#anywhere

Symon knocks on the door to the barn. Or if he checked there already, he heads to the stables.

Dag opens it.

"Oh, hey Symon!" A smile for her friend.

He looks tired - well, its hard to tell. His sunken eyes have rings around them, but if you didn't know him, you'd think it was just sluagh good looks.

A smile though, thin lips cracking, and he tosses something rectangular at Dagmar.

"You look like crap." She catches it.

A snort. "You ain't wrong. I was up all night chasing flies on the web." Then he clarifies, "Internet." In her hands is a practical FOSSIL. She thinks it's some sort of technical device... okay, there's the toggle switch - an actual SWITCH. And the screen lights up a dim grey. With the thick leather case on it, it will fit in a pocket, if you have big pockets, and nothing else. The brand name is ..."Mokia"!?

Squint. "A phone? I think this is older than I am."

"And I had to do some tweaking to make a modern sim card work in that monstrosity. That's my Dad's first smart phone, before I even had one. It will take calls and text. Don't even think about internet near it, and there's no camera."

Her jaw juts and her cheeks turn purple.

"Here, though." He offers a much smaller item over, a small flash drive. "I got your files off the old one, but I don't think even the send-it-in places can fix it." Apologetic. "Sorry, I'd have got you a new one if I could. Dad still won't let me get a part time job."

A small smirk, "And I know you wouldn't want to accept a stolen one even if I lied about it."

A frown and she looks at her feet. Not at him. "Thank you."

"What's up?" He asks. "I know it kinda sucks, but I didn't want to not be able to get in touch with you. It was a fun project. I don't get to do a lot of hands-on tech. I think I've gotten better at it from working on the taxidermy, actually. Or the minis. Delicate manuevering."

"Just... embarrassed, I guess. And I liked having a fancy phone. It's dumb."

"This is really nice of you."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with having a beater. Even BMWs have to go in the shop sometimes. You'll get a new one soon."

A sigh. "Jesus Kraft cheese on a cracker." He swears - one of Anne Marie's non-swears, it's getting to him.

"It just occurred to me that I could have diverted some of the funds into bitcoin and cashed in with no one the wiser. Not even dipping into the charity funds, just the stuff that the police seized. What's WITH me these days? I can't believe it didn't even OCCUR to me." He scowls.

"What? Sorry. Sorry." She scowls and rubs the back of her neck. "It's really nice. Thank you. I.. fuck. Sorry."

"No, no it's not you. I just feel like I don't know myself sometimes these days."

"Like... not in a bad way? But... it's unnerving."

"Dunno. You seem like you to me. There was a lot going on, and not a lot of time to think."

A smirk. "Good. Hate to think I'm going summer-soft. But I wanted to let you know that the lodge sent out a text blast. They got 'em, and Hearth is having an ice cream social about it."

"...Oh."

"Do I have to go?"

He blinks. "I was gonna ask you the same. Fresh dairy and cheering crowds, not my scene. I'd go if you went, though." He shrugs easily. "Mostly wanted to let you know that the Chief's final blow whatever it was - ended up a success and Leech got what was coming to him."

Her gaze shifts behind her, to the house beyond. "I guess."

"I don't really like parties."

He nods. "Me either. You want some alone time, or you cool to hang for a bit?"

"We could hang. Video games cool?"

"Yeah!"

"Sounds good. You can pick..." As she leads him off to the living room.

He sends a message back. "Thanks for the update. I'm beat - just gonna chill with Sam for a bit."

"How's your dad doing?" He picks out a two-player platformer. "You wanna be red plumber or green plumber?"

A messae back from Siv TXT: Thanks for letting us know. Was about to hunt you down, but you two chill. We'll save some ice cream. Congrats to us all! We did it!

"Green plumber. He's tall." She sits on the floor with her controller. "Dad is... he's... better."

"Good. He's tough. Even for a troll. Knew he'd bounce right back." He selects the other controller and soon the colors flash cheerily on the screen.

"Siv says she's saving some ice cream. I'll take mine in about a week. I wonder if they could re-freeze it?" Thoughtfully. "You'd want a dedicated ice cream maker to use with age milk. Ain't NEVER getting that smell out of anything." He snickers. "Anne Marie learned that the hard way."

"Ewww, yeah."

"And I.. I, yeah. He's tough. Your dad.. I owe your dad big."

"He'd say he's just doing his job. He'd do the same for anyone who came in his hospital." A touch of pride there. "Ask your dad to bring a bottle of soju to the next poker game and that'll square up. He knew there was something funny going on when James checked out so early, but he didn't ask. He trusts us."

"Gotta be hard, in a house full of us."

"I'll tell Dad, though, for sure."

A worried look at the ceiling. Frown.

Symon flicks his gaze upward, following. "What's still eating at you?"

"I dunno. Like you said, he's better."

He nods. "Being better doesn't mean it didn't happen." He says, simply.

And double-jumps OFF the green guy's head to snag a star coin.

Sigh, and a slight release of tension at the acknowledgement. "Yeah."

"Nadeen's still in town. You wanna invite her over to hang? I have two, maybe three more games in me before I have to go and crash." He offers.

"No."