smallestopener | Ingress' 10th Birthday Party Extravaganza!

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There are tubes to crawl through, walls to climb, ropes to swing over deep ball pits, curly slides to fling themselves down, and just about anything else you can imagine. It's big enough for adults to manage, too, but they might not be as limber as they hope!

Enzo is making his way through the course with great glee and skill. The Academy makes its cadets run obstacle courses every so often, of course, but they're meant for training, not fun.

Enzo wonders, as he swings over the balls, whether there would be any way to persuade Coach Hardlink to incorporate some of this stuff.

Ingress is on the platform where Enzo will land. She scoots over so there's plenty of room for him.

"Hi Enzo! I was hoping you could come to my party!"

And the cadet from Mainframe sticks the landing!

"Hi, Ingress! Haven't seen you in forever! What's been processing?"

"I turned ten! I'm in double digits now. It's SO cool. How about you? How's school?"

"It's good, except I've got another History class this term. And one of my roommates graduated, so I got a new one."

"That's kind of weird, huh," she says, and she shoves the rope back to the other side. "Having roommates, I mean. Oh, come on, climb the wall. Let's see who can get to the top first!"

There are two ropes on each side of the wall with footholds placed sporadically up the side. Enzo will probably beat Ingress, but that's okay.

"It was at first, but you get used to it. Now it's just the rollover that's weird."

He probably will, at that. Besides the training, he's big for his age. He grabs a rope and hauls himself up with good, steady pulls.

Ingress gives him a good chase, but he definitely gets to the top first.

"You're fast," she laughs. "And I think you've grown a lot, and I am not quite there yet."

Enzo gives a rather self-satisfied grin. "I'm taller than Dot and Dani now."

"Well, I'm ten, so I'll start growing a lot soon. Okay, once we're over the top, there's a slide. It's super fast, too. You ready? Let's slide!"

"Ready!"

Enzo flings himself onto the slide, as though it would not be fast enough without.

They zip down the slide to the cushions at the bottom. Ingress hits so hard that she bounces and rolls into the wall, shrieking and laughing.

"I love the slides!!!"

Re: Obstacle Course

a1enzo - 2009-06-16 02:54 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Obstacle Course

smallestopener - 2009-06-16 03:09 (UTC) - Expand

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Re: Obstacle Course

a1enzo - 2009-06-16 03:43 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Obstacle Course

smallestopener - 2009-06-16 03:52 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Obstacle Course

a1enzo - 2009-06-16 04:02 (UTC) - Expand

Sari has never met Ingress, and has no idea that there is a birthday party in progress. The obstacle course, however, definitely merits Investigation.

She slides into the first tube with the practiced ease of someone who's been sneaking through ventilation ducts for most of her life. (Which is just shy of eight years so far, but still!)

At a bend in the tube, a blue-haired girl scuttling in the other direction runs into Sari.

"Oops, sorry! I didn't know anyone was coming that way. Hi, I'm Ingress."

"I'm Sari."

"Do you like obstacle courses? There's a bouncy castle, too, and cake! So you have to be sure and get some. It's my party, see. I'm ten now. How old are you?"

"I'll be eight next month," says Sari. "Dad never got me an obstacle course for my birthday. He got me a bouncy castle once, but I broke it."

"You can't break ours, so you can jump as much as you want. Tom protected it with magic. He's not my dad, but he does the dad jobs. Oh, hey, come over here."

She gestures for Sari to follow her as the tube branches off and turns into a steep slide with cushions at the bottom.

"Come on, you can slide down really fast on this one!"

Sari doesn't hesitate; she flings herself headfirst down the slide, screaming in excitement as she goes.

*FWUMP!!!*

Ingress hits the cushions and bounces. "Ow, my bum," she giggles. It doesn't hurt too much.

"Where are you from, Sari? I'm from London Below, but we visit Milliways a lot."

"Mmm frmm--" Sari pulls her head out from the two cushions it was wedged between and tries again. "I'm from Detroit. That's in Michigan."

"And that's in... the United States?"

Ingress is getting better with geography.

"Duh. And London's in England."

"Hey," Ingress says, nudging Sari with her shoulder, "you lot have way more places to remember, and I don't live there. Plus I have to know things and places in Valdemar, too!"