#earthrunes

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Enri takes the plunger, "En guardant!" He thrusts it, handle first, "have at three! or four!" THe poodle boy swings wildly

He doesn't dare use the practice area, the sparring area, others might seem there, and the curly haired boy knows in his heart of hearts he's not in the right place for real warriors. Not after letting his sister get kidnapped. Not after she got taken instead of him. He's a bad dog AND bad brother. So he will train in quiet, in silence- in the empty gallery.

The Baroness Coradel is in a bad mood lately, he notices. That's probably his fault.

The Baroness Sparrow is away a lot. THat's probably something he did too.

He swings, and even in his imagination, he misses his targets. He's a bad dog, a bad brother, and a bad warrior. He stops, sniffing, trying not to cry- and he eventually fails at that too.

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Enri thinks the art gallery is empty, and much of the time it is... and then one of his swings goes wild, and a bust sways "Oh no no! " He tries to catch the falling statue head

Coradel's timing couldn't be better...she's able to sweep through the door quickly and grab the bust of Baron Nemauses before it goes too far awry. "Whew! We've got it, Enri." She smiles at him.

"I tried to guillotine him!"Aghast

"Oh, I know you didn't mean to. And no harm done." She makes sure the bust is back in place before taking a good look at the boy, noting the recent tear stains on his cheeks. "Do you often use statues as practice dummies?"

"... I..." he says lowering his head "Sparring rings are for warriors. Warrriors don't let sisters get taken without Liam Neeson knowing"

She looks down at him a long moment...then settles on the floor in one graceful motion, crossing her legs. “I don’t have a sister that I know of, but..,” she pauses “My mortal family got very badly hurt not long ago. I wasn’t paying attention.”

"but you rescued them by flying in on your winged horse" He sighs "I don't even have a pony with hightops"

“I rescued them because I had good friends with me...and they were with me because I called them when I knew I had to. I remember somebody else who knew when to seek help.” A pointed look.

A whimper sound "because i needed the real McCoy, and all I got was Zachery Quinto"

"So I found you, real warriors with swords of fire. Not cotton ball tails"

She looks surprised. "You came to me because you needed real warriors...but I'm a real warrior who needs help sometime, too. So needing help doesn't make you not a warrior."

"So what does fighting with a plunger make you? the iron chef?" Sniffle

"Well, it's not the best tool, no." She looks at him. "Do you want to be a warrior?"

"I want my sister to stop crying when she's wide awake and I want bad people to take her saying please next time" A sigh

"I want those things, too. But I think the part about her feeling better...and you feeling better...is going to take time, whether or not you train to be a warrior. Still...if you want, you can come practice with me a bit."

"But..." A cautious look, "i'm a soft paw. you want to be seen with a soft paw?"

"And I'm a sidhe, and some people don't think that's such a good thing. You want to be seen with me?"

His brow wrinkles, as if he can't comprehend that "But you and Afterjuly are nice! And Brownwingangel girl is nice. And you all have the..." He make a pointy ear gesture with his forefingers

"And you're a swift runner and a loyal young one whose heart is brave and strong. So I have no problem being seen with you." She gives him a smile.

"A swift runner?" Enri says "you think, you mean like an Indian Scout? Pardon, like a Native Malmute Scout?"

"Oh, Enri, you'd be a fine scout, I think. And battles are often won because a keen-eyed scout knew how to advise the king."

his little chimeical tail wags a bit

"I can run, sometimes I run down the clock..." Another wag "so maybe I can be seen with you if you ever need a note passed to someone you like?"

"Of course...that's just a guess. Let's see how you do with training...starting with a run. Join me? It's a good day for it."

"oui "

"Come then." She rises gracefully. "But leave the plunger here."

He sets it in the corner, salutes it, and follows her.

...and off they go for a good run around the gardens.

(End Scene)