John followed the group, Collecting the filth and trash and waste as they wandered.
He (And the other two children) were lost.
Not that it was any surprise, London was confusing at the best of times and he HAD requested that Miss Poppins lead them to the park in a roundabout way, specifically to clean up the area a bit and all that.
So like baby ducklings, the children followed the prim and proper woman as they confidently wandered dangerous alleys and byways. Paths that, John was pretty sure, would get you shanked if you weren't with someone special like this nanny.
Still, it was a smorgasbord of collectables at least!
Layers of grime, some several inches thick, vanished behind the group as they walked. Ash and soot in the air was Collected, slime and grit was Gathered, and it felt almost palpably brighter behind the group as John kept Pocketing all the wonderful chemicals and filth and tainted residue.
Some bits were even radioactive! How lucky was THAT!? Not common either, good radioactive material can be tricky to find outside of specialty locations or without using special connections and people in the know.
He wasn't exactly sure why Mary Poppins had paused when he collected whatever it was, but she seemed settled by his smile and thumbs up, so the walking continued! To ever more dirty streets and passages, away!
Now that Michael was a bit more awake though, him and Jane seemed to be enjoying the bit of exploring as well as watching stuff vanish behind them like was good, because he'd been getting some depressing vibes from the younger brother and it felt nice to have him perk up a bit and be less grumpy today.
Oops. "I'm sorry, what?"
Jane huffed in frustration. "I was ASKING if you are done for today? We apparently are near the park and Mary Poppins wanted to know."
Uh. "I mean, sure? I can do this literally forever, but I'm mostly just enjoying how satisfying it is to wipe away decades of grime like this. We can move on any time." He waved his arm over a segment of wall. "See? Almost zen like! It feels a bit like watching those videos about pressure washing, soothing or something."
Her eyebrow twitched. "It feels like watching what about what now?"
Oh. Right, it's 1910. Play it cool, man! You can do this! "Nothing. Right, on to the park!"
He felt her suspicious glare behind him as he confidently strode forward and paused. "Uh, whichever way the park is. Miss Poppins?"
She gently waved to a side street, and THEN John confidently strode forth to visit the glorious park of 'Not acknowledging his mild screw up'! Huzzah!
~~~Pocket System~~~
Jane stomped after her confusing (but interesting) new friend. He probably wasn't doing this on purpose, but he could be so FRUSTRATING!
Michael on the other hand had lit up because they could see the park now. "Oh! Let's go climb a tree!"
Jane instinctively glanced at his perfectly clean clothing and back at the sap covered trees… Gross. "Maybe in a bit? Didn't you want to show John the Balloon Woman and all that?"
John blinked. "Balloons?"
But it was far too late, because Michael was on the case. "BALLOONS! And they are all bright and you can bounce them by pulling its string and… And she always has one with my name on it! I think she saves one just for me in case I show up, but Jane says it might be magic."
John looked intrigued. "Magic, hmm? I haven't found much of it that hasn't tried to run away from me in the last world. Supernatural stuff doesn't seem to mind me much, but that Magical Old-Timey Bathing Suit Who Lives in the Himalayas avoided me like the plague."
Jane tried to process that. "What?"
The boy hesitated. "You know, Klimpaloon? He was born or made in 1883? Honestly the life cycles of magical swimming attire has never been clear to me, so it could have magical clothing parents or just a powerful weaver with special abilities, but either way he should be around somewhere."
Michael joined her in their confusion. "Are you teasing us?"
Mary Poppins hummed. "Some things can change from place to place and from time to time young man… And stories and tales spread with a life of their own. While I am unsure if this… 'Klimpaloon' wanders the mountains, you may need to confirm it one way or another on your own when you grow up."
John slumped. "No I can't, the guy is slippery and like most magical things he knows when I am in the area. I probably won't ever be able to track him down."
Jane was still held up in the early portion of the conversation. "But that is a thing? A magical… Bathing suit?"
He nodded. "Yeah, people hear him all the time in the Himalayas crying his traditional yodeling call of the swimsuit: 'Nang-nang-nang-nang-nang-nang-nang-nang-nang-nang!'"
She felt her eyebrow twitch. "I'm sorry?"
John waved her off. "Maybe it's just the wrong season. After all, he stands in winter and this really feels more like a British Autumn to me. Not that I've been in Britain or experienced many Autumns, but you know what I mean."
No she didn't.
Then Mary Poppins clapped with a small smile! "And we are here! Michael, please lead the way towards the nice Balloon Woman and we can each collect our own little reminder for the day."
No! She was NOT going to let this go! "You don't really think that John is scaring away magical bathing suits, do you Mary Poppins!?"
She blinked. "Well I certainly don't see any nearby… Do you?"
But! But! BUT! "...No."
The woman nodded. "Well, there you are then. Now onwards! I feel like a nice purple balloon today would be just about right."
No Michael, don't just go along with this! Something felt a bit off here, didn't it? He shouldn't get distracted just at the thought of getting a balloon!
…Although a purple balloon did sound awfully lovely.
John twirled in spot, waving at her to go faster!
She sighed. Fine. But she wouldn't forget to bring this up later!
~~~Pocket System~~~
John blinked at the broken balloon. "Uh. Oops?"
The Balloon Woman herself also seemed caught off guard. "Oh dear."
Michael on the other hand was ecstatic! "Did you see that!? It EXPLODED! Like BOOM!"
