#anywhere

The Lee home seems almost sedate , one car missing

An unusually warm February day at the Lee residence, and AnneMarie got a text from Kerri a little while ago: I'm on my way with an offering of muffins. Would love some gossip!

Now there's a knock at the door.

The door opens, Anne Marie grins at the much tallerr woman, eyes the muffinns "you had me at gossip. Come in, Kerri. Coffee is waiting for us"

Kerri gives her a grin and offers over the basket covered with a tea towel. The warm smell of blueberry muffins rises up. "Perfect. How are you, AnneMarie?" She follows the smaller woman into the kitchen.

"mm" She sniffs "Better nnow that blueberry muffins are here" She takes them and sets them down in the kitchen. Coffee is poured into a troll sized mug for her guest "I'm doing the usual, helping lost causes, fudging things to protect right of ignorance, and worry about my boys"

"Have I mentioned to you lately how grateful we are for your skills?" She takes a sip of the coffee and sighs appreciatively. "Oh, I put some butter from the DeBuke farm in the basket, too." And sure enough, there's a thick-sided bowl with a bit of cloth over it, and within is pale, creamy, fresh butter.

"Oh sweet DeBukebutter, they migght make a modernist of me yet" She says in a faux connspirtal tone. The coffee is fantastic, office life means tha's one area the Social worker excells in "And thank you" She is applying butter to a muffin "i'm quite grateful for you too, fellow knight"

Kerri chuckles a bit at the modernist joke and helps herself to a muffin. "That title suits you well, but I always find it pinches like an underwire bra. How's Bruce?" she asks after AnneMarie's husband.

"Bruce is wonderful, busy but wonderful" she admits "I thinnk thee misbehavior of some folks towards hospital workers soured him a bit, but it didn't make him banal or bitter. And I understand about the title. I really do think of you as Hearth or just Kerri first. How's Olgar?"

"He's doing very well. It took him a few days to recover from the whole trod mess, but he's fine now. Baron Aiden has promised him a pup from Oak and Mishka's litter, so he's all in research mode."

"How about the boys?" Sip.

"Oh my.. another giant dog?" She blinnks "the food bill"

"The cauldron," she reminds. "It's not just for redcaps anymore."

"Oh goodness yes" A laugh, that dims quickly "I'm worried. No sooner does it seem Dirk might finally be getting over Prissy, he has been so downn... when suddenly Symon is... well, more reclusive than ever. Normally it's typical teen boy scorn for a world that doesn't get it... .but I swear he's been.. sad."

Kerri doesn't speak right away, but takes another sip of coffee.

A sip, then, a brow , then she sets the coffee down "Oh ,Kerri, is the gossip aboutt my boys?"

"Well...not gossip in this case, no. But...well, I'm a little concerned about Symon, too. I think he's struggling."

"With what? I know he has his doubts about college. I love Bruce, but he does have high expectations"

"Not so much that. It's more...about relationships."

"Relationships?" She perks "Has he fallen for someone?" Finally! Love, marriage, the slither-splatter of little feet.... eventually

A slightly pained look on AnneMarie's behalf -- and perhaps Symon's as well. "Oh, AnneMarie. No, and...and that reaction is exactly why I wanted to talk to you. You've been trying to set him up, haven't you?"

A wince "Actually I've been holding back morre than he would ever believe, but.. a little?"

"And...what have you noticed about his reactions when he meets these potential love interests?" She's counting on AnneMarie's social dynamics here.

Munchh muffin to delay answering.. munch munch munnch

It's flattering really, Kerri is one of the few folks Anne Marie will act openly immature around (in an adult way) , with others she puts on her uber efficent how can she help face even when doesn' wanna

"AnneMarie...." Kerri chides/coaxes.

"Oh very well, revulsion, annoyance, and the frequent but unspoken look of 'fuck my life' which he's too well mannered to whisper out loud"

"I just can' t figure out his type"

She nods, and takes a moment over muffin and coffee. "I think there's a very good possibility that he doesn't have a type."

