Jane sniffled. "But it's so soon!"

John awkwardly gave a quick hug. "I'll make sure to write every month, alright? I mean, technically I'll be writing more than that and there will be some time travel shenanigans going on because of the mail delivery stuff and… Uh. Well, from your point of view it will be every month or even more often, okay?"

She wouldn't cry because she was a mature young lady and a big girl. "Promise?"

He nodded! "Yeah! I got this whole thing set up in my Pocket, where I write a diary and can put in notes and stuff and it will automatically generate letters for all my friends along the way and I can add on personal notes for each of you! That way I won't forget to tell any of you anything but I can still have a bit of personal connection, you know? I'd probably miss something you would think was important otherwise."

Jane had to admit, her friend did tend to be a bit absent minded… But still. "Why so suddenly?" He could stay longer, right? "Did something come up?"

He shifted in the hug. "Well I think part of it is my sister trying to get away before those bankers that work with your dad find out that we are skipping town. I mean, they might already be a bit suspicious since we had all those exigency plans established and all that, plus we made your family basically custodians or leaders of the board of trustees or whatever we ended up calling it… Plus people are starting to ask how we got ahold of millions of pounds in rare materials for sale and all that, so it feels like a good idea to skedaddle before all that builds up to something annoying."

Jane Banks wasn't sure what all that really meant but the idea of not being able to go on adventures with Mary Poppins and John sounded just awful. "I… I am going to miss you, John."

These few months had felt like they would go on forever.

Now that it was suddenly over, her heart felt like maybe it should have.

His older sister walked in. "Ready to go, John?" She looked towards the exit. "I think my financial team might have caught onto something, so uh… Ready to go?"

John sighed, and she reluctantly let go of the hug. "Yeah, in a minute." He turned to her and handed her a small envelope… Made of something that felt like solidified and slightly chilled water that was processed with green and lemons. "There's an official mail box that the Doe Foundation will use to talk to my sis about business and stuff, but here is one just for us. If it turns green, then it has a letter from me. Put a letter in it and it will flash blue to let you know your letter has reached me back! Alright?"

She gripped the odd envelope, which didn't bend or crinkle in any way. "Really!? But… But what if I lose it!?" Or one of her siblings damage it, or it got taken away or…

Her friend shrugged. "It's sort of a conceptual envelope, it doesn't really exist." He carefully took the thing from her hand and tossed it away to her shock. "Look in your hand."

Huh!? "Wha!?"

John grinned. "Look at your hand and want to send me a letter."

She wanted him to stay forever and dance on buildings and sing in meadows and eat picnics on clouds, just like they used to.

Still, her eyes looked down… At the strange envelope in her hand. "Oh."

The boy chuckled. "Yeah, it was really hard to upgrade the ones I've already handed out in the past and future too, but once you get a bit stubborn and argue with the abilities connected to your existence long enough it eventually works out."

He gripped her shoulder. "So don't forget to write me once in a while, alright?"

Every day. "Alright."

Suddenly his sister was there again. "Out of time John! Someone dressed up real fancy-like is half a block away and I do NOT want to mess with 19th century royalty!"

Her friend chuckled. "Alright, alright, the next jump feels awfully close anyway. Let's do this. Be safe, Jane… I'll see you later. And don't forget to write!"

The world wriggled.

"[[Pocket.]]"

And suddenly felt a little more empty.

Jane Banks clutched an envelope that didn't wrinkle and she was a proper lady and a big girl and she didn't cry.

She'd say so in her letter tonight too. She didn't cry at all.

~~~Pocket System~~~

[[System connection reestablished.]]

[[Deploying HOST.]]

~~~Pocket System~~~

John landed near a fruit and vegetable stand in a familiar dirty street. "OH YEAH! Pockets are AWESOME!"

"Oh gosh!" "Where did HE come from?" "No clue, I wasn't watching." "How!?" "You are a potato!" "Yeah, half your body is MADE of eyes!" "Oh hush up, you don't expect the corn to hear everything just because they are mostly ears do you?" "I mean, maybe?" "I leave them alone, the military should be respected and most corn is at least a colonel." "No! I keep telling you he is made of kernels!" "So what rank would an ear of corn be then, a general?" "What do you mean, general? How average are we talking about?"

"I SAID PIPE DOWN!"

John blinked at the huffing man glaring at the cowed stand full of talking food. "I try to relax for FIVE MINUTES and you guys go nuts! I have half a mind to take all of you HOME to the farm at this rate!"

"Aww!" "Come on man, how are we going to be eaten way out there!?" "Well no one has bought us so far, maybe it wouldn't make a difference." "I TOLD them to package me more carefully, apples bruise easily!" "Am I the only one who doesn't want to be consumed?" "Shut up celery, nobody likes you." "Hey now lemon, don't be so sour all the time!" "You are NOT FUNNY grapes!" "A bunch of us disagree!"

John watched as the farmer acted as a mix between food stall organizer and group wrangler as he attempted to convince his stock to calm down and look as delicious as possible for future sale, then presumably earn the chance to be consumed by other people at some later date.

