smallestopener: (Grays)
Ingress of the House of Arch ([personal profile] smallestopener) wrote2009-06-14 08:08 pm

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!
kitchen_maid: (Amy & Ingress -- Princess Lessons)

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2009-06-16 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
Amy came in through the hedge maze. (She is expecting twins in the fall. She doesn't want to imagine what Perry would have to say to her about bouncy houses or obstacle courses.)

But she wouldn't miss this.

"Happy Birthday, darling."

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] bitunlikely.livejournal.com 2009-06-24 04:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Happy birthday!" Jenny greets Ingress brightly, having misplaced a boyfriend and puppy somewhere by the hedge maze.
young_tmriddle: (veddy British)

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[personal profile] young_tmriddle 2009-06-15 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
Tom is pleased the party turned out so well. Truly, he was going on Ingress' word for most of the madness of the design. Bouncy castles? Ball pits to swing over? He'd never had experience of much of this, and he is glad he bowed to Door's wisdom to include those odd little plastic balls in the pit instead of snakes. The snakes could have been harmed by people falling on them, after all!

Anyway, he is here, greeting guests, sitting with Door, and enjoying the day.

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] shadowsusannah.livejournal.com 2009-06-15 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
The hedge maze is definitely the most wheelchair-accessible route of entry; Susannah is still slightly out of breath when she reaches the clearing. Mingling is out, but if people want to come to her, staked out by the refreshment and the table of presents, she's in a pretty good mood regardless.

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] shadowsusannah.livejournal.com 2009-06-15 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
"Happy birthday, sugar! I'm glad I could come."

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] azure-mercy.livejournal.com 2009-06-15 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Zhaan emerges here once she navigates the hedge maze. Satisfied with having found her way, she deposits her present on the appropriate table, gets some iced tea, and sets out to greet the birthday girl and mingle with the other guests.

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] shoeless-ed.livejournal.com 2009-06-15 02:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Ed periodically loops through the clearing on her way to go through the obstacle course or the bouncy castle again. She is wearing an admiral's hat obtained from her wizarding cracker (she tried to put it on Ein, the Welsh Corgi, but he won't wear it).

Ein is staying in the clearing, begging for meat- and/or cheese-related foods from the party guests.
ellectrical: (watching you)

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[personal profile] ellectrical 2009-06-17 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
Elle wanders into the clearing eventually. Which path she chose may be apparent from the leaves she's pulling out of her hair.

... it was probably the best option, in her case.
ellectrical: (thoughtful)

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[personal profile] ellectrical 2009-06-17 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
... that is quite a lot of exclamation points. Elle might blink a few times before thinking of an answer.

"I..."

(It might not just be the girl's volume that's confusing her.)

"... okay."

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] im-so-sari.livejournal.com 2009-06-17 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Once she reaches the clearing, Sari makes a beeline for the refreshments table and starts grabbing handfuls of goodies.

Manners? What are those?
youowemeafavor: (a smile like this should be feared)

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[personal profile] youowemeafavor 2009-06-18 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
Somebody here is rather expert at mazes by now. Brushing bits of leaves and twigs from his frockcoat, one Marquis from London Below bows deeply in front of the birthday girl.

"Lady Ingress." His smile is deep and generous; there's a wrapped box in his pocket and he'll put it in the appropriate place momentarily. "There's a rumour that today is important on so many levels. How old are you now, twenty? Twenty-five?"

Even very busy and morally questionable adventurers are allowed to make jokes from time to time. "Happy birthday."
youowemeafavor: (so disbelieving I turned my head)

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[personal profile] youowemeafavor 2009-06-18 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Ten! Imagine that. And how does one get to be a big and brave ten-year-old and have word spread about them all over London Below?" The last time he saw her, she was significantly smaller and significantly less like an actual person he might want to waste time on. But since her sister is his charge, or at least someone to whom he's got a sort of relationship, it's only fitting that he pay equal homage to Ingress.

"You do know you're quite the talk of the town, don't you?" It's not meant to frighten her. Merely to make her feel every bit as important as she should on a day like today. When he sets his mind to it, he can be very good with children.

A shame he doesn't set his mind to it more than once or twice a century.

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] of-atlantis.livejournal.com 2009-06-21 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Kida has not seen Ingress in many, many years, to her sense of reckoning. But the blue hair and smiling face is quite unmistakable to her.

"Ingress?"

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] of-atlantis.livejournal.com 2009-06-22 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
The woman--she is a woman now, but still similar-looking to when she was a child--smiles.

"It has been years since I last saw you, for me. I remember you, meeting me one of the first times I was here." She chuckles, gesturing to Ingress' hair.

"Your blue hair has not changed."

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com 2009-06-22 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
Puck is studiously avoiding Tom and Door-- no need to clash with the delightful Lord and Lady on a day that is for Ingress, particularly as it's been several years now that he's avoided making her cry, and it would be a pity to spoil his winning streak now.

With a raucous crow-call and a deft handspring, Puck catapults out of the bouncy castle and lands in a sprawl of limbs on the grass. Grinning, he pats down his pockets-- no damage to Ingress' gift.

Excellent.

Re: The Birthday Party Clearing

[identity profile] puckishly.livejournal.com 2009-06-22 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Puck beams, a little startled by the hug.

"It comes of long practice, dear Ingress."