(no subject)

[kitchen_maid]

It's been a little while since Amy's been in the bar, at least for Amy. But now February is drawing to a close, in Phantasmorania, and most of the plans and details for the wedding have been finalized, much to her relief. All that's left to do now is keep her mother from changing everything again.

Oh, and manage to memorize Perry's myriad of names in the proper order. Which is probaby why, as she comes into the bar tonight, she's muttering under her breath, "Algernon Peregrine Lysander Humph--no, Humphrey then Lysander Ferdinan--oh, bother, I've skipped Archibald again."

Distraction would be lovely.

Comments

[realmrsreynolds]

"Who's Humphrey now?" Sallie chuckles at hearing the recitation of names. "Surely that isn't all just one person."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy grins. "All just one person," she says. "He just has eight names. And I really shouldn't complain, because I have seven myself, and for all I know, he's having as much trouble remembering whether to put Adelaide before or after Araminta in my name as I am with remembering where Archibald goes in his. He's my finace. Perry. Good evening, Mrs. Reynolds. How are you?"

[realmrsreynolds]

"Well enough really," Sallie smiles. "Seven names? Eight names? Lord - I thought Beauregard was bad enough."

"So tell me - what exactly does havin' more names than an entire family do for a woman?"

[kitchen_maid]

Amy laughs. "Nothing much, really. Except make her formal introduction take longer. I think it's meant to sound grand, but I think it sounds a little silly."

Then, curiously, "Who's Beauregard?"

[realmrsreynolds]

"Ex-husband's first name; Malcolm's middle name. Malcolm came dangerously close to havin' 'Beauregard' as his first name, but I threatened to never cook again."

Even on a rather conservative planet like Shadow (marriage-wise), some old tricks still work.

[kitchen_maid]

"Beauregard," says Amy, carefully, weighing the name. "I do believe that that threat was probably well used.

"Would you have actually gone through with it?"

[realmrsreynolds]

"For Malcolm and I? No. The ex-husband? Probably."

There's no love lost, there.

"I'm not one for traditional family sort of names. I liked Malcolm. I also liked Lucas or Vincent, but I didn't win on those."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy might be having a little trouble with the term "ex-husband." After all, divorce is only something they do in England. But she thinks she gets the general idea.

"They're all good names," she says, "but I'm not sure Lucas would suit him."

Vincent might, but it can lead to being called "Vinnie." Which would not.

[realmrsreynolds]

"Me neither, now that he's all grown. But who knows what would've happened as a young one?"

A mild handwave, "So you have to memorize all these names. They all reference something in particular? Familial lineage and such?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Oh, probably," she says, unconcernedly. "There's usually some reason for them. My parents named all of us after jewels, and then picked the rest of our names so that they all started with the same letter. I'm not sure why Perry got the eight he got. I just think I probably ought to get them right, during the wedding."

[realmrsreynolds]

Laughing, "Maybe. Unless the congregation's got a sense of humor and doesn't mind. I remember one of my friend's weddings, and the shepherd mispronounced the names. It was awful for Marylin, but I thought it was fantastic."

"I possibly have an unusual sense of humor."

[kitchen_maid]

"I don't think Perry would mind in the slightest, but senses of humor are, unusual or otherwise, not overly abundant among courtiers. And my mother would be horrified. Besides, my sister Pearl married a prince with ten names, and no sense of humor, and she rattled them off without missing a syllable. So the standard has been set."

And then, confused, "Why was there a shepherd reading names at the wedding?"

[realmrsreynolds]

Religious figures are pretty much always called shepherds on Shadow. Hence Sallie's confusion as to the vocabulary issue.

"Um..." she stalls, "A man, who stands up at church, reads from the Bible, all that sort of thing?"

[kayip.livejournal.com]

Behrooz has a tendency to overhear muttered words, but these in particular make him look up a little curiously.

"And I don't have a middle name..." he thinks aloud.

[kitchen_maid]

"Don't suppose you'd like one of these, then, would you?"

[kayip.livejournal.com]

"I... don't think 'Archibald' fits me very well."

Behrooz Archibald Araz. No, not so much.

[kitchen_maid]

Amy is undeterred. "Percival? Lysander?"

And then a sigh. "I will never get these straight."

[kayip.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head a little. "My name tends to - stand out enough as it is."

"Who... is it?" That is a rather lot of names.

[kitchen_maid]

"Perry," she says, then adds (probably more helpfully), "my finace. I have two months to get these memorized and in the right order, before I have to rattle them off in the cathedral. And I can't seem to do it."

The fact that she doesn't think most of them suit him at all is complicating the matter, really.

[kayip.livejournal.com]

"Ah."

Beat. "So it can't just... be the first and last?"

Behrooz isn't completely unused to long, complex wedding ceremonies, but the names of the engaged weren't ever... quite that long.

[kitchen_maid]

She shrugs. "We don't really have last names, in the way most people here seem to. I have seven given names and he has eight. And properly, they should all be used. So, I'm simply going to have to learn them."

[kayip.livejournal.com]

He nods a little. "In... some countries near where I'm from originally, people don't really have last names - it's... a lot of times, the name of your father or something..."

Beat. "But they don't usually go back that far."

[kitchen_maid]

"Oh, it's not quite like that. I mean, the seven names don't really have anything to do with one another. They just sound . . . grand. I never use them unless someone makes me."

[kayip.livejournal.com]

"I ... can't blame you. It'd - take forever to introduce yourself."

And she'd probably come off as a little full of herself, but he decides not to say that. He doesn't really comprehend the princess thing, anyway.

[kitchen_maid]

"Plus I'd sound absurdly stuck up," she says, laughing.

Amy is either the best or worst person to be trying to comprehend the princess thing from.

Possibly both.