#bergen_county

*************
At the end of Pennons, or just after departing, Adam gives the little carving to Dagmar.

(the carving is made much of!)

-------------

He wants her to have it.

At least twenty, but Sam shows up on the bus. Sullen, with a greenish undertone to her blue.

Symon is waiting patiently, and has a small box under his arm. He is working on a 3 Musketeers bar and offers a snickers out to her as she arrives. “Hey. Ann Marie is one of those houses that gives out full size bars. I raided her stash for the movie.”

"Sweet." She hides it inside her hoodie. "Still want popcorn though, I'm starved."

"Thanks for covering. Siv was gonna go blabbing to the grownups any second, I bet. Hey, I heard that this is like really violent."

“Yeah, my treat? I got a pile of cash betting on Dirk for this secret Brawl. I think they got hot dogs too, if you don’t mind meat that’s closer to my end of the spectrum.”
He nods.
“I get it. Sometimes AM is on my ass that way too. Yeah, it got good reviews- people are saying it’s like that Taxi Driver movie. That’s the one where that one scene came from, you know, “you talking to me? You talking to me?”

"Yeah? Cool."

"And I like hot dogs just fine. Secret brawl? That sounds awesome."

"I did good in the Melee. Tied."

“Yeah- we got a bit before the movie. Want to grab dogs and share notes? They got it going on like seven screen s so there’s lotta of show times.”

"Cool."

He grabs dogs and cokes and a table. “So, there were these guys talkin’ a little bit of shit about the lodge where Dirk and I overheard them...”
...
“And he just SMASHed his hands over the guys ears, like, I didn’t know that actually worked, but he went down, and another he kicked his kneecap out...”

She grunts appropriate noises in reaction, suitably impressed. "Fuckin' savage."

“So where were you at earlier? Not to pry, but if the girls can’t find you, it would be good to know if there’s a faraday cage I didn’t know about.
If you were burying a body I’m just mad I didn’t get to see it first.”

She shrugs. "I wanted to watch the wolves. So I went."

“Someday I’d like to see them. With you though. Alone I might trigged the prey alarm.”

"Oh, I bet you'd taste awful though."

"Like, you're my friend, so, let me tell you, you smell like you'd taste like month-old fish."

He laughs at that. “I’ll make sure sure not to wash before going out!

So you tied at Pennons in the melee with Colton? That sucks, but he’s tough. Sometime I’ll go watch him sparring, see if I notice a weakness. Other than Sylvi, but she’s smart enough to not distract him in a fight.”

“Is that what’s got you down? Because he’s not really someone I’d be mad to lose to. Now, if Zane beat you at a match, then I’d have to give you shit. He’s fast but looks fragile.”

"Colton's better than I am, skill wise."

"I'm stronger. More stubborn."

Her jaw juts. "I ain't unhappy about Pennons. It was decent."

“Yeah, I had a good time. So what’s got your back up? I ain’t gonna say it’s not like you, because you can do whatever the hell you like, and you know I ain’t gonna judge. But if something’s bothering my friend, I gotta know if there’s someone I should be shanking.”

A grunt and she considers.

"Tove's knocked up."

He considers this for a long moment. “I’ve wondered about that too, y’know. Even if it’s not quite the same. If Ann Marie decides to have her own kid, and stop wasting her time on her guys last fling.”

"Yeah." Scowl.

"Real kid. One that's theirs, and not... " shrug. "Y'know?"

“Not a leftover that’s in the way? Yeah. But at least you got that oath, right?”

"From Jaymes..."

"But maybe it ain't really the same. They're both blowing smoke up my ass how they won't be any different, and I bet they even think it's true."

"But real kids are different. Always are."

He just nods a little. Slurps his Coke.
“What else can they say? I’m sure they mean it. But you can’t KNOW for sure. People change. Priorities change. You can’t tell til you get there.” Slurp. “Trolls though, I gotta say. Generally they get the benefit of the doubt where keeping their word comes into play.”

"Yeah. They don't know. They ain't been there."

"I have."

“Sam has.” He nods. “At least though, even if the King family decides their new snot goblin was more important than Sam? Dame Dagmar Hammerstrike ap Gwydion von Yadda Yadda has a family that can’t get rid of her.” A thoughtful slurp. “And can’t you tell if they’re lying anyways?”

"Well, yeah."

"But sometimes it ain't..." She frowns. "You can be there, but not... Jaymes won't send me back, I don't think. There's the oath."

“So, and here’s just my opinion- tell them what you’re thinking. And give em the old Gwydion lie tester. And if they ping you at all, you’ve saved your time, and you tell me, and between all of us Defenders, you ain’t gonna be left in the cold.

But you don’t wanna fuck up a good thing either because it might go south. That’s life. Everything dies, every good thing is gonna end someday, somehow. But you don’t gotta rush it, yknow?”

"And being anything but fuckin' thrilled is gonna mess it up."

"Asking like that..." She scowls.

“Ugh. Yeah- they want you to just magically be as happy as they are.”

"Yeah." Scowl.

"I knew it was too good to last. But I.. I dunno, I let myself fall for it?"

“Have you ever thought of having sibs?”

She shakes her head.