Topic: Making Plans

Lyneth Granger

Date: 2018-08-28 10:27 EST
"So what we got to do first, Mummy says," Lyneth was saying as she laid out several blank sheets of paper and tipped the contents of her pencilcase all over them, "is we got to make a decision on a platform." She looked at Peter expectantly. "Like, what we promise to do if the adults let us in charge."

"What's a platform?" Peter asked, as he picked through the contents of Lyneth's pencil case for a few favorite colors. He wasn't even quite sure what an election was, until Lyneth had explained it. Once upon a time, he'd been known as Peter Pan - undisputed leader of the Lost Boys and undeclared Prince of Neverland. How hard could it be to be Governor of Rhy'Din"

"What we say we're gonna do if they put us in charge," Lyneth said again, not quite as patiently as she should have done, but this was a learning curve. "Like ....free cake on Fridays, and new playgrounds in the parks, and stuff."

"Oh!" Peter exclaimed, as understanding dawned on his young face, and he beamed a smile back at her. "I made all the rules in Neverland," he said, still having a little trouble learning how to be modest, though he was obedient enough. "Christmas in summer!" he declared. "Milk and cookies for breakfast!"

"Oooh, I like two Christmasses," Lyneth agreed, lying down to write this laboriously on one of the pieces of paper. Krizmuss in summer ... "What about people who do bad things have to clean the roads and stuff like that?"

"Naw, that's too easy. Make 'em do the laundry! Mama says that's the worst chore ever. She says it never ends!" Peter pointed out, as he took up a green crayon - because green was his favorite color - and marked this down on another piece of paper. Bad peepl do lawndree. Spelling was arguably not his best subject in school.

"No homework," Lyneth then piped up. She was just starting to get homework, however gentle it was, from school, and distinctly disliked the whole idea of it. That was the next thing she put down on her list. Less skool, no homewuk.

Peter wrinkled his nose at the idea of homework. He didn't think the two words should be put together at all. "No chores either," he suggested, though he was wiling enough to help out at home when asked. "How do you spell chores?" he asked, wrinkling his brows with his crayon at the ready.

"Juh ah wubble-you suh," Lyneth told him confidently, even if this was completely wrong. "Free cake on special days, like birthdays." Out came the purple pen again. Free cake on burfdays.

"Everyone gets cake on their birthdays, Lynnie," Peter pointed out, though he had never ever had a birthday cake until coming to Rhy'Din and picking Ashlyn and James for his parents. Peter scribbled down what Lyneth had told him, not realizing he was spelling "jaws" instead of "chores", which would likely make no sense to anyone but those who were fluent in Lyneth-ese.

"No, everyone gets free cake on someone's birthday," she insisted. "Like, like, if it's your birthday at school, everyone at school gets free cake."

"Oh! That's a lotta cake!" Peter said, not really considering who would supply said cake or the fact that they'd probably be having cake everyday. But Rhy'Din was a magical place, so he didn't worry about it too much. "No bedtime!" he said, scribbling that one down, too, to the best of his ability at spelling. "And crackers in bed!"

"And, and, and ....every little boy and girl gets a mummy and a daddy, or two daddies, or two mummies," Lyneth added, perhaps getting a little carried away at this point. Their running platform was getting long.

"No more orphans!" Peter declared with vigor, waving a crayon in the air, instead of a fist. His Lost Boys had been made up of a mix of orphans and children who either didn't feel wanted or who'd been abandoned. He vaguely remembered what that felt like and didn't want anyone to feel that way again.

"Yes!" Down went the pen again. No more orfuns. Lyneth chewed the pen-lid thoughtfully. "What else?" she asked, looking over at Peter. This running for Governor business was a lot more complicated than she had thought, but if Maggie could do it, then so could they.

"Um ..." Peter mused thoughtfully. There were a lot of things he'd change if he could, but even if they won the election, it was unlikely they could change everything. "We should do something to make Rhy'Din safer from bad people," he suggested, though he wasn't sure how. "And every kid should learn how to fly!" he added, a little more light-heartedly.

"We could, we could, um ..." Lynnie considered for a long moment. "We could ask the fairies to watch people, and if they do bad things, then, then ....we make them stop?"

"I dunno, Lynnie," Peter said, with a worried frown. "Maybe. I mean, there's rules about doing bad stuff, isn't there?" he asked, uncertainly. "Oh, I just thought of something else!" he exclaimed, easily distracted by another thought. He put crayon to paper without even asking her permission: No bull-eez!

