Room 203, Monday, Early Afternoon

[kitchen_maid]

Mondays, in the schedule Amy has drawn up for herself, are for dusting, sweeping, and having a general tidy of her room. But as days of the week don't have a whole lot of meaning here, and as those chores never seem to take very long, she won't feel the least built guilty about leaving it till Tuesday, should something more interesting present itself.

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[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

Which is excellent news indeed for the young man walking down the hallway towards her room, whistling cheerfully.

"Lavender's blue," comes the tune as he knocks at the door to Room 203, "rosemary's green."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy opens the door just far enough to see who's there, and then opens it all the way.

"Perry! What a pleasant surprise. Come in."

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"Hullo, kitchen maid," he says, smiling, and steps into the room, looking about with interest.

"The place certainly has changed since I was last here, hasn't it? Did Peter Aurelious ever forgive you for giving him a bow?"

[kitchen_maid]

Amy laughs, and turns to look at the crow, who is surveying the room from atop the curtain rod. "You know, I'm not entirely sure that he has. And he definitely hasn't forgiven me for taking the wreath down. It was his favorite place to perch. But it's kind of nice to have it back to just being our room."

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"It's a charming room," Perry agrees, walking over to the window and greeting the crow politely.

"Qwa," replies Peter Aurelious, with disdainful dignity.

"And how are you, Princess?" Perry asks, turning around to lean against the windowsill and smile at her.

[kitchen_maid]

Amy gives the crow a look which rather clearly says, "Be Polite," and then turns back to Perry with a smile.

"I'm well, for the most part, I think. Nothing seems to be going too mad right now, and general vague wariness seems to just typical for this place."

Also witches. Witches just keep turning up.

"How are you, man-of-all-work?"

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"Much the better for seeing you," he tells her with a grin. "It always seems to happen that way. Aside from that, I am cheerful and content, and rather itching for an outing of some kind. I don't suppose you'd care to join me?"

[kitchen_maid]

"I should be delighted to," she says. "In fact, I'm not sure there's any way I'd rather spend the afternoon. And we have to go see if we can turn up a berry bramble."

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"A marvelous plan," he agrees, and levers himself off the windowsill to offer her his arm.

"Shall we?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Cloak first, I think," she says, with a very amused grin, "or I'll have you after me about semblences of sense again."

But that only takes a moment, and then she takes his arm.

There is probably also a whirl of confusion from the squirrels, who are not about to be left behind. That would never, ever do.

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

Certainly not. Which is why Perry suddenly gains a Mr. Pemberthy on a shoulder, while Simon Perryvall chooses to accompany Amy.

"You're quite right," says Perry, who has sensibly brought his cloak with him. "I'm glad to see I've been getting through to you after all."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy laughs. "Then I suppose I am terribly fortunate to have the wisdom of your council, Your Majesty. Or I should probably be headed out barefoot and in my nightdress."

She turns to look over her shoulder. "Are you coming, Peter Aurelious, or not?"

With a sigh-like qwa, Peter Aurelious flits over to perch on Amy's other shoulder.

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"Poor old boy," Perry sympathizes. "What a terribly rough life you do lead."

Peter Aurelious only cocks his gleaming black head to one side and pretends not to hear.

It is quite cold out, and the cloaks were a good idea, but the sky is blazingly clear, arcing blue and bright over the snow, and Perry grins more widely.

[kitchen_maid]

"It's far too lovely a day to have stayed inside, isn't it?" says Amy, looking up at the sky and out at the trees.

"But now we have a terribly important decision to make. Which way shall we go?"

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"It really is," Perry nods. "And I've no idea. Where are we most likely to find a berry bramble, I wonder? Shall we try that path over there, or just forge straight ahead like the intrepid explorers we are?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Oh, let's be intrepid," she says. "If we get hopelessly lost, we can always send Peter Aurelious for help."

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"Very well," he says, and they make their way through the snow towards the woods.

"Of course, I imagine you're rather used to wandering about in the woods, aren't you?"

[kitchen_maid]

Amy's smile wrinkles up her nose. "Very used to it. I don't think I could get lost in the Forest of Faraway if I tried to. I grew up there. It's always been more like home than the palace, I think. At any rate, I ruined a great many pairs of shoes there."

She looks at him. "What about you, Perry? What sorts of things did you do, growing up? Aside, of course, from learning to make birds out of paper and becoming king at the age of ten."

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"Oh, the usual princely activities," he replies. "Riding, hunting, horrifically dull lessons...that sort of thing."

He helps her over a fallen log.

"I did enjoy boating, though. I suppose you could say that was my escape, the way the forest was yours."

[kitchen_maid]

"You'd think someone would come up with some lessons that weren't horrifically dull one of these days," says Amy.

"I'm glad you had an escape. And boats would seem to be a very sensible choice, because it's that much harder for your councilors to come and get you if you're in the middle of a lake."

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"Especially as none of them could swim," Perry says, with a grin.

"However, I never managed to become as chummy with the fish as you did with the squirrels."

[kitchen_maid]

"It's very difficult to become friends with fish, because you can really only say a few words at a time before you have to get air again. It makes conversation terribly awkward, all that stopping and starting, and eventually the fish get annoyed and swim away."

She might be kidding. She might not. It can be hard to tell with Amy.

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

"Generally they swim away rather sooner," Perry laughs, "as they do not appreciate oars coming down into their water. Besides, I'm not entirely sure I'd want to be friends with them, anyway. I'd feel terribly guilty about eating them later, wouldn't I?"

[kitchen_maid]

[ooc: And I need to sleep. As much as I really hate to say it . . . slowtime?]

[man-of-all-work.livejournal.com]

[ooc: of course! night!]