thelizziebennet: (Confuserated)
thelizziebennet ([personal profile] thelizziebennet) wrote2013-03-24 10:20 pm
Entry tags:

Arrival in Milliways

Uh.

...This isn't  her advanced quantitative research methods classroom. 

It's bigger, for one. Fewer desks for sure. And there is a distinct lack of other students. 

Not that the place is empty. Far from it. It's pretty bustling, for a room that has replaced a small classroom in one of the oldest buildings on campus.

But the patrons do not really resemble her classmates. And Lizzie wouldn't exactly call all of the customers human. And then there's the view... (Lizzie's not even facing the Observation Window. All she sees are stars. That's more than enough.) 

Lizzie swallows hard and sinks into a conveniently located chair. 

"Uh." 

kitchen_maid: (Fond)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-25 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Amy has no idea what advanced quantitative research methods are, but after all these years in Milliways, she is pretty good at spotting a newcomer.

And that young woman? Is a newcomer.

Which is why she now has the Queen of a small (if quite prosperous, thank you), more-or-less medievalish European country coming over to her conveniently located chair.

"Are you all right?"
kitchen_maid: (Small Smile)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't panic," Amy says, promptly and reassuringly. (Also, just the tiniest bit regally, as people seem to do what you tell them when you are being regal, and panicking won't help either of them at all.)

"You're fine, you're perfectly safe, you're just not where you were expecting to be. But you're fine.

"I'm Amy."
kitchen_maid: (Small Smile)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
Absolutely. Mind over matter, or perception is reality or something to that general effect.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Lizzie.

"I assume I'm the first to say 'welcome to Milliways.'

"That's where you are, by the way. This is Milliways."
kitchen_maid: (Content)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
"No, you don't. It's a lot to take in.

"Milliways is the bar at the end of the universe. People come here from all different times and places, some of which you likely won't have heard of, but that's all right. Most of them are perfectly lovely.

"It usually turns up when you're not expecting it, at least the first time. Some people it keeps surprising, and some people have doors they know where to find, and there's not any rhyme or reason to who gets what that I've ever been able to spot."
kitchen_maid: (Small Smile)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
"I have a door in the back of my wardrobe. It's there whenever I go looking for it.

"It used to be in the pantry, and then it was in the broom cupboard. It's been very good about positioning itself conveniently, really, over the years.

"Also, time at home stops for most people when they're here. So you needn't worry too terribly much about missing your . . . whatever kind of class you said it was. It will most likely be waiting when you go back."
kitchen_maid: (Queen of Ambergeldar)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm from a place called Ambergeldar, which no one seems to have ever heard of, but it's not too terribly far from France and Spain, which seem to be a bit more widely known."

Unlike Phantasmorania and Plumblossomburg, which are of no help at all, as references.

"Where are you from, Lizzie?"
kitchen_maid: (A Smile That Wrinkles Up Her Nose)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, no, I've been to California. A place called Neptune. Several times. It was the first place I ever saw an ocean. A couple of my very good friends here come from there, and I went visiting. It's beautiful. Not at all what I'm used to from home, but beautiful."
kitchen_maid: (Grace)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
"My husband's second favorite home is the one near the ocean, so we go occasionally. He's not terribly fond of traveling, though."

It is such a hassle when you're a King.

"Let's see, what else do you need to know? You should be perfectly safe here. There's a very good security staff, just in case, and three very simple rules. No violence, no sex, and no outside business here in the bar.

"Rooms upstairs, if you need or want to stay longer than a few hours. That door leads outside to the lake, forest, stable, greenhouse, playing field for some game I don't know, and so on."
kitchen_maid: (Queen of Ambergeldar)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't try to think too terribly hard about a lot of it," Amy says, nodding. "I get headaches, when I do.

"There's a fair of bit of magic involved."
kitchen_maid: (Smug and Serene)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
"You're welcome.

"Oh! You need to meet Bar. She's a dear."

Everyone should meet Bar.

Even if it's not likely to help with not thinking about magic.
kitchen_maid: (Queen of Ambergeldar)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes.

"Come with me," she adds, leading the way across the room to the bar.
kitchen_maid: (Small Smile)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
Amy stops in front of the long wooden bar.

"Bar, this is Lizzie. She's new, and she's from California.

"Lizzie, this is Bar. She can get you just about anything you'd like, and the first drink is free. All you have to do is ask."
kitchen_maid: (Fond)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
It's a good start. Solid and polite.

Amy believes in being polite.

She also believes that Bar, having been introduced, is probably more easily explained by showing than telling.

"Bar, could we have a pot of tea, please?" she asks.

It appears seconds later, with cups and sugar and lemon and milk, and there's even a plate of Amy's favorite ginger cookies.

"Thank you."
kitchen_maid: (Grace)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
"No magic where you're from?"

Magic does seem curiously absent in California.

(Amy, alas, has never been to Disneyland. And would, in all likelihood, not Get It if she had.)

"Let's take our tea to a table, shall we?"
kitchen_maid: (Tea Would Be Lovely Thank You)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't worry. Everything's easier with tea," Amy says.

Especially explaining the ins and outs of the end of the universe.
kitchen_maid: (Queen of Ambergeldar)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
"She sounds very clever," Amy agrees.

"I'm the youngest of seven. My older sister Opal was always very fond of solving problems with tea."
kitchen_maid: (Queen of Ambergeldar)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-26 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
"Seven," Amy says, with a very decided nod.

"I get along better with some than others. Opal is lovely. Pearl . . . well, she and I have very different interests," Amy says, as diplomatically as she can manage.

"She's the youngest-but-me."
kitchen_maid: (Smug and Serene)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-27 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hmmm," Amy says. "Well, if it's any consolation, which it may not be, as you and I have only just met, I suspect most of my older sisters should have said the exact same thing about me not too many years ago. And I haven't done so badly for myself. Or with getting along with them, lately, though we are pretty scattered these days."

Which may help.

kitchen_maid: (Wisdom)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-28 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes, of course.

"We worry about the people we care about."

It's just a thing that happens.
kitchen_maid: (Queen and Mother)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-28 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
"That I have noticed, if only from the younger-sister side."

Older brothers worry, too, really.

"Sometimes, I think that's the other part of caring about people. Letting them worry about you."
kitchen_maid: (Content)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-28 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes. But I don't think I should like the alternative at all."

Which is good, really.

Foe the entire Kingdom.
kitchen_maid: (Smug and Serene)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-28 11:37 am (UTC)(link)
"Not as often as I used to, but then, I don't spend as much time here as I used to, which is not a reflection on this place and more a reflection on having a great many other things that require my attention."

Four children, a husband, a palace full of courtiers and staff, and the rest of the populace, to start with.

"But you're hardly the first person I've met when she'd just come through the door for the first time."

Amy pauses for just a moment and then adds, "You can still see the door you came through, can't you?"
kitchen_maid: (Grace)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-28 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, thank you," Amy says.

"And, yes, it's a good thing. But if it ever vanishes on you, don't panic. It happens, sometimes. It's called being 'Bound.' It happened to me, once, but eventually the door comes back. I was told that you wound up Bound when there was something you needed to learn here. And some people it never happens to at all."
kitchen_maid: (Grace)

[personal profile] kitchen_maid 2013-03-28 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"I learned that there were better ways to deal with problems than running from them, and that I was capable of more than I knew.

"They have been very useful lessons, really."