"Well, if you do a bad thing, even to a bad person, then you are a bad person, but not everyone knows who the bad people are, so maybe if you do a bad thing, your name goes on a list outside the Guv-ner's office so everyone knows you are a bad person?" she suggested. "Bad people can't be bad if other people aren't talking to them."

"Okay," Peter agreed, though he wasn't sure how to add that to their platform. After all, being governor wasn't all that powerful of a position, but they didn't know that. "Maybe we should ask your Mom or Dad for ideas," he said, uncertainly.

"No, 'cos we're doin' it," Lynnie insisted, frowning. "There is all the rules for being bad and stuff, we don't have to do anything 'bout that. We can just do fun things!"

Peter considered that a moment before nodding his head in agreement. "Okay," he said, scratching out the idea about No Bullying. After all, that was part of the rules for being bad, and they were only interested in making Rhy'Din more fun.

Lyneth Granger

Date: 2018-08-28 10:27 EST
"Um ..." Lyneth rose up onto her knees, scratching her cheek. This did, of course, leave a trail of purple felt-tip against her nose, but she didn't care. "Oh! Lollies for when you has to go to the doctor or the dentist!"

Peter looked up from his paper and giggled to find Lyneth was sporting a purple mark on her cheek, but he didn't bother to point it out. "Bubblegum!" he declared in a single victorious shout! He had only discovered the joy of bubblegum recently and didn't understand why he was so often asked to spit it out.

"Yeah!" Lyneth enthused. "We could, like, give people bubble gum so's they 'member us and vote for us!"

Peter nodded enthusiastically. "Ice Cream Parties!" he also suggested, thinking there was a definite lack of those in Rhy'Din. "And more events for us kids!"

"Like bake sales and egg-spoon races and dress up days!" Lyneth agreed, nodding happily. They were coming up with ideas much faster than they were writing them down, but that didn't really matter. To be honest, they were lucky their parents had agreed to this in the first place, but the four adults in their lives had quietly agreed amongst themselves that even if the children won and were the joint Governor for a year, it was better than listening to them whine about not being allowed to try it at all.

"Pyjama days!" Peter declared, scribbling that down to the best of his ability. He lifted the paper from the table and held it aloft with a proud grin, satisfied that they'd come up with enough ideas on what contributions they'd make if they won the election. "Now we hafta make posters to hang up around town, so people know we're running!" he said, having been told this by his parents after they'd reluctantly agreed to let him and Lyneth run.

"Yeah, we do!" she said excitedly. "With all bright colors on, and rainbows and stuff!" It hadn't really occurred to Lyneth quite what being the Governor was all about, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that this was something that seemed fun, something she could do with Peter.

"You're my bestest friend ever, Lynnie. Even better than Tink," Peter said, as he tore off another piece off paper from the pad and choose a few markers with bright, vivid colors. There was no way either child would have set about doing this alone, but together Peter though anything was possible.

"Isn't your new fairy just like Tink?" she asked curiously. The snow drop would have flowered in February, she knew, but Peter hadn't mentioned his own personal fairy friend since he'd planted the bulb, and finally she was out of patience with waiting to hear about it.

"Yeah, but ..." Peter frowned. He wasn't very good with the idea of death yet. "I like her, but I still miss Tink," he said, realizing no one could ever really replace his fairy friend. He had to like this new fairy for herself and not because she was replacing Tinker Bell. It was a hard lesson to learn.

"Well, no, 'cos if she was just like Tink, she would be Tink, and Tink is gone," Lyneth said carefully, reaching over to pat his hand. "But you like havin' a Mummy and a Daddy, don't you?"

Peter nodded his head, the momentary sadness about Tink's death gone. "Mmhmm," he murmured as he started work on a poster. "An' a li'l sister. Mama says she adores me. I think that just means she likes me ....a lot."

"Course she likes you lots, you're her big brother!" Lyneth declared happily. "I have a big brother, and I like him lots, too. And Dyl and Mia like me lots, because I'm their big sister!"

"I don't have a big brother," Peter said, though that was hardly relevant. "Some of the Lost Boys were bigger than me, but I don't know if they were older. James grew up, but he's my Dad now, so he can't be my big brother."

"You don't got to have a big brother," Lynnie told him cheerfully. "You are a big brother, and that's a good thing! B'sides, there's Matt and Lucas - they're sort of big brothers for all the Grove!"

