(no subject)

[smallestopener]

Ingress waits for Amy and Alanna, and their animal entourage, in a playroom decorated with a lace tablecloth and a full tea service, complete with all the delicious biscuits and sandwiches ladies, and small creatures, might like.

Except for the dried flies for the frogs. They are in a container beside a little waterfall pond with running water.

The room is decorated for Christmas, complete with a large Christmas tree decorated with homemade ornaments from a few generations of House of Arch children.

Ingress herself is rather decorated, as well, in a red and green robe with holly in a crown on her blue head. Hope, her potato kitten, is sitting on her lap, and Hubert splashes in the pond. Agatha is sitting on the table nibbling a cracker. And out a window, watching lovingly, is Megwyn, the white horse-shaped Companion from Valdemar.

Ingress watches as Tom enters, both ladies on his arm, as he brings them through the magical painting.

"Hi! You came, you came!"

Comments

[the_lioness]

In truth, it sounds a bit like a mixture of my home and Narnia. *She smiles, looking around the room.* There is only one that I know of.

[smallestopener]

"You're in one, silly! The House of Arch is London Below! We're in the Underside, and it's mostly underground."

Ingress grins at Amy.

[kitchen_maid]

Amy looks around. "I didn't realize," she says. "How remarkable! There's a whole other London below the London on the ground?"

She is looking at the window, trying to figure out just how it is that they are underground.

[the_lioness]

*Alanna nods, smiling at Amy. She had been to London Below once before -when they rescued Door- but she will not mention that to Ingress.*

Aye, remarkable isn't it? *Shaking her head a bit, she nibbles on a piece of cake.* Little did you know you were going on an adventure.

[smallestopener]

"Yes, all the bits that get forgotten in the Above end up here. All the people, too."

Ingress reaches for another cake, and then drinks down her tea.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Mary helped me get things together to make ornaments."

She scrambles off the chair and hurries over to a box full of craft supplies. She holds up a small jar of green paint.

"We could paint the animals' feet and make footprint patterns on the paper, and then cut that out and put on glitter!"

[kitchen_maid]

"Well," says Amy, with that air of accepting something encountered through Milliways that shouldn't be thought about too much, "I'm glad the forgotten bits and people have a place to go."

She looks from the squirrels to the paint.

"Perhaps it would be better if we drew the animals," she says, cheerfully.

And ever so much less messy.

[the_lioness]

Forgotten people? Goddess.

*Startled, Alanna blinks at them before eyeing the paint. A slow smile creeps across her face as she nods in agreement with Amy's first statement. The second -about drawing- lessens the mischievous glint in her eye. Somewhat.*

Thea might let us trace her feet... and then we could paint that, perhaps? *She grins.*

[smallestopener]

"Okay! And then glitter. Lots of glitter!"

She pulls out a basket full of vials of glorious glitter in all shades of festive Christmas doom colors.

"This was a fun tea party. And now we'll make the prettiest ornaments ever."

The three ladies, with minimal help from the animals who, of course, end up sparkly with various amounts of glitter stuck to their fur. The Christmas tree in the playroom is soon bedecked in the loveliest ornaments.

Ingress smiles and laughs and twirls and glitters. It was a lovely tea party, indeed.