birdsfed:
mary poppins continued to dig through her bag, pushing aside her lights and pillowcases and bowls in her search for the little item she wanted to give him. ❝ oh, pish posh. i know i’ve given you a fine adventure. but i intend to give this to you as a reminder of that adventure. i’ll have none of your modest whinging. ❞
and then she was quiet, for she had found precisely what she had wanted to find. with a pleased twitch of her lip, she pulled out a small, square box, covered on every side with soft, purple velvet. a small piece of paper was tied to it with pink ribbon. on it was written, in mary poppins’ curly handwriting: jack. for your next grand adventure. mary poppins.
content, she shut her bag and straightened up, prying open the box carefully so as not to disturb the letter. inside lay a gold angelus chronodato watch. the watch face was a miniature spitting image of big ben’s own, and in the center was a small silhouette of jack. she offered it to him. ❝ this, i believe, is yours. it has your name on it. ❞
“ So it does .... so it does. ” The parcel is taken gently from Mary’s hands, Jacks own holding it as if it might be the most fragile thing in the whole world. A gift from Mary Poppins herself is a rarity he’s sure --- a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence that he ought to appreciate (and he does, immensely, even though he hasn’t opened it yet).
He’s not sure he wants to open it. If he does, it means Mary Poppins will have completely fulfilled what she came here to do and could take her leave whilst he’s tearing into the neatly wrapped gift. If he waits, he can watch her go, say a final (proper) goodbye as she lifts up into the sky, unless she doesn’t expect him to open it at all. Not until the next grand adventure, whatever (wherever, whenever) that may be.
He looks to her for clues, thumb mindlessly running along the ribbon holding the package together, eyes searching hers for some sort of indication, and then he decides right there that he can’t wait for the next adventure to see what Mary has given him. Paper is torn gently, the ribbon he was thumbing looped around his wrist, and he’s admiring the craftsmanship. It’s beautiful.
A few tears prick in his eyes, hues awash with bittersweet emotion.
“ For my next grand adventure.... thank you, Mary Poppins. ”













