J,GoB, Sunday Morning

[mustbeawitch]

It was Easter morning, which meant that of course Lydia and her children were definitely going to church after this. No, really. You couldn't miss church on Easter.

They just needed to fortify themselves first. With pastry. A serious conversation was underway at their table about whether or not cats went to church. George thought they didn't, but Kit pointed out that Aunt Kitty did, so there, and Lydia couldn't say she was wrong. Lydia, for her part, would have said cats didn't eat croissants, but Kit's little familiar was proving her decidedly wrong on that point.

(Open bakery is open!)

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[witchoftheflesh]

Since coming home from helping Pam out, Adrian had been furiously at work in his Grove, readying it for spring. But even as important as that work was, there were some things that took precedence.

Like...pastries. Sure. Definitely pastries. Or, at least, that's what Adrian had said this morning, after Lydia's message. That they were taking a well-deserved pastry break.

Which was why Adrian, Adrian's hat, Adrian's broom, and, most importantly, Adrian's familiar were all trooping into J,GoB that morning.

For pastries.

"Well, hello!" he said, looking at Lydia and the group of children that were with her--err, that was, the pair of children and the cat. "Who's all this now?"

[mustbeawitch]

"Oh, Mr. Blackwood, good morning!" Lydia greeted him, adding a, "Happy Easter!" even though he probably didn't care about all that. "Children, this is my friend Mr. Blackwood--"

"Uncle Adrian," George corrected around a mouthful of danish.

Lydia was just pretending she had neither heard nor seen that. "Mr. Blackwood, these are my...children from a possible future, apparently. May I introduce George and Catherine Wickham--"

Now it was Kit's turn to insist that she was, "Kit!"

"--and Kit's familiar? Ah, Amherst." Amherst looked up at the sound of his name and was promptly scooped up by Kit, then started squirming and struggling to be put down so he could finish his croissant.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Amherst," Adrian repeated in kind of a wheezing tone as incredulity met hilarity and had an improbable child of their own. "Of course. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I take it, Miss Kit, that you are a witch yourself?"

Boston, who hadn't yet realized there could be anything more to this trip than pastries, sauntered forward, his tail a high flag in the air. "Good morning, Miss Bennet, children," he greeted. "I am Boston, Mr. Blackwood's familiar and I--" He stopped, sniffing the air. "Wait," he faltered. "Why do I smell--?"

Bran was just going to be over here, sweeping up crumbs. If a broom could look smug and amused, he did.

[weetinyhellspawn]

"Of course I'm a witch," Kit said, refusing to relinquish custody of Amherst back to his croissant. "Why else would I have a familiar?" Duh, Adrian.

Amherst might have frozen when Boston started talking.

[witchoftheflesh]

"My apologies, Miss Kit," Adrian said. "Of course. I couldn't have said it better myself."

And Boston was staring back at Amherst with all of Adrian's incredulity and absolutely none of his hilarity. His tail began lashing and he walked over to Kit and the kitten, his nose wriggling as he attempted to make sense of the various scents perfuming the air.

"Who is--?" Not a great day for Boston and finishing sentences.

[weetinyhellspawn]

"Mew," said Amherst.

"Nooooooo," Kit told him, "you're supposed to say it like this. 'Mew,'" she said, in pretty much exactly the same way the kitten had said it.

Lydia, for her part, just looked exasperated at the pair of them. She swore she and Kitty had been better at this.

[witchoftheflesh]

They were both just saying the word 'mew.' Not actually mew-ing, just saying the word. Adrian was trying very hard not to laugh, both at this and also Boston's expression.

"Would, perhaps, a meow be a bit better received?" Adrian suggested brightly.

[weetinyhellspawn]

"Probably not," George sighed.

"Um," the kitten said, which, well, kittens weren't supposed to say 'um.' "Meow?"

[mustbeawitch]

"Perhaps it's more effective to mundane folk," Lydia suggested.

[witchoftheflesh]

Boston just looked disgruntled, laying his head on his paws. "Why are you pretending you can't speak?"

[mustbeawitch]

Did the giggling of assorted children answer his question?

"They've been doing this to me since yesterday," Lydia told Boston sympathetically.

She was saving any conversations about how she did hope he was paying child--kitten--support for where little ears couldn't hear.

[witchoftheflesh]

Don't worry. Adrian would absolutely make sure Boston stepped up and took care of his offspring...in whatever ways he could do so that wouldn't cause waves in Kitty's family life.

...Further waves.

"Are we frequent visitors to your home?" he asked the children. "Or do you, perhaps, come visit one of the Blackwood Groves?"

Boston was continue to stare at Amherst, tail lashing.

[weetinyhellspawn]

"Aunt Georgiana says we shouldn't tell you about the future," George said primly. "On account of..of..." He carefully sounded out, "Temporal paradox." Then he grinned up at Adrian and added, "I'm open to bribery, though." A Wickham through and through, that one.

[witchoftheflesh]

"I see you take after your father, at least in some respects," Adrian said.

This was not a compliment, little Wickham. Clearly Kit was going to be his favorite.

"My Aunt Muriel says something very similar," he added. "So I suppose I will just heed the advice of sensible women and keep my questions to myself."

