#brightwindsbarony

Stu comes out "Grete Grete Grete!"

"Hey, Stu. Did you want to see the agate I was working on? I think it might be orange in there." Peering at a crack in a stone. "We won't know until I crack it open, but I'm having fun guessing... or it could be a jasper."

"The Earth Tuna!" he explains excitedly, "I know why the raged Sharks stings"

"The... earth tuna?" It takes her a minute to figure out what he's on about, and then she sits up, setting her stone aside. "Oh, the land sharks! What's the deal with THOSE?"

"A long long time ago, in a dead baron's cages far away.... a paranoid noble was worried one day his Shrieks might turn upon him. So he had made a most fierce set of Goons De Fin! But they broke free.... and into the wild they went because rent was cheaper there!" He paces excitedly "But why, super genius totally cool stu, you might ask, do they hang around the place of our fort and mini golf?Well, I shall tell you, Grete Ole Buddy Ole Pal ... they smelled blood...err oil.. err blood for oil? You noticed it first, remember? the gllow in the rocky one, two and three? "

A long, slow blink, and she processes... "They were in cages... and then they broke out.. and they smell blood?" It may even be maddening how long it takes for her to sort through Stu's frantic fluttering rant, but she gets there... eventually. And brightens. "You think they like that special rock we found at the crash site?"

“Sokath, his eyes open.” He nods

"It's Grete." She reminds him patiently. "So what do we do about it? We could try to mine it all out... then they might go away. Or we could use some to make a trap and then take them to someone ELSE's dessert. I wonder... do they want to eat it? Or just, you know, like it?"

He shrugs "if they ate it, wouldn't it be on like 11th Breakfast by Hobbit standards by now?"

Squint. "I don't understand that. I'd rather they didn't eat it, I really like those rocks. But I guess it's better than them eating us?"

"They're cold blooded" he suggests "And those are hot rocks?"

"...they like the glamour?" She attempts?

His head moves like a bobblehead, "Given my years of study on the subject"

"Well, that's OBVIOUS." She says, now that it's obvious to her. "That's why they want to eat us. They need glamour same as anyone else. I wonder if they could be tamed if you fed 'em."

"That would be incredibly dangerous and yet bad ass, I'm sure Sparrow will love the idea so we should tell her"

She thinks about this for a minute. "She'll be awful glad if we solve the shark problem for her."

"She's got lots of things to take care of. Did you know she's teaching art classes TOO? Not just here, but to kids outside. And that's on top of running the barony." Shaking her head. "It's a lot of work."

"I don't much like the idea of cages. But sharks are tough. ...maybe WE could go in cages to talk to them? Like when divers go in shark cages to watch 'em eat and not get eaten? We could get close enough to talk to them at least. ...we might need Felicity. I don't think I can talk to Chimera like that. If they had died and were fossils, I could..." A wistful look for a moment - why couldn't they have been stone-fossil-Megalodon-Sharks?

"Ryder might know how to make bar boxes..." He ponders "Talking is hard? That's why I'm so quiet all the time"

She reaches out and pats Stu on the shoulder. "You just have too many ideas in your head, and have to pick one at a time."

He smiles

He ponders "A stone fossil megaladon shark WOULD make a fantastic pet" he tries to return the courtesy "Very cuddly"

She grins. "Not at all." In an agreeable tone.

He says "Oh, right... you totally got me off the subject. Geez Grete, don't distract me from the Agate you were working on"

"This is a much more interesting stone to crack. No offense." She says over to the stone, giving it a soft pat.

"You know, it's funny? When looking for dross in the wild in the stone beds? It's not always the precious stones that have it. Actually it usually isn't, least ways the ones I've found. It's the cool looking ones... the rounded rocks that the water played with, or the ones that have a hole in it, or just the ones that shine when the sun hits them a little. Or they look kinda like a face. But find a polished gem? It's just a stone."

He tilts his head "maybe folks don't worry over the gems enough? I worried over a stone when I was little, and it felt special to me"

A smile. "If you ever need a new worry stone, I'll help you find one. But I hope there's less to worry about now. It can just be a thinkin' stone."

"Ah, I don't know if I need a rock smarter than I am .. but thanks" He perks up

Then he ponders "Ryder makes the cages, someone lowers us onto the ground then... one of us gets all chatty. Mmm"

"We should take bribes, too. If they're hungry, they might be hangry."

"Yes, no owl niblets on the menu"

"and... decide what we want to ask. Do we want them to go away? Or just stop trying to eat people here? I wonder if we could ask them to JUST eat bad guys. But then what if they made a mistake?"

"We'll just pass a law that bad guys have to wear black hats and twirly mustaches. Problem solved" The pooka nods

A voice calls out "Grete?" The voice takes a moment to register. Grete doesn't hang out with Clio the Satyr Scribe that much

"Miss Clio?" She calls back, turning. "What's up?"

"Well, I was on Ebay and got this really sweet deal on office supplies," The peeks on in, then smiles "Oh hello, Stu"

Stu says "Hello, Clio. Your glasses are making your eyes look extra large today" Clearly flattery

She smiles "thank you" Then she turns to Grete "Anyway , apparently they used it as an excuse to throw in some old magazines from their office too.... and this one was in it." She holds out a magazine "I thought you might like it?"

A bit of a guilty look, she's been neglecting her calligraphy a bit and wonders if Clio can TELL just by looking at her. "Magazines?" Curious, she takes it to flip through.

Rock&Gem Magazine... a 2015 issue

Wait, there is a magazine about this?

"They make magazines about rocks?!"

Published since 1971!

"Looks like" Clio says

Plopped onto the floor and her nose in it... uh oh, Stu, you're losing her.

"A Conversation with Carnelian by Jean Steinbrenner...." Reading the title of an article aloud.

"AHEM..." Stu says "or AHER, I'm not sexist"

Peeking up over the edge. "Oh. OH! Sorry!" Looking to Clio. "THANK YOU! This is so cool! Do you think they still make this magazine? 2015? That's like... 10 years ago." Worried.

"Closer to six, and you're welcome" She says with a smile then ponders "Actually, they probably do. Should I look innto it? We could get a subscription for the hold I suppose"