(Untitled)

[kitchen_maid]

Amy came downstairs this evening for tea, and was rather surprised to be be given a cupcake with a candle on it to go along with it.

Now she's sitting at a table in the middle of the bar, ignoring the tea and watching the pale purple candle slowly burn down closer and closer to the icing.

Comments

[alec_or_alonzo]

"Amy!" says Phil, approaching gleefully. "Is it your birthday? Why didn't you tell me, you silly goose!"

She plops down at Amy's table without an invitation.

[kitchen_maid]

"Hello, Phil," says Amy, looking up from the still burning candle. "And . . . I'm really not sure."

[alec_or_alonzo]

Phil laughs, but not unkindly.

"Well, dear, it's late April back at home where I'm from, and judging by the weather I imagine it's about the same here. If that's even remotely close. You should blow out your candle and make a wish though," she points out, "There's no sense in wasting a perfectly good wish now, is there?"

[kitchen_maid]

"It's October where I'm from," says Amy, and does not add "I hope," though she certainly thinks it. But after a moment she leans forward slightly and blows the candle out.

"Would you like half a very small birthday cake, Phil?"

[alec_or_alonzo]

"I wouldn't wish to steal your cake," says Phil, "but birthday cakes should most definitely be shared, so I would love some! And happy birthday, even if the time here is a bit confusing and strange."

She darts over to the other side of the table to give Amy a quick birthday hug.

"Now I shall have to see about finding you a proper birthday gift!" she says with great excitement.

[kitchen_maid]

Amy cuts the cupcake neatly and slides one half toward Phil.

"You really needn't. I think I'd feel a little guilty. After all, I'll have another eighteenth birthday. I think."

Her head is starting to hurt.

[alec_or_alonzo]

"Oh, I certainly do, and make no mistake about it," corrects Phil. "Birthday gifts are an absolute necessity, whether one has a birthday more than once a yaer or not. Especially an eighteenth one."

She takes her half of cupcake with a smile.

"You shan't be able to talk me out of it, you know. I simply adore giving birthday presents, and you wouldn't want to deprive me of my fun, would you now?"

[kitchen_maid]

"I shouldn't dream of depriving you of your fun, Phil," says Amy, with a small smile.

"Thank you, then."

[alec_or_alonzo]

"That's very good of you, Amy. It's because you have such a generous spirit."

She laughs.

"And how have you been lately, dear?"

[kitchen_maid]

There are three necklaces around Amy's neck, a locket and a string of glass beads and a dreamcatcher, and she fingers each of them before she answers.

"I've been well," she says, but does not elaborate.

[alec_or_alonzo]

"Have you?" Phil asks, a bit more seriously. It's not like Amy not to share some small story of what's been going on. Amy always elaborates.

Phil raises an eyebrow.

[kitchen_maid]

Amy nods, fingers drifting back to and then closing around the locket in the hollow of her throat.

"I have," she says. "I've been . . . busy."

[alec_or_alonzo]

"Busy with what, dear?" asks Phil, who isn't so much being nosey as concerned. Really.

"With your new horse?" she ventures, knowing that this is probably not what's making Amy fret. If she is, in fact, fretting. Which she appears to be.

[kitchen_maid]

"Some of the time," says Amy. "I've a job now, in the afternoons. I'm helping to look after Gavroche and Ingress, and giving Ingress princess lessons. And I do my chores, and walk, and read my books, and talk and talk and talk and . . . "

In short, to quote someone featured in a few of Phil's icons, life seems nothing more than a quick succession of busy nothings to Amy right now.

" . . . and I don't look at where the door isn't."

[alec_or_alonzo]

"And the whole thing makes you horribly homesick," finishes Phil, even though it didn't really need to be finished.

"Well, the job is something, at least, and you know you have friends who care about you very dearly, including me, you know," she says kindly. "I know first hand that a life full of social engagements that aren't actually leading anywhere can become terribly tedious."

[kitchen_maid]

"The job is wonderful," says Amy. "I almost feel bad about letting Tom and Door pay me for it."

And it lets her get out of the bar, even if not back home.

"Ingress is a dear."

It's not so much a change of topic as a decision to focus on one tiny aspect of topic.