smallestopener | Ingress' 10th Birthday Party Extravaganza!

Out by the lake, there is a large construction dedicated to the 10th birthday of Lady Ingress of the House of Arch. Ingress has had birthday parties on this site before - there was a birthday princess ball her 7th year, a playground party for her 6th.

This party is different from either of those. Tom, Door, and Ingress worked on the design for months.

There are three ways to get into the birthday party.

Guests can go through the hedge maze. It's enchanted, of course, but the walls shift places at a docile rate. The path is wide and firm, so this is the easiest way to enter the party.

Guests might also try the obstacle course of tubes to crawl through, walls to climb, ropes to swing over deep ball pits, curly slides to fling themselves down. The only enchantment on this entrance are anti-falling charms.

Or guests can bounce through the giant bouncy castle!

Once they've passed through either of the three entrances,they will enter the clearing for the birthday party proper. Picnic blankets are spread out over the grass, and there are plenty of chairs scattered about. Paper lanterns float above people's heads with purple and green streamers linking them together.

A long table overflows with plenty of cold water, birthday treats, and other refreshments. There is a cake with lots of icing roses, of course, and ice cream. Each guest may help him or herself to a Wizarding cracker in a large basket at one end of the table, and there is space beside it for gifts, should guests wish to bring one. Gifts are not expected, however.

Most importantly, there is Ingress, a little girl in the comfortable gray uniform of a Herald-in-training, who is not so little anymore.

Come and have fun!

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"You are a Lady of the House of Arch. That makes you London Below royalty. And as is fitting for a young Princess, one has to celebrate these affairs properly." Children are so adorably easy to read; he sees her eyes move to the many pockets of his coat. Reaching into one of them, he comes up with an ornately wrapped box, ribbons trailing long off its side. The small card attached to it is simple and to-the-point: Best wishes, de Carabas, but the wrapping might just be hammered silver. When she gets round to opening it, she'll find a perfectly lovely charm necklace inside, replete with a miniature dagger, a miniature obsidian boar, a miniature silver key, a miniature golden rat, and a miniature bronze door. More, of course, can be added and none are enchanted. Or at least not particularly enchanted.

Yet.

"Now, young lady. Shall I put this over with the other gifts for you? After all, you must be exceedingly busy on such a grand and important day. I'd hate to take up too much of your time."

"Oh, you can if you'd like," she says. "I'll open them and write thank you notes soon. But... I could open it now. If you wanted me to."

It's such a pretty present!

"It's your party, milady Ingress, and your decision. Far be it for a lowly Marquis to make the decision for you."

There just might be a definite twinkle in his eye. Usually, his gifts come with a hefty debt. Today, however, is different.

This makes sense to Elle, as it sounds vaguely like every birthday party she's had since she was... seven.

"So you like them?"

"I think I shall open it, then," she says, and then giggles. She holds out her hands to take the present, and once it's in her hands, the wrapping parts in two after a moment, and the ribbons cascade to the side. The box is already opened.

She takes out the bracelet carefully, without setting down the box in its silvery wrapping. Her eyes are glinting blue, green, and gold, and her mouth is in an "o".

"Wow. Oh, it's everything from the Underside."

"Oh, yeah. Parties are fun. And not just for the cake. For the friends who come, too."

X opts for the hedge maze, as the bouncy castle is too easily punctured and the obstacle course is not practical.

It helps that she has a head for maps.

That... does make sense. Sort of.

She's only vaguely getting the 'friends' part. But if people... like that.

So she glances down at the ice cream and says, a little uncertainly (if she's supposed to have some kind of judgment on it), "It's nice."

Her little exclamation makes him laugh. "Not quite everything, Lady Ingress. I've merely got it started for you. Perhaps your sister and Lord Ostium will fill in the other five slots for you. Then again, I had so much fun navigating your hedge maze, I might do it myself."

She's quite adorable, blue hair and all, and birthdays are something to be celebrated.

"That sounds a very sensible approach," Amy agrees.

Fully two thirds of what goes on at court isn't worth the effort, though Amy doesn't always have the option of avoiding it.

Then again, you don't get far in Ambergeldar if you tick off Her Majesty, so people tend not to be mean to her.

(At least, not to her face.)

"I think so. So far it's been okay."

She licks some errant icing off of her finger.

"I've already met some new friends today. I knew if there was a big bunch of stuff then more people would come."

"Good. It should be! I think Laura is going to be here. Maybe you and she could race each other through the obstacle course. There's a part where you swing on a rope over a pit of balls. Tom thought it would be funny to have snakes in the pit, but we told him they might get squished."

"I think I will. That will be fun." She stares at the charms, examining each one carefully. When she gets to the bull, she frowns slightly.

"Door said Daddy told her about you. About how you'd have to help her if she needed you. You knew him, right?"

Ingress runs around a corner and stops short to keep from running into her.

"Oh, yay, Laura! I'm glad you're here!"

"... yeah. Squished."

Uh-huh. That's totally what Elle would do. Yep.

"Wouldn't they try to ... bite people or something?"

It's more of a curiosity than a concern.

"If they were plain old snakes, probably. But our snakes are well-mannered and polite."

"Happy birthday," X says, very promptly.

And --

"Your party is in the maze?"

It does not seem practical somehow. But --

"No, the maze is just a fun way to get to the party. And it's fun to run through, since it changes every time."

"It really is a very fabulous and impressive party," Amy says.

Certain details will not be reported to Susan.

Amy has learned that lesson.

"Oh."

X considers this. Carefully.

"You are not lost?"

"Only for a minute and that's just for fun. If you get lost too long, the hedges will open up for you so you can get to somewhere. It's not supposed to be scary. It's supposed to be like a- a puzzle!"

X considers that, too.

"Feigning getting lost is useful?"

"It's not quite the same as a princess birthday ball, but I like it fine."

"Oh."

She'll just accept that. Yep.

"It's probably better like this, then."

You know. If you're not supposed to hurt the snakes.

"I like the balls. You can swim in them, the pit's so deep. So yeah, you should try it."

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Ingress' 10th Birthday Party Extravaganza!

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