^ [open post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan doesn't believe in the mansion spirits, but she is being followed by something in a way that makes little sense.

It begins when she wakes up. Opening the drawer to the sideboard in her room to retrieve tea, she finds another gold chess piece wrapped neatly in ribbon. Lancelot didn't put it there - it hadn't been there when she made her pre-sleep cuppa the night before, and she woke up when he did and sleepily saw him off to his training; he hadn't gone near the drawer. She shuts the chess piece firmly away, makes her tea, and dresses blearily for her own archery practice.

There's a new bow in the closet, too. To her pleasure, it's a heavier one that requires a stronger pull - she's quite got used to the draw of the ones the closet first supplied to her.

After her shooting routine, she finds a lipstick in the precise shade Ingrid used to wear on the bathroom vanity. When she's showered and dressed for the rest of her day, she finds her favorite pastry - a sort of breakfast roll she used to get from the shop by the tube station she'd walk past on her way to work, back in London - on a platter in the kitchen.

It's when she opens one of the closets in the hall off the library to return a pile of laundered wash-cloths that she receives both some clarity and a deepening of the mystery: a jumble of assembled balloons tumbles out, made of some queer material and filled with a gas that keeps them afloat. The writing on them reads: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN PEVENSIE.

She stares at them, perplexed.


Susan's birthday post! Three days (by our reckoning) and eight months (by her reckoning) early! Feel free to have your puppets run into her in any reasonable location at any point during the day; she's just going to be accumulating more Stuff she can't get rid of as the day goes on.

Comments

[lanselos_du_lac]

At lunchtime, Lancelot is waiting for her at their usual table in the café. He's got two sandwiches and a pot of tea set out already, and he is leafing through a book with many photographs. He's wearing a plain t-shirt, jeggings, and his usual boots, having just showered after his morning's drills and ride.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

When Susan comes in, she's left most of her gifts behind in varying spots about the Mansion, though she's retrieved the chess piece again, where it rests heavily in her pocket. Also - and this must not be underemphasized - there is one persistent balloon which she finds she cannot abandon. It bobbles along behind her, adhering in a variety of ways that spurn her attempts to leave it with the rest, and so she has ceased trying. Currently its ribbon is tangled in her bootlaces.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot glances up and smiles brightly at her, as usual. But very quickly his expression registers confusion. "Hello, sweet. What-- what is that?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"That," says Susan, kissing his cheek before sinking down into the seat across from his as the balloon drifts along in her orbit, "is a tremendously good question." She takes one of his hands in hers and squeezes his fingertips. "The toy is called a balloon, but it's like none I've seen before. There were," in tones of great resignation, "more of them, but I've managed to stow the rest of them away here and there."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"But not that one? Where did... it come from?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"It would seem," says Susan, "our world believes that today is my birthday. Anytime I leave this one behind it... follows me."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He looks even more puzzled, "But it... is not thy birthday?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan tilts her head. "What month do you suppose it is back home?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot frowns slightly, "If I am honest, am not terribly good at keeping track, especially with the seasons differing as they seem to do. But I would suppose it must be... late November? December?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Galahad thought the thirteenth of December. My birthday is the sixteenth. But since I left London in April, it feels like late May to me."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He nods, thinking this over. "I trust Galahad's calendar-- but I know what thou dost mean. It was high summer when I left Britain and nearly autumn when I arrived here, and that was confusing."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I trust my own calendar best," Susan admits, "but Galahad's is a close second. I've decided to accept today as my birthday, though; this place has been very insistent."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot smiles a little, "As I understand it, in thy time one receives gifts on one's birthday, and -- not knowing it was thy birthday, I have no gift for thee."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Well then," says Susan, smiling back. "Let's use Galahad's calendar; now you have three days. Perhaps we might celebrate each of them, just to be safe."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Oh, certainly we shall." He laughs. "That does rather remind me, in fact."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I have been planning something of a surprise," he says, flushing a little across the bridge of his nose. "Not a birthday surprise, but I suppose it could serve several purposes."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"A surprise!" Susan exclaims, pleased.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Yes," pleased that she's so clearly pleased. "I mention it now only so that we can plan the day. I know how thou dost prefer to know thy schedule."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I do, but I shall clear it whenever you should like."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"The weather has been generally good, so I think that any time we should like would suit us. We will need all afternoon and evening."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"A lengthy time out-of-doors," says Susan thoughtfully, and then shakes her head. "I shan't try to guess. You may surprise me whenever you like."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Indeed," he looks incredibly pleased. "Very well. Let us plan for three days hence. That will give me time to prepare as I need to, and to have an additional gift for thy birthday."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Splendid," says Susan. She rises to kiss his cheek, and then sits back to pour them both tea.

--

Three days hence, Susan dresses in an immensely flattering outfit suitable to all manner of outdoor activities - another gift from the Mansion for her birthday. It's akin to the rompers she used to wear as a child, but clearly meant for an adult woman with a phenomenal figure. Underneath it she's got on those clever two-legged nylons Janet calls tights; she's also got a cardigan in case it should get cold. Per Lancelot's suggestion, she waits for him in their room at the culmination of her morning routine. As she waits, she idly applies a deep red lipstick.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot has been preparing all morning -- in addition to the preparing he's already done. He secured Laertes' help the day before with preparing the food. They spent the afternoon cooking and packing, and so he has a collection of little handpies, good cold, fresh fruit and cut vegetables, hard cheeses and bread (much like he would have carried on his own outings, as a knight), and several other things. He also has packed a thermos of tea, a bottle of wine, and Susan's birthday gift.

He arrives back at their room with the picnic basket on his arm, and raps firmly on the door.