#baronyofthesilverwolf

Thistle is ensconced at the breakfast nook, nose in a book. She likes the kitchen, not that she would say so.

Chime Chime Chime!

Sounds like two different nevers as the Chimes vary

A glance up.

It looks like a brightly colored 'Chinese finger trap' and two nevers. Each Never has put an arm in a different end, and now they both are pulling furiously which just makes the finger trap stronger. They chime one way, then the other, raising a fuss

And she might see a pooka laughing his ass off

Snerk!

"You two will just have to work together."

How can they, one is bright pink, the other bronze...they clash! If BP would only let Bronzey take charge.. CHIME if Bronzebrain would just let Brilliant Pink run this... CHIME they could get out!

Rochallor giggles "Uhm.. Joe did this, not me"

"Well, looks like they have a pickle."

"Well, if they'd stop gherkin each other back and forth..." The boy says with exaggerated innocence

"Right?"

"Thiiiiiiistle?" Art calls from down the hall, making his way over. "Oh, here you are. And Rochallor." He nods to the young pooka. It's a bit disconcerting that the tall childling is almost his height. Sidhe are supposed to be tall and imposing... sigh

Still, he gives Rochallor a smile.

"Artholomew" He bows "Hello, your sirness"

A grin, more relaxed now. "I'm no Sir. Not yet, maybe not ever, right? You're as much of a Knight as I am, maybe more." He gives a bow to Rochallor. "Your Horseness."

Rochollar snorts "Your blood is blue, my blood is glue"

The Nevers are now pulling so hard they're spinning like a drone rotor

"Oh, oh, hey there." He reaches out, and grabs the fingertrap out of the air. "Now how'd you two get stuck? Lemme just..." He takes one never lightly in hand and gives her a soft tug.

CHIME! Indignation!

"You know, we could channel that to power a small engine..."

"You have to strap yourself up by your own boot pulls" Roch declares.

Art chuckles, "Fine, figure it out yourself..." And releases the bzzing duo back into the air.

"I've been working on the books for the Library. The bookbinder is working really well, except earlier it put one of the title pages on upside down. Not sure how.... maybe you can look at it?"

He leans in and says to Thistle, "Lady Nadeen came and was watching me working on the books earlier. I think she was checking out the work that your binder was doing. I didn't let her see the weird page!"

Flickering spirals - warm tones, so not unhappy! "Thanks."

"And I'll look... it's still kinda of.. crude?"

"But I was distracted by the Sniffer... and there were Yule things..."

"Yeah! But it works? So much faster and straighter than if I had to try to glue those bindings on by hand. Speaking of Yule things, I used up the cash I made as Art the Elf, though. I'll have to look for more part-time jobs soon."

"BUT can you get a reference from your boss there?"

"It's a start!"

The two nevers finally pass out from exhaustion, and both give up at the same time. This IS, of course, when the finger trap comes off

"And there are no birthdays, or gift-giving requirements, at LEAST until Spring."

"Exactly."

Roch asks "Are you SURE? "

"And when is Joe's birthday?"

Art looks dubious. "We should ask Marigold. Otherwise he might get as many birthdays as he thinks he could get away with."

"Or I bet Julius has a ledger. He writes EVERYTHING down..."

"Ohhhh... yeah."

Art notices a calendar on the wall of the kitchen, and, grinning, moves over to it and starts checking the upcoming months for circled dates.

"I don't have a birth day, I prefer 364 UNbirthdays"

Of course, the boy's protest aside, birthdays might be in there

They may be, but Art is soon distracted. "Oh, right. Has Gwen arrived home yet? I wanted to see if it was too soon to go to Earth Runes. Do we need to send word, put in a request? Bring a gift?"

"Um..."

"Maybe there are extra Marigold cookies?"

SHe goes to check the jar.

There's only a few cookies, and it looks like someone cracked the lid. Art checks what she's looking at, and suggests, "Hurricane Briar blew through?"

She grumbles at the lid and checks the junk drawer for glue.

The boy reaches into his pocket and offers a snicker's bar , only half eaten

"You keep it, it's your unbirthday, after all." Art says to Rochallor. "I'll check the pantry! Didn't she make a bunch of those Yule cakes that needs to be soaked in rum for a month?"

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" Gwen says "You're going to ruin your dinner" As she comes down the hall from her room