Legacy of Forgotten Times 69 We are not 'them'

"To pick up my sweet little muffin of course!" Jaime answered cheerfully. She was awfully happy he had to give her that.

"You mean Brie? Is she going to come as well?" That was kind of a good news for him. He would save himself the trouble of being stared at countless people in the clothing store.

"Well duh! Didn't you say you were gonna photograph us? Of course she is gonna be here." Mentioning the photo Linri became uncomfortable again.

"Forget I even said anything, I think it's a good time back out of this. I can always find another way to bribe Richard." Once he said that he felt like a huge burden was taken off his shoulders.

"Yeah I know you will." Jaime answered him without a second of doubt.

"Huh? Then why are we even here?" He was genuinely confused. Jaime gave a mischievous smile to him.

"To go to the pool of course." Her answer did not help in anyway to alleviate his confusion.

"You are aware that you are not making any sense right?" Jaime grabbed a flock of her and threw it behind her ear.

"And why should I? Life is not a chess game where every move has to have a reason behind it. Sometimes you do things just because. Also this is our stop." Then Jaime grabbed Linri by the arm and dragged him out of the bus.

Obviously they were near the Queen Alexandria Orphanage. Linri thought of ways to escape this predicament. He really did not want to go swimming for some reason. Then an idea hit him and he glanced at his wrist. I guess that should work as an excuse.

"Yeah I guess you are right but have you considered they might not let me inside the pool?" Jaime did not understand so she turned to look at him.

"Why wouldn't they?" She had taken the bait, now lets hope that she will swallow the hook.

"It's because of this of course." Linri showed her the silver serpent bracelet he got back at the Togk temple. He still did not know what it was and he could not take it out. He tried to ask Solas and Lozna a couple of times but they did not tell him anything aside from 'it was a good thing'. He was highly doubtful of the truth of the matter but he could not do anything.

He had tried everything possible to take it out including cutting it but there was not even a single scratch on it. The fact that it used to be a living meter long snake did not help him either. He was afraid that the bracelet would come to life again and bite him to death during his sleep. Luckily or unluckily he could not see any dreams or nightmares aside from the 'dream'. It at least saved him some trouble.

"What does that have to do with not being able to go to the pool?" Jaime looked confused.

"Don't you know that they do not allow any foreign objects to be worn on the body? It's a pool policy in case some people lose their earrings, necklaces or in my case bracelets. They are also afraid that some poor kid would step on it and hurt himself along with suing the management for irresponsible behaviour." Linri brought Jaime up to speed with how pools work but the only response she gave was laughing at him.

"I don't think that concerns you. It 'doesn't' come off right? You just have to prove it to the security and they should let you in. Worst case scenario you could just cover your hand. For a minute there I thought you were banned from every pool in London." Dammit she caught onto the loophole. It was true that lots of people sneaked their stuff in as the security was too lax there.

"Wait did you just say 'you'?"

"Hm? Yeah what about it?"

"Don't forget that we are not from here. Our lives and our 'characters' lives are separate. We might be in their bodies for now but we are not 'them'. We have to draw a line somewhere to not get caught up on their lives. Because we will eventually return home."

"And how do you know that? How can you be so sure that we will return back? I think I found an even better question, do we even want to return?" Jaime answered nonchalantly despite the heaviness of the subject. If somebody heard her tone without knowing the context they would just think she was asking what should they have for lunch.

Linri thought about her question but could not come up with an answer fast enough because they were already at the orphanage and Brie was waiting for them.

"Big sister!" The little loli jumped into Brie's arms. It wasn't until she had her fill of Jaime that she finally paid attention to Linri. Her expression suddenly turned ashen.

"Hey are you alright? What happened?" Jaime asked immediately checking Brie's temperature.

"It's nothing. I am fine." Brie took a deep breath and walked towards Linri reaching out her hand.

"Hi, there nice to see you again big brother." She looked like a little fawn walking towards a lion. Linri found her expression quiet amusing. He grabbed her hand and shook it.

"No need to be scared, its not like I am gonna eat you." Linri gave a charming smile towards her. It seemed like it work since her face had some colour now.

"Yeah, you are right I suppose." Even though she looked alright she still seem more reserved then Linri remembered. She must think that he is a bad guy since he revealed his brother's dark past.

Chapter end