(no subject)

[fry_sandhu]

The door creaks open a crack.

Dad said that he shouldn't go to the bar on his own if he found it. But this, Fry considers, is an emergency. It isn't every day that one turns five and has to escape from his own birthday party.

He sneaks through the door and closes it, then patters over to the bar and climbs up on a barstool.

Bar produces a cupcake with five candles on, which he watches flicker.

Comments

[cook_the_rude]

"Happy Birthday, Alexander!" says Dr. Lecter. He is sitting a few tables away, eating a piece of very dark cake.

[fry_sandhu]

"You're not going to give me the beats are you?" Fry asks.

[cook_the_rude]

"Beats?" Dr. Lecter asks. "What do you mean by that?"

[fry_sandhu]

"It's when people hit you for the number of years." Fry says. "Last year Patrick tried it and I kicked him in the boy bits."

[cook_the_rude]

"That would be rudely inappropriate of me," Dr. Lecter says. "Very much so. No, I think I will give you a book as a birthday present. What book would you like?"

[fry_sandhu]

"I like books about real things." Fry says, after a moment. "Not pretend things."

[cook_the_rude]

"Yes," Dr. Lecter says. "Would you like something about science? History? Music? How to make things?"

[fry_sandhu]

"Science please." Fry says.

"Thank you Dr Lecter."

[cook_the_rude]

"What is your favourite science subject?" Dr. Lecter asks.

[fry_sandhu]

"I like knowing how things work." Fry says.

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Lecter picks up his iPad and looks something up, then gets up and orders something from the bar.

The book is wrapped in a paper with frogs and fish on, and a big green ribbon.

"Happy Birthday, Fry," Dr. Lecter says again, handing him the package.

[fry_sandhu]

"Thank you." Fry says, unwrapping it carefully without ripping the paper. He folds the paper afterwards and looks at the book.

It has some long words on, which looks impressive to start with.

"N e u r o l o g y... ne-urh-ol-oggy."

[cook_the_rude]

"Nyoo-ROL-ogy," Dr. Lecter says. "Very good, though. It's about how your brain and your nervous system works. Nerve cells are called neurons; that is a neuron on the cover."

[1stwitness]

Ichabod looks at him sideways.

"Are you supposed to be here on your own, young man?"

[fry_sandhu]

Fry takes his eyes off the candles to look at the stranger.

"I'm not on my own." he says.

It's true, there are lots of people in here.

[1stwitness]

"Are you not?" He looks around. "Then where is your guardian?"

[fry_sandhu]

"At home." Fry says. "But there are lots of people here."

[1stwitness]

"...yes, there are." Strangely literal child, but he can work with it, and possibly the boy is doing it on purpose to get around a rule. "But are any of them watching for your safety?"

[fry_sandhu]

"Yes." Fry says.

He blows his candles out because they are about to touch the cake.

[1stwitness]

"Which one?" Ichabod asks patiently.

(He doesn't grasp the significance of the cake and candles.)

[fry_sandhu]

"Bar, Dr Lecter, Teja..." Fry points around the room.

[1stwitness]

"Miss Bar could hardly do a great deal if you were in danger, however she might want to", he points out gravely. "Teja, on the other hand, I'll grant you. A most formidable defender."

[fry_sandhu]

"He has an axe, and four cats, and when he's really mad he says things like 'Indeed'." The last word said in a passable imitation of Teja's accent.

[1stwitness]

"I'll have to take your word for the latter, as I don't believe I've ever seen him really mad in our brief acquaintance. The axe, I have seen."

The cats seem rather irrelevant.

[fry_sandhu]

Fry dips a finger into his cake's icing and eats it.

"He got mad when a vampire locked Dad in the toilet."