#baronyofthesilverwolf

The stone which was “pretty” to Gladiola is clearly onyx to Thistle’s view… she can identify the streaks as some sort of silvery mineral. No Wichtel she, though learned in many minerals and the colors they make.

"Yeah?" Not admiting she has no idea what a cabochon is

"Onyx isn't common around here. S'nice. Not sure what the vein is, though."

"So - Eridanus is lonely? I try to visit, but it's just... there's so much stuff..."

Then at the sidhe comment of big ego boost, she chuckles "Well, if a little temporary self confidence boost helped you and Art straigthen somethings out, I'm all for it. Between you and me though? I think I like us better as we really are."

"Uh. Art agrees." She ducks her head a little.

"For some reason."

She chews on her lower lip. "Honestly, if somebody knew Flicker Flash, we might be able to get him out safely, but I think even a portal passage has a real risk... that could trigger a whole set of sinkholes, getting him out."

"Duh" She scoffs at the for some reason "The sidhe you was elegant, sure, and had cheek bones for miles, but she didn't have the same FIRE you do. I know you sometimes still have self doubts, but seriously? I saw you two together as a boggan. You two adore each other in any form but he missed the Nocker vim and vigor. " Then she realizes she's being rude talking about their relationship in too much detail "Wow, a portal passage wouldn't be enough? Maybe we could shrink him? If it lasts long enough?"

"Maybe? It's a decent hike down there, though." Her spirals are an almost neon pink.

"Um." A pause. "Winter is... hard.. sometimes."

It must be said, Gwen made sure each dog got a huge bloody bone. The hardest part was hiding these from the redcaps. Ivan got more than that, guarding his stuffed toy that he likes to gnaw on with smug satisfaction. At risk of angering santa, it is a stuffed reindeer. There WAS a large rabbit Gwen could have got him instead but Bluebell is a friend.

"Yeah" At comemnt on Winter she nods "But with Samhain long over I'm pretty much back I think"

"It just.. I dunno, not everything goes back in the box so easy." She shrugs. "We're an unseelie hold. Works out for most everyone."

Then she ponders "Maybe a two fold thing... shrink and Quicksilver carry him fast?"

"I'm not judging folks on Courts. Like you said, it's an Unseelie hold. Heck, I'm of an Unseelie House, though Daireann has always been a bit of an outlier"

"Maybe?"

"I do think some of us are happier Seelie and that's a factor but the pull is the pull" SHe nods "And maybe. Maybe Art would work with you on a solution for extraction if we want to go with that? Light teasing aside, you two do brainstorm well together."

"Art's pretty smart, yeah. Maybe not an engineer, but he's great at researching magic."

"He's the Neville Longbottom of our crew" A nod

"I mean, he did get a glow-up..."

"You're welcome" She says "I worked really hard to yeet that spirit"

Trollish deadpan is back

She laughs. "Pretty sure I wouldn't have popped, otherwise."

"I was well on my way to either never waking up at all, or turning into... y'know."

"I think It was Da'an... you two work too well together for it to be coincidence. I think maybe I did the yeeting, but fate chose the location" A pause "Or maybe you did. Huh. Buried or not, there was a fae spirit in you hoping to get out right. Maybe it had more of a magnet like pull than we thought. I mean, no one really KNOWS how magnets work..." Deadpan troll face "But the theory seems good"

Chime! There's a handful of Nevers (there's never NOT Nevers) in the workshop. "Magnet, huh?"

"Well, I think in that you drew his spirit there to you without being fully awake yourself. I just wanted him off Chuck... and wham off he went. Why the library though? The place was not that glamorous, so maybe it was .. well, you."

"Excuse me, the library is perfectly glamorous."

"Well, after two of you exploded in it, sure, but before that, well, it wasn't any more glam than any other book repository" A shrug

"Right. And books are full of knowledge AND creativity."

"Books are furkin' glamorous AF."

Fornax squeaks in agreement.

" I find more glamour in a lacrosse field, crowds cheer, players whoop, so it's as if those sacred fields have had the blessings of thunderstorms. Sweat and yes sometimes blood have fallen into the surface where champions have trod, vying for supremacy, and the very fate or at least pride of tribes is at stake. Each player has honed herself for this moment, trained and worked. It is self sacrifice but with glory rewards. It is hope given teeth. I mean, yeah, books are ..." She tries to find the right word for it "Nice."

…and looks like he is offended gravely

"But the BIG glamour is in the places where you DO"

Fornax says, haughtily:

“AUTHORING: Composing, Crafting, Creating, Designing, Drafting, Editing, Engraving, Inventing, Journaling, Manuscripting, Narrating, Penning, Producing, Recording, Scribing, Scriptwriting, Storytelling.”

Somehow looking down his snout at her even as he peers up.

Wow, Thistle can do a Look.

One plumed eyebrow is raised, and her fire-flicked eyes just squint at Gwen. "Huh."

Gwen is kind of impressed, by both of them, and finally a smile slips out "Or MAYBE.. the library IS a perfectly magical place indeed, but it takes a reader to make it so. Maybe a reader who we now call Thistle was the key component in making that big ole magnet of a library work and should consider she is not just a bit of flotsam who drifted near greatness, but rather it was something great in her that helped things happen as they did." then she looks at Fornax and scratches him under the chin, "And yes, Books ARE wonderful, amazing, fantastic, and glamourous and i'm sorry if I offended you both. I was just trying to get one of my best friends to realize how lucky we are to have her, and how 'I' at least, do not consider her an accident. Forgive me?"

Mollified, the little dragon mutters, “Absolve, Acquit, Cleave, Condone, Excuse, Exonerate, Pardon, Reprieve, Relieve, Remit, Release, Shield, Spare, Tolerate.”

Slightly taken aback. "Oh."

"I'll take it" She chuckles at Fornax's mild forgiveness, "Thank you. And yes, even she jocks read and gain from it, not just lore, but betterment as a person."

A wolf grin at Thistle "And that look, there Thistle. I thought you were about to set me on fire with an eyelash. I apologize to you too in case it wasn't clear"

"I.. yeah, we're cool."

"Thanks. " She says and means it to both. Her time as a boggan seems to have made her appreciate things on a new level.

"mmm" She curls up against a wall, looking thoughtful

"Mm?" She asks. Her pencil is happily scritching across the page.

"oh, just ... dealing with the fact I'm a bit envious of you, Thistle. I don't want Art, but there are times I want what you and Art have. And Blue bell and Julius and even the baron and baroness... I thought maybe David and I might.. you know but he's not kithain, and if I make the effort, he might open up to the idea but we're talking a long slow burn if ever. I'm thinking maybe I should just be grateful for a friend. " she wouldn't normally talk this much, trolls don't talk and nockers aren't good with people but it seems wrong to bust her friend's chops however playfully about libraries, only to clam up about the troll's own short comings "As a boggan I saw all these connections. It was so easy, but it also made me accuately aware of what I might hope for." A beat "if you pity me I'll break an urn"