[weetinyhellspawn]

Meanwhile, Amherst, with a typical kitten attention span, had gotten tired of being stared at by Boston and was trying to escape from Kit again, this time making a play for her plate.

"Amherst, no! You can't have chocolate, s'bad for cats! Mum said!"

Did someone mutter, "Might not be"? Must have been the wind.

[mustbeawitch]

"Kitty used to eat chocolate all the time," Lydia said, in defiance of her future self's warnings on the subject. "Of course, she did also have a girl shape..."

[witchoftheflesh]

"You wouldn't happen to have a person shape, would you Amherst?"

YOU KNOW JUST ASKING.

[weetinyhellspawn]

Did Amherst sort of...wilt? Look what you'd done, Adrian. You'd made the kitten that was probably sort of your nephew sad.

"I'm sure he will any day now!" Kit said defensively. "No, you still can't have my chocolate. If he can't do it himself I'll figure out how! Mama did it and she was littler than me!"

"Yes, well," Lydia said awkwardly, "I didn't do it on purpose...and there has always been that question about the price..."

"It was a horse, you've said," George reminded her. Like a helper. "We don't even have a horse, so it'll be fine." That wasn't how any of this worked, George.

[witchoftheflesh]

Boston glared at Adrian, then turned his head with a disdainful sniff, tail flagging in the air. "Come here, Amherst," he said. "We should go somewhere and talk."

[mustbeawitch]

Amherst glanced up at Kit, who released him to hop down and go with Boston.

Well. That was...awkward.

Kit burst out, "He doesn't have to have a boy shape, you know!"

"Yes, darling, we know," Lydia assured her, "but perhaps you should tell your familiar that sometime, hmm?" Then she ventured, "I don't suppose you've any rather small visitors of your own this weekend, Mr. Blackwood?" Amherst aside. She was not examining that too closely.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Oh, ah, also no," Adrian said. Which he was not examining too closely. "I didn't realize it was that weekend until I received your message."

And to Kit, "I am sorry for hurting your familiar's feelings. And will apologize to him when he returns, as well. But, ah...so how...?"

Because wasn't Kitty married? To not-Boston?

[mustbeawitch]

"Is this really something we should be discussing in front of the children?" Lydia asked weakly. The children in question perked up in hopes that something inappropriate for their ears was about to be discussed in front of the children. Unfortunately for them, Lydia then added, "Also, I haven't a clue, to be honest with you."

That wasn't true. She had a few clues. Adrian might remember how Boston and Kitty had been.

[witchoftheflesh]

Ah right. The general openness about these things in the Grove was not universally shared.

"I'm sure it was a blessing for everyone," he said. Diplomatically.

His familiar was a homewrecker.

[mustbeawitch]

Lydia was, unfortunately, from Regency England, and having no idea how her possible future self had chosen to approach such matters she was erring on the conservative (especially by witch standards) side.

"Yes, well," she allowed. "I suppose much depends on how Mr. Denny feels about the matter." She considered, then added, "Or maybe he's dead." Maybe Kitty had remarried! Lydia hadn't the faintest clue how that would work, but--

"Why would Uncle John be dead?" George asked, frowning at her in confusion.

"Oh, dash it."

[witchoftheflesh]

"That's wonderful news," Adrian said. "I'm quite pleased that Mrs. Denny's husband remains hale and hearty."

Yup. A complete and total homewrecker. He couldn't wait to give Boston a hard time about this, especially the next time Boston decided to lecture him on how much time he'd spent in New Jersey.

[weetinyhellspawn]

He did have a point, Adrian. I mean...New Jersey.

"Oh," Kit realized. "Are you talking about--"

Unfortunately, that was as far as she got before George slapped a hand over her mouth. "We're not supposed to tell them about the future, remember?"

George. Help the adults out here.

[witchoftheflesh]

He'd been helping people not die! That was a very important part of his praxis!

...Also, it hadn't been nearly as long there as it had been here, apparently.

"Doesn't your very presence here tell us about it, though?" Adrian asked.

[weetinyhellspawn]

Lydia had been getting rather worried, to be honest. He had been missed at several Supper Clubs.

George and Kit had one of those silent sibling conversations without George ever removing his hand from Kit's mouth, and eventually George declared their conclusion to the adults: "Nuh-uh."

[witchoftheflesh]

Had he realized it would be quite so long here, he would have been much more diligent about sending word.

"Why not?"

Adrian, stop baiting the children.

[weetinyhellspawn]

Boston's secret TikTok account, though, had been thriving.

"...because reasons," George said very intelligently, and then, "Ewwww," as he jerked his hand back because Kit had licked it. Ah, siblings.

"We didn't mean to go through the portal," Kit lied, like a liar who had totally told George and Amherst, Come on, let's go on an adventure! before going through said portal. "We can't help being."

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian raised an eyebrow at Kit. And then looked at Lydia. "Ah. You didn't mean to go through the portal," he said. "So what happened?"

How many things had you 'not meant to do' at that age, Lydia? Adrian knew his own list had been quite impressive.

[weetinyhellspawn]

So many.

"It just happened," Kit said innocently. So innocent. Look at that innocent little face, Adrian. "But now we're here and we can have fun!"