fete au Paris (open, dreamscapes!verse)

[chesstotem]

Time might work differently in dreams, but it was even weirder when an event both anticipated and feared was approaching. The past week or so had occasionally felt to Ariadne like it was speeding along at a breakneck pace towards a barrier, while at the same time crawling up a tall mountain.

And then, almost as soon as it arrived, it was over. Her thesis defense was successful, and the following afternoon she and two of Miles's other students received their degrees.

The mistress of labyrinths was now a master of architecture.

Miles knew how to throw a party. The entire upper floor of a trendy Paris restaurant had been rented out for the occasion - there was lots of food, and even more champagne, to toast Ariadne and her two classmates.

Lots of people were invited, of course, but there were a few in particular Ariadne was especially excited to see. Not that she was waiting, or anything. She was already on her second glass of champagne.

[Okay, this is mostly for dreamscape!verse folks, but anyone else who might reasonably be expected to be invited is welcome, as well as potential party-crashers! Threadhopping is not only encouraged, it is essentially mandatory, so have at it!]

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[cobbette.livejournal.com]

The girl finally released her hold on Ariadne, stepping back and nodding solemnly, doing her best to look like a serious adult who discussed serious things like jobs. The coloring book was filling up; Phillipa took special care with each page, making sure to stay in the lines and picking the colors she thought best suited each castle. Tedious work for a kid, made more difficult by the detail of the drawings, but Phillipa was very particular about her work. She had witnessed other coloring books being massacred (James was notorious for it), a frenzy of color and ignorance of boundaries, a chaotic ugly mess. She preferred things pretty and clean and perfect.

"I just started Ho-chos-ter-witz Castle," she added, bobbing her head with every syllable to ensure she pronounced the funny name correctly. Every time she started a new castle in the book she would go to her Dad, asking for help to learn the name and to have him read the informational blurb that accompanied each picture.

[chesstotem]

"That's one of my favorites," Ariadne said with a grin. "I'm sure you're doing a great job." She pointed across the way, where a display with some of her projects was sitting. "Want to look at some of my designs?"

[cobbette.livejournal.com]

"Yeah!" Growing up surrounded by models and sketches of buildings, Phillipa had started to learn the importance of such things (especially after an incident involving a Littlest Pet Shop monkey.) "Race you there!" She darted off in the direction of the tables.

[chesstotem]

"Careful..." But of course Phillipa wasn't paying her any mind. Ariadne followed the young girl at a mroe sedate pace, giving an apologetic glance here and there where she had almost run into someone.

She found the child examining a design for a library she'd done the term before Cobb had approached her with the Fischer job.

"Think you'd like to read books in a place like that?"

[cobbette.livejournal.com]

The girl balanced on her tippy-toes, trying to get a better look at the design. She was too young to really appreciate architecture, to know the delicate balance between form and function, to understand why architects chose to include or not include certain elements, but Phillipa remembered her dad telling her the most important thing was if you could imagine living in the place. All those details didn't matter if you didn't like it.

She nodded. "Yes. I would read in there all the time. Is someone going to build it?"

[chesstotem]

"Not yet, but maybe someday it'll get built for real." Ariadne smiled at the girl. It was one of her better designs. Hell, with a few alterations, a few paradoxes, it would make a good labyrinth, too.