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[crazyspacegirl]

River had spent very few waking moments away from her baby in the nearly six months since she'd been born. (And none at all in the nine months before that, if she was going to be precise.) Today, however, was her birthday, and Mal had insisted that she take some time for herself, and sent her off for the afternoon with the order to do the things

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[coffee_sir]

Ianto was, at his best, observant. He didn't make a habit out of looking up into every tree, but one never knew what one might find behind rustling branches. Sometimes it was just the wind, and sometimes it was a girl. Generally, Ianto preferred finding girls.

He paused at the base, a satchel full of berries slung over one shoulder, and considered River's ascent. "Up to anything in particular?" he asked.

[crazyspacegirl]

River wondered if maybe she should have tried to be just a little bit stealthy, and make a game of it instead of just climbing. She decided after a moment's thought, however, that she would rather have company.

"Just about fifteen feet up, at the moment," she answered, chosing a literal interpretation of the question.

[coffee_sir]

His lips pressed together and his mouth pulled into a smirk at the corner. River was a funny girl, he had to give her that.

"Do you have a specific purpose for climbing today?" he tried.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Not really. I already did everything else, and my husband and my baby have told me not to come home until dinnertime. I think an afternoon by myself is supposed to be my birthday present, but I kind of miss them," she confessed.

[asinglechange]

From time to time Alice likes to do a little of nothing. She's got a baseball in her hands and she's spent the last quarter of an hour skipping between trees. Swinging around one of the trees, she starts to change direction when she spots what seems to be a foot going up into the treeline.

"Hello?" she calls, smile on her face because chances are that they person they belong to is at least a little friendly. If not, then she can be on her way but it would be rude to not even say hello.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Hi, Alice". River wasn't sure if the person on the ground had determined her identity, but she recognized the voice that had greeted her and it would be rude not to acknowledge her.

[asinglechange]

Picking up her pace at the sound of River's voice, Alice hurries along until she is standing at the base of the tree. Grinning as she looks up she offers a wave.

"Tree climbing today? Are there any monkeys?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"No. No monkeys. Not even Fiona or Ampersand. Which is a shame, because monkeys are good company for tree climbing. I don't suppose you have any down there?"

Monkeys were good company on the ground, too, in River's opinion.

[neptune_sleuth]

"You," Veronica called, hands on her hips as she looked up into the tree. She'd been trying to find her for a little while now - not very long, but long enough that the attitude seemed appropriate, if only because she was given to exaggeration. "I should have known you be up a tree somewhere. How's the weather up there?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"Me," River answered agreeably. "Yes, but 'up a tree' doesn't really narrow your search down much in jungle. And it's the same weather as down there. I haven't gone high enough for a climate change yet."

[neptune_sleuth]

"Should I be coming up there?" Veronica asked. "Or are you planning on coming down sometime soon?" She was in no rush to have River come down if she didn't want to, but it helped to know before she went launching herself up into a tree.

[crazyspacegirl]

"That depends. I'm not allowed to go home for a little while yet, so I wasn't really planning on coming down very soon. But if you have a reason I should, I'll be right there."

River supposed that the entire point of a free afternoon would be lost if she wasn't willing to be flexible with the way spent the time.

[onceaqueen]

"There you are," Susan said, looking up into the tree. It seemed that Susan wasn't the only one enjoying a child-free afternoon. "I've a little something for the birthday girl." She nodded to the covered plate in her hands; beneath the cover was a freshly made shortcake with freshly-whipped cream and the juciest strawberries Susan could find.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Here I am. I wasn't trying to be hard to find. That seems rude, on birthdays, when people might be trying to give you presents."

Not that River hadn't had cause to make herself scarce on previous birthdays, but she had come to believe that just because she hadn't ever expected to get so many of them didn't mean she shouldn't enjoy them as they came.

"Shall I come down?"

[onceaqueen]

"If you like strawberry shortcake," Susan said. "I think if I came up, I'd drop it and ruin it." She hadn't climbed a tree in years, and she hated to think what sort of thing might happen if she attempted it now. She was very much out of practise.

[crazyspacegirl]

"That would be a terrible waste," said River, her tone appropriately solemn in the face of a potential tragedy like a wrecked cake, though she grinned as she scrambled down from the tree with an ease she hadn't lost in the months since she'd last done such a thing. "It's a shame cakes don't grow on trees. Then they'd already be there when we went up."