"Pardon?" she pauses

"He might not have a type," she repeats quietly. "Not for physical intimacy."

"Oh.. ohh my" she realizes "He's .. truly asexual you think?"

"I'm not certain, but I think it's possible. I've never noticed him giving anybody that look...you know, the one that betrays that conscious thought has turned off and imagination of what could be has taken over?"

"mm there were times when he was with Dagmar i thouht maybe he... " trroubled then "How did you come by this hunch?"

"I think with Dagmar he's shown some pretty intensely loyal, passionate friendship, ...but not sexual desire. Or at least...not yet."

"Uh huh." A look "And the source of he Hunch?"

"In truth, people change over time, and who knows what he might feel in the future, but I think right now, yes, he's just not interested in that kind of relationship. You and I have both had plenty of of opportunities to observe him with others."

Her tone might reveal her evasiveness on the last.

"So we have" Cautiously mmmms "But the timing of this reveelation is.. interesting." A beat "Kerri, are you somehow honor bound not to talk too much about the source of this revelation?"

A direct, silent look that does a pretty good job of saying: Exactly.

"If you weren't my friend and a fellow mother I trust implicitly I'd look for thumbscrews, you know that right?" but there is a sigh of resignation. no, she won't pursue

She goes on "But you are both, and I trust you and won't betray your honor. Too many folks assume honor belongs chiefly to the warriors, but we know better, don't we" A sad look "I am very selfish. I had hoped he'd know some joys of..well, togetheress as he grew, but if that makes him miserable, I have to stop. He's my boy. I want him happy for his sake, not mine"

A gentle smile. "AnneMarie, you are one of the most honorable people I know, and I know it's not always easy. Symon is who he is...and he does know joy, in his ways. I believe that. He's not deprived, and he doesn't seem lonely. He's okay," she says reassuringly. "And he'll be okay. You and Bruce have done a very, very good job raising him. He'll find his way...but he'll have an easier time of doing that if he knows you accept his way of life as it is."

"Oh Bruce is going to have a harder time than I am once it sinks in. Oh his focus is on Symon gettinng a good education so he can have a nice future, but I think, bless him, like me, he imagined bio grand kids one day. Well, Adopted will be just as nice. AND who knows, maybe Dirk is a polygymist so it will balance out. I'll deal with Bruce as needed and give Symon his space. I'd love to ask him flat out if he believes he's Asexual, but, aside from the horror he'd feel if I did- Symon might also thinnk you told me more than you did, and that's unfairr to you both. Mm I suppose I'll leave him be until summer at the least, romantically speaking"

"Well, I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't ask him, and if he believes I've betrayed a confidence, I know that I haven't said a word that I shouldn't have." She finishes her coffee. "And perhaps someday Symon will take somebody under his wing who might be as good as a grandchild to you. I do think it's a good idea to step back from the whole thing, as you say, until summer. And when it's time for prom and you're trying like crazy not to interfere, call on me. I'll keep you in line," she says with a wink.

THAT gets a hearty laugh, the sort some women don't allow themselves "Oh, bless you for it. I really do get the itch. Speaking of which" She offers a refill "you owe me gossip" A reminder "or I owe you it. either way I get to gab about people"

"Well, actually, I want to know more about what's up with Dirk and Prissy. Are they really broken up? Or do you think they'll get back together?"

"I think Prissy has decided she needs to find herself on her own. I also worry she has not quitte let it sink in that dirk may not be available whenn she next circles around. " A troubled look "Honesly, he looks at Lupe with interest and she returns it thouh it confuses her. Prissy may find herself rival with a werewolf. Now, in the short term? Prissy will have sex with one or two fellows purely because she likes sex. But, call me a romantic, that wonn't be enough eventually, hence Prissy may return to Dirk expecting to find him a willing ROMANTIC partner...and that's when her heart gets a stress test. They're both horrid monsters AND good kids... but the odds of the stars aligning just right for them as a couple are slim as things stand."

"Hmmm...I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure which of those two relationships would be better for Dirk. Lupe's very different from Prissy, but still definitely a match for him."