Oh there's no place like London...

I think I'll lower Violet + Alice's age to 13, because Simon should be older than Alice. There, she won't be so much of a cougar.

Violet: "Somewhere? You never see him?" I asked sadly.

Dustin shrugged. "Not that I would want to, but no."

"How come you wouldn't want to?" Violet asked.



So Pavie could make the sequel in five years, which would make Violet 17 and Dustin 14. Most guys grow a lot between 10 and 14, so that could work.

Dustin frowned. "Mama died, Papa forgot I existed and lived off of rum and whiskey. End of story."

Yes. Hmm...and then we could throw in some little cutesy-friendly-not-quite-flirty tidbits to this one, so it'll lead into that

"I'm sorry," Violet said softly. As much as she hated her parents and their stupid rules, she wouldn't be able to bear it if they ended up like that.

EXACTLY. Finally, someone who thinks like me!

"Don't worry about it," he said, and dangled his legs over the water. Then he added to himself, "you get used to it."

"How do you live without parents? How do you get money to eat or...do anything?" Violet asked.

Dustin smiled sheepishly and chuckled. "Uh...you know when I took your necklace?"

"You steal for a living," Violet nodded in understanding, then sighed.

Dustin nodded. "Canary's papa makes a small fortune off of me."

"Oh, that Canery girl. Are you friends? She seems nice," Violet said, swinging her legs.

Dustin nodded. "She is. Needs to get out of that shop, though, she's there every--" he cut himself short mid-sentence, and looked at Violet curiously. "How do you know Canary?"

"My sister Alice gave her a makeover today. To repay her for fishing her out of this very quarry," Violet gestured to the water below.

"A makeover?!" Dustin wasn't sure he heard right. "She got Canary into a makeover? With makeup and everything?"

"Mmhmm, for a boy," Violet rolled her eyes. "It's stupid what girls will do for boys."

Dustin blinked. "So let me get this straight. Canary. Makeup. Boy." Then looked back out to the water. Canary was turning into a girl, damnit. "Girls..."he muttered.

"They're annoying," She agreed, then paused "I'm a girl...but I guess I'm not very girly..." She frowned. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

"Good. Stay that way." He smirked.

"I'll try. But I'll probably end up a lonely old maid, like Alice says. What suitor wants to court a tomboy?" Violet sighed and laid back on the wood of the dock, looking at the clear, dark sky.

I think Dustin's sentence qualified as a cutesy-but-not-quite-flirty bit.

Dustin: he leaned back, looking up. Somewhere a cricket chirped. "I dunno, I think it'd be fun."

(Agreed)

"You think it would be fun to court a tomboy?" Violet tried to clarify, her brow furrowed.

Dustin grinned. "Sure, it'd be just like having a best friend, but better. That and you don't have to wait half an hour for the girl to pick out a hat already."

"Well, maybe you'll get lucky and find a tomboy worth courting someday," Violet sighed again and sat up.