Why was the priest asking him all these questions? James tilted his head a little and eyed the tall man suspiciously. Probably a creep. "No. She was livin' is Grosmont feelin' to good fer us. But 'er husband ran off and now she's lookin' fer a job. Why?"

Malachi only glanced at the boy towards the tail end of his explanation, and caught the odd look thrown his way.

What, even children were suspicious of him now?

"Just curious," he admitted. "I was hoping that if she does this a lot, there might be a place she usually goes to when she does."

Perhaps the sister was just job-hunting, or... ah, who was he kidding. She'd left her young children with a boy hardly older than them.

"Hmmm..." said James. The priest was still following him. What had Noah said? People who seem nice for no reason if you don't know them. Stay away. Come tell me.

Well, he couldn't run away with the cart, and the Meijer farm was pretty far.

They had passed a pub, but he hadn't noticed. "Are ye a pervert?" he asked, and then in the same breath as if it was a perfectly normal question: "There's a pub." He pointed at another pub and headed in that direction. The toddler in the cart giggled as the direction was changed.

Wasn't that a pub they'd just passed?

Malachi's gaze followed after it as they continued their walk, but the boy hadn't stopped. Could have been one of the pubs this 'Ruth' was banned from.

"Are ye a pervert?"

"Wh-" what? What was that question? Malachi looked at him, wide-eyed. How was he supposed to respond to that?

"No," he denied, though the kid probably wasn't that far off. But he wasn't into children. God. He cringed and nodded towards the aforementioned pub.

"Come on then, let's check. I don't know what your sister looks like."

"Oh, okay," said James, as if that resolved the confusion. "She's got darker hair than me and curly, and she's kinda skinny. Me dad says she looks like she's caught t' pox." He had seen children with the pox and Ruth didn't seem covered in red dots to him, but maybe it was something grown ups could see or maybe they had gone away already. Maybe the priest could see it.

They reached the pub and James stopped. It would be hard to get the cart through the door. He turned to the infants and put the handle on the ground. "Stay 'ere. We'll be right back."

"Oi, no beggin' 'ere!" said the barman as soon as James entered the pub.

This he could work with. Curly dark hair, kind of skinny, looks like she's... caught the pox. Malachi did not think too hard about what that meant for the poor children in the cart.

Didn't want to think too hard about leaving those children in that cart outside of the pub, either. There was a moment's hesitation at the door, but after a quick glance around, Malachi gave a sigh and followed the oldest boy inside.

"Not begging," he corrected, voice returned from the softer tone he'd fallen into with the children. "I'm looking for his sister. There's no Ruth Longbottom here, is there?"

Wesley had been patrolling the town, he noticed people who had had run ins with him before keeping their distance. A few times, they seemed to stop whatever they were up to. That's what he wanted, he grinned in delight to see he made the criminals in town nervous.

He slowed when he noticed a cart and inside were two small kids. Far too small to be on their own. Were they abandoned? One smelled, showing they had definitely not been cared for. His nose crinkled in disgust. Well, this wouldn't do. He wasn't going to load up his arms, so he left them there as he went into the pub. Either a drunk parent, or one trying to make money on their backs. Either way, it was another problem he'd deal with at the time.

Wesley opened the door louder than necessary, as he wanted to get all of the attention as he looked around. "Alright, does anyone know who those kids outside belong to?" He wasn't going to mention the neglect charge just yet.

"Ain't seen no Longbottoms 'ere, and they're not welcome if I had," the barman said.

"Try the police office!" another man shouted, and some others laughed.

But their laughter died when the policeman stepped in.

And just like that, James had disappeared, under a table and then quickly towards the back. That constable looked like trouble. He wasn't going to admit that the kids belonged to him. The priest could have 'em.

Oh, come on, why was the kid--

aaand he was gone. Whisked himself away to hide somewhere that Malachi could not immediately see, from... he turned his head to the door.

Ah. Right. A constable. Wonderful.

"I am looking for their mother," supplied Malachi, taking a step towards the constable but maintaining a safe distance.

Wesley rose his brow as he looked the man up and down. "Ah, and have you found her, Mister...?" He said as he looked from him to the bartender and back. This was getting stranger. Maybe the woman unloaded the kids onto him and skipped town. He'd be doing them all a favor.