingly vanish into the sand, her head slowly tilting as it does. “Ummm… did you… make it do that, too?” Maybe Will’s house-attuned. Can make them come and go as he pleased. Only he looks as puzzled as she does, which isn’t reassuring. “I think I saw it,” she tries to reassure, urgently staring at the spot in the sand and hoping the house will reappear.

It doesn’t. Will looks content enough again, so Hazel tries to emulate that, nodding in response to his question. “Yes. Well, kind of. Like… like a… communal… house. A big house for everyone who doesn’t want to live in a solo house. Which… might only be me but like… I mean maybe this is silly and it might be a lot to ask but – but I’m happy to help! … Not that I know anything about building but I like learning stuff. I can try. And I can hold things. And maybe I can recruit other people?” She’s quickly realizing she might not be the best suited for this job.

And she’s realizing something else. Things are switching around them: not just the first house but this one, too, littered with sleeping bags. A communal house. “Oh… did we… we already had one of these? Or is this… wait.” Hazel turns and looks around, puzzled. “I thought this was storage…? Is this… where…” She blinks hard, feeling suddenly dizzy. “I think maybe I got turned around,” she says woozily and then her head lolls forward.

When it snaps back up, it’s much smaller. All of her is. She’s no longer an adult: instead, this is young child Hazel, clad in her pediatric hospital gown, hair in disarray. “Sleepover?!” The kid asks eagerly, taking in the sight of the sleeping bags. She’s never had one of those; she’s only heard of them, but apparently she’s not strong enough for one of those yet. Or she wasn’t. Now she is. “Hide and go seek! Come find me!” She says then takes off, panting from the moment she starts running, and dives into one of the sleeping bags.

“I saw it.” He muttered, which was no real assurance. Willie stared blankly trying to piece together why and how something could just…disappear. The island had lots of tricksy tricks up its sleeves, but this was altogether different. But all of that passes quick enough. “I’d LOVE t’do that! Used’t have big house myself, never alone I was. Called ‘em boarding houses in my day, mind you’s duck I’m older than t’dirt!” This was punctuated with a deep, riotous belly laugh. “I help you’s build, teach you how t’do it.” They could enlist other’s into it. About time that Willie started teaching others again, given that they’d lost all of his apprentices. Suppose big man would be happy with that.

Will wouldn’t have believed it, only he’d seen it with his own two eyes. One second she were a grown woman, small, but a grown woman no less. Next thing he knows she’s childlike in size and demeanour. Shouting ‘bout sleeping and leaping forwards. She was wearing an odd little frock too. Will gawked, trying to put sense into what he just saw. “Blazes! Come back here you’s!” He called, taking off after her not half as nimble.

She dove into one of the bags before he could catch her, really he’s not sure what he’s going to do with her if he does. Will scratches his head, but he knows this game he’s played it before with island young’uns. “Ay’up! Where’s she gone?” He loudly declared, as if he’d well and truly lost her. Nevermind that there’s a lumpy bag right at his feet. “Hangabout…” Will slowly crouches down to pot the sleeping back. “Is she in…here…?” He asks, and tickles the outside of the bag. It had been so long Willie had forgotten what this kinda joy could be like.