#earthrunes

"Oh suck it up, butterccup" Claire says

Temerity watches this, and looks amused "Very well, you may return to your family unharmed... this time" And she starts to move past Adam

"Uh, Dame?"

"What transpires lad? " Temerity inquires as he talks to her, "Have you forgotten your tail?"

"No. I just... how're you feeling?"

"Like a dragon slayer..." She says, but ponders , her noble face looking to the sunlight "Ah, you mean how the shadowed dimnenss that nearly took the M out of my ouse... the gray cold that took the curl out of my tail, the emptyiness that threatened to make my ears flop?"

"Just.... if you're ok." Adam says; no attempt at calling in a debt or even reminding of one. He just wants to be sure.

Temerity looks at him then licks her thumb and styles the lad's hair into a sort of spitcurl "I do see the resemblence at moments like this"

Blink. "What? Hey."

A chuckle, then she says "So shines a good dude in a weary world. "A nod "Adam, future son of the silver wombat, I am as fine as cornsilk. And I am not mindless of the nickle you loaned me. Granddame Bondraste is right to engage in her proud nepotism"

"Huh?" more than a little lost.

"Exactly" SHe says "We are mice of action, you and I. Let not words detract from the bond between us"

"Hallooooo!" A wave from the sidelines from yet another pooka, this one a good bit larger.

"I... uh, ok. You seem.... fine?"

"So. Good."

"Thank you lad, but I like my men like I like my coffee- Black" Temerity says "Suffice to say I am as fit as a fiddle and fit to burn a city down while playing it"

She turns to see the Lion "AH HA! Vince, you courtier! How far you, does the old thorn in the paw wound? Is the rain giving it trouble?"

He beams at the recognition and takes that as an invitation to join there. "Here now, I like my men like I like MY coffee. Hot, rich, and topped with whipped crrrrrrrrrream...."

Adam blinks, his thoughts led astray by the Dame's words......

"D'artagnan, pray, you look befuddled and bemused. The problem here is that you're talking to the night, which is dark and hard to see in. If only there was some shining bastion of daylight to help translate?" Vince pats his chest. "How shall I serve thee?"

"Ah, the lad understands well enough. He did aid me when I fell to the Blahs of Unusual size, and threw me into the fire to warm my bones and send me to Valhalla"

"Huh? Oh, I just.... I wanted to make sure the Dame ..... yes."

He claps a hand on Adam's shoulder in a familiar, friendly manner. "Well done, Comte. It is known that one may count on you."

Adam grins. "Thank you?"

"I would second this, Adam may yet be the legendary chosen one we use to bell you, Vince."

"Nay! I shall never be belled - lest there be a fete occurring, in which case, I will be there, with bells on."

"Ah yes, the agony of de-fete is well known" Sagely

A chuckle. "May we spar soon, Lady - but with swords of cocktails, I may yet hold my own."

"So..." Dame Claire seems deeply involved with the redcap, and Dame Temerity is hale. ".... so I guess I'll go ... see. To things."

"Such is never to be, Vince... you are a Capulion, I ? A mouseaque." She sighs Then pats Adam on the shoulder "Off with you then, and later I shall teach thee the mousely art of pummeling"

"Where are we off to?" Companionably falling in step with Adam, after a bow of farewell to the mighty knight.

The mouse pooka seems not to mind the Lion leaving, but nods.

"I, uh, didn't have, I don't have, any .... like, plans."

"Where are you going?"

"I was going to see thee, and thee I have seen, and now, wherever the wind shall take me?"

"Oh. Ok, cool." but perhaps he wishes for cool company.

"How do you fare?"

He can wish all he likes, but the coolest cat is already with him...

And Temerity? She goes on to be sheriff and later? A legend

oh wait, that's from a James Garner movie.

"Ok. Better." He admits.

"Better is good, not as good as best, but close." Strolling with the Kinain, without any particular destination seeming in mind.

Adam seems happy to walk with him however he wishes. After a time and a few steps he admits. "I saw....nevermind."

"A nevermind? Is that like a Hellifino? I've never encountered a mind I'd not mind to encounter. Pray, tell?"

"Her." with acid in his voice.

This causes his head to tilt in some confusion. "'Her' denotes a lady. But your throat gives forth poison as though you speak of a viper?"

"Yeah. Well. Figured I should try and..." He snorts. "Don't care. Screw it."

"Try what, my young friend? From crumbs alone I cannot imagine the flavor of this dish."

"I don't want to be polite, or try. Screw it, and her. Best if I don't see her, 'cause if I do I might not care."

"Ah." They walk a little ways. "In your first encounter with this one - what may have gone differently? How could this have played out, better to thy imagining?"