[ She hadn't been sure what to expect, but it wasn't for him to say Tolkien. Julia finds herself stunned in the best way. This is why she'd wanted to sit down and talk. Just talk like they weren't a superhero and a former goddess meeting up for coffee. And then he's talking about the linguistics behind it all and she's pretty sure if she hadn't been crushing on him before, she was now.

She really should just have 'talk nerdy to me' stamped on her forehead. ]

The imagery in his books can be really beautiful. [ Sometimes more than she'd wanted. But, it all tied together and the attention to detail was insane. Enviable, really, if she'd ever had any aspirations to become an author. ] And sometimes that's all it takes. I'm glad he created that world so he could share it all with us.

[ As for the Fillory books... ]

They're not, but I have a copy of the set from home that you're more than welcome to borrow. Turned out that Fillory is a real place and -- [ She shakes her head, not wanting to ruin the moment by mentioning that Plover wasn't as noble as Tolkien in his intentions with sharing this alternate universe with the world. ] It's complicated, but the books lived up to what we'd dreamed of the first time we set foot there.

[ Everything else fell under the category of 'never meet your heroes'. ] The reality of it all was just a bit darker than we'd expected.