#anywhere

"Stu is being weird."

"Stu is always weird" Felicity replies

"Oh?" Theresa looks at her daughter and the little girl who has become almost like one "What in particular?"

"Like, he's just moooooooooooooning over Sheera, like this." She poses dramtically.

"OH, Sheera, you don't need to go home! You can stay heeeeere."

"Oh, Sheera! Let me help you! Do you need an object that is lightweight and within arm's length of you, but I can get it and save you the exertion of reaching for a Kleenex?"

"He hardly plays with us " Felicity grumbles

"It's cooties."

"He got infected."

Felicity gasps "But, getting the shots is SO easy"

"I know! But he doesn't want to play! He just wants to stare at her!"

"Cooties get to your brain."

"Oh boy, this is an odd echo of other conversations" Therasa says, then she tells the girls "It's very possible what he has is... a crush. Maybe his first crush"

"Can we UNcrush him, and get the cooties out of his brain?" Felicity asks

"Crushes don't sound healthy."

"They can be pretty extreme" Theresa admits "And ..uncrushing isn't easy and often is quite sad for one or two people"

"I don't want Stu to be sad. I just want him to act normal."

"This is very normal for a crush it sounds like. He likes her. He wants her to like him. He thinks she's pretty. One day, you girls will be older, and you may have a crush yourself"

"She is pretty, but that's no reason to be weird."

“Are you trying to jinx us?" Felicity is aghast "Don't tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing.”

Speaking to Theresa

"I won't ever get cooties." She holds out a hand to Felicity, for the game. "Circle circle dot dot now we got our cootie shot!"

Felicity does the same in return "Circle circle dot dot now we got our cootie shot!"

"There!" Satisfied they are now protected.

Theresa starts to chuckle, but then the enchanted woman blinks as she swore she saw a kind of a glow about them

beyond the usual

Childling magic is still magic after all

"Yes," Felicity nods "No cooties, no crushes... thank you"

"Besides, we have LOTS to do. Paging. Important things."

"Squiring for me"

"You two are VERY Important" Irene's mother says. SHe has taken to wearing such pretty flowing dresses while staying at the hold. She's no sidhe, but to Irene she's still beautiful

"Mo-om."

And a sigh. "Now, YOU look beautiful, too. That's a princess dress."

"Yes" She admits, and turns a bit, it flows about her, "AND..check this out. This is how you know it's magic. Not only is it flowy... " Conspirtorial "It has pockets"

"Oh, pockets are the BEST!" She checks hers.

She has a thing or two she picked up

"Ooo, I forgot about this... and this..."

Felicity says "Hey, I was looking for that. Can I have it back?"

Hairpins and coins and a key and a rock and a pretty silver button and... "Oh! I must have found it! Sure!" She gives it to Felicity.

Felicity is by now used to things being 'borrowed' just like Irene is used to Felicity being 'nosey'

"Thank you" the sidhe girl says

To be fair, Irene is never greedy about the things she "finds" or "borrows"

"If we gave Stu a cootie shot, do you think he'd be sad?"

"I think you may have to wait for the cooties to expire on their own" She says "But... understand, Stu still cares about you both. He's just dealing with feelings he's never had before and they're very strong"

"Sheera is nice and everything, but she's a wilder."

"...What if STU becomes a wilder?"

FElicity gasps "The togail! He'll have no protection from cooties at all"

"The..togail?" COnfusion on the kinain's face

"Togail is when you go from childlilng to wilder, or wilder to Grump. It's a big ceremony for a person cause it's from Spring to Summer or Winter" Felicity shows off her learning

Irene nods!