…Yet this place still FELT like London.

Sort of.

"Pardon me? Could we pass by please?"

Oh! "Sorry, ma'am! I was a bit distracted." Carefully he shifted out of the way of the tiny creatures.

Was that family of mice wearing tiny outfits? Why yes. Yes they were.

That was freaking adorable.

Oops, right: Best remember to bring sis out early this time.

He glanced around at the bustling side street full of people of all sizes, colors, shapes, and whatnot… Uh. Yeah, maybe not a great idea to bring her out here though.

Let's find a less busy place to pull a sister out of a Pocket!

All that said though… Pocket travel is BEST travel! Yeah baby!

WOO!

~~~Pocket System~~~

Jessica stared at the wall of their 'new' home.

It was basically half rented/half purchased, but that wasn't the issue here.

She glanced back at her brother. "Muppets."

He shrugged. "Apparently? Locals can't tell the difference between those made of felt and plastic and stuff and more usual people, and they mostly tend to not date between species… But they can. Somehow. And procreate. Somehow."

Nope. Not going to think about that. "Topic change: Does ALL the food talk?" Because that was going to become a HUGE issue.

John shook his head. "Just like with people, it's half and half. Normal food exists, talking food is considered more expensive or valuable or nutritious or something… And it might actually be? I think?"

At least they (Apparently) didn't feel pain, and most food stopped talking after being processed a bit… Mostly.

She thought back to that bakery they had visited… Seeing a loaf of bread suddenly gain mouth and eyes and start talking about how amazing its crust turned out… Yeah, that was now her new nightmare fuel.

So uh… "Does it only happen with the highest quality stuff? For food I mean."

John shrugged. "Not always, but a lot, yeah. If you make a pie or a cake or a stew that is beyond amazing for example, it may end up with a personality. Not sure why they all want to be eaten so desperately, like that muffin, but I think it is because of a conceptual calling… They want to fulfill their purpose and feed people."

Welp. "Personal request for this segment of our journey: No eating food that talks. Please."

He thankfully seemed to have no issues with that. "I'm still chewing through our supply of tainted christmas stockings honestly. A bit of lead goes a long way in my opinion! Though it may restrict our diet a bit."

As long as she didn't have to imagine her food moving in her mouth or moaning with satisfaction when being consumed. "Thank you, John. Do we have any plans while here?"

He glanced at something unseen while pestering his System. "Nah, we missed the interesting bit last Christmas, according to causality. We can just relax a bit and maybe have a bit of a vacation and then move on again."

That… That sounded heavenly. "As long as I can get over the food thing, it does seem fairly nice here. At least, it is surprisingly far more clean than England should be."

John scratched his head. "Yeah, not sure why or how. To a certain extent your personality affects your shape and abilities… Or visa versa? So dirty people tend to also be untrustworthy, or lack morality or whatever. If a societal group is mostly alright, then even if it is illogical they will also be fairly clean and stuff too."

She blinked. "What about rich jerks?"

He shrugged. "A sort of spiritual cloud of darkness or chills follows them instead of pollution. So they still feel 'wrong' or 'dirty' or 'foul', but not in a literal way like with killers or thieves with little income."

Huh. "Still, my original plan to open up a food kitchen in a church or whatever is impossible here. Heck, I will need you to transmute stuff that we can eat while we are staying in this place… I am NOT risking my sandwiches screaming at me."

John narrowed his eyes… "Actually, now that I think about it… The mystical portion might be the issue to begin with. Soul energy is very odd here, and a surplus of that feels directly involved with anyone or anything I've seen so far that has been 'muppitized'."

Jessica paused. "So the reason the dishes suddenly gain a 'personality' and eyes and can talk?"

He nodded. "Because it is literally Soul food."

Holy crap! Wait, hang on… "Would it be SAFE for normal people to eat the kind of food you can replicate? I mean, if everything and everyone has lots of Soul power, to the point where too much quality could actually shift your abilities and form… Would they starve if they ate our type of food?"

Her younger brother hesitated. "I… Yes? Probably? I mean, it might be a bit risky if ALL their meals came from a non-spiritual source, but they still breathe the air here and drink the water. And that's assuming everyone doesn't just absorb spiritual energy from the environment directly… Yeah, they should be fine eating stuff we make! Most likely… I'd need to keep an eye on them for a bit to be sure though."

Hmm. "Maybe we can do the 'soup kitchen' idea after all, if it is safe for them to eat."

After all, despite only walking around for a day or so she had seen FAR too many hungry people in this low income area of London. The fact that some of the homeless were adorable little talking rabbits in threadbare outfits just made it all more impactful.

John hummed. "Yeah, and I might be able to set up some sort of spiritual collection system and enhance some water with it… That way the people eating the food could still get any needed energy without the stews suddenly going on strike or something."

Well, that or the water itself would suddenly become a person, but that was probably unlikely. Hopefully.