"Do you think they'll help us run for gov'ner?" Peter asked, as he scribbled his name and Lyneth's on the paper. "They're almost grown-ups. What about the other kids" We might need their help, if we want to win."

"There's lots of kids in the city," his friend commented thoughtfully, scratching the other side of her face and leaving a red scrawl of pen on the other cheek. "I guess it depends how much help we need, really."

"Um, Lynnie ..." he said, lifting his head in time to see her marking her other cheek and smiling in amusment. He started to point to her cheek, but then changed his mind and went back to his drawing. "Never mind. Do you think we could get the fairies to help, too?" he asked, though he wasn't too sure how they might help.

"What?" Lyneth blinked, utterly oblivious to the marks on her cheeks. This was generally why she got a bath every night - Piper had been heard to remark that her eldest daughter was the only child she knew who could somehow get dirty sitting quietly in an empty room. "I'm sure the fairies would help if we asked them," she agreed. "We could teach people how to see them, and if they can see them, then the fairies can help them look after their flowers and plants and stuff."

"No," Peter disagreed with a shake of his head and a frown. "If they can see them, they might try to hurt them," he said, as if he knew from experience. After all, the pirates had tried to hurt Tink and her friends on more than on occasion. Maybe it was a little cynical of him, but he still didn't entirely trust all adults.

Lyneth's eyes went wide, remembering the first little tree she had tried to make, and the stranger who had stamped on it and the dryad that had come from it. She nodded, but didn't speak, still deeply hurt that anyone would be so cruel.

"We can teach kids to see 'em though," Peter suggested as he drew a picture of a fairy on the page. "So long as they aren't bullies." He thought about that a minute, not quite realizing why Lyneth had gone quiet. "Lynnie, can fairies know a person's heart?"

Rising out of her momentary grief, Lyneth blinked away her sadness. "Not all of them," she told him. "The big ones and the old ones can. But brand new fairies got to learn about people 'fore they can do it."

Lyneth Granger

Date: 2018-08-28 10:27 EST
"D'you think Snow knows my heart?" he asked of his own fairy friend, looking to Lyneth in need of an honest answer. He was fond of his fairy, but it was hard to replace Tink, who'd been with him from the beginning.

Lyneth nodded with absolute authority. "Yes," she informed him. "'Cos she was born out of Tink, and Tink loved you and knew you, and there's a little bit of that in Snow."

"So, she's like Tink's daughter then, isn't she?" Peter asked, as if this was the first time he was realizing it. His young heart swelled inside his chest and his eyes welled with tears. "D'you love me, too, Lynnie?" he asked, in a hushed, almost fearful voice. He'd never really mentioned love to her, and he wasn't really thinking of romantic love, but that of a best friend, which was what she was to him.

"Yeah, she is," his little friend assured him, quite happy to simplify what was, in actual fact, a very complex relationship between one dead fairy and her live successor. His question made her bristle a little bit. "Of course I do!" she declared, offended. "You're my bestest friend! Why, don't you love me?"

He flushed a little, not only at her indignation, but at the question she had turned back around on him. "Yes," he replied, quickly adding, "but not like my Mom loves my Dad." He made a face at that, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Yech."

Lyneth agreed, making an echo of that grimace in solidarity. "My Mummy and Daddy are just like that, too," she informed him. "I think growed ups go funny when they get growed up."

"My Mom is always teasing my Dad about his sword. I dunno why. He never fights anymore. Growed ups are boring. I don't ever wanna be boring. Promise we'll never be boring, Lynnie, even when we're growed up!" he said, offering a pinky so they could swear on it.

Lyneth made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, wrapping her pinky around Peter's without a second thought. "We won't never be borin', 'cos we're lots of fun and we'll always be!"

"And we're gonna make Rhy'Din fun again!" Peter declared with a grin as his pinky gave her pinky a squeeze to seal that promise. Whatever the future held for them, even when they were grown, he intended to keep that promise, now and always.

"Yup!" There were all kinds of caveats to that promise, unspoken of course, but Peter was learning that fun didn't have to happen at someone else's expense. James might have fretted about Peter Pan integrating, but he hadn't counted on the influence of a little Fae girl who liked being a child and being loved so much that she was possibly the best influence on the first Lost Boy.

Besides, Lynnie liked Peter. With him as her bestest friend, what couldn't they do' Maybe even become co-governors of Rhy'Din together! But even if that didn't happen, they'd still be Best Friends Forever.