He frowned. Why would this happen? Jane and Michael both got their balloon just fine, and Marry Poppins had gotten one with not just her name but a small paragraph of text describing how she was practically perfect in any way…
But his chosen balloon attempted to flee from the nice woman's grip and then, when out of options… sort of imploded/popped/something when he actually managed to grab ahold of it.
He glanced at the string in his hand leading to the flat deflated rubber object. "Huh."
The other boy paused in his exultation. "Though it should have popped instead of going out with a 'Whizz-ba-donk', right? That was a bit odd."
John shrugged, carefully lifting the deflated thing into his hands. "I think so? In other places, popping is the normal reaction, pretty sure." He blinked at the fragment of text…
That wasn't a letter.
…Oh. "Never mind, I think I know what happened."
Jane was leaning in and poking the fragments. "You were unlucky?"
He pointed out the odd shifting symbol. "No, it tried to show my actual name, not the one I got after I was born." The text moved out of sight by shifting into the missing segments of rubber. "And uh… I really don't think the material could handle it."
Mary Poppins frowned at the destroyed balloon. "That may make it a bit difficult to acquire a replacement then…"
The nice Balloon Woman waved them off. "Oh I'm sure I can do something dearies, just give me a moment and…"
John blinked. "Huh? Why would I want a replacement?"
The group hesitated. Jane nudged the scrap in his arms. "Because it popped?"
So? "A balloon is still a balloon, with or without air or whatever. And this one is mine!" He felt a grin grow on his face. "Plus, it feels like a part of this place… Of this world. Yeah! He's going to be my friend!"
Michael seemed lost. "Huh?"
John held up the collapsed rubber sheet tied to a string. "Everybody, meet Poppy the Balloon! He's going to join Spike the Pinecone and be one of my Pocket Pals!"
Oh, right! Best be safe.
[[Pocket.]]
There! Now Poppy would be clean and safe and sound in his personal storage with his new best friend, Spike! "This trip has been GREAT so far! What are we going to do next!?"
Mary Poppins had just finished saying something to the flustered balloon woman that seemed to calm her down but easily turned to the little ones. "I believe some climbing was on the agenda…"
Noticing Jane's expression of displeasure, she softly smiled. "And I am sure young Mr. Doe would have no issue cleaning away any sap or dirt that may be acquired along the way?"
Seeing Jane's hopeful look he gave her a huge grin! "Of course! I'd be happy to help out!"
Michael had already gotten his balloon tied to his wrist. "Let's go to the climbing glade! Those trees have the best branches and you can see SUPER high up on them!"
As the boy began talking about the time he saw a birds nest in one of the trees and how Jane had once nearly fell and got covered in leaves and she started arguing that it was MICHAELS fault for nearly falling and she had been trying to keep HIM from losing balance and how sticky sap could be and can he really make sure she wouldn't be all nasty after climbing and…
Well, it all blended into a chaotic mix of youth and vim and vigor as the group began running/tripping/dashing/meandering towards the cluster of trees that Michael swore were the best climbing trees in all of London, their nanny idly following along behind them.
If the nice Balloon Woman didn't notice her suspiciously cleaned clothing and surroundings or the now brisk and fragrant air in her area… Well, that wasn't John's problem either, now was it?
Right, let's find out how to climb a tree! Probably wouldn't be that hard, his body was pretty strong and even dire injuries were more an inconvenience than an actual issue. Even if it turned out to be a bit more tricky than expected, he'd figure it out somehow along the way!
~~~Pocket System~~~
Jessica hummed, thankful she had only extracted one piece of jewelry at a time 'from her bag'.
After all, half the reason these things had been so easy to acquire was thanks to her Pocket abilities. Filter out pure gold from collected materials, request that a small portion of the recycled stuff from the vaults be converted into gems, use her paycheck to get custom jewelry made… Bam, a huge amount of future trade goods for a fraction of the cost!
Honestly, gold and silver were simple to acquire from the crazy stuff that had been so deadly and hard to store away for others. Compared to the nuclear material and the conceptual hazards and stuff, the 'rare metals' and 'valuable gems' were converted and collected in massive piles without issue or effort!
So it was a REALLY good thing that she had been having each item appraised one at a time rather than just dumping a small pile of valuable loot on the counter.
Because she could pretend that these four pieces were all she had brought. And not just a pittance compared to the thousands of other ones tucked away in her Pocket.
Even still… "That sounds like an awful lot, doesn't it?"
The old man with a majestic white beard and jeweler glasses shook his head solemnly. "If anything, I may be undervaluing it… I have rarely seen materials of this purity or gems of this quality, much less so well combined in such an artistic set of pieces as these ones. I assure you, this estimate of mine is closer to a low estimate than an overestimate."
Oh dear. Glancing at the bank representative nearby and the gleam in his eyes… "And would the bank be interested in helping me find a buyer for these pieces, with the resulting funds deposited in my new account?"
Based on that reaction: Yes.
Yes, they would.
Yep. She had really REALLY underestimated how valuable these handcrafted bejeweled pieces from a future Earth would be in London England back in 1910.
Thank goodness she had only shown the lowest quality choices first, this could have caused a bit of commotion otherwise. As it were, they now had the option of purchasing a home rather than renting a townhouse should they feel interested. Or several of them, or just acquire a small neighborhood if desired.
Good grief.