#anywhere

Frank listens, expression neutral.

"She's a junkie. I don't know any other family. I know she has parents, but they didn't want me."

Something clicks. "You're in... you're in the foster care system."

"Yeah."

He does a full-face rub. "Right. Ok."

"So maybe I could just get the saining thing first?"

And he chuckles, but kindly. "Can I redefine a few things? In light of our shared Kith and society?"

"Okay..."

"The word 'fostering' means only that you're taken in somewhere that can give you the tools you need to survive. I was 18 and I fostered till I was 19. It's not based on age or economy or anything else. We want you to -survive.- This world can kill the spark inside you fast, otherwise."

"Why do you care?"

"It's my job." A pause. "My calling. It's what I'm supposed to do."

A wary look. "And you just do all this, and don't want anything, and act like it's some... some big whoop. No strings."

He manages not to chuckle. "Yep. I've been paid."

Dagmar scowls, distrustful and unbalanced. "But..."

"But?"

"Why do you want..." A flustered noise, and she's up to her feet. Not bolting, but unable to stay seated. She scuffs at the pine needles.

"What are the rules? Not the Code this and Escheat that? What are the real rules? How does it work?"

"What happens if I break a rule?"

"Ok." He nods.

"First, I have to tell you, the Codes and the Escheat are all real and if you break them, even if you don't know them, you'll pay with what you know now to be your soul. Get me?"

"You lose. All of it. All the magic, the Glamour, the strength, everything. Gone."

"There are others here who can tell you what that feels like if you need a witness."

"Now."

"How it works is what you find out in your .... training period. " He substitutes. "But it's something where you learn, then build on that learning for the next level. Like a video game, if you like. But you can't start at the boss level."

"And if I screw up I lose... this?" She gestures with the halberd, then at her horns.

"Yep. Possible."

Her jaw juts out and she looks away. Tense, almost radiating heat. "Can I just quit now? Go back? I don't want to do this."

"Nope. You're in. There's only one way out." Then, just a hair gentler. "But you don't want to do that, do you? Go back to... black and white and grey?"

"Whatever. That's where I'm gonna wind up."

"You're acting all... all nice now. But you said, I fuck up and it's all gone anyways."

The Giant rests, and there is an uncanny connection between him and the space he occupies. He fits there.

Then he turns and regards the girl, really looks, like an inspection or something.

OOC ST, Kenning?

"With your boats, and your baronesses, and your desserts and your 'quests' and... and... " She lets out a cry of frustration, swinging a fist at the closest tree - it lands with an ear-splitting CRACK and shakes loose a shower of needles.

He's seen worse, and he waits it out.

And she lays another punch, splitting bark.

He watches, observing style.

A third, and the cracks start running like a flood - the tree creaks and sways, and Dagmar hurriedly backs away.

Interested, he watches her face, her emotions, her reactions.

Surprise managed to shake her out of where she was - then, realization! "It's gonna fall! Move!"

He watches the tree from where he is seated, curious.

A groan of wood...

He puts his hands under him, plants his feet, stands slowly....

A large section of the tree falls, a fork of three limbs, some of them slightly rotted, had no chance against that onslaught

And Frank, already kenning feels glamour not of the girl, surge forth.

A decision, and she blunders in between Frank and the tree - holding her halberd out like it might do something against falling timber.

Frank stands between her and the tree and branch, and if he gets hit with the halbred, so be it. He protects Dagmar.

An uncertain step back when her attempt to shield the grump was subverted.

And frank takes the crashing blow with a grunt. his own strength taking the worst of it. And yet, there is a new sense of accelerated rot than their should be... it is as if the wood is going dead, rotting, decaying, fast!

Frank throws the wood away and backs into Dagmar, pushing her away even as he seeks to disconnect himself with the rotting wood, and her.