milliways_bar | (no subject)

Though he's been absent for the past week, he recognizes the face and gives her a pleased smile.

"Miss Amy. How are you finding the bar?"

"Hello, Random," she says cheerfully. "I'm finding it very interesting. There are so many people here. And may I introduce Simon Perryvall?" She points at the smaller squirrel. "He used to be an acorn shell, but he got alchemized."

Random nods politely to the squirrel.

"That can be confusing. Poor soul. Does he prefer life this way?"

"I don't know," she says. She's actually been worried about it. "I think he knows he's not an acorn shell any more, but I'm still not sure he knows he's a squirrel. He does seem to like cake crumbs."

"I advise not feeding him any nuts."

He smiles at the squirrel.

"That'd be odd."

"Oh! I hadn't thought of that, but I suspect you're right." She looks thoughtfully at the small squirrel.

"Would you like to sit down?" she asks. "I don't think I've seen you since the first time I was here. Have you been away?"

He smiles, and sits.

"Yes. Someone I care for was in trouble, and we needed to spend some time away from things. We took a week to visit Amber."

A grin.

"My Amber, obviously."

"Did you have a nice visit?" she asks, carefully, remembering something about pushy parents he didn't speak to often. Also remembering that he did not seem to be especially anxious to talk about himself.

"We did."

He grins.

"Having someone to help improved the situation immensely."

"I'm very glad to hear that. It must be nice to get to go home and visit." She sighs. The Ordinary Princess is a little homesick this evening.

"So you're bound then?"

He sighs.

"That can be hard. I know people in the same situation."

"Oh, no. I'm not bound. I just miss Phantasmorania. I mean, Amber -- my Amber -- is lovely, but it's not home. And I can't go home, because if I do they'll try to make me get married or something. And I can't think of anything to put in this letter to my parents."

"Qwa!" says Peter Aurelious.

"Tell them about the Bar?"

He grins.

"Or tell them you've met a 'Prince Random' and you're becoming better friends. That'll keep them busy. Unfortunately he'll turn out to be envolved in a sordid affaire, and therefor an unsuitable prospect... but they can hope."

"I don't think telling them about the Bar is a good idea," she says, smiling herself. "The other might work." She has no clear idea of what a "sordid affair" is, honestly. She is from a children's book, after all.

"I don't want them to worry about me, but I don't want them to find me, either."

"Point."

He shrugs.

"Then your best bet is not to tell them where you are. Give them enough detail to reassure them, but not enough to link it to a definite place."

"Yes. It just makes for very short letters. Especially since I can't really tell them about Amber, even if I don't mention it by name. They won't understand about the kitchen work."

He sighs.

"I had the same problem. I became a tumbler, when I left home."

A smile.

"It was worth it, though."

"Really? In what ways?" She's kind of relieved to know she's not the first person to run away from a royal family.

[OOC: And her mun is enjoying watching all the new icons popping up.]

"Not considered 'suitable occupation' for a prince. But gymnastics were what I was interested in at the time, so I pursued it nonetheless."

[ooc: not as much fun as I'm having using them!]

"The things that aren't suitable are almost always more fun than the ones that are," she says. "Are you still interested in gymnastics?"

"I am. And all forms of dance and acting, really."

He smiles.

"It's a passion."

"So is that why you left home, or just what you decided to do after you left?" she asks, curious.

"A little bit of both."

Slight smile.

"I don't much care for the Amber Courts. But I wouldn't have left if I didn't have something to run to."

"That's probably wise. I just left," she says.

"So, did you travel? As a tumbler?" She thinks that's what one would do as a tumbler.

"I did not. I had a specific Queen whom I served as jester before I moved on to a different company."

He grins.

"I was an unusual case. My talent attracted attention and I was awarded the permanent post."

"So you left one palace to work in another? Do you suppose all royal children who run away do that?" she asks, smiling.

Mr. Pemberthy offers Random a cake crumb.

Random blinks, accepts it, and holds it as though unsure of how to proceed.

"I didn't start out in a palace. I started out at a proper working class theatre. But the playwrite knew the Queen and when I decided to leave the company- he sent me her way."

The Ordinary Princess smiles. "You can give it back to him, if you don't want to keep it," she says.

"The Queen didn't recognize you? As a prince?"

A small smile.

"I'm a good actor. And by then I'd had years of practice at dissembling."

Which sounds strange, since he looks to be in his early twenties.

"So you managed to shake off the Manners of the Court?" she says, smiling.

She looks that him thoughtfully. "Years? You must have begun dissembling very early."

"No. I didn't."

He shrugs.

"I'm just older than I look."

By quite a bit, really.

"Oh."

She blinks.

"By how much?"

"A week ago I reached my 9217th year."

And... not much else to say.

"Happy Birthday," she says, automatically. She's glad to have something automatic to say, because her brain hurts just the tiniest bit, trying to think about that.

"Thank you."

He smiles, weakly.

"Not a human. Though you probably guessed."

"Only just now. But I've only just learned that there are people who aren't human. I've met a witch and a dwarf."

"Do you ever get . . . bored?" It seems to the Ordinary Princess that at some point you'd run out of things to learn.

"I used to. But there's so much that even I can't see it all."

He grins.

"I travel between universes. Such freedom keeps me sane."

"Sanity is good," she says.

She thinks before she asks the next question. "There is more than one universe?"

"There are."

He smiles slightly.

"Most people here are from different ones. The Amber in my universe is different from the Amber in yours."

"Oh." She's heard people calling them "worlds."

"You go to other people's universes, then."

"I can. I've the ability to mold things. So I can shift between them, and alter what I need to keep myself safe."

He sighs.

"Speaking of 'safe' I'd best be off. My love fell asleep upon our return. I'd best go be there for the wakening, for the safety of all the patrons."

A grin.

"Not a good idea, to let someone fall asleep disoriented. They awake in a foul temper."

"I'll keep that in mind," she says, just slightly taken aback.

Then she smiles. "It was very nice to talk to you again. Have a pleasant evening, Random."

"Qwa," says Peter Aurelious.

He bows, and moves off.

Nice girl. He'll keep an eye on her. Milliways can be dangerous.