Chapter Text
It's been a year now since the whole war in Devil's Acre has been over. Julius and Horace have been getting on well after Julius recovered enough to respond to Horace, and frankly, I'm jealous. I'm not entirely sure why, as Horace and I have never been the best of buds, but now when I look at him I feel something. I don't know what it is and I'm scared to find out.
Our first year after the war we all spent a lot of time helping clean up the Acre and getting more resources from the modern world. Luckily Sharon was able to help us with that as he had some connections to people bringing over materials at the port.
We also spent a lot of time going on field trips with Miss P. in the modern world while we had breaks. Millard had asked to visit Lilly, Noor’s normal friend, but Miss P. had said no because ‘An ymbryne should not encourage her wards to have relationships with normals, you of all my wards should know that. I know you’ve read my book, Millard’. He stopped bugging after that. Julius came with us for a few, but not enough to age forward like we did. For the most part we would stick to places normals weren’t, like forests and in caves and whatnot. Because of that we all ended up aging forward (physically) a bit. Emma, Bronwyn, and Fiona had ended up getting a lesson from Noor on how to use modern menstrual products after Bronwyn had freaked out in a hotel we were in. Unfortunately because we were only staying in one room all of us had to hear it. I now know how diva cups and tampons work. Noor had given them each a set of cloth pads, a box of tampons to try, and a diva cup each after a run to the local pharmacy.
The boys and the younger girls all grew a bit taller, and some of our hair grew, but most of us chose to cut it the same length it always was. Mine had always been shaved short, and when it grew a few centimeters into little waves it bothered me so I shaved it. Miss P. was not very happy that I did it by myself. Millard said he could feel his get longer since it brushed his neck now, and he kept it that way.
We each celebrated a birthday throughout the year and Miss P. let us pick field trip destinations on our birthdays. She said it was a very special occasion because peculiars often don’t celebrate birthdays, but most of us would’ve forgotten them if not for Miss P. and Millard. Fiona, Millard, and Horace all celebrated two birthdays because theirs were in autumn. After helping in the Acre for a year, Miss P. has requested we all take a break, especially Olive and Claire who she banned from doing any more work for six months (which isn’t long for us peculiars, but time seems to be moving slower now that we’ve been out of loops for a bit). They nagged the Bird about it for three weeks straight, which was especially unusual behavior for Claire, which convinced Miss P. to make it a year instead of six months. They stopped nagging after that and decided that a staycation, as Noor had called it, would be quite nice after all the dramatics we’ve dealt with.
Jacob and Noor were insistent on continuing to help, so Miss P. assigned one of the ymbrynes in training to keep watch on them while they were there. Everyone else seemed fine with it, including Millard because Bird knows even Miss P. can't keep him from learning and helping in the Acre. I admit it’s been odd to consistently be back in the house after over a year and a half of constantly being out of it, but having my basement back is nice. Nobody really likes to join me down here, which is a negative and positive. I don't usually like company, but with the last year being in and out of the Acre crowded with other peculiars it's strange not to have someone causing a ruckus a few feet away from me. Though I can hear the chaos above me. I have tried cleaning up the place a bit more, but everyone seems too distracted to even notice. I even set my bed like Horace taught me to in the Acre.
I've been writing back and forth with that other dead-riser from the Acre, who still hasn't given me a name, and we chat about the things we make. Apparently he has never even thought about making dolls with hearts inside them and would just kill things and bring them back to life, which even I find a bit gruesome. Miss P. said it was good to find another peculiar like myself and to keep in touch with him, but he's a strange fellow even for a peculiar. Usually our letters just consist of images of our creations, which Emma hesitantly helped me take after Miss P. ordered her to, and a few stories of our loopmates doing silly things. He also has an odd sense of humor, I think worse than mine. It’s uncomfortable.
I tried to get Miss P. to teach me to read and write better, but she's been busy with the other ymbrynes at the Acre and usually just tells me it has to wait for another time. I wanted to read some of the old car books and magazines Millard had brought home after one of his assignments in the Acre. I asked Hugh and Fiona, but they're always gardening and snogging off in the bushes and whatnot, they said no while giggling to each other about seemingly nothing. Wyn said she would much rather play with the girls at the moment, but maybe after they went to bed. She ends up going to bed at the same time as them every night, as she did before our loop was destroyed. Emma said she was much too busy with her photography and that has to be her top priority if she wants the Bird to let her help with the newspaper in the Acre. There was one mishap in the Acre with the normals after Caul was killed and Miss P. said it would be safer to stay in the loop for just a month until things calmed down a bit. It's been two weeks and we're all bored. Jacob and Noor are always busy, so they basically only come back to sleep. Millard would always say something along the lines of ‘Not now, I’m studying’. There's only one other person to ask, but I'm embarrassed to even have to ask him. Horace is brilliant and a very fast reader, even in French, no matter how much I tell him he isn't. I honestly just mean to tease the others, but I don't think they feel the same about it.
Before I knew I was peculiar, my brothers would always tease me. We would be playing in the streets and I would come back crying, as most five year olds do, to my mother about their words. She convinced me it was out of love and sent me back out to play. I learned to "toughen up" and tease them back. We would say bloody awful things to each other, but that was how it was. We would punch each other and throw dead peoples’ things at one another, one time I even got my nose broken. Even after all these years in this loop, that's the only way I've been able to show them I care, but more gently, of course. I wouldn’t seriously injure anyone unless I had to. In my past loop the others weren’t very fond of me, so I never really learned how to show I care like everyone else. I was always left alone while the others ran away from me and one boy in particular poked at everything I did. He was trying to get me to snap and scare the others even more, I knew that. I snapped once and ended up here. Their cries are stuck in my head still.
I wish it was easy for me to give hugs like Wyn, but I feel stiff each time I try. The hugs I got before loops were usually from random people at the morgue after their loved ones had passed, it was always an unsettling feeling receiving a hug from someone related to the person I was about to cut into or burn up depending on the service. I’ve grown to just avoid hugs, which kind of defaults to me avoiding the others. Miss P. has tried to get me out of the habit, but I always do it stiffly when I try and she ends up feeling bad for everyone involved and leaves me alone. I’m trying now, but I guess it’s my turn to be pushed away.