#bergen_county

oh she's definitely juiced up, "all of those sound wonderful.. it's like" she searches for the words, "its like when ink spills into white lace and the ink goes through the individuial strands like blood vessels under your skin? and you can feel it moving... making tingle."

she seems to be happy with any metaphor though

He laughs a bit. "Or like a disease spreading through your veins. Heh. I'll be interested to see what happens to this group - or at least their dingbat leader. And whether they learned anything..."

"i bet they don't give your dad as muchaheadache after this" she says delighted as they make their way out of the building

He nods, and almost has a skip to his step - oh, maybe it's a proper lurch. But glowing with glamour, and happy about it. "You should be good for a while with all that juice. Sometimes I like to give a little back to the Lodge - then I don't feel as beholden, and it's nice to see a little of 'my flavor' glamour around. A few more cobwebs in the rafters. But it's up to you. You earned it, and it's yours, not for anyone to take or tithe away from you."

"we can share it?" Surprised, "I mean, besides enchanting folks like my brother. I know how to enchant, but it can help the lodge?"

He nods, and looks around at they walk, casting glances on the edges of the sidewalk for something organic.

well, onery shrubs and winter slumbering trees here and there, of course

He ducks under one and retrieves a dried out sprig, snapped off the edge of the shrub. The lone leaf on the end is starting to disintegrate with the cold and damp as it snows, melts and refreezes. "See, if I focus..." He wraps his long, spindly fingers around the twig and presses a little glamour into it. "Now if I give that to a mortal, they'll be enchanted.. or I can toss it into the balefire as dross, and give it a little kick." He offers the twig to her.

"I find it helps if the object matches the glamour. I think it will still work with anything, but my spooky-ass juice likes this better than, say, a fresh flower bud, or a piece of candy. ... Maybe poisoned candy." He muses.

"So it's like a fashion choice?" clearly she's seen some of her mother's magazines

He barely restrains the snort. "Uh. I guess you might say that. Like I fit better in a black scarf than a pink hat." A somewhat sardonic smile.

"Unless the pink hat was leathery so folks thought you had skinned someone's skull flesh to make it" she says thoughtfully after a moment "I do like hats."

"Hm. I don't know if we have any haberdashers in town. Maybe there's room to take over the market." A small smile as they turn the corner onto Lilly's street.

"Miss Zara says for girls it's called a miller? no.. that's not the word" She frowns and sighs

"Ahh...." A moment, then he frowns and checks his phone. "Milliner. Milliner Lilly has a nice ring to it."

"Milliner..." She tests the word out "neat. Thank you, Symon, you're a gentleman and a terror" A nod "if you ever need to hide from your sadly un wicked step mother, you can visit our house"

"It is an ancient Milliner
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long grey thread and glittering pin,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?"

He grins. "Rime of the Ancient Milliner. If you don't know the poem, I'll find a copy for you." A pause, and then he adds, "... thanks. I don't think I could have done what we did today without your help."

She giggles at the poem, but then says "Thank you. I wouldn't have known how to do it without you. You are really smart. You made it easy." A beat and a sly smile "Their fear made it fun."

He grins. "As homework, watch your family. See if you can figure out what they fear. Not to use it... probably.. but it's good practice."

"I already know some ... mom worries she'll hurt dad by holding hands with another guy... so she doesn't. " A thought "Adam is afraid of being nothing special at all.... and dad? Dad's easy. He's worried he's not strong enough to protect us from the world"

it is clear she has given this thought

He blinks, impressed. "That's good. Oh - is that kid at your school still messing with you?"

He acts nonchalant. Not that he cares, or anything.

"lil bit, not so much since maggots can fit into lockers"

"want me to find out what my bully fears as homework instead?"

"That sounds like a good idea." He nods, as though that was his idea. "And thanks again."

"you're welcome, sir" she makes it to her door of her house

the door opens, and a tiny doll looks at Symon with eyes of warning. Then looks to the girl questioningly.

"I am quite fine, Miss Prim, thank you" Lily assures, "Symon is to be allowed into our house if he needs to hide from his sadly Un wicked step mother"

He eyes Primbriar with equal distrust, but then gives her a polite nod - respect, from one professional to another.

The doll nods, both in response to the open invitation issued, and to return the respect, and guides the little girl in

The door closing

Symon watches the door for a few moments, then casts a wary glance up at the roof, remembering the ghoul... before turning and heading home himself.

He encounters Dirk, the Redcap is on patrol.

A sharp nod at his foster brother. "Sup?"

"Weird shit, man.. Valentine day... I hooked up with Lupe again. How'd you know?" a sniff "And who you been scaring the shit out of?"

"Remember that bitch that Ann Marie and Dad was talking about, the one who was convincing moms that there was poison in flu shots?" A nasty smile.

"Oh McGee or whateves, yeah, stupid bitch. You can't punch disease. "

"You need some juice? Low interest rates." He eyes Dirk speculatively.

"Nah, I'm okay. So...you scared the ANti Vaxer?"

"She almost pissed herself - thinking I was the Black Death and Lilly - that new slug, Adam's sister - was her own kid, dead because of what she did."

"SHit... fucking awesome.." He says "still sucks that Pretty boy's the family that got juiced up. Doctor Bruce would be like an AWESOME redcap"

He raises an eye brow. "You think? I'd worry that his success rate would go down because he'd start snacking mid-surgery." A small grin.

"More fae is good, I guess. Though now there's all these goats coming in. I hope it doesn't turn into a competition for the best dreamers. Hopefully they go for a different flavor than us."

"Slurp tumors right out, save a fortune." At the mention of the goats, he scowls 'You think they're horning in?" No, it's not a pun, Dirk isnt' that clever

A shrug. "Don't know yet. Just heard from Dagmar that apparently they're zoning in on RV as a good place to settle. One walked into her house the other day, old as hell and bold as brass."

"Oh, that's not so bad, probably break a hip and die soon" Looking on the upside

"Maybe. I wonder if it would be more like an embalming or like taxidermy. I guess it depends on where the goat ends and where the human begins." Thoughtful.

"Yeah, well, the soul like wooshes out for us all... you'd have to like, do a death mask WHILE she was dying"