#baronyofthesilverwolf

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Back at school! The visit of a couple days was mostly uneventful, other than Never hijinks. Trina is riding a bit high in the saddle, her most recent round of tinkering with the 'Spriggan-Sniffer mk 2' has been going VERY well. Not only did she manage to keep the noxious fumes contained (thanks to the copper tubing and some coffee filters) but initial tests of the remote alarm were positive! Still a few elements to complete, but it's just about ready to roll out for beta testing.

The Project is a constant side-process through her day. Trina calls it "percolating."

Her teachers call it day-dreaming.

THUD. Her plastic tray with corn, mashed potato lump, and mystery nuggets is rattled by the stack of books dropped on the table next to her.

Art sighs, plopping onto the bench.

Startle!

"Hey! Art!"

"Hey, Trina." Glumly. "How's lunch?"

"Beige. What's wrong?"

"I'm just bummed about the stargazing fail. I really thought we had something there."

He adds, "Not that it was TOTALLY a loss, I mean, it was a really fun time... just... you know."

Harrumph. "I don't think it was a loss. I think you sneezed and lost focus."

Sigh. "You're the one who should see things. You can always make sense of it."

He rests a hand on the books. "I've tried looking up those stars, but... there's something I'm missing. I know there was more to it than just names, but... what's the point of something being shown to me if I'm just going to forget it right away?"

"Maybe something with the drawing?"

"Schiaparelli can be distracting. Sorry."

"Schia... who?"

"Schiaparelli. Invented the color 'shocking pink,' but, like, it's cooler to say Schiaparelli."

"Besides, it's sometimes called Schiaparelli pink."

"There is Stuart Semple pink - you hear about that? It's furkin' hilarious... he's, like, the best kind of troll."

He blinks. "Pink?? And a troll?" Not following...

"Pink. The... y'know..." A fluttery hand in front of her nose.

"Just pink is too imprecise a designation."

"Well, of course. It's like saying that a star is 'blue', when that indication actually covers a magnitude between different spectral regions. It's never JUST blue..." He grins, cheered up. "I'm not sure if there are any pink stars, but there is a pink CLOUD in the Tarantula Nebula..."

"But.... I was thinking. Do you want to go to Earth Runes with me? If we can get an escort for the trod?"

"Sure!"

"I was thinking... they have a seer there, right? Sir Almandine. He's Eiluned. Maybe he could help make sense of things."

"Maybe, yeah! There's, you know... woo-woo. Maybe you could learn how to do that?"

"You think? Lady Nadeen has been teaching me about the different arts, but I'm not sure which I'd be good at yet."

"Just Nadeen here, yeah?"

"And it's a know-stuff one, so, sure. I vote that."

"Awesome. I bet Gwen will take us. Or maybe one of the Thanes. Are there Nockers there too? I never asked. I don't want to drag you if you'll be bored..."

"I dunno. I'm sure there's stuff to see."

"Who knows, maybe you'll be a noble when you're sained. Dame Thistle. COUNTESS THISTLE."

"I heard there's a Nocker-run Freehold over in Mexico. We should go there sometime!"

"It's only fair, after all."

A chuckle. "Maybe."

His mood already restored, he grins. "Speaking of Lady Nadeen, have you seen her lately? I... maybe I'm imagining things, but it feels like she's been watching me. Like, more so than just during lessons." He rubs the back of his neck. "Maybe waiting for me to mess something up?"

She taps his chest with a knobby finger. "No. She's watching you because you're important."

"You're doing fine."

He considers this, and grins with a shrug. "I guess we'll see. Hey, when are you going to install that sniffer thing? I need to find a place to hide it at home."

"Well, I'm hoping to beta test this week... Wudlig helped me getting it to alert to the receiver, but it's still buggy. Willy helped me with the distilling."

He lowers his voice to a whisper. "Did you SEE her eyebrows?"

"She told me if I stared any harder she'd pop my eyes out with this... I don't know what it was, she had some tool, like for horseshoes? She looked like she MEANT it though." He grins!

Innocent whistle. "We don't talk about eyebrows-no-no-no."

A laugh

"Have you seen Glad- Gwen?" He stands, and peers around - they share a lunch period, but the 'jocks' don't sit with the 'art dorks', it's just a matter of principle.

"Uh..." She checks.