#anywhere

"Ha, Peeskill. You're an alabastar Hollow girl then, or were"

"Well, I guess soon to be 'were.' It's.. aye. Odd. I've always been there."

"Cept for the library thing you did in whatever..." She says "yeah, Dougals normally run sensible places. I mean, as elves go they ain't drek"

"They get snooty, though. Nobody crafts like a nocker. And, aye - the library is in Grass. There's a quick road."

"Huh..never been to grass..." She says "But I don't think I wanna go to college there"

"Well, Indiana has good libraries, too..."

"It has some perfectly nice colleges" Bachdion says and nods at zara

"Well, maybe but it's like all farm folk there aint it?" zenobia says "Out in the midwest"

Earl fights a smile

"Well... Bloomington seems to be very much a 'college town' - but yes, scary outside of it."

"Pittsburgh has a few good schools, too. But, well.. Pittsburgh."

"Oh hey, I root for the Steelers any day over those furking Cowboys... man I hate the cowboys. If hating the cowboys is wrong I don't wanna be right. Course, the real game of science is baseball..." She says

"And the Leibniz of baseball would be the Mets."

"And Yankees would be the Newtons, the cheats" She snorts

"Exactly!" As forcefully as a whisper may be!

Earl thanks whatever kind gods of the Dreaming are there that the girl's agree on a team. He remembers how shaken Clem was for week

'I swear, those guys are all hype and no oomph...and they got the nerve to strut around the diamond like they belong there..."She begins to explain her theory on how The Mets are the Substance over the Yankeess tyle... the Yankee's shallow shallow style

Murmurs of agreement, suggestions that the hated Yanks cheat via bribery and financial sabotage and also they smell.

Of course!And how smart of Zara to notice, seeing as the yankees have bamboozled half the country into falling for a merchandising campaign that's been decades in operation.

"Funny, in some parts of the country both of you would be CALLED Yankees just for being from up north" Earl let's slip witha smile

only a moment after does he realize maybe he shouldn't have said that

"How dare they taint all of the northeast with their infamy?"

'you sure he's okay?" zenobia gives Earl a look, but sees Zara's point, "yeah, those yankee creeps are so few of us can have nice things!"

A sigh. "He's from Iowa. I believe it is more basketball?"

"Basketball? Maybe on the college level, but mostly it's a bunch of tall guys doing structural damage to a backboard and calling it strategy" She snorts

"Oh you never need to meet Clem" Earl mutters

Bachdion looks positively amused at all this.

She shrugs. "Still. Earl knows the shortcomings of the Yankees, even if he does not care much for the sport as a whole."

"Definitely, I know they rewrite the rule books when it suits em, got a history of it. how can they claim to be great at a game if they keep refusing to play it right?" Earl either believes this (Possibly a stockholm like effect) or is wise enough to fake sincerity very well

He is rewarded with a peck on the cheek. "Well said."

well trained Bachdion thinks but doesnt say that outloud

A nod , showing Zenobia is mollified and they continue their tour. They see a lot of wonders on the campus in a short time . A squirell pooka who claims to be the soul of a Dead English Major who never got a job. There's another Sluagh but going the wrong way to catch up with without being gauche.

Much promise! Zara seems enamoured.

There are a number of Jane Fonda Chimera, some of them scandalous

"Jane Fonda went here?" Earl says//"Oh rumor has it ," Bachdion says "is she did more than that. she arrived to tea one day improperly dressed. She was sent to her room and told to come back wearing the requisite gloves and pearls. When Ms. Fonda reappeared, she was wearing only the aforementioned gloves and pearls. "

"ah..." He blushes "Did that really happen?"//'not likely, but enough folks imagine it that chimera of her might enact it" the satyr says

Raspy giggles.

Snort from Zenobia "I heard she drove through the halls on a motorcyle. But that's even better.. or worse" Amused

"Both are good, I think..."

"And you'll not find better fudge anywhere in the state, some say it was invented here" Bachdion says. Clearly he did some homework on each college.

"That means boggans will be about," Zenobia blushes a bit

blushing? Why would she blush?

"Aye, likely." A head tilt. "Is that bad?"

"No uhm... my family isn't ah..100 percent nocker." yup, blushing

"Well, obviously, neither is mine. Hannah and Hirim's mother was a boggan, at that."

A relieved look "Well, yeah, but nockers and boggans are like, supposed to have a rivalry of sorts. So it's something else some other nockers give me grief about. Not that you are nockers... but when I was a childling, I got called a 'bocker' and 'Pishblood""

Earl gives a sympathetic look. Then again, he never fit in completely with the Trollier Trolls

"Pishblood? what nonsense" Bachdion says "Mortal lines may favor a particular kith but go more than five generations of faerie blood for ANY Fammily and you'll get a little variety in there"

She nods. "Aye. I do understand - I am quite extroverted for my kith. Can make one feel a bit of a misfit."

Zenobia nods, "Most of us are still nockers,but my grams, she's... she's kind of furking special...and yet SO embarrasing" She sighs "I'm too thin. I should eat more. Heck, she used to tell me to smile more until she read somewhere that was damaging to young girls and then she apologized so much I felt bad i HADN'T smiled more"